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Zelda: Wind Waker 'Cresting the Wave' (Ocean Suite Mix - Minor Update 7/22)


progressive
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I won't say too much, except that everything is still a go for this song, and I think you all will like the changes I've made. I was always worried that I wouldn't know which parts to give to piano and which to keep 8 bit, but with this version I think it becomes clear. I've also humanized the piano a bit, with phrasing more in line with how I envision playing. Right now we're in the process of getting the sheet music together so we can start recording. Let me know what you think!

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Or listen to v3.0 here.

-------------Older Posts-------------

Guess this is a good week for updates, huh? My friends and I have not quite begun recording on this one, because I, being cursed with perfectionism (not kidding about that), couldn't leave well enough alone and had to change the song again. I'm hoping, though, that you all will find the additions refreshing. I've been playing around with more mature chord structures and a few sound effects and here is the result. New or changed stuff is at: 0:00, 0:32, 1:58, 2:31, 3:00, 4:30, 5:11, and 5:29. Or maybe you should just listen to the whole song. ;)

And yes those are new source tunes at the beginning and 0:32. Any guesses?

Listen to v2.0 here and hit me with some feedback.

Looks like there are problems with Tindeck right now, so here's another link to the song. Any opinions on the direction we'll soon be taking this?

Listen to v1.6 here.

-------------------------------------------

Here's a small update and a "status of the song" report. I had a friend generously offer to play acoustic guitar for the song after I let him listen to it. Then he let another friend listen, and now we've got some instruments on board, including acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, piano, trumpet, and drums. I will be working on the chiptune parts (including some 8-bit drums), which most of you said you liked, and they will be incorporated into the final version. To say this is getting out of hand is an understatement, but I'm really excited about it.

As far as this update goes, I haven't had a chance to rework any of the 8-bit yet, so hold your complaints about that, Roz ;) I did change some minor things to improve the flow and continuity of the song:

- some fun 8b parts in the beginning and throughout

- some bass I "borrowed" from the source and fit to my chords

- the drums quiet down during Zelda's lullaby now (show some respect!)

- a new counter-melody at 3:50 to intensify that section since some of you found the return to that part a bit repetitive

- more bombastic timpanis

As for picking out the themes, the award goes to Hylian Lemon for getting the closest.

Here they are in order:

The Great Sea and Aryll's Theme (Wind Waker)

Overworld Theme (Legend of Zelda)

Title Screen (Adventure of Link)

Flute Boy (A Link to the Past)

Ballad of the Wind Fish (Link's Awakening)

Zelda's Lullaby (Ocarina of Time)

Oath to Order (Majora's Mask)/Serenade of Water (Ocarina of Time)

Aryll's Theme (Wind Waker)

At 4:30 all of these repeat in shorter versions until the end when Zelda's Lullaby, Aryll's Theme, the Overworld Theme, and The Great Sea play together.

Thank you for all your great comments so far. Going live for this will be a ton of work, but wish us luck!

prog

-------------------------------------------

Well, this is my Christmas present to all the Zelda fanatics out there. It's still very, very rough, though, so I guess this is your IOU. I really fell in love with Wind Waker's soundtrack when I played through it, and even more so when I heard Mario and Zelda Big Band Live. So here is some love to the track that tied that game together, the Ocean Theme.

The credits roll of Wind Waker demonstrates the brilliance of the game's soundtrack, as it ties together just about every theme in the game without becoming a medley. So I took that idea and decided the forward motion you feel with the Ocean Theme would be a great vehicle for a tribute to the Zelda series. I don't want to spoil the surprises but I'm sure most of you will be able to identify the themes. In fact, we could make a game of it. Who can correctly identify the melodies, in order, and the games they helped make famous? (There is even an extra, hidden one.)

I wrote the entire thing in 8-bit in about three days, then decided some of the lower notes were getting lost so I went back and layered some generic piano over most of the existing channels. I don't know if I will keep the 8-bit, but the result is mainly a demo of what the finished song will sound like musically. Hope you like it.

Listen to v1.0 here.

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Well, I'm fairly impressed. You say this is a rough mix? I think it sounds fine. I kinda like the 8-bit sound to it along with the piano. I dunno why, but it just fits.

And I'm not gonna name the other tracks in this. That takes too much effort for me to have to go through and pick out every one.

Anyways, awesome track, my friend. :D

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I actually really like the mix itself, and I freakin love 8-bit. (Yeah, I'm not going through all the melodies you've used ¬___¬) Oh and the cadence at 3:25 is the best bit ^^

I know it's only rough but are you planning on varying it a lil' more? Like building it up more? It's all overly a lil' similar. Also I thought the timps were a bit out of place soundwise- does that even make sense- you catch my drift?

Please update this, the Great Sea is my favorite evar Zelda theme.

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This sounds great, man. The mix of 8-bit and higher-quality audio isn't as pleasant as it could be. The noisy square ain't pretty. Using simple synths might work, but you need some change to their sound as they decay, plus you need to get rid of the noise. There's noise in the 8-bit parts, annoying artifacts and low-rate sample defects, you should probably clean it up on those. Won't be true 8-bit, but with the piano and stuff, it won't be anyway. Note that the 8-bit percussion is fine with me, it's the sustained 8-bit notes that aren't.

Source use and interpretation, no complaints. lol, you even used the flute melody from alttp. :D

Man, I wanted to be the first to get a ww ocean remix posted here. I won't mind if this gets posted first, tho. But you bet I'll be posting my wip here some time soon. Protodome is gonna go nuts. :P

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Cameos as far as I can tell...

Adventure of Link title screen

A Link to the Past flute song

Link's Awakening Ballad of the Windfish

Majora's Mask Oath to Order (nice!)

Ocarina of Time Serenade of Water

I couldn't pick out anything else. It took me a couple listens to notice the ballad of the windfish. XD

In terms of critique, I can't really offer much besides agreeing with Rozovian. Of course, if you decide not to keep the 8-bit, it won't really matter. However, I think it works pretty well. I enjoyed it.

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Yeah, I recognized a WHOLE bunch of the themes. Nice job adding them in.

I especially like how the ballad of the Windfish mixed in. I think I also heard Aryll's theme in there somewhere if i'm not mistaken.

When the Oath to Order plays, it makes it perfect. The balance is awesome.

Edit: Yes, Aryll's theme is definitely in there. It's very small, but I HEARD IT!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I really like what I'm hearing here.

Everything seems to be flowing perfectly between each part of the remix. Good job. I also won't have any problems if you intend keep it 8 bit as i kinda dig this rather unorthodox blend of nes sounds and real instruments.

One thing you could try to improve this mix even more would be increasing the pace somewhere in the middle, maybe put some drums there to make it more dynamic. That would be interesting to hear.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like there are problems with Tindeck right now, so here's another link to the song. I'll copy what I wrote on 1/16 here since linking to my OP was a bit confusing. Any opinions on the direction we'll soon be taking this?

Listen to v1.6 here.

------------------------

1/16/09:

Here's a small update and a "status of the song" report. I had a friend generously offer to play acoustic guitar for the song after I let him listen to it. Then he let another friend listen, and now we've got some instruments on board, including acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, piano, trumpet, and drums. I will be working on the chiptune parts (including some 8-bit drums), which most of you said you liked, and they will be incorporated into the final version. To say this is getting out of hand is an understatement, but I'm really excited about it.

As far as this update goes, I haven't had a chance to rework any of the 8-bit yet, so hold your complaints about that, Roz ;) I did change some minor things to improve the flow and continuity of the song:

- some fun 8b parts in the beginning and throughout

- some bass I "borrowed" from the source and fit to my chords

- the drums quiet down during Zelda's lullaby now (show some respect!)

- a new counter-melody at 3:50 to intensify that section since some of you found the return to that part a bit repetitive

- more bombastic timpanis

As for picking out the themes, the award goes to Hylian Lemon for getting the closest.

Here they are in order:

The Great Sea and Aryll's Theme (Wind Waker)

Overworld Theme (Legend of Zelda)

Title Screen (Adventure of Link)

Flute Boy (A Link to the Past)

Ballad of the Wind Fish (Link's Awakening)

Zelda's Lullaby (Ocarina of Time)

Oath to Order (Majora's Mask)/Serenade of Water (Ocarina of Time)

Aryll's Theme (Wind Waker)

At 4:30 all of these repeat in shorter versions until the end when Zelda's Lullaby, Aryll's Theme, the Overworld Theme, and The Great Sea play together.

Thank you for all your great comments so far. Going live for this will be a ton of work, but wish us luck!

prog

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It's excellent! This is what I'm talking about. A medley sounds best when another melody accompanies the primary melody by modifying the chord progression (I don't see too many of this in other medleys). The medley is not too long nor is it too short, which is a good thing.

A medley should keep people on their toes by surprising them with various short themes. It keeps them guessing and excited what will come next, nothing is too predictable. I hate medleys that are too predictable like I already know how it will sound in the next 1 min without any accompanying melody to keep me surprised (I tend to fast forward after 30 sec onto the next theme). Of course this is just me.

Now the song... I love the piano + 8bit synth. It's very tranquil and relaxing. Thumbs up :smile:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wah ha ha! This is wonderful.

It's like all the Zelda games rolled into one. I particularly enjoy the Zelda 3 nod.

Well-deserved representation for Wind Waker. (the Molgera mix was great too, btw)

While I truly like the chippy version, I can't wait to hear what you have in store. Good luck and good mixing!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Guess this is a good week for updates, huh? My friends and I have not quite begun recording on this one, because I, being cursed with perfectionism (not kidding about that), couldn't leave well enough alone and had to change the song again. I'm hoping, though, that you all will find the additions refreshing. I've been playing around with more mature chord structures and a few sound effects and here is the result. New or changed stuff is at: 0:00, 0:32, 1:58, 2:31, 3:00, 4:30, 5:11, and 5:29. Or maybe you should just listen to the whole song. ;)

And yes those are new source tunes at the beginning and 0:32. Any guesses?

Listen to v2.0 here and hit me with some feedback.

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Ooh guessing game. I love guessing games. Aw you gave it away in your other post, but there's new content in this new version still. I hope you didn't add your own compositional melody in there because that will definitely throw me off as I'll spend hours just trying to find it.

Hmm...

[spoilerS]

Primary Main Theme throughout this song is Ocean Theme from Windwaker

The arpeggiated square wave chords are adapted from the Title screen of Zelda II

0:00-0:16 My Grandma / Epilogue

0:32-0:48 Aryll's Theme and Outset Island

1:22-1:54 Flute Boy repeated 3 times

1:38-2:11 Ballad of the Windfish from Link's Awakening

2:31-2:44 ?

3:00-3:24 Oath to Order

3:33-3:41 Serenade of Water

3:58-3:13 Aryll's Theme and ?

4:30-4:47 Outset Island and Aryll's Theme (at 4:49)

4:47-4:55 Flute Boy

4:55-5:03 Ballad of the Windfish

5:03 Zelda's Lullaby

5:12-5:19 Oath to Order

5:29 ?

[/spoilerS]

Ok so that's 3 ? marks. I'll need to listen to the OST again.

Coincidently I was going to use the game demo (which is similar to the ocean theme), aryll's theme, and outset island overlap in my medley, but I don't know if that's a good idea anymore since you beat me to it first before I did. Might as well ask, permission to use the aforementioned themes in my medley?

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Hey Brian, great job guessing. The three question marks you've got are:

2:31 Original Transition

3:58 Original Composition

5:29 Ocean Theme, Zelda's Lullaby, Aryll's Theme, and Epilogue (will probably declutter this eventually)

What surprised me is that you missed Zelda's Lullaby at 2:11. Must have been a fluke because you even got the arpeggios from Adventure of Link.

And hey, no permission needed to do your own. I'd like to hear it. I almost used the Game Demo track, that one is great.

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