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FamiTracker
About five years ago, I posted this thread — http://famitracker.com/forum/posts.php?id=776 — to show off two tracks from [i]Final Fantasy VI[/i] that I'd covered in FamiTracker with VRC6. (At the time, I said I was only using VRC6 because I was waiting for VRC7 support, since it was "such a better choice for the project.") Since then, I've revisited those two tracks and improved them greatly, and also covered several more tracks from the game, still in VRC6, since it's such a better choice for the project. I've now finished a total of eighteen tracks, and I have loved working in VRC6; not always having enough non-Noise / non-DPCM channels to accommodate the polyphony of the source material has been a very interesting challenge to overcome, and I've learned a lot from it.
I one day hope to do the whole OST. I think Dancing Mad and the Ending Theme will be particularly difficult, but it will be a lot of fun.
I've attached the FTM, and also an NSFe with track names and duration and fade information. (I recommend listening to it in a stereo NSF player, like NotSoFatso.)
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All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, all men are Socrates.
Wonderful sound design! I like the attack and vibrato on the strings, and the breath sound on the DPCM sounds excellent as well. Even though the echo of the original isn't apparent in this version, I think the majority of the song converted nicely, given the VRC6 limitations.
Starting from pattern 04, the string rhythm plays an 8th beat too late from when they do in the original. The original plays them at the same time as the 4th bass note in each measure.
Also, good luck with Dancing Mad and the Ending Theme! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished OST release!
Hm, it seems you're right about that. I guess I was thrown by how slow the attack is on the strings, which makes it sound like they come in later than they do. I'll fix that for the next version.
Any notes on any of the other songs besides the Mines of Narshe?
Man, I haven't heard covers this listenable in a while! I can listen to pretty much everything in this on loop Locke's theme, the battle theme, Phantom Forest, boss theme, Slam Shuffle, ??, and Prelude are the highlights IMO.
Notes (just minor stuff):
- The snare sample is overpowered in most songs to the point where I can't even hear it. Maybe try a different sample, or back it up with a noise snare, or both?
- In Slam Shuffle, the Fxx timing is probably as good as you'll get, but I can't help but feel like it could be shifted one row forward or back to better fit the swing beat and avoid some beats coming too soon.
- In Terra, you're pretty obviously pushing up against polyphony limits, but there's something about the string arpeggio in the beginning section that doesn't sit right with me. When I think of this song, I remember the smooth sweeping string backing, and the arp introduces a rhythm that I'm not expecting, maybe? I dunno.
Responses:
- Yes, the snare sample is a bit quiet. I will see if I can't get something louder. (I'm just using some sample I found somewhere, and I could probably start by actually ripping one from the game, which I've done with a number of my other samples.)
- Interesting suggestion. Honestly, it never really occurred to me that that would have much of an impact, but I will play with that and see what effect it has.
- Terra was a real head-scratcher. I might go back to it and give it another go. Judging it as a faithful rendition of the original, I think you're exactly right about the arps. I really wanted to represent the strings as well as I could, but I just couldn't find anything that felt like the right answer. I really liked the echo on the melody, so I ended up having to compress three string channels into one. (I actually did the same thing in the Phantom Forest.) Ultimately, I ended up considering it not a faithful rendition, but as a somewhat-stylized cover, which made me feel much more comfortable with my choices.
Also, bills, I wanted to note that the arps in Terra are actually covering a strummed instrument, not a bowed one — there's a mandolin or something in there that takes up three channels, and I had to compress them down into one. I figured it would work better to take something that was already rhythmically active like that part and do that to it than to compress down the bowed strings, which, as you say, provide a "sweeping string backing".
My only comment is that you can use the "D-counter" setting in the DPCM instrument editor instead of putting a Z00 on every DPCM sample where you want to reset the delta counter. Set it to 0 instead of Off.
jsr, thanks! Besides the fact that I wasn't totally aware of that option in the DPCM editor window, I actually want to keep it the way it is, because I don't always want to use a Z00 every time, even for samples where I use it most of the time. But thanks for the heads-up.
Locke's theme, the battle theme, Phantom Forest, boss theme, Slam Shuffle, ??, and Prelude are the highlights IMO..png){kind=avatar}
