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FamiTracker
This is a possible boss rush theme for an OST I've been working on called Crestfall (the NSF for which I posted a few weeks back). I didn't realize until I was about to post it up here how similar it sounds to the boss rush theme in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (which may just be something I hear, having played it a ton), so no intended plagiarism, promise. Any feedback would be appreciated!
Like the post I made in your Crestfall thread, I think you have a wonderful talent in composing. I love your melodies and backgrounds, and I can definitely hear the Konami inspiration in the Crestfall soundtrack (in a good way!)
I still think that defining your bass would benefit your chord choices. I've attached an edit of this FTM with some suggested bass notes on the Sawtooth channel I added. I apologize for turning this into a VRC6 track, but I wanted to quickly throw a bass over your track without modifying it too much, so hopefully you can use this information to apply to your own song.
Also just a personal preference, but try to avoid fast arps if possible! I think it sounds better if you do arps more like what you did near the second half of frame 03 on your pulse 2.
I see what you mean about the bass (I don't know how much time you spent on it here, but it complements pretty nicely), especially for livelier songs like this. My biggest difficulty here is figuring out how to do so within the confines of the 2A03 chip without reducing some of the level of the pulse accompaniment - bass is much easier on VRC6 because there are more channels, especially Sawtooth. DPCM bass samples are an option, but doing so forces me to remove some of the percussion. Similarly, utilizing the triangle channel in a way that doesn't get drowned out is pretty difficult (especially while using DPCM). Any recommendations on how to sacrifice the least here?
Sure! I think this should be do-able in standard 2A03 (and CV1-3 OSTs prove that!)
Try to use that extra pulse to make the most out of your harmonies. You can also try defining the downbeats of the bass, particularly the first note of each measure, then after you do so you can use the bass "fills" to represent other voices in the chord like you did with pulse 2 halfway through frame 03. Unfortunately this means that you might need to re-consider some of the harmony notes you held out (I can recall some of them you had holding out on the Triangle channel)
Here's a good example of using the bass fills as a way to represent other harmonies: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2sE0Napg0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2sE0Napg0
EDIT: Here's a more relevant sample: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYJm0PxZU90]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYJm0PxZU90
Here's an edited version, with slower arpeggios and some attempted bass (I used some of the edits above as models, with attempts at varying the basslines rather than copying them).
I took the version you just posted and changed a couple of the chords. Then, I tried representing the same chords without using fast arps by using slower arps on the Triangle and Pulse 2, while keeping an emphasis on the melody throughout Pulse 1. I also strengthened the vibrato on the Triangle channel, though that's just a personal preference. I also modified the drums to sound a bit closer to the Konami style. Finally, I changed the melody's instrument. I think it might work better for the song, but it's up to you if you want to go with it!
If there's anything you don't understand in what I did, please let me know so I can go into detail (because I think this post would get pretty lengthy otherwise).
EDIT: Oh right! Feel free to work off this version if you feel like doing that. No need for credit or whatever, though I do hope this example gives you some nice ideas to work with/off of!
Also a bit random, but have some FT shortcut tips for my fast editing:
- Shift+F1/F2 can shift entire effect/volume column numbers up/down (and so does Shift+Scroll Wheel)
- CTRL+M lets you paste without overwriting. This is very helpful for pseudo-echo on a single channel, like what I did in the FTM I just posted.
- Changing Step (under tempo/speed stuff) is useful for quickly applying echo or whatever else you need to do
- Shift+UDLR highlights regions like the mouse can
- Page Up/Down jumps 4 rows, and Home/End jump all the way to the start/end of a pattern. You can quickly highlight a single row by holding Shift and highlighting a row, then using Shift+Home/End to highlight the rest. Very useful!
- F7 plays from where you currently are
- CTRL+Left/Right jumps patterns, and CTRL+Up/Down switches instruments
