Messages

Got it working. I suspect the problem was that Finale has a larger file for the pdf when saving than Notepad does, which was too large for the uploader.

OK, updated it in the way that Bespinben was looking for; I thought I had used up my Finale trial long ago, but apparently not.

What do you mean by triads on 16ths though? Meaning escaping me at the moment.

Also, it won't let me upload a new pdf for some reason. Says the file is too large. What should I do?

[sounds]

The metronome mark is wrong/confusing. The mark for compound meter such as 6/8 should be a dotted value, such as dotted quarter. Btw. now when I listen to the song I think that the time signature should be 3/4, or a longer (2 measures) 6/8.

Unfortunately I cannot fix either of those without creating new problems. I can't put in metronome marks and if I copy it to another file in 3/4 I won't be able to remove the abbreviated piano markings like I had someone else do, who is also the person who put in the metronome mark.

Can you or someone else do that?

While what you have sounds amazing (truly), the way it is notated makes it unwieldy for human use. This is not to say the arrangement itself unplayable, but that the accumulation of disorganized layer usage, ambiguity of hand placement, and (here's a biggie) planning triads on 16ths creates serious roadblocks.

I think before you do anything else though, the biggest hurdle that needs to be done is halving all your note durations so that your 6/8 time signature will make sense. Here's what I mean:



See how much cleaner this is? Not only do you see the beat patterns easily, but now all the accompaniment figures all neatly beamed together.

...That's a lot of work. is there some sort of script or quicker way to handle such a conversion?

Also, would changing to 3/4ths avoid that? I'm not sure I'm determined enough to do that if there's no script driven shenanigans to solve that. We're talking like 3-4 hours of clicking every note in the song to make it small and then copy pasting every other measure into the measure before it.

The solution isn't raising the lower notes an octave for measures 5 and 6;  the top notes are an octave above the melody so thee lower notes can be played by the right hand. the only reason I never included them there is because I couldn't make clef changes; if I could have I would have separated them from the very beginning.

A lot of these decisions leading to poor notation weren't made by choice really; I've been doing the best I can with what Finale Notepad allows me.

Let's see if this is ready for submission.

Feedback for Heartbreak

In terms of formatting, I added the measure numbers, got rid of the Pno abbreviation, changed the stem direction in some sections, fixed the title, tempo marking (once again I never played the game so it would be best for someone who has to come up with the expression), and copyright (although idk if the copyright is too low or not), wrote the section (and its second instance) from m85-92 an octave lower and placed an 8va, and tried to fit the piece into 5 pages.

Thanks for this stuff. Notepad 2012 doesn't seem to handle it for me.

You also missed a note in sections like m1-6. Try comparing my edit with the original to see what is different and clarify what you hear.

Are you sure you heard two notes? I've been listening to it over and over, and I can only hear one on my headset. The closest thing I can hear is the higher pitch part of the 8-bit sound font, which is also the background line in the orchestral sections, and I'm pretty sure that the song doesn't need 21 measures of fifths for those.

Might you have better headphones than mine? I'm not using anything fancy. It also doesn't help that to me it really doesn't sound great with that note, but that could just be because I heard it without it first.

Some of the intervals between notes are pretty big so you could possibly raise the second layer on the 2nd staff up an octave (or two). Whatever works for you

I was considering this at first, but the overlap is bad enough in later sections as it is without raising things an octave. it would also mean that it would overlap with the melody later.

• Why are there some places (such as m47/48) where there is a messo forte followed by a fortissimo? Is that intentional?

the purpose of that was to dictate the end dynamic of the crescendo. probably should have put it below the staff instead. Oops.

• There are some spots like m54 where the dynamic change starts at the melody. Would you prefer it to be like that, or start at the beginning of the measure instead?

It would be OK there, but finale increases the sound of the left hand before its appropriate if I do that.

• In some instances there are eighth notes that aren't beamed together (m100 for example). Was that intentional? Or was it the programs automatic response? Would it be preferred to beam those cases together? If it's preferred, then should the straight eighth notes also be aligned in a way such that it is 3 pairs of 2 instead of 2 pairs of 3?

programmatic. finale has all sorts of issues like that; layers are especially egregious about it.

• Is it best to leave the rests in places like m1 as a half rest or should it be an eighth rest followed by a dotted quarter rest? Should the rests be hidden altogether?

I'm not entirely sure what the right thing to do here either. I tried to hide the rests because generally in music with multiple layers outside of Finale I don't see rests for the overlapping layer.

• In m68, are those ledger lines legal? Or would be be best to put it in the 1st staff?

A better solution would be to change it from f clef to treble for the left hand in that measure; that way notes played by the same hand stay together.

Got Heartache done. It's kinda difficult to actually play because I don't want to compromise the grand sound of the song and there are so many layers, but it's possible. Some parts need touching up, and I can't get measure numbers to appear, so I'll need some help with that.

Heartache

Been making a lot of arrangements, but I never really posted them. I don't have time to get them all to meet the standards right now so I'll just post the one that I do have time for.

Undertale:
Heartache: [MUS]

I'll call dibs on Heartache and Waterfall. Surprised Heartache wasn't taken really.