Liontamer

Donated, and I'll be getting the kit soon so I can just join the marrow donor registry.

Until a new torrent is out, have at the mirrors, hoss.

Not to seem blase about it, but I've already heard and loved this mix, so I'm keeping it short. The arrangement definitely keeps the structure of the original, but Brandon absolutely gives it his own unique style with the instrumentation, so it's not too cover-ish without interpretation. It's a bit long, but the original was the same way. Everything's sounding strong here. YES

Pretty low levels on this overall. Arrangement kicked in at :45. Don't really have much to say initially besides I like the arrangement. The realism of the the piano at 1:52 was nothing to write home about, and stuck out a lot given how relatively sparse the textures were. I would have definitely done something to make the tone sound more realistic given how exposed it was. The overall levels need to be louder; especially for the second half where you get lots of original writing on top of the quietly arranged source, it's important the source isn't pushed too far in the background. And the drums being on auto-pilot definitely could use some more variation. Again, with the relatively sparse soundscape, when any of the sequencing/realism is off, or an idea's beat into the ground like the drums, it stands out more. Just noting though, the percussion repetition issue bothered me significantly less because once the first pattern at :13 dropped off at 1:38, it didn't come back until 3:12 or repeat anywhere near as excessively. This is probably 85% of the way there, and the core arrangement itself doesn't need to be altered at all. But I'd make the overall levels louder, OR vary up the drum/cymbal pattern more from :13-1:38, OR get the piano to sound fuller and thereby less obviously fake and sequenced-sounding. halc had other valid points about the instrumentation, but overall it clicked and I don't think anything NEEDED to be tweaked there. Anyway, none of the criticism are MANDATORY to address, but the main takeaway is that there are some smaller issues that prevent this from better realizing the potential of the arrangement. Figure out what crits are valid for you, give this some additional tweaks and polish, and DEFINTELY resubmit this if this doesn't make it. Love the arrangement ideas, and we'd love another Ico mix, as well as more submissions from you, since you have great ideas. NO (resubmit)

I'm gonna disagree with OA about how cohesive this sounded, though I thought the arrangement was fine, it was the production that sounded too off. I didn't hear the first version, but I still thought the way the drumwork mixed didn't click with the rest of the soundscape and the timing/performance there also sounded stiff. I also felt the synth lead was kind of grating. The guitar work and what sounded like a harpsichord part (quietly in the background) were both really sweet. The mixing from 2:51 until the end just didn't sound clear or cohesive, with the organ and the guitar parts panned too widely apart and thus sounding very lossy and muddy. Actually, listening to the beginning again, the panning seems too wide most of the time, and I'm not sure why, but it's reducing the clarity of the piece. The 1:57 section, when things seemed to go back to normal for a time, was really needed. I had to throw on a few baseline tracks to listen to just to make sure my ears weren't plugged up and that my headphones were fully pugged in. I think the arrangement's there, but the mixing needs another pass to set things right with both the stereo balance and the overall separation of parts. NO (resub)

I also didn't hear the first version, so I'm coming at this fresh. Opens up with a decent fade in; pretty quiet. Interesting instrumentation approach with this theme. Once things picked up more at :37, the soundscape definitely felt very thin, with the percussion being a big reason for that. The lead synth at :50 and the doubling by the more saw-like synth wasn't bad, but it ended up sounding somewhat too loud. The theme was used a bit too quietly from 1:44-2:35, particularly with the belltones, and moreso when more elements were added in starting in at 2:10. Decent escalation of the energy level at 2:36, it just seems like much of the processing and sounds were pretty generic, and the mixing lacked polish and clarity. Not feeling the akward key change at 3:00, which was awkward and poorly executed. OA & halc are right that the arrangement is in the right direction, as it's creative and interpretive, but you've got to clean the mixing up and flesh out the instrumentation so that this sounds fuller. See what more you can do with it, if you're interested, but it seems like you're making progress. Even if you don't or can't get this one above the bar, Ivan, you seem to be going in the right direction overall, and you're continuing to develop your skills. Definitely don't be discouraged and keep at it. NO (resub)

Guile vs. Chun-Li Both good entries. Brandon's had clearer production overall than GLL's, though the textures when trying to combine Guile's theme with the Chun-Li background weren't really clicking. It would have sounded better w/o the Chun-Li stuff, which felt kind of shoehorned in. Brandon's interplay didn't lock together, while GLL developed both themes separately but didn't have much interplay that I picked up on. On sound quality, Brandon had it, but Ghetto Lee Lewis developed both themes more substantively in the end, so it narrowly goes to him. Blanka vs. C. Viper Both great, but personally feeling Jakesnke17's more. The main issue with Jake's was being way too quiet and tentative-sounding with the usage of the C. Viper, which made downplayed the otherwise creative tradeoffs with Blanka's theme. OA's was definitely more high energy but sounded like it needed more effects to flesh out the sound; the drums were too empty-sounding and the guitar tone needed to sound meatier. Ignoring that though, great energy and combining of the themes. I just liked Jake's arrangement direction more, personal taste. Would love to hear both polished up! Ryu vs. Eagle I thought Gario's had some pretty shrill synths in there that should have been traded for something softer. That said, a pretty cool arrangement that won some cool points for opening with the opponent's theme. Always a good strategy because it shows the arranger wasn't afraid to tackle the theme that they DIDN'T select for themselves. Cool stuff, and enjoyable overall. Oni vs. Yang Nice work by both. Neblix took what could also be viewed as a pretty gimmicky approach -- making it sound like a fight between the two opponents -- and pulled it off reasonably well for the intro without making it detract from the music. Your mileage may vary, and I could have done with less personally, but it was solid overall. Nice job interplaying the two themes very consistently. Not sure about whatever instrument was introduced at 1:34 (used until 2:00 and brought back for 2:47-3:10). Sounded a too syrupy sweet and upfront, and thus felt out of place given the mood and other instrumentation. Phonetic Hero's had good energy, though the beats were too tame and needed some more presence. That said, it had a bit more cohesive mixing and sound design, as well as flow between the two themes. I personally like Yang's theme as a base more, and think it allowed Neblix to go in some creative directions, but the overall polish of Phonetic Hero's entry as well as him ALSO weaving the two themes well barely won out.

Now someone said it.

Officialz!

Yeah, you know... 1 louder. [/Tap]

No worries, there's no blame game. I'm looking at it from another angle, I suppose. "Dueling Consoles" was basically SNES sounds + Genesis sounds, so nearly all chiptune sounds, as opposed to the TMNT mix being NES sounds + a live piano, like a half-and-half balance of chip and organic sounds. That's where I was inferring the confusion was, in the balance of instruments, but you're saying you're clarifying you though it would fail over the lack of added processing/effects for the NES sounds. But again, it's all a balance, and all the standards say right now is discouraging (not outlawing) nothing but basic tones, which clearly the TMNT mix doesn't do. That's why I'm stating it's not shocking at all that the TMNT approach was OK on our side. I'm not saying you're the one, you you right there!, spreading the word not to submit chiptunes here. I'm saying that some people are taking that perception though and running with it and telling others that as if that's written in the standards. That said, there are many chiptune artists out there who don't/didn't follow this thread or the decision 5+ years ago, and they're just either unaware of or uninterested in OCR to begin with, or not making VGM arrangements but only originals, and they're not showing up either now OR way back when. EDIT: Nabeel, respectfully, no frustration meant, but mouth shut, ears open. You don't have much context for what happened before, and you're jumping to too many conclusions. No hate, not mad, but hang back and listen to the convo and just observe for a bit.

Not sure when the conventional wisdom of this thread became "after Espergirl was rejected, all the chiptune artists got wary and stopped submitting," because that was never the case. At no point were "purer" chiptunes ever regularly submitted before "Espergirl," so it's not surprising they weren't regularly submitted afterward. All I recall are Sam's, and then RushJet mentioned he sent stuff; two submitters less than a handful of times. I would NOT state the "Espergirl" decision as the cause and effect of everything though. I'm not saying that at least some people that Sam knows around the scene didn't see the decision and chose not to send purer chiptunes as a result. But not everything revolves around this kind of minutia that only a tiny fraction of users and artists are even aware about or care about; there are tons of artists who don't follow these kind of discussions closely and wouldn't have been affected by or aware of an isolated decision from more than 5 years ago. I think a separate but more important misconception of what it says in the standards is leading some people to believe (and then emphatically tell other people) that there's bias against even using any chiptune sounds in any arrangement to begin with. We obviously have plenty of "9-bit" arrangements where people pair chiptune sounds with 1) other non-chiptune instrumentation and 2) production techniques that go beyond the technique limitations of old-school gaming computers and consoles. But even when submitting his TMNT mix from NES Jams that's obviously fine according to our standards, Sam was saying (paraphrasing) "I know it's got a lot of chiptune sounds in it, and you don't go for that, but it's got a lot of piano too, so PLEASE DON'T REJECT IT, PLZ!" We never would have rejected that; those kinds of instrument combinations with chiptunes have always (read: ALWAYS) been fine. I think that's an incorrect perception from a few people, Sam included, that's also causing some misunderstandings. That said, I've got nothing against more traditional-style chiptunes (as with my decision re: "Espergirl"), they've just never been submitted regularly, regardless of Sam's mixes. I'd love to see more, and (just my opinion) Ari basically spelled out how chiptunes could be judged analogous to other "limited" arrangement options like solo piano or solo acoustic guitar, i.e. when you limit production choices, a lot of other aspects really need to be on point. I didn't agree with him word for word then or now; the gist is OK, but, as Sam alluded to with his approach with "Espergirl," we ALSO don't want to create the perception that in order for a chiptune (or solo instrument) arrangement to pass, it has to be ZOMGcomposerarrangementwank to counter the limited production options. Anyway, it's mostly fun reading, so carry on.

Don't take it too seriously, Derr. Most of the sarcastic or trolling goodbyes are from folks just busting his chops, because it's just Nekofrog, a fellow busterchopbusterchopchop. As far as anyone legit annoyed at Neko's comment about the "nerd scene" or "geek poop" or "loser farm" or whatever, it's just our homey trying to keep his NeoGAF cred (very important) before droppin' the mic. Key Takeaways 1) He'll be back. 2) At least it's not Unmod Nekofrog. 3) He'll be back. So (seriously), no hate, we'll see you around, and whatever rare music you put out, we'll keep an eye out for it, because it'll probably be pretty badass. And yeah, the name of the topic looks pretty dumb with no capitalization or punctuation, so I'm also sick of seeing it on the front page, and it's run its course. We hardly knew ye. im retiring thread bye

Well, the FF7 project was also run the same way, plus an open call later, and turned out great. If you get value from being on sekretprojedtz, but butthurt if you're not on it, that's alright. But don't whine like your Zangief against my T. Hawk. Project directors should be able to develop something behind the scenes if they want. Looking forward to your future muzak though, as you'll be making some anyway. Don't whine again if you're not on the seekritz Dudebro 3: Revenge of the Revenge soundtrack either.

O, ye. Of little. Faith.

OC ReMix Presents Mega Man X: Maverick Rising! March 14, 2012 Contact: press@ocremix.org FAIRFAX, VA... OverClocked ReMix today released its 33rd arrangement album, Mega Man X: Maverick Rising. It features sixty-two tracks from forty-nine artists. Directed by Wesley “Bahamut” Cho with assistant directors Wes “Emunator” McDonald and Stevo “Level 99” Bortz, Maverick Rising is available for free download at http://maverick.ocremix.org. Maverick Rising features 4 ½ hours of music from a variety of genres with a hard rock and metal focus, and now ranks as OC ReMix’s largest arrangement project to date. It is a MASSIVE tribute to the music of the core Mega Man X series, spanning nine games released on the Super Nintendo, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. Maverick Rising is not affiliated or endorsed by Capcom; all original compositions are copyright their respective owners. “This album is meant to be a massive collaborative effort from members of the video game music arrangement community at large. I started this with the goal of covering the music of what appears to be a generally sparsely covered set of popular games, and to bring exposure to quality artists that many may not be aware of. I also wanted to see artists grow with their music,” explained director Wesley Cho. “I am proud of what these musicians have accomplished on this album, and immensely thankful for all of those involved. I hope the album is just as enjoyable for the listeners as it was for those who worked on the music, artwork, video trailers, and website.” Forty-nine artists collaborated on musical tributes to the entire core series, including: Mega Man X (SNES) Mega Man X2 (SNES) Mega Man X3 (SNES) Mega Man X4 (PlayStation) Mega Man X5 (PlayStation) Mega Man X6 (PlayStation) Mega Man X7 (PlayStation 2) Mega Man X8 (PlayStation 2) Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (PlayStation Portable) Exclusively included in the torrent download are the 28 entries in OC ReMix’s Grand Maverick Remix Battle 2010 competition, organized by Shariq “DarkeSword” Ansari. The 2010 GRMB featured sixteen ReMixers, representing Maverick robots throughout the Mega Man X series, facing off and creatively combining the themes of two dueling Mavericks into unique arrangements. About OverClocked ReMix Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form. Its primary focus is ocremix.org, a website featuring thousands of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans. ### Preview it: Download it: http://maverick.ocremix.org Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Mega_Man_X_series_-_Maverick_Rising_v2.torrent Comments/Reviews: http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=39233

Sigma defeated!

Need more details on what's going on there. Is it that when you attempt to hit "Submit Message," the button isn't working in your browsers? Or are you sending messages which apparently are vanishing into thin air? Does it also not work on Firefox or a smartphone?

Just unlike it right now, that's OK. (EDIT: I've done it for you.) This isn't a coercion campaign, it's an awareness campaign. Coercion is forcing someone to do something under physical or psychological duress, i.e. serious business. Putting up a menacing picture of Sigma, parodying some game quotes of his, and rallying folks to playfully pretend they're in a Mega Man X scenario to help kick Sigma's ass as a not so serious tie-in to a free upcoming Mega Man X album is NOT serious business. Again, if doing something violates your interweb comfort zone, then DON'T DO IT. You'll live. We'll live. You're still wrong about the intent of the whole thing, and made a mountain out of a molehill. That goes for others who implied this was a spam campaign to nag people who are uninterested in VGM or likened it to a hostage situation. If you feel "coerced" we don't need or want your like, it's not that deep. The only goal is spreading awareness for a community's hard work and creative music. We've seen, what, 10-15 people feel it's a miscarriage of justice and maybe 3 incorrectly claim to speak for a significant amount of offended people? While a truly significant amount of people, 2000+, are simply having fun with the pretend Sigma scenario. We'll stay on the "having fun" side.

That's also why I'm a judge! Gotta crush those DREAMS!

Thank you for the ONLY constructive, practical feedback I've seen in this entire thread. It's a nice change from negative absolute nonsense basically saying "You have no right to do a Facebook campaign to promote the album." I actually learned something from you Bagel, thank you. Because we've conditioned people to expect the next news after every trailer so far to be "HERE YOU GO" since album #14, and this changed that, it felt like waiting in line at Disneyland, seemingly reaching the front of the line ("Trailer!"), only to turn the corner and see another line they're now at the back of ("Dohhhhhh!"). Even though that shouldn't be the reaction, since this was my idea, I'll own that. Thanks for that insight. It doesn't justify OTHER unjustified reasoning behind people's negative reactions, which are just insane and assuming bad faith in ludicrous ways, and have been most of the negative reaction, but your insight was eloquent & helpful, cheers!

This. Is. DELICIOUS!

I love you.

No one's coercing you to putting a gun to your head to compromise your VALUES in order to get the album out, or for anyone else, so let's not be "ridiculous" and pretend that that's what's being asked.

Again with the assumption of bad faith. We have one more thing we'd ideally like to include at the time of release that we'll simply try to get done ASAP later on if we hit the mark early.