Coaster's One-Dimensional Music Thread

[Coaster]

Because I find I'm composing more music than I initially thought.

Anything I make other than straight-up art will probably end up here. Let's start by moving over the three tunes from my other thread.

SPOILER: Click to show

"To the Duskwell"

is the link to the first one. The premise is... still contained within my head, since I haven't gotten the backstory online yet, but basically, Izyl, Hoshea, and Ganelo (and possibly Aialin, Spyq, and/or Felei; I haven't decided yet) are starting out Treasure Keeping as an occupation, when Hoshea receives a tip from a human (but of course, you can never trust a human) about a certain artifact hidden in the ruin-strewn plains southeast of the Haunted Woods (note: this is supposed to have happened years and years ago). He drafts the others, and they're happy to come along. This would be sort of their "travel montage" song, and precedes the actually getting there, meeting their guide, and Hoshea betraying Izyl.

Technically, this is only the partial version. I think I would either loop it or append something to the end so it ends less abruptly.

SPOILER: Click to show

"Dayspring"

I'd say the tune is creepy enough to fuel childhood nightmares.

Loange, when about that age, is concerned about her older brother's growing independence, so she takes it upon herself to find the aforementioned group's secret hideout before they start to make a career. She shows up in the middle of the night at their treehouse on the other end of town--far enough away to warrant getting in trouble, but not so much as to be dangerous--where she finds Ganelo outside on the deck playing an instrument while the others are fast asleep.

He scolds her mildly, then (in a less sarcastic tone and with more ambiguity) elaborates that he remembers Mother teaching him the song, and if it's important enough to be passed down, it's got to have some sort of dormant power. Predictably, he plays it again while she sits and listens.

SPOILER: Click to show

"Fragment Three"
(and bonus re-orchestrated version)
For a while, I couldn't find a soundfont that sounded good. Then I realized that acoustic bass (in the strings selection of instruments, not with the guitars -_-) sounds tremendously better. Essentially, this is Coaster's theme song. I had fooled around with a bit of an extended part that included snippets of existing spy themes, but it was cut for obvious reasons (i.e. now it's ALL MINE and plagiarism-free, muahaha).

EDIT: Re-uploaded with more hidden gems, like a better drum set, an orchestral pad, guitar harmonics, pop bass, and left-right pan. Still no longer. Gotta get on that.

And now for the three I just uploaded:

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"Thoroughfare"

Took a while to get this one sounding good (again, because of the acoustic bass sound hiding on me), so I decided to add some percussion as well. Turns out, that helps it fit with the story, too.

Ganelo and pals have decided to try out busking. It escalates quickly, but, of course, having one particularly obvious choice of Altador's heroes show up and start playing along can do that. Almost simultaneously, Aialin happens to show up as well. Somehow, this all leads to the band meeting the gypsies, who tell them about Treasure Keeping.

And the random kid who joins in with his bass has way too much fun.

SPOILER: Click to show

"Winter Starlight"

I don't recall hearing a song like this before, but I had the melody stuck in my head for a couple work days during the summer, so I hope that I thought of it by accident and it's not already been taken. If it is, please let me know and point me to the original. In either case, it's at least an original arrangement (cough).

So named because it always conjured up images of GCN Animal Crossing during January at nighttime, or that one scene in Tales of Symphonia where you're in a certain snowbound inn way too late night and, by a coincidence that pushes the boundaries of logic, talking to your whole party one at a time in sequence (I should really buy that game so I can play it again), or Happy Valley at the same hour with pets milling about before bed. No clue where it would fit in the story, but hey, it's Happy Valley.

SPOILER: Click to show

"Until The Dawn"

Yeah, it's basically a more epic version of parts of Dayspring, but I figured I had to do something in this style after a certain few songs (in the same key, cough) threatened to smite me with their epicness. This would probably be playing when Izyl's tries to run away from a particularly dire campaign alongside the Meridell Knights.

Aaaand it's been re-uploaded with an extension so that it includes the heartwarming part right afterwards, when, y'know, he gets saved. Too bad Hoshea doesn't have as much luck.

EDIT: Changed everything to SoundCloud because then I don't need to change the links when I re-upload. Also, turned off the downloading because I'm paranoid.

[Coaster]

And here's another one.

SPOILER: Click to show

"Traitor's Haven"

This turned out a bit differently than I anticipated. The drums were probably the biggest problem preventing me from getting this up sooner.

It would play in any of a variety of contexts, but most likely when Hoshea gets blackmailed by the Thieves' Guild, or when they enter that one set of ruins the artifact was in for The Faeries' Ruin plot. There really isn't a lot else to say about this one.

[PFA]

Your music is cool! They sound kind of video-game-y. :3

[Breakingchains]

Coaster, I didn't know you composed These are awesome. I'm especially fond of Until the Dawn, sounds kinda retro-Final-Fantasy-ish.

[Coaster]

Jan 21, 2013 0:24:45 GMT -5 PFA said:

Your music is cool! They sound kind of video-game-y. :3

Jan 23, 2013 21:34:26 GMT -5 Breakingchains said:

Coaster, I didn't know you composed These are awesome. I'm especially fond of Until the Dawn, sounds kinda retro-Final-Fantasy-ish.

Thank you both. I actually started in... December. When I should have been studying for exams. ._., But then again, it does provide for a lot of spare time.

And here's another one.

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"Wraith Antimatter"

Warning: contains trace elements of yucky dubstep. At least it fits the character of--and is appropriate battle music for facing the likes of--Twisted Sparrow, who is pretty much just that.

As with most of the music I do, you may hear some heavy influence from Pokemon battle music and/or Mystery Dungeon tracks, but in this case, there's even a bit of classic Sonic. (Oooooh. Ahhh.)

Fitting it into the "story", you might hear such a retro synthy track when Wraiths first enter Neopia 200 years ago in the time bubble we first called Meridell. Or when fighting a particularly nasty one 200 years later. Or when Karnaim escapes from one of several containment units, because the styles overlap so much.

Re-uploaded with better drums and some overdrive guitar.

These tracks also play on some of my pets' lookups, and they're supposed to sort of match with the character.

[Coaster]

Early in the morning at least an hour after I should have gone to bed in order to get eight hours of sleep. As always. (Or at least almost always.)

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"Evremoor"

YES I FINALLY FOUND PIZZICATO STRINGS by sorta cheating but whatever they weren't in the instrument list and they're so awesome

Obvious inspiration from several Legend of Zelda tunes. cough Skyward Sword Faron Woods cough

You've discovered Meridell, you've seen Brightvale, you may have heard of Bogshot and Cogham, but this isolated village quite a ways to the south happens to get very few visitors for such a thriving community. Full of welcoming people, uncanny coincidences, and adventures waiting to be started, this is the closest thing you can get to a rural Portal City without a dictatorship.

And yes, this is where most of the story starts to take on its primary direction. And yes, it is a bit of a lame pun which will actually be used for drama at some point.

The violin seems to come in late very frequently, so I may have to change the instrumentation a bit and re-upload it...

[Coaster]

Aha, this one wasn't done too late at night... just during the time when I should have been studying. *cough*

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"The Descent"

Inspired partially by choice tracks in Pokémon Colosseum and Kingdom Hearts II. A bit of a work in progress--really short, at best--but I think it's pretty good for a celebratory track after having found out that I can customize the sound type that plays in each instrument, thus accessing the whole set of General MIDI instead of just a couple dozen standard instruments. As you can probably guess, most of the electronic-style ones were hidden.

Suitable for that moment when the whole world immediate area is falling apart and Wraiths are really first loosed upon Neopia. Alternatively, and probably closer, is when a certain well-known green scientist takes the slow plunge into insanity and the requisite megalomania. Not a lot else to say about it, though it would also be a bit more Karnaim's style of music (overlapping with the Wraith Antimatter track), so I'm thinking it'll go on his page.

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Training Grounds (Halberds Don't Work That Way)"

Re-uploaded because I accidentally put up the wrong wav.

One of the most repetitive songs I've made, but also one of my favorites so far. I attempted to include some signal-ish sound effects that follow the story, too!

Evret, nobility by some chopping up of the family tree, who happens to be Izyl's stuck-up and slightly disturbing squiremate in Meridell, claims he can speed up Izyl's required training... if he can demonstrate proficiency with a particular weapon. Their progress is reflected in the song.

After some Legend-of-Zelda-sword-training-esque explanation about how to hold and swing a halberd (and none about why he needs to use a halberd to begin with), Izyl starts swinging at the dummy. Evret interrupts belligerently and starts prattling on about timed hits. Izyl, a bit frustrated, tries again and does slightly better.

Thusly it transitions into a day-by-day montage with obnoxious singing in the background about how they'll never be able to get this done because he sucks so much, and how hal-berds-don't work-that-way.

Eventually, Evret gives up on the dummy and challenges Izyl to a one-on-one battle. Their halberds end up locking together, so they end up in a tug-of-war for a few beats, until Evret shifts his stance, comes right up to Izyl's face, and presses his concealed sabre against Izyl's chest, then explains why Izyl's been given a halberd.

Izyl's diary of this event quickly degenerates into a string of expletives and insults.

A couple of songs (including Fragment Three and Wraith Antimatter) have also been re-uploaded with slightly improved instrumentation (mostly on the former).

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Gleaming Cavern" (working title)

I'd like to not give out too many spoilers for this one. I'll say I drew some inspiration from one of the LotRO themes, from the Pokémon 2000 song, and from pretty much every underwater theme that has been ever put in a video game. But this time, there's a twist: it's not water. (It's too mystical for that.)

After a series of events in which it appears Greater Meridell, if not the world, is about to fall to darkness, more than one expedition goes out to find something that ends up being this place.

Through many circumstances (and you may be able to deduce this from some parts of the song), everyone except for Ganelo gets taken to the time bubble version of Meridell, which isn't destroyed (yet).

No, I do not buy the explanation of "Meridell would have been destroyed by the Kass war if it weren't for all the present-day Neopians coming back in time to help them out". I make my own fanon.

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Final Flight"

Thought I'd try something a bit different after hearing so many piano arrangements of Mystery Dungeon soundtracks. (And yes, I do spend too much time composing as opposed to art which I really should get back to sometime)

Yet another climaxy moment that happens just a bit before that of the previous post. Short version, everyone's disappeared and we think we might know where. Commence an archive binge to pinpoint the location, and then, well... fly over there, finally. Again, it's a bit short and repetitive, so I may re-upload it if I get around to extending it.

[Coaster]

I know I said I'd take a bit of a break from games and composing until I did a bit more 3D stuff. I complied for about two days. Now I'm back to it.

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"First Venture"

Exactly what it says on the spoiler tag. It just sort of... happened... but I guess that's what you should expect when you plunge headfirst into the Treasure Keeping escapades of a band of random traveling gypsies on their way to the heart of the Werelupe Woods (read: Deserted Fairground and Neovia). Drums are too quiet (arrrrgh, as always for this soundfont), but I think it turned out pretty well. Story-wise, this would follow pretty closely after Thoroughfare.

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Phantom of the Soap Opera"

Honestly, I'm unsure who to apply this to, but it'd probably be the stereotypical villain song where they unveil their whole plan and you just stand there. (And interrupt them right near the end). Depending on who decides to hold the villain ball, it could either go in the written story, or very very much later on in the comics.

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Seeker's Folly"

Yes, it's the same style I do for everything. Yes, it prominently features the middle section of Dayspring. But there are story reasons, so don't sue me! ._.

Hundreds of years ago, the Haunted Woods as we know them were the thriving heart of Portal City--if the map in the Treasure Keepers game is correct, and the Money Tree happens to be the same between both, that would be the logical explanation. According to headcanon and story fodder, the Resistance finally overthrew Jasper and Sallix, but only by the support (and treason) of Abisma, the royal necromancer, as well as his procurer Nernil and the foolish adventurer and shopkeeper (you, if you played that game) that helped him uncover the secret to... something big and nasty that, though it helped the Resistance to topple the government, unfortunately wrecked all of Portal City's providence and started the Haunted Woods on track to the cursed decay we see it with today. Pretty similar to what happens to Meridell a few hundred years later with a little help from wraiths, cough cough.

As far as the story goes, the modern-day Treasure Keepers (i.e. the protagonists and gypsy caravan) are passing through, when Izyl and the bunch hear the story and are persuaded to investigate. Unfortunately, the crew of The Hungry Jetsam (a pirate shipwreck, sunken and undead even in the first game) from whom Abisma acquired his secret has been buried for just as long. However, there have been rumors that the city's Drainworks, from which Abisma's ancient scroll was first acquired, are still accessible--if you dig in the right spot, of course. Sure enough, they somehow get there and recover some of the same secrets.

And it all fits, because the Haunted Woods has a very poorly defined history, and in Treasure Keepers, you only got the one quest from the guy, and since it was at max level, it was one of the last ones you could do. And then the game asploded.

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Fragment Two"

Yes, the more recent past has a story too.

Fragment Three is when Coaster's doing the stereotypical spy slow-descent-from-air-duct-over-lasers and accidentally sets off the alarms (forgot to grab the screw before it fell). Fragment Two is Loange having to deal with that, as well as an oddly higher-than-normal concentration of guards, which thankfully get distracted by said alarm. Oh, and probably also because of that hubbub on the Space Station that's happening right about now in the first few comics of The Return of Dr. Sloth. Full story will come around Fragment One (or maybe Fragment Zero).

But it goes so badly that they end up retiring. Ouch.

[Coaster]

SPOILER: Click to show

"Marching on Midnight"

Start with the premise that Meridell has an extremely corrupt knighthood, as exemplified by Sir Stuffs-His-Face (play TDF) and that one White Kougra (watch CoM comics). Thankfully, it marks an opportunity to make a scene change with a maximum of epic military music, inspired (as usual) by some PMD, LoZ, and this time, a little LotRO. (Actually, I've had this tune running through my head since exam season started, and again, I have no clue whether it's been taken already as such, so please let me know.)

So you're a corrupt knight boss, and you've heard of this cool magical thing that'll make the kingdom rich. Those raiders up on the hill are pretty annoying... They'll make a good stop on the pillaging route crusade. What do you mean, these squires aren't finished training yet? They'll make pretty good shields if we stick them on the front lines. It's a pretty dire situation, it could get gruesome, and there's a reason we're giving them red uniforms, but there's still some hope there. After all, who knows what a piece of cannon fodder can do when someone places a skewer at his chest?

...and then some random gang of brigands comes by and ambushes them, and that really wasn't part of the plan. Izyl's self-righteous trainer and co-squire stays and fights like a man. Izyl gets his stuff and starts running. Hoshea follows. Cue that other song back there.