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*WIP*WIP*WIP* Very Messy Progress shot

Hey everyone, I just finished another cover, this time from the wonderfully ambient soundtrack to Ecco: I'd love to hear what you think!

Hey guys, I recently finished putting together this short medley of some tracks from Gargoyle's Quest, and I'd love to hear what you think of it! Cheers!

Easy call here. There's a huge potential for a remix in this style to fall back on a single gimmick without really fleshing out the bones of the track itself. I'm happy to say that's not even close to the situation here - you've done an incredible amount of work on the bass & synth programming and general sound design, so that even when you take the vocals out of the equation, you're still left with a rock-solid remix that stands on its own merits. It certainly helps that the vocals are also well-integrated and hilarious, even for someone who doesn't understand the context. This is oozing with personality, and I think the masses are going to enjoy this a lot! YES

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I didn't really mean it as some insidious deliberate plot to shape the culture. These things just tend to happen on their own in a sort of positive feedback loop (although it is sometimes considered beneficial in long term marketing tactics to narrow down an audience by deliberately excluding other potential groups). But if you look at the history of games and how the "rules" of marketing have changed and solidified over time, the 90's was a very notable turning point. I sometimes read scan archives of old game magazines, and it's really interesting looking at some of the ads and how homogenized they were getting. Even Nintendo got caught in the zeitgeist and marketed games for all ages like Yoshi's Island in the same contrived edgy style as you would do for older teens. Sega kind of got the ball rolling in the late 80's/early 90's by aiming for teenage boys as Nintendo was viewed as having the childrens market on lockdown, but it was Sony later who really started pushing the image of gaming as a lifestyle as they were asserting themselves on the market, and I think their marketing campaigns had a big influence on the industry as a whole. There was a series of PS1 TV adverts in the late 90's, and one of them had CG characters from games like Tomb Raider and Crash Bandicoot urging a guy to spend more time with his Playstation and not get "whipped" by his girlfriend. That's a pretty overt message about who gaming was for, and more importantly who gaming was not for. I'd also like to highlight the computer game market which was growing parallel to consoles in the 80's and early 90's (which is often dismissed as this "other" thing in gaming history as a whole, like being conveniently ignored when the US industry crash of 83 is brought up). It was pretty different in how diverse it was. You had companies like Sierra whose business model was more akin to that of a book publisher, releasing games in a variety of genres (genre being stuff like comedy, fantasy, crime etc as opposed to shoot em up or racing) aimed at a variety of demographics, women included. But as the 90's went on you could see this aspect becoming marginalized for a variety of reasons while the more modern industry paradigm was forming, and eventually the computer market caved in and became almost indistinguishable from consoles in the sense that it was being aimed nearly exclusively at adolescent males. So in the wake of this we have what we'd define as "hardcore" gaming culture. By that I mean someone who plays the latest games, keeps up with the news and reads gaming magazines or websites, and engages socially with gaming-related communities, and more importantly views it as a sort of lifestyle which defines their image. The bulk of this demographic being those who had their formative years in the 90's, or at this point also the 00's which largely overlaps. This culture for a long time has struck me as being very exclusionary in nature. And I'm not just talking about gender here, but rather about what is and isn't considered a "real" game or whom is a "real" gamer. A real game by this definition would be whatever passed through the traditional market channels, getting magazine adverts and retail releases. Independantly released digital games used to have to endure this kind of stigma. If Minecraft had been made in 2004 and someone said it was their game of the year, they'd probably have been laughed out of the room. Thankfully this attitude has started to change, although I still see that kind of sentiment reeling here and there in how certain people think AAA games are the only ones that "count". But nowadays we also have both the fledgling mobile market and also independant titles that are challenging established fundamental formulas, like Gone Home. These are much more aggressively dismissed as "non-games" and actively sneered at (and it sort of goes both ways as those who exclusively play mobile games likely don't regard them as "video games" per se). Zoe Quinn was the creator of one of these alleged non-games through Depression Quest, and its recognition in the press (which are pretty much viewed as The Great Validators by the layman gamer) gave her a good deal of abuse even before the whole gamergate thing had started. So to tie this lengthy post together, what's happening right now is that "real" gamers are lashing out because their view of what gaming is supposed to mean culturally, which is largely derived from the period they grew up in during the 90's and 00's, is being challenged as the industry is growing to become more diverse and inclusive.

I'm of the same opinion. I put in there because somebody in the thread said to. I'm thinking of taking it out, it's not necessary to the design, methinks

I certainly have my qualms about aspects of the arguments, although as a whole I still agree with her points, however the well has been so thoroughly poisoned I thought her right to express herself became a way more pressing concern rather than any attempt at sincere critique and constructive discussion which would inevitably get lost in the noise of pure vitriol, since people get so overly emotional about it (which is like, highly ironic considering the topic at hand). The people harrassing her don't want any real discussion, they just want her out of the picture. And I think this is also a symptom of something larger going on with the modern internet landscape which is why I'm trying to piece together all these isolated incidents into a wider perspective. There's a lot of talk about the problem with "safe spaces" today and not having to be exposed to opinions that might make you uncomfortable. People usually equate this with US colleges/universities and as something leftist, but I see this kind of behavior manifesting across all sorts of internet communities for any kind of topic, and the phenomenom seems ideologically fairly agnostic. Perhaps the rapid proliferation of the internet and the possibility to pick and choose information more at our own leisure is conditioning society further into this kind of mindset, and the rise of "echo chambers". So to put this in the context of gamergate, I feel as though this is the millennial gaming and geek culture freaking out over the inevitable growth of the industry into a true mainstream force of pop culture attracting new demographics, and view this as some sort of intrusion on "their" safe space (that being video games, but also stuff like comic books, and to an extent, even the internet itself). And of course it was theirs to begin with, because the almighty gods of marketing in the 90's proclaimed it to be so.

Sweet. Hey Alex, I just remembered we did Forze Del Male a few years ago, but a short version for Dwelling of Duels... Maybe we should expand on that?

There was definitely profit.

When life gives you video game music, make remixes. Production is pretty awesome. Feels like there is some very minor issues with the vocals ducking under the intense unts-unts-unts, but not a massive problem, it just makes things feel a little less defined than I feel they should be. Arrangement is good imo. Good style shift. The only major issue is that the vocal samples could be too prominent in the mix but otherwise, this is an easy yes. Well done chimpy! YES

Hello! Some time ago, i made a cover about very sensitive song. This song is from the game, that is very memorable and still one of the most important games i have ever played. Chrono Cross - Singing Emotions. It's pretty simple rendition, but i like how nicely acoustic guitar fits in...at the end i mixed it with the same kind of sound, that plays in the original. It kinda express the sensitivity of the cover more . Here is the cover: And here is the original:

What a beast, theres still almost a week left! The king of castlevania doesnt screw around!

That's more of a different thing than what I was refering to. I'm talking about the mindset that somehow Zoe and Anita are just as bad, they are opportunists who relish in the attention, etc etc. Mostly just comes down to thinly veiled victim blaming in my eyes. It's both disheartening and fascinating watching both this and several concurrent social trends unfold the past years. That includes stuff like the countless internet lynch mobs out to shame people and even ruin their careers (anything from Zoe Quinn, to that poaching dentist, to that "dongle incident" at a tech firm), and the rise of xenophobic attitudes shedding their taboo with the European immigrant crisis, etc. Perhaps in 15 years or so we can look back at these things as a whole with some historical clarity and put it in a better understood context. What I find particularly interesting about both gamergate and the immigrant crisis (and I suppose also MRA) are the connections found to extreme right wing organizations, how they actively fan the flames and use these sentiments as a means to boost recruitment. In particular with gamergate they have better success at reaching out towards young, liberal-leaning men who would otherwise not sympathize with their ideologies. Inbetween the downtime of this thread there was also an interesting video series released which I think did a good attempt at dissecting the underlying psychology behind the gamergate movement

Oh, you asked for it. This is definitely one of my favorite aspects of the game--let's make a master list. Track by track, here we go! MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD OK I WARNED YOU 1. Once Upon a Time: Main theme of Undertale, can be split into three sections: 00:00 (theme A), :30 (theme , and 1:00 (theme C). Nice one, Toby. 2. Start menu: Theme A from Once Upon a time. Instrumentation fleshes out more depending on how many character's you've met/saved. 3. Your Best Friend: Flowey's theme. Title contains massive spoilers. 4. Fallen Down: Not much to say yet, other than it comes back later (like most of these). 5. Ruins: The melody of this is based on a recurring theme I have yet to figure out the identity of. Let's call it "Adventure Theme". 6. Uwa!! So Temperate♫: Joystick Config music. Changes depending on season. Not related to any other tracks other than the other seasons of the same theme. 7. Anticipation: Foundation of battle theme. When slowed down a lot, this is what is played at SPOILERS OMG SPOILERS: areas during the genocide run after killing everything 8. Unnecessary Tension: Perhaps one of the few tracks that doesn't come back later? But maybe it does... 9. Enemy Approaching: Primary battle theme. Believe it or not, this is the same melody as "Dogsong", "Temmie Village" and "Tem Shop". 10. Ghost Fight: First time hearing this music, which is always associated with the spookier characters--ghosts and spiders. Let's call this "ghost theme." 11. Determination: Determination theme. Heard in Asgore's battle theme as well. 12. Home: Themes A and B of "Once Upon a Time". Aww. 13. Home (Music Box): Who turned off the lights? 14. Heartache: Opening motif is Toriel's theme. It's heard in Asgore's theme--if you had any speculation about their relationship, this should clear it up. 15. sans. Sans's theme, which is also heard in the track "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans", which I actually have yet to hear in the game itself. 16. Nyeh Heh Heh!: Papyrus' theme. Obviously also heard in Bonetrousle, as well as a bit in Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans. 17. Snowy: And thus begins the Snow area themes. This opening melody is new, but is brought back in bits and pieces in "Snowdin Town" and "Shop" 18. Uwa!! So Holiday♫: See the other one. Winter time! 19. Dogbass: Don't think you ever hear this again, though it's reminiscent of the ghost music. Hmm... 20. Another track that I don't think comes back. Hmm! 21. Dogsong: Yes, believe it or not, this is the melody from the Battle Theme. 22. Snowdin Town: First section of the track is more or less original, but similar in texture/contour to Snowy. Second section is a little more obviously from Snowy. I think the section around one minute in is the first you ever hear this material, but this comes back in Shop, and.... Hopes and Dreams. I think it's intended to be a variation on Theme B from Once Upon a Time. 23. Very similar to the music of Snowdin town. Opening melody similar in structure as opening of Snowdin, but not quite the same. Second section same sort of variation of Theme B from Once Upon a Time. 24. Bonetrousle: More Papyrus! 25. Dating Start!: Shop music, in an anime dating sim style. 26. Dating Tense: I don't think this has much connection with anything else... EXCEPT there is an accompaniment that comes in near the end which contains almost the correct pitch content to be Undyne's theme. Forshadowing? 27. Dating Fight!: Dating Start, but with some kick. 28. Premonition: Mostly ambiance I think. Can't place this progression anywhere else. 29. Danger Mystery. More ambiance. 30. Undyne: This six-note pattern is her theme. It comes back! Not sure about the melody that comes in though--I don't think I've heard that anywhere else. 31. Waterfall: Here's that "adventure" motif again! So the opening glock pattern will come back later too. But yeah, the melody that plays through this is basically the same as what plays in Ruins. 32. Run!: Piano motif made of Undyne's theme, which I guess makes sense because she plays piano. 33. Quiet Water: More "adventure" motif. 34. Memory. The first time we hear "His" theme. and SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS BY HIS THEME WE MEAN ASRIEL'S THEME 35. Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap: We haven't even met her yet, but this is Alphys' theme! What could it mean?! 36. Dummy! More ghost music, but a little more fleshed out than when we heard it in Napstablook's battle. 37. Pathetic House: Same melody as Dummy! and Ghost Fight, just really boring. 38/39. Spooktune and Spookwave: I guess kind of like the ghost fight music? Eh, I dunno. 40. Ghouliday. This is just jingle bells I can't make this stuff up 41. Chill: Not sure what this progression is from. 42. Thundersnail: Also don't think this really comes back ever. Toby said he apparently made the whole track out of one xylophone sample or something. 43. Temmie Village: Once again, melody is based on the battle theme. what the heck. 44. hOI! same as above 45. NGAHHH!!: Begins with Undyne's theme, which we know (just syncopated this time), and halfway through we get that adventure theme again! I think it's interesting that Undyne is the only character that gets this theme, which otherwise is associated to environments of the game. 46. Spear of Justice: Pretty much the same structure as above, just in a different key/orchestration. 47. Ooo. Oooooooooooooooo 48. Alphys: Another three-part theme! First part at :09, second at :32, and third at 1:01. I'll describe them in the same "a" "b" and "c" terms I was using before. 49. It's showtime! Good ol' Mettaton. He actually has a bunch of themes. This opening one is like, his show's theme more than his own personal theme. 50. Metal Crusher: I love this track. Mettaton's main battle theme. This one is also in two parts. 51. Another Medium: Opens up with the same motif as Waterfall, but then has (as far as I can tell) new melodic content. I think there are basically two themes in this track: the one played on the flutey-sounding patch, and the one at :52 52. Uwa!! So HEATS!!♫: Another one of these. Summer time! 53. Stronger Monsters: I never encountered this track in the game. I don't know! I don't hear anything that I can associate to anyone else. 54. Hotel: Theme A and B of "Once Upon a Time". 55. Can You Really Call This A Hotel, I Didn't Receive A Mint On My Pillow Or Anything: Hotel with a little more spice! 56. Confession: Those monsters really are in love. Theme B of Once Upon a Time. 57. Live Report: Mettaton's "show" theme, again. 58. Death Report: Live Report, but awesome. Same "show" theme, but then there's another theme at :25. What is it? Reminds me of Undyne.. 59. Spider Dance: More ghost music! 60. Wrong Enemy?!: Music of the Fan Troll. I'm pretty sure there are zero relatable themes in this one. 61. Oh! One True Love: Toby's making fun of FF6. The windowed screen says "Undertale: the Musical" during this. This is a new melody, but comes back. 62. Oh! Dungeon: Same melody as One True Love 63. It's Raining Somewhere Else: I guess this is Sans' theme, even though I think it sounds like Toriel. I guess they're similar? So sneaky. 64. Core Approach: just the hotel music 65. CORE: This opening motif comes back in the battle you're about to have with Mettaton. Then we get a nice dose of Another Medium, and both of it's themes. 66. Last Episode! Recognize this from Mettaton's battle music? 67. Oh My... Comes from Core and Death from Glamour. 68. Death by Glamour: we've heard this opening motif a few times now, thanks for getting us ready Toby. Halfway through we get one of our motif's from Metal Crusher, and then we get the "show" theme! God, this is a good track. 69. For the Fans: "Oh! One True Love" 70. Long Elevator: come on toby 71. Undertale. It's the title track of the album! You get to hear the story of Asriel, which is why his theme is playing the whole time. You also get Themes A and B from Once Upon a Time, as usual. 72. Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans: I have yet to actually hear this in the game. So the melody is based on "sans.", and then we get some Papyrus in there as well, near the end of the track. 73. The Choice: Very ambient, but the harmony is largely based on the harmony from Undertale 74. Small shock: More harmony from Undertale. 75. Barrier: once again, come on toby 76. Bergentrückung: A German literary archetype describing the trope of a human mysteriously vanishing from the human world. Also basically Asgore's theme. 77. ASGORE. So we get Bergentrückung, and then we get Toriel's theme (and both parts of it!). Then we get "Determination". EDIT: ENDS WITH UNDYNE WHAT 78. You Idiot: Very ambient, but the notes of Omega Flowey's theme. 79. Your Best Nightmare. Man, what an incredible track. This six note motif is Omega Flowey's theme. Then, we get six variations on "Your Best Friend" (aka normal Flowey's theme) scattered throughout the track. One for each of the human souls that Omega Flowey has absorbed. 80. Finale: Flowey's theme with an awesome reharmonization. Now, you have no idea about this aspect of Flowey's character yet, but Asriel's theme comes in at :40. Come on Toby, those are some serious aural spoilers! 81. An Ending: Ruins music, then leading to the track that is basically "respite" (which comes later), which is that adventure theme. Hey, maybe we should call that theme "respite". 82. She's Playing Piano: What you hear Undyne playing in her house when you go to hang out with her. Guess what! It's part C of Alphys' theme! 83. Here We Are: Welcome to Alphys' True lab. Which is why this is just Alphys' theme--Theme A. You get the rhythm of theme C near the end. 84. Amalgam: Holy god this track is AWESOME. Don't know where the melodic material comes from. 85. Fallen Down (Reprise): There's Fallen Down again, but it's been extended! Now we get themes A, B, and C from Once Upon a Time. 86. Don't Give Up: Adventure theme (or respite or whatever). 87. Hopes and Dreams: Ah! My favorite track. Beautiful variation on Theme A from Once Upon a time in the beginning, and then most of the melody is actually based on Theme C from Once Upon a Time. We also get snippet's of Flowey's theme in the background, which is great now that we know how they're related. You also get that variation of Theme B from Once Upon a Time, which sounds more like Snowdin/Shop theme than anything else. Same with the end of this track--this is from Shop. 88. Burn in Despair: Based on those six notes from Omega Flowey. Scary. 89. SAVE the World: Once Upon a Time paired up with Flowey's theme. Pretty cool! Then we get more of Theme C from Once Upon a Time, with Flowey's theme returning to haunt the background again. 90. His Theme. Yes, Asriel's theme. Get your tissue box out, because you're going to cry a lot. (I cried a lot). I think it's the 1-5-9 motion in the left hand of the piano that really does me in. 91. Final Power: This is just some of Hopes and Dreams reversed and slowed down slightly 92. Ah, nostalgic music. This is a pretty long track, but you get all three parts of Once Upon a Time, as well as that variation from the Shop theme./Snowdin village. 93. Menu (Full): the full orchestration! You did it! 94. Respite: Epilogue music. That "adventure" theme we heard a lot. 95. Bring it in Guys: awesome credits music. Enemy Approaching, Nyeh Heh Heh/sans., Snowdin Town, Once Upon a Time, Undyne, adventure theme, Death by Glamour, CORE, Bergentrückung, Fallen down, Once Upon a Time. 96. Last Goodbye: More of some Hopes and Dreams/SAVE the World style music, mostly working with Themes B and C from Once Upon a Time. The end of this is awesome. Finishes out with Theme A from Once Upon a Time. 97. But the Earth Refused to Die: Heard just before fighting Undyne the Undying. Variation on that "adventure" theme. 98. Battle against a true hero: Theme reserved for special boss battles in the genocide run. That opening theme comes back later. We get that adventure theme again! 99. Power of NEO. Same motif from the last track. This one is pretty short, because it doesn't last long. 100. MEGALOVANIA: This is a track from Homestuck, apparently. No other themes from the game in here, as far as I know. 101. Good Night. Good night, goatmom. Once Upon a Time again. Whew I can't believe I did all that! Have fun!

Just one comment here: There's a lot of technical discussion here, but that's not all music is about. Maybe offering detailed advice on compression or decluttering a particular range of frequencies would be a technical suggestion out of your reach, but saying "this aspect doesn't seem to gel with this other aspect" or "this transition felt abrupt to me" are things that don't require a trained ear or a technical vocabulary. Also, music is art. Different things appeal to different people. If there's something you really like or dislike, and no one here seems to agree with you, that's fine. In fact, that's good! A hive mind when it comes to art is a terrible thing, and puts expression and appreciation in boxes. That's especially true here at OCR, where, even though there's a panel of judges that disagrees on occasion, they're mostly looking for the same sorts of things, and are explicitly selected based on their agreement with other judges' decisions (that's part of the "test" to become a judge). Your opinions are no less valid when it comes to enjoyment and appreciation, as long as you're not hostile about it.

I really think a big part of it is the rise of social media and YouTube. Forums - in general - are way less popular than they used to be. Facebook and Twitter have supplanted forums as a way to have discussions. Not to say that all forums are dead, but any younger remixers are going to be from a generation where forums just aren't really a thing. From what I've seen, the forums that are still thriving tend to have an older audience and are not frequented by young adults, teenagers, etc. (which is what many of us were when we came here.) What has also changed is how people listen to music. There's been a dramatic shift away from downloading MP3s and having a music library, to just streaming your music. YouTube is one of the top, if not THE top, places where people discover and listen to music. OCR's presence on YouTube is very significant with over 100k subscribers and 40m views. If you're consuming your music on YouTube, you're going to leave a comment there and not bother to register on a forum. There's nothing wrong with that, though the nature of YouTube does not lend itself well to in-depth reviews. In short, OCR isn't dying. The decline in activity on the forums can be seen across many forums as people move to social media for discussions. Also, people aren't leaving as many reviews here because many more people are discovering and listening to ReMixes on YouTube.

Just want to note how I really liked the Dr. Wily theme slowed down and done with acoustics for the intro and outro. I can only imagine how hard it is to take themes that have been done plenty of times and work in your own unique takes, so this works for me on the acoustic and electronic end. Nice work getting Flash Man and Wily's themes pieced in together like that. Great ReMix, fellas.