Based in Andalusia, Spain, Gryzor87 is the musician responsible for the hour-long soundtrack to freeware shooter Hydorah.
Both Hydorah Original Soundtrack and the 14-track Hydorah Arranged Tracks albums are now available for free download through Bandcamp. Incidentally, some of my writing can be found in the albums' liner notes.
This week Locomalito's medical action thriller Viriax debuted, including Gryzor87's latest game score. The Viriax soundtrack (available for free download in mp3 format from the musician's site) was created entirely using Daisuke Amaya's Pxtone Collage music tools.
Not only has G87 mastered the use of the music program, the artist has also gone to great lengths to share his knowledge in a 96 page, fully-illustrated online manual. Pxtone FULL MANUAL includes an introduction by Cave Story's Pixel and is available in both Spanish and English.
We had the chance to catch up with the musician to hear his response to the informally organized Hydorah Arranged Tracks album. A veritable indie gathering, the compilation contains renditions of Hydorah music by the composers of independent games Knifetank, Cobalt, HT Gold, VVVVVV and You Have No Legs, not to mention game arrangers and chiptune artists including Eiko Ishiwata, DJ Master Kohta and Minusbaby.
Hydorah music video by Raquel Meyers (Spain) and Goto80 (Sweden)
Viriax has just been released. The game marks your second Locomalito-developed title since Hydorah, the other being L'Abbaye des Morts. What themes were you interested in focusing on this time?
Musician Gryzor87: Viriax is a game about an infection of the human body, and I wanted to make some music with these concepts in mind: illness and disease, a sick person, nightmarish sensations, recursive imagery, etc.
To approach these concepts through music, I tried not to fall into monotonous sound design, but maintained a recursive basis for the background music while avoiding the "machine gun effect." This was done by combining repetitions of different arpeggios and randomized cycles, as well as adding stereo changes in controlled, random measures. This creates a sensation of greater diversity: of order and disorder.
The soundtrack for the game was created entirely using Pxtone Collage, a software program developed by Cave Story creator Daisuke Amaya. What benefits have you found to working with Pxtone that contributed to the overall design of Viriax?
Pxtone is one of the most flexible trackers you can find for making chiptune music. You can change tempos, voices and effects with a single click, and its "piano roll" visual interface is very intuitive and professional at the same time.
Another advantage is file size. For each piece we have an average of 50 kilobytes (uncompressed), which is unbelievable! On the other hand we are capable of inserting Pxtone commands in Game Maker's code. So, if you have to compose a few pieces for a game like Viriax, I think Pxtone covers every aspect you need by far.
You have written an in-depth manual on Pxtone and are very well informed on its use. What kind of instruction were you looking to impart on the readers of your manual and how might it be of use specifically to game composers?
The main advice I can give is to experiment with it yourself, whether you are a professional musician or not. You can write music with Pxtone as easy as Microsoft Word deals with lines of text. But if you want to improve your skill level, then you have to follow certain steps carefully.
Pxtone is a good tool for composing chiptune music, with something interesting to offer both beginners and experts. I invite everyone who wants to give chiptune music a try to read the manual and experiment with Pxtone. I can assure you it's possible to have fun from the very first click.
Hydorah diverges from the sidescrolling shooter soundtracks that if often pays homage to in its two vocal tracks "Path of Scylla" and "Somet Nac." Was hearing these songs in Japanese and English of interest?
Crashfaster and Master Kohta have assembled these songs in their personal style and give them a new sense. Also for the vocal performances, there are interesting nuances. Who knows, in the future maybe we can hear more vocal tracks in videogames.
Are there interpretations of your music on the Arranged Tracks album that were surprising to hear?
Almost all of them. Each piece has its own author's mark. For example, the "Untulia" cover by Magnus P�lsson is a masterpiece because of its personal character. It's like listening to some "hidden VVVVVV track", but it sounds like that Hydorah tune. Strange and pleasant feeling, it's incredible. Also, for Ms. Ishiwata's "Black Gate Descent," you can hear an intimate arrangement with real violins and percussion, like listening to a movie soundtrack. Another great example is the powerful and virtuosic version of "Rubinia," by a great performer, Matheus Manente. His bass solo is breathtaking.
I'm thankful for every musician for expressing their talent and creative skills, making this Hydorah arranged album an interesting one for the indie community and music lovers in general.
Hydorah has been played and enjoyed by people all over the world. In setting out to make the game, did you and Locomalito foresee that it would reach such a wide audience?
It has been a surprise for us. Since the very beginning, we only tried to make the shooting game of our dreams, like Gradius or Salamander, and we invested in it all our passion and love. Then we put it on the internet and many people liked it. We are so glad because Hydorah has been enjoyed (or "suffered" because of its difficulty) by thousands of people. I'm also happy because many people have enjoyed the soundtrack and downloaded the game just to listen to it. I feel grateful for this gift.
Looking ahead, you've mentioned that you are preparing a studio album based on the original arcade release of Shinobi. What interests you in exploring an interpretation of this source material?
In my teens I was amazed by this kind of music style, which blended videogames, jazz fusion and Japanese forms. I dreamed of making an album in this unique style. That day has finally come and the album is nearly finished. Locomalito is helping me with the CD cover. I will publish it soon on my webpage to download for free.
To find out more about the music of Gryzor87 and games of Locomalito, visit their official websites. Images courtesy of Locomalito.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IndependentGaming/~3/Ujn3CzOheUI/qa_in_the_key_of_g87_hydorah_a.html
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