music/complete_tracks/cards/HF_MT_05_BOSS_APEX.json
{
"card_id": "HF_MT_05_BOSS_APEX",
"cue_role": "boss_apex_tier",
"cue_class": "combat_multiphase",
"working_title": "The Ceiling",
"chapters_served": [
"CH_08",
"CH_13"
],
"target_duration_s": 240,
"loop_class": "multiphase_linear_with_loop_tails",
"in_game_loop_span_s": 60,
"short_loop_justification": "Each phase holds at a composed 60 s loop tail while the fight lasts, then the score advances on the boss's phase change rather than on a timer. LOOP-01's combat band governs the TAIL, not the track; the track is the linear multiphase object the tails are cut from.",
"bpm": 176,
"tempo_band": "T7_very_fast",
"key": "D minor",
"modal_colour": "Aeolian opening, Phrygian at phase 2, Picardy major at the last bar only",
"instrumentation_family": "full_orchestra_and_choir",
"instrumentation": [
"full brass",
"full strings divisi",
"full winds",
"timpani + bass drum + tam-tam",
"SATB choir (vowels only, no text)",
"organ pedal"
],
"voice_count_target": 18,
"energy_class": "E16_apocalyptic",
"dynamic_range_target_db": 30,
"total_bars": 176,
"form": [
{
"label": "phase_1_A",
"bars": 24,
"function": "strings ostinato at speed, choir on a single vowel, brass silent"
},
{
"label": "phase_1_B",
"bars": 24,
"function": "brass enters; the protagonist head fragmented against the boss head"
},
{
"label": "transition_1",
"bars": 8,
"function": "composed drop to a single timpani roll"
},
{
"label": "phase_2_A",
"bars": 24,
"function": "Phrygian; choir splits into two rhythmic groups"
},
{
"label": "phase_2_B",
"bars": 24,
"function": "the two heads sound simultaneously for the first time in the score"
},
{
"label": "transition_2",
"bars": 8,
"function": "everything stops; four bars of silence written into the score"
},
{
"label": "phase_3",
"bars": 32,
"function": "the whole orchestra; the head augmented to four times its written length"
},
{
"label": "resolution",
"bars": 24,
"function": "the material liquidates -- fragments shorten until only the head cell is left"
},
{
"label": "coda",
"bars": 8,
"function": "one Picardy major chord, unaccompanied choir, no cadence figure"
}
],
"motif_stated": [
"PROTAGONIST_THEME"
],
"motif_developed": [
"FAM_THE_DEEP_WATER",
"FAM_THE_OTHER_SELF"
],
"motif_operation": "simultaneous statement (the one combination reserved for an apex), then liquidation",
"distinct_motifs": 5,
"anti_tiling": "Nine named sections, no two with the same instrumentation. Four bars of composed SILENCE at transition_2 -- the one thing the shipped cohort never does.",
"laws": [
"KONDO FORM-01",
"KONDO FORM-02",
"SNES LOOP-03",
"SNES AFF-06",
"SNES LEIT-07",
"EARWORM R7"
],
"canon_refs": [
"T0_Chapter_Index.intensity = peak (CH_08, CH_13)",
"docs/proposals/music/LEITMOTIF_ARCHITECTURE.md section 2"
],
"care_notes": "Choir sings vowels only. No liturgical, ceremonial or sacred text of any tradition is set, quoted or invented for this cue.",
"substrate_confidence": "full",
"reveal_gate": "NONE",
"interactive_hook": "Phase transitions are player-driven, not timed: transition_1 and transition_2 fire on the boss phase change and the score waits at a held bar until they do.",
"region": null,
"region_page": null,
"_doc": "A per-track IDENTITY CARD. It says what the track IS on the axes a listener hears in the first four seconds, so that no two tracks in the roster read as the same track. Consumed by the composition lane; scored against build/audio/complete_tracks/SAMENESS_BASELINE.md.",
"_emitter": "harness/music_gen/emit_identity_cards.py",
"_ruling_served": "Josh 2026-08-05 -- 12 to 20 complete tracks with real orchestral complexity, not one 30-second texture fifteen times.",
"tempo_band_range_bpm": [
173,
220
],
"instrumentation_family_meaning": "tutti orchestra with a sung choir as a structural voice, not a pad.",
"energy_class_meaning": "everything at once; the ceiling of the score's dynamic range.",
"time_signature": "4/4",
"beats_per_bar_quarter_equivalents": 4,
"bar_seconds": 1.3636,
"_duration_is_derived": "total_bars x beats_per_bar x 60 / bpm -- not hand-declared",
"target_duration_mmss": "4:00",
"form_summary": "phase_1_A(24) - phase_1_B(24) - transition_1(8) - phase_2_A(24) - phase_2_B(24) - transition_2(8) - phase_3(32) - resolution(24) - coda(8)",
"section_count": 9,
"loop_point_cadence": "weakened -- half cadence or a bVII substitution, never a perfect authentic cadence (KONDO PHRASE-05, the anti-fatigue law)",
"stack_coverage": {
"current_stack": "sfizz 1.2.3 + VSCO2-CE + VCSL (23 instruments, CC0; CPU render)",
"renderable_today": false,
"missing_classes": [
"choir / solo voice",
"orchestral percussion and full brass (trumpet, tuba)"
],
"sourcing_action": "Wave-two entry condition: extend the sfz stack with CC0 / public-domain percussion, choir and period sample sets, recorded in docs/licence_records/ with the same hash discipline as the landed stack. No sample from any set is ever a conditioning, fine-tune or LoRA input to any generator.",
"honest_note": "The shipped cohort's 'one instrument set' is PARTLY a stack constraint: the landed 23 instruments contain no percussion, no choir, no trumpet, no tuba and no period instrument. A card that names them is naming what has to be acquired, not claiming it exists."
},
"order": 5
}