Cave Story Arrangements

Hey! As some of you may know, I've recently gotten into arranging video game songs for small ensembles. I just finished an arrangement of Moonsong (at my 10-year-old brother's request) and decided I should do more. So, I'm making a thread here to see what you guys think of them.

Here's my arrangement of Moonsong: http://musescore.com/dunc/moonsong

 

I really like the buildup in the beginning, it's something I think Moonsong just needs. Anyway, I think the temp of the song is a bit too fast for my taste towards the middle, but maybe I'm just used to hearing a slow version of Moonsong. Perhaps add some instruments to this one, or change up the instruments all-together. They sound good, but perhaps a flute doing the main melody wouldn't hurt too much? Also the first whole note only plays for 1 bet fro some reason.
Still, a really fresh, new take on Moonsong, and while it has it's flaws, I really like the direction in which this i going. Keep up the good work Dunc.

 

I will admit, the primary reason I have a trombone playing the melody is that I play the trombone. I do think that a trombone, when played correctly, can make this sound great. Obviously, when synthesized, it can't sound the way you want it. I'm considering adding a note asking for a bucket mute on the first trombone part, but that sound can be achieved without.
In any case, I've fixed the problem with the whole note not being played. Not sure why that happened, but whatever.

I'm also playing with the tempo- I've changed it from 132 BPM after the change to 120 BPM. Tell me what you think. Updated version is at the same URl.

 

In my honest opinion, I think it's a bit too slow at the beginning, or rather, it becomes fast too suddenly. Perhaps you should try gradually building up speed. This is a really nice arrangement, regardless. If it were to be played in real life rather than synthesized, this would sound very nice c:

Keep up the good work~

 

I completely agree, the buildup in speed should be gradual. However, this is designed to be played as a small ensemble without a director. Gradual changes in tempo are extremely difficult, as it can be difficult to synchronize that exactly with five other people without the guidance of a director. Even an instant change can be difficult, as all members must change to the same tempo. Were I to re-instrument this arrangement for an entire band, I'd certainly have it be a gradual increase in tempo.

In any case, thanks!

 

The beginning is, in my opinion, awfully slow. The flute sounds irrelevant to the actual composition, it plays more like a near empty heart gauge than anything else. This is resolved temporarily later on in the composition, the alternative sounding very ambient. I liked how the composition acquired speed a little after the beginning, despite the consensus disliking it. The arrangement, overall, is somehow both faithful to the original and different. Well done.

 

I get the feel of it. I heard Moonsong earlier when I was attempting a Cavestory speedrun, but I ditched it. I do think the flute part is a bit loud/dominant at times when it shouldn't. Also, the intro is a bit slow, but no need to repeat the obvious.
It sounds nice, just a bit of fine-tuning with some of the instruments (looking at the flute specifically) and I think it'll be nice.

 

Hey, if you have a problem with the composition, bring it up with Pixel.
But yeah, the flute part is actually transcribed directly from the original. I do try to tone it down, but there are some parts (before the final section) that are important for it. The problem really lies in the fact that the flute cuts through other sounds like butter, and once again in the synthesization. Any self-respecting flute player can tell when they're important and when they're not, and will adjust their volume accordingly, following the guidelines given via written dynamics to some extent, rather than letting them dictate how he or she plays. I have, however, been toying with the notion of rewriting the flute part so as to make it easier to play. After all, for the most part you can't even tell the flute is playing sixteenth notes.

 

I thought it was great, to be honest

 

that is pretty awesome, but there are a few too many brass instruments there for my liking (personal preference, I guess you could say ^_^ ). Also, the in the twiddly high part played by the flute, when it moves down a tone from G to F, the C also moves down a tone to a Bb (I think. It sounded slightly odd to me) But anyway, I really enjoyed that, so well done

*edit*
my bad, the Bb that I was thinking of was actually a C when I checked it on the org file. Meh, it must have been how I play it then x)

 

Personally, I think the jump is great, really, refreshing. But, I think you should step up the pace in the beginning, just so it isn't so sudden. This also holds true for the end.
Also, the repetitive sound at the early middle and end is very boring. I think it would be nice if you could diversify it, just a bit, but not so much that the flute (I think that's what it is...) doesn't stand out.
Also, maybe tone down the background music?

Well, this is coming from a guy who doesn't know jack sh*t when it comes to music...
hehe

 

Exceptional work! The buildup switch was a tiny bit too sudden but the flute was done to perfection, keep it up!

 

As the others have said, the beginning part with the 2 trombones is really really really slow. Also a bit of an issue at first is that a lot of the instruments sounds a bit too murky, like everything sorta blends in with each other a bit because they seem to have high-ish attack values. The flutes that come in around 1 minute in or so trying to emulate the echo-y part of moon song, please don't try to emulate echo this way, if you look at the original organya file it should be obvious that some of the notes at that part are just echo so it would probaby be best just to ignore these in your arrangement. Also the flutes seem too loud at bar 41, when they come in with the lead. And when the trombone is playing the lead after that, it should be louder definitely. I would recommend doing that lead with a trumpet instead though.

It's not bad, but needs work. Also it's a moonsong remix, and god knows we have enough of those.

 

I liked your arrangement. Really.

Does this count as an arrangement?

 

Alright so I've made another update to it, with the following changes:
Sped up the beginning to 90bpm rather than 60 and oh god it made a difference
Made some changes in the flute part, hopefully making it better? I'll need someone to tell me what they think of them.
Changed up the dynamics a touch, balancing the piece better.

The link remains the same.
As for the actual instrumentation, I don't intend to change it, mainly because I'd have to rework a lot of the arrangement to make it sound the way I want.

And I know it's a moonsong remix but my brother asked for it specifically

 

I definitely think it's an improvement over the original arrangement of yours, Dunc. The tempo increase is well done this time around, so it feels a lot more natural than the drastic change in tempo. I also like the larger emphasis on more instruments than just brass. French Horn might be a strange choice for the part you assigned it though. It would be pretty hard to play that fast on any brass instrument. I think the song gets a bit muddled at around 33 seconds, but maybe that's just the MIDI compressing.
https://www.mediafire.com/#myfiles
I made it into a MP3 that uses slightly different. And yes, before anyone asks, I did add that reverse cymbal.

 

I think you must have misread somewhere, because the French horn is playing quarter notes (or eighths tied to eighths) literally the entire song. On top of that, I'm completely certain that I want a French horn playing that part. It has a unique timbre that not many other instruments can approximate.

 

The intro still sounded a bit slow to me, but upon listening to it the third time around, I started to get used to the pacing.

Love the buildup with this. That flute started out nicely. I feel it should build up a bit less than the other instruments because its sound is already prominent. I thought the trombone was a great choice to carry out the lower parts of the melody, even though the trombone didn't really sound like a trombone. Nonetheless, it works well.

I was scrolling through all the comments and I know a lot of what I said is just a reiteration of what everyone else said. When first listened to, I felt like there were so many little details to nitpick, but after hearing it several times, my ears somehow adjusted and the problems fixed themselves.

 

I'm glad to hear that someone else likes my choice of instruments. As for the buildup of the flute, I think that the way I have it now is good, as the arrangement is meant to be performed rather than synthesized. In practice, the flutist would likely play softer than the synthesized playback has it.

In any case, it will be a while before anything new comes of this; I'm working on an arrangement that will take some time. In the meantime, however, if anyone feels like listening to an arrangement of something unrelated to cave story, feel free to look at my arrangement of the dark world overworld theme from LttP right here.

 

I'm glad to hear that someone else likes my choice of instruments. As for the buildup of the flute, I think that the way I have it now is good, as the arrangement is meant to be performed rather than synthesized. In practice, the flutist would likely play softer than the synthesized playback has it.

In any case, it will be a while before anything new comes of this; I'm working on an arrangement that will take some time. In the meantime, however, if anyone feels like listening to an arrangement of something unrelated to cave story, feel free to look at my arrangement of the dark world overworld theme from LttP right here.

I've heard better, but it sounds nice.

It has the SNES feel to it and brings back fond memories.

maybe make the main lead sound a bit softer?