ReMix: Chrono Trigger 'To Far Away Timescapes'

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Chrono Trigger

Dj StarChild's second ReMix is very different from his initial Zelda 64 offering, and I would venture to say that it's a definite improvement as well. With a more refined feeling that has less of a 'default Fruityloops' feel to it, StarChild's take on this track from Chrono Trigger is some dramatic, sweeping light techno. Starting with piano on melody and (uniquely) bass and a ride cymbal, a cool snare pattern intros into the more established drum track. However, and this is key: the drums are minimalistic and never get in the way. They never even borderline on overkill and are always tasteful, subtle, and varied, which is incredibly important on a mix like this. The floaty, light feeling of the mix is enhanced because of this, which seems to be the feel StarChild was going for. Extensive usage of delay (which always makes for the easy "let the delay fade out" ending that I'm guilty of myself and which works nicely here) also makes the arrangement seem lighter than air. Some of the key changes are a bit odd and do break this feeling to a degree, but they also prevent the mix from becoming too monochrome in its tone colors. I dig it - light, relatively simple new age with a beat, but no element seems out of place and the flow works well.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 12 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
It's definitely not up to 2009 standards at this point, but I somehow found myself craving this mix out of no where. It's part of OCR history as an early CT remix, methinks.

- metaphist on October 2, 2009
I remember this...and it really hasn't passed the test of time. The samples are quite rough, and production in general. What sticks out greatly is that the arrangement doesn't expand on the various parts of the melody very well - it just speeds on to each part of the original song. I would rather listen to the original in that instance, as this mix doesn't add much.

- Bahamut on September 15, 2009
First off about the comments concerning the abundance of Zeal remixes, and yes I know that those comments were a few years ago. I don't know why there is so much complaining about too many remixes of a certain song, the ones that became OCRemixes are all well done so whether or not there are a lot of them or not doesn't take away from the quality of any individual mix. If someone really wants to complain then he/she should make a remix of a lesser known or at least lesser remixed track him/herself. Better yet, OC should come up with a contest to find the best remix from a source that has not been remixed often or has not been remixed at all. If it become a success then it could become a yearly tradition and then lesser known songs will get the time to shine.

Sorry for the off topic comments, on to the remix. This source is one of my top 5 favorites from CT and this remix puts a good spin on the song that speeds up the track, gives it a whole new feel, but most importantly keeps that original emotion that the song create the first time that you hear it at the end of the game. There isn't too much to critique on this song other than faithfulness to the source, which I will continue to repeat in other posts IS NOT A BAD THING. The only other thing is that the beat become a little repetitive after a while but other than that it's a great remix.

- Evil_Cronos on January 5, 2009
I'm not too crazy about this one. There is little melodic variation, and not much in the way of changing sections around, either. Some parts repeat again, or somewhat ubruptly change to a new part, but nothing feels like it flows like it should. The chord changes don't always work, either, which is another detracting factor.
The soundscape is decent, though the drums get a bit intrustive at the end which others mentioned. The feeling overall is light which works well, but with the tempo and the drums, I would venture to say it feels rushed as well, which doesn't sit with me well.
Not my favorite mix, but it has some goodthings going for it.

- DragonAvenger on October 27, 2008
I'm pretty torn on this mix. The good is how the sections are mixed up, making each new section a surprise as to what it'll be next. The drums are effective, if a bit treble heavy, and the source is easily my favorite track from Chrono Trigger.
The bad, however is that besides the added drums and rearranged/repeated sections, the only thing keeping this from being a high quality midi rip is the fact that random chords throughout are randomly changed. The new chord often doesnt support the melody or harmony in any real way, and just ends up sounding confused.
Decent but not awesome.

- OA on January 15, 2007
This remix is alright. I thought the drums were slightly intrusive on the actually melody though. This happens especially in the ending because maybe a the drums should be backed up instead of being left off to the end. It's some good work though, the melody was actually somewhat different from the original, unlike some other remixes. 8)

- Robotaki on September 29, 2005
....zeal is just a fucking boring song.

- Aetherius on September 27, 2005
orkybash wrote:
Funny how people complain about the Zeal theme being done to the death, yet keep quiet when another Far Away Times remix comes along.

You clearly don´t realize the width of our problem with Zeal here. Right now we have 3 TFAT with this one included, and 10 Zeal. THAT is why we don´t fuzz about this one.
However, the TFAT is by surely the best CT song, and this remix did it in it´s style. He did some changes with the order of the parts and added alot of drumbeats, and that´s cool, but the original sounded a little better I think, this one didn´t fully break out of it, sounds almost just the same.
But anyway, THANK YOU for remixing somethin else than Zeal. It´s great stuff, just few changes.

- Bummerdude on September 27, 2005
the original was a work of genius
and i fell in love with it when i played CT
this is a great remix of the original
altho it is closer to the original than "Times of Distortion"
i think it has a distinct aura surrounding it that separates it from the original work.
the drums could have backed off a bit at the end tho
found them to be a bit annoying
but overall
great job

- thebishounen on November 1, 2003
TFAT (AKA Outskirts of Time) is such a good song, with such a unique style, that it's hard to make a remix sound like anything but a clone. This one, and Thumper's Times of Distortion, distinguish themselves very nicely. But what I like about Starchild's version is that it matches the light, celebratory, relaxing mood of the original song...[b]without[/b] being a clone. It's as close as you can get to the original number without cloning it, while still adding in your individual touch of genius. The two Outskirts of Time tracks are two of my favorite songs on OCR.

- Ingonyama on March 22, 2003
:( I thought mine was the first TFAT remix (fear the abbreviation of doom) Oh well...And yeah...the skips are just your computer.

- Aetherius on June 10, 2002
Chrono Trigger 'To Far Away Timescapes'
Funny how people complain about the Zeal theme being done to the death, yet keep quiet when another Far Away Times remix comes along. This one's good, though it's not as creative as it could have been. Too many Far Away times mixes, including this one, just follow the original exactly - why not change it up some? Also, is it just my computer, or are there *major* skips here? Probably just my computer... *heads off to run scandisk...*

- orkybash on May 26, 2002

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