[Winter Ballad] A Winter's Night Dream (it/ogg)

Saga Musix · December 31, 2009, 15:34:01

"A Winter's Night Dream" won the tracked music compo at the Ultimate Meeting 2009. It's a 41 channel IT file, started in september.

Download @ scene.org (.it party version)

Download at my website (IT/OGG)

PS: If anyone has an idea what genre this is, tell me.

KrazyKatz · December 31, 2009, 17:17:22

Way to go Jojo! It was great to see some old samples from way back when in action again for the win

apple-joe · January 01, 2010, 15:52:59

The arpeggiated triads serve as a nice fundament. The panning and NNA associated with the bell instrument contribute significantly to the satisfying sound I think. I'm also a little inspired by the rhythm, since I've explored very few variations of 6/8. Your beat is not eccentric by any measure, but there are the slight accentuations (particularly the bass drum) that spice up the sound.

While the lead is enjoyable for a while, I can't help but thinking about at least a few factors:
1) It is too repetitive, melodically and especially rhythmically
2) Maybe the song as a whole simply deserves a more interesting lead (at least after [X] patterns of a very similar thing)?
3) I'm not sure about the sound of the lead. Could it be improved by editing envelopes?

The use of the Zxx sounded good to me. When it ends, maybe it would have been suitable to introduce some kind of variation (a different bass/chord sequence)?

Also, what does it add to transpose the song towards the end? One alternative is to simply end it earlier, another is to add a part with more variation. That said, after 10 listens or more now, I'll concede that what goes on in channel 24-27 from pattern 38 and on constitutes at least a partly defense against my criticism.

To sum up, a pretty enjoyable song with several inspiring aspects, but also with some ostensibly redundant ones.

psishock · January 06, 2010, 12:29:48

Hey, thats da song from one of our 1h compos. =)
Its been nicely polished and the bpm is increased, as i can hear. The genre could be a "syntpop/ballad", because it has the synthpop formula and some ballad elements (imho).

This proves that 1h compos also can be a great source of the inspiration spark.

Saga Musix · January 06, 2010, 13:48:02

Thanks for all your comments.

The repetitiveness is mainly because this was an OHC tune, I guess...

psishock · January 06, 2010, 13:52:44

Nah, it was because you were lazy to add up more variation elements.

There are tons of ways, how can one fight repetitiveness, new variations to melody, new chords, you name it.
The more time you spend with a tune, more complex it will become.

Saga Musix · February 13, 2010, 00:29:05

Ok, I was lazy.. but now the "final" .it and .ogg are up.

apple-joe · February 13, 2010, 01:39:28

I just listened without listening to the previous version first. I don't remember the details of the other compared to the details of the new one, but this time it was more entertaining.

I might be hallucinating, but it seemed that: 1) the lead was a revised a bit, and 2) there were added nice pads with panning and filter effect. I don't think I reacted to this in the previous version. Either way, sounded good.

Sam_Zen · February 13, 2010, 02:16:41

No wonder it won. A quality piece !
The arrangement has influences of game music imo.

Saga Musix · February 13, 2010, 11:35:00

apple-joe, in fact I haven't changed anything but the channel order since the compo version. Maybe you listened to some preview before that, because I haven't added those pads after the compo.

Anyway, thanks for listening!

apple-joe · February 13, 2010, 15:43:20

No, I don't think I listened to a preview version, so I was hallucinating after all. I guess I focused most on harmonic structure and rhythm the first time I listened, since I didn't particularly appreciate the pads, as opposed to now.

Harbinger · February 20, 2010, 19:00:51

Notes as i'm listening:

Classical beginning, odd time signature at 3/4, and very old-skool timbres. The entrance of the arpeggios at 1:20 add a much-needed texture, but the concept gets stuck for nearly a minute. The key change at about 2:30 adds some character, but i don't know if it couldn't have brought in better. Good but not great IMHO.

AlisterFlint · February 21, 2010, 01:52:30

wether we like the genre or not, wether we like the timbres or not, no matter the flaws or the technique, there is emotion in ths piece, and that's what music is made of..

uncloned · February 21, 2010, 04:40:37

Jojo,

I got a real kick seeing how you made the pattern direction jump and go backwards!! I've not seen that done before.

Now, this is bizarre, the opening bell arpeggio, reminds me of Caroling of the Bells.. but the arpeggio is in the wrong direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gp5Vd44AJQ

or what we did as a SoOn release

http://forum.openmpt.org/index.php?topic=3531.0

I like this - it almost combines Caroling of the Bells with the opening of Moonlight sonata. - Bizarre associations. The modulation was a very nice touch as well.

Nothing sounds particularly old to me - though the chip / game music influence is evident in some leads.

Very cool to see the orderliness of your work too.

Saga Musix · February 21, 2010, 11:56:52

QuoteNow, this is bizarre, the opening bell arpeggio, reminds me of Caroling of the Bells.. but the arpeggio is in the wrong direction.

Well, this tune started at a one hour compo, I had this bell sample, played around a bit with it and it instantly reminded me of a tune from Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare '94 (christmas edition) - Which happens to be a Carol of the Bells cover AFAIK.

Quote
I got a real kick seeing how you made the pattern direction jump and go backwards!! I've not seen that done before.

Well, I'm certainly not the first one to do this, here are some more astonishing modules:
haggeman - the dancing oldschool girl
asle - ode to protracker
strobe - paralysical death (also with kick-ass pattern animations)
strobe - Mothership FTW (less pattern jumps, but one of the best tracker animations ever made!)