Hi, I’m centomila. I’m a musician and digital artist, whatever that means.
I don’t know why you are here. I mainly made this page because search engines want a lot of text on any page, even if there isn’t much to say. So, I’m going to write a lot of stuff that you will quickly read and forget in 5 minutes.
The basics
TL;DR
Born in Italy, 1985. My fascination with technology was sparked at age eight with a Commodore 64. My curiosity never waned, now manifesting in an ongoing exploration of creative software, both new and old. I express myself through a medley of media: images, sounds, code, and words.
Why centomila ?
It’s a number: 100000 (One Hundred Thousand). I chose it because I was fascinated by the book:
One, No One and One Hundred Thousand (Italian: Uno, nessuno e centomila [ˈuːno nesˈsuːno e tˌtʃɛntoˈmiːla]). A 1926 novel by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello.
EN: One, No One and One Hundred Thousand
IT: Uno, nessuno e centomila
Not anymore.
Do you want to collaborate on a project?
Sure. I’m always open to new ideas. Just be nice ❤️.
Your stuff sucks! My music/visuals/words are better than yours!
Chill. It’s not a competition.
Probably not, but please send me a link. It’s always funny to see other people with the same nickname. 😄
Sure. You know the drill 😉 | Go to Contact
The music
When did you start making music?
I started creating music around 2000 using vintage software like Magix Music Maker and eJay. During that era, every website had a Flash Intro, and I produced short tracks for several Italian eSports teams, focusing on Quake and CounterStrike. However, I didn’t delve deeply into the process until I discovered Reason 4 in 2010. This software allowed me to grasp the concepts of sound synthesis, mixing, and music production in general.
My first album, Cosmo Rosso
, was released in 2015. Nowadays, self-publishing on all platforms is normal, but at the time it was a new thing.
How do you produce music?
- For music production i use a software called Bitwig(https://www.thomann.de/bitwig_studio_4.htm?partner_id=50959
) and Reason by Reason Studios (AKA Properllerhead). I also use Auxy Studio on iOS to generate basic ideas.
- In the past i used a lot Ableton Live, Cubase and Pro Tools. But i prefer stranger toys 😊
- For my dawless experiments, i play with some hardware gear (Thomann affiliate links):
Speaking of Bitwig… Your logo with circles is similar to their logo. Are you a copycat?
No. I’ve started using this logo in 2012. Bitwig Studio was released in 2014. I’ve evaluated other variations, but in the end, they are different and I’m happy with the coincidence. I hope they don’t bother too. 😊
Do you play any real instruments?
“Play” is a big word. I took some piano lessons when I started using Reason 4, but I never aspired to be a performer.
- Keyboards (Enough to fool an adult non-musician) 🎹
- Electric Bass (Enough to learn a simple song)
- Electric Guitar (Enough to fool a kid) 🎸
- Ukulele (Enough to play the chords from “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” over and over)
- Kazoo (Enough to annoy everyone)
The Images
How did you get started?
Back in the 90s, I stumbled upon a CD-ROM in a magazine that had a trial version of Adobe Photoshop 3.0. As a kid, it was like using Paint, but supercharged. At the time, I didn’t realize its potential; to me, it was just another toy. Years later, I enrolled in a school for graphic advertising. Although I didn’t finish, I ended up working in the industry regardless 😄.
What’s your process?
I don’t have a specific method. In the past, Photoshop was my final destination for tasks like color correction or blending images from various sources. However, I now lean towards open-source alternatives like Krita. I usually draw inspiration and start my creations from different sources:
- Photos
- ArtRage (a digital painting tool)
- Blender
- Code Generated images
- AI Generated images
- A mix of all the above
The website
Why do you talk about the website in the about page?
Nerd stuff is always welcome 🤓
This site is amazingly fast. How is that possible?
- There is no database. It’s static generated with HuGo
and served by Netlify
.
- I don’t use external services like Google Fonts.
- I don’t use any kind of analytics. If you were here and want to let me know, just send me an email
❤️ .
- I don’t ask for cookie consent because there are no cookies 🍪 (for now)
Which theme do you use?
- It’s a heavily customized version of Ananke for HuGo
.
The image gallery is cool too. How do you do it?
- If you’re talking about the main galleries, it’s just pure html (generated by HuGo
) and CSS (Tachyons.io
).
- If you’re talking about the popup gallery, it’s based on a little wonder called BaguetteBox
. It’s written in vanilla JavaScript and it’s really easy to use.
I like the font in the navbar and heading. What is it?