zakidsmall detour from Nier transcriptions (I hope to nobody's disappointment:D) - I wanted to do one track for the release of the FFXIV PC album coming out today and this seemed like the perfect candidate:) from what I know this arrangement was featured on one of the previous albums and apparently also made it to this release.
with that said I don't plan on doing more transcriptions from this album. I think this has a better chance of getting official score release then the Nier one, also the soundtrack doesn't resonate that well with me for now as I am totally unfamiliar with the game:)
about the piece itself, it is definitely unlike most video game music. it is very 'progressive' in a sense that it takes you through few different musical ideas one after the other, which is something I enjoy in music in general. so it is a nice change from standard VGM melody A-melody B-loop forever.
it is quite a complex piece of music too, almost every section has some major shift is rhythm/tonality. There is a section written in what appears to be some sort of lydian b7 scale, there is the almost atonal section with right hand tremolos. but it all comes together nicely in the end, wrapped up in this pretty (or 'serene' you could say:) ) opening theme.
EDIT (07.03): as it was pointed out in the comments, this is actually a medley of various themes, which explains a lot I guess :D
A shoutout is owed to /u/scardie from reddit for some tips in transcribing the E/G parts - I hope I made on ok use of them :D
Serenity (transcription) - Final Fantasy XIV Piano Collectionszakid2019-03-06 | small detour from Nier transcriptions (I hope to nobody's disappointment:D) - I wanted to do one track for the release of the FFXIV PC album coming out today and this seemed like the perfect candidate:) from what I know this arrangement was featured on one of the previous albums and apparently also made it to this release.
with that said I don't plan on doing more transcriptions from this album. I think this has a better chance of getting official score release then the Nier one, also the soundtrack doesn't resonate that well with me for now as I am totally unfamiliar with the game:)
about the piece itself, it is definitely unlike most video game music. it is very 'progressive' in a sense that it takes you through few different musical ideas one after the other, which is something I enjoy in music in general. so it is a nice change from standard VGM melody A-melody B-loop forever.
it is quite a complex piece of music too, almost every section has some major shift is rhythm/tonality. There is a section written in what appears to be some sort of lydian b7 scale, there is the almost atonal section with right hand tremolos. but it all comes together nicely in the end, wrapped up in this pretty (or 'serene' you could say:) ) opening theme.
EDIT (07.03): as it was pointed out in the comments, this is actually a medley of various themes, which explains a lot I guess :D
A shoutout is owed to /u/scardie from reddit for some tips in transcribing the E/G parts - I hope I made on ok use of them :D
If you found any of my work useful and would like to show some support, I accept donations via Paypal: paypal.me/themrzakidIgnus Nilsen Waltz (Disco Elysium) - piano arrangementzakid2022-11-06 | Sorry about the mess LOL (and the Under Armour plug)
this three note ostinato is going to haunt me
I don't get many requests, but I have been asked about this particular arrangement a couple of times.
It was way harder than it looks - as is the case with Disco Elysium soundtrack, the pieces do not really stand out because of riveting melodies or rich harmonies, but rather by various ambient vibes that are very difficult to replicate on piano. Because of how repetitive the piece is, I added some stuff of my own to make it at least a tiny bit more interesting.
Hope I did an okay job lol
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
#discoelysiumfinalcutGreat Cotte Falls (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) - piano arrangementzakid2022-10-07 | Performance by Maryna Buksha.
I have had this sitting for a while, but couldn't get down to practise/record this for various reasons. I figured this would be a good time to try and do something I wanted to try for a while anyway, which is to get a professional to record an arrangement.
And so you can enjoy this performance by Maryna, who pretty much made is sound as good as it could be :)
I think this was my favorite area theme in XC3 -- the arrangement is closer to the night theme, but I took some ideas from both tracks.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakidRemnants of Memories v.2 (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) - piano arrangementzakid2022-09-18 | Composed by Yasunoro Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kiyota, Mariam Abounnasr
it doesn't quite pack a punch without the strings, but is a nice piano piece nonetheless. enjoy!
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakidMenu Theme (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) - piano arrangementzakid2022-08-07 | Composed by Yasunoro Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kiyota, Mariam Abounnasr
sorry about the pulsating video, I think I need to make sure to lock focus on the piano next time around, hopefully will get rid of this issue.
if you've played XC3 you probably heard this a lot, very chill theme. I added some middle voices in a few places to keep the arrangement a bit more interesting.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidMain Title Theme (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) - transcription (with sheet music)zakid2022-07-24 | more xenoblade! this is supposedly the main theme of the game and being a piano piece, it was a perfect candidate to transcribe. it will probably have a title, but "Main Theme" will have to do for now :D
this might be the fastest thing I ever done, transcribed it two days ago, learned yesterday and recorded today.
all the available recordings of this piece cut near the end, so I don't know how it's supposed to finish. I chose to end it on a Bb major for a more 'hopeful' sound.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidA Life Sent On (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) - piano arrangementzakid2022-07-20 | my takeaway from this is that flute to piano transcription is more annoying than i thought :D
this is the theme used in the XC3 trailer, personally i'm quite excited for it.
I liked XC2 OST a lot (even though I haven't covered any of it), so also looking forward to what Mitsuda has in store for the next game
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidNo More What Ifs (Persona 5 Royal) - piano arrangementzakid2022-05-17 | i simplified the solo rhytmically a bit, when I tried to transcribe it accurately I ended up creating a monstrosity, as the rhythms in few measures are not that clear.
hope u enjoy!
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidBelle - Memories of a Sound - piano arrangementzakid2022-04-12 | I am slacking a bit on other arrangements I am working on, so I quickly put this one together after having seen the movie (which is pretty cool btw).
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidMy Quiet Forest Home (Octopath Traveler) - piano arrangementzakid2022-03-20 | I found this to be a very well crafted composition (as are many other in the soundtrack) and being a predominantly piano piece it made for a fun arrangement. Hope u enjoy!
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidWhirling Cafeteria (Day) (Disco Elysium) - piano arrangementzakid2022-02-27 | ngl I did it mostly due to popular demand :)
Tried to keep it simple, though I found that arranging a 4-chord track is not that easy because you quickly run out of ideas.
I created a lower third too, given my complete lack of animation/image editiing skills, I think it turned out alright :)
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidLoving Wonderland (Shibuya Jail Theme) (Persona 5 Strikers) - piano arrangementzakid2022-01-30 | Had this stuck in my head after playing through the game :D
Probably one of the harder things I ever did - performance is what it is, but nevertheless I had lots of fun arranging this.
Had to slow down a bit during the solo because playing that a tempo was just out of my reach.
I'm enjoying the game's jail themes, might do more!
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidNew Beginnings (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Piano Collections) - transcriptionzakid2022-01-15 | Back after Christmas break!
Here's a Piano Collections piece I decided to transcribe. The piece was simple enough that there should be minor inaccuracies at most.
I'm notoriously bad at maintaining tempo, so this ended a little faster than original.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidApartment Buildings (Disco Elysium) - piano arrangementzakid2021-12-12 | Here's some more Disco Elysium :)
I originally planned to combine this with the Coastal Shacks theme, but I utterly failed to make anything out of the latter once I realized it is just one piano motif repeated for the whole duration of the track with some ambient noises in the background.
Hope you enjoy this instead :)
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidFortress of Lies (NieR: Automata) - piano arrangementzakid2021-11-13 | I always liked this theme from NieR and quite enjoyed throwing an arrangement for it.
the lighting is a bit scuffed, but it's the best I can currently do with an old iPhone and a gloomy day:)
i also realized post upload that the second 4-note phrase should end in a B, not G. I do hear G as well in there, but maybe I'm crazy... anyway I changed it in downloadable sheet music.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidDragonspine Suite (Genshin Impact) - piano arrangementzakid2021-10-30 | This is a medley I made from the Dragonspine tracks from Genshin Impact.
I noticed I didn't get to modify the sheets by some changes I finally settled on - the second arrangement is very jumpy, so I ended cutting the 16th notes before the larger jumps to facilitate them a bit more.
Does the first track (Snow-Buried Tales is the title I found) also feel kind of christmasy to you?:D
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakid(△)zakid2021-10-23 | just to be clear I am working on serious stuff too :)
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidBonebottom (Hollow Knight Silksong) - piano arrangementzakid2021-09-12 | This is the game I am most excited for (whenever it's going to come out).
While awaiting the release here's a cover of a piece from the OST posted by Christopher Larkin.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidLa Revacholiere (Disco Elysium) - piano arrangement.zakid2021-08-30 | I gave it a go after being suggested this under one of previous videos.
I added four extra repeated measures in the middle, simply because when I was fiddling with this at the piano I liked the build-up opportunity it provided.
Also tried something different visually, the sheet is now scrolling every line instead of jumping from screen to screen. I've found that it actually makes for less editing work (and looks cooler I think?:D).
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidPromised Grace (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Piano Collections) - transcriptionzakid2021-07-04 | Very fun (and difficult!) piano duet from the recently released Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles PC.
There's for sure inaccuracies here, where the chords were getting a bit too muddy I tried to take some educated guesses, overall happy with the result.
If you'd like to support me I accept Paypal donations: paypal.me/themrzakidSnow in Summer (NieR Replicant v 1.2248448713) - piano arrangementzakid2021-05-23 | By Keiichi Okabe.
I arranged this a bit over my skill level, which ended up in me having to edit out few sloppy notes:)
This is based off an arrangement that was in one of NieR's trailers (not sure if it is part of official OST?), I stayed fairly true to it in the beginning and then diversed a bit in the middle section.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidWhirling Cafeteria (Night) (Disco Elysium) - piano arrangementzakid2021-04-13 | Not the most exciting of arrangements perhaps, but still a very chill piece:) Was fitting to make this with the release of the Final Cut of DE.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidGuide to the Future (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) - piano arrangementzakid2021-02-10 | Played this through recently and had it stuck in my mind, so I thought it made for a nice quick upload.
I played the second part more legato - I wanted to include the background strings somehow and it felt awkward to do without using pedal, so I decided to sacrifice the staccato feel of the original to better match them.
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidDicemaker theme (Disco Elysium) - piano arrangementzakid2021-02-06 | Composed by British Sea Power.
I just realized there is not a single piano cover of this game's OST on YT, so here's one now :)
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidHeaven (Persona 4: Reincarnation) - piano arrangementzakid2021-01-22 | This is a based off a a really cool arrangement of the song from the Reincarnation album.
Had a weird issue after recording this, it turned out video and audio did not sync by few seconds, I had no idea why. When I stretched the video to match the audio, it turned out the beginning and ending were synced up well, but it was off in the middle, very weird stuff. I made a few extra edits to the video to compensate, I think in the end it turned out okay :)
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidBorderless (transcription) - Final Fantasy XIV Piano Collectionszakid2019-12-17 | I had some requests for more FFXIV PC and decided to give Borderless a shot, it was probably one of the tracks I enjoyed the most from the album.
Also, if any of these transcriptions were of any use to you and you'd like to show some support, I've made a PayPal account for donations: paypal.me/themrzakidSong of the Ancients - Hollow Dreams (NieR Gestalt & Replicant)zakid2019-12-02 | As a break from transcribing I've decided to give arranging a shot.
I always liked this bossa nova arrangement of Song of the Ancients from original NieR, but never saw it covered much, so I've decided I'll give it a shot.
There was a tiny bit of transcribing of the various piano licks across the piece, but my focus was mostly on making a playable arrangement and trying to convey the groove of the original piece. hope i did ok!
also first time I ever made a video through Sony Vegas so apologies for shit editing:D
MIDI files & Sheet music is available on my Patreon: patreon.com/zakid
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidKashiwa Daisuke - crystal valley (transcription)zakid2019-06-20 | Kashiwa Daisuke is one one of my favorite 'hipster' composers that you have probably never heard about.
He is generally known for his electronic music, which you could describe as a mix of glitch/ambient/jazz/instrumental music (though honestly all of his albums are so different from each other it hard to label him under any specific genre). He likes utilising piano in his work and his albums even contain occasional piano solo pieces such as this one.
Here's one of three piano pieces from his album Program Music 2. I would say this album is the least 'out there' in a sense that it contains fairly harmonically simple instrumental music as opposed to his other more experimental work. Very calm and soothing song, hope you enjoy:)
Also, if any of these transcriptions were of any use to you and you'd like to show some support, I've made a PayPal account for donations: paypal.me/themrzakidSound of the End (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2019-06-08 | This one took me a bit longer due to getting caught up in some IRL stuff...but after having some time over the last few days, here is Sound of the End.
This was a large pain to transcribe - there's a lot of stuff going on in this piece and there's a lot of things I am less then sure about, like the chord barrage in the F section, or the I section which has a lot of weird cluster/sus chords. The bass part in beginning of F section is also made up completely, since I couldn't quite figure out what was going on in the recording (the bottom frequencies were just too muddy for me to make sense of).
It is an even tougher beast to play than I originally thought, easily up there with Bipolar Nightmare. Will be pleasantly surprised if anyone even attemps it to be honest :D
With that said it is definitely one of the best arrangements on the album, so props to Duke of Pianeet for arranging and pulling off this insanity.
I think this concludes my journey with NieR transcriptions, if you are looking for City Ruins/Weight of the World you should check out rach3master's Musescore (musescore.com/user/29175942), Bipolar Nightmare was done by Frioniel (youtube.com/watch?v=Kpvv6eEyrqY).
I might come back to some of the earlier transcriptions and redo them a bit - throughout this entire grind I've learned quite a bit and looking back I think I can improve upon my earlier work.
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidCopied City (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2019-03-17 | I didn't look forward to this at first, but it turned out pretty fun and straightforward to transcribe - I suppose that's because the piece is mostly built on intertwining passages that are very clear in the recording and does not have too many complicated harmonies (which is usually my bane lol).
While easy to transcribe, it will take some skill to play - you definitely need quite a bit of finger dexterity to pull it off at original tempo, so good luck to anyone who wants to attempt this arrangement :D
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidVague Hope (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2019-02-10 | Not sure what to say about this one:) It's definitely one of the fan favorites and the arrangement is alright. Definitely approachable by an intermediate player, all these righ/tleft hand triplet runs come in all shapes and forms though so might take a bit to get these your fingers:)
Looking back you could make a case for notating this in 4/4 instead, but I think this should be ok too...
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidBeautiful Song (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2019-02-01 | So here's one of the coolest boss fight themes from Nier.
After you listen the original OST, you'd expect the piano arrangement to be very dynamic and fast, but instead you get this hollow, solitary piece that takes its time with the listener. The feel is definitely emphasized by some cool disonant harmony and the common 2v3 polyrythms throughout the piece.
I was kind of taken aback by this arrangement upon first listen, but it grew on me, I think it was a cool direction for this piece.
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidThe Tower (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2019-01-20 | This took me considerably less time since a lot of this apart from the intro is pretty much copy & paste with note adjusting.
I like the first half of this arrangement - simple, but gracious, end up sounding nice. Not so much of a fan of the chord spam in the second part:)
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidVoice of no Return (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2019-01-04 | not sure what to say about this one other than it is a really nice and approachable arrangement:)
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidAmusement Park (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2018-12-31 | I have reuploaded this video as I wasn't too happy with previous upload - I notice too many issues with it after upload, so I gave it some more work.
To be honest this is my least liked piece on the album, but it sounded like it would be relatively easy to transcribe so I decided to give it a go.
Near the end it got pretty tedious - being 7 minutes long this piece overstays its welcome a little bit and marasy doesn't do enough in my opinion to keep it very interesting (still his big fan tho :)). It just sounds like a very direct read-through of the original score with the odd arpeggio/glissando here and there.
Not 100% sure about some stuff in the recording, but I hope the score is decent enough.
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidPeaceful Sleep (transcription) - NieR Automata Piano Collectionszakid2018-12-19 | Having heard rumors that the scorebook might not be coming out after all, I decided to attempt to transcribe some of the pieces.
Here's Peaceful Sleep, which I wanted to transcribe the most.
This transcription cost me a lot of sanity - for someone like me who doesn't have the greatest ear, figuring all all these jazzy chords and their extensions was quite a pain:) For that reason this transcription most likely has couple of inaccuracies, but I am pretty happy with the final result.
I tried to keep it as readable as possible on visual level - having viewed it after upload, there's probably a couple of spots I could've done a better job, but anyway I hope it might be of use to someone.
You can also support via PayPal: paypal.me/themrzakidPersona 5 - Sunset Bridgezakid2018-09-16 | from Persona 5 Original Soundtrack Selection.Grandma (Nier Gestalt & Replicant Piano Collections)zakid2018-07-27 | This piece reminded me why I hate recording so much :D
couldn't play it as comfortably as with camera off, so here's the best take I could get of it. decided to edit two silly slips out of the midi rather than trying to get another decent take on it. butchered the last part anyway xD
as for the piece itself, probably my favorite in the collections. bit harmonically repetitive (as most VGM I guess), but with a nice Chopin-esque classical touch that makes it stand out.Repose (Nier Gestalt & Replicant Piano Collections)zakid2018-07-22 | this is quite a spontaneous upload - probably the easiest piece in the PC so after giving it a couple playthroughs I figured why not record it.Emil (NieR Gestalt & Replicant Piano Collections)zakid2018-07-21 | ...Chopin - Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2zakid2018-06-30 | for reddit's Piano Jam (June)Lazy Afternoons (Kingdom Hearts Field and Battle)zakid2018-05-26 | one of my favorite arrangements from this collection:)
Music by Yoko Shimomura
Arranged by Sachiko MiyanoNoctis~Serenade Fantastique (FFXV Piano Collections)zakid2018-04-15 | needs some more work for sure but i was eager to record it while messing around with audio/video setup:)Luna - Blest Be the Moonlight (FF XV Piano Collections)zakid2017-12-12 | Trying out American Concert D (from Synthogy Ivory)
Composed by Yoko Shimomura
Arranged by Sachiko MiyanoMissing you - Kingdom Hearts Piano Collectionszakid2013-02-02 | without the namine part (yet) due to low battery on camera lolChrono Chross - Dimension Breach (zohar arrangement) by zakzakid2012-05-01 | A zohar's arrangement I grew very fond of since I first came across it. I hope I didn't butcher it too much (I make some mistakes on the last page) D: Still probably one of the easier zohar's arrangements that seems to get overlooked somehow.Dexter piano medley by zakzakid2012-02-16 | Here is a small "minimedley" from Dexter TV series, consisting of three pieces:
[0:00] Opening Theme (Morning Routine)
[1:18] Blood Theme
[3:23] House Theme
Credit for the arrangements doesn't go to me. This is based on the following videos (by jyman1125 and 4uOlga, all with sheets):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3oFkHiroaY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp11EdJHY2A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UieM_cXPkAs I tweaked few parts of those arrangements - mostly the first one to reflect some rhythmical changes:PWaka Waka piano cover (arr. by Verdegrand) by zak.zakid2011-10-10 | Few comments:
I apologize for the audio quality. This is recorded with a crappy camera and I have yet to explore the possibilities such as making MIDI files etc.
This is not the best take either:P In few parts I think i go way too fast and in some parts my left hand is out of rhythm.
About the arrangement:
This is based on Verdegrand's awesome arrangement of this piece. Since there was no MIDI file available, I had to put it together solely by ear and video analysis. The version presented here is not entirely accurate - I recorded this before starting making sheets and contacting Verdegrand (main changes are the left hand pattern which turned out to be quite different in the original + minor changes in the melodic line).
SHEETS:
After few revisions by Verdegrand we managed to put together the sheets.
They are close to ~100% accurate with respect to the original Verdegrand's recording, which can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu8tTf7zC5w