Fanatic's MIDI Music Class #2

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  | Started 6/16/2001, ended 6/23/2001
  | Goal: keep the tempo under 100, and use only four instruments:
  |	1. Marimba
  |	2. Violin
  |	3. French Horn
  |	4. Atmosphere
  | 
  | Musicians that contributed (in order of the show playlist):
  |     Lawrence Hunter - "First Touch"
  | 	Lt             - "Drowning In A Flood Of Melted Wood"
  | 	Tim Lyons       - untitled
  | 	Jordon Buck     - untitled
  | 	Fanatic         - "Death Blow"
  | 	David Olofson   - untitled
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  There are two ZIP files in this package as well.

  gm_songs.zip     -contains all songs set to use GM instruments
  custom_songs.zip -contains all songs set to use the custom instruments

  The custom_songs.zip requires that you have the "Fanatic Set 02.sf2" loaded
  into memory on your sound card or system memory (for Live! cards). All the
  songs in midi_class_02.mp3 use these custom instruments, so you don't have
  to download the bank.

  To get the custom Sound Font bank or instructions on how to load them, go to my website:

	http://www.doomworld.com/fanatic

  Just click on the MIDI CLASS page. Instructions for drivers and loading the bank
  into memory are there, as well as the classes and links to the custom banks.

  Below are what all the musicians that conitributed had to say about
  what they learned. Enjoy the show!

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  | Lawrence Hunter says:
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I call this 2 minute tune First Touch, because I have never used these
voices before.  Plus its a happy happy joy joy light hearted tune, and such
a name felt right!

I usually only create techo and dirivitives.  You will notice this in the
tune.  I had to go back on what I know, as I couldn't mannage to do somthing
totaly different, or couldn't be bothered or whatever.

This file was created using Evolution Audio Lite on a Sound Blaster 64PCI
using 8 MB Waveset Version 4.  Also note I had Reverb and Chorus up to the
max while creating.

About myself:  I am not bad at playing the keyboard, but need to find work
so I can buy a decant Yamaha, or somthing.  I'm getting better at creating
mod files using ModPlug Tracker, and I'm making all the sound effects and
music for my game "Superficial Extent", not to mention the graphics and all
the code.  I'm just finishing 3 years of college in computer studies, and I
must warn young people who are thinking of computer studies:  Its soooo bad
you'll wish computers were never invented!!!

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  | Lt says:
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Here is "Drowning In A Flood Of Melted Wood". These were interesting
instruments to work with. Part of the thought I used in visioning how this
song would sound is playing a real marimba I have down here. It's a redwood,
full-size. We picked it up at a garage sale, mint, for about $100. It's
supposedly worth about $2000-$3000, given it's good condition. I also used
to play French Horn for a matter of years. Being in band, knew what live
violins would sound like (I assume that's what you meant on your page - I
didn't see a "voilin" instrument anywhere :P ). So, I had a fair idea of
what sound I was going for when I came up with this. Given it's simplistic
nature, it's probably not obvious I had any real idea of what I wanted, but
I did. I'm just not much of a songwriter.

Overall, it's fairly close to how I want it to be written. It doesn't sound
exactly how I intended when played on the MIDI synth, but I can see it with
live instruments and I like it :) In writing this I did something I should
have done with the last song - used a lead-in note to start things off (I
think that's what they're called.) I remember back when I took piano
lessons, a few of the songs I played used this. Nothing special, but it
helped keep the song organized, unlike last time (I've since fixed up the
last MIDI since it's submission).

The biggest challenge of this piece was having no drumkit to work with. If
you couldn't tell by the last piece, I'm really heavy with drums. When it
comes to band/group work/specialties, drums are my thing. This is somewhat
of a remix of another song I had in mind (but not yet written - this file is
from scratch). It was to be a much heavier and faster song, but I like this
slow version as well. As with last time, it brought out a few possibilities
that I didn't realize were available before, in terms of structure, sound,
notation, etc. I tried to use the fade-in technique you learned from the
Hexen songs on the Atmosphere track, but it didn't work too well so I
ditched it. I couldn't figure out crescendos yet either, but learned a few
more odds and ends of Cakewalk, and came across a few more frustrating
"features" as well.

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  | Tim Lyons says:
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Anyway, it sounds pretty... I dunno...  gothic?  I
learned how to use the vibrato effect (as heard on the
violins, probably in excess).  It seems like an
entrance theme for a band, or an intro to a game or
something...  anyway, if you wish to use my previous
idea of letting the artists have commentary on the
song, too, I'd be more than happy to do something for
that.  I found it sounds better as a midi than an
.it...  ah well...

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  | Jordon Buck says:
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This is a little unnamed thing I did. I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
card (not very good, but oh well), so it may or may not come out as
planned on yours with the General MIDI set. I also did it on an old MIDI
program I found on my even-older 486, so it's probably going to look like
crap if you load it into a score-viewer type program. But considering all
that, I think it's pretty good.

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  | Fanatic says:
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My song turned out pretty good, but I almost want to write a whole new song
after hearing what these other guys pulled off. My song is slow paced, and I
envisioned knights or warriors fighting in a midieval town of some sort, fighting
to the death. At the moment on of the knights is hit with a death blow from the
other, this is what my song is trying to bring out.

I got to use stereo instruments forthe horns, and artificial delay for the Marimba.
Subtle I think.

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  | David Olofson says:
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Well, here's a steaming hot MIDI file for the class; just finished 
after a few hours of recording an editing. (No time for tweaking, 
that is... I couldn't start earlier, so this will have to do. :-)

Some facts:
* Tempo: 90 BPM
* Length: ~2:30
* Sounds: fanatic_set_02 SoundFont
* Style: Uhm... Dunno; I don't worry about that.

* Played on a modified Roland 49 key controller.
* Edited using Cakewalk 9 on an SBLive!.
* All 4 instruments used.
* Very few CC messages used.
* Default reverb and chorus settings. (No CCs.)

What I learned:
Well... I figured I would have trouble with the rhythm,
as I'm doing techno/dance/ambient stuff normally, but it
all fell into place as I started playing. It doesn't take
percussion instruments to build up a rhythm!

Problems:
None, really, except that the old Roland controller is
rather useless to play on - I should fix the studio machine
so I can use the hammer action controller instead...

Right; there *is* actually a problem with the MIDI file; it
doesn't care to make sure all controllers are set to their
defaults. The player *should* take care of that, but it's
usually a good idea not to trust anyone or anything when
dealing with MIDI files. :-)

// end of expierences

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  | All songs are copyrighted by the respective author (c) 2001
  | The show is copyright (c) 2001 Marc A. Pullen.
  |
  | If you are interested in using any of these songs or the show
  | itself for any reason, contact marcpullen@mindspring.com for
  | permissions. I'll get you in contact with the respecive author.
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