Making an Epic in 15 Minutes: Tutorial 1

What? You expect to be rick-rolled or something? Admiral Ackbar pics? No...

Some updates for you all:

-Vivax Vox - Ortus has been submitted, first attempt of using East West software. (Maeror was 3rd)
-Releasing Warrior of Honor's map theme song next week.
-Phoenix Chronicles Episode 6 "Runaway" Is in production featuring new and old instruments. Dedicated to a good friend of mine, PearlPhoenix (no the chronicles are not named after her.)
-FL Tutorial Video Series "Making an Epic in 15 minutes." is also in production.
-Vivax Vox project is already underway.
-Project Jade to be started.
-Registered to be an iTunes artist. Newgrounds always gets original alpha versions. :p

Difference between Vivax Vox, Project Jade, Phoenix Chronicles, etc:

Vivax Vox is 100% East West/Quantum Leap instruments and my personal sound design effects. Remastered works will be sold on iTunes, original alphas like Maeror and Ortus are always free to the public.

Project Jade is Project Night re-incarnated all scrap works from Vivax Vox, Phoenix Chronicles, and the original Project Night will be overhauled with better instruments and a minimum of 2 minute lengths.

Phoenix Chronicles is solely classical/electronic/ambient/epic based and has now moved from being just soundfonts to East West and 3rd party VST's. Sound design is also used to simulate synths from the original MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat soundtrack. Much of the songs are experimental and looped based, which for the most part will stay that way. Vivax Vox will be the rhapsody songs, Phoenix Chronicles will be the loop based songs.

Warriors of Honor songs are primarily used by the UT2004 WoH Clan for their maps and website. Shkeleton (the leader) wanted the map song to be instrumentally based from Phoenix Chronicles: Episode 3 and not to use the new EW/QL software. Yet the anthem will be full blown East West Symphonic Choirs singing, that's right, singing words.

I'll leave you all with this:

My new Software/VST List:

FL Studio 8 XXL with Edison

East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Pro XP Gold
East West Symphonic Choirs with WordBuilder
East West Colossus
East West Stormdrum
East West Boesendorfer 290
East West Percussive Adventures 2
East West RA

TweakBench Collection
basic64 (Commadore 64 inspired synth)

And lots and lots of soundfonts.

It's my soul being sold to EastWest technology.

I really really do, it's a disaster and was rushed. So not to make the same mistake again, it'll be reworked after I finish episode 5 and re-uploaded sometime next month when episode 6 is worked on.

The series itself will start to morph into rhapsody style ambiance melodies so I can start making a professional portfolio with high-caliber songs. Episode 5 will be the stake and point of no-return of repetitive melodies. I shall sell out my soul and start whoring for money, really who hasn't.

Episode 6 will take a months work to do probably up near a 5 minute song. I've come a long way from Project Night and using FL core defaults, now I'm focusing on songs worth putting into commercial games.

Episode 5 itself is a redux of a MechWarrior 2 track, same tune, very very very different execution. Also first attempt at a rhapsody hybrid. Stay tuned.

Other than MaestroRage being busy I have been managing my time putting Episode 5 into post production as well as others.

Information about Phoenix Chronicles can always be found here.

So about this top secret paid project, still top secret and can only tell you it's for a Vehicle CTF Map for UT2004 and for a top clan server who host all 3 game servers including 2004 invasion mod. That's only part 1 of the 2 for the job. The other is an anthem for the actual clan. LadyArsenic may be taking up the job for singing it in Latin or German.

Phoenix Chronicles Episode 5 is in post production without delay and will be submitted next week.

July 4th dedication with Phoenix Chronicles feel may be canceled due to my Java training.

There's your news.

Hello all.

So I been getting a lot of PM's and comments on how long this series (Phoenix Chronicles) is gonna be. Well, I plan to have about a dozen or so 2-2:30 minute songs/loops all classical, ambient and probably 2 hip-hop ones. As for the story itself, the young woman who plays the character goes by the call-sign of Phoenix. Her real name is yet to be determined. As for the faction in the BattleTech universe I have yet to decide. But being after the clan invasion of 3049-3052, so I'm thinking around 3060 at the height of mercenary involvements. There's the nerdy stuff that's out of the way even though BT universe is the jocks of the nerds, like playing Risk with 20-100 ton machines.

As for animating, anyone up for a challenge of creating a battle-opera be my guest, the concept isn't something you tween or has a 2 second scene cut. I'm thinking of just blue-screening MW4 videos and hybrid tracing frame by frame. Unless someone with skill wants to do it from scratch, it will not be animated for a long time. And by battle-opera, I mean no voices, no sound-effects, just animation and the song (remastered probably.)

I have a lot of projects on top of getting Java certified, so everything is in a delay. Instead of popping out 1 song every 2-3 weeks, I'm popping them out either spontaneously in a day's work or every month. Episode 4 and it's watered down loop is submitted and probably be re-uploaded time to time since it was a day worth of work not the best thing to do if it's unfinished. But, I might as well submit something that has a tune.

What I use:
Most of the tracks will be shifting towards electronic more than classical, yet I love me some choirs as it never gets old to layer them. And no, I do not use the same VST's as MaestroRage. We both went on a sound font hunt and started filtering them out to make a nice package for you all later in the year. Much of what I use are from the high-end scripted fonts (legitimately free) which can be molded quite nicely through envelopes and filters. Soundfonts are not MIDI, though much of what we found were from GM Keyboards that sound like garbage, but even though they are multi-keyed sequences and synths, they are not 8/16 bit MIDI synths. I try not to use questionable legality VST's though KorgM1 is quite lovely and I'll buy it when I can. Yes, that's right folks I have a KorgM1 VST, but I also have several KorgM1 sound-fonts taken from either an actual Korg bank or the VST itself. I use it for much of the synthed sound effects and big pads.

I have a craptastic Casio keyboard. ($200)
I have over 2,000 sound fonts, most of them are actual General MIDI garbage. (Free)
I have FL8 XXL ($300)
I have KorgM1 VST (I WILL BUY WHAT I USE! This is next on my wish list to buy.)
I have over 10,000 sound effects. ($60 Yes I bought some of them even though companies recycle other packs and throw up a huge price saying it's high-def.)

Note: I do not condone freeloading for profit, I have been paying my dues to GOOD VST's and sound effects for the past year. I buy what I use frequently, I don't buy upgrades that just have a few tweaks and I'm glad FL has that policy for free upgrades for life and it was well worth forking $300 to them.

Further Note: You do not need big VST's bootlegged or legal to produce awesome music, sound fonts can do the job just as good most of the time. And scripted sound fonts are even better. I do not recommend using FL defaults as they are way too much overused, even Sytrus sometimes. Get some uniqueness in the songs.

Stay tuned for my July 4th project, and a few days after I think as I will be submitting the top-secret project I been paid to do. So add me to favorites and receive candy!

Phoenix Chronicles - Episode 4: "Starport"

Yes at long last here it is from a failed riff 2 weeks ago. I was hoping that I would get the top secret project done before Ep4 but it's gonna be a while. This is really a speed-compose episode done in less than 5 hours. (Considering I had all the instruments for Phoenix Chronicles already set-up.)

It is now completely epix'ed out. Every 2 sequences the song becomes more crowded as it's meant to. It's composed for a story line that requires to be crowded. Note that this form of the song-loop is not meant for the AT1-BattleTech game, the underlying layers are, which are quite watered down subtlety.

For some of you familiar with effects packs/CD's, yes you'll probably recognize a few. Few of them are sythned from a VST.

And yes the story continues...

(BattleTech Genre)
(Aerospace vehicles are whizzing by overhead every now and then.)
Our fair lady has docked at an allied starport, in much needed supplies. To get the supplies in, the 'Mechs must come out. (0:00): Doors drop, 'Mechs are powered up, and begin to march out. (0:56): Supply crates of ammunition, food, and parts are hauled in while our lady watches from her cockpit. (1:28): The 'Mechs march back in. Everyone sleeps well tonight, ready to lift off in the morning.

Enjoy!

Oh I'm so going to hell.

Made you look! Still working on other things, expect a surprise Thursday... might be a loop, might be the episode who knows. MaestroRage has got this electronic epica fetish going so I better catch up. Big things are happening and we're picking up speed.

Also, my studio software is fully legitimized as of 5/27/2008 (I buy what I use you free-loading bastards.)
FL8 Review:

It looks perty...Not much else other than more efficient coding, so those of you still using FL7 whether legal or not can stick with it. FL6-FL8 is really just a host for VST's and not much else, defaults are still the same, generators are the same, playlist is starting to become more visual-block orientated, yet they haven't really fixed the event modifiers to be user-friendly. Rejoice n00bs! As the starting filter on the global mixer is a real-time visual Limiter/Compressor so all your loud ass songs will stop crackling. Though a smart person would just make sure each instrument in the pattern/VST isn't up to high. >.>

In honor of learning Java, and my butchery skills in Photoshop, I have a new avatar. My old one got claimed by someone else. THIS ONE IS MINE! (though original overlord level icon is copyrighted respectively to Newgrounds and/or affiliates.)