Leaderboard

I know this is pretty late. Even though no one's probably gonna read this, here are my thoughts! I did all songs for rounds 5-8. ROUND 5 -Ballade v King Knight- Dewey Newt - 100% Epic. This arrangement uses the themes in a way I never would have thought of. The parts are well used and wow does it sound good. The last part especially sounds really good. Not much to say other than well done. Gario - I love how the atmosphere is immediatly set here. The synths are well used, although the lead is a bit jarring when it first comes in. There's a lot more of the sad sound of Ballade than the epicness of King Knight, and yet both are very clear. Very well-arranged. It seems just a bit repetitive, but not really enough to bother me. The robot sounds were really good too, along with that beginning arp they set the mood of the piece very nicely. -Uranus v Wandering Travelers- JohnStacy - FIESTA! The themes here are so well integrated it's crazy. The arrangement is really good, and I love that piano part and the big brass parts. I like some of the reharmonization, it gives the piece a really nice, jazzy vibe to it. Chiwalker - The themes weren't very recognizeable at first, but as soon as the arp came it with the power saw lead, the arrangement seems to fall more into place. It's a bit simplistic at times, but overall this is a very nice dance take on the two themes. -Saturn v Polar Knight- TheShaggyFreak - There is a lot of dissonance here, although a lot of that is due to the original composition of Polar Knight. I like the intro here, it's one of the best parts for me. It may be just me, but I feel like there's a part missing for most of the song. Although, it's a very somber take on the themes which is very unexpected, so props for creativity. ROUND 6 -Enker v Specter Knight- PlanarianHugger - Pretty good integration of the themes, although sometimes a few things sound slightly off-key, probably problems with the chords not matching at times. The melodies seem to work well together for the most part, and there are some really good parts here, like when the arp part takes the lead, and the harmonization of the melody soon after. Sometimes the switching of leads is a bit jarring, and not each part transitions very smoothly, but there's a lot of variation and a lot of it is pretty good arrangement wise. Starphoenix - There are a lot of really cool sounds here, and each part transitions well, but I can't get a grasp on the key. It seems like it would be a really good arrangement if each part was kept in the same key as the others. More than half of the song seems to have parts that clash with each other and although this does start to get a bit better as the song goes on, it repeats the intro which was more jarringly off-key than any other part of the song, so even with the cool glitchy outro, the end just sounds weird and unresolved. If the key was the same across all parts I'm sure this would be a really good entry. -Pluto v Shield Knight- GCJ - Too much 80s. What were you thinking? -Punk v Mole Knight- Xenonetix - I like the piano arrangement idea and it's done really well here. Maybe it's just me, but I hear a lot more of Mole Knight than I do of Punk, but the themes are integrated well and flow together nicely. I don't know if it's just reverb, but it sounds like the pedal is down the whole time and is never brought up to make sure notes don't last into the next chord if they don't mesh well. This isn't a problem for most of the arrangement, but when the left hand part is doing the super fast arp-sounding part, it's a bit messy. That ending slow-down part sounds really nice though. ROUND 7 -Mercury v Propeller- Thirdkoopa - The parts were confusing. I couldn't tell if they were in different keys for half of it, or where the beat was, and the arrangement seems kind of all over the place. I'm not really sure where each piece was played, although I could hear the lead from Mercury playing very quietly at the background at one point which sounded nice. -Venus v Shovel Knight- Jorito - I love the integration of the themes here. Even if most of the background is just chords, the melodies are mixed so well and I love the instrumentation. I don't know what that sound is at 3:08, but it just sets such a nice atmosphere. This arrangement is really good and gets better as the song goes on. Also those lyrics are pretty good. Megadrive - A good dance beat. I like the arrangement here, these melodies flow pretty nicely together. Also I really like those bell sounds. A little more variation in the bass and drums would have been nice, since the bass playing almost the same rhythm the entire time, and the drums only seem to vary in whether the snare is playing or not, even if there are a few tom rolls that keep it from getting too stale. ROUND 8 Chiwalker Knight v Mars - These songs fit really well into a dance song! It's not always very complex arrangement-wise, but I like the use of the arp during the less complex parts, and when it builds up with all the different parts it gets really good. Xenonetix Knight v Saturn - A bit on the repetitive side, but delicious and groovy. That was pretty long. Anyways, lots of good entries! Very fun and enjoyable to listen to all of them.

I love it when people do ambient arrangements, and this is a good one. The usage of the source is lovely, it's beautiful and the whole track has this warmth, both aurally and emotionally. Also I appreciate the background given by the artist. Good stuff! More!

If I get what you're asking: The standard these days is to use a MIDI-controller keyboard; the keyboard records the notes you play into the DAW as MIDI information that is sent to virtual instruments as the MIDI keyboard itself outputs no sound. You can either input the data in real time or one note at a time via "step input" in any DAW worth its salt. When you hit a key, the instrument you have armed plays back its sound. In terms of Chord Creation tools, something that specifically generates progressions as MIDI can be found in DAWs like Cubase, but it's rare to find someone who bothers with it. Most composers and remixers these days use the DAW/MIDI controller combo for every aspect of the composition process.

Super Sonic Racing!! I like what u did with this but my only suggestions is to replace ur instruments with higher quality sounds...like that kick drum should have more boom, and I think u should use a deeper heavier bass. Great arrangement though

This song is pretty interesting. Let's see what I can do now that RvK is done!

got two builds for OCR folks incoming, one of whom isn't listed in the thread. looking forward to getting the parts and playing with more tech =)

We still need Indian style wah-wahs for @Garpocalypse 's song for Ixa'taki. He had an example of what he was looking for earlier in the thread. He still hasn't got a response back yet for this and as far as I'm aware of, it's all he needs to complete this track. We need this done, please, if anyone can help him, drop a line here and PM him as well. Thank you!

Hey everyone! I found a new job, my life is getting back in order and I'm eager to hop on board the Arcadia Legends hype train again and take over directing duties again! I've already PM'd quite a few up and coming new remixers that blazed onto the scene in recent months. I am going to get with Modus, my co-director, and recap what's happened in my absence, update the first post track listing as best as I can and begin to check in with every remixer currently on the books who still owe us a track. So expect me to get with each of you soon in the coming week(s). We're almost 2/3rds done with the entire 3-disc album! Come on everyone! The ending goal is in sight and we have almost a third disc's work of tracks left to claim! We got this!

Love this tune (who doesn't)! Great chord stabs, nice overall selection of sounds. Drums could have been more interesting, the open hihat appeared a bit too frequently in my humble opinion. Nice break and build up. All in all, I enjoyed listening to this. Keep up the good work!

Hey, look, what's that? https://mobile.twitter.com/ocremix/status/875445330883432448 Yeah, I'm slow a bit

Hi there. I have been a silent lurker until now. I'm not confident in my mixing abilities since the last time I did any music composition was back in the Dark Ages of High School in the '90s. But I have been excited to see this project grow and evolve and start coming into its own and really I have wanted all along to be able to have some part in its creation other than as a witness. I heardon't a rumour today that you are looking for some voice actors to record some dialogue to add another texture to the album. I would like to offer my services as a possible "Voice of Slippy" if that role is still available Please? Many thanks, Purp X♡X♡

Ok. I really want a Switch now. Breath of the wild had put it on my 'to buy when I find it at a good deal, probably secondhand.' Now with the announcement of Metroid Prime 4, a core pokemon game, Yoshi, Kirby, and a better look at Super Mario Oddyssey it has moved up to my 'save up and buy it at full price if you have to.' list.

Even if the sounds in your keyboard are not up to par, you can simply use VSTs for just the sounds. Having good keyboard skills will be a big help towards a good sound, because you can record your midi performance live without having to rely too much on quantization or putting in the notes in the piano roll with a mouse. That way you can still retain some of that live, human feel without being limited by the onboard sounds.

It does definitely vary from genre to genre, and also background to background. For example, I have one remix posted on the site, and another in the evaluation queue. Both use live instruments almost exclusively. One is jazz, and the other is some other genre that I don't know how to classify. Jazz doesn't really sound right with samples, especially with wind instruments, so it tends to work better with live instruments. As for background, a lot of people on this site are hobbyists who learned music on their own. Using samples or synths is what they know really well, although there is a large number of rock/metal who use live guitar. Many people play guitar as a primary instrument. I'm a classically trained french horn player who also does jazz extensively, so I prefer live instruments because that's what I'm more "fluent" in. If you use what you have, and make it work, you'll fit in just fine!

Not quite cornered. There's a strong jazz presence and some "orchestral lite" (~4-8 live instrumentalists and/or vocalists). But for 100% live instruments, rock/metal is definitely the most popular supergenre.

Yeah, I'm fairly certain the rock/metal genre has the "live instruments on OCR" market cornered.

Well, for what it's worth, none of my music is 100% live or is 100% recorded instruments. Tends to be 95-100% sampled, sometimes including electric guitar and lead violin, usually including piano. It's great if you can record live instruments (in a good room environment; dry acoustics, full sound), but it's not a strict requirement to write good music or get music onto OCR. In fact, it might actually hinder you somewhat if you can't mix well enough to save a poor recording, but once you get that handled, it's always a nice addition to sampled material, if not part of a 100% recorded ReMix. So usually, live instruments = plus, but not required per se. As for what MindWanderer said, yeah, lead violin and electric guitar are two of the most difficult instruments to sequence, needing at least a theoretical understanding of how to play them, so if you can simply record those, go for it.

I definitely concur that a minority of tracks include even one live instrument--most are 100% synths and/or samples. But a substantial minority do include at least one live instrument, as well. That number goes up if you include vocals. I will add that we come down pretty hard on sequenced instruments when they lack humanization. You can go through old judges' decisions to see for yourself: when an instrument is lead or exposed, it's much more likely to get rejected when it sounds obviously fake. Being able to play lead violin and electric guitar yourself is a huge boon if you'd like to use those instruments--I think that as leads, those two instruments tend to trip up mixes the most when sampled.

It *somewhat* depends on the genre(s) you wanna tackle - jazz/blues/Latin considerably harder to do w/ sampled/sequenced elements and 0% real instruments, but definitely not impossible. As @Jorito & @Meteo Xavier say, I don't think this should be a prime concern or any sort of barrier; plenty of great music to be made with ALL live, recorded instruments, plenty of great music to be made with 100% synthesized electronic instruments, and everything in between. All modern DAWs let you mix & match sequenced parts with recorded instruments, and often the best solution involves a mix of both - nothing like a real trumpet for a jazz solo of any complexity, but if it's part of a horn section playing soft backup chords, not as essential that it be a Real Live Human Player ™

It's tough to give exact numbers, but my feeling is that it's leaning more towards sampled than real instruments. The amount of tracks with purely real instruments is probably not that high, but there's a lot of tracks that have a mix of sampled instruments with real instruments (e.g. a rock track with real guitars and bass but sampled drums, an orchestral track with a live violin, an electronic track with vocals, you name it). Always a good way to make a track sound more lively and more human. I second what Meteo is saying, just use what you have, play around with it, have fun with it and see what comes out. If it sounds good, it is good

Well with thousands of songs here and no idea how many of all those things were all played live or sequenced in with VSTs, it would be impossible to give you the idea you're looking for. I'd say don't worry about thinking of things like that. If you can make a quality re-arrangement with the stuff you have and mix it creatively and with high quality, that should be enough right there.

I would highly recommend a multi-tier desk!