this feels like a zelda boss reveal, this is incredible

DELTARUNE Orchestrations by The Second Narrator

Hello, I was always iffy about arranging this track because the melody sounded too fast for an orchestra. My basic self from earlier usually just hands off fast melodies to the violins or some kind of keys instruments and they would just carry the whole thing. That felt wrong for this particular orchestration and wouldn't add much from the original. So my biggest challenge in this arrangement was to preserve the melody in its original form, while being able to hand it off to nearly all the instrument families of the orchestra. It wouldn't be too ridiculous sounding for any section, including brass to have a burst of speed and dexterity right?

In this last year, my master class professor has basically been the Final Fantasy VII Remake soundtrack. The team of composers have arranged 10+ versions of the iconic battle theme, tweaked into many different styles to suit the different locations and contexts of the battles that take place. I kept this in mind and imagined in the full Deltarune game, perhaps there would be many variations of the battle theme. I wasn't going to do 10+ versions of this, so I only explored each of my ideas for a couple measures, then moved on to the next idea. The final track may sound decently cohesive, but the way I utilize the instruments changes from section to section. For example, in one section I may want the piano to support with the syncopated rhythm, and in other places I want it to play like it's baroque period Bach, and have other instruments follow suit or even fight it off.

My orchestral libraries have been able to handle roughly 80% of all articulations, but doing the fast melody while still leaving room for expression really challenged me here. I've always been lazy with the woodwind and brass side, so here I forced myself to utilize samples from 2-3 other libraries for brass and woodwinds, to make them discernable at such high mph, making more use of solo instruments for clarity. I settled at 133 bpm speed for the song (vs 140 in the original track) that I felt is a realistic speed for an orchestra to play that doesn't sound like it's tripping over itself.

The inherent silliness of the arrangement adds to the comedy of the battles that at many times feel more like slapstick hijinks, or even tender character moments. I wanted the instruments to feel like they're goofing off, with none of the intensity of the boss battle tracks I've previously done.

Deltarune Orchestrated will be available on iTunes/Spotify upon completion of the album.

MP3 and FLAC available for Patrons. ► https://www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator

Arrangement by Jeremiah Sun
Original Theme by toby fox

DELTARUNE Chapter 01 is currently free to download on PC and the Nintendo Switch!

Deltarune Orchestrated

DELTARUNE Orchestrated - Rude Buster

So, I am still figuring out how to best arrange the main tracks from Deltarune Chapter 2. Since the majority of setting is the Cyber City, I gotta evaluate if I should incorporate some synth with the orchestra or not. In the meantime, here's an orchestration of a track that has some distance from the cyber synth sound. The general flow and structure is very similar to An Ending from Undertale. You have this repeating motif played softly that gets more and more agitated, but when the lush harmony kicks in, it overwhelms the listener with emotions and warmth. Because of this it was easy enough for me to arrange this track in the same way…

OR DID I??????? My immediate observation from playing Chapter 2 was that it had a real sense of momentum. I was always moving forward, dodging cars, riding giant teacups, crashing into obstacles at high speed. Ralsei, Susie and also Noelle are so nice and encouraging to Kris, they liven up the mood so much. The game over screen shouldn't break my momentum, but instead propel me to get back quickly on my feet! And that's why, listening to the game over track, I thought to myself that an EPIC VERSION would still fit the spirit of the track. I generally don't like epic-fying a track for no reason, so if you guys notice me doing it more often for the "clicks" CALL ME OUT ON IT. It'll get stale fast.

I'm still practicing with Hollywood Orchestra OPUS Edition, while adding all that good Hans Zimmer drums and percussion. I still can't get the woodwinds to express as much as I'd like, but the overall balancing of instruments is a bit easier. In the first softer loop, I worked hard to avoid having the harmony hold long notes underneath the melody the way I did in An Ending. You'll also notice that I changed the baseline a lot compared to the original. Most of the track consists of the same three-note motif down the scale, so I pulled out all the stops to prevent it from sounding too repetitive.

For the epic percussive part, this time I limited myself to only a handful of drums that I used, because I wanted to break the habit of just piling it on. Listening back to my previous Undertale/Deltarune boss music, I cringe at how messy and aggressive all the drums sound. I remember reading an interview with Hans Zimmer where he said when playing drums, never hit it too hard, because the "slap" you get on the high register can clash with the overall sound. Thanks for the advice, Hans! I made sure to really just tap the notes on the keyboard, and with some general EQ and reverb tweaking, tried my best to make each instruments distinguishable while still filling out the space.

Deltarune Orchestrated will be available on iTunes/Spotify upon completion of the album.

MP3 and FLAC available for Patrons. ► https://www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator

Arrangement by Jeremiah Sun
Original Theme by toby fox

DELTARUNE Chapter 1&2 is currently free to download on PC and the Nintendo Switch!

Deltarune Chapter 2 Orchestrated

DELTARUNE Chapter 2 Orchestrated - Faint Courage (Game Over)

Enemy Approaching - DELTATRAVELER OST

"This once empty town is beginning to feel like a city!".
Deltarune by Toby fox. 

Deltarune - My Funky Town

Here's me doing an impression of jazz music haha. My only real exposure to playing jazz was during high school band, and I barely remember stuff about bass lines, minor 7 chords, syncopation, swing rhythm. I got this sweet SWAM saxophone sample library to try to integrate into an orchestra. Can't believe I'm only now using saxes. I went an listened to a big playlist of jazz music to kinda get the general feel of it. I'm sure not everything I did in this arrangement follows jazz convention correctly, but oh well. 

 

The original track has this bouncing beat that I wanted to preserve, cuz it perfectly encapsulates Lancer's playful mischievous nature. Toby fox's use of jazz is perfect, because while I was playing around with filling out the sound, I wanted to add a bunch of changes to the structure and texture that would make it really unpredictable to the listener. 

 

The funny thing is that I assume most jazz musicians are great at improv and can just fly off with their solos and articulations while being in harmony with all the other players. Being a jazz outsider, I had to instead meticulously sketch phrases and ideas out on my piano, and then translate them over to whatever instruments I thought sounded best. Some of the chords and flourishes I ended up using were a result of just brute force banging on the keyboard, trying out random notes and timing until I felt like I heard something nice. Finally, getting the overall mix to sound like it's in a cozy underground club posed another challenge. Most of my libraries were recorded/designed for large hall space. Even though I took out almost all the reverb, some instruments still sound like they're really far away, like the trumpets and trombones. Just pretend that the jazz stage is too small, so a bunch of players had to sit backstage. I got a newfound appreciation for jazz music. There's elements about it that I can see myself continuing to use in future tracks.

Deltarune Orchestrated will be available on iTunes/Spotify upon completion of the album.

MP3 and FLAC available for Patrons. ► www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator

Arrangement by Jeremiah Sun
Original Theme by toby fox

DELTARUNE Chapter 1&2 is currently free to download on PC and the Nintendo Switch!

DELTARUNE Chapter 1 Jazz Orchestra - Lancer's Theme

This was supposed to be one of those simple filler tracks that I add to round out the Deltarune arrangement album. As usual, I got too caught up and stuck with the arrangement that it took forever. In the first loop of the arrangement, I kept roughly the same instrumentation and really went for that marching band vibe. Ordinarily I would have just stopped there, but I felt that made the arrangement pointless over the original track. 

 

The trigger for the second loop that inspired me is the intro portion for Final Fantasy V's main theme. I just love how the hi-hat taps in and the arpeggio chords play from the harp. It really got me excited to go on the journey, and I thought it was pretty appropriate for Deltarune's beginning. I pretty much aped the opening completely here and just kept building off it. With some discipline, I'm gonna force myself to spend less time on future tracks.

Deltarune Orchestrated will be available on iTunes/Spotify upon completion of the album.

MP3 and FLAC available for Patrons. ► www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator

Arrangement by Jeremiah Sun
Original Theme by toby fox

DELTARUNE Chapter 1&2 is currently free to download on PC and the Nintendo Switch!

DELTARUNE Chapter 1 Orchestrated

DELTARUNE Chapter 1 Orchestrated - Beginning

DELTARUNE Chapter 1 Orchestrated - Gallery

Really excited to release this one, I put a lot of love into it! This is such a beautiful song, the website version (Find Her) is especially haunting and I wanted to cover it the moment I heard it. All together this took about two days to make. 

All instruments/mixing/production/cover art by me. Original composition by Toby Fox. 

Other links:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkZSvlawFGWgFjKqYlsKXVg
https://twitter.com/compasaur
https://www.instagram.com/compasaur/

Buy on Bandcamp

Find Her/Lost Girl (from "Deltarune") [Cover]

"Unfinished tracks. The drums are especially placeholder.

Once Spamton's presence in the NEO battle became solidified, I realized the original track wouldn't fit anymore. So, I tried to work in some more sinister and creepy feelings... That idea became this.

The two tracks are nearly identical, but the "newer" version has different drums and more elements of Spamton's theme in the intro. (It's also even more unfinished...)" - Toby Fox
(Note: This is upload 2 of 2)

Power of SPAMTON

Deltarune Chapters 1+2+3+4 Trailer Theme

"The arrangement is really early, but I created this thinking of an animated intro for the game, similar to Wild Arms. I still see it in my head when I listen to the song.

The best part would have been at the end when everyone is running up the staircase as the silhouettes of the bosses from all the chapters show up, and the Knight, standing in a white door at the top of the stairs, turns around and looks down at them…"

SCRAPPED DELTARUNE MUSIC – Game Main Theme (Piano Sketch)

Playing through Deltarune Chapter 3 I honestly felt like it was lacking something, it wasn't bad but didn't quite deliver what I expected. Chapter 4 however, nailed everything and sometimes felt like a completely different game to me. With From Now On, it almost sounds like Toby Fox is really trying to change up his style a bit and I love the sound he's been going for.


From Now On (Battle 2) - Deltarune Chapter 4 | SGCS Remix

The work in progress for my upcoming arrangement album for music from the game Deltarune, this is not the final album, but got requested to publish the released tracks on Soundcloud!

From Now On (Battle 2)

TV WORLD

hope toby fox can finish this game. Playing through chapter 01, I feel like the presentation and pacing is much stronger than Undertale. The soundtrack so far is catchy and memorable just like the original.

The Legend sequence in the opening lends itself to much gravitas. For the arrangement, I focused only on filling out the soundscape more. If there was one criticism I have of toby fox's music style, it's that he can repeat phrases a lot without any variation. This is understandable, as his soundtrack is still very extensive, plus he makes the entire rest of the game too. To make each repetition of the theme flow better, I altered the last measure in each playthrough to transition better to the next phrase.

I didn't use any fancy instruments beyond the normal orchestral set. For the final section, I interpreted it as a quartet, and added the double bass and viola with their own parts to fill out the sound. All in all, the final product has a primarily medieval/classical tone to it. This was a bit challenging to do, as slower music is not my strong suit. I have to really work on the articulations and texturing for long notes so they don't sound too flat with the virtual samples.

MP3 and FLAC available for Patrons. ► https://www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator

Arrangement and fan art by Jeremiah Sun

Original Song composed by toby fox
DELTARUNE Chapter 01 is currently free to download

DELTARUNE Orchestrated - The Legend

Man, this was one tough track to produce. I spent more time on this than all the other deltarune tracks combined!  Not that this piece was particularly difficult conceptually, but it uses a musical style I am unfamiliar with, and getting it to sound good enough forced me to finally learn how to mix better.

YouTube user "I'm Very Angry it's not Butter!!" (yes that whole phrase is the username) suggested I try to incorporate a bit of Irish Jig into the piece, which I thought about and decided it would be a good fit. I did a bit of research on the instruments used, and listened to a lot of Irish/Scottish folk music, as well as similar sounding music, like Rend Collective, Hiroyuki Sawano's soundtrack for Seven Deadly Sins, and Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers soundtrack. I learned that Jig music is normally 6/8 time, while Scottish Reels use the 4/4 common time, which fits Field of Hopes and Dreams' time signature. While I incorporate some trademark elements of Irish Jig and Scottish Reel, I hesitate to designate my music as that style, as I am all over the place with my arrangement.

Breaking down the original track, there are three distinct parts: the establishing beat, the main deltarune theme, and the bridge solo. The rhythm is easily my favorite part of the track, and hearing the percussion come in while playing deltarune for the first time was just sublime - a much stronger first impression than Undertale's opening. And naturally, this is the area I played around with the most, as the repeating rhythm and motifs could be extended as long as I want, unlike the melody of the second and third parts. It is here where I added the fiddle violin. I created a simple phrase and tried my hardest to jam it everywhere in the track. When you hear it, it's your cue to drop everything and dance! However, with that said, my favorite part of the arrangement is still the middle main theme portion. It's just really catchy!

The setup for the Irish Jig / Scottish Reel sound is as follows. In addition to the fiddle violin, I used the mandolin, accordion, tambourines, Bodhran drums (Irish frame drums), accoustic guitar, cajon, and Kick drums. When mixing the percussion, I supplemented the Cajon/Kick drum beats with a regular drumset. I designed the space of the instruments by placing the Jig/Reel instruments in the front of the stage, with the orchestra behind them. I believe the final sound is much more balanced than the previous THE WORLD REVOLVING track. Because I want to preserve the awesome beat of the track, I finally went to learn and practice how to mix percussion correctly. A common complaint with my arrangements is that everything sounds a bit flat, and a big reason for that is that the drums are never punchy enough. And so here I am utilizing all the techniques I learned: Parallel EQ'ing, Parallel Compression, Saturation, Triggering. I still haven't fully mastered the technique, but I am improving!

Deltarune Orchestrated will be available on iTunes/Spotify upon completion of the album.

MP3 and FLAC available for Patrons. ► https://www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator

Arrangement and by Jeremiah Sun

Original Theme by toby fox

DELTARUNE Chapter 01 is currently free to download on PC and the Nintendo Switch

DELTARUNE Orchestrated - Field of Hopes and Dreams

I am a developer as well as a self-taught composer. My style is creating narratives in music through the use of strong melodies and unique instrumentation.

Primary DAW used: Presonus Studio One

DELTARUNE Chapter 1 Orchestrated - Gallery

The Second Narrator

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