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Trism, Supercoolmike, and myself are on a team. We are Wily's Rejects.

I'm uploading my track from my freaking phone during my lunch break. This alone deserves a front page post.

I would definitely do what the following have said. It is not only important to input the notes but to actually automate them to where you are somewhat forcing them to sound realistic. And not only is it important to automate the instruments themselves but to automate the space and effects along with the music to give the piece more of a shape. Maybe your Violin patch needs expression and modulation for more dynamics? Need to change to staccato with MIDI data, use key switching! Got a Flute patch, let's add breath automation data to give it more of a realistic sound... etc. I'm not an expert, although I am currently in the process of absorbing mixing and automation techniques, however we will forever be students so don't limit your knowledge and say that you are complete! There is so much to learn even for the experts out there, so for a random word of encouragement, don't give up and keep experiencing new ways to input your knowledge to learn more along the way! Also, don't be afraid to play around and Practice these skills... it's not only a matter of what you know but application is a must.

If you're using FL studio it should have a soundfont player. There are TONS of good soundfonts on the net, many which are completely free.

Great album! I'm absolutely loving "Together we Fly" by Neblix and "FALCON PUNCH" by Ben Briggs

VV3 news from Paris, France, during my lunch break! Slimy sent a Wip in for Chandeliers. I still need to listen to it, but based on his previous tracks, we can expect something great. I'll finish my Boss remix asap too. Brandon said he would do his remix soon too. BMC needs to send me his track for mixing and mastering but he has trouble with his project file. I still wait on an update from Audio Sprite.

A lot of it will depend on the VSTi. If it sounds like MIDI it'll mostly sound like MIDI. Depending on the instrument you can make them sound better, but not necessarily realistic. Here's a few suggestions: 1) Adjust the velocity of each note to an appropriate level. This is especially important with percussion(specifically snare drums) unless you're aiming for that rapid-fire bullet percussion sound. Some samples(usually the higher end ones) also have velocity layers and adjust their sound based on the velocity, so keep that in mind as well. 2) Make use of any articulations the instrument has. Orchestral VSTs tend to include sustain and staccato variations, and even sectional and solo options. Similarly, guitars might have options for chords or solo. If that's the case, use the appropriate version to get the sound you want. If you find an instrument's attack hits too hard and there are no options to change it, you can adjust the volume and make a "fade-in" effect on each note to help mask it. 3) Study the instruments you're sampling. Learn how they work and what they can and can't do. Try to stick to realistic octave ranges. I'm really not an expert on this, but hopefully that helps out a bit.

What Tim said, basically. Though at a certain point, you may need better samples than whatever you're using. Lower end libraries etc. tend to not have much in the way of articulations and you can only simulate so much through other means. The mixing will not make it sound more "real". It'll just give you a better mix of fake sounding instruments! Also, respect for the Avatar avatar and name.

What I would do is at least learn how to theoretically play the instruments. If you can imagine how a real person would play the instrument, it would be easier to model that. For example, if you were to model someone playing electric lead guitar, you probably should consider when they play any of the following: - hammer-ons and pull-offs, tremolos, portamento (single notes), portamento (chords) - pinch squeals, tap harmonics, etc. - whammy bar vibrato, finger vibrato (light, hard), etc. - pitch bend via finger, pitch bend via whammy bar - tapping down/up vs. picking/strumming down/up - chokes, mutes, etc. and so on. Then once you have an idea of the features you would need, then see if there's a way to emulate these features. If you can't afford the libraries you want (tends to be $50~500, more or less, with what I've seen), then some of the major things I would say you should concern yourself with are: - human timing via MIDI note rhythm (avoid 100% quantization for realistic instruments) - human volume variation via velocity magnitudes - faster passages tend to be sloppier than slower passages - consider note length variation and overlap - pay attention to when playing the same note yields the same exact sample; that usually is the problem to contend with on free VSTs

It's a great rendition of what is - in my opinion, which is therefore likely wrong - the best track off the entire soundtrack; all of the emotion, the longing, of Shovel Knight is captured perfectly by the string-piano one-two punch. It's a hell of a great job, and a hell of a great Remix.

It's all great to talk dynamics in classical music and whatnot, but standards aren't devised with musical ideals in mind; they're devised with technical efficiency in mind. The simple fact of the matter is that with TV and radio, you're rarely going to have circumstances where the quiet parts of widely dynamic music is going to heard in detail. This is especially true with TV, where stuff happens over the music. Doubly true when listening to stuff in cars; road noise renders piano and pianissimo pretty inaudible. This is why I can't play, like, the Lord of the Rings score or something in the car. My dad complains he can't really hear anything. Life isn't a concert hall where everyone sits down and admires in silence, and recordings with dynamics need to be listened to in proper environments like silent rooms with speakers (lazy sunday afternoon in your living room, maybe) or headphones in order for the quieter parts to be appreciated. For the world at large, dynamic music doesn't really cut it for the way people listen to music/audio. Technical standards are designed with those kinds of considerations. That's probably also a small factor in what affects mainstream popularity. The popular stuff is the loud, bassy and in your face stuff. Rap, pop, rock, etc. It can be listened to anywhere, while jogging, driving, in a gym, etc.

Yes, I could probably do this if you give me about 6 months to get my personal life fully back together, end my musical hiatus, and to ponder how in the world I will ever top the pinnacle of musical excellence that was Temporal Duality. Because of course, I will need to at least match, or preferably, outdo myself. If someone trustworthy and responsible were willing to co/assistant-direct, that would certainly help. Ever since we finished Temporal Duality, I had considered doing this exact project, however I needed a break and the time did not feel right. I love the name Dimensional Duality too and I would want to keep that. EDIT: I'd want a reliable co/asst director because I spent an inordinate amount of time on Temporal Duality (partially due to my own desire to nitpick to perfection and to start and complete it within one year [which was insane I might add]) and I simply can't devote that much time anymore. Having done TD though I think will help immensely as we had a good process down and having been through it once now, it should be easier the second time around. EDIT EDIT: Sonic 3D Blast came out in 1996, so if we started it late this year / early next year we could get it in for the 20th anniversary too. Starting it later this year might help the bottleneck of other Sonic related projects the folks above mentioned too. EDIT EDIT EDIT: And dammit if I'm going to do this I want Joshua Morse to do a track this time I could never get a hold of him back when we were doing TD.

I like big sounds and I cannot lie. An EDM track that doesn't have a brickwall on it just doesn't fit into the rest of EDM, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Like Avaris said above, it's subjective and should be handled on a per-case basis. Meanwhile, I'm gonna be over here with my limiters and my compressors making phat and tasty sounds.

I know there hasn't been a lot of activity on this thread lately, but everything's pretty much done--we're just getting the website built and a few things ironed out. Should be seeing a release this summer!

1. Gravity Antonion (MMX8) 2. Cyber Geometry (MMX7) 3. Blizzard Wolfang (MMX6) 4. Flame Stag (MMX2) 5. Volt Catfish (MMX3) Get ready for the Desert Catz: bLiNd, Flexstyle, and KingTiger.

I'll def try to get my WIP updated by August 1st.

Yeah, the idea is surely great, but there're already 2 Sonic projects, as Garrett said. I'll still be very glad if this album happen one day Both soundtracks are killer in their own way.

Yo. Haven't died, just haven't had any time to even get on here. I still care about this and will try as hard as I can to get something to you.

Geez, how many Sonic projects do we need going on? They're nonstop; maybe the most popular series for remix albums at OCR. Or so it seems. I'm a SA1 fan; I know that it's overhyped and honestly not nearly as good as I used to think it was but I still absolutely love the game and most definitely the music. Nostalgic trip for sure. I'd be interested in doing something for the project, though as everyone may be aware I've been super busy and haven't had much time to think about the other Sonic remix I gotta get done for Black Doom's 25th anniversary project. Are you still not on a strict deadline, yet? Cuz whenever I have some serious free time (which does happen; just not extremely often anymore), I definitely could be working on something for this project.

Yeah, nice choice evktalo. Seems like it could fit in to a few different genres. Should be a good one.

Ohhh yeahhhh. I can't wait for this one!