#also we’ve got to talk about music together more!! I played low brass for a very long time :) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

edengarden · 4 years ago

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BNHA CONCERT BAND AU BC IM A NERD

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR REQUESTS OR HEADCANONS AKSJHD PLS ASK ME I LOVE BAND I LOVE MUSIC AND I LOVE THIS-

Izuku Midoriya:

Boy definitely plays a wind instrument. I’m assigning him clarinet

Wants to be first chair so bad, he practices so freaking much I swear

ALWAYS. IN. A. BAND. ROOM. with Iida and Uraraka. They’re always practicing

He’s so confused with music theory, please help him. He just,, WHY is it minor?? WHY IS THERE A SOLO WITH NOTHING WRITTEN?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE HAS TO IMPROVISE WITH THE CHORDS WRITTEN OVER THE BARS-

Ochako Uraraka:

ALTO SAXOPHONE-

She’s also comfortable enough to play 2nd or 3rd clarinet if needed, or even soprano saxophone

Doesn’t have her own instrument, she borrows from the school and she HATES the reeds, they’re crap. When someone gives her a good reed, she CHERISHES it.

In jazz band also! With the same instrument, but she doesn’t feel ready for solos so she’s usually 2nd or 3rd. Bro when she has to switch from swing to straight she ALWAYS forgets and it’s the band’s downfall.

Tenya Iida:

TRUMPET TRUMPET TRUMPET TRU-

And he’s one of THOSE trumpet players, by the way.

“Sir the French horns aren’t tuned” yeah, he has perfect pitch

Literally plays flight of the bumblebee as warm up. Or has his own warm up scales. Never practices right before practice though, he thinks it’s “too late” for that

Has his own trumpet, it’s silver with hints of gold/brass. Takes care of it RELIGIOUSLY.

He HATES having to blow out spit onto the floor, but dude what other choice do you have??

Momo Yaoyorozu:

Sweet angel 🥺🥺 she’s an oboe player

Definitely bought her own instrument

Sight reading MASTER. she instantly gets the key bro, it’s so rare that she forgets an incidental

Definitely leads sectionals all the time. And she does it WELL.

When people (*COUGH* BASSES*cough*) slowdown, she’ll sway to the beat in hopes that they’ll follow her

Kyoka Jirou:

Electric bass or contrabass, give her either and she’s good to go dude.

Also has perfect pitch and knows her music theory WAY more than a high school student should know. She’s a genius.

Her warm ups? Jam sessions with Hanta and Todoroki. She just shouts a key and they go. It’s usually jazz, she plays a pretty constant pattern, Todoroki tries to improvise but hanta takes over pretty quick-

Definitely in jazz band as well. Also in a school competition band (like singer and stuff), also a one-woman-band. She’s in so many bands dude.

Shouto Todoroki:

TENOR SAXOPHONE

Also has a background in flute bc his parents wanted him to have ~versatility~

Knows all the theory in his head, like he knows what’s going on, he just doesn’t know how to explain it

*false note* “sorry my instrument isn’t warmed up, it’s probably my reed”

Has plastic reeds. And reeds ESPECIALLY for jazz.

Oh yeah he’s in jazz band! Loves that he’s like, the only tenor saxophone so he gets all the solos

Rikidou Satou:

TUBA PLAYER IN DA HOUUUSSEEE

Buddy actually brings the tuba home to practice, he drags that thing AROUND.

Always. Slows. Down. But no one knows it’s his fault most of the time, they blame Sero-

Firmly believes in the “basses are the foundation of the orchestra” mindset, he’s so proud to be a bass

Kouji Kouda:

Soprano Saxophone, but can also handle clarinet if the need comes (he just loves the sound of soprano sax you guys)

DEFINITELY in jazz band, but as a Tenor Sax 2 bc he knows if he went as a soprano sax he probably would’ve gotten solos

Is it Momo’s oboe?? Is it Kouda’s soprano sax?? No one knows the different except those two and Jirou

Plays Shostakovich’s jazz suite no. 2 as a warm up

DEFINITELY A SWAYER. He just gets into the mood of the music and SWAYS.

Tooru Hagakure:

Flautist!! She chose it as an 11 y/o bc it was a girly instrument but she really likes it lol

A mediocre player, she spends most of warm up with Mina tho, she thinks that she’ll get to warm up when she’s playing bc I mean— no one hears the flutes

Wanted to main the picolo for the sole purpose that it’s an Ear Destroyer. Aizawa heard the mischief in her voice and said no.

Sight reading?? What’s that?? She has no idea what’s going on, she just pretends to play and when she’s comfortable with the melody, she’ll just step in. NEVER notices key changes and signatures.

Yuuga Aoyama:

LASKHDSJ FLAUTIST!! Also clarinetist. He loves being able to stay where he is during practice even though he changes instruments it’s sort of funny

His cheeks get SO SORE when he plays clarinet though and he WILL complain.

“My flute is so heavy!” Kind of guy.

Definitely has his own instruments and takes GREAT care of them.

Wetting his reed with his saliva?? No, he plops it in a glass of water instead (the reeds are definitely his own, and expensive)

Tsuyu Asui:

Trombone gang bro.

Positions are burnt into her brain dude she’ll never go out of tune.

SO SMOOTH. SOOOO SMOOO- dude she plays so well?? It’s never spitty, but during jazz (yes she’s in jazz), if it’s a moody piece she KNOWS how to make it juuussssttt airy enough to be beautiful

Not that good with fast songs, but she makes up for her amazing ass vibrato and her range. GOD-LIKE RANGE.

Mashirao Ojirou:

FRENCH HORN!!!

Omg he plays like a king. And he’s so proud of being the ONLY one playing French horn, but there is PRESSURE, because a French horn is rlly tricky to tune dude. Have you SEEN it??

Always keeps his mouthpiece with him, as if he’s afraid someone will play his instrument?? Like no dude it’s good in it’s case but you do you I guess

He doesn’t stand out that much, but in the majestic pieces where he has a 5 measure solo?? He gives it his all and he pulls it OFF. Those moments are always the highlight of the piece

Mezou Shouji:

Bass clarinet!!

Once he managed to growl through bass clarinet and literally ALL the saxophone players were jealous AS FUCK

Buddy goes to a low E♭ like it’s nothing?? And then he goes up to like a high high C and you’re sitting there like THE FUCKING RANGE-

His warmups are like, quick scales and arpeggios. Bro he’s so steady when he plays and he could play for HOURS. Sore cheeks?? Don’t know her.

He so proud of being a bass clarinetist, but when he saw an octobass clarinet?? Aizawa better order one of those for him RIGHT. NOW.

Fumikage Tokoyami:

Baritone saxophone. Also lowkey really wants to learn bassoon because it’s such an old instrument

SKSKS he and Shouji sit next to each other, Tokoyami loves to read off of Shouji’s partition and create the WORST fourths you’ll ever hear. Even Midoriya told them to shut the fuck up once

In jazz band too!! Still plays bari sax

Such,, a good,, sound. So,, meaty,, and full,, and HOT. Bari sax is HOT!!

Plays moanin’s intro as a warm up. Search up the song. It’s bomb.

He loves to figure out new sounds with his bari sax. The Too Many Zooz type of sounds

Hitoshi Shinsou:

PERCUSSIONIST. Especially loves the bells, timpani, vibraphone and marimba.

He’s in the back judging EVERYONE. It’s so great for him, he gets to stand there and cringe and no one will know

Totally able to play 4 mallets like the king he is

Surprisingly enough, he’s rlly good in music theory. Like he could probably compose or transpose something no problem

Aizawa’s favourite, of course. Will ask him to sit in front while they play and circle the parts where he thinks something sounds off

Now that we’ve talked about the NORMAL band kids, I present to you,,, the gremlin band kids

Mina Ashido:

Percussionist as well!! She loves snares but you’ll see her pick up castagnettes even if y’all are playing something like Gymnopédie no. 3 she’s a bit confused but she got the spirit.

CANNOT READ SHEET MUSIC. Like notes?? No. She can do beats, just not notes. Let Shinsou figure out the ancient languages dude

Her and Hagakure don’t warm up, they just gossip together.

Did this to Bakugou more than once

SHE DROPPED SO MUCH EQUIPMENT LIKE HOW DID SHE NOT BREAK ANYTHING YET??

Denki Kaminari:

TRUMPET.

Buddy AIMS to have his spit land on someone sitting in front of him (rip Todoroki and Uraraka)

Thinks he’s cool because he plays trumpet, but he always loses count. God forbid Iida cant show up to practice because Kaminari will die

“Where are we? What are we doing? Which piece are we doing? Where are we starting?” Oh my god he’s so lost can SOMEONE please help him

Always gets in trouble during band camps dude. He and Sero are the Bad Brass duo

Eijirou Kirishima:

EUPHONIUM BABEY!! He thinks it’s so cool and he’ll get so insulted if someone calls it a “mini tuba”

DONT GIVE HIM SHEET MUSIC IN BASS CLEF HE HATES IT PLS JUST TREBLE CLEF

So!! Protective of his euphonium. His name is Johnny, by the way. He named his instrument.

When they finish practicing a piece, he’s the first to give feedback. Usually it’s good, like praises for classmates he heard and thought were really good!!

He’s so sweet. Willing to help others during practice and sectionals too!! It’s so sad that he’s literally on the other side of the room bc KAMINARI NEEDS HIS HELP-

Katsuki Bakugou:

Hehehe he’s a flautist. I’ve stood by this headcanon for like two years.

And he wants to be THE BEST. You never knew growling could be done through a flute until you met Bakugou.

CANNOT STAND slow pieces. He wants to go all out all the time, he always speeds up when the tempo’s slow.

Also in jazz band with what? Flute. Yeah, this is George Benson Time.

Will hit you with his flute if you ever think badly of him for playing flute. He’ll defend flute ‘till he dies.

Hanta Sero:

TROMBONIST!!! TROMBONE BABEY.

Will be so happy if he’s in charge of bass trombone?? Like yay??

Always wants to hit Bakugou’s head while playing.

Bro his playing style?? You know the like, lazy-ish trombone playing? But it’s just so full and smooth and heavy anyways? That type of shit.

In jazz band, he’s actually a natural at jazz, doesn’t practice that much so he’s like not even in a good position, buddy just slouches and sight reads.

I love Hanta sm guys I could talk abt trombonist!Hanta forever

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armorsleevedsinglehit · 4 years ago

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the huge shippuden music meta

no one asked for this but i’m gonna write it anyway. i’m going to focus primarily on the shippuden soundtrack here, but expect some references to the original series soundtrack as well. also before i begin i know approximately two (2) music so some of my terminology is probably going to be incorrect lol, it’s been a while since college. this is a general shippuden meta but it does focus on the uchiha clan, in particular sasuke and madara.

anyway, to start off, you can pretty easily divide the shippuden soundtrack into a few general categories:

traditional and/or acoustic

electric guitar tracks

some combination of these, plus orchestra hits aplenty

there are a few odd ducks here and there, but no worries, we’ll get to them. and then within these general categories we have a series of recurring character motifs (which can be a bit muddled, because certain themes are used for multiple characters. i assume that naruto (the show) isn’t necessarily scored the way a film would be, and so the directors just slapped whatever dramatic/sad/upbeat music they could find onto a scene, esp if it’s a filler ep, which definitely generates some confusion.) but characters and groups in shippuden DO sort of get their own motifs and themes, so here is my very basic list of those as well:

uzumaki clan and its descendants/allies: “emergence of talents/hyakkaryōran” has a very cool melody towards the end that comes back in “narukami/weeping god” and “shoryu/rising dragon”. we can basically call this the protagonist theme. naruto, sakura, kakashi, jiraiya, most of the konoha 11, and even minato get to claim this one. however, VERY interestingly, narukami is what plays when tobi (as madara) is telling sasuke about the glory days of the uchiha clan... possibly hinting at greater connections between the two clans???????????

akatsuki-related themes: i won’t link a ton of these because they’re super obvious. they’re often full of choir and organ (harkening back to orochimaru’s original series theme); they also tend to be slower. not always, though; look at crimson flames, a slapper if i ever heard one. prime example of akatsuki themes: girei, my FAVORITE bit of the shippuden soundtrack. UGH.

general shippuden themes: things like hurricane suite, heaven-shaking event, etc. most of the first ost goes in here. this category also contains the closest approximation to hashirama’s theme that i could find, experienced many battles and departure to the front lines, which both make me cry lol

there are other fun little motifs and bits and bobs that appear in this soundtrack that i won’t get into here for length (remind me to talk about the angelic herald of death sometime), but it’s a remarkably cohesive piece of work to the point where it gets repetitive sometimes; why are all the super interesting tracks unreleased!!!!??? anyway the purpose of this meta is to attempt to make sense of the way this soundtrack works. we’ll investigate sasuke primarily because i feel that he really ties the whole soundtrack together, and you can extrapolate a lot from the way his theme evolves.

sasuke’s theme (wandering/hyouhaku), yes the dramatic cowboy music theme, is this wonderfully atmospheric track that makes use of the kind of negative space between guitar strums to build up this aura, this Essence of Sasuke. this alone makes it stand apart from other mostly-acoustic pieces on the soundtrack, to me. the whole thing is just humming with this simmering frustration and melancholy and it really gives you a sense of sasuke as this tortured figure who has been severely wronged and experienced the world’s faults firsthand. notably, this version of sasuke’s theme lifts its opening notes (and structure, sorta) from sasuke’s original series theme, which i assume was on purpose. it shows that he’s grown jaded as he got older, i think.

anyway, as the inevitable battle between sasuke and itachi draws closer, we get our first variation on sasuke’s theme: black spot/kokuten. it has the same melody and structure as before, but features heavier guitars, more orchestration, and, in the final bars, notes that previously fell on 1 and 4 but now fall on 1 and 3, which bring a heightened sense of urgency to the whole thing. and more importantly, it ends without resolving itself? it leaves us hanging on this almost call-and-response bit with one wailing guitar after another, before winding the orchestration down and fizzling back down to the level of “wandering.” here we see a sasuke in progress, if you will, working towards a goal that some may find sinister, but he is determined if nothing else, and the instruments match his fervor. it’s roughly analogous to “crimson flames” in terms of intensity, but it’s very distinctly Sasuke.

there are several more variations of sasuke’s theme floating around, but the next one i want to talk about is this one called “sasuke’s ninja way,” apparently, never officially released but relentlessly employed by the anime directors. it takes a more subtle turn than “black spot,” but i don’t see it as a direct sequel to “wandering” for a few different reasons. i think it represents the dilemma sasuke found himself after finally killing itachi and learning the truth about him: the realization that this whole quest for power of his was never really about revenge on one specific person, but rather about reforming the shinobi world as a whole. it’s slower than “black spot,” yet darker, more ominous; it treads the same general path as “wandering” but with added electric guitar, and, notably, choir. recall that choir is often used for themes related to the akatsuki, which i think ties in neatly with sasuke’s motivations at this point. he, like nagato before him, wants to remake the world.

the final iteration of sasuke’s theme, “sasuke’s revolution/junkyousha,” brings it all together. the akatsuki is commonly represented through choir and organ, and this theme starts out with both of these cranked up to the max. this is (pardon the pun) sasuke’s rebirth, if you will. just combine the intensity of “girei,” the anger of “crimson flames,” and the determination of “emergence of talents” and you’re there. seriously: this culmination of sasuke’s character development basically pulls from every single facet of the soundtrack and produces this MASSIVELY rich piece full of anger and rage and hate and fury, while STILL managing to include the twangy guitar bits from “wandering” (which have gone back to 1 and 4!!). we also have someone going ham on a shamisen towards the end of the track, which calls to mind the shamisen solo from “emergence of talents” and other tracks. hinting at an eventual compromise with naruto, possibly?

anyway, i started out this meta trying to find a piece of the soundtrack that could serve as madara’s theme, but i wasn’t sure that one existed. i think the susano’o has a theme, and the uchiha clan has a theme, but....madara just doesn’t?? sure there are unreleased tracks like “legendary uchiha,” but i’d argue that doesn’t really go into his character as much as it just says “watch out for this fucking guy.”

but then i listened to hurricane suite one more time, and i was like HOLY SHIT THIS IS IT. for one thing, it’s long as fuck: this track is a whole journey. it really gives the impression of someone who has lived an impossibly long life and become jaded and cruel and hardened. i realize that the argument could be made that hurricane suite is sasuke’s theme, not madara’s, or that it’s a general shippuden theme and doesn’t represent one character in particular. and yes, i think both of these interpretations are correct. hurricane suite represents what sasuke could POTENTIALLY turn out to be, given his evolution from “wandering” to “black spot” to “sasuke’s ninja way” all the way to “sasuke’s revolution.” hurricane suite warns us that sasuke can (and very well may!) make the same mistakes madara did and end up destroying himself in the process. (the middle of “hurricane suite” GREATLY resembles “wandering.”) and recall that hurricane suite is used in the very first episode of shippuden: the episode where naruto encounters sasuke for the first time, AND- are you ready for this- when madara’s name is dropped for the first time in the series.

this is why i think that, along with it being a general shippuden theme, hurricane suite is also madara’s theme. shippuden as a whole is practically suffocating under the oppressive weight of madara’s presence, right from the very first episode. even before he’s introduced, he is VERY much there. so much of madara’s character is established before he even shows up. we hear so much about him from other characters (kurama, itachi, obito, hashirama), and as such our view of madara changes drastically over the course of the series. and guess what plays when itachi shows sasuke that genjutsu of madara stealing izuna’s eyes?

anyway, in my opinion and in my interpretation of the character, the music fits him perfectly. it starts out all low and choral with these slow ominous drums and deep strings, and this violin comes in that sounds like it’s weeping. we hear something like a heartbeat that grows darker over time, before the music comes to some sort of resolution, an inflection point, and the brass comes in heavy. NOW we’re dealing with the orchestra, three quarters of the way into the song, and we’ve got strings and drums set to a marching pace, more choral chanting, climbing strings and shamisen tumbling down the scales. it sounds like grief!!

and note that yes, this track is used in the very first episode of shippuden, during naruto and sasuke’s first encounter. but it is ALSO used during the scene in hashirama’s flashback when izuna is mortally wounded and madara makes the decision to abandon the clan on the battlefield to take care of him, despite his better judgment and hashirama’s offering of peace. the inflection point in the music represents a very real inflection point in madara’s life: the loss of his last brother. (it always comes back to that, doesn’t it.)

#meta #madara uchiha #sasuke uchiha #uchiha clan #almost 2000 words churned out in one evening. [stares at fic] [sighs]#long post

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kinsie · 5 years ago

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Game Impressions from PAX Aus 2019

Wake the fuck up, samurai. We've got a city to burn.

Every year I go to PAX Aus with some close friends to check out the Incredible Future of Games that everyone else already checked out six months ago, along with some cool weird indie shit and some awesome retro stuff. And every year, I write a little diary of what I saw to share my impressions with my friends. This is that diary.

Doom Eternal

Okay, let's get this out of the way. I played Doom Eternal pretty much as soon as I got on the show floor. It may shock you to know that it is, in fact, good.

No pictures of the demo units, sorry, so have this big logo.

The demo started with a little grey-box tutorial map just to teach you what you need to know for the demo level, since it was taken from the middle of the game. It looked very Snapmap-y and had some Doom 2 MIDI music playing. After that we were given about 25 minutes to acquaint ourselves with the lengthy "Mars Core" mission they've been showing since E3. I was at the start of the first arena of the hell bit when I ran out of time. :(

Here are some scattered thoughts from playing:

Your standard running around and double jumping feels much the same as in Doom 2016. The dashing feels great, although I think it might reduce your air control a little afterwards as I had some trouble overshooting a platform in the floating debris bit.

Climbing walls felt a bit weird to me. You have to press E on the wall manually to grab onto it, which feels a bit unintuitive when you're plummeting past it. Also feels a bit odd considering mantling up walls is automatic. You can auto-grab onto walls if you dash into it, but I think it's only for the first bit of the dash? Maybe I'm just bad at videogames.

I think the Combat and Super Shotguns now use different ammo types? I could have swore there were situations where I could select the Combat Shotgun but not the SSG.

The Chainsaw now no longer has even the slightest pretence of being a "real" weapon. It's now just a swing animation when you press the button, like a melee attack, before bringing your weapon back up.

When you have the SSG's Meat Hook attachment, a little meathook icon appears below the crosshair. When you're close enough to an enemy to grapple onto them, the icon floats over them, indicating that it has some kind of auto-aim mechanic to reduce frustration.

There was a monster with swords on its arms that acted an awful lot like the Baron of Hell (might have been the Hell Knight, looking at the Quakecon footage of the same fight) but it looked quite different. Looked fuckin' cool, whatever it was.

The platforming but in the debris section with the giant floating red barrels was actually kind of frustrating. It wasn't always clear where you needed to go, and the climbable bits tended to blend in with the rest of the world. Then again, keep in mind I have a frankly abysmal sense of direction. Thankfully falling into the void just whacks you for a paltry five health and teleports you back onto safe ground.

The locational damage stuff is really fun. Breaking a monster's guns has a satisfying metal "PING" sound to it to inform you that the dude got fucked up and is weaker now, and that you should keep doing it.

When I picked up one of those "?" secrets, the pop-up box told me that they unlocked "collectable dolls" and "cheat codes". The former is vague, but I suspect they'll be like the mini-Doomguys but of more characters. I'd imagine the latter will be like in Rage 2.

Oh, and it looks a million bucks, too. Though you probably didn't need me to tell you that.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I saw and it's even more of a pity it's not coming out next month.

Not Indie Games, But Also Not Doom Eternal

The Vive Cosmos felt really comfy - the lack of cabling and the decent display resolution made it feel a lot more natural than the Gen 1 Vives I've previously used. The game they were using to demo (Audica), however, was pretty lame. A rhythm-target shooter that didn't really take advantage of the medium at all.

Bleeding Edge was not inspiring. It was basically the control point mode from TF2 or Overwatch, except every character was a third-person brawler with little emphasis on projectile weapons beyond the occasional special. It felt like someone making a claim at TF2 or Overwatch's throne several years late while bolting a weak character action game on, which is fairly odd considering how innovative and critically acclaimed Ninja Theory's previous game was.

Dreams is fairly fascinating in its potential. The creation tools weren't available in the demo build so I can’t really judge them, instead there was a choice of eight developer-made experiences ranging from Mario-inspired obstacle courses to videogames as art.

I didn't get the chance to actually play MediEvil, but I watched some folks play it and it basically just looks like the PS1 game with more triangles, with all the slightly wonky 32-bit gameplay that entails.

The demo unit for Monkey King: Hero Is Back had some utterly bizarre graphics settings for some reason that made it look like I was playing a JPEG file, with big whopping compression artifacts surrounding each character. Weird!

Not happenin’.

Indie Games

Grabimals is a brilliant local co-op puzzler where players roll around as shapes and link together to solve puzzles like catching a falling water droplet, crossing a gap or casting a shadow that matches an example image. Supposedly it's still a ways off from release, but it's already impressively polished (disregarding one hilarious crash bug we found by accident!)

Hamster Scramble is a really fun take on Puzzle Bobble, with platforming elements, team play and the ability to jump over to your opponent's screen and fuck their plans up directly. It's an absolute blast and didn't feel like it was almost a year away from release.

Fork Knights is a platform fighter with an emphasis on one-hit kills. The character designs are cute, but I can't really say the gameplay itself struck me, to be honest.

Baron is an eight-player single-screen local multiplayer dogfighter. Fairly simple mechanically, but pretty fun all things considered.

Broken Roads had some lovely hand-painted art assets and some interesting ideas like a literal moral compass, but the demo build showcased was waaaaay too early to be shown off to the public. Of the eight or so areas present in the demo, only two had any characters, interactivity or really anything other than wandering around set up, and the combat side of things was extremely rough and sequestered off to a side area as a "well, if you insist..." kind of deal.

Misadventure In Little Lon is a true-crime adventure game for mobile with a unique mechanic - each "scene" is integrated into the real world via AR, with characters (that resemble Poser models more than a little bit) speaking to you directly. Not sure if it holds up over an entire game, but it's attention-garnering at least.

Speaking of true crime, The Black Window tasks players with using an Oujia board to question Australia's first female serial killer, with responses taken from court records and letters from the time. The well-acted performances of the actual individual in question's words lends it an impressive atmosphere, which the booth added to with a big wooden oujia board type thing you could "type" on. Sort of.

ACID KNIFE is real, real early, but the aesthetic is awesome and the pixel art is great. Hopefully it grows and expands into something special.

The Vigilante Proclivities of the Longspur is an oldschool Lucasarts-inspired point-and-click adventure with a custom demo scene set at an oddly-familiar videogame convention. Pretty promising so far, but could do with a good bit of polish - I'm pretty sure there was only one sound effect in the entire demo, and dialogue was often lacking in punctuation.

I didn't get to play Hot Brass but I watched over shoulders and talked with the developers, and it looked pretty cool. It's basically a take on SWAT 4's rarely-imitated brand of tactical copwork, but with a Hotline Miami-style top-down perspective, but with all the characters abstracted down to simple board game like tokens - a circle with a coloured outline denoting attitude towards the player, with a weapon icon if armed.

Blood Metal... Blood Metal is not good. It is extensively not good. Development seems to have only started in July, so one can still hope that the bad AI, unsatisfying gunplay, buggy collision detection and complete lack of damage feedback (outside of some ridiculous, sight-obscuring gouts of blood) get fixed over time. The 80s action movie aesthetic and low-poly artstyle forces it to be compared to Maximum Action, which is at least a fun kind of jank...

This Starry Void is a real-time, tile-based 3D dungeon crawler set in an abandoned spacecraft. It seems pretty cool so far, but it could probably use some UI/UX tweaks. The attempts at a "graphic novel inspired" visual style for the environments could probably benefit from looking at how Void Bastards did things, as well.

Lethal Lawns and Beam Team are fucking arcade games with massive cabinets. In 2019. Granted, they're also on computers and coming to consoles and stuff as well, but still! They're both pretty simple games, and therefore best played in cabinet form.

Unpacking is a "zen puzzle game" by the developers of Assault Android Cactus about the second-worst part of moving house, unloading an unseen character's packing and getting a glimpse into their lives as a result. I wasn’t able to play it due to an unexpectedly-crowded booth, but the pixel art is quite lovely.

Feather is a chill game about being a bird and flying around an island trying to find its secrets. I tried the Switch port, which played alright but obviously (and understandably) toted a lower framerate than the demo PC.

Topple Pop is a cute puzzle game that blends together elements of Tetris, Puyo Puyo and that one joke game that was Tetris but with a proper physics engine. Looks cute, with a fun gimmick!

Shooty Skies Overdrive is an VR spinoff of the popular mobile shmup, and basically similar to that one shmup minigame in Valve's The Lab. Weave your plane, which is attached to one of your hands, through incoming bullets and enemies like a toy! The 3D effect on the incoming projectiles looks great, but they can tend to get in the way of the action sometimes.

Dead Static Drive has been at like the last three PAXes and it looks better every time I see it. I hope it comes out this decade.

Snow Mercy is a third-person shooter/strategy thing where you hunt down icecubes to spend on an army of snowmen to crush your opponent's base before they crush yours. Not a common genre combo, reminds me of C&C Renegade a bit.

The Adventure Pals has graphics straight out of mid-2000s Newgrounds and level design out of pretty much any european platformer, but it didn't seem too bad from my brief prodding at it. The player character is perhaps a bit too small for my elderly eyes in Switch portable mode, but that's about as far as my gripes go.

#gaming #paxaus2019

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tonedefsound · 5 years ago

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Bass? Meh. Is that your reaction when your friend is all riled up talking about his newfound religi…. I mean band and you ask what instrument he plays? It’s true though, bass is a pretty boring instrument for the unintelligent, surface musicians who only follow the mainstream. Let me introduce you to some quality bassists you’ve never heard of that aren’t afraid to stand in front of their lazy guitarists onstage:

Victor Wooten – Bela Fleck Les Claypool – Primus Flea – Red Hot Chills Paul McCartney – The Beatles.

Never heard of ‘em? Look ‘em up. Now let me propose to you uninitiated, dumb dumbs another contender among the bestest bassist list.

Ming Nichols. Not only is the South Carolinian a prolific, dirrrty south kinda songwriter but he’s been a part of some of the most renowned projects in East Asia for the past decade. One of which is his Jared Leto loving, bass and drum, dath-rock (math + death) duo Death to Giants. As openers of the Japandroids Shanghai show, not only was the crowd lapping up every drop of sweat from Master Ming’s chin but the headliners themselves bowed down and worshipped at the feet of this magical mathemusician too.

Ming, now residing in turbulent Hong Kong, sets aside a few #instaminutes to chat with us about his newest projects and releases.

So Nichols, what was it like growing up in the drrrtay south and why the multiples moves to Asia?

Most of my childhood I was surrounded by music, fattening food and humidity. I was a goofy, overachieving, overweight band nerd. So, yeah not much has changed. Moved to Shanghai to teach 12 years ago, had a great time, but wanted a change so my wife and I moved to Guatemala. After 3 years, we missed Asia, so we moved to Hong Kong. Teaching is my passport to employment and international moves, but music has always been my passport to making new friends in new places.

How’d you get into bass as opposed to becoming the Asian white rapper we so clearly see as your calling?

I played low brass – baritone, tube, and trombone – in school band but I also played guitar because my dad always had them laying around. The greatest thing my father ever did was instill in me a love of Frank Zappa and just let me screw around on the guitar in front of the TV. As a guitarist, I was into metal, punk, and ska. While in college, I met one of my best friends who was also a drummer who really got me into progressive rock bands like Rush, Yes, Tool, and King Crimson. Together we started jamming as a drum and guitar duo, but soon I felt more

of a calling towards bass as I have always preferred the low end, so my first “rock” band was a prog-rock bass and drum duo. That basically is the foundation of everything else I’ve ever done.

The projects you’ve been a part of are quite eclectic, from the fantasy-progressive rock band Rainbow Danger Club to the heavy hitting double bass group John Travoltron to a collab with Mongolian throat singing traditional band Guren and errythang in between. Give us some of the highlights of your many projects.

Creatively, my biggest highlights are producing the RDC albums Where Maps End and Souvenirs. When it comes to performing, my biggest highlights are in the many shows and collaborations I did with Death to Giants. Ivan and I had that connection, a very unique energy and rhythm section ESP that isn’t easy to find. My bassists and drummers out there would understand. But overall, the best highlights are the memories and friendships that have been forged through music. Touring with your friends and playing your music to strangers who dig it is the best.

How are you staying connected with the downtrodden people of Hong Kong whilst fulfilling that crave to continue music-making in this troubling time?

It’s a tough time for everyone in HK and while its inconvenient for me, it’s an existential crisis for venues, promoters, and professional musicians. Tons of shows have been cancelled since October due to political protests and covid19. But this hasn’t stopped the local scene to try new things like streaming shows. All my current projects have released and will continue to release music and videos online despite having tons of shows cancelled. John Travoltron has released two “zoom-style” music videos, M.E.A.T.S. is about to release a new EP, and Streets of Rage who still hasn’t had a debut gig – we’ve had SEVEN cancel! – has released two in-studio performances, a lyric video, and a debut EP.

A few friends of mine including Adam from John Travoltron and Art and Gabe from Bastardon are doing stuff under a new collective name called PigRat (representing the year of the pig and the year of the rat – two very difficult years for HKers). We just released a compilation highlighting HK artists and want to release many more! The point of it all is to highlight the local scene. Even post-Covid (if that ever happens) It will be a long time before international acts will be able to come to HK, heck it might be a while before any of us can easily leave HK. So it’s a good time to look inward at the talent that exists here and, even better, to encourage growth in talent. This is just our way of putting our little pocket of musicians “out there” and hopefully inspire others to as well. Arts and Entertainment is essential during times of crisis and challenge.

What does Ming de los Nichols foresee in the future regarding your work?

Honestly, I want to improve as a bass player. I am working on a set of Primus covers to perform at the annual Halloween tribute show. It is a personal challenge, wish me luck! Also, my friend

Adam and I (same guy from piglet/johntravoltron) make homemade instruments. We are working together on making a few and performing with them soon.

Other than that, I am going with the flow and always trying my best. I know that I won’t stop creating and will do my very best to perform and encourage others to do the same!

https://deathtogiants.bandcamp.com

https://rainbowdangerclub.bandcamp.com/album/where-maps-end

https://streetsofragehk.bandcamp.com/releases

https://meats.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/johntravoltronmusic

https://www.facebook.com/johntravoltronmusic/videos/620281191937981/

http://www.facebook.com/streetsofragehk/

http://www.instagram.com/streetsofragehk/ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Qy5QbqUSW1JMzz1VHHMIg

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merriammusicinc · 5 years ago

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Kawai CA78 Digital Piano Review & Demo by Merriam Pianos

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Introduction

Stu Harrison of Merriam Pianos examines Kawai's award-winning CA78 Digital Piano, a relatively new entrant to the home digital market, and one aiming for the higher-end of the buying public. Aside from its impressive technical specs and inspired collaboration with a hi-fi stereo company, the CA78 is also an exquisite piano to just sit down and enjoy. If you find yourself in the market for a new piano, and you've been seeking digital or acoustic pianos in the $5000 and under range, this piano should absolutely be on your short list to investigate. In the video above, Stu specifically plays the ebony polish version, but it also comes in 3 other finishes: Premium Rosewood, Satin Black, and Satin White (in some markets).

We'll be discussing the features, the sound, and the action - but first, let's begin with action.

Piano Action

Talking about the action on the CA78, now this is the same action that you're gonna find on the Kawai CA98. Kawai has been working on this type of wooden-key keyboard action for close to 20 years. I remember starting in the piano business back in about 2005 and going down to Kawai's North American headquarters in Los Angeles and getting a whole run-through on what they were doing with their all-wood action at that point, and it was absolutely state-of-the-art, leading the industry. At this point we're almost 15 years later and they continue to improve on this action.

What's even more interesting is as time has gone by several other companies are now using this action as the absolute foundation for their product. And so you can now find this in Nord's brand new grand piano product that literally just hit the market a couple of months ago, as well as Ravenscroft, which is arguably one of the top boutique piano makers in the world, came out with a digital product called Ravenworks and they're using Kawai's wood-based action in there. So it's showing up everywhere. It really has, as I said, been leading the pack almost for two decades now. And what's in the CA78 is the very best of what Kawai is now producing in 2019.

[Referencing the video] I'm just gonna pull in a wooden-key action model right here so we can have a look at exactly what this is all about. One of the things that you notice fairly immediately is just the sheer length of the wooden-key. And actually if you hold this up to an acoustic piano wooden-key, what you realize is the distance between the front pin and what they would call the capstan, which is actually what moves the hammer, is exactly the same geometry and dimensions as what you'll find in an acoustic key.

The second thing that I certainly noticed because I'm obviously an acoustic piano player, as well as a salesperson and trainer, is you notice that a lot of the components in there are actually made of natural materials like brass and chrome, hard metals that you also find in the action of acoustic pianos. So you're talking about an action that's built incredibly durably.

The way in this works is rather than having all of the parts that normally go in a whippen, it's really got one hammer component with weighting on the end. Now that weighting is graded so as you get closer to the top of the keyboard, those weights get smaller, so it gets closer to the bottom of the keyboard, those weights get heavier to simulate the smaller and the larger keys.

And then, of course, you've got this little rubber nub in there, I'm sure there's a more technical term for that, but that essentially simulates that little escapement or that let-off where on a real piano, the jack would have been just slipping off the knuckle on the shank of the hammer. So this is what it's all about. This is what drives these CA78 and CA98. And of course, again we're talking about the Grand Feel II with let-off and counterweights complimented by the SK-EX Rendering piano sound engine.

The surfaces they've chosen for the key surfaces also gives a realistic ebony & ivory touch.

Now as you start to play this instrument you get musically lost pretty quickly - in all the good ways. In short, we have a true musical instrument on our hands. I mean the level of expression and the depth of the range that you have, that the action gives you is pretty extraordinary. If you haven't had a chance to try one of these, if you're in the market, you know, whether or not Kawai is on your list or not, if you have a chance to sit down and play one, I really think that it's an opportunity that you should take.

It's pretty remarkable how far they've come from the time where people used to sneer at the thought of a digital piano being a real instrument to the point now where we have really good players coming in the showroom, good teachers coming into the showroom talking about instruments like this as their primary teaching instrument or at the very least, a really good secondary instrument to have in the studio or at home as a practice piano.

Now on top of the fact that it's feeling a lot better, and I made mention of the durability that you get over top of, say, a standard plastic action that has a few more moving parts, it's also using a triple sensor. And that triple sensor again is industry-leading. It's one of the primary reasons why Ravenworks and Nord selected this was just the accuracy of the MIDI information that this instrument outputs to the tone generator. It's spot on and we see this time and time again.

I remember going back down to NAMM a couple of years ago and walking around some of the software displays and most of them were using the Kawai VPC1 as the main controller to actually demonstrate the software because the MIDI output was just so accurate and the feel was so good. So the CA78, again the same as CA98, you're getting fantastically accurate, durable and very satisfying action on which to play.

The Piano Sound

Let's move on to the sound that is actually co-powered by Onkyo. So the newest CA (Concert Artists) series, including the Kawai CA78 and the 98, and of course the Novus 10, are all building upon Kawai's Harmonic Imaging XL technology, which is another thing that they've been working on for many, many years. Now in simple terms, Harmonic Imaging is their trade name for essentially the algorithm that they use to create the piano sound engine. And in even more kind of, you know, simplified terms, essentially what it is, is a recording of a real piano and then they are using what's called modeling to affect those samples.

So it's kind of like taking a snapshot of a real photo and then applying computer graphics over it to make any changes that you want. So you start with something real and then you're applying programming and essentially computer code to modify it and customize it to what you happen to be doing on the keys. And that's where you get into their Virtual Technician technology and even if you're just using it straight out of the box as it was programmed at the factory, you're hearing tons of detail that is…you don't hear in too many other places in the digital world.

The bass sound for their piano sample in the 78 and the 98 is their 9-foot Shigeru Kawai EX Concert Grand Piano. Now that on its own is an exquisite instrument to start with. I think arguably certainly one of the top five concert grands in the world right up there in tonal complexity with a Hamburg Steinway or the Fazioli 278 or, you know the Bechstein 9-foot as well. And so you're starting with a great bass, and you've got…I think it's the fifth or sixth generation of Harmonic Imaging now that they're applying to that sample and so you get this fantastically colorful, responsive dynamic tone out of this instrument.

The engine is capable of a 256 max polyphony, which given the size of the multi-channel sampling bank, is impressive. They also equip the sound engine with remarkably high-quality reverb modules and resonance modelling in addition to the multiple virtual technician presets - all of it coming together to give a customized playing experience that feels more personal than a typical digital. I should mention that many of the extra horsepower we're discussing here is only available in pianist mode, rather than sound mode (organ / pads etc).

So all of that great technology by Kawai and Onkyo is sending sound to our ears through four super high-end speakers. And the four (really six if you could the top speakers as four) speakers on its own is kind of a nice treat because most digital pianos, particularly if you're down in the $2,000 range or below, you're just getting 2 basic stereo speakers. Generally, you could describe the speaker system as being truly 'hi-fi', both in terms of the power amplifiers, the speakers themselves, the tweeters,

The main volume of the instrument is coming out of the bottom. We've got two two-way speakers on the bottom. So that's a speaker where you almost you have like two cones within one. You've got something for your low frequencies and you've got a slightly smaller cone for your mid-frequencies, all built into a single speaker. So we've got two of those on the bottom and then we've got two discrete amplifiers in there. So we've got nice, clean signal out of the left and out of the right.

Discussing the headphones specifically, the CA78 is equipped with a discrete stereo headphone amplifier, which is really where you can hear the premium audio processing going on. They give the user the option to control the spatial headphone effects, and even specify the type of headphones they are using, like open-back, closed, or earbuds.

All in all, what this translates to is an instrument that doesn't need assistance from any external device to deliver great sound, whether its through its onboard speakers or using a fantastic set of headphones that you already love - this, despite having discrete line out and line in . You've got multi-channel sampling being processed by top-end audio circuits, 100 watts of power, 6 premium speakers by Onkyo, and all the editable parameters that you could ever hope for to build yourself your perfect virtual grand piano. What more could someone want out of a digital piano?

Pedals and Cabinet

The pedal systems on digital pianos don't often get discussed, but in addition to having true sostenuto, damper, and una corda function (soft pedal), the Kawai also uses what they call Grand Feel Pedal System, which accuractly simulates the spring pressure for all three pedals as they actually exist on a real concert grand piano. They also include half-pedal function, which for classical and jazz players alike is a huge plus.

The cabinet, as mentioned at the very beginning, is available in a wide range of finishes, from Ebony Polish, Premium Rosewood, Satin White, and Satin Black. The styling is contemporary without risking being overly trendy; its a sleek, modern cabinet with the normal acoustic piano conveniences like adjustable music rest, a condensed user interface that looks and feels like a smart phone (more on that below), and perhaps most importantly, a durable and well-crafted frame.

Features and Controls

[caption id="attachment_45694" align="aligncenter" width="800"]

Kawai CA78 Controls[/caption]

Driving all of this or I should say controlling all of this is something that Kawai brought out last year and it's now the control interface on their CA48, their CA78, 98 as well as the Novus. And I'll make sure that we get some B-roll of this. It's a brand new LCD touchscreen user interface on to the left. All of the buttons are gone. All of the control surfaces are gone. We're now left with essentially what's the size of an iPhone. And it's completely touchscreen. It's totally intuitive. It's fun to use. And there's a Bluetooth connection that kind of transports that control right on to a smart device such as your phone.

And so I've got my phone, it's an iPhone 10. You can Bluetooth-link it your smart devices. And then with this app, you can totally just select right from there what pads you want to use. So within the app, we've got 10 acoustic pianos that you have to choose from and then, of course, each one of these can be customized. So we start with the Shigeru Kawai SK Concert Grand Piano which is sort of its big default juicy sound, jazz clean, upright pianos, and then even you get into the electric pianos.

And so on and so forth.

It's a very easy app to use. It's free so you can download it. Unfortunately at this point, it's only on iOS. But the Bluetooth link between the instrument and your device, whether it's an iPad format or a smartphone format, that works in both Android and iOS. And there's hundreds of apps that you can use to make use of that wireless Bluetooth MIDI link or that wireless Bluetooth, as it's officially called.

In addition to the LCD touchscreen display, there's a lot of standard features that people always ask me about. Does it have headphone jacks? Does it have audio outs? You know, is there a USB connection? Can i playback MP3 or WAV audio files? Is there a built-in metronome? So the answer is yes to all of those. This has discrete stereo audio out so if you do want to hook it up to an amplifier or if you want to hook it up to a stereo at home, no problem. You can do that without it shutting off its local speakers, which is a nice feature. It also has headphone jacks. And what's great about that is it's got a quarter-inch as well as a 3.5 mm so you don't need the adapter. You can plug whichever end is on your headphones in and it'll work just fine.

You can also feed an auxiliary audio device in through the 3.5 mm jack underneath. It's got the input control or the gain control, so you can control the volume that's coming in. Plus you can use these speakers as Bluetooth speakers. This is, it seems like kind of a simple feature, but it's actually a ton of fun because what this means is you can take your phone or you can take your computer or any Bluetooth device that, you know, you play your music through, and if you want to play along to some of your favorite tracks, you don't need the cable. You can just link it up and you can use this fantastic set of amps and speakers right on board streaming your Bluetooth audio and you can be playing along with it.

I have a lot of people that come back and tell me that that's one of the things that they actually use the most with their Bluetooth connection. And I can understand why. It's a ton of fun. You can engage with something that you already have a lot of fun with which is, of course, your favorite music. Last but not least, it's got the cover. If you're in a dusty environment or of course you just like the look of the instrument with a closed versus the keys up, when you're not playing it, you pull the cover down. Elegant look from a furniture standpoint and you'll make sure that your ivory feel key surfaces stay nice and clean.

And last but not least, are the built-in educational functions and standard playing functions - at this point almost assumed, but still worth mentioning. So yes, the CA78 has transpose, dual mode / split modes, metronome, and recording functions. Teachers can use the recording function to copy exercises to usb memory in real time, or they can record and playback smf files (Standard Midi Files) within the lesson or give them to students for study throughout the week.

For teachers using either the Beyer, Burgmuller, Czerny, Alfred, or Chopin series of instructional books, Kawai has preloaded the CA78 with many of those series' most popular books' repertoire right on to the instrument, which works surprisingly well as a practice and teaching aid.

Conclusions

The Kawai CA78 sits in a point in the market where there are probably 4 or 5 competitors that are sort of vying for your attention in this price range. Roland has some, Yamaha has some. And of course, the closest one to the CA78 on the Kawai side is the CA98, which is virtually the same instrument with a soundboard.

So to wrap up, we've got an instrument here that is the culmination of everything Kawai has been putting its maximum efforts towards for 20 years - a continued research and development of their Harmonic Imaging, their wooden key action, their experience with improving and understanding the ideal user interface, and their newly successful collaboration with Onkyo. And now they've combined the CA and the CS series from a cabinetry standpoint and you can get this in polished ebony - such an elegant cabinet. I'm not sure what more you could possibly want from a digital piano if you were looking to just sit down, enjoy a super authentic piano tone and just relax at the end of the day with your favorite song.

So get to a showroom and try one out if you have the opportunity to do so. I highly recommend it. I don't think this is an instrument that is going to disappoint in any way, shape or form. Or of course if you're in Toronto, we have one of these in both of our showrooms at Oakville and Vaughan. We'd love to see you. And thank you so much again for watching another piano review from Merriam Pianos. My name is Stu Harrison. We'll see you next time.

The post Kawai CA78 Digital Piano Review & Demo by Merriam Pianos first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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(905) 829-2020

#ca78 #kawai ca78 #kawai ca78 review #kawai ca78 demo and review

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