Super R-Type Stage 1 "Solo Sortie" (cover) - Dawless jam with the Roland MC-707 (with walkthrough)
The soundtrack to 1991's Super R-Type is legendary. How did composers Yasuhiro Kawakami, Takushi Hiyamuta, and Hiroshi Kimura craft the songs? Surely they didn't begin by coding one note at a time in the sound engine of the SNES. They must have had a full on studio with hardware synths to get their ideas down, and this is my interpretation of what that may have sounded like. This cover is driven by the Roland MC-707, which is sequencing the following instruments: Roland System-8: bass Sequential OB-6: brass lead Yamaha TX7: electric piano Korg MS-20 mini: guitar sound Roland Super JX-10: strings The drums and orchestra hits are coming from the MC-707 itself. For drums, I used Oberheim DMX samples that I degraded down to a 32K sample rate. The orchestra hit is made up of the original classic Fairlight "ORCH6" sample and layered with a couple of the MC-707's on-board string and brass samples. Sequenced pitch bend on the OB-6 is achieved by connecting an iPad with the MIDI Mod app to the 707 via USB. MIDI Mod reads sequenced MIDI CC's coming from the 707 and converts them to pitch bend. The pitch bend messages are sent back into the 707 and merged into the MIDI din output that goes to the OB-6. The MS-20 mini, TX7, and JX-10 get some additional effects via a mixer send to a Boss DC-2w chorus and a tape delay "Toneprint" effect that I loaded onto the TC Electronic Flashback II. The OB-6 has its own internal effects plus a single effects send to a spring reverb tank from an old guitar amp. The System-8 just uses its internal effects. Effects on the MC-707 for the drums and orchestra hits include compression, delay, and reverb. Lastly, there's a little bit of stereo imaging and a limiter on the audio master. This was mainly an exercise to become more familiar with the MC-707 and its capabilities. Everything was recorded all at once in a single take. I used the pads to launch the appropriate clips at the right times and used a few scenes for the solo section. A scene is simply a collection of clips. I apologize for all the noise and hiss that's in the walkthrough portion of this video. The noise has nothing to do with any of the gear, but with the way I set things up during the walkthrough and voiceover. I hope you enjoyed this video and my version of this awesome song. Please feel free to leave comments and questions. Thanks for watching! Apps: MIDI Mod: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/midi-mod/id1465677026?ls=1 CV Mod: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cv-mod/id1406207229 The walkthrough begins at 5:30
The soundtrack to 1991's Super R-Type is legendary. How did composers Yasuhiro Kawakami, Takushi Hiyamuta, and Hiroshi Kimura craft the songs? Surely they didn't begin by coding one note at a time in the sound engine of the SNES. They must have had a full on studio with hardware synths to get their ideas down, and this is my interpretation of what that may have sounded like. This cover is driven by the Roland MC-707, which is sequencing the following instruments: Roland System-8: bass Sequential OB-6: brass lead Yamaha TX7: electric piano Korg MS-20 mini: guitar sound Roland Super JX-10: strings The drums and orchestra hits are coming from the MC-707 itself. For drums, I used Oberheim DMX samples that I degraded down to a 32K sample rate. The orchestra hit is made up of the original classic Fairlight "ORCH6" sample and layered with a couple of the MC-707's on-board string and brass samples. Sequenced pitch bend on the OB-6 is achieved by connecting an iPad with the MIDI Mod app to the 707 via USB. MIDI Mod reads sequenced MIDI CC's coming from the 707 and converts them to pitch bend. The pitch bend messages are sent back into the 707 and merged into the MIDI din output that goes to the OB-6. The MS-20 mini, TX7, and JX-10 get some additional effects via a mixer send to a Boss DC-2w chorus and a tape delay "Toneprint" effect that I loaded onto the TC Electronic Flashback II. The OB-6 has its own internal effects plus a single effects send to a spring reverb tank from an old guitar amp. The System-8 just uses its internal effects. Effects on the MC-707 for the drums and orchestra hits include compression, delay, and reverb. Lastly, there's a little bit of stereo imaging and a limiter on the audio master. This was mainly an exercise to become more familiar with the MC-707 and its capabilities. Everything was recorded all at once in a single take. I used the pads to launch the appropriate clips at the right times and used a few scenes for the solo section. A scene is simply a collection of clips. I apologize for all the noise and hiss that's in the walkthrough portion of this video. The noise has nothing to do with any of the gear, but with the way I set things up during the walkthrough and voiceover. I hope you enjoyed this video and my version of this awesome song. Please feel free to leave comments and questions. Thanks for watching! Apps: MIDI Mod: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/midi-mod/id1465677026?ls=1 CV Mod: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cv-mod/id1406207229 The walkthrough begins at 5:30