A theme I gave up on several months ago before finally finishing it now.  Mews wanted a piano heavy techno style song (or something along those lines.  I’m not sure what it’s actually called since he just gave me Jade from MM as an example), which meant I wasn’t allowed to use trumpets or flutes or saws or really anything other than piano (and synths, but I don’t have synths) for the melody and accompaniment.  That caused the song to sound emptier than the void (cue whining about not having access to synths).  Despite making up a bunch of sweet melodies, I still ditched the song in the end because of the emptiness problem. (And because others were slightly concerned about my incessant whining about the emptiness problem)

Recently, Yuugen offered to arrange the song into the style that Robin preferred, so I dusted the old file off and finally finished the song.  To be honest, I didn’t expect it to turn out so well.  I was originally planning to just make a barebones sketch to send off for arranging since I was expecting the emptiness problem to rear its ugly head again, but somehow it never did and I made a full-fledged song.  I guess I’m a lot more experienced than back then and found a way to fill up the emptiness (mostly with drums and SD-90 soundfont StStrings.  Man StStrings is good at taking up space.  And yes, I’m a filthy scrub who only uses soundfonts)

As for the song itself?  Well… It’s your generic melancholic/hopeful song.  It’s a bit rough around the edges, mostly because it’s going to be arranged anyways and I’m lazy.

"Fun had while composing" rating: 8/10

Artificial Heart

Original: https://soundcloud.com/ricky-rister/living-voodoo-doll

Being the second song I made, I’m still quite impressed with how emotional the original version sounds despite my primitive skills back then.  Even though there weren’t many instruments playing at once, the original still managed to not  sound too empty.  The drums, however, were pretty bad.  I was still using step sequencer back then, and that just leads to boring patterns.

The harmony/drums got a huge makeover.  I actually struggled quite a bit on the drums, since I wanted to keep the original rhythm but still needed to find some way to make it less boring.  I think I did okay in the end. More flutes and violins were thrown in for fullness, and some sections of the song were repeated to give good melodies more time to shine. The calm section at the end still feels a bit empty, but maybe that’s intentional.  This version is also faster than the original to make it sound more intense.  Hopefully it’s not any less emotional.

"Fun had while composing" rating: 7.5/10

High Quality Download: https://rickyrister.bandcamp.com/track/living-voodoo-doll

Living Voodoo Doll (Remaster)

Original: https://soundcloud.com/ricky-rister/gambol-with-a-ghost

To me, Gambol with a Ghost has the best melody of all my songs.  The original was bogged down by emptiness though.  Especially around the climax, the lack of fullness really drained the energy from the melody. 

I replaced the piano lead with reeds and synths that I didn’t have back then, and the song sounds so much better as a result.  There’s also that part where I cycle around the instruments playing upper and lower notes.  It began as a dumb experiment but it sounded pretty good so I kept it.  Oh, and I also threw counterpoint into every section of the song because the piano got freed up from having to play the melody and I was trying way too hard to make the arrange sound different.  In general, there’s just more instruments playing at a time.

Personally, I feel like this is the best song of the album.  Might be my new best song, even.

"Fun had while composing" rating: 7.5/10

High Quality Download: https://rickyrister.bandcamp.com/track/gambol-with-a-ghost

Gambol with a Ghost (Remaster)

Original: https://soundcloud.com/ricky-rister/finite-existence

Unlike the other two, the original is a recent song that was made after I grew out of my beginner problems.  It’s the only song here that’s an actual arrange instead of just a remaster.

The theme is slower and more solemn now, perhaps to represent an orochi reflecting on their past.  This was originally suppose to be an orchestral style arrange, which is why I strayed away from synthy instruments.  That gave the song a more serious tone. The ending also got dragged out to drive home the “reflecting on the past” feeling.

In all honesty I prefer the original, since upbeat melodies are more fun, but this arrange turned out pretty okay for someone not used to composing in this solemn orchestral-ish style.

"Fun had while composing" rating: 6.5/10

High Quality Download: https://rickyrister.bandcamp.com/track/a-cloud-that-vanishes-in-plain-sight-finite-existence

A Cloud that Vanishes in Plain Sight ~ Finite Existence

Ishigaki’s earlygame theme.  Umbra wanted this song to convey “purity and nature”, and as a result I used a lot of instruments that i haven’t used before, such as pristine bell, shakuhachi, and koto.  Also, I really filled out the lower range with notes.  I’m not sure if that makes the song sound too overwhelming, but I personally really like the sound of it (and I better, seeing as getting everything to sound nice together made composing this song take freaking forever)  Overall, I’m extremely happy with how this song turned out, and I definitely need to experiment with more new instruments in the future.

"Fun had while composing" rating: 7/10

Purity of Nature ~ Soft Crystal Glow

You must be sick of me posting Finite Existence arranges by now :P

Anyways, there’s been some shifting and cutting of characters, causing a decent chunk of my compositions to go unused.  Shame, consider some of my best themes were in that bunch.  Luckily, Sphe decided to pick up Finite Existence and asked for a flute arrange of it for Sandra’s earlygame.

Original: https://soundcloud.com/ricky-rister/finite-existence

Sphe wanted the flute arrange to sound calmer than the original.  I made the drums build up slower in the intro, although the rest of the song is just as upbeat.  Then again, maybe the arrange does sound calmer just by the virtue of flutes sounding calmer.  Apart from changing around the instruments, I only made some minor adjustments here and there.  I still prefer the original, although this arrange has some sweet stuff like shakuhachis and SUPER HIGH CELLOS! (I’m glad nobody has to play such an abomination in real life)

"Fun had while composing" rating: 9/10

Finite Existence (Flute Arrange)

Tres wanted his theme to sound playfully evil, so I used a lot more chromaticism and an offbeat rhythm.  It’s a huge departure from my usual style, and to be honest, it doesn’t really sound intense enough for a boss theme, but oh well.  The last third of the song is reference to the earlygame and has a complete change in mood.  I guess it could be a metaphor for how Tres is always the same egocentric person on the inside, or something like that.

“Fun had while composing” rating: 6.5/10

Existence Monism ~ Paradise For One

It’s nice to finally finish a half-finished song from five months ago. I was originally planning to make this song for Redditaisai, but then I got stuck halfway through, so I shelved it. Recently, I decided to go back and finish this thing since I quite like the concept of the song.

My intent was to create a song that conveys a sunny day getting taken over by a sudden rainstorm, then the clouds parting to form a sunshower. Needless to say, I’m quite happy with the result. I used different instruments to represent each weather, allowing the song to tell a story better than an average stage theme. I could easily picture the stage background changing in sync to match up with this song.

“Fun had while composing” rating: 7.5/10

Duality of Rain and Shine ~ Sunshower

“Stage 5 theme: A classical song with a very soothing sound.  It’s a rather empty, quiet place.  Hints of spookiness due to ghosts.  Location: An empty ballroom”

This song took quite some effort to make, since I had to compose in a style I haven’t done before.  I even spent some time researching how to write a waltz.  Still, I’m super happy with how it turned out, especially with how the two melodies come together near the end.  I love how this song is the antithesis to everything I whine about not being able to do: non 4/4 time, voice leading in the chords, repetition, and custom note lengths.  (For the record, that doesn’t I’m going to stop whining about them in the future)

This was a song request for a fangame.  I didn’t even get halfway through the song before said fangame died.  Lesson learned: I need to do better background checks before agreeing to compose for people.  But hey, since the game died, at least I get to upload the song sooner.

“Fun had while composing” rating: 7.5/10

Solitary Waltz In An Empty Ballroom

So, back when the demo for UotAR had just been released, I was digging through Akakyu’s channel when I stumbled across an old comment chain on his first video (https://youtu.be/oRaUmkzC1Lg).  I love how humbling that comment chain is in hindsight.  He started from the bottom, with little skill, yet after all this time, he worked his way up and managed to make his game into a real thing.  Inspired, I immediately set forth to make a song based on that concept.

…Then I come back and learn that Aka isn’t the jack of all trades, prodigy of ZUN that I thought he was.  Well whatever, I was already halfway done with the song, so I might as well go through with it.  And plus, you know what other fangame also began development in late 2016?  UNL (hahahahaha… *sobs*). So yeah, this song is dedicated to Akakyu and his gang for putting in the work and dedication to turn UotAR into a real game instead of leaving it as just a bunch of random originals on Youtube (which, funnily enough, is the stage that UNL currently (and for the foreseeable future, permanently) is at. (hahahahaha… *sobs*))

In case you can't tell what the title has to do with the song, here's a hint:  Pay attention to the structure of the song and how the each melody gets reused.

“Fun had while composing” rating: 7.5/10

From The Bottom

My newer stuff is only being uploaded to Youtube now, so please click the link if you want to check them out!
This is where I upload all the songs I make.  My songs still suck at the moment, but I'll get better eventually, right? ...right?

Ricky Rister

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