Jari Saukkonen

Current projects

Ambientia Ltd

Ambientia is my current employer where I'm working as a software architect.

University of Helsinki

I'm currently studying computer science at the University of Helsinki. By continuing at this pace I'll be receiving my M.Sc. during 2006 2007 2008 .. someday.

2007

Invasion of Britain

I travelled for the first time to the UK with bad loop and recue to perform in two gigs, Glitchnight in Bristol on 23rd and Ginglik in London on 24th of February. This was the first attempt on using Reaktor to control the visuals, and so far I've been very satisfied with it. Unfortunately we didn't have too much time to wander around between travelling, preparing for the gigs and (sometimes) sleeping, but we all had a really good time. And yes, hauling a desktop computer (although small) in a plane has its own complications. We also recorded some of the Glitchnight on video, check out a small compilation on Youtube.

2006

Visuals

During the year I've been programming a visuals engine and some effects for bad loop and recue. The visuals debuted at House Nation X, and after that we've used them at the Sun Dance Music Festival in July and Assembly 2006 in August. The main difference to traditional VJ systems is that all effects are real-time (no prerendered videos) and the design is very MIDI-centric so that live MIDI input from the musicians is an integral part of the system.

Beatmania IIDX

Yes, the rhythm addict in me has managed to take control again, this time addicting me to Beatmania IIDX. I keep my scores online at VJ Army.

Live jam with bad loop and recue

In January we did a small tongue-in-cheek live jam with bad loop and recue. Considering the amount of preparations (none) it turned out surprisingly good, at least for the first hour. Download back2back2back deathmatch (185M, .mp3) or a small video clip (6M).

More piano!

After a long pause, I started taking piano lessons again!

2005

Too much rhythm games

I've been playing way too much rhythm games lately, mostly Stepmania (with keyboard). They're just too addictive for such a hopeless rhythm addict as myself. Maybe I'll put some scores online someday!

Small concerts

During 2005 I broadcasted a couple of mp3 streams where I played some nice music with my stage piano. The first concert (150M, .mp3, info) was broadcasted during the summer, and the xmas concert (120M, .mp3, info) just before christmas. I hope people enjoyed listening them as much as I enjoyed playing! Note that these are unedited full captures of the streams, so the actual playing starts around 15 - 20 minutes into the files.

2004

Amon & Magi

At taika.fi we developed some code based on our experiences at Taika Technologies. Amon is a (yet another) base library for building cross-platform applications, licensed under the MIT license which I've been using for a couple of my own projects.

Majik3D Project

Majik3D was an ambitious project to create a free multi-user role-playing environment. It originally started around 1997-1998 as an ordinary MUD, then evolved into a multiplayer roguelike, and finally into a full 3D game. Unfortunately creating a 3D MMORPG requires huge effort, and with many developers now having their own daytime jobs it just couldn't realize itself in practice. However, the core concepts from original Majik MUDs (persistent, player-run and evolving world) still live in our discussions at #majik.

2003

Krystal Sound Synthesis Engine

A simple subtractive synthesizer that I developed for my own use. The main goals were good real-time performance and a very small binary footprint. It works as a VST plugin for composing and provides tools for converting a MIDI file and a set of instrument definitions to a size-optimized file format. Here is a simple test (2.8M), and another small test (1.4M) as .mp3 that I recorded using Krystal only. Reverb was implemented with freeverb. Krystal was used to synthesize the soundtrack of Lord of the Dogs, where the 4.5-minute soundtrack takes roughly 2kb in compressed form.

2002

"Lord of the Dogs"

A 64kb intro by Kaita that was done in quite a hurry, which shows. It competed at Assembly 2002 and placed 4th. I was responsible for the sound synthesizer and a couple of effects.
Linux/OpenGL, Download intro (64k) or a .wmv capture (18M).

Taika Technologies Ltd

My previous employer where I worked full-time from 2000 to 2002. Taika went bankrupt due to financial difficulties but the former employees still form an active community, currently based at taika.fi. In 2006 a number of members of the Taika community purchased the Taika Technologies bankrupcy, including all source code.

2001

"Etyyliefekti"

A 64kb intro by Coral, Symptom, Inapt and CNCD. A hurried production that was released at Assembly 2002 where it placed 11th. Some effects were coded by me.
Win32/OpenGL, Download (62k).

2000

"Pornstars"

A demo by CNCD that participated at Assembly 2000. Originally the production was quite huge as it wasn't designed as release-material, so I helped Destop to fit everything to the 10MB limit of the compo. Unfortunately it was disqualified due to not including the C++ runtime .dll that is not present on a clean Win98 install.
Win9x/(DX6|OpenGL), Download (7.7M).

Ambient Factor

I worked for Ambient Factor doing web development from 1998 to 2000. In 2000, Ambientia Ltd was formed as a merger between Ambient Factor and Kotisivutehdas.

1999

"Flekk"

A sweet 46kb intro released under Nah-Kolor's name. It participated at Assembly 1999 and placed second. Code by me and music by Daze/Nah-Kolor. Still my favourite production that I've been participating in. Presented in ultra-wide 1:3.2 aspect ratio. Originally the wide-screen effect was more tolerable but due to hardware compatibility it had to be pushed into such an extreme to make it more compatible just before the deadline.
DOS/VESA/(SB|GUS), Download (45k).

1998

"Oxygen"

A production by Coral for Assembly 1998 where it won the PC 64kb intro competition. This was a solo production where everything was done by me. Naturally I was quite happy with the result although the intro wasn't that impressive.
DOS/(VGA|VESA)/(SB|GUS), Download (170k).

"Raivo"

A demo that Jiber/TDC put together for Flag'98 where it placed third. Although I didn't participate in assembling the demo almost every effect contains my code.
DOS/(VGA|VESA)/(SB|GUS), Download (1.2M).

1997

During 1997 I spent a lot of time writing a software-based 3D engine with Jiber/TDC. We were planning a demo with some TDC guys for Assembly 1997 but after a week of coding frenzy then decided not to finish it since the result would have been so unfinished. Some of this material was used later in "Raivo".

1996

"Vision"

My first program in C that ended up participating in the 64kb intro competition at The Party 96, placing 21th.
DOS/VGA/GUS, Download (60k).

"Neutral"

A 64kb intro by Coral for Assembly 1996, placed fifth. Code and music by me.
DOS/VGA/GUS, Download (60k).

Coralmod

Coralmod is a 4-32 channel .MOD player for the Gravis Ultrasound soundcard. It played modules fairly well, but (unsurprisingly) it didn't get any widespread use due to lack of other features. Anyways, it was a fun project to do.

1995

"Negative"

A 64kb intro by Coral for Abduction '96. Although it was pretty finished it didn't place very well, reaching only the 8th place. Code and music by me, graphics by Hitchy Hit.
DOS/VGA/GUS, Download (70k).

"Positive"

My first demo, released under Coral. Positive is a 128kb intro for Aggressive Party 2 where it won the combined 128kb competition. Code and music by me, graphics by Slimy Devil/TDC.
DOS/VGA/GUS, Download (115k).

Coral

Coral, our demogroup, was formed in 1995. We had been doing (or rather, trying to do) some smaller things before with another name (which shall remain unnamed) and decided that we definitely needed a better name. Thus, while sitting at a local Carrols hamburger restaurant twiddling a labeled mug in our hands, we came to conclusion that Coral would be our new name.