Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Hakurei Shrine~ => Alice's Art Atelier => Topic started by: Anunsew on June 16, 2010, 07:35:18 AM

Title: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Battle's Palette (OC Theme) (2/22/12)
Post by: Anunsew on June 16, 2010, 07:35:18 AM
Title needs MOAR ellipses.
And wat.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POST IS NOT REGULARLY UPDATED
Since I can be a bit lazy. >_>
My latest work can be found in the recent posts. They might also be found here, but don't always count on it.

This post is a Work-in-Progress. I do plan to update it fully when I get the time and motivation to do so.

MUSIC

Youtube
Originals:
Rin Satsuki's Theme:
Cherry Flavored Justice ~ Descending Red (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqVGHOrhsmw) / (Requested by Precision/Anunsew and Coin Spire): The Penetrating Flame of Justice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFYx0mElPsc)
Meimu Hakurei Theme: Eden of Phantasm ~ Fantasy Candy  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyK4NXLCr50)
Shiku (Requested by Coin Spire): Eye of Painful Death ~ Fourth Melody  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__zJG1mauQ)
Belisaria Yagami (Requested by BelisariaYagami): 穢れ亡き夢 ~ Ethereal Mind  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ4ZuJK2oVU)
Raiko Inabikari (Requested by MikiMikiDouga): The Oni of Raijin~A Striking Black Op in the Clouds of Darkness!  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRXu83fPyT4)
Aiki (Requested by Coin Spire): Because Children's Hearts are Purer, Their Wrath is Wilder ~ Second Lachrymose Rose  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ndE2ZzSus)
Sammy Miyako (Requested by ArmWarmerSponge): Reversed Looking Glass ~ Stopping the Tides  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j32VZxiNk6E)
Miki Bandy (Requested by ninjaloser602): Quick, Precise, Stalking Death (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bibPdrRwS58)
Sumire Raikōji (Requested by Ruro): And Thou Shalt be Judged ~ Violet Reparation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iqcuTsgfSU)
Swerve (Requested by SwerveStarEx): Kindly Destruction ~ The Stealthy Calm Berserker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpPw_zzDidE)
Jameson + DeSa (Requested by strawberrywitch): Triple Paradigm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gW491CcoFo)
Eva Lundahl(Requested by Just50001):械時計の歌 ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoDuUs12e3o)
Umi no Charlotte (Requested by Naeten): ( 東方 OC Request) Twelve Nautical Smiles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aDhMOcX-HI)
Kamon Farenheights (Requested by Pikayo): Eclipsed Light within the Radiant Darkness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5PO9AzAucs)

Re-arrange
秋霜玉 ~ Shuusou Gyoku
Girl's Magical Crusade  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdIx55RlhKI)
[西方 Arrange] Witches' Ball ~ Magus  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFq1PH--op8)

トルテルマジック:
Witch of Love Potion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ideKnUgHCY)

Touhou 1 ~ Highly Responsive to Prayers:
Iris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TenQw9XmUoE)
The "Alice in Wonderland Angel" ~ Swordsman from a Distant Star (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprpHCWghnE)
Now Until the Moment You Die! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYctKeywwRo)
Civilization of Magic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvK7-azUs4Q)

Touhou 2 ~ Story of Eastern Wonderland:
She's in a Temper! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vcOtxkbiQ)

Touhou 3 ~ Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream:
Lost Dream, Broken Dream (Final) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FdS3LVucTc)

Touhou 6 ~ Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil:
Rumia Laughs in the Night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRdwMN7PTE4)
Somewhere By the Lake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zu5_EMJLS8)
Music Box for the Sleeping Princess (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xVEXJxvRbs)
Tea Breaks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRW2WMhyE4M)
Invitiation by U.N Owen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4VMZdd8vMI)


Touhou 10 ~ Mountain of Faith
Hina, Will You Please Help Me?  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uaszus9VukI)

Touhou 11 ~ Subterranean Animism
Unlikely Anguish ~ Last Remote  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ibVA6SVkxc&feature=related)

Non-Touhou arranges
Far East Hourai Illusion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4WQTYxz_2Y)

OC Rearranges
( 東方 OC Request) 永遠寝ろ ~ Sweet Dreams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mew4jijT33E)

Medleys:
Different Shades of Autumn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEnixXPgsU)

Mp3
Rin Satsuki's Theme: Cherry Flavored Justice ~ Descending Red (http://www.mediafire.com/file/0mnnc1nzkze/Cherry Flavored Justice.mp3) / Alternate Link (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Cherry%20Flavored%20Justice.mp3) / The Penetrating Flame of Justice (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Rin%20Satsuki.mp3)
Meimu Hakurei Theme: Eden of Phantasm ~ Fantasy Candy (http://www.mediafire.com/file/zmzmzmgtzmm/Fantasy Candy.mp3) / Alternate Link (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Fantasy%20Candy.mp3)
Aiki Theme: Second Lachrymose Rose (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Second%20Lachrymose%20Rose%20%281%29.mp3)
Shiku Theme: Eye of Painful Death (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Eye%20of%20Painful%20Death.mp3)
Sammy Theme:  Reversed Looking Glass ~ Stopping the Tides (Re-uploaded) (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Reversed%20Looking%20Glass.mp3)
Miki Theme: Quick, Precise, Stalking Death (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Quick%2C%20Precise%2C%20Stalking%20Death.mp3)
Sumire Theme: And Thou Shalt Be Judged ~ Violet Reparation (http://www.mediafire.com/?842ehjg5yp5j0rc) / Remastered version (http://www.mediafire.com/file/8f4vch29924jqpw/Violet%20reparation.mp3)
Swerve Theme: Tindeck Download and mp3 link (http://tindeck.com/listen/qgpf)
Eva Theme:械時計の歌 ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll  (http://tindeck.com/listen/syoo)

Touhou HRtP rearranges:
Shingyouku Theme: Positive and Negative (http://[url=http://www.mediafire.com/?3q2nhkhhrbhnb02)
Konngara Theme:  The "Alice in Wonderland Angel" ~ Swordsman from a Distant Star  (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/The%20Alice%20in%20Wonderland%20Angel%20%7E%20Swordsman%20from%20a%20Distant%20Star.mp3) / Loop-friendly version (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/The%20Alice%20in%20Wonderland%20Angel%20%7E%20Swordsman%20from%20a%20Distant%20Star%20%28loop%29.mp3)
Sariel Theme: Now Until the Moment You Die! (http://db.tt/z7bbsDM) // Civilization of Magic (http://www.mediafire.com/?lx7qrchy8doiq6j) ( Alternate Link (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Civilization%20of%20Magic.mp3) ) / Loop version (http://www.mediafire.com/?4hk1aql8roz547c)
Ending theme: Iris (http://www.mediafire.com/file/2mjh8hd2jee8t0q/iris.mp3)

Touhou SoEW rearranges:
Rika's theme: She's in a Temper! (http://www.mediafire.com/?0sa09z7zlb2babz)

Touhou PoDD rearranges:
Kana Anaberal's Theme: Lost Dream, Broken Dream (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/lost%20dream%2C%20broken%20dream.mp3)
Ellen Fuwafuwaatama Aureus's Theme: Tabula Rasa ~ Silky White Paper (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Tabula%20Rasa.mp3)
Reimu Hakurei's Theme: Oriental Love Consultation (http://tindeck.com/listen/ojss)

Touhou MS rearranges:
Yuki's Theme: Crimson Dead! (http://tindeck.com/listen/jzdd)

Touhou EoSD rearranges:
Cirno's Theme: Somewhere by the Lake (http://tindeck.com/listen/pctb)
Remilia Scarlet's Theme: Music Box for the Sleeping Princess (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Music%20Box%20for%20the%20Sleeping%20Queen.mp3)
Flandre Scarlet's Theme: Tea Breaks (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Tea%20Breaks.mp3) / Invitation by U.N Owen (http://tindeck.com/listen/zcxp)

Touhou Fanmade work arranges:
東方 異世門 (Eastern Otherworldly Gate)  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6907.0.html) Tracks
Track 1: A Usual Day ~ Serene Orient (http://www.mediafire.com/file/yvp4brydrya4tab/A%20Usual%20Day%7ESerene%20Orient.mp3)
Track 2: Uncanny Occurence (http://www.mediafire.com/file/mivm04cjd91kndq/Uncanny%20Occurence.mp3)
Track 3: Deep Within the Discovered Path (http://www.mediafire.com/?81tlyx51g09l9j2)
Track 4: Familiar Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/file/yilc7tijmp8trzc/Familiar%20Dream.mp3)

東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion Tracks
Track 1: [url=http://tindeck.com/listen/hyxi]Mirage City (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8830.msg592792.html#msg592792)
Track 2: Graceful Ambush (http://tindeck.com/listen/sryc)
Track 3: Ultranegative Spiritual Spectrum (http://tindeck.com/listen/knjd)
Track 4: Nightshade Spirit (http://tindeck.com/listen/jqmj)
 
Non-Touhou rearranges:
秋霜玉 ~ Shuusou Gyoku:
Witches' Ball (http://tindeck.com/listen/efsm)

☆その他の作品 ~ ZUN's Strange Works:
Evening Oriental Magician (http://tindeck.com/listen/zlwt)
Far East Hourai Illusion v0.5 (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/fehourai.mp3) (this one's a bit bad, the other one is probably what you want) / Far East Hourai Illusion (http://www.mediafire.com/?23pg6agpoxr09vp)

Non-ZUN:
Deli Shop Quartet (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Deli%20Shop%20Quartet.mp3)


Medleys:
Different Shades of Autumn (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Different%20Shades%20of%20Autumn.mp3)

Searching the old posts, I've found out that someone made a theme of Rin Satsuki (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php?topic=3360.0) before, so I'm not altogether original. :3


ART
Well, this ain't really an art thread, so it's a little bit barren here.

Marisa Kirisame
(http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6982/marisalf.th.jpg) (http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6982/marisalf.jpg)

Rin Satsuki
(http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/6994/rinsj.th.jpg) (http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/6994/rinsj.jpg)

Remilia Scarlet
(http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3323/picture002ifc.th.jpg) (http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3323/picture002ifc.jpg)

Sumire Raikōji
(http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3285/sumire2.th.png) (http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/3285/sumire2.png)

Poinsettia
(http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/3711/ponsettia.th.png) (http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/3711/ponsettia.png)


Compressed update data now follows:
____________________
Update (Forgot the date, but pretty sure it was 2010...right?)
Changed the Rin links to the higher quality version. Also cut the annoying 5 second silence at the end. -_-
Enjoy ^^

Update (What date is it today?...June...June...,er..June 27, 2010)
Added Fantasy Candy.
Well, my conscience says that it sounds good, but she's a bad liar. :/
Also added a Mirror link for those who have issues with MediaFire.

Update (July 7, 2010) Yay, it's Tanabata!
Added Eye of Painful Death.
Hooray for weird sounds!

Update (July 27, 2010)
Added Witch of Love Potion and Iris
I need some inspiration...

Update (August 10, 2010)
Added 穢れ亡き夢 ~ Ethereal Mind
I'm just necrobumphing anyway

Update (August 22, 2010)
Added Rumia Laughs in the Night
what

Update (August 30, 2010)
Added Iris mp3 download

Update (September 7, 2010)
Added The Oni of Raijin~A Striking Black Op in the Clouds of Darkness!
Exclamation points are moe~

Update (September 10, 2010)
Changed the Raiko links to higher quality upload.
That's the last time I'm going to mix music without eating anything for nearly six hours...

Update (September 15, 2010)
Added Aiki links.
Added download link for Shiku

Update (September 26, 2010)
Added mp3 for Lost Dream.
What, no Youtube?

Update (September 29, 2010)
Added mp3 for Music Box for the Sleeping Princess
Youtube link for Kana and Remilia
Changed the (NEW!) tags, because I was too lazy to do it last 26.

Update (October 6, 2010)
Added Youtube link for Miwako...
Added mp3 link for Tabula Rasa
I'm so dead.....>.<

Update (October 13, 2010)
Remixed Kana's re-arrange. Changed the links.

Update (October 29, 2010
Uploaded Erich's theme.

Update (October 30, 2010
GygesHina, will You Please Help Me? and Lost Dream Final, uploaded.

Update (November 17, 2010)
Uploaded Different Shades of Autumn.
Uploaded Tea Breaks.
Also had come to a conclusion that I hate updating this log more than anything else. :/

Update (December 5, 2010)
Uploaded Quick, Precise, Stalking Death

Update (December 11~12, 2010)
Added Rin Satsuki's Theme: Penetrating Flame of Justice
Added Rin Satsuki's Picture

Update (January 6, 2011)
Added Remilia's picture

Update (January 13, 2011)
Added Sumire's theme and Serene Orient

Update (January 18, 2011)
Added Uncanny Occurence

Update (January 25, 2011)
Added Deep Within the Discovered Path
Anunsew is working hard!

Update (January 27, 2011)
Added Far East Hourai Illusion version 2! XD
A~NUN~SUUuuuuuuuuuuu~

Update (January 28, 2011)
Added Sumire's theme on youtube and remastered version~
Added PaN mp3

Update (January 31, 2011)
Added Rika's theme on youtube + mp3!
A~NUN~SUUuuuuuuuuuuu~

Update (February 1, 2011)
Added Familiar Dream

Update (February 7, 2011)
Added Konngara's theme and youtube link

Update (February 11, 2011)
Added Poinsettia

Update (February 15, 2011)
Added Civilization of Magic

Update (February 17, 2011)
Added youtube link of CoM

Update (March 3, 2011)
Added Sariel's First theme

Update (March 14~16, 2011)
Added Swerve's theme

Update (March 28, 2011)
Added Invitation
Added Youtube link
Yes, updating the update log is not really interesting for me. :./

Update (April 1, 2011)
Added Marisa drawing

Update (April something, 2011)
Added Evening Oriental Witch
Fixed Fehourai link

Update (April 18, 2011)
Added Crimson Dead!

Update (April 30, 2011)
Added Track 1 and 2 of 東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion

Update (May 21, 2011)
Added Cirno remix.
Dropped New tags because I'm too lazy to keep updating them.

Update (May 27, 2011)
Added Reimu remix

Update (May 28, 2011)
Remastered Reimu remix

Update (June 5, 2011)
Added Cirno Youtube

Update (June 12, 2011) Yay! Philippine Independence Day!
Added Deli Shop Quartet and a rip-off of Marisa's theme >_>

Update (June 14, 2011)
Added Nightshade Spirit

Update (June 25, 2011)
Added Triple Paradigm

Update(July, 2011)
Forgot to update.
Added  a bunch of stuff, I'll probably update the list in August.
So lazy~


Update(August, 2011)
Added Last Remote and Eva's theme

Update(November, 2011)
Added some themes to the list

____________________
It's far from professional, but I hope somebody likes it. ^^

Anyway, feel free to listen, enjoy, and comment about it (good and bad, though good comments would be nice...)

Holy Crap, the size tags STACK.

(http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/3.0/80x15.png) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
These works and other works in succeeding posts by this user/ 'Anunsew' or 'Precision' or 'undone12' are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Solais on June 16, 2010, 10:11:17 AM
I know a certain someone who will take you home.

Not to mention, how I'm working on a Satsuki Rin script. I wonder how this goes with that, it sounds more Final Boss-ish than the one I'm using now what I got from Nico.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Zengar Zombolt on June 16, 2010, 10:21:33 AM
Hey, this sounds rather nice! I approve of it. However the fadeout at the end sounds... Weird.
Also I weep for you. Moerin, do your thing.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on June 16, 2010, 10:45:34 AM
The fadeout was done using note velocity, not with expression so...
*ehem*
Please forget the above lines...

Glad that someone likes it. ^^
It supposed to loop back to 0:20 after finishing the last chorus, so it doesn't really have an ending.

So someone is making a Rin Satsuki script on danmakufu?
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Solais on June 16, 2010, 11:42:18 AM
Aye, it's my very first amateur work. So it's not that great, but I learned a lot during making it. It's almost done, only two cards needed.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: flamezero16 on June 16, 2010, 04:27:03 PM
I like it amigo. I was thinking of covering One way Accelerator at some point, but this sounds even better
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Moerin on June 16, 2010, 05:13:37 PM
...!
:helepolis:
This may be a little abrupt and all seeing how we don't really know each other, but I want to marry you and have your children.  Like, seriously. >.>

Ahem... Oh wow... That's really, really good~  I mean, it's great to see stuff like this coming out for poor, forgotten Rin... Keep up the good work, please! 
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on June 17, 2010, 03:41:06 AM
Thanks for the positive feedback.

I re-uploaded a clearer version on Youtube and MF, since the five second silence at the end bugged me to sleeplessness, and the Strings and Choir Ahs can only be barely heard. >.<

Links are on the first post.


I need more love to make another theme. >.<
*Girls are now gathering love*
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Solais on June 21, 2010, 10:48:12 AM
/me channels love.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on June 23, 2010, 02:30:13 AM
Thanks for the love. :3

I'm trying to experiment with weird instrument combination like Marimba-Rock Piano-Distortion Guitar. Currently studying Sanae's theme, Reimu's first theme, and Touhou 6's menu theme for reference as well.

Study, study, study...if I do it good, I'm gonna get a good melody. :D
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Bitz on June 24, 2010, 03:53:45 AM
I say you've got great potential.

My main criticism about this specific piece of music is that it doesn't sound very... boss-ish. Unless it's not meant to sound boss-ish. There's also a few things I think could be improved, too, but I myself am not a very experienced composer either.

Edit: Oh yeah, and make better fade-outs :3. You could use Audacity or something instead of just putting dynamics marks every measure at the end, which is what I'm assuming you're doing with your music-making program.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on June 24, 2010, 05:28:47 AM
I say you've got great potential.

My main criticism about this specific piece of music is that it doesn't sound very... boss-ish. Unless it's not meant to sound boss-ish. There's also a few things I think could be improved, too, but I myself am not a very experienced composer either.

Edit: Oh yeah, and make better fade-outs :3. You could use Audacity or something instead of just putting dynamics marks every measure at the end, which is what I'm assuming you're doing with your music-making program.

I'm still self-studying so I'm still pretty rough when it comes to composing. Still, I'm going to try my best to get the style just right for Touhou. :3

Audacity...hmm, why didn't I think of that? :O
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: atoms2ashes on June 24, 2010, 11:56:26 AM
...I envy you so much right now...

...It sounds SO MUCH like what ZUN would compose...

...

FFFFFF

Parsee instincts tingling...

But yeah, *gives love. LOTS OF IT*
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: RainfallYoshi on June 24, 2010, 08:10:05 PM
This sounds so great. It's incredibly pleasant to the ears. Now we just need a game with Rin in it!

I have to agree that the fadeout is incredibly awkward though.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Solais on June 24, 2010, 08:47:04 PM
Well, for my Script, I won't use this, it's too un-boss like, but one of her cards have changed so much that I had to rename it, and I chose the name  Descending Red "Cherry Flavored Justice".
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Netwarrior on June 24, 2010, 10:00:11 PM
You sure are modest, man. This music is incredible.

I'm planning to make a Touhou fighting fan-game ( when I get someone that models on Blender/3DSMax well or I learn to do so, and also when I learn completely the XNA Framework ) and I intend to make one of it's characters Rin ( and also Mima ), so I hope you let me use this music as Rin's theme.


I think there's some problem with Mediafire, because I can't download this incredible music... Nothing happens after I start the download...
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on June 25, 2010, 08:18:23 AM
Well, for my Script, I won't use this, it's too un-boss like, but one of her cards have changed so much that I had to rename it, and I chose the name  Descending Red "Cherry Flavored Justice".

Regardless, be sure to give me a link if you manage to finish the script. :3

Actually, the theme was purposely made that way because a friend of mine (a danmakufu scripter) wanted a very long intro that lasts up to 50 seconds (The first life bar is a Survival Card lasting 50 secs), then the main spell card he called [Flare] Kirin's Descent activates around the chorus 51 seconds in.

We never managed to make it sync properly though, so he kinda abandoned the script. :P

EDIT: I'm so useless with Distortion guitars. :/
I'm gonna go back to Strings where my heart belongs. :3
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: atoms2ashes on June 25, 2010, 10:03:04 AM
...if only I had your skills...and knowledge of whatever program you are using.

I am stuck with FL Studio...
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Netwarrior on June 25, 2010, 09:38:27 PM
I think FL Studio is better for people that are used to work with sounds and stuff.

I recommend using a simpler program, such as Anvil Studio or Encore.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on June 26, 2010, 02:33:56 AM
...

*Girls are now recording uploading*
*Please watch warmly while you wait*
Title: Let's Update, because I'm bored.
Post by: Anunsew on June 27, 2010, 03:58:35 AM
Eden of Phantasm~Fantasy Candy  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyK4NXLCr50)
Mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/file/zmzmzmgtzmm/Fantasy Candy.mp3)

Well, it's mainly an experiment on my part. I was trying out some instrument sounds that I don't usually use (like Marimba and Violins). Still doesn't have the boss-ish feel to it though, but I'll try harder next time.

I also learned the difficulty of bad panning skills.  ???

I hope you enjoy it.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Candy...lots of it! (Candy Update)
Post by: Solais on June 27, 2010, 10:35:21 AM
Greatness.

It really doesn't sound boss-ish, more like the endings of the games. But I like it still.
(Hmm, I actually had plans to make a Meimu script too, a long ago...)
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Candy...lots of it! (Candy Update)
Post by: Anunsew on June 29, 2010, 09:09:13 AM
I still can't make variations and counter-points in melodies.

Anyway, I'll try concentrating on shorter, but more 'meatier' compositions on later works. :D

EDIT:
:O

Girls are now rendering.
...What have I done?
Title: Let's update because I'm high on Coffee
Post by: Anunsew on July 07, 2010, 08:23:08 AM
Eye of Painful Death ~ Fourth Melody  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__zJG1mauQ)

Someone requested a theme out of me via pm.
Well, here ya go. It's kinda rushed, but I think it turned out fine. I think.

Hey, I finished this on time for Tanabata! :3


Comment:
Meatier, no. Weirder, yes.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on July 27, 2010, 05:41:21 AM
Witch of Love Potion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ideKnUgHCY)

I was bored, had lot of things to do recently, so I wanted to do something that doesn't eat a lot of time. I just played around with an old midi in my USB drive.

It's Witch of Love Potion from トルテルマジック (Toruteru Majikku or Torte le Magic, rough translate--correct me if I'm wrong. XD). Stage 1 theme, the stage which features an army of flying broomsticks.

Anyway, I hope somebody likes it. ^^


EDIT:
I found an old midi and decided to play with it a little. It's a little simple, but easily my favorite track from the Touhou series.

Iris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TenQw9XmUoE)

It's Touhou 1's ending theme!   :yukkuri:
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: flamezero16 on July 27, 2010, 08:45:11 PM
Hmmm well theyre alright, but i really loved the Iris arrange. One of my favorites as well.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Netwarrior on July 27, 2010, 11:23:12 PM
I really love your version of Rin's Theme. I just can't stop listening to it on my MP3 Player again and again.

The only setback about it it's that it's too short. It has less phrases that a ZUN-made song. Just compare the number of phrases in Necrofantasia and how they're related to each other and then compare it with Rin's theme. I mean, the song is nice as hell, but it lacks the epic-ness tone of ZUN-made music. I also think that the main phrase of the song ( the chorus, somehow ) isn't used up to it's full potencial... It has a good melody and gives an certain feeling of action, and a full feeling of  "Cherry Flavored Justice", but it's too small lenghted, if compared to other epic main phrases of  ZUN's music, like Border of Life's and Reach the Moon's main phrases.

Thus, the interlude between the first and last part is just too long. As for me, I don't think it's nice for an interlude to take almost half of the song's lenght.


If you could just grant me a wish, I would be very happy. The wish is: an opera-ish rearrange of Rin's theme. A very peculiar charactristic on almost all ZUN's music is that they become unspeakebly epic when rearranged so they look like classical music or an opera.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on July 28, 2010, 05:55:02 AM
The only setback about it it's that it's too short. It has less phrases that a ZUN-made song. Just compare the number of phrases in Necrofantasia and how they're related to each other and then compare it with Rin's theme. I mean, the song is nice as hell, but it lacks the epic-ness tone of ZUN-made music. I also think that the main phrase of the song ( the chorus, somehow ) isn't used up to it's full potencial... It has a good melody and gives an certain feeling of action, and a full feeling of  "Cherry Flavored Justice", but it's too small lenghted, if compared to other epic main phrases of  ZUN's music, like Border of Life's and Reach the Moon's main phrases.

Thus, the interlude between the first and last part is just too long. As for me, I don't think it's nice for an interlude to take almost half of the song's lenght.

I'm not too good with melodies, especially since I'm still inexperienced (I'm not kidding when I say that I have no musical background whatsoever). I'm trying to learn faster though, and that's what occupying most of my time right now.

As for the interlude, I made it that way so I can add melodies when I learn better melodic patterns. It's just a string of broken chords, just like what ZUN's baseline often sounds like. XD


If you could just grant me a wish, I would be very happy. The wish is: an opera-ish rearrange of Rin's theme. A very peculiar charactristic on almost all ZUN's music is that they become unspeakebly epic when rearranged so they look like classical music or an opera.

Opera-ish...I'll get to that level someday.  :3
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs--er..., right.
Post by: Anunsew on August 10, 2010, 11:10:56 AM
穢れ亡き夢 ~ Ethereal Mind  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ4ZuJK2oVU)

BelisariaYagami requested a theme for a fanmade character named Belisaria Yagami (eh~?), so I came to deliver (after weeks of musical salt blocks).

If you're not familiar with her (like me~it's like OCs are sprouting everywhere)

This one sounds a little bit different, maybe I'm learning? I still have a long way to go.

Seriously though, I hope somebody enjoys it.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: flamezero16 on August 10, 2010, 09:11:31 PM
Well that kid ya wrote it for seems to like it quite a bit, so id call it a success! Hey amigo, im thinkin of coverin your Cherry Flavored Justice at some point. Do I have your permission?
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 11, 2010, 04:15:45 AM
Hey amigo, im thinkin of coverin your Cherry Flavored Justice at some point. Do I have your permission?

Sure, that's why I wrote it in the first place~
~so that someone can make a better version of Rin's theme. XD

Better hurry up though, I'm remastering it too. XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: flamezero16 on August 11, 2010, 11:07:18 AM
Haha oh? Well ill prolly cover the original in any case. Ill add it to the queue~
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Netwarrior on August 11, 2010, 08:18:34 PM
I'm learning to use Fruity Loops ( FL Studio ) so I can make music, too.

Well, FL is quite easy to use. But I can't make a single music in it because I'm completely hopeless on music composing. I kinda can't think on a melody in my head...


So, Anunsew, I want to know how is the creative process of your music composing. How do you create a melody? Do you use any inspiration?

I think my question is a bit vague... I'll wait for your response.


Thus, I'll try to rearrange Rin's Theme on FL, as well as adding some addornments I think that might fit, and also trimming the interlude to make the music more dynamic.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 12, 2010, 02:42:53 AM
Well, FL is quite easy to use. But I can't make a single music in it because I'm completely hopeless on music composing. I kinda can't think on a melody in my head...
I don't use FL Studio for composing. I use it mainly for mixing and editing because it's easier to use for that purpose, and also because my notation software can't handle VSTi and Soundfonts.

I use Notation Composer for creating the melodies, because I'm more used to looking at piano sheets instead of piano roll.

So, Anunsew, I want to know how is the creative process of your music composing. How do you create a melody? Do you use any inspiration?
It's kind of a hit and miss thing. I usually make a short (hardly 5 seconds long) melodic movement. I make a couple of them and then pick out the ones that sound good. Then I just add chords.

If you think about it, it's like sketching stick figures on a piece of paper. You make dozens of them everyday, but less than a tenth of them ever makes it past the sketchy stage.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on August 18, 2010, 04:48:13 AM
You're recording them, right? This might not be big of a deal, but?
The volume of recording is too loud that instruments that reach and exceed peak allowable volume becomes BOOMie, which "clips" the loud part exceeding the peak volume of that instrument, not to mention its sound quality at that volume.
Eh, I'm not saying you have to change the volumes of each instrument from the composition -- they're all good. Just the recording volume itself.

It was obstructing with the rest of my playlist because of its loud volume, so I thought I kinda had to bring this up.

Meanwhile?
/me also spreads Love around

Also, Luna Child avvie! +Love! >w<
/me adds -huggles-
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 20, 2010, 05:40:49 AM
You're recording them, right? This might not be big of a deal, but?
The volume of recording is too loud that instruments that reach and exceed peak allowable volume becomes BOOMie, which "clips" the loud part exceeding the peak volume of that instrument, not to mention its sound quality at that volume.
Eh, I'm not saying you have to change the volumes of each instrument from the composition -- they're all good. Just the recording volume itself.

It was obstructing with the rest of my playlist because of its loud volume, so I thought I kinda had to bring this up.
*is guilty*
Truth to tell, I'm still figuring out how to avoid that.

Meanwhile?
/me also spreads Love around

Also, Luna Child avvie! +Love! >w<
/me adds -huggles-
Thanks! XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 22, 2010, 04:23:10 AM
Rumia Laughs in the Night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRdwMN7PTE4)

Probably a futile attempt at remixing.
Oh well. I just need more coffee anyway.

Guess how long this one took to make.  :ohdear:
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Mushyrulez on August 24, 2010, 10:54:54 PM
IMO Ending was a bit... inconclusive? OH WAIT IT LOOPS :V


Yeah, brilliant alternations between ta piano-thing and ta sorta-windish-things (forgive my lack of musical terminology :/), and ta unifying ending was good too, though it wasn't as... climatic as I thought it would've been. :Z
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 25, 2010, 04:31:23 AM
IMO Ending was a bit... inconclusive? OH WAIT IT LOOPS :V


Yeah, brilliant alternations between ta piano-thing and ta sorta-windish-things (forgive my lack of musical terminology :/), and ta unifying ending was good too, though it wasn't as... climatic as I thought it would've been. :Z

It was a bit too light, I guess.

If it helps, the windish things were Blown Bottles. The original version of Apparitions (The EoSD midi: th06_03.mid) had one in it too, I just emphasized it to experiment if it would sound good as the main instrument.  : D


In another note, I haven't realized that I've been mixing in only one channel until today.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on August 26, 2010, 07:21:51 AM
A little late, but
*is guilty*
Truth to tell, I'm still figuring out how to avoid that.
This page (http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recording_levels) explains how to adjust recording level, and how to monitor if recorded sound is clipped.
Or to put it simply, you can adjust the level of recording with this slider: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/Chococloud/RecordingVolumeSlider.png)

In another note, I haven't realized that I've been mixing in only one channel until today.
That means stereo goodness for the next music upload. Yay!
What about the others though? :<
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 28, 2010, 05:12:39 AM
A little late, but This page (http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recording_levels) explains how to adjust recording level, and how to monitor if recorded sound is clipped.
Or to put it simply, you can adjust the level of recording with this slider: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v380/Chococloud/RecordingVolumeSlider.png)
Thanks!

So I only have to watch make sure that the Peak Meter doesn't reach maximum level at any time.

That means stereo goodness for the next music upload. Yay!
What about the others though? :<
To put it this way, I've been making compositions in stereo, but I've always edited them within one mixer channel. I wonder if editing them in multiple mixers would make a huge difference though.

By the way, I'm studying your UFO venture Midi~
Your midi upload is much appreciated. XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on August 28, 2010, 09:22:42 AM
Thanks!

So I only have to watch make sure that the Peak Meter doesn't reach maximum level at any time.

To put it this way, I've been making compositions in stereo, but I've always edited them within one mixer channel. I wonder if editing them in multiple mixers would make a huge difference though.

By the way, I'm studying your UFO venture Midi~
Your midi upload is much appreciated. XD
Aaaah, I think you still could, only if it exceeds on slight instances. Well, that's what I do, anyway.

Ack, I knew I kinda misunderstood it :x
Listened to the mp3s again at home, figured they were stereo already.

Figured it'd be nice to upload the midi for those analyzing notes and stuff.
You're very much welcome~ |3
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on August 29, 2010, 01:42:33 AM
I'm not just analyzing the notes though. I'm also looking at the midi controllers, panning, volume, note velocities...

XD

But mostly the notes. :D
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on August 31, 2010, 07:42:06 AM
MIDI controllers and Note velocities are stuff I have little idea about or have no control over yet, so you might not get something like that from it :ohdear:
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 02, 2010, 02:56:01 AM
Well, I do know that the default Note Velocity on your sequencer is 64.
Mine is 96. XD

All your panning values are set to 63, Mono.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 08, 2010, 06:11:24 AM
The Oni of Raijin~A Striking Black Op in the Clouds of Darkness!  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwDpVKvr6E)

Yay, another upload!
This was in answer to a request from a youtube user, MikiMikiDouga.

This is kinda iffy though, but I hope you like it. XD

EDIT:
Re-uploaded with a higher quality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRXu83fPyT4
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Mushyrulez on September 10, 2010, 03:00:12 AM
I just sound like an ignorant n00b now, but what are the percussion instruments? :V



(I can tell very, very obvious Ghostly Band vibes from that piece, BTW; great nevertheless, though I can't really tell ta main melody (or it sounds too weird to remember properly, no offense or anything :/))
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 10, 2010, 04:31:38 AM
BTW; great nevertheless, though I can't really tell ta main melody (or it sounds too weird to remember properly, no offense or anything :/))

It's because I stupidly uploaded it at Telephone Quality. I'm a geeenius.~

I re-uploaded it with better quality. ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRXu83fPyT4

I just sound like an ignorant n00b now, but what are the percussion instruments? :V

I used the THDrum.sf2 drumkit, Patch 9 (Room).
I found it from Drake's Post (Reply#17) in this thread:
http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,4055.msg207043.html#msg207043

I don't recommend the THinst soundfont though, but the drums are good.

The way I used it doesn't sound human-ish though. There are times when you'd need three hands to do it with real drums. >.<
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 10, 2010, 06:11:48 AM
Ever since Sercan told me that my Distortion guitar sound wasn't distortion guitar-ish, I've embarked on a quest to get a good Guitar sound.
(http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/641/52855842.th.png) (http://img217.imageshack.us/i/52855842.png/)

What I had before--sample (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/gitarss.mp3)
What I can work with--sample (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/hawaiian%20sample.mp3)
What I got after messing with knobs and dials in FL using the sample above--sample (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/as.mp3)

Anunsew is happy. :)

Maybe I should start treating FL as more than a Piano roll composer/Soundfont application...

Regardless, I'm gonna use this sample for my next work~ XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Infy♫ on September 10, 2010, 09:36:04 PM
delicious!
damn, it seems people actually follow my advice
*is very happy*
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 12, 2010, 12:45:53 AM
Well, it was good advice, so...
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 16, 2010, 06:40:39 AM
Because Children's Hearts are Purer, Their Wrath is Wilder ~ Second Lachrymose Rose  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ndE2ZzSus)
Download (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Second%20Lachrymose%20Rose%20%281%29.mp3)

An answer to a request by a fellow MoTK user, Coin Spire.

If Melody needs Love, this piece has the opposite. -_-

If you total up my frustrations, my anger and all my negativeness, this is probably what you'd get. XD


EDIT:
Added download links for Aiki and Shiku at the front page.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on September 17, 2010, 06:58:09 AM
See, that's what I love and envy about you and the others -- you can compose those constant-paced nicely-sounded 16th-note melodies! ;_; You guys are sooo cool~

Second Lachrymose Rose
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 18, 2010, 03:07:08 AM
Yeah, I think it's too repetitive too, but melodies are my greatest weakness. >.<

I prefer long glissandos myself, like "Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17" over conventional melodies, but they are harder to do in a multiple movement.

@TOO LOUD
Because I have sucky stereo headphones whose right ear never works. I do have to remember to bring down the volume in my next piece though, thanks for reminding me. XD

@Exhaustingness
It was designed to do that. Coin Spire specifically said "Make the piece annoying and distracting, so that when the danmaku comes, the player will go "OH SHIT THEY'RE COMING RUN!"


@no boomie
Thank you for giving me the tip about the recording thingie.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 26, 2010, 05:08:43 AM
Vanishing Dream re-arrange
Lost Dream, Broken Dream (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/lost.mp3)

I was bored, uninspired, and itching for some salty things.
Anyway, I think it turned out okay...the scratch/static sounds were samples I found from a website dedicated to those.
XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: flamezero16 on September 26, 2010, 03:13:22 PM
Oooooh very well done. Almost didnt know what ya were referrin too by static till I got to the end of the song. Definitely need more PC-98 arranges XD

 Good job Anny~
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 27, 2010, 04:46:19 AM
There was a vinyl drop sound at the beginning, though it may have been mistaken for a recording accident. >.<

I like PC98 themes. :3
I always listen to them whenever I'm uninspired.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs Love, again!...lots of it!
Post by: Anunsew on September 29, 2010, 03:18:21 AM
Lost Dream, Broken Dream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJqVXbqo8UQ)
Youtube link.

Wow, I'm so lazy I forgot to add the Youtube link here for two days. >.<


Music Box for the Sleeping Queen (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Music%20Box%20for%20the%20Sleeping%20Queen.mp3)
Midi (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Orgel%20for%20the%20queen.mid)
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xVEXJxvRbs)

...A music box, huh. -_-
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs random things that start with L!!...L!!!
Post by: Anunsew on October 02, 2010, 08:41:09 AM
Tabula Rasa ~ Silky White Paper  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opepdz3OWCM)

It's Ellen's theme! :3
It wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but I hope somebody likes it, heh.

Squeaky stuff are edited Vibraphones. Also experimenting with the trumpets, but who cares about that

I really like PoDD themes. They really stand out from the PC98 era. XD

Will post mp3 link later. >.<
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs random things that start with L!!...L!!!
Post by: Anunsew on October 06, 2010, 11:48:38 AM
Another requested OC theme:
Reversed Looking Glass ~ Stopping the Tides  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j32VZxiNk6E)

Honky Tonk piano + Pan Flutes = Love.

Ithink it's still sloppy, and I have a long way to go. A re~~~ally long way.
Still, I'm getting better (not really) at making original themes. Original compositions are a different league with remixes and rearranges.
On another note though, junk pianos is surprisingly a resilient instrument, and very reliable for melodies...

Is it just me, or my themes are getting darker?
Anyway, I'm pretty much done today. Fasting for eight hours is not healthy. (Skipped lunch and is about to skip dinner, ugh the disadvantage of using a rented PC)

Hooray!

Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs random things that start with L!!...L!!!
Post by: Anunsew on October 07, 2010, 03:17:43 AM
Another requested OC theme:
Reversed Looking Glass ~ Stopping the Tides  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j32VZxiNk6E)

Re-uploaded with Higher Quality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVt2UPuuMKM

Mp3:
Reversed Looking Glass ~ Stopping the Tides (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Reversed%20Looking%20Glass.mp3)
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs skipping random meals because we LOVE IT!
Post by: Anunsew on October 13, 2010, 08:36:05 AM
Lost Dream, Broken Dream (Remix)  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INXats2cGoA)
A remix of my re-arrange. Sounds a little clearer, but I still can't control many of the Midi effects, like reverb and chorus. I can barely handle Limiters as well. >.<
And it doesn't sound shmup-ish.
Grr.
I wouldn't be doing this if I'm not in love with her theme. >.<
Also, replaced the first post links to this one.

U.N. Owen Fidelity Mix (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/un.mp3)
This was a direct rip from EoSD Midi then got plastered on by my usual soundfonts. I just wanted to test them soundfonts on this before I mix it. Truth be told, I like the part when the violin goes "gweeeeh~" just before the chorus (0:28 and 1:37).
(http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1355/44442440.th.png) (http://img89.imageshack.us/i/44442440.png/)
The original used distortion guitars, but my D.Gitah sounds bad. :(

Frankly, I like the midi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGnQwfBWE6Q) version of U.N. Owen than the wav (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIop055eJhU) version. But of course, anything is better than this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssh71hePR8Q).

And if you clicked the last link, may your soul rest in eternal peace.

*Notices the 1300+ views*
wat
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Infy♫ on October 13, 2010, 02:06:56 PM
I see you remixed it already... you're fast :O
sounds more like an instrument swap and modulation though.not that thats something bad! a remix would be when you also put heavy drum samples behind the song:O
to be honest i like the original more.
the EPs drown out the harpsichord, and the general sound quality has dropped. those wind sfx might also be a little too repetitive, in the end. and loud.
the ending of the original arrange felt very nostalgic to me, probably due to those extra EPs/synths (what are they?) you added there. and the sound effects kinda kill it here.
try random things and keep what you like, thats what i did with my arrangement of the song.

i got a question though, are you using ZUN's MIDIs for (at least a part of) this song?
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Marin The Magus on October 14, 2010, 12:48:00 AM
I LOVE EVERYTHING YOU DOO~~
Everything's really well done, and you managed to give the songs the same feeling they had but with your own essence (by matters of speaking, of course)
The music box for the sleeping princess was....too beautiful for words to even be able to describe it~~
And Kana's theme remix is...well... the same as above! xD I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally liked it (As everything else xD) And I think that the original song is great (and should have more remixes ??) but that you made even a greater song :D
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on October 14, 2010, 01:04:48 AM
you're fast :O
I have to be, or else I'll never finish it. I have the attention span of a kid with ADHD on caffeine. :p

to be honest i like the original more.
The original is less muffled than this, with peak sounds at -2db, which means less distortion.
It's because of the sample saturation. I'm trying to reduce saturation while maintaining the 12 samples at just under peak level.

the EPs drown out the harpsichord, and the general sound quality has dropped. those wind sfx might also be a little too repetitive, in the end. and loud.
the ending of the original arrange felt very nostalgic to me, probably due to those extra EPs/synths (what are they?) you added there. and the sound effects kinda kill it here.
It's Honky tonk piano, actually. Quality drops because of over-peak recordings and bad Audio Compression in my part. It sucked the dynamics (the first one had a dynamic range of 4, this one only had 1). I didn't realize that the sfx was overpowering because of my mono headphones, I only had faders as my clues on how they really sound.

It's Slap Bass.

try random things and keep what you like, thats what i did with my arrangement of the song.
I'll try maintaining everything at -10db (except the Master track) next time. Yes, I am remixing this remix as we speak. Anunsew works hard, Anunsew needs to learn fast. Good thing your remix provides an ample example of what I should do. :3

i got a question though, are you using ZUN's MIDIs for (at least a part of) this song?
Yes. I don't intend to make money from this though, so I hope ZUN doesn't go after my soul.
But my soundfonts sounds -really- bad at normal levels (at default midi levels) that I have to crash course audio mixing. If I get around to mastering the techniques, I could consider a job at a recording studio. XD

Okay, time to work. Will post a cleaner version of Lost Dream later. XD
EDIT:
I didn't know I could use stereo seperation as a workaround. Google is amazing.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on October 14, 2010, 09:13:36 AM
Here's another try at Kana's theme (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/lost%20dream%2C%20broken%20dream%20%281%29.mp3)
It still half-baked though, but it sounds a lot better than my first two tries.

I realized that my main mistake is over compression which sucks the peaks and falls of the song.

Now, if I only know how to create an auditorium effect to it, then I would be happier. :)
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Alfred F. Jones on October 14, 2010, 11:54:04 PM
Hey.

You know what? Your music is excellent.

One day, I want to make a separate Resident Artist tag for the musicians. Like, Resident Rocker, and it has :dragonforce: in it instead of :*. It's more fitting, somehow.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on October 29, 2010, 02:51:28 AM
Girl's Magical Crusade  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdIx55RlhKI)
My first Seihou arrange. :3 And it's Erich's theme!

YAY OLD MAN!

It's really short, barely one loop of the original, but it's more of an experiment anyway. XD
Been experimenting much since I last posted. XD

Hey.

You know what? Your music is excellent.
Thanks! It's those thumbs up that keeps me going. XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Infy♫ on October 29, 2010, 09:34:56 AM
...why do you always arrange stuff i have listened for hours just before you post it

you should put more of yourself in these arranges. currently they're just instrument swaps, or at least it sounds like that to me :O
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on October 30, 2010, 08:23:18 AM
Hina, Will You Please Help Me?  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uaszus9VukI)
A mix of Hina's theme...with Gyges, Will you Please Help Me? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWQDTkjwfr4)
It's from a pretty old shmup called Tyrian (dates even before TH02-SoEW).

Lost Dream, Broken Dream (Final) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FdS3LVucTc)
Final clean-up, really took me a while. It sounds a lot clearer now, and does not "boom" at loud parts. :3
I really need to get my act fixed. :[


...why do you always arrange stuff i have listened for hours just before you post it

you should put more of yourself in these arranges. currently they're just instrument swaps, or at least it sounds like that to me :O

XD
Maybe, that's just how I am. :P

Though I'll try to make original sounding arranges from time to time.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Teewee on October 30, 2010, 12:22:04 PM
You're amazing, anunsew! That music is just incredibly euphoric to my ears :D My favorite one so far is your Rin Satsuki's theme. I am not a very good music critic, so I can't offer any constructive criticism unfortunately.  But keep up the good work ^^b
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on November 12, 2010, 03:18:18 AM
A draft:

UN Owen (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/un.mp3)

Wow, my first try on making a mix sound like Rock, or something.
It's still a little jumbled, I'm going to clean it a little bit more before posting a youtube link.
I can't believe it took me almost three weeks just to get it to sound like this. :P
...I really need to stop listening to that clown...

And, uh...many thanks to Coin Spire. He should know why. XD
Whisper samples (around 1:20~ish onwards) are from thanvanispen (freesounds.org).

EDIT: around 2 hours later

Ninja reupload, hah!
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on November 13, 2010, 09:21:57 AM
Final mix of the above mix. Yes, mixing a mix is now my favorite past time.
Tea Breaks (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Tea%20Breaks.mp3)

Whisper samples (around 1:20~ish onwards) are from thanvanispen (freesounds.org).
Laughter samples are from NoiseCollector (freesounds.org).

Woosh~
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on November 18, 2010, 02:16:22 AM
Different Shades of Autumn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEnixXPgsU)

Tracks:
Track: 神々が恋した幻想郷 (TH10~Mountain of Faith)
Artist: ZUN
Time: 0:00~0:20/1:07~1:33
Instruments:
Flute, padded with String Ensemble
Mandolin. It's a mandolin, not a harpsichord dammit.

Track:【 蓬莱幻想 ~ far East 】(☆その他の作品~ZUN's Strange Works)
Artist: ZUN
Time: 0:21~ 1:06/4:06~end
Instruments:
Unfiltered Acoustic Grand Piano (UAGP)...I mean, I had to add noise to make it sound more reverby.
String Ensemble for padding

Track: 稲田姫様に叱られるから(TH10~Mountain of Faith)
Artist: ZUN
Time: 1:33~2:17
Instruments:
Drums, doh.
UAGP padded by Acoustic Bass, but it's hard to hear.
Violin
Romantic Trumpet
Brass Trumpet

Track: 芥川龍之介の河童 ~ Candid Friend (TH10~Mountain of Faith)
Artist: ZUN
Time: 2:18~2:57
Instruments:
Pad (warm)...maybe I should start calling them Sakuy--‚?‚?‚?‚?‚?‚?‚?‚?�B“–�_Ž?‚?�_Ž?‚?‚ ‚?‚y‚t‚m�?�?‚??ƒf�[ƒ^‚?“WŽ?‚?‚?‚ ‚?‚?‚?�B*connection has timed out*
Romantic Trumpet
Brass Trumpet
Drums

Track: 人恋し神様 ~ Romantic Fall (TH10~Mountain of Faith)
Artist: ZUN
Time: 2:57~4:05
Instruments:
Microsoft Acoustic Grand Piano + reverb
Drums



Yay, a youtube at last!
I really hate uploading. It's too slow/my patience cannot cope with the wait. XD

Uh...since I've been using THFont and THDrums for as long as I can remember, I should take this opportunity to thank Drake for providing the link for THFont and THDrums, it really helped a lot. :3



_______________________________________________

Tea Breaks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRW2WMhyE4M)

Me playing around with instruments, haha~
It was fun, but I guess I know my limits when it comes to heavy instruments now. XD
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Romantique Tp on November 18, 2010, 03:18:09 AM
Different Shades of Autumn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEnixXPgsU)
That sounds pretty good, specially considering some of the problems that THFont has. Good job on that.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on November 18, 2010, 03:24:22 AM
That sounds pretty good, specially considering some of the problems that THFont has. Good job on that.

THFont's problems makes mixing a little more challenging and masochistic. :D

I do wonder why the Pan Flute's F7, F8, and F9 all sound off-pitch. I mean, it sounds normal at other pitches. : /
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Ubiquitial on November 18, 2010, 03:44:00 AM
THFont's problems makes mixing a little more challenging and masochistic. :D

I do wonder why the Pan Flute's F7, F8, and F9 all sound off-pitch. I mean, it sounds normal at other pitches. : /

What program u use?
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on November 18, 2010, 03:51:37 AM
What program u use?

FL Studio 9
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Infy♫ on November 18, 2010, 04:03:02 PM
i think some instruments are programmed to act like that.
or the finetuning isnt correct.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on November 24, 2010, 12:19:18 PM
Beware of yet another wall of text from me :ohdear:
Anunsew, when quoting from my post (or anyone in the future, perhaps), you could make quoting easier by having a separate Firefox tab for the quote itself and one for your reply... Well, that's one way for me to ease copy-pasting quotes anyway. I'm worried you might do this (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6884.msg447636.html#msg447636) again and spend more time fixing the post that should've been spent elsewhere while you still have renting time.

Eye of Painful Death ~ Fourth Melody... Anunsew, did you happen to have an experience with ghosts? Because I'm feeling I'm being haunted when I listened to it o_o;; (probably Distortion Guitar or something else distortion-like instrument at fault, but fault not in a "mistake" way)
Also, this is another remix and not an original, I feel? Parts of the piece sounds like a track I've listened to once and never again yet... Oh wait, nevermind, that was the preview samples of the Distortion guitar you provided (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6378.msg435553.html#msg435553), aheheh ^^;; (getting the new music I've been hearing everyday all mixed up :ohdear:)



Quote from: Anunsew
I have the attention span of a kid with ADHD on caffeine. :p
Huh, that must explain "Coffee beans, coffee beans, COFFEE BEANS!!!!" xD
Though really, I admire you for your fast-paced yet quality work! >w<

I noticed, though, that your recent musical pieces are......... I dunno, they make me computer-dizzy or something @___@...unless it's made to be that.

Quote from: Anunsew
Uh...since I've been using THFont and THDrums for as long as I can remember, I should take this opportunity to thank Drake for providing the link for THFont and THDrums, it really helped a lot. :3
Indeed! Thank you for thanking Drake~ =w=
Hnn... Since I've burned off a few space in my harddrive, might as well try that soundfont sometimes, see what awesomeness I could make from it =w=. Also, because I want to hear what these "problems" you speak of are -- I definitely don't hear them in the finished product.

I think Drake didn't just "link" these soundfonts; they're also made by Drake himself :3... Well, that's how I understood Drake's post.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Ubiquitial on November 24, 2010, 04:08:11 PM
FL Studio 9

Try Reason. And if you use a Mac, Logic.
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs watching McRoll because we...er...never mind.
Post by: Anunsew on November 26, 2010, 04:09:50 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shattered Fleur de Lis (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Iris.mp3)
Uploaded the final version of my second Iris remix. I really love this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzYNAMeHjsg) theme. And the bad ending. XD

Why does THFont HonkyTonk Piano sound like it came from an FM synth? It sounds so moe~

And I've decided that the Flute will be my favorite weapon of choice (aside from drums--drums are moe) in my upcoming battles. XD
It sounds so airy~
I had fun adjusting the pitchbend around 0:48. Weird sounds are fun. :3
I also discovered recently that I have become addicted to watching sample waveforms. :P
~~~~~~~~~~~~


Eye of Painful Death ~ Fourth Melody... Anunsew, did you happen to have an experience with ghosts? Because I'm feeling I'm being haunted when I listened to it o_o;; (probably Distortion Guitar or something else distortion-like instrument at fault, but fault not in a "mistake" way)
Can't say I've had any hauntings recently. On a serious note, I didn't use any distortion guitars in the original one.
It's probably the Romantic trumpets, I added portamento effects on it, making it sound overdriven.
Also, this is another remix and not an original, I feel? Parts of the piece sounds like a track I've listened to once and never again yet... Oh wait, nevermind, that was the preview samples of the Distortion guitar you provided (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6378.msg435553.html#msg435553), aheheh ^^;; (getting the new music I've been hearing everyday all mixed up :ohdear:)
Shiku's theme is an original. Parts of it (mainly the chords and the double descension) came from this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhvngnJmoNs) but you've probably guessed by now. XD
...delicious drums....~
I noticed, though, that your recent musical pieces are......... I dunno, they make me computer-dizzy or something @___@...unless it's made to be that.
Er...is that a good thing, or bad?
Indeed! Thank you for thanking Drake~ =w=
Hnn... Since I've burned off a few space in my harddrive, might as well try that soundfont sometimes, see what awesomeness I could make from it =w=. Also, because I want to hear what these "problems" you speak of are -- I definitely don't hear them in the finished product.

I think Drake didn't just "link" these soundfonts; they're also made by Drake himself :3... Well, that's how I understood Drake's post.
If that's the case he did a good job out of it, despite what he says about THFont. :P

Try Reason. And if you use a Mac, Logic.
Is there a difference between them and FL? I'm the kind of person who sticks to the same "instrument" (being, my studio mixer program). And I really like FL being an all around program, though I've never sequenced in it. Piano roll just isn't for me, and I prefer notation sequencing then attack/release editing afterwards.


Title: Far East Hourai Illusion
Post by: Anunsew on November 30, 2010, 08:06:00 AM
Far East Hourai Illusion (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/fehourai.mp3)

A mix of Hourai Illusion ~ Far East, the sixth track of ☆その他の作品 ~ ZUN's Strange Works. I've had a certain affinity for this song for some time now. -_-
Title: Re: [Music] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!!
Post by: Anunsew on December 05, 2010, 03:48:01 AM
Another original:

Quick, Precise, Stalking Death (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Quick%2C%20Precise%2C%20Stalking%20Death.mp3)
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bibPdrRwS58)
Midi means low quality synths (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13801415/mikidump.mid) (may contain slight differences from the mp3 and Youtube versions)
Requested by: ninjaloser602 from Youtube
Midi fix and refix by: NamelessLegacy



It sounds better than my first few originals, I think.
Well, it does sound different. :3

Details:
Anyway, the intro riff (0~0:19) is based from Marisa's Casket of Stars from TH04~
At least, the idea for the square bass line is. :/

The main melody (0:20~0:32)...although I don't know where I got it from, I tried mixing THfont's trumpets (both Romantic and Brass) a little different from my other tries. It sounds a little bit richer now.

I composed two bass lines for this piece, one for the Slap Bass (whole notes and eighths), and the other one for the Square Wave (eighths and sixteenths).

The main padding was Strings (as usual) playing whole bars throughout the whole piece. Also, you might also notice Saw waves playing long chords scattered all over the place.

The drum (THDrum, actually) was a simple 8 beat pattern, so nothing much to say about it.

Vibraphones (from 0:57 onwards) are padded with UAGP (Unfiltered Acoustic Grand Piano, a fancy name I gave for THFont's Acoustic Piano after I apply some mixing to it.

Also, you might notice that I did not apply looping fade this time. I think it sounds more final if I cut it at the last bar instead. However, if ever it was made to loop, it would loop back to 0:57, thus the intro up to 0:56 will only be played once.

The composition itself is arranged:
(0:00 ~ 0:19) Intro
(0:20 ~ 0:31) First Chorus (Slap Bass playing whole notes)
(0:32 ~ 0:44) Full Chorus (Slap Bass playing eighths)
(0:45 ~ 0:56) Chorus Variation (Unvaried Finish)
(0:57 ~ 1:10) First Bridge
(1:11 ~ 1:28) First Verse
(1:29 ~ 1:46) First Verse Variation
(1:47 ~ 2:00) Second Bridge (Vibraphone playing an octave higher)
(2:01 ~ 2:13) Full Chorus
(2:14 ~ 2:28) Chorus Variation (Varied Finish)
(2:29 ~ 2:59)  Second Verse
(3:00 ~ 3:13) Second Bridge
(3:14 ~ 3:26) Full Chorus
(3:27 ~ 3:40) Chorus Variation (Varied Finish)
(3:41 ~ 3:53) Full Chorus Modulated
(3:54 ~ 4:10) Chorus Variation Modulated (Varied Finish)

...well, it's the first theme I ever did that had any sort of planning, so I'm quite proud of it. XD

*Anunsew stretches*
Time to make another Rin Satsuki theme.
I think I'm ready. XD

I wonder if I can get it done by December 12 though
Title: Man, I'm starving for something sweet
Post by: Anunsew on December 11, 2010, 01:15:30 PM
Yay, it's already a year after my first composition. XD

To celebrate, I decided to make another Rin Satsuki theme.

Penetrating Flame of Justice (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Rin%20Satsuki.mp3)

I based it off more on my first composition (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni9Gkl2g5is) from a year ago. My present piece is more of a testimonial of what I've been through since I decided to take up composing. It may not be as great as some of my earlier works, but I could say that this is the theme I've worked the hardest on so far.

And fastest too, considering I usually take 2-3 weeks between projects. :P
Heck, it's not even a week after I finished Miki's theme. XD

Well, the differences are obvious, but two things remains the same.
I love Touhou. And I suck at melodies. >.<

Why can't compositions be all bassline and drums? :/


Gonna upload it on Youtube tomorrow~
Hehe~
Title: Because Rin Satsuki needs more themes
Post by: Anunsew on December 12, 2010, 02:11:29 AM
The Penetrating Flame of Justice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFYx0mElPsc)

A Youtube, at last.

(http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/6994/rinsj.th.jpg) (http://img696.imageshack.us/i/rinsj.jpg/)
Woah, I can see the spiral bookbinder at the top. O_o

Image was drawn by me, with a mechanical pencil, a 0.5 mm local ballpen, and a box of crayons.
Crayons are win.

Thank you, Internet.
And curse you, Coin Spire, for condemning me to an eternity without afternoon naps.
I hope you run out of sugar for your tea. >.<
Title: Nantouhou is Non-touhou!
Post by: Anunsew on December 16, 2010, 05:31:14 AM
Non touhou related. You've been warned.

Maligayang Pasko at Masaganang Bagong Taon / Ang Pasko ay Sumapit / Christmas Has Arrived (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcmunen5eXQ)

Unless you're acquainted with Filipino culture, I doubt you'd know this song. It's a traditional Christmas song played in our country. This song was first composed in the Cebuano dialect, under the title "Kasadya ning takna-a", but it became famous under Levi Celerio's version. I don't know much about the history of this song (what a patriotic thing to say), so better do your own research if you're interested.

Regardless, it's a song played every year in the Philippines ever since it gained fame as a Christmas song since 1950s.

This arrange, (actually more of an experiment on my part; this is the first time I tried composing strictly in piano roll--I usually use standard notation in all of my arranges before) was supposed to be in the style of a marching band, hence the loud drum lines...but how the heck will the piano fit in a marching band?

Strictly speaking, this is my first track that doesn't have anything to do with ZUN, except for the fact that I only used THfont and Thdrums in making this...

Still, even it's not Touhou related (It's Non-touhou because it's Nantouhou! Hahaha!...Nobody got the pun, I'm sure of it.), I hope you enjoy it all the same.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! Fortified with more Art!!
Post by: Uwa on December 19, 2010, 03:42:41 AM
Ah, how nostalgic! I hear this sometimes over at my family-friends' Christmas gatherings whilst engulfed by the scent of...lumpia. I'm not a music specialist or anything, but it's a refreshing take.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! Fortified with more Art!!
Post by: Anunsew on December 20, 2010, 05:42:42 AM
...lumpia.

:D

Shanghai? It's a classic. :P
Title: Another Art thingy
Post by: Anunsew on January 06, 2011, 07:47:31 AM
A Remilia art by me~

(http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3323/picture002ifc.th.jpg) (http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3323/picture002ifc.jpg)

Tried drawing a different costume (making costume concepts is my pride when it comes to drawing :3), but I guess it ended up lowering her charisma in exchange for moe~ >.<


Hmm, color pencils are way better than crayons. But it still offers me limited color dynamics and shading. Heck, it's so hard to color the skin since I must color it with an orange pencil with an ever so light touch~ (I have no idea what I'm talking about, btw~)
Maybe I just lack experience. :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! BWAHAHAH!
Post by: flamezero16 on January 06, 2011, 06:00:41 PM
Daaaaw shucks thats adorable  :3 Well done Anny~
Title: DSoA
Post by: Anunsew on January 11, 2011, 03:23:26 AM
Decided to put this up here in case my removable drive fails, and also for future reference:
Different Shades of Autumn.flp (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/dsoa.flp)


Notes:
This was rendered in FL Studio 9 using 6-point hermite at 44100hz, and it would sound best (I think), in those settings.
If played inside directly inside FL, it might cause cracking sounds due to the CPU stress that multiple plugins use (at least, it does in FL 9 in my current PC).
It has 25 audio tracks. The following are needed for normal playback:
Fruity SoundFont player
Fruity LSD (with FL studio's built-in Roland GM/GS soundset)
thfont.sf2
thdrums.sf2


A drum line mp3, professing my undying love for THdrums. XD
yay! (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/i%20love%20thdrums.mp3)
Of all the instruments in the TH sound set, I love the drums the best. XD
...although I'm a bit aware that there are only a few people who might even be interested in drums...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! BWAHAHAH!
Post by: Infy♫ on January 12, 2011, 06:12:10 PM
hey. you just made 90% of a trance song. i like it.
also, should I make sumthin like this too, some time?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! BWAHAHAH!
Post by: Anunsew on January 13, 2011, 01:09:03 AM
hey. you just made 90% of a trance song. i like it.
also, should I make sumthin like this too, some time?

Are you talking about the drums?
It's actually the drumline of this:
And Thou Shalt Be Judged ~ Violet Reparation (http://www.mediafire.com/?842ehjg5yp5j0rc)
I was meaning to post it a day ago, but I was too lazy ~
That's the TR-909 patch of thdrums~ I just love the way it sounds.



東方 異世門 (Eastern Otherworldly Gate)  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6907.0.html) Tracks
Track 1:
A Usual Day ~ Serene Orient (http://www.mediafire.com/file/yvp4brydrya4tab/A%20Usual%20Day%7ESerene%20Orient.mp3)

Requester's comment:
^Touhou Iseibon theme. A usual day in Gensokyo. But there is always the chance that there will be an incident to interrupt that peace. So this is a theme that makes you recognize the tranquility in the land, but at  the same time makes you expect the worst. Wow, isn't that some kind of paradox?

Comment:
A usual day in an oriental land. However, across every corner of the road, there's always an off chance that you might encounter something unusual. The theme is fairly repetitive, since it's a usual day--however, it is not altogether relaxed as it start to open up in the middle of the track, because you know that in Gensokyo, anything can happen in a blink of an eye.

My first try at hard loops...and a theme that uses less than eight instruments.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! BWAHAHAH!
Post by: Infy♫ on January 13, 2011, 10:58:22 AM
the HiHat of the second song seems way too loud, it overpowers the rest... besides that its pretty good. ambient.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! BWAHAHAH!
Post by: Anunsew on January 14, 2011, 01:10:42 AM
the HiHat of the second song seems way too loud, it overpowers the rest... besides that its pretty good. ambient.

I thought it was a good idea to use it to set the theme's atmosphere. XD
This was the model. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5NplFfE8uA) Though of course, I didn't use the snares, it would've been too lively otherwise.

Hmm, guess I have to set the drum limiter a little lower next time.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!....LOVE!!!!! BWAHAHAH!
Post by: Anunsew on January 18, 2011, 01:59:33 AM
Did a little remastering of Lloyd's Venture! Timid Youkai! (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6884.0.html)
Mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/file/h9iak39ak56c1ha/venture.mp3)

I've been on a stump again, so I was digging through my archives when I found its midi in my drive. Since I always need practice mixing THfont sounds, I thought of giving it another shot. ~

Lloyd should find more time to make new stuff... XD


Incoming wall of text that nobody actually cares about:

On another note, I figured out that the ClavinovaPanFlu (patch 76 / Pan Flute in standard midi banks) patch of ThFont sounds strange at low note velocities at pitch C7~D7 and at selective pitches at higher octaves. They work normally at around 75%+ note velocity (that's 127(0.75) = 95.25 or a value of 96 for most synthesizers and midi software). If it's too low, the sample sounds weird:

Sample (http://www.mediafire.com/file/78txb8e2qqez8lv/panfluteheh.wav)

They are both ClavinovaPanFlu (patch 76). The first and third sample are at 55% (or 70)  note velocity (volume raised for comparison) while the second and fourth samples are at  100% velocity (or 127). I don't know if its supposed to work that way, but it only happens at selected pitches, like when I used them for Sammy's theme.



東方 異世門 (Eastern Otherworldly Gate) (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6907.0.html) Tracks
Track 2:
Uncanny Occurence (http://www.mediafire.com/file/mivm04cjd91kndq/Uncanny%20Occurence.mp3)

Requester's Comment:
^This theme will have a peaceful overtone to it. Like a usual carefree day in Gensokyo. It should have some heavy parts to it to signify that something is about to disturb that tranquility.

Comment:
It was hard getting this one, since I'm bad at musical transitions and/or peaceful themes. >.<
Since I was bad at it, I thought, what the heck. Still, it came out a little bit off, heh.

I started with a peaceful melody, then essentially building it up to a chaotic chorus. If you listen carefully, you'll find some familiar tones from one of my favorites from ZUN's work.

Essentially, it was supposed to convey the emotion of having a walk in the afternoon when you bump into something you shouldn't have. You try to run, being chased by things you haven't seen before. You feel their footsteps catching up, and you run faster. And just when you feel like you were about to be caught, you suddenly wake up from a very bad dream. XD


Whenever I compose, I wonder...why is the coffee always gone?
:P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!...XD
Post by: flamezero16 on January 18, 2011, 05:16:39 PM
Sounds good amigo, but...

On another note, I figured out that the ClavinovaPanFlu (patch 76 / Pan Flute in standard midi banks) patch of ThFont sounds strange at low note velocities at pitch C7~D7 and at selective pitches at higher octaves. They work normally at around 75%+ note velocity (that's 127(0.75) = 95.25 or a value of 96 for most synthesizers and midi software). If it's too low, the sample sounds weird:

 :/

Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!...XD
Post by: Anunsew on January 19, 2011, 02:27:58 AM
Sounds good amigo, but...

 :/

There was a disclaimer before the tl;dr wall...

On account of Uncanny Occurence, it's my first time using a Shakuhachi. Ever.
It sounds so moe~
Title: -.-
Post by: Anunsew on January 25, 2011, 06:36:17 AM
東方 異世門 (Eastern Otherworldly Gate) (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6907.0.html) Tracks
Track 3:
Deep Within the Discovered Path (http://www.mediafire.com/?81tlyx51g09l9j2)

Requestor's Comment:
^The usual gate theme. This should have something of a soft, yet mysterious and frantic theme. There's something here and it could jump out at you at any moment! You try to keep your cool but you can't shake the feeling that you might get pounced on.

Comment:
I feel a little bit different after making this theme. First of all, this theme didn't follow my usual workflow, and I tried a little experimentation in note timing and stuff. But, in the end, I guess it doesn't sound too different from my other works.
 :P
Title: Hourai Illusion..again, because it needs MOAR love~♥♥♥
Post by: Anunsew on January 27, 2011, 04:42:56 AM
Far East Hourai Illusion  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4WQTYxz_2Y)
Mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com/?23pg6agpoxr09vp)

This track is my favorite out of the six tracks composed by ZUN (followed quickly by Plastic Space, Yay!) in his album (?) "☆その他の作品 ~ ZUN's Strange Works". This was remixed with THfont/THdrums (which is what I usually use since I made Shiku's theme--it's a lot more than just ZUN's trumpets, you know) and a little of the classic Roland GM/GS synthesizer (aka the built-in Microsoft Midi synth for those who can't/don't have proper Midi compatible soundcards , hooray!).

I like this theme because of the excited piano movements, it really does give an ambient feel which I crave in ZUN's compositions. Too bad this theme wasn't used in any of the TH games, it could pass as a really good ending and/or credits theme, maybe surpassing "Herselves" which already ranks high in my favorite ending themes.

The end riff is improvised though, since this track was made supposed to repeat and fadeout. Instead I improvised with an ending chord of sorts and messed with the tempo to give it a finished feel. However, it also gave off a "lost" feel, or something...


copypasteiswin
Title: And Thou Shalt be Judged ~ Violet Reparation now on Youtube! YAY!
Post by: Anunsew on January 29, 2011, 01:34:24 AM
Youtube:
Sumire Raikōji
And Thou Shalt be Judged ~ Violet Reparation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iqcuTsgfSU)
Download:
Mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com/file/8f4vch29924jqpw/Violet%20reparation.mp3)
Requested by: Ruro

Remastered Sumire's theme, and now on Youtube! Yay! XD

I experimented (yet again), this time with the SC-55 drums of THdrums (the drumkit pair of THfont). I also devised a more concrete way of mixing Romantic Trumpets (ZUN trumoets?) more properly to get that nice crisp sound. I also improved in the mixing of my favorite instrument, the flute, with the loud trumpets. It gives a nice counter-touch to the loud brass instruments, no?

The warp sound near the end is actually three trumpets pitchbended at ridiculous slides.

Hmm, I still can't shake that habit of modulating near the end. It sounds so PC-98ish, I guess.


~Flutes = love~


(http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3285/sumire2.th.png) (http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/3285/sumire2.png)

My drawing of Sumire. Colored pencils are becoming more comfortable to use.
And I'm getting better at inking using only a one size pen. XD


Positive and Negative (http://www.mediafire.com/?3q2nhkhhrbhnb02)

Because a giant bouncing Yin-yang orb is moe.
Who cares about the humanoid forms anyway? :P
Title: She's in a Temper!
Post by: Anunsew on January 31, 2011, 03:11:46 AM
Youtube:
She's in a Temper! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vcOtxkbiQ)
Download:
Mediafire download link (higher qualtiy) (http://www.mediafire.com/?0sa09z7zlb2babz)

This piece's midi was composed nearly a year ago (from an earlier video of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ZTVfJTfkw ) from DMBN's easy note sheet of the said theme ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IkKR8GNvXk ). I added the other accompaniments and drums by listening to the SoEW tracks in Hoot.  So in other words, after almost a year, I decided to pick up the midi file again, spent two hours replacing soundfonts over the original Midi, and then cleaning it up and mixing it. Procrastination, yum.

All the sounds are Thfont (as usual), though I did experiment with the Shakuhachi and Flute sounds again. Also, tasty P5 Square Wave is tasty, though I think JP-8 Square wave sounds richer.

This is one of my favorite EX-bosses, and this is my favorite theme of hers. Her Ex-theme sounds a bit too dark for my taste. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!...XD
Post by: Primula on January 31, 2011, 03:20:34 AM
That Positive and Negative arrange is pretty nice, and yes orbie needs more love. =B

And the Rika theme arrange is pretty nice too. I'm putting this thread on my notify list. :>
Title: Re: She's in a Temper!!
Post by: Anunsew on January 31, 2011, 03:27:05 AM
That Positive and Negative arrange is pretty nice, and yes orbie needs more love. =B

And the Rika theme arrange is pretty nice too. I'm putting this thread on my notify list. :>

Thanks! :3
Although I think the Positive and Negative Arrange stayed too near to the original HRtP version. :)
Title: Track 4: Familiar Dream
Post by: Anunsew on February 01, 2011, 08:09:42 AM
東方 異世門 (Eastern Otherworldly Gate) (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,6907.0.html)
Track 4:
Familiar Dream (http://www.mediafire.com/file/yilc7tijmp8trzc/Familiar%20Dream.mp3)
Stage 1 Theme

Requester's Comment:
Familiar Dream
^A happy theme with a relaxed tune. This theme should emphasize a vivid, favorable dream that one has and the happiness upon remembering it.


Comment:
It should be a little relaxed, so I don't know if this theme turned out fine. I guess this theme is relaxed at the beginning and builds up towards the end.

I also tried another approach when I compose so this theme is distinctive from my earlier works. It sounds a little repetitive though, because I originally planned it to be much shorter (since it's just the first stage), but I guess I got a little carried away. ;)

Well, I guess it's good exercise. XD
Title: The Alice in Wonderland Angel...er, I mean, Swordsman of a Distant Star Remix!
Post by: Anunsew on February 08, 2011, 03:14:36 AM
Youtube:
Konngara's theme:
The "Alice in Wonderland Angel" ~ Swordsman from a Distant Star  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprpHCWghnE)
Download:
Link (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/The%20Alice%20in%20Wonderland%20Angel%20%7E%20Swordsman%20from%20a%20Distant%20Star.mp3)
Loop (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/The%20Alice%20in%20Wonderland%20Angel%20%7E%20Swordsman%20from%20a%20Distant%20Star%20%28loop%29.mp3)

I tried sticking close to the original HRtP version, but I guess I wanted it to be faster and more powerful. However, the lead instruments make it sound too loli-fied. It makes me imagine a "loli" boss suddenly charging headfirst into a fight. XD

This time, I mixed the THfont flute (which I affectionately named Poinsettia) to make it sound more synthetic. Adding vibraphones as accents made it sound a little childing though. XD
The drum line feels rushed, but I guess it sounds more natural to me that way. :P
And I made the audio compression a little saturated, to emulate the FM's audio quality. XD

The improvisation at the end was supposed to make it more loop-friendly, this theme can hard-loop without sounding too awkward.


To Touhou 1 ~ HRtP:
Screw your HARRY UP!, I like taking my time on your stages, damn it. :(
Title: wat
Post by: Anunsew on February 11, 2011, 03:01:47 AM
A random drawing I made when I was bored and/or feeling uncreative with music.

(http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/3711/ponsettia.th.png) (http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/3711/ponsettia.png)

Messing around with Gimp enabled me to mess with transparency, yay!


insert shameless OC-insert
Name: Poinsettia (ポインセティア )
Species: Youkai flute
Ability: Frequency Modulation

An abandoned flute whose master died in an accident. She was originally a flute played by a musician who liked to travel. One day, while they were travelling by ship, they struck a shoal reef that caused their ship to flounder. Her master drowned in the accident, and she was lost amidst the sinking ship. Fortunately, she was inside her instrument case so she did not rust while she drifted across the salty waters. She floated aimlessly on the ocean for such a long time that when she was washed ashore, her case's lock broke down with rust and she fell into the sand. There she was left to rust, until the she became a youkai.

On the day she became a youkai, she remembered her master's final words before her master parted for the realm of the dead. Her master said, "I hope you can find a better master someday, someone who can make better music than I."  Now she travels around, searching for a master who can play her as a flute. Unfortunately, she failed to realize that no normal human being will be able to play her because she is now a youkai. Since no one wants to play her, she often makes music by herself, learning to control pitches of sound as they pass through the air. She can also control the vibration of other things, but she generally doesn't understand all those stuff, and she limits herself to making sounds. She can be annoying at times, but people just ignore her, unless she starts breaking things by accident.

She is generally harmless, but she can be destructive, especially when she plays at really high pitches. Some frequencies that are above the human hearing can affect other youkai, and since she is a youkai, she can also play those really high pitches. Everything vibrates at a specific frequency, and if she plays that specific frequency (usually by accident), she can break random objects. She isn't very bright either, so she doesn't know its her fault.


Civilization of Magic, here we~ come!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!...XD
Post by: Zengar Zombolt on February 11, 2011, 04:35:22 AM
Civilization of Magic, here we~ come!
oh god yes
Title: Civilization of Magic has many magicians
Post by: Anunsew on February 15, 2011, 04:10:56 AM
Yay, another HRtP remix! And it's Sariel's second theme. :3
Download:
Civilization of Magic (http://www.mediafire.com/?lx7qrchy8doiq6j)
Loop version (http://www.mediafire.com/?4hk1aql8roz547c)

No youtube yet, unfortunately. Might upload later.

Sariel's second theme, 'nuff said. The FM version kind of lacks the "Here I come!" feel, so I tried adding pads like Choir Ahhs and more Strings to see how it would turn out. I was also reluctant to use trumpets at first, because it tends to drown out most of the other instruments, but I applied a more gentle compression this time, so they tend to blend with the other soft instruments like the flute and pan flute. XD

This track's drumline is also composed differently, since I separated the drum channel into membranophones (snare and kick) and the metal percussions. This way, I was able to apply different equalizers to those two parts, instead of just toughing it out with just one drumkit channel.

I did not understand any of what I just said. >.<
Oh well. I guess it sounds a little better than Konngara's theme, since I like Sariel's theme a lot more. XD
Title: Youtube update!
Post by: Anunsew on February 17, 2011, 12:49:54 AM
Here's a youtube link of Civilization of Magic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvK7-azUs4Q)!

I guess I could've added more parts, and some stuff. It's still pretty lacking.

EDIT:
Also added a Dropbox Link:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Civilization%20of%20Magic.mp3
For those who hate Mediafire.

I need to make an alternate link for everything one of these days. ~_~
But I'm too lazy. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs Magic!...XD Youtube Update YAY!
Post by: Romantique Tp on February 17, 2011, 01:35:42 AM
http://www.mediafire.com/?6nc609bdq7xba5t

I'll just leave this here.
It's an alternate rip of the Romantic Tp,  it's doesn't sound very different from what you're used to, but there can be a few differences.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs Magic!...XD Youtube Update YAY!
Post by: Anunsew on February 17, 2011, 01:52:23 AM
http://www.mediafire.com/?6nc609bdq7xba5t

I'll just leave this here.
It's an alternate rip of the Romantic Tp,  it's doesn't sound very different from what you're used to, but there can be a few differences.

Thanks! I might now have the opportunity to check it out right away, but I'll certainly try it. :3
Title: Another senseless post
Post by: Anunsew on February 28, 2011, 03:00:23 AM
Not too important post, but a follow-up thing about the Alternate rip of the Romantic Tp.

I found something a bit odd with the Trumpet sound Bigode posted:
http://www.mediafire.com/?6nc609bdq7xba5t

I'll just leave this here.
It's an alternate rip of the Romantic Tp,  it's doesn't sound very different from what you're used to, but there can be a few differences.
First four bars of Sariel's first theme with the Alternate Romantic Tp:
Listen~ (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/For%20all%20the%20Debts%20You%20have%20Accumulated.wav)

And here's with the Romantic Tp sound of THfont:
Listen~ (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/For%20all%20the%20Debts%20You%20have%20Accumulated%202.wav)

The Alt Romantic Tp makes weird harmonic sounds with the other instruments, making it stand out too much, whereas the THfont Romantic Tp blends a little bit better.

Well, still the Alt Romantic Tp has some few advantages, like being panned in the center better than THfont Romantic Tp, and it's recorded at a standard sound level. The Alt Romantic Tp might work better with non-THfont soundpacks, whereas THfont Romantic Tp sounds better with the other THfont sounds.

OR, I might be doing something wrong with FL Limiter, since I've configured it to work properly with THfont. :P
Title: Re: Another senseless post
Post by: Romantique Tp on February 28, 2011, 03:19:43 AM
BTW, does FL studio not allow you to change the volume of each MIDI channel individually ? I've never used FL studio before, but it's supposed to be one of the basic functions of a MIDI sequencer.
Title: Re: Another senseless post
Post by: Anunsew on February 28, 2011, 03:41:49 AM
BTW, does FL studio not allow you to change the volume of each MIDI channel individually ? I've never used FL studio before, but it's supposed to be one of the basic functions of a MIDI sequencer.
It does, but I usually just assign the controllers to another controller in the Mixer, since it's easier to regulate that way, instead of hunting each channel controller individually (all those windows make me dizzy).

Also, I don't usually change the volumes of the Soundfont Channel directly when I use THfont, I use a Limiter in each Mixer Channel instead since it turns out better, and easier to automate when needed.
Title: For All the Debts You Have Accumulated...Now Until the Moment You Die!
Post by: Anunsew on March 04, 2011, 12:55:04 AM
Sariel's First Theme, yay!
For All the Debts you Have Accumulated~Now Until the Moment You Die!
(http://tindeck.com/image/lqfj/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/lqfj)
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYctKeywwRo)
Looped Version (http://db.tt/z7bbsDM)

Maybe I tried too hard on making sound too ZUN-ish...meh, I bet ZUN can do it better anyway. Anyway, I developed a technique in mixing the percussions properly without drowning out the Strings and Pads while not being totally drowned by them trumpets.

Hrr...trumpets, oh how they make me shudder every time I want to use them. They are hard to mix, and even harder to compose for (and it also gives me a newfound respect for ZUN...which is pretty big already). In total honesty, my first plan for this theme was to use Flutes and Piano, but it ended up being too passive. Since this is supposed to be in conjunction with Civilization of Magic, it has to be a bit grand, but not overly so as to drown CoM in it's glory. Kind of like Bloom Nobly and Border of Life.

Then again, since I've heard some remixes of Now Until the Moment You Die and CoM, it's easier to make than starting from scratch. It still sounds a bit bland though, but I admit that I'm at a stump on how to make variations for this theme. Maybe I should have inserted a piano solo...

As to why I am making loop versions of this theme, someone requested to make remixes of HRtP themes because they were planning a remake of HRtP. Come to think of it, I've not heard from him for a while. -_-

EDIT:Uploaded to youtube!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs Magic!...Now Until The Moment You Die! Update!
Post by: Solais on March 04, 2011, 07:15:35 PM
Holy shit that's awesome!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs Magic!...Now Until The Moment You Die! Update!
Post by: flamezero16 on March 04, 2011, 08:12:29 PM
Sounds great Anney, definitely picks up after the intro.
Title: Kindly Destruction ~ A Calm, Stealthy Berserker
Post by: Anunsew on March 15, 2011, 04:18:32 AM
Kindly Destruction ~ A Calm, Stealthy Berserker
(http://tindeck.com/image/hquo/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/hquo)
Requested by SwerveStarEx (from Youtube)

It's been awhile since I last did an OC theme, I thought I may have gotten rusty. But it would seem that mixing HRtP stuff was good practice after all. XD

Also, this one's a lot easier to mix (no trumpets!) but since it's an OC, it was a lot harder to compose. I experimented a lot with Square and Sawtooths, and finally found a way to make the Bright Acoustic Piano patch in ThFont useable.

Also, I've found out that it's better to apply Compression below the Limiter threshold, so when the signal amplitude ratio is dampened before it even hits the Limiter Ceiling. The result is a clearer and crisp sound, especially for the piano, since ThFont has it really...bad. Well not too bad, but very inconvenient to use.

I was experimenting with different melodic lines, and this one I got off Necrofantasia. Actually, I flipped the midi piano roll of Yukari's theme and gotten my inspiration there, but I guess that's just me being weird again.

I just wish that I could've around to using the flutes, I really want to make something like Yuugi's theme...maybe next time. :3
Anyway, this still needs a little more tuning to get it right (the reverse cymbals are too noisy, it just destroys the mix when they cut in)...this is going to take another day to finish. >.<

...I have a backlog of requests incoming...somebody please save me...
Title: Mastering and stuff
Post by: Anunsew on March 17, 2011, 02:45:32 AM
Kindly Destruction ~ A Calm, Stealthy Berserker (Final Mastering)
(http://tindeck.com/image/qgpf/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/qgpf)
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpPw_zzDidE)
Requested by SwerveStarEx (from Youtube)

I noticed that the track in the above post was still lacking in quality (Drums are too low, but the metal percussions are too loud, especially the reverse cymbals).

I did a little tweaking in the equalizers (which I often don't do...oh wait, I haven't done that before~ >.<) and found out that I can filter out the unwanted noises from the samples using FL's Parametric EQ, though it's a little clumsy (I can't use it on a channel that uses more than two octave's worth of frequency). Also, I have to split each Drum sample to be able to apply different EQ settings on each. XD

Still, I did a little more tweaking on this theme than what I usually do, and I think it came out a little more clearer and cleaner this time around.

Also, youtube link.

...is it just me, or it sounds too RPG-ish?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Kips McKipzerson on March 17, 2011, 02:50:49 AM
That is a really good theme. Any chance I can have a link to your characters fanfiction, if he has any?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on March 17, 2011, 02:54:52 AM
That is a really good theme. Any chance I can have a link to your characters fanfiction, if he has any?

It would be good if you can ask the requestor themselves, since they just give me the basic profile and overview for the characters.

Sorry if I couldn't be of more help. >.<
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Letty Whiterock on March 17, 2011, 03:42:31 AM
This is for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u0h2GXOlk
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on March 17, 2011, 03:49:15 AM
This is for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u0h2GXOlk
The 700 combo marker just blew me away. :D

I didn't realize her theme was that fast-paced. XD
Also, thanks for using her theme and giving me a link, much appreciated. :)
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Seian Verian on March 17, 2011, 05:46:54 AM
Hm, that last song is actually really awesome. Gotta say, you're amazing.

Though I kind of have to comment...

Quote
Calm Berserker

Quite a paradox you have there :V
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on March 17, 2011, 07:35:36 AM
Hm, that last song is actually really awesome. Gotta say, you're amazing.

Though I kind of have to comment...

Quite a paradox you have there :V

I'm not the one who thought of the title so my hands are squeaky, sparkly clean.
...lemon scented...

The requestor's the one who gave the title so...I used it because I'm too lazy to think of a more suitable one.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Kips McKipzerson on March 17, 2011, 01:27:38 PM
Who was the requester? I still wanna know more about that OC, because i fucking love OCs. :V
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on March 19, 2011, 08:25:54 AM
Who was the requester? I still wanna know more about that OC, because i fucking love OCs. :V

SwerveStarEx from Youtube.
PM him in Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/SwerveStarEx) for more information.
Title: Trying to deviate from my normal approach
Post by: Anunsew on March 26, 2011, 05:37:54 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/hemb/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/hemb)

...Naturally, I do not know what happened to this piece as I was composing it. I was going for something different (whether I was planning to do Trance or Techno, I can't really tell), and then changed my mind midway. Not that I'm really acquainted with techno or trance anyway. :3

I tried starting with a little dissonant effect, while trying to achieve the same feeling of the original arrangement. Also, I tried messing with PoiZone and various portamento effects. But I think it turned out a little bit chaotic. XD

Also, even if I tried turning down the high frequency sounds using an Equalizer, I wasn't able to fully clean the piece since I still lack the know-how of what each frequency does. XD

...Cymbals are hard to use. :/
Anyways, it's more of a final draft of some sort, I might finish it tomorrow. :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: flamezero16 on March 26, 2011, 02:25:11 PM
Hmmm the quality of your sound fiiles keep gettin better Anney, keep it up =O

And dont feel bad, I cant mix at all XD Have no idea what the frequencies mean, I just turn knobs till it sounds decent. So I think this is fine.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and Updates!
Post by: Infy♫ on March 26, 2011, 03:08:57 PM
lol this sounds better than my techno already xD
I very much approve. Flandre needs more love.
Title: Final Version of Invitation by U.N Owen + Youtube upload
Post by: Anunsew on March 28, 2011, 02:50:54 AM
Invitation by U.N Owen
by: Precision
(http://tindeck.com/image/zcxp/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/zcxp)
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4VMZdd8vMI)

This version is still messy, but it's the best I can do for now. >.<
I added some boost to the bass, to make it stronger. Added some emphasis to dissonant tones in certain parts (can you find them all, kashira?) Also, repeated the last part to make it much more interesting. Added another part to the ending, aside from the usual fadeouts. XD

Hmmm the quality of your sound fiiles keep gettin better Anney, keep it up =O

And dont feel bad, I cant mix at all XD Have no idea what the frequencies mean, I just turn knobs till it sounds decent. So I think this is fine.

Thanks, I'm trying to develop a technique in the mixing-mastering process. So far, i can mix up to ten tracks without much problem, especially if they are acoustic sounding instruments (this piece has twenty tracks so it's hard >.<).

From what I know of the frequencies, most instruments sit in a definite frequency range. To achieve most of an instrument, the frequency range of an instrument is boosted, and the other frequencies are cut to avoid noises and hums.

lol this sounds better than my techno already xD
I very much approve. Flandre needs more love.

Thanks! My first Flandre mix was a little bad, so I decided to make up for it with this. XD
Although, it sounds too close to the original. :P
And yes, Flandre needs infinite love. <3
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and U.N Owen! ...waitaminute
Post by: Kips McKipzerson on March 28, 2011, 03:06:41 AM
I just remembered I have like 15 tracks of your to listen to.
These songs are all pretty god damned amazing.
Title: Non-musical Update!
Post by: Anunsew on April 01, 2011, 05:57:53 AM
(http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6982/marisalf.th.jpg) (http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6982/marisalf.jpg)

A black and white drawing using a 0.5mm MyGel sign pen and a Fine-point marker. It's supposedly Marisa in my attempt to duplicate her EoSD costume...I'm not sure why I drew her (I hate Marisa in any depictions...and I'm not even making an April Fools Joke). I would've drawn Reimu, but she has too many designs. :(

Despite my musical focus right now, I'm still finding time to improve my drawing skills...though I'm no position to say that I'm improving. -_-
Ergh...and to think I still have college exams to think about...\

Anyway, I hope it doesn't hurt your eyes too much. :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and non-musical Updates!
Post by: Zengar Zombolt on April 01, 2011, 02:14:09 PM
The way she's colored makes me think she's actually wearing an apron. That being said, I love your drawing style. Oh and I love gel pens too~<3
Title: Uninspired Update! Because even terrible mixes are terrible!
Post by: Anunsew on April 15, 2011, 06:00:58 AM
Evening Oriental Witch
Original Track: ZUN's Strange Works ~ 01 - 宵闇の魔術師
(http://tindeck.com/image/zlwt/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/zlwt)

Experimented with violins on this one, since the original called for Strings. :P

This track is pretty much like the Far East Hourai one, just a little soundfont tweaking, mixing and mastering. Nothing much has changed (I did add another track for the Church Organ, if that's worth noting).

I've been a uninspired a lot lately, and nothing seems to come out of my head even if I tried. I might have lost a few IQs after watching too much TV. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this track, even if it's just a flash of uninspired despair to post something. >.<

...ugh, my head hurts. I hate summer. >.<
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: [HJD]Red_Herring on April 15, 2011, 07:35:06 AM
Hey, good to see you back, my friend.

The track reminds me little too much of music tracks from Japanese RPGs from '90s, which I grew up with. That was good 5 minutes 22 seconds of my life reminiscing about good old days.

Thank you for this nostalgic moment. Also I am glad to see you are still drawing. Since I use cheap papers, only the ball-pointers are friends of mine. So, seeing that Gel-pen piece was quite

refreshing. I would say you are improving and you may quote me on that. However, try to practice various poses as the piece gives some sense of stiffness. Aside from that, you are building

solid foundation for drawing. 


ps. Frills are painful to draw, and I understand.
ps2. At least you have a TV, I am stuck with either YouTube or radio.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: flamezero16 on April 15, 2011, 02:30:01 PM
Yo Anny~ I know that feelin when ya just dont wanna jam on anything xD Nothin wrong with takin a break when that happens I reckon, then ya come back and its fresh again. For what it's worth, I like your latest song alot. Soundin more and more ZUNish.
Title: Re: Uninspired Update! Because even terrible mixes are terrible!
Post by: Infy♫ on April 15, 2011, 04:54:06 PM
Evening Oriental Witch
Original Track: ZUN's Strange Works ~ 01 - 宵闇の魔術師
(http://tindeck.com/image/zlwt/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/zlwt)
Experimented with violins on this one, since the original called for Strings. :P
This track is pretty much like the Far East Hourai one, just a little soundfont tweaking, mixing and mastering. Nothing much has changed (I did add another track for the Church Organ, if that's worth noting).
I've been a uninspired a lot lately, and nothing seems to come out of my head even if I tried. I might have lost a few IQs after watching too much TV. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this track, even if it's just a flash of uninspired despair to post something. >.<
...ugh, my head hurts. I hate summer. >.<
the only problem i have come accross is that the bass is often too high.
and the pan flute goes really low at some point. which sounds really ugly. but this song in general is very nice! especially the church organ. it needs more love.
was this made with ONLY that touhou soundfont? if yes, amazing. i didnt think you could get that many sounds out of it.
Title: Re: Uninspired Update! Because even terrible mixes are terrible!
Post by: Anunsew on April 16, 2011, 08:11:50 AM
the only problem i have come across is that the bass is often too high.

er...did you mean high in volume, or high in pitch? It might be the harpsichord acting up again. >.<
I just realized that I over-compressed the low frequencies, making it sound a little muffled. :P
Anyway, I often put too much emphasis on bass lines and drums, I just love them. XD

and the pan flute goes really low at some point. which sounds really ugly. but this song in general is very nice! especially the church organ. it needs more love.

It's actually Flute + Bottle Blow.  I was kind of going for a new sound, but I guess it doesn't work properly for bass pitches. :P

was this made with ONLY that touhou soundfont? if yes, amazing. i didnt think you could get that many sounds out of it.

It functions like a full Midi table, minus the Channel 10 drums, they're a different soundfont file. The only real problems are the sample themselves, since they require cleaning and filtering before they sound properly.
I'm practicing using the violin in the soundfont (finding the proper EQ settings for filtering and other stuff), along with it's horrible piano sample (it has this weird attack which sounds like when you hit a piano key too hard).


Hey, good to see you back, my friend.
The track reminds me little too much of music tracks from Japanese RPGs from '90s, which I grew up with. That was good 5 minutes 22 seconds of my life reminiscing about good old days.
Thank you for this nostalgic moment.

I'm actually quite fond of old video game tracks myself, especially from SNES systems--Motoi Sakuraba's tracks in Tales of Phantasia is my first dosage of ambient video game tracks. :3
And since it's SNES, I'll have to mention Hiroki Kikuta's work for Seiken Densetsu 3 as well.
 [Not Touhou Related] SD 3 OST # 30 Nuclear Fusion  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhGYAj0MbTg)
I'm noting the naming coincidence by ZUN. :P

Also I am glad to see you are still drawing. Since I use cheap papers, only the ball-pointers are friends of mine. So, seeing that Gel-pen piece was quite refreshing. I would say you are improving and you may quote me on that. However, try to practice various poses as the piece gives some sense of stiffness. Aside from that, you are building solid foundation for drawing.

ps. Frills are painful to draw, and I understand.
ps2. At least you have a TV, I am stuck with either YouTube or radio.

Thanks! I'm trying to practice regularly (an average of a half-hour everyday, though I can draw up to two hours). I don't upload often though, since scanning rates are pretty tight on the purse. :(

Also, I love frills on clothes, even though they're hard to draw. :D


Yo Anny~ I know that feelin when ya just dont wanna jam on anything xD Nothin wrong with takin a break when that happens I reckon, then ya come back and its fresh again. For what it's worth, I like your latest song alot. Soundin more and more ZUNish.

...Actually, I have this guilty feeling that I'm taking way too many breaks. :P
Anyway, I'm glad you liked this track. I still have a long way to go though.
Title: Marisa look-alike theme update, in cheesy music box form!
Post by: Anunsew on April 18, 2011, 08:19:16 AM
Track: Crimson Dead!
Original Track: 真紅の少女 ~ Crimson Dead!! by ZUN (of course)
(http://tindeck.com/image/jzdd/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/jzdd)

Yuki's theme~
er...who's Yuki anywa--*is suddenly on fire*

Another attempt at using music boxes. This should've have turned out much like Remilia's music box version, but I got bored of the music box playing the tremolos really fast. So I changed some stuff without touching too much of the original composition (ZUN did it great already, I don't want to destroy it with my sledgehammer-like skills).

Er, I have nothing to say about the tempo. Maybe the music box drank too much coffee?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: [HJD]Red_Herring on April 18, 2011, 09:28:55 AM
Yeah, I think you had one cup too many. It sounds little hectic, but hey, music is not my forte.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Infy♫ on April 18, 2011, 09:36:18 AM
if i recall correctly, the tempo in the original game was way higher than this..
it does actually sound nice, is this only the music box soundfont? or did you add pads or something?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 24, 2011, 06:48:12 AM
if i recall correctly, the tempo in the original game was way higher than this..
This is at 95 bpm, Mystic Square has it at around 140~ish. I'm not sure. :P

it does actually sound nice, is this only the music box soundfont? or did you add pads or something?
Flutes for padding, and there are some vibraphones mixed with them. Hard to tell apart, unless you look for the Music Box's 'click' attack, the vibraphones don't have them.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 26, 2011, 07:35:00 AM
Track: Mirage City
(http://tindeck.com/image/hyxi/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/hyxi)
Stage 1 Theme for  東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8830.msg592792.html#msg592792)

It's 126kbps (as requested by Karanum), so it might sound a little scratchy at times. I was messing around with piano and bass improvisations, while testing out some new chord progressions I've found. :3

Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Primula on April 26, 2011, 09:19:47 PM
Track: Mirage City
(http://tindeck.com/image/hyxi/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/hyxi)
Stage 1 Theme for  東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8830.msg592792.html#msg592792)

It's 126kbps (as requested by Karanum), so it might sound a little scratchy at times. I was messing around with piano and bass improvisations, while testing out some new chord progressions I've found. :3


Nice job! It motivated me to finish more cutins for the project!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 26, 2011, 09:46:38 PM
Track: Mirage City
(http://tindeck.com/image/hyxi/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/hyxi)
Stage 1 Theme for  東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8830.msg592792.html#msg592792)

It's 126kbps (as requested by Karanum), so it might sound a little scratchy at times. I was messing around with piano and bass improvisations, while testing out some new chord progressions I've found. :3
Pretty good track! Has a bit of a Touhou feel to it, all right. Which synths, instruments, VSTis, do you use? (already know you're an FL user, so no need to say that)

128kbps is actually quite low quality. Then again this seems to be a specific request, so it won't count against you here. I'd prefer an even higher quality rip (320kbps CBR MP3, 48+ khz M4A, and/or ultra-high quality FLAC) as proof of originals and for the actual and semi-audiophiles who find 128kbps far too easy to detect.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 27, 2011, 05:27:14 AM
Nice job! It motivated me to finish more cutins for the project!
I'm also looking forward on your work being in the finished project. :3

Pretty good track! Has a bit of a Touhou feel to it, all right. Which synths, instruments, VSTis, do you use? (already know you're an FL user, so no need to say that)

For soundtables, I used Thinst.sf2 and Thdrums.sf2:
Acoustic and Bright Acoustic Pianos for string leads. Flutes and Whistles for wind leads. Vibraphones and Strings for accents.
Patch 49/0 (String Orchest) and Patch 53/0 (Choir Ahh) for padding and POWER drumkit for percussions.

As for VSTis, I just used Fruity Reverb and Parametric EQ to clean and refine the sounds. Added a Flanger to the pianos to get it sound a little more distorted. I used Fruity Limiter for monitoring the audio levels along with level compression. Finally, I slapped Maximus on the Master track for mastering purposes.

I don't like using too much of those fancy synths and VSTi, since I generally don't know how they work. I just read them up on the Internet whenever I think I need to use them. :P

128kbps is actually quite low quality. Then again this seems to be a specific request, so it won't count against you here. I'd prefer an even higher quality rip (320kbps CBR MP3, 48+ khz M4A, and/or ultra-high quality FLAC) as proof of originals and for the actual and semi-audiophiles who find 128kbps far too easy to detect.

It might be a decoding issue, since decoding mp3s on the go can be memory taxing, especially in games..
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Hyouga Kazu on April 27, 2011, 06:17:39 AM
I'm also looking forward on your work being in the finished project. :3
It's good to see my artist is still alive as well.  :V

It might be a decoding issue, since decoding mp3s on the go can be memory taxing, especially in games..
Yeah, that exactly. At normal mp3 quality the music was over 90% of the game's filesize. (Read: twice as large as CtC)
I'm looking for the best way to compress it to a more reasonable size while maintaining as much of the original quality as possible.
This is the best I could come up with at the moment.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 27, 2011, 04:44:02 PM
For soundtables, I used Thinst.sf2 and Thdrums.sf2:
Acoustic and Bright Acoustic Pianos for string leads. Flutes and Whistles for wind leads. Vibraphones and Strings for accents.
Patch 49/0 (String Orchest) and Patch 53/0 (Choir Ahh) for padding and POWER drumkit for percussions.
Ah, THFont. Has a few good samples but not quite my cup of tea...or coffee....

Quote
As for VSTis, I just used Fruity Reverb and Parametric EQ to clean and refine the sounds. Added a Flanger to the pianos to get it sound a little more distorted. I used Fruity Limiter for monitoring the audio levels along with level compression. Finally, I slapped Maximus on the Master track for mastering purposes.

I don't like using too much of those fancy synths and VSTi, since I generally don't know how they work. I just read them up on the Internet whenever I think I need to use them. :P
Those are VSTs and not VSTis. The latter also has an instrument component, whether that be specialized instrument processors or MIDI synths or whatever.

I tend to use a crapton of these synths and VSTis, primarily to load SF2 files (via SFZ+ on Sonar and EXS24 synth on Logic).

Yeah, that exactly. At normal mp3 quality the music was over 90% of the game's filesize. (Read: twice as large as CtC)
I'm looking for the best way to compress it to a more reasonable size while maintaining as much of the original quality as possible.
This is the best I could come up with at the moment.
Usually normal MP3 is 128kbps CBR and doesn't take up much space (which is why so many use this format). If the sound file was THAT large chances are it is WAV (raw waveforms, uncompressed, lossless) and would obviously have to be converted for efficiency reasons.

I personally prefer OGG for game engines due to the need to license MP3 decoding with Thomson (...for commercial works and mass distribution, at least), however.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Hyouga Kazu on April 27, 2011, 05:43:44 PM
Usually normal MP3 is 128kbps CBR and doesn't take up much space (which is why so many use this format). If the sound file was THAT large chances are it is WAV (raw waveforms, uncompressed, lossless) and would obviously have to be converted for efficiency reasons.

I personally prefer OGG for game engines due to the need to license MP3 decoding with Thomson (...for commercial works and mass distribution, at least), however.
Hmm, my experience is that mp3 tends to be 256 or 512 kbps standard. Or maybe I just have oversized music files.
And hey, I never knew Danmakufu supports OGG files. Might as well convert them to OGG then.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 28, 2011, 01:41:20 AM
Hmm, my experience is that mp3 tends to be 256 or 512 kbps standard. Or maybe I just have oversized music files.
And hey, I never knew Danmakufu supports OGG files. Might as well convert them to OGG then.
I really don't know much about Danmakufu and its sound file support, so I'd play it safe and go with MP3 for now.

My MP3s and M4As tend to be at 256kbps or 320kbps. 512 is far too much to be MP3, since most encoders only go up to 320. It can be M4A or AAC but usually those formats also follow the <=320 mark. Probably it is the oversized files, really.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 28, 2011, 06:49:22 AM
Those are VSTs and not VSTis. The latter also has an instrument component, whether that be specialized instrument processors or MIDI synths or whatever.

I tend to use a crapton of these synths and VSTis, primarily to load SF2 files (via SFZ+ on Sonar and EXS24 synth on Logic).

Sorry, I didn't know the difference between the two until I read about it awhile ago. Anyway, the VSTi I usually use is PoiZone (the one I used in mixing Flan's theme), but I didn't use any for Mirage City. I find PoiZone (and other VSTi for that matter) a little intimidating to use, since they usually have so many things to tweak and learn.  :ohdear:
They're quite fun to use though. :D


...on another note Stage 1 boss theme is 50% complete. I just have to add a few more accents and stuff before I release it~
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Romantique Tp on April 28, 2011, 04:44:19 PM
@VST types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology#VST_plugins

Since you're into ZUN-style instruments, maybe you should try Edirol Hyper Canvas and Super Quartet. Both are pretty easy to use and edit IMO, and more flexible than soundfonts.
Hyper Canvas doesn't quite sound ZUN-ish (it does sound more ZUN-ish than THFont though...), but you can fool untrained ears with it. Overall it's not super good or anything, but it's better than most soundfonts out there.
Super Quartet has ok-ish stereo sampled pianos and ZUN's guitars/basses.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 28, 2011, 04:54:30 PM
@VST types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology#VST_plugins

Since you're into ZUN-style instruments, maybe you should try Edirol Hyper Canvas and Super Quartet. Both are pretty easy to use and edit IMO, and more flexible than soundfonts.
Hyper Canvas doesn't quite sound ZUN-ish (it does sound more ZUN-ish than THFont though...), but you can fool untrained ears with it. Overall it's not super good or anything, but it's better than most soundfonts out there.
Super Quartet has ok-ish stereo sampled pianos and ZUN's guitars/basses.
I also recommend the Roland TTS-1, which is an upgraded version of Hyper Canvas that comes with Sonar and Home Studio. It sounds rather ZUN-ish (see Spaztique's TTS-1 remake project thread for examples) with proper tweaking.
Quick note on it: it is a DXi (DirectX Instrument) instead of a VSTi, and it will work on other DXi-supporting DAWs.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Romantique Tp on April 28, 2011, 05:01:15 PM
I also recommend the Roland TTS-1, which is an upgraded version of Hyper Canvas that comes with Sonar and Home Studio. It sounds rather ZUN-ish (see Spaztique's TTS-1 remake project thread for examples) with proper tweaking.

It's actually Hyper Canvas with an uglier interface.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 28, 2011, 05:06:20 PM
It's actually Hyper Canvas with an uglier interface.
Unfortunately, that is true. On the other hand it interpolates slightly better with Sonar (likely because it's packed in).

@Anunsew: I also take it you're using ASIO when composing with the DAW? (WDM and DirectSound tend to do terribly for me....)
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 30, 2011, 04:58:46 AM
@Anunsew: I also take it you're using ASIO when composing with the DAW? (WDM and DirectSound tend to do terribly for me....)

Nope, I only use DirectSound. I don't use any external synthesizers or input devices, so it doesn't make much difference.

I haven't checked out other synthesizers yet, but I might get around to it when I decide to take music making seriously. It's more of a hobby at the moment. :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 30, 2011, 05:12:53 AM
Nope, I only use DirectSound. I don't use any external synthesizers or input devices, so it doesn't make much difference.

I haven't checked out other synthesizers yet, but I might get around to it when I decide to take music making seriously. It's more of a hobby at the moment. :P
I prefer ASIO for composition on Windows since it allows for more low-level interaction between OS and hardware, thus reducing latency and fuzziness and boosting DAW performance compared to background processes. ASIO, WDM, and DirectSound are all interaction methods for audio within a computer, and aren't as significant for external devices.
It can easily be used with the free ASIO4ALL (http://www.asio4all.com/) (or even sound card drivers alone in a few cases) and configured within your DAW.

As for the other synths, it makes sense to expand later. At least you're starting with this, while I started back in 2007 with Anvil Studio (not good for serious work) and the built-in Windows-Roland MIDI synth (and we know how terrible that is). :D
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 30, 2011, 06:13:24 AM
I prefer ASIO for composition on Windows since it allows for more low-level interaction between OS and hardware, thus reducing latency and fuzziness and boosting DAW performance compared to background processes. ASIO, WDM, and DirectSound are all interaction methods for audio within a computer, and aren't as significant for external devices.

So that's what it does. :O
I was confused with the definition from wikipedia.  :blush:
So can ASIO reduce the audio buffering problems whenever I run out of memory?

the built-in Windows-Roland MIDI synth (and we know how terrible that is). :D

I still use the piano and drum patches from that synth though.


...girls are now uploading...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 30, 2011, 06:23:43 AM
So that's what it does. :O
I was confused with the definition from wikipedia.  :blush:
So can ASIO reduce the audio buffering problems whenever I run out of memory?
Assuming by audio buffering you're referring to live playback, then it will lower buffering and latency issues.
Also, to put ASIO in slightly better terms (my past one was a bit off) it is a direct way to access sound hardware from software for primarily Windows systems.

Quote
I still use the piano and drum patches from that synth though.
OK. Drums are acceptable (Roland drum patches have been used very frequently in all sorts of music - even ZUN used to use them), piano not so much. But at least it's not the overdrive guitar or violin you're using (those are abysmal) :V
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on April 30, 2011, 06:41:34 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/sryc/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/sryc)
Stage 1 Boss Theme for 東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion
Jost's Theme

Same old 128kbps goodness within 2 loops + fadeout~

It was supposed to be aloof, but I...suppose it turned out a little more tsundere. (I think)
I was trying out an alternate drumkit (THdrum's TR-909 drumkit) along with some bass experimentation. It sounds a little rushed though.   :ohdear:

Assuming by audio buffering you're referring to live playback, then it will lower buffering and latency issues.

Hoh, I'll have to try this then. :D
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on April 30, 2011, 06:54:25 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/sryc/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/sryc)
Stage 1 Boss Theme for 東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion
Jost's Theme

Same old 128kbps goodness within 2 loops + fadeout~

It was supposed to be aloof, but I...suppose it turned out a little more tsundere. (I think)
I was trying out an alternate drumkit (THdrum's TR-909 drumkit) along with some bass experimentation. It sounds a little rushed though.   :ohdear:
Definitely not aloof, IMO. More active if anything.

Good song. Though in the second trumpet melody the supporting electric pianos are a little strong for my taste.

As for the use of the analog kit and bass, I like those. Trumpet, though...seems a little bit too layered and could a little more reverb.

(Once exams are over I'll really need to get my works created and uploaded...and buy a new system to process them under both Logic and Sonar)
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and projects~!
Post by: Dark on May 04, 2011, 01:14:49 AM
so i herd u use fl studio??!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Memes aside, I've developed a GlaceVerb preset that combined with patch 57 of THFont, produces instant ZUNpets. You can find it here (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,9380.msg623435.html#msg623435). Not that it only works with FL 10 sadly, as that's what I made it with, but it's pretty awesome.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on May 10, 2011, 01:08:31 AM
As for the use of the analog kit and bass, I like those. Trumpet, though...seems a little bit too layered and could a little more reverb.

...That's one problem I've yet to fix when I try to submix more than three channels to one track. I'll try to add reverbs to see if it solves it. ~

Also, I've tried using ASIO4All, and it cuts down CPU overloads by half. :O
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: DX7.EP on May 10, 2011, 01:41:42 AM
...That's one problem I've yet to fix when I try to submix more than three channels to one track. I'll try to add reverbs to see if it solves it. ~

Also, I've tried using ASIO4All, and it cuts down CPU overloads by half. :O
Maybe it's frequency conflict? Spaztique (TTS-1 remix project) suggests using compressor plugins to set specific frequencies for each instrument so that each one is clear and doesn't interfere with other similar-frequency instruments. Then again, I'm not sure if this is the issue at hand....

ASIO4ALL is really that impressive. I don't know how one could work with music in a Windows-based DAW and not use ASIO drivers...latency and overload are the problems with WDM and DirectSound. As for us Mac-based users, we already have Core Audio for that, so less configuration, whoo ~
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and uninspired Updates!
Post by: Anunsew on May 10, 2011, 01:45:02 AM
Maybe it's frequency conflict? Spaztique (TTS-1 remix project) suggests using compressor plugins to set specific frequencies for each instrument so that each one is clear and doesn't interfere with other similar-frequency instruments. Then again, I'm not sure if this is the issue at hand....

I could try messing with my EQ settings on my next track. :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and projects~!
Post by: Dark on May 10, 2011, 01:46:31 AM
Maybe it's frequency conflict? Spaztique (TTS-1 remix project) suggests using compressor plugins to set specific frequencies for each instrument so that each one is clear and doesn't interfere with other similar-frequency instruments. Then again, I'm not sure if this is the issue at hand....

ASIO4ALL is really that impressive. I don't know how one could work with music in a Windows-based DAW and not use ASIO drivers...latency and overload are the problems with WDM and DirectSound. As for us Mac-based users, we already have Core Audio for that, so less configuration, whoo ~

I wonder if WDM/DS is what's causing the preview distortion in FL on my end. Gonna look into that, as I installed ASIO with it.  :V
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and projects~!
Post by: Netwarrior on May 13, 2011, 01:45:47 PM
Hello dude.
I remember when you released the Rin Satsuki's theme... Man, it was so long ago, now you're really getting it together when it comes to music composition.
Have you ever tried to find a music composer job or something related?

I was wondering... Can you make a, let's say, Rock N Roll version of Rin Satsuki's theme? You know, guitars, basses, solos... It would be very cool!
Title: Just me messing around again...
Post by: Anunsew on May 22, 2011, 08:16:10 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/pctb/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/pctb)

Tried to do a different genre this time. It's actually Cirno's theme, but it's hardly noticeable until you get somewhere in the middle.

Have you ever tried to find a music composer job or something related?
Nope. My focus in real life is programming, and I'm still doing my studies.

I was wondering... Can you make a, let's say, Rock N Roll version of Rin Satsuki's theme? You know, guitars, basses, solos... It would be very cool!

I might try it out  sometime. I'm doing a bit of tinkering with guitars and basses lately, so it might be good practice.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and projects~! (Cirno update!)
Post by: flamezero16 on May 22, 2011, 01:18:34 PM
I might try it out  sometime. I'm doing a bit of tinkering with guitars and basses lately, so it might be good practice.

Lemme know if ya want some help with the guitars Anney~ Im bored outa my skull over here.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs coffee, love...and projects~! (Cirno update!)
Post by: Anunsew on May 25, 2011, 06:44:08 AM
Lemme know if ya want some help with the guitars Anney~ Im bored outa my skull over here.

I'll be sure to look you up if I need help, but as of the moment, I'm focusing on other stuff.
Plus, to be honest, guitars are kind of hard to mix. >.<
Title: Oriental Love Consultation~!
Post by: Anunsew on May 27, 2011, 07:16:56 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/cbcv/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/cbcv)

My attempt to imitate Reimu's famous OHKO theme from TH12.3.
This theme didn't turn out as epic as the original though. It feels like it needs something more, but I can't seem to put my finger onto it.

Anyway, experimenting with GlaceVerb (introduced to me by DarkMeiling~) was fun, and it helped immensely in developing a proper EQ setting for the RomaT patch of thFont. Well, I think the trumpets in this track sounds more...trumpety.

I still wish that I can do ZUN guitars though. I heard that they're really tasty.

Three mugs of coffee...I feel like spinning around all day...
napasobra inom ko ngayon...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: DX7.EP on May 27, 2011, 09:46:37 AM
Great rendition of this song. ZUNpets are quite accurate!

It isn't quite as epic, admittedly. I blame a few things -
 - Tinny drumset. Maybe a bit more amplification would help.
 - Guitars...eh, they sound like the cheap XG sets. If they were from an XG synth I wouldn't even be surprised! May need a better synth, soundfont, etc. to improve that....
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: Anunsew on May 29, 2011, 06:38:57 AM
- Tinny drumset. Maybe a bit more amplification would help.

Hmm, I did mix the drums a little softer than usual, my headset isn't being accurate again. I'll try to up the drums more next time.
Glad to know that percussions are still appreciated.


- Guitars...eh, they sound like the cheap XG sets. If they were from an XG synth I wouldn't even be surprised! May need a better synth, soundfont, etc. to improve that....

It's the Garcia patch from thInst.sf2. I don't have much info on guitar synths so any suggestion would help.  :ohdear:

EDIT:
On another note, I tried to remaster the drums and bass to offer a better alternative to my bad guitar samples:
(http://tindeck.com/image/ojss/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/ojss)

In addition, it's hardloop-able, thus explaining the absence of fade-outs at the end...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: DX7.EP on May 30, 2011, 02:01:38 AM
Sounds better, definitely! Liking the differences.

As for guitar synths...eh, this is always a tough one. I have about 30-40 guitar SF2s alone, and the overdrive and distortion ones all sound terrible. My MIDI softsynths and VSTis don't deliver justice for a full guitar sound either (but are plenty for "game-style").
For final mixes I use Logic for guitars. I start with a 80s guitar base sound and adjust the amp effects and reverb a good bit, add more overdrive, and there. One of my guitar-strumming friends noted that they sounded quite real.

Also, for a pretty mean (and rather easy to do) overdrive/distortion guitar, I'd recommend using an analog/digital synth instrument and couple it with a few amp effect and distortion/overdrive VSTs/effects. If done right it can sound really good (two examples being the "guitar solo" in Daft Punk's Aerodynamic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L93-7vRfxNs&t=1m3s) and the melody FM guitar in this Tim Follin song (http://youtu.be/GqyEbu8cmMg?t=34s) on an unreleased Megadrive/Genesis game).
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: Anunsew on May 31, 2011, 06:54:51 AM
Distortion and Overdriven guitar mixing (http://www.4shared.com/audio/cQH3J1Zp/dragone.html)
by Filix

It's Through the Fire and Flames (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jgrCKhxE1s). Mixing and soundfonting was done by my brother (I helped in mastering though).
The patches for the guitars used were Les_Sus_0_30 (patch 31 of thInst.sf2) and Garcia_0_29 (patch 30).
Er...disregard the trumpets, they're supposed to fill in as the vocals.

I found the Midi file from Google (Midi Plaza to be exact) then he asked if he can borrow it, and this is the result. This was done using thInst.sf2 and thdrums.sf2, no real instruments are used. The aim of this track is to emulate a realistic electric guitar amp sound using thInst.sf2.

Since the Midi and mixing wasn't done by me, I can't tell much about how this was done. However, I think it's related to how you fine tune the pitch bends of fast notes...I'm reading up some piano roll techniques for guitar synths from various forums.
:3

I wish I could mix guitars like this though. I guess its time to copy again...  :ohdear:
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: DX7.EP on May 31, 2011, 07:16:56 AM
Distortion and Overdriven guitar mixing (http://www.4shared.com/audio/cQH3J1Zp/dragone.html)
by Filix

It's Through the Fire and Flames (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jgrCKhxE1s). Mixing and soundfonting was done by my brother (I helped in mastering though).
The patches for the guitars used were Les_Sus_0_30 (patch 31 of thInst.sf2) and Garcia_0_29 (patch 30).
Er...disregard the trumpets, they're supposed to fill in as the vocals.

I found the Midi file from Google (Midi Plaza to be exact) then he asked if he can borrow it, and this is the result. This was done using thInst.sf2 and thdrums.sf2, no real instruments are used. The aim of this track is to emulate a realistic electric guitar amp sound using thInst.sf2.

Since the Midi and mixing wasn't done by me, I can't tell much about how this was done. However, I think it's related to how you fine tune the pitch bends of fast notes...
:3

I wish I could mix guitars like this though. I guess its time to copy again...  :ohdear:
Quite good for just THFont! Trumpets were great too - maybe this is progress towards DaiZUNke Senouwatari style! :D

Much of it comes from fine pitch, expression, etc. modifications that are often handled via SysEx messages and/or the SF2 wrapper (such as the VSTi SFZ+ or Logic's EXS2 sampler).

I can tell there was a bit of mastering, all right. Compression seems to be somewhat evident.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: Anunsew on May 31, 2011, 07:21:06 AM
I can tell there was a bit of mastering, all right. Compression seems to be somewhat evident.

Er...is that a good thing, or bad? I'm not thoroughly confident with my music mastering knowledge.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: DX7.EP on May 31, 2011, 07:24:50 AM
Er...is that a good thing, or bad? I'm not thoroughly confident with my music mastering knowledge.
Quite good. Without it similar frequencies may conflict with each other and cause auditory distractions, keeping every part from being clear. It worked well in this case.

Granted, I'm also trying to learn more tricks and practices with composition and mastering as well, so....
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: Anunsew on June 06, 2011, 03:07:58 AM
Decided to upload the Cirno remix on youtube
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zu5_EMJLS8)

 :3
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Oriental Love Consultations!!
Post by: DX7.EP on June 06, 2011, 05:28:36 AM
Decided to upload the Cirno remix on youtube
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zu5_EMJLS8)

 :3
Great remix!

I'll get a few notes down:

Guitars and drums seem a bit overpowering and the background pads/pizzicato strings are a tad quiet IMO. Also there's a bit of noise that can be patched with some more equalization and compression.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and other randomly titled stuff!
Post by: Anunsew on June 07, 2011, 02:22:56 AM
Guitars and drums seem a bit overpowering and the background pads/pizzicato strings are a tad quiet IMO. Also there's a bit of noise that can be patched with some more equalization and compression.

I always seem to mix drums a bit too loud, or too soft. Can't seem to get them to balance out properly. >.<
And my EQ skills is still a hit-and-miss.



(http://tindeck.com/image/knjd/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/knjd)

Stage 2 Theme for 東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8830.msg592792.html#msg592792)
As requested by Karanum
Same 128kbps goodness, with hopefully improved techniques. :3

It's supposed to be an indoor theme, kind of like Parsee's stage, but then I kind of lost track in the middle...hehe. :P
Title: Another uninspired update! YAY!
Post by: Anunsew on June 11, 2011, 01:38:14 AM
An old midi, older than Highly Responsive to Prayers by around one year. Or more. I'm not really sure.
Deli Shop Quartet (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Deli%20Shop%20Quartet.mp3)

I wonder if anybody even knows what game this track came from. O_o
It sounds really ZUN-ish, even before I applied any plugins to it. XD
And to think that this is a boss theme in an old shmup, it can pass off as a PC-98 game track. XD


(http://tindeck.com/image/zckj/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/zckj)

So...I discovered that our family  PC had a weird sound card (really old, its a SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio card. It's around 7 years old...also the age of the PC itself). Since I've been feeling uninspired lately, I've messed around with the driver...(not normal behaviour, but  I was bored) and discovered that it had a built-in DLS loader and an alternate GM soundkit. Curious, I used the built-in Soundmax Yamaha XG-Lite soundbank on Marisa's theme, and this is what came out.

My only problem with the soundkit is that it doesn't route the music to my VST host when I use it. It routes the signal directly to Audio Out, thereby rendering any VST plugin useless. Still can't find a workaround. >.<

Oh yeah, this was recorded straight from WAVE OUT using Audacity. Tracks have not been edited in anyway.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Deli Shop Quartets~!
Post by: Romantique Tp on June 11, 2011, 02:26:54 AM
Hmm, that sample set sounds MIDI-ish but more natural than the one that comes with Windows. That said, it sounds very fake for something from the middle 2000s, but I guess that's because MIDI wasn't a selling point anymore by then.
Title: Re: Another uninspired update! YAY!
Post by: DX7.EP on June 11, 2011, 03:13:03 AM
So...I discovered that our family  PC had a weird sound card (really old, its a SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio card. It's around 7 years old...also the age of the PC itself). Since I've been feeling uninspired lately, I've messed around with the driver...(not normal behaviour, but  I was bored) and discovered that it had a built-in DLS loader and an alternate GM soundkit. Curious, I used the built-in Soundmax Yamaha XG-Lite soundbank on Marisa's theme, and this is what came out.

My only problem with the soundkit is that it doesn't route the music to my VST host when I use it. It routes the signal directly to Audio Out, thereby rendering any VST plugin useless. Still can't find a workaround. >.<

Oh yeah, this was recorded straight from WAVE OUT using Audacity. Tracks have not been edited in anyway.
Hey! This soundcard! I know what it is, and that soundbank is familiar (it was turned into a soundfont, and sounds like shit).

BTW here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GolyJhICziQ) is an XG make of the song. It was done with the Yamaha S-YXG50, which is available from Windows Update for free (does not work post-XP). Sounds much better (even just raw samples), albeit editing and XG SysEx was used too.

I absolutely love the XG sounds despite their cheesiness, hence my reasons to try and get a MU 2000 EX (and SD-90 + SC-8850 but those are for different reasons).

EDIT: As for softsynths, I usually add them as synthesizer units rather than stick them in VST hosts, especially when using 6 or 7 of them (and <=50 Soundfonts, VSTis, and DXis) at once.

As a result of this I better get rtpMIDI working ASAP on my x201's 2k3 install so that I can use it as a synth module for Logic! YEAAAA ~
Title: Re: Another uninspired update! YAY!
Post by: Anunsew on June 12, 2011, 06:04:54 AM
EDIT: As for softsynths, I usually add them as synthesizer units rather than stick them in VST hosts, especially when using 6 or 7 of them (and <=50 Soundfonts, VSTis, and DXis) at once.

As a result of this I better get rtpMIDI working ASAP on my x201's 2k3 install so that I can use it as a synth module for Logic! YEAAAA ~

First off, I have only little knowledge about soundcards and synthesis--if I sound stupid or it seems I don't know what I'm talking about...I don't. Anyway, here goes:

I have a problem with the relationship of the VST host on the midi table of my soundcard. When I play a midi file using SoundMax's Midi table (the one I tested with Marisa's theme) on FL, FL sends the midi signals just fine, but it does not detect the audio output (no level indicator changes, loaded VSTs doesn't affect audio output). Midi data and controllers work fine, however. Also, ASIO4ALL cannot be used while the SoundMax table is active (it generates a SynthCore Error).

While I cannot render the midi file into an audio format using FL, I can record the output audio via Audacity's Wave Out recorder.

I have little knowledge of how Midi signals are passed around in the system, and how the audio signal is routed from my software to the sound card, but I just want to ask if there is a way to work around this problem?

...maybe I'll just mess around with the configurations some more...
Title: Re: Another uninspired update! YAY!
Post by: DX7.EP on June 12, 2011, 06:40:37 AM
Try using Maple Virtual Midi Cable to link the output of the SoundMax card to ASIO.

I'm not entirely sure how this works, though, since I haven't needed it extensively.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Deli Shop Quartets~!
Post by: VIVItheFujoshi on June 12, 2011, 08:25:58 AM
wow, the impact who do your last songs return me to here!!! i was looking songs in you tube, see your account and OH HOLY IMPROVED A LOT.
if you still taking requests...please do a song for Youki. please DO IT FOR THE LOVE OF ZUN. you are the chosen one. :3
Title: Re: Another uninspired update! YAY!
Post by: Anunsew on June 12, 2011, 08:53:47 AM
Try using Maple Virtual Midi Cable to link the output of the SoundMax card to ASIO.

I'm not entirely sure how this works, though, since I haven't needed it extensively.

Hmm, I'll try it.

if you still taking requests...please do a song for Youki.

I might allocate some time for it. I need all the practice I can get. XD


for some reason, I have this urge to study 65c816...
Title: Re: Another uninspired update! YAY!
Post by: DX7.EP on June 12, 2011, 09:23:36 AM
for some reason, I have this urge to study 65c816...
...isn't that the SNES CPU? Also you may want to study the SPC700 (SNES sound chip).

I personally prefer the YM2610 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2610) though (SNK Neo-Geo's sound chip, which was FM + quite a few PCM channels). The other close ones are YM2612 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2612) (Sega Megadrive chip - FM + PSG) with the Ricoh RF5C164 (8-channel PCM on Mega CD) and the 32X's 2-channel PWM PCM (18 channels of glory) or the OPL3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM3812) (Sound Blaster 16) mixed with a wavetable synth like GUS and several MIDI boards (SC-55, MU-50, MT-32, etc.) Moreover PC98 was mostly FM synthesis on Yamaha chips (though different ones).
...yep, I love old sounds.

I find the Motorola 68K (Megadrive, Sharp X68K, Neo Geo, CPS1) plus Z80 (those, and more devices) easier to learn. Even if they are total nightmares in assembly (well the latter is from experience programming TI calculators D:), at least the former has good C compilers out there.



Alternate method of composing like the SPC700 or any of these older chips is to use a tracker software such as OpenMPT and write music with that instead, using VSTs, samples, etc. that are appropriate for the chip you desire to emulate (eg. for SNES sounds I'd have 8 channels, and put my samples at 16-bit 32kHz, though most games stuck to 8-bit mono 22kHz instead).

I'd note a few things about each system, but instead I'll tell you some things that are handy:
FM synthesis: VOPM is a great VSTi to use. Synth1 is also very good but is more general-purpose.
8-bit: Famitracker is the best for that NES/Famicom feel.
Sample-based: See the limits of the respective system.
Neo Geo-style: FM channels were used for bass as well as adding a few effects to the PCM base sounds (often reverb).
CPS1-style: PCM was at about 11kHz, hence those fuzzy drums in Street Fighter 2.
PC Speaker: Prepare to write at a VERY fast tempo if you want to simulate polyphony.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Deli Shop Quartets~!
Post by: Anunsew on June 13, 2011, 01:59:52 AM
Above post just saved me a lot of time for research. Thanks!  :D


Oriental Love Consultation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF_ADceO-0M)

Tried to clean up my earlier version of Reimu's theme, then uploaded it to youtube. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Deli Shop Quartets~!
Post by: DX7.EP on June 13, 2011, 10:10:54 AM
Eh, it was nothing :D

I'm trying to learn the gimmicks and whatnot of these older chips as well, while putting them into more modern contexts (eg. using VSTis or AUs to process FM sounds). Similar for MIDI stuff (in particular Yamaha MU modules and Roland Sound Canvas and SD modules such as the SD-90).

Feel free to ask me further about those chips, MIDI synthesis, etc. if it be needed.

I like this version of Oriental Love Consultation. Better and the sounds are more crisp. I can hear the parts rather distinctly (maybe except for the celesta).
Title: Re: Just me messing around again...
Post by: Netwarrior on June 13, 2011, 03:50:13 PM
Nope. My focus in real life is programming, and I'm still doing my studies.

Programming? Software Engineering, I guess?
I'm also in this thing, and I'm very fond of my skills (I'm currently studying Assembler SIMD extensions for 3D calculus optimization. Kinda tricky and rough, but gets easier by practice). I'm doing a game development course at college/university (I dunno the difference between these terms), but I already knew enough even before entering it.
What kind of software do you intend to make? More precisely, what area do you intend to work in?

I can teach you a thing or two. If you intend to work with games, I can recommend a handful of books that will surely be of great help.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Deli Shop Quartets~!
Post by: Dark on June 13, 2011, 10:51:58 PM
Hey, it's DM again. I'd like to make a request for one of my (many) OCs. Sadly, I have no picture of her, but Ill profile her and send you it in a YT PM later.

Oh, I also know which plugin and patch ZUN used for the pianos post-PoFV: It's Super Quartet and the default Bright Piano patch.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and indigestions from Nightshades!
Post by: Anunsew on June 15, 2011, 01:47:21 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/jqmj/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/jqmj)

Stage 2 Boss Theme for 東方幻妖風 ~ City of Distortion  (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,8830.msg592792.html#msg592792)
as requested by Karanum. New and improved 128kbps goodness~
Now fortified with Zinc and Iron to boost your immune system, and Calcium for strong bones!

Melle's Theme

This is two loops + fadeout at the end.

I tried going for the classical "sonata" feeling at  the intro just to ready the mood, and then I made the verse piano part a little "song-ish". Since it's supposed to be depressing, I tried going with a negative movement in the chorus so it would sound desperate and miserable even at the tempo it's going.

It sounds pretty heavy for a second boss theme. XD

Experimented a lot with Sidechaining. It gives the illusion of bigger space, and makes mixing five or more instruments blaring out at once easier. This is especially essential in thInst.sf2, since some of their samples are badly recorded. Also, I had some fun with LFO2 and Envelope Controller of the Fruity Soundfont Player. :P

Sometimes, I wonder how The_EP do 50 tracks without having any frequency distortions...


Programming? Software Engineering, I guess?

What kind of software do you intend to make? More precisely, what area do you intend to work in?

I can teach you a thing or two. If you intend to work with games, I can recommend a handful of books that will surely be of great help.

I plan to focus on making games, but I'm still at the basic level. While I go to college, I'm pretty much self-taught on game libraries and stuff. I intended to learn XNA, but my PC doesn't have Pixel Shader (my PC uses and Intel Extreme Graphics card...it's as old as the soundcard). Right now I'm frolicking between C++'s Allegro, Python's pygame and ActionScript 2.0.

Also, I'm reading up on OOP, since I'm still confused about some basic concepts. I haven't even started on DirectX yet. :(

Internet is a great place to learn. :D


I like this version of Oriental Love Consultation. Better and the sounds are more crisp. I can hear the parts rather distinctly (maybe except for the celesta).
I gave up the celesta since it occupies way too much of the HF range (bad equalization from my part). Since it was meant to be a backer, I decided to drop it back into the background of instruments.

Well, that failure made me realize how important good EQ settings are. :3


Hey, it's DM again. I'd like to make a request for one of my (many) OCs. Sadly, I have no picture of her, but Ill profile her and send you it in a YT PM later.
Sure, but I can't cater to it right now. Aside from Karanum, I'm also doing another OC track. I hope it's okay for you to wait.  :ohdear:

But I plan to clear my backlog, eventually.
Dammit, it's like laundry.  :o

Oh, I also know which plugin and patch ZUN used for the pianos post-PoFV: It's Super Quartet and the default Bright Piano patch.

From what synthesizers/soundfonts are these?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and indigestions from Nightshades!
Post by: DX7.EP on June 15, 2011, 03:42:56 AM
Sometimes, I wonder how The_EP do 50 tracks without having any frequency distortions...
I can't do 50 tracks very well. Maybe up to 15 or 20, even 25, but 50? Eh...

Quote
I plan to focus on making games, but I'm still at the basic level. While I go to college, I'm pretty much self-taught on game libraries and stuff. I intended to learn XNA, but my PC doesn't have Pixel Shader (my PC uses and Intel Extreme Graphics card...it's as old as the soundcard). Right now I'm frolicking between C++'s Allegro, Python's pygame and ActionScript 2.0.

Also, I'm reading up on OOP, since I'm still confused about some basic concepts. I haven't even started on DirectX yet. :(
I don't like XNA and DirectX. Makes it difficult to port to other systems.
Allegro is good library. No idea about pygame. ActionScript is simple but *Flash*. Ugh, hate Flash like a bitch (run a few intensive Flash games on Mac OS and you'll quickly see what I mean).
I personally prefer SDL along with other middleware like OGRE (graphics), OpenAL (audio), and Bullet (physics), though. Much harder to write but also potentially more flexible for ports.

Quote
I gave up the celesta since it occupies way too much of the HF range (bad equalization from my part). Since it was meant to be a backer, I decided to drop it back into the background of instruments.

Well, that failure made me realize how important good EQ settings are. :3
Ah. Yep, EQ is most important.

Quote
From what synthesizers/soundfonts are these?
Super Quartet, a discontinued VSTi made by Edirol. The Jazz and Rock bass samples there are the same as the ones ZUN uses in the SD-90.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and indigestions from Nightshades!
Post by: Dark on June 16, 2011, 03:34:30 AM
Sure, but I can't cater to it right now. Aside from Karanum, I'm also doing another OC track. I hope it's okay for you to wait.  :ohdear:


It's alright -- I only wanted a midi anyway, I can handle the rest myself. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Nightshades!
Post by: Netwarrior on June 17, 2011, 01:19:52 AM
Quote
I plan to focus on making games, but I'm still at the basic level. While I go to college, I'm pretty much self-taught on game libraries and stuff. I intended to learn XNA, but my PC doesn't have Pixel Shader (my PC uses and Intel Extreme Graphics card...it's as old as the soundcard). Right now I'm frolicking between C++'s Allegro, Python's pygame and ActionScript 2.0.

Also, I'm reading up on OOP, since I'm still confused about some basic concepts. I haven't even started on DirectX yet. :(

Internet is a great place to learn. :D

Problems with OOP? OOP is my speciality, but I had problems on learning it as well. It took me almost a year to finally understand Polymorphism (what is a hell of an useful feature of OOP, specially in ActionScript 3.0). One good way to learn these things is by reading about it on many different approaches, or at least it worked on me for understanding Polymorphism. A good book about C++ and OOP is Absolute C++, by Walter Savitch.

I studied XNA, but I found it way too complicated, or better, unnecessarily complicated. It's more worthwhile you study all the ways of DirectX than studying XNA. I recommend you start off with DirectX 9, and a good book about on it is Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, SECOND EDITION (the first edition is on DirectX 8). But I would recommend you don't study anything graphic (SDL, Allegro, OpenGL, DirectGraphics...) until you can fully understand OOP. Take your time learning OOP, as well as at least two OOP languages other than C++/C#, such as Python or Java (I find Python more practical than Java).

About ActionScript, I know nothing about any ActionScript other than 3.0. But ActionScript 3.0+Flash CS4 or higher is a hell of an easy-to-use mean to make games. It is way, far more easier than C++ and any API, I guarantee it.

In short, I'd say it's way more worthwhile to study the rough and tough parts of programming than dwelling on tools and Engines. It doesn't pay to put lots of effort on learning things like Unreal Engine, Torque Game Engine, Irrlicht , and MFC or DirectX Wrappers alike, because you won't be really learning the ropes with them. It's better you to study the lowest levels as possible and then make your own tools and engines.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Nightshades!
Post by: Anunsew on June 25, 2011, 06:41:54 AM
Triple Paradigm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gW491CcoFo)
Requested by: strawberrywitch (http://www.youtube.com/user/strawberrywitch) from Youtube

This theme, while practically Gensokyo unrelated, was requested last December. Yes. Half a year ago. In December. What an inconsiderate, unorganized person I am. : /

Anyway, despite the long wait, I was able to improve on some things about mixing and composition. (Quite drastically, IMHO though there many more things I would like to improve upon, music-wise)

This mix is a lot more cleaner than some of my earlier works (Note the composition called "Eye of Painful Death" from Tanabata last year). I could say that I have improved a lot, like knowing when a mix is too over-compressed, and how it should be equalized properly. Composition-wise, I'm becoming more variant in melodies though I still need a lot more experience in that matter.

Well, I've gone past the first hill without much event, but the mountain is still over the horizon... -_-



Man, I hate it when I feel unmotivated...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Paradigms!
Post by: Dark on June 26, 2011, 04:57:16 AM
Be thankful I'm mixing my own request. XD I'm terrible as a composer but I can mix stuff pretty well.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Paradigms!
Post by: Anunsew on June 27, 2011, 12:04:50 AM
Be thankful I'm mixing my own request. XD I'm terrible as a composer but I can mix stuff pretty well.

Actually, it's kind of hard to make the composition as 'electric' as requested. :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Paradigms!
Post by: Dark on June 28, 2011, 08:08:43 PM
It seems I'm terrible at description too! XD I merely meant the only "acoustic" instrument being drums.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and some witches!
Post by: Anunsew on June 30, 2011, 06:34:27 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/efsm/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/efsm)

A sad attempt to make Witches' Ball~Magus...witchy. Call it a sad attempt in remastering/remixing, but I have the consolation of an excuse by saying that I only spent one hour fixing it from the original midi. So~

Anyway, I'm just taking a break from a break from my music breaks, but I plan to do another original theme soon. Probably DM's request, but I'm currently mentally unfit to hold any instrument at the moment.

Man, it's been so long since I smashed played a piano...


Is it just me or Witches' Ball is madness inducing?

I love harpsichords~ :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love...and Paradigms!
Post by: Tired/Warm on July 01, 2011, 07:49:39 AM
I *love* madness.

And even if it does end up inducing madness, it's plenty pleasurable to partake of. Actually, even though I've been feeling productive, I actually feel like writing... More. What is this bedevilry you have wrought upon me? Excellence! Saved and looped!
Title: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: Anunsew on July 07, 2011, 12:29:14 AM
ビリビリパニック!  (Biri biri Panic!)
by: Anunsew
Biri Biri Panic! (MIDI) (http://www.mediafire.com/file/4zmjwqx9h66fdy8/biribiri%20panic.mid)
Kinda sounds off in the typical Midi set native to Windows

Mp3 version (using SoundMAX XG-Lite synths, onboard integrated soundcard) (http://www.mediafire.com/file/8b64s8zqtunyt2d/biribiri.mp3)

Bleh. I really do have a grandpa computer.

It sounds a little old, and repetitive. I guess it's my musical stump acting up again.

But it's kind of refreshing to compose in pure Midi (no plugins), and it was fun messing with the controllers... XD

Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 07, 2011, 02:45:27 AM
Those saw and square waves have a very old school vibe to them. They might have been recorded from one of Yamaha's classic FM chips. The composition makes good use of them, and I think it could make for a good title screen theme for a early 90's-style shmup.

BTW, I noticed that the MIDI uses GM2 bank select MSB. Was that intentional ?

http://www.4shared.com/audio/k9ai50be/asdf.html
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: DX7.EP on July 07, 2011, 04:04:41 AM
Neat! It's got that retro Yamaha FM feel in the square waves. Sounds like PC-98 or Megadrive stuff.

I'd recommend getting hardware synths as well if you plan to keep this up. Prefer Roland and Yamaha ones, personally.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: Anunsew on July 07, 2011, 05:16:00 AM
BTW, I noticed that the MIDI uses GM2 bank select MSB. Was that intentional ?

Yes. Needed it to access some of the other patches in the custom banks. (of course, it would probably have no effect on Microsoft GS Wavetable...)

I forgot to take them out when I finished recording the midi via Audacity. :ohdear:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/k9ai50be/asdf.html

What synths did you use for the above link? It sounds a lot cleaner. XD


Neat! It's got that retro Yamaha FM feel in the square waves. Sounds like PC-98 or Megadrive stuff.

I'd recommend getting hardware synths as well if you plan to keep this up. Prefer Roland and Yamaha ones, personally.

Thanks.
It could've been better if I used an analog drum set though. :P

Anyway, happy Tanabata~
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: Dark on July 08, 2011, 12:47:02 AM
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25978520/biri.mp3

There's my version, with proper double loop.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 08, 2011, 01:10:06 AM
What synths did you use for the above link? It sounds a lot cleaner. XD

It's raw Hyper Canvas, you know, that GM2 VSTi that sounds exactly like that DXi that gets talked about so much around here. (TTS-1)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25978520/biri.mp3

There's my version, with proper double loop.

I can hear some clipping there. You might have recorded at too high a level.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: DX7.EP on July 08, 2011, 01:48:41 AM
It's raw Hyper Canvas, you know, that GM2 VSTi that sounds exactly like that DXi that gets talked about so much around here. (TTS-1)
Only because Spaztique and I use said DXi (though I have Hyper Canvas as well). :V
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!
Post by: Anunsew on July 09, 2011, 12:38:30 AM
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25978520/biri.mp3

There's my version, with proper double loop.

There's a significant level difference between the Leads and Sawtooth chord. And I noticed that the drum samples weren't seperated during mixing. It's not really necessary, but it allows you to EQ and compress the kicks and snares seperately from the metal accents.

Otherwise, it sounds like something I'd see from a game a decade ago. Ahh, nostalgia~ XD

Game music should release more retro music more often.


I just realized that I am using a VERY outdated version of Firefox.
*points at Bigode and The_EP's ver. 5.0 and DM's ver 6.0a2
Title: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on July 14, 2011, 04:38:47 AM
[西方 Arrange] Witches' Ball ~ Magus  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFq1PH--op8)

Decided to fix up my earlier arrange of Witches' Ball and upload it to Youtube.

An attempt to rearrange the MIDI of a usually forgotten theme of Marisa from Seihou Shuusou Gyoku (秋霜玉). I tried to use instruments that a ball would use, so I needed violins, cellos and lots of other strings. Surprisingly, THInst.sf2's violin and viola are pretty good if you take the time to do some minor fixes~

I don't know if a harpsichord is acceptable though. Oh well.

So it turned out like a a twisted festival theme, or something. Should I be happy about it? :P

Agh. I need more practice. I wish I can stretch time or something.

My dream is to develop a shmup that is as fast-paced as SSG.
It's still a long way to go. >.<
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on July 15, 2011, 02:01:52 PM
Hm, good arrange!

I don't really like the cello and the string ensemble patches, though I'm pickier about these, owing to former violin experience.
Violin is pretty good for a GM2-fitting SF2, however. Could be stronger.

Not too fond of the background piano. Too watery - is it a honky-tonk by chance?. Liked the harpsichord for some reason, but of course it was very MIDI-ish.

Drums don't seem to fit - it sounds between a brush kit and power kit...I think a room kit would better match.

It seems you're getting a great grip on THFont...I think now's a great time to start contemplating moving up to hardware synths for primary work.
I recently got an Edirol SD-20 (small mobile cousin of the notorious SD-90) for quite cheap (in N. America a few pop up here and there for US$20-40, a much cheaper bargain than the ~US$200 from Japanese sellers), and love the device
Software synths are good too, but those ask for a more powerful CPU (often a quad-core for the top-level stuff) and lots (8GB+) of RAM, plus a 64-bit DAW if you're using so many of them that the 4GB RAM limit of 32-bit apps isn't enough. Plus most of them seem to be geared for specific instrument sets (string pack, piano pack, etc.) rather than having a GM2/GS/XG map.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on July 16, 2011, 01:23:47 AM
I don't really like the cello and the string ensemble patches, though I'm pickier about these, owing to former violin experience.
Violin is pretty good for a GM2-fitting SF2, however. Could be stronger.
Thanks, I'm trying to improve on that. I haven't really EQ'd them well so I guess it's still shaky.
So you're a violin player... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phlrgUGpt38)

<sorry, that was out of topic>
Not too fond of the background piano. Too watery - is it a honky-tonk by chance?. Liked the harpsichord for some reason, but of course it was very MIDI-ish.
Funnily, they're both Hyper Canvas VST (routed via FL's Midi Out plugin). The watery piano is the Bright Acoustic Piano Patch (Bank 00) set at around 40 Rvb and 70~ish Chr.
The other one is the Harpsichord Patch from the same VST, using the same settings with no Chr.

Yeah, I still haven't gotten the hang of Hyper Canvas. :(

Drums don't seem to fit - it sounds between a brush kit and power kit...I think a room kit would better match.
The drum is from THDrums Room patches (snare being the Electric Snare sample, not the Acoustic). Accents are from Hyper Canvas Room Patch. Mixing the Brush patch (in THDrum, haven't tried HC's brush yet) is kind of hard so I've never used it.

I was trying to emulate the drums from Chikayo Fukuda's Double Prayer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmD_JHks28E)

I wanted it to sound a little disembodied, but it kinda went off. >.<

For reference, here's the same track without the strings, cellos, violas, and violins. That leaves the Drums(HC+TH), Bass, Steel Guitar, Harpsichord(HC), Piano(HC) and flutes with their individual parts.
Witches' Ball Skeleton (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/magusraw.mp3)
Yeah, weird naming conventions lead to misunderstanding.

It seems you're getting a great grip on THFont...I think now's a great time to start contemplating moving up to hardware synths for primary work.
I recently got an Edirol SD-20 (small mobile cousin of the notorious SD-90) for quite cheap (in N. America a few pop up here and there for US$20-40, a much cheaper bargain than the ~US$200 from Japanese sellers), and love the device
SoundMAX drivers don't support Midi I/O. (*insert random sounds of disapproval here*)
I'm stuck with soft synths.

Software synths are good too, but those ask for a more powerful CPU (often a quad-core for the top-level stuff) and lots (8GB+) of RAM, plus a 64-bit DAW if you're using so many of them that the 4GB RAM limit of 32-bit apps isn't enough. Plus most of them seem to be geared for specific instrument sets (string pack, piano pack, etc.) rather than having a GM2/GS/XG map.
My PC is a Pentium 4 2.28GHz equipped with a 512 RAM + 1.5GB Virtual Memory in a 32-bit WinXP SP2.
It was built by HP specifically for DBMS and DBMS development. It has outlived it's life expectancy of 3 years and is currently retired in my home after 7 years of hard labor and service.

So basically, you have an idea of what my mix sounds like when I haven't exported it yet. :P
Funnily, I've never gone over 400MB in RAM usage. My only problem is soundcard buffering which can range from 'Stormtroopers are dow*ksssh*'  to 'oh crap wat am i hearing'.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 16, 2011, 02:06:14 AM
Hyper Canvas/SD-XX pianos are universally considered pretty bad. If you can find it, try Super Quartet. Its pianos are not "OMG THIS SHIT SOUNDS SO REAL"-tier either, but as a whole it pretty much obsoletes the acoustic pianos, guitars and basses from both HC and the SD-90.

SoundMAX drivers don't support Midi I/O. (*insert random sounds of disapproval here*)
I'm stuck with soft synths.

Both SD-90 and 80 only require USB inputs for MIDI and audio. I'm pretty sure the SD-20 is like that too.
Title: Bet on Death Midi~
Post by: Anunsew on July 16, 2011, 02:07:07 AM
Both SD-90 and 80 only require USB inputs for MIDI and audio. I'm pretty sure the SD-20 is like that too.

Now that sounds more hopeful. :D
Thanks for sharing~



On another note, I found a Midi file in my drive which I have not accounted for.
Bet on Death.mid (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/bod.mid)
Best when Microsoft GS Wavetable is not used.

It's a rather forgotten theme from a forgotten non-loli boss. Oh well.
I did not make this midi btw. Probably gotten it somewhere, but I forgot. Posting it here just in case anybody wants it.

I might remix it if I get around to it. XD


Another thing:
Complete Darkness (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/complete.mp3)
This was a midi (converted to mp3)  file I've found sometime ago, played through my soundcard's midi driver.

Crap, the beginning sounds so Alice.

It sounds like a from a fake SNES emulator. >.<
PC-98 chiptunes sound so much better IMHO. ~_~
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 16, 2011, 03:11:43 AM
The Bet on Death MIDI is the original SoEW MIDI fixed to loop correctly when not played by the game.
Here's the complete, unmodified OST: http://www.mediafire.com/?19pda1e0tlgpvph
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on July 16, 2011, 03:37:00 AM
The Bet on Death MIDI is the original SoEW MIDI fixed to loop correctly when not played by the game.
Here's the complete, unmodified OST: http://www.mediafire.com/?19pda1e0tlgpvph
Thanks again for the link. :3
Hoh, the original version's layout of Bet on Death reminded me of  how Doll Judgement's midi is 15mins long. :P

In any case, isn't SoEW the only PC98 game that had midi tracks, or did the others have them too?


On the Zip file.
So THIS is where my Complete Darkness Midi came from. :3


Spriting is frustrating. IT'S FRUSTRATING.
Title: Re: Bet on Death Midi~
Post by: Dark on July 16, 2011, 03:52:30 AM
Another thing:
Complete Darkness (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/complete.mp3)
This was a midi (converted to mp3)  file I've found sometime ago, played through my soundcard's midi driver.

Crap, the beginning sounds so Alice.

It sounds like a from a fake SNES emulator. >.<
PC-98 chiptunes sound so much better IMHO. ~_~

midi

now

(if you have it)

this song is made of pure awesome.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on July 16, 2011, 04:00:52 AM
It's in the ZIP file from Bigode's link.
It's MIMA.mid.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 16, 2011, 04:25:30 AM
In any case, isn't SoEW the only PC98 game that had midi tracks, or did the others have them too?

Yes, SoEW is the only game out of the PC-98 games to have official MIDI versions of the songs. But there's a tool that converts PMD FM files to RCP, which in turn can be converted to MIDI. Here's everything you need:
http://www.mediafire.com/?0madaqvznvkko5e

Just run CVRCP through a command prompt and you should be able to figure everything out by yourself. Be aware that it cannot convert the following FM parameters into MIDI:

-Drums
-Volume
-Expression (volume of individual channels)
-Stereo panning
-Tempo changes
-Tuning

Additionally, program changes are based on ZUN's FM program numbers (non GM), and the tempo is always off.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the you must change the .M2 file extensions to .M . (in LLS and MS, the .M2 files are the YM2608 versions of the songs, aka better. SoEW and PoDD don't have YM2203 versions of the songs)
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Youtube Update 7/15/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on July 16, 2011, 06:39:43 AM
Delayed response time go!

<sorry, that was out of topic>Funnily, they're both Hyper Canvas VST (routed via FL's Midi Out plugin). The watery piano is the Bright Acoustic Piano Patch (Bank 00) set at around 40 Rvb and 70~ish Chr.
The other one is the Harpsichord Patch from the same VST, using the same settings with no Chr.
Ah.  Must've been a little too much chorus.
I find the Piano 1 St. patch a bit better for general use. It's also quite flexible when the patch is modified. Same for the Orchestra patch (which, if you see the TTS-1 thread, Spaztique and I have used gratuitously).

Quote
SoundMAX drivers don't support Midi I/O. (*insert random sounds of disapproval here*)
I'm stuck with soft synths.
Hyper Canvas/SD-XX pianos are universally considered pretty bad. If you can find it, try Super Quartet. Its pianos are not "OMG THIS SHIT SOUNDS SO REAL"-tier either, but as a whole it pretty much obsoletes the acoustic pianos, guitars and basses from both HC and the SD-90.

Both SD-90 and 80 only require USB inputs for MIDI and audio. I'm pretty sure the SD-20 is like that too.
None of my soundcards have MIDI ports either.
Super Quartet's stuff sounds quite good, as does Orchestral. Still not real, but it does better.
Most newer synthesizers and modules (1999 and later) support USB, and the SD-20 supports MIDI via USB (haven't tested audio yet via USB alone - looking at manual for that). Also it can be powered through the USB bus, but if you try to loop audio into input via line-in cable you will get lots of electric current feedback noise unless you use an AC adapter.
EDIT: SD-20 does NOT support both MIDI and audio input via USB, probably due to its ability to use the USB bus for power instead. Putting a 9V DC adapter did not help.
Looking at their manuals, the SC-8820 and MU-500 (maybe even SC-8850 and MU-2000EX as well) do not support said feature either, though SC-D70 (a larger audio-oriented SC-8820 clone which came later - they're quite common on eBay and run for ~US$250-300 from Japanese sellers) does. :(

Quote
My PC is a Pentium 4 2.28GHz equipped with a 512 RAM + 1.5GB Virtual Memory in a 32-bit WinXP SP2.
It was built by HP specifically for DBMS and DBMS development. It has outlived it's life expectancy of 3 years and is currently retired in my home after 7 years of hard labor and service.
I'd say it's time to upgrade, unless you use softsynths that require XP/2k3 or older (S-YXG50, VSC, WinGroove, etc.).
Title: Endarkened Fury
Post by: Anunsew on July 23, 2011, 12:37:45 AM
Endarkened Fury (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/stuff/Dark.mp3)
GM Midi (MSWT) and XG-soundset midi version (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/stuff/endarkened%20fury.rar)

Here is my submission for DM's other request...though I wasn't able to add a nod to the SA Stage 5 theme as he wanted. On the other hand, it kinda sounds like ZUN's Sacred Battle from Torte le Magic. (Though personally, Witch of Love Potion is better for me, but is hard to apply for this theme) :P

I maybe went overboard with some dissonant chords and sequences, but I guess it adds to the ominous feeling of the track. It's also bit short, just a little over the minute for 1 loop. It's really hard to compose originals...I wonder how the heck ZUN pulls out his riffs? I wish I had continued practicing my piano since I was eight. :P

Gah, I wish for moar musical knowledge...


On the other hand, I'm trying to learn how to use SynthMaker that comes with FL Studio.
Trying to incorporate programming and music is kind of weird though. XD

Hooray for weirdness!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Weird Update 7/23/11)!
Post by: Romantique Tp on July 24, 2011, 03:46:53 AM
I'm no good at explaining my musical thoughts, but here I go anyway.
The part at 00:39~00:57 sounds too much like the main part (00:58~1:24) instrument-wise. I think it steals some of the power that the main part could have.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Weird Update 7/23/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on July 24, 2011, 04:23:29 PM
Ehe, it has a bit of a 16-bit era feel. Lovely.

I agree with Bigode that 00:58's melody instrument sounds too similar to that in 00:39.

I don't really like the background square wave. Too much resonance.

I maybe went overboard with some dissonant chords and sequences, but I guess it adds to the ominous feeling of the track. It's also bit short, just a little over the minute for 1 loop.
Ominous...eh, lively again. They ended up distracting a little bit, alas.

Quote
It's really hard to compose originals...I wonder how the heck ZUN pulls out his riffs? I wish I had continued practicing my piano since I was eight. :P
The one answer - beer. Lots and lots and LOTS of beer. (unconfirmed)
The rest - Cubase, SD-90, Virtual Guitarist, Groove Agent, MIDI controller keyboard maybe - are just secondary.

Kinda wish I could easily test this theory now, but *residence's drinking law idiocy* ;-;.

Quote
On the other hand, I'm trying to learn how to use SynthMaker that comes with FL Studio.
Trying to incorporate programming and music is kind of weird though. XD
Using SynthMaker, I see...FM synthesis simulation, I guess?
I'm playing around with the MIDI version in Logic for fun as well. Trying to learn ES2 (synth unit) and EFM1 (FM synth) while I'm at it.
I find it fun to adjust parameters until I get the desired sound, whether it be FM synths, MIDI units, full-fledged symphonic AUs/VSTs....

Oh, and for synth sounds I recommend the Synth1 and SuperWaveP8 VSTis. Both are free and quite powerful.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Weird Update 7/23/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on July 25, 2011, 01:42:48 AM
Thanks for the comments! They are my best source of information on how to improve at the moment. :P

Lively again, huh. I guess I could try cutting on my coffee. >.<
I just can't seem to get into proper character.

Also, I have to learn the basics of instrument variation. :(


Quote from: PARU Magnificent Breweries GmbH
The one answer - beer. Lots and lots and LOTS of beer. (unconfirmed)
I don't drink alcohol. (Non-drinkers are rare in my country, where minors as young as 12 years can obtain drinks from the local sari-sari store. Hooray.) :(

On a happier note though, my country is quite proud of its beer.



Title: Eye of Painful Death--Remastering my old stuff...eh, what?
Post by: Anunsew on July 25, 2011, 01:59:08 AM
Eye of Painful Death (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/stuff/shiku.mp3) (Remaster)

For fun, I tried to remaster an old composition of mine which I released in last year's Tanabata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__zJG1mauQ)~

Holy crap, my old version clips like there's no tomorrow. >.<

Anyway, in the technical level they have big differences:
The old version:

While the new one applies all more prior knowledge in mixing. Plus, I edited some instruments and dropped some counter melodies, and added some. Also, I tried doing a little saturation effect on the drums, to make the track sound less synth-y.

This piece brings back memories. I composed this while renting in a netcafe...


As for Shiku, I need to draw her someday... >.<
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Weird Update 7/23/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on July 25, 2011, 03:09:27 AM
Thanks for the comments! They are my best source of information on how to improve at the moment. :P

Lively again, huh. I guess I could try cutting on my coffee. >.<
I just can't seem to get into proper character.

Also, I have to learn the basics of instrument variation. :(
Ehe, no problem with the comments!
For relaxing stuff, tea helps. :V

Instrument variation...well, I find it more important to do so in the melody. It does get tiring to hear the same tones repeated over and over again, and given how most catch on the melody bit first, this will become quite obvious. Alternating the tones (even between the same instrument) assists greatly to keep listeners' auditory interest.

Quote

I don't drink alcohol. (Non-drinkers are rare in my country, where minors as young as 12 years can obtain drinks from the local sari-sari store. Hooray.) :(

On a happier note though, my country is quite proud of its beer.
/me looks at Anunsew's YT profile and location
Why am I not surprised about that fact? (haven't been there BTW, but I've heard silly stories from others in the area)
No intent to try the beer yet though. I'll stick with the German, Belgian, Dutch, Korean, and Japanese ones, thanks.

Eye of Painful Death (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/stuff/shiku.mp3) (Remaster)

For fun, I tried to remaster an old composition of mine which I released in last year's Tanabata (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__zJG1mauQ)~

Holy crap, my old version clips like there's no tomorrow. >.<

Anyway, in the technical level they have big differences:
The old version:
  • All channels are routed to a single master mixer (because I didn't know what they were back then)
  • All channels have been levelled using only panning and volume control (because I didn't know what compressors and limiters are for)
  • All channels are unEQ'd THFont (because I didn't know...you're getting the drift, aren't you?)
  • Finally, the rendered audio track has been envelop'd using Audacity (yay!...okay, not really the most efficient tool for audio enveloping. But hey, using Audacity is manly)

While the new one applies all more prior knowledge in mixing. Plus, I edited some instruments and dropped some counter melodies, and added some. Also, I tried doing a little saturation effect on the drums, to make the track sound less synth-y.
Hm, big improvement! Also sounds more lively, hooray reverb!
Instruments are starting to sit in positions. It's easier to hear each part.

Criticism time!
 - Melodies' instrumentations have a bit too much similarity. Try splitting them into other instruments. I prefer using unused MIDI channels for this with alternate patches. Given that you're using VSTis and SF2s, you should easily be able to invoke additional instances if needed, provided the system can handle it.
 - I find drums still too quiet. Though that may be my own perception.
 - That wavy legato square wave is going a bit too crazy - adjust phase settings and/or portamento.
Title: Meditations and revelations...
Post by: Anunsew on July 27, 2011, 06:01:26 AM
Ehe, no problem with the comments!
For relaxing stuff, tea helps. :V
Tea...except I like black tea that makes me giddy. >.<

Instrument variation...
Hmm, never really tried that before--but since ZUN often uses that technique, I might study it.

/me looks at Anunsew's YT profile and location
Why am I not surprised about that fact?
Because online Filipinos are either spammers/trolls/lurkers. I usually belong to the last group. :D

Hm, big improvement! Also sounds more lively, hooray reverb!
Instruments are starting to sit in positions. It's easier to hear each part.
I just realized something that has been my main weakness for all time.
I usually mix five or more instruments (lol) all playing different lines at the same time. It makes EQ'ing nearly impossible since I will use have to occupy all the freqs to avoid masking. But it will still mask, cause each track uses a lot of freqs (imagine: melody, counter-point, counter-counter point, fast bassline, bass tremolo, bass, chords, drums all playing at the same time. Also, there are usually more than one instrument doing the same lines when I compose them).
SO technically speaking, I have no mixing problem...I have a tracking problem. >.<

I realized it after listening to one of my old pieces called Different Shades of Autumn  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEnixXPgsU). It always bugged me that I haven't been able to replicate the same quality on my later works, then I realized that I tracked this song without exceeding five instruments playing at the same time.

I did a quick check on some ZUN midis and confirmed my suspicion that my problem doesn't lie in the mixing phase. SOOOooo~ I have to do a revamp on my piano roll tracking on my future works. :3

Crap. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. >.<
Title: Re: Meditations and revelations...
Post by: DX7.EP on July 27, 2011, 03:56:44 PM
Tea...except I like black tea that makes me giddy. >.<
Eastern tea (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) does the trick.

Quote
Hmm, never really tried that before--but since ZUN often uses that technique, I might study it.
ZUN also uses a lot of instrument layering, which can be very useful when trying to complement various instruments' frequencies. Try looking into that as well.

Quote
I just realized something that has been my main weakness for all time.
I usually mix five or more instruments (lol) all playing different lines at the same time. It makes EQ'ing nearly impossible since I will use have to occupy all the freqs to avoid masking. But it will still mask, cause each track uses a lot of freqs (imagine: melody, counter-point, counter-counter point, fast bassline, bass tremolo, bass, chords, drums all playing at the same time. Also, there are usually more than one instrument doing the same lines when I compose them).
SO technically speaking, I have no mixing problem...I have a tracking problem. >.<
Ah!
What most do is to put each part and instrument in separate tracks rather than have instruments go all over the part/frequency spectrum. So instead of having a few instruments do multiple parts split them so each gets its own track and part.
Also for multi-instrument layered parts, well, try to mix them one instrument at a time and adjust depending on which instrument's sounds you prefer.

Quote
I did a quick check on some ZUN midis and confirmed my suspicion that my problem doesn't lie in the mixing phase. SOOOooo~ I have to do a revamp on my piano roll tracking on my future works. :3
Good thinking. Try to split your tracks by part and instrument so we don't see tracks that go all over the spectrum that are hard to mix.
Title: Meh.
Post by: Anunsew on August 03, 2011, 02:37:40 AM
Last Remote (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Track2.mp3)

Yay, a remix~

Gah, I'm so uninspired lately.
I WANNA LIE DOWN AND SLEEP FOR A WHOLE MONTH!~
Title: Re: Meh.
Post by: DX7.EP on August 03, 2011, 03:41:17 PM
Last Remote (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Track2.mp3)

Yay, a remix~

Gah, I'm so uninspired lately.
I WANNA LIE DOWN AND SLEEP FOR A WHOLE MONTH!~
Not a bad remix.

I'd suggest more global reverb, but not too much. Also a counter-melody would be nice, preferably with a different rhythm of notes. It seems a bit dead with just melody, harmony parts, bass, and drums...speaking of which, a little more rhythm variety would be nice too.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Last Remote Remix 8/03/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on August 04, 2011, 12:22:26 AM
Not a bad remix.

I'd suggest more global reverb, but not too much. Also a counter-melody would be nice, preferably with a different rhythm of notes. It seems a bit dead with just melody, harmony parts, bass, and drums...speaking of which, a little more rhythm variety would be nice too.

Maybe I should've added some dist.guitar rhythm parts, like how ZUN did it in TH11~TH12, or like Younha. :P
Finally, something I can improve upon. XD

By global rvb, you mean like adding rvb on the Master bus or something?
Won't it sound bad if I do that? Different frequencies are gonna be echoing all around the place--I think it's better to add them individually in each track instead, before the EQ.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Last Remote Remix 8/03/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on August 04, 2011, 12:35:39 AM
By global rvb, you mean like adding rvb on the Master bus or something?
Won't it sound bad if I do that? Different frequencies are gonna be echoing all around the place--I think it's better to add them individually in each track instead, before the EQ.
Not exactly. That wouldn't sound too good :V
Each track should get its own reverb and adjusted as needed.
Title: Re: Meh.
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 04, 2011, 01:34:45 AM
Last Remote (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Track2.mp3)

Yay, a remix~

Gah, I'm so uninspired lately.
I WANNA LIE DOWN AND SLEEP FOR A WHOLE MONTH!~

That's nice, but 2 things bothered me while listening to it.

First, the center area of the mix feels empty. It's as if there was nothing panned anywhere near the center. This could be fixed quite easily by using a string section or a pad.

Second, the trumpet feels lonely. If you listen to ZUN's compositions closely, you might notice that there's always something backing its melody up. It's generally either another trumpet, a saw wave or a brass section.  Experiment ! Much of ZUN's trumpet magic comes from him using 2 trumpets playing different notes at once.
Title: ~_~
Post by: Anunsew on August 04, 2011, 02:17:15 AM
First, the center area of the mix feels empty. It's as if there was nothing panned anywhere near the center. This could be fixed quite easily by using a string section or a pad.

I knew I forgot something.  :o
I spent so much time on the bass, percussions and melodies that I forgot to put some attention to the chord pads. >.<

Second, the trumpet feels lonely. If you listen to ZUN's compositions closely, you might notice that there's always something backing its melody up. It's generally either another trumpet, a saw wave or a brass section.  Experiment ! Much of ZUN's trumpet magic comes from him using 2 trumpets playing different notes at once.

You mean harmonics? I'm not quite experienced with harmonics so I'm still playing it safe right now.  I'll try going a bit outside of my safe zone in my next track.

What I usually do though is put a string backer on the trumpets, but they usually play the same notes at different octaves.
Title: Re: ~_~
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 04, 2011, 02:35:33 AM
You mean harmonics? I'm not quite experienced with harmonics so I'm still playing it safe right now.  I'll try going a bit outside of my safe zone in my next track.

What I usually do though is put a string backer on the trumpets, but they usually play the same notes at different octaves.

I don't know the English word for what I mean.  It's ehh... "having a instrument play a simplified version of the lead melody, but a octave or 2 lower". I think it's called a countermelody.
Title: Re: ~_~
Post by: DX7.EP on August 04, 2011, 02:58:45 AM
I don't know the English word for what I mean.  It's ehh... "having a instrument play a simplified version of the lead melody, but a octave or 2 lower". I think it's called a countermelody.
Harmonics is a better fit than counter-melody, I think. Though I'm also not completely sure, usually a countermelody will have a different rhythm from the melody to generate auditory interest.
Though you aren't limited to octaves - use scales and arpeggios as well! Many of ZUN's trumpet leads are in fourths and thirds (namely Kanako's theme).

What I usually do though is put a string backer on the trumpets, but they usually play the same notes at different octaves.
It seems you are just padding the trumpet bit. What I'd suggest is instead to have the trumpets play two parts at once, melody and harmonics (based on the above). The string backing is for the dead centre parts.
Title: ZUN's riffs
Post by: Anunsew on August 06, 2011, 12:57:37 AM
Agh, I can't understand them. I can't even get what chords he is using. I can't break it down, I can't see them step-by-step, hence, I cannot study them. >.<

I'm actually talking about those parts where ZUN just goes crazy with the piano roll.
I'm talking about parts of pieces like:
A Soul As Red as A Ground Cherry at 1:19) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYvvKyYIc5s&feature=related)
Shanghai Alice in Meiji 17...the whole thing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4FVKSHjg-0&feature=related)
Necrofantasy's intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewGbGpEp-dM&feature=related)
Doll Judgement's intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gha7mck6a1A&feature=related)
Charming Domination (Phantasm) intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvvqAE_xgE&feature=related)
Now die, for the debt you have accumulated at 0:22 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzt87vI6YT0)
Civilization of Magic at 1:25 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZaFmz8XvrM)

There's a lot more tracks which I have tried to study, and most of the time my mind just goes blank when I try to understand them.  :derp:
Probably because I headdesk every time I try to emulate his style on the piano roll and it ends up in a major key or something. :o

EDIT:
It's starting to bug me that PARU is almost always online minutes after I post.
Title: Re: ZUN's riffs
Post by: DX7.EP on August 06, 2011, 01:01:44 AM
Agh, I can't understand them. I can't even get what chords he is using. I can't break it down, I can't see them step-by-step, hence, I cannot study them. >.<

I'm actually talking about those parts where ZUN just goes crazy with the piano roll.
I'm talking about parts of pieces like:
A Soul As Red as A Ground Cherry at 1:19) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYvvKyYIc5s&feature=related)
Shanghai Alice in Meiji 17...the whole thing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4FVKSHjg-0&feature=related)
Necrofantasy's intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewGbGpEp-dM&feature=related)
Doll Judgement's intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gha7mck6a1A&feature=related)
Charming Domination (Phantasm) intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvvqAE_xgE&feature=related)
Now die, for the debt you have accumulated at 0:22 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzt87vI6YT0)
Civilization of Magic at 1:25 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZaFmz8XvrM)

There's a lot more tracks which I have tried to study, and most of the time my mind just goes blank when I try to understand them.  :derp:
Probably because I headdesk every time I try to emulate his style on the piano roll and it ends up in a major key or something. :o
Analyzing ZUN songs directly isn't the easiest way to learn what he uses. One way to study them is to import the MIDIs in FL and solo one track, then analyze that in the piano roll. Significantly easier...but it doesn't always take into account later works (where there are lots of fan-made MIDIs).
Title: Re: ZUN's riffs
Post by: Anunsew on August 06, 2011, 01:06:30 AM
Analyzing ZUN songs directly isn't the easiest way to learn what he uses. One way to study them is to import the MIDIs in FL and solo one track, then analyze that in the piano roll. Significantly easier...but it doesn't always take into account later works (where there are lots of fan-made MIDIs).

That's what I do, actually. But it's still hard since there are times when ZUN suddenly deviates from his starting Key signature, and I'm thrown off the scent. >.<

I guess I have to start thinking in chords instead of key signatures...just like a guitar. :P

Also, the other problem is that the tracks which I want to study the most doesn't have an official midi. Like Oriental Love Consultation...so I have to settle for Dichromatic Lotus Butterfly. >.<
Or like Marisa's Dimensional Dream. :3
I'm a sucker for PoDD themes. XD
Title: Re: ZUN's riffs
Post by: DX7.EP on August 06, 2011, 01:12:44 AM
I guess I have to start thinking in chords instead of key signatures...just like a guitar. :P
I usually think in scales and chords when looking at music. Key signature doesn't do too much...occasionally I write songs in one key signature while leaving the settings at the default C Major. :V
Title: Boring update is boring.
Post by: Anunsew on August 08, 2011, 03:24:47 AM
A boring update!

Strange Decision
Link! (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/strange.mp3)

A very old midi that I composed around...er...*looks at notation data*...May 2, 2010.  However, I didn't finish it back then and a friend of mine made an arrangement of it. The official name was 決定な奇妙の希由 but hey, I can't even read what I just copy/pasted. Er, I think it's supposed to be read as "kettei na kimyou no mare yoshi" or roughly "Strange Reason of Strange Decision". Actually, I just named it 'strange' because...well, it sounds strange.

Anyway, I decided to use the arrangement's midi and have a little practice for this week (since I'm still in a stump--I'm always in a stump, I guess). It doesn't sound too flashy, or too distinctive, except for the fact that if you compare my style of composition a year ago and now--IT SOUNDS SO MUCH THE SAME. WHHHHYYYYY? :(

A little background on this composition though: this was composed after my first try at Satsuki's theme (Missing Girl--lol, brings back memories--but before Cherry Flavored Justice). Around that time, I was involved in a weird project for a danmaku game from a self-proclaimed gaijin circle that doesn't earn any money, nor have released anything besides spam. I wasn't interested in programming back then, but I guess I like playing (dying) in these kinds of games (heck yeah, debug mode+infinite lives for playtesting is 1ΣΣΓ...whatever 1ΣΣΓ means). Things happened, and I was coerced into making BGM's for it as well. This theme was supposed to be the title theme.

Unfortunately the project got stalled indefinitely due to lack of doujin supplies, and other luxurious stuff that we need to burn for our furnace of imagination. Then my employer went to Bermuda triangle for an unknown period of vacation, and I would only hear from him from time to time.  Coincidentally, I've been promoted and is currently the project manager...but I don't know anything about danmakufu, so here I am, crash coursing Allegro and C while learning how to sprite and make music. I guess it's way to go from playtesting...

Oh yeah. I also like to lie a lot. w00t:P
Man I'm bored.


Disclaimer: Yeah. I think I drank seven cups. Or was it eight? Hmm.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Last Remote Remix 8/03/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on August 08, 2011, 03:39:28 AM
Hm, lacks compression and it was recorded too close to peak.

Sometimes the drums overpower the melody...which is itself at times unclear. Same for the strings on the left and right.

At times the top of the melody is a bit lonely and may need some complementing with another instrument or a harmonic part.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Last Remote Remix 8/03/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on August 08, 2011, 03:44:53 AM
Hm, lacks compression and it was recorded too close to peak.
Oversaturated I guess. I was experimenting with saturating the peaks at -4db. It never actually reaches 0db. I've heard and seen some good uses of saturation, but I guess it takes practice.

Sometimes the drums overpower the melody...which is itself at times unclear. Same for the strings on the left and right.
I'm really having trouble with this. I just wing the drum's peak by ear using different headphones, so I don't have a steady rule for this. I often read that kicks are usually at -6db, and snares at -8db, but that's a bit too loud for me. Any tips would be appreciated.

I usually do:
Leads at -19~-12db
Bass at -20db
Percussives at -12~-6db

then I just master them using additive gain and EQ. I've seen somewhere that it's better to mix at low levels, but my headphone's sensitivity is pretty low. It's only at about -30~ish.

As for panning...I don't hard-pan, but usually I just do them by ear. I don't follow a steady rule on this either. >.<

At times the top of the melody is a bit lonely and may need some complementing with another instrument or a harmonic part.
It's not supposed to be a complex theme, though I think I should've added some more accents.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love!~ (Last Remote Remix 8/03/11)!
Post by: DX7.EP on August 08, 2011, 03:59:09 AM
Oversaturated I guess. I was experimenting with saturating the peaks at -4db. It never actually reaches 0db. I've heard and seen some good uses of saturation, but I guess it takes practice.
Certainly, practice is key.

Quote
I'm really having trouble with this. I just wing the drum's peak by ear using different headphones, so I don't have a steady rule for this. I often read that kicks are usually at -6db, and snares at -8db, but that's a bit too loud for me. Any tips would be appreciated.

I usually do:
Leads at -19~-12db
Bass at -20db
Percussives at -12~-6db

then I just master them using additive gain and EQ. I've seen somewhere that it's better to mix at low levels, but my headphone's sensitivity is pretty low. It's only at about -30~ish.
I'd love to assist but like you I don't have any steady rules for drums. Mixing at low levels and even mono helps greatly. Also I usually work exclusively with studio or semi-studio headphones, which generally have greater sensitivity and great coverage of the audio frequency spectrum (consumer ones generally over-amplify certain frequency ranges, usually bass).

Quote
As for panning...I don't hard-pan, but usually I just do them by ear. I don't follow a steady rule on this either. >.<
Ditto....

Quote
It's not supposed to be a complex theme, though I think I should've added some more accents.
A bit more variety is definitely something that'd fit here. Also more variety in tones.
Title: Finally decided to fix something...
Post by: Anunsew on August 10, 2011, 03:02:36 AM
Unlikely Anguish ~ Last Remote (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/Track%202%20v2.01.mp3) Version 2.0.1.
The numbers were made up.

Anyway, fixed a few things in the composition.

But all in all, it's pretty much the same composition. Funny how something that I fixed for an hour could sound so much the same. :yukkuri:

Oh yeah. It's 2db louder since I lifted the saturation.  :derp:
Title: Re: Finally decided to fix something...
Post by: Romantique Tp on August 10, 2011, 03:44:03 AM
But all in all, it's pretty much the same composition. Funny how something that I fixed for an hour could sound so much the same. :yukkuri:

Do you really think so ? I found it to be a very good improvement over the original mix.
Title: Re: Finally decided to fix something...
Post by: Anunsew on August 10, 2011, 09:30:27 AM
Do you really think so ? I found it to be a very good improvement over the original mix.

I wasn't really talking about the improvement. I was thinking more about the 'feel' of the song. I didn't do any major changes on it--if I would put it in perspective, it would be like cake.
The first one was a chocolate cake, which is good, but I messed up a little on the icing. It's still a good cake though.
On the other hand, this one has a better icing. It tastes better, but it's still the same chocolate cake, same basic taste. :)

In a more important note though, maybe it's time to focus more on the composition of the cake rather than the icing. My recipe is going to stagnate at any rate.

Damn, food metaphors always give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Title: Some Japanese Kanji ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll
Post by: Anunsew on August 22, 2011, 01:14:12 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/syoo/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/syoo)
械時計の歌 ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll
Youtube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoDuUs12e3o)

An OC request by Just50001 for his/her character Eva Lundahl.

First things first, I changed my rendering technique in order to make room for enhanced stereo separation + delay widening during the mastering stage. I don't know if it sounds better though. Well, it just sounds louder on a mono headphone.
 :P

Anyway, I was messing with some stuff with THfont, like the squares and pianos. Had also some fun with portamento in making the "spring sound" around 0:30 ~ 0:52. Also, as PARU once recommended, I tried to do some basic counterpointing in the composition. Also dropped some trumpet parts and exchanged it for the flutes, cause flutes are awesome. Why? Because a theme with a flute's sake NOT EVEN ONE DROP. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1hufXK4FDc)

Regardless, I still have to work on my oversaturating issues. I exchanged FL Limiter for FL Soft Clipper in order to lessen distortion approaching -5db, but I guess the main problem is still at the fundamental level. Awww...

I still need to work on making my compositions clearer without making it sound too "bright" and Midi-y. :/
Or maybe just clearer.



Title: Re: Some Japanese Kanji ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll
Post by: DX7.EP on August 22, 2011, 02:01:03 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/syoo/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/syoo)
械時計の歌 ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll

An OC request by Just50001 for his/her character Eva Lundahl.
Not bad, not bad.

Quote
First things first, I changed my rendering technique in order to make room for enhanced stereo separation + delay widening during the mastering stage. I don't know if it sounds better though. Well, it just sounds louder on a mono headphone.
 :P
I can definitely notice that.

Quote
Anyway, I was messing with some stuff with THfont, like the squares and pianos. Had also some fun with portamento in making the "spring sound" around 0:30 ~ 0:52. Also, as PARU once recommended, I tried to do some basic counterpointing in the composition. Also dropped some trumpet parts and exchanged it for the flutes, cause flutes are awesome. Why? Because a theme with a flute's sake NOT EVEN ONE DROP. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1hufXK4FDc)
Pianos are meh, but it's to do with the soundfont. Then again it's not like the Hyper Canvas/TTS-1 and SD-xx series pianos (maybe bar the SD-50 but that is not related to the other SD modules) are much better.

While I like the portamento usage, I am not so sure of the patch that is used for the base.

Yep, I hear some countermelodies.

ZUN tends to use more Flute Vib., Hybrid Saw, and Reed Romance (Alto + Tenor Sax) over Romantic Tp., especially on UFO and later.

Quote
Regardless, I still have to work on my oversaturating issues. I exchanged FL Limiter for FL Soft Clipper in order to lessen distortion approaching -5db, but I guess the main problem is still at the fundamental level. Awww...
Problem's still likely at amplification and compression areas.

Quote
I still need to work on making my compositions clearer without making it sound too "bright" and Midi-y. :/
Or maybe just clearer.
Yeah, I'll say 'more clear' to that.

I suggest you start playing with the ADSR (Attack/Delay/Sustain/Release) envelopes for the instruments. This may involve loading the SF2 in a VST host such as SFZ+ (free, and allows for GUI-based parameter adjustment per channel), direct adjustment with integrated GUI, or the use of SysEx commands to adjust it.
Title: Re: Some Japanese Kanji ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll
Post by: Anunsew on August 22, 2011, 02:20:16 AM
Thanks for the feedback PARU. You always seem to give useful info in your every post. I might consider stalking you now. XD

Pianos are meh, but it's to do with the soundfont. Then again it's not like the Hyper Canvas/TTS-1 and SD-xx series pianos (maybe bar the SD-50 but that is not related to the other SD modules) are much better.
If this keeps up, I'll stick with Hyper Canvas instead. Less of a hassle to EQ at varying freqs, but it eats more CPU.

While I like the portamento usage, I am not so sure of the patch that is used for the base.
Portamento part was done with THfont's Dulcimer set at 1:05 (bar slide) accompanied by a custom made harmonics sound done using a FL's FMDX10 synthesizer. It's barely audible, but coupled with the square pitched at +10 cents, it sounds interesting.

Yep, I hear some countermelodies.

ZUN tends to use more Flute Vib., Hybrid Saw, and Reed Romance (Alto + Tenor Sax) over Romantic Tp., especially on UFO and later.
I'll keep that combination in mind. I'm still unfamiliar with composing original pieces, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Problem's still likely at amplification and compression areas.
It might be just be me, but THfont sounds over-amplified when it was sampled...well, I guess it comes with being free...
I should do more aggressive subtractive gains next time.
Or maybe I should follow some MIDI composition habits that I saw on youtube.
Chords first. Then melody. Then percussion.
Not Melody+chords+percussion, then pads. I think I used 30+ channels on this track.

Yeah, I'll say 'more clear' to that.
Aye, I'll do better next time.

I suggest you start playing with the ADSR (Attack/Delay/Sustain/Release) envelopes for the instruments. This may involve loading the SF2 in a VST host such as SFZ+ (free, and allows for GUI-based parameter adjustment per channel), direct adjustment with integrated GUI, or the use of SysEx commands to adjust it.
I'm not sure if it's the same ADSR in the FL soundfont player but...
(http://i54.tinypic.com/1zw0n89.jpg)
Is it something like that? I've never tinkered with it before since I don't really know what they do (besides Attack, I was messing with it for sometime now).

wow that's some lossy jpeg...MS Paint's jpeg conversion really blows.

Well, I think the Stereo seperation and widening did something good, so I'll stick with it for now. Good-bye FL Limiter. I guess I'll never use you for the Mastering bus ever again. >.<
Title: Re: Some Japanese Kanji ~ Wounded Clockwork Doll
Post by: DX7.EP on August 22, 2011, 02:43:01 AM
Thanks for the feedback PARU. You always seem to give useful info in your every post. I might consider stalking you now. XD
Ehe...also funny how the PARU name is still retained after two name changes on my part :V

Quote
If this keeps up, I'll stick with Hyper Canvas instead. Less of a hassle to EQ at varying freqs, but it eats more CPU.
IIRC you can set Hyper Canvas/TTS-1 on Light Load mode to reduce its need for CPU.

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Portamento part was done with THfont's Dulcimer set at 1:05 (bar slide) accompanied by a custom made harmonics sound done using a FL's FMDX10 synthesizer. It's barely audible, but coupled with the square pitched at +10 cents, it sounds interesting.
Ah.

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I'll keep that combination in mind. I'm still unfamiliar with composing original pieces, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
I was just listing various SD-80/90 patches ZUN uses. You can approximate them, though, with a little parameter tweaking and instrument layering. *looks at Bigode's, Spaztique's, and my psuedo-ZUNpet patches made with Hyper Canvas/TTS-1*

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It might be just be me, but THfont sounds over-amplified when it was sampled...well, I guess it comes with being free...
Yeah, usually free soundfonts aren't that good. The one I tend to use most is SGM, which is a good bit larger than THFont, and even then I prefer using Hyper Canvas, VSC, and S-YXG50 VSTis, even though the latter two have very basic interfaces (S-YXG50 doesn't even have a GUI for adjusting instruments ???).

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I should do more aggressive subtractive gains next time.
Or maybe I should follow some MIDI composition habits that I saw on youtube.
Chords first. Then melody. Then percussion.
Not Melody+chords+percussion, then pads. I think I used 30+ channels on this track.
Chord -> Melody -> Percussion is a common and easy way to quickly write music. Admittedly I tend to do Melody -> Bass -> Harmony -> Counterparts -> Percussion more often, however. :ohdear:

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I'm not sure if it's the same ADSR in the FL soundfont player but...
(http://i54.tinypic.com/1zw0n89.jpg)
Is it something like that? I've never tinkered with it before since I don't really know what they do (besides Attack, I was messing with it for sometime now).
Yeah, that is about right.

ADSR envelope information. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADSR_envelope#ADSR_envelope)

Also, for vibrato you can use the LFO settings, but they may need a source (such as note velocity). I prefer using modulation to adjust it, but it may not work for all instruments and is significantly easier to do with a keyboard controller.

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wow that's some lossy jpeg...MS Paint's jpeg conversion really blows.
Convert to PNG instead. Also get Paint.NET.
Title: Remastering with only the most manliest tools around. ~Liek voulem evenloeps~
Post by: Anunsew on August 26, 2011, 02:56:38 AM
Re-mastered Nightshade Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ1vVidED_A

This track has been made months ago...around before June. Anyway, I decided to improve the composition by massive axe-chopping, like frequency dropping, filtering and patch configurations. It ended up a lot clearer now. I mean, I can hear the bassline in this version~

Also, I applied my six-step ThFont Romantic Trumpet adjustment. The first version didn't use it because it eats too much CPU.
Basically it uses the following steps:
Adjusting Sounfont Wrapper Post Gain (or the volume before it is sent to the mixer track. This is done to make EQing easier)
Parametric EQ setting (This is really touchy, and my current EQ setting only allows RomaT to play properly at C5 to B7. Any higher or lower makes it sound too dull because of massive filtering. Still have to improve this.)
Flanging (To introduce a neat LFO and wah-wah effect to the trumpet. It's barely audible though, but it helps with the Chorus effect)
Chorus (Another hard one. I use FL's presets to mess with this one.)
Reverb (I use DM's Glaceverb settings. It sounds better that way.)
Final Post Gain (adjust the volume before it is sent to master bus)

Wow, no wonder RomaT kills off my CPU. >.<
This setting was finalized in my rendition of Last Remote, but was first used for Oriental Love Consultation (though the effects were in different order. It makes a lot of difference too).
Unfortunately, this setting is of little use for trumpet riffs like Murasa's theme. It isn't "dry" and "crunchy" enough...

In the remix, I also used a lot of Celesta (the original used vibraphones which added to the distortion of the "wet" freqs).
Also, the piano is from Hyper Canvas now, not THfont.
:P
String ensembles, bass, and paddings are still ThFont. :D


..now messing with FL Slayer and some patch combinations...
I'm might kill some youkai if I'm not careful...
Bad pun is bad.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ (Update 08/26/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on August 26, 2011, 10:03:59 AM
While it's not a bad song, I think there are a few things to address:
 - I find the drums and Romatic Tp. too energetic for a song that claims to be more of a depressing one. I'd slow down the tempo a bit, change the drum set(s) used to a lighter one (snares, especially), and for the trumpet I'd lower the cutoff and raise attack slightly to give it a warmer feel.
 - Use Piano 1 St. instead of Piano 1 on Hyper Canvas. It's more manipulable and doesn't have as much of that cheesy bright MIDI feel.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ (Update 08/26/11)
Post by: Anunsew on August 26, 2011, 12:13:48 PM
too energetic
Really? *sips coffee*

Seriously though, I still need to work on synchronizing my emotions with what I do. My tracks still feel unattached to me.
Meh, I'll probably understand it with experience.

lower the cutoff
What does cutoff do? I can't seem to hear anything besides lowering the maximum frequency of the patch. I've never touched that control since then.
What I've read doesn't seem to help, because it just confirmed my assumptions. I don't know any clear use for it yet.

- Use Piano 1 St. instead of Piano 1 on Hyper Canvas. It's more manipulable and doesn't have as much of that cheesy bright MIDI feel.
Aww. I kinda liked that patch. >.<
I like the bright feeling on my piano sounds (though I hate it on everything else, especially on strings and basses). That's why I still use the Microsoft GS Wavetable's Patch 1 to 3 from time to time. :P


I am beginning to wonder why "cheesy" is the favorite adjective in describing Midi-ish sounds.
Even FL Studio uses that adjective.
There's even a website that uses the word to describe their Midis.

I'm getting hungry.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ (Update 08/26/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on August 26, 2011, 01:07:59 PM
Really? *sips coffee*

Seriously though, I still need to work on synchronizing my emotions with what I do. My tracks still feel unattached to me.
Meh, I'll probably understand it with experience.
Yeah, it is a bit energetic and that coffee isn't helping (though I could use some...morning over here and I've been up for a while now).

As for tracks and emotion connection, I am still trying to learn what makes this tick as well....

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What does cutoff do? I can't seem to hear anything besides lowering the maximum frequency of the patch. I've never touched that control since then.
What I've read doesn't seem to help, because it just confirmed my assumptions. I don't know any clear use for it yet.
It is, in a sense, a frequency limiter for patches. Increasing cutoff will take off the higher frequencies, resulting in a darker, less articulated sound.

While research is good, I find experimentation with it a much better way to learn how to utilise it for your needs.

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Aww. I kinda liked that patch. >.<
I like the bright feeling on my piano sounds (though I hate it on everything else, especially on strings and basses). That's why I still use the Microsoft GS Wavetable's Patch 1 to 3 from time to time. :P
Well, in the General MIDI standard Patch 2 (or 1, depending on implementation :V) is a Bright Piano. I like to use Piano 2 St. a lot when relying on Hyper Canvas/TTS-1 or the Classic Bank of the SD-20/80/90 (which the Hyper Canvas and TTS-1 are based off of).

And don't use MSGS synth pianos. They're just worse versions of the SC-55 pianos, which themselves are terrible by modern standards. (now to see if I can get a piano plug-in board for my MU1000....)

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I am beginning to wonder why "cheesy" is the favorite adjective in describing Midi-ish sounds.
Even FL Studio uses that adjective.
There's even a website that uses the word to describe their Midis.
The term 'Cheesy' is used for MIDI descriptions because they tend to sound very fake and inexpressibly clich?. It also doesn't help that 99% of people rely exclusively on the MSGS synth or QuickTime Music Synthesizer, both of which are licensed and heavily bastardized versions of the SC-55 sound map.

Furthermore, most MIDIs are made to be played on a variety of hardware, so their writers relied almost exclusively on what was presented in General MIDI standard, which, when compared to Roland's GS or Yamaha's XG standards, was very limited. So many of the General MIDI presets, especially when played on MSGS (by consumers) or SC-55 (by composers - this was one of the most popular modules for writing on), have become clich? instruments due to such frequent use.

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I'm getting hungry.
Muffins and scones go great with coffee. ;)
Title: Lazy Update (September 9, 2011)~
Post by: Anunsew on September 09, 2011, 02:46:21 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/kjlb/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/kjlb)
Requested by: Karanum

Stage 3 Boss theme
Dani

I've changed a lot of things in my approach to composition They're too many too list (or remember) so I'm not gonna do a memo of that today (yay!).

I'm starting to see the limitations of my ability now. It's a bit depressing because I still have a long way to go.  This theme is making me think of why I am composing game pieces in the fist place. :P

Why am I composing, and for what purpose? What do I really want to do with my pieces? I am starting to question my motive for being a composer. This theme is like a message to myself. XD

Still, it's too late to back out now. I've decided to go on, even if I don't know where composing will take me. I have no talent in music, and everything I do is mimicked from what I've seen and heard from others. I don't have much originality. It's sobering to think that I might not be composing at all if I just said no to doing Rin's theme. But I'm still having fun, so I guess it's okay~ :yukkuri:


It's ironic, since I'm having these philosophical thoughts on Cirno day. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ (Update 09/09/11)
Post by: Romantique Tp on September 09, 2011, 03:57:59 AM
I would say you have reached a certain level of musical maturity, even if just because you're dropping the trumpet for a bit and using other instruments for lead.
I think you're doing pretty well so far.
Title: FM means Frequence Modulation!...or Fan made. I forgot. Probably both...oh well.
Post by: Anunsew on September 24, 2011, 12:45:39 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/fojg/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/fojg)
ニモ行先 ∼ Nemo dat quod non habet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG3SlOLA9w8)

First try with FM synthesis. This was tracked using VGM Music Maker (developed by Shiru) and recorded to 22~khz with Wave out sampling. This link is Mp3 though, so I had to upsample it again to 44~khz. Audacity punches me in the face when it tries to convert a 22~khz sample to mp3. Must be my outdated lame_enc.dll.
:P

Anyway, my musical urge is like a blank wall for two weeks now (I'm painting it red though, so I'm not too bored). I decided to try out FM synthesis and frankly, I don't have a clue what I am doing. All those knobs in the instrument settings are making me dizzy. :smokedcheese:

In the end, I just used Hoot's drum samples (internally resampled at 11~khz) and the instrument presets available with the download. I have no clue how to make melodic sounds with FM (aside from the "beep" sound...) so I'm stuck with them atm.

On a good note though, FM synthesis lets me practice my keyboarding skills...on my keyboard. Literally on my typing keyboard. Yay :toot:
Title: Re: FM means Frequence Modulation!...or Fan made. I forgot. Probably both...oh well.
Post by: DX7.EP on September 24, 2011, 01:27:41 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/fojg/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/fojg)
ニモ行先 ∼ Nemo dat quod non habet

First try with FM synthesis. This was tracked using VGM Music Maker (developed by Shiru) and recorded to 22~khz with Wave out sampling. This link is Mp3 though, so I had to upsample it again to 44~khz. Audacity punches me in the face when it tries to convert a 22~khz sample to mp3. Must be my outdated lame_enc.dll.
:P
FM synthesis :*
/me puts FM8, along with Korg's M1 and Wavestation softsynths, ChipSounds, and Kontakt Elements, on Christmas list

I don't have too many problems with 22kHz MP3s, myself. Then again I tend to use my DAW for encoding to MP3.

Quote
Anyway, my musical urge is like a blank wall for two weeks now (I'm painting it red though, so I'm not too bored). I decided to try out FM synthesis and frankly, I don't have a clue what I am doing. All those knobs in the instrument settings are making me dizzy. :smokedcheese:

In the end, I just used Hoot's drum samples and the instrument presets available with the download. I have no clue how to make melodic sounds with FM (aside from the "beep" sound...) so I'm stuck with them atm.
FM synthesis is considered difficult but with the right controls and experimentation you can get some very good results!

I don't really like Hoot's drum samples and presets.

IIRC VGM Music Maker emulates a YM2612 (Sega Megadrive) and not a YM2608/YM288 (NEC PC-98). Therefore there are slight differences that need to be noted. I'm more partial to the sounds of the YM2612, YM2151 (Capcom CPS1), and especially the DX-7, personally, but I digress.

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On a good note though, FM synthesis lets me practice my keyboarding skills...on my keyboard. Literally on my typing keyboard. Yay :toot:
Isn't VGM Music Maker a tracker program? You're practising with tracker notation, really, not FM. FM synthesis can be done just as well or even better with other programs, VSTis/AUs, and even hardware controllers or synths.



Anyways, to song....

Pads seem to have too little attack and tend to overpower. Lead instrument seems to have too much sustain, and a bit more variety would be nice (use all the channels!)

For examples of FM synthesis, I'd take a listen at the OSTs of Bare Knuckle / Streets of Rage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYx0OgWdbE&feature=related) series, Megadrive Sonic games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyoMQg3d5cs), Street Fighter II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDqNWio9RgU&feature=related), and Alien Soldier (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCvW2pulO6E) (oh, and this Tim Follin song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqyEbu8cmMg)). I don't think ZUN is a very good example.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ FM is yay ~ (Update 09/25/11)
Post by: Anunsew on September 24, 2011, 01:40:08 AM
I don't really like Hoot's drum samples and presets.
I don't know how to make my own FM drums. I've read somewhere that the PSG channel can be used for Crash cymbals, but I can't make anything other than static noise. >.<

IIRC VGM Music Maker emulates a YM2612 (Sega Megadrive) and not a YM2608/YM288 (NEC PC-98). Therefore there are slight differences that need to be noted. I'm more partial to the sounds of the YM2612, YM2151 (Capcom CPS1), and especially the DX-7, personally, but I digress.
I...have no way of distinguishing the chipsets. I've never heard anything other than emulated chiptunes. :P


Anyways, to song....

Pads seem to have too little attack and tend to overpower. Lead instrument seems to have too much sustain, and a bit more variety would be nice (use all the channels!)
I'm using all the provided FM (6) channels, the sixth channel being used for the wave sample bank. I'm still experimenting with it though, so I expect myself to improve. As for variety...I need to find more settings, or learn the basics of wave modulation...

On the other hand, I can't seem to understand the use of PSG channels...

For examples of FM synthesis, I'd take a listen at the OSTs of Bare Knuckle / Streets of Rage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYx0OgWdbE&feature=related) series, Megadrive Sonic games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyoMQg3d5cs), Street Fighter II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDqNWio9RgU&feature=related), and Alien Soldier (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCvW2pulO6E) (oh, and this Tim Follin song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqyEbu8cmMg)). I don't think ZUN is a very good example.

Thanks, consulting them nao.

Isn't VGM Music Maker a tracker program? You're practising with tracker notation, really, not FM. FM synthesis can be done just as well or even better with other programs, VSTis/AUs, and even hardware controllers or synths.

I guess so. I can make weird sound effects with it though.

I don't want to use the heavier VSTis since it eats up CPU and makes composition very hard.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ FM is yay ~ (Update 09/25/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on September 24, 2011, 02:42:37 AM
I don't know how to make my own FM drums. I've read somewhere that the PSG channel can be used for Crash cymbals, but I can't make anything other than static noise. >.<
FM drums are not too hard, at least not FM bass drums and maybe some hi-hats. I'd suggest better samples instead, especially for Megadrive-style FM synthesis. (though the sound quality of the samples better not be too good or it'll ruin the feel :V)

PSG can be used for crash cymbals indeed. The static noise serves that purpose.

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I...have no way of distinguishing the chipsets. I've never heard anything other than emulated chiptunes. :P
I've heard a fair share of both actual and emulated hardware, and from what I've heard they do have their differences in implementation, channels, operators, and miscellaneous features.

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I'm using all the provided FM (6) channels, the sixth channel being used for the wave sample bank. I'm still experimenting with it though, so I expect myself to improve. As for variety...I need to find more settings, or learn the basics of wave modulation...
All at once? Hm, there can still be more flexibility.
As for variety, I'd suggest playing with the FM Operators and oscillators to produce a desired sound.

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On the other hand, I can't seem to understand the use of PSG channels...
PSG channels (square waves + noise in the case of the 2612) were used for all sorts of purposes. One of the most common ones was to act as an echo layer for the main instruments which were based on the FM chip. They are also frequently used in harmony portions.

In the case of the PC-98, though, the Rhythm channel of the PSG was used for basic drum-like sounds (on the 2608) and as a backing layer for the PCM drums and cymbals (on the 288), as well as the harmony bits.

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I guess so. I can make weird sound effects with it though.
Same with all the rest.

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I don't want to use the heavier VSTis since it eats up CPU and makes composition very hard.
Ah, gotcha. There are some light ones around IIRC (VOPM comes to mind).

Also, your next system pretty much needs a better CPU - quad-core minimum, I say!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ FM is yay ~ (Update 09/25/11)
Post by: Anunsew on September 24, 2011, 05:28:54 AM
How do you compose music with "real" FM synthesis anyway? Most of what I've seen or read in the Internet are about making sound effects and samples with it, like with Sytrus VST (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4OWsez10Zg) in FL.

External samples are fine I guess, but I really want to figure out how to mess with the wave modulation operators. The documentation of the software only comes with the basic explanation of the operator's ASDR envelope and the desired algorithms for linking the operators.

I like to make my own sounds ever since I heard FM tracker's using their own instrument settings for their tracks; they turned out pretty good.

Quote from: PARU
All at once? Hm, there can still be more flexibility.

I actually used only three instruments. An bass, the Vibraphone lead, and the Acoustic backer (not my operator presets. I Just ripped them from existing demo tracks that came with the software, the name came from the original tracks). I just used different octaves for different parts. VGM Music Maker can only play one sample in a frame, and uses one FM channel (FM6) for sample output, disabling any effects and volume instructions in that channel.

All in all, FM tracking is quite fun. I might try doing another track sometime. Shame that I have to follow TV frames for the bpm...it bugs me that I have to use weird float-point values as my bpm.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ FM is yay ~ (Update 09/25/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on September 24, 2011, 06:57:29 AM
How do you compose music with "real" FM synthesis anyway? Most of what I've seen or read in the Internet are about making sound effects and samples with it, like with Sytrus VST (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4OWsez10Zg) in FL.
In a similar manner as other forms of synthesis - get instruments (or make them! :D), write track, mix and edit, publish.

Some purists will demand you get an actual hardware FM chip, usually a DX-7 and its variants (DX-7IIFD, DX200, PLG150-DX, etc.) or a 1990s Sound Blaster / Adlib card with another old system if you want the 'real' sound. Personally, I favour hardware but am willing to use software such as FM8 instead due to the quality of the emulation. (sadly the Roland D-50, with its linear arithmetic (LA) synthesis, doesn't have the same treatment yet as a softsynth unit)

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External samples are fine I guess, but I really want to figure out how to mess with the wave modulation operators. The documentation of the software only comes with the basic explanation of the operator's ASDR envelope and the desired algorithms for linking the operators.
YM2612 did not really do this - just raw ADPCM samples that did not really have effects applied. The operator algorithms appear to be more for the FM synthesis portions, since the chips are operator-based (DX-7 had 6 sine wave operators, for instance).

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I like to make my own sounds ever since I heard FM tracker's using their own instrument settings for their tracks; they turned out pretty good.
This part is especially fun with the right controller / software. I tend to use FM1 in Logic, which creates sounds very quickly but lacks some of the more intricate technical parts that characterize FM synthesis for many.

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I actually used only three instruments. An bass, the Vibraphone lead, and the Acoustic backer (not my operator presets. I Just ripped them from existing demo tracks that came with the software, the name came from the original tracks). I just used different octaves for different parts. VGM Music Maker can only play one sample in a frame, and uses one FM channel (FM6) for sample output, disabling any effects and volume instructions in that channel.
...I say more instruments are needed. It seems to show a repeat of one of your trends - using a few instruments across many roles and a wide spectrum - which doesn't really add up much to auditory interest.

Channel 6 on the YM2612 can alternate between FM and PCM output, but not both.

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All in all, FM tracking is quite fun. I might try doing another track sometime. Shame that I have to follow TV frames for the bpm...it bugs me that I have to use weird float-point values as my bpm.
That's tracker-based sequencing for ya. I never had to follow TV frames myself, however, but I used OpenMPT instead.

FM, AN (analog), and LA synthesis are considerably technical and present quite a difficulty curve. Many starters thus don't get into these early on, and stick with samplers and wavetable synthesis. Parameter modification is a must for effective use of these.
Tracker modules frequently employ many effects during the track that are applied as they are played, not too dissimilar from MIDI events.
Combine the two and you can get quite a neat combination!

Also, funny you're still relying on the (temporary) PARU name. I'd prefer being called by nickname (EP) instead, for consistency reasons.
Title: Bwahaha~
Post by: Anunsew on September 25, 2011, 05:58:12 AM
Ah, I see. So technically speaking, tracking and FM synthesis are two different steps. I don't like the prospect of hunting down soundchips in my country (I'll probably find used sound chips in Raon (http://i52.tinypic.com/rrjwn6.jpg) - a place in my country that's full of people and stuff that you don't expect to turn up there, but I hate crowds *shudders* ).  I'll probably stick with soft synths for now :smokedcheese:

Quote from: EP
The operator algorithms appear to be more for the FM synthesis portions, since the chips are operator-based (DX-7 had 6 sine wave operators, for instance).

Ah, so that's how it is. VGM uses four sine operators for FM synthesis, with the designated generators and modulators assigned for each algorithm. Going to mess with it for a while.

Quote from: EP
It seems to show a repeat of one of your trends - using a few instruments across many roles and a wide spectrum - which doesn't really add up much to auditory interest.

I gotta find some way to break this wall. I've been experimenting with the PSG channels, and I find the noise channel more suitable for snares instead of the Hoot Samples. I can't seem to make tones in PSG that doesn't sound "square"-ish, but I guess I can use it for the sixteenth note mayhem FM trackers usually do.

I'm getting progress with FL, but I'm becoming more meticulous in mixing. I've dropped Maximus from my tools, since it compresses the audio track too much. I think it's much more suitable for acoustic recording than synthesized and sampled sounds. I also stopped using Limiters, since it causes volume distortions at very high levels. Instead, I've adapted to using only the Panning and Volume controls to maintain the auditory balance.I've been also experimenting with note velocities, but I think it's more efficient to use automated volume envelops for the purpose of dynamics. I've been experimenting more with Parametric EQs, since they let me chisel the freqs in a finer matter, as compared to the standard three-band EQ.

Editing ADSR envelopes for thFont is extra work, but it does wonders for the string patches (like Viola, Cadenza Strings). I've also noticed that arpeggiating certain instruments from thFont causes interesting results (like the Bass Picks & Mutes patch). I still can't do the technique with pianos. When I mix them in a track, they become either too soft, or too overpowering. I can't seem to mix them in the "middle" of the track.

However, the main weakness I'm facing with thFont are pads. The soundfont doesn't have any suitable pads for my interests (or I can't seem to use them properly). The string patches are too strong, but the synthetic pads are usually too soft. Polysynth patch is promising (used it for Sammy's theme last year), but it's only good at high octaves. The Metal and Halo pads are uncontrollable; the sample's reverb is whacked and hard to filter out, and applying a low pass filter makes it sound too nasal. The Space Voice pad has too much attack (ph~AH!), a trait shared by Voice Ooh (ph~OH!). Choir Aah is good, but it sounds TOO voice-like (like the ones used for Catastrophe at Bhava-Agra). Synth voice is good enough I guess, but I need more pads. Echoes is out of the question. Damn echo effect is annoying, unless I want to do techno tracks.

I wonder what ZUN used for Kurodani's theme. The pads during the riffs are quite addicting... They sound like wind instruments, but I can't be sure. My ears weren't trained for music, haha~
:P

Atmosphere and Ice Rain are good for quiet, per-note padding, but I want something more impressive. The Goblins patch...I don't know what I should do with it. It's too quiet, but applying gain makes it sound grainy.  :yukkuri:

Sakuya is going to kill me for this post.
Title: Re: Bwahaha~
Post by: DX7.EP on September 25, 2011, 07:46:48 PM
Ah, I see. So technically speaking, tracking and FM synthesis are two different steps. I don't like the prospect of hunting down soundchips in my country (I'll probably find used sound chips in Raon (http://i52.tinypic.com/rrjwn6.jpg) - a place in my country that's full of people and stuff that you don't expect to turn up there, but I hate crowds *shudders* ).  I'll probably stick with soft synths for now :smokedcheese:
For FM, softsynths are getting better for general use, particularly with newer work environments which use very few, if any, pieces of hardware and are all run from the DAW. I'd leave the actual hardware for enthusiasts and purists.
My preferred FM softsynth would have to be FM8 (http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/fm8/), though I am also considering the hardware-based PLG150-DX (http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/plugin_boards/plg150_dx/) which can be fit in some Yamaha synths.

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Ah, so that's how it is. VGM uses four sine operators for FM synthesis, with the designated generators and modulators assigned for each algorithm. Going to mess with it for a while.
Oh, it's a 4-operator FM chip? Well...I know some of Yamaha's 4-op (and later 8-op) synths were able to work with different types of waves and not just sine. Does VGM have that option?

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I gotta find some way to break this wall. I've been experimenting with the PSG channels, and I find the noise channel more suitable for snares instead of the Hoot Samples. I can't seem to make tones in PSG that doesn't sound "square"-ish, but I guess I can use it for the sixteenth note mayhem FM trackers usually do.
Some games made use of FM snares instead, maybe with noise channel to complement that.

What you're describing in the second bit is probably the very fast arpeggiated chord runs used very often in the 8 and 16-bit eras due to lack of channels.

Quote
I'm getting progress with FL, but I'm becoming more meticulous in mixing.....
Ah, basic style of mixing, I see.

Though I prefer modifying Expression instead of volume during songs (latter is suited for global purposes according to some Roland manual), velocity experimentation and Parametric EQs are good.

Quote
I still can't do the technique with pianos. When I mix them in a track, they become either too soft, or too overpowering. I can't seem to mix them in the "middle" of the track.
For that I'd try lowering the cutoff a little bit to muddy the crisp sound (takes out the latter), at least.

Quote
However, the main weakness I'm facing with thFont are pads....
This is one issue with many soundfonts and lower-end synthesizers - lack of proper sound balancing between the patches. This is one reason why Roland synthesizers in particular were so commonly used in the 1990s - the sounds were very well-balanced between synth-like and realistic, solo and ensemble, and between each other.

I say use the bits that the SF2 is strong at and for those that aren't, consult other synths/SF2s. This is what I do with my synths (eg. Yamaha one has weak drums, so I supplant those with those from my Roland SC-8850).

Quote
Sakuya is going to kill me for this post.
Not sure about that. :V
Title: Something totally music unrelated
Post by: Anunsew on September 26, 2011, 02:33:25 AM
For a change of pace, I decided to take up some drawing practice sketches again
(http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4626/09262011097.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88/09262011097.jpg/)
Reimu~

Er...the lighting is bad because I used a cellphone camera. Didn't want to bother finding a rentable scanner service...
And that's just pencil.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! ~ FM is yay ~ (Update 09/25/11)
Post by: Lloyd Dunamis on September 26, 2011, 11:29:30 AM
Reimu, to me, seems to give off this expression of happily-satisfied smile, while having a part in her feelings or wherever that she doesn't want to let others (viewer) know... At least, that's what I can read from your fanart.

I say, instead of a negative result, the bad lighting effect complements on its pencil-monochrome-ness and sketchyness, giving your drawing this nice, traditional-art-by-the-light atmosphere :3... Not to mention your drawing style is cute~<3, like I said before >w<

(Anunsew, I miss you, you seem to have gone a long way since my last reply here, especially with EP around discussing you with related things and eeeehh~<3 >////<...)
Title: coetaneous...er...what?
Post by: Anunsew on October 01, 2011, 02:22:53 AM
(http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/8554/flipscanremi.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/flipscanremi.jpg/)

Another try at quick sketching.
Remilia looks...off, but I like putting random stuff in my pictures. I need to learn moar force perspective. For great justice.

I'm not slacking off with composition though. I'm currently working on a rearrange of this theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO248ayRDFI) as per request of the original composer.
So far, here's what I've got.
Serene yet Painful Slumber ~ Haunting Dreams (http://www.4shared.com/audio/utxK2ZVX/rearrange_2.html)
It's far from perfect. More like a draft of some sort....I think. Rearranging an original composition is hard. >.<

Okay, I admit. I feel lazy when the cold season starts to set in.



Reimu, to me, seems to give off this expression of happily-satisfied smile, while having a part in her feelings or wherever that she doesn't want to let others (viewer) know... At least, that's what I can read from your fanart

I say, instead of a negative result, the bad lighting effect complements on its pencil-monochrome-ness and sketchyness, giving your drawing this nice, traditional-art-by-the-light atmosphere :3... Not to mention your drawing style is cute~<3, like I said before >w<
Maybe somebody donated a reasonable amount of money? d_(^o^)_b
While unintentional, the lighting does look nice...

(Anunsew, I miss you, you seem to have gone a long way since my last reply here, especially with EP around discussing you with related things and eeeehh~<3 >////<...)
Aww~I miss you too. You need to post more compositions in your thread. I really like your style. :D
Title: Useless update yay!
Post by: Anunsew on October 07, 2011, 07:02:04 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/fbmy/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/fbmy)

(http://tindeck.com/image/ucpn/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/ucpn)


I've been messing around the settings of my PC's Midi device (which is kind of hard because I can hardly understand anything from the interface...)

(http://i53.tinypic.com/15qvj9c.png)
...Gah. My Japanese is limited. Any translations would be appreciated.
The tracks above are from SSG, since I have the midi lying inside my drives for ages. I decided to play around my Midi device for a change of pace. :P

Anyway, I've been messing with sampling rates and stuff  since I was trying to integrate the midi device into FL, but it keeps getting conflicting SynCor errors with ASIO.
So far, the best way to use the sounds is by creating the midi track separately from the DAW tracks, and recording the midi into an audio file before incorporating it into the main track. >.<
It's really a hassle, but I kind of like many of my midi device's sounds. The sawtooth is quite delicious, da ze.
Title: Re: Useless update yay!
Post by: DX7.EP on October 07, 2011, 01:37:10 PM
(http://i53.tinypic.com/15qvj9c.png)
...Gah. My Japanese is limited. Any translations would be appreciated.
Current box - 'Please select your default sound set'
Buttons & checkmarks - 'Setup SPDIF', 'Default settings (D)', and 'Reside SoundMax in taskbar' (last one is a bit of a stretch, but it'll do)
Tabs - current one is MIDI Music Synthesizer, other one is Mic.

Quote
It's really a hassle, but I kind of like many of my midi device's sounds. The sawtooth is quite delicious, da ze.
Yeah, they have a way of growing on ya! XD
No idea whether compatibility extends to newer OSes, though....
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: Anunsew on October 08, 2011, 01:31:49 AM
Current box - 'Please select your default sound set'
Buttons & checkmarks - 'Setup SPDIF', 'Default settings (D)', and 'Reside SoundMax in taskbar' (last one is a bit of a stretch, but it'll do)
Tabs - current one is MIDI Music Synthesizer, other one is Mic.
Thanks! That's a great help!

Yeah, they have a way of growing on ya! XD
Yup~ They sound a lot better than some thFont patches and Edirol even. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: Doyora on October 09, 2011, 01:52:03 AM
Make some filthy touhou dubstep
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: Anunsew on October 09, 2011, 05:52:07 AM
Make some filthy touhou dubstep
Er...what?
Please elaborate your request, I'm not sure I understand...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: DX7.EP on October 09, 2011, 06:02:25 AM
Make some filthy touhou dubstep
Anunsew seems to do more ZUN-style works. For that, well, contact others like Bio who is into more electronic styles.

Myself, I do more rock-style with electronic and classical influence. Actually, put it as game music. :V

...and yeah, I use 'electronic' as a blanket term here, so....

Er...what?
Please elaborate your request, I'm not sure I understand...
Dubstep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep) + Touhou melody = dubstep remix! ...can't assist with this one.
Title: Another drawing update
Post by: Anunsew on October 10, 2011, 03:42:04 AM
(http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3228/scan0004rw.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/5/scan0004rw.jpg/)
Trying hard to improve my drawlng skills, along with my knowledge of DirectX SDK. How they are even related is something I do not know. :3
Unfortunately, my drawing skills are still subpar. :yukkuri:
Either that, or I have to stop lurking in pixiv.

...and yeah, I use 'electronic' as a blanket term here, so....
Dubstep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep) + Touhou melody = dubstep remix! ...can't assist with this one.
Ah. So dubstep is yet another genre in the genre-filled genre of music. >.<

Anunsew seems to do more ZUN-style works.
And still failing at that, IMHO. XD

For that, well, contact others like Bio who is into more electronic styles.
Myself, I do more rock-style with electronic and classical influence. Actually, put it as game music. :V
This board needs moar music threads. There's already an art thread, why doesn't it have a music thread? :smokedcheese:



Hurr.
My on-going musical project is proceeding slowly. I'm trying to incorporate new stuff, but it's hard working with an unfamiliar material.  :ohdear:
Title: Re: Another drawing update
Post by: DX7.EP on October 10, 2011, 04:41:54 AM
There's already an art thread, why doesn't it have a music thread? :smokedcheese:
Made one. ;) (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,10993.0.html)

Quote
And still failing at that, IMHO. XD
Still quite good considering it's just THFont and a small bit of Hyper Canvas!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: Ex-Nue on October 11, 2011, 03:31:39 AM
I would like to make a remix of a Touhou track but I don't know what track woud match my style. Any advice?  Also, is it okay to post soundcloud links?  ???


Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: DX7.EP on October 11, 2011, 03:57:26 AM
@Yami: I answered you in the music thread (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,10993.msg730185.html#msg730185), as it belongs there.
Title: FINALLY. SOMETHING THAT'S SOUNDS FINISHED ENOUGH TO SHARE.
Post by: Anunsew on October 11, 2011, 04:34:53 AM
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8508770/rearrange.mp3

Finally, a semi-final Draft

It's a remix of Serene, Yet Painful Slumber ~ Haunting Dreams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO248ayRDFI&feature=channel_video_title), but I'm not really accustomed to working on remixing OC themes. It's a bit unfamiliar to work with, so I messed up some parts.

The ending is inspired from a very old trope (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz2zvzOtVxg). I swear, drinking coffee is not always productive to me.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Bored Update! (10/07/11)~
Post by: Cabble on October 13, 2011, 03:53:04 AM
You really should remake some of your older stuff. You might have sent me the MIDI, but i wont be able to do much with it.
Title: Update! (10/13/11)~
Post by: Anunsew on October 13, 2011, 04:37:02 AM
You really should remake some of your older stuff. You might have sent me the MIDI, but i wont be able to do much with it.
...er...you are Cablecarento from YT, right? The midi is pretty much the body of Mei's theme. I only added a soundfont to it, since I didn't know much about VSTs back then. I might consider rearranging my old stuff, but my main priority right now is to clean up my request backlog. I'm picking up some new techniques with every request that I do, so I'm viewing them as a training ground before I go around tackling my own arranges.
*Paradise Lost starts playing in the background*
That way, when I'm finally ready, I'll rearrange my Rin and Mei themes with my utmost effort AND MAKE THEIR OWN DANMAKU GAME, BWAHAHAHA.
I still have to go past Danmakufu scripting though. >.<


Speaking of requests, my final version for MarlyFlowerXI's request.
(http://tindeck.com/image/wvbz/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/wvbz)
永遠寝ろ ~ Sweet Dreams
Requested and Originally Composed By: MarlyFlowerXI
Original Track:  Serene, Yet Painful Slumber ~ Haunting Dreams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO248ayRDFI[東方 Original Fan-Theme)

Rearrange: Precision
Circle: Infel

It sounds a lot cleaner than my last OC theme, because I picked up a certain technique commonly known as Normalizing. :P

Seriously though, by dropping Maximus and other Compressors, I had to make do by adjusting volume envelopes with precision *no pun intended*. The easiest way to do this was to invoke multiple instances of the same patch but with differing volume levels for each part of the theme. I also had to finely adjust the note velocities, especially with kicks and hats. I still had to use FL's WaveShaper (a volume envelope shaper)  to designate a brickwall limiter at around -1db to avoid clipping at the Master track.

On the other hand, the fine adjustments gave me the frequency dynamics that I was trying to achieve. It may be just me, but there is an audible absence of the frequency distortion present in my earlier tracks, and this theme uses over thirty channels. I'm still lacking improvisation, especially the notable ZUN piano riffs, so I decided to pick up some tips from jazz compositions. I'm still a beginner at jazz though, so it's still a long way before I do any insane piano rolls. XD

This theme is my first attempt in remixing another OC composition. It's an unfamiliar territory, but I think I learned a lot about composition in this project. XD
Title: Youtube Update, da ze~
Post by: Anunsew on October 14, 2011, 05:23:28 AM
( 東方 OC Request) 永遠寝ろ ~ Sweet Dreams  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mew4jijT33E)
Yumeji's Theme

Request / Character Design / Original Composition: MarlyFlowerXI
Original Track: Serene, Yet Painful Slumber ~ Haunting Dreams

Youtube upload, posting the link and description here for posterity. XD

...I'll have to update my first post RSN... >.<

Title: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: Anunsew on October 22, 2011, 03:46:19 AM
Youtube:
(西方 Arrange) 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nBTfNVXLmM)
Mp3:
(http://tindeck.com/image/fzii/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/fzii)

I went with a string arrange, kind of like a pseudo-orchestra. However, this fails horribly when you listen to the analog drumkit...My sense of instrument combination is failing me. :|

Gah, go away demotivation...>.<
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on October 22, 2011, 03:49:57 AM
I'd contemplate changing to orchestral drumset and adjusting the pattern. Or using a bit more synth over orchestra for the backing areas.

AND GODDAMNIT MSGS PIANO KILL THAT ABOMINATION ~
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: Anunsew on October 22, 2011, 04:10:54 AM
I'd contemplate changing to orchestral drumset and adjusting the pattern. Or using a bit more synth over orchestra for the backing areas.
I have a limited knowledge of using the orchestral drumset properly, but I guess I have some time to study it...
...anything to kill this unbearable demotivation + boredom.

AND GODDAMNIT MSGS PIANO KILL THAT ABOMINATION ~
: (

I'm still trying to find a good piano synth though. While I have HC, I still like MSGS piano better. The artificial sounding piano is moe~
:P
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on October 22, 2011, 04:23:43 AM
: (

I'm still trying to find a good piano synth though. While I have HC, I still like MSGS piano better. The artificial sounding piano is moe~
:P
Well, that's what electric grands (no they're not the same as electric pianos) are for. And MSGS, SC-55, and MT-32/CM-series don't have a very convincing acoustic grand.
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: Anunsew on October 22, 2011, 04:47:09 AM
Well, that's what electric grands (no they're not the same as electric pianos) are for. And MSGS, SC-55, and MT-32/CM-series don't have a very convincing acoustic grand.

...if it makes you feel better, I'm not treating them as acoustic instruments.  :derp:

EDIT:
I've read somewhere *probably from Master Bigode, but I couldn't be sure* that Super Quartet from Roland has good piano sounds. Any details about the synth would be nice, since I'm getting confused from the different versions that I've seen from Googling...
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on October 22, 2011, 05:21:19 AM
...if it makes you feel better, I'm not treating them as acoustic instruments.  :derp:
I'd still prefer the SC-55 piano for that purpose, and add a few effects :V

Quote
EDIT:
I've read somewhere *probably from Master Bigode, but I couldn't be sure* that Super Quartet from Roland has good piano sounds. Any details about the synth would be nice, since I'm getting confused from the different versions that I've seen from Googling...
Super Quartet is a piano/bass/guitar/drum VSTi. There are a handful of SD-90 samples in it, namely the Jazz and Rock basses, and overall I think it sounds good and has quite a bit of customization.
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: Anunsew on October 22, 2011, 05:29:32 AM
Super Quartet is a piano/bass/guitar/drum VSTi. There are a handful of SD-90 samples in it, namely the Jazz and Rock basses, and overall I think it sounds good and has quite a bit of customization.
*puts this one the checking list*

I'd still prefer the SC-55 piano for that purpose, and add a few effects :V
Ack, my hardware synth problem is becoming apparent again. :(
Title: Re: 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on October 22, 2011, 05:46:05 AM
Well, the SC-55 piano is also terrible but I feel it blends in with other instruments better than MSGS.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! 幻想科学~Doll's Phantom(10/21/11)
Post by: Anunsew on October 22, 2011, 06:23:06 AM
I've been reading around about the SQ, looks like I have to map the controllers for FL's Midi Out plugin before I can mess around with it.
Oh well, I guess it's worth a shot. :3

*guu*
Title: Twelve Nautical Smiles~! Another OC request~!
Post by: Anunsew on November 01, 2011, 07:22:59 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/fgqy/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/fgqy)
Youtube! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aDhMOcX-HI)

Twelve Nautical Smiles
As Requested By: Naeten (from YT)

Exclamation points! Are! Fun!
*ahem*

Another OC request, this time I tried applying some new stuff. This track is still mostly thFont and thDrums though. I tried emulating a certain sound using Baritone Sax and Alto Sax, but I guessed it ended up sounding entirely different. Anyway, it was a good brass-ey sound, so I used it for the intro riff.

Dist. Muted Guitar! Decent for rhythm parts...not so good on anything else. I can't believe I've ignored this patch for one year. >.<

This track is mostly string and flute ensembles, my favorite instrument combination besides harpsichord and strings. :P

It's ironic that the date was leaning more on the eleven instead of twelve...but I guess nobody understands my puns. :/



I've been messing around with danmakufu.
Cooking is one of my talents, bwahaha~~
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Twelve Nautical Smiles (11/01/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on November 01, 2011, 08:31:11 PM
You were trying to imitate the Reed Romance patch used in UFO and TD, it seems.
Reed Romance, an SD-90 patch, is a layered Alto and Tenor Sax, with extra reverb and the Enhancer MFX.

Crispy muted guitar.

Sounds like a good bit more compression was used.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Twelve Nautical Smiles (11/01/11)
Post by: Anunsew on November 02, 2011, 06:12:39 AM
You were trying to imitate the Reed Romance patch used in UFO and TD, it seems.
Reed Romance, an SD-90 patch, is a layered Alto and Tenor Sax, with extra reverb and the Enhancer MFX.

Yup. And as you can see, it was not even remotely successful. ;3

Enhancer MFX? It looks a little bit complicated from what I've read here. (http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov99/articles/ntonyx.htm)  :ohdear:
What is it exactly? I can't seem to understand it. Is it like a humanizer tool? :derp:


Crispy muted guitar.

Sounds like a good bit more compression was used.
I misread it as "creepy",  :getdown:

I forced a compression on it using FL's Blood Overdrive. It's kind of crude compared to other effects, but it gets the job done...for now. It will have to do until I get my hands on better samples, synths, and effect generators. I passed the resulting signal to an equalizer to filter noise and HF sounds.

Is crispy a compliment for a guitar sound? :P
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melodies needs love! Twelve Nautical Smiles (11/01/11)
Post by: DX7.EP on November 02, 2011, 07:51:40 AM
Yup. And as you can see, it was not even remotely successful. ;3

Enhancer MFX? It looks a little bit complicated from what I've read here. (http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov99/articles/ntonyx.htm)  :ohdear:
What is it exactly? I can't seem to understand it. Is it like a humanizer tool? :derp:
Enhancer is built into the SD-90 as the 6th MFX effect.

I think it's most similar to the Exciter effect in Logic, which is roughly explained here: (http://www.musictechtutorials.com/logic-how-to-use-the-exciter-plugin/)
Quote from: Music Tech Tutorials
The Exciter plugin generates high frequency components that are not part of the original signal by employing a nonlinear distortion process that resembles overdrive and distortion effects.

The SD-90 manual does not say much about it other than adjustable parameters for the MFX.

Quote
I misread it as "creepy",  :getdown:

I forced a compression on it using FL's Blood Overdrive. It's kind of crude compared to other effects, but it gets the job done...for now. It will have to do until I get my hands on better samples, synths, and effect generators. I passed the resulting signal to an equalizer to filter noise and HF sounds.
Hehe, gotcha.

Quote
Is crispy a compliment for a guitar sound? :P
I am no guitarist, so I can't really say whether that is a good description. ^^;
Title: Just playing around
Post by: Anunsew on November 06, 2011, 02:43:01 AM
Just playing around a movement (http://www.mediafire.com/?a2ececxb46vkrb7)

Still a bit stumped on what I need to do for my next track, so I'm just playing around for now.  :ohdear:
Title: On a completely unrelated note
Post by: Anunsew on November 07, 2011, 04:31:05 AM
(http://tindeck.com/image/peue/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/peue)

Waha!
It's my "war" track for Graph's Touhou Mecha VN. I wanted to do something atmospheric for some time, but I'm not really good at them.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Eclipsed Light within the Radiant Darkness~Update~(11/01/11)!
Post by: Anunsew on November 21, 2011, 02:22:36 AM
( 東方 OC Request) Eclipsed Light within the Radiant Darkness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5PO9AzAucs)
As requested by: pikayo from Youtube

Another OC piece! I tried a different approach this time.

It's hard to believe the immense amount of request backlog that I'm fighting with. It's like laundry. You know you have to do them, but it's really demotivating if you look at the pile...

Not that I'm complaining of course. OC requests ensures that I'm as sharp as ever when I need to make a musical composition. :3

Anyway, this theme focuses more on leads and basses (not much different from what I usually do though), but with a little more variation of tone and beat.

I don't really understand what genre I'm going for though...
Title: SEIHOU ARRANGE BWAHAHA~
Post by: Anunsew on November 23, 2011, 06:05:42 AM
ディザストラスジェミニ [Mei and Mai's Theme] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0kBD1-XDOE)

Disastrous Gemini from Shuusou Gyoku.

Okay. It's supposed to be orchestral, but it doesn't sound too realistic. Agh, the limits of synthesized samples...

Anyway, this was done completely with thFont string samples and orchestra drumkit (as well as some wind instrument samples from the same soundfont, like clarinets...).

It's surprising how suited thFont can be for these kinds of pieces. Since they have these fuzzy noise sound, it makes it a little more realistic without adding any additional effects. :P

Disastrous Gemini is one of the neglected themes of SSG. I mean, come on, it's a twin's theme! It doesn't get much more moe than that. :3

Seriously though, I love Seihou themes. XD
Listening to this theme...reminds me of old compositions, especially during the medieval era.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Seihou Arrange: Disastrous Gemini (11/23/11)~!
Post by: Ex-Nue on November 23, 2011, 08:17:17 PM
War theme (re-eq'd) (http://www.mediafire.com/?csq7rq5rhj4e97f)

 I got this idea forming in my head listening to this, can I make a request for a stem of this?
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Seihou Arrange: Disastrous Gemini (11/23/11)~!
Post by: Anunsew on November 24, 2011, 10:45:49 AM
@Ex-Nue
Here you go. (http://www.mediafire.com/?igcqbyw1txw1sgi,mai5l9n4szef5aw,djwpqkqg7dq5hw3,dgj9s7h55kpjlj5,lo0ndhqdmm2xczn,398cr167gs2w33j,mobu1fz4ul846a7,1r45mxmb38dh5jg,0utr125jiro617c)

I hope this is what you wanted. I just googled "Music Stem" after seeing your post. :P
The tracks are split by mixer, in Mp3 256bitrate. Unfortunately, I have to normalize all of them to avoid clipping, thus the audio is softer than the final mix.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Seihou Arrange: Disastrous Gemini (11/23/11)~!
Post by: Ex-Nue on November 24, 2011, 11:16:35 AM
Thank you.  :D

I'm ok with them being softer.

See ya in 6-7 hours.  I need some sleep. :/
Title: December makes me sleepy
Post by: Anunsew on December 09, 2011, 02:18:40 AM
...zzzz
*shakes self awake*

(http://tindeck.com/image/rrmm/stats.png) (http://tindeck.com/listen/rrmm)

Anyway, I've been busy for a while, but here's a draft release of something (for an OC request). Been messing around with thFont stuff, especially the Sawtooth and Blow Tenor. Also experimenting with TR909 drumkit in thDrums.

I've been reading some composition stuff, and learning new ways to create melodies and counterpoint. I'm also trying to let go of the contemporary tremolo bassline which I've been using for two years already. Studying ZUN's midis helped a lot, but I'm also into other composers as well... XD

What I'm really busy at is Allegro. I've been learning a few things about the Allegro library, and it's been fun doing stuff besides composing. If I just had more time, I'll...:D
Title: ~
Post by: Anunsew on December 12, 2011, 02:49:00 AM
( 東方 OC Request) Lights Behind the Petals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lgQaREO4tU)
As Requested by: ArmWarmerSponge from YT

Since I've been studying some stuff about melodies, I'm starting to have a different outlook on how to compose the themes. I still don't have the same dynamic styles like the other composers, but I'm learning.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Romantique Tp on December 13, 2011, 12:38:05 AM
Sounds good.

I see you have been playing with synth basses. You probably already know this, but synth basses are more flexible than acoustic basses in that you can go crazy with effects. The most common and genre neutral effects are probably distortion, stereo delay and heavy chorus. I recommend you to try them out if you haven't done so already, specially stereo delay.

Oh, and happy birthday ! BV
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: hourai on December 13, 2011, 12:49:21 AM
 (˚∇˚)
I need to download all of your arranges.
You're just really amazing;;
LEND ME SOME OF THOSE MUSIC SKILLS.

also
Happy Birthday !!
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Anunsew on December 13, 2011, 03:54:04 AM
I see you have been playing with synth basses. You probably already know this, but synth basses are more flexible than acoustic basses in that you can go crazy with effects. The most common and genre neutral effects are probably distortion, stereo delay and heavy chorus. I recommend you to try them out if you haven't done so already, specially stereo delay.


They also seem to fit better in some mixes than pianos. I haven't used much effects in them (only tried reverb and stereo delay/wet echo so far) but the distortion effect seems promising. I don't really understand what you meant by heavy chorus though. >.<

(˚∇˚)
I need to download all of your arranges.
You're just really amazing;;
LEND ME SOME OF THOSE MUSIC SKILLS.
I'm not really skilled (look at my earlier works, they're not exactly what you'd call 'good'). I just practice and read a lot about music.

It also reminds me that my first page doesn't have an updated list of my arranges... :ohdear:


Oh, and happy birthday ! BV
(˚∇˚)
Happy Birthday !!

Thanks a lot! XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Romantique Tp on December 13, 2011, 01:57:15 PM
Usually, people use chorus as a send with low pre-delay, LFO rate and feedback to increase the stereo width of a sound without changing its character much, but with synth sounds you can use it as an insert effect to change how the sound flows.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Irate Researchers on December 16, 2011, 04:29:53 AM
Ah, so I found you, the one whom Miki stated created a theme for her.

Season's greetings.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Anunsew on December 18, 2011, 07:46:45 AM
Ah, so I found you,
*paranoia alarms sounding
the one whom Miki stated created a theme for her.

Season's greetings.
*turns of paranoia alarm*
Season's greetings to you too. You seemed to have gone to some lengths tracing me. :p

Usually, people use chorus as a send with low pre-delay, LFO rate and feedback to increase the stereo width of a sound without changing its character much, but with synth sounds you can use it as an insert effect to change how the sound flows.
I don't know much about LFO, but I can kind of understand the pre-delay + feedback (FL's Fruity Delay VST has that option) effect on the stereo. I'll try messing with the Chorus send effect...


Decided to check out VST called VOPM. It's supposed to emulate YM 2612...though I still have to see (and hear) it for myself. I'm currently focused on efficient video buffering for my game engine...but that's totally irrelevant to this thread. >.<
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: DX7.EP on December 18, 2011, 04:09:59 PM
LFOs are lots of fun to mess with. Great for applying to many effects; I say it's a good idea to really play around with them on sends, instruments, even final output.

VOPM is nice, but I find the interface a bit complex (though it is FM synthesis, so it's understandable).
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Irate Researchers on December 19, 2011, 03:53:53 AM
Season's greetings to you too. You seemed to have gone to some lengths tracing me. :p

Well, actually...

Miki boast -> ZUN-style artist -> Youtube (nice work, btw) -> This forum

It's not that long of a trail, although there was some time between each stage.  Verification and the like.  Considering in the span of half a week, I was able to find someone who does such music by request, I'd consider that good luck.

Moreso, considering that you replied.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: DX7.EP on December 20, 2011, 07:30:36 PM
Oh, I forgot to comment on your latest work!

Definitely liking the synth bass and the melody is a considerable improvement. Bass is a bit muddy at times, though, and the panned drums seem like I'm listening to an Amiga game soundtrack.

I would also replace the ZUNpet with some other lead, as I find it doesn't fit too well.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Anunsew on December 23, 2011, 11:14:53 AM
@The_EP
Thanks for the comment. :3

It's becoming more busy lately, with the holiday season and all, but I still find time to set up shop and write music. Anyway, I've been experimenting with the synth samples, but thFont is not making it easy for me (panning and volume differences between the sample's octaves), but I figured how to do a workaround without invoking too many soundfont players (via FL's automation; multiple instances is just waiting for a CPU underrun...).

Drum pans are actually unintended. I guess I didn't pay attention to the drum samples too much during the mixing phase. It turns out that the thDrum TR-909 (SC-55) samples are not recorded mono like the Room and Power kit, so I need to manually feed them to a mono channel before connecting them to the master channel. I'll try to avoid the weird drum pans in the future. (On the other hand, I kind of like Amiga sounds...)

Ah, the bass sounded muddy because of the HP filter I was messing around with. I set it up too high (around 100~200Hz, IIRC) at the Master bus (not a good idea now, in retrospect), On the other hand, it taught me that filters have to be applied INDIVIDUALLY to each track, instead of using a universal 40Hz+11Hz cut at the Master bus. >.<

I always seem to learn the hard way. It sucks not being a genius,


..currently listening to prog rock and goth rock music to get some fresh perspective in music...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: DX7.EP on December 23, 2011, 05:38:03 PM
@The_EP
Thanks for the comment. :3
Not a problem. ;)

Quote
Anyway, I've been experimenting with the synth samples, but thFont is not making it easy for me (panning and volume differences between the sample's octaves), but I figured how to do a workaround without invoking too many soundfont players (via FL's automation; multiple instances is just waiting for a CPU underrun...).
I usually invoke a few synthesizer AUs instead and then add effects and layering on top, as sampled synths just sound like crap IMO. In your case using VOPM, Synth1, and SUPERWAVE P8 (maybe FM8 and ChipSounds if money and hardware permit) would be a good idea for doing just that rather than relying on SF2s.

Quote
Drum pans are actually unintended. I guess I didn't pay attention to the drum samples too much during the mixing phase. It turns out that the thDrum TR-909 (SC-55) samples are not recorded mono like the Room and Power kit, so I need to manually feed them to a mono channel before connecting them to the master channel. I'll try to avoid the weird drum pans in the future. (On the other hand, I kind of like Amiga sounds...)
Hehe, that is odd. Usually drums are panned in the centre of the mix with other things either at centre or to a side (such as the hi-hats). And yeah, I too like the Amiga sounds, but that involves figuring out how to write music in tracker notation instead :V

Quote
I always seem to learn the hard way. It sucks not being a genius,
Well, on the other hand it's a lot more fun to learn that way! :getdown:

Quote
..currently listening to prog rock and goth rock music to get some fresh perspective in music...
And then you pick up a bunch of Follin influence in the process :V
Title: Re: [Music+Art] MMnL! Lights Behind the Petals (OC request) 12/12/11
Post by: Anunsew on December 24, 2011, 04:36:52 AM
@The_EP
Follin, huh? I guess I can afford to be ambitious...

Also, I've discovered that the TH soundfont contains so many oddities that I gotten used to them. In fact, the habits I've developed from thFont is making it hard for me to use anything else. >.<
Title: Messing around again...again...
Post by: Anunsew on January 21, 2012, 02:37:57 AM
カナベラルの夢幻少女(Canaveral's Illusionary Girl) (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/GtfU15Bn/s5_online.html?)
Also known as ssg_10.mid, but only a few people probably calls it that. <_<

Messing around with fm synths is driving me insane. Good thing I didn't have any sanity in the first place.
Used the following VSTs:
tb_peach_1_3
Chip32
tb_toad_1_3

And of course, it sounds amateurish. >.<
It's getting hard concentrating...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! (messing around again...)
Post by: DX7.EP on January 21, 2012, 07:06:36 PM
Pretty good start, I say!

Seems you just used a PSG noise generator for the percussion. Many FM chip-equipped computers, consoles, and arcade units, though, were often equipped with PCM ROMs to read drum samples off of. Other issue I have would be the background saw.

FM synths are not for the faint at heart, indeed, but the results are worth it.

Haven't heard of those VSTs, though.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! (messing around again...)
Post by: Irate Researchers on January 23, 2012, 09:59:11 PM
If I might ask, what is your policy on theme requests?
Title: Some stuff (FM synths again~)
Post by: Anunsew on January 28, 2012, 02:10:17 AM
Ah, I've been feeling quite unwell lately, and am currently undergoing some...er, scheduled medications.
Fortunately, my condition doesn't limit my ability to use a computer, just my stamina (mental and physical). >.<

So now, I spend time refining what I've learned from FM synths. XD
All of them are recorded  2xOversampling at 48kHz (96 kHz) with a LP filter at 11kHz and rendered at 96kbps.
Because that's what SoundTeMP used for Ragnarok tracks, bwahaha :ohdear:

Tank Girl's Dream (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/AjlhFaM3/tankgirl.html)
I switched to using tb_toad for drumkits, since using PSG noise for all percussives is really limiting.
I used ZUN's TH2 midi for this, so it's written differently, hence the intro.

Ghostly Band ~ Phantom Ensemble (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/roCE90l_/phantom.html)
I wanted a little more challenge after finishing EX-Rika's theme, so I tried something more daring. Prismriver's theme is really hard to do in FM because of the lack of polyphony, until I remembered EP's post waaaay back. Something about really high bpm...

Anyway, I managed to make it sound nice despite roofing my polyphony limit. >.<

Maiden's Capriccio ~ Dream Battle (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/dwJNLkoz/capriccio.html)
Truth be told, I hate this theme. Don't get me wrong though, I love Capriccio (but Oriental Love will always hold the key to my heart), it's just that Dream Battle feels lacking compared to the original version.

I applied some of the stuff I learned from Phantom Ensemble here, and learned how to use ArcSine waves properly (for air instruments).  Unfortunately, it's *very* hard to do pitch bends properly. I still have to figure out the proper way to do it without the support of an effects handler...

AND THAT SAW REALLY SOUNDS LIKE A CAR HORN DAMMIT

Beloved Tomboyish Girl (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/sB-PzTog/cirno.html)
An old classic, I just had to do this one at least once in my life. XD
I was actually deciding between this and the PoFV version, but I still lack the confidence to tackle the other version (which is longer and more complex).

Crystallized Silver (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/CJtRUgFB/letty.html)
Messing with slides. I like how this one turned out, despite it having little difference from the original midi version. I'm starting to get a handle of the percussives here (using toad's crunch effect).



If I might ask, what is your policy on theme requests?
Request...and, er wait. I still have a backlog of requests for OCs, but I prioritize direct requests from active game projects.
Unfortunately, my health being as it is, I'm finding it hard to find inspiration for good music. My music has been a little bleak and bland lately. >.<

So far, my time is heavily consumed by migrating my code to C++ as well as finishing Katawa Shoujo...
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Wheee~
Post by: DX7.EP on January 28, 2012, 02:53:08 AM
Clever experimentation! I just bought a cheap Yamaha FB-01 (http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/fb01.php) over here, so I'll also be experimenting with FM, except with hardware.

I would still like to hear PCM drums - that can be done with a few (2-6) drum samples and a bitcrusher / downsampler VST.

I think some different operator parameters and algorithm patterns can be used between the counter-melody, harmony, and melody at times. At other times it seems as if there's too much of one operator, and not as much of the others.

One trick many used to get around polyphony limits (especially on the C64) was to very quickly arpeggiate notes in chords. For instance compare the initial chord in the Desert Dream Amiga demo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH2GyQQIBNo) to its C64 demake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_vux2FnK8&t=19s).

Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Wheee~
Post by: Irate Researchers on January 28, 2012, 06:45:42 AM
I'm not sure if it'd help for musical inspiration, (then again, I am a bit of an oddball...)  But I like to listen to the work of others.

Of course, the closest to touhou-style would probably be from Flashygoodness...  who often works on indie games.   If that method strikes you as ideal, I'd happily link the music gallery.

Sadly, mine would have also been for OCs.  Granted, considering I've read the profiles of all of the ones you did themes for (and converse with the creators,) mine would be a tad...  different.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Wheee~
Post by: Anunsew on January 29, 2012, 06:15:19 AM
Sadly, mine would have also been for OCs.  Granted, considering I've read the profiles of all of the ones you did themes for (and converse with the creators,) mine would be a tad...  different.

Can you elaborate what you mean?  :3
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Wheee~
Post by: Irate Researchers on January 29, 2012, 08:07:47 PM
Well, one is a warlock who uses Eldritch magic, which is corrupting him.  He's been locked away in an invisible floating spire for past crimes, (specifically, killing his girlfriend by accident, and nearly summoning an Old God onto Earth in a bout of madness,) and has only been able to watch everyone else outside his airborne prison.  He's a little bit envious of everyone outside, and spends most of his time doing elaborate rituals to attempt escape.  Aftereffects of failed rituals cause nightmares in youkai. 
(his incident he causes follows)
These nightmares cause some familiar incident-solvers to hunt for the source of the nightmares, running across the spirit guardian of the magic seals, the warlock's only underling, and a clockwork sentry before reaching him.  He battles the assailants a bit before asking how they reached him, and, upon discovering they pummeled the forces keeping him in, he gleefully breaks out of the tower.  Upon finding that his prison was yet inside a sealed LAND, he uses his power, in rage, to take control of all the youkai he can, descending into madness, and becoming a puppet of forces that should remain forgotten.  He sets the forest of magic on fire while in their thrall, and is about to burn a path of destruction until the heroines beat him into sensibility.  Beaten and dejected, he stifles the fires, and returns to his now-unsealed tower, determined to make amends for his mistakes, should the need arise.

The other is an energetic dragonfly youkai, who is obsessed with the outside world, but isn't all that bright.  She's gathered a collection of lost military hardware, mostly lost through the Bermuda Triangle, and has built a small fleet of miniature helicopters.  She considers herself the head of the warlock's youkai forces (she's the only one of his forces...)  And believes him to be her best friend, much to his dismay.   She discovered his tower when one of the rituals went awry, allowing her, then a humble dragonfly, to become a youkai.  Her overall theme is helicopters and aviation, and she would love to establish a militant force, but lacks the intelligence to organize and lead one.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Wheee~
Post by: Irate Researchers on February 04, 2012, 07:15:35 AM
I am currently working on obtaining artwork of the warlock in question.
Title: Stare Down Sketch (OC Theme)
Post by: Anunsew on February 08, 2012, 01:16:11 AM
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYeaC_oziQ)
Stare Down Sketch (http://www.4shared.com/mp3/CFOCceiW/sketch.html)
As Requested by: CrimsonScarletx (YT)

After a long~ish break, I've finally finished another OC request.

I've been improving my drumline, as well as making use of the ADSR env. and built in controllers more often instead of relying on VSTs. As a result, I've obtained a more dynamic approach which does not kill my CPU during live recording.

I'm reading about harmonics and dissonance (which is pretty late now, in retrospect) and I've been trying to think a little more vertically in terms of composition. Still, I still have a lot to improve in EQ and Mastering...

Also, I've given up on using the default Circular panning law, and opted to use the more brutal Triangular law. While regular mixers say that it should not affect the mix much, thFont seems to benefit because of how it was sampled. Still, I guess it means that I have to pay more attention to my knobs...

On another note, I'm 50% done on the backbone framework for my other project.
Gotta start working on danmaku handling...


@Irate Researchers
Can you provide their name and biological profiles? I may try doing an artwork for practice.

Thoughts/.:
>>Warlock
For some reason, he reminds me of Lezard Valeth. The story is a lot different though, so I guess that was a bit unwarranted. >.<
I have a question though, who sealed him? Also, is he in an Alternate Dim.?

>>Dragonfly
Military now reminds me of Seihou series. I guess she's a more moe version of Gates?
I have a weird collection of memories.
Title: Re: Stare Down Sketch (OC Theme)
Post by: Irate Researchers on February 10, 2012, 01:12:50 AM

@Irate Researchers
Can you provide their name and biological profiles? I may try doing an artwork for practice.

Thoughts/.:
>>Warlock
For some reason, he reminds me of Lezard Valeth. The story is a lot different though, so I guess that was a bit unwarranted. >.<
I have a question though, who sealed him? Also, is he in an Alternate Dim.?

>>Dragonfly
Military now reminds me of Seihou series. I guess she's a more moe version of Gates?
I have a weird collection of memories.


The one who sealed him was the one responsible for training him, a powerful wizard known as Myrrdin.  As for the tower, it's technically a bit bigger on the inside, but he's in Gensoyoko, above a portion of the Magic Forest.

well, she's sorta like Gates, except far less bravado, far more enthusiasm.

The bio portfolios are for both, as they are sort of master and servant...
http://irateresearchers.deviantart.com/art/The-Dragonfly-and-the-Warlock-192105567
The warlock's name is Clark Thulu. 

The dragonfly is Lorno Dartflicker.

there is alternative art of both.
Title: Re: Stare Down Sketch (OC Theme)
Post by: Irate Researchers on February 10, 2012, 01:13:41 AM
I would like to inform you that the characters in question now have completed images that can be utilized. 

Clark's might have a familiar face on it.  http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/chiaroscurio/Art/DEM-1.jpg (http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/chiaroscurio/Art/DEM-1.jpg)

Lorno is just...  Lorno  http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/052/0/4/spr___12_free_request__irateresearchers_by_thearashi-d4qj8l9.jpg (http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/052/0/4/spr___12_free_request__irateresearchers_by_thearashi-d4qj8l9.jpg)
Title: Battle's Palette (OC Theme)
Post by: Anunsew on February 23, 2012, 02:18:04 AM
( 東方 OC Request) Battle's Palette ~ Multitudes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJu_XspQkOM)
Mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/?ob33cq4b81ww9be)
As requested by: ultimadragon88


So it's me going back to basics in this track. I stopped using most VSTi's in this track and minimized my CPU usage by only using thFont for this track. And it turned out pretty well. XD

I also realized that I'm taking a wrong approach in music composition. Instead of studying it, maybe I should take a page from ZUN's book and try to feel it. Still, it's pretty hard since I'm not really good at expressing feelings in any way whatsoever.

Regardless, I've been pretty swamped with work lately. Balancing my part-time job, studies, and hobbies is like doing a nitroglycerin juggle. I think I'm going to explode right now...XD.

Well, I have no intention in repeating this semester... :(



I would like to inform you that the characters in question now have completed images that can be utilized. 

Clark's might have a familiar face on it.  http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/chiaroscurio/Art/DEM-1.jpg (http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/t455/chiaroscurio/Art/DEM-1.jpg)

Lorno is just...  Lorno  http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/052/0/4/spr___12_free_request__irateresearchers_by_thearashi-d4qj8l9.jpg (http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/052/0/4/spr___12_free_request__irateresearchers_by_thearashi-d4qj8l9.jpg)

Thanks for the notification. Still I can't compose their themes anytime soon, with the finals dogging me like a stalker. I can also try destroying the entire university so they'll postpone the exams, but that is not a very feasible option right now. I don't have any detergent.
Title: Re: Battle's Palette (OC Theme)
Post by: Irate Researchers on February 23, 2012, 02:24:56 AM
( 東方 OC Request) Battle's Palette ~ Multitudes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJu_XspQkOM)
Mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/?ob33cq4b81ww9be)
As requested by: ultimadragon88


So it's me going back to basics in this track. I stopped using most VSTi's in this track and minimized my CPU usage by only using thFont for this track. And it turned out pretty well. XD

I also realized that I'm taking a wrong approach in music composition. Instead of studying it, maybe I should take a page from ZUN's book and try to feel it. Still, it's pretty hard since I'm not really good at expressing feelings in any way whatsoever.

Regardless, I've been pretty swamped with work lately. Balancing my part-time job, studies, and hobbies is like doing a nitroglycerin juggle. I think I'm going to explode right now...XD.

Well, I have no intention in repeating this semester... :(

Interesting take on Hikaru's theme.

I understand the rigors of a stressful school year all too well, but you must remember that this is your thread, and your work.  The only deadlines for this are your own.
Title: Re: Battle's Palette (OC Theme)
Post by: DX7.EP on February 23, 2012, 02:55:51 PM
For just a single SF2 it works quite effectively. I guess you have taken into account the nuances of THFont.

Build-up is nicely done at the start. Fairly decent transitions. I think the drum backings could use different intonations at parts. Melody string/trumpet combination almost overpowers around 1:35 or so.

I also realized that I'm taking a wrong approach in music composition. Instead of studying it, maybe I should take a page from ZUN's book and try to feel it. Still, it's pretty hard since I'm not really good at expressing feelings in any way whatsoever.
I think it comes naturally - I haven't gotten a grip at expression yet, either. Keep working on compositions for now, and also start deriving more from your source material as a way to develop your own style.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Battle's Palette (OC Theme) (2/22/12)
Post by: Anunsew on February 25, 2012, 03:56:49 AM
For just a single SF2 it works quite effectively. I guess you have taken into account the nuances of THFont.
But it's generally better than any soundfont I've come across so far. I've also been working with it for the longest time, so I think I should stop hiding behind the excuse of thFont's limitations.

Build-up is nicely done at the start. Fairly decent transitions. I think the drum backings could use different intonations at parts. Melody string/trumpet combination almost overpowers around 1:35 or so.
Not to mention that the hats and other high frequency sounds have been improperly filtered. Applying a low-pass at 12.5khz and a peak at 15khz to enhance the sampled synths taught me that it's not always a good idea.

Orchestra Pad + Romantic Tp is still a work in progress. The Pad compensates for the lack of bass freqs in my local Roma, but it also has an annoying fuzz at around 8khz and 11 khz. I can't notch them properly without sacrificing the main tones... I'm thinking of using a side-chained eq, but that would consume too much CPU and makes the VST wiring too complex. >.<

I think it comes naturally - I haven't gotten a grip at expression yet, either. Keep working on compositions for now, and also start deriving more from your source material as a way to develop your own style.
I guess that's the only thing I can do right now. XD
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Battle's Palette (OC Theme) (2/22/12)
Post by: DX7.EP on February 25, 2012, 02:07:56 PM
But it's generally better than any soundfont I've come across so far. I've also been working with it for the longest time, so I think I should stop hiding behind the excuse of thFont's limitations.
That's not too much of a problem. I was saying that I think you had enough experience working with this SF2 that you know its strengths and weaknesses quite well, and have found ways to get the most out of it. Same is true for any synth, VSTi, SF2, etc.; to fully utilise them one has to devote tens (most soundfonts, sound modules) if not hundreds or even thousands of hours (in the case of 6+-op FM synths or very advanced professional sets).

Quote
Orchestra Pad + Romantic Tp is still a work in progress. The Pad compensates for the lack of bass freqs in my local Roma, but it also has an annoying fuzz at around 8khz and 11 khz. I can't notch them properly without sacrificing the main tones... I'm thinking of using a side-chained eq, but that would consume too much CPU and makes the VST wiring too complex. >.<
Might be a good idea to do so anyway.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Battle's Palette (OC Theme) (2/22/12)
Post by: Irate Researchers on April 15, 2012, 05:05:43 AM
I'm wondering, what file format do you save it to?

I was looking over some data, found Samidare uses ogg file format for music.
Title: Re: [Music+Art] Making Melody Needs Love! Battle's Palette (OC Theme) (2/22/12)
Post by: ITZAH on October 22, 2019, 01:51:44 AM
Hi everyone, sorry for reply in  dead topic, but i was trying to contact Anunsew for a game that i'm creating.
I have tried to contact him/her in YT, FB, but he has not posted anything in 2 years on YT  and the last time he logged here was in 2014.
 i feel sad, i don't kknow what happened to him/her  he was very talented, but i hope anunsew is ok.

The reason i want to contact Anunsew is because i'm creating a rpg game  Deathrosa (http://www.itzacom.com) is not a danmaku game but is mainly inspired in touhou with some shmup elemnts,
Anyways i don't pretend to spam my game here, this is a topic of Anunsew's awesome music.

I want to add in my game a character inspired in Rin Satsuki as a tribute of her that deserves all our love and be more recognized by the th community, so i'm looking to create an original song insired in many Rin Satsuki's fanmade songs created by the community.

The Rin Satsuki's Theme of Anunsew i will say is the best fanmade song i have heard and. It does not have the best quality and the end is not the best, but the love is there! it's so nostalgic that  this song and anunsew deserves more recognition. So if anyone can help me to contact Anunsew i will be so happy to talk with him/her.

I will make a topic about this little tribute/project latter so i can get feedback from the community, and of course all of this with the permission of the artists and i will create the character a bit different from Rin with a different name but similar to avoid zun's madness

:P

Thanks!