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"Downtown (in the Morning)"
Nov 2006, Apr 2009 || Score
Written in 2006, this tune was originally recorded with an acoustic guitar playing the melody. And in the 2009 reproduction, I replaced the guitar part with a multi-timber synth part.The mental background for this tune is similar to the one for November in Massachusetts. I'm paying homage and saying hello to the cities I have lived in or visited, especially Boston and Tokyo.
The synth part is made of 3 timbres, Synth 1, Synth 2 and E.P., and Synth 1 and 2 are layered with four different sounds respectively.
Synth 1 is the sound that plays the melody first.(hear) It's a mixture of what I call Miu Miu sound, Square sound, Triangle sound and Guitar sound. The first three are made with the V-Station VST instrument and the last is taken from StringStudio VST.
V-Station (Novation)
Score || Leadsheet
(Continued from the left column)
String Studio (Applied Acoustics Systems)
Here's how they sound individually.(Miu Miu) (Square) (Triangle) (Guitar) The Miu Miu sound's characteristic effect is produced with filter movements controlled by Modulation Envelope as well as with Portamento. Here's what it sounds like without the filter and Portamento.
Synth 2 is what replaces Synth 1 at the B section where the music changes into minor key. This too is a mixture of four sounds.(hear) (The Leadsheet is useful to find the sections of the tune. The letter in a rectangle indicates the beginning of a section.)
E.P. is the sound that comes in to support the melody taken over by Piano at the E section.(hear) Both Synth 2 and E.P. were entirely created inside V-Station.
Let's talk about the chord changes.
This is the beginning of the A section. You see D69 as the first chord, followed by C#7alt. D69 is relatively simple here. It consists of D(root), F#(3rd), A(5th), B(6th) and E(9th). The tricky one is C#7alt. "Alt" means "altered", and C#7alt means it takes the basic component of C#7 which are C#(root), F(3rd) and B(7th) as they are, and every other note in an altered state. By "every other note", I mean the 5th, 9th, 11th and 13th of the chord tones. So those chord tones must be altered when the chord signature says "alt". In this case the 5th of C#7 which is G# will be altered to G natural, by half step. Likewise the 9th which is D# will be altered to D natural or E natural, again by half step. The 11th, F#, will be raised to G natural, and the 13th, A#, will be lowered to A natural.
String Studio (Applied Acoustics Systems)
Here's how they sound individually.(Miu Miu) (Square) (Triangle) (Guitar) The Miu Miu sound's characteristic effect is produced with filter movements controlled by Modulation Envelope as well as with Portamento. Here's what it sounds like without the filter and Portamento.
Synth 2 is what replaces Synth 1 at the B section where the music changes into minor key. This too is a mixture of four sounds.(hear) (The Leadsheet is useful to find the sections of the tune. The letter in a rectangle indicates the beginning of a section.)
E.P. is the sound that comes in to support the melody taken over by Piano at the E section.(hear) Both Synth 2 and E.P. were entirely created inside V-Station.
Let's talk about the chord changes.
This is the beginning of the A section. You see D69 as the first chord, followed by C#7alt. D69 is relatively simple here. It consists of D(root), F#(3rd), A(5th), B(6th) and E(9th). The tricky one is C#7alt. "Alt" means "altered", and C#7alt means it takes the basic component of C#7 which are C#(root), F(3rd) and B(7th) as they are, and every other note in an altered state. By "every other note", I mean the 5th, 9th, 11th and 13th of the chord tones. So those chord tones must be altered when the chord signature says "alt". In this case the 5th of C#7 which is G# will be altered to G natural, by half step. Likewise the 9th which is D# will be altered to D natural or E natural, again by half step. The 11th, F#, will be raised to G natural, and the 13th, A#, will be lowered to A natural.