Metamorphosis
Variations on a theme in D minor that travel from 8-bit chiptune through 80s FM and trance to a full orchestra.
- Key
- D minor, then E minor
- Tempo
- 128 to 138 BPM
- Length
- 3:43
- Tracks
- 31
- Loudness
- -14.0 LUFS
- True peak
- -1.0 dBTP
The prompt
/wavelength Create a classical style song which starts out very retro sounding then gradually starts transitioning to an electronic trancy sound. Then ends in a full blown epic orchestra fused with electronic sounds.
The track
Metamorphosis is a theme and variations in D minor: a single 16-bar tune travels through three ages of electronic music and ends up in an orchestra.
The theme is written in a Baroque style. It rides a circle-of-fifths chord progression (Dm, Gm, C, F, B♭), with a singing melody over a steady sixteenth-note pattern. That same pattern moves from instrument to instrument all the way through, and it’s what makes the changes feel continuous.
| Time | Section | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 0:01 | Intro | A chip arpeggio and a bell hint at the melody. |
| 0:09 | Theme (8-bit) | The full theme on NES-style square waves, with triangle bass and noise drums. A second voice joins at the repeat. |
| 0:39 | Variation I (FM) | The 80s arrive: a DX7 harpsichord takes over the pattern, FM bass and a 707 drive underneath, and FM brass takes the melody. A pad fades in from far away. |
| 1:09 | Transition | The tempo rises from 128 to 138 BPM. The chip arpeggio gets gradually more distorted while the trance pluck opens up beneath it: the old sound turning into the new. Kick and bass arrive under a riser. |
| 1:23 | Variation II (Trance) | Full trance: four-on-the-floor, rolling bass, a gated pad, and the supersaw singing the theme. |
| 1:51 | Breakdown | The drums drop out and orchestral strings play the theme at half speed, the classical technique called augmentation. Horns and choir join. |
| 2:05 | Build | Timpani, kick and snare rolls speed up toward the drop. |
| 2:19 | Apotheosis | Orchestra and trance at full force: trumpets, horns and violins on the theme, short-bow strings driving the pattern, trombones and tuba under the kick and supersaw. |
| 2:46 | Apotheosis II | The classic lift, up a whole step to E minor, with tremolo in the cellos. |
| 3:14 | Coda | The drums fall away and the tempo slows to a broad close on an E major chord under a timpani roll. After the final hit, the 8-bit bell plays the opening of the theme once more, quietly. |
How an agent sees it
render --png draws it: sections and bars, the loudness contour, a spectrogram of the mix, and every track's notes over its level.Instruments and patches
8-bit: Relica 2 (VST3)
Relica 2 has no preset list you can load by name, so each sound is one of its built-in factory patches with some settings changed.
| Track | Patch | Changes and role |
|---|---|---|
| Chip Lead | Electric Square | Mono with a short glide, gentler vibrato. Plays the theme. |
| Chip Harmony | Initial Preset | Square wave at 75% pulse width. Second voice a third or sixth below. |
| Chip Arp | Initial Preset | Square wave at 40% pulse width, short decay. The running sixteenth-note pattern; bitcrushed in the transition. |
| Chip Bass | Initial Preset | Triangle wave, mono. Octave-bouncing eighths. |
| Chip Kick, Snare, Hat | Initial Preset | Triangle thump plus noise click, white-noise snare, short noise hat. |
| Chip Bell | Antique Bell | Teaser melody in the intro and the final echo of the theme. |
80s FM: Dexed (VST3, DX7 cartridge voices)
| Track | Patch | Role |
|---|---|---|
| FM Harpsichord | HARPSICH 1 | The running pattern, Baroque style |
| FM Bass | BASS 1 (+12 semitones) | Octave-pumping eighths |
| FM Brass | OB8 BRASS | Takes over the melody halfway through Variation I |
| FM Bell | glassbell | Answers the melody's long notes |
| 707 | Legend 707 kit (built-in sampler) | 80s drum machine |
Trance: Altitude (CLAP factory presets)
| Track | Patch | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Kick | DR Bassdrum | Four-on-the-floor, and the trigger for sidechain ducking |
| 909 | Legend 909 kit (built-in sampler) | Clap, hats, snare rolls, crashes |
| Trance Bass | BA Trance Pulse 1 | Rolling sixteenths, ducked under the kick |
| Pluck | PL Trance Break 1 | The running pattern, with filter sweeps |
| Pad | PD Trancer | Harmony throughout, trance-gated in the drops |
| Supersaw | LD Trance Spectrum (+12 semitones) | The trance lead on the theme |
| FX | Built-in FX | Risers, impacts, reverse swells, sub drops |
Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover
Loaded from its NKS instrument presets; articulations switch per note.
| Track | Instrument | Articulations and role |
|---|---|---|
| BBC Violins 1 | Strings Violins 1 | Long. Melody at half speed in the breakdown, an octave up in the finale. |
| BBC Violins 2 | Strings Violins 2 | Long, spiccato eighths in the finale |
| BBC Violas | Strings Violas | Long, spiccato |
| BBC Celli | Strings Celli | Long, tremolo after the key change |
| BBC Basses | Strings Basses | Long |
| BBC Horns | Brass Horns a4 | Melody an octave below |
| BBC Trumpets | Brass Trumpets a3 | Melody |
| BBC Trombones | Brass Tenor Trombones a3 | Chords on beats 1 and 3 |
| BBC Tuba | Brass Tuba | Bass |
| BBC Timpani | Percussion (timpani) | Downbeats, fills, rolls |
| Choir | Vital: Feel_Choir_Ah_Bright | "Ah" chords from the build onward |
Mix and master
- Shared effects: a Room reverb, a ping-pong Echo and a Hall reverb.
- Master: a trim, then EQ (a bump at 50 Hz, dips at 150 Hz and 1.94 kHz, a little air).
- A three-band compressor with crossovers at 257 Hz and 2.84 kHz.
- MLimiterX (Drive 6 dB, Ceiling -0.5 dB, Clean), then a true-peak limiter at -1 dB and a -14 LUFS target.
- One second of silence before the song for streaming platforms.
Download the song
The whole song in one file: the job Wavelength renders, the script that wrote it, its notes, every revision and the review comments, in the open song format. Render it, change it, or ask your agent to make it its own:
wavelength render metamorphosis.wavelength
wavelength unpack metamorphosis.wavelengthTracks whose plugins you don't have play built-in stand-ins, so it renders on any computer; with the same plugins it sounds as you hear it here.
Download metamorphosis.wavelength 9.4 MB · Licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: share and remix it, credit the song.