[Trance] Gate (mptm, mp3)

[mg_2023]

My first trance music made in OpenMPT. (finished on March 4th)
This module uses Synth1 VST, you can download by searching online...
See comments section for very detailed information.

Download link: MPTM / MP3

Hope you like this tune!!

update: My name changed from SSPan to mg_2018, and this music's author is displayed as my former username, SSPan

[Saga Musix]

The composition is very nice, however there is a cardinal sin on the technical level: Never put a reverb on the bass drum. It will make the mix muddy. Or if you really think that the bass drum is too dry, use a reverb that lets you specify separate gains for for low and high frequencies. Low frequencies should not be reverberated at all, as that's the party that will make the mix muddy. A free plugin that can do this is Classic Reverb, although I personally mostly use Korg's MDE-X these days (it's a multi-effect processor and it's just 50$, when on sale it's typically just 20$). I'd also say that the kick is rather weak.
I have attached an example file that replaces the WavesReverb with Classic Reverb (to remove the low-frequency reverb also from the other drums, in particular the snare), and put in a stronger bass drum sample. Maybe these improvements can serve as inspiration for you.

[mg_2023]

Low frequencies should not be reverberated at all, as that's the party that will make the mix muddy. A free plugin that can do this is Classic Reverb, although I personally mostly use Korg's MDE-X these days (it's a multi-effect processor and it's just 50$, when on sale it's typically just 20$). I'd also say that the kick is rather weak.

Saying about putting reverbs on low frequency, I experienced sound saturation(clipping) when playing midi files including bass and sub-bass with soundfont. And now I know the reason why, thanks to you.
Also, I always thought that Arachno's electronic kick drum sounds somewhat weak, compared with other drum presets in same soundfont.
..as a result, I'm searching for rather strong bass drum sound

[Saga Musix]

You will typically not find good trance kicks in a general-purpose soundfont. If you want to be able to create good kicks from scratch, you could give the Kick 2 plugin a try. If you prefer some free samples, you will often find demo versions of commercial drum packs which only contain a fraction of the sounds but many of them are very usable. I like the kicks in this sample pack for example, and it's very cheap too.

Saying about putting reverbs on low frequency, I experienced sound saturation(clipping) when playing midi files including bass and sub-bass with soundfont. And now I know the reason why, thanks to you.

In general it's a bad idea to just put a global reverb on a song. I know people love to do this to MOD and MIDI files; I used to do something similar when I discovered the magic of VST plugins in MPT and as a result my tracks from that era sound terribly muddy (compared to terribly dry tracks from the time before that). Reverb should be applied in a nuanced way, only to the instruments that really need it, and different reverb settings (length / density / etc.) should be used depending on how much reverb each instrument (or instrument group) needs. Just applying the same big reverb to the whole song will make it sound like's played in a cave.