BardicKnowledge

Right now, we are still short a few games for me to be content (not happy, but content). NES: Crystalis, Startropics (II) Genesis: Crusader of Centy, Shining Force (II), the rest of the Sonic games SNES: E.V.O., Super Metroid, Secret of Mana, Earthbound TG-16: Bonk 3 (admittedly, I'm lacking in experience here) N64: Majora's Mask, Smash Bros., F-Zero As far as what I really _want_ out of it, I'd like to see "updated" versions of NES games that had extra sound channels in Japan (e.g. Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, et al) so that I don't have to get the emulators out. That and Star Ocean/SD3 would make me extremely happy. Too bad we don't get the Turbo Duo....

I'm a Liberal Studies major (write your own) at Iowa State, with two of my three areas in music (performance and theory/history/composition count separate). I take all of the classes required of a music major (note: not education) and then have tacked on some marketing and political science. Right now I'm planning on going to grad school (hopefully at Illinois) after I graduate Spring '08.

Unfortunately, no -- to get all of the features, you need the expensive version ($350, assuming that you're a student), or $200 if you're willing to skimp on the engraving and polishing areas (e.g. no one will ever want to perform your sheet music live).

Anorak's right. One additional comment though: If you need a certain rhythm or pattern to your repetition, you'll have to punch it in -- the speed of the tremolo differs greatly between computers (especially when I move between the Mac and PC versions of Finale).

Eternal, if you find notation worlds easier to work in (like me), download the free trial version of Finale 2007. The full version comes with high quality samples, and can record to mp3. I'm a lab admin at my school's music building, and I would take Finale over Sibelius any day.

I'd highly suggest (assuming that you are proficient at reading and writing sheet music, which will help you a ton) looking at a counterpoint book of some kind -- I realize that it won't be as much fun as some others, but it gives you a grasp on a whole lot of things that can be applied elsewhere.

2006 has indeed been a great year for the site -- perhaps the most awaited site project (Chrono Symphonic) has been released, in addition to Chipamp, making listening to all of the chiptunes much more user-friendly. I was first introduced to the site upon asking DC13 where he was getting all of this awesome music about six years ago, and while I think I would have ended up with a music degree anyway, OCR certainly pushed me along that path. Thanks to everyone involved with the creation and maintenance of the site, but especially to DJP for putting so much into our collective happiness. By the way, the site definitely needs a Starcraft remix soon.

Thanks for the responses -- I know that tons of games capture the mood wonderfully. I'm looking for a game that has good music that doesn't fit at all with the gameplay. Like listening to the Final Fantasy 6 soundtrack while playing Sonic...the music still sounds great, but it no longer matches with what you're doing.

I'm currently in the process of researching/writing a paper about film and game music -- specifically, how they have to fulfill two purposes (that of blending well with the scene, and also being very listenable). I'd like to cover which games and films get different things right and wrong as part of the paper. Lord of the Rings, for instance, fits well in the context of the film and sounds good when you listen to it on CD. My problem is that I can't think of a game with great music for your car / concert hall that doesn't fit into the game well at all. To further clarify... Track 1 from the Oblivion soundtrack -- fits well, and sounds good. Tairon's Theme from Ninja Gaiden (and the game in general) -- fits well, doesn't sound all that great to just listen. ****** -- doesn't fit well, but sounds awesome. Anyone have an answer? It doesn't need to be the current generation of games, but if it is, great.

Hooray for Iowa! It's nice to know there's someone local here (I'm at ISU myself).

The garritan site is absolutely amazing. Be sure to check the main forum (http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/index.php?) because there's 2 new courses starting that are exceptional looking.

Until you have a basic grasp of major and minor keys, I would completely forget that modes exist for the time being -- they are very rarely used in modern music, and are complex enough that they may confuse you. With that said, one (very) quick explanation: Most often they are used when a composer wants a melody that isn't built in a "regular" scale. For instance, the Lydian scale raises the 4th scale degree (C# replaces C in the key of G), which places a different interval (in this case, a tritone) inside the fundamental scale that melody is built out of. For now, think of the major scale as the "normal" one, and then construct the minor scale by lowering the 3rd, 6th, and (optionally -- decide which sound you prefer for each situation) the 7th. So for g minor you arrive at the following... G A Bb C D Eb F G. Occasionally you stick in the F# from the original major scale anyway, because it is a more powerful resolution to the tonic (G). Unfortunately, "occasionally" is the best term I can give you -- it's really a decision that needs to be made by the composer / arranger in every individual case.

I'd advise you to go download the relevant Genesis soundtrack here: http://www.zophar.net/gym/ That will be the most authentic recreation you'll get. Between this and the MIDI, you should be able to transcribe what you need for a base.

I think the music in these games is incredible, especially the tracks that play when you're about to win. Specifically, the tracks in question are 1-11 (GS1), 2-12 (GS2), and 1-09 (GS3). They're available for download at The three of them would hybridize very well considering that all of them use the same instrument set in related keys. I'm in the process of transcribing the 3rd one into Finale for my cell phone -- vgmusic.com has a high quality MIDI of the first one as well (under Phoenix Wright, titled Investigation: Cornered - Variation 3.0). Thanks to anyone who reads this!

While the music has taken a slight hit (except for the Opera scene, which has been redone with better voice synths and is goose-bump causing awesome), the rest of the game is much much better. The only lag I've noticed is with Mode 7 travel, and the dialogue retouches are mostly brilliant -- none of the cheap pop-culture fest that FFIVA was.

Best of luck, pixie! I'd love to come, but unfortunately, there's a lot of useless space between Iowa State and Baltimore getting in the way

I didn't read all 50 pages, so apologies if someone has already mentioned this: Michael Jones better be in the new Smash Bros. game. Especially since I've heard that both Startropics games will be available via VC. He's got awesome possibilities for moves as well -- everything from normal yoyo, mid attack shining star, smash nova to spiked shoes for jumping attacks, psychic shock wave for distance...the list goes on and on.

Most difficult game: Ninja Gaiden III. Most difficult boss: Tied with World 4 and up's bosses from Amagon (without morphing) or Marion/Cleopatra from Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (NES).

I'm also interested in the score for this, if it's available...it'd be sweet to get a group together for this one.

Culex was actually NOT in Final Fantasy 4, just placed in SMRPG by Square. The music is from FF4, also stuck into SMRPG by Square, probably because it's the most recognizable boss theme.

The quality of this whole CD is ridiculously good. Does anyone know if there's a way to disable the music in Super Metroid (ZSNES) so I can remote play the correct track for the proper area? It'd be pretty cool to play through the game with this music.

Hi everyone! My name's Ryan Thompson, and I'm a 19 year old music major (vocal performance and composition) at Iowa State University. I first visited the website around 3 years ago when one of my friends told me something he did got put up on the site. My voice is definitely the number one thing that gets me through the day...I'm always singing something, in whatever octave. I've a range <ego> from low F on bottom of the bass clef to high G on top of the treble </ego> I've always wanted to arrange things, but never had good enough equipment/technical skills. A year of college as a computer science major (yuck) has changed that, and I hope to eventually have time to remix something of my own. Anyway, thanks to DarkCecil13 for getting me started here (really, thanks to both of the Mruzik guys for getting me to think about changing my major).