Source: Ape Escape 3 - The Big City (PS2)

"I kept my promise of delivering some more Ape Escape sources, especially since there doesn't seem to be many remixes about. Were in the 3rd game, and this one is called the Big City, also known as "Banana Heat" (It has 2 names, but as usual i went for the one that's easier to remember). Most of what i've written before in my other description for the Ape Escape source picks, but in regards to this track, it's very funky. It sounds like it takes inspiration from City Jazz or City Funk, or any of the 2. It's very disco/funky like, almost like it belongs to some 70's Motown thing, but of course mixed with good ol' DnB and synth basslines. I don't know the exact style to be honest, because the brass featured can be used in a wide variety of genres. Also did i mention this thing is chock full of brass? I mean i notated 3 channels of brass during the creation of this MIDI lol. And really that's gonna be the star, because it's the selling point. It's what makes it city like haha. 

All jokes aside it's a fantastic tune, full of vibrant melodies, and beats. It's not a complex tune, the brass is doing most of the work, so it's up to you to decide how to expand upon it/remix it. Again as i say in all of my descriptions, it's a blank canvas for you to paint your ideas on. I just love Ape Escape's music. It's so cartoony, and DnB like at the same time. It's more Kids music, but with a grown up edge to it. Anyways i've said enough, I've still got loads more Ape Escape sources left that needs remixing, but this will come in due time (I can't just keep doing the same franchise all the time right?). Oh well, hope you do this one justice!" (TheVideoGamer)

GAME: Ape Escape 3 (PS2)

Source: The Big City

Link to the video:

And as usual, my own custom MIDI

https://www.vgmusic.com/file/05e3e432b79b50b9a66dac4c341e9582.html#disqus_thread

Source: Space Megaforce - Black Hole Anomalis (SNES)

"Hi Bundeslang

here is my pick for the contest PRC453 : 

Console : Super Nintendo

Game name : Space Megaforce (aka Super Aleste)

Song name : Black Hole Anomalies (Area 4)

youtube link to listen to the music track : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx0DRngBROg&t=21s

Yup, another shoot them up 

I really liked this game back then, I played it like a lot ! ^^

This game has a lot of good soundtracks on it ! They really worth to listen all of them.

"Area 4" has that kind of "HOUSE" vibe, looking forward for what you will come up with this remix.

I would like to thanks TheVideoGamer that helped me figure out how to make good midi files.

Now I'm confident enough to tackle the transcription of this source 

The process transcription : I used the program vgmtrans (free) for SPC to midi extraction and had to do also some more modifications on the midi files to make it right.

Have fun everyone 

HLEET"

Source: Phalanx (SNES) - Assault (Stage 1)

"Hi Bundeslang, 

Here is my choice for the next Remix Competition.

Game System : Super Nintendo

Game name   : Phalanx

Source Track  : Assault (Stage 1)

Phalanx is a shoot-them-up game that looks like Gradius.

This game is hard, I don't remember finishing it but it has some nice tunes on each stage.

You'll find the midi file attached to this message.

I extracted the midi file from the SPC file with the vgmtrans program.

I have corrected the drum part and done some little ajustment.

The link to hear the soundtrack on youtube : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmQIEjLHVIQ

Have fun "

(Hleet)

Source: Ape Escape - Time Station (PS1)

"Why is the music in the Ape Escape series, sooooooo gooood!? Like every track is just a winner, i absolutely love it. Minus the 2nd one, which is also good, but more of a conventional video game score. Still though, i can't get over how every track is just...awesome. I ended up making a list of sources from 1st to 3rd, and i still don't think that's enough. I ended up picking this one, because it was the one i was ended up returning to quite frequently, and also i didn't want to spend ages choosing a source. Believe you and me, the next time i win, i will be sending more Ape Escape sources to be remixed, because this soundtrack does not get enough love. 

It's just very weird and creative music as well. We have a mixture of that 90's ethereal ambience, mixed with very thick but very light jungle breaks. Some tracks are very goofy sounding, almost like it belongs to some cartoony world. The tracks vary, but they all have essentially the same Jungle/DnB outline in all of them. It's really the melodic content/arrangement that dictates the style/sound. So some tracks sound cold, some sound mechanical, some sound dreamy, some sound goofy and cute, and of course some tracks have a series hard edge to them, akin to rock music. I settled for this track in particular, because not only did i like the very sparse cold wintery sound, but because it gave us a framework for essentially us to make it our own, to add some new idea. It's a semi-black canvas basically. I also picked it, because it was the easiest to create the MIDI for XD.

I've already submitted an Ape Escape source before, so most of you might already know the game i'm talking about. Plus i don't want to bombard this with soo much text. Essentially it's a monkey game, where you capture monkey's using a variety of tools. Enough monkey's will allow you to move to the next stage. Considered unique gameplay at the time. Although i can only pick one Ape Escape source, rest assured when given the opportunity, more will come soon. 

Anyways, i think that's enough from me, i hope you do this one justice!"

(TheVideoGamer)

GAME: Ape Escape (PS1)

Source: Time Station

Source: Ori and the Blind Forest: Title Theme (Xbox)

"Ori and the Blind Forest: Title theme. Ori is a thoroughly beautiful platformer with charming characters, a transcendent soundtrack, and heartful themes such as light, returning to life, and a mother's love. It was worth every minute to transcribe this midi, have some fun with this one."

(Souperion)

Source: Freedom Planet - Aqua Tunnel 1 (PS4)

"Aqua Tunnel (1) is a charming track full of spunky beats. It's from the game Freedom Planet, a Sonic-like platformer with both great tribute to the 2D sonic games and its own originality. It's got a great soundtrack all around. Aqua Tunnel is the game's 'sewer' themed level, where a little dog goes tromping around some aqueducts fighting slimy monsters. This track's rhythm and beat should be great fun to play with, coupled with its Eastern flairs!"

(Wassup Thunder)

Source: Breath Of Fire 1 (SNES) - Overworld 2, Distant View

"Hello Bundeslang, 

To keep-up with the Breath of Fire series  here is the choice of my source : 

Console/System : SNES

Game Name    : Breath of fire 1

Source/Song name : Overworld 2, Distant View

You will find the midi file attached to this message.

I've ripped the midi with the free program vgmtrans (that does a great job by the way).

But I do have put together tracks manually (Drum, strings, ...) and have them sanitized from pan/reverb and other stuff that the extractor has put by default on them.

So it should provide a good start for remixers.

If needed, here is a youtube link for the original source :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1vhZ86W7dU

Thank you"

(Hleet)

Source: Breath of Fire 2 (SNES) - God of Decadence

'Next source is God of Decadence from Breath of Fire 2. Midi from VGM, the gift that keeps on giving. Choice wise was simple. I went and opened it up to "the people." I told a few folks about what this contest is about, the rules and what they would like to see. After going through some sources that didn't qualify, someone brought up this guy. I don't know what its about, and I can't say I'm a big fan of the song. But I think its really interesting to try and see what you and others can do with something you may or may not be familiar with. Well, then...shall we?"

(HarlemHeat360)

Source: Mega Man X1 (SNES) - Flame Mammoth

"Flame Mammoth's stage from Mega Man X. The game has a great soundtrack as a whole, I'd love to hear what y'all make outta this one."

(Souperion)

Source: Silent Hill (PS1) - Claw Finger

"Silent Hill is not the most friendliest of soundtrack for remixers, and i can clearly see why. It's pretty much pure texture and noise, so it'd be the equivalent of panting a blank canvas, with 2 colours. Your not going to get much to work with, nor will it be easy to work with what you have. Any chance of something melodic will be almost impossible. It's rare to find such a composition. So why the hell did i turn to Silent Hill for my PRC source selection? It turns out there is more to like than dislike, and i like the idea of setting some kind of limitation by sending in essentially Noise and Dark Ambient music. The source i selected isn't from the same mind frame, but it belongs to a soundtrack who's primary aim is to scare the living crap out of you. It's not happy go fun time music. It's "Oh My God, I'm About to Die". 

This source stood out though, because there were a lot of cool moments in this piece. It's purely a synth based piece, using only a single instrument patch from the Korg Triton to generate the melody/chords (I don't know why i said melody, it's just a series of minor chords lol). What's interesting is the random beat skips that happen, it isn't just a pure 4/4 composition. It also has quite the textural sound to it, from a simple patch, sounds closer to some kind of electric piano like synth. It's kind of cool. Even though there is one patch/instrument, i notated it as 4 channels on the MIDI, largely because of how dynamic the synth is. It was too much to simply write as a single channel, i needed to do more. So i made a bassline for it, a background layer, as well as a deep pad to function as some of it's more ambient aspects to the sound. So what is a single sound becomes 4 channels, but they're really just representing one sound. The piece is only 50 seconds, before it goes through the endless looping phase. No other instruments debut, it's literally just a synth sound, and a very interesting one at that.

So why did i pick something, that has barely any substance to it? Even though there is production in regards to chord sequences, there is no drums or melody, or even a real working bassline. What i've MIDIFY'D was basically 4 channels produced from 1 sound. I did this, to get all of the properties of the sound transcribed, as well as make it seem like there is more to the MIDI than that, The reason for choosing this, was largely because i wanted something that encouraged creativity. How will you take this further? In Silent Hill the purpose is to create tension, atmosphere, an unerving soundscape. But as a standalone piece, it's very unique, and isolated. I love the tune, but it's how you will take it further that's where the magic is. You don't know where to take it. Is it an electronic piece? Is it orchestral? Who knows, imagination is key to making this your own. 

I haven't really talked about the game itself, which is what i usually do, but i got fixated on this cool interesting piece whilst talking about it, so i've taken up so many of my description talking about the track. Also note, i didn't just pick this, because it had a series of recognisable pitches lol, but also because i felt it could be a unique PRC round. To be fair, the only interesting thing i can identify from the games company, is that they are called Team Silent, and they were responsible for pretty much the first 4 games of the franchise. I've rambled too much, i'm sure you can read up about it in you're own time. Good luck with this one!"

(TheVideoGamer)

GAME: Silent Hill (PS1)

Source: Claw Finger



As usual here's the video:

And my own custom MIDI:

https://www.vgmusic.com/file/e349937ffade26f15903aad73a9564ae.html#disqus_thread

Source: Solar Striker - Stage 1 (GB)

"Okay I see and I understand.

In this case, I prefer to change my first choice to another game : 

Console : GameBoy

Game name : Solar Striker

Song name : Stage 1"

(Hleet)