[Meander]

Speaking of Purple Rain…..as I’m doing one little thing this summer (I’m mostly following my pursuits in my majors….because I like doing it).

The one album that is being worked on right now is:

Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain (full album)

 

I’d add a screenshot of some of the progress I’m doing, but currently I’ve tempo-mapped portions of all songs, started charting the hard parts (namely guitar solos…..Prince could be messy), placing most of the drum charts (which are repetitive for the most part), and putting some of the vocals.

 

EDIT: Nevermind. I’ll just wait until I see what is left after Nunchuck’s release.

[Meander]

#3 for the Stones is ‘Love Is Strong’ because David Fincher directed the music video for it.

[Meander]

Double post and I’m sorry, but I just read that Tool is going on tour in January! SWEET!

Yeah. Tool is……but the fucking scalpers got all the tickets off of Ticketmaster just SECONDS after they went on-sale. I was lucky enough to snag two floor seats for about $75 each (in Nashville) before they sold out. Meanwhile, the scalpers are now selling the tickets at $150-200 at the cheapest. I saw one person screenshot an image of a couple of floor seats in the San Antonio show being on-sale for THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! I know this isn’t the place to bitch about something like this, but whenever several bands (such as the Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden, NIN, The Rolling Stones, and Muse) have put forth some pretty creative anti-scalping measures (such as the Foo’s having tickets able to be purchased at the venue itself one week before the tickets are up online), it’s time this shit stops because it ultimately hurts the bands.

 

Fortunately, I did get two tickets. And pumped that Primus is the opening act.

[Meander]

@Meander – Let me know if you need help with anything for that song. Of course I will be more than happy to do keys and any other instrument (besides vocals ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_cheeky.001.gif” />) if you like.

Oh, I’m actually already synching this one while charting the drums. I’m going completely by ear with the time signatures. Within the first five minutes, the following time signatures are used: 4/4, 2/4, 5/4, 6/4, 9/8, 11/8, 13/8, and 5/8. And already have 1386 notes on Expert drums.

[Meander]

Time for you come out of retirement Meander

I probably will eventually. But the massive blitz I did over the summer is something that I don’t think I could do again. Especially since I’m a double-major in college now (Creative Writing and Literature).

 

Besides, part of me felt like I was ADDICTED to charting over the summer. Almost as if it were a drug. But I wouldn’t mind dipping into it every now and again.

 

If I do Karn Evil 9, I guess I’ll just do everything but Keys/Pro Keys (for Mazegeek, obviously) and harmonies (I’ll still do main vocals). I can start tempo-mapping this one in some spare time (I guess I’ll start the first of it today) and then chart it over Thanksgiving/Christmas break.

 

All I know is that Maze may have his hands full with this one….close to 30 minutes long (yeah, I’m doing the whole thing in one go). Plus, I’m listening it to now. I think this one is going to be harder than Tarkus on both Bass and Drums.

[Meander]

Okay, the Tarkus custom looks amazing. Almost makes me want to do Karn Evil 9.

[Meander]

Just a word of advice, Metalhead911 was a charting name that I used before I switched to Meander. 

 

Anyways, this looks like an epic week. Another DT album (even though I knew about this one a bit beforehand) is always a good thing. Especially since we now have their three best albums (SFOM>Awake>I&W) in-game. I’m stoked to see “Drive Home” in there (makes me wish I had gotten around to doing a Steven Wilson pack, but whatever). As always, you can’t have too much Rush in here. Lou Reed is a pleasant inclusion. Same with the Final Fantasy tracks.

 

Also, I’m a Phase Shift player. I don’t see the “A Mind Beside Itself” suite in the C3 Song Database.

[Meander]

What happens is that it loads the song before you start playing and after 10 minutes of loading it just says that Phase Shift has stopped working. And I posted to the Phase Shift forums and someone said that around twenty minutes is the limit although songs like Octavarium work just fine.

It’s important for PC software to enforce limits like that, because otherwise it would use too much memory!

 

Wierd. I use FoFiX (can’t get Phase Shift to run worth a damn) and can play songs like “The Twelve Step Suite” by Dream Theater and “Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness” by Green Carnation without a problem. (They take a little bit longer to load but once they play, it’s smooth).

 

When I saw Cassandra Gemini on this list, I had to do a double-take because I didn’t know that that would be possible to run in RB3. Whenever me and Sideshow were converting the full-band Dream Theater songs that I charted (available on his thread), he mentioned something about “In The Presence of Enemies” potentially “stretching the game to it’s limit,” even though that song is 7 minutes shorter than CG and I didn’t chart Pro Keys or Harmonies.

 

This honestly makes me want to play some (on FoFiX because my copy of RB3 doesn’t work anymore) before RB4 comes out. It also makes me glad that I nominated BearzUnlimited and Farrotone for the “Favorite Charter” award.

 

As for other songs, the Judas Priest, Tenacious D, Sabbath, Boston, Bowie, and Rishloo tracks all have me excited. It’s just that at one point I was considering doing all of the Frances The Mute album, but I was just starting out with charting at the time and I said “Okay, let’s tackle the big monster first!” Cassandra Gemini ended up overwhelming me so much that I stopped for a while and never got back to the Frances The Mute charts. And with my classes in college right now, I have no time for charting anymore.

[Meander]

Nobody gives a crap about GH:L on here…it seems.

 

Whats funny is that, I looked at the tracks announced for GH:L, and the list is pretty impressive too. And they are getting it right with both games. The most requested songs and bands. I mean, Metropolis on RB4 and Looking Glass on GH:L? That’s pretty big.

 

Honestly, I wouldn’t be too bad about GH:L if it weren’t for the redesigned note highway.

[Meander]

I’m sorry that I’ve been away for a little while. I ended up getting a new computer because the repairs for the other laptop are taking forever to do. Unfortunately, all my unfinished customs were on that laptop. I haven’t been able to get a single thing done about Maiden in weeks. And to make matters harder, I start sophomore year of college tomorrow.

 

The other thing is that I simply don’t have the motivation to chart anymore as I plan on being involved in my day-to-day life. I also had a long draft to a novel on that laptop and I plan on recreating it from scratch using what I can remember. However, I still remain excited for RB4 (isn’t everyone) and various things in life.

 

Speaking of RB4, you may want to take down “Light Up The Night” because it got confirmed for RB4 yesterday.

[Meander]

Well, the release may be pushed back. My laptop has suffered cooling fan issues. It will need to go in for repairs. Until it comes back, I can’t chart at all.

 

Fortunately, before it stopped, I had finished the following:

 

Full Band

* 22 Acacia Avenue

* Wrathchild (Live)

* Transylvania

* Where Eagles Dare

 

I was working on the Bass chart for Still Life and the vocals for To Tame A Land (which were the last part to be done for that song). Still, due to the setback of repairs, the first pack (and any progress on future packs) are delayed.

[Meander]

Well, good news is that my laptop is fixed again (long story that has something particularly embarrassing). Which means that I’m going to be hauling ass on the first set of Iron Maiden songs.

 

Up the Irons!

 

Exactly, I’m currently getting the bass and vocal parts out of the way first. Using Pro Tabs for the bass charts. I do use my ear if something in the tab seems off. I just did bass for Transylvania. It may be a song where the bass is just as hard as the guitar part. “22 Acacia Avenue” just has it’s vocal chart finish and its probably one of the harder Iron Maiden songs on vocals.

[Meander]

Well, good news is that my laptop is fixed again (long story that has something particularly embarrassing). Which means that I’m going to be hauling ass on the first set of Iron Maiden songs.

[Meander]

So I’ve decided I’ll be doing some more customs, but I’ll simply be slowing down my pace. A key factor in my break was the fact that my laptop had overheated (the cooling fan stopped working) and it had to be repaired. It is fixed now.

 

Since Iron Maiden announced that they’ll be releasing their sixteenth album in September, I figure that between now and RB4’s release, I’ll be making four packs of Iron Maiden. The packs will be split by chronology.

 

The first pack will have songs from the two Di’Anno albums, Number Of The Beast, and most of the rest of Piece of Mind (so 1980-1983). I’m working on this one right now and I hope to have it released at the end of the month.

 

* Transylvania

* Wrathchild (Live)

* Killers

* 22 Acacia Avenue

* Where Eagles Dare

* Revelations

* Still Life

* To Tame A Land

 

The second pack will contain one song from Powerslave (most of the good songs are official DLC), Somewhere In Time, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (probably the rest of the album since it is my favorite IM album), and one song from No Prayer For The Dying. I hope to have this part out before I’m back in college in late August.

 

* Back In The Village

* Caught Somewhere In Time

* Heaven Can Wait

* The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

* Alexander The Great

* Moonchild

* The Evil That Men Do

* The Prophecy

* Only The Good Die Young

* No Prayer For The Dying

 

The third pack will have two songs from Fear Of The Dark, two from each of the Blaze Bayley albums (which I personally find to be underrated, even if I think Dickinson is the better singer), and two from Brave New World. The goal is to have this pack mostly completed before I’m back in college and released before September.

 

* Be Quick Or Be Dead

* Afraid To Shoot Strangers

* The Sign Of The Cross (Live)

* Man On The Edge

* Futureal

* The Clansman (Live)

* Out Of The Silent Planet

* Dream Of Mirrors

 

The fourth pack will have two songs from Dance Of Death, one from A Matter Of Life And Death, three from The Final Frontier, and two from The Book Of Souls. The goal is to have this portion released before RB4 comes out. And ftr, I do have The Book Of Souls pre-ordered, but I may pirate the album ahead of time only so I can get a head start on charting what I decide to chart from it.

 

* Dance Of Death

* Paschendale

* Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

* Satellite 15…The Final Frontier

* The Man Who Would Be King

* When The Wild Wind Blows

* ??? (will make my mind when I hear The Book Of Souls)

* ??? (will make my mind when I hear The Book Of Souls)

 

Also, I saw a darling of RB DLC live in my Indiana hometown the other night with my brother: BOSTON. Even if Brad’s dead, the entire band was on fire. That makes the number of bands in Rock Band (DLC or otherwise) that I’ve seen live = 5. I’ve seen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (May 2013), The Smithereens (Tom’s opening act), Yes (July 2014, Chris Squire’s death makes me glad I saw the band live when I did), Judas Priest (October 2014; they were better than what the British Steel DLC would have you believe), and Boston (July 2015). In September, that number will increase to 8 because I’m seeing a 3-band show in Louisville. The bands are Def Leppard, Styx, and Tesla. And in October, that number will increase to 10 as Motley Crue and Alice Cooper are stopping here in my hometown of Evansville, IN.

 

^ Basically, I am also working on a couple of Boston customs from the awesome show I saw on Wednesday night.

[Meander]

Well, I’m late about this. I’m noticing some things I forgot to chart in “A Nightmare To Remember” from the video. I’m going like “I thought I had charted thay!” But nope. I might do an adjustment to that track. Also, I noticed an audio error on my part with “The Shattered Fortress” that I will correct.

 

BTW, the loudness of the Keyboard/Guitar Unison solo in “A Nightmare To Remember” is a byproduct of how I got the stems for the album. The stems came “Guitar (Rhythm), Bass, Drums, Keys (Rhythm), Vocals, and Solos (Guitar and Keys).” So unisons like that needed to be copied twice to be playable on Guitar and Keys. However, I asked Sideshow to render the volume for those two instruments by half during the unison. Didn’t happen. I guess I’ll go around in Audacity and do that myself.

 

As for my customs, I am welcome with anyone coming in and adding stuff after they’ve been released. In fact, I encourage it.

 

I’m lost in a bunch of music now and I’m pulling at straws at what to chart. I know I said I’d do Train of Thought next, but honestly…..I’m a bit DT’d out after doing 14 songs by this band. Kinda like how I was PT’d out after doing 3 albums and an 8 pack by them.

 

Quick question for a future charting project of mine: Would it be off-limits to do a full-band version of the album version of “Prequel To The Sequel” by Between The Buried And Me (The RB2 Free 20-Pack used an edited version)? I’m considering doing the rest of the Colors album (I’m getting back into BTBAM).

[Author]

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