I am currently working on a "Mission Final" MIDI for this project, which Destroyer F already knows of - as I sent him some different versions which he told me to post here.

Please can I have some feedback. I shall post here when hyperlinks have new/updated material at the other end.

(edit)Major version is choosen as composition to be continued, all others are discontinued. Updates and work in progress will be posted soon as they are ready - I do have I life you know so it will not be an overnight change!

Thanks.

Major Version (Updated 13/7/06 10.03 pm GMT) EDIT: TEMPORARILY OFFLINE

Major Version Realistic (Updated 22/6/06, 10.27 GMT)

Minor and Diminished versions (Removed)

WARNING:Please DO NOT steal any of the works in this topic and pass them off as your own. Also, do not take someone else's work and work on it without that author's permission. All of these people worked very hard to create the music you will hear for this game. But please, feel free to download the files for your own enjoyment. Thank you.

Hmm... The percussion isn't all that great. Come on, we need some cool beats for this :P . Quarter notes of a woodblock and quiet synth drum and a soft timpani aren't going to do the job.

More notes would be nice, too. In the beginning it seems there are only two notes being held. It's just... plain there. Come on, you just beat the game! This should be exciting and blasting you away (without MIDI static) with tons of different chords for each instrument.

The instruments should be better, too. Charang, synth brass, and viola really make the MIDI sound too old, nasally, and low quality. It needs a lot of brass sound, and maybe a few strings and other instruments to add some variety. It could use more bass as well. Everyone loves bass.

And half a second past 1:06 there's a really clashy note.

Maybe parts of this can give you some ideas. (Ignore my "This transition is frustrating!1!1! *stab stab stab*" at the end. I never got around to finishing it. And don't listen to the percussion--it's not what I'd call that great either.)

Thanks for your comments, I will consider and implement them

I like all of e'm.

Good job!!

Just updated Major Version - working on percussion and large scale feel.

I thought this would be fixed as a combination of the previous comments, but apparently not. In the beginning section (and halfway point), it goes minor every other measure. I think this is one of the problems it's suffering from. Being minor every other measure makes it sound oddly like something you'd hear on a Gameboy for some reason. I can't quite say why >_>

Also, I'm not too fond of the brass section playing a fifth up from the timpani, but that could just be me. And there's still a lot of room for more blasting brass.

...
Good improvements so far, though.

I'm not sure what it is, but after the first little sixteenth note part it seems like your missing a note. I don't know if it's getting lost in the chord or if it's not there at all. This happens everytime the part is played. If I could explain it better I would. Other than that though, I like it.

first little sixteenth note part?

Got it, onto it, onto better intruments and most of the things Troid92 said.

Minor version 2 will go, Version 3 will stay. Major version will stay, but working on a more large scale sort of feel. Thanks for your link Troid92, I have some better ideas now!

To be honest, the Minor and Diminished version are in no way any sort of metroid music. They sound like they should be in a Zelda or Pokemon game. Too slow and LaaDeDaa de for my liking for a metroid game. The major version is almost spot on however, so good job :P

good job, they aren't powerful enough though :(

Scroll up, see new beta. It is unfinished so it is not final product.

it is very interesting, but the drums are REALLY bad, they sound almost like amazonian drums that constantly play with no regard to the actual song, they need to be recognized, but toned down ( i personally think you have the wrong drums), also, the rest sounds good! just fix the drums, and keep adding instrument layers! :D

Thanks. More instrument - brass + some strings are coming. Working on drums, never was good with percussion.

What program are you using to write the music. I made varsity band in our school as a freshman, so i know a thing or two (ALOT) about music. I have a program called finale notepad. It lets you write music and listen to it. Will that work??

Well I have The JAZZ MIDI Synthesizer and Anvil Studio and at home Sibelius, and I also use an up to date Sibelius at school. So that is what I use and if your program exports files as MIDI, Wav or even wma or mp3 you are in buisness!

As I know someone with Konatct Player I have converted the old major version of this MIDI into a wav and with an excellent sound set it sounds FAB. It will be uploaded soon. For best results use windows media player with DFX plugin, setting one.

One page 1 first post there is a new update in mp3 format.

High-quality MIDI synths aren't going to improve the MIDI much, you know ;) . MP2D will be using just plain MIDIs for the default, so just work on the MIDI itself.

I suggest using Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth when you work on the MIDI and adjust the volume, instruments, and such to that, because that is what most people have as default for MIDIs. And honestly the newest version doesn't sound like it was made for that.

The latest version however is a MIDI exported as a mp3 so everyone doesn't need the soundset.

Well, I meant you should tweak the MIDI to make it sound good in Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth. Then record it in a better-sounding synth if you want, though that still won't be used as the default for MP2D.

It's just, right now, the instruments don't sound well together--some are too quiet, others are a little overpowering here and there, etc. I'm just assuming that when you're making the MIDI, you're not using MSGSWTSW.

Thanks for your advice

you should start with simpler pieces and learn to become really good first?

Is that another crappy wannabee standard from Microsoft?

It sounds really similar to SNES sounds, so whether that's crappy or not is an opinion. I like old-school sounds. But otherwise yes. Generally there are some others that come with the computer, too, though, and it's been around forever, so they're not going to completely get rid of it like they did with DOS. :sweat: Well, okay, they could easily like they did with DOS, but some MIDIs sound really good in MSGSWTSW and crappy in higher-quality synths. Getting rid of it would be just as bad as getting rid of DOS, so I'm glad they still keep it.

Eh, I think I'm defending this too much. But the point still remains that most people are going to be using that one.

Minor MIDI update - unfinished product/WIP

...

Okay, no offense, but I think this is getting worse. Before you move on, you need to fix the missing notes all over the place. The main theme in the beginning has notes that are almost a nothingth of a second long, there are measures here and there where the chords in the background will suddenly go missing, leaving the song sounding empty and dead for a second, etc.

In the beginning, if you're going to have the trumpet be normal volume while everything else is at 1% normal volume, at least have the song start loud and fade out a little before the trumpet comes in. Otherwise people are going to wonder if their speakers just died or something. I suggest not going quiet at all, though. This should be a loud fanfare with a bunch of blasting chords (without MIDI static).

Also, a chord consists of three or more different notes. In the beginning, you only have 1 to 2 held notes playing at a time, on two different instruments, in 2 different octaves. "Chords" like that make the song sound completely empty. And no, making more instruments playing those same notes does nothing but add more MIDI static. Multiple instruments playing a variety of notes does make a difference, though.

And just so you know, that weird French Horn audio track doesn't work at all, so I don't know if I'm even getting the whole MIDI or not... If you did have something on that track, just know that you should stick with MIDI only. Make the MIDI itself sound good.

I'm also not too fond of the string ensemble you use, because in MSGSWTSW it has to fade in for each note, which is kind of ugly... Just listen to a bunch of explosion sounds backwards and you'll see what I mean. Use string ensemble 1.

This may sound a little harsh, but I really don't want to see this MIDI end up failing.

Right got your comments.

Yes, apart from the problems Troid mentioned this is pretty good.

I'll try and update it myself.

Edit: Wait, it's MP3? Why? All the sounds are MIDI... you didn't make an MP3, thinking it would be better, did you? :?

No, I just like good synths.

I have after a long break come up with a slightly better version (opinions differ!)

Newer Mission Final MIDI

All comments are welcome and any advice on which direction I should go in would be appreciated.

Thanks

Well, that syncopated timpani is really annoying and clashy, the chords are still way too minor, random notes all over the place are missing or way too short, there aren't enough different notes in the chords (just the same one or two repeated at different octaves, giving the song a kind of empty feeling), and it just sounds pretty ugly overall. Everything I said earlier still pretty much applies. <_>

I like the new percussion track, though.

The midi board might just really suck on my computer (haven't looked into it since I got it), but the trumpet near the beggining just bugs me...
And a few more things I noticed.... it seems to lack the slow-ish part that's always in the middle somewhere (the part that's... well... slow, and sounds a bit dark 'n everything.) and the way it just cuts off at the end bugs me. Not even so much that it fades out, but it just sounds wrong somehow... maybe try holding the last note longer? And being a drummer, I'd want to do something crazy with the drum part at the end.. but yeah. Just my opinions.