Magical Boutique II [MB1 spoilers!]

[Otaku Dash]

Question: Is she going to change between these "modes".. aka... pretend or not to be cute when she's a sexy... devlish like witch or something?

Something like that yeah ^^

One word: NIIIIIIICCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

[Vatina]

That sounds like pretty cool character (I like that her cat changes too )

[musical74]

*Wonders if Emily will cast a spell on Dalma the way it is on Dash*

Based on what you've said, sounds like Emily's a witch that's nice so long as you are on her good side =)

BTW, I like the *cute* Emily (earlier pic) better too...just something about it makes me like her more. The latter pic of Emily...she looks more along the lines of *don't mess with me!* than anything else...certainly the wolf-cat (looks more like a wolf in the latter picture) would indicate she is far more dangerous than the kitty in the Cute Emily pic....

Cute Emily: Gotta date!!! She's really cute! The Latter Emily....think about avoiding...between her look and the pet...better to avoid methinks

[Otaku Dash]

*Wonders if Emily will cast a spell on Dalma the way it is on Dash*

Cute Emily: Gotta date!!! She's really cute! The Latter Emily....think about avoiding...between her look and the pet...better to avoid methinks

*Drags musical into the CUTE EMILY FAN-CLUB*

*comes back witha huge poster of Cute Emily and a T-shit saying "MARRY ME EMILY!!"*

EMILY-SAMA!!!! DAISUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!
---------------------------------------------

*coughs* Yeah.. I get suprised by my own ideas XD

Still I like where this is going.... yet again: GAMBATTE MONELE!!! *Wears headband of Monele /Magbou Fanclub and waves flag sayig "GO! MONELE GO!!!"*

[DaFool]

Here's an attempt to take a Celtic tune, have Hatsune Miku sing to it, and presto! A MagBou II theme candidate:

http://dafool.visualnews.net/materials/mag2_test.rar

I don't know any Japanese, so "Nanana" and "Aaaaah" are basically the gist of what I can make Miku do.

I need opinions on whether this will work, if it will work provided I drop Miku, or if I need to rework things. If this is the feel that we're going for, then I'll just take other Celtic tunes and "MagBou-tize" it in a similar fashion, that will save me lots of time, plus the melodies are guaranteed to be better than if I pull them out of thin air.

[Otaku Dash]

When I saw this I was like "MAGBOU II THEME CANDIDATE...!? MUST HEAR!!!!".

The theme is very familar to those who played and are fans of Magbou (points at himself), the theme sounds interesting instrumental wise... the starting "Ahhhhhh" by MIku was nice.. though in the end sounded a bit... hwo to explain.. charged (as like synth-effect is notiçable). Otherwise it sounds ok.. a few tweaks with miku might help it.. and push it a bit for the celtic a bit and you're set (Me loves all celtic related <3).

[Adorya]

This tune remind me more a child song (emphazed by Miku) or a snowy night song than a celtic tune
However, this is a nice theme for a choice selection.

[monele]

Wow, sugoi improvement since MB1 ^^. It's all more... coherent, if you see what I mean .
I'd say this would make a nice background tune but I don't know if I'd use it for the main theme. Basically, to me, the theme should be something catchy and rythmic :
http://monele.ifrance.com/divers/ZeroNoTsukaima.ogg
^^;...
It might work with this melody, but it needs to stand out more (volume, instruments), have a faster tempo and add some percussions.

Now, "main theme" aside, I really like how it sounds so close to MB1 tunes, yet is a lot more refined. It's clear that celtic music fits the genre perfectly so I approve of going that way for any other tunes ^^. As for Miku, while it doesn't sound bad, it's almost gimmicky here. I think using a regular choir instrument would work just as well, if not better. Except the "lala"s. These would definitely require a Miku ^^.
So really, I say we keep this as the "everything's fine" bg tune, but I'd really like to hear something a bit more uh... speedy ^^. Either something theme-like, or something like Riverdance since we want to stay in the celtic style ^^.

Thanks for joining the MB2 project even though it's barely begun ^^;

[Adorya]

Just a note though, Vocaloid 2 is not a freeware afaik, are the "song" produced by Hatsune free from copyright?

[Otaku Dash]

Wow, sugoi improvement since MB1 ^^. It's all more... coherent, if you see what I mean .
I'd say this would make a nice background tune but I don't know if I'd use it for the main theme. Basically, to me, the theme should be something catchy and rythmic :
http://monele.ifrance.com/divers/ZeroNoTsukaima.ogg
^^;...

Well to be honest tehre was thoughts in my mind to make a tribute to Magbou with an Anime like opening.. byut since dalma was shadow like.. I couldn't do much to make him appear as main chara (as like anime intros ^^).. plsu I lack the tech and art on Flash to do it T_T

[Jake]

This tune remind me more a child song (emphazed by Miku) or a snowy night song than a celtic tune

This is kind of what I meant the other day when commenting on DaFool's Treasach post - a lot of people will read 'Celtic' and think 'Gaelic', with Irish and Scottish stuff coming to mind, but the Celts lived more or less all across Europe at one time or another, so there's only as much a single 'Celtic music' style as there's a single 'Teutonic music' style.

The Gauls who once occupied what became modern France were celtic, for example, and just off the top of my head that piece sounds a little more like French folk music to me than stereotypical Irish or Scottish. (Of course, it could yet be from anywhere, 'cause musical styles have never been limited to one per country, either.



Anyway. It sounds pretty good, to me. If I had to complain, I'd note two things -
Firstly, it's not very deep, in terms of audio; it seems there's mostly just the melody and a single accompanying note from a rather inchoate instrument (like an organ with the attack turned down?) at any one time. I don't know if I'd want a whole second melody going, but it'd be nice to have a bit more to it.
Secondly - and this is a problem you'll have with most traditional folk music if you just listen to it on its own - it goes on too long for what it is. The bit where it skips up an octave or so later on is nice for variation, but still... I guess normally folk music would either be accompanied by song or be used for dancing to, either way you'd have something else to occupy your attention while the music was being repetetive. Still, that shouldn't be a problem if you're using it as background music in a game or using it as part of a flashy intro or something...

[DaFool]

Ah, I'm clear now what I should do.

Tunes like that, which tend to be dragging (it's unavoidable, those are celtic melodies as-is), they will be background music. Regarding the depth, there's not much I can do about it, since I'm already using 3 layers of string instruments and 2 bells for backgrounds -- I'll just tweak them so they sound less muted and more flavorful. I won't bother with sticking Miku in anymore, since she's a bit distracting. Since MBII will require more background music, and since there's a whole lot of public domain celtic melodies out there, this will definitely lighten the workload. I can probably do away with percussion for most of these melodies and just rely on ambient.

But for the main theme melody, it will be different. I think we all would like a true pumped-up anime opening, right? So yeah! That's where Miku will come in. Plus drums, bass and percussion. This melody will have to be original, but I'm thinking of taking bits and pieces from the old MagBou I tunes and have Miku go "Nananana-nana-nana" to them. Sounds workable, right?

As for copyright, I don't know... I'm just playing around with Miku, barely understanding anything, and this is a free game anyway. Most of the work is done in Anvil Studio, Synthfont, and Audacity anyway.

[monele]

But for the main theme melody, it will be different. I think we all would like a true pumped-up anime opening, right? So yeah! That's where Miku will come in. Plus drums, bass and percussion. This melody will have to be original, but I'm thinking of taking bits and pieces from the old MagBou I tunes and have Miku go "Nananana-nana-nana" to them. Sounds workable, right?

Sounds like what I have in mind, yes ^__^.
In that regard, it could also be rather shortish, from 1min to 1.30. I don't think I'll have that much "footage" to show during it after all ^^;

[DaFool]

http://dafool.visualnews.net/materials/mag2_badass.rar

No Miku, since there are only certain types of songs where she fits. ><
I think the emotion conveyed is totally different from planned -- may fit other visual novels, but maybe not MagBou. What do you think?

[monele]

I really like the bass in it ^^... and the overall sound of the tune, but as you say, it might work for MB. Well, it could, but for some "we're gonna kick ass!" scene, which there might not be a lot of XD. It also reminds me of the Zak Mc Kraken intro tune (which is a cool thing ^^).
What were you aiming for btw?