Probably not a good idea to leave the first post in a thread blank, so I'll update this as a table of contents (the bolded links are from the latest update):


Originals:

2004
Dialogue (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409204&postcount=91)

2007
Eternal Carnival of a Broken Mind (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=389650&postcount=76)
Miniature Sketch (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409204&postcount=91)

2008
Rhapsody (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409204&postcount=91)
Four Pieces (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409203&postcount=90)
"48 Hours" (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=392263&postcount=85)
Mood Obscura (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409204&postcount=91)
An Atmosphere (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=407518&postcount=86)
Traveling (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409202&postcount=89)
Rush (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416472&postcount=104)
Nostalgic (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416472&postcount=104)
Bombast (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416472&postcount=104)
Sadsketch/Sadslow (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416473&postcount=105)


Arrangments/Remixes:

2006
.//hack - "Loop" (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=235197&postcount=46)

2008
LoZ Twilight Princess Montage (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=409202&postcount=89)
Bach Chorale for Strings (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416473&postcount=105)
Mozart Rondo for Wind in Pairs (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416473&postcount=105)
Chopin Cantata "Recomposition" (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=416473&postcount=105)
Wintertide Wishes/ (http://forums.ichigos.com/showpost.php?p=418159&postcount=111)

P.S. Oh, and for those of you wondering about the empty posts, it was due to a time I deleted a good deal of my older pieces out of frusteration (both here and other back-up copies) - though I kind of regret it now, since some of them had some interesting elements in them. Oh well. :/

My older stuff that isn't posted here and is not deleted can be found in these "folders":

MP3's (http://www.esnips.com/web/Muzika06)
MIDI's (http://www.esnips.com/web/shizeet-MIDIs)

*void*

Blah

I thought this song was lacking in musicality, but I really like the beat you had in the background. Needs a little more variation though, because after a while it starts getting really tiresome and starts to feel unpleasant. It's good after it changes at 1:95. It reminds me of some freaky house of the undead, or a haunted funhouse.

*void*

As for lacking of "musicality", I think our tastes just differ ;).

That's probably true. It definitely was more of an ambience piece as opposed to an actual song that you would want people to remember for its melody or something.

I'm not really sure to say about your draft of that Battle song...:\ I guess I liked it, although I didn't love the very beginning, because it hurt my ears.

*void*

Much of the structure is very refreshing and interesting, but there are some parts that are much too random for my taste, as I'm sure you could have guessed.

Edit: Once again, I have managed to sound like a jerk. It probably isn't random, but in my ear, it SOUNDS random.

I really like it. You and I are two of the few "classical" style composers on here, but we're at such different ends of the spectrum. I love it. Some of the rhythmical stuff you did was thrilling. Normally I'm not a big fan of atonal music, but this was quite nice.

*void*

Wow, that midi sounds really good! I like this song. It sounds like an awesome final boss sequence in a game!

Tension:
Damn man!!! I say god damn...

you have really done it this time, what a song. naa naaa na na naaa naaa.
its gonna be stuck in my head for a while.
nice transitions...
and those war drums wow.

eclectic etude:
very nice, but i would have wanted some of the chords to be more "clean"

great job!:)

*void*

The first one is interesting, and is fitting of what you said it was supposed to be. Not bad.

Hmmm...That second one was kind of boring, it didn't really have any rhythmic variation, it didn't have any kind of strong melody, it's chords didn't seem like they were organized very well. They were so clashy, and some of the chords were REALLY interesting, but they didn't go ANYWHERE. I also think that you way overdid the suspensions. I could barely see the theme you were going for, but I guess I sort of did.

The third one...I'm not commenting on.

Slums:
its a cool song and I think I can hear hints of FF7 in it... but... there is too much dissonance in it, after a while it almost sounds like a haunted house or something. Dont get me wrong its a nice song but its not the slums as I see them.

Confusion and Anguish: I couldnt get this to play on my computer....

Tekow: I would have wanted some long (stretched) notes in this one maybe as a melody of some kind....

Sad: there are some chords I would have left out, but overall its a nice, flowing song. oh and from 02:48 and on it works beautifully!

hope my comment can be of some use :)

Yeh, the original slums was supposed to be more haunted, but whatever. Confusion and Anguish is simply the audio version of Sad.mid, and generally it progresses in a fairly meaningul manner, in my opinion - it starts off with unclear, confused/disturbed harmonies, and the melody is merely suggested until it escalates to the section in 2:48 where all that pent up emotion is finally released, full blown chords and all. And the last one, well that was just for fun :P - I probably would've tried some more things if I had made it longer, but overally I tried to keep it "uniform".

You're pretty good at this atmospheric stuff. The mood you create has quality.

Somewhere between 1min and 1min20 of tension, the drum beat could have been better to add to the drama as in fitting in with the music more.

Liked your intro to the first compo up on this thread. But there's nothing to hold your mind to the rest of it. The transition stage is quite crucial, so I'd try and work on that. Making it clearer for someone listening to show something will change instead of trying to merge everything together fractionally would make it better. Otherwise it just sounds like your lost as to what to do. That last bit of advice goes for all the compositions. Maybe that's your style, but if it ain't, it's something to work on.

Thanks for the comments. I agree with you that the first one is lacking in direction, as I didn't really finish the audio sequencing on it (the MIDI stand-alone section sounds more organized). I also see what you mean about the drums from 1:00 to 1:20 in Tension, but I wanted to hold back on them as the whole section is sort of a breather of sorts in an otherwise fast-paced piece.

Well anyways, here's one more "atmospheric" piece for ya then ;).

EDIT: I'll have to host this piece later (neither my ftp space nor the forum uploader seems to be working... :\)

*void*

Wow, I LOVE "Key Jumping" and "the Wonder".

"Hyperactive" is too hectic for me, but - considering the title - that's the concept. ^_^

"Timbre Crunch"'s first half isn't for me, but when it gets more silent and the Cello sets in, I like that too, a lot.

Hyperactive and Timbre Crunch actually reminded of Nobuo Uematsu songs from FFX... :think:

Anyways, I don't think your compositions are my style, so yeah... I don't like 'em. But then again, it's just the style I don't like. I'm sure you're doing great, though! ^_^

That's understandable - everyone has different tastes, and I guess I prefer your blunt honesty to sweetened words of appeasement. Anyways, I really recommend you guys to participate in these one hour competitions - they really help you develop your MIDI skills, as well as expanding your creativity due to the unusual restrictions. Simply join the forums at that page and/or go to the #Omidia IRC channel on esper.net on Friday (there's one held at 4:00 PM EST and 8:00 PM EST).

Anyways, this little clip I have here is definitely a change of pace (but still done to procrastinate schoolwork ;)). I finally dug up my old dynamic mike and played around with it a bit - basically the aim was to create a fairly professional mix using somewhat crappy equipment and talent (moi :P). The audio clips were done in one take (basically I just improvised a little vocalise), but thanks to a bit of pitch correction and a lot of time-stretching, everything matches up pretty well. The only thing I couldn't fix well with my software was the place near the end where it kinds of clips due to the sudden swelling (though I managed to reduce its effects with some heavy EQ'ing). I'm planning to do some more vocal work later, but with someone that can actually sing, so this is sort of practice for that. Hope you enjoy!

EDIT: Argh. Now that I'm no longer under the influence of a certain something, the flaws in the attached piece becomes more evident - I guess you can only do so much with such lacking source material, eh :P? I'm going to go ahead and take this one off, and replace it sometime later with something more worthwhile.

those vocals were...... interesting....:sweat:

No! I want to hear whether your vocals compared to mine in how bad they were! lol

*void*

*void*

I like the beginning a lot, except the end of the first section. The end had some harmonies that didn't feel like they quite fit with the mood of the rest of the section to me. I also really like what you've done with the rest. The rhythm is also interesting once you get into the fast sections.

Very very nice, Shizzy. I love the harmonies in Justice... and I would love to hear a real recording. Mind if I try to create an MP3 of it?

Go ahead, though the MIDI is actually based off a real performance - with live string orchestra, drums, and electrik geetars :P.

But my soundfont sucks assssssssssssssssssssssssss. Really. ;_;

If you heard it, you'd want kill hang yourself.

*void*

you could take parts from that one and make a really nice battle theme...

*void*

I really like them both but you really need som recognisable ellements in the first one..

the cave one is nice and atmospheric, its alright as it is...

good work.

*void*

Simply awesome! I love how you gradually built up.

I listened to the midi of Justice2.

Only thing I didn't like too much was the drums/percussion track was too dominant in my ears in the middle, when most of the instruments had come in (kind of like a static drone that covers too much - e.g. the e-guitar). I like the piece better if I reduce the volume of the channel 10 on my mixer.

The rhythm and harmony a texture and general drive I liked a lot.

Though I agree with Dawnstorm, I think it's pretty good. :)

*void*

Yeah man, you rock synth music and mixing. Congratulations.

*void*

Ooh. Nice song. Except the drums were a little too loud, IMO. But it's great! ^.^

*void*

nothing to say really, nothing grabbed my attention. I liked the feel you produced in black sky 2.

oh and I liked your "sell-out", it was a strange experience.

OHHHH... just listened to justice... ME LIKE.

*void*

This time I'm posting a video game sequence from the .Hack series - since this is basically just a piano solo, it might even work as a prototype for a transcription, but I've done this because I'm planning to remix/rearrange this piece, so sequencing it helps me get a better feel for it, as well serve as a reference. I've two versions posted - one vanilla, the other with delay effects.

*void*

Its really boring in the beginning, maybe add some emotional parts as in crescendos/decrescendos and lead in the part will some movement comes in. Great song to listen to is Bolero, plainly called. Does almost the same. The woodwinds sound great having them on the higher octave but occasionaly their octave stays up in the air. (bring the volume down a little) I enjoyed the low instruments have the moving parts because most arranges have them playing the tone or mood of the piece. I would know, it happens to Tenor saxophone and Barritone saxophone alot. Great job and look forward on more moving parts like this. :lol:

Are you talking about the latest piece I've posted? If so, it's still very much a work in progress - once I get down all the notes and stuff, I'll try to improve it with dynamics and such. As for Bolero, I've listened to it a number of times, and thought it was very enjoyable :). Actually, I find pretty much all minimally progressing music like such to be very interesting, and I try to incorporate at least a bit of that in pretty much every one of my pieces. Thanks for the comments, though.

Thats why I suggested you should hear because, just in case you didn't you have that direct motive. And yes I was talking about the last piece.

Ok, I didn't quite follow when started mentioning woodwinds and saxaphones - neither of which were are in the piece, at least so as of now. Also, as much as I like Bolero, the original piece this remix is based on has a much more elaborate melody, as well as constantly shifting rhythms (whereas Bolero had pretty much one or two melodic lines, and the whole piece never progresses out of the same rhythm)so I can't really use it as a basis for structure (or orchestration, which I prefer do my own way).

*void*

The beginning is what I liked very much (It's very nice; keep it up!), and how it builds up, then... Bam! Annoying dissonances. >.<

I don't mind the dissonances but it tends to become quite messy, otherwise I like the atmosphere of the piece.

WTFBBQ~!~! I am loving this dude! Rename: Boss Battle. It sounds so good dude-I like it as it is (well, I'd love it finished but you know what I mean).

Keep it goin' !

you should ease down on those realy fast strings, other than that I like what im hearing.

keep up the good work!

*void*

You must hate you mother. Your use of dissonance didn't work for me, and the latter half was just too much. Although the "flopp" Windows sound was a good comic relief. I trust you have a whole different view on it than me, since it sounds rather abstract.. but yah. Maybe you hid that chinese melody in a cluster of noise to symbolise your relationship to your mum? If so, then good job I guess.. but the song itself was very weak :/

It sounded a little too random. It was too crowded at the same time making it difficult to make out the melody. =/ But it was interesting.

Loving your works. Heroic Battle is great but a bit too much activity.

*void*

I love you....=)

there is something mysterious about this song. and I like it.

Nice stuff, as usual *thumbs up*

This is good keep it up.;) I will be looking forward to your next song.^_^

I wouldn't say mysterious.. but yeah, I liked it. It's short, but it gets its point across.

Yummy dissonances!
Happy b-day, yet again!

Weird song, but I like it.

I love the jazzy/dissonant chords you through in there. They sounded beautiful. I don't think the pizz. fit in though. I think some other plucked string instrument would've been better. But, it's still great. Good job. :)

*void*

At first glance I was like "AH SQUEAKY!"

Then, as the song progressed, I was like "Hm, I see what is going on here..."

Now I'm like " Interesting. Abstract to my taistes, but yet...interesting. This sound like it either belongs in a video game or on those CD's my parrents by at the Halmark store."

Good Job, I like what you have been doing so far.

I really liked what you had going up until :13, and then after :20 up to :35, and then I didn't like the rest as much. I feel like the parts which I excluded from the above mentioned times had two different patterns going on which didn't quite mesh harmonically. I realize that it's not probably supposed to be really melodic, but at the exluded times, the two patterns put together just made it sound kind of like random chords.

*void*

@_@ That's sooo contemporary if I've ever heard it before. Commercial Material, really catchy, and yet-annoying a bit? Sure.

Anyway, neat song for a little comback post Shizeet.

Love to hear more from yas.

Hey all, I went ahead and deleted pretty much everything (here and on my comp), cause I think it is ripe to "remake" myself ;). Expect better compositions from here on out.

Oh, and if you're interested in what I'm up to these days, here's (http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/shizeet/abuse/Ahpy%20mix.ogg) my last project school. It's still somewhat lacking (mostly because most of these are only 1-day projects - still can't help the procrastination :P), but definitely a step in the right direction.

P.S. I've kept the dothack piano sequence since I feel that's been a rather fruitful effort. With any luck, I think I'll have a complete transcription with dynamic markings soon.

That was way cool! Nice to see you didn´t dissapear from the face of the earth. =)

Before the year is over, I thought I might post some of the stuff I've been working on. Here's the folder with the goods - http://www.esnips.com/web/Muzika06/ (I think all the ogg stuff are pieces I've done for class).

I didn't do too much MIDI only stuff, but here's one that I thougt was kinda good.

I'll try to compose regularly again, so hopefully this won't be an isolated update.

I like the idea of merging 6/8 and 3/4 together. However, I would've liked the two ideas put together more seamlessly so the piece would flow better. Meanwhile, musically speaking, the harmony isn't too complex or daring. I really like the overall idea for this though, nevertheless.

PS: You major in composition?

Oh, I probably should've put descriptions up, but wasn't feeling up to the task. Anyways, that piece is supposed to be somewhat disorienting, almost hallucinatory (as to represent a sort of ambiguity as between the two times and their existence, if that makes any sense :P), so I merged the two ideas in a sorta crossfade manner rather than metrically modulating between them. I agree that the harmony wasn't that adventureous, but I was trying to evoke a sense between comfort and slight unease rather than full out discomfort or peace.

I'm not a composition major, but I've taken some music theory courses and whatnot (though strictly of 17/18th century tonal harmony).

Hmmm, interesting idea. Seemed a lot like what I would imagine a hallucinogen-induced high would be like.

Edit: sorry, I'll come back to comment on the other stuff. I'm currently up to my ears in Ravel and Gershwin music. Also, whenever I tried to play a song, it would screw up my browser and bring up a very fishy pop-up...

Well, I guess that's sort of the idea... Hmm, I was kinda hoping to get more comments about the stuff from the folder, though. In particular, "Watered Charts", as it's something that I've worked on over a course of a month or so (which is pretty long considering normally I blast out a piece within a day or two), and the piano rhapsody thing (which is like the only decent thing I've written for piano thus far). But to be fair, they are somewhat older works, so don't feel obliged.

Watered Charts:

The opening was rather tedious since the oboe played almost endlessly in its high register. The orchestration also felt that it could've been less homophonic and 'crammed' together. I didn't really like the harmonies until that drastic change toward the middle point. And even then, you still kept the oboe timbre going on for a little while, which was rather disappointing... My suggestion would perhaps be for you to not introduce the oboe until that point. The saxophone and flute stuff were rather nice. Then, when your bass clarinet and flute reintroduced the playful mood, you could've relied less on the glockenspiel on the rhythmic pulse. The accelerando was also pretty nice with the piccolo suddenly pausing it. The percussion could have been less conforming to the overall tempo and time signature itself (I would love to hear some polyrhythms in this piece). The ending was also rather deceiving... Yes, those brass chords were nice and pretty, but perhaps you should have just ended where the flutes had that little coda of its own.

Asides from comments I wrote as I was listening to it, I think one of the major things you can reconsider about your music is the fact that you need at least something that's memorable. Of course, melodies, leitmotifs, harmonies and etc... Don't have to be memorable. We have enough of those. Timbral, rhythmic and atmosphere are what you can really explore with. I really admire your colourful style in writing counterpoint. However, since you are writing instrumentally, I guess you should try to improve on orchestration so that it will contrast or bring out your already colourful counterpoint writing. Seeing your style of writing, I don't think you should conform to tonal harmony at all. If that opening in this piece was an attempt to write tonally, I rather listen to the piece starting from the middle. Other than that, I would say this piece was pretty interesting. Good job.

Watered Charts:

The opening was rather tedious since the oboe played almost endlessly in its high register. The orchestration also felt that it could've been less homophonic and 'crammed' together. I didn't really like the harmonies until that drastic change toward the middle point. And even then, you still kept the oboe timbre going on for a little while, which was rather disappointing... My suggestion would perhaps be for you to not introduce the oboe until that point. The saxophone and flute stuff were rather nice. Then, when your bass clarinet and flute reintroduced the playful mood, you could've relied less on the glockenspiel on the rhythmic pulse. The accelerando was also pretty nice with the piccolo suddenly pausing it. The percussion could have been less conforming to the overall tempo and time signature itself (I would love to hear some polyrhythms in this piece). The ending was also rather deceiving... Yes, those brass chords were nice and pretty, but perhaps you should have just ended where the flutes had that little coda of its own.

Asides from comments I wrote as I was listening to it, I think one of the major things you can reconsider about your music is the fact that you need at least something that's memorable. Of course, melodies, leitmotifs, harmonies and etc... Don't have to be memorable. We have enough of those. Timbral, rhythmic and atmosphere are what you can really explore with. I really admire your colourful style in writing counterpoint. However, since you are writing instrumentally, I guess you should try to improve on orchestration so that it will contrast or bring out your already colourful counterpoint writing. Seeing your style of writing, I don't think you should conform to tonal harmony at all. If that opening in this piece was an attempt to write tonally, I rather listen to the piece starting from the middle. Other than that, I would say this piece was pretty interesting. Good job.

Haha, I think this is the first time some's chided me for trying to write conventionally (rather than the other way around). Hmm, I think it I was more or less trying to portray a story (a high-sea adventures of sort) with the piece that it ended up with some cheesy/cliched sounds (ie, the first section is supposed to portray a nostalgic farewell to the protagonist's humble but peaceful life; the unresolved ending supposed to suggest the journey's continuance after the scope of the piece), and the overall mood is suppose to be rather idyllic/stereotypic rather than realistic (the piece tries to be more humorous than not, if you can pick it up). Maybe it would've been more effective if I've spend more time subverting those stereotypes, but oh well.

Orchestration-wise, I can't really argue here. I had a feeling that a lot of the piece was outside comfortable or even playable ranges, but then again, orchestration isn't exactly my strong suit. I guess I stopped bothering learning about orchestration as I begin to see myself less and less as an orchestral composer, but certainly it probably doesn't hurt to at least learn more about individual instrument characteristics. Right now, I can probably get away with convincing a casual audience that I can orchetrate, though obviously not from the like of you :P. Granted, I could've made some parts sound more exciting/effective, but I think laziness took over (and the percussion especially suffered as a result, as I often have a habit of working on it last :heh:) when I started getting sick of this piece haha.

There are sort of a reoccuring themes throughout the piece, but it's sorta stated in not very obvious ways (I have a bad habit of deriving themes in somewhat strange ways). For instance, the idyllic sounding theme in the beginning is sort of cut up and re-figured for bass clarinet and flute theme (to represent our protagonist state of mind or something to affect), and the cooky captain is sorta represented by the sax (rather than specific melodies however), sort of like how Don Quixote is laid out by Strauss.

As for this whole tonal/atonalness, I actually feel more comfortable as a tonal composer - maybe learning all that theory sort of forced my mind more into comformity, but I really don't have a system of making "atonal" sounding stuff other than just random experimentation and composing with quasi-rules - and that's just for parts of the piece at best. I think even in my most adventurous works (check out Egonomics if you want an example - probably one of the most insane pieces I've ever written :P), there is some sort of tonal grounding to it.

Anyways, thanks for your comprehensive comments - I'll keep those tips in mind should I attempt a similar work in the future ;).

Ok, I'm listening to your piano rhapsody right now. My first impression is that it combines elements of early jazz (or maybe that's just me seeing Gershwin in everything because of my extended essay) as well as some definite lack of tonality. It's just as jarring as any other piece of yours, sometimes the most jarring thing is when you have a very tonal section :P

My greatest suggestion for change that would better bring this out within this specific piece is to not end with two conventional chords. Let one of them be conventional, yes, to represent the conventional tonality in parts; then let the other, probably the latter one for sheer effect, be a completely dissonant chord that the audience would never expect or probably ever desire. I think this would better represent the ongoing battle that seems to go on within this highly dramatic, percussive piece between convention and non-convention.

Sometimes it bothers me that you get into some very interesting and beautiful tonal themes and then suddenly shift gears to something that's totally not tonal and is sort of like being hit on the head with a brick while having a pleasant stroll through the rain. However, perhaps this is what fascinates me most about your music. It is especially significant to me at this time because of [yet another] paper which I have to write for school for my Theory of Knowledge class which is about whether we learn more from breaking from or adhering to accepted conventions in science or art. I think that this definitely answers part of the question for me; each has it's own use. One way, music stagnates and becomes boring; the other, it becomes chaotic and loses meaning. Together, however, through the constant dialectic process, a balance is achieved which allows growth rather than stagnation or chaos.

Edit: about Watered Charts, the thing that made the intro tedious to me was not the oboe in it's high register, but that the moderately paced harmonic rhythm sometimes slowed too much to be comfortable. I love listening to the high range of the oboe. The rest was very good.

Due to dial-up's restrictions (>_>), I can only listen to midi files. Everyone is into mp3's only...

But yes, you've succeeded in that blurry, disorienting effect. Good job =]

Here's something I just got back from finishing - a short sound a video game to be done within the span of 48 hours (I just got back home now, worked on this thing nearly a day straight with no sleep). You may be able to tell that I've sorta cut corners, using more loops and automated sequences than I'd normally do; Still, the end result isn't too bad at all. You might be able to guess the theme of this contest, as two of the pieces are sort of remixes/arrangments (though one is rather obscure).

http://www.esnips.com/web/48-Hours-08/

Haven't done anything since the last composition contest, but ended up spontaneously making this piece today. The ending is a bit weird, but it may serve as a placeholder in case I choose to continue it... or does it sound complete enough as is?

For some reason the effect at measure 45 seemed out of place. The ending is ok, but I would tweak it just a little and have some sort of echo effect at the end to accentuate the cliffhanger. I really like the feel of the ticking clock in the second half.

Edit: sorry, I meant :45, not measure 45

Are you talking about the sudden change in the metric feel when it leads into the next section? Yeah, I probably could've prepared that transition better, and in general for those in the outer sections. It's a bit tricky working with odd measured phrasing at times. I'll play around with the ending some more too to see if I can make it better. Anyhow, thanks for the comments.

I've been working on a couple of pieces this past month or so for a couple of odd projects, but haven't gotten any one to the point of being really polished and presentable. Here's a few incomplete pieces/ideas that I ended up dropping, though they're not without merit:

First traveling theme - ended up being too random between the sections, so I tried to scale back some of the ideas. So them came...

The second "traveling" theme - basically expanded on the first section of the previous piece quite a bit, then proceeds into a more chorale like section (the instrumentation for this part is very incomplete). I actually liked how this turned out, but accidentally ended up deleting all the pizz. chords (which by far took the longest time to sequence), and didn't realize it until it was too late. So I sorta just rage-quit this one :P.

Zeldican - basically a montage/rearrangement of some themes from the Twilight Princess. I tried to keep the transitions fairly smooth, but ended up making the piece as a whole too static/tranquil throughout, plodding away with barely any driving force. And it didn't fit the video it was to accompany, so yeah, back to drawing board...

I also noticed I have a few older pieces that I haven't posted here, so I'll dump them right aferwards.

A short series of lighter pieces I've completed near the end of last year.

A Story - "A somewhat unusual keyboard piece based on a somewhat unusual chord progression (stated at the beginning). Has a sentimental feel to it, though with more pessimism."

Another Story - "Piece based on chord progression from "A Story". Pretty melancholic throughout, though the suddenly more upbeat part near end was a departure of sorts."

Actiony - "Spin-off from Another Story. A somewhat high paced, perhaps heroic theme - second half is a bit more relaxed though."

Chilled - "A fairly downtempo, relaxing piece (though the ending section picks up the heat a little ;))."

Some piano pieces - these are bit more scattere chronologically, so there might be some reposts.

Dialogue (really old, 2004-ish piece) - "The idea behind this piece is sort of an inner conversation, from which a really dichitomous duality arises, but one eventually settles down to accord and self-unity. Or something to that effect. While it may have somewhat fancy premise, the piece is really playful at its nature. The harmonies and instrumentation really give it a sorta video gamey feel too, which was certainly one of the prevelant influences I've had during that period (and still do, today)."

Miniature Sketch (for Two or Three pianos) - "This was loosely intended to be a sonata (you can sort of hear the skeleton of the different parts up to the recap), but in the end I never progressed beyond the sketch phase. Really spontaneous sounding."

Rhaps - "A piano rhapsody I whipped up a for a contest of sorts. I tried to keep it fairly free-flowing sounding so it might seem to be randomish at parts, but there is sort of an underlying structure (motifically at least). Very heavy on the pedal, but the harmonic bleed-throughs are more or less intended."

Mood Obscura - "Essentially a mood piece, but it almost has a rondo-ish form to it. It's a somewhat perilous and ponderous at parts, but tries ultimately to be lyrical at its core."

Dialogue: Yes this is definitely classic Shizeet :P. Where on earth did you get your talent for such odd and like-ably abrasive music? I love the ending somehow. Do you know how much I would have hated this song if I had heard it when I first joined these forums? XD

Miniature Sketch: This actually reminds me of a song that was posted on here a really long time ago by someone else that was a piano duet. The harmonies were really similar. I love the deliberateness of the awkward transition at 1:09 and the melody that follows. I'm not quite as fond of the ending of this piece, though, in the context of the song. I almost think it wasn't awkward enough :P

Rhap: Urgh, sometimes, you come up with some beautiful harmonies in this piece that suddenly move on to something completely different. Sometimes I wish you would linger just a minute on some of those before moving on to the atonality, so there was some better contrast between section besides just the tempo and texture. However, I think you did achieve what you set out to do with the piece.

Mood Obscura: I'll come back to this one.

I like the Miniature Sketch! It's so vivid, and with that energy mostly in all the piece. I would love to see it as a work completed with more materials and contrasts. The only think I didn't like was those quiet solos of notes, they were very abrupt. But is a sketch anyway. I like also the rhapsody, very free flowing, some nice harmonies but found myself lost with the music content. I will need to listen more to it. Was nice to listen to both anyway! I have no listened still to the other two, so that is why I have no commented those yet.

Thanks for the comments, though these are actually the oldest batch of music of those that I've just posted. The other two got swept behind in the page break.

I am listening now to Mood obscura. It is still downloading, so, I am not hearing the full piece still(I am dial-up, so, slow internet). I must say I love this kind of music. And I am liking your pieces! I am wondering what sample you used in this one? It does sound different and much better than the other piano sample or soundfont you used in the other two pieces.

I am also working in piano pieces alike those. However not finished yet. Anyway is nice to hear that kind of music, I like it.

A Story: Wow, pretty conventional. I liked the nature of the piece, but the beginning was a little boring and the ending was awkward. I guess it sounds more like a loop, though, so the ending probably wouldn't even be included, right?

Another Story: I think this one need a tad bit more reverb (but then again I tend to like a lot as you've commented on in the past). Definitely not my favorite of your pieces, but it's not bad. I like the chord progression after 1:15 but I feel like it should be expanded a bit and cleaned up before you go back to the slow section again. The ending seems out of place yes, but this is just a sketch, correct?

Chilled: The name doesn't really fit the piece in my opinion, but this sort of music always makes me think of night in the city for some reason. I like it, though.

Actiony: I don't like the chord progression in the intro so much, especially towards the end of it. The section at :46 works best in my opinion for the action theme, and the one following I really like, but it doesn't necessarily feel like action.

Traveling: I think the first flute melody could be focused more. I like the ideas behind the song a lot, though, especially when it picks up. I like the string interactions towards the end, especially.

Traveling2: On second thought, I think I like the unfocused-nature of this piece a bit more in this context. It feels more like folk music or something.

I like the Miniature Sketch! It's so vivid, and with that energy mostly in all the piece. I would love to see it as a work completed with more materials and contrasts. The only think I didn't like was those quiet solos of notes, they were very abrupt. But is a sketch anyway. I like also the rhapsody, very free flowing, some nice harmonies but found myself lost with the music content. I will need to listen more to it. Was nice to listen to both anyway! I have no listened still to the other two, so that is why I have no commented those yet.

Yeah, to be honest the sketch was just a sudden burst in inspiration, so I'd like to think :P. Unfortunaely, it didn't quite last long enough to get me anywhere close through even one movement, so yeah...:unsure:. The little "solo" parts were really fillers since I couldn't think up of an appropriate countersection to the beginning parts, but I guess they're now more or less permanent. Unfortunately, I don't think I can finish this piece to any satisfaction, cause really, I bit off more than I could chew.

The rhapsody has some pretty random harmonic moments, but it was more intended as a melodically driven piece. You can sort of pick up how the starting phrases of each section are pretty similar, which are in turn disassembled and scattered throughout the rest of the piece - though rather sloppily. Well, I guess I can get away with it since it's a "Rhapsody", though ;).


I am listening now to Mood obscura. It is still downloading, so, I am not hearing the full piece still(I am dial-up, so, slow internet). I must say I love this kind of music. And I am liking your pieces! I am wondering what sample you used in this one? It does sound different and much better than the other piano sample or soundfont you used in the other two pieces.

I am also working in piano pieces alike those. However not finished yet. Anyway is nice to hear that kind of music, I like it.

I think I used a Bosendorfer (from Logic) sample for this piece, to further highlight the darker tone. The miniature sketch actually uses three different pianos since I wanted to keep the parts slightly more seperated, but it does come out of the same batch. Rhapsody uses a older Steinway Kontakt sample, which really shouldn't be worse but probably sound so because of the blurry textures. Dialogue, however, uses some really old soundfonts - or may I even ended up using "Wingroove" for it, if you know what that is heh.


Dialogue: Yes this is definitely classic Shizeet :P. Where on earth did you get your talent for such odd and like-ably abrasive music? I love the ending somehow. Do you know how much I would have hated this song if I had heard it when I first joined these forums? XD

Heh, I'm sure you would've hated it then, as you were sort of an close-minded asshole back then, if you don't mind me saying so :P. These sort of pieces were a lot easier for me to write back then as I didn't really have much of a sense of what was "odd" or "abrasive" - as it took me about the same effort to write "normal" music ;). The ending's my favorite part too, as that's one of my earliest attempts to incorporate minimalism into my music (there's sort of a pseudo canon/phasing going on).



Miniature Sketch: This actually reminds me of a song that was posted on here a really long time ago by someone else that was a piano duet. The harmonies were really similar. I love the deliberateness of the awkward transition at 1:09 and the melody that follows. I'm not quite as fond of the ending of this piece, though, in the context of the song. I almost think it wasn't awkward enough :P

Wow, was there really such a piece like this before? I vaguely remember there being a few more radical types in the past, but I can't really remember their music. Be great if you can find the post to this, if it's still archived here. Anyhow, the awkwardness middle part wasn't exactly intended, but after a few listens, it felt workable (and I was out of better ideas then), so there it stayed ;). Oh, and the ending really isn't supposed to an ending - it was going to be a contrapuntal variation of the "main theme" before I gave up on it.


Rhap: Urgh, sometimes, you come up with some beautiful harmonies in this piece that suddenly move on to something completely different. Sometimes I wish you would linger just a minute on some of those before moving on to the atonality, so there was some better contrast between section besides just the tempo and texture. However, I think you did achieve what you set out to do with the piece.

Yeah, my idea of a "Rhapsody" tends toward this very loose structuring. This piece was actually supposed to emulate what I might have done with the basic idea if I were to improvise upon it (though definitely with a lot more virtuosity than I can afford ;)) - and I really do like to go from drastically different textures. My least favorite parts are probably those more "beautiful" parts because most of them ended up being copy/alter/pasted sequences (more for inflating the playtime than anything else :sweat:). I tend to fall into this trap with sweeter harmonies as it's much easier to get away with them, though I do feel kind of guilty for being lazy. Oh well.


A Story: Wow, pretty conventional. I liked the nature of the piece, but the beginning was a little boring and the ending was awkward. I guess it sounds more like a loop, though, so the ending probably wouldn't even be included, right?

Another Story: I think this one need a tad bit more reverb (but then again I tend to like a lot as you've commented on in the past). Definitely not my favorite of your pieces, but it's not bad. I like the chord progression after 1:15 but I feel like it should be expanded a bit and cleaned up before you go back to the slow section again. The ending seems out of place yes, but this is just a sketch, correct?

Chilled: The name doesn't really fit the piece in my opinion, but this sort of music always makes me think of night in the city for some reason. I like it, though.

Actiony: I don't like the chord progression in the intro so much, especially towards the end of it. The section at :46 works best in my opinion for the action theme, and the one following I really like, but it doesn't necessarily feel like action.


Yeah, I'm not really good with names and such, just typed in what first popped in my mind basically heh.

A Story - yes, it's supposed to loop, though I think I intended to add some more variations before ending it. But by that time, I stopped working on this piece and instead tried to develop an alternative version, which became "Another Story."

Another Story - this is my least favorite out of this batch too, cause it just ending up sounding too dredgy and sludgy. The random part near the end came out almost subconsciously cause I wanted to get out of that zone, haha.

Actiony - I think I added the part at :46 to specifically make it sound more actiony, but that ended up breaking my self-imposed rule for this set to be rather simplistic sounding. The next section was sort to make up for all of that :heh:.

Chilled - this one came out as a happy compromise between a piece that's fairly relaxed in pace, but with still enough going on in throughout the music for you to avoid phasing it out to the background. What would you think would be a more appropriate title for this?

Chilled - this one came out as a happy compromise between a piece that's fairly relaxed in pace, but with still enough going on in throughout the music for you to avoid phasing it out to the background. What would you think would be a more appropriate title for this?

Not sure... it reminds me of this anime that used to be on Adult Swim about some detective that got turned into a little kid XD...

The piece that reminded me of yours was this one by Ravelle, which was posted around the time I joined the forums.

Fantastic! You really like composing fast paced chromatic dark pieces (judging from the first two). That was well written, quite enjoyable indeed. When I listen to music, sometimes I tend to imagine the notes passing by. It was really fun trying to imagine all of these notes quickly passing by. I really couldn't catch a recurring melody, but wasn't random either.

I just finished listening to the last one, indeed dark also, and slow. Reminds me of a friend's impromptu. I can hear mystery all over the song. I'm not sure if I wanted to lay back and close my eyes listening to this song, I'd be scared :p
At the ending I was expecting another note, when I noticed it never came I realized you kept me in suspense. Nice one, not always endings work like that.

Good job overall! Keep that up!

I'd like to give you a round of applause. These past four pieces brought me back in time for a few minutes. It reminded me of sitting in my father's old Buick Park Avenue while driving with him to his destinations for the day for his work. We always had the local classical/fine arts station on in the car (WQED-FM). These four pieces just brought these memories back from my childhood and the time my father and I spent together listening to music. :heh:

Thanks! Keep doing what you do best!

Here's a little something which is quite a departure from all that heavy stuff. A little birthday present of sorts, you can say - though with a twist :P.

I thought it was going to be all piano, but then surprise me with the second part. Then left me thinking something else was coming. But nothing came! I liked the sound at 0:38. And the Alberti bass was a bit loud.

It's actually more of a straight up/down arpeggiation than Alberti bass, but yeah, I didn't really pay much attention to the first part. Might work a full version of the Mag Mell theme sometime in the future.

Speaking of remixes, here's an update of the Zelda one. It's kind of lost it's focus, so I think I'll probably strip some parts and reinforce others. Or maybe break it up into two interrelated pieces (right now it still hasn't had a section with Zelda's theme which was hinted at intermittenly, and only barely gotten started with Agitha's theme).

Having trouble uploading the file here, so here's the mirror.

mp3 (http://www.esnips.com/doc/4ac5e0e0-1362-4ea4-b233-1db71849b7a7/Princess-Suite)

Hey all, haven't updated in a while, but here's some "new" stuff - actually, it's older stuff which I neglected to post, thinking I would do so after they become more finalized. But I think a bit too much time has passed, and I don't think I'll be working on these anymore.

Rush - suspenseful string ostinatos, check

Nostalgic - based on a progression of another piece; the general idea isn't bad, but the execution is lacking somewhat.

bombast - a rough orchestral sketch of an idea; as you can hear, it didn't get very at all

Gid - that sort of mischievous yet innocent sounding theme

Sadsketch - an assortment of ideas for piano

Sadslow - same as before, but a bit more condensed and slower

The only real new stuff is the few orchestration exercises these last few months, though most are of only fragments of pieces. I've only have two saved as MIDI right now, though I'll see if I can get some of the other ones eventually. I'll also refrain from posting the actual scores since 1.) the program I use horribly screws up the alignment most of the time and 2.) I usually neglect to write out the dynamics and articulations unless it's on a hard copy, so you're not missing much with the MIDIs.

Bach orch - a Bach chorale tune arranged for string quintet (or small string ensemble) - it's pretty close to the original, though I've staggered some of the entrances and switched around the registers a bit; there are supposed to be some fromadas, and a ritard at the end...

Wind Ensemble - a snippet from Mozart's Rondo for piano in A minor (K. 511), arranged for woodwind pairs (with e. horn and bass clarinet ). I've taken more liberties with this one, especially in the episode.

And since I've got one more upload slot to spare, I'll upload this old Chopin re-arrangment from last year - this time around, the form is actually changed from the original binary to ternary (basically only the first eight bars are unaltered, with a original "B" section and added cadenza before the coda). Voice leading feels kind of off at parts, but it was a fun exercise.

Very nice! I am most interested in your piano sketches. They sound awesome! Keep them coming! ^_^

That first sketch has some very nice ideas. What's more is that they are seemingly easy to blend into many types of compositions. They almost even flow well together throughout the whole sketch, which just proves their versatility.

Yeah, I guess sketching ideas/spontaneous improvisation is one of my stronger points (though I am better while actually playing it, not just sequencing as I've done for these last ones), but actually organizing them into something coherent is another thing together :P. "Sadslow" was such an attempt, but the second section dragged too much - I really need to let go of using that VI-IV-II progression too much :P - and the "ending" section ended up being some new idea, barely related to the rest of the piece.

On a related note, "Actiony" and "Chilled" from a few posts ago was probably one of the few times that such an approach came together - though it took a few iterations, as you can probably see from the "Story" pieces - though not quite as I imagined it. "Nostalgic" was also based on an preconceived progression (one first used in 2006 or so, in this fake movie track which I don't think I have posted here) - it didn't work too bad in this case, but the fake violin kinds of kill any sort of emotional response one might get.

Anyways, now that winter break is coming along, hopefully I'll have time to pump out a few new pieces that aren't just a result of a momentary diversion ;).

A few more new and old works:

Egonomics - Something I did in 2006 for a GW Troubadours concept album, based around the theme of "insanity" :P - I really enjoyed doing this one cause I was able to combine both improvised/live parts as well as sequenced parts, which really added some extra dimension to this piece.

Creep - A piece I've done earlier in the year; I think I was trying to go for a scary feel, but it came out more as a miasmal or suffocating feeling.

Elements - one of my old one hour compositions from a while ago - this one was mostly improvised, so it ended up being quite long. The theme was based around the nature of the elements and such, so I think this more raw/unedited approach worked well.

SC71 - a short clip recently composed for a contest of sorts; I kind of fudged the theme, and ended up making something between a hoedown and Terry Riley's music (probably cause heard his "Rainbow on Curved Air", curiously on one of the radio stations on GTA IV).

SC71b - a second attempt, this time somewhat more successful, though the second part sounds a bit too much like a slot machine with the crazy organ :P.

Creep for some reasons makes me thing of grass or a forest. I like the ambient created in the piece.

Creep for some reasons makes me thing of grass or a forest. I like the ambient created in the piece.

Grass? That's rather interesting, though I don't quite get the resemblance. To each his own though ;).

Anyways, here's something I've worked on over the break for the same contest that BlazinDragon was in - needless to say, I was left in the dust, but hurr durr w/e. I was going to work on this a bit more, but I lost all my Logic Projects after my Mac failed (along with the hard-drive). Here's the final bounce I've somehow saved (and for some reason I can't get it to upload here, so I'll just link to the mirror):

Wintertide Wishes (http://www.esnips.com/doc/0962c0ae-9a7d-4605-8fdd-163c32403fbd/Wintertide-Wishes-Final)

And there's of some semblence of a "programme" for this piece, but I'll spare you that semi-pretentious faggotry and omit the text. Enjoy it for what it is: a fun little techno piece :).

I remember I listened to your piece before, when I was looking at the competition of that site. The piece sounds like it can fit in a snow/'technologic' field in a game. I like the ambient the piece create. Oh, the max to upload here is 5mbs that is why you could not upload it.

Edit: Ooops, my mistake. Yes it is 10mbs. Lol

Huh, I guess they didn't update the limit values in the upload dialog (still says 10mb)? Meh, whatever - it's rare that I end up making such a long piece anyhows :P. Thanks for your comments.

Sounds pretty cool! What came to mind when i was listening to it was some winter level on some Crash Bandicoot game. XD

And I think the upload limit is 5MB's even though it says it's 10MB's.

Excellent =) There is some great thinking behind this piece, and it doesn't sound half-arsed like most compositions of this nature that are posted here. I can honestly say I that I enjoyed it throughout its entirety!

Yessss...this is good stuff.

Dauuumn.

You know, you've never ceased to amaze me, Shizeet. Everything is very tasteful and makes perfect music (and technological! XD) sense!

Great work/praise!

Wow, I didn't think this piece would get such acclaim - I'm still a bit on the fence about it myself, but if you like it, then more power to ya ;)! Thanks for the comments.

Browsing through my email archives, I've managed to dug up one piece of music I thought lost for good, and another that I totally forgot about haha. The first one is part of a fake-film music thing I've done for a class fall of 2005 (which included "Trippy Dream" and "Excerpts", both of which that borrowed some thematic material from this one). This one isn't the final version, but I think only a few bars or so are missing, so it's not a big loss. I actually found the "description" I wrote up with it as well (the scene one music is lost - the music I've uploaded here describes scene two):


Project #3 Imaginary Soundscore

The protagonist in this film has recently acquired a strange condition in which he spontaneously falls asleep at inconvenient times, and amusing situations result. Also, through these coma sessions he dreams strange but enjoyable and meaningful dreams. However, after being cured from this condition later on, he finds that he cannot dream at all anymore. From this point on, he goes on through an interesting journey to find his dreams again.

The first scene starts with an almost alien-looking world, a metropolis created from overgrown and mutated vegetation. There seems to be traces of animal life, but the only sounds that come forth are the strange melodies emitted by the pipe-like plants with crystalline leaves, resonating to the wind. When the piano comes in, we see the protagonist riding on a cloud, in an euphoric trance. Scene pans here and there while opening credits roll - screen then slowly fades into white, while sounds of machinery gradually replacing the otherworldly sounds of nature.

Scene 2:


:00 ~ :04 - Jarring Awakening
:06 ~ :13 - Feeling Refreshed
:15 - Unfortunate Realization
:16 ~ :25 - Work Piling Up
:26 ~ :39 - Out of Control!
:40 ~ :47 – Troubling Consequences/Scene Transition
:48 ~ 1:14 - Dealing with Depression/The Long Trip Home
1:15 ~ 2:01 - Futile Resistance Against the Sandman
2:02 - Dream Transition


The other work is an pseudo-asian sort of piece for some indie rpg or whatnot. Not quite as remarkable, but a fun listen nevertheless.

The only I have to say is that I enjoyed it and would fit good for a silent film of the thing you told. I could not listen to the second one, something was wrong with the file. o_0

Well, I didn't intend it to be for a silent film, but the musical parts ended up being somewhat overspoken so I see your point. Also, the brevity probably added to it, but the events probably wouldn't be happening at such a pace. I think I'd just sketched out the "feel" of sequence of scenes.

Not sure why the other piece isn't working. I'll repost it here in mp3 though.

Well, I'm back from another composing hiatus, so here's a few new pieces to chew on:

Strange Dance - A staggering dance for piano, or something, heh
Little Phantasie - A more fluid take on "Strange Dance"
Stringeggia - A test piece of sorts, messing around with arppegiator thing :sweat:
1 - Something I started recently, though its still quite rough - the internal accents are kind of screwed up for the long piano arpeggios so it doesn't really sound 4/4, though it is.

Also, a remix of sorts (more like a mashup actually):

MOON.struck - mashup of the first four tracks tracks from the MOON. VN OST - quality is pretty bleh due to the extensive pitch shifting and time stretching.

Holy! This is fantastic material! I'm very jealous! So many nice emotions coming through. Your new post has a big 20th Century feel to it. Especially Little Phantasie and Strange Dance. IT'S INCREDIBLE WORK!

Moonstruck was really nice to listen to, because I has listen to everything else first so I heard everything again. AMAZING!

"1" reminded me of Star Fox Adventure a little big. Ahh! Now nostalgic! :)

House of Onimaru reminded me of Nausicaa music. EVEN MORE NOSTALGIC! Is this live or sampled sound?

I absolutely love your Asian influences in your pieces! I added you on msn if you don't mind:)

It's AMAZING!!

Strange Dance & Little Phantasie brought to me this visual of two persons trying to dance, but failing. Then they start to mess around; doing strange movements. I visualized them as sticks but with a squared body and a circled head. All was in white and black lacking of any colour. At the end in Little Phantasie they started to get colours; everything started to get colour but then it stopped. It sounds strange, but that is what I got from your piece, and I liked it.

Strinpeggia: This one has a very nice drum quality, which makes me like it; it is complementing very well I think. The arpeggios does not make sense, but is not stopping me of liking something of this.

The one of Moon I think I have heard the original; but no idea, just sound familiar. The piece entertained me with the different timbres and effects you used. Very nice.

Holy! This is fantastic material! I'm very jealous! So many nice emotions coming though. Your new post has a big 20th Century feel to it. Especially Little Phantasie and Strange Dance. IT'S INCREDIBLE WORK!

Moonstruck was really nice to listen to, because I has listen to everything else first so I heard everything again. AMAZING!

"1" reminded me of Star Fox Adventure a little big. Ahh! Now nostalgic! :)

House of Onimaru reminded me of Nausicaa music. EVEN MORE NOSTALGIC! Is this live or sampled sound?

I absolutely love your Asian influences in your pieces! I added you on msn if you don't mind:)

It's AMAZING!!

Haha, thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it all. I guess the piano stuff does sound somewhat 20th century, but most of my other stuff is starting to sound pretty poppy hehe.

If you liked Moonstruck, definitely go check out the original soundtrack if you can find it. My remix wasn't really a serious attempt, so it doesn't quite do the music justice.

Which Star Fox game did "1" remind you of? The last one I've played was 64, and I can only remember the stage select and 1st level themes haha.

Pretty much all my stuff is non-live, which goes for House of Onimaru as well. Funny thing is that I actually a number of synths in that track to emulate asian instruments heh.

I guess a lot of my tracks do have this "asian" sort of sound to it, for better or for worse - probably cause I often end up using diatonic quartal/quintal chords.

Also, I don't mind the add, but honestly I haven't been on MSN for who knows how long. Don't even remember the password for it, and the email that it was linked to is baleted heh. You can try adding me on AIM if you'd like, though I'm only on sparsely.


Strange Dance & Little Phantasie brought to me this visual of two persons trying to dance, but failing. Then they start to mess around; doing strange movements. I visualized them as sticks but with a squared body and a circled head. All was in white and black lacking of any colour. At the end in Little Phantasie they started to get colours; everything started to get colour but then it stopped. It sounds strange, but that is what I got from your piece, and I liked it.

Strinpeggia: This one has a very nice drum quality, which makes me like it; it is complementing very well I think. The arpeggios does not make sense, but is not stopping me of liking something of this.

The one of Moon I think I have heard the original; but no idea, just sound familiar. The piece entertained me with the different timbres and effects you used. Very nice.

You know, when I started writing those piano pieces, I had intended for them to be a more serious attempt at writing music - needless to say, somewhere along the line I've lost that goal and just goofed around, even moreso than usual :P. Your description is quite fitting, haha.

The drums sound good because they're actually loops (I know, I've been getting kind of lazy with writing drums lately :heh:), which I just put there for the sake of filling the piece up. What do you mean by the arpeggios not making sense? I was just trying some quintal chords with this new synth and the arppegiator handled them quite neatly.

For the MOON piece, if the it sounded familiar, than you probably have heard the original, since I just ripped chunks of it and rearranged them. Though at times completely out of context :sweat:.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to post this piece too, which was probably the last major thing I've worked on. Another remix from AIR - this track in particular (http://www.esnips.com/doc/6cd31701-8ab2-480e-80de-caf3945e5d1b/Esoragoto) - that I've been always wanting to do. The drums still sound kind of meh as I've just been stringing along loops, which I'll probably smooth out more in the final version. Well, if I can get back to it at least :think:.

The RMX is coming along very nicely! ^^

I think there are a few bum notes occasionally though. I've listed them for easy picking

Time - Your note - note that feels right

00:07 - Ab - A
00:11 - Bb - A
00:23 - Ab - A
00:27 - Bb - A
02:41 - Bb - B
02:45 - Eb - D
02:49 - Bb - B
02:53 - Eb - D

Apart from that, it sounds beautiful so far! :) I really like the instruments you've used and it was a really nice color to it. Blue, like the......AIR! haha. :)

I don't like the crackling too much though. It's a little painful to listen to and it also doesn't mesh too well with what you're going for. I think the synth that carries the melody form around 1:23 can be louder and maybe have a little bit of reverb. Air is spacious after all :) Same with the synth coming in at 2:05.

Maybe you can make the drums a little louder? Is that was you're going for as well?

Sorry if I'm being too hypercritical. I hope I'm not! But I'm focusing on the tracks "bugs" because it reminds me in some places of metroid music, which I hold close to me heart hehe...anyway, BEAUTIFUL!!! GREAT JOB!!

PS: What is your synth equipment? Software or hardware synth? If software, which product? thank you!! :) Oh, and are you singing at 4:16!? That's really cool and adds great texture color to the song! :)

Hey Keith, thanks for the comments. I checked those "bum" notes you were talking about as I don't remember anything sounding too out of place, and I can sort of see where you are coming from. Those are the usual sorts of chromatic alternation I often use to spice things up, giving it more melodic moment - they actually make sense theoretically (sort of, anyways).

Attached is a quick voice leading analysis of the problem notes - for the first part, I tried to draw overhead arrows to show the dissonance resolving, while using normal arrows to show the flow of that voice. As you can see, they pretty much are actually just passing chromatic notes (the latter with an extra ornamental leap up to the D).

I did kind of cheat a bit for first one though as the Ab in the guitar was originally a G# leading to B (going through A, which sort of makes it parallel motion with the bass part :heh:).

The second part is not as easily explained since the harmony is sort of ambiguous during the transition in the latter two measures. I think I used the note I did because I was constantly switching from the major version to the minor version of the chord, and using the "wrong" note kept it somewhat more consistent sounding. It may be easier to try to see the notes in the trebel staff and notes in the bass staff exists somewhat seperatly (which would result in the second half of the measures making up a strange V7 chord).

Didn't know the crackling was that much of a bother - I was trying to fake that lo-fi/old vinyl feel, which I really like ;). As for the balancing stuff, I haven't really bothered much with it since the arrangment is not finalized. Also, I've been using mostly headphones to mix, so some parts may sound too soft on speakers, which I'll have to check later.

I'm surprised you didn't recognize any of the sounds, as I saw that you used Logic 8 Studio as well. This project was done pretty much exclusively using (sometimes edited) presets from it (the sampled stuff is all EXS24, while the synth sound is the ES2), as well as some Apple Loops. And yeah, there's a few crappy vocalized effects at the beginning and the end. Really had to cover it up since the mike wasn't set up correctly and I was sort of just improvising :P.

Glad you enjoyed it overall, though. I don't think I'll be working more on this anytime soon due to other committments, but I'll definitely polish it up some more eventually. :)

Hey Keith, thanks for the comments. I checked those "bum" notes you were talking about as I don't remember anything sounding too out of place, and I can sort of see where you are coming from. Those are the usual sorts of chromatic alternation I often use to spice things up, giving it more melodic moment - they actually make sense theoretically (sort of, anyways).

Attached is a quick voice leading analysis of the problem notes - for the first part, I tried to draw overhead arrows to show the dissonance resolving, while using normal arrows to show the flow of that voice. As you can see, they pretty much are actually just passing chromatic notes (the latter with an extra ornamental leap up to the D).

I did kind of cheat a bit for first one though as the Ab in the guitar was originally a G# leading to B (going through A, which sort of makes it parallel motion with the bass part :heh:).

The second part is not as easily explained since the harmony is sort of ambiguous during the transition in the latter two measures. I think I used the note I did because I was constantly switching from the major version to the minor version of the chord, and using the "wrong" note kept it somewhat more consistent sounding. It may be easier to try to see the notes in the trebel staff and notes in the bass staff exists somewhat seperatly (which would result in the second half of the measures making up a strange V7 chord).

Didn't know the crackling was that much of a bother - I was trying to fake that lo-fi/old vinyl feel, which I really like ;). As for the balancing stuff, I haven't really bothered much with it since the arrangment is not finalized. Also, I've been using mostly headphones to mix, so some parts may sound too soft on speakers, which I'll have to check later.

I'm surprised you didn't recognize any of the sounds, as I saw that you used Logic 8 Studio as well. This project was done pretty much exclusively using (sometimes edited) presets from it (the sampled stuff is all EXS24, while the synth sound is the ES2), as well as some Apple Loops. And yeah, there's a few crappy vocalized effects at the beginning and the end. Really had to cover it up since the mike wasn't set up correctly and I was sort of just improvising :P.

Glad you enjoyed it overall, though. I don't think I'll be working more on this anytime soon due to other committments, but I'll definitely polish it up some more eventually. :)

Haha! I didn't know it was logic :P I mainly use logic for the sequencing features and not the sounds avaliable haha. ut I will hve to check them out now! :)

Mmn. The crackling came over a little too loud for my speakers, maybe just decrease the volume a little bit. Cool effect though! ^^

I see where you're coming from when you put those chords, but I don't think they work becuase they're a mood breaker? They just felt so out of place that it resurfaced me form your track. The trakc can be really submersive! :)

Good luck if/when you revisit the track! :)

PS: Keith? = Kevin? :P

I didn't feel those notes were out of place...

Nothing fresh to post, but here's a few MIDI files that I don't think I've posted yet:

SCCC73a - an attempt at arranging the Chrono Trigger main theme using "bell-like" instruments. Never completed as it was supposed to be a team-composition, and I don't think my partner ever finished his half.

Septet - Obviously very Turtle Island Quartet influenced; started off nicely, but then I forgot about this piece haha - just found it the other day among some old files

test - My latest attempt at writing serious "modern" music (probably 2007-ish) - ironically, it turned out rather whimsical (and I just stopped and never looked back since :P).

Vessel - MIDI file for this piece (http://www.esnips.com/doc/11b620ff-1ae6-499f-bf03-28dd8f1b4c1d/Vessel), but with a few changes. Most notably the transition from the B to A' section of the first half is more articulate, and also "fixed" the sequence in the latter active half to avoid that diminished chord.

Rand2 - Fairly random piece with randomly chosen instruments - lots of meter changes and such, as well as detuned "chorusing" of the instruments.

SCCC73a - The bells just seem to muddle the melody too much. Furthermore, you kind of complicated it further sometimes with the arpeggiated chords. I would suggest you try to keep it more simple and less dense with notes so that your melody comes out more. It IS the *main* theme, after all.

Septet - Interesting. It it helps, it sounded to me like it should modulate back to the original key after what you did.

Test - can't say I'm a fan of this one very much...

Vessel - I think this is my favorite of the ones you posted; this would be interesting to hear live, and I think you should make sheet music and see if you can get it performed! However, perhaps you could draw out the A' section a bit? It seemed a bit rushed to me.

Rand2 - Interesting effect...the worst part is, though, that I love the chord progressions up until :40, but the detuned chorus kinda ruined it! Not sure what to think...

SCCC73a - The bells just seem to muddle the melody too much. Furthermore, you kind of complicated it further sometimes with the arpeggiated chords. I would suggest you try to keep it more simple and less dense with notes so that your melody comes out more. It IS the *main* theme, after all.

Septet - Interesting. It it helps, it sounded to me like it should modulate back to the original key after what you did.

Test - can't say I'm a fan of this one very much...

Vessel - I think this is my favorite of the ones you posted; this would be interesting to hear live, and I think you should make sheet music and see if you can get it performed! However, perhaps you could draw out the A' section a bit? It seemed a bit rushed to me.

Rand2 - Interesting effect...the worst part is, though, that I love the chord progressions up until :40, but the detuned chorus kinda ruined it! Not sure what to think...

I can see what you are saying with SCCC73a, but I guess I just wanted to try an somewhat more subtle, less conventional approach to the theme. Most of the arrangements of the main theme tend to be pretty bombastic as I recall.

Septet - Well, like I said, it's hardly done or even really connected - mostly a just brainstorm of ideas. And I don't think I even knew chord theory back then :P.

Vessel - People tend to like this one for some reason, but I can't help but be irked by the unintentional dichotomy. Maybe someday I'll come back and fix this and make it longer while making the transition less abrupt.

Test - Haha, well that's certainly not surprising

Rand2 - Yeah, the ending is hardly great - Well, the whole piece was just me goofing around with one thing or another ;) - though I was a bit surprised myself how some parts came together fairly well.

Anyways, some new pieces to dump!

Grimoire - Piano arrangement of this piece (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCKtXJP2DxA), not quite reasonably playable yet
EndWorld - Orchestral arrangement of that piece (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZrSUvrXRc4) (very short)

Moody Princess - A mostly relaxing piece; you might recognize the second theme from an earlier piece
Light Battle - Work in progress of a tactical rpg battle theme (or rather preparation for one); as with most of my WIP stuff, some transitions are bleh and the percussion stuff is crappu (or even non-existant at parts) for now.

Oh, I guess I actually don't have 5 new pieces to post. Guess I'll post this finale to an older piece I seem to have lying around.

I think "Moody Princess" is really nice. Only comment I will make is that I feel like the jumpiness of the melody at 1:46 and 4:04 a) is too jarring for the sweetness of your melody and b) makes the really cool harmonic things going on sound really mushy. Definitely reminds me of the feel of the Twilight Princess soundtrack, though.

In "Light Battle", I think the quick time signature changes could be better accentuated by the accents in the snare drum line. As it is, it feels a little awkward and confusing.

I think "Moody Princess" is really nice. Only comment I will make is that I feel like the jumpiness of the melody at 1:46 and 4:04 a) is too jarring for the sweetness of your melody and b) makes the really cool harmonic things going on sound really mushy. Definitely reminds me of the feel of the Twilight Princess soundtrack, though.

Yeah I agree, though it's sort of a limitation of the instrument. Doesn't have a tenuto sort of bowing articulation, which would've worked better there.



In "Light Battle", I think the quick time signature changes could be better accentuated by the accents in the snare drum line. As it is, it feels a little awkward and confusing.

The percussion is all over the place right now, but yeah, that would definitely help in smoothing things out.

Here's another light little piece, though maybe a bit too heavy on the drums for the mood.

Yeah I agree, though it's sort of a limitation of the instrument. Doesn't have a tenuto sort of bowing articulation, which would've worked better there.

The odd thing is that now that I listen to it again, I actually like the section with the jumps. The part following it is what bothers me now! :heh: I'm a little confused...

As to the newest one, I actually didn't mind the percussion at all. It sounds pretty good overall.

Thanks for the comments as usual. It seems like you are the only one who bothers commenting (or even listening, judging by the download numbers) my stuff lately. Wonder if I have been put some black list or something hehe.

Bpop sounds great! A really good feel!! Maybe though, refine the transaction 0:42. It doesn't flow as well as it could in my opinion haha. MASSIVE FAN OF 1:25! haha. The only concern with the bass solo/feature at 1:46 is that it doesn't feel like part of the rest of the song. Could you maybe add some guitar chords there just to keep that great feel going? Great job!

Thanks for the comments as usual. It seems like you are the only one who bothers commenting (or even listening, judging by the download numbers) my stuff lately. Wonder if I have been put some black list or something hehe.

Hmmm...I hadn't noticed, but you're very welcome.

It took me time to adapt to Bpop's percussion. It felt first like is not interacting with the rest so well (first parts). Later did not bother so much but felt too loud compared with the other instruments (at least in my crap speakers). At 1:09 I liked a lot how the percussion behaved with the music, and was a nice part in the piece. The bass section was my favorite. Probably adding guitar can help to keep the feeling going as Kevin mentioned but I feel it can steal the bass attention; maybe having the guitar playing softly in the background.

As a person who judges what to listen by its title, only one of them really interested me. xD

Staggering Metric Modulation

If only an organ could portamento into quarter tones... ;) Well, asides from that impossibility, I really enjoyed this clip. If anything, the rhythm toward the end was evocative of traditional Chinese music, which was really cool. Since you seem to be one of the more daring composers on Ichigo's in terms of experimentations and whatnot, why don't you try some more obscure string effects? i.e. bowing on the bridge, Bartok pizz (which I personally love), the two col legno effects (which all string players hate, but do it anyway), and etc... I think you'll find a lot of worthwhile colours from those. I don't know how you would continue to develop this clip, but if anything, I'd love to see your larger works incorporating similar effects.

Bpop sounds great! A really good feel!! Maybe though, refine the transaction 0:42. It doesn't flow as well as it could in my opinion haha. MASSIVE FAN OF 1:25! haha. The only concern with the bass solo/feature at 1:46 is that it doesn't feel like part of the rest of the song. Could you maybe add some guitar chords there just to keep that great feel going? Great job!

Yeah, that transition really needs work. Not exactly sure what to do with it at this point though. The bass only section is definitely incomplete, though I'm not sure if I will work on this piece anymore.


It took me time to adapt to Bpop's percussion. It felt first like is not interacting with the rest so well (first parts). Later did not bother so much but felt too loud compared with the other instruments (at least in my crap speakers). At 1:09 I liked a lot how the percussion behaved with the music, and was a nice part in the piece. The bass section was my favorite. Probably adding guitar can help to keep the feeling going as Kevin mentioned but I feel it can steal the bass attention; maybe having the guitar playing softly in the background.

The percussion definitely is not specifically fitted to this piece (I gutted from another older piece of mines), and I haven't yet started modifying it much yet. After listening to the bass section more and more, I am starting to like it more as is though. Provides a nice contrast at the very least. I'll play around with it some more if I get back to it.


As a person who judges what to listen by its title, only one of them really interested me. xD

Staggering Metric Modulation

If only an organ could portamento into quarter tones... ;) Well, asides from that impossibility, I really enjoyed this clip. If anything, the rhythm toward the end was evocative of traditional Chinese music, which was really cool. Since you seem to be one of the more daring composers on Ichigo's in terms of experimentations and whatnot, why don't you try some more obscure string effects? i.e. bowing on the bridge, Bartok pizz (which I personally love), the two col legno effects (which all string players hate, but do it anyway), and etc... I think you'll find a lot of worthwhile colours from those. I don't know how you would continue to develop this clip, but if anything, I'd love to see your larger works incorporating similar effects.

Heh, well actually I had written it as three seperate organs parts (quartertone up and down for two of them), so it's not completely inconceivable :P. The asian influence wasn't exactly intentional, but it turned out that way and I just went with the flow somewhat (I do that too much I think :heh:). And I probably would've worked in a few more effects but was originally made for a computer composition class, and the sample library only had a few different articulations. By the way, that was actually an excerpt of this piece (http://www.esnips.com/doc/d9332051-0154-482a-952a-647570bdd3df/2006.12_Finale), though I only posted that part since the rest was kind of a mess (it was a pretty rushed final project).

Honestly, I haven't really been 'experimenting' much lately. I have been trying to work on my 'basics' which were never properly developed since I started composing. That said, I'll upload this suite of works that I've done recently which have been somewhat experimental. Well, suite is probably stretching it since they vary wildly in style and instrumentation, and only the last piece brings it all together.

Oh, and another lighter piece for the lighter fans B).

Nonanthem totally reminds me of the soundtrack of Ninja Gaiden for the original NES. However, is that big silent space from 2:38 intentional?

Could you maybe explain how the last piece incorporates elements of the other 3? I was a little lost, I'm not gonna lie. However, I liked how the beginning and end sort of had that "primal" feel that brought the piece together.

Dang I wish I knew more about sequencing...

The big silence is probably from a sequencing error - it's supposed to end after that last chord.

And yeah, the references are mostly obscure, but during the second "round" - each of which is signaled by the recurrence of that motif from the beginning - there are references to the 2nd and 3rd pieces (in those little breaks at 1:44 and 1:49, and collage in the section starting at 2:06). Also, the third "round" was pretty much a reimagining of the 1st piece, though the chord progression is first played out in retrograde). I mostly just added those as fun easter eggs, since it's not very obvious to anyone other than myself.

Also, the piece itself is fairly self-referential as well, with everything in the first "round" showing up in the rest of the piece in some manner or another. Motific mutation might be a fitting term for the composition process that this piece was made with.

Haven't done much concrete stuff since my last update (most unrecorded piano sketches and studying theory/DAW application). I am getting some new equipment soon though, so will try to do some stuff with that. Anyways, here's two bits I have done. One is a slower, jazzier variation on the "Petals"/"Little Phantasie" theme (or rather it's just stuck in near the end). Another is a more rhythmic thing; still pretty rough though.

"Quick" kinda feels like a broken record, which is a really cool effect, I think. Finish it, definitely (unless it is finished...but it didn't seem like it...)

"or Another" is nice, but I think that's all I can really say about it.

Posting after another hiatus of sorts. Orchestration class this semester was really time-consuming so I didn't really have time to compose or otherwise work on music stuff outside that scope. But now that's all over, here's two little pieces I've played with a bit.

One is just a random orchestral number I've composed, plus a bit of another piece at the end. The shorter one is a snippet I've orchestrated from a friend's viola sonata (had to use cello though since I didn't have a good solo viola sample) - mostly it's a sample library test though.

Flutters I could not get where you was going with the music. It had various entertaining things in it, though. Orcello was really fun to listen, I enjoyed it a lot. For its length, I did not get a sense of it to be really short.

So far I really like Dialogue, Eternal Carnival of a Broken Mind and An Atmosphere. I listened to about five or six so far. I can't listen to the rest right now but I am super excited to! There is a "feeling" to your music---a type of originality that I haven't witnessed with much of the other composers.

(I will also note that I enjoy the pieces that use sounds other than the piano most.)

Well, "Flutters" certainly lived up to its name. I really like the orchestration. The bells (I think) stand out more than they should. You're really good at making electronic stuff sound passable. I liked the beginning more than the rest of the piece, though.

Orcello sounds a bit more like a concerto movement than a sonata, and not just because it's orchestrated, but also in terms of the style of the cello's phrases. Normally you don't have that kind of stuff in a sonata. I really like snippets of this one, but as a whole, it feels like it disintegrates into just a lot of mess. I'm probably overly conservative when it comes to composition, though. Like, I kind of hate Stravinsky, Varese and that lot.

Flutters I could not get where you was going with the music. It had various entertaining things in it, though. Orcello was really fun to listen, I enjoyed it a lot. For its length, I did not get a sense of it to be really short.

Yeah I wasn't too sure where I was going myself with Flutters, though I imagined a sort of montage piece. I guess Orcello is a pseudo self-contained phrase, but it's still pretty short compared to the whole piece (which is like 15:00 - 16:00 minutes).


So far I really like Dialogue, Eternal Carnival of a Broken Mind and An Atmosphere. I listened to about five or six so far. I can't listen to the rest right now but I am super excited to! There is a "feeling" to your music---a type of originality that I haven't witnessed with much of the other composers.

(I will also note that I enjoy the pieces that use sounds other than the piano most.)

Thanks for your thoughts, and how nice of you to listen to some of my older stuff :P. I guess I was more of an explorer with my earlier stuff, though nowadays I'm trying to work on more 'normal' sounding music. ^_^


Well, "Flutters" certainly lived up to its name. I really like the orchestration. The bells (I think) stand out more than they should. You're really good at making electronic stuff sound passable. I liked the beginning more than the rest of the piece, though.


Now that I've listened to it some more, the glockenspiel gets too loud at parts - I'll tweak it some more when I get back to working on it. I also liked the liquidy beginning parts more, maybe I'll try to extend that part some more.



Orcello sounds a bit more like a concerto movement than a sonata, and not just because it's orchestrated, but also in terms of the style of the cello's phrases. Normally you don't have that kind of stuff in a sonata. I really like snippets of this one, but as a whole, it feels like it disintegrates into just a lot of mess. I'm probably overly conservative when it comes to composition, though. Like, I kind of hate Stravinsky, Varese and that lot.

Well, it's a somewhat climatic section so things do get kind of chaotic sounding (the fast movements of the piece are pretty energetic overall). I probably could've been more clear with orchestration itself, but as I said before, it's just a little sound test. Anyways, here's a more balanced version of the orchestration (along with an actual viola sound this time :P).

Actually, I guess I'll post the midis here for a bit for those interested. It only loosely follows the sonata form, but motifically it's very cohesive. Very nice piece in my opinion.

Came here trying to look up a few older pieces for archiving, figure I might as well post something while I'm at it too. This is a quirky "little" piece I've made messing around with Ableton Live a while ago; despite the length, I've actually made in a fairly short timespan, so technically it's rather messy. There's about 4 main "themes", and I tried to vary them to make it sound more interesting and fresh throughout. Structure is vaguely like this:

A - B - A - C - Transition/Climax - C' - C'' - A' - (A' + B) - D - D - B' - D - B'' - D - B''' (with modified melody from C") - D - B'''' - D - End
*B', B'', and B'''' sections use a modified version of the A section bassline/motif

lol... i love it... although going into the min mark 2 was a little weird. it was a quite risky thing. the song itself is very 1990ish... well at least in my opinion.
cool beans yo.

After listening to the piece I found that the title perfectly describes what it is, a Kaleidoscopic cinema :P

Great job, nice retroish feel to it...!

Nice! I so wish I had the patience for writing electronic music when I listen to your stuff because it's so intricate and original! I'm sure my professors will force me to do more electronic music, but I probably will never be as good as you are at it! :P

Was the thing that happens at 3:22 intentional? It sounds like a glitch, but then it happens one more time. If it's not supposed to be a glitch, it's a cool idea, but I would suggest that you play with it a little more througout, because as it is it just sounds glitchy.

Was the thing that happens at 3:22 intentional? It sounds like a glitch, but then it happens one more time. If it's not supposed to be a glitch, it's a cool idea, but I would suggest that you play with it a little more througout, because as it is it just sounds glitchy.

Yeah, those were supposed to be an intentional abrupt dropout, but the execution was kinda off.
Thanks for the comments everyone, didn't think this piece would appeal in such a manner.

Also, I recently did a little film project thing - my first "legit" attempt at music for video, really. There were a few logistic blunders so it ended up being a very last minute effort, but came out somewhat better than I expected.
http://vimeo.com/13940196

Here's also links for the final pre-edited version (there were a few minor cuts in the one from the video) and an initial idea sketch, for those interested.
http://www.box.net/shared/bu0jidmph2
http://www.box.net/shared/j5ypmi1fpe

The link to the video says "Page not found".

The music is very pleasant. :)

Was these brass from Sonic Implant? :P

Wow, literally it was working before I went to lunch. The director might have decided to delete it for some reason, or maybe it was a system error?

All I used was the default libraries from Logic, since I didn't have a lot of time to refine things. It actually comes with a pretty decent sample library for most of the orchestral instruments, for the price at least.

I hope it work again or he put it back! I wanna watch how the music is fitting the visuals! Otherwise, your other piece is so much fun to listen! :D

Looks like he wanted to repost it to gather some new views at the site. Updated the post with the new link.

I really enjoyed that movie. xD

The music was VERY effective too.

Yeah, music was the best thing about the movie.

I agree. I certainly wouldn't watch it for the dialogue/acting...:P

Glad you guys are enjoying the music, though to be fair about the rest of the movie: everything had to be written and shot in basically a day, and considering the actors aren't exactly seasoned veterans, I thought they did a commendable job.
Anyways, I rather enjoyed working on this project, so hopefully there will be more film projects in the not too distant future.

Haha, haven't been here forever - needed to grab something for a portfolio piece - but I thought I might as well drop off something "new" while I am here.

I say "new" because I think I actually wrote this over a year ago, but still given the coming winter season it feels faily appropriate. Enjoy! :)