GSC Music Covers (with code)

Mmmmmm · 2016-07-08 04:32:00

Thank you for the suggestions. I ended up using SharpKeys because I'm using a laptop, so a permanent change like this wouldn't come back to bite me like it would if I was using a desktop and changed keyboards.

I did a couple tracks that appear in early Hoenn; I might do more in the future, I've been looking at the Emerald Gold demo out of curiosity and the music in it just kills me, so I'd like to eventually make higher quality versions of everything that appears in it.

Route 101:
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit
http://pastebin.com/VstjfaGf

Oldale Town:
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit
http://pastebin.com/H6jEVuUs

For now though, if there are any specific requests people have for songs to port I'd consider doing them. I don't think I'm going to do the Mewtwo/Mew battle theme, it's just too similar to the vanilla battle theme, I feel like it's not worth the effort when the XY Kanto Legendary theme is publically available. I apologize if that's disappointing.

YORAMRW · 2016-07-09 13:23:26

I don't know if FroggestSpirit is already working on these songs, but I'd really suggest you doing the Old Chateau/Turnback Cave, the Distortion World, the Giratina battle, and the Lake Trio battle music. These are just pure Sinnoh awesomeness

(Sorry if I sound pushful with all those request) ;P

Last edited by YORAMRW (2016-07-09 13:25:35)

Mmmmmm · 2016-07-10 07:03:25

I do like your enthusiasm, it's good to give multiple suggestions in case I don't like one of them, but I've been avoiding Sinnoh music just because Frogg is going to get to everything eventually, even if he isn't currently working on it (I've heard snippets of songs he hasn't released like the Sinnoh Underground theme play on his Youtube channel occasionally so it seems like he's stockpiling things to release in a package later). If I can do songs from other regions while he continues to work on Sinnoh's OST, we'll end up with twice as many songs ported compared to multiple versions of the same songs, which isn't necessarily bad since two people can take two different approaches to a cover, but having more songs seems better overall.

Though, I don't think Old Chateau or the Distortion World theme would work out very well, to be honest, they're both very minimalist songs, and I don't think that style of composition works in 8-bit at all. The Giratina battle theme has some spots I also don't think would work in 8-bit but the song as a whole could still be good despite it at least.

I know someone requested Eterna City as well when I first made the thread, and I feel bad for turning down so many requests, good or bad, just for being Sinnoh, but hopefully you understand the thought process I have for avoiding it. Frogg is more talented than I am so I know he'll eventually make covers for those songs that probably won't disappoint.

Rangi · 2016-07-10 11:24:59

I have a few requests from Unova:

Reversal Mountain (both White 2 and Black 2)
Battle! Champion Iris (B2/W2) (maybe too complex to accurately reproduce, but something with the same melody and exciting atmosphere)
Route 12 (B/W)

It's fine if you don't want to do the Mewtwo/Mew battle theme, the XY one is good and you're right that the FRLG Kanto battle themes sound very similar. Thanks again for the Abandoned Ship music.

(I do have plans for how to use all of these, it's not just because I like the music—although Route 12 and Iris' theme are fun to listen to.)

Last edited by Rangi (2016-07-10 11:28:09)

YORAMRW · 2016-07-12 16:40:38

Since you decided to avoid Sinnoh devamps, I have two other requests instead: the Lentimas Town and the Reversal Mountain exterior songs (both perfectly joining with your last devamp, the White2 Reversal Mountain interior song, coincidentally ;)

Last edited by YORAMRW (2016-07-12 16:42:50)

Mmmmmm · 2016-07-16 06:04:16

Reversal Mountain White is done. I'm not going to do Black, partially because I think it's a bit too ambient to work in 8-bit, and also because doing an entire second version of this song would trigger PTSD, this song was a nightmare to port due to how freeform the trumpets are and how things don't sync up right. The Iris champion theme will probably feel like a break compared to this.

http://pastebin.com/mUzX8S44
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit

All those other suggestions seem good, I'll attempt them all, though I can see Road to Reversal Mountain being just as much of a nightmare (don't let that discourage you though, it's good to challenge oneself).

EDIT: Shit, I wish I finished this a couple hours sooner. I just checked, and the first cover I ever did was on July 15th, and over here on the east coast it just squeaked past to the 16th before I uploaded. I guess from the view of the west coast it's still exactly one year since I started doing these, so anyone over there can celebrate at least.

Last edited by Mmmmmm (2016-07-16 06:18:05)

Rangi · 2016-07-16 13:19:56

Awesome! Thank you very much. And congratulations on a year of composing music. (I would put a birthday cake emoji here, but Skeetendo's forum software cut it off. :P)

I totally understand not doing Reversal Mountain all over again. I'm impressed by how close you got to the original. Sorry for yet another request, but can you do Shoal Cave / Mt. Pyre from R/S/E instead?

(I plan to use one for the Seafoam Islands and one for Cinnabar Volcano, but either track kind of works with either location. Which pairing do you think is better? Edit: After putting it in the game, I like Reversal Mountain for the volcano. Thanks again!)

Last edited by Rangi (2016-07-16 23:01:33)

Mmmmmm · 2016-07-25 03:22:06

I'm very sorry for the wait, this song was huge. The .asm file is almost 2000 lines long, and that's after I tried optimizing things with a ton of branches and loops (though I'm sure I could've done better at it than I did).

Vs. Champion Iris:
http://pastebin.com/1TeQ2sMe
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit

Route 12 should take a lot less time, though I might take a break for a couple days before doing anything.

YORAMRW · 2016-07-25 03:28:50

I may sound repetitive, but your devamps keep amazing me!

Rangi · 2016-07-28 22:00:31

Wow, your Iris remix is incredible. The "beepy" electropop style works perfectly within GSC's limitations, and you've nailed its feeling of excitement and tension. It's going to add a lot of value to Polished Crystal. Thank you so much!

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-01 00:45:16

I'm very glad you like it! I finished your third request.

Unova Route 12:
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit
http://pastebin.com/JK83UjgF

I'm going to do Shoal Cave before YORAMRW's requests, hopefully YORAMRW won't be disappointed but I just have it on higher priority since it's being made directly for a hack.

Rangi · 2016-08-01 19:47:02

Thank you again, Mmmmmm! The Route 12 music didn't make it into the 1.1.1 update, but Iris' battle theme did.

YORAMRW · 2016-08-02 22:15:10

Mmmmmm wrote:

Hopefully YORAMRW won't be disappointed

No worries, I'm not disappointed at all. It's all up to, and it would be very selfish of me trying to influence your company anyways.
PS: Route 12 turned out very good as well. I've never had much with the Route 12 theme, but when I listened to your devamp, my first thought was litterally: "This. Exactly this."

Last edited by YORAMRW (2016-08-02 23:20:28)

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-05 04:57:24

So I never post WIPs in this thread normally since I always delete them from Soundcloud after finishing the song (and I'll do so with this one as well), but I need Rangi's opinion on this specifically.

I cannot get Shoal Cave to match my personal standards. The percussion on Shoal Cave is really dynamic volume-wise, and fades out from each "main" note, but unless I wanted to try to code percussion specific for this song (and I'd never do that) the percussion is static in its volume here. In addition, the song just feels emptier than the GBA original since two of the GBA channels were used for really soft, ambient notes that varied wildly in pitch, and the song feels less ominous without them but at the same time they aren't "important" the way the three sound channels I did focus on are.

If I were just making the song for myself I'd probably scrap it, but you requested it and I know my standards are just exceptionally high, so I thought I'd ask for your thoughts on it since it's for your hack. If you find this WIP to be satisfactory I'll finish it, but if not then I could try to do another song for you, though I'd finish YORAMRW's two requests first.

https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … l-cave-wip

It's just the first 40% of the song.

Rangi · 2016-08-05 05:20:58

I hear what you mean about the Shoal Cave devamp. The lack of fade-out for the background notes is alright, but the ~1-per-second drumbeats kind of stand out above the melody. Would it be possible to make them uniformly quieter? I don't mind a lack of ominous atmosphere, it's for the Seafoam Islands—I just need something appropriate for a difficult icy cave (with an Articuno at the bottom).

If that's not feasible, I'll look for a different track that would work. Go ahead and do YORAMRW's requests in the meantime, I really appreciate that you're making these.

Last edited by Rangi (2016-08-05 05:23:33)

ShantyTown · 2016-08-05 14:29:32

I don't think the issue is that the percussion is too loud. I think it's that you're using the same snare note over and over. In the original song, beats 1 & 3 are stronger than beats 2 & 4, which gives a much different feel to the song than only a flat snare drum. Try changing beats 2 & 4 to use a softer percussion instrument. In the faster section, it's using 4 percussion hits that fade out, which should be easy to mimic using different percussion instruments.

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-06 22:19:35

I did the percussion change and it did help. I'm still pretty unsatisfied with this song, but if Rangi gives it a pass I suppose it's good enough, I'll just have to do better for myself next time.

Shoal Cave/Mt. Pyre Interior:
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit
http://pastebin.com/3iAgGV4u

Rangi · 2016-08-06 23:12:31

I like it! Thanks a lot! It's eerie enough that I changed my mind and am using it for Cinnabar Volcano, with the Reversal Mountain theme for the Seafoam Islands.

Once you do YORAMRW's request for the Reversal Mountain exterior I may have a use for that too.

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-11 02:42:01

Alright, finally finished this backlog.

Lentimas Town:
http://pastebin.com/Tr0U1KLK
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit

Road To Reversal Mountain:
http://pastebin.com/27rkdjmk
https://soundcloud.com/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … -gbc-8-bit

Kerssy · 2016-08-13 17:20:46

Mmmmmm, how do you do these covers so quickly and efficiently? I would like to know how to do these because I have so many ideas.

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-13 19:55:47

Kerssy wrote:

Mmmmmm, how do you do these covers so quickly and efficiently? I would like to know how to do these because I have so many ideas.

Ha! I appreciate the compliment, but I'm really not quick with these covers, I just have a lot of free time to spend on them so it seems that way. A cover with a MIDI probably takes me 6 cumulative hours at a minimum to do, longer if it's a particularly complex song like Reversal Mountain or Vs. Champion Iris and longer still if it's a song that doesn't have a MIDI (though I haven't done much of those just because nobody likes XY's music).

I open up a text file in Notepad++, open up a MIDI to look at, determine what parts of the song I think are most integral to the song and what to cut out, and then I write it all out in the text file, compiling it into a ROM with a music player every few bars to test how it sounds. It's tedious but it helps me reflect on the song and whether I like my progress, and what I should change if I don't like something. If I don't like something and can't pin exactly what it is, I'll make a WIP and ask some place like the IRC or another forum about it.

I do think I could improve my speed, which is why I'm trying to find a working mirror for Frogg's MIDI-to-pokecrysal tool, since university is starting soon and I'm going to lose all this free time.

Rangi · 2016-08-13 23:56:44

Pum's link in the MIDI2GSC thread still works. The .asm files it generates depend on pkms.asm, but you can just include that file in pokecrystal and it should work.

Last edited by Rangi (2016-08-14 00:02:35)

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-14 00:43:28

I have MIDI2GSC, but MIDI2GSC isn't what I want or need unfortunately. It's a completely different format than pokecrystal's normal format and it's much harder on the eyes to decipher. If I were just running a MIDI file through the converter and plugging it in the song it would do its job, but frankly I don't think that sounds good at all. If I find a copy of MIDI-to-pokecrystal I'm still going to fully edit and customize the song like I normally would; I mainly want it so I can take sequences and quickly port them to pokecrystal's format without writing out each note individually, since that probably takes up around half of my time working on a song. Thank you for bringing that up anyway, though.

Rangi · 2016-08-14 01:00:50

By "completely different format" you mean something like this?

NewSong_Channel1:
        pkmsSetTempo    0, $80
        pkmsSetVolume    $E0
        pkmsSetDuty    2
        pkmsSetNtr    $C, 7, 8
Channel1_Bar1:
        db oct3
        db (ntC | 0)
        db (ntRst | 0)
        db (ntC | 0)
        db (ntC# | 0)

That's what I meant about depending on pkms. You can take the raw MIDI2GSC output and convert it to pokecrystal format with ~10 minutes of find-and-replace; "db (ntA# | 0)" becomes "note A#, 1", "db oct0" becomes "oct1", "pkmsSetDuty 2" becomes "dutycycle 2", and so on.

I wasn't aware that a more up-to-date pokecrystal version ever existed. FroggestSpirit's blog doesn't have a link, but it was last updated in January; maybe you can contact him?

Last edited by Rangi (2016-08-14 03:40:34)

Mmmmmm · 2016-08-14 02:33:25

The pokecrystal version is here, a separate thread from his MIDI2GSC thread.

I probably could try to manually find+replace everything, but it feels like too much of a hassle, like just as much effort as just writing it from scratch.

Skeetendo

#26 2016-07-08 04:32:00

Re: GSC Music Covers (with code)

#27 2016-07-09 13:23:26

Re: GSC Music Covers (with code)

#28 2016-07-10 07:03:25

Re: GSC Music Covers (with code)

#29 2016-07-10 11:24:59

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Re: GSC Music Covers (with code)

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Re: GSC Music Covers (with code)

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