EC2151

I think I'll get this once I perhaps beat Disgaea DS (yeah right, like that'll ever happen, lol... 8 hours and I'm at episode 3...). I've heard the first is just impossibly hard, the second is OK, while the last 2 are really great. It sounds interesting, and I do love a good challenge, but I wonder just how much they added to the games themselves... I do like extras, ha. Some older dudes I know on the internetz who have been MM fans since the first and whatnot really like the series and recommend the Zero games, so I'm mainly going off of their praises. I just hope it's in plentiful stock.

This is pretty nice, mellow, and a little poppy, but that sure isn't a bad thing. I think you could've toned the reverb on the piano, since it was leaking all over the place. As well, a few more harmonic bits with all three of the instruments working together would have been appreciated (though be careful not to make things sound confused and muddy, a danger that increases as you put more instruments together). Other than that though, this was sweet.

The opening drum stuff reminds me a bit of Ayla from Chrono Trigger, who is indeed a badass female. But yeah, I gotta say that this is pretty good. As far as mixing and mastering goes, I will say that your drums could sound a little heavier/realistic, but other than that, everything sounds in tip-top shape. Love the guitar sound, and I love the Asian vibe going on in this piece. It's like something out of Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a game with a pretty cool soundtrack. I can't give you any real pointers, since you seem to have a firm grasp on what's good and what's not. I too hope to get a mix posted on here one day, though it may be that you are a whole lot closer than I am to realizing that goal!

Another song to be posted, one I think came out exceedingly well. http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/337190 I think I am starting to get the hang of using FL filters effectively to make the type of sounds I want with the limited instrument soundfonts/VSTs I DO have. When I finally get an album of this stuff together (of which this song is to be a part, I might make a new topic and all that. Still, looking for any observations on how to improve.

I think you can tone down the main rhythm synths just a smidge, because they ARE pretty loud in my opinions. But this is a pretty solid track, and I love the vibe the rhythm synths give to the whole thing with their MM7 chords and all that. All in all, pretty cool.

This is pretty groovy and funky (more so than jazzy, ha ha!). But really, love the perc organ, and the bass is funky as all get-out. Sounds like a cool song from an ol' PS RPG or something like that. In any event, I like this WIP a whole bunch.

Well I suppose I didn't get my thoughts out very well. Of course Schoenberg was musically minded; I know very well about the processes and theories he used to compose some of his amazing music. I see him as something as an ultimate academic: he knew all of the rules so well he was able to break as many as he wanted and still get away with it. Compare with say one of his students, John Cage, who had an adequate if not tenuous grasp of the 'rules' but just didn't give one damn about them so he did his own thing (and thus started his OWN school). I use "musically minded" when comparing Schoenberg with someone like say, Mozart, who seemed to just fart out symphonies and concertoes effortlessly, whilst Schoenberg's music, you can see a real struggle sometimes not only to drop off the old systems of tonality (looking at the underlying structure of his Piano concerto Op. 42), but to write competently for instruments he never played (his early piano music is... not that well-written... playable, but Berg was able to perfect atonal writing for piano in my opinion). I say musically minded when someone just seems to live and breathe music and it comes out naturally. For S. and Varese, they were multi-talented men, but music certainly did not come effortlessly for them (I can't imagine Varese sitting in his apartment, planning out out in his head, at least extensively).That struggle is why I like S. and V. a lot more over folks like Mozart (whom I've kinda grown to dislike in favor for Beethoven and Bach myself... Mozart just sounds fake to me). But yeah, what you said in your post (all of it) is essentially correct.

But Rozo, what if the OP wants to take after Arnold Schoenberg or the Second Vienesse? Then he can't use that advice at all! (in that he specifically chose things that DIDN'T sound good, and that's why he's a genius) I've only taken a year of Music Theory, but I basically know a lot more from supplementary reading as well as studying actual pieces of music as I've played them: what they're doing, what they are trying to do, and how they are doing it, so to speak. As DS mentioned, read up on chords (and chord inversions), time signatures, key signatures, and differing intervals. Specifically, I suppose: Intervals: the difference between minor and major intervals Key Sigs: the right type of notation for key sigs, as well as the different forms of the minor key (melodic, harmonic, etc); also, the different modal forms (Aeolian, Dorian, etc) Scales: What the different scales are (applying also to the Key Sigs lesson), and on top of that, the names of each of the notes in the scale (dominant, tonic, sub-dominant, mediant, etc etc...) Chords: applying the lessons from intervals, learn what the different chords are, mainly, augmented, diminished, minor, major... THEN you learn their inversions, and the numbered symbols for their inversions (like 6, 6/4, etc) Chords p2: then go on to sevenths, and their inversions. As well, the shorthand symbolizations for said sevenths (7, 4/3, etc) Scales n' Chords: THEN you go back to what you learned in the Scales AND Chords lessons, and combine them. Each note in a scale has a roman numeral. Capital if the CHORD it makes on that scale is major (the C-chord in a C-major scale would be I), and lowercase if it is minor (a D-chord in C-major is ii). This is important because it allows you to identify ANY chord in the entire haberdashery of staff music. Scales and Chords p2: THEN you start to put it all together with the symbolization stuff along with the inversions For example, when someone asks you (just go along with this) what chord in D-major has the symbol of IV7, you'll be able to break it down IV= the fourth note of the D scale, or G 7= the root position of the 7th chord G B D F# which in turn is a MM7 chord And that's about as far as basic theory takes you (you can get into counterpoint, but that's a whole other field that requires serious discipline)... Will you use most of this in your own musical compositions? Ehhhhh, probably not, lol. Is it a nice thing to have just for reference? I'd say definitely, though it's obviously not a prerequisite to writing good music (Schoenberg, Edgard Varese, and many others were not the most musically-minded of people). What theory did most usefully for me was expose me to modal music, as well as the ideas of Just Intonation (advanced stuff), to help me with the actual playing of music like jazz (which is often made up in a large part of those chord symbolizations like IVaug7 and what-have-you), and strengthen my ideas on what good harmony is and is not (though I disagreed with my professor on a few points, mainly his disparagement of fifths, which I love). So yeah, check out musictheory.net with these little lesson ideas in mind. Or, if someone has a more effective method, please share, since i don't mind being exposed to a better way.

Wait, he wasn't married yet? huh, and here I thought he had been for at least a year now. Craaaaazy, dude.

Seriously, this probably has some of THE best gameboy music out there, second only to Link's Awakening or some of the later Megaman games. It really feels like it is pushing the soundchip to do some pretty damn amazing things. And of course, Lufia is pretty under-mixed around here as it is, so what better way to gain notoriety? Particular favorites of mine are the battle themes: Guard Daos battle SINISTRAL THEME MOFO Erim, Sinistral of Death Zalbak; Final Boss Though the other songs are excellent, the main ones for me being Town of Albano and the Fante Continent. So, anyone else ever hear of this game? If you have, you already know it's got some really sweet music. I mean, plenty (but not enough) folk know about Lufia 2, but this stuff is just as good if not better.

I didn't really hear the battle theme... I heard snippets of the encounter theme, though you, as stated, took a VERY liberal appraoch to it (I find it rather hard to locate the main themes as you remixed them). On the technical side of things, I'll say that the piccolo sounds a little flat and mechanical (it cuts off very quickly; perhaps no reverb? I dunno), but other than that, the instruments sounded very nice.

I left ya a review on the second. The first one has a malformed ID. Keep on learning how to use FL studio, mah boi.

Bumping this so as not to make a new topic. Anyhoo, I made two more songs, one experimenting with filter effects (to great effect, I think... ha.), and the other more 8-bit retro inspired (though not completely like the old-school songs. Apparently, no bitcrushing and arpeggios). If someone could tell me what bit-crushing is (i'm sure I can recognize it; I just never used that name) I'd be pretty grateful, since I have some more 8-bit esque songs I want to do for this little project. So yeah, any feedback would be welcome.

Isn't it better to flip that question around? Jus' sayin'.

Oh my, that ending was ingeniously clever; it stuck a huge smile on my face as I listened to it.

I hope very much so that this gets accepted, though don't hold your breath (lol). In any event this has turned into quite the bitching track.

Oh! Duh, can't believe i didn't remember that part. Thanks!

By George, I think he's got it!

The Wii Vitality Sensor. There I called it. Also lol, the OP is like a bot or something.

So, I recently got the chiptune drumset Toad, which I am sure a few of you are familiar with. The only problem is, figuring out how to actually get a VST plugin to work in FL has always been one of my many weaknesses. Can someone give me a quick step-by-step if they are able? Many thanks in advance. What I did: Went to Channels- Add new- Quick Refresh but nothing showed up. What did I do wrong?

Well hot damn, that improved WIP is pretty great.

I am kinda pointing out how a lot of these games/shows have some seriously faulty problems with the plot. Not saying Western games don't (Bioshock: the only game to attribute 90% of its GLARING plotholes to gameplay decisions), but who makes more games? (actually, I can't answer that, lol) Also, I'd laugh pretty hard at your spoon-feeding comment if you said it to my face. I mean, and Japanese producers don't? You can have your choice between uninspired space marine plot or uninspired anime plot with quasi-metaphysical ramblings vaguely realated to Buddhism, you know. Not citing any specific exampls, btw. And to your second comment: I wouldn't necessarily call that a success, in any sense of the word. Anyone catch The Spoony One's 'review' of FFXIII? I mean, I don't ever think "Well, it's kinda crap/slow for the first 10 or so hours, but then it gets really good!" should ever be your fallback. That just means 10 lackluster hours in what should be an all-around amazing game. And while that does not mean the game sucks, that sure is not necessarily succeeding at anything.

Not going to lie; this is pretty darn great. Love the guitar work, as well as the rockin' synths (I do love me some synth-rock). Also good drummin'. Glad to see Bloodlines getting the OCR treatment; it more than deserves it.

I think that Cohen's Masterpiece is probably the best track in the game. And also, it's like, in 3/4, or 6/8, or some triplet division like that, so it's not like the rhythm is too out there (it's Rachmaninoff inspired, after all). If that's weirdly-timed for ya, wait till you listen to any piece of music from more than 100 years ago! Anyway, I agree with the above: vary up your synths, since they sound very samey. Also, the same appiles to the drums, which feel as if they have no depth to them (as they are always the same volume, hit the same spot on the stereo, etc). So yeah, vary up your instrument choices, since you, as said, use one synth and the low registers really muddy up your arrangement.

Racism? What racism? The Japanese made Evangelion and Final Fantasy XII! They are master story-tellers!