I chose to watch "Ten Classic Roland TR-808 patterns" and explored the "Chrome Music Lab". Upon watching the Ten Classic 808 patterns, it became apparent to me why 808's became so popular. Not only were you able to build a beat without having to play drumset but it also gave musicians the possibility to get great quality sounds. All the beats and sounds on the 808 were not only diverse in sound but, also sounded amazing on speakers(digitally).
The "Chrome Music Lab" was a very interesting set of programs. It has a lot of great programs that really allow students to explore sound, the physics of sound, and music creation. I really like the spectogram and the harmonics page as it allows sutdents to play with the overtone series and learn how it pertains to different timbres. I loved the the song maker and arpeggios page as it allows for students to get direct feedback on their experiementations with composition. Super fun webpage to play around with.
For my MIDI project, I decided to use a MIDI file of one my favorite video game themes Gaur Plains from Xenoblade Chronicles. I found the MIDI file for the melody and the accompaniment posted by a user on an online music sequencer, onlinesequencer.net.
When picking out instruments to use, I chose to stick with using electric guitar/bass and synths as I wanted the piece to have a more digital sound from the original. The original music was performed with a string section as the main melody, electric bass, drum set, harp for the quiet sections, and some electronic instruments. Although there were some electronic elements, it was a string(acoustic instrument) focused sound with electronics instruments ornamenting. I wanted my version of it to be more electronic focused, which is why electric guitars and synths are at the forefront of my MIDI song project.
My finished project has some great elements to it. The use of electric guitar adds really great texture to the overall tone of the piece, especially in sections where it takes over the melody. I also really the fullness I was able to achieve with the synths in the background. Although I really like my final projecy, the original piece is definetly the better of the two. The composers, ACE+, did such a great job orchestrating the piece. The use of strings for the main melody made the piece sound more grand. Also, there were times where when the music got softer the electric bass and drum came out to allow for the harp to provide harmonic and percussive elements to the piece. If I had the time, I think I would redo this piece with different instruments that would suit this piece better. The higher clean electric guitar used throughout most the piece for the melody gets a bit convoluted the longer I listened to it, I would probably switch it to electric guitar. This would fall in line more with the overall style of the rest of Xenoblade Chronicles Sound Track. I would also find and tweak the synths to attack and decay more like acoustic instruments.