Tag Archives: video games

Frosty Meadow

Posted by Piscis on

Fish Notes

 

How about another quick piece of video game music?

 
I usually write NES music with a tracker, which is more like programming an audio chip with a series of sound instructions than it is composing in a traditional sense.  This time, however, I wanted to try out Matt Montag’s NES VST, which is a plugin that allows one to recreate 8-bit Nintendo tunes with a standard notation sequencer.  The streamlined workflow meant I could throw something like this this together in about an hour.

As such, enjoy (or hate (or be utterly indifferent to)) a jaunty little level loop.

 

Bene scribete.

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Show ‘Em Your Claws

Posted by Piscis on

Fish Notes

 

Programming audio for the NES is fun, so when I came across an emulator for the S-SMP (the SNES sound processor), I had to take a stab at Super Nintendo music as well.

I’m not very good at action/battle music.  So, of course, I wrote an RPG battle theme.

 

 

Naturally, I went for something in the Final Fantasy vein.  I probably could have done some further sample-rate/bit-depth reduction to make it sound more like it was coming from a real SNES DSP (the percussion’s a bit too crisp in particular), but this seemed to be an acceptable balance that hopefully still captures its distinct feel.

 

Bene scribete.

Write More

Posted by Piscis on

Pen

 

…is what I need to be doing.  But then laziness and business (…and TV and video games) keep happening.  What’s up with that?

Well, I guess I did write two screenplays this week…

I mean – they were for fifteen-second shorts.  Let’s not get crazy, here.

Still.  I guess that’s better than nothing…!

 

Bene scribete.

Ion Tower

Posted by Piscis on

Fish Notes

 

Playing around with MixCraft Pro 7 – wanted to do something synthy, so I thought I’d throw together a video game-y stage loop with a “final dungeon” sort of feel, as I tend to enjoy such pieces (any well-composed game from the ’80s and ’90s had to have a good last level theme, right?).

 

 

I feel like something’s not quite right, or missing, from it, but a plethora of tweaks and additions I tried only made it sound worse.  I probably just need more practice with modern synth and techno.  As much as I enjoy it, my mindset’s still too ingrained with orchestral tendencies (or simple waveform generation, on the other end of things).

 

Bene scribete.

Mass Effect – Open Auditions

Posted by Piscis on

explorerswanted

 

Fellow Mass Effect / Sci-Fi / video game fans!  BioWare is holding auditions for a couple small rolls in their upcoming game, Mass Effect: Andromeda.  Feeling adventurous enough to try out?  Check out the details on their ‘blog.

If you need a little encouragement, you can watch me make a fool of myself and throw my own hat into the ring below.

 

 

Bene scribete.

A Long Way From Home

Posted by Piscis on

Fish Notes

 

Whew. This piece wasn’t easy to get right. Glad I stuck with it, though, since I like how it turned out.

Not sure what it’s for – just a synth and orchestral blend that wormed its way into my head and rattled around until I could put it together.

 

 

As is typical for wide-range pieces, SoundCloud’s compression crushed the audio, but feel free to download for higher quality.

 

Bene scribete.

Meaty Strangers

Posted by Piscis on

In lieu of having time to finish the article I meant to post this week, I shall instead very belatedly insist upon the reading of the ever-hilarious Me Dangerbolt‘s harrowing adventures with a psychotic neighborhood dog who thinks its life is a video game:

 

Crazy doggy

MEATY STRANGERS!

 

And don’t forget to check out the DLC!  (>^-‘)>

 

Bene scribete.