SquareSound Music News and Site Updates Feed

Sebastien Belleudy Wins 2008 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:53:41 -0400

SquareSound's 2008 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition has reached it's conclusion, and a single percentage point separated our winner from the runner up. Sebastien Belleudy's upbeat arrangement of "Costa del Sol" from Final Fantasy VII took home first place with a combined score of 93.17% from our two judges. For his efforts, Sebastien will take home his choice of either the Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII video game for PSP, or the Original Soundtrack. Congratulations Sebastien!

Meanwhile, competition veteran and soon-to-be featured arranger Alex Lamonte came in second with his excellent arrangement of the "Final Fantasy VII Main Theme." Third place went to Justy Chevez and his arrangement "Standing on Both Feet."

The final scoring tally and links to all the arrangements can be found either on the competition results page, or in our arrangement archive. Be sure to check out the judges' comments for each piece as well. We received another great selection of arrangements from this competition, so I encourage you to have a listen to all of them. Special thanks to our judges Ronin and Josh Barron. Stay tuned as we plan to begin another competition in the very near future!

Final Fantasy XI Piano Collection Album and Sheet Music Now Available

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:28:21 -0400

The selection of Final Fantasy XI albums has grown once again as Square Enix has released the Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections album. This collection differs from those originally originally released in the limited edition Final Fantasy XI Original Soundtrack Premium Boxed Set, which has since gone out of print. The corresponding Final Fantasy XI Piano Collection Sheet Music book is now also available.

Deadline Approaching: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:03:32 -0400

As a reminder to all entrants in our Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition, your completed entry is due by Tuesday night (Wednesday morning), June 24 at midnight EST. To submit your entry, please click here for instructions. Good luck to all participants!

New Dance Club Arranged Album "Final Fantasy Remix" Coming August 6

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:33:09 -0400

Square Enix recently updated their official website with an animation and sample from their upcoming dance club arranged album Final Fantasy Remix. The album is composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by Ante (Ian Hartley & Matt Baggiani). The sample on the website is "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII.

Final Fantasy Remix will be released August 6, and will include a number of club-style remixes by international musicians, overseen by Uematsu. Ian Hartley and Matt Baggiani will be among them, and announced tracks include The Prelude (FF1), Eternal Wind (FF3), J-E-N-O-V-A (FF7), Maybe I'm a Lion (FF8), and Ronfaure (FF11).

We will be offering this album for pre-order shortly.

Source: Forever Fantasy

New Affiliate: Zelda Universe

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:42:34 -0400

With the continued growth of the Legend of Zelda section of our Arrangement Archive and the insane popularity of the series, we set out to find a good Zelda affiliate to round out our list. We've found it in Zelda Universe -- one of the largest and most comprehensive resources out there for Zelda fanatics. Jason and his crew have done an amazing job on this site, so be sure to check them out!

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Competition Deadline Extended; Arrangement Catch-Up

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:44:02 -0400

Because May seemed to be such a busy month for a lot of people (due to finals, etc.), we've decided to extend the deadline for entries in our Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition until June 24th. I apologize to those who've worked very hard to get their entries in already, but we'd like to make sure that as many people can participate as possible. If you registered for this competition, please submit your entry no later than midnight EST on June 24th.

Arrangement Archive Updated

In other news, I've finally gotten the arrangement archive caught up after a busy month. I want to thank all the arrangers that have submitted a lot of great music!

Uematsu Interview Update

I'm sure most of you have forgotten about this completely by now, but Piano Squall and I are still working on getting our interview with Nobuo Uematsu up on the site for your viewing pleasure. I'll spare you of the gory details, but the editing process has been...tedious. We are very close though!

New Videos of Josh Barron Performing His Kingdom Hearts Arrangements on Piano

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:31:34 -0400

Recently, I uploaded some videos of Josh Barron performing several of his arrangements from the unnofficial Kingdom Hearts Piano Collection project on YouTube. These videos were shot by myself when Josh and I met up prior to the Distant Worlds concert at the end of February. Unfortunately, the video quality isn't that great thanks to some really poor lighting, background music playing, people walking by, cell phones going off, talking, etc., but there's not much that can be done. Josh and I hope you enjoy these!

"Passion" from Kingdom Hearts II

Read the full article for the other two videos.

Now Accepting Submissions for the Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:41:21 -0400

Today, we've added a submission guidelines page for entrants in the SquareSound Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition. If you've registered for the competition and were wondering how to submit your arrangement, this page should explain everything. Remember that your submission must be received by Sunday, June 1st to be eligible for the competition. You may submit your arrangement at any time. Good luck!

New Sheet Music Books (Including Kingdom Hearts), and Drammatica

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:44:52 -0400

Today, we've added a new album and several new sheet music books to our inventory. The list includes the long-anticipated orchestral arranged album "Drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura," which was released in late March, and, at long last, the Kingdom Hearts II Piano Solo Sheet Music Book. Maybe now people will stop emailing me asking where they can find a Kingdom Hearts sheet music book!

The other new books we've added include:

Enter SquareSound's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Arrangement Competition

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:18:09 -0400

If you've got some skill in arranging music and would like to win a copy of the Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII game or soundtrack, now is the time to enter the competition! Read all about it here, or, if you're ready to enter, please fill out the entry form anytime before May 1st. Your finished arrangement must be submitted by June 1st. Good luck!