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Music Room

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My own musical creations, in a more organized and actually-described form. Notwithstanding really-obvious-remixes and the like, I will always say if it's based on an existing tune; any resemblance to anything else is unintentional/coincidental.

I own an Edirol SD-90 Studio Canvas, one of the synthesizers used by ZUN (in particular, the real source of his idiosyncratic trumpets).

Creative Commons License
These works by Dizzy H. Muffin are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Where noted, they are based on works by Team Shanghai Alice or others.

I've started putting some of these on SoundCloud, too!

Tools

I use Noteworthy Composer to create MIDI files, which I then send through SynthFont to create the actual sound-files, using various soundfonts I found on the internet. With the SD-90, I set it as the Playback Device in Noteworthy Composer, then record it using Audacity with the SD-90 set as the recording device. (If you want to use SynthFont and an external device like the SD-90, it's a good idea to have some way of synchronizing things; I do it by having Noteworthy Composer play a single note several measures before the beginning of the music, recording that along with everything else, and then aligning them together in Audacity.)

Miscellaneous


  • The Bibliophile with the Enciphered Eye (SoundCloud) - I don't really have any specific inspirations for the structure, other than just the original and just "rocking out really hard"; I guess there's bits of "Pure Furies" from Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom and some "Last Occultism" from Urban Legend in Limbo? Eh, it works on its own terms as much as anything else, I guess.

  • Eyes Undeciphered (SoundCloud) - A "final stage theme" for Kosuzu. Basically: this follows the pattern in Double-Dealing Character and Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom for "the final stage boss is an arrange of a subset of the boss theme"; I wished there were more than two examples so I could suss out a good pattern, but this is fine. This particular track probably wouldn't actually exist in a Touhou game insofar as the two-minute loop portion is more than twice as long as most final-stage themes (i.e. Mountain of Faith's is only 55 seconds), but I figure, sounding good was more important than mimesis, so here you go.

  • Undertone - I just decided to make a ringtone for my phone. ;)

  • Miniature Heart of Nova - I just had to do it. There was just no way you could stop me.

  • Zelda Overworld Morning - Just the musical equivalent of a dumb doodle using the Link to the Past soundfont and the first like 15 seconds of the overworld theme.

  • The Charming Far Side of the Moon - I've kind of had this idea for years; I guess it's an Extra Stage where Renko is the boss? My original idea involved bits of EoSD's extra stage theme, but this version it's basically just "The Far Side of the Moon: Charming Domination remix" with a guest appearance by Great-Auntie Sumireko at one point. (For the record, I'm thinking Renko's actual boss music would just be "Greenwich In The Sky.") I briefly considered doing a thing where it ends like an actual song like the original Far Side of the Moon, but at that point I'd already recorded it as "intro with loop-points," oh well ...

  • Kirby Dark Super Star - I was just really dissatisfied by the loop of the Dark Star theme from Kirby 64 ... so I basically just snuck in a bit from the "Taking Over the Halberd" song from Kirby Super Star.

  • Megalofantasia (WIP #1) - A "Touhou version of Megalovania" (a song which has been used, in various forms, in Homestuck, Undertale, and the "Earthbound Halloween Hack"), using bits of Necrofantasia. When you think about it, the one person who poses the greatest existential danger to Gensokyo is in fact Reimu. Fortunately, the reasons for this are linked inextricably to the reasons she will never voluntarily pose this sort of danger. That said, if she did go on a "No Mercy run", there's no way Yukari's not gonna be the one to be the final boss and knock some sense into her.

  • Sonic 4 on SD-90 - Someone on IRC said "recreate Sonic 4 ep1's 'music' using an SD90 :V", so I did! I just banged this out over the course of about half an hour.

Touhou Saisoutensoku OST


  • 禁じざるをえない遊戯 ~ Icemilk Magic and Innocence (The Inevitably Forbidden Game ~ Icemilk Magic and Innocence) [Lotus Land Story]
    • Mugetsu and Gengetsu's theme. Not much to say here, I just took the Extra Stage theme from Lotus Land Story and banged out something that was kind of like the kind of remix Twilight Frontier would do. And then I stuck the English parts of the names of Mugetsu and Gengetsu's individual themes on the end.

  • 月の妖鳥、化猫の幻 ~ 非想天則の肩の上 (Strange Bird of the Moon, Illusion of Mysterious Cat ~ On The Shoulder of Hisou Tensoku) [Ghostly Field Club]
    • Rin Satsuki's theme. I decided that since Rin is still ZUN's creation, I should use music created by ZUN himself, so after much deliberation, I chose this from Ghostly Field Club. The version I created doesn't actually sound much like one of Twilight Frontier's remixes, and I would've liked to use some of the same effects ZUN uses in the original, but I'm really limited here, I guess. ZUN's comments said that it was meant to be about Maribel, so that works out too, to a certain extent.

  • 空隙少女 (Aperture Girl) [original]
    • Final Story Mode pre-battle theme. I'm rather pleased both with how it managed to convey the epic confrontation, and how it's also something that would almost fit in one of Twilight Frontier's fighting games. If you can imagine this as an unused track from Touhou Hisoutensoku, if Touhou Hisoutensoku's music was composed by a penniless American goofball with a soundfont that uses a few of the instruments ZUN uses, my work here is done. Actually, it's inspired by Suika and Tenshi's respective pre-battle themes from IaMP and SWR; still original, but made from "real parts."

  • 時空の縁辺 ~ Navy-Blue Generation (Edge of Spacetime ~ Navy-Blue Generation) [original, Touhou Hisoutensoku]
    • Meimu's final battle theme. It didn't end up sounding like I'd planned (though it would've helped if I'd actually had a plan at the start); it kind of sounds more like one it's from one of the danmaku games than one of the fighting games. Opens with "Unfound X ~ Unknown Adventure" from Th12.3, the main theme has instrumentation meant to resemble Tenshi's theme from SWR, and the rest is original.

  • 史実壊廃 ~ Time Paradox (Broken History ~ Time Paradox) [original, Touhou Hisoutensoku, Mountain of Faith, Metal Gear Solid 3]
    • Theme of when you lose the final Meimu battle, or against yourself in Arcade, or Meimu, Rin, or Yukari as either of the other two. "Meimu! You can't do that! The future will be changed! You'll create a time paradox!" (Um ... can you tell I've put too much thought into what this would be like if it was an actual game?) The whole thing is a remix of MGS3's game-over theme, opens with a remix of the main melody of "Navy-Blue Generation," and then goes onto MoF's continue-theme with a sort of game-over-remix of "Unknown Adventure" affixed to it.

Create.swf Adventures

Shenanigans in a Magical Forest


  • Dream Countdown [Imperishable Night/Homestuck (well, okay, technically Lotus Land Story/Homestuck)]
    • End of Act 1 theme. It is a remix of Sburban Countdown. Yes, this means there is now a Touhou remix of Homestuck music. Touhou is everywhere! Consider this payback, so to speak, for the fact that Homestuck volume 5 has a track called Lotus Land Story (and don't try to tell me that isn't a reference).

  • Time Paradox (Yasora Mix) [original, Metal Gear Solid 3]
    • As the name implies, it is RNL's time paradox theme, remixed with Yasora Kojiwa's theme. :3

  • Yasora's Awakening [Subterranean Animism/Original/Homestuck]
    • Yasora Kojiwa's "awakening" theme (duh). I just wanted to combine Utsuho's theme with the bit from Umbral Ultimatum at the end where Jack manifests himself. And then I put part of Yasora's theme in the middle there. The goal was to convey, "THIS IS A MOMENT OF AWESOME." Also worth noting: this was made entirely from beginning to end over the course of a several hours on the same day it appeared in-comic.

  • 地中の神 ~ Sunfire (Subterranean God ~ Sunfire) [original/Subterranean Animism]
    • Yasora Kojiwa's theme. This tune's story began when I was playing the Overlord expansion pack "Raising Hell," and I misheard the final boss's theme, and then decided to splice it together with genes from Utsuho's theme. The former was the basis for the second section through the guitar-centric section right before the loop-ending bit that was taken directly from Nuclear Fusion. (I need some method of playing it in an actual proper looping fashion ...)

  • 魔女達の舞踏会 ~ Sepiechritude (Witch's Ball ~ Sepiechritude) [/Persona 3]
    • I actually didn't use any part of the Sepulchritude theme for this. Instead, I combined "Witch's Ball ~ Magus" from Shuusou Gyoku (in which Marisa is the first EX-boss, and has angel wings ... but only one pair) with "Burn My Dread -Last Battle-" from Persona 3. This was originally made for SynthFont and the various shenanigans thereof, but it ended up being the first song I created that used the SD-90.

  • How Does Shanghai Live [Con Air/Homestuck, sort of]
    • So, this snippet is basically a remix of "How Do I Live" from Homestuck, which in turn is a remix of the song of the same name performed by Trisha Yearwood as seen in Con Air, except abruptly interrupted less than fifteen seconds in by a CODEC sound from Metal Gear Solid. This is basically exactly how Shenanigans in a Magical Forest has always been going to end. ... yeah, I'm never going to do a full rendition.

  • キノコ郷 ~ Little Red Mushroom (Mushroom Home Village ~ Little Red Mushroom) [original]
    • Masha Kinoko's theme. This was very deliberately not a battle theme; Masha, as she exists on the day of her birth, is simply not a fighter at heart. So it's a much more relaxed melody, most suited for the closing credits theme. Ultimately, though, this is Masha's theme — that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Cottagesnagged


  • Children of the Future [original]
    • The themesong of Cottagesnagged, and the "Fate of 60 Years" timeframe as a whole. It's Gensokyo, both familiar and strange. It's four kids, two of them siblings, who look at their parents and feel like they have a lot to live up to.

  • Entry of the Young Shrine Maiden [original]
    • The theme of Sacchin entering the Cottage. I guess it's sort of like if you described the idea behind Dream Countdown (or Sburban Countdown) to someone who only knew how to make Touhou music. Except that it also uses a speeded-up version of the drumbeats from That One Segment from Radiocative, which were inspired by the drumbeats from Upward Movement (Dave Owns) which show up in half of the goddamn Homestuck flashes.

  • Magus Day [Great Fairy War]
    • The intro theme for Chapter 2. I thought "Okay, what's something Marisa-ish that I could do here?" ... and then I thought that "Magus Night" would work quite well.

  • Japanese Jungle (short version) [original/Homestuck]
    • The theme of Carroll flying to and entering the Cottage. It's kind of unapologetically derivative of Sburban Jungle and Another Jungle, without actually directly using anything from it. The longer version doesn't actually exist yet and I'm not sure if I'm going to actually make one.

The Homestuck Contest

Music for the Homestuck contest-album. See this blog post for more information; I didn't win.


  • Radiocative - the theme of GCat, an omnipotent radioactive trickster cat (no, not that kind of Trickster). It was made entirely on the SD-90, and includes a musical reference to part of the drumbeats from Umbral Ultimatum, which sort of got them from An Unbreakable Union.

54 Comments (auto-closed) (rss feed)

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OrangeXP

How "far" did those fangames get developed?

Twilightdusk

I vaguely remember some information about the Castlevania type thing being on the site way way in the past.

Keroko

Cool, a music room. Nice addition. Which reminds me, what hardware/software do you use to create your songs?

Docteur Hartmann

I'm interested too in the software, 'cause I want a theme for my OC too!

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

I use Noteworthy Composer for the composition and SynthFont with a bunch of random soundfonts I found on the internet for the composition (FluidR3, Musica Theoria V2, RealFont 2.1, and a sort-of Touhou soundfont when I want to use the Romantic Trumpets endemic to ZUNmusic.)

@OrangeXP: They each got as far as semi-playable proof-of-concept demos (i.e. you could run and jump and there was a generic "stage" which wouldn't actually appear in the intended final-version but not much else) in 2008. Scarlet Heart sort of fizzled out due to lack-of-interest from the only other person working on it, and when I quietly took the "MegaMari X" channel off my auto-join list a few months ago, they were still running their IDEAS!! around in unproductive circles.

Houraiguy

Can you put the "pyuun~ [Metal Gear Solid Game Over Theme]" thing you used in Nekokayou some time ago (like a really long time ago) here?

Thanks.

PhoenixDrawn

時空の縁辺 ~ Navy-Blue Generation I actually really really enjoy for some reason.
Maybe it's because I've played the Fighters more than the danmaku games so far, and because I really enjoyed the original ZUN tracks added in SWR and Hisoutensoku.
It's the trumpets I think. The chorus parts with the trumpets really in my mind are the most memorable. The section right after the Unfound X ~ Unknown Adventure part is also quite memorable. I wish I could battle someone in-game to this music. :D

You mention that you use soundfonts, I'm trying to figure out how to use with my program but as it differs from your program I don't think asking for help would get me far. I use Cubase 5 Essentials, I don't know how similar to Noteworthy Composer it is, but could I ask how you use soundfont with it? It may give me insight as to why I so far have been unable to figure out how to use them.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

I don't use soundfonts with Noteworthy Composer. I first create an ordinary MIDI file with NWC, and then I open the MIDI file with Synthfont. Synthfont has "use this soundfont for this track" buttons which are practically glaringly obvious. I don't know anything about Cubase, so I have no idea how to help you.

Thanks for the compliments, though!

PhoenixDrawn

Oh, you're welcome. It is my pleasure to give you such compliments when I think you so rightly earn them.
I'm only making arrangements so far myself and it's good to see a standard to shoot for.
I've never even tried to make an original track yet but perhaps I should try sometime soon, my tracks so far are Instrument replacements and tempo differences so far. But I've been trying to make things more unique as I go along.

Thanks for the information you've given though!
I seem to recall Synthfont has a VSTi version on their website, I think that version should work with Cubase...after I figure out how to install it. XD

Thanks again, Kimiko Muffin.

AJS

*After hearing "METALGEAAAAAR"* Haha, so THAT'S what you sound like! :P

And "Aya Shikigami" is so AWESOME! Someone needs to do a Danmakufu script with (lol) "Aya Yakumo" as the boss with this music in the background.

Arcc

I've always figured that ZUN was one of Yukari's shikigami, meself.

MrChips

Actually - I listen to Aya Shikigami, and I think of Masha

TakerFoxx

Rin Satsuki's theme is all kinds of awesome.

Also, is there any chance of seeing a theme for Masha?

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Oh, sure, but I tend not to release these things until after it's time for them to be revealed in-story.

Of course, this also requires that I finish said theme ...

PhoenixDrawn

Just wanted to say Thanks again Kimiko Muffin, I got Synthfont to work now and even tried some stuff out. And thanks to it I can now use even more music files in my next.
I really appreciate the little bit of help you gave me.
I can't wait for Masha's Theme, I'm sure it too will be great!

Spirit Tsunami

Yeah, I'm looking forward to Masha's theme, too.

Sinjin

Gah the lack of a theme for Masha is making me antsy. Make it soon okay?

Spirit Tsunami

That's nothing. Unveiling the Land of Frost and Frogs was a pretty blatant one, and of course there's the fact that less than a week after Utsuho's giant Dream-Marisa appeared, John called Rose a "huge witch", which no one had been called before in Homestuck. I'm convinced that Andrew Hussie reads your comic.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Psh, I doubt it. I mean really, it's not like Cirno is the only place in the universe where ice and frogs exist in the same sentence (he's actually protested that the idea has anything to do with Touhou), and "huge witch" is so obvious I couldn't possibly have been the only one to come up with it.

Khiash

I've hacked my Brawl to play the Marisa Gear Solid game over theme whenever Snake is the victor.
It makes winning as Snake slightly more legendary.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

I feel much more awesome knowing that 1. one of my creations on this page is being used in someone's video game hax-endeavors, and 2. the specific creation was "combine Touhou's death SFX with MGS2's game-over theme."

PhoenixDrawn

Woo! Your work continues to amaze me.
地中のネ申 ~ Sunfire in particular of your newest stuff.
Though all of your Yasora songs are great in my opinion.

I can't wait for Masha's theme though, if it's like the rest of your body of work here I'm sure I'll love it.

And I guess I didn't notice that nice world's end rendition before. It's pretty darn good. In my music class I actually convinced my class to work on it with me and so far we're actually going to make a medley of sorts of it and Fires of Hokkai (Hourai?) UFO Stage 6. But it's good to hear another rendition of world's end, there really aren't that many arrangements of it.

Kazuko

Hey Muffin, nice songs there :D I've actually been inspired by you to make my own songs.

And here's a question: Where in the WORLD did you get the midi for Utsuho's theme? I can't seem to find it (or midi from other games excluding Touhou 6 to Touhou 9) anywhere

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

I didn't, I made it from scratch.

None of the Touhou games past 9 have any MIDI, and 9 only has some of them.

Kazuko

Er....damn O.o That's impressive. Thanks anyways

Kazuko

But from scratch, do you copy off an actual sheet or something?

[/is very desperate about making MIDIs)

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Nope, I did it by ear, listening to WAV files extracted from the game.

Rainy Daze

You've got to find a use for World's End. I don't know why, though.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Oh, sure. It just won't be that version, though. ;)

Cuddlefish

Masha's theme is going on repeat for the rest of today.

Grashbar

Little Red Mushroom.

I gotta show Speedy this! I think you made a VERY potential credits song for EoVE now Muffin!

OFC, we will credit you! ... that is, if you want the song in the game!

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Hmm. I'm not sure why, but I'm a bit less-comfortable with it. I dunno, I didn't make all this specifically for you. ;P

Grashbar

It's still top quality!

Anyways, I showed it on the EoVE sub-board. Now I'm awaiting Speedy's reply over it... if he's gonna reply over it at all. =P

Besides, you said it yourself that it fits as a closing credits song.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Well, yes, but I was using it as closing credits for my comic. ;)

Go ahead. :P

Spirit Tsunami

Best one yet, Muffin. Though I can't help but wonder what Masha's battle theme would sound like...

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

I've seen that video before, but it took me until just now to realize that it was, in fact, a sprite of Masha spinning around at the bottom there.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

After some consideration, I've decided to release the music with a Creative Commons license. Suck on that, self-doubt!

Mariku

Oh, also, the link that leads to Flower of the Sun (the Play button) is not found.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

There, I fixed it. I don't know why I used the HTML-character-thingy for the ~ instead of just using the ~ itself ...

PhoenixDrawn

Amazing!
キノコ郷 ~ Little Red Mushroom is just fantastic!
I'm really envious of your skill with original pieces!
Masha's theme is really soothing, so ideal for just listening to and relaxing.
Makes me think her grove must be one awesome place.

Master Bigode

HEY MUFFIN are you having fun with your SD-90 yet ? Here's some random tips and thoughts: (most of which you might have figured out by yourself already...)

Instruments:
Here's some instruments in the SD-90 ZUN uses a lot:

Solo 057 "Romantic Tp" (hurp durp)
Contemporary 037 "Fingered Bs2" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWGdBJEVRj0)
Solo 037 "Jazz Bass" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWGdBJEVRj0)
Special 2 041 "Reed Romance" (Soft-sounding vibrating Sax, used on pretty much every song in UFO and TD stage 1)
Solo 081 001 "Hybrid Saw" (Used a lot in MoF, kinda sounds like a organ)
Solo 081 "Oct.JP Saw" (Also has an organ-ish feel to it)
Solo 080 "OB Square" (used as a PC-98-ish bass)
Solo 049 "St.Strings" (bass)
Contemporary 049 "Strings 2" (bass, mostly used when the Stereo Strings stand out too much)

Now, you might have noticed that some of the instruments sound a little off compared to when listening to ZUN's music.
That's because he edits the instruments, mainly using the resonance/cut-off settings. (that's also why the Romantic Tp in IN sounds different than in say, Ten Desires)
You can listen to some examples in this page:
http://www42.tok2.com/home/samidaremidi/midi.html (download the MIDI2 version when available)

Drums:
The drums in the SD-90 are pretty weak for ZUN-style music, so I would recommend you to get a drum VST.
As of Double Spoiler and Ten Desires, ZUN is using Steinberg's Groove Agent 3, which you can buy for about $150,00 these days.

Master Bigode

Oh, and one more thing ! Try to get Edirol's Super Quartet VST, (most of ZUN's steel/bass guitars are from it) it's loooong out of print, but its copy protection is so shitty that you could probably buy it used, or... you know...

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Kay, but just so you know, "hundreds of dollars" aren't a formally-supported Thing I Can Do right now ... ;P

I'm not really trying to "emulate the Touhou sound" so much as just "make music which sounds better than a bunch of semi-random soundfonts I found on the internet" ...

Master Bigode

I know you're not trying to imitate ZUN's music, but still, doing stuff like editing the instruments to give them your own touch (it's easier and simpler than it sounds) and getting new drums can improve the quality of your music considerably, so at least give it a shot.
Hm, sorry if I'm being annoying about this. (^ ^ ;

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Yeah, no worries~

Mariku

Do you have your own theme?

Like, Innocent Treasures is ZUN's theme, so do you have something that is Muffin's theme?

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Umm, nope :o

Rainy Daze

Then you are obliged to make one. :P

PhoenixDrawn

Hmmm, I have a question Muffin.
Could I add your site to my site's affiliates listing?

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Sure why not.

OneMore

A little mistake there: in "Subterranean God ~ Sunfire" Japanese name, it says "ネ申", while it should say "神".

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

ARE YOU CALLING GOOGLE TRANSLATE A LIAR fixed, b'duh.

Exfodes

I can never get enough of Icemilk Magic & Innocence

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