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Description
Jazz, with more dramatic fantasy elements mixed in. Composed for an "investigation-puzzle" type game a la "Professor Layton." Main Theme is the main theme of the game (title screen); Exploring the Glimmerwood is for being in the Glimmerwood area of the game, finding clues and solving puzzles; and the "Devising a Stratagem" theme is for when the player is actively solving a puzzle (puzzle theme). I composed it using MIDI starting with a piano sketch and going from there (orchestration, voicing, etc.) all in Cubase 13 with Halion Sonic 7 and Spitfire VSTs.
Theme

How does it fit the theme?
Inspired the setting of the game and ties into the "songs" theme with heavy use of synth vocals.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/derek-easterday-582327947/sets/inspector-loris-and-the-songs?si=50c5a7010a8149f390b26f5a4e13741a&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Number of tracks3
Genre
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Comments
Nice work, I think this collection of music is super fun and fits the vibe you were going for well. I think there was a few moments where things felt a little repetitive not necessarily compositionally but mockup wise, but I think for this vibe it still works quite well.
Pretty cool OST ! Maybe the Main Theme could have used more instruments that'd alternate for the main melody ? It felt a little bit repetitive. Otherwise, my favorite track was Devising a Stratagem; I really liked the chill/mysterious vibe. Once again, great job !
My favorite track is Exploring the Glimmerwood, though I really enjoyed Devising a Stratagem too! I was wondering perhaps if you would enjoy listening to the music from the game Crosscode.
The introductory track does well in hooking the listener, and really leans into the puzzle/investigator genres (Professor Layton). It's certainly the strongest track of the three, in my opinion, though the other two do well to develop the tone of the story/game. Great job!
Fun collection of different styles and sounds! I think you could potentially get around a lot of the awkward sound of some of the instruments with some expression automation (someone mentioned the accordion). I think the sounds work for what you're going for, just a bit more expression in the articulation and phrasing would go a long way (if the vsts allow it that is, I try to always use instruments with a good response to velocities and with an expression parameter to automate). Not sure it'll help the accordion countermelody in menu theme, that might just be something for a different instrument to pick up. Ngl I really wanted to fit accordion in my soundtrack too but had a similar issue with expressivity.
The fusion of the styles communicates the fusion of game genres really well, it was a fun listen!
For me personally, I think your Main Theme is the weakest one, which was still really good! I just love the feel of both a lot more. It just feels like a fun song! I've never played a Layton game, but your main theme is pretty much how I imagine it sounding. I don't really have much to say about this song other than it was good and I enjoyed listening to it.
I think you really nailed the atmosphere on your other two songs! Exploring the Glimmerwood feels super chill, but at the same time very mysterious and in some places borderline creepy. I love all the little details like the bells and choirs you added. Such a cool track!
Devising a Stratagem is by far my favorite of these three. This feels like the kind of song I would throw on in the background just to vibe to. I absolutely LOVE your B section melody. It's the kind of melody that will get stuck in my head for quite a while.
Incredible work!
This is the first submission I get to rate and it's putting a really high bar for the others to cross! Looking at your project files (Btw, nice to see another Cubase user) shows how you did so much with so few instruments in your compositions, it's an amazing example of a vertically simple but horizontally dense soundtrack and I wouldn't have it any other way for the kind of game it's describing
Something I enjoyed about this soundtrack a lot was the little details and switch ups that happened throughout the songs: Makes them feel less like game loops and more like improvised jazz tracks. The best example of this is at around 0:55 with the mix up in the chord progression through the piano's introduction, it's just soooo good
The main theme captures the Layton vibe perfectly, especially the piano and its amazing melody. It's a very solid track, although I think it would really benefit from a higher-quality accordion vst: The one used evokes a more game-y / JRPG adjacent feeling, which fits, but all the other instruments being somewhat realistic sounding made me wonder what it could sound like with a live accordion... Although it's more of a silly gripe than anything, at the end of the day you're not gonna commission an accordion player for a 1 week long jam project lol, it's still a great track.
I am absolutely in love with Enter to Exploring the Glimmerwood, the chord progression is amazing and the arpeggio-esque instruments layered on top really evoke that mysterious puzzle game feel. I really really wanna know the choir vst you used for it since it's just sooo good, especially the way it bends from one progression to the other
Devising a Stratagem is another great track, the subtle use of the accordion here managed to hide its track 1 flaws... And it's obvious you're pretty experienced with writing compositions, it's just... very professional sounding.
Anyway, with that said: Great stuff. My only gripe is that I wish there was more to listen to lol, but what we got was pretty damn good