MIDIs

I liked Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" album. The first release, "You Oughta Know," just got my attention but I bought the album based on several other tracks. Eventually, I made three of my favorites into MIDIs. This was the first.Note: At some point the majority of the baseline track was duplicated into percussion. If there was a way to programatically remove the duplicated notes of track 7 in track 10, I'd love it. I never sat down and ground out fixing it.

This had much of the feel of the initial release almost like a story of the success of the young female performer despite a classical corporate masculine manager.

A simple pop rock ballad about the most basic experience of life ... "You live, ..."

I'm very sorry. The velocities on the notes of this cover are all way too high. It's a song about getting pissed drunk. This Is one of the songs from 90s pop radio play that I liked for no other reason than its hook worked on me. Or that's what I call it. Although in isolation, the line "youre never gonna keep me down" is one of those things that always fire me up.

"Precious Declaration" was the first release from Collective Soul's third studio album. I was very taken with the song with its heavy accompaniment to the verses, the melodic bridge and the powerful chorus.

"She Said" was used as a hero theme in the movie "Scream 2." It's one of my favorite Collective Soul songs outside of the top hits. I purchased the soundtrack solely for this track.

This is alternate arrangement of the above, mostly the same.

This was my original arrangement of the "Scream 2" version. This also seems almost the same as the above.

The alternate version of She Said appears as a hidden track at the end of the fourth album "Dosage." It's a more chill groove compared to the hero anthem from the movie soundtrack.

This is an alternate arrangement of the remix.

I decided to make a track of the most popular Collective Soul track "Shine" after I'd searched for this as a MIDI and was dissatisfied with the three unique versions I found.

"Smashing Young Man" is another track outside of the favorite hits I like. After working on the "Shine" guitar solo, I wanted to work on the one found here.

Most of this track was created by another artist. I added the vocal track and lyrics. Any modifications beyond that I've lost.

Here's another case of a song whose hook grabbed me and never let go. I gave significant effort to replicate the drum line and a bit less but still significant effort on the bass.

"99 Red Balloons" and "99 Luftballons," both hold a place in my memory, esecially the original German track. Even so when I decided to do this I made a US release version to set lyrics to, as well as include the Star Trek reference.

Never let a good Star Trek reference go to waste. Up until a few years ago, why not have an ID that says you're Jean Luc Picard of the UFP? I enjoyed this song even with its glorification of this little run-for-the-border heist story. The track is definitely incomplete. There is supposed to be this wonderful guitar fretwork in the middle and at the end that I did not finish.

The velocities are far too high in this track as well. To be honest, I don't recall why I did this song. Even at the time I heard it on the radio, it was not a favorite. Maybe there was a proof of concept in there but it's long lost to me now.

T’Pau took their band's name from the Vulcan elder seen in the Star Trek episode "Amok Time." This intrigued me to start with. Even though their 1987 UK single "Heart and Soul" wasn't received well at first, I enjoyed it. I kept a copy of the album on tape making it one of the few albums I purchased in the 1980s. Its enduring persistence in my mind encouraged me to craft this MIDI.

Kenneth W. Arnold made the music that was included on some sound-enabled Apple computers and the Commodore 64 for my first Ultima, "Ultima IV Quest of the Avatar." I spent a lot of time with my C-64, transcribing the game map to quad-ruled paper while the "Wander" theme played ad-infinitum occasionally interjected with "Combat." At some point after the release of "Ultima IX Ascension" with its live orchestra music, I thought of remaking the simple tracks of U4 into something a little more full and layered. The two above tracks were those that I thought about and worked on the most. I wanted to make "Combat" into a movement of many parts. "Melee Combat" was the main loop which is one reason why I have a few loop arrangements here. This working copy includes a lead-in with the original assembly of instruments.

This "Melee Combat (Loop)" was simplified such that it sounded good and could be used as a ringtone. I've used MP3s of this track ever since I owned my first smart device that could play ringtones which I recall being a Motorola Q.

This version includes a substitution of instruments and track qualities.

This version is similar to the above with a different set of substitutions.

"Wander Britannia" meant to expand on "Wander." The recollection of that infinitely repeating harpsichord had my mind wanting to give the music flavors, for different scenery, evoking different feelings. This was only the plan and execution was only completed for the main theme and a similar enhanced main theme akin to the original with a bridge to loop back to the start of the main or to transition into a different arrangement. This MIDI does not include the bridge.

Although I was interested in comics growing up, they were my brother's, and I was not allowed to handle them. The X-Men Animated Series had a significant impact on me. It served as my gateway to spending money on the floppies. I consider the series and its theme to be solid and fundamental touchstones in my life. At one point when I was going through the general MIDI sound set and found the orchestra hit, I thought of the X-Men theme. It did not immediately fire my creative action but from that moment I was going to make my own take on the X-Men theme.