[Chip] Wisdom of Purity (.it)

[LPChip]

Oh yeah baby,

Another Chiptune in the right caliber. Remember Kinetic Energy? Most of you (if not all of you) Liked it very much.

This song is inspired by Kinetic Energy and the way I did things in there. The difference is that the entire song was setup as a melodic piece from the beginning to the end. There's where truly lies the power of this kind of chiptune.

Expect some heartbreaking/thrilling melodies.

Download here: http://files.lpchip.nl/lpchip/LPChip-WisdomOfPurity.zip
Filesize: 25 KB
Zipfile contains: 2 versions, one normal, and one looped.

Enjoy, and feedback is always welcome

[Sam_Zen]

Again nice work .. Strong melodies indeed. Maybe the drumming is a bit grey, but drums was not your focus, I guess.

[LPChip]

Every part in the song has its focus, but the melody was my goal

[cubaxd]

you should add a message for timbaland and the commercial music industry in general. something like HANDS OFF, MAKE YA OWN SH.., or similar  (just for prevention) :lol:

[Sam_Zen]

2 cubaxd
For quite a while I'm used to call that the "Musical Industrial Complex". 92 % of the music is under control of 5 global companies..
And after all, it's just an industry with their products. Like with 'new' shampoo with another smell.

[apple-joe]

A few days ago I wrote a brief, nice 'review' of this one, but I managed to delete the text, of course. Hence, I was annoyed and haven't re-written it, but I will soon, I think. Let me just say, until then, that I enjoyed the track.

[CrazyAznGamer]

Ok, I'm reviewing as I listen:

The melody is familiar sorta. It evokes a sense of nostalgia. Nice use of tension in the harmony in the starting melody.

I would describe the mood as a hopeful sounding oldie.

2:44: You play my heartstrings with that arpeggio. That's totally unfair , I love arpeggios, this makes me biased.

On a second thought, maybe an image of a tropical island is appropriate for this piece.

It comes to an abrupt end. I think I like it looped better.

Conclusion: overall, a nice and well-executed chip. I think it would belong in a game setting looped, but that's my personal opinion. Yes, the drums aren't exactly spectacular, but they were sufficient for this song, and my attention is mostly directed at the various melodic and harmonious elements of this song.

Peace out. ^_^

EDIT: Listened to Kinetic Energy. Add me to the list of people who like that track.

[apple-joe]

Okay, I think I will write a new paragraph or two about this one tonight.

In the meantime, CrazyAznGamer, could you write a bit more on what makes a song sound 'hopeful' to you? Also, any examples of songs which give you associations of abscence of hope? It's quite interesting.

It's quite related to a question I have asked several times, several places, but this question seems to be impossible to answer.

It's about why certain tonalities are associated with specific feelings (who's 'in charge' of this, etc - quite annoying when you start thinking about it).

[CrazyAznGamer]

Hopeful: in a nutshell, you can say it's the harmonic progression that makes it sound "hopeful" in some areas. Of course, as I typed the review, I was not concerned with the technical musicality aspects of the piece (nor am I particularly skilled in those areas). So bear with me.

Specifically, the "hopeful" mood comes from a simple harmonic transition from one note to another: A# -> B. The change from a minor chord in a predominantly major melody to a major chord encompasses what you and I may call a "hopeful" feeling.

Hopefully this makes sense, as I am not well versed with the technical terms in music theory.

[apple-joe]

Okay, writing again. Gonna try not to delete the words just after finishing this time. Very enjoyable melodies. Nice usage of the major scale, but mixed with some note from the minor. Quite refreshing. However, after the first few notes, I really wanted the song to continue in pure major, but as satisfying that would have been to the ear, I think I would have gotten tired of it easier that way. Hence, the mix with some notes from the minor notes makes it a little less instantly accessible - yet, it will probably take quite a bit longer to get tired of it.

It's a mysterious scale as I listen further to this. It's like the Mixolydian mode, but slightly altered. Maybe you used the Mixolydian as the base, as a starting point, and then developed from there.

The melodies really sound smooth, but I now suddenly remembered what my last paragraph was about the previous time I wrote, but lost the tesxt. I tried to look for some negative aspects. The first thing I thought about was the rhythm. I thought maybe you could include a change of rhythm, but at the very moment I wrote that, the rhythm actually changed a bit, so that critisizm of negative character obviously disappeared of itself.

Still, I do remember another point I had in mind, and that was that maybe  you could add some more variation towards the end? A part with some utter extremeties, just as an interlude or what ever you think, then return to the main theme, and close it. Just a thought, but watch out so it doesn't ruin the song.

Oh, and a last detail I noticed as I'm listening now; great arpeggio effect usage.

EDIT: CrazyAznGamer - Okay, I see. I'm tempted to move on with a few additional questions now (like what has made you [and lots of other people] associate such kind of tonalities with positive or hopeful feelings?), but I'm not going to. (Or did I just do it?)

[LPChip]

Thanks for the reviews guys.

I'm not using speciffic scales, but I use a technique to create multitonal melodies which requires me to sometimes use minor notes. Its not required to use minor notes, but if I don't then I don't get this effect.

Then again, I'm not using simple chords although you hear them... I make a section and use a more advanced chord, like a Amaj7 etc. This I don't use all the notes in this chord, but I base my melody around them, creating this weird minor note thingy.

[CrazyAznGamer]

(like what has made you [and lots of other people] associate such kind of tonalities with positive or hopeful feelings?), but I'm not going to. (Or did I just do it?)

Yes you did.

Anyways, I'm going to take a stab that a minor to major transition in a  sounds hopeful simply because of the connotations associated with the respective minor and major chord sounds.

Major sounds grand and "happy" probably largely due to the mathematical quality of it's notes. A minor is a major sound with one of the notes being flat, so perhaps that contributes to a strong "sad" connotation, being that one note is out of place.

Or something to that effect.

Now logically, in a transition from "sad" to "happy" moods, an obvious contender would be "hopeful". Because, after all, hope yearns for something "better", which in this case, could be "happier".

Just some thoughts. Nothing really technical tied in, but that's not my forte. Think what you will.

[apple-joe]

Anyways, I'm going to take a stab that a minor to major transition in a  sounds hopeful simply because of the connotations associated with the respective minor and major chord sounds.

This is the core. The associations of the chords. But; who decided (because that must have happened (?)) - far, far back in time - which tonalities that go with which feelings. This is the very core of what I've been wondering for a year or so.

Major sounds grand and "happy" probably largely due to the mathematical quality of it's notes. A minor is a major sound with one of the notes being flat, so perhaps that contributes to a strong "sad" connotation, being that one note is out of place.

Well, the mathematics are mathematics anyway, but as mentioned, someone must have related certain tonalities to given feelings, regardless of the mathematics. For instance, someone must have started the tradition of using minor key, slower type music for settings like funerals. Well, who were they (responsible for the tradition) to dictate that this was correct regarding tonalities and current state of mind? Just an interesting question.

Now logically, in a transition from "sad" to "happy" moods, an obvious contender would be "hopeful". Because, after all, hope yearns for something "better", which in this case, could be "happier".

Yeah, same is valid here. Why was it associate with hope? It's quite strange really, when you think of it, that certain sounds is associated with specific human moods.

[Sam_Zen]

Major sounds grand and "happy" probably largely due to the mathematical quality of it's notes. A minor is a major sound with one of the notes being flat, so perhaps that contributes to a strong "sad" connotation, being that one note is out of place.

Nice point about the mathematical quality. In the end, these are laws of physics, where an octave has exact the double freq. of the base tone. So a note, on the scale in between, can have a number that 'fits' easily or less. A matter of the smallest common multiple.
So no note could be really 'out of place', it only takes a larger number of cycles before the common multiple is reached.
So the brain gets a bit 'uneasy' or 'tense' in the meantime.

The same is valid for polyrhythms by the way.

[LPChip]

I think we associate different tones like maj chords and min chords to several moods because of the fibration it gives to our brains.

a major chord is a very strong chord which is associated with good which is associated with happy.

a minor chord is that same major chord, but one key is different. It doesn't sound out of tone, but you clearly hear that its not a major. Your brain lables this as bad which creats a sad mood.

Atleast thats how I think it works. Our brain works in patterns and recognise certain harmonies.

Its true though that it also has the combination of: hearing a certain sound and associate it with an event: eg. you see a movie where someone dies, you hear the slow music with minors, and you associate slow minors with funeral etc...