UltimateMidiCollection - The Second Volume
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- Author(s): Morpheus
- Categories: Development, Music
- Downloads: 42
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Featured Review: This Collection Contains 7 (Vol2-01 – Vol2-07) Midi Files Which the Author Composed
This collection contains 7 (vol2-01 – vol2-07) midi files which the author composed.
I must say I think it is a bit more tricky to review a musiccollection then some other file. Whether one likes a file or not all depends on ones personal preferences of course, but I think that that is most strongly the case with music. You like it or you don’t, it’s that simple and it is hard to stay objective when listening to music.
But, since the author requested if more people could review this collection, I decided to give my opinion.
First the name. I don’t think you should call 7 midis the ultimate collection. Perhaps the author refers to the possible interpretation of fundamental or basic, but since ultimate can also be explained as the most important or the greatest possible, or the last or final, the title can me misconstrued. I thought this was a huge collection of midi files and was rather disappointed to find out there were only 7 of them. Of course it is all up to the author to decide what title to give to a file, but I was mislead by it.
Vol2-01: This one is 2 minutes long. It has as strong synthesiser-sound (all of them actually). It is not much varied. It has some high-pitched tones and gives a feeling of nervousness, so it could be used for a fight or for an exciting part of a story.
Vol2-02: This one is 2.01 minutes long. It resembles vol2-01, but has a bit more variation in it. It has the same high-pitched tones as vol2-01, but is overall a bit more low-pitched. It could be used for some dangerous situation.
Vol2-03: This one is 1.42 minutes long. It is slightly varied and low-pitched. It gives the impression of danger, so it could be used in a fight or in some other situation where you want to give the player the feeling of tension.
Vol2-04: This one is 2.53 minutes long. It sounds a bit like vol02-03, but is a bit more high-pitched. Also due to some sound effects, this gives the feeling of threat, so it could be used in a part of the story where something dangerous is going to happen.
Vol2-05: This one is 2.04 minutes long. The music fades away real slowly towards the end. Also due to sound effects it gives a creepy or eerie feeling. It could therefore be used in caves and such places.
Vol2-06: This one is 32.09 minutes long. Also because of the high-pitched tones, it gives a feeling of tension, of things to come, and therefore it is indeed suitable – as the author states – as an intro. However, after listening to it for about 15 minutes it really got on my nerves, so I think if used for an intro, it shouldn’t last that long.
Vol2-07: This one is 2.08 minutes long. It is not much varied. This one is somewhat difficult to put in a certain category. It is a mix of danger and tension and somewhat nerve-racking and creepy as well.
Overall: I don’t like this kind of music. However, the one I did like is vol2-05; this one stands out and is different. If you like synthesiser-music with not much variation, these are good. If you don’t I could still recommend vol2-05.
I must say I think it is a bit more tricky to review a musiccollection then some other file. Whether one likes a file or not all depends on ones personal preferences of course, but I think that that is most strongly the case with music. You like it or you don’t, it’s that simple and it is hard to stay objective when listening to music.
But, since the author requested if more people could review this collection, I decided to give my opinion.
First the name. I don’t think you should call 7 midis the ultimate collection. Perhaps the author refers to the possible interpretation of fundamental or basic, but since ultimate can also be explained as the most important or the greatest possible, or the last or final, the title can me misconstrued. I thought this was a huge collection of midi files and was rather disappointed to find out there were only 7 of them. Of course it is all up to the author to decide what title to give to a file, but I was mislead by it.
Vol2-01: This one is 2 minutes long. It has as strong synthesiser-sound (all of them actually). It is not much varied. It has some high-pitched tones and gives a feeling of nervousness, so it could be used for a fight or for an exciting part of a story.
Vol2-02: This one is 2.01 minutes long. It resembles vol2-01, but has a bit more variation in it. It has the same high-pitched tones as vol2-01, but is overall a bit more low-pitched. It could be used for some dangerous situation.
Vol2-03: This one is 1.42 minutes long. It is slightly varied and low-pitched. It gives the impression of danger, so it could be used in a fight or in some other situation where you want to give the player the feeling of tension.
Vol2-04: This one is 2.53 minutes long. It sounds a bit like vol02-03, but is a bit more high-pitched. Also due to some sound effects, this gives the feeling of threat, so it could be used in a part of the story where something dangerous is going to happen.
Vol2-05: This one is 2.04 minutes long. The music fades away real slowly towards the end. Also due to sound effects it gives a creepy or eerie feeling. It could therefore be used in caves and such places.
Vol2-06: This one is 32.09 minutes long. Also because of the high-pitched tones, it gives a feeling of tension, of things to come, and therefore it is indeed suitable – as the author states – as an intro. However, after listening to it for about 15 minutes it really got on my nerves, so I think if used for an intro, it shouldn’t last that long.
Vol2-07: This one is 2.08 minutes long. It is not much varied. This one is somewhat difficult to put in a certain category. It is a mix of danger and tension and somewhat nerve-racking and creepy as well.
Overall: I don’t like this kind of music. However, the one I did like is vol2-05; this one stands out and is different. If you like synthesiser-music with not much variation, these are good. If you don’t I could still recommend vol2-05.
Ultimate MIDI Pack Volume 2 is a collection of 7 original MIDI files created by the author. I will run down the general information of each piece and then give an overall summary.
VOL2-01:
Patches used: standard drum kit, electric guitar(muted), distortion guitar, and guitar harmonics.
4/4 time. 96 beats per minute(bpm).
VOL2-02:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, viola, electric bass(fingered), pizzicato strings
4/4 time. 96 bpm.
VOL2-03:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, violin, acoustic guitar(steel), electric bass(fingered), and reverse cymbal
4/4 time 96 bpm.
VOL2-04:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, rock organ, tango accordian, trumpet, orchestral harp
4/4 time 96 bpm.
VOL2-05:
Patches used: Applause, gunshot, shamisen, banjo, whistle.
4/4 time 96 bpm.
This minimalistic piece was my favorite, though it is 4/4 time at 96 bpm, the composer does not use a drum loop, nor any perrcussion at all really, unless you count the gunshot. This piece is the most imaginative of the 7, it is the only one to make use of dynamics.
VOL2-06:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, marimba, and dulcimer.
Hey, 3/4 time!! still 96 bpm though.
This piece is 1200 measures long, but it only has about 3 measure worth of material, the other 1197 measures are simple restatements of the the material, always in the same voices, but varying the entrance points.
VOL2-07:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, electric bass(fingered), electric bass(picked), Synth bass, harmonica, clavi, electric guitar(muted).
4/4 time 96 bpm.
Overall...
Weakness: Six out of the seven pieces use 4/4 time at 96 beats per minute. All the pieces are subjected to continually "square" rhythms with steady 8th notes in one voice, steady 16th notes in other, and an accompaniment voice playing steady whole notes with parallel, root postion triads.
Except for VOL2-05, none of these pieces make use of dynamics, meaning, they are all at one steady volume with no rise and fall. It seems to me there is a general lack of emotion in these pieces, probably due to the excessive use of drum loops in the background and the lack of interesting rhythms.
The harmonic and melodic material used at times seems to be quite random, though at other times there is an obvious harmonic progression, this is not necessarily a bad thing, I just didn't feel the composer developed and balanced the two aspects as fully or strongly as he could have.
Finally, several of these pieces seem to just stop. The composer states an idea, then plays it a few times and we're done. There is no development of the idea, it doesn't go anywhere. Its just, "here I am, love me, please".
Strength: I have to give kudos for the effort. Writing music isn't easy, and though most of these tracks are rather bland, I really felt VOL2-05 had a lot of imagination and creativity. I think the composer should consider developing this into a larger piece.
VOL2-01:
Patches used: standard drum kit, electric guitar(muted), distortion guitar, and guitar harmonics.
4/4 time. 96 beats per minute(bpm).
VOL2-02:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, viola, electric bass(fingered), pizzicato strings
4/4 time. 96 bpm.
VOL2-03:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, violin, acoustic guitar(steel), electric bass(fingered), and reverse cymbal
4/4 time 96 bpm.
VOL2-04:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, rock organ, tango accordian, trumpet, orchestral harp
4/4 time 96 bpm.
VOL2-05:
Patches used: Applause, gunshot, shamisen, banjo, whistle.
4/4 time 96 bpm.
This minimalistic piece was my favorite, though it is 4/4 time at 96 bpm, the composer does not use a drum loop, nor any perrcussion at all really, unless you count the gunshot. This piece is the most imaginative of the 7, it is the only one to make use of dynamics.
VOL2-06:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, marimba, and dulcimer.
Hey, 3/4 time!! still 96 bpm though.
This piece is 1200 measures long, but it only has about 3 measure worth of material, the other 1197 measures are simple restatements of the the material, always in the same voices, but varying the entrance points.
VOL2-07:
Patches used: Standard drum kit, electric bass(fingered), electric bass(picked), Synth bass, harmonica, clavi, electric guitar(muted).
4/4 time 96 bpm.
Overall...
Weakness: Six out of the seven pieces use 4/4 time at 96 beats per minute. All the pieces are subjected to continually "square" rhythms with steady 8th notes in one voice, steady 16th notes in other, and an accompaniment voice playing steady whole notes with parallel, root postion triads.
Except for VOL2-05, none of these pieces make use of dynamics, meaning, they are all at one steady volume with no rise and fall. It seems to me there is a general lack of emotion in these pieces, probably due to the excessive use of drum loops in the background and the lack of interesting rhythms.
The harmonic and melodic material used at times seems to be quite random, though at other times there is an obvious harmonic progression, this is not necessarily a bad thing, I just didn't feel the composer developed and balanced the two aspects as fully or strongly as he could have.
Finally, several of these pieces seem to just stop. The composer states an idea, then plays it a few times and we're done. There is no development of the idea, it doesn't go anywhere. Its just, "here I am, love me, please".
Strength: I have to give kudos for the effort. Writing music isn't easy, and though most of these tracks are rather bland, I really felt VOL2-05 had a lot of imagination and creativity. I think the composer should consider developing this into a larger piece.
This was a verry good midi pack for being 'custom made'. However, I only found a couple of the midi useful for d-mod use. Most of the midi was pretty useless for d-mod use in the fact that I couldn't think of any type of mood they would fit! The next thing that saddened me about this pack was only 7 midi in here (which doesn't allow much of a selection when it comes to authoring).
Overall: A midi pack that needs several improvements. Score 5.0
Overall: A midi pack that needs several improvements. Score 5.0
