So... I'm on an 'arranging spree' at the moment, and plan on doing all musics from Undeadline, but so far I've finished a draft version of the level 3 BGM (The Ruins)

here it is:

www.spiresound.nl/music/Undeadline_-_The_Ruins(Bart_Roijmans).mp3


It's still not final and if you have any suggestions before I finish it -> lemme know! ^_^

Anyways,
Enjoy

Wow, sounds cool!!!

Waiting for Wolf's comment to come in... ;-)

it's needs balls

it sounds too standard MSX-MUSIC to me.

manual, you're so predictable

0:16 - 0:41 ... in that timeblock there's a full repeat of the theme .. why not add some more instrumentation there?

It's now very much a copy of the fmpac version, but then played on better synths.

Take notice tho that there should be some air and space in the number, as far as the original is concerned, it's not good to completely glue everything together. The trick/art is to balance between the air and instrumentation.

There's a bit too much reverb on the harpsichord in the beginning I think ... it fills the 'air' too much orso, it takes away the illusion of a distance. Perhaps *way less* reverb and a delicate simple echo works better .. Perhaps (but I dunno if/how you can route DSP's on the Fantom) it's possible to make the reverb a bit more mono orso? It makes the harpsichord a bit smaller so it creates more dynamics between the harpsichord and the rest. Anyway, regarding how those instruments fill the spectrum/energy, that's highly speculative and personal ofcourse.

I'm not sure about the church-organ btw .. tried another instrument already?

Tho, in general it's better as one *could* conclude from the above comments But try to make the piece a bit more organic by changing/layering with different instruments.

Yeah, it's indeed still too much a 1on1 copy of the FM-pac song, but I'm waiting for some brilliant inspiration so I can give it my own twist, and still not 'ruining' the song (pun intended) ^_^

Nice!

* You could add some subtle "baroque" instruments. Like flutes. As long as it doesn't 'choke' it.

* An orchestra hit and/or timpani, well dosed, might make a difference as well.

* To make it a somewhat different arrangement, you could do a 'solo' (with for instance some '70's-rockish synthpad) after the 1st or the 2nd loop.

* The drumfills are accurate, but the sound could use a boost. A little bit higher-pitched toms, maybe.

Just my thoughts about it...

Undeadline music rocks,

Well, I am not a musician. I have no idea of music composition but I will try to place my opinion as listener, a MSX music fan!

I think drums sections are a bit "blank spaced"... maybe is possible to add some more percussion... now, seems that there is missing something. I agree with DemonSeed.

I like a lot bass in this game (there is a awesome fm bass solo in one theme, but I can't remember which theme is)... I think your bass is good but I like FM version more.... I think is more powerful, more deep, more long I think.

I agree with _wolf that Harpsichord seems to need some cathedral effect. What about to add some girl chorus in the background too? :-)

And, there are some cool effects that can improve the music, like a Bell, a methalic hit or "from grave" sounds that can appear in certain moments...

This is my opinion, maybe I am wrong... I am not a professional! :-)

Quote:

there is a awesome fm bass solo in one theme, but I can't remember which theme is

The theme from the "Cavern", right? I really like that too...

I have heard Low Profile "cave" arrangement and yes, there is the cool bass solo... well, all the music is great. I think Undeadline is a fantastic game.

It wasn't chosen as "Game of the year 1989" for nothing.

btw.. LowP, what do you think of it yourself actually ..?

List all pros and cons here.

By doing that I think you can answer all questions yourself!

Wolf, why don't you give it a try? I mean, make a compo of a msx-game? (aufwiedersehen monty would be nice) ps: I know you made some.

I got a pretty good idea of what I wanna change for this arrangement, but I've no clue how I'm gonna do it yet
Waiting for the so called divine inspiration to kick in ^_^

First step would be to make it sound like it's actually an arrangement, and not just a souped up version of the original...

Well... easier said then done I guess but some instrument changes would be an idea I think.

Last but not least, I realise I can't make everyone happy, so I wan't to be careful not to divert too much from my own style just to please others (although I really would want to) ^_^

SolidEric: I'm currently a bit occupied with different things, amongst them some TV stuff and the development of my own tracker, once that is done I'll be working at the speed of light, and I'll do more remakes then.

LowP: Just make that pro/cons-list, then everyone can comment on those points, you might even notice that others could come-up with valueable points you didn't have yet, or others might disagree on cons or pros of your own list.
Inspiration is a choice, not coincidence. No inspiration, or even worse: 'no divine inspiration' is bullocks If I would give you 8 notes here, you could make a tune out of it within an hour. If I already aimed at a certain note-order it would be even faster.

Some tips for 'no inspiration' .. (placebo-tips, really! )
- just get to work and do it.. no excuses.. you'll find out you'll get results anyway
- forget this is about music. Listen to the original music and create a visual concept about it, a visual world. Now, let that world create the ingredients and inspiration for that same tune.
- while working, having it in your sequencer, just do a global transpose of -2 -1 +1 +2 orso.. that way the whole thing sounds fresh again and new ideas might just pop-up!

yeah, well maybe 'no inspiration' is for me an excuse so I have time to let the arrangement settle / sink for a while. Time i sometimes need to 'adjust' my mind to make something completely else (wipe the slate clean in my head so to speak)

And I need to recharge my batteries every once in a while (look at how long it took for me to adjust the dragonslayer 6 song)

Though I really need to do it soon as I'm still in the composing frenzy... need to exploit that ^_^