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Coming Soon: Mercenarios de Lobo Parte Dos


DZComposer

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I'm pretty sure most of you have heard my Star Fox 2 Star Wolf theme arrangement titled Mercenarios de Lobo. Despite the fact that the piece is aging, it remains one of my most popular works. Along with that come requests for a Star Fox 64 Star Wolf arrangement in the same style.

Well, I have decided to grant those requests. I haven't put out a major Star Fox arrangement in two years, and I think it is time to do a new one. Since Mercenarios was written, I have gained more and better sounds, as well as improved my orchestration skills. So, I figure it is time to turn Mercenarios de Lobo into a suite.

Announcing Mercenarios de Lobo Parte Dos, which is Spanish for "Wolf Mercenaries: Part Two."

Although for Orchestra, I am writing this sequel in a style common in Spanish-style modern concert band works. It isn't a pure style, and blends some more northern style into it, but it allows for very nice chord structure in addition to Spanish rhythms. There won't be quite as much trumpet craziness, but I do promise that there will be some, and that there will be a trumpet cadenza. Also, the slow sections will be longer. Imagine this telling the story of Star Wolf immediately after Star Fox 64. Not exactly the brightest moment in the team's history, no doubt.

This is shaping up to be my best work yet. The following clip includes the first slow section, which is my current favorite part of the piece. Probably the most complex chord structure I have used yet. Enjoy this clip, hopefully a complete WIP will be ready in a few weeks.

http://www.corneriasound.com/betamusic/merc2sam01.mp3

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A suitable theme for Panther? Nice job, I'll be eagerly awaiting the finished product.

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Wow, sounds great so far, I'm pretty pumped for this! I love your arrangements and was wondering when you'd bring us another one.

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  • 1 month later...

An update.

http://www.corneriasound.com/betamusic/merc2_wip02.mp3

Trying something new here. At the end of this clip, I draw down the instrumentation to the Mariachi band: 2 trumpets, violin, 2 guitars, accordion, and a bass (Sadly, I don't have a sample for the Guitarrón so an upright bass must do). I need to add some ornaments to the trumpet parts in that section, but so far I love it.

Also, I brought back something from my old Star Wolf arrangements that I had set aside due to style inconsistency. The part fits in this style.

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Because O'Donell is totally Spanish. >:[

But Panther quite certainly is. Or he would be if he was from earth. :oops:

One shouldn't let details like that keep one from experimenting and try out ideas tough.

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Because O'Donell is totally Spanish. >:[

And that matters why?

This is about music, not about characters. The melodies in this theme are ripe for this style.

I'm not even the first to push this piece in this direction. The SFAs score version flirted with a Spanish style in some passages. It just wasn't a full commitment to the style. I'm not making a full commitment to it either, as there are passages that deviate from the style, but it is the dominant style.

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Guest Julius Quasar

I'm pretty sure most of you have heard my Star Fox 2 Star Wolf theme arrangement titled Mercenarios de Lobo. Despite the fact that the piece is aging, it remains one of my most popular works. Along with that come requests for a Star Fox 64 Star Wolf arrangement in the same style.

Well, I have decided to grant those requests. I haven't put out a major Star Fox arrangement in two years, and I think it is time to do a new one. Since Mercenarios was written, I have gained more and better sounds, as well as improved my orchestration skills. So, I figure it is time to turn Mercenarios de Lobo into a suite.

Announcing Mercenarios de Lobo Parte Dos, which is Spanish for "Wolf Mercenaries: Part Two."

Although for Orchestra, I am writing this sequel in a style common in Spanish-style modern concert band works. It isn't a pure style, and blends some more northern style into it, but it allows for very nice chord structure in addition to Spanish rhythms. There won't be quite as much trumpet craziness, but I do promise that there will be some, and that there will be a trumpet cadenza. Also, the slow sections will be longer. Imagine this telling the story of Star Wolf immediately after Star Fox 64. Not exactly the brightest moment in the team's history, no doubt.

This is shaping up to be my best work yet. The following clip includes the first slow section, which is my current favorite part of the piece. Probably the most complex chord structure I have used yet. Enjoy this clip, hopefully a complete WIP will be ready in a few weeks.

http://www.corneriasound.com/betamusic/merc2sam01.mp3

Wow, sounds awesome!  love that soundtrack btw...I can't wait!

An update.

http://www.corneriasound.com/betamusic/merc2_wip02.mp3

Trying something new here. At the end of this clip, I draw down the instrumentation to the Mariachi band: 2 trumpets, violin, 2 guitars, accordion, and a bass (Sadly, I don't have a sample for the Guitarrón so an upright bass must do). I need to add some ornaments to the trumpet parts in that section, but so far I love it.

Also, I brought back something from my old Star Wolf arrangements that I had set aside due to style inconsistency. The part fits in this style.

AWESOME!

That soundtrack sounds better than the first one! Arriba! *fires gun into the air*

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They're both the same piece. The earlier sample is from 0:25-1:28 in the second one.

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Cubase as the sequencer, Kontakt 2 as the sampler, and various sample libraries.

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Nice one DZ, although I was wondering, given you said that you had better sample libraries now, couldn't you re-release part 1 as well?

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Not sure yet. It would be a lot of work. Due to differences in the software used, I can't just load up the source file and point it to new instruments.

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I just downloaded and listened to it DZComposer. I have to said that it is a good job, maybe a bit too... 'Mexican' to my taste - but good indeed.

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Not sure yet. It would be a lot of work. Due to differences in the software used, I can't just load up the source file and point it to new instruments.

Too bad...

BTW, have you ever used Sebelius? I was thinking of getting it and was wondering if you had any opinions on it.

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I don't really have a need for Sibelius. It is most definitely an excellent notator, though if you want to get published, you'll have to likely get Finale instead. Finale is to music what Photoshop is to graphics. There are great alternatives, but the pros use these specific ones, mainly out of tradition.  For notation, I use a version of Geniesoft's Overture that came with one of my sample libraries. It is decently powerful, but I don't do that much sheet music. Paying several hundred dollars for a program I'll use once on a blue moon is dumb. I made that mistake with Wavelab. I bought it, but I hardly ever use it. I only use it if I need to add an after effect to a final mixdown. If I just need to do some quick wave editing, it is easier for me to do it in Audacity on Arwing (general purpose PC) than copy the file over to Great Fox (Music PC) and use wavelab.

I do all my composition in Cubase. It's a better environment for MIDI work as opposed to a notation program. A Piano Roll gives you precise control over every parameter of every note that isn't possible in most notation suites. Afterall, they're designed to make printable music, not MIDI works. The DAW if the pros is called Pro Tools, but it sucks for MIDI, and requires special hardware that is really expensive. Cubase is awesome. I remember David Wise saying in an interview that he used it when he scored SFAd, so there are pros that use it.

Of course there is always Fruity Loops (I think they call it FL studio now...), but I am if the opinion that it is a n00b DAW. It's UI is too busy for my taste, and it's piano roll has limited MIDICC access, requiring MIDI CC data to be entered in other ways. I think a lot of it is that FL was original designed as a loop sequencer that evolved into a DAW of sorts.

So, if you want to do a lot of MIDI or recording, then a DAW like Cubase or Sonar would be a better choice than a Notation program, like Sibelius or Finale.

Also, keep in mind if you want to get any kind of decent sound, you will need a sample library and the means to use it. Finale I believe comes with a version of GPO. GPO4 currently sells for $150, and is a good starting product. I started with GPO myself. The original Mercenarios de Lobo used it exclusively.

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OMG THIS IS EXITING :D

i love this mix! turned an 8 bit song and composed it into something out of Assault!

this makes me so happy XD

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Great work, as always. I look forward to your next composition! (any hints? take requests?  :P) What can I say, I'm a sucker for remixes and arrangements of video game music.

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