How Octopath Traveler Changes Key

The full-on key change isn't all that common in modern music, and game music is no exception. So I was surprised and intrigued when I listened through Octopath Traveler's soundtrack and heard key change after key change popping up throughout the entire thing. The soundtrack ended up being a perfect example to use to talk about different ways that composers change keys, and that's what I explore in this video. Enjoy!

Game Score Fanfare's new octopath video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Zc3...

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#OctopathTraveler #videogamemusic #musictheory

1. Noah Feazell: Why are there comments from 3 days ago but it just now got uploaded? Am I in the twilight zone or something? Jeez, guys. Watch the video before commenting.
2. mario raul rivas sevilla: OMFG! I LOVE your videos, you just made my weekend
3. Oniric: Can you do Xenoblade 2 now? The game's been neglected enough lately.
4. kcsupersonic1: Ugh...and yet Red Dead Redemption 2 somehow still beat Octopath and Celeste for best music and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 wasn't even nominated. I wish people would really look at music with a little bit more discernment than, 'this is the soundtrack to the best quality game so it must be the best soundtrack too.'
5. Franciszek Klonowski: Nearly First
6. Javier Nunez: chromatic mediants rock!
7. Chiaki Channel: AN OCTOPATH EPISODE
8. William Doran: +Pieter Mantel That's true, that's usually how I compose, but often a composer takes different approaches when composing. While many may start with a harmonic progression or a melody, or a groove, others pick the structure and then work to fit within that. I actually haven't tried composing a tune like that yet, but I plan to!
9. Rafael Alvarez: Wow, that 1 person must reaaaally not like octopath
10. Bassoonify: Really great examples of ways to modulate! I'm going to have to check out the end credits music and see how all those keys relate and are prepared!
11. judges531: This has been one of my very favorites from you. I would personally love to see more examples of modulations in the future! Huge fan :)
12. UnderratedSheet: don't know what brought me here, but this is actually really interesting
13. tsbulmer: Nintendo needs to give you a kickback, because you may have just sold me a Switch!
14. Renato Grigoli: Achei que poderia não jogar esse jogo. Você tá me obrigando a comprá-lo, nem que seja pra ouvir a música...
15. Mister Apple: 4:07 A NOTE-icable effect, huh? (I'm sorry, I'll get out.)
16. Insederec: This makes me really want a kingdom hearts episode
17. GUIM: I don't even know if we were ever really in disagreement, haha. All I did was point out that it wasn't a Direct Modulation, but was a Pivot Chord Modulation. You didn't state that is wasn't a Direct Modulation, but also didn't state that it was a Pivot Chord Modulation. So there is no real grounds for "disagreement" as far I can tell. It was more so an addition to your analysis since Olberic's modulation was left undefined. That's all. :) I'm not really "searching hard" for mistakes. I'm not searching at all for mistakes. I'm just asking for your thoughts on topics. Inquisition into your processes and state of mind for these analyses shouldn't mean I'm seeking out mistakes. It's just inquiry, homie. The process and mindset of a theorist can be just as interesting as the analysis. I also just believe that understanding a theorist's mindset often increases the yield of their analyses. So, to be clear, I'm not looking for "mistakes" in your thinking. It's more like "insight" to your thinking.
18. MsFlyingCake: Dr. Willy, Kefka, Flowey, M. Bison, Sephiroth, Dr. Robotnik, Dracula, Ganon and Bowser disliked this video.
19. Scott Skanes: Feels so good to have a game I requested get covered! Awesome work here, better than ever!
20. Darryl Jack: How did this not win Best Music or RPG Edit: well I saw this and a recommendation for a persona vid so now I have to subscribe. Lol
21. Wes Nohatsha: I've been listening to Octopath Traveler's soundtrack all day, and I just can't get enough of it. Also, the music was a huge selling point for me deciding to get the game after I played the demo.
22. Kairu Hakubi: It's so weird trying to think about this consciously. Music just seems like language to me, and these key changes (upward) are like saying "in fact, what's more.."
23. edge3220: I've been hoping you'd do a video on Octopath. Next, I'd love to see some examples taken from Legend of Dragoon, if you haven't already (and I've just missed it).
24. skykid: The music to this game, just like the game itself, is very pretty and yet I don't feel anything emotional from any of it.
25. Ultralele: At 12:11 shouldn't it be a bVI if it's going to Gm?
26. William Doran: Jazz is fairly popular in Japan and has been for a while, so I think that's permeated their fusion, funk, pop and rock scenes, and of course, the soundtrack music from there as well.
27. Guerin78: Point of clarification after re-watching this: Olberic's theme uses a pivot chord as well. The Fm section is preceded by an E diminished, which serves as the ii chord in D natural minor, and the vii chord in F harmonic minor.
28. GubbaNubNubDooRahKah: +Eldritch24 which, to add to my comment as well as piggyback off of you, also happens to use a flowing melodic line of fast, staccato notes in a minor key
29. 8-bit Music Theory: Ah sorry I didn't give you credit in the video!! I've seen a few different people request octopath, this was just the request that pushed me over the edge!
30. Sarin Dhoopati: Great video! Those key changes are so damn awesome.
31. Shabi_no_Samuri: Most of these effects are often used in anime . That's whyyyyy he might have used them too
32. Linh Dinh: First P5 music theory then Octopath?! Props, you got yourself a sub!
33. Keris: Film score as well
34. GUIM: I was simply pointing out that the video implied the theme's modulation was unprepared and then directly followed with a discussion on pivot chords (and how they prepare modulations) without ever mentioning that Olberic's theme actually uses a pivot chord to modulate between D minor and F minor and is not a Direct Modulation. Pivot chords have no requirements regarding duration. They can be used for half of a beat and still act as link between keys. That's all I really stated. But maybe I just missed the part where you mentioned it being a Pivot Chord Modulation in the video. That's also possible! As for counting accidentals, many theorists view the parallel key to be closer than the relative, but counting accidentals would, by default, propose that the two are very distant. So I was just wondering if you account for those conditions or not.
35. Barack Bramhall: "Jack Bramhall" hmm that name sounds familiar, wonder if we're related. Aces video man. Totally surpassed my expectations, and i'm super psyched that you picked this topic as well.
36. Speedy: Wait... are full on key changes really not common? I use them all the time, I thought it was normal!
37. harpsona: Yes! Thank you for doing this video! I noticed how frequent the i minor to iii flat minor change was when I was playing around with some of the character themes and it was great learning more about it (and the other changes) in this video!
38. Nullatrum: Aren't french keys just Solfege? i.e. D major is Ré majeur
39. Silvan Barrow: Some of this soundtrack reminds me of Hamazu's work on Unlimited SaGa.
40. grape conqs: Casey LeeVan fair enough but i believe its intention is to resolve to the I, resolving to the bIII would be more in secondary dominant territory.
41. Alexander Marc: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
42. Jerry Gu: Man, i have no idea what the fuck you are talking about but i really enjoy watching through the videos anyway. Just understanding the purpose and nuance between music is really interesting. Also, I really like the small edits that you have started to implement. I think it adds a lot of small quality of life and improves the videos a lot! <3
43. GarrisonHuddleston: This is one of the better videos you've made. Well done.
44. Andrew MRQ: Nice to see someone mention chords can have double function. It's like Schrodingers cat. The function changes depending on the time of measurement C:
45. rDOLLf: I would love to see a video on wandersong
46. Voltz.Supreme: Awesome episode! I'll be watching this a few times! Thanks
47. Girin Zutshi: 2:13 The image says B
48. 8-bit Music Theory: Good point! It's always cool to see two completely different genres of music using the same techniques in completely different ways
49. Josh Dormaier: Hey could you cover a song from Super Mario Odyssey sometime? Like the cascade kingdom or cap kingdom or the wooded kingdom all have great songs.
50. Katie Sparkles: You should cover animal crossing music once the new game comes out! Also great video!
51. b: I like key changes in game music, but not in any other genre.... ugh
52. Undisclosed Music: Did you trabscribe the tracks or is there a score available? I would like to study it. Thanks!
53. DrkDragonz66: Where do you get all this sheet music?
54. Dudleyville: Chrono Cross when?
55. Smoothwave47: Don’t let this video distract you from the fact that Red Dead Redemption robbed Octopath for best soundtrack in the game awards.
56. Daniel Evans: The timing of this video, just here to remind me that OT didn’t win best music at the game awards. T_T
57. Schattenstolz: Hope some day you talk about monster hunter
58. santiago attadia: I missed you so much!
59. Mark Mckenna: Love your videos, but seriously. When are you going to make a video on the Mario & Luigi boss themes? (Just a request)
60. 源无: Crap, you’re amazing
61. Roeming: specifically the v-I7-VI
62. 4swordsIdalZ: I love how you picked Tressa. Good taste my guy.
63. Professoar: THICKKKK!!!!
64. lazthespaz4: This game looks so amazing... The graphics actually stole me away from the theory every-so-often lol
65. darthboxOriginal: That F to Gm is a beautiful change...wow
66. Luke Mayhew: Wow! That was a super good video! Thanks for doing that!
67. Musical Catfish05: This was an amazing video! I am going to start using more key changes in my songs now! Also people, check out my channel. There's only a few videos on it, but I'm just getting started. It's about music and stuffs. I showcase my compositions and I'm gonna start doing other types of videos on music.
68. Olivier L. Applin: Portal I and II themes uses modulations are very interesting also !
69. nomansguy 9333: Welcome friends
70. Bruce Jefferies: what an incrediby good looking game
71. insaneintherainmusic: 11:08 Nishiki-san has lots of backdoor ii-V's up his sleeve! Love this soundtrack as well as your analysis :)
72. goauld88: I know some of these words.
73. darkool 606060: Octopath Traveler is like the most underrated thing ever. I know it sold well, but no one talks about it. Easy top 5 Switch games and one of the best games this generation. My personal goty and i played gow and rdr2.
74. Mystery Personthing: I'm curious what music theory has to say about why Goodnight Mom gives me chills and 9th Child ... Doesn't. There's a lot that goes into those songs, so maybe a compare and contrast between Mr. Explorer and Ms. Explorer? I am going to save up to pay for an actual request, but just thought I'd put down my suggestion in the meantime. (LA-MULANA vs EG-LANA)
75. nowonmetube: You and Game Score Fanfare are at an embargo?
76. Jay Kennedy: Been a silent follower for a while but your content is top notch. Always look forward to your videos!
77. Double D: that artstyle is so bad it's like some 2 year old just vomited on their pixel art with bloom and realistic water seriously, you can have realistic lighting with pixel textures, no need to create the vomit that is this game
78. Cinetube TSL: Thankss
79. 8-bit Music Theory: +GUIM I think the misunderstanding is just two different interpretations of how common or rare something has to be to be considered "common" or "rare"
80. Ben Turner: I feel like Toby Fox also uses that IV chord with extensions in the new key as well right?
81. DbzFlipz: Pazzo, That Fool I played it Allllll summer
82. Angel Alejandre: You rule
83. GubbaNubNubDooRahKah: A piece that reminds me of Winter, specifically because it sounds to me like the howling of a cold wind, is Chopin's Étude Op. 10 No. 2 I think it sounds much more like Winter wind than Étude Op. 25 No. 11 despite the fact that it's actually called "Winter Wind"
84. Data_Error: I thought something was up when this and the Game Score Fanfare video on Octopath went up simultaneously! Two of my favorite game-music essay channels covering one of the better-designed games of the last year together? Sounds great!
85. Ono O: Did you just call D major to D minor a modulation? Wrong. Its mode mixture. Nobody will see or understand this comment. But i see. I see.
86. Michael Freitag: TRESSA MAIN FOR LIFE.
87. Trussa: You realise you now have to make a video on Bravely Default too right? Please?
88. Game Score Fanfare: Why do I need to when 8-Bit does it better than anyone else could? 🙂
89. Pillow Strength: 6:16 It's also a type of "back door" cadential resolution
90. dannycivic02: Not really a music guy and didn’t really know what all the music terms mean, but I get what your getting at. The music for this game is fantastic I need this game now!
91. Pieter Mantel: +Saka I do not disagree with having a key first, the thing I was making a joke about was that the composer supposedly also picks a second key first. I would definetly reccomend picking a key first.
92. adamushu: Love your vids and style.
93. Daniel Berry: Common-tone modulation is another cool technique to use to change key. For example, in Twilight Princess’ Ordon Village music, the piece begins in C major and the melody of the A section ends on the tonic C. The melody of the B section also starts on a C, except the chord is Ab major, so the C is now acting as the major 3rd of the chord. One sustained or repeated note (often in the melody) is all that is needed to link two distant keys if the two chords share a common note. It’s a really simple and effective way to modulate imo without having to use the pivot chord technique.
94. William Doran: It highlights the fact that the sections are different, providing a bigger sense of contrast. Also, for me, the instrumentation after the modulation sounds a little darker, which goes together well with the fact that the melody is in a lower register. So, overall, the second section seems darker due to the instrumentation, lower register, and that we went from a key with two sharps to a key with two flats.
95. Hyrum Erdman: +William Doran You're absolutely right, come to think of it. Also, I think Japan also has a love of other cultures, specifically western culture, and thus tend to provide an incredible blend of genres in their music w/o losing their own cultural identity. In fact, I find that some of my favorite modern jazz recordings come from Japan... as well as my favorite soundtracks, oc... But really. Hisaishi, man. It's all about Hisaishi in the end, hahaha
96. Caldera official: can you make a video on the super metriod's soundtrack?
97. Evan Spencer: If you make the sheeted music, what program do you use?
98. ola_sabo: hey how do you even make those playbackvideos with sibelius? do you just screenrecord and edit?
99. Vinicius Rezende: Any plans on doing Diablo and Ultima Series? :)
100. Andrew Susanto: You should stream playthroughs of your games on twitch as you collect data for your videos!!!
101. Todd Tolson: ha. H'aanit, Ophelia.
102. Reckoned Dead: Wow. This is like the perfect video for me right now. I have been looking for information on how to add effective key changes to my own music and simultaneously enthralled and inspired by the soundtrack for Octopath Traveler. Thanks dude!
103. James malone: Ive been waiting for the Octopath episode Im so excited
104. G. K.: Tressa's song makes me feel nostalgic.
105. Jeremy Trevino: I'm a music major, so I love this! Did you dictate the music yourself or did you find someone who already did it?
106. Richard Wilks: Step 1: use dissonant (probably harmonic minor shenanigans) chord(s). Step 2: add a few flats or sharps Step 3: Crash cymbals Step 4: huge arpeggios Step 5: profit
107. Dane White: This channel is f'king genius. Perfect example of finding a unique, underserved niche in your interests. Just had to give props where props are due... bravo man.
108. Leonardo Contreras: What is up with Japanese composers and that funky turnaround?
109. Snas Skelelol: Are we... uh... gonna get a Celeste video now?
110. GUIM: Thanks so much! I hope to have a new drop this weekend or early next week. I just have to pull myself away from transcribing obscure SNES tunes and get back to work on the video. Haha!
111. KuraIthys: You know, as stupid as it sounds, I understand these videos quite a lot better after reading 'music theory for dummies'. I mean, it did what it said on the cover. XD Not super in-depth, but it covered the basic concepts and terminology well enough to the point where I can actually make some sense of what these videos are about, rather than stuff like 'tonic', 'key' , chord numbers and so on just being essentially random noise... Small things can make a big difference...
112. TeslaMaster2: Very informative video, well done. Also: Is it me, or does mr. Nishiki look like an Asian JonTron?
113. Sara Skysear: Game Score Fanfare directed me here, and now you're directing me back to his video! I'm trapped! How do I break this loop?! D:
114. ralucado avocado: "Funky turnaround" > ii-V-I
115. Érik Amorim: I click like before I watch your videos
116. Charlé Ouel: I tought you would look into the Primrose theme too I most said... Any way My fav is still Cyrus, Ophilia, Primrose (olberic tressa and terion aren't bad too oh yah and Hannit Is kinda hit or miss It something GREAT but sometime just fell a bit too much I don't know how to explain it I am no musician But I fell like Hannit fell too sensitive for the most parth may be it just me after all her story is kinda emotional alot too... But I don't know something is buging me... Finally Alfin theme is kinda forgetable (sorry Alf... But yah at less Hannit got something interesting even is I am mix about it)
117. EpicZEVEN: Don´t have a Switch... but omg the ost is brilliant!!
118. Noah Feazell: +GUIM to do patreon that means i would have to have money and if i had money that would definitely put me in the twilight zone. xD
119. Daniel P: I have no idea what I just watched, but it gave me another excuse to listen to more Octopath music, so I'm cool with it.
120. Joseph Listerman: I was curious where you get the sheet music for all these examples, or do you create them yourself!?
121. Tashawn Nicholas: Im praying one of these patreon elites is interested in a breakdown of Yoko Shimomura's Parasite Eve soundtrack.
122. Teru Deyama: Scared the hell out of me ^_^'
123. J Dawg 25o: Not a Chance Given 13:56, I don’t think so.
124. Ch3ckm4t3: This video is blatantly a music theory class disguised as a game-related video. I love it.
125. Timothy Stamm: To put it bluntly this seems to be the soundtrack that has abused key change the most recently but it feels to me like several other RPGs in particular have also abused this like say Xenoblade 1 & 2.
126. Xuanathan: The award is actually "most popular game with good music".
127. Zukka 88: I have perfect pitch so it's easy for me to identify changes
128. Jakob Frank Mogensen: I love the channel. If you find the time, a video on the music in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis would be pretty cool.
129. MsFlyingCake: This is the first YouTube video that lasts 10+ minutes yet I looped for five times.
130. gladiumcaeli: I don't understand most things explained in this video but I find it so entertaining to watch
131. Music Pills: I don't know if, because of you, I find out more cool games or more harmony tricks
132. Munky Man: Everytime I watch one of these I excitedly tell my wife how thankful I am to live in the time when fellow music theory and video game nerds are able to create and share this kind of content. Keep up the good work man, this is awesome!
133. HyperLuigi: also Nawatobi for the opposite kind of key change :^)
134. 8-bit Music Theory: +GUIM Hahaha I don't mean music genres that ever change key, I meant music that considers key changes an "essential element" like you said. It's not uncommon to buy an album in any of the genres you mentioned that doesn't feature a single formal modulation within a tune, and most game soundtracks nowadays prefer to keep tunes entirely in one key to more easily create a dynamic soundtrack.To be fair, I wouldn't call key changes 'rare' in modern music, but I don't think saying formal key changes aren't as common nowadays is an unfair statement, especially relative to the classical tradition where formal key changes were pretty much a requirement.
135. The Sassy Carrot: please please pleade do a super mario galaxy music vid. I would adore that sinc smg has the best music in all of the mario games
136. Edgemister Gaming: At the time of me watching there is 637 likes and 0 dislikes, seems about right I may even buy this soundtrack after this vid!
137. 8-bit Music Theory: +GUIM Well considering the point in my video was about the jarring/dramatic effect the modulation, sounds like we're in perfect agreement with each other. It's true that parallel major/minor keys have a unique relationship to the original that would obviously be worth noting if the example came up. It seems like you're searching hard for mistakes in my thinking, can I ask why?
138. Laura Schantz: Even better: Classical music was generally composed on commission for wealthy patrons. (Musicians gotta eat, after all.) Common folk didn't hear most of that fancy chamber music until a few centuries later when records were invented. But video games? If you're middle-class, you can get one of the latest consoles, and even most working-class folks nowadays have access to either used game consoles from previous gens, or ports and ROM hacks of old games on their computers. (It still blows my mind that in my own lifetime, computers went from rich kids' toys to something EVERYONE has in their homes in some forms.) And even before those early-gen consoles became cheap hand-me-downs, there were arcade games that you could play for a mere 25 cents. ANYbody could play Galaga, Centipede, or Pac-Man and see what the fuss was about, for way less than any brand-new game console has ever cost or ever will. Video-game music is classical music for EVERYONE, not just a bunch of stuck-up aristocrats. :) (Note: I love classical music, but yeah, while anyone CAN enjoy it now, not everyone got the chance to hear it when it was new, unless it was church music.)
139. GUIM: I don't recall stating that it had no element of surprise. I merely stated that it involved subtle preparations. It's very dramatic, yes, but it is still prepared. Every time I have seen/heard you talk about key relations you always talk about the difference in accidentals. You "count" the accidentals. I have never heard you really discuss any other gauge, so I'm just wondering if there is one.
140. Ockeroid: Exactly what I've been looking for recently! Thank you 8-bit!!
141. Ganon Tice: I like waffles
142. NearLife4life: I was guilty of using the truck driver's key change in my band...but I really tried to be subtle about it. even now in my writing, I use it, but I usually modulate in the bridge (or "middle 8") so that when I come back to the chorus, it sounds fresh, but your average listener doesn't know why. its like editing film I suppose. goddamn it I love a good film!!
143. Greg Fenton: 4:26 this actually made me laugh
144. NinjaBunny: Big Red well I know that, but I just feel that best soundtrack should go to the best soundtrack, and a soundtrack isn’t made any better by how it’s used in a game. A game is made better by how it uses a soundtrack.
145. NinjaBunny: Honestly, Red Dead 2’s soundtrack is pretty good, but it certainly isn’t THIS GOOD. Octopath got totally robbed.
146. Andrew MRQ: 13:08 Is the exact same as Memory of Lightwaves from FFX-2 (except for the k-pop meme cadence at the end)
147. Peckamatone: hey it's that one game I hate
148. Bobbly: All those chord inversions are just to smooth the bass line or have a different function ?
149. MsFlyingCake: I believe he transcribed them himself.
150. NinjaBunny: Rusaarules To be far to Red Dead Redemption 2, it was leaps and bounds ahead of Red Dead Redemption. I wouldn’t call it a great game like Bully, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as GTAV. But it wasn’t anything particularly amazing. I played it for about a combined nine or so hours and I didn’t feel like a complete waste of time. I mean it wasn’t good enough to make me want to play more of it, but it was an alright waste of a few hours. Which is more than can be said about Red Dead Redemption 1.
151. Chris Martinez: So glad you did this video! I could never put my finger on why OT music is so memorable but this did it.
152. Andreas Björkman: Shit I'd buy this just for the soundtrack.
153. Pink Hat Boi: One thing I noticed is that during the modulation at 10:14, the Instrumentation changed. What effect does this have?
154. 8-bit Music Theory: Glad you enjoyed it!
155. SteelDialga: +Game Score Fanfare because I think even a little bit of music theory helps the explanation a lot more
156. Luke Gabriel Balgan: How about changing the *KEY, TEMPO, AND TIME SIGNATURE ALL AT THE SAME TIME, ABRUPTLY?*
157. Tin Vahtarić: 38 seconds into this vid and I'm already tearing up
158. Dave Salk: That Dm to Fm at 4:32 had a Edim that acts as a dominant (preparation) for the modulation. It isn't completely out of nowhere.
159. Javier Nunez: i think it also helps smoothen the transition my not so trained ear couldn’t tell there was a key change, rather i thought: oh the instrument changed whatever change you do, people will atribute to the instrument
160. Arve Eriksson: Eh, I didn't pay very much attention. The examples were all so beautiful I just zoned out instantly...
161. Paul Miller: SUBSCRIBED AF
162. SpeakerbugSounds: Shame shame, haha love it
163. Joe Morton: 3:14 Suprised Nishiki hasn't been arrested, he's been flirting with a minor after all
164. Pazzo, That Fool: This game got robbed of respect.
165. Mister Apple: Ooh, I'll keep this in mind.
166. Hermy: You make me love music again
167. Matheus Castello: i think this is the only channel that gets me hyped from covering a video game ive never heard of. thanks a lot for the content bro. been appreciating it for a while :)
168. FalconPunch827: Yes officer, this comment right here.
169. Evacer: Can someone tell me a good source for video game piano sheet music like all the stuff he posts in his videos?
170. Kimiru: Interesting stuff! Do you offer personal lessions?
171. Joseph Burdock: Wow, your videos are so informative and well made. Thanks sooo much man!
172. Emm Bee Sea: MPT = 0.8. Octopath Traveller follows 8 characters. Coincidence? Yeah probably. And a modulation being a journey from a home to a new place, requires travelling. This could not be more perfect. Great video 8-bit Music Theory!
173. CamB: You should analyze some of the music from the original Berserk anime :)
174. Leung Polly: It baffles me how you haven't talked of the music of Nier Automata! Please make a video of you're interested :)
175. merqyuri: 8:31 8bit: What do I mean by 'foreshadowing'? As I mentioned earlier.. Hah! Love it
176. Chris Salas: Hey I really love your videos! What I love most is the really official looking scores so that we can pause and study with you. I get inspired to analyze and cover video game music as well, but where do you source all these scores from? Could you please help me find reliable game/anime scores?
177. Wutipong Wongsakuldej: speaking of modulation in Japanese music, I usually bring up the song 'Trance Evolution' by Casiopea. It's pretty old, but quite interesting to me (especially the last verse and the ending solo).
178. Nathan B.: Dude this video is helpful and informative!!!!
179. Nore: +Nullatrum Yep it is, i didn't know that word existed in english!
180. SonicMaster :3: 4:30 I really like random exciting points in the video like this
181. bdwitt66: What a crazy, crazy, crazy example of a key change.
182. grape conqs: Casey LeeVan it does but this the back door cadence is a specific cadence. same way a plagal cadence is always a sub dominant chord (ii or IV) that resolves to the I. a perfect cadence is always a V that resolves to the I. you can do all the II Vs you want but it won’t have the desired effect as a iv bVII to I.
183. Mikolaj Holowko: 2:00 this is V-I not I-IV in my opinion
184. Truck Boi: Damn I just subbed a few days ago, love this channel!
185. Miah Thorpatrick: Ok I'm into this music stuff but holy crap this game looks awesome! And I love RPG's! How come I never heard of this game?!? 😮
186. Laura Schantz: Another good song that "sounds like winter" way better than one expects is the Ice Cap Zone music from Sonic 3. I loved its Jackson-esque bassline and "cold-sounding" melody and upper harmonic lines from the very first time me and my kid brother made it into that level (which took about a dozen rentals and asking Sociopathic Neighbor Kid to help him get past Carnival Night).
187. Greystar: Here's a video with the full OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdxbRJx4JFk
188. Aaron Burkholder: Literally the best soundtrack on the Switch so far
189. delightXD: Sorry for my bad English, but firstly, thank you so much for your wonderful video. Your videos motivate me on self-learning music theories. However, there is one thing I just could not figure out the reason, at 6:02, the chord progression is Bbm - F - Gm, meaning going from Flat B minor scale to G minor scale goes for a i-V/VII-i (if ignoring chord type). One thing that bugs me is that, why you labled V/bVII? I can understand that V7(sus4) can transition to V smoothly, but why it is V/bVII? Isn't 7th chord in G minor already a major chord? What is the point of using bVII instead of VII? Thank you in advance.
190. Robersora: Man, the color choices in this game are really unfortunate.
191. Benjamin Burke: Please, chap, can we get a video on what makes a song sound like Winter? Some pieces to draw from are Vivaldi's Winter, Megaman's Iceman, Blizzard Man, Cold Man, and Frost Man Stages, Harvest Moon's Various Winter Themes, Chill Penguin and Blizzard Buffalo stages from Megaman X, Earthbound's Winters, Freezeezy Peak from Banjo Kazooie, In a Snow-Bound Land from DKC2, Frosty Frolics from DKC3, the Himalayas Music from DuckTales, Singing Mountain from Chrono Trigger, etc. I would pay money for this.
192. vince94: KEY CHANGE MOFO
193. FamousSaturn: Just watched this twice in a row
194. SirBanana: I found this channel when I was looking up how to make chiptune-esque music. Not exactly what I was looking for, but I'm happy regardless.
195. Heemin Gamin' Station: I would expect a modulation per tune to be a high number you could actually make a MPT. Take a Tune (Song) then count the modulations Average it out across the album. Boom: Modulations Per Tune.
196. A2LAN: This episode has pretty energetic moments.
197. Matt does things: Its always a good day when 8-Bit uploads.
198. GUIM: That's fair, haha, I was just letting you know how they were able to comment days prior. The published date is different than the upload date. I'm not really sure if you can access upload dates without sifting through code. I don't know if YouTube publicly displays that on a video. But hey, if the Twilight Zone theme is playing, you know you're in for a good time!
199. iSpectacles: As a jazz musician, you just gotta love those 2-5’s
200. Jon Shea: I LOLd so hard right here
201. Famonameio: There are a lot of modulations in Banjo Kazooie's pause screen.....right?
202. j e: the second and the third modulation are essentially the same
203. NinjaBunny: Rusaarules Honestly, Red Dead falls into the same traps that most Rockstar games fall into where it just gets boring and repetitive wandering around places going from mission to mission. This is usually mitigated in games by having interesting visuals or good music playing, like Octopath while traveling from city to city or mission to mission. But Red Dead 2’s visuals aren’t really something interesting to look at and it’s music only very occasionally kicks in while you’re traveling around. It’s presentation during the missions is very good, but other than that, it’s so sub par and boring.
204. ZorroTomas94: This channel is absolutely brilliant!
205. Callan Robinson: Can we hunt down the ten people who disliked this? All of this man's videos are masterpieces.
206. HyperLuigi: Is it bad that I think shifting a repeated section up key just for hype (as long as it’s used sparingly of course, and in the right places) isn’t bad? Musically weaving new keys into the song without you even noticing IS more impressive for sure, but still. PS hey anime fans water blue new world
207. Matheus Veloso: Did he ever make a video on Undertale soundtrack? I would find interesting to see the analysis, because Toby Fox never studied music...
208. Svit Starkl: 11:46
209. Julian Windram: Even as a music graduate, your series of videos have been absolutely invaluable to me. I am looking to write music for games (even if it is simply ends up as a hobby or for small games amongst friends), and the spotlight you shine on so many of these different elements, in some cases teaching and in others even just providing a refresher, is so incredible and has helped me to consider the way in which I would treat my own compositions. Looking forward to your next video :)
210. Storm: You should do Mario and Rabbids kingdom battle
211. PK Trash: This game may have a lot of flaws, more so than games I like less than it, but I still proudly call Octopath my favorite game.
212. Nexion gamer: I want to thank you for doing these videos. I've been writing music, and watching these videos has helped me so much in developing my writing. I've been rewatching all of your videos since my college roommate is making a game, and I'm writing the music for the game. I've been trying to make a sound track that fits the game well, and these videos have really helped me create that. Thank you so much! I can't wait until your next video!
213. Mister Apple: The peak of this is the whole intro to the Cave Story video.
214. Kajetan Sokolnicki: From now on, I will exclusively refer to a ii-V7-I as a "funky turnaround".
215. Diego Inagaki: You could do an analyses on the themes of FFXV, like you did on VI. Nice videos man....nice and jucy!!!!!
216. Joé St-Germain: To put it simple, I purchased a Nintendo Switch and this game after listening to your analysis. I couldn’t resist the retro Square-RPG feel and specifically the amazing OST.
217. Nick Santa ana: These key changes are UNPARALLELED
218. Sigurd: You guys should collab more! I love the quantitative side that this channel focuses on, and I also love the qualitative side you largely focus on.
219. defenestratedcactus: This is BRILLIANT
220. helmiboboy: Connor Jennings wtf? This game is great!
221. Libido Kamen: I've been wanting to see you focus on modulation for a while now. You really did the subject justice here. Modulation is such a cool technique. I see it in anime themes sometimes to great effect.
222. Musicólogo Friki: Genial!! La modulación es genial tanto para el dramatismo, como también, mantener fresca a la pieza musical, por ejemplo en Cool Spot en el nivel Toying Around el tema empieza en E7 con una melodía en modo mixolidio y pasa a un A7 con un solo virtuoso con escala de blues. Luego se repite lo mismo, nada más que con F#7 en mixolidio y B7 en blues, o sea pasamos de un V-I al V/II-II pero lo que en verdad sucede es que tenemos una modulación de I a II, o sea V-I en tonalidad de A y V-I en tonalidad de B. Este y otros temas los explico en mi canal. A los seguidores hispanohablantes de 8-bit Music Theory, les invito a que vean los videos de mi canal. Nos veremos en el próximo viaje musical.
223. bremer1701: I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.. but it sound intelligent. I like it^^ (My music skills are worse than fingernails on a chalkboard)
224. Laura Schantz: Wow. I hadn't realized until I found your channel just how complex even songs from "simple" 8- and 16-bit games can be! Somehow, I'd assumed that game music probably just fell into the same trap as pop music often does, sticking primarily with 2- and 4-beat signatures, with an occasional 3/4 or 6/8 thrown in here and there. But between this video on key changes and I hadn't paid this much attention to music in almost 16 years, when I took music courses in undergrad! Now I kinda want to write songs that would work for video games. Maybe I should get a SoundCloud account and a MIDI keyboard and see what I can come up with. (I've already got a few ragtime tunes in mind, so we'll see where I go from there.)
225. Robert Koh: i dont know any music theory but i love how i can still follow what you’re sayin. easily one of my favorite channels ever
226. Alexander Khioe: Just spent 14 min+ watching this video. Don't understand a thing he's talkin about, I'm not a musical guy. But what I do understand is this. Nishiki-san is a very young guy, I await all his new games OST and take home the award as he rightfully should have been in 2018. And two, HIS COMPOSITIONS ARE SERIOUSLY EMOTIONAL
227. Milkysoggle: This soundtrack also has the most suspension chords of any other
228. Leandro Couto: One of your best videos so far. So good! Perfect choice of topic for this OST.
229. Zach H: Love that you covered Octopath!
230. The Blue Wizzrobe: 13:04 OOF, that one gets me every time. I absolutely adore H’aanit’s theme and I remember how when I heard it for the first time in the game I just sat there listening to it for 5 minutes. Somehow it manages to imbue feelings of celebration, serenity, and melancholy all at once, and the way it just flows into itself so forcefully yet seamlessly puts a huge grin on my face every time.
231. Camkitsune: I'm glad I'm not the only one that appreciates the power of adding the 2nd to minor chords. For a more lush voicing, add another G an octave down from the first - it connects the harmony more firmly to the bass.
232. Lucas Moreau: I have a question about the Olberic Modulation. It goes from Dm to Fm, using E°. Is it the only way to do so? because no matter the dissonance, Dm - E° - Fm flows great, and I wondered if it would have sounded too abrupt by using C7, or Bb for example? I am not used to modulation theory yet and I could use some insights. Thanks! and as always, great video!
233. Not a Chance: +J Dawg 25o it's funnier if I ignore that.
234. FalconPunch827: I feel like we're living in a secret classical music revival and it's all hidden in videogames
235. Jordan DeBruler: I don't know anything about this game, but this might be my favorite video yet. I love cool modulations, and these were very cool.
236. batman Wayne: dude when are u going to do metroid??
237. Grasnik: I'm early. Nice. Thanks for the content!
238. 8-bit Music Theory: All transcribed myself!
239. Zyrian Lambe: I love your videos! Even though most of it goes over my head. But why does some music invoke emotion???
240. FluteGeek: This is seriously the best video-game music channel. I already know of all these methods from studying music theory, but you're just really good at demonstrating these concepts clearly while keeping the video incredibly engaging.
241. Parkalark: I knew I loved this soundtrack but hearing it again I remembered just how much
242. Yoda Soda 06: +kcsupersonic1 xenoblade 2 came out last year
243. Rafael R.: zero dislikes! Now, thats some A class content.
244. Aurélien Becht: 3:25 I'd like to have your opinion on this modulation from D minor to F minor, because I don't feel it as harsh as you're making it sound (but maybe I'm misinterpreting your point). Since D minor is the relative minor of F major, the tonic acts as a vi in its relative major and the E diminished serves as a V7 without tonic to F major/harmonic minor since both tonalities share this chord in their harmonies, though they do not share the same function. Anyways, it makes perfect sense to me that the composer took this path and isn't that much of a big deal in itself What makes the modulation more surprising to me is the orchestration, since the melody in the first section stops on the tonic after a authentic perfect cadence, then goes to the leading tone of F and then, instead of resolving on the tonic as it normally would in classical tradition, goes to the fifth, C, which is a surprise because it is not a common note between the dominant we heard before (the E diminished) and F minor. If it was a C7 we'd heard as the dominant, then it would be much less surprising since both chords share a C, but the fact that the melody changes of register and doesn't come from an usual resolution, that's what makes the modulation so dramatic, much more than the modulation to the third degree in itself. Let me know what you think, I'm really curious about how you hear this piece. Btw, you made a great video as always for a great soundtrack, and congrats on vulgarizing quite complex music theory as efficiently as you do over and over again ^_^
245. Joe Galloway: I fuckin lol’d at 4:25. Thank you 8bit man :)
246. Weezy: 12:11 makes me nut and cry at the same time what the hell?
247. Sean Phelan: Short answer - yes. In the early part of the 20th century, a field of musical theory and analysis called set class theory arose, which expresses sonorities in terms of combinations of semitone relationships, with well-defined rules for the "simplest" way of expressing a given combination of pitches. In this system, notes are given numbers from 0 to 12 (although the double digits are sometimes expressed with letters). The advantage of this is of course in its disambiguity, but its disadvantage is that many people don't find music that might be systematically constructed or analytic to be as apparently so when heard as it is when you look at or study its score. In the traditional system of Western notation, the problems with the math really come down to the fact that the basic sound palette is generally only seven of the twelve chromatic notes within the octave (putting to the side any questions of temperment or uneven distribution within the octave), but that they cover the complete set of letters. Even though mode mixture and chromaticism have been absolutely standard practice for over 150 years, most people still find it most effective to relate even complicated pieces to the harmonic and melodic patterns implicit in the scalar system (although the scope of any one analytic system might only be for a few beats or measures at a time rather than entire movements or pieces). When counting intervals, you may find it helpful to ask internally the question "which degree of the first note's scale is the second" rather than "how many notes away from the first note is the second".
248. foolface06: I listen to the Octopath soundtrack almost every day! The music... it’s my favorite of any game in recent years!
249. Sofi Contreras: God damn do I love this soundtrack. Thank you for making this video!
250. Game Score Fanfare: I reckon you're right, that Nishiki purposefully leaned into key changes for Octopath. He's said that he wanted the melodies to stick in your head, so he tried to repeat them as much as possible. Changing the key just lets you repeat the same thematic material and thus makes it more familiar and earwormy!
251. Anders Kaare: "We're just chugging along in D minor when BAM!" → subscribed
252. kinggimped: It's such a shame that the game was nowhere near as well made as the soundtrack. The developers seemed intent on creating the most generic, dull RPG ever made. Yet it has this incredible, orchestral, romantic pastiche soundtrack, full to the brim of clever modulations and memorable themes. An amazing accomplishment by Nishiki, I just wish the game itself wasn't so disappointing. Thank you for yet another fantastic breakdown!
253. Noah Feazell: +GUIM *twilight zone theme plays*
254. Ken Daniel Murphy: Love your content.
255. Sig Fried: Miah Thorpatrick It's on Nintendo Switch. You should get the system and this game. It's well worth it!
256. Fernando Trebien: In many ways this soundtrack reminds me of Cardcaptor Sakura's soundtrack.
257. Clyde Densmore: That key change in H'aanit, the hunter though. Great video BTW I'm actually learning about tonicization and chromatic chords in AP music theory currently this video was a great workout for what I'm learning about right now and was definitely a great touch on modulation which my teacher said we would be learning about here pretty soon. I love your content, keep up the awesome work.
258. SteelDialga: Aw man, but 8bit!! GameScoreFanfare barely talks about any music theory! :(
259. GUIM: Ah, I didn't read the description. That's potentially misleading depends on how you define "full-on key change" versus, I suppose, a typical key change. That said, whether or not cats are doing it on the reg or not doesn't matter. If it sounds dope, put it in your tune, Speedy!
260. Drakkar Calethiel: Octopath, 453 hours played. Fell in love with this game. Especially the soundtrack. Its just impressive!
261. Senhora Volta Aqui: mister, where can i legally download the ost from these games??? i cant find them on google play music
262. DavidRussell323: 0:55 hell yeah less than one modulation per tune
263. jorge luiz: What amazing soundtrack!!
264. 8-bit Music Theory: That's a really interesting way to put it!
265. Shark Burger: YES! i've wanted an Octopath video for a bit I love this games soundtrack!
266. James Moriarty: I think I could actually learn music theory if it was all just you breaking down my favorite video games. Thanks for bringing background music to the foreground.
267. Daniel Fackrell: I'm using this series to solidify some music theory concepts in my mind, and it's been great so far! One sticking point I'm having is that all of music theory really comes down to math, but the notation frequently seems to hide it or make working with it mathematically more difficult. The example I'm struggling with right now is that IV + V = I. With seven main notes in the common scales, I'd expect to be doing arithmetic in a mod 7 space, but chord numbers include their origin, so there is no 0 chord. Maybe an artifact of using roman numerals for this? It really should have been 0 (origin) + 3 chord + 4 chord = 7 (back to the origin, one octave (8? why are you in there??!) higher). Does anyone have any tricks or tips for being able to do this sort of simple arithmetic without having to constantly adjust everything for the one-based-ness?
268. Joshua Lopez: 4:30 XD
269. grape conqs: isn’t a backdoor a iv - bVII tho?
270. Yamen S.: Wow, I never played this game, but it looks really visually pretty and cool to me even by modern-day standards.
271. erm4gundr: +insaneintherainmusic this guy gets it
272. Matthew: @8-bit Music Theory, after seeing this video, it reminded me of the transitions in music in Fire Emblem Fates on the 3ds. You should do a video on Fire emblem if you ever have the chance!
273. Casey LeeVan: +grape conqs Jazz theory often ignores the intended resolution of ii-V's while still considering them as such. Happens all the time in Coltrane. Check out the chords to Moment's Notice for similar application. Generally, you can insert any ii-V into a song and it will sound good, as long as it fits with the melodic content (if there is any). The backdoor is one of many examples.
274. Mickey01 12Mouse: I absolutely love 9th chords but had no idea that this game had them in its score for so many songs. Thank you so much for doing this one, I forgot just how crazy it is for a writer to make songs, let alone for someone to direct their madness/genius
275. Levi Johnson: I have been absolutely loving this game lately, and mostly for the absolute gorgeous soundtrack.
276. Moses Pippenger: So all of the examples you used for "big harmonic changes" were just mediant modulations; going to the parallel and its relative. Like D Minor to F minor: you can think of it as the parallel minor of the relative major (D minor > F Major > F Minor). While this is definitely more jarring than a dominant or subdominant modulation, or just the relative or parallel, it's still not that harmonically distant.
277. Zelda gamer: AND Frostlands from this game
278. Jeremey Poparad: Brilliant video! Great topic and excellent examples! One small, nitpicking detail that the theory nerd in me can't let go: In a sus4 chord, "sus" is short for "suspended," not "sustained." Suspensions have a long history in music, as I'm sure you're aware, and the modern sus chord symbol is a descendant of that.
279. Pestiliance: Lol Thanks For Explaining. Like His Comment So More People Will See It.
280. toot!: Talk to me about Streets of Rage (plz).
281. WhiskerPrince Beats: This channel is way too good✨✨✨
282. soy milk: uhhh hello? mother 3?
283. 8-bit Music Theory: I've found music in general has been trending toward using fewer and fewer. Still lots of borrowing from other keys, but the full on Official Key Change seems to have lost popularity over the last 100 years or so
284. Michael Forestier: I seriously have been in awe for a long time about the quality of the videos man! My chord game is so weak that i mostly just nod to what you say and enjoy the video😅 thanks for your awesome work!
285. Tohlemiach: You must not be very familiar with Hitoshi Sakimoto if you think this game had a lot of modulation.
286. nathan ly: I love your videos! Please do a video on music in the monster hunter franchise! I think it's really interesting how it sounds both adventurous and soothing.
287. Nucleogenman: Watching this video just made me realize I know nothing about music, I still loved Octopath traveler soundtrack anyway.
288. Laklander: @around 7:20 - the bVI chords would have also worked as pivot chords right, given that they're also the bIII of the preceding minor key?
289. Scott Skanes: +8-bit Music Theory No hard feelings! :D
290. Andrew Kosky: Any plans to go over the music of kingdom hearts? I haven't played music in a long time, but I'd love to hear your opinion on shimomura's work.
291. Riyan: Could you analyse the moon theme from DuckTales?
292. Ja Wa: 2:36 that’s down a fifth
293. Jones Sabal: I love this game. I love this soundtrack. I love you. There.... I said it.
294. Beyond Solace: I literally subbed this morning I'm so happy lol
295. Googahgee: Sequences, or chromatic sequences like the one in the song at 7:26 are wonderful for modulation
296. SaberToothPortilla: I think that he didn't even actually count them, based on the 'disclaimer'. Although, the 8 would be an interesting coincidence.
297. 8-bit Music Theory: Lots of ways to do so! C7 would've flowed just as well as E°, and of course there are endless combinations of pivot chords and foreshadowing that you could use to make the transition even more smooth. Or you could take out the connecting E° chord and make it even more jarring. Whatever the music calls for!
298. GUIM: Patreon, guy. Early access.
299. 高空翱翔: Where did you get the music score?
300. Yuwan: Yeah that is my opinion too this game faliled to revive the old RPG's with thier disconntected storyline and inconsistent motivations for both heroes and villains alike.
301. Andre Collins: Can you explain things a little better with more definitions cause I get most of it but I’m not a genius
302. Malcolm Lemons: +William Doran True for me as well
303. Ryful Z3: I said this before but I’d like you to look into touhou music. If you can find anything to make a video out of, that’d be great.
304. Jamie Pryke: Haanit's theme had me totally enthralled when I started the game. For his first big time compositional work, he deserved an award for this soundtrack.
305. Anjan Guitar: great tutorial...thanks 8-Bit
306. SamHetfield Productions: Can't buy the game just yet, so I went for the demo and started with Ophilia. dude her prologue her music her trial *_so many feels_*
307. GlowingHorror: That Kiss cameo though
308. Andrew Hess: I suddenly feel like I understand Miyazaki film scores all the more.
309. MarioKartGuy27: It kills me that you don't put articulation and dynamics in your transcriptions, but I'm a perfectionist.
310. Marcus Dominguez: Could you do a music theory on Psycho Mantis Theme from Metal Gear Solid?
311. Kein Name: But the dimished E in Olberic's theme is the rootless dominant Chord of fm, whilst also fitting in the key of Dm. Modulating between keys a minor third away is extremely easy in minor keys because of the dimished chord on the second position of the scale and it is also quite common to do that. So that's not quite that spectacular or jarring. An amazing video as always still!
312. Lucius Augustus: Come for Octopath, stay for the musical theory.
313. DARKJEEPY007: Love each and every video you make. I may not be a patron, but with the release of the new smash, the song lifelight (eng) really strikes me in some melancholic way I can't explain. That would be amazing if you could run an analysis with this fine piece of music.
314. ObliteratedByMe: This video was really great! The humor was on point and the musical theory was spot on as always. Amazing job! :)
315. Valerie Grimaude-Valens: You missed out one important factor in Olberic the Warrior's theme. There is indeed a warning, but it is unorthodox since it uses the viiº chord, which will transition to the i of the next section with a minor 2nd interval. Though the use of a basic triad instead of a half-diminished 7th points to what I personally would have used, which is bVII7, or C7 as this chord is the relative dominant of Fm which the next section starts in. The chord used, Edim is functionally simillar, but with the root of C7 removed.
316. DTi56: this is probably better than any music composition/theory class i'll ever get
317. Pineapple Pie: I would love to hear you analyze some of Celeste’s songs!!
318. guibasket97: Lost In Thoughts All Alone also does that and it changes the chords progression in each key
319. Erasumus O: At 12:20 isn't Eb the VI chord of G minor?
320. TheApostleofRock: DAmmn. The art style in this game is also wonderful. Like a mashup of modern and classic pokemon-esque. But I'm also ignorant..so...
321. Tristan H Music: 4:30 BAM
322. Uncle Jamie: Not to tell you how to do your job or anything, but I think you're explaing this stuff in the wrong order. You're explaining the detailed underlying musical theory of a piece BEFORE playing it, when you should be doing that AFTER we've heard the piece and have been affected by it. First the WHAT and then the HOW.
323. Saka: +Pieter Mantel I'm only speaking through my own experiences but I find it much easier to pick the keys first and then compose because it is much easier to work backwards from a target key then to blindly try to find it from the first chord.
324. 8-bit Music Theory: +GUIM I guess I don't understand your disagreement, then, with regards Olberic's theme? Just that my "BAM" gag was exaggerating to illustrate the point? Looking at the difference in accidentals is the easiest way to visualize key distance on screen, which is why I tend to default to that in videos. You can also think about relative positions on the circle of fifths, or use roman numeral analysis to analyze the relationship between the new tonic and the old, but these methods are all so similar underneath the surface level that I don't think it really matters which you use
325. vinicius pessoa: Hell, this game is beautiful
326. Sarah Mechem: damn this game looks awesome, and the music is mindblowing
327. GetterRay: The soundtrack was the most interesting part of Octopath Traveler. Everything else was pretty generic, though it looked new and interesting to people who haven't played JRPGs since the SNES. I've had zero motivation to replay the game but I still listen to the tracks once in a while.
328. Rusaarules: I don't watch award shows but I heard that robbery happen and I got so fucking pissed off. RDR2 really only won what it did because it was new and large.
329. Patrick Harris: Yoda Soda 06 Xenoblade 2 came out after last years game awards, which means it was eligible for awards this year, but was completely forgotten for best rpg, best soundtrack, etc.
330. Nico Borst: Great video! Here's a few little corrections: 1:43 D Major to D minor is not a modulation, rather a change of mode. (Any change to a parallel key is just considered a change of mode) 4:20 You would just call f minor iii, biii would be f flat minor. (And you'd probably just call that ii and call it e minor, if that were the case) 4:54 Pivot chords are names for chords where the modulation occurs, but the type of modulation you're referencing is called Diatonic modulation, more broadly. 5:50 I haven't heard this piece in it's entirety, but it actually sounds more like it's modulating to Bb Major, and what you call bVII - i is really V - vi (Deceptive motion). 7:34 in minor keys, you don't call the mediant "bIII" but rather just "III" because it's already lowered in the key itself. Same goes for bVI (just VI) and bVII (just VII) 9:48 Here is where you would call it bIII, for example (which you did) 11:45 VII - i isn't really a cadence Some other notes: I think the audience would benefit a lot more from seeing the harmonic analysis done using roman numerals (instead of note names), to see how the chords are actually functioning in their respective keys. I wish you could've gone over common tone modulation, or modulation by sequence, or reinterpretation of diminished seventh chords/augmented sixth chords, etc. There's so much more to modulation! Of course you can only cover this topic so much in a youtube video, especially when you're looking at one specific game. You hinted at it, but a discussion of closely related keys vs. foreign keys is warranted, especially in the topic of modulation. Something as simple as the small charts that compare closely related keys you learn about in theory class could help with this. Perhaps more references to popular music that relates to your examples would help. The sequence in "How Amusing!" is pretty similar to "Hotel California" or a lot of Baroque music for example, and you could look at any Debussy example to show how lots of modulation really brings out the color in music. Overall, great video, and I mean that sincerely.
331. R Coca: I clicked so hard I cracked my screen.
332. 8-bit Music Theory: +GUIM What portions of music would those be?
333. OmegaMetroid93: Octopath Traveler has one of my favourite soundtracks in a long time.
334. Parkalark: Frostlands theme is the best music that exists. (or something like that....)
335. JetSteam27: golden nugget of wisdom to think of key changes just by the notes that change, can make tonal shifts much more subtle to change keys by introducing those notes as non harmonic tones or upper extensions on previously functional home key chords
336. 1bigfish: Jesus i really want to get a switch just because of this and celeste (or rather i cant wait for the ability to play it on an emulator when we get to that point)
337. Chun Chang: More key changes than ZUN?
338. Max Faust: 0,8 MPT is the new 1.21 Gigowatts x'D
339. gcharocks: Damn I’ve never even heard octopath traveller. I might go out and just get the soundtrack.
340. tarquinnff3: 2:45 Yasunori Nishiki uses Key Change. It's super effective.
341. Wall of Sound and Music: This. I would love for him to cover FF12 sountrack or his work in Odin Sphere.
342. Jacob Mann: Wonderful incite on this amazing soundtrack. I hyped myself on the soundtrack so hard before the game came out and I STILL listen to it like it's ear crack. Thanks for another great video!
343. Rusaarules: +NinjaBunny True. I played the first one and didn't get the appeal about why it was so awesome. It does fall into the usual Rockstar bullshit with it's god awful controls.
344. TheMusician25: This is amazing. As a professional musician and an enthusiast gamer I have never found videos explaining video games music in more detail. I felt such a lack of such content to the point that I even contemplated starting a channel dedicated to it. Fair play my fellow music nerd and great job on the video :) keep it up!
345. Nigel P Chesterfield: KISS is awful.
346. TheSast: *Brawls music starts playng*
347. Jon Shea: I swear to god you are my spirit animal
348. Ben R4m-Z: I know you're more of a Game Soundtrack channel but you should really give the Anastasia soundtrack a listen. They recently adapted the movie for Broadway and with the adaptation camne a whole bunch of new songs. The kicker? *The writing actually matches the feel of the movie!* My explanation for this is the multitude of key changes that happen within each song. Looking at the song "Journey to the Past" you get 2 lines in and there's a key change, from the home key to a flat third. (idk theory im just trying to explain what i see on the chord sheet.) The entire soundtrack is covered in key signature changes and it all ties in to the movie's overarching plot of movement. Leaving your home to find your family, find riches, and, (in the Broadway adaptation), escape Russia) The part that get's me the most is how well the writer for the Broadway production's music, (which has 25 total songs compared to the 1997 movie's 17), kept that feeling of movement and urgency in the new songs by using the same modulation structure. "In My Dreams", a song sung by Anya towards the beginning of the play, starts out in D#m but moves to D Major after the first 2 lines and then to F#m for the second and third stanza and then over to G for the chorus. (I'm looking at Ultimate Guitar for these chords they may not align with the actual song. again idk theory, *numbers are hard*) The Broadway production really opened my eyes to how and why the Soundtrack sounds like it does and hearing new songs that fit the same tone and atmosphere is enjoyable to say the least. So.... yeah
349. Sebas Gm: Loved it! I hope that you can make another video on modulations.
350. Shir0 Azure: OMG! YOU AND GAME SCORE FANFARE RELEASED AN OCTOPATH VIDEO AT THE SAME TIME!!!
351. Wyatt Reed: Yeah it's very popular in Japanese music for some reason, at least from what I've heard. Same with the stereo-typically jazzy III-bIII-II-V7-I
352. stormRed1236: UGH THIS GAME'S OST IS SO EXCELLENT
353. Samantha Ballard: OCTOPAAAAAATH
354. Noah Gordon: Holy shit I've never seen gameplay of this! It's so gorgeous!
355. Not a Chance: You and Game Score Fanfare both uploaded videos on Octopath Traveler at the same time. Illuminati confirmed?
356. GUIM: Solid introduction to some techniques in modulation, 8-Bit! It would be cool to see a follow up discussing HOW the modulation effectively contributes to the composition beyond bringing interest to the listener (i.e. what's the purpose of the modulation besides more notes). For instance, Olberic, the Warrior sounds like it uses modulation to simply expand the Tonic area and prolong it. It sounds like it goes right back to D minor after its dip into F minor (I assume based off the example played, I've never listened to the actual OST). SIDE NOTE: Speaking of Olberic, the Warrior, I'd just like to add (for anyone new to modulation) that Olberic's theme uses the Pivot Chord technique to modulate from D minor to F minor. This is achieved by using E° as both the ii° of D minor and the vii° of F minor. This motion is even prepared/hinted at by the opening chords, D- to F∆ which sounds the bass motion of D ascending to F via E. Only when the modulation occurs E is not used as a Passing Tone, but is harmonized as a full chord. The modulation is still jarring (as mentioned in the video) because we expect to hear, perhaps, an F Major chord, but instead are given the Parallel minor. It's an interesting case of a slightly prepared "BAM" in your face modulation that isn't a Direct Modulation. Out of curiosity, 8-bit, is accidental counting your primary gauge for the relativity of a key or do you use additional methods to determine relation between multiple keys? I'm always curious about how other theorists view the more "interpretive" aspects of theory.
357. Michael Freitag: Thank you so much for this video - I've been waiting for this day ever since I picked up the game. This is hands down my favorite game soundtrack in a long time, and I'm definitely going to use this video as a reference for all of the musician friends I've been gushing about this game to. Also, can we talk about how incredible the non-stop modulation is in "Decisive Battle II" for a sec? That piece blows me away with its construction - the constantly shifting tonal center, the use of pedal tones (especially right before sudden jumps), its massive, colorful journeys to return back to G minor from all sorts of crazy places, and the absolutely superb orchestration for maximum musical intensity.
358. H. H.: I just realized that Emotional Granularity is something that's very important to being a good composer.
359. SaberToothPortilla: +GUIM Damn bro, you need more subs, this is some great content!
360. Abstract Note: Have you done an analysis on Animal Crossing yet?
361. GUIM: I actually focus on music from, specifically, the NES and SNES (will also be expanding to include GB, Genesis, and PS1 soon). My most recent analysis tackles Final Fantasy II's Reunion theme in all its 8-bit charm. I also just finished a transcription of some gnarly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES music, so that will eventually make its way onto the channel.
362. Christopher Wallace: Such amazing analysis. I really wish I knew more music theory. I think it's the 4th dimension.
363. Yoda Soda 06: +Patrick Harris Ah i see. Im not sure if I'd say the soundtrack was the best (not better than octopath, it was definitely better than RDR2), but it certainly should have been a contender for best rpg
364. Olla P.: 4:28 Suddenly woke up 😂
365. William Doran: +8-bit Music Theory Japanese composers tend to use a lot of jazz progressions in their music, possibly because the music is more prevalent there. Even pop music tends to use 2-5-1 progressions a lot.
366. J Dawg 25o: Not a Chance Won’t deny that.
367. SaberToothPortilla: Quick note, the bit you're talking about at 8:00 is *very* similar to bird changes, except instead of a ii-V-i where every i is also the next ii, it's a VI-V-I, where every I is the next VI. The coolest part about this particular one is that they trade off between bVI-V-i and vi-V-I, so the loop is longer, but each unit still feels pretty similar in terms of motion. This isn't even super uncommon, but similar forms show up a lot more often in jazz.
368. Nathan Jasenn: Undertale!!!! The music is fantastic and I want you to tell me why!!!!!
369. SpeakerbugSounds: because it sounds fucking amazing, ii-V-I (ish) for the win every time
370. xBobz: Really good idea to use the roman numerals more! I wouldn't be able to get what moving to a G instead of a Bb would mean unless I knew what chord numbers they were.
371. FF & Pokémon will NEVER be good again: Lol
372. TOFUonTheBEAT: can u do some Mario Galaxy theories
373. Olivier L. Applin: 12:19 that D7(b13) thou ! love it
374. Chelo WiiU: Octopath Traveler is pure art!! I'm so glad it has been selling well worldwide because it deserves it. =)
375. RELLISTROM: The foreshadowing chords are just pivot chords before the transition.
376. - 99z: 7:34 sounds like James Blake lol
377. Pieter Mantel: How to compose music for octopath traveler: 1. Find a key 2. Find a second key 3. Think of how to get from one to the other 4. Make melody and harmony
378. Double A Animations: will you covet the fantastic Xenoblade 2 soundtrack as well??
379. PiercingSight: This video taught me more about music theory than not just my university theory classes, but also your other videos. Not sure what it was, but something about the way you described things in the video made everything click so perfectly together.
380. Delzethin: Not to mention how well it ties into the themes of the game itself. The melodies travel between keys as often as the party travels between towns!
381. meme: Now this soundtrack is pretty fricking epic
382. Doug Clark: 4:28 was the best thing that's ever happened in any of your videos. ever. moar plz.
383. Cavi Montenegro: Holidays got me distracted so missed this video on early post! That's an awesome analysis, really loved the explanation and approach on key changes!
384. AgravainX: I’ll be watching this later.
385. YoshiThe1st: Nice helpfull guide
386. Aaron Van Meter: classical music: stay in your scale sir! jazz: modal interchange dude. modern film misic: nonfunctional harmony breh. do whatever you want with your triads. tomorrow's music: III7->iv->VIIsus2+b9 jee.
387. Alyanna de Guzman: Have you ever thought about looking into C418 and the ost for minecraft? That shit's beatiful man. Maybe it's enshrouded in nostalgia but I'm sure there's something in the music that just... transcends you.
388. Patrick Harris: Yoda Soda 06 that i can agree with. Red deads like 5 stand out songs compared to xenoblade 2’s and octopaths like 15-20 each. It’s rather odd that xenoblade wasn’t nominated and red dead beat stuff like octopath and celeste.
389. Annoynymouse: - Me: What! 0.8 MPT?! - 8-bit: I just made that up. - Me: Yeah, I knew it...
390. Ben Whitted: 11:20 Ophilia the Cleric's theme is one of the most moving character themes I think I have ever heard. It tells us so much about the character just by its clever musicality and I am absolutely blown away
391. Hunter Hoose: I think I comented on a previous video of his that key changes are my favorite musical tool and concept to use and hear.
392. Monolith Preacher: That Olberic tune reminds me of Poledouris. That's high praise from me.
393. - 99z: how did you get piano scores?? or you made it?
394. Francesco Massaro: Hey man, loving your vids! I was wondering if you take a look at the pokemon Diamond and Pearl soundtrack, in particular the Opening theme (the one with prof Rowan). I know you get a lot of requests , I'm just dropping my two cents.
395. Casey LeeVan: +grape conqs Yes, which can also be considered ii-V of bIII
396. Marlon Hibbert: “Chucking along in Dminor an BAM F MINOR” Had me laughing for ages!
397. Madmerlined: Loving your videos 8-Bit, great channel and really informative
398. Grant Holden: strike my previous TES request. DOOM (95) PLEASE! I know its all ripoffs of popular metal songs from around the time, but what if we looked at how Robert Prince changes them or adds to them to make them unique? personally i like his use of establishing a melodic shape, and either applying it to the 12 bar blues progression, or simply shifitng the melodic shape around a I-bVII-bVI progression
399. bachtilyoudrop: The best of your videos are when I'm nodding along with what you're talking about once you do the final playthrough of an example, and this one was so dang good that my neck hurts. Bravo! Also, where's the Tylenol?
400. Inople901278: 12:10 was more effective than I was expecting
401. Wolfmyths: Amazing job on your videos! A must have on your idea list is definitely Silent Hill's soundtrack.
402. FalconPunch827: Zero dislike boys!!
403. elite fitrea: What is this game
404. Malcolm Lemons: I want to have my compositions used for video games someday. This is so informative and humbling. Amazing content as always.
405. Key Wise: Been waiting so long for this.
406. Luiz Enger: Just discovered your channel, and it is amazing!! Thank you for the effort of putting up all these videos. By the way, when is the Splatoon video coming out?
407. StarryMelon: Now that part one of Deltarune is out please do a video on Toby Fox's music! It's all amazing and I'd love to hear what you have to say about it all. Not just Undertale and Deltarune, but his... *other* stuff too -coughhomestuckcough-
408. TazTheYellow: Octopath Traveler got robbed of literally every award it got nominated for. Not just best soundtrack.
409. Mikhail Kuznetsov: 1. Find a key 2. Find a second key 3. ??? 4. PROFIT
410. deadlinedance: 8-Bit Music Theory finally doing Octopath? I clicked on this so fast.
411. MrZER0ZER: 500 likes, 9 dislikes! This... is a fanbase!!
412. Pieter Mantel: +William Doran Yeah, maybe, but I would think that a main motif and some basic harmony would be laid in place before the composer thinks about modulations.
413. SaberToothPortilla: The same way you make any music! Of course, there are technical considerations for chiptune as far as instrumentation, mixing and mastering. There are all kinds of sounds you could go for ala a old school MegaMan, or a pseudo-retro Undertale.
414. Halahan ハラハン 音楽: Another great video!
415. Connor Jennings: It's kinda sad no one talks about this game anymore, it's really good :(
416. Gardner Davis: Do King K. Rule's theme from Super Smash Bros.
417. Nore: Man, I love this channel, now that I have sadly left music school, it helps me keep my brain up to music theory (and to the english key signatures, being a french classical musician ^^) in an entertaining manner ! Also, I like how cheery you sound ! Keep up this amazing work please ❤
418. gugahaker: 12:57 bVI magically becomes IV. Anyway, great content.
419. Grant Holden: spectacular. humor for the win, theory for the win. you for the win. How about a look at the elder scrolls games? (not you skyrim, or maybe...) oblivion music is rather repetitive but never seems to get old. thoughts?
420. Jussi Päivinen: Just joined your handsome ranks :) keep making excellent videos!
421. Zaurora: This soundtrack is /seriously/ one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in gaming.
422. TheShamefulNarcissist: The scene at the end of Ophilia's last chapter had me crying my eyes out, and that was certainly helped along by the music. I'm tearing up right now just re-listening to her theme. The "cry chord" indeed.
423. Tai Moya: Wow, the art and music of this game is beyond amazing. If there is anything great in this game it is definitely this.
424. Ｙｕｎｇ  Ｖｕｌｐｉｘ: Chromatic mediants, my dude
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How Octopath Traveler Changes Key
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YouTube Gaming Gaming	Upload TimePublished on 13 Dec 2018