Way back in 2002, I launched SquareSound as a simple resource for fans of Final Fantasy and other SquareSoft / Square Enix music to find, arrange, and share sheet music and other arrangements. The site has gone through many iterations since than and has seen its share of ups and downs. Today I’m writing to let you know that I’ve made the difficult decision to return SquareSound to those humble roots. Why and what does this mean? Read on.
There are many reasons, but the primary reason is because I just don’t have the time and interest I once had. I have two young kids and a demanding job and they keep me very occupied these days.
Site redesign – I’m working on a redesign that will dramatically simplify the site. No more slow/weighty CMS systems with the cumbersome (and often unreliable) arrangement download system. We’re going back to straight HTML and a simple static site. It will feature our full arrangement archive (with all links checked and verified) and little else. We will still be accepting new arrangements and encourage musicians to keep submitting.
Store closing – I’m shutting down our store effective today. All current orders will have been fulfilled but we aren’t accepting any new orders. We do still have some inventory that we are selling at heavy discounts. We’re relying on Amazon.com to fulfill the rest of our orders, so if you want to see what we have, check out our Amazon store.
As for a timeline, I hesitate to give one because it depends on when I have the time to do it. I would expect to see the new design in place in 1-2 months. Thank you for your continued support! Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Square Enix has announced the upcoming release of the latest addition to the Piano Opera series, this time covering tracks from Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX. As previously in the series, Hiroyuki Nakayama lends his pianist artistry for the compositions, which are provided by none other than you guessed it, Nobuo Uematsu.
Square Enix’s website for the release has confirmed a number of the tracks to appear on the album. “Opening ~ Bombing Mission”, “Interrupted by Fireworks” and “Cosmo Canyon” from Final Fantasy VII, as well as “Ami”, “Force Your Way”, “Liberi Fatali” and “The Man with the Machine Gun” from Final fantasy VIII, and “Melodies of Life”, “Rose of May” and “You’re Not Alone” from Final Fantasy IX.
The website is currently streaming a portion of “Opening ~ Bombing Mission”, which is a fine example of how the arrangement sounds. If you want the ultimate experience however, you will have to head to the Yomiuri Otemachi Hall in Tokyo, Japan, where the tracks will come to life via concert format. The cost for such an experience (not including flights or anything else associated with travel) is roughly double the price of the album (so around 6,000 yen or $60 USD).
Square Enix has recently announced the upcoming release of the new Yoko Shimomura arranged album, Memória. The album, released on March 26, commemorates the 25th Anniversary of Shimomura’s illustrious career and will feature a number of orchestral arrangements from various games and albums.
Following the same concept employed by Shimomura’s previous, Drammatica, Memória delves into the musical depths that has long created admiration and respect for Shimomura, as well as enjoyment and inspiration to fans. The track listings will be recognizable to most, with selections ranging from Super Mario RPG, the Mana series and of course, Kingdom Hearts.
The official Square Enix Memória site (In Japanese, as per usual) will get you pricing details (3,000 yen or around $29 USD) to go with the release date, as well as a single track streaming on demand to give a taste of the quality in store. Judging from the response and critical acclaim Drammatica received, it would be fair to say anyone who buys this would be in for a treat.
Blake Robinson, creator of the Synthetic Orchestra, has released a single snippet of his most recent arrangement, Chrono Trigger Symphony Volume 3. The arrangement, which will be the 3rd and final of this series, shows off Robinson’s unique talent for creating ultra-realistic synthetic compositions.
The three albums pay homage to the original SNES score composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu. Samples of the 1st and 2nd albums are currently available to stream via SoundCloud.
Square-Enix has uploaded new samples of the recently released Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster soundtrack. Like most Final Fantasy soundtracks these days, the High-Definition treatment has been applied, and with incredible results. The Square-Enix soundtrack webpage hosts all the samples necessary to induce excitement for this release, and to make it easy I have the link just here.
Both soundtracks have gone on sale as of the 25th December 2013, and are available from the Japanese Amazon and the Square-Enix e-Store for the tidy sum of ¥5,000.
