Made this about a year ago. Thought it was nice, wanted to share it.

This track was made with C700 VST, a free VST emulating the functioning of the SNES audio chip, restrictions and abilities alike. The SNES's 8-channel limit was followed, which was tricky to work around, but I'm very pleased at how well it came out. (I ended up making a lot of samples with two instruments, e.g. strings+trumpet.)

Song is from the RPG Maker XP RTP (my first RM soundtrack), and was definitely not used with permission. All samples are self-cut; the drums (except timpani) and piano are original recordings, everything else from a few free soundfonts (GeneralUser GS, Fluid, SGM).

Total bytes used, incl. samples and echo buffer: 47,901.

RPG Maker XP - Battle01 - SNES Remix

The factory line plugs away, night and day. See how it works from the inside out.

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Inspired by the morphing sounds I found in Logic Pro X's Alchemy synthesizer, this ambient piece was created to evoke the funky industrial beats in episodes of the documentary series "How It's Made." I've been told it also evokes Tears For Fears, Lords Of Acid, and classic Sonic The Hedgehog.

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Cover photo by Petr Magera on Unsplash.

Industrialis Groove

Hot flowing magma? Sun nearer than you've ever dreamed? Why, this must be...the quintessential space lava level!

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This song co-won the 8-Bit Music Theory Weekly Challenge in late May 2021. The challenge was to write a song or piece representing an astronomical body, using an ostinato (a musical figure that repeats, unchanging). Because sheet music was required, I took care to make all parts hopefully playable by real musicians, with enough time to switch techniques/presets.

The ensemble consists of two violins, french horn, marimba, two congas, tambourine, one programmable synthesizer, and one bass synthesizer (which could also hypothetically be played using keyboard splits on the first synth).

What you hear is not played live. Sample sources are as follows:
- Violin (plucked and bowed): SGM soundfont v2.01
- French Horn: Fluid soundfont release 3, v2.2
- Marimba: University of Iowa Musical Instrument Samples (post-2012)
- Tambourine: custom samples
- Congas: custom samples
All synths are custom-programmed.

Liquid Metal Lurch - Hot Times on Planet Mercury

We build lights, but the shadows just keep going deeper.

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Sequenced in OpenMPT, mixed and finished in Waveform 11 Free.

Made using Synth1, the AAS Player libraries "Angelicals" and "Frontier," a (filtered) string sample from the soundfont "2gmgsmt.sf2", and a number of custom-sampled Kontakt instruments.

Cave Of Lights And Shadows

The Descendants of Icarus stand tall upon the mountains, but still they long for greater heights.

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I...composed this for a Minecraft server. My brothers' Minecraft server, specifically. They had plans for a grand YouTube series (still do, probably); I offered to help them, and for that purpose I made this.

I was fighting my orchestra library the whole way. Turns out, Native Instruments Symphony Essentials is for symphonies--if you want a Hollywood sound, you have to get a Hollywood orchestra library! I can only imagine how great this would sound using EastWest libraries.....

Harp is from the GeneralUser GS soundfont v1.44.

Cloudwalkers Credits Theme

This was my first composition in MuseScore 4. I planned to produce this one a lot more, but then I heard the output from MuseSounds and went "oh--this is better than any of my other libraries." So I only produced it a little bit. I did choose to replace the mallet instruments, though.

The sound sources list for this one is quite short:
- Muse Sounds.
- Custom vibraphone patch based on Kurzweil K2500X's "Wood Bars" sample.
- Custom glockenspiel patch that I sampled myself.

Hike in the Blue Moonlight

Song I composed for a certain scene in a game of mine. Not going to say what that scene is, because I'd like to see what it leads people to think of without any context.

The mid-song cymbal status is really the only part of this that I feel needs fixing. The attack is too sharp, and I think I'd have to replace the sample in the song in order to fix that. (Current sample, incidentally, is probably from the GeneralUser GS soundfont by S. Christian Collins. The ride-up on ride cymbals immediately after, that's played by the MT Power Drum Kit virtual instrument v2. Not sure if I have to give credit to either, but I figure doing so can't hurt~)

Save The World Original Soundtrack

My Model Rocket

I was thinking, wouldn't it be awesome to see a Game Boy Advance-style remake of the Legend sequence from Deltarune? Yes it would. Also no it wouldn't, depending on your tastes. (Not everyone likes red jam, you know?) And while I may not yet have the retro-programming skill to make such a thing, or the right software to make something which looks like such a thing...I do have the means to arrange the soundtrack for it.

So, here you go. I admittedly didn't really look up the GBA's actual sound specs before I started, but luckily, it turns out there's a lot of wiggle room where the GBA's concerned due to its having all sound logic (most sound logic) be software-based. Consequently, the sampling rate, polyphony, etc. is all dependent on how much you can keep the game code and sound engine from stepping on each other's toes--I hear that was a development hassle, but hey, if Jon Burton can outmax the max specifications, someone else can too. Plus, I figure, this is a cutscene song--how many CPU cycles do you really need for scrolling backgrounds and writing text? Although, um, I kind of also didn't really bother with much sample optimization, so probably the samples would be a touch too big for the ROM, considering GBA can't generally afford the overhead of decompression (though, again, cutscene).

Samples used, in order of appearance:
-Piccolo, 2gmgsmt.sf2 (only the loop, probably still very optimizable)
-Piccolo, GeneralUser GS soundfont v1.442
-Trumpet, GeneralUser GS soundfont v1.442
-Violin, Mega Man Zero 2 (all MMZ samples are Collection edition, IDK if that changes anything)
-Cello, MuseScore General Soundfont
-Viola, MuseScore General Soundfont
-Military snare drum, Mega Man Zero 3 (basically just the Mother 3/Wind Waker snare with some reverb)
-Crash cymbal + bass drum, Mega Man Zero 4
-Timpani 2, Mother 3 soundfont
-Strings section, Mother 3
-Piano, Donkey Kong Country 3 (except the lowest sample is from Mother 3)
-Tuba+, Mother 3 soundfont
-Choir 2, Mother 3 soundfont
-The same crash as before, but reversed
-Tubular bell, SGM soundfont v2.01 (Toby uses this soundfont extensively in Undertale)
-Flute, SGM soundfont

Sequenced in OpenMPT 1.28.02; master output bitcrushed using CMT Bitcrusher 2.

DELTARUNE - The Legend, GBA Arrangement

The battle theme for an RPG that I worked on when I was 7 years old, and now that I'm grown am refurbishing into a game worth playing. It's not complete, but it's complete enough that you can't tell if you don't know what to listen for. My composition professor was impressed.

If I get around to finishing the piece and don't just let it remain this way, I could take it to another level by having it dynamically switch between different intensity levels, based on how much HP the party has, how close to death you are, etc. But that's not in any way an important aspect of the music. I could ship the game with one music layer, I think I'd be fine with that. Nice contrast if the map music is dynamic, maybe?


Thumbnail is "Warrior" by Adriana Herbut from FreeImages.

A Test Of Mind - Battle Theme

Making music for my family, that's my game. Also I write music for my games.

Sirius Bizdness

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