Tim Forsyth - Gauntlet III vs Plok

7 other remixes of Gauntlet III

5 other remixes of subtune 2

This remix ended up becoming a fusion of 3 Tim Follin tracks from different platforms:

Gauntlet III - C64

Plok (solo from Akrillic) - SNES

Gauntlet III - Amiga

I had to abandon this remix last summer… I couldn't continue working on it because of one silly mistake.

Having never worked in 6/8 before, somehow I had set the tempo to 192bpm! I knew this was a problem at the time but forgot to go back and fix it. Weeks later, having finished almost 3 minutes of music, this became a major problem for me when importing midi from garageband.

Thankfully, in January, Steinberg gifted us iPadOS users midi time stretching and being very fond of what I'd started, I was able to return and finish it.

The idea to fuse together 3 Tim Follin tracks kind of happend organically.

After laying down the arrangement for Gauntlet III, I hadn't appreciated the short run time and I wanted the track to evolve rather than repeat.

I kept thinking about the SNES soundtrack to Plok, specifically the track Akrillic as it has a similar prog rock vibe to it.

It was super fun figuring out the arrangement and programming in the pitch bends and made me realise why I love doing this. You're taking music you love and peeking under the covers to see what's really going on, revealing things you didn't know or appreciate.

To me, at least, it seemed natural to wrap up the track with the last part of Gauntlet III from the Amiga. Again, more prog rock with, fittingly, an outtro that Tim Follin lifted from Yes (The Remembering: High the Memory).

For bonus Follin points, the intro and 1st bridge is me riffing on the unreleased Genesis soundtrack Time Trax and helped me navigate the key changes across the different tracks.

So, all in all, a bit of a Follin tribute.

Oh, by the way, I haven't suddendly become good at programming drums. I cheated and used Garageband's drummer personalities - exporting loads of fills and beats as midi, picking my favourite ones and ran it though a kit I made from Drummica samples.