I know it's a day late, but here it is!
An Orchestral Arrangement of the SK main theme. (enjoy)
I have been putting off uploading this since October. Making very small changes every week. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to upload it.
But I just had to for SK's birthday!
1. DAW:
I use FL Studio, but Logic Pro X is a pretty good program as well
2. VSTis:
Most of the stuff used is from Native Instruments' "SYMPHONY ESSENTIALS" or other NI products. However, some is freeware such as this free taiko lib and the percussions included in this free lib.
3. These are arrangements so I try hard to make it sound like the original, however, I do also make personal changes and sometimes even add extra instruments or parts. But most of the changes are just to make it work with the instruments I chose.
Hope this helps!
It's a nice thing to do. Thanks for sharing.
(If my response seems subdued, it's because I've never heard this music. I turned off the music within seconds of opening the game in April 2011. But people say that the music is good, and your initiative is admirable.)
An Orchestral Arrangement of the SK main theme. (enjoy)
That's fantastic! I like the subtle changes you made to a few parts of the song to give it a slightly different feel. I've sent this on to the rest of our crew to enjoy.
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If my response seems subdued, it's because I've never heard this music. I turned off the music within seconds of opening the game in April 2011. But people say that the music is good, and your initiative is admirable.
I personally tend to turn off music when I play games, but SK really does have an incredible soundtrack. I realize that I'm obviously biased, but you really should listen to some of the music. Harry Mack did an amazing job, it has a retro feel without losing quality. You can listen to it on Spotify if you like to play with other music playing.
I got the honor of hearing this song during its infancy, and I love how it turned out. :)
And I've got to agree - Spiral Knights has one of the better soundtracks I've heard. It's very thematic while being capable of both background noise and being a powerful motivator. The first time hearing parts of the soundtrack can be pretty powerful (ie, the whitespace/swarm music).
How could I have forgotten to praise and thank Harry Mack for his amazing work?
Without his music, Spiral Knights wouldn't be the game it is/was.
And thank you, everyone, for your replies.
It really feels nice to know your work is pleasing people! :D
Well, of course you should always remember the original composer that made that song if you're thinking of more remixes. Other than that, no problem.
I wanted to ask you this question, still. Do you know the maximum of channels FL studio can hold up to, presently? I've also read that not only is Logic Pro X compatible with numerous orchestral VSTi plugins, it also has a WHOOPING big limit of 255 audio channels! Such an amazing amount, I must say!
Still, just trying to know which DAW's audio max channel amounts.
Just one more question. The NI & maybe the Symphony Essentials(I'm guessing EastWest Studios' instruments, yes? They have the best orchestra collection sets!)VSTis, are they're all compatible with FL Studio as well as Logic Pro X?
If when you say "channels," you mean VSTi's, then you can have well over 255
If when you say "channels," you mean rows, then there is 199 (in some DAW's, there is a row for every individual VSTi). But to be honest, I have never used more than 10 and I don't think anyone has hit the limit without trying to.
Ok, about VSTi's, it's simpler than you think
Most VSTi's are made for Kontakt. Kontakt is a (partially) free sampler that is used as a plugin to load VSTi's into almost any DAW. If something supports Kontakt, it supports Logic Pro X and FL Studio.
The reason I say it is "partially free" is because it doesn't work with anything that doesn't have its own Kontakt license. The version of Kontakt that isn't free, works with all compatible VSTi's even if they don't have a license. Most VSTi packs that are over $99 have their own license and will work with the free version.
TL;DR: FL Studio and Logic Pro X both have enough channels and they both support the same VSTi's.
Both programs are very very nice ones. The only real difference is the workflow.
Oh... Yeah. I do. I guess even having duplicates to said instruments' channel rows counts toward the limit, too... does it? Do some DAWs allow duplicate channel rows to the same VSTis? Just making sure, 'cause I think some do... maybe.
You only used 10 for your orchestral arrangement? Eh. I kinda thought about maybe 35 or 40, or a bit above. It's nice, but I'm sure you'll be fine with using more than 10 rows next time.
Well, I guess some people like to do the complete orchestrations a lot hear from concerts, movies, & such, so they'll likely go for about a bit over 60 or so rows to capture said orchestral feeling. No doubt they'll try to reach the limit one day, but even that may get upped once more someday.
Just saying, it's possible.
Yeah. I kinda knew many VSTi packs have prices, but that's nice of you to clarify, though. They all are amazing, 'cause they all bring the numerous hearings of said orchestrations & etc. people always come to hear from movies, shows, & so on, & they all have these to do said orchestrations in the comfort of their own homes.
Oh, whoops.
I forgot to mention why I only used 10. Okay, so in FL Studio, you can have as many VSTi's inside of a row as you want.
In this project, I had most of the main instruments inside of the first row, the percussion in the second row, and the rest were just other random things (loops, automation etc.) Meaning most of the song was in just 2 rows.
On top of that, some of the more expensive VSTi's are actual entire ensembles rather than being single instruments.
So I actually did have more around 30-60 instruments.
Would you care to list out & specify the VSTis you currently have in your library? Just asking.
I'll explain the ensembles as well.
My Horn, Trombone, Trumpet, and Tuba are from SE. I used the Horn, the Trombone, and the Trumpet in the SK main theme. I like these brass samples very much and am surprised at how versatile they are. They are definitely the best part of SE.
My Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass are from SE. I used the Bass and the Violin in the SK main theme. These strings are also nice. But to be honest, they are not as good as the woodwinds and brass.
My Bassoon, Clarinet, Flute, Oboe, and Saxophone are from SE, but I didn't use any woodwinds in the SK main theme. I really like the flute. It's nice and agile and can take on some pretty fast notes.
All of these listed so far are ensembles, meaning they are groups of instrument all recorded at once.
For example, the trumpet is an ensemble. So lots of trumpets are recorded and put into a single VSTi.
So when I say "30-60," I am not counting the VSTi's, I am counting the number of instruments total. Even though there is still only 10 VSTi's.
Now, back to the list. Like I said before, there are a lot of free stuff I use as well.
I was amazed at how many free VSTi's are out there... they are just really hard to find.
In my previous comment, I mentioned a Taiko library and an orchestral library with some nice percussion in it. I recommend both.
There are a lot more, but unfortunately, I don't remember any of the other VSTi's I had or I don't remember where I downloaded/purchased them.
One nice thing about composing on the computer is that the higher quality your VSTi's are, the fewer instruments you need and the easier it is to make your song sound full.
So you start out having to try your best and learn ways to make your songs sound better because any mistakes will stand out.
But as you slowly get better, you get more expensive VSTi's and you already have the skill to use them. However, if you started out using these VSTi's, there could be things you may never learn. Even so, composers who are starting out get discouraged by the fact that everyone else's music sounds higher quality than theirs. Even I feel that way sometimes seeing what people can do with Spitfire's VSTi's
I can understand why these VSTis are some of the best. They all sound amazing, even when thrown together with other VSTis.
You know, I have heard of some other great VSTis, such as...
EastWest's Symphonic Choirs(including it's own Symphonic Choirs Expansion and the amazing WordBuilder built in)
EastWest's Hollywood Solo Instruments, including the Hollywood Solo Harp, Hollywood Solo Cello, & Hollywood Solo Violin
EastWest's Quantum Leap Pianos
EastWest's Stormdrum I, II, & III
EastWest's Quantum Leap Silk
EastWest's Quantum Leap Gypsy
EastWest's Symphonic Orchestra
EastWest's Hollywood Strings
EastWest's Hollywood Brass
EastWest's Hollywood Orchestral Percussion
EastWest's Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds
Kontakt's Orchestral Collection, including the Choir Collection & Konzerthaus Organ
The Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra
Requiem Light Choir from SoundIron
You ought to look at them & include them into your library sometime, if you're interested, even one at a time.
You'd make such amazing orchestrations with them.
I personally tend to turn off music when I play games,
I turned off the music within seconds of opening the game in April 2011.
What the hell is wrong with you people?
Don't worry about that. People have different choices on hearing music or not. It's not your concern.
On a different note, NI had recently launched their newest additions to their libraries, Thrill and the newest Maschine expansion, London Grit. If anyone's interested to make tension music to their projects for specific moments (that is, long as they're kept family friendly), or check out and make some cool London early 2000 beats, they're right up your alley!
Man, do they always keep making more new instruments to their libraries.
OK... I have kinda noticed many VSTis require many gigs of RAM & a strong CPU processor to play. NI's VSTi's require 4GB of RAM or more, while EastWest's VSTi's require 8GB of RAM or more. That's a lot to take in to play them, but I presume people use methods to reduce RAM & CPU processor usage, & I'm sure the many more new VSTis they keep making have, well, more or less, the same requirements others have.
Here's where this question comes in...
Well-known DAWs, like FL Studio or Logic Pro X, have their RAM requirements for the VSTis to be played in, and I wonder, about RAM usage, both within the DAWs & playing the instruments in them, do they all use the RAM & CPU performance amounts temporarily for playing the instruments separately in the DAW, like how they're cached, or do they all just use up the RAM & CPU amounts at once?
Well, those are some noted examples that came with the question I had.
Yeah, I know it's all very technical, and I understand that many of you don't get all that, but I happen to quickly realize it upon examining their requirements' specs.
Well, anyway... if anyone knows a lot on this, please state the steps necessary for RAM & CPU processor usage reductions that result in smooth playback efficiencies & results. I'm trying to gather some info on this, since some of you know how these kinda things work in that manner.
A bit over a month passed, and no one's spoken in this post.
@Collinatorr, if you're still around, I'll ask you this question.
What VSTis do you plan to purchase to your library next? One of ProjectSAM's VSTis, like Symphonic Colours: Orchestrator, or Symphonic Colours: Animator?(I've looked at the price; it's quite affordable to those seeking to score some sitcoms or others, even with other VSTis for combinations. People really like it, ya know?) Maybe some from CineSamples, like, CineOrch, CineBells, or Hollywoodwinds? Choir VSTis? Those are some fine selections to consider.
The choices are yours to make, though, so I won't pressure you.
Come to think of it, have you bought some new VSTis yet? If not, that's OK. I'm sure you'd like to buy more one day, if you're interested... but, to solve a particular problem you may have about storing them one day, I think expansion drives(those that increase computer storage, if you don't know what that is yet) are the solution to have more storage space to VSTis.
Now, what compositions do you plan to do next? Original themes, or more orchestral remakes? No rush.
I don't know how I missed it, but here's a short answer. There are a few little tricks to reduce the load on your CPU and RAM, but one trick I use very often is to make, in a sense, checkpoints with your work by exporting some of the parts before you continue. For example, if I want to make a song with a flute, a trumpet, a cello, and some drums, then I would start working until my CPU and RAM start to have trouble keeping up. Then, I would take one or two of the most CPU and RAM taxing instruments (probably the trumpet and cello) and export them as an audio file. I would then import the audio file and mute the instruments that the audio file substitutes (trumpet and cello).
Anyway, onto the latest question.
I haven't made any VSTi purchases for a while, but I plan on buying Spitfire's ALBION ONE as soon as possible. ALBION ONE, similar to Symphonic Colours, is a very great all-rounder library that introduces you to the highest quality VSTi market.
Spitfire is probably the greatest quality (generally) possible with VSTi's, but CineSamples have also made some stuff that made it to my wishlist such as VOXOS and Piano in Blue. As far as prices go, I'd say ALBION ONE has about the same quality to price ratio as Symphonic Colours. However, I could be wrong.
You should tweet this to @HMAudio so Harry Mack can check it out. He tends to really like new arrangements of his work.
Those are some fine choices. In comparison, ALBION ONE is a bit more pricey than Symphonic Colours, but the quality matches or parallels to ALBION ONE's.
I'd also consider the Spitfire Percussion to your wishlist sometime. It's got good percussion instruments & the quality's amazing, like the many VSTis.
Whatever you pick to buy are your choices.
From what I've read, Logic Pro X can create songs that are longer than 6 hours at 96kHz, 13 at 44.1kHz, but I don't know how long FL Studio can make songs. I can presume FL Studio makes long songs, but I seriously doubt the length would be more than just 1 minute. Too constraining.
My question is this. How long can FL Studio make a song? I suppose you or anyone else that have FL Studio know, & what to do to make longer songs, Collinatorr.
The limit, from what I can see, is 9999 bars. At 4 steps per beat, 4 beats per bar, and 120 beats per minute, that's 333 minutes or 5.55 hours.
I should have said this before buuut... Logic Pro X is a Mac program and cannot run on Windows.
You probably know this considering the fact that you have obviously been doing lots of research.
So it's safe to assume your OS is Mac. If this is true, then I must point out that FL Studio is not yet officially released for Mac.
So to simplify...
Windows = FL Studio
Mac = Logic Pro X unless you are willing to wait for FL Studio on Mac.
Linux = Oh no!
That's about 5 1/2 hours.
That I already know.
Well, presently, Windows right now, to be honest, but, many people have both Windows & Mac OSes, & I may someday be just one of said people. Someday.
OK, in FL Studio, Logic Pro X & other DAWs, there's options on how people want to play their created songs, but they have choices, play it from start to finish, play the whole song with looping enabled, or leave a particular verse to be played from start & have it play & loop through the song's remainder, like a Point A to Point B loop, like play the intro verse & the main song looped, the kinda techniques that were more commonly used in past chiptune games' songs before advancements came out, if you know what I mean.
What different techniques of looping are commonly used to do those loopers in the DAWs?
There are methods to doing those previously mentioned choices in looping music instead of hearing it all the way with no loop. If you're around to answer that, Collinatorr, please elaborate on song loop techniques.
There's one unrelated thing I would like to say...
That orchestral arrangement of SK's theme is very nice to hear, that I spoke before, but do you have other compositions/orchestral rearrangements you've got planned?
I could lay a few song names for you to do orchestral rearrangements, that is, if you're up to it, since hardly anyone's doing them at this moment in time, honestly...
Jinjonator Appears (B-K, Grant Kirkhope)
Jinjonator Charges + 10 Grunty Hits (B-K, Grant Kirkhope)
Grunty Falls + Buried Under a Rock (B-K, Grant Kirkhope)
Well, there's no orchestral arrangements of 'em, & I liked hearing them so many times, I've pictured hearing them in orchestral form in my ears, with chorus in them to give some added drama flair(my searches didn't discover them, to be honest. I've looked.). I'm not presently sure if your library has the necessities needed to do those, but, I can wait.
Honestly, people rarely do orchestral remixes of non-looped cutscene music in past games nowadays. Wish they'd do 'em time to time. Not complaining, just saying.
Did I also forget to mention NI has Symphony Essentials - Percussion, that is purchasable now? I think you have heard of it. Just thought I'd let you know. You could add that to your wishlist.
Plus, NI's bringing out Komplete Kontrol MK2 & Maschine MK3 in a couple days. I've looked at them, & they're awesomely well designed! Just letting you know that, too.
Sorry that the post is long. Well, that's what I have to say presently. Hope you keep making more orchestral music! You're doing good!
Let me say that your orchestral arrangement of the game's main theme for specific enemy waves sounds neat! I can say that from the listener's perspective that this was a very neat gift, even if it's a day late, but still, as long as the celebration is going, that's all it matters.
Sure, it follows from the original theme's verse patterns, yet the arrangement's close enough, in terms of instrumental use.
Overall, it's a very neat arrangement!
Just some quick questions.
1. What digital downloadable DAW program did you use to make it? I've read a short time ago that Logic Pro X is the 2nd most popular DAW for people.
2. What VSTis in your collection have you've been using for the orchestral arrangement in your DAW? Make a list to it, if you wish.
3. Have you been trying your best as possible to follow closely to the original song's note patterns & verses? I've heard that some people follow them correctly, but others, well, have steered a bit far from the original, though, there may be those who add in excellent intros to their orchestral arrangements to favorite themes.
My thanks to you for making such an amazing orchestral arrangement to that theme for the game's 6th anniversary.