[MIDI album] A Spark of Mind

[wallabra]

"Moods can tell a tale, and a tune can tell a mood."

 

A Spark of Mind is a small collection of MIDI tunes I have made over the course of a few months, which include a variety of styles.

Enjoy. =)

 

Contents:

• Windblow in the Forest  Windblow X
• Broken Light
• Climb the Fog
• Stone Jungle
• A Fading Color
• Fallen Star
• Waterfall
• Hackboy
• Dreamboard

 

Download:   A Spark of Mind.zip

 

Changelog:

1. Replaced "Windblow in the Forest" by extended version "Windblow X"

Edited May 19, 2019 by Gustavo6046

[Ribbiks]

hey these are pretty cool!. Hackboy and Stone Jungle were my favorite, very energetic and janky in a way that's quite fun :)

Edited May 19, 2019 by Ribbiks

[wallabra]

Thank you, buddy! I kinda wanted to wash away the bad reputation I had earned with the bad tracks I used to post.

In the end, I'm just glad it makes people happy ^^

[AD_79]

I briefly checked these out, and I will say that they're certainly an improvement over what I've heard from you previously. Someone like @Jimmy would probably be better to go through the tracks individually for feedback purposes, but there's a few overall things I'd like to bring up:

 

-Use of chromaticism. You may want to be more careful about this, I heard a fair amount of notes throughout the tracks that didn't exactly feel like they fit in with the surrounding music. Using chromatic elements can be good and can add some spice and colour, but you do need to ensure it still works well.

 

-A lot of these tracks feel kindy messy in their approach and construction. It's okay to repeat elements or even sections later on in the track! It can help make a piece feel more cohesive. Some more rigid structuring would probably help matters as well; try working in like, 8 bar sections more consistently, though not always necessarily that! Also, some notes just tend to sound like they should either be different notes or just not present at all in a few cases, heh.

 

-There's not a huge amount going on at several points. Not always an issue, but look more into layering and developing the sounds present.

 

-Where is the bass? It seems to be entirely missing from every track here, which is a shame. Bass is an important element in adding more depth to your sound; as it stands the tracks feel thin and are robbed of some of their potential.

 

-I notice that all the channel volumes are maxed out, and then note velocity values are lowered from their default, or at least what I'm used to as the default. Just thought it was odd.

 

But yeah, you have improved! There's a couple of seriously cool moments to be found here; the last 35 seconds of Dreamboard stand out to me in particular, and once I added some bass to it, it really leaped far beyond your previous works. Hope this helps you out in any way, and keep practicing.

Edited May 20, 2019 by AD_79

[wallabra]

Hm, thank you!

 

I agree with you, some tracks feel like they miss some backing or bass. And, yeah, I don't usually mess much with channel volumes or note velocities (though I can change the volume - I do make use of MIDI fades-, plus maybe I can set velocities in Aria Maestosa).

 

I think Windblow X (the latest song in the catalog) doesn't have the issues with the lack of bass/consistency. I feel like it is a more solid song - plus it's my latest one, by the way.

[AD_79]

Perhaps it is more solid than the others in terms of consistency, though the time signature changes don't really feel like they work well here, but the aforementioned bass issue still persists. Here, I spent a few minutes adding bass to it: see if you prefer how this sounds.

[wallabra]

On 5/20/2019 at 3:55 PM, AD_79 said:

Here, I spent a few minutes adding bass to it: see if you prefer how this sounds.

 

I hear little to no difference. Aren't the lower notes in some instruments technically bass?

Edited May 24, 2019 by Gustavo6046

[AD_79]

Surely the added bassline adds to the music, yeah? Fills it out more, makes it sound a little fuller, more complete? And yes, lower notes can count as that, but not only does that depend very much on the instrument, I am referring specifically to dedicated bass instruments. As an example, if you're ever using distorted guitar riffs (such as in "Climb the Fog" or "Dreamboard"), you're absolutely going to want to add a bass below that so it feels less hollow. There are definitely times to not use it, but on average, incorporating more proper bass instruments into your music would help.

 

While I'm at it, here's Dreamboard for good measure.

[wallabra]

Makes sense.

 

Also, thanks for the effort! I'll check your version of Dreamboard and compare. I'm still not sure how exactly bass instruments harmonize with existing melodies, or which octaves exactly to use, so there is that issue as well.

 

Still, thank you! Your help is appreciated. =)