itch.io

Thank you man, it means a lot that you enjoyed it. I am listening to yours and I love the insane creativity. The intro track is absolutely unsettling and fascinating in the best way! the general atmospheres is insane.

anyways, this has been a nice conversation, I hope someone will stumble upon it and learn a couple tricks and gear/software reccommendations.

I'll emphasize once more the freebies:

MJUC jr compressor (full version is $30ish and drm-free)

VCV Rack eurorack simulator (standalone)

Valhalla Supermassive reverb/delay (also space modulator, freq echo)

Saturation Knob (DRM on a free plugin? dear god Softube, whyyyy)

VCV Rack is a virtual modular system with user-submitted modules, I was just being a bit edgy posing it as alternative to Volcano. Please don't get the OG Drumbrute it's huge and unusable hahahah but I love it all the same. 

I do agree, it is inspiring to have real instruments. I have blown cash on them at times, instead of like getting new trousers and stuff. Eurocrack is one hell of a drug. And getting a setup plugged is its own dark art. 

 The thing about the Neutron's rawness and lack of memory, to me that is actually a strength - it IS a modular synth after all, if a basic one. Throughout the jam it was my main track starter alongside the SQ-1.

I actually also was too much in-the-box these days, this jam brought me back to cables and hands-on performance. 

I KNEW IT!!!! You rascal tried to coat it all dancey, but WE KNEW.

Hot dang! I'm dancing to the carnival and back with this groovy bassline!! Not much to say, excellent work, very evocative. The mental picture is very well painted.

Thank you for the feedback! I used the modular on the bass parts for the soundtrack. I'm flattered that you like the eerie pads, as these are mostly played and tweaked manually on my polysynth!

Actually I think if you organize well your mix you don't even need good plugins, it's all about cutting and keeping lows and highs under control. The mid/side stuff starts to step into overproducing.

also interpret how you would but I might allegedly not have payed for the Fabfilter plugins I use. (I'll say it was a gift of the entire catalog from a facebook friend, just to be safe 👀) and the Volcano is handy but it's not all that. I prefer VCV Rack's enormous free selection of user-submitted plugins, ripe for complex modulation (the vcv vst still runs you a 150ish payment). The Fabfilter desert island plugins to me are Saturn and Pro-MB, maybe pro-G. All the rest I could easily give up and replace. I can replace Pro-MB and Pro-G with FL's Maximus in a pinch.

My modular journey began just making all sorts of fart noises and experiments on the Neutron, then adding the SQ-1 sequencer, then adding accidentally two volca modulars borrowing my friend's mixer, and occasionally borrowing my friend's DrumBrute. That quartet is the OG Jon Patch sound, if you dig into my soundcloud's depths. That and VCV Rack. I love the feel of playing analog stuff, but my favourite module ever is Monsoon and that's digital. I love digital.

I have always been too poor to fall fully into GAS. I have been growing my synth for 4-5 years on dish-washing salary, my modules are mostly under 150€ each, my guitar pedals rarely exceed 30€. I got the Deep Mind used for under 400€.

On this soundtrack the Neutron does the heavy lifting, sequenced by the affordable Korg SQ-1 and the older model Doepfer MIDI module I got for 60 bucks. 

If you haven't, get your hands on the Zoom Multistomp CDR pedal!!! It's less than 100 bucks NEW, and you can change its list of effects from the other Multistomp pedals with a particular PC software. I have imitations of guitar amps, insane reverbs, compressors,  distortions... Punches too far above its weight. You can build an ambient career with that pedal's reverbs and anything that makes sound! (not a salesman I swear). Best compulsive buy of my life. I sold my actual crappy guitar amp to save space since I use the pedal's amps instead.

I did get me a JHS 3 series fuzz to feel the authentic analog fuzz - awesome pedal, playing guitar into it is lovely. It is very cool for distortion send on analog tekno jams, the way it crunches and gates when bias is tweaked.

Okay sorry!! I am the kind of person to drop walls of text when I get into it. The quiet and lonely, waiting to burst out type. the point is, don't spend unless you really want to. Use the shittiest EQ and compressor in well-organized buses, and cut the lows by default. My biggest breakthroughs were glue compression (MJUC is great), the compressed and gated sub bus, and the parallel distortion bus with high and low cuts. And keeping reference peak levels at each stage. You can do very silly stuff on a good bus structure. Also try VCV Rack!

My synths for this album were various.

On the hardware side, I employed the Behringer Neutron for most bass and some melodies, with MI Plaits resonator module blended prominently in the bassline from Trencalòs, and used in the pad in Fredrik with some granular effects from my Monsoon type module. I used a combination of analog sequencer and MIDI control. The modular synth output is always put through the RNLA compressor.

 A washy patch for the DeepMind 6 polyphonic synth was gradually adapted across the tracks, and mostly controlled via MIDI. This conforms the chords in Trencalòs, the manually played pads on Sombra, and the base arpeggio on Balena™.

On the VST side, the freeware Sinc/Virt vereor by Noise Engineering are used for the bright chords in Sombra and Balena™. Kick2 is used for the kickdrums. 

In terms of effects and processing, here's a rundown:

The sound design of the kick and overall character of the mix is developed with a parallel, layered structure of clean kick+bass, sub, overdrive and high-end presence, each one its own bus, with mid and side chains (except sub). There are also rhythms and melody+athmosphere buses which don't have the kick in them, also with mid/side stuff.

Some love-deserving effects used are Klanghelm MJUC (less than 30€) for dynamics, and Softube Saturation Knob (free with extremely annoying registration and activation) and Noise Engineering Ruina (simply free) for distortion.

For echo, Valhalla Supermassive (also free) and Fruity Convolver (built into FL Studio) used for massive washes or subtle context in almost all buses.

Some less accessible stuff - Fabfilter Pro-c2 compressor and Pro-L limiter on some buses for squashing and limiting. Pro-G gate and LFOTool (and manual automation) used to empty up parts, especially sub. 

Fabfilter Saturn has some of the most pleasant and varied saturation out there . These could be substituted by other compressors and chains. Or, you know, just save up☠️⚓.

In mastering, also Fabfilter Pro-L, and MJUC gentle master preset as starting point - PLEASE EVERYONE THROW MONEY AT MJUC NOW, IT'S 30 FREAKING BUCKS! In its base form it's just a compress knob, a speed dial, and a post-gain knob. Helped me to lose fear of using compression.

A bit of a full guide, I kept the actual synths on the top, but the secret sauce is in the herbs and spices of the digital processing chains.

Thanks so much for listening! These days, I begin with track-long layers to set a gradually evolving base, then continue developing vertical (i.e. at a given moment) and horizontal (i.e. over time) complexity. In this case I ran out of time to give tracks a bit more identity, mainly more melody and ambiance, and some rhythms.

That said, I'm a minimalist, and the repetitive nature of the tracks takes from rave music (might even be used in actual sets eventually). Trencalòs recieved the most development time, yet its variation is very subtle.

Still, I really get it, there could be more distinction between the tracks. All the basslines involve the Behringer Neutron, and most pads were tweaks of the same DeepMind 6 patch. There wasn't time to be more creative and involve more hardware, especially with the time sink of using a modular synth.

All in all, thanks for the constructive feedback, it is greatly appreciated! 

Damn man, Risk of Rain is just too big of a punch in the gut of my heart... I'm not sure I know the second one's soundtrack right now, but if the first game's OST has anything to do with it, that one is among the best music to ever enter my ear holes. Thank you so much for listening and enjoying it! And leaving such a nice comment too! <3

Thanks to you for the insight! In a way that places the vault for the secret sauce in Neural DSP's hands, but it's okay, I might try it sometime. These days I do my guitar business mostly in hardware, using the Zoom Multistomp range's amp emulations in place of real amps. I think the real solution here is to practice more guitar production. The easier solution would be just buy an amp that sounds good and mike it, but my self-destructive modular synthesis habits already hog my feeble budget.

Since I'm at it, I'll drop an actual piece of advice of my own for any third parties reading this: Possibly the biggest trick in sound design, even in guitar, is keeping a clean version of your sound in parallel with the distorted and dirtied. The opposite angle is adding a subtle parallel distortion into clean mixes

It's the secret of the Klon Centaur, of Led Zeppelin's production, and also Tekno kicks and amateur analog mixes (set up a distortion pedal send for your analog jam sessions!) Depending on use that clean sound can be saturated, compressed or reverberated, but you want to keep it clear and dynamic. The orthodox way this is usually done when recording guitar in a studio, is a Direct Input box, which splits off a line-level version to Input Directly into a mixer or recorded, and the guitar-level signal you were going to pass through three high-gain pedals and a chorus, you rascal.

If you own a Zoom Multistomp like me, you first look up how to change its effects around with a computer. Then you want to get the bass version of the distortion effects; those allow clean blending to preserve precious bass frequencies in the front. So the bass rat, the bass tube screamer, etc. Those will work like different flavours of the Klon's paradigm of saturation. 

In the DAW I've been keeping an entire mix bus dedicated to the distortion, separate from the clean kick and bass bus. I always cut the lows and lower mids on that bus. That way I can do all sorts of EQing, dynamics/volume automation, and silly effects, only on the dirt.

Very detailed, I hope somebody finds this useful.

My first impression is that this would be a colorful game with fun gameplay. Maybe a game you can play with friends, like Spelunky, or Terraria if it was more like Wario Land.

I have to salute the ballsiness of making 9 tracks in 24 hours, you absolute mad lad. Even if I have some gripes with the production, all the tracks have endearing musical ideas and motives, and I think that's why your soundtrack sounds like it pertains on a fun colorful game. Having the music evoke fun is one of those intangible things that you can't simply add in, so big props on that!

aw man that sunlight looks so cozy, it would defeat an army of garfields

First of all, the presentation on the project page is INSANE! A good example that sometimes, the looks and presentation add to the whole experience, like with food. The reason why one would spend hours of precious jam time drawing art for a music only contest. Insane illustrations, great taste, thrilling dystopian vibes.

This soundtrack is so evocative, it's insane! You can see the story play out. It's all so badass! The choice of instrumentation with the synths and the drums, the guitar coming in on the third one to evoke action and dramatism! Great work. In my opinion the mix might get a bit busy on that track actually, as a bit of criticism, if I may.

And that last track is, as it is said in Spanish, cream. cremita pura. Simple and perfect. I'm actually curious on how you got that soft and delicate guitar tone, as a fellow guitarist. If it isn't asking a lot, I desire your secret spice!

Great job, bravo.

Magnífico trabajo. Un uso bello y delicado de los instrumentos, una ambientación sofisticada. En mi opinión la mezcla del trozo metal necesita cocinarse un poquín más, pero es comprensible dadas las limitaciones. Dicho eso, el dramatismo y la pasión de ese tema me han parecido sobresalientes! De pequeño me encantaban este tipo de composiciones heavy en los videojuegos... Hoy día me quedo más con todo el resto ambiental :)

Mis felicitaciones por un trabajo bien hecho! Si estuviese en el PC probaría el juego ya de paso hahahah 😂

HAHA realmente pensaba que te cardaste un videojuego en 48 horas para la jam de bandas sonoras! Si no entiendo mal ha sido un error/accidente? Sea como sea ahora escucho y te digo. arriba Godot ✊

What a simple, pure track. For such an ostensibly bleak thematic, this song just warms your heart and gets you emotional. Of course the voice doesn't sound professional with the lack of lower mids, but it can lean in the lo-fi radio/telephone vibe, and leaves room for ingame dialog. Very beautiful, very endearing. I like the lyrics not being too direct, the rhetoric is colorful.

I  short, I like it more than I should. You touched a fiber there.

Great work! I wasn't expecting such emotion and beauty from something that claims itself "punky and glitchy"! In my head the term punk never left the raw Sex Pistols style hahah 😅

 Very nice athmosphere, very cool drum effects on the second track. The guitar tone is insanely delicate!

Darn, good stuff! Honestly not much to say, just keep calm, point at the head, and rave on! Okay the hardstyle/uptempo one caught me unprepared hahaha really nice work imbuing these dance tracks with sophisticated harmonic compositions. 

Very nice work! I really like the organ. The emotion is just right

Wow this is very good! I like the continuous, medley-like arrangement of the album.

Very evocative. The first track gave me light tears of the kingdom vibes.

What the heck this is incredible for a 3 hour quickie! I've given you very good rating, in all honesty!

Good work! I especially enjoyed the first track. The orchestral bits have a satisfying dramatism. Keep on keeping on!

Very glad that you found it nice! I had been needing to make music since I've been trying new production techniques, but I've struggled with inspiration. Then this silly all-night production insanity took place at the right time and place! I even went all-in on starting every track on analog synthesizer (bad for limited time) sorry for rambling on a spent brain :) thank you so much for listening

Hey thank you so much for your kindness! Glad to see you around too, the OST completionist :)

Saw the message about the video on Discord. Very sweet release indeed! Really nicely put together, especially for the limited timeframe. Nice job!

freedom indeed \(^_^)/

Very cute and cozy tracks for a solemn game experience. Good job

This is cool! It has a Terraria vibe to it that I really enjoy. Very nice 3/4 feel

Really good. I know from experience that solo rock / metal productions are a load of work, so I'm really impressed that this was made in such short time! I'm very much in love with the prog nature of it. Really really good!

I didn't realise at first the use of fretless bass, but indeed that makes it even more impressive!

Thank you so much for listening! The inspiration for the thematic is the terrifying idea of "going overboard" off a space vessel, into the vast nothingness of space, or generally any situation involving getting helplessly stranded outside of Earth.

Thank you so much for listening! I wish I had more time to work on it though.

Wow this is insane! You really got some catchy songs going, and for the most part they are exactly the same backwards! The best entry I've heard yet.

oww my head hurts

This is a very fun tune! I like the vibe of the main symmetrical melody a lot. It really fits the envisioned gameplay in my opinion. Great job!

This is a very fun tune! I like the vibe of the main symmetrical melody a lot. It really fits the envisioned gameplay in my opinion. Great job!

Hey! I just finally got around to listening to your soundtrack for the first time... This is insanely good! You did such a good job with these tracks, it's really humbling and inspiring... I have yet much to learn. Thank you for these breathtaking compositions.

Also, the concept art is very impressive, both in technique and in creativity... Really puts you into a dark, surreal space. NekdoNahodny did an insane job with the pencil/charcoal and watercolour.

This has been a very fun game! I've sincerely enjoyed it. Good job!

This has been a very fun game! I've sincerely enjoyed it. Good job!

This was great! I stayed afloat for 260-ish days. This is a fun and engaging concept for a game! Very nice presentation, too. I feel like with more types of building to add variety this can be a killer mobile puzzle game and very addicting. If you decide to put any more work into this I sincerely reccomend looking into making an Android version, as it would be a perfect fit.