Votum stellarum

Votum stellarum

Song Information

Votum stellarum's pop'n music banner.

Votum Stellarum's jacket.

Artist: iconoclasm (dj TAKA/wac)
Composition/Arrangement: iconoclasm
BPM: 136-147
Length: 2:05 (pop'n music, beatmania IIDX), 2:18 (ノスタルジア)
Genre: ANTHEM TRANCE (アンセムトランス)
pop'n music Character: MZD [10]
pop'n CG design: shio
VJ: shio
First Music Game Appearance: pop'n music 10
Other Music Game Appearances:

• beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY
• ノスタルジア FORTE

Lyrics

None.

Song Connections / Remixes

• The EASY and NORMAL charts of Votum stellarum have a noticeably different sounding ending than the HYPER and EX charts in pop'n music.
  • The HYPER/EX version of the song is used in beatmania IIDX.
• An extended version of Votum stellarum appears on the pop'n music 10 AC ♡ CS pop'n music 8 original soundtrack as well as on the beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK.
• A remix of Votum stellarum, titled Votum stellarum -forest #25 RMX-, appears in pop'n music 15 ADVENTURE.
  • A shorter, re-arranged version of aforementioned remix appears in DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA2, titled Votum stellarum -forest #25 DDR RMX-.
• A remix of Votum stellarum by Hommarju, titled Votum stellarum -Hommarju Remix-, appears on dj TAKA's second album, True Blue....
  • A short version of Votum stellarum -Hommarju Remix- later appeared in beatmania IIDX 21 SPADA.
• A slightly different version of Votum stellarum, titled Votum Stellarum and credited to just iconoclasm, appears in ノスタルジア FORTE.
• A sequel to Votum stellarum, titled Vinculum stellarum, appears in pop'n music peace.

Trivia

• Votum stellarum marks the first time in BEMANI that Jun Wakita uses his wac alias in a song's artist listing.
• Votum stellarum marks the first time MZD is given his own unique song as a rival character.
• Votum stellarum's beatmania IIDX video contains the following text:

The wish to the star 
will become 
the song of the star 
and soar above. 
                ――Pray to the star 

Within the first section... 
Monday, he created sound. 
Tuesday, the wave and sonic. 
Wednesday, he separated note and tone, and created a score. 
Thursday, he created music of the sun. 
Friday, he created music of the moon. 
Saturday, he created music of the stars. 
Sunday, he was satisfied, and rested. 

And he blessed these songs and made them holy. 
A man who created the rhythm. 
A man who created the melody. 

And 
People listened to the song 
and loved it deeply 
for the rest of their lives.

• When the text "A man who created the rhythm" is shown in Votum stellarum's video, next to it is displayed a column made of several little screens showing some TAKA's song videos (the DJ TAKA logo from LEADING CYBER is clearly visible).
• Also when the text "A man who created the melody" is shown, the little screens show some wac's song videos (in one is shown the part from moon_child when the boy holds the cat).

• A more realistically drawn version of MZD appears in Votum stellarum's video, along with the well-known footage of TRAN descending the spiral staircase seen in V. These two characters are somewhat mascots from pop'n music and beatmania IIDX, which represent wac and dj TAKA, respectively.
• Votum stellarum is roughly translated as "offering to the stars" in Latin.
• Votum stellarum received an EASY chart on December 12th, 2012 in pop'n music Sunny Park, replacing its old 5-Buttons chart.
• Votum stellarum was one of 30 possible picks for songs for REFLEC BEAT groovin'!! Upper's 7th Set (Users' SELECTION) of the BEMANI MUSIC FOCUS unlocking system. It ranked 6th overall in number of votes.
• Votum Stellarum is the unlock of ノスタルジア FORTE's Version up zen kikan gentei event (バージョンアップ前 期間限定イベント). It is available from July 20th, 2017 by having previously played ノスタルジア five times with an eAMUSEMENT PASS from July 7th to 17th, 2017.
  • In ノスタルジア Op.2, it can be unlocked from February 7th, 2019 as part of the Kaidan (階段) unlocking system.
• Votum stellarum is also used as a hidden BGM song in KONAMI's pachislot game, ROULETTE QUEEN.
• Votum stellarum is unlockable in beatmania IIDX INFINITAS from November 7th, 2018, after purchasing its NORMAL, HYPER, and ANOTHER charts for 4000, 10000, and 5000 BITs respectively.
• Votum Stellarum's Hard chart was re-rated on February 27th, 2019 in ノスタルジア Op.2.

Music Comment

Untranslated.

Song Production Information

beatmania IIDX

dj TAKA

This time my partner is wac.
wac, a fellow musician I talk about ideas with.
And wac, my occasional rival.

On the other hand, I've spent time with wac, eating and not eating.
We've walked back together when one of us didn't have enough fare for the train ride.
We've spent nights together, toasting each other with cans of beer and beating our own chests.

It's been two years since we created "Votum stellarum". Have we looked back much? I wonder if we've just run on ahead this whole time.
No, I don't think we've had the time to look back.
Now that I think of it, we've both come to places we'd never imagined we'd be in.

I wonder why that's the only thing I can think of when I think about this song now?

You could say we're somehow inseparable. It's truly a strange relationship.
I have to say I'm jealous of his talent. Even now, I have deep respect and awe for his music,
Which so superbly blends theory and emotion.

I dare you.
Thank you, my good friend.

(iconoclasm: dj TAKA)

wac

Hmm, this is a little awkward.
Huh, I won't lose! I'll tear you apart!

You probably know this already, but this song was born of pop'n 10's "Wish on the Stars" project.
TAKA chose it among all the songs whose composers wished he'd choose.
I've never said this, but the truth is, around then, I was really hoping, "It'd be nice if he chose the idea for our collaboration". I already had my hands full with my own work at that point!

This is kind of an old story, but there was a time when I'd all but given up on making music and entering the world of games.
This world is already too much for me, and music and games are a nice hobby, but maybe I'd better start studying for my civil service examination ... That's all I could think. I even bought the study books.
TAKA was the one who did his best to convince me otherwise. He scolded me and encouraged me on, and even put our desks together in a row, trying to convince me to pursue the same goal with him.
It's thanks to TAKA that I remembered my dream of making music.
Even my becoming a sound director is probably thanks to TAKA, who walked that path before I did.

So, I figured there was no way he could turn down a request to do a song together.
Even my memories of the time around when we did this song are full of him saving me.
The loans that just kept on piling up. Dang. It's hard to think about.

Direction according to unyielding will and proper judgement. Musical production by extensive musicianship and a natural sense of music. And above all a sense of rhythm and tone.
I'm always staring at the guy who has all of these things I don't and almost drooling from jealousy. Dang. It's hard to think about.

We're junior and senior, equals, contractor and applicant, rivals in music and equipment, and office mates all rolled into one.
And, as usual, we're great friends.

Please play this song in a mood overflowing with that sort of friendship power.
We're iconoclasm. Tear down your icons. Smash, bang.

(iconoclasm: wac)

pop'n music

The wishes we cast to the stars become their voices and fall back down to earth.

wac

Let's see.
I guess I had some favors to ask from TAKA, and a few came up while we were going home on the subway one day. This is how they turned out.
He was supposed to have lots of collaborations with people, but this is one of his first, and somehow it ended up being with me.

Come to think of it, we've known each other for a long time.
Something like, "Yeah, let's do something really moving."

So it's trance, yes? Great, let's talk about my feelings towards trance.
So I've never really listened closely to trance but this time I heard a lot of things for the first time.
I had lots of thoughts like, "Why Ibiza?" "What's the deal with progressive house?", but I'd never really bought any and listened too closely. That's the end of my hot feelings towards trance.

Anyway, I ended up being the one to decide on the chord progression. I ended up tossing over twenty versions of harmonies for the piano to TAKA. Even though I was just playing around with the piano, that's just what I would have expected from TAKA. It really ended up turning out as trance. That's awesome. He ended up being really useful. No, wait.
Well, it's over it's over this is great this is great this is really great~.

... I thought at the end and ended up going a little overboard ... oh well.

So, the time I spent working on this piece actually seemed to go by really fast
And it ended up being full of memories, that's really the power this song has ... I hope.
Especially since life is full of memories of me being a pain to TAKA ... I hope not.

Is it a one-time legend? Will we have this chance again? I don't know what the chances are for this unit, but
Hopefully we'll see you again sometime.

dj TAKA

There were a lot of things about me in the feedback for "Wish on the Stars", but the one that stood out the most ...
"I want to see an orchestral trance fusion song by dj TAKA and wac."<ml> Come to think of it, we've been together for years, back when we were classmates together with our desks in a row;
I don't think I could have ever imagined we'd be together in a situation like this ...

It seems like we've always been good at the things that the other was bad at for a long time, so I wonder if a lot of things were just inevitable. So, we decided we should give it a try.

I started laying rhythms and phrases over the chord progressions wac had determined earlier, and in response to that, wac would come up with piano solos ... and we went on like that, but he came up with so many things I would have never thought of, so I think this was a really good collaborative effort.

It was a lot of fun, and we made something really great, so I'd definitely do this again if we could get the chance.
It'd be great to do this sort of thing with more people in the future, too.

Video Production Information

shio

Nice to meet you. I'm shio, and I usually do art for pop'n.
Since this is a pop'n crossover song, I was able to help out as best I could with my little ability.
A legendary collaboration by the sound directors of both series! Wouldn't it be great if you could play it on both machines at the same time?

This song came out of the "Wish on a Star!" project for pop'n 10.
Without the players' wishes, this song would never have come to this world, but here it is, thanks to the strange chances and probabilities of life.

Since I ended up being in charge of this song due to various circumstances, I wanted to do the type of movie only I could do; I wanted to do a video to kind of bridge the two series.
I wanted to mix the good parts and particular natures of pop'n and IIDX.
Of course, I wanted to do something that would fit well with the two composers' natures.
Since I'm greedy, I wanted to emphasize the best parts of both games.
But, I figured if I emphasized the pop'n part too much, it would step on the cool IIDX image too much ...
So I worried about things like that and eventually settled into something like this.
It fits in with the new songs from HAPPY SKY,
But it's nice that there's something here to make the pop'n players smile, too.

So, it's not quite as grandiose as Genesis,
But this is my own little anthem.
Thanks also to all the IIDX designers who generously gave me such good materials to work with.
It was fun to have a little VJ REMIX sort of movie come out of this project.
Thank you very much!

Character Information

Doesn't it make sense that a DJ would perform the creation that makes him the god of the pop'n world?
This is how the stardust he gathers become new worlds and new life.

shio

I'm so happy that everyone's feelings for pop'n could culminate in this sort of a wish on the stars.
Everybody's wishes were like the stars in the sky that you just can't count, and the song that came out of it is almost divinely beautiful. I really don't know what to say, it would be nice if that sort of gratitude could help me convey these shining feelings.

This may be the first time I've mentioned this, but MZD is based on the nice fellow who worked hard as a first-generation designer for pop'n. That's why he's god. When you stop to think that the little specks that had gathered around him have all turned into an enormous pop'n world, it's really amazing and beautiful, isn't it?

They all started out as small pieces, but when assembled, they become a great star. I tried to make a movie-like animation out of that idea.

Staff Comments

tera

I heard some ideas on what "anthem" means from both of them.
They grinned a lot, but they never told me anything. What ... what is it with you people?

TAMA

Hmm, TAKAWAC ... I like the sound of that.

masaru

Trance and a mysterious melody ... it's irresistable.

Komori

So this is what you get when you combine TAKA and wac. Hmm, only MZD would be fitting.

Seiya Murai

It feels like someone went "How about this!" and took a giant swing to send it out flying into outer space!

mikoshiba

Hm, let's have a recital of dream idols, eh? It's just so great.

shio

Hyaa. It's surprisingly serious. It's kind of sudden, but it's nice. We can do it special just for this time. It's good for a co-starring event of sound directors. Best friends are great.
It's full of the vastness of space and almost absent piano playing. You should listen to it with headphones. If you haven't bought the soundtrack yet, you should go buy it. Hm, this song is a little longer on the soundtrack, isn't it?

KAKKI

It's music for the ascension of a god! Feathers are falling down from the sky.

Difficulty & Notecounts

beatmania IIDX difficulty rated from 1 to 12.
pop'n music difficulty rated from 1 to 43 through pop'n music 20 fantasia, and 1 to 50 from Sunny Park onwards.
ポップンリズミン difficulty rated from 1 to 10. (Ratings and notecounts obtained from BEMANIWiki 2nd.)

beatmania IIDX

Game	SP Difficulty					DP Difficulty
	BEGINNER	NORMAL	HYPER	ANOTHER	LEGGENDARIA	NORMAL	HYPER	ANOTHER	LEGGENDARIA
Notecounts	170	413	857	1017	-	413	965	-	-
beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY	-	4	9	10	-	4	10	-	-
beatmania IIDX 13 DistorteD→Present	-	4	9	10	-	4	↑11	-	-
beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY CS	2	4	9	10	-	4	11	-	-
beatmania IIDX INFINITAS	-	4	9	10	-	4	11	-	-

pop'n music

Game	Normal Mode				Battle Mode		PSP Exclusive
	EASY	NORMAL	HYPER	EX	NORMAL	HYPER	5B HYPER	7-Buttons	7B HYPER
Notecounts	381	512	872	969	534	766	541	486	766
pop'n music 10→14 FEVER!	19	22	35	39	26	38	-	-	-
pop'n music 15 ADVENTURE→20 fantasia	19	↑23	35	39	26	38	-	-	-
pop'n music Sunny Park→Present	※13	29	41	45	26	38	-	-	-
pop'n music 10 CS	19	22	35	39	26	38	-	-	-
pop'n music 11 CS	19	22	35	39	26	38	-	-	-
pop'n music portable 2 DLC	19	23	35	39	-	-	24	21	33

※ The notecount of this chart is different from the old 5-Buttons chart (total notes: 180).

ノスタルジア

Game	Level
	Normal	Hard	Expert	Real
Notecounts	407	929	1312	-
ノスタルジア FORTE	5	9	12	-
ノスタルジア Op.2→Present	5	↓8	12	-