From ac53dc52a8b4a4f1018e2292e1b57c82564d2a1c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "(quasar) nebula" Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:58:29 -0300 Subject: vol 6 + sound test ii commentary review --- album/vast-error-vol-6.yaml | 8 ++++---- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) (limited to 'album/vast-error-vol-6.yaml') diff --git a/album/vast-error-vol-6.yaml b/album/vast-error-vol-6.yaml index ccb85998..57675e2f 100644 --- a/album/vast-error-vol-6.yaml +++ b/album/vast-error-vol-6.yaml @@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Rainy: ([YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZy95H1QpjU)) - Shout out to [[artist:veritas-unae|VeritasUnae]] for the title suggestion. If I remember correctly, the impetus for this track was me listening to [[track:hydro-city-zone-act-1|“Hydrocity Zone Act 1”]] from Sonic 3 and thinking that I wanted to make something similar for Oricka. For better or worse, Violetbloods have historically associated with Sega Genesis/Megadrive sounds thanks to [[artist:toby-fox|Toby Fox’s]] instrumental choices on [[Eridan’s Theme]]. Rather than leaning into the swashbuckling triplet driven feel from that track, I decided to lean heavily into the swaggering funk/new jack swing influence present in Genesis-era Sonic music. In addition to Hydrocity Zone, I took inspiration from other tracks with similar inspirations such as [[Davesprite|“Davesprite”]] by Toby Fox, [[track:buzz-off|“Buzz Off”]] by [[artist:warxtron|Warxtron]] and [[track:character-catastrophe|“Character Catastrophe”]] by [[artist:caelan-kier]]. With this medley of influences, the song feels more like a Murrit track in the vein of [[track:mammory-master|“Mammory Master”]] than anything you would typically associate with Oricka. Regardless, it’s a favorite of mine because of how different it is from what I usually do. + Shout out to [[artist:veritas-unae|VeritasUnae]] for the title suggestion. If I remember correctly, the impetus for this track was me listening to [[track:hydro-city-zone-act-1|“Hydrocity Zone Act 1”]] from Sonic 3 and thinking that I wanted to make something similar for Oricka. For better or worse, Violetbloods have historically associated with Sega Genesis/Megadrive sounds thanks to Toby Fox’s instrumental choices on [[Eridan’s Theme]]. Rather than leaning into the swashbuckling triplet driven feel from that track, I decided to lean heavily into the swaggering funk/new jack swing influence present in Genesis-era Sonic music. In addition to Hydrocity Zone, I took inspiration from other tracks with similar inspirations such as [[Davesprite|“Davesprite”]] by Toby Fox, [[track:buzz-off|“Buzz Off”]] by Warxtron and [[track:character-catastrophe|“Character Catastrophe”]] by Caelan Kier. With this medley of influences, the song feels more like a Murrit track in the vein of [[track:mammory-master|“Mammory Master”]] than anything you would typically associate with Oricka. Regardless, it’s a favorite of mine because of how different it is from what I usually do. --- Track: Lovers' Waltz Artists: @@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Rainy: ([YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrWE6_Lhx5o)) - I remember that I wrote this song hot off the heels of my readthrough of Thaumatrope. If the title didn’t give it away, this song is about everyone’s favorite blood stealing weirdo, Lutzia Cullex. I remembered her design from dbnet’s [[album:background-noise|“Background Noise” album]] and learning that she was the protag of Haustoria was a pleasant surprise. As for the song itself, I wanted to write a song that evoked her upbeat shounen protag energy while conveying her off kilter proclivities. To this end, I challenged myself in a couple of different ways. Firstly, the entire song was written in 7/8 time, a time signature I’ve used before but never written an entire song in. 7/8 is noted as having a distinctly “off kilter” feel to the average listener which helped convey vibe I was going for. Secondly, I decided to use mixolydian chords to give the piece an upbeat feel that felt interesting compared to the normal major key. Between these two stylistic choices, the song was shaping up to be pretty “out there” as far as my music usually tends to go. The final layer of challenge that defined the sound of the track the most however, was the decision to write the song in the style of Cave Story. I love Cave Story’s music; it was a deeply foundational soundtrack to me as a teenager and I’m frankly shocked it took me until now (like April 2024) to attempt something in that style. With that in mind, it wound up being far more involved than I initially thought it would be. Trying to write a Pixel-esque catchy melody using odd time signatures and weird scales was an undertaking for sure. I even went as far as to transcribing the song into PxTone for the sake of making sure my arrangement was as faithful to the sound as possible. Frankly, I put way too much effort into a song that’s barely over the 2-minute mark, but it was a good exercise in song writing and utilizing music theory concepts. I’m especially proud of how I managed to arrange dbnet’s [[“Bloodsucker”]] into 7/8 time + I remember that I wrote this song hot off the heels of my readthrough of Thaumatrope. If the title didn’t give it away, this song is about everyone’s favorite blood stealing weirdo, Lutzia Cullex. I remembered her design from dbnet’s [[album:background-noise|“Background Noise”]] album and learning that she was the protag of Haustoria was a pleasant surprise. As for the song itself, I wanted to write a song that evoked her upbeat shounen protag energy while conveying her off kilter proclivities. To this end, I challenged myself in a couple of different ways. Firstly, the entire song was written in 7/8 time, a time signature I’ve used before but never written an entire song in. 7/8 is noted as having a distinctly “off kilter” feel to the average listener which helped convey vibe I was going for. Secondly, I decided to use mixolydian chords to give the piece an upbeat feel that felt interesting compared to the normal major key. Between these two stylistic choices, the song was shaping up to be pretty “out there” as far as my music usually tends to go. The final layer of challenge that defined the sound of the track the most however, was the decision to write the song in the style of Cave Story. I love Cave Story’s music; it was a deeply foundational soundtrack to me as a teenager and I’m frankly shocked it took me until now (like April 2024) to attempt something in that style. With that in mind, it wound up being far more involved than I initially thought it would be. Trying to write a Pixel-esque catchy melody using odd time signatures and weird scales was an undertaking for sure. I even went as far as to transcribing the song into PxTone for the sake of making sure my arrangement was as faithful to the sound as possible. Frankly, I put way too much effort into a song that’s barely over the 2-minute mark, but it was a good exercise in song writing and utilizing music theory concepts. I’m especially proud of how I managed to arrange dbnet’s [[“Bloodsucker”]] into 7/8 time Referencing Sources: |- Rainy: ([YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrWE6_Lhx5o)) @@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- autumnalEquinox: ([YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGc8LDaYesE)) - I always thought Vast Error needed a few more metal tracks. This one is based off of "[[Raining Blood]]" by [[artist:slayer]] (its so obvious it hurts). I originally was going to sample from that song to add some vocals to the song but I thought it sounded tacky so i scrapped it. Some of the drumming and song structure for this track were inspired by [Self-Immolate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmAlQvDQGoI) by [[artist:king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard|King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard]] and [Crystal Mountain by Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F4tT_JNl40). + I always thought Vast Error needed a few more metal tracks. This one is based off of [["Raining Blood"]] by Slayer (its so obvious it hurts). I originally was going to sample from that song to add some vocals to the song but I thought it sounded tacky so i scrapped it. Some of the drumming and song structure for this track were inspired by [Self-Immolate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmAlQvDQGoI) by [[artist:king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard|King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard]] and [Crystal Mountain by Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F4tT_JNl40). --- Track: Those In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Hammers Artists: @@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ Referenced Tracks: Commentary: |- Rainy: ([YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXTq2L8Hwr8)) - If you’re reading this then I’m assuming you’ve read the commentary [[track:deconstruction-visions-of-a-future-untold|on the arrangement]] I had [[artist:witchs-cadence|Cass Preston]] make for the album. Here I wanted to explore more about the composition process for this song and what I was thinking at the time. As I discussed previously, I wanted to try and recreate the process of having my track arranged by someone else much like how [[artist:buzinkai]] had her track arranged for homestuck album. With that in mind, the composition is very much me indulging in a bit of Buzinkai worship. I tried my best to write something in her style without blatantly ripping off any of her songs. There are some obvious influences for sure; [[track:doctor]] and many of her other homestuck era tracks were among the primary influences guiding the track along. It wasn’t the only one though. Another major influence was [[track:terras-theme|Terra’s Theme]] from Final Fantasy VI which was playing at the time. I felt that the “somber but determined” vibe of both the songs mentioned fit Sestro’s general vibe although that might just because he feels very Egbert coded to me. Because I was writing this song with the intention of it being arranged by someone else, I wrote it in a such a way so that Cass would have lots of room to expand on it in any way she wanted. To that end, I packed a lot of material within the short loop. One of the things that is so compelling about her music how she’ll often have background elements filling out the empty space in a mix. These can be anything from strings, to arpeggios to even entire counter melody lines. So, in the writing process, I utilized many of the song writing devices she would do in her music. It honestly made me appreciate her music even more as every aspect of her songs was deliberately written in a way to completement the other component parts. This is probably the most explicitly Homestuck sounding my VE music will ever get but I do think it works. Much like how Vast Error deconstructs the original comics tropes and reconstructs it into something new, this song borrows the sound of one of the Homestuck music team’s most important figures to pay homage to her while doing something entirely new. + If you’re reading this then I’m assuming you’ve read the commentary [[track:deconstruction-visions-of-a-future-untold|on the arrangement]] I had Cass Preston make for the album. Here I wanted to explore more about the composition process for this song and what I was thinking at the time. As I discussed previously, I wanted to try and recreate the process of having my track arranged by someone else much like how [[artist:buzinkai]] had her track arranged for homestuck album. With that in mind, the composition is very much me indulging in a bit of Buzinkai worship. I tried my best to write something in her style without blatantly ripping off any of her songs. There are some obvious influences for sure; [[track:doctor]] and many of her other homestuck era tracks were among the primary influences guiding the track along. It wasn’t the only one though. Another major influence was [[track:terras-theme|Terra’s Theme]] from Final Fantasy VI which was playing at the time. I felt that the “somber but determined” vibe of both the songs mentioned fit Sestro’s general vibe although that might just because he feels very Egbert coded to me. Because I was writing this song with the intention of it being arranged by someone else, I wrote it in a such a way so that Cass would have lots of room to expand on it in any way she wanted. To that end, I packed a lot of material within the short loop. One of the things that is so compelling about her music how she’ll often have background elements filling out the empty space in a mix. These can be anything from strings, to arpeggios to even entire counter melody lines. So, in the writing process, I utilized many of the song writing devices she would do in her music. It honestly made me appreciate her music even more as every aspect of her songs was deliberately written in a way to completement the other component parts. This is probably the most explicitly Homestuck sounding my VE music will ever get but I do think it works. Much like how Vast Error deconstructs the original comics tropes and reconstructs it into something new, this song borrows the sound of one of the Homestuck music team’s most important figures to pay homage to her while doing something entirely new. Crediting Sources: |- @@ [Bandcamp credits blurb](https://vasterror.bandcamp.com/track/bonus-deconstruction-visions-of-a-future-untold-original-loop) -- cgit 1.3.0-6-gf8a5