[Music/VA] Zuru's Log

[Ryuunotaki]

I finally found this old post of mine. It's been a long time since I last entered here, and the compositions that were here were made loong ago. So I decided to wipe this slate clean; this page will be a log of all my creations from the latter half 2014 onwards. This includes the following:

Audio:
1. Arranges (of Touhou tracks)
2. Reinstrumentations (of Touhou tracks)
3. Original Compositions
-3a. Practice Tracks
-3b. OC Themes

Text
1. Works of Fanfiction relevant to Touhou
2. Articles relevant to Touhou

Images
1. Drawings of Touhou CC's
2. Drawings of Touhou-FFn OC's
3. Drawings of Touhou Locales


[Music]

2014 DEC 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNWuNNtk4WE
Zu - Experimental Track 01 - Pagamunimuni a Hardin a Kagetsuki [Original]] [Practice/Experimental]
This track is an experiment on several ideas I thought up recently. The track is messy, but it's a resounding success. This is the first composition of mine to use subtlety in the accompaniment, to use modulation, and orchestral percussion. It is quite rough, I admit, but it's much more refined than my earlier compositions.

2015 JAN 18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n7uK_yI3UM
Zu - Experimental Track 02 - SYN_B_01 [Original] [Practice/Experimental]
Yet another experimental track. After the mess that was my previous composition, I decided to turn to synths and boy did I love them! This one sounds pleasant, I'll say!

2015 JAN 25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2fk3VcrvoI
Zu - Experimental Track 03 - AYAKA SASUKE [Original] [Practice/Experimental] [Incomplete]
This one is an experimental track, incomplete as well. A friend of mine has this character called 糸 佐助, and after a short chat on IRC, I decided to try to make a theme for him. I have made several attempts on this, and this one is just another failed attempt. This one stands out though, since it is the only one that is more than eighteen bars of melody with bass. I decided not to complete this because it ended up being too 'whoa!' and dark.

2015 JAN 25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMUxAL5-d9Q
Zu - Pseudo-Arrange 1 - Chiptune Alien [Arrange] [Experimental] [ZUN - HEIAN ALIEN]
A victim of my forays into FM, I took a MIDI of Heian Alien I have and modified it somewhat to obtain this eerie, FM feel. I like it.

2015 FEB 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtoJEl-aOSA
Zu - Experimental Track 04 - Test in 1-15 [Original] [Experimental]
I felt a bit constrained and bored by the usual 4/4 and 3/4 timestamps I always used. So, I experimented--- this one here was composed in 1/15 time, and I think, is my first composition to use shifting BPM's. It reminds me of Hello Kitty

2015 FEB 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYSqmjFgWzg
Zu - Experimental Track 04 - Test in 1-15 [Original] [Experimental]
Another test track. This one was made to be just a simple synth test, but I got carried away and turned it into a song. ^_^"

2015 MAR 10
http://youtu.be/tUWPZ2igoZ4
Zu - End of Daylight Half-Arrange [Arrange] [Reinstrumentation] [Touhou] [PC98]
It's been a full month since my last work. Let me celebrate that with my return to Soundfonts. (Not that I will abandon synths). I call this a half-arrange since it's more than a reinstrumentation but not quite an arrange.

[Words]
[Nothing Here Yet]


[Pictures]
[Nothing Here Yet]

[Ryuunotaki]

Alright. I wiped and filled this post of mine since I didn't want to create a new topic when there was a completely okay (albiet deeply buried) topic of mine already in existence. But, editing alone will not make it appear on the front page like a normal first post, so this reply is here to bump this thread to the front. It will also serve to contain creations of mine that are not music, text, or pictures.

I hope this is not against the rules.

[Soundfonts]
Does anybody want a PC98 soundfont? I'm creating a soundfont for my own use, using audio snapshots either resampled from samples taken from PC98 tracks (I took some from the WAV collection from deviantart and others by myself with a recorder and an emulator) or simulated with a synthesizer. If there is enough demand, I will release the soundfont with credits to the original sampler and programs used in the creation of the soundfont.

At the moment, I have  four PC98 instruments on soundfont, two others in Sytrus (synthesizer), and other two in Harmor (synthesizer).

[Mods]
I have given up on my Touhoumon Mod the moment I heard what Gensou Ningyou Enbu is all about, but I do have a CIV5 mod. It will go nowhere until I figure out how to mod it properly.

Please do give your feedback as well! I'd like to hear your thoughts on my compositions, written works, etc, and oh, tips and discussion are welcome as well! This thread will be boring if it's only me here.

And say, can anybody give me some tips on how to make my compositions sound more ZUN-like? I have my own style, which you can hear when you listen to my practice tracks, but ZUN's style is what I ultimately want to emulate. I use FL Studio, by the way, and the soundfonts I use are 'Evanessence 2', 'THFont', and the generator plugins I use are Drummaxx, Sytrus, Harmless, Harmor, and Slayer2.  Can anybody give me tips on how to get the most out of FL Studio as well?

Thanks~

[Romantique Tp]

Soundfonts are terrible for recreating the sound of any synthesizer for a number of reasons, and the FM synth used in the PC98 games is no exception.

Get FMDRIVE. This is a FM synth VST that emulates the YM2612 chip used in the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, which is pretty much the same as the YM2608 used in PC98 sound boards in terms of sound. Just make sure to enable "HQ crystal" in FMDRIVE. You can use this tool to rip FM instruments from hoot while listening to ZUN's tracks.

Soundfonts sound sterile and robotic. This is fine if you're just using them for playing old games with MIDI music, but for making your own music it's better to mainly use VST instruments and only use soundfont sounds as a last resort or for background tracks.

[Ryuunotaki]

Thank you sir!

It looks wonderful! Strange, though. I read on the page that it's donationware, but I'm not seeing any download links. Oh well. There's always resampling.

I agree; soundfonts are quite bland (which is why I keep more than a few on hand). I prefer generators to soundfonts anytime, tbh.  I use them though, since my PC cannot support more than eight generators on par of Harmless or Sytrus at once. Maybe lesser generators like 5xOSC and SimSynth, but...

I suppose I should get a hardware upgrade when I become independent of my parents... and hopefully, capable of supporting myself.

[DX7.EP]

It looks wonderful! Strange, though. I read on the page that it's donationware, but I'm not seeing any download links. Oh well. There's always resampling.

I figure you'd have to donate to get the product link.

Anyways, here are my two cents on this idea....

If this were hardware-based, I would be a bit suspect of using a YM2612 to replace a YM2608, owing to simplifications in the former (missing AY-3-8910 and dedicated PCM and rhythm channels, simpler mixing, etc). But since we are considering software options....

Now, I have not tried FMDRIVE at all (I prefer using a YM2164 via the FB-01 module), but if it (or maybe something like VOPM) was combined with a PSG VSTi (such as chipsounds or SPSG set to AY-3-8910 / YM2149 mode), I still think it could present itself as an adequate option (and certainly better than any soundfont) for FM synthesis.

[Ryuunotaki]

I figure you'd have to donate to get the product link.

Yeah, I found the button when I took a look at it again after I disconnected. So--- 10 euros. That's around 600-700 pesos? I could have bought it if I had not lost my wallet. Well, I could always ask my aunt to buy it for me, but my face isn't thick enough for that. ^__^"

Everything I use is software-based. VSTis hosted in FL Studio. I have a synth keyboard with over one thousand instruments (Casio something), but it doesn't look like I can take advantage of its many instrument presets in FL Studio. A bit sad,yea.Hardware synths do not require as much memory as Software Synths, do they?

And ah... can anybody give me a few tips on how to make my compositions sound more like ZUN's?

[DX7.EP]

I suppose one could utilise the keyboard instruments using an instrument definition file (whether online or custom-made) and/or MIDI commands, but I don't know if one for your system is provided (and whether it would work in your DAW).

Hardware does not require quite as much processor power on the host due to the synthesis being offloaded to another device. I would not advise starting with hardware, however, due to the relatively high initial cost and learning curve when obtaining, installing, and utilising them. But that is up to you to decide

For analysing a composition style, pay attention to the structuring and chord/arpeggio progressions in use, and discern all the major parts - melodies, harmonies, basses, counter versions of all these, and so forth. It is tempting to try and replicate the patches in use first, but that is more along the lines of instrument programming and mixing.

[Mеа]

I did a relatively simple analysis of reach for the moon's crazy piano part, you may find it interesting.
You can find it here.
Welcome back!

[Ryuunotaki]

2015-2-10
http://youtu.be/iYSqmjFgWzg
I got carried away, I suppose. It was originally supposed to be just a simple test that I didn't even plan to upload. It ended up too well not to upload.
I suppose I will make an arrange (touhou) next? Hmm.... I wonder what I should arrange though.

For analysing a composition style, pay attention to the structuring and chord/arpeggio progressions in use, and discern all the major parts - melodies, harmonies, basses, counter versions of all these, and so forth. It is tempting to try and replicate the patches in use first, but that is more along the lines of instrument programming and mixing.
 

Oh! Thanks for the tip! I will do so. In a way, I have been doing this as have been relying on Fightest's analyses of touhou songs as a guide of sorts. Perhaps it is a good idea for me to make my on analyses and a MIDI from scratch?

I did a relatively simple analysis of reach for the moon's crazy piano part, you may find it interesting.
You can find it here.
Welcome back!

Thanks! I will definitely give it a read!

[Ryuunotaki]

Ah. It's been so long since my last post. Anyways, I did try to make a Touhou arrange, and being a PC98-music fan, I tried to make a PC98 arrange, but...
It's not really a true arrange. I'd call  it a half arrange since I didn't change too much of the structure and melody. I'd like to think I made no changes at all. At the same time, it's more than just a mere reinstrumentation. It's half arrange and half reinstrumentation.

EOD Half Arrange 2015-03-09 [Arrange] [Reinstrumentation] [Touhou] [PC98]
http://youtu.be/tUWPZ2igoZ4

What do you think? (Where do you think I need to improve?)

That 'sides, when I had two friends of mine listen to this half-arrange, they all said 'LCMS' or a variation thereof. EoD sounds like Marisa's theme, doesn't it?
Could this have been a consequence of the two songs being from the same game?

The half-arrange also shows my main weakness--- I know how to start, but I have biiig problems trying to add to that. Transitions are my weakness. So are endings.

@Mea
I have read through your analysis. It's good! I will read it again when I have downloaded the videos you linked (so that I know what to listen for when reading)
Do more! Maybe you can take on the role Fightest used to have. ^w^

[Ryuunotaki]

Yet another original composition. It seems as though all my attempts at making arranges are bust. I've tried to make a Shoujo Satori arrange several times but... nada.
I'm gonna try again one of these days, but not now.

Paghilak sa Amisan 2015-05-07 [Original] [Orchestral] [PC98]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGkFDXq5loU

I try to force myself to expand. I've been trying to make disco, pop, the works. For some reason, all my attempts end up turning into orchestrals. Can somebody help me?

[Mеа]

I try to force myself to expand. I've been trying to make disco, pop, the works. For some reason, all my attempts end up turning into orchestrals. Can somebody help me?

Not using orchestral instruments might be a good start

[Ryuunotaki]

Not using orchestral instruments might be a good start

I try, but I end up using them almost exclusively one way or another. I suppose I'll try harder--- synths? guitars? Eh... oh! Overdrives.