ReMix: Tales of Symphonia 'Pixelated Tales'

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Tales of Symphonia

And of course, before Echoes, there was Summoning of Spirits. This track from newcomer Showroom Dummy, aka Ralf Schneider, was actually a bonus track on the already-huge album; it's peppy, happy, synth-packed sugary fun, very similar to an Erasure song, sans vocals. I'm a huge Vince Clarke fan, so this is a big compliment in my book; Mr. Dummy writes:

"Well I decided I should remix this song, but I should make it a challenge too, so I limited myself to create all the sounds in this song using only raw squarewaves. Of course, I applied all sorts of effects and stuff to them, and in the end, it turned out to be very fun and I really enjoy the results. Even some of the drums are made out of a raw squarewave. (also, no drumloops)

I did this in some kind of electro/8-bit style, with a heavy influence from my favorite electronic music band EVER: Kraftwerk. The nods are very apparent in there, but I also borrowed elements from some of my favorite old school electro producers, like Model 500.

Anyways enough with the explanations, just enjoy this little voyage into old school sounds... I made this mix for PRC, it was very well recieved inside and outside of it, hope you like it."

I certainly do; it's uplifting, pleasant, and generally buoyant. Ralf got a LOT of mileage out of squarewaves, I'll say that much... just imagine what he could with some triangles and saws thrown in. What I especially dig is the little touches that avoid things ever feeling like they're on autopilot - the intro and outro are both excellent, but also check the little chromatic-carnival transition riff at 1'49"; my type of stuff! The more I listen to this mix, the more I appreciate what the artist has done, packing a lot of detail and programming into a sugary, synth-pop package. Vinnie writes:

"Apart from the 3:25 section, honestly, I didn't hear that much Kraftwerk influence! It's very full, something you don't hear in Kraftwerk. It sounds more like the bands that were inspired by them. Not that any of that matters, I liked this a lot. You got great mileage out of the squarewave, tweaking it with distortion, envelopes, and effects. It's easy to hear the original in this, but there's a lot of you in it too. Very good work, though the ending would have been better as a fadeout at 3:57."

I agree on the inspiration thing - I'm not hearing that much Kraftwerk - but I disagree on the ending: I think that when you're doing synth-pop, which has this tendency to merrily plod along without a care in the world, it's important to include these little unorthodox, unexpected elements, and I love the ending because it breaks form and does exactly that. To repeat myself, it again feels VERY Vince Clarke to me - it's exactly the same type of pleasantly-major-key-but-with-intelligent-variation type of electronica he produces, so I'd recommend anyone who digs this mix (as I do) check out Erasure as well. Great stuff from Showroom Dummy, who I really hope to hear more from in the future!

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 10 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I love this a lot. I keep on thinking Halc made this when i listen to this other then that i think this is fantastic to listen.

- metalsnakejuice on November 20, 2009
Oh so bubbly, I'm liking this. You can hear the amount of detail that was put into this, and the result is all the better for it. I love that the song even sounds like a bunch of pixels, and it's not easy to achieve an almost visual out of a piece of music.
Ending doesn't suit my tastes, but Showroom Dummy has his reasons for it, so I won't fault his creative choice. Nice work.

- DragonAvenger on November 11, 2009
Good job Showroom. Can't put my finger on it, but I get a Sonic The Hedgehog Vibe in this ReMix. That's right, Sonic 3D Blast is what I'm feeling in here, but a heck of a lot better. Kudos.

- Pachi Risu on November 10, 2009
Crazy cool intro, and then some really nicely texture chippiness, i like how the rhythms switch up occasionally from being straight ahead to a bit syncopated. Nice and cheery stuff as well.
Lots of smiles from this one; thanks, Showroom Dummy! :-) :-) :-)

- OA on November 10, 2009
Thank all for the comments.
About the influences for this one, I started to make a basic, kraftwerk-like electro song at the beginning of my mixing, hence the basic bassline and spacey and pitch-change effects. As I worked on this, I want to turn it into something more happy and fuller sounding, like old school dance electro and for that I used model 500, I-F and others as a reference.
In the end it ended up sounding more full than a kraftwerk song but less dancey than old school danceclub electro like, so I decided to add an ending that was true to my kraftwerk inspiration.
Sorry if all that sounds confusing!
Many people didn't like the ending, but I'm happy they liked the rest of song :). Thank you very much all.
And no my last name isnt Schneider, but my name is Ralf ^_^. Sorry for the bad english!

- Showroom Dummy on November 8, 2009
I really have been looking forward to seeing this posted. I don't know why it didn't make it onto SoS as a main track, I think it was just as good, if not better, than a lot of the ones on there.
You've got a very bubbly, sugary-sweet atmosphere going on that makes me smile, and I can't help but hum along to that bassline whenever I listen. So good! :-D

- Emunator on November 8, 2009
Strange, I don't really recognize the source off the bat - perhaps I forgot it since it has been a while.
This really has a happy sound to it - for some reason though, I feel like this song could've taken things further and just was too short. I would've liked to see some more development like the tail part of this mix, as it was promising more to the song and then it just ends.

- Bahamut on November 7, 2009
This is great! For some odd reason, these sounds remind me of Synth1. I do like the lead there and how the rhode chords play off each other. The synth textures are pretty cool, and also like the little Primo style break between 2:45 and 2:55. Although this form of electronica is not my type, the way this is composed and the use of synthwork is amazing. I wouldn't recommend having the treble all the way up when listening to it as the synth-lines would mash up alot, but all in all, quite decent.

8/10

- A-RoN on November 7, 2009
Nice, I remember this from [URL="http://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC119"]PRC119[/URL]; It was the first PRC round I had ever entered. I stand by what I said in the vote reasoning as well:
Showroom Dummy's track is good music, period, and the fact that it remixes a tune is practically coincidental.

Heh.

- just64helpin on November 7, 2009
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

- djpretzel on November 7, 2009

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