Taking you to outer space with this week's featured pick!
Asteroid KORG Gadget Kamata Demo Song| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x5 (157) | x7 (209) | x8 (433) | x9 (784) |
Taiko 0 Y, CD CC-5
144-288
none
???Asteroid is one of the latest playable tracks in Taiko history that reminds us that NAMCO SOUNDS musicians don't necessarily have to stick to Namco Originals in order to contribute to the franchise's musical lore! This was one of the original tracks that was used to promote a special collaboration project between Bandai Namco and electronic musical instruments manufacturer Korg Corporation, dated back in time as of July 2016.
The tie-in project involved both parties into the creation of an additional sound board for the KORG Gadget application line, released in 2014 for iOS and years later to other platforms, including Macintosh (2017) and the Nintendo Switch (February 28th, 2018). Bearing both old-styled voice samples from Namco veterans like Junko Ozawa and newly-made tunes from both current BNSI composers and other contributors such as Denji Sano, the resulting Kamata board was molded to offer its users the possibility to create chiptune tracks with an 80ies vibe. The board's launch was advertised on Youtube with a short clip of Asteroid as part of a Gadget CM (link), while the song's full cut was released on the company's official Soundcloud profile alongside two other songs made by BNSI talents with the Kamata board: Carrot and Kawagen Collagen's Miraiya, which is based on another track from the very same artist's Soundcloud creations (link). Asteroid was also involved in a KORG-supported contest, being the musical base of the contest-winning 'A Man Remix' (link).
Masubuchi Yuji (増渕裕二) was the man behind Asteroid's creation on the Kamata sound board, as well as its Taiko notecharter by popular demand from the Taiko Team and even a KORG higher-up! The long-time contributor to the Taiko series has talked about the charting process in full length for an official Taiko blog entry, one which we also have previously featured on our very blog (click here!). The song's Taiko cut is slightly shorter than the original version, which can be heard on Soundcloud and on the 5th soundtrack album in the City Connection Taiko cycle.
The Musical Notation approach led to an old-style Oni chart that calls back to mind other handswitch-twisters of yore like Masubuchi's 'ac.' series songs, but with that slight color of flair to fit them in the modern eye-candy charting charades of the current Taiko generation. Case in point: don't let that multi-scrolling note overlap a-la 8OROCHI Ura Oni stray you away from a Full Combo while tackling Asteroid's slower middle portion!
