SmartLX
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Posts posted by SmartLX
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The problem with a lot of Wipeout games is that many of the good tracks weren't original. If you'd rather cover Firestarter, no point doing it here.
Some good original material in there though.
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He was the first VGM composer whose name I learned. There still aren't very many I know, to be honest, but he's my single favourite.
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To reconcile the two sets of names:
Zophar introduction = Who's Praying For A Soldier, already linked
Zophar level 1 =
(It's Happenin' is a remix)Zophar level 2a = Asteroid Run, already linked
Zophar level 3a =
Zophar level 7 =
In Despair is the bad ending, which Zophar doesn't have and I forgot existed. It's brilliant too.
I wish the soundtrack in the links had put at least as much effort into the rest of the tracks as It's Happenin'. They're basically the SPC files with new instruments, some of which are way off key. Not a patch on the OST.
EDIT: After all that, I go and find out Zophar.net's got an updated SPC set with the proper names, including In Despair. Good stuff.
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Bump. I can dream, can't I?
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Makes you realise how close the original was to a jazz piece to begin with. Great work. Now if only the Konami love would continue as someone went all Cowboy Bebop on Cybernator's ass.
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Can't get enough of it? Listen to Path of Wind (the title translation may vary) from the My Neighbour Totoro soundtrack. It reminds me rather a lot of the part in Besaid where the beat drops out and the strings come in. It's also simple, beautiful and relaxing in its own right.
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Somebody has GOT to resurrect the art of Animutation for this song. Pretty please?
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I confess to rewinding to 1:45 every time I listen to this song, sometimes several times in a row. The organ line from Bach's Toccata and Fugue, brilliantly appropriated by the original, has truly found a home in this mix.
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Konami's in-house band, KONAMI KuKeiHa CLUB, did a pretty good rock version. Have an earful of that while you're waiting for an OC Remix.
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http://depositfiles.com/files/g6nwejr2k
I took the file you linked to and cleaned up some irritating wrong notes. This version's a more correct MIDI of the SNES version. (The note lengths of the synth at the top could use some work, though the rhythm is right.)
The drums are more faithful now, though not embellished. Do you want more drumming than is there in the game? And what do you mean by "add chords"? Change the chord progression, or just fill out the existing chords?
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Okay, I just found that part of the Getting Started with Reaper thread, and now I feel real dumb and will probably never live this thread down.
I don't suppose a moderator could put it out of its misery?
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Sometimes it's only later that I realise what I'm really saying. Regarding level 1, don't just think bebop. Think Cowboy Bebop.
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I'm playing with the trial version of Reaper right now, and the one thing it doesn't seem to have is a basic MIDI composer/sequencer.
In case I've got the terminology wrong, I mean the facility to pick a virtual instrument and tell it to play C#, B, A and so forth until you have Mary Had a Little Lamb. Reaper only seems to use prerecorded MIDI and actual sound samples.
I quite like Sound Anvil and have for years (hooray for actual notation!), but its advanced functionality appears limited even in its latest incarnation. I don't see myself creating anything on the technical level of AeroZ's Wicked n' Floating with Anvil alone.
So, how do you folks get your MIDI?
- Is there a composer feature in Reaper I haven't found yet, or a plugin?
- Is there a rival package along the lines of Reaper that includes this function?
- Failing that, can .mid files created in a basic program like Anvil be easily imported into a larger package and the tinny instruments replaced? (Or else, where can you get good instruments for Anvil? I think it takes VST.)
Every single note of every remix can't possibly have been played live. What do you do?
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I haven't done the statistics to support this statement, but I think the SNES Konami games are under-represented on OCR considering what they achieved musically. That seems to exclude TMNT IV, whose composer didn't do any of the others.
I've got a soft spot for the high-tech war movie goodness of Contra 3/Super Probotector, which nobody's tried yet, but I think it was outdone by Cybernator's orchestral funk. I go for the more structured songs: those in the first and final levels, and the open-air level after the crash landing. The Zophar.net SPCs are named Level 1, Level 7 and Level 3a respectively. The stuff in between is more incidental, except for level 2a (the first flying section) which is straighter rock.
Anyway, it would make my month if one of my three Cybernator favourites were attacked head-on with real or realistic instruments, as was done to Axelay level 1 in Kick My Axe. The string and brass sections, and of course the slap bass, are just waiting to have human hands applied to them.
That level of faithfulness to the source has gone right out since 2002, I know. I also realise that for instance the synth brass might be pushing the limits of real brass in terms of range and dexterity.
So what might work in terms of a new arrangement?
- The bass alone lends itself to all kinds of funk or even disco treatments.
- The orchestral bombast in the introduction could lead into a full-blown film score version of any other piece, partly thanks to the use of recurring themes.
- Think bebop, based on the the trumpet solo in level 1.
- The quick brass and string hits might even make good sample material for hip-hop.
There's enough great material in Cybernator that I'm surprised nobody's had a go thus far. I was sorely disappointed with the soundtrack of the PS2 remake, which sounded like it was adapted by ear without the chords and harmonies that make it interesting. I KNOW that OCR can do better.
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This thing just BUILDS like almost nothing else on OCR. Like 'Dueling Consoles' or 'Burly Brawl' from Matrix Reloaded, it never loses sight of where it's headed.
Particularly like 'Burly Brawl', the unashamedly electronic instruments with potentially unlimited pitch, control and tempo are nevertheless matched by the human drive of the real (or at least realistic) drum kit.
When things finally come to a head and (again like 'Brawl') the drums drop out completely for the big resolution, we don't get it. The track fades to almost nothing for the key note, then builds from scratch to about the level of the beginning. This is in fact freaking awesome. There's no victory for the protagonist, merely a relieved pause before looking down from the summit to see the monster advancing again.
I dunno, maybe I'm too wrapped up in the dramas of the grand old boss fights to find the understated punchline disappointing. As it is, it's a brilliant 'carry moment'. I'm very happy with this piece, very happy indeed.
Edit: I've never, ever heard a decent synth sax, and unfortunately the one used here isn't the first. I just have to take it in as one of the deliberately electronic instruments, or it's distracting.
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Don't know about Mahler, but there's a lot of Holst's Planets in there. The celesta arpeggio is almost a quote from Neptune, for example. Very good regardless.
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It's great. The breakbeat parts are very reminiscent of certain BGM from Half-Life 2, for example during the boat sequence.
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All up I like this a lot.
I honestly don't see the problem with using the chip lead from the game (whether this really does do that or it just sounds like it). In music generally, covers sample the original all the time; it's what they DO with the old material that matters.
The beat sounds a bit Craig David by itself. It doesn't work as a feature, but it's never really featured anyway. It makes a decent platter to serve the rest on, and isn't missed when it cuts out.
There are a couple of moments when some chromatic lead-ins don't mesh quite right in progress, but it's only ever a momentary issue.
If not for the gated accordion break I wouldn't have said Jeunet & Caro. That moment actually had me wishing until the end that a future Professor Layton game tries something in this direction.
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I kept thinking of the Spice Opera soundtrack from the very first Dune game on the PC. That is not at all a bad thing.
Cybernator
in ReMix Requests
Posted
Surely I'm allowed a second bump after 5 years. I'm shocked that nobody's tried this, though I am glad we've got some Contra 3 material now.