itch.io

I didn't want to do a soundtrack because I had no ideas for that so I took the prompt literally, "Songs From a Forgotten World". Thanks for your kind remarks wiilldionio!

Please, dabble in the jazz arts. It's so fun, you will enjoy it if you had a blast making this!

Thanks so much CardThrower!

Thanks :D

Locke's Theme:

Great composition! As a pianist who has dabbled in classical for 12 years, I will gladly tell you how to improve your baroque sound. Bach was one of the biggest artists who is well known for his two-part inventions, which is similar to the style that your music is heading in. You have the two-part writing in the left hand and it is incredibly similar chord-wise to an actual Bach song. The main thing I'm concerned about is articulation. Baroque music was all technical with their articulations and ornaments as needed, switching between staccatos, legato, tenutos, turned endings, rests, dropped marcatos, trills, etc. (i could go on an on). This will dramatically improve the believability of your harpsichord writing and keep the recorder from filling up the entirety of the song with its mid-treble frequencies and add some ornaments to the harpsichord to provide an interesting background foundation for the recorder to build upon. Also, I'm glad you included the PDF scores in the ZIP folder, thanks!

Malinda's Theme:

This composition was a tad dicey in some areas, but it was great nevertheless! Learning baroque takes some time and practice, especially when you want to compose it because there's so much behind it than simply the notes on the page. You are on the right path! - just some things need to be polished. For example, try to avoid offbeat rhythms as baroque composers loved their fast runs and straight eighth note rhythms. Also (i'ma get a little nerdy real quick), quick tip: for extra articulation, composers would marcato the eighth notes and legato the sixteenth notes by default, which gives it that classic baroque feel. I love your usage of a B section, similar to how Bach did his: by shifting his piece to the dominant key (in your case, Fmaj to Cmaj, and then resolving back to the original root key).

The First Love:

This piece is one of my favorites so far as it displays your ability to create a compelling small trio piece while still imitating a plethora of classical styles! One thing I could suggest would be to simply remove the repeats from m13-17 as it drags on a quickly boring drone note in the cello with zero interesting details. You can still keep your break zone, but make it slightly shorter by removing the repeat there. I love the callback to Malinda's theme (I'm sure Locke's was in there somewhere, but hers was the only one I noticed), and I also love the Wedding March-esque style as well. I think you captured the feeling quite nicely!

Town of Alban:

I loved that shift from the minor to the major, and back to the minor in the first ending! The one thing I would suggest would be to change the volume of the lead instrument as it feels softer compared to the previous tracks I've heard so far. Other than that, I think you nailed the RPG aesthetic and the baroque composition overall! Just a little tweaks and improvement is guaranteed!

Thanks Jared for this amazing submission!

A Strange Place To Be:

I liked this one, wow! I loved your chord progressions throughout! One thing I would suggest would be to introduce a common theme, because it feels like the synth pluck melody was taking a solo the entire time. Idk, maybe just me. Really nice!

Ballad of the Leaf Cranes:

This captured such an intriguing vibe, one that reminded me to a couple scenes from "My Neighbor Totoro". It's got such a captivating playfulness to it! One thing I might suggest would be to bring it back to the main melody, because most of the piece spends more time building up than in the actual main sections. Other than that, I am amazed at how well you were able to make this piece sound! After looking back on this album, I wish that you used the instruments for other tracks, but teaXP_music already talked about that and I don't wanna tread on old ground.

Deep Within the Abyss:

The way you structured your chord progressions and how they flow into the next fits the "abyssal" theme of sinking and sinking... deeper and deeper... and deeper... Loved it!

Was the Castle of the Ice Princess:

Very atmospheric and melancholic. One thing I found is that at some places in the piece, the chord progressions and the melody don't line up just right, leading to a dissonant jumble of sound. One example would be at 0:29. That's the only spot that threw me off. The second half is my favorite!

Engsapanga:

Not sure what this track means exactly - tried looking it up, but it might be related to a forest or a tribe, considering the incredible instrumentation of this track. I wish there was a second B section because it feels like the same thing repeated over and over again. Really nice vibe though. I'm loving this one!

Prometheus:

I love the romantic-classical feeling of this piece. I can't put a finger on what composer it sounds like, but it's very familiar in style. Incredibly well composed piece! This one is my favorite so far!

I'm Glad you Remembered:

Your usage of the theme from "A Strange Place to Be" is great and is a nice callback to the intro of this wonderful album! The sound selection is absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you dVIN*CE for this incredible submission!

Ancient Cistern:

Reminds me of an old SNES RPG game. There's a lot of good melodic ideas throughout! I have a couple things that I could recommend that would enhance the song. First of all, having an 'implied' bass note on one note for the entirety of the song sort of drags out the repetitive nature. In order to fix this, you can have a dedicated bass pattern that provides the chord progressions, because right now, it feels every interpretive where the chords are. Second of all, having a soft lush pad in the background will fill up that emptiness. You can keep some areas empty because of the water dungeon feel, but the whole song shouldn't feel entirely empty.

Flood Keeper:

The implied chords are stronger in this song and I like that! From what I can hear, the boss is pretty large because of how slow the song feels. Perhaps the beginning drum notes are the Flood Keeper's steps. That's what I thought anyways. I like how the song picks up in speed later on, which gives the piece contrast. Again, the bass notes will drastically impact how we hear the melody we're trying to pick up on.

Thanks eternityKitten for your awesome submission!

Fruit Fly

I enjoyed listening to this nice little marimba track. One thing I would suggest would be to either introduce silence in the bass or change the notes instead of holding the same note the whole time.

Nightfall

When the bass came in, I was very unsure of where it was heading and I felt like it detracted from the song. Once the lead came in, the context was clearer than it was, so that's good. One thing I would suggest would be to change the bass layer or introduce a softer and more gentle sub-bass and then add on later in a climactic part of the song. This would allow me to hear where the song is going to go. I also just found the bass difficult to tell what note its playing without context.

Steps of Olympus

I love 7/8! When I first heard this song, it reminded me a little bit of Stone Story's OST composed by Moonsailor. Anyways, I only have a couple criticisms for this one. I noticed that the harpsichord was clipping a lot on the higher notes, resulting in a harsh auditory artifact. Either lower the volume or apply a limiter to cut out the frequencies causing the clippings to happen. I also found the flute to be a tad too dry, so a slight reverb would help boost the space a ton. You can also fill in the emptiness with a soft lush pad.

Thanks WhoIsCthulhu for your submission!

Don't worry, I know what I'm doing... Maybe 😂

Thanks! I went with a completely improvised sound, only going in with only a simple melodic idea, but made it sound uneven on purpose. Especially with the piano solo in Vopele'e. I wanted to make that solo sound... wrong, but with the occasional 'correct' notes. I'm glad to hear what you thought of it!

I'm all for strange and experimental electronic music! The most puzzling thing about this is what purpose this music serves inside this fictional game. Would it be a rhythm game? Or is it something else? Not entirely sure, but maybe that's part of the submission... Some of the songs do repeat a lot, and that's probably due to the large amounts of sample loops used. Not saying that using loops is of the devil, but it shouldn't be the entirety of the song. It would allow for a lot more variability in the tracks. 

i'm radiating my os until i doubt...

i am :D

Heartbeat Ritual:

Absolutely beautiful piece. The composition is so freaking good - very nostalgic. I loved the mixing and the instrumentation!

Thriving Camp:

Sweet and short little track - connects really nicely together with Heartbeat Ritual. Thanks RedoLedo for your excellent submission!

I always found drums difficult for some reason lol

You're fine lol  happens to the best of us

Weaponized Adrenaline:

I love the sound design of this song! I feel like the kick drum is a tad too dry so I would put on a slight high-pass reverb to keep the lows from muddying up while expanding the kick drum into the mix a lot cleaner. The snare also feels weak so throwing a compressor on the main drum bus along with a transient shaper will completely transform the drums. I love your usage of time signature swapping from three bars of 4/4 to one with 2/4. You have a good feel for effective ostinatos without making them feel repetitive, and I appreciate you for that!

Forest Cover:

I love your rhythmic polymeters and melody ideas! Same thing with the drums here. I enjoy how connected it feels. I feel like a soft background pad in the more intense sections would go a long way and fill in the empty space there.

Overgrown Circuitry:

I feel like the bass sidechain feels a bit too powerful in this song. Same thing with the drums here. I literally have no words, this is really good.

Sulphur Desert:

Incredibly atmospheric... I loved listening to this piece - might be my favorite so far! Again, your ostinatos are IMMENSELY effective and actually pull me into the soundtrack rather than make me wanna punch myself in the face ninety-one times, and for that, you get my 'Very Super Cool Award for a Person Award' award. I don't hand these out often.

Adrenal Malfunction:

The piano is SOOOO good! The background textures are tasty and the chords are delicious.

Harmonious Settlement:

Goosebumps. What an ending to one of the most immersive pieces of music I've heard in a long time. Thank you MistaLOD!

One thing that I would suggest different from what KGML7 said would be to humanize the piano in the Dusk song as it feels very robotic. I loved your marimba usage in Dawn; it sounded really cool.

When I saw that you released this, I was ecstatic to listen to it, and so I did. I wasn't disappointed

Title Screen:

Very nice and relaxed! One thing I would tell you to watch out for is that the track clips in some areas.

A Journey into the Fields:

I really like the musical ideas in this piece. I have a couple things to suggest. First of all, the clipping is REALLY present in this piece and the low end is quite muddy so some EQing could help fix that. The guitar also feels pretty dry compared to the rest of the instruments so either adding some stronger reverb would really help.

To the World That I Discovered:

Again, the track slightly clips and the guitar feels too dry. It could just be the guitar sound because I definitely heard the reverb that time. Anyways, you have a great sense of connection and you are able to make each song connect to each other through instrumentation and chord progressions, because I definitely heard some connections from this song to A Journey into the Fields. Thank you Luisnotes!

Your Theme:

The piano tone is really beautiful! One thing that I was confused on was the pulse of the song. I wasn't exactly sure where the beat was.

On the Rocks:

You managed to capture the style of a racing game quite well and the feeling is there. One thing I would advise you to work on would be your musical composition as it felt as though the song constantly was going in and out of tune with itself, which was quite odd. Accidentals only work if you know how to use them. I love the speed-up near the end and I think it enhances that racing game style! I just wish it incorporated the piano from Your Theme to connect the two songs, but maybe that's just me missing some part of the story.

Shop Theme:

Again, I really enjoy your sense of the context! You managed to pull off a nicely styled shop theme that matches the speed of On the Rocks but with a more laid-back jazz feel. Also again, I felt like the melody was quite random and misplaced. Coming from a jazz pianist myself, make sure not to overload the rest of the band by making sure every single measure has to be a rapid flurry of notes. Silence can be your best friend, especially if you've already spent thirty seconds purely soloing without any breaks. I love your chord progressions, its just the melody that throws me off.

Funk Fields:

Your chord progressions are absolutely incredible! I just wish that the melodies (namely the chiptune intro) and some of the accent chords were a bit more polished. Great song, really fun to listen to! I will say the melodies in this song are much more polished than the previous songs. I also wish that the intro of the song wasn't a synth and instead the piano as it would bring out the instrumentation from Your Theme and connect the songs in some way. This one is my favorite so far!

Antagonist Theme:

This is your most polished song melody-wise! The instrumentation is quite strange as the previous songs were all using real instruments while this one completely shifts it to the chiptune style. Maybe that's the style of this game. Maybe it has both of these styles, I'm not sure, but one thing you can do to make sure the listeners know that you are purposefully combining these elements is to make them play at the same time. Maybe you can have the chiptune leads on top of the funk...

End of the Line:

Which is what you did here! That slap bass solo is really sick. Again, your melody-work suffers a little bit, but everyone needs to improve, even me! Great song!

Thank you CardThrower for the great soundtrack you provided!

Thanks Taffodz!

Hopefully I can work on them soon! Thanks Buwaya!

Journey to the Forgotten Realm:

As soon as the first pad note sounded, I knew I had to turn off all the lights in my room and close my eyes to listen. Not entirely sure what the little ringtone-esque section was at the end of that gorgeous soundscape.

A World Made of Glass:

I will say that this song can be quite repetitive so I'm glad you added variability throughout such as dropping the bells or introducing the EP. Those glass bell transients can be a tad sharp, but alas, what is glass but sharp?

Memories of Ancient Gods Long Forgotten:

Another absolutely gorgeous soundscape of lush pads. I got lost into the softness, very well done!

Queen Annabella:

From what I can tell with this theme, Queen Annabella seems like an antagonist of sorts considering the very dissonant and eerie melodies. One thing I would suggest would be to introduce a new melodic section as it does get repetitive, even when you low-pass it.

The Rains of Erasure:

Great textural work. I loved the ostinato on this song as it was easy to get lost in.

Battle for a Decaying Land

I like how you reintroduced the Rains of Erasure's theme. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but the track occasionally feels like its glitching out as if it was losing framerate. I think the sub on your kick is distorting everything so I would clip those muddy frequencies out. I also felt at times that the secondary melody was random and didn't flow nicely into the next note, proving an unpredictable section that felt out-of-place. Other than that, I really liked the chord change at 0:34.

Tower of the Heavens

When the track started, I heard immediately how laggy it felt. There are some artifacts in this piece that feel as if it keeps dropping frames, making it choppy instead of smooth. I'm not entirely sure what the issue is with this is, but it might be the export settings. I will have to make sure to listen to the full EP file instead of the standalone to make sure that it is just the standalone and not the song itself, because the chords are gorgeous.

Ok after listening to the Full EP version, the problem still persists, so it might be some strange export artifacts and not entirely your fault. I don't know...

Serenity of a Goddess

You appear to have a good sense of effective ostinatos as you can simply get lost in them rather than focus on them. So beautiful, wow!

Farewell, A World of Glass

I love how you're bringing back the instruments from previous songs, especially from A World Made of Glass. Really well done, MAGEBOY! I hope to hear more of your work soon!

Title Theme:

Very reminiscent to the old SNES RPG games! You managed to capture that feeling wonderfully! One thing I would fix is the choir chords in the mix as it feels kind of muddy. You can fix this by using implied notes and decreasing the amount of notes they play at a time or by EQing out some of the lower end. Another thing is that the music file is over eight minutes long even though it is supposed to be about 1:10 lol. Maybe this is only the case in the zip file.

Good Morning:

For some reason the song actually starts at 1:12 and is also over eight minutes long as a music file. It's a nice short little piece with gorgeous melody lines, but I'm still pretty confused why there's just seven minutes of silence after it.

Overworld:

Extraordinary usage of panning; I love the feel of this track! One thing I would suggest would be to decrease the stereo width of the background piano as it feels out-of-place with the other SNES instruments. Again, starts at 1:43 and leaves seven minutes of silence in the music file. Not sure what's happening, but probably some export glitch or malfunction.

Battle:

Upon first listening, I didn't feel like this song connected to the Overworld or the rest of the soundtrack (assuming that this song plays in battles on the Overworld). In order to do this, you have to take the sonar palette you used from the Overworld theme and turn it into a slightly more intense version of it. I wasn't able to find any connection through this piece, but there were some good melodic ideas! Starts at 2:47.

Dungeon:

Ok I think I know what's happening to all of the audio files. The reason they all start at different times and leave so much space is probably because you made all the songs on a master file and exported them through there, but it kept the entirety of the silence before and after each song. That's why the files all go up to 8 minutes and the time it takes for the song to actually begin playing increases on each song.

Ok, back to Dungeon. The atmosphere is great and really eerie! One thing I would suggest would be to change up the structure of the song just a little bit more, especially if this song plays during a section of the game where the players are a lot. Something to keep in mind as a soundtrack artist is to ask yourself, would you be fatigued after listening to this song for the entirety of the duration it takes you to complete the area or section? Just something to keep in mind going forward. Really good ideas!

Battle 2:

I'm assuming this song plays in the Dungeon battles. This song fits the style of Dungeon a little bit more, but I would've absolutely loved to hear the Dungeon choir drone you had going on in the Dungeon. It would've connected the two songs together in a really meaningful way.

Tragedy Strikes:

I'm assuming this is a cutscene. Pretty short and sweet! Nothing much to say on this one.

Perservere:

I love how it picks up from Tragedy Strikes! Loved it!

Victory:

Reminds me slightly of EarthBound's victory theme. I will say that some of the sustained notes are a bit hard to listen to for extended periods of time. You can fix this by imitating a forte-piano into a crescendo by subdividing each note and changing the velocity of each subdivision to match the crescendo. This will allow for the natural SNES style while still imitating a real orchestra.

Ending:

Your panning is pretty good! I also enjoy how the track plays motifs from past songs! I enjoyed the journey you took me on through your music, meldecision! Thanks!

City of Faded Memories:

Loved this one. Incredibly atmospheric! One thing I had noticed is that there are strange clicking artifacts that get picked up in the delay at the intro and outro with that synth pad. I don't know if that was intentional, but just my thoughts on it.

Those Who Seek Paradise:

I absolutely love how atmospheric your music is; really captivating and melancholic! The piano sound is gorgeous and I could listen to this for... hours!

Thanks MakotoSilver!

You're fine :D. Thank you Noz for making such a great piece!

Yes it says either the text prompt or the image, or both. It's free to interpret however you like :D

(Submission 22/29 - "One Time" by Aestus)

That was an interesting track! I liked the musical ideas and enjoyed listening to the instrumentation. Sorta reminds me of Waterflame a little bit with your spiccato strings and your drum choice, especially in the middle section.

I do agree with Chwrlue that the instruments feel quite static and dry, so perhaps changing up note velocity and applying some panning to some instruments to enhance the width of the track.

Thanks Aestus for your submission! I thought it was pretty neat!

(Submission 21/29 - "Homecoming Waltz" by Luisnotes)

The melody design is incredible and very nostalgic! Really well done!

I know everyone has already said it before, but I do think that splitting the piano pattern into two instruments will occupy the space a little nicer. Also the piano does feel robotic at times, so I would just play around with humanization (or simply altering the velocity of your notes and offsetting them slightly). I also found the piano to be pretty dry and fake so a slight room reverb would help significantly!

Thank you Luis for your submission!

(Submission 20/29 - "Precision OST Jam #1 Submission" by SirPesto)

This is reminding me of that one scene in EarthBound (song is "You've Come Far, Ness") structure-wise. Really well done! I think it captured the nostalgia quite well!

I would say to make it feel less repetitive, but because I compared it to that EarthBound song, I don't see it as that. I see it as the perfect way to finish off a chill game.

I do agree that the piano, however, is particularly "stabby". You can definitely still have this effect by slightly decreasing the high end or the note velocities.

Great track! Thank you SirPesto!

(Submission 19/29 - "Together, Our Time Becomes One" by Noz)

I got so lost into your music while listening to it that I genuinely forgot to write anything down about it as it played. Absolutely mesmerizing! I love your usage of dissonance throughout the composition.

I have some feedback:

Similar to what doost said, I think that mixing will definitely help. especially by increasing the master volume using a compressor / limiter / soft clipper (if you need). I had to turn up my volume up around 66% higher than what is humanly reasonable (yes i did the maths). Because of this, the instantaneous shift at 4:00 actually scared my boots off. I get what you were trying to go for: a sudden discombobulation, and I think that's fine. Just not when I have to lower my already increased volume down 16% and when I've already gotten used to the more peaceful sections for four minutes.

Despite this, I think your composition skills are fantastic! I loved it!

Thank you :3

Of course :)

Fair enough! The synth was quite difficult to design, so I'm glad to see that I need to work on that.

(Submission 18/29 - "yield" by JCR45)

This is really good - so much emotional charge! I genuinely have chills after listening to the intro! I particularly enjoy hearing the tonal shift from nostalgic to hopeful after the drums come in.

One thing I could recommend would be to add a stronger reverb to the piano and drums to make it fit in with the track. That's it. Really good!

Thank you JCR45!

(Submission 17/29 - "After the Trials and Tribulations" by DSound)

The quality of the instruments is incredibly lush and gorgeous! I just wish that I could decipher what was happening... If you didn't tell me that the song was in 3/4, I probably would've never EVER guessed that. I don't want to repeat anything that anyone else had said, but I completely agree with them.

You could definitely let the melodic ideas breathe a lot more and focus on the motif that I don't think I even heard clearly.

You have a great sense of orchestral music, however, and improving on pacing would definitely help your music out a ton!

Thanks for the vibe, DSound!

(Submission 16/29 - "FREQ//DRIFT: The Ghost Chord, end credits theme" by clutch taco)

Really good work :D

I really enjoyed the creativity of the track, especially with your own personal limitations (no F natural). The vibe is immaculate and really energetic!

I have some advice that you could improve on.

When I first started off the song, I felt as though the song was directly attacking me with the main lead, so I would just take it out of the intro and replace it with something more delicate and softer to buildup to the energetic choruses. Because the melody gets repeated so many times, I just wish there was something complimenting it like a harmony in later sections to reintroduce something new, although adding back the F natural helped a little, but not enough to fully satiate my brain. Another thing I want to point out is the lack of the pad in the choruses. I don't know if this was intentional to make it seem empty, but it was incredibly quiet and lessened the impact of the high-octane sections.

Nevertheless, you created something really cool :D

Thanks clutchtaco!

(Submission 15/29 - "A Bittersweet Goodbye" by Arievix)

I could definitely see this song in a pixel-art styled game with all of the soundfont usage, giving it that retro SNES vibe that I really like! Incredibly groovy and wonderfully composed!

I wish it went on longer because I felt as if it ended right as it was building up.

Great submission, Arievix! Love it! :D

(Submission 14/29 - "Time Gears end credits" by Awilan789)

You have some good ideas going in your composition! My favorite part is at 1:05 to the endwhen the piano arpeggio drives the track forward! I think the accordion is a nice touch and really enhances the 'child-protag' narrative idea quite well.

I noticed a couple things that you could definitely improve upon going forward. The track is pretty dry and it only enhances the fact that the piano doesn't have a realistic release. I would also recommend attempting to 'humanize' the MIDI patterns by manually adjusting velocity because everything feels like its playing at the exact same volume the whole time. Another thing is to watch the key signature you're using because some notes felt like they were clashing too strongly (minor on a major key).

Other than the improvable flaws, I thought that the track was wonderfully made with a lot of heart and soul put into it! Thank you Awilan for your submission!

(Submission 13/29 - "Precision Game Jam OST Submission" by ginkoman)

Woah this one is pretty! Great chord progressions and instrumentation! If I had to suggest something that other people haven't yet, it would be to make sure that the elements blend together more better. At times, I felt like the strings and violin were overwhelming other elements of the song. Another thing would be to adjust the panning of your instruments so it isn't completely centered dead-on.

Incredible work, ginko! I hope to see some of your work in the future!