I'm a decently experienced Famitracker user, and so I thought I would start a thread here about my work. I actually have another NES music thread, you can find it here: http://theshizz.org/forum/index.php/topic/39568-my-nes-music/#entry1260474
I'm actually a video game musician, and I often use Famitracker for my work (I don't usually use Famicom Add-ons) and I sometimes use Cybertracker for C64 music. I also finished my first NES soundtrack a while ago, and since then I've been working on two others. I'll show those once I'm done with them :3
And if you want to use my (current) sound engine, you can find it here and download it.
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But anyways, the game and the music.
This is actually a game that I've been working on for a while now. It's name is M.A.R.K-28. Now, that might be a weird choice for a name, but it's actually a reference to something. Congrats to whoever can guess what it is first
Now, the thing about my work is that it's alot different than alot of other's NES music. Here, arpeggios are used alot, because the NES has only a few channels. And in the words of Jeroen Tel, "You have to get creative." Arpeggios were commonly used on the C64, ZX Spectrum, and other computers like that. It's commonly referred to as "Euro-style" due to the fact that it was mainly used in Europe. My main influence in this soundtrack is Neil Baldwin's brilliant "Magician." In fact, this game even uses the same DPCM samples as Magician.
Track 1: Tutorial Level
This one is okay, but this is my first "official" NES tune, and compared to the later songs, it's age definitely shows. I played around with the sliding note effect, but I think I botched it up a little. Oh well...
Track 2: Cutscene 1
Definitely an improvement over Track 1. I rather like this one.
Track 3: Level 1
Pretty alright. I also kind of enjoyed making this one.
Track 4: Title Theme
I really like this one. The echo effect really sounds great in this song.
Track 5: Level 2
I didn't enjoy working on this one, because it was 10:00 at night and I had a headache. But it turned out pretty good.
Track 6: Level complete
The little song that plays when you finish a level. Although the usage of "level" is a bit strange, "level" in this game refers to "act," or "world." So I would refer to this better as "segment clear." For some reason, the looping on this one is glitched, so forgive me for that.
Track 7: Life Lost
I also kinda like this one. It's a depressing version of the main theme.
Track 8: Cutscene 2
The main Cutscene music. It's pretty good, although short.
Track 9: Ending
I also love this one. Even though it's a pretty big ripoff of level 1 from James Bond Jr.
Track 10: Boss battle
I had trouble working on this one, because I just had no idea what to do for it. But I think it turned out pretty great.
Track 11: Level 3
I also like this one. Notice the arpeggios in the background. I like the chords in the last few measures of the song.
Track 12: Level 4
Also pretty good. I wanted it to sound like there was some tension building up, considering this is VERY close to the end of the game.
Track 13: Cutscene 3
More cutscene music. I spent maybe 3 minutes on this, so I don't really have any feeling about it.
Track 14: Final Boss
By far the best tune in the game, IMO. Obviously influenced by the final boss theme of Panic Restaurant and Castlevania III. I also used some pretty heavy DPCM in this one.
Track 15: Final Boss (Sped up)
Sped up and higher pitched version of Track 14. This plays when the Final Boss is low on health (and therefore, infuriatingly difficult to boot.)
Track 16: Level 5
Another case where I had writer's block. So I listened to "You Truly Are One Ugly Son Of A Bitch" from Darkman NES for about 2 hours for ideas(Thanks to MrNorbert1994 for the exceptional name :3)
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Hey, thanks for all the comments! It really means alot to me, I was always afraid while I was composing that it wouldn't be considered even decent by today's standards, but as I just found out, quite the opposite! Now, this little update I'm doing is quite simple: I'm going to reveal what I was influenced by when I was making my MARK 28 soundtrack. Seeing as this is my first soundtrack, I wasn't very good at making original pieces, so I would listen for a few hours to a song that I liked until I could come up with something I liked that fit the mood I wanted it to. So here's what I was listening to, and what song from my soundtrack they influenced:
Track 1: Nothing
Track 2: Nothing
Track 3: Magician (Neil Baldwin) "Battle against Abodon"
Track 4: Dropzone (Neil Baldwin) "Title theme"
Track 5: Nothing
Track 6: Nothing
Track 7: Nothing
Track 8: Lethal Weapon 3 (Neil Baldwin) "Map" (It's really hard to tell what I was influenced by, it really sounds nothing like what I did >.<
Track 9: James Bond Jr. (Neil Baldwin yet again) "Level 1" And regarding what that Dr Wily guy said about this one, I just listened to it and I totally know where you're coming from. It fits alot better when playing the game, trust me
Track 10: Magician (Guess who?) "Battle"
Track 11: The Immortal (Rob Hubbard) It's hard to tell, but there's a small snipit of the main melody in the song in here at the beginning. Listen closely.
Track 12: Nothing
Track 13: Nothing
Track 14+15: Castlevania III (Yoshinori Saskai and two others) There are some similarities, although the beginning of the song was pretty much ripped from the final boss theme of Panic Restaurant.
Track 16: Darkman (Jonathan Dunn) "You truly are one ugly son of a bitch!!" (There's not actually a name for this song, so MrNorbert1994 came up with that one.) Doesn't really sound like the song at all, but it has kinda the same tense feeling.
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I am everywhere. I am nowhere. I am everyone. I am no one. I am Darkman.
...No wait, that's not how it goes.
Seriously though, that is great stuff right there. I'll break it down to my opinions on the single tracks and then make a final conclusion on the overall style.
Track 1:
Like you said, it's not aged perfectly, but overall ist's acceptable. It sounds rather calm - which is good for a tutorial level. The only thing I'm not very fond of are the very long sustained notes. They become somewhat annoying after a while.
Track 2:
Yep, it defenitily sounds like there's something big going on. The lead also sounds unsettling. Well done ^^
Track 3:
Okay, first level. Personally, I think this track is a little too drawn out and sounds a little bit "empty". Maybe make the different parts of the song interchange a little faster? But also, great double-arpeggio. It's rare to stumble upon a well-done arpeggio on both pulse channels!
Track 4:
Yep, I like it, too. Not too little, not too much. Just maaaybe shorten the first part of the song before the arpeggio kicks in, becuse no one's going to stay on the title screen for that long. It would be a pity if no one heard the other parts. But like you said, great echos
Track 5:
Defenitily better than Level 1 (in my opinion). It sometimes uses the same echos as the title screen, I noticed. Also, this is one of the few songs not to use arpeggios all throughout the song. But the ones that are used come a little late, maybe (again) shorten the long, repeating part?
Track 6:
It gets the message across. Welp, that's all. Short, but statisfiying.
Track 7:
Maybe a bit long for a life-lost-jingle? This would be better as a "Game Over"-jingle, since you'll be brought to a diferent screen if you get a Game Over. The "Live Lost" should be something really short - maybe listen to the different Super-Mario-Deth-Jingles? ^^
Track 8:
Sounds more suspicious than the other cutscene theme. If the ingame story gets dark, that'll fit
Track 9:
Sounds like a very short loop until - again - a second part kicks in late. But if this is the ending, shouldn't it be cheerful? This sounds rather serious. Well, I don't know the game's story and ending, but this has a rather serious mood to it.
Track 10:
Aw yeah, boss battle tracks are my favourites -^.^- Although ... this one it a little slow. And the long-sustained arpeggios don't really help creating a hectic, pressing mood (as if you're fighting for your [player's] life). I'd make the instruments in a boss-battle-song jump up and down the octaves all the time to - musically speaking - kick the listener out of his chair. And more panics DPCM or an exploding noise might also help.
Track 11:
This one acually sounds pretty good. The arpeggios are used well and the pacing is good. I like the variety in instruments you used in this track
Track 12:
Yep, I can taste the tension. this track works out well. Also, interesting use of the triangle. Very much vibrato, but it works for the better.
Track 13:
"PANIC!! EVERYONE, READY YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!!" - that's what it screams for me
Track 14 + 15:
Agreed The final boss - for me - is a defining piece of music for the entire game. Great, "exploding" DPCM, panic-inducing lead and fast-paced background arps. And man, that triangle ^^ It really does a grat job supporting everything else. It's like this: There are three types of boss music: The one that makes your hero look badass, the one that makes the enemy look threatening and frightening and the one that makes you want to dance. This track manages to merge the first and second kind. Dancing isn't so much of an option, but if you make it a little more "dynamic" it might as well be a part of the mix, too
Track 16:
This one sounds plain BADASS. It also has a huge variety of instruments and duty cycle modulations used. Plus, great DPCM again
Looks like that's it. Now about the general style:
All of this creates an atmosphere of a cyberpunk-setting (at least that's what I imagined when listening to the soundtrack) and it does an excellent job supporting the game. The effects you used blend together very well and there are not many instances where an instrument is outright "broken".
I also applaud you for using the Eurostyle so well, it really is comparable to an official western game's soundtrack in many regards (a little much DPCM, but that's okay since it's a post-NES-game.)
Overall, I wish you good luck with your game project and soundtrack. I'm interested in how it turns out and - if you wih - I'll be there to review your progress. I myself am not a composer ... at all ... but I know a lot about games and soundtracks, so I can help in that department
Oh, and one last thing. Is all of the art done in your game? Do you need a designer / artist to help you out, maybe even with cover art? Because I myself am drawing a whole lot and might find some time to support your project with that (Here's a link to my DeviantArt collection, but I don't upload there often :-/ )
By the way, I think I just shattered the barrier of shit no one's ever going to read :D :D :D
Thank you for this wonderful contribution to the realms of the Famitracker forum and have a nice day!
- Alex
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The purpose of a programming language is to protect the computer against the programmer.
Here's the thing: That's my sound engine for people to play around with, for you to create new songs with. That's all it is, it has nothing to do with the soundtrack. And plus, since the soundtrack was done a while ago, it was done with an OLD sound engine. The new one (used here) is much improved, and more organized, I think. And here's the soundtracks's FTM
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I am everywhere. I am nowhere. I am everyone. I am no one. I am Darkman.
...No wait, that's not how it goes.
HOLY OH MAH GAWSH THIS IS SO GOOOOOOD
Nothing more to say, I agree completely with Alexander283
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Why can't I come up with a creative signature?
Tracking must've stripped me clean of creative ideas.
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Either way, here's my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/littlelamp100
From what I'm gathering, you must really like Neil Baldwin's work. I can definitely see where the inspiration comes from, as I've heard all of his NES work. It's great to see something like that here as he is generally an underrated composer in the NES music community. BTW, this OST is really nice!
From what I'm gathering, you must really like Neil Baldwin's work. I can definitely see where the inspiration comes from, as I've heard all of his NES work. It's great to see something like that here as he is generally an underrated composer in the NES music community. BTW, this OST is really nice!
Thanks! I do really love Neil Baldwin's works, too bad two of this best soundtracks, Hero Quest and Erik The Viking were never released...such a shame
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I am everywhere. I am nowhere. I am everyone. I am no one. I am Darkman.
...No wait, that's not how it goes.
The only flaw that I can find in this is that many of the macros aren't looped so they sometimes stop short =o
Other than that, great soundtrack =)
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"im going to continue making this crazy stuff then after a while my style will be so sick that you will be like damn suuun that shit is so sick i dont even get it. i will be like bro its ok.. you dont have to." -omgdonut
The only flaw that I can find in this is that many of the macros aren't looped so they sometimes stop short =o
Other than that, great soundtrack =)
Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner :/
I don't exactly know what you mean by "macros looping and stopping short," but I'm going to guess how they loop back to the very beginning when they finish. At the time when I made this, I didn't know how to use the Bxx effect. (Of course, I do now ) So yes, the looping sounds a bit strange.
However, if that's not what you're talking about, sorry for misunderstanding
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I am everywhere. I am nowhere. I am everyone. I am no one. I am Darkman.
...No wait, that's not how it goes.
What I meant is the "| 0 0 12 12" macro. Instead of typing "0 0 12 12 0 0 12 12 0 0 12 12 ..." you can use the "| 0 0 12 12" macro to loop it infinitely.
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"im going to continue making this crazy stuff then after a while my style will be so sick that you will be like damn suuun that shit is so sick i dont even get it. i will be like bro its ok.. you dont have to." -omgdonut
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