[piano/chill/electronic] Signal Chain - For a Wonder (.mp3)

[psishock]

some messing with the qwerty on last day of the past year, added some fm technology and polished it a few days after. This is what it sounds like now, i may patch it up in future here and there, but the overall idea is done.
Expect peaceful and melodic sounding, nothing too aggressive:

Signal Chain - For a Wonder
http://psi.lp1.nl/music/Signal_Chain_-_For_a_wonder.mp3

[Saga Musix]

I sense some default piano patch + delay settings here. But anyway, nice calm tune. I'm not sure if the distorted patch at the end fits too well, though.

[uncloned]

Hi Psi, it is a nice tune, but didn't really appeal until the percussion and all kicked in.

I think the problem for me was that the echo on the piano was too much (or not at the right tempo) in the beginning. For my part - starting dry(er) and increasing the echo with time until you reach the proper mix when the percussion comes in would work better for me - but this is just my opinion and all that.

[psishock]

Oh, that is not a bad idea uncloned, i may add that up to the start. Also i thought mayb i could introduce some additional fx, that would make the start a bit more interesting. The echo was bpm synced, but with dotted timing, not the "usual" normal.

Jojo: erm...yep , the ending was rushed again a bit, i may brain about it a lil more, its still listenable tho. =)

I sense some default piano patch + delay settings here

well i've experimented with lot of variations before, but i've came up with this setting, and it works for me the best =). You can say that it became "default" for me. To be honest, there arent many variations to the piano sound texture itself (you can eq it however), the reverb/delay settings can be various, but as i said, this worked for me.

[TheEagle]

Well, the distorted guitar(?) and percs are not really my cup of coffee, but nevertheless an enjoyable piece.
And I don't think that there is timing problem with the echo. I may be wrong, but I think that the third low-octave note (around 4.5 sec.) doesn't fit the rhythm (too early). This gives the impression of the "wrong-timing-echo"....

[psishock]

the distorted guitar(?)

well, its an automated soft synth-line, routed to overdrive>tubeamp> and a bitcrusher, set to 7bits. It may give a guitar impression.

I may be wrong, but I think that the third low-octave note (around 4.5 sec.) doesn't fit the rhythm (too early). This gives the impression of the "wrong-timing-echo"....

The low octaves are giving you the chord/tempo (further on, they are on the exact same spots), the high ones are playing with melody, but i think i can spot the general trouble from these few comments:
The listener cant pick up the songs tempo from the variable piano sounds, and have the trouble clinging to something on the start, these stuff could make him a bit lost.
I'm thinking that i could bring some lighter percussion, right on the start, just to give some aid to the proper tempo.

[KrazyKatz]

For crying out a loud! Why don't you get a record deal or something???

Here you have a composer in a genre flooded with the same old, and he makes something completely fresh, stylish and evoking.

Go Pro man.

Contact me.

Y.

[Saga Musix]

yes, ffs earn some money and come to breakpoint!

[uncloned]

For crying out a loud! Why don't you get a record deal or something???

Here you have a composer in a genre flooded with the same old, and he makes something completely fresh, stylish and evoking.

Go Pro man.

Contact me.

Y.

I thought he *was* pro....

[psishock]

Unfortunately nope Uncloned, i wast able to level myself to professional yet. It's still one on my primary goal tho', that i'm pushing forward every day.

I was turned down by the publishers (or simply ignored in some cases) about a year and a half, so i've used the time to learn a tons of (essential) technical stuff and to research song structures that are unusual, fresh but working for electronic music lovers, also for everyday ears. Also produced a fairly big amount of working material over time, that should (imho) surely impress the potential publishers. If nothing else, it should give a good overall picture about my style and variability skills for them.

My timing idea came near to end anyway, i wanted to finish one more uplifting song, then i will have more or less everything bigger ready, that i've planned (mayb even an album can turn out from it). So i wanted to approach people in business once more, somewhere early 2010, with more "weapons" and composing experience on my back.

[apple-joe]

Nice stuff. Excellent use of the i - III - VII movement, if I understood it correctly. That, as well as the expressive lead/solo towards the end caught my attention on first listen. The second listen reminded me of the potential associated with not misunderestimating the effect produced by including the lower and higher register, as opposed to limiting oneself to some middle octave. The wide approach certainly worked well here.

Very impressive overall sound.

When did you start using Modplug (or equivalents)? Do you have e.g. .MOD, .IT files too from your earlier work?

EDIT: (Jojo, concerning your distortion remark): To the contrary, but maybe more erratic playing could have fit well considering how the song developed?

[psishock]

When did you start using Modplug (or equivalents)? Do you have e.g. .MOD, .IT files too from your earlier work?

In a really tight nutshell:
Well, to be honest i've started serious composing about two years ago, when i found VST technology and soft synths. The possibilities opened a whole new level of freedom, than i had experienced with the "old" sample based system. Before that, i was an Impulse Tracker (dos/win98 era), later on Schism Tracker user (with win xp) for several years, but all i did was "playing" and experimenting with the software and some sounds. I couldn't call that composing because i had zero experience with one of the most important element for finished songs: structure arrangement. While i had several interesting ideas, most of my pieces was about 1-2 minutes long, i couldn't go with them anywhere.
So, after some time, i've decided to learn all the essential technical stuff that an electronic musician should know, and wanted to compose finished pieces, with my own synthesized sounds. Within a few months i managed to learn what i needed to know, learned a lot about synthesizers, found a tracker that has a very appealing, easy, familiar interface, and have vst support (OpenMPT). Everything went fine, i've managed to finish my first vsti based piece "Royal", and i was very pleased with it. This was kind off a turning point, with this, stuffs finally started to work as a whole, and i was starting to use my past experience and gainer rapidly more and more. For only a few months with OMPT, i needed to pass to Renoise, the only tracker at the moment with enough modern feature list that i personally demanded for comfortable composing, without handicaps or workarounds (multicore support, automatic vsti suspending, easy automation, built in LFO-s, great vst routing/effect system, but i could go on with the list...). From that time i almost always used Renoise for composing, and did finished several pieces from various genres. I think i will stay with it for some longer time. Now i have only hardware barriers sometimes, but haven't really experienced any serious software limits that could interfere with the creative process.

The Modplug community was/is a huge help, i will never forget that fact. They aided me with technical help, reviews and comments that were very important for my development. They could show me their experience, expectations while listening, and supported me with advices. So for return, i am helping them or the newcomers with any technical or other advices, commenting their work if i have any particular to say, and posting my songs for them to listen and enjoy.

oh my :shock:, this was a bit longer reply than i've expected , but you needed all this to understand if i say:
Yes, i have old .IT files, but they wont help you much, and they suck.
Also if you would see the pattern list from the new .xrns files, you wont get much, because the key stuffs are on the synthesizers and on the vst routing, automation, or lfo part. The notes are plain and standing as they are, you will never find any trick or technology there.

But, if you have any particular question about "how was something done", "how can you archive that", feel free to ask, i will gladly help.

[psishock]

Ok, worked on it a bit here and there. The (kinda depressive) intro should be a sufficient build up for the piano solo part... i hope.
(download link on the first post changed to the new file)

[uncloned]

This is definitely improved!!

Perhaps it might work to move the timeline up on the solo piano (bring in the other stuff a bit sooner) or... move a little more distant in harmony in the solo piano and bring it back home to meet the rush of the new instruments. (sort of a piano build to the 3:30 rush)

I especially like the parts after 4:00 where the piano speeds up

[KrazyKatz]

Dude, contrary to what other people have to say. You just wrecked your song.

You originally made a piece that makes sense in itself, and then you redesigned to cater for a public without any sense of patience. You took something uplifting and fresh and made it closer to mainstream. I think it did need some alteration, but you redefined it into something it was not meant to be.

Your current intro nullifies the impact of the current 03:20 style change, since the listener is already adjusted to the loud stuff from the beginnings.

Instead of crescending into a peak over a period, we start with a big sound, which goes back down, then goes up again. This is far more the POP approach where the crowd needs to hear some loud chorus ASAP to keep their attention. But this piece was not made to be that.

It's your call, but I can't hold back when I see this.

On a productive note, I'd say try this:

Chop off the part from 00:00 till +/-01:00 (the intro).

Now, instead start with just those percussion-like sounds in stereo without the piano. Slowly fading them in, with a filter if you like. When they reach optimum level, bring in your piano fading in.

Very simple to do, and it will work.

And before I'm burninated by all, please note that I'm looking out for the song.