As has become typical in my work, this song relies heavily on its mp3 mix for sound quality.  MIDI instruments just don’t do it justice (which is why I have refrained from posting the MIDI version of this song).

I wanted this piece to be a simple, catchy town theme – not the typically dull background piece associated with that style of VG music.  I like the instrument mix and pace and am pretty damn happy with how it’s turned out so far.  Perhaps in the future I’ll lengthen it, since this version is unfortunately short…

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 23 Aug 2006)

The mp3 arrangement of this piece makes all the difference.  The original MIDI sounds shallow and somewhat trite, and what should be beautiful melodies are somewhat slaughtered by weak MIDI instruments.  I used a mix of several excellent soundfonts to arrange this piece, and I really like the way it turned out.  Not bad for fake instruments, eh?

“Home” is short, simple, and peaceful.  I hope that listening to it brings back a comforting feeling – like coming home after too much time away…

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Apr 2005)

Mmm…hehe…a ha ha ha.  This song is so bizarre.  I’m not sure I even know how to explain it.

Truth be told, a large element of track 10 (the MIDI percussion track) was random mouse-clicking.  At the time I wrote this piece, I was totally frustrated by the way my percussion tracks had all started to sound the same.  So, I resolved to write a percussion track unlike anything else I’d ever done.  Several hundred mouse clicks later, the first rendition of “Lost Islands” was born.  I tweaked my favorite random-clicking percussion track, added several other percussion tracks (taiko, tom, wood block), picked sweep for the main instrument (I still don’t know what a “sweep” is), wrote a choir track and added whatever other mystery instruments I could find (like the shakuhachi).

I’m still amazed this piece turned out as coherent as it did.  The song has a sweet groove and the dissonant-ish choir adds rather than distracts.  The percussion blends well and the instrument mix really is one-of-a-kind.  I don’t know that I’ll ever find the patience to write a percussion track more complex than this one.

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Apr 2005)