Solaphar

This is in regards to the parenthetical comments. When you say "semi-taken", does that mean there's a person working on it who wants to collaborate with someone? And for "bassline please", does that mean you want whoever does it to keep the bassline intact and not mess it up? Just thought I'd ask for the sake of clarification. Btw, if these questions have already been asked, I apologize, as I have not read the entire thread.

I'll agree that the bass tone is much improved, but the clicks still grate on me. Maybe it's just 'cause they seem slightly arrhythmic. It sounds good overall. I'm liking the stuff you added since the first post.

Noted, however my aim in asking is to narrow the focus down, since I don't want to go and try demo's for every single music program under the sun. Right now, I just want to basically find some Windows prgrams that are similar to Logic that I can try out and see if I like. Speaking of which, if Cubase is the Windows program most similar to Mac's Logic, then I'd want to try the demo. But the $30 deposit is what, collateral or something? And I'll get it back when I'm done trying it? Not sure how that works.

I'll second on the bass clicks. Gets old quick. And I haven't been around here long, but is this a remix or a cover? I haven't yet figured out the line that divides the two around these parts. Yours actually pretty sounds close to the originally, albeit with real instruments instead of synth ones like Uematsu's, and you also have the organ lower in your mix. Sounds good though except for those things Cyril mentioned (like the toms overpowering the bassline). One last thing: some stuff sounds a little out of time. Like the bass rhythm in the beginning as one example. In your final mix, I'm sure you'll redo a lot of that so it should be fine.

Indeed. Was hoping there was something closer yet. I have not tried a demo of Cubase yet, so that will be my next step for now. I'll still hold out hope that there's something like Logic Studio for Windows though. It's likely that I'm about to shell out some cash for a 5-string bass in the near future. Buying a bass and music software and a Mac might not be possible for me at the same time, heh. So, if I do end up want LS badly enough, I'll have to delay a Mac purchase for probably a year at least. Lots of other good suggestions too. Thanks guys. I'll check them all out. I actually hadn't heard of Live prior to reading those posts. I prefer not to use a combo if I can, but if that ends up being the best route, I wouldn't be too opposed to it. However, money becomes and issue having to buy multiple pieces of software. So yeah, prefer to avoid it if at all possible.

Applies to bass but maybe it'll help you out with your fretting hand: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=233492636&blogId=475980040 Here's another thing to look at: Again for bass, but maybe it'll help. At least the principle of relaxing and turning should apply, I would hope.

I was looking at this page a couple weeks ago and I thought, "Wow, if only I could find a non-Mac version of this". This section as well as the picture in it, especially left me wanting it. As far as I can tell, that program has everything I want, but it's fairly expensive (which is understandable), and I'd be willing to shell out the cash for it except... I don't have a Mac. Nor do I plan to buy a Mac just for Logic Studio. So, the search continues while I make do with some old programs. I actually haven't been working with music much lately, though.

Lots of cool tricks explained fairly well. Thanks for sharing. It was very educational. And please let us know if you or some of your associates also post tutorials (like how at the end you mentioned how you'd like to see see others post some too).

I have decided to issue constructive criticism. I recommend, firstly, that you use a metronome when playing. Secondly, I recommend "quantization". <---that's a link, btw Unfortunately, I did not manage to listen to the whole piece, but if you implement at least the second suggestion, it should become listenable. I have more things to say, especially about the chord progression, but that will come later once you've fixed up the timing of the notes. Keep at it, because you gotta start somewhere.

Hmm, okay, for the sake of not throwing away my cash, I'll give reaper a try and see if that would work out better than Pro Tools. Thanks for the tip zircon. I guess I should be more patient in trying demos of all of these suggestions before rushing to buy one.

I like the staff view because it's what I've been used to for a long time (I played piano before I ever touched computer music) and I'm used to reading music in this form. To tweak certain properties of notes and such, I have been using the "event list", rather than the "piano roll". However, many of you seem convinced that the piano roll would be a faster way of doing this, so it seems I should learn to use it, even though every time I've tried it, I always gave up quickly and went back to the staff. I'll have to try harder to become accustomed to the piano roll. In the end, as some have already suggested, I'll just have to try all the demos. I suppose there's no shortcut. Thanks guys, I guess I can take it from here. Great tips and advice all around. P.S. Also, I looked at Pro Tools 8 just now, and even though it looks pretty expensive, I might just bite the bullet and buy it anyway since it looks like it could be be a worthwhile investment. Depends on how much I like the demo.

Ah, that makes sense. For me, I'd say that, back in the day, I spent almost as much time listening to the sound track CDs as I did actually playing the game. That probably helps to make a big difference in perception. Yes, going on a song vs song basis, I also like "You are not alone" a lot (one of my favorite tracks in the game), but going on a theme vs theme basis, the one assigned to zidane is my favorite. I hope that's clear.

Respectfully, I disagree. I happen to like its chord progression. It's a matter of taste I suppose. My favorite part of the theme starts around the 2-minute mark, that's probably the section I like the most. If I made the remix, it would have an acoustic guitar struming bouncy chords there, with a bouncing electric bass underneath. (Hint hint, suggestions to potential mixer. =D ) And to Melbu: I personally found his theme most memorable, perhaps because I listened to it the most when I got the sound track like, 10 years ago. If I had to guess, I suppose most people think Vivi's Theme is the most memorable. That's my second favorite.

Does it have a staff? I don't really use piano rolls. I'd really like a DAW that includes various staves for midi (treble clef, bass clef, grand staff, etc.). Nevertheless, I appreciate your suggestion, even if it lacks the prerequisite staff. At a brief glance, it does look like FL Studio is the most popular workstation, at least among the forum members here. 1000+ people can't be wrong? Back to Cakewalk, the Sonar interface isn't the only thing I dislike about it, I also kinda dislike how it rounds off note durations on the staff. To elaborate, for example, it'll like, round a 16th note to appear as an 8th. Maybe there's a way to change that, but I haven't found it yet.

I hope someone does Zidane's Theme. It's kinda sad that in the end, there are people interested in this project, but who lack the remixing skills, and then there are people who have the skills, but aren't interested. I'm in the former category, but even though I'm unable to do that one theme, I still wish that I could hear someone else's take on it. Oh well, if it can happen then it can't happen. =/

Sonar 64-bit is the one that was giving me trouble, the 32-bit that I tried after it was fine, I simply decided that didn't like the color scheme and layout after using it a couple days. I'll add pictures tomorrow and I'll also edit my first post a bit so people can get a better idea of what I'm aiming for before I try to solicit any more suggestions. Edit, picture added Sonar on top, my old sequencer on bottom. I found it a lot harder to find specific icons now in the Sonar demo.

Same here. I can never get SoundCloud to play anything, except when it's embedded on another site.

Well, turns out I dislike Sonar. Couldn't get the 64-bit to work properly, so tried the 32-bit instead, but I just didn't like the interface layout and color scheme. It's a small thing, I know, but it got really annoying quickly. I think I'll look in other places besides Cakewalk products. But, I appreciate you taking the time to give suggestions and such.

Yeah, believe it or not, I still spend the majority of my time on MIDI (I know it's old, lol), and I also like looking at the staff, as opposed to a piano roll, etc. Nothing beats the good old treble and bass clef for me. Now, that said, I still do like to plug in keys, guitar, bass, or mic and record alongside the midi, which is why I'm not just going with something like Finale. I do give bonus points to any program that also has a feature to let me print sheet music (as long as it doesn't look like garbage), but this is a more minor point that I can overlook for the sake of OS compatibility, which is my greatest concern. I have just installed Sonar 8 trial version, which I downloaded yesterday, and I'll be trying the program later today. Thanks for the additional suggestions, I'll look into both of them.

Okay, I guess I'll try it out. Anyone know whether it's good in 64-bit Win7? Then again, I suppose I'll find that out when I go to install it. For that matter, could anyone who uses 64-bit Win7 also share their opinions, even if it's about a product that isn't like Cakewalk. Right now, I just want something good for both MIDI and Audio Mixing that is known to work in Windows 7 64-bit. Thanks to both Fishy and m68030 for the recommendation so far. Looking forward to hearing from others too.

I've been using Cakewalk Music Creator 2003 for a number of years, but having recently upgraded to a new computer and new operating system (Windows 7 64-bit) I have found that my old software no longer functions correctly. Specifically, it doesn't display notation correctly in the staff view. I figured this was as good a hint as any that it was time to upgrade to something newer, sooo, I went to the Cakewalk website to see what their latest version was, and having found it to be Music Creator 5, I then went searching the internet for reviews on this product. I found it was not well-liked, and many people had trouble installing it on the 64-bit OS. Well, that caused me to rule out that product, but now I don't know where to look next, since I've only ever used Cakewalk. I really liked Cakewalk 2003 and was hoping for something that has very similar features, but I really need some suggestions. That means, right now, I'm hoping you kind generous folk would be willing to field some suggestions my way for a product that is as similar to Cakewalk Music Creator as possible, but doesn't have the apparent bugs and other issues in that product. Also should be 64-bit OS compatible. Thanks in advance.

Velocity just means the attack, basically. Like if you hit a key on the piano softly, the velocity for that particular note is low, but if you smash that key down hard, then the velocity for that note is high. In other words, bang the tambourine less hard in between beats you want to emphasize. Hope that's clear.

That tambourine (or whatever it is in my right ear) gets old quick. I'd suggest making it softer. At least it got quieter around 1'36, which was an improvement. You might also want to tweak the velocities on it to emphasize the beat by increasing the velocity of the hits that fall on the beats. It also sounds like it's just a tiny bit behind the beat. As it is right now, that shaker/tambourine is too static, and that's what makes it tiring. The rest of the percussion is okay. The rest of the instruments sound fine as well.