It's 2017 Pact time, and this Pact sees an about turn in terms of approach. In both Man and Maschine and Soundboard Record I focussed on the first steps of material generation; this time I'm looking at the other end of the chain and trying to finish something.

And the Pact begins! Thinking that the Python Audio Engine for Prism Exhilarated is clearly the biggest item on the list I got going setting up the Python project.

Into the music in this Pact. Today I recorded none other than saxophone legend Pee Wee Ellis for two tracks of Prism Exhilarated. Pee Wee also provided saxophone for Dorian Zoyd's 'Automaton', the subject of my 2015 CreativePact.

Today I got right on with editing the Pee Wee Ellis saxophone recordings made yesterday, starting with the slower track of the two, 'CQ'.

Continuing on from editing the CQ saxophone material, today I finished the job. Next for the track is to get the files into Maschine and mix.

Following on from setting up the *Prism Exhilarated* Python project a few days ago, today I spent some time developing a routine to parse the configuration file that underpins the album.

In a previous post I opened the box slightly on my plans for the audio side of Prism Exhilarated's Python script. Let me crack it just lightly more.

I pushed forward with pydub and the audio side of the Python script today by creating a routine to unpack audio assets, depending on whether the user has selected to play a track or the whole album.

Back to audio today, and forseeing a blockage in programming I dedicated this Pact session to enabling future creativity. At the same time, I was able to assess the workflow involved in creating track audio components for the Python software.

Following on from yesterday's look at the unique process export workflow, today I finished the job. Sort of.

Returning to the material created in the Pee Wee Ellis sax recording session was the name of today's pact game, embodied in a good sit down with the raw takes from 'Geometry4U' to give it all an edit.

The image above tells the tale, though the journey to that image undercovers some real progress.

Remember that dreaded TLOD (Thin Line of Death) haunting me at the end of my previous Python session? It plagues me no more. As you can see, I now have an export file with beautiful audio in it.

Following on from constructing a track and constructing an album, today I constructed a side! This is a vital functionality considering Prism Exhilarated is destined for cassette tape.

Today was intended to be the culmination of editing the Pee Wee Ellis sax material, but after a short stint synching the material to the backing track I realised that it wasn't to be. The material and the track were not going to gel.

What I thought would be a run-of-the-mill import of audio today was much more involved than expected.

Coming up with unique processes for a track can be hard.

Armed with a batch of test audio prepared a few sessions ago, today I began the implementation of building the unique processes into Prism Exhilarated's Python software.

Following the preparations for building the unique process construction system in Prism Exhilarated's Python software, I realised that the routine for checking the integrity of the information provided in the album's configuration file had yet to be written.

With a list of checks defined, I cracked on with actually coding the checks. Well, I cracked on with the coding after numbering my checks list so I could place a suitable reference in the code comments.

Work on the checking of Prism Exhilarated's config file continues, following two days of slow progress. I had really hoped to complete it today, but it's a more complex routine than expected.

Another sluggish day implementing checking of the config file, this time slowed down by two interrelated entries: track duration and track backing file path.

Back to music today, with the goal of adding unique process options to the track 'Kilohm'.

Slowly but surely in this pact I've been ticking off some of the significant musical goals on my extensive to-do list. This time around it was mixing the saxophone part to 'CQ'.

Yes, it's back to implementing the checking of the config file. But I did take a break in this session to listen to how Prism Exhilarated sounds (unencumbered by other duties).

The config file checking routine is complete! Finally! I really wasn't expecting it to take so long.

Back to actually constructing the tracks for Prism Exhilarated, and the next thing on the menu was to generate option numbers from a given rendition number.

Today I threw caution to wind and plowed into coding up the actual unique process construction routine. And BOOM, I now have a Python script that constructs unique renditions of Prism Exhilarated track 3, 'Xplorer'.

After yesterday's coding victory, today I came back down to earth, realising that while I had successfully constructed a unique process track, I wasn't taking into account default tracks.

Really a mixed up pact session this time, as I focussed on items from my Trello to-do list. The first was to check out my cassette deck, a Sansui SC-3110.

For this, the final session of Prism Fission, I tried my mastering workflow on Prism Exhilarated's first track ‘Hxxr’. My plan is not to go to town on mastering here, but to make sure the volume of the album is solid and consistent, and to ensure mono compatibility is adequate.

Yes, it's true. In the final post of the Prism Fission CreativePact I did say I would write a summary post within a week. And it's now December. What the hell happened??