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I have been summoned! Honestly, I'm glad I was because my original review was weak sauce. I couldn't really tell you the differences between this version and the one I heard originally, so this is basically a fresh review. In my quest to review as many OCremixes as I can, I found myself defaulting to giving a positive review to each and every review. I know how much of a difference even a small review or comment can make, and I wanted to be that positive force that encouraged others to make music! However, I have a very long and personal relationship with the FF8 soundtrack. And the Extreme is one of my favorite boss themes of all time. It is a soundtrack I am deeply familiar with and I'll be completely honest, I am not a fan of this remix. My original review was glib because I didn't say what I wanted to say. So my apologies to you for not leaving a genuine review. You are going to get one now though, definitely the longest review I've ever done on this site! (So far). I will try to be as constructive as I can with this review, and keep in mind this is all subjective opinion. I very much applaud and appreciate what you've done here and the clear care and passion you put into this. I'll start with what I enjoy. The transition to the spoken work/rap section from 6:00 to 6:24 was my favorite part of the track, those wood blocks were FIRE. The rap section and the spoken word bits in general were very cool. The intro soundscape was very enjoyable, specifically the first 30 seconds. and the usage of the FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC source was very well done. On to my criticisms. My first one is the pacing of the remix. In my original review I mentioned that it uses the time well. Upon further review, I do not think that is not the case. Even though I think the intro is very cool, 3 minutes to ramp up into the energetic portion of the song is way too long, it could have been it's own remix and would have been great but in the context of a single remix it overstays its' welcome. I think a good minute could have been cut from the intro. Even though I enjoyed the rap section, it was way too short and felt very out of place, it really felt like it should be its' own remix as well. The long length of this remix doesn't really give me a good chance to latch onto anything in particular and kind of causes the whole remix to wash over you like a fog. My second criticism from a musical standpoint is that in the "Tension and Release" aspect of music, there was too much tension and not enough release. To start, after the song-length intro. We get to some energetic stuff starting at 2:52. That part was very cool, like many of the transitions in this remix. The rhythmic chanting voices, that super cool Buzzy bass.... the strings that come in at 2:58 were weak, but not a deal-breaker... but then it just kind of... shifts to 3:04 - 3:15. After all that build up and a cool transition it just kind of flops. I felt musically blue-balled, and it wouldn't be the last time. My favorite part of the original source is that epic climatic section that dives right into the somber piano/harp. It kind of encapsulates everything that makes the Extreme such a good boss music and a great representative of Ultimicia. However in this remix, I didn't get any of that. I felt like I got played at 5:04 and 5:26 and once again at 8:34. From a creative standpoint, I appreciate the subversion of the expectation, but as an enjoyer of the source, it felt incredibly unsatisfying. Production is a bit off as well. Everything felt kind of flimsy. Some of the lead synth instruments really needed some protein. (Especially that lead that comes in at 3:58.) The drums barely had any presence (Especially the snares) and tended to be very repetitive. The end result is that a lot of this remix doesn't really pack any sort of punch. Again, I hope this review doesn't discourage you. There are things I liked about this remix and would probably like more if this remix was chopped up into more cohesive regular sized remixes. Keep making cool music! 😄

That 4 note repeating pattern is very ear-wormy. The effects of the ear-worm are amplified by the excellent production of this remix. The intro and ending for this remix are incredibly strong. Excellent job with this remix!

https://discord.gg/ocremix - I'm @Xaleph

Another heavy guitar track from me, this one starts off as a little more conservative of an arrangement before breaking free a bit more toward the end. Original Source: I'm pretty happy with how this is taking shape so far. But if I really get critical the drums could probably use a little more attention. And it still may be a little too close to the source for OCR's taste? What do you think?

Could you post a link to your Discord? So far I lurk on other people's Discord servers, so I should know my way around. I hope so anyway, lol.

Echoing the question about the playlist actually existing... In case it does, I can add a few of mine:

Oh, snap!!! It's updated, @CJthemusicdude!! Thank you so much, @Liontamer! ♡

I love your art, it’s really good! I know of a few items we need, I can talk to the others to see what was required. I know for sure we’d need an album cover and a logo. I have a concert for my son tonight but I’ll be in discord later.

It was only way down the line that I forgot another level of humanizing that I didn't do, which was automating the sustain pedal. That definitely would have helped with a couple spots that were mentioned by the judges. All I can do is learn from that and apply it to future work. Thanks for the love all :)

Obsessed with how great the drums are 😍 Stunning arrangement and performance all around!

Was this playlist ever made? I would love to have it saved in my library. Especially great for games with bad to no music to play in the background, and I'd have to do some research, but I think this all falls in the "stream friendly" category of music.

This is so gorgeous! @pixelseph's comment also seems to imply it's all midi programmed, not live played, which is blowing my mind. Stunning piece.

Is there anyone doing the art? I'll be interested to contribute some art. I used to play Tetris Attack with my wife as well. Is there any requirement you have in mind, Xaleph? I'll be happy to discuss. I know I have not been around this forum for 10+ years, lol. I previously drew & painted the art for "Sound of Speed" (Sonic 1 album). You can also check out my works on my website: https://www.dennyiskart.com/

It's such a nostalgic blast from the past. Tollis did an amazing job capturing the essence of the original while giving it a fresh twist. I can almost picture myself back in the '90s, playing the game with this tune blasting in the background.

This is definitely an underrated gem, I'm surprised no one has reviewed it yet! The instrumentation and arrangement are very well done, and I found myself enraptured in the remix for the whole runtime. It sets up a great atmosphere and I enjoyed listening to it! Excellent remix! :)

What a lovely remix! I listened to this on repeat without even realizing. This remix has a very nice soft feel which lends itself well to a background atmosphere. This was a treat and a half! Great job on this remix! :)

Everything from 2:30 to 3:30 was insanely cool. I really enjoyed that warbling synth that is present throughout that section. The percussion and atmosphere of this remix is exquisite. Overall this remix was super cool and I definitely enjoyed it. Bravo!

I really liked the jammin triplet time metal goodness! Bonus points for having an absolutely killer intro! Great remix!

When I saw this song's runtime, I mentally prepared myself so I could listen to this uninterrupted. This definitely fits the term 'Epic.' From the cinematic choirs, to the powerful piano, to the serene strings, it's all done very well. I never played any of the Dark Souls games so I am going purely based on the music itself, and what I hear is remarkable! This remix overall is very cinematic and packs a HEFTY punch to it. 10/10, would listen to again.

This is a very intriguing remix, it creates a varied and interesting vibe. I think my favorite aspect of this remix is definitely the percussion/drums. A lot of fun little things happening here and there make this a worthwhile remix to listen to! Excellent job on this.

Here are some of my recommended tools I've used the most (I'll mark which ones were already mentioned as "*"): Drums (Libraries) - *ISW Shreddage Drums Heavocity Damage Drums (Samples) - I always go back to these Platinum Percussion (great for world music) BHK D&B Rough Connections Vol. 4, Bladerunner Dread Drum & Bass (for fast music) Equipped Music - Smoker's Relight Vol. 1, Vol. 2 (for Downtempo music) Black Octopus Leviathan (for hardcore EDM) Goldbaby Drums (MPC60 Vol. 1-3, When Alien Drum Robots Attack Vol. 1-2, for general use) Synths - I always go back to these *u-he Zebra2 (for practically ALL of my music honestly) *Xfer Records Serum (mostly for dubstep) Samples - 4Front TruePianos (physical model actually) *Spectrasonics Omnisphere, Trilian ISW PEARL: Concert Grand (truly an amazing Yamaha C7) ISW Resonance: Emotional Mallets (mostly for glassy percussion) Embertone Friedlander Violin and Blakus Cello (usually as solo instruments) OTS Evolution Acoustic Guitar (Steel Strings) Neo-Soul Suitcase (realistic electric piano, if I wasn't satisfied with just synthesizing that in Zebra2) Transitions (Samples) - I always go back to these ISW Juggernaut: Cinematic Electronic Scoring Tools Effects - u-he Uhbik (mostly "T" [tremolo] and "G" [granular]) *Guitar Rig Effects (free or nearly so) - Variety of Sounds Density MKIII (compressor), NastyDLA MKII (delay) *kiloHearts Essentials (most notably, Ring Modulator and Transient Shaper) ISW SNESVerb (SNES reverb emulator, $20) digitalfishphones endorphin (compressor) *dBlue Glitch v1.3 (free) and v2 ($60) Lofi Plus (bitcrusher; hard to find, let me know if you need a link) Sonalksis FreeG Stereo (Gate Plugin) Misc (free) - I always go back to these s(M)exoscope (spectroscope to check waveform loudness) *TDR Nova (Equalizer with Sum and Difference capabilities) TLs-Pocket Limiter (simple, soft knee limiter. Never got overcompression since!)

Cool to see. I've been using khinsider for video game OSTs myself.

so in the end, the A.I. assisted piece would be justified by an essay by the artist detailing the creative input process. (and it being a good piece.) right? but it's still zukunftsmusik at this point as we say in german. i think a flat out anti-AI-policy is the right step until we get a better grasp of the creative potential of future tools.

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

It's great to see new policy forged in my absence. I do expect this stance to change & evolve over time, as the tech also changes over time. As written, the first line mentions "a prompt" (singular) but then further down it mentions "tracks generated wholly or in part" and cites a couple of those shiny new services. I agree that music generated by a single short text prompt doesn't come remotely close to the expectations and concept of this site, or any similar community which emphasizes the creative process & human decision-making extensively. Right there with you on that one. My mind just tends to then jump to all the future hypotheticals that will one day crop up: What if it was 5 prompts instead of one? What about.... 50 prompts? 100? What if was just one prompt, but instead of text it was someone singing a complete arrangement and tapping their fingers on the table and the AI took that, respected all the beats/intervals, and built out the whole track around that concept? All will be possible, at some point... It really comes down to a ratio of input to output & the overall amount of human discretion and time involved. What I expect is that these lines will only get blurrier & blurrier, and more difficult to assess, as AI-based tooling becomes ubiquitous within DAWs and as part of creative pipelines, not just as a soup-to-nuts prompt-based magic track generator. I also do wonder about traceability/proof - beyond asking for project files as evidence of effort, seems like it would mostly be honor system. Even asking for project files will only work until AI is proficient enough to understand & navigate DAW interfaces and work within human-oriented tools, allowing for further human refinement. It's all a matter of time, and just more to consider when it arises. The ethicality argument, well... I don't think you actually need to go there, so I personally wouldn't. People learn from & mimic other people, just not at the same speed & scale as AI, and the body of work in the public domain alone is sufficient for a pretty badass model, even if that's not the approach Big Tech seems to have taken. The issue of creative input ratio is not only more critical, it also persists even if you (somehow) fix any ethical concerns.