Behind the tunes with composer ec2151
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3354150/XENOTILT_Soundtrack/
The soundtrack to Demon's Tilt was made using a now-ancient (and discontinued) freeware tracker software, called VGM Music Maker (or VGMM), by the great chiptune artist Shiru8bit. VGMM simulated the crunchy YM2612 and SN76489 soundchips, which were used in the Sega Genesis/Megadrive.
For XENOTILT, as the game was a step up graphically and conceptually from its predecessor, I decided to “power up” the sound and emulate the YM2151 with PCM samples. The 2151 was a chip used in many classic arcade machines throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including R-Type, OutRun, Sunset Riders, and countless more. The soundchip allowed for more instruments, more effects, and more sample usage that really comes alive in the drums and percussion.
The type of music I wrote for the game simply could not have been done with the Sega Genesis chip! For this game I looked to Deflemask to write the music and found it a very capable piece of software.
Many of these tracks began as voice recordings, with me humming a new idea into my phone as I was walking or waiting at the train station, trying to avoid the looks of passersby. Other times I would sit at the piano and 5 or 6 ideas would come instantly. Other times nothing would come out of my head no matter what I did to the keys. The creative process is a winding road.
The first track written for the game was Wicked Colony. Alienation went through many, many revisions and many musical ideas in that track found their way into the rest of the soundtrack. All or Nothing is a remix of a track I wrote for a canceled game all the way back in 2011, when I was still a school lad. If you hear the original (on my bandcamp), it is almost unrecognizable.
While DEMON'S TILT went with Heavy/Power Metal, XENOTILT leaned more into Electronica. Clubbin' Xenos 2 Death was the most overtly Rob Dougan/Matrix inspired, if the title didn't give it away. Though the main chorus though brings spaghetti westerns to my mind... Vector 0 was one of the last few tracks I wrote for the game, and by that time the feeling was one of me offering a send-off to the game, so it carries a bit of an emotional weight for me.
I am proud of all the work I did for the game, enjoy the soundtrack!
If anyone is inspired to try out writing tracker music themselves, Some particular recommendations I have are Deflemask, FurnaceTracker, and WaveTracker. A special mention to the PC88/98 tracker, BambooTracker! Ok, I won't bog you down with annoying endless tracker rec's and specs =)
As a final note, Cyberdrake Remix is based off the fantastic track by HEAVYVIPER, who also contributed original sound design to both games. https://heavyviper.bandcamp.com
-ec2151
X/Twitter, @ec2151
Soundcloud/Bandcamp @ec2151
https://ec2151.bandcamp.com
