The UNOFFICIAL Undertale Arrangement Project

[Maelstrom]

UNDERTALE
Determination
[PDF] [.mus] [midi] (3-Hand Midi)

If I have any time in the next few days, I'll try to give a bunch of feedback on the songs in this arrangement project.

[Bespinben]

He's alive!!! (well, I suppose I'm guilty of having snuck onto NSM as well, so that makes two of us!)

Nice arrangement. Remember to spell m. 19, 25, & 27 with Fb's in BOTH hands.

[Maelstrom]

Fixed, along with m17 for good measure.

[Maelstrom]

And now for some feedback.
General feedback for everyone:
Undertale is actually UNDERTALE. Yes, it's all caps. Or is it? It seems to be both on the product description on the Steam page. Any final verdict?
Have a lot of fun with the metronome text. Really. References to the game are fine/great if it makes sense.

I'll go through these systematically. I won't be incredibly precise, because, technically, this isn't feedback like you might get for a submission. It's feedback to give you a few pointers to be a better arranger and have cleaner arrangements. (side note: after typing this, I noticed that this is pretty specific. Oh well.)

Once Upon a Time
-I forget what version of finale you have, but I'm pretty sure you know about marks and indents, so I won't go into specifics with those
-Those 32nd notes really, really should be grace notes. Again, I'm not sure what version of finale you have, so I don't know if you can fix this.
-Just found out the file was last saved by Notepad, so I guess you'll need to ask someone to fix it for you. I would, but I've got finale 2011.
-Some text at the end indicating that you should fade out might be nice.
-Again, a notepad thing, but that 2 measure system should change.
-Those half notes in the beginning are not held the entire length of their two beats in the original song. Maybe a dotted tenuto or a quarter and a rest?
-Some more articulations (slurs, staccatos) might be nice, but are not crucial.
-I don't think the LH in m16 is the same as m12.
-Solid arrangement all around

Your Best Friend
-This is really nitpicky, but the game title should be 12pt font, not whatever it is now. (14 maybe?)
-No clue what version of finale you have, but I'll give you a few things you may or may not be able to fix:
---That metronome marking should be a dynamic, not a text box
---The measure beginnings are out of alignment with each other
---There should be an indent with a Piano mark in the first measure. Check a recently accepted pieces to see what that looks like.
-8vas are a must for those parts with too many ledger lines.
-What I say is not the law, but I think it might be better to leave out the 16th in m9. It's there in the song, but it's really, really hard to get it to stop sounding unnatural. It's so quiet, it just sounds like a third echo of that high E until you slow it down, so it may not be much of a loss to omit it.
-The copyright at the bottom looks pretty small...... Better check what the guidelines are. (Might be 10 pt)
-I guess I'm being so nitpicky because I can't find anything else wrong with it. Great arrangement.
-Remember that some of these formating things will not need to be changed if you have no interest in submitting it to get it on the the site, whether through submissions or if this becomes an official arrangement project.

Fallen Down
-ACK SCORE TEXT IN THE CORNER
-Formatting wise, your only problem is layers. I'd recommend going through and condensing layers into a single one where 2 layers aren't needed.
-Along those lines, it appears a few notes are out of alignment in the 2nd layer, like the 2nd to last quarter in m3. Just delete it and re-enter it to fix it.
-Double check the playability. There are some pretty dang long stretches that I don't think are humanly possible. If it's supposed to be played by the other hand, use cross staff notation instead of layers.
-The title on the second page is missing the second quotation mark.
-An initial dynamic might be a good idea, as might some slurs, other stuff, etc.
-Another great arrangement.

Ruins
-Basically everything from Your Best Friend applies here: (Font size, indent+piano marking, 8vas)
-Those last 3 measures really need to be put in a single line
-I noticed a lot of on-beat quarters followed by a rest. Using staccatoed quarters might be a cleaner/simpler alternative
-Speaking of which, it might be nice if there were some more slurs and staccatos to emphasize the phrases and disconnects.
-It might be nice to have more systems on each page. You have more than enough room, after all.
-Measure numbers might be nice.
-The pedal markings are inconsistent. It's kind of hard to tell what exactly you are trying to play. I remember discussing how to do pedal charts with bespinben or someone, but I can't find the conversation.
-There should be a title on the 2nd and 3rd page, at the top. Check a recently accepted sheet if you want.
-At the very least, an initial dynamic might be nice.
-Again, great arrangement.
-And again, some of these don't need to be changed if you don't want it on the site.

That's all for now.

[Yug_Guy]

Undertale is actually UNDERTALE. Yes, it's all caps. Or is it? It seems to be both on the product description on the Steam page. Any final verdict?

I don't know. I figure we'll leave it the way it is unless new information comes to light. (Also, the icon on my desktop says "Undertale", so I think that's a pretty good sign  )

Have a lot of fun with the metronome text. Really. References to the game are fine/great if it makes sense.

I'd say this is fine so long as it remains musically/stylistically relevant.

Once Upon a Time
-Those 32nd notes really, really should be grace notes. Again, I'm not sure what version of finale you have, so I don't know if you can fix this.

I think it works fine the way it is now. But, that might just be a case of personal preference. I may end up changing that later on.

Once Upon a Time
-Those half notes in the beginning are not held the entire length of their two beats in the original song. Maybe a dotted tenuto or a quarter and a rest?

I didn't notice that actually, thanks for pointing that out!

Once Upon a Time
-I don't think the LH in m16 is the same as m12.

I'll take a second look at that.

Once Upon a Time
-Solid arrangement all around

Thank you! 

Also, I've got your name up front now, so could you make sure I have everything right?

[AMA]

Heey there! So um we also have a group on musescore that's working on transcribing and arranging Undertale music. It's not a huge project like yours or anything, but we could help each other out and correspond a bit to try and cover everything. Our group has arrangements in a variety of instrumentation, complexity, and accuracy(lol)

So far, we have:
-Hopes and Dreams/ Save the World
-Bonetrousle
-Quiet Water
-Heartache (in progress)
-Fallen Down (with quite accurate instrumentation)
-Fallen Down Reprise
-Asgore
-Spider Dance (by me! :D)
-Undertale (one simple ver, two in progress for different instruments)
-Snowdin Town

If we can all work together, it would be awesome! I'm the group's admin, so if you did want to cooperate, I'm willing to act as an messenger between you guys and us. Let's get along, maybe? :3

our group: https://musescore.com/groups/1289351

[Yug_Guy]

If we can all work together, it would be awesome! I'm the group's admin, so if you did want to cooperate, I'm willing to act as an messenger between you guys and us. Let's get along, maybe? :3
our group: https://musescore.com/groups/1289351

Check your personal messages (PM's). We'll work out the details 

[Bespinben]

Forwarding the latest news on "Snowy" from the Submissions board:

Nebbles and I finalized the engraving for this arrangement:
[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF] [MUSX]

...even made a spiffy re-mastered audio version:
[MP3]

[Oronoco]

Oh! There's an eighth rest in measure 19 that needs a lift!

EDIT: Wait, sorry, I didn't see it was already accepted!

[Bespinben]

Oh! There's an eighth rest in measure 19 that needs a lift!

EDIT: Wait, sorry, I didn't see it was already accepted!

Someone must have petted that 8th rest too many times.

You're 100% correct! Being an Updater, I can still edit files even after they are sent to the Archives, so it's all fixed now.

[Yug_Guy]

Forwarding the latest news on "Snowy" from the Submissions board:

I'm already way ahead of ya there, bud. 

[Nebbles]

Determined to stay on top, huh?

[Yug_Guy]

Determined to stay on top, huh?

Spoiler

[close]

[Maelstrom]

It's pretty good. I think you can remove me from Another Medium. It either ended up as unplayable or boring.

Home
-Despite the fact that the soundtrack doesn't repeat, the song loops from the last measure to the first, so a simple repeat will suffice.
-I can't find anything else wrong with it. No surprise there.

Nyeh Heh Heh!
-The song title on the 2nd page seems off.
-I've been checking the baseline for the beginning part, and I don't think it's notated correctly. I don't think I should tell you how to do it, and I won't. But I do think you should double check it. I don't hear that Eb ever staying in the same place outside of the chord, btw.
-The formatting stuff I mentioned earlier with piano marks, indents, measure numbers, and stuff.
-I think it switches to F minor in the last line of the 1st page. I could be wrong.
-The first measure on the 2nd page should look like this:

-I think there's a grace note before the 3rd beat in the last measure.
-That half note isn't held for it's full value in the 2nd to last measure
-Maybe some slurs to emphasize the difference between the staccatos?

Snowy
Accepted

Dogsong
-Again, a few formatting things like the text size, piano marks, etc.
-This song would really benefit from a whole lot of staccatos.
-The tempo mark is text instead of a dynamic, meaning it doesn't actually effect the tempo.
-Ah, note beaming. I'm amazed that I hadn't come across this yet. Simply put, it is the goal of an arranger to make every beat visible. If it's a very simple rhythm, or a long note at the beginning of a measure, nothing needs to be done. But that middle beat (beginning of the 3rd beat) in 4/4 must be shown if it's a simple rhythm. Such is the case in m20, 22, 24, etc. Just change the quarter to an eight tied to an eight and you'll be fine
-And an initial dynamic might be nice.

Bonetrousle WIP
I recognize that this is a wip, so I'll just critique the notes instead of going further into theory and formatting.
-Everything I said about Nweh Heh Heh than can apply here does.
-That last line needs those off beat thingies. I think you know what I'm talking about.
-Sorry, but I can't seem to help with the harmonies that much. The fact that it's purposely slightly out of tune throws me way off.

Tem Shop
-Solid arrangement
-Only the formatting issues that I mentioned earlier need to be fixed.
-Maybe slurs?

His Theme
-You should be giving me feedback, not the other way around.

Don't worry, Yugi. I'll PM you a few tips to direct you on your WIPs.

[Nebbles]

Would Another Medium work better as a duet or something, maybe? It's one of my favorite songs on the ost, I'd be sad to never learn it.