[GEN] Sonic & Knuckles - "Lava Reef Zone Act 1" (Replacement) by Yug Guy

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Sonic
Game: Sonic & Knuckles
Console: Sega Genesis
Title: Lava Reef Zone Act 1
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Yug Guy


Replacement Information:
Links to Existing Sheet: MUS | MIDI | PDF
Replacement Type: Challenge (new arranger)

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Yug_Guy]

New year, new replacements.

Also, both of my submissions should have "Act 1" added to the end.

[Latios212]

Also, both of my submissions should have "Act 1" added to the end.

Got it

[LeviR.star]

Got it

Should that be "___ Zone Act 1" or "___ Zone, Act 1"?

[Latios212]

This is consistent with the rest of the titles on site right now. Though I was wondering that myself - I'll defer to Yug Guy to answer

[Yug_Guy]

Should that be "___ Zone Act 1" or "___ Zone, Act 1"?

This is consistent with the rest of the titles on site right now. Though I was wondering that myself - I'll defer to Yug Guy to answer

Tbh I'm not really sure, though I've seen the titles most often without the comma than with.

The most definitive piece of evidence I currently have is that Sonic Mania's OST doesn't use commas.

[mastersuperfan]

Looks pretty great. A few quick things - You have "play an octave lower" but it doesn't indicate which hand. I know it might be implied, but I thought twice because I had never heard the song before. I'd recommend just putting a LH in there.

This applies here too, and also, the expression is set to transpose both hands by an octave during playback, not just the LH, so you might want to change that.

It's a bit inconsistent to use grace notes once in m13 and then a triplet for notes that are just as fast at the end of the measure, so I think the last three notes would just be better off as grace notes as well. If you do want to keep the triplet, however, I would suggest using a bracket encompassing the three notes to make it clear that only those three notes are in the triplet, not the other notes that are beamed with them.

I think one big thing you could do is add a lot more articulations (particularly staccatos, and potentially slurs too). There are lots of eighth notes that are particularly staccato'd, such as: the last two RH notes in m1, the last RH note in m2-3 (and in Layer 2 in m4-12), the second-to-last RH note in Layer 1 of m5/7/9/11, the second Layer 1 RH note in m14, the second and last RH chords in m15, the third RH chord in m16and the first RH dyad in m18/20. There are also lots of staccato'd notes in the bassline as well. I think the piece feels a lot mellower without the staccato's—which, while not bad in and of itself, also loses the energetic bounciness of the original.

The two layers in the RH get confusing at times—particularly at points where Layer 1 and Layer 2 are close together on the staff, such as beat 2.5 in m5, m7, m9, and m11. As is, it kind of looks like the Layer 1 notes are played in between two Layer 2 notes, so I wonder if you could use the note mover tool to widen the space between the Layer 2 notes at those beats. That might make it more clear that Layer 1 and Layer 2 are being played at the same time there.

For that matter, however, I'm not sure why your Layer 1 notes are all offset to the right of the Layer 2 notes. My Finale automatically offsets Layer 1 notes to the left of Layer 2, which is the way I usually see it in scores. I don't know if your Finale is doing that on its own (or why) but I think changing that would also make it more readable.

[Yug_Guy]

This applies here too, and also, the expression is set to transpose both hands by an octave during playback, not just the LH, so you might want to change that.

The expression is just a duplicate of the 8va assignment. The treble & bass clefs are set to separate channels, so it should only be affecting the bass clef. It's working fine on my Finale, can anyone else confirm if they're having the same problem as msf?

It's a bit inconsistent to use grace notes once in m13 and then a triplet for notes that are just as fast at the end of the measure, so I think the last three notes would just be better off as grace notes as well. If you do want to keep the triplet, however, I would suggest using a bracket encompassing the three notes to make it clear that only those three notes are in the triplet, not the other notes that are beamed with them.

I will definitely take the latter option. However, I've tried searching online for Finale's tuplet instructions & I can't figure out how to force a bracket there. Anyone know how to do that?

The two layers in the RH get confusing at times—particularly at points where Layer 1 and Layer 2 are close together on the staff, such as beat 2.5 in m5, m7, m9, and m11. As is, it kind of looks like the Layer 1 notes are played in between two Layer 2 notes, so I wonder if you could use the note mover tool to widen the space between the Layer 2 notes at those beats. That might make it more clear that Layer 1 and Layer 2 are being played at the same time there.

For that matter, however, I'm not sure why your Layer 1 notes are all offset to the right of the Layer 2 notes. My Finale automatically offsets Layer 1 notes to the left of Layer 2, which is the way I usually see it in scores. I don't know if your Finale is doing that on its own (or why) but I think changing that would also make it more readable.

I'm certainly not purposefully spacing the notes that way, that appears to be how my Finale spaces layers by default. Again, if anyone could please lead me to some reference docs on to change that, that would be great.

(Other comments have been addressed)

[Libera]

The expression is just a duplicate of the 8va assignment. The treble & bass clefs are set to separate channels, so it should only be affecting the bass clef. It's working fine on my Finale, can anyone else confirm if they're having the same problem as msf?

It's working fine for me.

[Latios212]

I've run into this before

[Yug_Guy]

It's already set for different sound channels in my own copy, and I also downloaded the mus file before updating it and it showed the same thing. It also doesn't sound as if the 8vb is applied to the right hand too, so I think the problem might be because it was exported and I didn't check "favor attachment to active layer" under expressions.

Well, that's annoying. Fixed for both of my submissions.

[Libera]

I will definitely take the latter option. However, I've tried searching online for Finale's tuplet instructions & I can't figure out how to force a bracket there. Anyone know how to do that?

Select the section of music to want to edit with select tool, then Utilities -> Change -> Tuplets -> Always use specified space and then choose bracket.

The two layers in the RH get confusing at times—particularly at points where Layer 1 and Layer 2 are close together on the staff, such as beat 2.5 in m5, m7, m9, and m11. As is, it kind of looks like the Layer 1 notes are played in between two Layer 2 notes, so I wonder if you could use the note mover tool to widen the space between the Layer 2 notes at those beats. That might make it more clear that Layer 1 and Layer 2 are being played at the same time there.

Another thing that might be a good idea is going to two bars per system everywhere.  It's slightly overkill for the first two systems but due to all the semiquavers it's not certainly not unwarranted and I think it adds a decent amount of extra clarity for where you have those two voices interacting together.  Also this way you get more use out of the second page, which is a plus.

Static will laugh at me for this, but I think this is the sort of sheet where slurring you grace notes helps a lot with the visual clarity.  I'd highly recommend it.

The notes look good though to me.

[Yug_Guy]

Select the section of music to want to edit with select tool, then Utilities -> Change -> Tuplets -> Always use specified space and then choose bracket.

Done.

Another thing that might be a good idea is going to two bars per system everywhere.  It's slightly overkill for the first two systems but due to all the semiquavers it's not certainly not unwarranted and I think it adds a decent amount of extra clarity for where you have those two voices interacting together.  Also this way you get more use out of the second page, which is a plus.

Tell me what you think.

Static will laugh at me for this, but I think this is the sort of sheet where slurring you grace notes helps a lot with the visual clarity.  I'd highly recommend it.

Well, I don't know any better, so slurs it is.

[Static]

Static will laugh at me for this, but I think this is the sort of sheet where slurring you grace notes helps a lot with the visual clarity.  I'd highly recommend it.

lol

At any rate, I also agree with this sentiment...

[Libera]

Thanks, 'The Sega Sound Team'.

Tell me what you think.

I think only of approval.