The Forgotten, Sunken, Sea Shanties | 忘れられた、沈んだ、海のシャンティー

- This is an attempt at a Stage 5/Stage EX theme

I went for a feeling of delving into the deep sea of unknowns; Sunken shipwrecks also came into mind. 80% or more of the sea is unobserved, hidden, many shipwrecks that lay rest on the seabed will most likely be untouched.

Have you ever wondered about the fate of the sailors of these sunken ships? Their moments and memories dragged into the abyss along with their ship.
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Hello! This is my first post!

Composing a Touhou-styled song is  very hard....I'm aiming to achieve the 'feel' that many Touhou songs have that attracts us to them in the first place. Touhou-like melodies are mystifying to me.

This song was finished around a month ago and started out as a sketch that somehow managed to grow into a full song.

This is not my first composition per se? But it is one of few that's actually finished and the only one I'm proud of currently. ( No way I'm posting my old compositions! They're terrible!)

This song serves as a study of chord progressions, especially VI -VII - i and many of it's variations.  I also shoehorned a downward chromatic progression on the the latter half of the song ( Ala. Pure Furies etc.) and it so cool, probably my favorite chord progression as of now. Learning theory as I go!

Finally, I'm not sure when my next song is going to be?

 I'm genuinely conscious about my works, especially considering that I've discovered many other Touhou-style composers that are leagues better than me. 

Here's hoping I'll reach the same footing as them.

See you!


Footnotes;

Tools used: FL Studio 20,  Audacity
VSTs used: The Grand 3, Retrologue 2, EZDrummer, Groove Agent 2, Trillian, Electri6ity, Roland XV-5080, Roland SRX Orchestra ( with SD-90 patches by https://twitter.com/romantique_tp), Juicy SF ( for some soundfonts ).

Touhou-Style Original | The Forgotten, Sunken, Sea Shanties

Swindler's Blues Show | 詐欺師のブルース

- This is an attempt at a EX boss theme

I composed this song as an experiment on Jazz/Blues harmony and chords that gradually evolved into a full song. I have an image of a youkai that lives a carefree life whilst able to always avoid reprimands from their debauchery conning people. A swindler or charlatan you could say!

I don't have a name nor design for this particular character ( I can't draw much)

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Hello again!

I've just finished this song around a few days ago due to burst of inspiration.
Also I placed a self-imposed challenge on myself that I'll try to compose a song once a month or two. ( or more Who knows?) 

This song is heavily inspired by some of Armand Payan's (https://soundcloud.com/nekonaku) compositions that heavily utilize chord extensions to make them sound *jazzier* and richer which is extra cool while still keeping that Touhou-esque feel. So glad I stumbled upon this composer!

There is also a downward chromatic progression on the the latter half of the song in this song as well, honestly I should use these sparsely. It'll makes my songs predictable...

In the end, my goal was to make a song that's Touhou + jazz; Something that I hope I've achieved. Even though it is not as polished as Armand's but  I hope it's worth a listen.

Tools used: FL Studio 20, Audacity
VSTs used: iZotope Ozone (Mastering), The Grand 3, Retrologue 2,  Virtual Guitarist, Groove Agent 5, Trillian,  Roland SRX World, Juicy SF ( for some soundfonts ).

Touhou Style Original | Swindler's Blues Show

Fantasy Tributary ~ Shimmering Stream |  ファンタジー支流 〜 Shimmering Stream

This is actually a continuation of an old snippet that I had. That snippet mostly contain the intro.

My aim this time is to create a song that is short and sweet with Japan-esque melodies that are pleasant to listen too. I meant this song  to signify calm, pleasant streams on a mountain somewhere but I think it may be a bit too upbeat.

I guess streams in Gensokyo are much more exciting?

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I think I'm getting a grip at this composing stuff but I can't shake the feeling that I'll lose my momentum soon. Not to mention school will be starting for me quite soon...

Regardless, I will try my best to deliver. I may branch to doing other genres, and/or transcribing songs later down the road.

As for this song, it's kinda refreshing to try out ZUN's older styles and instrumentation, this one especially is an homage to Mountain of Faith. Regular VI-VII-i works wonders. I also had fun playing around with the drum patterns.

 It may just be me but Touhou-like songs with this style of instrumentation are becoming rarer.  Not like it's a bad thing but like those who attempt DiPP-like/EoSD-like compositions it can be a neat departure from Pristine Bells/Elementics/etc.

Also, I worry about my song structure, this song is essentially;

A1 → B1 → A2 → B2

This can be boring, I tried to vary it a bit by adding a piano solo. In the future, I would like to try to add more verses and phrases like other songs.

Thank you for reading and listening, it truly means a lot. See you!

Tools used: FL Studio 20
VSTs used: 
- iZotope Ozone (Mastering)
- Edirol Super Quartet, Edirol Hyper Canvas 
- Steinberg Virtual Guitarist
- Roland XV-5080, Roland SRX World
- Fruity FPC (Gator Kit from: https://mobile.twitter.com/KTea2020/status/1224646386903330817)  
- Juicy SF ( Soundfonts ).

Touhou-Style Original | Fantasy Tributary ~ Shimmering Stream

Fervour Of Impedence | 沮止の熱狂

(Maybe I'll add a comment here later on!)
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Hullo! Composed another song!

This time in contrast with the previous composition I did, I went with a more electronic theming akin to Electric Heritage. Lots of Trillian instances!

I kinda winged it with this song. No special thought went into this. At first I didn't want to finish this but rather than keep it unfinished (Like some of my old works), I opted to finish it. I think finishing a song is better for growth than many unfinished ones.

Truth be told there are some parts of this song that I don't particular like? Such as the ending that I think it is a bit disconnected from the whole song but I hope is alright.. I'll do better

School started and stuff is starting to pile up on my plate, so If I went inactive for a bit that's probably why.

Anyways, see you!
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- Song Information -

Name        : Fervour Of Impedence
Composer : Tempura-Ocha
Tempo       : 160
Key Sigs.   : C# min, D min, D# min, E min

- Instrumentation -

*Doing this fancy shmancy stuff some composers do, I'll probably do this sparsely.

Roland SRX Orchestra  - Fiddle&Oboe ( https://twitter.com/Romantique_Tp/status/963957444031467520 )
Roland SRX Orchestra  - PR-C: 110 StChrMm/Ah S
Roland XV-5080           - PR-G: 025 Ionizer

Steinberg The Grand 3   - Bösendorfer Model 290 (Velocity Compressed)
Steinberg Retrologue 2  - Crystal Lake
Steinberg Retrologue 2  - Almighty Strings
Steinberg Retrologue 2  - Incense Cone
Steinberg Padshop 2      - Carillion

Steinberg Groove Agent 5 - Technocratic

Spectrasonics Trillian - Doomsday Machine 2
Spectrasonics Trillian - Mercury Ascending
Spectrasonics Trillian - Apocalyptic Signs
Spectrasonics Trillian - Answer The Dark Memories
Spectrasonics Trillian - Gettin' Fonky On The Dance Floor

Electri6ity - Rickenbacker Amped (Faint)

Mastering VST: Izotope Ozone 9

Touhou Style Original | Fervour Of Impedence

Irre Duellanten (Mad Duelists) , Duel Under The Blue Moonlight

I imagined this song as a battle theme of a spar between two friends of equal footing in prowess. I also had an image of a RPG boss battle when composing this!

This song is quite upbeat with a-lot of jazzy embellishments, chords etc.
Honestly, I just wanted to scratch an itch of attempting a Jazz styled song;;
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Saluten!

Today, I present another original, this time with a jazzy twist.
Touhou-style is good and all but I'm trying to branch out a bit.

That said this song still has heavy traces of Touhou, especially in the melodies.  Oh well, sometimes your inspirations leek through, I suppose.
Oh if you're wondering about the sudden German, my school has German language classes so I figured might as well title something in German.

I tried to embellish and vary my chords a bit ( Extensions! Spicy extensions~ ) Put a bit more thought into them. It's so cool how can you make them more expressive by adding some new notes.

I'm actually pretty satisfied with this track! It sounded like what I trying to achieve. A jazz-sounding boss battle theme or so I hope.. 
I do have a gut feeling that It is lacking something but for now it is fine by me.

Still going strong towards my goal of at least 2-3 originals a month!
A road to improvement!
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Name : Irre Duellanten, Duel Under The Blue Moonlight
Composer : Tempura-Ocha
Tempo : 156
Key Sigs. : F# min, G min, G# min (Minor keys for easier reference) 
Time Taken : 16-hours (According to FL)

- Instrumentation -

Steinberg The Grand 3 -Model D Closed
Steinberg The Grand 3 - Yamaha C7 Closed
Steinberg The Grand 3 - Yamaha CP-80

Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Sweep Up
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Silk Carpet

EZDrummer - Default Preset

Spectrasonics Trillian - Studio Brite - Full Range
Spectrasonics Trillian - Momma Tree 2

SWAM Flute - 1 Bright
SWAM Trumpet - Satchmo

Mastering VST: Izotope Ozone 9

Jazz-Like Original? | Irre Duellanten, Duel Under The Blue Moonlight

牛頭の悪意(Malice of The Cow Head) ~ Unspoken Tale

Time for a dark-sounding song!

Have you heard of the Gozu (牛頭)Tale ? It is an urban legend surrounding a horror story where when one heard it one will die. Apparently, most of the details of the story is lost to time

The most you can get was that a famine infested village was visited by a man with a cow's head, the villagers then slaughtered the man and the village was cursed. I find this kind of stuff to be right in Touhou alley, a forgotten story? Gensokyo's a place of forgotten things! Maybe Kosuzu has the tale in her possession..

Regardless, this song was created with that image in mind. I think this could be a boss theme or a Sealing Club song.

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Greetings! How are you folks holding up? 
I hope you are well wherever and whenever you are.

Been in a slight rut lately, can't for the life of me extract some good melodies from my brain. I reiterate what I said from my first song here, where I said ' Touhou-like melodies are mystifying to me'..

I think I have drained all of my composing energy quota for this song alone.
Regardless, I managed to complete it. I went for a somewhat Violet Detector style, songs with dark tones. Instrumentation and all.

I attempted a diminished scale this time and I gotta say it's pretty neat! Can get pretty neat results. I attempted a new chord progression at the latter half of the song, inspired somewhat by Castlevania.

Also I spent a bit more thought and time in mixing/mastering this song, I went and used Izotope Neutron 3 for this time, not sure if I like it or not.. Let's just say that mixing is kind of hard....

Still has a ton of work piled up, but still motivated! See you!

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Name : 牛頭の悪意(Malice of The Cow Head) ~ Unspoken Tale
Composer : Tempura-Ocha
Tempo : 178
Key Sigs. : Bmin, C min, C# min, Dmin (For posterity)
Time Taken : 20 Hours-ish

- Instrumentation -

Steinberg The Grand 3 -Model D Closed
Steinberg The Grand 3 - Bosendorfer 290 Closed

Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Elite Lead
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Glass Cone
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Starfish Arp (Arp Off)

Steinberg Padshop 2 - Carillion

Steinberg Groove Agent 5 - Minitekk

Spectrasonics Trillian - Atlas Sphere
Spectrasonics Trillian - Momma Tree 2
Spectrasonics Trillian - Sprayin The Synth 2
Spectrasonics Trillian - Classic 70's Modular Bubblesweeper
Spectrasonics Trillian - Violent 101
Spectrasonics Trillian - Deep and Funky ATC

Vir2 Electri6ity - Les Paul P-90 Amped

EWQL Ra - Duduk KS

Roland XV-5080 - Chime Bells

Roland SRX World - Romantic Tp* ( Custom Preset )

Juicy SF - SD-90 Soundfont : St.Choir Ahhs
Juicy SF - SD-90 Soundfont : St.Strings

Mixing VST: Izotope Neutron 3
Mastering VST: Izotope Ozone 9

Touhou-Style Original | 牛頭の悪意 ~ Unspoken Tale

World Travelers (Dungeon 1) | 世界の旅行者



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Hullo! Back again!

Today I present a more experimental song. I tried to do a VGM-like orchestral song. 

Do any one of you know of PMD ( Pokemon Mystery Dungeon )? An excellent spin-off of the Pokemon series. Great characters, music and overall aesthetic. The rouge-like game play may not be for everyone but I like it.

I made this song with PMD in mind especially GTI. In fact, I tired to get close to GTI's instrumentation. I actually didn't study much about the song structure and general theory of GTI's ost but rather I tried to compose the general feel of adventure.

This is my first time doing anything remotely orchestral but I hope it is good enough?

Attempted a 7/4 time signature for the majority of this song, I have not tried another time sig. other than 4/4. Kinda interesting! I'll try more exotic time signature sometime later.  Also, experimented with some chords. Though, mixing this song is absolute hell like oh my god.

Truth be told, I want a new PMD akin to (https://twitter.com/sifyro/status/1140128118516178944) and many other concepts. If one announced this year, I would genuinely cry.

So yeh, that's all see you folks around!
Stay safe and have a swell day!


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Name : World Traveller
Composer : Tempura-Ocha
Tempo : 168
Time Sig. : 7/4 , 4/4
Key Sigs. : Fmin, F#min, Gmin, G#min (For posterity)
Time Taken : 20-25 hours?

- Instrumentation -

Steinberg The Grand 3 -Yamaha C7 Closed

Kontakt : Kontakt Factory Library - Violin Solo
Kontakt : Kontakt Factory Library - Marimba
Kontakt : Kontakt Factory Library - Glockenspiel 
Kontakt : Kontakt Factory Library - French Horn 
Kontakt : Kontakt Factory Library - Harp 
Kontakt : Kontakt Factory Library - All Percussion  

Sforzando: SCC Expressive Strings

XPand!2 - Female Aah Choir

Nexus 2 - PL Hands Up Bells 1

Real Guitar Classic : Steel Stereo
Real Guitar Classic : Steel Stereo - B05_Folkpop (Chord | II Position )

Kontakt : EWQL Ra - Pan Flute KS C0-D#0

Kontakt : EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Silver - Snare
Kontakt : EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Silver - 20 Cymbal
Kontakt : EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Silver -Timp Hits

Edirol Orchestral - Timpani

Spectrasonics Trillian - Trillian AC 1

Mixing VST: Izotope Neutron 3 + Some Others
Mastering VST: Izotope Ozone 9

Experimental / PMD Original | World Travelers (Dungeon 1)

Neutrino-like Foe | ニュートリノ的な敵 

"Merry, what is that..?"

Somewhat dark-sounding this song isn't it? 
I made this song with the image of The Sealing Club duo in mind.
They discover something sinister.. I guess?

I actually have not much to say on how this song theme other than it made as a CD song (lol).
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Guten Tag! How is it going?
Hope everyone is doing all right always

Today I present another song fresh from the FL oven. This time I experimented a bit with some Trillian arps and drums.
Also tried some excessive pitchbending with the synth strings (maybe a bit inaudible? but it is there I swear!)

Was a bit uninspired before this, so I went on a excessive Touhou-Style music listening spree. Searching here and there for Touhou music by many composers and man it is really incredible how many can capture that ZUN essence so so so well. I really hope I can deliver like them.....

Anyways, this song is partially inspired by songs that heavily utilize Trillian arps such as those by Aka Kyuketsuki (@aka-kyuketsuki) or Armand (@nekonaku). 
Also, a bit of inspiration from  令和時代好奇心 〜 Otherworldly Paradox ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBOF5P0SgIbtOsQF3qsVyKP_c8JJrx3BO )

And many more. Do check them and many others out!

I have looked back on my progress thus far and I'm kinda proud that I could could this much, honestly. Still on my goal of 2 or + songs per month.
I hope I don't burn out sometime soon, I really want to expand my composing skills

Thank you so much for listening! Hope we can meet again!

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Name : Neutrino-like Foe ( Tentative Title )
Composer : Tempura-Ocha
Tempo : 168
Key Sigs. : Bmin, C min, C# min, Dmin, D#min, Fmin (Also sections with no harmonic function )
Time Taken : 18 hours (ie. 3 long sittings )

- Instrumentation -

Steinberg The Grand 3 - Model D Closed (Rock Me Baby! )
Steinberg The Grand 3 - Bosendorfer 290 Closed ( Scenes From Childhood) 

Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Follow Me
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Pristine Bell
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Broken Wings
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Crystal Lake
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Reso Bell

Steinberg Halion Sonic 3 - Full Concert Strings

Steinberg Virtual Guitarist - Melancholy : Dream 2 
Steinberg Virtual Electric Guitar - Ultra 1

Steinberg Padshop 2 - Carillion

Steinberg Groove Agent 5 - Evolving Flavours
Steinberg Groove Agent 5 - Triumph

Spectrasonics Trillian - Electric Train Doubleshots
Spectrasonics Trillian - Herd of Ducks
Spectrasonics Trillian - Marking Time
Spectrasonics Trillian - Random Events In The Light
Spectrasonics Trillian - Na Na Land 1
Spectrasonics Trillian - Clean Fender 

reFX Nexus - Textures : Noise White

Vir2 Electri6ity - Les Paul P-90 Amped
Vir2 Electri6ity - Rickenbacker Amped


Roland XV-5080 - Chime Bells
Roland SRX World  - Romantic Tp* ( Custom Preset )
Roland SRX Orchestra  - StChrMm/Ahs ( Reduced Release and Attack )

Edirol Hyper Canvas - Synth Strings 3

Juicy SF - SD-90 Soundfont : Reed Romance

Mixing VST: FL Plugins, OTT (Compression), Valhalla Room (Master Reverb)
Mastering VST: Izotope Ozone 9

Touhou-Style Original | Neutrino-like Foe

Shenanigans Of The Fantasia Duo ~ À La Terrasse D'un Café

"Renko, this is not a good idea!"
"It'll be fine!"

A song for Dr. Latency and her physicist friend; These two explorers of the unknown know that they aren't the only ones with connections to the intangible and mysterious.

They were curious to find some of these individuals by initiating an albeit silly plan.
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Hello hello! Good to see you all again!
Hope everyone is doing all right always during these trying times

Today I want to present something very special, A collab! Not just any collab, but a collab with Armand(@nekonaku) one of my many inspirations. 
Check him out! (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC437117qw1WlTiQZNgCfZRQ)

This is one of my first collabs and you know what, I learned a lot and I'm genuinely glad I got to finish it with them. I was actually scared to even start when Armand offered for a collab. We did lots of cool stuff! Even a bossa nova part! 

We initially had no theme for this song but eventually molded into a pseudo-hiffu style song. This collab took around 2 weeks, alternating the .flp file back and fourth; We worked in sections mostly as in (using timestamps),

0-0:28         (Ocha)
0:29 - 1:13     (Armand)
1:14   -  2:10    (Ocha with embellishments from Armand's 0:29-0:38 section)
2:12  -  2:32  (Melody: Armand; Initial Chords: Ocha)
2:34 - 2:48 (Armand "Bossa Nova Style")
2:50- 3:06  (Melody: Ocha; Chords: Armand)
3:08 - End  (Armand's scrapped melody idea reused; Embellishments by Ocha)

Hope you enjoyed as much as I did, Thank you so much for listening!
Saluten!

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Name : Shenanigans Of The Fantasia Duo ~ À La Terrasse D'un Café

Composers : Armand le Raton (@nekonaku), Tempura-Ocha
Mixing/Mastering: Tempura-Ocha
Tempo : 174, 127 (Including minor slowdowns)
Time Taken : 6 or so exchanges (Probably around 25 hours)

Image by Armand

- Instrumentation -

Steinberg The Grand 3 - Model D Closed 
Steinberg The Grand 3 - Bosendorfer 290 Closed 
Steinberg The Grand 3 - Yamaha C7

Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Sync Elite
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Pristine Bell
Steinberg Retrologue 2 - Crystal Lake

Steinberg Halion Sonic 3 - Warm Orchestra Strings
Steinberg Halion Sonic 3 - Grand Accordion

Steinberg Virtual Guitarist Electric  : Wacko - 7. Backdoor 2
Steinberg Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition  : Modern - Kiss
Steinberg Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition  : Modern - Loose Rider


Steinberg Groove Agent 5 - Evolving Flavours
Steinberg Groove Agent 5 - Elementics

Spectrasonics Trillian - Clean Fender
Spectrasonics Trillian - Sprayin The Synth 2
Spectrasonics Trillian - Orbeat
Spectrasonics Trillian - Lucious 101 SID
Spectrasonics Trillian - SH-101 Harpsi Arpsi

Swam Tenor Sax

Real Guitar 5 - Steel Stereo
Real Guitar 5 - Nylon Fingered

Edirol Hyper Canvas - Pan Flute
Edirol Hyper Canvas - Heartbeat

Juicy SF - SD-90 Soundfont : Reed Romance

Mixing VST: FL Plugins, OTT (Compression)etc.
Mastering VST: Izotope Ozone 9

Touhou-Style Original/Collab | Shenanigans Of The Fantasia Duo ~ À La Terrasse D'un Café

Greetings! I'm Tempura or Ocha, still hasn't decided which handle to go with.

I'm trying my best to be a decent composer! Mostly dealing with Touhou-styled stuff currently but is interested in other genres (Orchestral, Future-Bass etc.).

Criticism is always appreciated!

Favorite Pokemon is Mew ( and definitely not because I have no idea for a profile pic)

Nice to meet you!

Tempura | Ocha

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