Something Unreal

A heterodyne bat detector lets you hear the difference (frequency-wise) between the sounds around it, and a set frequency. So, doesn’t that mean you can make ultrasonic music and then use the detector to shift the frequencies down so that a human can hear it? It sure does! =D

That said, I didn’t actually make the music – it’s the final boss theme (“Septette for a Dead Princess”) from Touhou 06 (Embodiment of Scarlet Devil), as ripped directly from the game (in MIDI format).

[Watch in HD]

I modified BaWaMI, a MIDI software synth that I made, so that you can shift the frequency of all notes up by a linear amount. This is different to simple “pitch-shifting”, which MULTIPLIES the frequencies by a set amount. That’s why it sounds horribly out-of-tune when shifted – the frequency is made to range from something other than 0 Hz. When shifted by exactly the right amount, the detector is able to recreate the sound as ranging from 0 Hz again. Because the detector is designed to be accurate to a few KHz rather than a few dozen Hz, its internal oscillator tends to “drift” a bit, so I have to keep adjusting the tuning on my program to compensate.

This bat detector is the Ciel-electronique CDB 301 (the newest revision includes a built-in speaker).

(Yes, bat videos will come some time, but they might have to wait until next summer, as little Remi is going into hibernation now >w<)

Well, I tried again… and failed again. xD

[Watch in HD]

I know the piano isn’t perfectly in tune, but it was the best I had access to. Plus, if it had been really good, I might not have been allowed to have the front cover off it.

By the way, the piano happened to be in a building attached to a church, so I thought there was a nice irony to starting the medley with the theme of a vampire.

Since someone kindly informed me that the links to the archives containing MP3s of the Touhou MIDIs playing on my FM synth were in fact dead, I’ve re-uploaded them all (to MegaUpload instead of RapidShare, this time). The page has now been updated with the new links (although you may need to press F5 to see the new links).

Enjoy~!

I’ve now finished recording all themes from Touhou 06: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil in MIDI form playing on my old FM MIDI synth.

You can download MP3s of them with the other Touhou FM MIDI recordings (so far from the 6th, 7th and 8th games), here.

For those who haven’t seen (heard) any before, they’re basically very electronic-sounding versions of the music from the Touhou games (they’re not strictly 8-bit, but they certainly do often sound like they’re 8-bit). If you like chiptune music, you’ll probably really like them.

What a mess of a title.

Showing off the fact that this new release of BMM can, via MIDI-In, handle an unlimited number of notes at once (although it sounds silly while trying to play too many), here it is playing Flandre‘s theme straight from the MIDI file. “…What?” Oh, I explain what’s actually going on in the second video, because I promised Flan’s would be next. ;)

Here’s the fractionally-more-formal introduction and explanation of the new feature of BMM, MIDI Input, showing off 2 more MIDIs from Imperishable Night! =D

The themes are “Retribution for the Eternal Night ~ Imperishable Night” (Stage 4 theme), and “Voyage 1970″ Eirin and Kaguya‘s Last Spell theme).

As usual, you can download this latest version of Bleeper Music Maker here.

Things changed or new in this version:

- Will no longer fail on any computer to load files which contain Unicode characters.

- Ability to change channel and instrument on “MIDI Output Settings”.

- MIDI Input! (Info is in info.txt which is included in the download, under “MIDI INPUT MOD”.)

- A few typos in “info.txt” fixed.

- Now it actually shows text when you click “?” next to “Use MIDI output” (how could I have forgotten to program that? >_<)

- MSSTDFMT.DLL now included in download (many people seemed to be missing it) (info on exactly what to do with the file is near the top of info.txt, under “REQUIREMENTS / PREPARING / COMMON CAUSES OF ERRORS”) .

MIDI OUT!! … … is the main new feature added in this version. Instead of (or as well as) using the PC speaker, it can send all notes and beeps to a MIDI device which you choose (it doesn’t have to be external, it can even be that nasty-sounding synth Windows XP and Vista use by default). More info in Info.txt under “MIDI OUTPUT MOD”

To show off the new Midi Output mod, here’s a short video of a little BMM file I made, playing through my Yamaha keyboard via MIDI Out, complete with accidental footage of a bug with the Synchronized Play mod, which makes it randomly decide start playing 2 minutes after you last started it playing. By the way, that bug is now fixed.

Usual program download link. The download now includes the BMM file you see playing in the video, too (“Remi Solo.BMM”).

Hmm, previously Sakuya, then Remilia… Flandre is next. =D

(Other changes/improvents, plans for future versions…) (more…)

Turns a bit “Master Spark” at the end.
Remilia’s theme starts at 0:30 seconds and is called “Septette for a Dead Princess” (「亡き皇女の為のセプテット」), from Touhou 06 “Embodiment of Scarlet Devil”, rearranged a little and whatnot. It has some little intro at the begining to show off the different sounds. That’s all this was originally going to be, then I decided to take it further. =D

This is a step up from the usual ‘bleeper’-style stuff I make. It sounds like some ancient games console’s music.

This is the latest (not quite yet released) version of my Bleeper Music Maker. Well, 4 of them, running together! One does percussion (noise), one does the melody of Remi’s theme (triangle), and the other 2 share the same file but one’s playing Note 1 (bass, square) and the other one’s playing Note 2 (some weird harmonizing melodies I made up).

On this new version (revision 130) (I’ll probably release it today or tomorrow), you can change the sound FMOD creates from being only square. Also there’s a new mod, “Synchronized Play”, which makes it start playing at a certain time. Set them all up to start at the same time and you can easily get them all to play in sync with each other. =D Oh, and FMOD doesn’t make annoying clicking noises when going from note to note anymore if you set Note/Silence Ratio to 100% (still does when going from note to silence or vice versa, though ><).

MP3 download is here.
(2.43 MB, 1 min 31 secs)
(Sorry about the slow download speed…)

I’ve finished making revision 129 of Bleeper Music Maker, and decided to celebrate by transcribing Sakuya’s theme. “Tsuki Dokei ~Luna Dial~” playing on BMM (with the original MIDI playing along, with channels which BMM is playing MUTED). I completed it in an unusually short amount of time… hmm… ;P

EDIT: Damn, that video’s quality is rubbish. (Vital comment) If you have an account over at NicoNico, you can watch the video in decent quality there.

This one took about 2 hours 45 mins to complete (ZUN’s style of arpeggio harmonies are beautiful, but the complexity of the beauty makes it tedious to transcribe), but who knows how long it would’ve taken if Sakuya hadn’t kept slowing time. I thank her. =D (On an unrelated side-note, I am perfectly sane.)

You can grab the latest version of Bleeper Music Maker from the usual place, right here. The most important new features are IT FINALLY SUPPORTS TRIPLET (and dotted) NOTES! :D Also, the position displays (green things in bottom-right) can now be DISABLED during playback (because it can use up too much CPU time as the song gets longer, making the playback stutter and skip about a bit).

This BMM file (luna_dial.bmm) is included in the program download. It can also be downloaded from the little collection of BMM music on my site. I also did a bit of housekeeping and corrected comments in the other BMM files, correcting info such as song title and artist.