DKC Atlas Forum

[clntgn]

After finding this website, and finding out about the Level Builder, I was inspired to write my own songs for a fan game.

I didn't really have the right sound, so I made my own soundfont comprised of mostly super nintendo instrument samples, various synthesizer sounds, and a few extra sounds that seemed to fit in well. I wanted to do something with DKC samples, but I'm not the greatest at making those into usable instruments.

UPDATE:
I've finished the song and it's a little on the large side, so I'll link to it instead. This version has some effects that give the instruments a little more life. It isn't EXACTLY what I wanted, but it's darn close.
FINISHED SONG:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/659832440e547378/

I hope you enjoy it. Tell me what you think is good, and what doesn't really fit.

Also, the Soundfont I made/used:
http://www.zshare.net/download/65730220d093de57/

It's a big file (small for soundfonts though). It's for the most part, General MIDI, but the synth section is just random synths and other instruments I picked out. Some of the instruments have annoying clicking on them, and I plan to replace them eventually. For the most part though, it should be usable.

[Gnawzooka]

I'd give it a shot, but i don't know how to make soundfonts work properly.
Your song sounds nice.

[FranticFactory64]

That was really good. The only thing I didn't like was how the instrument that sounds kind of like a violin (starting at 00:42) overlaps at some spots. If you meant to do that, then making it so one of them is softer than the other might make it better. It does feel very much like a DKC song, especially in the way that it gradually builds up.

[clntgn]

Thank you! I've finished the song now, but there's still a few issues (so not finished, but more like the song has a start and a beginning). Like you said, there's the overlapping violin thing, and I've been trying to get that to sound better. It's an archaic technique I used to use to make it sound like delay, and I've forgotten how I used to do it, so it still has some problems.

Another thing is that the song has some obnoxious clicking in it ONLY when I export it from the composer. I'm trying to get a new version or try exporting it from a faster computer to see if it fixes it. For the most part, I think I got everything down. After listening to a lot of DKC songs, the actual track doesn't seem to be more than two minutes or so, but then loops again. It'll seem a little short, and the transition back to the start seems a little awkward still.


http://www.zshare.net/audio/65882240206f3ec7/

Hopefully I can edit it a little more and get a perfected version, with some reverb and delay like the SNES had.

[FranticFactory64]

Very nice. I look forward to listening to the final version. Incidentally, this song just randomly popped into my head at about 1:00 AM... I should probably go to sleep now.

[clntgn]

On occasion, I have songs I write get stuck in my head, but that's more from spending so long on one part, and listening to it over and over again to see what works (although I've been told by my instructors in college not to use that method, it's something I can't help).

I'm glad you like it, and I hope you like the newest version even better.

[cfh]

.. You're not supposed to use that method? crap, what are you supposed to do then? make it all from theory? Effort.


Anyway, I like your song, especially the part with the drums and bass breakdown. It sounded like Tears for Fears, which is awesome. Sounded a bit out of time though, and it was really MIDI-sounding.. part of the amazingness of the DKC soundtrack is that they managed to make not sound like a MIDI, so keep working on it.

Edit: the old swear filter was tons better

[clntgn]

Ah. Yeah. Pretty much. We have to use theory for most of our stuff. Although, now I have a different instructor (for theory 4 through 6) and he's telling us we should listen to what we're writing more than what we used to do which was just going by the chords we write.


I'm glad you like it. Unfortunately, that's about as clear as I can get it to sound. And I think the whole off time thing was probably the stupid fake delay I put on the violin (I wrote this all in notation software, like sheet music on the computer for those who don't know, so everything was lined up exactly the way I wrote it, so I probably should've left the extra violin out. It just sounded very... naked without it.)

Oh. And a clarification (I just found this out recently) but midi just refers to anything electronic music related in general. I guess its actually just data and not actually the way things sound, and that has more to do with the sound chip. Unfortunately, I couldn't accurately reproduce the effects used by the snes sound chip (a lot of dkc stuff sounds like it was made with some sort of digital synth stuff). I'm learning more about looping in school and creating my own samples, so maybe at a later point in the future I'll be able to reproduce the song using actual samples from the dkc series.

[cfh]

Hmm, that whole thing about MIDIs is interesting.. I always refer to things as "MIDI-sounding" when they sound like a .mid but I guess that's inaccurate

If you could re-produce the synthesizers used in DKC, that would be amazing :0 then you could really make your own DKC music!

[clntgn]

yeah. I used to think that too. anything that has .mid at the end just means it uses your soundcards General Midi sounds, which is a collection of about 220 instrument sounds. It's why some .mid files sound better on other computers.

I'll have to work more on the sampling thing although the process would be long and arduous, I could get it done sometime before the end of the year hopefully. With school and working on my album (non-vg related music) I'll have to fit it in my schedule the best I can.

[CoolStyleE]

Good songs there, needs no work.
Maybe I`ll make some... as soon as I fix my broken song sequencer. What`s annoying is that each song in the DKC soundtrack has those special attributes. But there`s so many attribute, it would take forever to recreate them. Then you have to arrange all the instruments in a certain style beat with some natural-related sounds. Then you have to go to bed with an incomplete song. How do I know? I tried recreating all those specific attributes and it took me 2 hours! The filtered drums, stereo panning, instruments, and volume are all easy, but that slight reverb, that vintage compresor, that SNES feel itself takes forever, and you can only really get some outputs 50% close to David Wise`s stuff. Well, for me.
Then, just like that, I noticed I should`ve been asleep hours ago!
I guess I`ll try again when I can. Wish me luck!

[Granville]

This is not an original composition of mine at all. It comes from the SNES game called Waterworld (based off a movie). From what i hear, game is horrible, but you MUST hear this particular tune they used in the diving stages-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5YoFv09uQ

I don't know about you, but i can't help but be reminded of the DKC games, specifically the underwater levels of course. Wasn't sure where to post this, but this tune is in my opinion, deserving of a better fate than a poor movie game. It's incredible in fact! It's one of the better snes songs i've EVER heard. So for anyone who would eventually make a DKC hack- here's a perfect song for you to use. Barely anyone knows it exists and it deserves attention in a quality game due to its awesomeness. What say ye?

Actually, most of the tunes from Waterworld snes are great, take a listen to all the spc's-

http://www.zophar.net/music/spc/waterworld.html

Specifically, the tracks Diving, Map, Shop, and some of the mission stages.

[Simion32]

Yeah, the Waterworld music definitely ranks up there.

I could probably see using this music for an outer-space level more than a water level... go figure