[Music] Forlorn Rhapsody

[Manibrandr System]

I did this for an original MIDI tournament back at VGMusic.com and lost at the first round. So I did some post-heat production to tewak the song and recorded it. There's one freak IRC beep in the recording though, but that was because I was stupid and forgot to turn off IRC before recording. ^^;

So yeah C & C plz.

[Link]

[Hammerit]

it just roxx ... the intro to the piece was a bit to slow for me, but after that it just rocked my soxx off >.>

[Manibrandr System]

Yep, it's supposed to start off slow before it kicks in.

[Hammerit]

If you ever wanna do something more ... futuristic feel free to tell me and I'll tell you a lil story and we'll see what you can make out of it XD.

[Muerte]

I'm not getting any sound on it ...

[Manibrandr System]

You need to enable flash, as it is played from a flash widget. Alternatively, you can download from here.

Hammerit : I'm already under a heavy workload, but I'll think about it.

[Muerte]

Thanks for the link there. Really nice as usual, you certainly are talented.

[Blade]

Gotta agree! It kicks ass!
Best midi/gamesoundtrack I've heard in a while.

I can imagine the song beeing played on E-guitar with heavy dirstortion

Oh, and the *ping* at 5:36 is scaring me! Thought something is wrong with my speakers!

[Manibrandr System]

That was a recording error on my part. Stupid me forgot to turn off IRC before recording. XD

[Zhetty]

Wow, that's MIDI? The sound quality is really great... Pure awesome.

I really love the whole rock-out style, that's delicately balanced with the urge to go on an adventure into the unknown. Your style kinda reminds me of Sakuraba's, specifically his work for Valkyrie Profile and Shining Force III.

The IRC beep wasn't that obtrusive... It sounded like it was in time with the rhythm. >_>;

[Manibrandr System]

Damn, I still remind people of Sakuraba's style? At least you mentioned Valkyrie Profile, I loved that game. ^_^

[Hammerit]

One of my alltime favs was the Eggbert Theme from "Der Langrisser"

[Manibrandr System]

My fav Langrisser tune is Ein Fahrender Ritter.

[snow_rock]

Now, I may not be a great judge, since I've had a null experience in making music. But I find this piece amazing so I'll try to critique on it. I have no idea why this didn't make it in the first round. These are my speculations on why.

the part in 0:30 to 0:54 was quite predictable. The style has been used quite a lot of times in some games that i don't know the title. but this is optional because songs don't have to be completely new.
the part in 1:03 to 1:29 seemed to drop in energy for some reason. Perhaps because you used the same delay effect for quite a long time from the start, making it drag a bit. But the part next to that had some kickass bass matched with the tensioned tone.
From 2:40-3:05, i found this part a bit dragging too. Even it this part did sound great, you used it four times, which i think is too much that it weakens the development of the tune.
in 3:34-3:44, there was a change in tune. I think it would be better if it had a different sound effect.
In 5:00-5:14, this was what i'm talking about. By using a different sound effect, you make a new path for the ear, and that's great. I think that's the only time when you left the delay and improvised.
In 3:47-4:00 and 4:14-4:26, i think these two parts served as the bridge. It really belonged in the song knowing that it's about to end.
In 5:42-6:36, you repeated the scores from those from the beginning. imo, you could edit those parts a little because in the bridge you used, the music is already preparing the listener for the ending of the song, but instead, in the end, there is a repetition of the "appetizers" which was used in the beginning. Thus, the ending became a little awkward. of course, i may be wrong.

I've listened to a lot of songs in the past, and they're my basis for judging this song. I think you have a great grasp on the timing of the instruments. The drums, keyboard and bass blended perfectly. Although you could've added more instruments as the music reached the climax. You were able to choose the effects well to suit the mood, but you have to broaden your knowledge on this. This means using variety for the whole song. It doesn't mean that you have to change effects every score, but using a single effect for the whole song may not be effective as using only the arrow tool of Maxim in Lufia 2. Anyway, you have already gone a long way in composing, so don't give up! You have great potential in this.

[Manibrandr System]

Oh man, thanks for the concise review! Even with the post competition editting, I had a nagging feeling that something is missing to it. I might edit this again with your suggestions.