Liontamer

Steben mentioned kLuTz. Greg's friend Nana transcribed "600 A.D. in Piano", available in 7 pages: http://klutz.vgmidi.com/music.php. MIDIs of CT "Peaceful Days", FF7 "A World in Piano" & FF4 "Tale in Piano" are also available. lightwarmth posted the MIDI and Sibelus Scorch sheet music for FF9 "Messenger in the Key of Black" over at SquareSound. A PDF of Bladiator's Kirby's Dreamland mix, "Chopinesque Kirby" is being hosted by Less Ashamed of Self. BogusRed hosts MIDIs of both Zelda 3 "Into the Golden Sunset" & FF7 "Beyond Midgar"

Dammit, I celebrate teh goddamn Christmas, kill u.

http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1784269#1784269

We don't accept anything over 6MB, so watch that filesize, please: http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 306 "The Star-Stealing Girl" http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Memories of Green" (ct-1-05.spc) If anyone else has significant qualms on the complexity/depth of the writing, I definitely understand. Though that wasn't as much of an issue for me here, the bar is pretty high on piano pieces and this didn't compare on that level. Not saying you need to speed it up or flood it with more material, but more could have been done here. The performance is ok, though potentially too simplistic, but the main problem is the sound doesn't have the body and realism of a live piano performance even though it's played on a Motif. Motifs offer a lot more than this low-quality sound. There's some sustain on here, but the overall sound is pretty barren and exposed. It's particularly glaring when you're playing any type of chords (e.g. 3:16-3:23, but practically anywhere); there's just no meat on 'em. The performance obviously is human and performed live, but the sound quality merely says keyboard. Dunno what kind of piano soundfont/sample was applied to this, let alone what you did in terms of fine-tuning the sound, but you've gotta work on filling the track out and having it sound less synthethic, Dan. The post-production is no good. NO

One Must Fall 2097 OSV - "Main Menu" I heard the original a few months ago when voting at Song of the Week, and it was easily the best track that week for me, gr00ve-biasing me with the goodness. It managed to get 3rd place for Week #37. When I finally recognized the source here at :51, I was pretty surprised (even though it obviously came in earlier when listening to it again). Aside from the guitar, the overall texture felt a bit generic, but I may be harder against this than the others. ("Judgez h8 tekno" and all that.) Can't say I'm a fan of some of the sounds in use, as this music isn't my thing, but it's all in what you do with your tools. Although I felt this could have sounded more unique for the genre, the arrangement of the theme seemed fairly well done in terms of the genre adaptation along with, IMO, lots of personalization. The feel is definitely changed enough for me, but could feel too conservative for others. While there were some subtle changes in the percussion patterns, I felt the beatwork that started at :51 was too simple and repetitive overall. It lacked edge. Spice them up to provide some variation and power to drive the track forward. As is, they barely change up and unfortunately drag the whole arrangement down as a result. The piano starting at 1:44 was too loud and the guitar was quiet enough when it didn't seem to be a strong factor when in play (but it's not fake like I thought, thank you Vig). Minor issues, and I nonetheless liked the ideas there. The atmosphere felt a bit dull, though the writing obviously has a lot of energy. But there was seemingly not quite enough energy in the instrumentation and production, which undermined things. This isn't bad at all, and may be fine for others, but to me the sound choices seemed to limit the expressiveness and energy of the arrangement. That's something that separates this from something like Rayza's material, where the use of some conventional sounds is greatly enhanced by effects/processing/etc. The track could use a little sweetening in the higher frequencies. For example, just throwing up the 14K preamp up higher in Winamp, the track sounded clearer and more vibrant as a result. I think DarkeSword and zircon would have the most relevant insight here as to what's working here and what's not. Overall this was alright, but needs more creativity in some of the writing (the beats) & sound choices, as well as attention to the production to enhance the energy level rather than dampen it. Good stuff so far, Genesis. Kind of surprised to see you submit something without collabbing with Nemesis, but it's cool to see you branching out. I've never seen either of you guys resubmit here, but I think you should go for it in this case as this mix has the potential to make it with some quick refinement. Could snag some YESs, so good luck with the rest of the vote! NO (borderline/resubmit)

You definitely deserved it, Mike. The improvement over the previous Z64 sub was remarkable. Great work, keep it up!

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff4.rsn - "Land of Dwarves" (ff4-34.spc) [:00-1:47], "The Airship" (ff4-29.spc) [1:47-2:13], "Chocobo Forest" (ff4-s-01.spc) [2:14-2:32], "Chocobo ~ Chocobo" (ff4-11.spc) [2:32-3:24] & "Main Theme" (ff4-07.spc) [3:27-4:51] While this was denser/richer than your previous submission, Long, I felt like a lot of criticisms from the last time around are still there in this new submission. I'm mainly talking about the lack of realism in the way the samples are used (which is less of an issue this time around, but still sounds cheaply orchestrated) and the potential medleyitis approach of the arrangement. Browse the ReMixing forum and look for info on how to give your orchestrations more body, find other free samples to work with, as well as create much better humanization in the performance (which this completely lacks). Frankly, there's no reason to point at minutia here when this is such a broad problem. It's unfortunate these issues are present, as they undermine some otherwise very spirited writing that has the potential to sound great and would fit well on an FFIV arrange album. As for the medleyitis, that's not quite a killer for me, as I felt that 1) you worked hard to try and personalize an otherwise conservative set of arangements, and 2) abrupt transitions in orchestrated music can work well enough. Others may take bigger issue here, and I can see why for some of these transitions. The ending as well was very poor, and didn't resolve the track in a satisfactory way, IMO. Looking forward to GrayLightning's opinion on this, as he could give more detail on how to improve it. The way you handle production really needs to be reasessed from the ground up, or your material is always going to sound lacking. NO

Heh. Yeah, if you had told me you revised the track that you wanted to Fall-Through, I never would have posted the OLR version. Be sure to let us know next time, or just find some more reliable webspace. There are free places out there. Alright, what you did to try to do to spruce this up...? http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 57 "Windmill Hut" (56 Ocarina ~Song Of Storms~) SFX to open things up along with the same intro as before. Everything still sounds very thin and synthy like last time, only with a bassline added. Some new instrumentation came in at :36, but the overall complaints are still the same, as most of the instrumentation was retained from last time around. Piano handled the melody this time at :51, which was fairly better than the live sax from last time, but the arrangement issues are still there. The performance is somewhat personalized, as some rhythms are played with, but overall this was very uninterpretive. Some new ideas brought in at 2:13 to at least change the feel of the track, but that was short-lived until 2:40. The sounds and ideas are still fairly beginner-ish and simple, even with these new parts. Like I said last time, really study what you can in the ReMixing forum to get better sounds and learn how to flesh them out. Do what you can to give the arrangement more direction and less monotony, and get more Works forum feedback. You could literally cut & paste my old vote and remove/change any mention of the saxophone where necessary. Not a good sign. This one sounds like a done deal, but keep at it as far as the community goes, Bobby. OLR is fine, certainly, but don't feel discouraged at trying to improve in regards to the OCR level. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ffmq.rsn - "City of Forest" (ffmq-09.spc) Frank let me get a first look at it a little while back, so I played this one on VGF73 a few weeks ago and knew it was coming our way. This is actually meant for an OverLooked ReMiX project. Sounds too good to qualify for OLR. Nice source tune, BTW. Fairly decent piano intro to start things off. Good fading in of the beats and other instrumentation at :21. The performance there seems a little loose and some of the notes here created by the supporting instrumentation seemed to clash (e.g. :44-1:06). 1:06 established a nice groove though with a fakey string sample that was quiet enough to contribute positively, rather than sound too exposed. Nice way to brings the drums/percussion back in at 1:26 as a transition point to a more upbeat section lasting until 1:50. Again, I was feeling some odd note combinations with the instruments from 1:50 until 2:11. The drum writing at 2:12 was rather plain and uninteresting compared to earlier (and later) in the track. I liked the idea of briefly changing the rhythm at 2:23 but dunno why you stopped there. Nice move into the section at 2:34 with the singing though "Fi-iiiine" didn't harmonize properly and sounded out of place as a result, both here and in the mix's close at 4:06. Second syllable should have went lower, not higher. Nice work throwing in "Music to Make Love To: www.DiggiDis.com", and beautiful transition from the lo-fi sound back to hi-fi from 2:55-2:56. Decent freestylish work from 2:56-3:18. The transition back into the simpler source arrangement at 3:18 could have been made more gradual, as the cymbal cutoff sounds too abrupt. Good stuff in the last section at 3:18, including bringing in the tambourine at 3:29. Loved the fairly simple but beautiful piano writing from 3:40-4:02; a great way to close it. Again, I would have liked the vocals right at the very end, if you change the note progression on "Fi-iiiine"; keep it in the same key as the music. There's a lot to love about the track. I'm interested in hearing Vigilante and JigginJonT's opinions on this, though they may and likely could be more critical of where the track seems lacking. Personally, I felt this was like 85% of the way there, but needs some slight tweaking to fix the issues I felt were there. I've never seen Frank actually resub anything, but it would be criminal if he didn't in the event that this didn't pass. I'm feeling the track here and I love the energy and ideas here, but it could use some more polish to really maximize the potential here. Best of luck with the rest of the vote, Frank, and I'll be hounding you like a dog on this one. Very nice so far. NO (refi-iiiine/resubmit) EDIT: Vote changed, read below for more information.

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ff6.rsn - "Edgare and Mash" (ff6-107.spc) Personally, I didn't hear anything here to feel "skeptical" about. Part of getting an NES chiptune passed on OCR is being very creative despite working with channel limitations, which I think Sam did in spades here. There were several creative variations on the source melody, and plenty of good harmonization ideas. The percussion coming in at 1:15 was long overdue, as nothing was moving the track along, but waiting that long to bring things in provided some good contrast. All the while, there was plenty of phrasing ideas that sounded very obviously like Sam's prior work. My main issue was on the production side, as the volume was too loud and there were really nasty piercing frequencies in the low midrange. On my laptop's speakers, it wasn't a big deal, but on headphones it got to be a problem. Compared to an actual NSF, this didn't sound as clean. I don't quite see the volume issue as forcing me to switch my vote, as it seems easily remedied, but I'd prefer to have the volume adjusted about -4 or -5db before posting so the track isn't abrasive. I really don't think it should be posted as is with this volume. YES with volume adjustment

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/tit.rsn - "Star Base ~ Where No Turtle Has Gone Before" (tit-17.spc) Not bad for a first sub, especially with such defaulty/common sounds, but this feels like a mere simplification of the original. The feel is a little different, and some of the rhythms are slightly altered, but the overall pacing and energy feels very similar to the source. The beats are half-decent, but don't do an adequate job of filling out the background and providing a foundation for the rest of the arrangement to stand on. Right now, this feels somewhat empty and there's not much driving the track forward. The arrangement, like I mentioned, is pretty simple. Doesn't take any particularly notable creative liberties or interpretations with the source. At 2:34, the lack of substantial interpretation only hurts such a brief track. "Cowabunga" sample at :15 sounds pretty tacky. The production was decent, all things considered. The sounds were balanced fairly well, although the track may have been clipping a lot, as there were a number of slightly abrasive and crunchy parts. 2:25-2:29 near the end was the worst offending area though, so it wasn't a huge issue throughout, just something that needs to be addressed and reigned in with future works. Not bad for a first sub at least. You show genuine promise, Chris. Hang in the ReMixing forum to learn more about the programs you're using, places to go for samples, as well as production tips. Also don't forget to actually digest the fan feedback from the Works forum on ways to make this more complex and engaging. Some of the major issues here were pointed out to you in the very early stages of the thread, so don't overlook those. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/sd3.rsn - "Powell" (sd3-2-08.spc) Cool intro. The sampling that starts at :20 will anoy some, but was arguably tasteful. Whole thing feels sloppily put together once it picks up, as the melody and beatwork at :38 is very rigid/mechanical. The sampled beats and effects don't even integrate very tightly with the music. They just sound pasted underneath and at times don't even synch up with the tempo of the music (e.g. 1:21-1:36, 3:38-3:52). During subtler points, it somewhat works. Never quite clicks, but sounds like a reasonable idea in theory. You had some of these issues brought up be people in your WIP thread, which you guys should have honed in on and revised accordingly. In any case, after 2:16, the rhythms of the melodic arrangement change a little bit, but overall the intepretation of "Powell" itself feels rather limited. South Park sample at 3:55 would have been cooler if the rest of this was cohesive. I don't envision anyone really liking it, but that's just me. If you plan to resubmit this, focus on less rigid performance, more focus/less repetition with the rearrangement of "Powell", and better integration of the drum and breakbeat samples. Nothing flows here. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mpnt.rsn - "Creative Exercise" (mpnt-09.spc) Wanna firstly point out that I like the track. I think it's good stuff. The main issue I had though was on the production. This sounds really muddy, indistinct, and cluttered in the mid-range (:10-15 was kind of piercing); not just on account of the reverb or anything, but a lot of sounds are stuffed into the mid-range. And while I hear stereo being employed, all of the effects make the whole thing sound lo-fi and too centered. I've heard SGX employ lots of effects, and his stuff (check out his originals) has been incredibly crisp, IMO. I'm on the borderline here though. I don't want to be closed minded, but I feel like SGX has pulled off the gritty, dense, and overloaded sound before, and this on the other hand doesn't do it. 1:13-1:41 & 1:56-2:28 & 3:12-3:39 is original, while for the rest, the arrangement seems pretty apparent. I can understand why the arrangement would be scrutinized and/or NOed. The source tune chorus is used briefly (nicely done with the piano, BTW), but source usage is limited to rearranging one or two melodic lines. Personally, I don't mind the arrangement approach. While admittedly dicey, Sephfire & SGX use the source in a constant and recognizable way. Nonetheless, I can understand NOs based on mainly 1) using only a small section of the source tune, as well as 2) using said section in a perceivably repetitive manner, as well as 3) the original additions deemphasizing the arrangement content. It really depends on one's perspective. In any case, my concerns are mainly on the production level, as I feel the sounds need to be spread out a little further through more panning and (more importantly) EQing to eliminate some of the very thick clutter going on. If I'm being too picky and this is a solid YES, I'll be outdone by the consensus. I feel like zircon would have the best grasp of the situation. Very enjoyable track, though, and certainly good luck with the rest of the vote, Dan & Danny. NO (borderline) EDIT: Vote changed, read below for more information.

http://www.zophar.net/gym/sor2.rar - "Go Straight" (StreetsOfRage2-01.gym) Very plain-jane and uncreative arrangement. Production was decent at least. No offense meant, as I'm not just trying to shit on this track, but you've actually managed to make this less melodic and less interesting than the source material. The original sections lack any interesting writing and feel like complete filler. Rinse and repeat at 1:58. This is like the original, only stripped of all feeling. NO

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=dkc - "Fear Factory" (dkc-20.spc) Straight up MIDI quality and beginner-ish. Hardly any meaningful arrangement beyond the boom-tss genre adaptation. This is not even "hard" techno. I dunno how you could follow the site for a year, then send this in and somehow feel the quality was comparable. This would be more at home at VGMusic.com. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/journe~1.zip - Track 3 Default sounds. Piercing frequencies and a somewhat cluttered soundfield. Not much of an upgrade to the original. Picks up at :32. 1:55-long and an undeveloped concept. Not terrible and some additive ideas were there, but again, not even meaningfully developed. Compared to the stuff we're posting now, this needs more everything. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 202 "Cleft of Dimension" Way too synthy, dry and mechanical-sounding, though you were trying to present a nuanced feel nonetheless, which was good. Sample quality is pretty low and the whole track lacks texture. Certainly doesn't help bring out the best in the arrangement, which otherwise had some reasonably good ideas. Not bad for a first sub though. Hit the ReMixing forum for help in better realizing your ideas, including with free sounds, and get feedback from fans in the Works forum to see if you're going in the right direction. Hopefully your sounds can be upgraded to match the ambition of the arrangement. NO

Sounds played to MIDI and rendered with soundfonts. Not bad, but the sound quality is lacking. Definitely doesn't sound like a real piano, despite the intention. Yeah, I thought "To Zanarkand" was decently performed but not really meaningfully arranged. It's adapted and arranged for piano, and of course I hear some personalized ideas, but I still felt it was too conservative overall. I liked the usage of "The Prelude" all things considered. But yeah, the production is just bad. Piano indeed sounds flat and dry and there's some audible hiss going on. The performance needs more body, more complexity and needs to flow more gracefully. So you should see what you can do in the ReMixing forums on the production end and simply work to enhance your performance techniques. You seem to be improving though, and this doesn't sound bad at all. NO

Yeah, the sounds here are so basic and underutilized that this just isn't interesting for a whole 4:45. Percussion is really boring, nothing but plain pattern kicks and crud dragging the whole thing down, and areas like 1:03-1:22 were a cluttered mess. Swanky progression from 1:49-2:06 with the subtle string work in back. That was like a brief shining light amidst the blandness, blandness brought back by those tacky cymbal shots at 2:15 (always a bad idea). Some piano stylings at 3:00 were a welcome change of paced, but didn't create a good texture with the crappy supporting instrumentation ideas. Not a bad idea with the synth at 3:31, but the writing was mediocre. Still some promise there. But again, a glimmer of interest among an otherwise boring arrangement. Man, you gotta trim the fat, baybeh. Keep working to improve yourself at the ReMixing & Works forums as you have some promise. If you're diligent, you'll listen to this in a year and understand why it's so lacking. NO

Hahahaha, yeah, I like the original piece but the first :54 is nothing but an instrument swap, which is fucking lame. Then we hit the boom-tss at 1:02 and you've lost me. Change of synths at 2:03 was even worse. Poorly-used samples, a generic groove, and no attention paid to sound balance. The arrangement ideas aren't mind-blowing and the execution is rather poor, but there's the potential for improvement if you stick around and try to learn more via the ReMixing and Works forums. You did your best after :53 to try and go for 4 or 5 different spins on the source material, and I applaud the effort. This isn't terrible mind you; an FF7 fan who wasn't picky would be kind of down. But it's a far cry from good. Nonetheless, you at least have potential; keep at it in the community, Dominic. NO

The performance felt a bit rigid with the note-to-note movements. The sound quality isn't bad, but certainly dry/exposed like TO mentioned; the track lacks in body and texture the whole way through. Dunno what effects you put on the instruments at 1:58, but it makes the track sounds really flooded. Yeah, I hear some off-notes around 2:36 and continuing into some of the progression around 2:46, followed by some downright ugly chords at 3:11. Pretty plodding arrangement, unfortunately; it doesn't retain the listener's interest at all for an entire 5:10, and would need a lot of fleshing out to have a chance at passing. NO

http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi/R/run.it - "Run" Thanks for providing a link to the source. But yeah, unfortunately, this isn't the first Unreal series submission to stick way too close to the structure and progressions of the original and it won't be the last. This needs more personalized ideas. We go for rearrangements here, so you need to introduce more ideas to play around with the melodic content. On the sound quality front, the production was decent, though too trebly and lacking some depth in the mid-range. The foreground sounds were fairly annoying/grating, and I noticed some piercing frequencies in the low mid-range. The percussion in the first minute was pretty basic; sounded rather defaulty. Synth design wasn't getting the job done; I'd like to hear these sounds used to their fullest. The energy was brought down at 2:45 for at least some contrast, though overall the piece didn't seem to have too much direction. Stays very BGMish much like the original; it actually deemphasizes the original's melodic content. Unfortunately not engaging or complex enough to warrant 5:34. Use the ReMixing forum to learn how to step up your sound quality and use the Works forum for more feedback before you submit in the future. NO

Who be "Vigilahnt?" BTW, I kill u Hayden! Kwanzaa iz fake holiday!

Yeah, I was actually listening to this a week ago when I was researching the source tune names for this. I thought this was a really good mix from an underarranged game. It holds up very well for it's age, IMO. Nice work, David.

Not a big deal to me. As long as you get it done before New Year's Day, that seems fine to me, as 2005 is supposed to be the 10th anniversary year of Chrono Trigger. That's just to preserve some of the symbolism there. As you work on the project and hear from nothing but fanboys and people who want the tracks out, one's point-of-view tends to become too insular. The big picture is that when it's out, it's out. No one's really gonna remember or care about any delays, as they'll be a moot point. As far as I'm concerned, just keep doing what you're doing.