10.23.01 - Meridian Child

I bet you thought I ran away. Nope, I just had a bout with this "condition" I sometimes have.

What condition is that, you say? Laziness! I had a whole week off, and ignored this site completely! Luckily, I'm back now.

A few people have asked when I'll announce the winner of Audible Vortex. Unfortunately, two of the judges have requested more time, so I don't yet have the results. With any luck, we'll have them soon. Judges: hint, hint

I did do something stupid two days after my last update... I reinstalled Windows 2000, but forgot to backup my email and address book. Those of you who sent me something and it didn't get posted, could you please resend it?

If you haven't already heard, Tokyopop is going to release a 16 track Final Fantasy X mini-soundtrack for $14.98. It will be available in stores on January 2, 2002, the same day Final Fantasy X is released in the US.

Since my last update, Project Majestic Mix released a demo. Since then, the first demo has been taken offline because it spoiled some songs that were meant to be surprises. It has since been replaced with a new version, which appears in this update.

Most Wanted The Sound Cave Most Wanted: Castlevania Diablo II Final Fantasy (Wonder Swan Color additions) Grandia Skies of Arcadia Suikoden 1 & 2 Valkyrie Profile

Music Notes The following scribings are notes from the composers about their featured pieces in the updates. Their email addresses can be found next to their contributions, found below. MP3 Remixes "The Oath (Semi-Orchestrated)" (Final Fantasy VIII) by Salivator "I've loved this song ever since I first played FF8, and still do today. There's just one thing that I always thought was missing - orchestral crashes at certain points, to accent the emotional impact a bit more. I like to call this "semi-orchestrated" because I didn't stray too far from the original. This effort never would've been possible without Claymore's recently released "Cadenza Symphony Hall/Martellato Sharp-Attack Strings". No other strings I could find sounded crisp enough in the low, mid and high ranges for this song. These babies did the job nicely, though. Oh, and the oboe is his, too. :P Unfortuantely, this time I wasn't able to release a companion .it version like I usually do. Due to the Cadenzas' monolithic size (11megs), the finished mod would've been almost three times the size of the .mp3! O_o;" "Cactus Jack" (Final Fantasy VIII) by Trptcox "Assuming President Vinzer Deling in the game had an heir, this is probably what would have been his anthem; basically nothing more than a twist of the former President's theme" "To Far Away Times (Pop Mix)" (Chrono Trigger) by Jaroban Finally, this file is seeing a public release. I originally entered it in Ultima-Eternity, which I assume is completely dead now. Anyway, this is just a midi sequence that I recorded off my Korg-X5 keyboard and encoded as an mp3. While I was making it, I was trying to capture what it would sound like if a live band played the song at the end of the game. Later I heard the version on the Brink of Time, which is way more creative. Oh well, I tried. By the way, I wanted to say thanks to BIG ANDY for his help in creating the guitar parts. They turned out awesome. Enjoy this one. Ross: I'm looking into what happened to all of the Ultima-Eternity files. It looks like some are still in the judges holding area on vgmidi.com, but some of the files were moved off to sstrax.com, and some off to iweb.net. I'll look into the details and see if I can get the other UE files. "Project Majestic Mix Demo" (Final Fantasy Games) by KFSS Studios PMM Demo 2 Guide :11 FF1 “Overworld Punks” :28 FF6 “Ending Theme” :40 FF7 “One Winged Angel” :49 FF8 “Man with the Machine Gun” 1:01 FF4 “Within the Giant” 1:11 FF8 “Balamb Garden Unplugged” 1:22 FF2 "The Heart of the Village” 1:40 FF “The Preylude” 1:54 FF6 “Cyan’s Sorrow and Hope” 2:08 FF6 “Forever Rachel” 2:26 Chrono Trigger “Sealed Door” 2:36 FF9 “Alexandria a.k.a. Vivi’s Theme” 2:50 FF7 “Anxious Heart” 2:55 FF9 “You are Not Alone” 3:07 FF “Majestic Prelude” Midi Composition "El Nido Triangle" (Chrono Cross) by Jaroban I almost chose not to submit this one. It sounds ok on some midi output devices and terrible on others. If it sounds terrible on yours, I apologize. If it sounds ok then prepare to be lulled to sleep by the ambient sounds. Nite-nite. "The Girl Who Stole The Stars" (Chrono Cross) by Jaroban I really like this song, it makes me sad! I really hope i did it justice with this sequence. Enjoy. "Time's Scar" (Chrono Cross) by Jaroban This is the last update for this one I promise. I fixed the acoustic guitar part a bit and I think the best version should be available.

Current Competitions Audible Vortex Click the logo or go here to read about it. Note: Entries are no longer being accepted. Judging is underway.

Weekly Silliness A lot of people got this one. Unfortunately, most of them got it in the first two days after the update... meaning that their messages went byebye with the rest of my email. Ahead on Our Way is from FFV. I was surprised, however. As some people pointed out, it's also the name of a song from FFVII.

ICQ - 775498
Ross Bemrose
Music Submissions - music@rpgamer.com