Archive for July, 2008
Friday, July 25th, 2008
10. 1up.com interview and Shinji Hashimoto’s “shocking” comment
From http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168827:
1UP: Last week, Final Fantasy Versus XIII director Tetsuya Nomura said that he’s hard at work adding new scenes to the FFVII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray release. Can you give us any update on that project?
SH: You can look forward to the upcoming invite-only fan event DKS3713 [taking place in Tokyo on August 2 and 3], where we’ll have a major announcement that will shock the fans in attendance.
A major FFVII announcement that will “shock the fans in attendance?” Unless they’re announcing “Dance Dance Revolution: Final Fantasy mix” or something equally lame, you can bet this will be good. After all, fans can only take so many spin-offs…
(more…)
Posted in Predictions | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
It’s taken quite some time, but I’ve finally managed to get all of the music from the old site (T.H.I.S. 1.0) onto this server. Glad to have that done!
As you can see, blog entries have been created for each song and they are also nicely categorized by style/genre in the “Categories” list to your right. I’m a little worried that the transition might have broken some links - I’ve tried my best to keep things accurate, but if you catch a song link that’s broken please let me know.
Beyond that, please enjoy the music! I’m getting eager to post some cool new piano pieces as well as some sheet music for my existing piano numbers. I’m also preparing a series of articles on some of my favorite Final Fantasy games, which oughta be controversial enough to draw in some new traffic and create some good discussion, hehe.
So stay tuned!
Posted in Site news | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 14 Oct 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Okay - I’ve finally had it. 
I have listened to so many mediocre arrangements of this song that it’s finally time to write a good one.
For those who don’t know (and how could you not?!), Aeris’s Theme comes from quite possibly the greatest game of all time: Final Fantasy VII. The theme is beautiful, and many artists have attempted to arrange it in a variety of styles. Most are terrible; a rare few turn out very nice. I hope that this intermediate-level arrangement fits the latter description… 
I hesitated to post this song since it is, as described, an impromptu performance. I didn’t edit this MIDI at all. What you hear is straight how it came outta my fingers, sloppy runs and all. But I feel like it’s important to post a good, original, live arrangement of this piece on the internet since most of the amateur versions out there sound like they came out of a Lv3 Alfred Book. Argh. This is certainly a more varied, lively performance than the ones I’ve heard so far. (And no, I haven’t heard the Piano Collections arrangement of this, unfortunately. I imagine it’s quite good!)
It is probably also worth mentioning that this was arranged by ear, without any source notation. The mp3 file is soundfont-generated and IS NOT from an actual piano. I apologize for that, but alas - no recording studio yet! Someday!! 
Comments/requests for additional FF arrangements are welcome.
Posted in Final Fantasy Remix, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Aug 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
After reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini, I was struck by the beauty of a teenager making the New York Times Bestseller list with his first book - and in such a magnificent, emphatic way. If that’s not living the “American Dream,” I don’t know what is.
Anyway, the book is quite good and I am very impressed by Chris’s accomplishment. So in honor of him and his first novel, I’ve written a piano tribute to my two favorite parts of the book: the world of Alagaesia and the protagonist Eragon. This piano piece begins and ends with an Alagaesian theme while the middle section is a tribute to Eragon. I hope it does both justice.
This was recorded off my old Roland HP-30006 keyboard and synthesized via the Personal Companion 5.1 soundfont. A live recording would fix a lot of the volume and velocity woes (keyboards emphasize certain notes funnily), but this will do until I can afford a Yamaha Disklavier…
Posted in Music, Tribute | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 14 Oct 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Planet Source Code is one of my favorite open source programming sites on the internet. I’ve been involved with PSC since the late 90’s, and still like to drop in every now-and-then. I was doing this just last week when I came across “Wild Waters” (follow the link above), a freeware 2d game written in VB by Trent Jackson. Trent was looking for music for the project, so I looked around and found this old (but good!) song sitting on my hard drive and offered it to Trent as a theme song for his project. It seems to fit!
Known as “It Begins.mid” back in TGP/TLA days, this song is a simple arcade-style theme song. I based it loosely off “Cold” by matchbox twenty and I’m still fond of it even though it hasn’t been online for several years. I don’t know why I never uploaded this before - it’s a decent theme!
Posted in Music, Theme, Ubuntu (Linux) | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 9 Dec 2006)
One of my favorite Christmas songs in epic video game style. Happy Holidays!
Posted in Christmas, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 23 Aug 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
As is becoming typical in my work, this song relies heavily on its mp3 mix for sound quality. MIDI instruments just don’t do it justice.
I wanted this piece to be a simple, catchy town theme - not the typical dull background piece associated with that style of VG music. I like the instrument mix and pace and am pretty darn happy with how it’s turned out so far. Perhaps in the future I’ll lengthen it, since this version is unfortunately short…
Posted in Music, VG Town | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 11 Aug 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Ah, it’s nice to have this remix done. While I enjoyed writing the original “Journey” midi, this song has been in desperate need of an mp3 mix for awhile.
There are several noticeable differences between this and the original; I’ve tried to rewrite some of the weaker sections without changing the song too much (it is, after all, a theme song hehe). Also, the change of the lead instrument to a Spanish trumpet turned out as good as I could have hoped for. Spanish trumpets are awesome!
Many thanks go out to Kroc for all he’s done to help me out these past few years. This song - as well as Leaving Millie and Retribution are my small way of saying thanks!
Posted in Character Theme, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 12 Aug 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
“Leaving Millie” is an interesting addition to the theme of Kroc’s life (my source material for this “Kroc’s Symphony” experiment; see also Retribution and The Journey). In spring 2005, Kroc shared with me a series of remarkable stories. One of the recurring characters in these stories was a girl named “Millie,” and she is the inspiration for this song.
My hope for this was to accomplish several things. I wanted a piece that sounded pretty and pleasant (not dark or dreary), but I didn’t want to go so far as “happy,” per se. I wanted it to be the kind of song you could contemplate to. I also wanted it to start simple, but progress into a more complex ending that stayed true to the simpleness of the melody. It’s designed to be a sort of musical conundrum. :) I’m rather fond of it.
Again, thanks go out to Kroc for all he’s done to help me out. This song, as well as The Journey and Retribution, are my small way of saying thanks.
By popular request, I have also included a “live piano” version of this piece. In this version the piano track was recorded as MIDI through my keyboard and recreated via soundfont - so it’s not entirely “live”, but the notes are an exact replica of me at my keyboard. In my opinion, this version has more grandeur than the all-electronic version, and although there are some dissonant notes at the end (oops!), I find this to be a nice improvement on an already excellent song.
Posted in Character Theme, Love, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 15 Aug 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Retribution is my favorite rock/battle theme to date. It’s a great mix of old and new RPG elements, and the whole feel and pace of it turned out better than I could have hoped for.
The mp3 version of this song is a must-download; while I like the MIDI version, it won’t sound nearly as good as the mp3. Soundfonts are a wonderful thing. :) Also, if you have reverb effects on your sound card you may want to ramp them up for this song.
Posted in Music, Rock, VG Battle | No Comments »
