for YM2413 + SN76489
by MetallicOrwell
Covers and arrangements are the bread and butter of the MetallicOrwell experience, but when you've done other people's music over 40 times, you start to wonder if maybe you could compose something completely original (something that's actually good, anyway). I began learning about music theory more seriously a few weeks ago, and then I set an ultimatum for myself: once I was done with the Metallica piece, I would not start working on another cover / arrangement until I'd composed and arranged something completely original. I was dreading the moment, but now that it's done, I'm pretty happy about the results, so it was worth pushing myself to improve as an artist. This isn't the first time I've ever attempted to make something original, but this time I feel confident enough to publish it. So here it is: "On The Star Of Phantasy".
The concept was, believe it or not, to make something similar to National Park from Pokemon Gold/Silver (which I've covered before). First I did the composing on FL Studio, because its piano roll is incredibly beginner-friendly. This piece is in B flat major, and the first part is in 6/4, whereas the second, when the drums kick in, is in 4/4. I just made some chords and laid a melody on top of them. FL can lock you to the notes of the scale/key you've chosen, and this is unbelievably useful, because no matter what you do, none of the notes will sound dissonant unless you step out of key on purpose (which I did once or twice). Once I was satisfied with how it sounded, it was time to copy / transcribe the notes to Furnace and do the arrangement. Fun fact: I just dragged a "crystal" sample from Super Street Fighter II Turbo to FL Studio to use as the instrument, but didn't realize it was actually tuned to A, not middle C. So all along I thought I was composing in C# major when it was, in fact, A# major, or B flat, and had to shift all the notes by three semitones later in Furnace to get it to sound right. Somewhat facepalm-inducing, but you know... just beginner musician things.
What I had in mind was to make it sound similar to the National Park/Ecruteak City mash-up I did in October, with choirs and electric piano, but it just wasn't sounding right, it wasn't working. So I pivoted to the Sega Master System with the FM expansion, and this is where it started to sound more like Phantasy Star instead. I went for a trumpet with out-of-tune echo and some vibrato/pitch slides for the main melody, and violins for the chords throughout most of the piece, and it works. Of course, there's also an acoustic bass to provide a fatter low-end and some nice accenting here and there. The tempo is 90bpm throughout, except in spots where I use the "set speed" effect to slow it down a bit, and then set it again to 90 after a few bars. There is another exception which I will explain later.
Like I said before, "On The Star Of Phantasy" has a part with drums, and the YM2413 happens to have a "drums mode". You sacrifice three melodic FM voices to get 5 channels for kick, snare, tom, top and hi-hat. However, there was no way I'd do that when I can make perfectly serviceable drums myself (like I did in the Final Fantasy Battle Mashup). Sure, the chip is limited to only 15 predetermined instruments and an additional one which can be customized by the user, but you can modify that lone customizable instrument any time you want. So, I made a kick and a snare. They never play at the same time, so it's well within the chip's limitations, which means I get my drums without losing the melodic voices. The SN76489's noise channel can do the hi-hats anyway, and it can play a lower, harsher sound at the same time as the FM snare for extra grit.
During the part with the drums, the main melody is played on a piano for variety, and then it switches back to the trumpet for a reprise, with additional glissandi played on a vibraphone and square waves for echo. There is another square wave with a vibrato effect playing all through the song, as well. Later on, we have some simple chords played on piano, vibraphone and violin. By combining piano and vibraphone, you get a sound that's similar to an electric piano, which is quite nice for this chip. Originally I'd planned to end things here, but I decided to repeat the very first part of the piece at a slower tempo and with piano instead of trumpet, similar to what I did when I arranged Sky Sanctuary (for the Mega Drive).
That's pretty much it! This has ended up sounding like a medley from an alternate Phantasy Star OST, which is pretty cool. I've always admired people who make original compositions instead of just covers, and hopefully with this I've taken the first step towards being one of them.
See you around.
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