OCR00975 - Final Fantasy IX 'Black Magic Synthesis'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[Dj Orange]

Heh heh... I found this one on the VGMix forums quite a while ago, and I thought "If this never shows up on the OC Remix home page, I'm going to be highly dissapointed!" Well, here it is. w00t!

As DJP mentioned, the lead for this song is perfect. I love how it contrasts the general garishness of the techno elements.

My favorite part of the song is the choir segment at 2:30 - a brief foray into unadultered orchestral that really adds volumes to the overall quality of the mix.

'Tis very innovative, to boot. This is the most refreshing thing to happen to the Final Fantasy remix stash since "CidintheFactory-Gaffeizel".

[Kamikaze Noodle]

Oh my, oh my God the effects! There's so many! This is really good. Being an effects lover like I am (after all, that's the one thing electronic music has that other styles don't) I couldn't help but love repeated listens. A very good listen.

[Liontamer]

I thought this was great when 'Maniac let me check it out as a WIP, and the finished product is even tighter, so congratulations on SysteManiac getting his second mix accepted and posted up. If it had been on the main page maybe 30 minutes earlier, around 2 AM as opposed to 2:30 AM, I could have congratulated 'Maniac right over the phone while he called into my radio show, but I hope this here's a close substitute. Dat's sum :nicework:. In no time, "Belmont Lounge" should be on the horizon.

[wethamster]

.......... im speachless this is the best remix of FF9 ive heard thus far. hehe, i love the old school sound to it, and the clatu verata victo, that was taken from the evil dead movie rox, all they needed is they .......... uhhmm *cough cough cough * line in there, ive only seen the third movie unfortunatly,

this one is going directly into my playlist.

[Shhteve]

The very beginning caught me by suprise, but I have to say I love this remix, and I agree with the person above. This IS the best FF9 remix I've heard on OCR so far, and I love the oldschool sound as well. It brings back some fond memories of FF9 and the older FFs in the series. I also love how the song stays true to the original. *Sigh* Don't you just love nostalgia? Anyway, really great stuff here.. I'd recommend it to anyone! :wink:

[ChA0S'-ReIgN]

Theres only a few choice words that can go along with this remix, Breathtaking, Outstanding, Perfect. If music exactly like this was placed in the final fantasy IX game, Sales would have jumped at least 100,000 of more units sold. SysteManiac your giving Mr Uematsu a run for his money. Keep up the good work

[Hostile Rabbi]

Great piece, this is.

I love how SysteManiac takes the original theme and interprets it in many different ways.

10/10

[The_Clover]

In the seconds of hearing this song I was hooked. I'm not even done fully listening to it and I love it. I always thought the original black mage village song wasn't that bad considering the mood, but I love the spin SysteManiac put on it. :D

at 2:31, I love how the music goes orchestral with the voices, piano and bells and just goes straight back into that industrial feel.

The multiple themes are always great. as has been noted with such songs Knights Come Marching Home and the like, if the right remixer comes along, a multiple theme remix is always a treat for the ears.

4:13 is also a treat. The entire song is amazing. THe sound clips coulda probably been left outta this song, but its musical creativity. Every artist has to have something like that I guess.

But I just agree, this is my favorite FF9 remix on this site and probably one of my top list favorites from this site. Props to Sytematic for this fantastic remix.

This song doesn't just kick ass. It blows it away, Hadoken style y0!

[danny B]

The multiple themes are always great. as has been noted with such songs Knights Come Marching Home and the like, if the right remixer comes along, a multiple theme remix is always a treat for the ears.

It's not a medley, it's just the Black Mage Village song. I did a lot of reconstruction on the chord structure, but yea, it's all still the same song :).

Thanks for all the comments y'all. When I redo this one down the road, i'll be sure to take out the voice clips. Well, most of them, anyway ;).

-SM

[Ronyn]

"This is the greatest thing you eve...r..eh..blick...ah...derg.... I'm buying you a pizza!" - Strong Bad

[The_Clover]

Hmmm, musta been my ears playing tricks on me then.

I coulda sworn I heard that same tune from when Vivi was in Alexandria at the beginning of the game.

Then again, I have only listened to it once so far. :lol:
Speaking of which, I must be off to listen to it again. I'm sure for the next few days this tune will be listened to dozens of dozens of times.

[danny B]

Well, actually, one of my favorite things about Final Fantasy IX was Uematsu's use of character themes. Vivi's theme is pretty much the same as Black Mage Village, and for good reason. It provides a musical bridge between Vivi and his brethren. If you listen to them both, Vivi's changes up at the end of the main melody. But yea, I based this off of a midi I made of Black Mage Village a few years ago. A self-contained midi-rip, if you will ;).

-SM

[Vagus]

Hmm, interesting. This could be called a massive bombardment of noises as much as a song. But SysteManiac is still able to churn out a melody out of all the different sounds and effects.

Worth a listen.

[sgx]

There's a lot of creativity in this thang. Very inventive use of pretty much everything. You can tell a lot of time was spent polishing this. I didn't like the Klaatu Verada Nicto samples, however. I have mixed feelings on the amount of volume cut effects used. Sometimes it just seems overboard and like you're showing off, but then again, I really like messing shit up like that and it goes with the overall theme I think. Those wacky effects (was that some foldback distortion) at the end were really cool! Rar. Nice job.

[A-RoN]

Wow!!! This mix is both nasty and over the top. Looks like AE has some competition here! I'm not sure if SysteManiac will win against AE (if they even battle), but I know he'll put up a good fight for sure. I love the amount of effects used very good use of flam and distortion. The huge bassy beat and snare really stick out. I love it!! I also like the classical bit with the choir. It gives us a break from the monotony. By the way, at 2'57" was that the original Nintendo's bass sample used in the back? It sounds good.

And yes, the samples weren't a fav, but I got over it.

8/10 :) If you are a huge fan of Vivi, and love his theme song, download this or miss out on a great mixture.

[xamgis]

Wow man... this is one great tune... I thought the "Klaatu Barada Nikto" samples from The Day the Earth Stood Still were an especially nice touch... every direction that the song went in was done so well... and the ending is one of the most unique and coolest I think I've heard on OCReMix...

Great job!

[Mongoosedog]

Wow, if not for the "Klaatu Verada Nicto" part, this would have been one of my favorite remixes. I was really getting into it when those words broke my focus and the rest of the song was lost to me...

[danny B]

By the way, at 2'57" was that the original Nintendo's bass sample used in the back? It sounds good.

Nice. ;)

[Elex Synn]

Ick.. I don't really like how this is put together.... *Shrugs* that's just me though.

[engelus]

I'm glad i requested this. i had the opportunity to hear the newest version at every stage of its development. I hope some of my feedback helped to make this what it is now.

SysteManiac is deffinitely one of my favorite remixers on this site. he has some others that hes worked on and hasnt submitted yet....im sure they will get posted as soon as djp hears them.

awsome song. i love the direction he took it. its a veritable splatteration of audible ecclectiosity!

[Old Omen]

Ooh! I like the main melody - from the other reviews, I'm guessing it's Vivi's theme. Reminds me of Conquest of Paradise: 1492 by Vangelis. Harmonic minor = mad propz. ;)

Noisy industrial, but lots of interesting, complex effects. I love the bass at 0:16 and would have liked to see more of it. A lot of effort was obviously put into it. Not quite my cup of tea - I prefer more anthemic pieces - but the melodic parts were the shizz. :nicework:

[SPACE-COWBOY]

this is real artwork. what is added to the original track perfectly matches it, as well as the variation of the mood from industrial to ambient. even if you're on a 14.4K modem, this is worth the download.

[alexia_dark]

Wow. Just sheer wow. Took me 15 minutes to download this on dial-up and my jaw hit the floor when I began to listen. I was pulled in immediately with the remixed original song ... then blown away by the sudden spiralling and booming effects and shoved back in as the song begins again!

Heck, I put two other songs on my win amp, began to listen to them, selected all and deleted, and put this one BACK on for a third shot! And then I put it on repeat!! I check the time not to see how much of it is over, but to see how much is left to savor and then let the repeat continue.

*Bows to the remixer* Nice.

And I love the voices. They were a surprise that brings me back to the music when my mind wanders while crunching HTML. :D

[A-RoN]

this is real artwork. what is added to the original track perfectly matches it, as well as the variation of the mood from industrial to ambient.

The melody is nowhere as close to the original track. It's better!!!

[Nines]

I really like the percussion and bass in this one. It reminds me a lot of Front Line Assembly, especially with all the sharp gating effects. The rest of the peice though, seemed a little dull and "blippy" to me. It could have used more depth and dynamics, like the percussion has.

[Berrik]

To be honest, when I first downloaded this, I only listened to the first 30 seconds or so and I didn't really like it that much. But after I downloaded a couple of other remixes I decided I'd go back to this and listen to the whole thing and actually give it a chance. ;)

I think it's that I didn't actually pick up on the Black Mage Village music being in the first part the first time I listened that I didn't really get the title.. but when I listened more carefully I could hear it in there, and my opinion totally changed. BMV was one of my favourite tracks in FF9, and the more I listen to this remix, the more I appreciate and like it. Nice one. :D

[DarkPrimus]

One nitpick: The line "Klatuu Nitktoo Verada" is actually from Army of Darkness, not The Evil Dead. :P

As for the remix, only one word I can think of can aptly describe it. One, appropriately, made famous from The Evil Dead movies. "Groovy."

[fetusboy]

The sample is from the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" it came from the "spaceman" telling the woman "If anything should happen to me, repeat these words to Gort." Even though I don't like how the samples are morphed etc. This mix is really good. Vivi's the fav of Final Fantasy 9. My sister also thinks he's cute. Anyway excellent remix loud buzzes, and killer industrial kits. This puppy's a keeper.

[Dragonblade]

The Black Mage village theme from FF9 was a neat little ditty to begin with, but this mix turned into a cool, if not unique, remix. I'm impressed. :wink:

[Sam Ascher-Weiss]

AWESOME JUST AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

[Platinus]

This song rules considerable FACE. Ive always loved the blackmage theme. You've just reinforced it with STEEL. This song is unbreakable. Whicked sweet.

[Bummerdude]

I pretty much agrees with pretzel, this is plenty much of everything. And that orchestral part was sweet. For the rest, yeah, that was more industrial onfluenced techno and trance, tons of beats and synths swirlin around, created a very chaotic atmosphere to this mix. There may be an another track to it, around 4:20 there´s something new, but that may also quite be Daniel mixing some of his own music to fill it out some more.
Overall, nice done, liked those synths.
And by the way, it´s not Vivi´s theme, it´s Black Mage Village.

[Lone]

lawlz for extremely late reviews. But I had to review this one...I just now sucked up all of Dan's remixes since...that's how I function when I hear one thing I like...and whoof. This one was fantastic. The random cuts and percussion bitch-slaps are among my favorite remixing qualities (when executed well as in this case)...and at 4:35, when that synth orchestra progression comes in, it was very Rob Douganesque and that immediately makes me squeal like a little school girl and hit Rewind a good five times. Highly recommend this one if you like long mixes with a damn good variety of elements.

[evktalo]

It's fun to see Shnabubula give some love to this track, as the production definitely reminded me of his tracks. While this isn't as wild as those in the rhythm and melodic and harmonic reinterpretation.. and stuff.. the production wildness is definitely up to par.

Great source (I'm playing the game at the moment..), and the industrial treatment fits it very well! The actual melody is quite buried much of the time, but it's audible. Many of the synth textures are quite gorgeous (esp. with the reverb).

I'm not overly fond of the vocal snippets, I think they're mixed surprisingly up front. They don't feel "pasted on" but somewhat underworked. The piece also feels a little on the long side, but not overtly so. Good track!

--Eino

[JaDE ARaN HaRuNo]

I was looking at the list of FFIX remixes today and saw an error on the OCR page. This song is "Black Mage Village", not "Vivi's Theme." I know some have already mentioned it, but it hasn't been corrected yet...

[Sir_Downunder]

8-O... This does have beat slices up the wazoo.

That amount of effect in this nearly staggering. Danny really went above and beyond with this one, especially with the synths. I love how it suddenly went quiet with the choir and piano and then, BOOM! Right back into it

The "Klaatu Verada Nicto" caught me off guard as they just popped out of nowhere. They don't quite part of the track for some reason, they're just....... well, there.

But it doesn't subtract from the fact that this mix is ten kinds of awesome! :grin:

[Dubanubiel]

This song has done three things for me. #1 Solidified my addiction to OCR along with Project Chaos #2 Grew my love for the character of Vivi #3 Blew the front speakers in my Neon. The first two are awesome. Losing sound in the front of my car isn't so great. The amount of layering, filtering, and effects is staggering to say the least. I love heavily layered and tweaked music, and Baranowsky caters to that love with this song. Those beat cuts are killer. Literally.

[OA]

Pretty great beats, that was the strong point here- a lot of interesting sections. the sound clips were a bit meh, but between those ninja-sliced beats, and the cool synths, I was doing just fine.

Nice breakdown of piano and choir, and though the track went well over 6 min, it was varied enough to always be interesting.