music: music box 1, cheater's box

made this a while ago. a lot of this came out really awkward - all of the parts sound completely fine on their own, but they just don't harmonize well. it looked like it would based on the shape of the tracks and their relationships, but i couldn't quantize them lest they create this ear-piercing chord by striking 3 notes at once.

started out as an experiment to mess with a youtuber's "cheat" to making melodies by arpeggiating a basic bassline because i wanted to see what it would sound like. i also wanted to start figuring out how to compose "music box" sounds because i wanted the ideal game i'd love to make one day to capitalize on the intersection of creepy horror music and nostalgic childhood lullabies.

main flaws: topline is too busy (it was even busier before i spent an extra session shaving it down), all 3 tracks made to stand separate instead of together, created tension literally 1 note before the end of the song by flattening a note and just made it sound off-key, did not treat bassline like a bassline, and the "point" of the song is just not there at all.

main pros: sounds unambiguously like a music box, great for comparing to actual music boxes to understand their musical structure better, good learning experience, set the bar on the floor so the next attempt can really only be better, and it made me think of carmilla.

i don't think another music box will happen for a hot minute here. i'm super frustrated with a collision tunneling problem in the current game's physics that i don't know how to fix. the game i'm working on requires 8-bit music and i've been having a lot of fun messing in nanoloop while working that out. i already composed the default loop of the game and the first boss's music, but it's still more likely that i'll work on more chiptune before going back to projects even later down the line where music boxes would be appropriate. 

VST: Alto Glockenspiel by Cinematique Instruments
(only took 1 interaction with a steinberg product for me to hate them with the passion of a thousand suns, but the instrument itself sounds very nice. there is a free music box vst called DSK Music Box, but i just really did not like how it sounded and i really didn't want to deal with running it through a highpass just to make it less ear-bleedy)