Why, yes, I compose music when the fell mood and appropriate fancy strike. My music falls under two general categories: catchy tunes for leisurely listening, and abominable travesties for perpetrating excessive aural inhumanity on personae non-gratae.
Nearly all my songs were made using Impulse Tracker, apart from the occasional midi piece, in which case I use an ancient version of Cakewalk Professional, my own softsynth/miditracker being still in the works. For direct wave editing and mixing, where necessary, I use GoldWave, Audacity or DDClip. Most of the samples I use are blatantly ripped from other sources, though many I have also touched up myself.
The style of music you can expect is generally mellow and instrumental, often with some emphasis on rhythm. A number of the songs use old-skool samples, which may sound unpleasantly harsh or unnatural to an ear not used to old computer music. None of the songs are professionally mastered, although I have tried hard to get them to sound balanced. You have been warned...
Most songs are only available as tracker modules, but any halfway decent media player, such as WinAmp, can play them acceptably. A few songs are available as OGG or MP3 files; even far from decent players should be able to handle those. If you really like tracker music, get Modplug Player or XMPlay for very precise playback. Finally, comments on my music are always welcome.
Except for the samples used, on none of which I claim ownership, these works are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Share freely!
Song descriptions and download links are listed below, sorted in order of subjective relevance.
Information table
Alternatively, this is a pretty HTML table listing all my music in a more
concise form, along with some statistics.
Original music
Mimu Muzak 5
OGG (5984 kb)
IT (165 kb)
My most popular song, most recently retouched on 27-Nov-2011.
Unlike the other modules, this one was originally thrown together using
a tracker program I made. Later I transcribed it to IT format and finalised
it. The samples are a bit lo-fi, but they come together nicely. The song is
based on two basic, catchy hooks, exploring some variations thereof, perhaps
making the song a bit too long. Originally, this song was badly out of tune.
After enough retuning, even the funky piano riff has come to please.
Length 5:24.
There is an excellent chip remix of Mimu Muzak 5, by WYZ, as part of a Vidipro demo program for the ancient MSX computer. User dreamerm42 uploaded a recording of it on Youtube.
Mimu Muzak 4
IT (166 kb)
An easy listening song, clearer and softer than most on this page. Of special
note is the jovial bass line, the basic melodic interplay in the second half
and the slightly out-of-place arpeggio at the end. The string sample I used
should probably have been a tad softer.
Length 3:20.
Mimu Muzak 3 Remake
IT (105 kb)
A complete remake of my third original song. A nice piano-based melody;
simple, perhaps a bit repetitive, but nonetheless passable. The original
version had a certain breeziness which is not fully captured in this remake,
but technically this version is better.
Length 3:43.
Catnip
OGG (5559 kb)
IT (430 kb)
Mostly built around chorus voices set against bass and a beat, this song
starts with a slow intro, exploding into twitchy action after a hit of
catnip. I'm not sure if the ending is really appropriate, as it just repeats
the main theme with an added retro arpeggio... but the theme is kinda catchy.
For the OGG version, I tried mixing the percussion and melody separately, for
subtle reverb improvement.
Length 5:49.
Vallis Nivis
OGG (4661 kb)
IT (669 kb)
mini-ringtone (157 kb)
That's Latin for Valley of Snow, probably. Tinkling snow crystals meet
a reverbed synth bass against a basic beat background. The melodic
progression in this song is more ponderous than in earlier songs, while
retaining a passable chord series for the main hook. Some cheap
influence from Jarre may be detected in the bouncy bass. I have a set of
lyrics that might kind of fit, and hope to put together a full song at some
point, replacing one or two instruments with a live synth recording while
at it.
Length 4:34.
The Cutesy Board
IT (385 kb)
This piece barely got third place in the fourth Kestit music competition,
and is one of my big favorites. Technically this one is somewhat impressive,
as I had to cram everything into just eight channels. A few chip samples are
used, and coupled with slides and arpeggios they give a properly hacky demo
mood for the song. The name refers to a cute message board I once happened
upon.
Length 2:42.
Pause to Consider
IT (415 kb)
It is often a good idea to have a pause for thought. Curiously, one night I
just felt inexplicably happy and had to compose something. This positive song
was a quick result. Slow but determined, it combines burgomeistery timpani
drums with soft samples.
Length 4:20.
Intro in Mimu Major
IT (570 kb)
The introductory song for my CD, MimuMusaa. A rather basic dance song, apart
from the messy beginning. Some of the rhythm is painfully amateurish. On the
other hand, I accidentally discovered that low piano sounds can be a lovely
base. As I was on a sugar high when tracking this, a sampled introductory
speech seemed like a good idea... my operating system has used the reverbed
"welcome" as a startup sound ever since!
Length 1:54.
Sliding
IT (248 kb)
A mellow tune played with an enigmatically named avianpiano and a progressive
sound ripped from my trusty DX-11. The rhythm is too basic and a solo close
to the end really should use a proper sample. I have also received flak over
the piano slinging that pervades the piece. But, Sliding can't be all bad,
seeing as it scored a respectful second place at the music competition of the
first Kestit LAN party.
Length 4:02.
Polite Yet Strict
IT (316 kb)
A song with plenty of imagination and not quite enough technical prowess.
While waiting for a high school mathematics class to start, I was bored and
was tapping a rhythm with a pen. Upon realising it sounded good, I built this
song on top of it, starting with the promisingly pitch-slid bass line.
Alas, the rhythm samples are too hard and at points the song slips into
near-cacophony. This is offset by particularly creative dual melodies. Also,
I used an intentional diminished 7th chord for the first time in this song.
If you know how, check out the individual melody channels to appreciate the
intricacy.
Length 3:43.
Neat Teens
IT (216 kb)
Are teens neat? If tidiness is referred to, definitely not. This song is kind
of spacey, with a neat hi-hat rhythm swirling in the background and the clear
crystal sound of love working as a secondary melody base. If you like
straightforward beats with threads of variation alongside, give this a try.
Length 3:46. n34t!
Star Stream
S3M (96 kb)
Another early song, this tries to get away from over-emphasized rhythm. It is
pretty, if technically unimpressive. The name refers to the popular screen
saver effect of a starfield going past.
Length 3:38.
Praise
OGG (4062kb)
Lyrics
Yes, a song with vocals! Pure Mimu. *shudder*
The song is module-based, but after putting it together I wrote lyrics to fit
that, and went back to improve the module. I recorded the vocals and did much
more editing than a beginner would have expected, finally mixing everything
together with some cool effects on top. The melody is somewhat repetitive and
I don't know how to make the vocals sink in professionally. Also, I make
a poor vocalist, no matter how much my inflated ego disagrees. Still, Praise
has some very nice bass/crystal dual action going on.
I really should remix this one. Drop the melody by a few semitones and layer
the voice a bit more, maybe some live synth instrumentation.
Length 4:54.
Remain My Love
IT (309 kb)
This is actually a duet but I only excel at writing sucky lyrics, so you just
get the instrumental with chorus sounds approximating the intended singing.
It is pretty well balanced, and I really like some of the synth solo action.
This song was based on a now superceded big Blossom Realms story, and is
supposed to sound kind of suitable for, say, a movie's end credits.
Length 4:32.
Covers and remixes
Ace Of Maze Overdone
OGG (2819 kb)
IT (389 kb)
Werp made the original Ace Of Maze back in the summer of 1998, and it was
simply the catchiest module I had ever heard! The natural thing to do was to
hog the song and remix it. Several times. Werp never was too fond of the
original anyway since it was so simple. Compared to that, this version only
maintains the basic outline, with lots of overdone distortion and rhythm
splayed all over. I added an original, catchy piano solo thing just before
the 2-minute mark. Even today this song tickles me yummier than almost any
other on this page.
Length 3:04.
Munchky Pillars
IT (248 kb)
A short but sweet remix of Jeroen Tel's original Noisy Pillars tune 3.
Obviously I could not hope to match the dynamicity of the C64 SID sound chip,
but this cover is fairly true except for the missing metallic xylophone
rhythm sounds. The background arpeggio pretty much makes the whole song.
Length 1:24.
At the Foot of Boot Hill
IT (229 kb)
Naturally you remember Cannon Fodder. This is a remix of the beautiful,
memorable song that plays when the recruits line up to the gate, waiting for
their turn. Right next to them is a green hill, filled with graves. The moody
tune haunts the scene perfectly. This remix takes few liberties, and just
tries to be a credible reproduction apart from the end. The only thing I am
unhappy with is the severe lack of professionality in the percussion. The
original version was evidently done by Joseph Richard and possibly Jon Hare.
Length 5:55.
Scinty Starlet
IT (170 kb)
A remix from Ultima Underworld 2, the sequel to the genre-defining original
first-person CRPG, that managed to even improve on its predecessor. This
song captures well the ethereal, somewhat creepy feeling of the deserted
Scintillus Academy of Magic. Unlike most music today, the rhythm in this uses
five and seven beats instead of the overused four. The original, really cool
UW2 soundtrack was credited to Jon Blackley and Dan Schmidt.
Note: Some of the Ultima Underworld fan remake teams have made music remixes
as well, many of them more polished than this.
Length 2:40.
Shadows of Darkness Finale
OGG (11173 kb)
Script
The valley of Mordavia is shadowed by the grim visages of great dark bugs.
Only one man can alter the course of fate, and he is already under the power
of evil forces. Add special effects and a smashing soundtrack, and you have
a worthy finale for Quest for Glory 4. The game is great, but especially at
the end stupid bugs used to prevent you from experiencing the full drama.
(Now fan-made patches exist to fix lots of bugs in old Sierra games!)
To properly enjoy the ending, I put together an audio show after finding a utility that allows decompressing sounds from the game's resource files. After hours of remixing the midi music to fit in perfectly and adding sound effects, I needed more speech. Erana's voice was not quite right in the game, so I got Noxy to record those lines. Her voice, in fact, fits quite well - and much better than the overactor performing for the Hero. *cough* She also helped retouch the script. I tried to limit the hero's speech so I wouldn't have to grimace every time I listen to it, but, well... Otherwise, this audio show captures the emotion of the ending scenes fairly well.
Credit where credit is due:
Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness is copyright 1993 by Sierra.
The game was written, designed and directed by Corey and Lori Ann Cole.
Many of the sound effects are credited to, and the incredible musical
score was composed by, Aubrey Hodges. The midi soundtrack was arranged
by Tom Lewandowski of
Quest Studios,
though I appropriated it without explicit permission, the anarchist that I
am, and edited it further. The music was rendered through Timidity++, using
the GUS patch set by Eric A. Welsh.
The voice actors to the best of my knowledge are: Jennifer Hale as
Katrina, Jeff Bennett as Ad Avis and Igor, Jim Cummings as Boris and
Hans, Jess Harnell as Franz, Neil Ross as Ivan and Erasmus, Susan
Silo as Olga and Fenrus, Gregg Berger as Dmitri, Stu Rosen as Yuri,
Mitzie McCall as Bella, Russi Taylor as Tanya, and Cam Clark as Davy.
` * ~ , _ , . - ~´,¨,` '~ . , . ¤ . , . ~' ´,¨,`~ - . , _ , ~ * ´