Umbral Ultimatum - Piano

Sheet music link below!
www.mediafire.c...
Rerecorded MP3 (with 100% less koto):
tindeck.com/lis...
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Umbral Ultimatum, finally. Sorry for taking so long with this, but damn was it hard to record - this is the best version I managed to get, and although I'm still not totally happy with it, I figured it was good enough to upload.
For those of you who don't know, this is Umbral Ultimatum by Toby "Radiation" Fox, from MSPA's Homestuck. This was a combination of memory , ear and sheet music (Radiation was kind enough to supply the midi, without it I would never have been able to do the koto solo).
For the koto solo, I simply layered a koto over the piano, so that the base octaves at the end could be sustained. And I also reprogrammed a pedal to pitch bend, so what's happening at the end was a live part of the performance (not sure why it starts buzzing though, sorry about that).
And yes, I'm pounding the first note out of frustration from recording for so long. And curiously enough, the hardest part was the piano from 1:48 (not the koto solo, nope)

[@festeringmongoose71]

I rarely like videos, mostly because I use my like option as a "watch later" button. I tried to like this video twice.

[@khalee207]

MOG is this Aradia Kyuubei :DD

[@festeringmongoose]

AthenasAnomaly Right you are, dear Watson.

[@a-bird-lover]

This music was created electronically, so it was literally not meant for human hands.

[@smonkk8556]

toby fox plays most of his music in through piano...

[@CalamitousChivalry]

@@smonkk8556 Yes but it's not all one take, it's multiple layers of piano through different instruments or just different sections of piano. Creating electronic music almost always involves literal piano playing, but there's a difference between one person playing a full song with two hands, and one person playing numerous sections separately and combining them via electronic software

[@smonkk8556]

@@CalamitousChivalry cool thanks for composersplaining to me but its still designed for human hands or it couldnt be played in in the first place

[@CalamitousChivalry]

@@smonkk8556 ....No??? no, it's not???? That's not how that works at all. What are you smoking? The song is designed with so many instruments and different sections that to play Toby Fox's exact version, it would take probably 2 pianists at LEAST, maybe even 3. You can restructure a more complicated song into less complicated sheet music for 2 hands which is what this person did. Unless youre being deliberately stupid to say that only certain melodies were designed to be played by hand individually, which is obviously true, but the original commenter was obviously talking about the song as a whole piece, not individual parts of the song by themselves. Also, please don't say "composersplaining" ever again lol that was the cringiest thing I've read in weeks and I'm a proponent of cringe culture being dead.

[@smonkk8556]

@@CalamitousChivalry congratulations youve figured out that arrangements written for performance by multiple musicians (or rather one musician multiple times) can be simplified down to solos. would you like a medal for it? my main issue is basically with this weird culture of psuedofetishism with a totally achievable, if high skill level. this isnt some weird case of a CRAZY song being written that could NEVER be played by human hands and then some LEGEND just goes and does it. its someone who's pretty good at piano transcribing a piece down to a fast piano solo. its cool and skilled but i hate when people treat it like some ungodly achievement because it removes the act from the realm of just someone practicing and working hard to get good at something into being some wacky gift from the heavens. it devalues their commitment and turns it into something for someone to gawk at and never think about as an actual thing a regular-ass human taught themself to do the mere fact that it was individually written in with piano per segment would inherently make it playable by human hands as a solo piece, at most requiring some truncating and some parts being left to imagination / flubbed (as is pretty common)

[@PixelBlockz]

Plot twist; John is the one playing

[@kaazyuuki661]

Illumarty cumfurmdz

[@PixelBlockz]

Kaaz Yuuki ILOOMINOOTY CONFURMED

[@kaazyuuki661]

BRUH

[@zankaa8031]

ShowertimeSadness this comment is terrifyingly relevant........

[@kakoytazabar]

Zankaa I do agree.

[@karkatvantas2841]

BECAUSE YOU SO GRACIOUSLY POSTED SHEET MUSIC WITH THE VIDEO, I WILL ACTUALLY TRY TO LEARN THIS, WHICH WILL PROBABLY TAKE MULTIPLE WEEKS AND MAYBE EVEN MONTS OF MY TIME.

[@Qbot10]

years, if i'm anything to go by

[@blodmourne]

Qbot10 SwEePs :o)

[@scrambo6182]

a whole buncha' lunar perigees

[@thatguy3485]

Pleasse with-hold any... ssnide commentss, but... may I have the privilege to be reminded where the ssheet mussic iss? I ssimply musst find thiss, for I am a great fan of the piano... I will die a little if I do not find it...

[@breandanmartin7875]

Michael Lane check the desc bro :3

[@Shadet06Vocaloid]

2:08 jegus i'm gone that part is amazing

[@dngerouds]

+Shadet06Vocaloid I just want this part as standalone song. Its FUCKING dope in every version I listen to it.

[@ahaxelz947]

Killed this. Still coming back after all this time.

[@thekatdragon4966]

H O W And just this morning i was like If anyone can play this on piano they are god

[@millstreamPoEm]

John, is that you??

[@VohnExel]

At this point in Homestuck, which I only recently reached, I was like "Oh...Oh NO! Oh crap! So much crap! All of it! All of the crap!" cause of what was going down! Nothing much had happened in Chapter 5 at this point. Really cool that you can play this on Piano!

[@notapplicable6141]

The Atomic Bonsai bit was epic!

[@gingergamer8204]

This is it. The video that got me into Homestuck. Thanks, man.

[@damianbieniaszewski5830]

np

[@ExceptionallyUndersizedThanos]

why are you thanking them lmfao

[@ckowkay]

how did i not realize the last part was an unbreakable union

[@bluemagician9724]

and the first part

[@mochalatte2965]

Is this John Egbert playing?! :D

[@artezui]

Yes, of course it is.

[@mochalatte2965]

.

[@artezui]

1'm not taking it seriously. Trying to add on to the joke :P

[@DarkGamer641]

+SANS do the umbral thing

[@cococrazy420]

[S] john: pipeorgan solo

[@MaxWrightComposer]

@MakinDharma1 Don't forget that totally insane solo from 1:50 - 2:30 that would break both my hands instantly

[@gamzeemakara9393]

tHiS iS a MoThErFuCkInG mIrAcLe :o)

[@ShivPlush]

The transition into the Alternia bit sounded even better than in the song itself. Beautiful stuff.

[@gingergamer8204]

This is the first homestuck video I ever watched. This got me into the fandom.

[@thecringecrew2806]

8 vriskas and 2 sollux's disliked this because it reminded them of almost winning sburb in [S] jade enter

[@toomuchglitters7254]

WHO THE *FUCK* CLICKED DISLIKE!?

[@calebprincebrotherton8533]

Monica Nyan Karkat

[@user-je5mb9yy8n]

+Monica Nyan The Peregrine Mendicant.

[@chenricky123]

+Monica Nyan Bro.

[@eve4246]

+Monica Nyan watch out dude opinions exist woah i know very shocking

[@andrewroberts1508]

Underfags

[@MaxWrightComposer]

@KibasLilAngel The sheet music (which I also wrote) is how I now want the song to sound, several months after I recorded this video. Some little parts have changed like the bass octaves, and although I didn't put it in the sheet music for the sake of sticking close to the original piece, there is now accompaniment to the koto solo.

[@thekaboominator1]

You sir, have earned a sub.

[@cronchy4580]

_You have reached god tier in piano skills-_

[@evo683]

I got a bit teary-eyed at that end bit

[@godlessgallivant7274]

THSI IS SO GOOD WTF

[@Sam.Wendorf]

Holy hell, I just noticed the tune from "Courser" is in here. It's so beautiful!!!

[@Brackets_Guy]

0:49

[@Migglecraft]

Best rendition of a homestuck song on piano. Hands down.

[@MaxWrightComposer]

@Ilovemariofan Done, check the description. I mean, so many people have been asking for this, and today I just FELT like it. Should be completed in a few days. And with my other comment about megalovania - things came up, I just didn't have time.. but no kidding this time, it'll be recorded very soon.

[@PR-ym2bz]

holy fuck are you a god or something

[@sirvalhart7464]

+Undyne ... HE PROBABLY IS,

[@LemonPieRocks]

He's the Hero of Melody

[@vriskaserket2201]

Knight of Song maybe? ::::?

[@dave1049]

Guys guys he's obviously the Maid of Music

[@lancegreen1939]

egg is a good source of egg Bard of Piano obviously guys, cmon

[@PeppermintBiscuit]

This is my absolute favorite song from Homestuck so far. I've listened to your cover of it three times, back to back just now. Thank you so much for sharing both your music and your sheet music. (I can't play it, but I do appreciate you putting it up for everyone else.)

[@TheOneGuy1111]

I didn't think this song could possibly be converted into a piano piece of any quality. THANK YOU FOR PROVING ME WRONG.

[@HalleyEstabrooke]

This gives me chills, man. Utter chills.

[@SpiderSquirrelPro]

If I could play this on the piano I would tell people that I have magical hands. You definitely have magic hands.

[@omeg5473]

tHIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYED BY HUMAN HANDS, CONGRATS DUDE,

[@sammisomara]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PROVIDING A SHEET MUSIC LINK. I HAVE WANTED TO LEARN TO PLAY THIS ON THE PIANO SINCE FIRST HEARING IT.

[@TheLazrGuy]

I... I... I don't even know what to say to this. You have all the talent. All of it.

[@CanManDanProductions]

A WINRAR IS YOU. YOU ARE AN HERO.

[@MarysSounds]

I'm in love with your hands... they're just so perfect.

[@5minlatecomebacks]

I named the bits of this song. 00:00 - 00:15 "Glistening Cascade" 00:15 - 00:47 "Chaos Rush" 00:47 - 1:11 "Loco in the Koto" 1:11 - 1:41 "Hold the Line" 1:41 - 2:05 "Fall from Space" 2:05 - 2:18 "Get Back Up" 2:18 - 3:00 "Chaos Rush Aggression" 3:00 - 3:29 "To All Beginnings, an End" 3:29 - End "And to All Ends, a Beginning"

[@Brackets_Guy]

[@BriannaBreeder]

All I can say is... This is awesome and you are awesome for doing this.

[@UnknownCrazyInsanity]

I got goosebumps listening to this...

[@coleurquiola6759]

This makes me very happy.

[@SebastianReedAndrews]

i see your piano skills haven't faded a single bit, john! :D

[@MorrisTheHorris]

Is the part that begins at 1:12 a motif from another song or is it native to this song?

[@drosteScincid]

***** I think it's native.

[@CamelliaOleifera]

it is actually part of the same song, surprisingly

[@hailzaon2355]

+MorrisTheHorris THE LORD HAS INFORMED US THAT IT ORIGINATES FROM THE THEME "COURSER"

[@seanm9306]

It continues from "Descend" to mirror the fact that [S] Jade: Wake Up picks up from the end of [S] Descend.

[@user-je5mb9yy8n]

+MorrisTheHorris And the last part is from carefree action.

[@TheJeSTeR7530]

You my friend just got the Tiger. All praise the IMBROG1 OF PIANO

[@T0by24]

Manly tears were shed.

[@cravencur]

God damn, you do this song 10x better than I ever could. Your effort shows! Awesome playing~~

[@OaGish]

Oh god I tried to find notes sheet for this song ever since the flash came! I even tried to make my own sheet, but it was wrong in a lot of aspects (Even tough I have Absolute pitch!) So THANK YOU! This may not be the most accurate to the original, but it is GOOD ENOUGH TO ME. Thank you. Seriously, I know how hard you have worked on it.

[@HikariAppleButterFly]

The first part is spot on perfect

[@Makin-]

You win. Forever. The part around 1:00 was a bit WHAT, but it got better!

[@toomuchtime4896]

I've been learning a very similar piano version of this for two weeks now, and every time I watch this video (to take a peek at the fingering), I just get stuck here, because the cover is just too damn good :P

[@Sam.Wendorf]

0:17 to 0:28 are like the best ten seconds of music ever

[@ichi.fication]

I love this cover...always get goose bumps at least 2 or 3 times

[@siliconmonday]

The best cover in Paradox Space

[@ricardobraddock2567]

Got goosebumps, I love music

[@Grahaminlove]

You are the badass. It's you. In all seriousness though, I absolutely adore this. Amazingly well done!

[@alexxsullivan4246]

i cant even express my love for your music. its amazing. incredible work. im absolutely blown away and you need to be proud of that ability. wow

[@TheBlackWatch0]

I'm absolutely in love from 0:18 to 0:38.

[@Ravensh1ne]

very good man

[@wyrmin]

The part you came to 2:08 (Where the trolls shows up in the animation, if I remember it right) , I started to cry OnO Awesome work!

[@AutumnWaterfall]

I am obsessed with this song!!!!!I love it so much! Good job

[@BenStiller-cx2km]

youre great and your channel is awesome. im SO gonna learn this THANKS FOR POSTING THE SHEET MUSIC

[@Yggdraseed]

I recognized the part where the shit hit the fan, in [S] Jade: Enter. O_O God there are so many fabulous pianists in the Homestuck fandom someone help me hold my feelings i have too many

[@MaxWrightComposer]

@IMMAPIGMASK111 Plenty of people have suggested it, so I've actually been working on it - it's a lot more playable than I first thought. So yeah, expect that soon (hopefully)

[@SasuNaruWillNotDie]

on the single note at the endish, where jade falls through the snow, it was two notes instead of the one, and I bet the dude playing was like. DAMMIT. xD AWESOME job!

[@17WhiteShadows]

He has all the skill, ALL OF IT

[@moonmarbles]

Excuse me while I go recover from the amazingness of this... Keep it up! You are an amazing pianist and keep on pushing your skills!

[@redsepher]

I'm so happy I get email notifications from your channel, Saw this the minute it came online. I gotta say, its amazing. I'm trying to tab this song out for guitar, I've got up to 0:39 before shit gets hard :P

[@thylascream]

/PTERODACTYL SCREECH/ HOLY GOG I CAN'T

[@Elipsis21Gaming]

liked for the pterodactyl screech, yes I come after 2 fckn years

[@Brackets_Guy]

@@Elipsis21Gaming

[@Elipsis21Gaming]

@@Brackets_Guy /PTERODACTYL SCREECH/

[@angrynutrients]

Watching this guy play piano makes me almost proud to call him my friend, but not quite yet M, you still need to stop ditching me.

[@Cybiin]

You make this look so easy

[@SleeppaH]

Jegus, man. You're awesome.

[@FwugRadiation]

You're craaaaaaaaaazy.

[@Omnimegas]

You are an amazing genius and I love you.

[@spagetter]

Omg, you play dat soooo awesome. And, damn, your hands are so beatiful.

[@Sam.Wendorf]

This is an absolutely amazing piece. I will have to learn to play piano so I can learn this!

[@logang1228]

bless your soul, sir.

[@sorrelkit123]

This is absolutely fantastic :'D

[@Aresftfun]

That is so awesome. When the interlude of kiddy-sounding came up, that was when I said "Fuck yes".

[@Lexibunnyomg]

You so freaken talented dude!!!!!

[@AlphaKidsPocky]

a. 2 people are jack noir and b. HELLAS PROUD OF DIS THIS LIL PIMP RIGHT HERE!!

[@angelroe]

So sick, dude.

[@yukikija5167]

i love this so much.

[@StaticWhiteRabbit]

You're absolutely amazing! :D

[@patriciananise]

holy crap, this is amazing. You're amazing. laksjdkl seeing this makes me want to play the piano again D:

[@licoricepoison8497]

thanks you for such exiting piano playing. and for notes, of course!

[@17WhiteShadows]

This is SOOO amazing!!! I wish I could play this well, I'm working on Sarabande right now. HOMESTUCK FTW!

[@masterwizardcaptain]

Sir, I commend you greatly.

[@ShaneGDraco]

@KibasLilAngel Bro, I hear you. I just printed this music out today and I've only been able to work through the first page in four hours....... it's probably going to take about eight times that to finish the second page as well XD and then all the others of course. I am impressed with anyone who can play this song half as well as this guy... KUDOS PIANO GUY!!

[@Matozu]

YOU MADE AN UNBEATABLE BOSS IS WHAT YOU DID.

[@PascalvandenBos]

this is amazing

[@highdoppler]

So Damn awesome :D instant fave...

[@KwartzKitten]

This is really good! I wish I knew how to play the piano!

[@Holoogamooga]

@Frotrombone "This was a combination of memory , ear and sheet music (Radiation was kind enough to supply the midi, without it I would never have been able to do the koto solo). " Video description :3

[@phantomsammicheater]

:'D Thank you for being so awesome.

[@camipetite4867]

The feels... I'm so old.

[@TheBlurTweek]

AGAGAHAHGAH YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@midnighttreat3793]

Try in 0.5 speed, It is pure nightmare fuel. You are welcome

[@ashesrockstotaldrama]

So perfect

[@17WhiteShadows]

Great Jegus, he's good!!