One-Winged Angel within context

[Sefie1999AD]

I've heard this kind of things about One-Winged Angel's soundtrack version lately.

xD, there is no good part! Orchestra version is better.

Let me get some things straight. In the game, the orchestra version doesn't have good parts. I don't care if it's orchestra or synth as I think all those (no offence to anyone) "lol it sux bcuz its sythn i maen orchstras tehhhh onlay wae 2 go111 hahaha lol papa-smurf111" are ignorant and stupid. But the orchestra version is the least aggressive version of One-Winged Angel I've ever heard, and it totally loses its power when it reaches "Sors immanis, et inanis" part, and it loses its power again when it reaches the instrumental interlude. Even the piano version plays those parts better. As a stand-alone listening and technically speaking (and opinion ignoring), yes, the orchestra version is probably better, but in the game, a real battle song works better.

There is a difference between stand-alone listening and what works well in the game. Let's think about some great songs. How about Dancing Mad, which most people consider awesome? Try playing that during (SPOILER)Aeris' death and funeral. It won't work either, that's meant to be a sad scene. Or when you're fighting Emerald and Ruby Weapons, put something like Xenogears' Small Two of Pieces in the background. It won't work either because it won't get you into a battle mood. Or one of my favorite ideas: Xenosaga's organ/choir horror music track Proto Merkabah when (SPOILER)Tidus and Yuna are kissing in the lake in FFX. That totally changes the scene. Believe me, I've tried.

Anyway, here's what I think about each version of OWA:

FFVII Soundtrack version - Great for its purpose. It remains epic and dramatic all the time throughout the battle, and there's both choir and instrumental parts. It works really well, especially if the music goes so that Sephiroth summons Super Nova after "Sors immanis, et inanis" part. The instrumental part starts to thunder (unlike in the orchestra version) when most of the planets are being wiped out, and when the Super Nova hits the sun and it starts to explode and head towards your party, the choir sings "Veni veni venias, ne me mori facias" (Come, come, oh come, do not let me die).

FFVII Reunion version - Good as a stand-alone listening, but I still think it's too soft for describing the final battle of the world. The opening orchestra part is pretty good, and so is the "Estuans interius" choir. But it starts to sound more like a sorrow song when "Sors immanis" hits. It tries to create some power again with "Estuans interius" part, but then the interlude totally quiets it out, not to mention the melody can be hardly heard. "Veni veni venias" builds up to a finale, but then it's over. That's it.

FFVII Reunion instrumental version - This finally shows that the orchestra version wouldn't work in the game. In the PC version, I've often heard the soundtrack version without choir, but it still works, but this instrumental version doesn't. The opening is still good. The "Estuans interius" part is totally blarg, with the exception of orchestra trying to be aggressive on part "Sephiroth! Sephiroth!". Then the orchestra remains quite dry for pretty much the entire song.

FFVII Concert 2002 version - This one is slightly better as the Reunion track, but still not there, IMHO. The sound quality is a bit bad and the choir is weak. The beginning is more menacing than in the Reunion, making it more powerful. "Estuans interius" part seems to have more power than in Reunion, even though the singers are somewhat off. "Sors immanis" part still sounds quite off, and the singers in "Estuans interius" are drowned by the orchestra, unfortunately. The interlude is still quite too calm. I think the singers in "Veni veni venias" are a bit too high-pitched. The orchestra drowns the choir again, though for the finale "Sephiroth!" reprise, the choir comes back quite nicely.

Project Majestic Mix version - There's some nice ghastly voices in the beginning, and then the instruments start to thunder. The background strings keep the beginning aggressive. The effect stays on well until "Estuans interius" part, and then the instruments go full-scale, which sounds great, and they just get more aggressive when "Sors immanis" part starts. And it could be just me, but they just get better when "Estuans interius" plays again. The instrumental interlude plays well, kind of reminding me of an epic war, and the instruments keeps building up. To my amazement, "Veni veni venias" works quite well even with only instruments. The ending reprise could have been a bit stronger, the "Sephiroth!" part is only played once.

KH version - Because the battle is a very hectic real-time struggle, the Reunion version would have killed the effect of this battle. Yoko Shimomura made a good decision, considering the style of the battle, to make the song very intensive and pretty much only have the choir parts. It makes the song shorter, but there's still 3 different parts that it doesn't really matter. The arrangement is a pretty good one. There's first a short opening part, and then the choir hits. A very clear performance, and good instrumental background. "Sors immanis" part is just as good, and so is the "Estuans interius" part after that. The cut to "Veni veni venias" is very good, IMHO, and it keeps the song going on. The song gets more powerful when "Veni veni venias" builds up to "Sephiroth! Sephiroth!" part and church bells. Then it loops. Great work.

AC version - I haven't heard this version completely or within context, only in E3 trailer, so I can't say much about this arrangement. The opening part is alright, though it doesn't sound as aggressive as in other versions. It was quite shocking (not in a bad way, though) to hear the distortion guitar come in for the first time. The combination of an orchestra and the Black Mages is quite impressive, indeed. I can't hear much of the choir since the trailer is showing the big Bahamut battle at that time. However, the orchestra + band + choir combo seems to be working quite well. I can't hear if the choir is singing "Sors immanis" this time, though around that time, while the choir is quite soft, the distortion guitar in the background works well, creating tension. Then there's a reprise of "Estuans interius" part, though once again, I can't hear if they're singing "Estuans interius ira vehementi" there. I only hear it end with "Sephiroth! Sephiroth!" and then the trailer ends.

Piano version - This one is great, though it's slower than the other versions. The beginning sounds kind of like a battle march. The arrangement is well done while still remaining loyal to other versions. The piano builds nicely to "Estuans interius" part. That part is relatively soft, but "Sephiroth! Sephiroth!" part saves it. "Sors immanis" for the first time is soft, but on the second time, it's a lot stronger and sounds good. The reprise of "Estuans interius" remains powerful all the time. The instrumental interlude starts quiet, but it keeps building up pretty well. The build-up is quite slow, but it gets pretty good eventually. "Veni veni venias" is amazingly strong. I like it. The final "Sephiroth!" reprises are also done very well, and so are the background parts between each "Sephiroth!" hit.

[Kakashi509]

yeah i'd likely say the kingdom hearts,Project Majestic Mix version or advent children is the best version of the song if I could find an english version of Project Majestic Mix version i'd definatly say it was best

[DelightfulSpekkio442]

Sephiroth1999AD, I'm not sure I can totally agree with you. Granted, I've only played the PC version of FFVII, and never with a great MIDI card, but it just doesn't do it for me. The lack of the choir is too big a hole for me to get over - and even if the choir was there, the digital instruments just can't capture the same effect as the live instruments, even if the arrangement is better (and I'm speaking as a 4th-year college-level music student who's taken instrumentation courses).

Take the intro, for example - where the violins in the Reunion version have that "Psycho" part with the screeching high notes. In the digital version you just get violins playing little upward runs. There's no expression - half of the effect of that sound is the actual bow scraping against the strings, which you don't get in MIDI.

I agree they should have done a more powerful arrangement of the "Sors immanis et inanis" part, but what's actually happening there is that the orchestra is playing almost the exact same thing that the digital instruments play in the soundtrack version. It's just that MIDI cards seem to think that trumpets and French horns are much louder and more piercing than they are in real life. To get that same effect in a live performance you'd need to bring that part out on the lower brass (especially trombones) much more, and throw in some woodwinds (my vote is on the alto flute) to accent it.

I think the interlude in the Reunion version is amazing. I know it's really subtle compared to the rest of the piece, but that's some tough stuff for some of the instruments (especially the ornamentations for the flutes). I think they could have filled the sound out some more with additional wind instruments (bass clarinet, piccolo, alto flute), but having the cellos take the melody at the first part is a real Romantic-era Italian operatic touch that is totally fitting for such an epic piece. And seeing as though the rhythm of this piece is actually a tango, the percussion is just right in this part.

I think the "Veni, veni, venias" builds up really well in the Reunion version. I might have laid off on the timpani and bass drum a little bit towards the end of the "Gloriosa, generosa" bit, but if you listen with a good set of speakers/earphones, there's this amazing counterpoint between the upper woodwinds and violins that you just don't hear in the in-game version - pure genius on Nobuo's part!!!

I heard the KH mix once, and not enough for an in-depth analysis, but I seem to remember it almost having a bit of a Middle Eastern flavor at certain points - which I thought was really cool considering you fight the battle against Sephiroth in a Greek amphitheater (okay okay, I know Greece isn't in the Middle East, but hey, it's a nice touch any way).

[Sefie1999AD]

Spekkio, see what I said about "blinded by orchestra" effect? You saying that the synthesized instruments failing to capture the same effect as the orchestral instruments is still, even if it is true for many people, an opinion, and my opinion is that the Reunion orchestra version can't capture the feeling for the final battle of FFVII while playing the game as the in-game version actually does. I do respect your opinion, but I can't agree with Reunion version working in-game.

Have you taken other things into consideration? First, loading times. To play wave-type music instead of digital music during a PSX game takes a lot of machine power, especially when there's big effects like Super Nova spells and other things like that. It's that way for PC version too. The minimum requirement for FFVII PC is something like 133 MHz, if even that. However, even with my old 333 MHz, the game was lagging during Super Nova. If you put wave music there, it would be even worse. Remember the part where there's constant live FMV playing in the background when you go down the floating steps to fight Jenova*Synthesis? It's the flowing green Lifestream. The game slows down there, you can easily notice it on PC as Cloud's jumps and moving looks weird and delayed. I can't find the flowing Lifestream FMV in FFVII PSX Disc, but another similar 10-second FMV takes 3.42 MB. I doubt the Lifestream FMV is even that long since it's just looping a few-seconds-long animation.

Anyway, if that slows the computer down that much during gameplay, think about a wave-form music. In mp3 form, One-Winged Angel takes 4 MB. In audio form similar to what FFVIII used for Eyes on Me, it's about 40-50 MB. And I think the space-consuming audio form is more likely since with mp3 form, there's still the compression and the loss of sound quality to be considered. Clearly, though, a live version of One-Winged Angel would slow down the PSX and PCs (around the time it was released) so much that the final battle would become unbearable, and you could expect major lag or even crashes during Super Nova.

Second, looping. Orchestra version plays once, then stops. The game version plays until you defeat Safer Sephiroth or lose the battle. How do you intend to make the live version loop? You could always have it start again after finishing, but that creates a few seconds of silence when the song reloads. Even if you program it to reload a bit earlier to avoid moments of silence as much as you can, you must admit that the musical styles are so different at the beginning and at the end of One-Winged Angel that it wouldn't work. "Veni veni venias" and "Sephiroth! Sephiroth!" parts first thundering, then some fade-out, then the opening orchestral parts. IMHO, that would be totally unfitting and completely make the music go out of context, interrupting the flow of the battle rather than helping it with a thrilling background score.

You could, of course, do like One-Winged Angel game version did and have it loop from "Estuans interius" part. However, as far as I know, that takes a lot more programming with wave music than with midi music, and there's still loading times to be taken into consideration. Besides, where do you intend to make the loop? In the game, the jump from "Sephiroth! Sephiroth!" to "Estuans interius" is totally smoothless as the former is ending the song (good place for a loop to end) and the latter is starting a new part of the song (good place for a loop to start). But in Reunion version, there's a few bars of quiet instrumental intro before "Estuans interius" choir which pretty much ruins it. I quite can't think of a good way to loop the orchestral version so that it wouldn't sound bad, to be frank.

I could probably try to bring up other technical reasons too why the orchestral version just wouldn't work in the game, but I think I've covered a lot of that point already. You said you've only played the PC version of FFVII, and without a good sound card. Haven't you ever heard the PSX / soundtrack version of the song? Or the Project Majestic Mix version of the song, which is also synthesized? The PMM arrangement doesn't actually have any choir at all, but it's still excellent, IMHO. Oh, and to Kakashi509, there's no English version of the Majestic Mix One-Winged Angel since there's no lyrics in it. Anyway, Spekkio, if you haven't heard those versions, how can you say the synthesized version of One-Winged Angel is bad if you've only heard the synthesized version with a card that doesn't have good midi playing capabilities?

I have a Sound Blaster Live! Value card myself, and for me, the PC version sounds pretty good, and yes, it plays the choir during the final battle even if the whole song is midi. I recorded and uploaded the PC game version of One-Winged Angel midi so you can listen to how it sounds in my computer. I don't have much space in my site, so I'll probably delete it quite soon, so please check it out as soon as you can. That's not a midi converted into mp3, that's done with WinAmp playing the midi while another program was recording everything coming out of my sound card and then saving the recording in mp3 form.

[DelightfulSpekkio442]

I'm not sure you understood what I was getting at. I definitely see why the live version is impractical for in-game application as FFVII stands right now. Liberi Fatali only worked out as a technical application in FFVIII because it was part of an FMV. My reading of your initial post (correct me if I'm wrong) was that as a stand-alone piece, the synthesized arrangement of One-Winged Angel in the game itself was superior to the orchestral Reunion version. No part of my post suggests that the live version should have been included in the PSX or PC version - though if they were to remake it for PS2/PS3... The advanced hardware could definitely handle the format and the programmed loop, not to mention that they would most likely rearrange and record the piece with the loop in mind.

And thanks for posting the recording. I'll give you, it does sound more sharp than the MIDI my laptop provides, and I don't get the choir (any idea how they programmed that into the PC version BTW?). However, I really disagree that I am being "blinded by orchestra" in any way - the simple fact remains that there are effects you can achieve on live instruments which are impossible in MIDI no matter how good your sound card is, and there are several such instances in this piece. Maybe I'm more picky, being a musician and composer myself - but it's not so much an opinion as a physical reality that there is no way around. You can tell a MIDI card to play certain notes on certain instruments at certain times, and to adjust the tempo and speed appropriately, but that's pretty much it. You can't tell a MIDI card to bow the violin harder or softer, or to flutter-tongue on the flute, or to adjust the throat tone in the clarinet. The most obvious example for me is just before the "Estuans interius" part starts - there's eight consecutive upward runs that finish on flute trills in the live version, but straight tones in the MIDI version. Much more effective and chilling for me with the trills.

I think what it all comes down to is that we're talking about two different things. You're absolutely right that there is no practical way to implement the live version into FFVII, and that the synthesized version (especially compared to what else was in games at the time) is masterful and powerful. It's actually an amazing bit of MIDI programming that they got it to sound as good as it does. But I think I'm right in saying that the live version has many effects which are absent in the MIDI version (not to say that they don't make up for it in other ways). Also, other PSX games achieve a better overall sound with synthesized music than FFVII does - for example, Chrono Cross (specifically the flute solo in "Star-Stealing Girl" and the oboe solo in "Frozen Flame"). I know Chrono Cross is newer, and that it's an entirely different technical setup, and that the music itself isn't really even at the level of "One-Winged Angel" - but it shows that it's possible to get a better sound with synth. Try using Digital Performer or Garage Band on a Mac - you can get something much closer to a live sound.

[Cruise Control]

I like it, I just think the instrumental interludes are a little bit long. But "Ladies and gentlemen, appolaud the biggest fan of OWA ever, for the lovely info"

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

All things considered, I still think the Reunion Tracks version is the best.

[Sefie1999AD]

I'm not sure you understood what I was getting at. I definitely see why the live version is impractical for in-game application as FFVII stands right now. Liberi Fatali only worked out as a technical application in FFVIII because it was part of an FMV. My reading of your initial post (correct me if I'm wrong) was that as a stand-alone piece, the synthesized arrangement of One-Winged Angel in the game itself was superior to the orchestral Reunion version. No part of my post suggests that the live version should have been included in the PSX or PC version - though if they were to remake it for PS2/PS3... The advanced hardware could definitely handle the format and the programmed loop, not to mention that they would most likely rearrange and record the piece with the loop in mind.

Uhh, well, I was getting into saying that the soundtrack version is the one that I think sounds the best inside the game when playing, so that anyone who says the game version is rubbish compared to the orchestra version doesn't know every dimension there is. The songs in the game are written for the game. They don't have to be good as stand-alone songs, but inside games, during the scenes or events or battles when they're played, they can work so well that no other arrangement would do the same effect there. And that's why I think the arrangement of OWA in FFVII soundtrack is the best choice to insert for the moment in the game when you fight Safer Sephiroth.

And thanks for posting the recording. I'll give you, it does sound more sharp than the MIDI my laptop provides, and I don't get the choir (any idea how they programmed that into the PC version BTW?). However, I really disagree that I am being "blinded by orchestra" in any way - the simple fact remains that there are effects you can achieve on live instruments which are impossible in MIDI no matter how good your sound card is, and there are several such instances in this piece. Maybe I'm more picky, being a musician and composer myself - but it's not so much an opinion as a physical reality that there is no way around. You can tell a MIDI card to play certain notes on certain instruments at certain times, and to adjust the tempo and speed appropriately, but that's pretty much it. You can't tell a MIDI card to bow the violin harder or softer, or to flutter-tongue on the flute, or to adjust the throat tone in the clarinet. The most obvious example for me is just before the "Estuans interius" part starts - there's eight consecutive upward runs that finish on flute trills in the live version, but straight tones in the MIDI version. Much more effective and chilling for me with the trills.

The choir is done with things called Soundfonts. With the PC game comes a few .sf2 files, and they contain samples for the midi instruments that play in FFVII. Every midi instrument and note actually works with wave samples. Wave. See what I'm getting at? It is possible to record each choir part in wave form and create one midi instrument out of it. And then there's a specially programmed One-Winged Angel midi that has one track using the special instrument which was made from Sephiroth choir samples. That way, the choir is technically midi, but since each midi note is from wave samples, you can turn live singing or live instruments into midi form this way. However, you'll need a very good sound card for that to work. The game designers made that system for primarily SB Awe users (SB Live is an even better sound card than SB Awe), and they made Yamaha S-XYG70(sp) Software synthesizer for weaker sound cards. Square used a bit similar technique in FFVIII, to make the choir in songs like "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" and "Succession of Witches" work.

The "blinded by orchestra" was a bit of my ignorant ranting. Sorry for that.

As for the fine tuning of songs, yes, real instruments can do lots of different things and minor details, but to be able to do all those things, the performer needs a lot of skill too, and practicing. With proper programming and editing, it's very possible to do loads of very complex minor things to enhance sound even with a synthesizer. I once agreed with you and had a debate about this with my old music teacher, and he showed me how midis are very flexible to edit and tweak. You need to change instruments in the song? With orchestra, that means: must be performed again, and before that, the orchestra needs some time to adjust with the changes. With midi, you'll do it in about 10 seconds. You need to transpose the song? With midi, you can do that too in about 10 seconds. With orchestra, it's the same thing about performing again. You could try to digitally transpose the orchestral performance, but to my experience, any live music that gets digitally transposed for more than a semitone starts to suffer from bad sound quality. Midi doesn't suffer from transposition effects. It can be compared to pixel image vs. vector image, I guess. Pixel image (a photograph or other "real, live" picture) gets pixelated and blurred when you stretch it and edit it, but a vector image (a digital picture) can get stretched and rotates as much as you want without losing any of its quality. So it's not always an absolute truth that "live >> digital".

I think what it all comes down to is that we're talking about two different things. You're absolutely right that there is no practical way to implement the live version into FFVII, and that the synthesized version (especially compared to what else was in games at the time) is masterful and powerful. It's actually an amazing bit of MIDI programming that they got it to sound as good as it does. But I think I'm right in saying that the live version has many effects which are absent in the MIDI version (not to say that they don't make up for it in other ways). Also, other PSX games achieve a better overall sound with synthesized music than FFVII does - for example, Chrono Cross (specifically the flute solo in "Star-Stealing Girl" and the oboe solo in "Frozen Flame"). I know Chrono Cross is newer, and that it's an entirely different technical setup, and that the music itself isn't really even at the level of "One-Winged Angel" - but it shows that it's possible to get a better sound with synth. Try using Digital Performer or Garage Band on a Mac - you can get something much closer to a live sound.

Yes, I think our points are somewhat different. As for "Star-Stealing Girl", I think that one uses more or less wave effects together with the midi (a bit similar to the technique used to make the choir work in FFVII PC, I guess). I can notice it in the PSX version when playing it with a PSX emulator, because if there's wave effects and the game starts to lag, the wave effects break a bit from the synth parts and become a desynchronised. Piano, flute and violin (I think) all sound very good in that song, and I think the "Na"-chants are all made using a real voice. An even better example of this is, IMHO, the track "Song of Memories" from Final Fantasy IX, a midi/synth track with "La la la" -singing, definitely sung by a real person.

I like it, I just think the instrumental interludes are a little bit long. But "Ladies and gentlemen, appolaud the biggest fan of OWA ever, for the lovely info"

So do you like the KH version? As for being the biggest OWA fanboy ever... *dies*.

All things considered, I still think the Reunion Tracks version is the best.

If all things are considered, would you like Reunion version to play in the game too, then?

BTW if it wasn't for the loading times, the Main Theme for Final Fantasy VII could work pretty well in the game even with the Reunion version. The game version just restarts from the beginning, without any real loop, and that can be done with the orchestra version too. The only problem would be the fact that the song doesn't actually restart after fighting a battle in the world map, but continuing from where the song left before the battle started. Pausing the orchestral music, letting it stay in the background during the battle and then resume it, that's what would need some programming. I remember some FFVII music fans trying it for the PC version, but they just couldn't make it work without major glitches.

Oh, and for an Admin or a CK, I think this thread is so much about technical analysis of FF music that do you think it'd be a good idea to move it to the Music Forum?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

If all things are considered, would you like Reunion version to play in the game too, then?

That'd be great.

Oh, and for an Admin or a CK, I think this thread is so much about technical analysis of FF music that do you think it'd be a good idea to move it to the Music Forum?

If you want. It's appropriate for either place, though.

[Cruise Control]

How about Dancing Mad, which most people consider awesome?

That track is 15 minutes of annoyingness

Or when you're fighting Emerald and Ruby Weapons, put something like Xenogears' Small Two of Pieces in the background.

Haven't heard it so I can't comment

FFVII Soundtrack version - Great for its purpose. It remains epic and dramatic all the time throughout the battle.
FFVII Reunion version - Good as a stand-alone listening, but I still think it's too soft for describing the final battle of the world.
FFVII Reunion instrumental version - This finally shows that the orchestra version wouldn't work in the game.

Excellent points, I agrgee that regular is best for the game, but I tend to listen to music seperately, therefore I like Orchestra version better, maybe I should have stated that it's better when your not playing the game.

Piano version

Wasn't aware of it's existence, I'll have to look since I tend to like piano music quite a bit.

So do you like the KH version?

Yes, very much so. It fits with the frantic tone of the battle.

[-N-]

Just to set one thing straight: I don't think instrumentation should be discounted. There are some songs (I'm thinking of Blue Fields in FFVIII) that have poor in-game instrumentation but are orchestrated beautifully, and essentially remain the same other than that. Having lower quality synthesized MIDI instruments play a tune is less pleasing than having higher quality recorded instruments play the same tune. I think this applies at least a little bit here, because I think the orchestrated Reunion version does a great job of capturing the punctuation of the brass section, especially the brash, over-buzzed lip staccatos in the beginning.

[Sefie1999AD]

Yes, but think about the Blue Fields. The synth version has some kind of harp playing staccato notes, and then there's a marimba or something like that playing the melody. Then comes something that sounds like oboe. In the orchestra version, I think the staccato notes played by the harp sound just as annoying. Then instead of marimba, there's something like an oboe used, which makes the song sound a lot more likable. Then the oboe part is replaced by a string part. I'm quite sure Blue Fields would sound just as annoying even with orchestra marimbas because I still really dislike the background harp, in both synth and orchestra versions.

So it seems to me like you're saying that the in-game version has a bad arrangement, at least badly selected instruments whereas the orchestra version isn't as bad since it uses very different instruments. I agree with you there, -N-. I was once working on a team that makes music patches for FFVIII PC, and I didn't like the Blue Fields at all, so I did what some people might consider blasphemy or ruining Uematsu's work: I tested around with the instruments until I found better instruments to play each track in the Blue Fields. I left the melody totally untouched, but with some instruments changed, I think the song sounds a lot different. Click here for a recording to hear how it sounds in the game with the music patch.

Wasn't aware of it's existence, I'll have to look since I tend to like piano music quite a bit.

You can read a review and hear samples (includes a sample of OWA piano) here. It also has links to two online shops where you can probably find FFVII Piano Collections and import it.

[Cruise Control]

This is pretty decent too.

[Cless]

I don't know much about music, and while the orchestrated versions may well be technically more musically sound, I still feel that nothing quite captures the power and aggression of the final battle more than the Soundtrack version. For want of a better way to put it, it just seems to have more "OOMPH!" and "BOOM!" than the other versions.

[-N-]

Yes, but think about the Blue Fields. ...then there's a marimba or something like that playing the melody. ... In the orchestra version, I think the staccato notes played by the harp sound just as annoying. Then instead of marimba, there's something like an oboe used, which makes the song sound a lot more likable. Then the oboe part is replaced by a string part.

That is the main difference I am talking about between the two versions. I agree that Blue Fields would sound annoying with orchestral marimbas as well, so there is some degree of instrumentation involved in making a song appealing.

The arrangement you made with your team changes the scope of the song too, but I think I prefer the solo oboe, myself.

Oh, and I think I didn't make it clear enough, but I was referring to OWA while discussing the brass staccatos. Maybe you still got it, though.