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PokéMew's Custom Music

PokéMew1

PokéMew1

Pokémon Fuchsia
    • 484
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    11
    Years
    For the past month or so, I've gotten into making custom game midis from scratch, primarily for Pokémon. Here are three which I've recently completed (though might need some tweaks and adjustments later on).
    These midis are made for hacking, which is why they end while the song is still playing since they are supposed to loop.

    This one is a city theme I made, and was one of those scenarios where you didn't really know how to end it so you just kept adding things.. oh well:

    (Modified Arachno Soundfont)

    This one is an evil team's base type theme, hence the title:

    (Modified Arachno Soundfont)

    This one is for an abandoned town that takes place in my game, which at one point was filled with life but was destroyed by a volcano somewhere down the line:

    (Windows Soundfont)

    If I decide to keep making things like this I'll add more
     
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    I think you achieved the intended vibes pretty well. The main thing I would say is that the velocities could use more variation (rhythm+magnitude) instead of being almost completely flat+quantized, so that the notes sound less robotic.

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    On "City Theme", the marimba is most noticeably robotic, though the composition is nice.

    "Evil Team Base", while a good idea, is pretty muddy. The low instrument notes have long releases, so they smear together and create a wash around 200 Hz, reducing the clarity of each note.

    "The Abandoned Town" has a good composition, and I like the intentional lofi character of the soundscape, but as in the other tracks, consider varying the velocity magnitudes to make the notes less robotic. You could also automate the volume on the strings to make them more dynamic.

    -----

    If you have about 4 hours free time, I think it would be a good idea if you checked out this livestream (part 1, part 2); it may help you learn how to build soundscapes and make free samples sound more expressive. I learn a lot from this guy, and maybe you can too. :)
     
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    timaeus222 said:
    I think you achieved the intended vibes pretty well. The main thing I would say is that the velocities could use more variation (rhythm+magnitude) instead of being almost completely flat+quantized, so that the notes sound less robotic.

    -----

    On "City Theme", the marimba is most noticeably robotic, though the composition is nice.

    "Evil Team Base", while a good idea, is pretty muddy. The low instrument notes have long releases, so they smear together and create a wash around 200 Hz, reducing the clarity of each note.

    "The Abandoned Town" has a good composition, and I like the intentional lofi character of the soundscape, but as in the other tracks, consider varying the velocity magnitudes to make the notes less robotic. You could also automate the volume on the strings to make them more dynamic.

    -----

    If you have about 4 hours free time, I think it would be a good idea if you checked out this livestream (part 1, part 2); it may help you learn how to build soundscapes and make free samples sound more expressive. I learn a lot from this guy, and maybe you can too. :)
    Click to expand...

    First of all, thanks for the feedback, this is what I've been looking for. :) I think some of the robotic sounds, as in the marimba, piano, etc. could be due to the fact that they're all midis, so each note uses the one same sound. I have also tried some of the things you suggested in the past, for example automating the volume of the strings, but it didn't sound right to me. Most stuff, though, I have not tried and I will do so when I am given the time. And if I'm ever given a free four hours with nothing to do, I'll be sure to head to those videos. Thanks again for your feedback!
     
    Just a note, but a MIDI can be adjusted; it's not set in stone. Before you finalize a MIDI, even if you've already saved it, you can always import it into a digital audio workstation (I assumed you used one to make these?) and change the velocities that way.

    Velocities are the vertical bars in this image:

    [PokeCommunity.com] PokéMew's Custom Music


    Then if the software that you are using to work with the MIDI supports [velocity->volume], then there should be a noticeable difference. :)

    If you meant "MIDI" as in, they were sourced from general MIDI sounds, then yeah, there aren't that many variations on the same note, which adds to the similarities of repeated notes. Having the notes vary in velocity (which varies their volume), then, helps make even the same note + sample sound a little different.
     
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    I think you've done a really good job capturing the vibes you were going for with thee tracks. I do agree that a little bit more variation would improve things though, especially in regards to the base theme. I feel like that one in particular could have benefited from a drop off into slightly lighter sounds in the middle.
     
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