Clem: Thank you! I'm going to record a bass guitar part for this, but an extra bass layer might not be a bad idea. As for those high notes, I still need to do some EQ or something on the newer version so they're clearer. I feel like that part is just bit muddy, but this is just the barest outline of a song so there's time.
Kanthos: Very true, I don't need to know where the word comes from. But I like to know, and now it makes perfect sense. Thanks! And thanks also for the input on it; it's nice to know I'm doing at least one thing right from the start!
For the negatives you mentioned, a real bell will have some non-harmonic overtones, but I agree that these are turned up too high. I'll do some more research (and experimentation) to see if I should maybe use different overtones altogether, and I'll definitely lower the volume. Edit: After some more reading it seems I misunderstood the inharmonics of bells, and I've adjusted the tones accordingly. The result is a lot less jarring!
But the octave jump in the arpeggio...that's entirely intentional, and is an aspect of the song I plan to keep. The original FFI version does actually have that shifting in it. Some call it a bug, and it just seems odd that only notes below C4 would be shifted up, wherever they are; some chords had three notes shifted, others only one. Whatever the reason, despite the fact every version of the Prelude since has had a straight four-octave arp, this is always the version that I hear when I think of it. That's what I wanted to homage specifically.
timaeus222: The clicking may be coming out of the light flange effects. There was some more audible stuff early on that went away when I changed the settings on it; I'll hunt it down!
evktalo: When you said 2:11, I knew exactly which note you meant! The pad is playing a four-part harmony, and since each chord is 10 sec long (when I said downtempo, I meant it, ja? lol), I have two or more of the voices vary their notes to create some extra motion and tension. Most of the bass notes I used were A, and simply drop down to a G# as the arp descends before leading back to another A (except in the E chord, where the bass stays at G#). But the FM7 bit sounds a bit different. I kept the same A in the bass, let it come down to that same G#, and then led it down to G-natural for the GM7, so it's a chromatic passing tone. It clashes a lot, since it's enharmonic with Ab so there's a "split third" thing going on in the FM7. I'm on the fence about whether I like it, since the theory is sound (pun intended), but not all theories sound well. I'm not sure about changing the arpeggio though, since part of the idea was to create tension.... Of course, in the end it depends on how it sounds, so I'll try it and see what happens!
Thanks to all four of you for your input!