This is an oddity which is the result of mucking around with various sounds tonight.

“Magic Awry” would probably do quite well as a unique ringtone.  It could perhaps also serve as the Red Alert alarm on an alien spacecraft.  Or, as originally envisioned, it could signal that a magical endeavor has gone wrong.

The sound source is the Junoesque preset from the Journeys sound library from Applied Acoustics Systems.  About a half-dozen effects were then applied in Reaper to achieve the particular sound of the ringtone/music/alarm.

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Early in my MIDI music exploration, I wanted to rescore “The Highest Step” using Garritan Personal Orchestra 4, but quickly discovered that due to having originally scored it entirely in General MIDI, many notes were out of range of GPO4 instrumentation.  I am now considering pursuing the rescoring again, but likely focusing largely, if not exclusively, on the SoundFonts from www.soundsforbeats.com.  In addition, the original version of “The Highest Step” was a direct exporting from PrintMusic without any mixing – I now have a rather good knowledge (I think!) of mixing and can certainly make any rescoring sound superior to the original version.

Since “The Highest Step” was effectively conceived with the 2010 Winter Olympics in mind, if I do pursue this rescoring/mixing project, my goal is to have it completed and released around the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Of the Vocaloid voices/characters, Hatsune Miku is my favorite by far, so this Google Chrome commercial really appeals to me:

Black Octopus Sound recently released Siren by Veela, a vocal pack featuring Veela, who I have been following for well more than a year.   The pack features 15 construction kits, loops, vocal FX, spoken phrases, and bonus material featuring Veela’s unique and charming voice.

In the time since the release of Siren by Veela, I have been working on “Digital Goddess,” which uses loops and tones from the pack.  This has been a rather fun and interesting project, and also presented me with some interesting challenges in terms of mixing.

In terms of instrumentation, “Digital Goddess” is rather simple overall, but still somewhat catchy as well.  In a way, it is reminiscent of 1980s music (especially the Sliceless Mix), although that was definitely not the original intent when I was composing.

As usual, this was composed in PrintMusic and mixed in Reaper.  As sometimes occurs, “Digital Goddess” also spawned a ringtone thanks to the (I believe) interesting piano line.  Between the instruments and drum kits from www.soundsforbeats.com and the voice of Veela, I believe that others will enjoy hearing “Digital Goddess” just as much as I have enjoyed creating it!

Digital Goddess

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Digital Goddess (Sliceless Mix)

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Digital Goddess Piano Ringtone

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Prime Loops has a weekly music-related blog, and this week’s post is on Audio Resolutions! for 2012.  There are several good tips for making better music in 2012, but the one which really jumps out most to me is #4: Keep It Simple. 

While Prime Loops’ offerings are really intended for those who create music entirely in a DAW, Keep It Simple is also quite useful for composing in any format/medium.  I personally compose entirely in PrintMusic, and I find that to some extent, it forces me to keep things relatively simple.  The 24-staff limitation of PrintMusic requires that if I have a really complex piece in mind, then I need to seriously consider how I am using each staff in order to get everything to fit properly!  Since PrintMusic is inherently driven by notation, it is much more difficult (although not at all impossible) to add a lot of fillers such as sweeps and risers and even just a few quick sound effects – again, the program itself practically forces me to keep things rather simple in the composing stage.  The limit of 8 MIDI banks (of 16 channels each) can also force me to keep things simple, especially if I am using a VST plug-in which only supports a single channel, such as AAS Player to drive Angelicals.

This does not mean that PrintMusic cannot produce complex music.  “Global Expectations (Extended Mix)” is a very good example of this:  I very nearly hit the 24-staff limit, and I absolutely had to use some rather creative notation in order to get the sonic output I desired prior to mixing.

The mixing stage is where things can become truly complex: multiple reverbs, insane amounts of automation, adding sound effects and stutters and risers, etc.  I find, however, that keeping things relatively simple in PrintMusic allows the introduction of complexity during the mixing stage to have more of a purpose.  A good example is my current project, “Digital Goddess:”  While the project sounded rather good in PrintMusic, it was only as I was beginning the mixing process that I realized that it needed a little extra oomph at one point, and I was able to add (directly in the DAW) a subtle riser thanks to a sustained note in Steamworx combined with an automated pitch shifter which comes with Reaper.  Adding this in the mixing stage gave the riser a true purpose, instead of the riser being superfluous fluff.

Even when keeping things relatively simple as today’s Prime Loops blog post suggests, a lot can still be musically done which can keep the listener’s attention, but if nothing else, the simplicity early in the process can better determine how to make things more complex without overloading the listener’s mind and ears.