A busy day working on a new music pack for Flatspace IIk; Music Pack 4. It will be for sale like Music Packs 1 to 3 (some smaller packs are free, those which promote albums).
I've put together 10 tracks. Most are edits or alternative versions of existing music, as is the case for the other music packs, but I've also written and performed some new tracks for this. This pack will be exclusive to Flatspace IIk, although I'll probably use some of these tracks in a pack for the first Flatspace game at some point (users can and probably will copy one to the other anyway, I didn't want to restrict that). It's already in my mind to make the packs more different between games than packs 1-3.
New tracks include two new variations of the main Flatspace theme. These are gentle 'live' versions played on piano and mock-acoustic guitar respectively. The piano version is particularly pretty. Both of these were played and improvised in one take, so relatively simple pieces without accompaniment.
I've written two new tracks today and yesterday too. One is called Widespace and began as a series of chords similar to the main theme; A-minor and E-minor, then into F and then C. After a gentle introduction in choirs, some drums appear, which use the sounds from the main theme, and a bluesy bass-line. I played some electric piano over this, and the ending fades back into choirs. The feeling is similar to the song 'The Glass Screen' from A Walk In The Countryside.
The other tune was expanded from a 2020 sketch, a little tune made from a stabby-saw sound that was but one pattern. I expanded it, and made the bass interact with the lead. This is one thing I do now: I make each part recognise the others and react as a community. Before, my layers were blind anti-social robots, often repeating the same thing over and over without care or attention to the other parts. The melody bounces along with its bass, and some drums from the original Flatspace tune 'Cobra'. A small chorus of sorts appears as we shift chords, and the tune repeats in a new instrument, then moves up two keys, and a final snake-like lead appears. I added an arpeggio which sounded like a telephone ring, so I entitled the tune 'Lost My Telephone'. As a break before each chorus I added a little telephone fanfare of ring-modulated waves, to reinforce that theme.
The 'album' so far is about 30 mins long. Quite a lot of admin and final mastering to do, but it should be ready for the end of this year.
