Fortnite Club Music (Pico-8 Cover)
Added 2018-06-04 13:16:29 +0000 UTCI chose this for a couple of reasons:
First, I wanted to arrange a Pico-8 cover that’s NOT originally from the NES.
Secondly, considering the popularity of Fortnite, I thought it’d be interesting to see how it performs on Twitter and Youtube – a little social media experiment! I may try arranging one of the title tracks too.
Lastly, it’s a cool tune! It’s harmonically straightforward (Dm7 to Dm6), but the 6:4 polyrhythm is pretty interesting, and got my attention right away.
If you listen to the original, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdzvpmLc8D8) you’ll hear the arpeggiator rate increasing at the end of the loop (a great way to build tension) To achieve this effect in Pico-8, I had to use the instrument editor in a way I’ve never used before.
Pico-8’s arpeggiators only come in two speeds (effect 6 & 7). So In order to have more than two rates of arpeggiation, I used different SPD values in different SFX.
The great part about using the instrument editor this way is you can get very precise about what notes you’re arpeggiating, and in what order (unlike effect 6&7, where you’re at the mercy of 4-note chunks).
The tradeoff is that each rate of arpeggiation takes up a whole SFX. In this Fortnite arrangement, I got three different rates of arpeggiation. But because those are used by two instruments, they take up 6 SFX.
Project file and sheet music are attached in case you’re interested in checking it out!
