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Should have some news on this very soon, but only if the McRibs are delicious.

Yay! This saves me from having to finish 3 tracks in the next 6 days

Because of some obligations, I'm gonna have to postpone the deadline a bit. New deadline: Friday, July 10th.

Just edit the first post and add a Mod Review tag to the first tag on the list. Use the Full Editor and you'll see it.

One track sent, one left to mix, yay!

No problem! Stitched sequencing is when you use multiple instances of an instrument, each sourcing from different sets of samples, and you spread out your notes over the set of instrument instances so that some MIDI channels play sustain, some play vibrato, etc. But maybe you're not doing that. Variation in tone is a bit subtle; there's something called Round Robins in sample libraries, which basically means a set of samples of the same note is rotated so that not the same sample is played every single time. If the same sample is played multiple times in a row, I tend to call it "machine-gun-like". The variation in tone is not always obvious. Reverb can sound in various ways; there are more metallic tones, more ambient tones, and so on, and it depends on the balance between low-mids, midrange, and treble reflections (if those settings are available). If the difference in tone is too drastic for example (and this is exaggerated), maybe an instrument sounds like it's in a closet, but another instrument using a different reverb instance sounds like it's in an auditorium.

We're more likely to see it if you include "RESUB" or "resubmission" in the subject line or body of the email. The only change in the judging process is that resubmissions skip the waiting line and get placed on the panel as soon as we notice them, since they already had to go through the waiting time in the past. To me, that's like saying "if a source tune prominently uses a flute, does using a flute in an arrangement with an unrelated melody count as source usage". To me, that definitely doesn't count. In your case, it's not about just using vocals with similar effects, it's about how much of the arrangement directly arranges the writing of the source. I wouldn't give you credit for mimicking the style of a track. I would for arranging the theme.

If I get you some McRibs will that bump up the release date? *wink wink*

Koto-ish When the koto (or whatever it was) first comes in, at about 0:00 - 0:08, the velocities just register as stiff to me; did you adjust the magnitudes and quantization? It feels quite on-the-grid, and it's especially noticeable because (and when) you're playing chords. I usually write the bottom chord note coming first, and the top chord note coming last. If the person is plucking two notes at the same time on different strings, then I just slightly offset the timings in whichever direction since one finger might just be faster than the other. Consider checking this stiffness in other spots for the (presumed) koto---even a few ms of offset matters, and it really helps to adjust the velocity magnitudes on each chord note, too. I tend to have the first note quietest and last note loudest on a strummed chord, and for plucking two notes at the same time on different strings, they may be close in velocity more often than not. Also, I'm not sure how the ADSR envelope for the koto is set up (or if you can look into that at all), but assuming the release is low and the decay and sustain are high, perhaps if you want to minimize the amount of times the (seemingly pre-recorded) vibrato is heard, I would guess that you can just shorten the length of the sequenced note and it should stop the note before it reaches the pre-recorded vibrato in the sample. With a sample like that, I would try to minimize the amount of pre-recorded vibrato that ends up playing so that it doesn't sound so fake. Ideally, if possible, you should adjust the ADSR envelope so that the vibrato hardly ever plays, and then record your own vibrato manually using pitch bend "event edits" or "automation clips". That way it's more human. By the way, with "pre-recorded vibrato", I mean "baked into the sample". (was that "stitched" sequencing of more than one instrument instance?) ----- Erhu I agree that the erhu doesn't have much realism; its slow attack coupled with its same-y tone makes it stick out as lacking variation in tone (through round robins). I also find that ride sample that comes soon after, a bit distracting (the one panned rather far right). ----- Big Picture / tl;dr (major: reverb, timing stiffness, velocity magnitude sameness, vibrato sameness) Overall, this kind of reminds me of the Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon OST (great OST). This atmosphere works pretty well in terms of the instruments chosen. Still kinda rough around the edges on getting the instruments to sound realistic (various stiff areas in the timings, especially with chords, and the amount of times a seemingly pre-recorded vibrato plays). Another good idea is to keep the instrumentation sounding like it's all in the same room. I think the ideas are pretty good so far, but I also think, if you have the options available, refining the cohesion between reverb tones (whether the reverb is primarily low-mids, midrange, or treble reflections, where the low cut and high cut of the reverb "wet signal threshold" are, etc) would help. Unfortunately I think it's something you'd have to isolate in your DAW and listen for, and it's not something I can hear in the full context since it's pretty subtle. Generally, low-mids reflection adds low end ambience, midrange reflections may sound a bit metallic if overdone, and treble reflections should sound "hissy" if overdone. The low and high cut basically jointly mark the frequency range that the reverb will affect. Everything below the low cut frequency won't be affected, etc.