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Liontamer

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Everything posted by Liontamer

  1. Check http://speeddemosarchive.com/Solstice.html; it has a 100% room run in fifteen minutes. Yeah, I just watched Lucid's speed run independent of this, and all I could think was "What the hell is going on with this game?" The gameplay never made any sense the whole way through. But yeah, the mix is still good, but be sure to check out the source material. Personally, I was already open-minded to this without it. But for a lot of n00bs like MrBogus above it's just like EarthBound where, if you've never heard the source material, some of the weirder mixes apparently sound like dogshit.
  2. Aside from the fact that the game was very unfamiliar, I never understood why no one bothered to review this. Back in mid-'02, this was one of the few mixes from a game I'd never heard of that caught my attention. Pretty catchy stuff from Rayza, and a good upgrade to the original track. Definitely deserving of more than 2 other reviews.
  3. Was just watching an NES time attack of this game. Damn those are some lanky characters. The guy who made the the time attack made an analogy to the Ku Klux Klan to describe the enemy aliens here, which was so good. They're hilarious when a level is beaten and they punch the air. Anyway, the "Main Theme" source material is actually disjointed in that the intro only lasts a few second before changing into something else entirely. Weird, but at the same time good to hear it reflected here. The mix is certainly dated, but I liked the arrangement approach here. The second part of the source is so minimal that it really offers a lot of creative freedom to expand upon it and write new material, which djp handled nicely here going for that salsa flavor. Even way back, he had the right idea on how to really personalize an arrangement. Cool old stuff. I also bumped this from the very, VERY bottom of ReMix ReViews, where it sat at the bottom of page 29. Space Harrier 'Spaced' can now enjoy it's shiny new spot at the bottom.
  4. <Liontamer> Bitch nigga <Liontamer> be too cold fo' u niggaz <Liontamer> this gangsta shit stank so hard, beeitch <Liontamer> I got you, boy <Liontamer> here we go <Liontamer> NIGGA I KNOE U SEE MAH CHAIN <Liontamer> FO', FI' NIGGAZ GET UP OUT DAT RANGE <Liontamer> COME OUT YO WATCH U PUSSY ASS NIGGA <Liontamer> AIN'T NUTHIN BUT GRIMY ASS NIGGAZ OVAH HERE
  5. I was randomly listening to this, and the melody instantly reminded me of Comic Bakery. Nice to see I'm not the only one who thought that. It's not really a mere reminder; Dunn clearly cribbed part of the source tune from Comic Bakery. Good stuff on his part with that homage though. I should have commented on this one 3 years ago when I first heard it, as this was one of those mixes that showed me there were other gems in the scene from games I'd never played. Nice work by Posu slowing this down and making it pretty chill. I wonder if he knew of the Comic Bakery connection himself. This should inadventantly appeal to fans of the Commodore scene as well.
  6. I like the Retro Remix feature, and it's been something I'm surprised you never did on VGF (Oh burn!), but I don't see any point in spending two minutes reading through names and rolling a die. Why mention details of things you're not going to play? That time could be better spent going into more detail of the remix and remixer selected if so desired.Besides, my momma told me never to trust someone who smells Hahaha! Well, I never play the older stuff because I can always fill up 2+ hours of time with current stuff. My show is more of a "current music & events in the community" thing, so nah, I never feel compelled to play older stuff. Ever. Anyway, elaborating on why RRR is a good idea: John & Jill read off the various random stuff, for example... Perfect Dark 'Deploy' by Strike Final Fantasy 7 'Fluss der Liebe' by Israfel Last Ninja '8-Bit Kamikaze' by Gecko Yamori Bust a Groove 'Bust This Groove '81' by AkumajoBelmont Secret of Monkey Island 'Metal Monkey' by Ryan8bit Shenmue 'Ryos Renshuu' by mutagene Potential fans out there may go "Oh cool, they have Perfect Dark...hey that Final Fantasy 7 could be good...nice, they have Bust a Groove TOO!..." and so forth. They may hear one track directly on the podcast, but 2 or 3 others from the list might also make them seek out OCR itself to satisfy their newfound curiosity. So, yes, Russian ReMix Roulette is one of the better selling points of the site via VGDJ. In conclusion, Chris, you smell.
  7. Uh, WTF on the Russian ReMix Roulette, Chris? It's a good feature that actually spotlights the older material, quickly and easily points out a set of games covered on the site, and mentions the names of a lot of past and present members of the scene. Personally, I skip right past the full playing of the mix, as I've heard them all already, but I can see the appeal for the n00bs. In short, don't bother listening to TCK. Listen to me. [/judge]
  8. Ys VI THE ARK OF NAPISHTIM Original Sound Track - (105) "QUATERA WOODS" Yeah, I thought this needed a lot more polish, James. Though you tried to change the feel/tone here, the arrangement wasn't particularly interpretive. Nonetheless, good idea slightly changing the order of the sections. I just feel there was more you could have done to really personalize the arrangement approach, but admittedly a lot of that issue was also a result of the instrumentation being handled poorly. Right off the bat, the texture was sparse and thin. The production was pretty rough; things didn't sound clear/clean enough and stuff that could have helped the texture, like the violin samples, sounded obscured. The guitar playing was definitely not fluid at all unfortunately, leading to Vig's comment on how you're hitting your notes late. It's made the performance very rigid and plodding. Weak section at :52 with that robotic flute synth. The performance on it sounds really rigid as well, all the more glaring with barely anything to draw attention away from it. The area from 1:57-2:16 was REALLY empty thanks to those brief 'n sparse flute & violin solos. Better performance with the guitar in the forefront from 3:00-3:36, but still not fluid enough in the performance, even the meedley-mee stuff. That's simply a matter of practice and honing your technique. Everything here from the flute, the violins, and the piano sounded very mechanical, so you're gonna have to work on learning how to humanize the sounds. Especially listening to something like the strings in the original, your string work simply sounded inferior. Certainly don't mean to sound discouraging, but I'd likely call this a done deal and simply apply the general suggestions given to future works. Hope to hear more from you here soon though. NO
  9. My sleepy side thanks me for the short shows. ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz....
  10. Yep, everyone join the VG Frequency AIM chat room since ETG is a bust tonight. I'm gonna try to plug the URL command to launch the chat, but I dunno if it's any good, so use at your own risk, etc. -> aim:GoChat?RoomName=VG+Frequency
  11. http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/SaGa_Frontier_psf.rar - 216 "Alone" The backing strings are subtle but still sounded noticeably mechanical/synthy, not to mention thin. The acoustic guitar-style synth is really hit or miss here, with my opinion being miss. It's reasonably ok, but the performance needs more polish to sound somewhat more humanized. Inasmuch as I'm not expecting it to sound or function completely like a real acoustic, it's still too thin and mechanical in the performance, hurting the track because it's a focal point. The bassline here was pretty good. An electric guitar-esque synth joined in somewhat abruptly at 1:42. Can't really say that sound worked well in the texture, as you seemed to be going for fairly organic-sounding choices for the rest of the instrumentation. That's really underscored when it comes back in at 2:23 for a duet with the piano. The sound didn't fit at all, and, even if you chose something else, the part wasn't loud enough to really "duet"/interact with the piano. On the plus side, the piano sounded much better here, the bassline work here was understated but solid, and the percussion was fairy well executed. I thought the snappy perc stuff was a little too loud and out of place alongside the other sounds, but that was just personal taste and not a hit for the track. If you can work out the kinks on the acoustic guitar sample and that lone, odd electrosynth, this would be on solid ground. Any further resubs should probably be after consulting some Js to make sure there are no issues that would result in a rejection. If not though Damon, this was a great effort that really showed off marked development and improvement as an artist with each version, and you should be proud of that. NO (refine/resubmit)
  12. Despite the title, a lot of this is typical Mazedude sounds and samples. Where'd you get the idea that this was severely limited on production grounds? The mere use of some dated SID sounds, despite this not being a chiptune and not being made with any soundchip limitations in mind? The Shnabubula/Figaro Chiptune "precedent" doesn't apply here. Chris's use of the sounds is decidedly better. If we reject this on those grounds, we're really getting into very bad, slippery slope territory here, where people can't even meaningfully incorporate chiptune-based or dated sounds into their material.
  13. Yeah, send some more stuff from the American Album when you have the chance. Perhaps The 7th Guest "Microscopism" or Zombies Ate My Neighbors "Zombies Ate My Tracker"? Honestly, almost anything would be fair game and very welcome. http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/mo2.rsn - "Save the Miners!" (mo2-086.spc) Played this a while back on VGF68 for the Bound Together prerelease show. There's nothing like Mazedude plus the SID-style spices. Nice stuff with the intro; the very beginning there was a very authentic homage to classic Commodore loader tracks. I like how Chris took a very unmemorable track and hooked it up with a much more energetic feel. Check out the source and see how subdued the bassline there was; here, Chris did a great job using the original's bassline on support but making it much more attention-grabbing and integral to the track. The melody from 1:27-2:10 felt too quiet compared to the first part, but it at least created some contrast and put the focus on other sounds & ideas even if, IMO, the section wasn't particularly interesting. Luckily, everything afterwards until the end carried that previous energy level and stylishness. For some, this may drag, as the last 1 1/2 minutes (at least to me) weren't chock full of dynamic contrast or vastly different ideas. Once it got into its groove, it basically stayed there. Nonetheless, the tone of the arrangement compared to the original was a big plus; it's more melodic, more aggressive, more spirited. Once again, good job creating a much more upbeat, melodic mutation out of a very unassuming, purely BGM-level source tune. YES
  14. So I'm dead tired and going on very little sleep. I'll be pushing back the show to Monday night in order to have some time to recover and be able to get the studio easily. This should hopefully be the last push-back of VGF79. I let Mustin know what the status was, so he'll hopefully be available for either tomorrow night, or simply next Saturday for VGF80. Either way, be sure to tune in. Good day, y'all. [/Jim Holland]
  15. http://www.zophar.net/gym/sor1.rar - "Violent Breathing" (Round 7) Love the source tune. One of my favorites from a classic soundtrack. Nice subtle skipping effect during the intro. Percussion is really basic during the intro and the texture is really thin and simplistic, but it could grow into something more. ... Hmm, maybe not. Source came in via some crummy synth saxes at :43. They're too artificial-sounding and aren't really loud enough most of the time. Nonetheless, I did like what you were doing at 1:28 punching the saxes up, then going for the electrosynth stuff on lead. Disco strings were pretty sweet, like zircon mentioned, but yeah, the lack of variation with the percussion hurt the track. Good thing, you dropped that stuff out at 2:19, but that was shortlived, coming right back at 2:34. Otherwise, though you had some good arrangement ideas there to keep the groove going. You've gotta go for something more complex and varied with the percussion on support. Right now, these basic beats and claps are too plain-jane. Many of the other synths here lack realism as well, and the overall texture is relatively simplistic. I don't mind that only a portion of the source tune was arranged here. Given a good overhaul, this could groove bias me, but right now it's not nearly polished enough. NO
  16. http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/LoL_psf.rar - 047 "Jeremi" Nice, LoL.psf. The percussion used to open things up or the first :24 was decent, even if the bassline and whatever other synth that was were rather sparse. Drums after :25 had some meat behind the sound, but the texture felt too sparse. That's because the bassline and faux guitar just don't fill out the soundfield adequately. It's not until :56 that something interesting's even going on thanks to the sax synth belting out the source melody. The tone of the sample is decent (reminds me of the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike soundtrack), but lacks meat on it. The transition at 2:05 could have worked if you had drawn the transition out longer. As is, it just sounds abrupt and disjointed. Piano at 2:18 was decent, but very mechanical/inhuman in the performance and lacking richness in the sounds. The quality of the piano was already not hot, and hearing it repeat and wear out it's welcome ALL the way to the very end didn't help. The arrangement simply suffered on account of the repetition. There's just not enough rhythm/support instrumentation going on to compliment the melody and fill out the track, the sample quality sounds pretty unpolished and lacks richness, and the second half of the arrangement needs more variation in the arrangement and/or instrumentation choices of the lead. This one needs a lot of work to lift it up. NO
  17. I see 160 people leeching the torrent at once right now. Wonder what happened. Anyway, some dedicated seeders are needed. EDIT: It's slowly dwindled down to 7. The internet probably burped.
  18. Guilty Gear X Heavy Rock Tracks ~ The Original Sound Track of Dreamcast - (20) "Still in the Dark" Why did the synth guitar briefly brought in here sound like had a bunch of hiss at :06? Anyway, pretty generic FL-style stuff built the intro until the track got started at :39. Some ultra-basic sounding clap/percussion patterns came in at :52. We're talking old-school DarkeSword territory, only even more basic. Notwithstanding that the patterns themselves aren't interesting, they also repeat too much, so work on writing more creative, ore varied percussion. A nearly naked electric guitar synth plays the source melody at 1:10, sounding very beginner-ish. Not really much going on with the arrangement, though there were at least a brief spot like 2:13-2:26 trying to do its own thing. Still, not much going on beyond a basic-level genre adaptation. Really not much to say about the sounds and construction here other than that this was very beginner-ish. The instrumentation's pretty boring, the arrangement isn't particularly creative, the ideas are repetitive, the track lacks a good texture. Even the mix title is lame and generic. There's probably 80 other people who have said at one point in time: "What do I name my Guilty Gear mix? Oh, I know, 'Guilty as Charged.'" Thumbs down. In any case, you seem to be enjoying your time in the community and sharing your WIPs. Keep frequenting the ReMixing forum to learn more about Fruity or whatever programs you're using, and continue to make use of the Works forum for fan feedback. NO
  19. We don't accept anything with a 224kbps bitrate: http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF9_psf.rar - 118 "Battle 1" & 415 "Dark Messenger" But into the meat of this. Going for the buttrock here I see. This isn't bad, but is too bottom heavy like Vig mentioned. A lot of the supporting elements tend to mush together indistinctly. Sections like 1:04-1:10, 1:16-1:23, 2:34-2:40, 2:46-2:53 just get grating. A saperate bass would have been nice, I agree. I didn't think the transitions posed any issue whatsoever, but the fluidity of the performance was lacking. Personally, I didn't like the synth guitar sound chosen at all (Dear Jesus, let it be synth - Signed, Larry). It seemed too shrill/piercing, and the melody at :32 just exposed the inhuman quality of the sound. The string samples also needed a more humanized sound. I'd suggest trying to even out the frequency range a bit more to tone down the bottom heavy feel and create some sound separation, and work on humanizing the guitar and string work. Lots of potential here, Niels. NO (rework)
  20. http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Courage and Pride" (ct-1-13.spc), "Kaeru's Theme" (ct-1-19.spc) & "Wind Scene" (ct-1-09.spc) Yeah, it's not that I want to either be a snob or sound like a snob, but the sample usage doesn't sound vibrant and lacks presence like zircon mentioned. Indeed, there's absolutely no edge to this, everything sounds quiet, an though I hear panning being employed, this definitely doesn't take enough advantage of the stereo space. This really needs extra polish to sound as if it were realistically performed, not simply in terms of getting OMG-level samples, but just humanizing the performance. Everything sounds dynamically flat and overly synthetic. For example, the snare being played sounds incredibly fake when it's supposed to sounds like rapid taps (e.g. :01 and onward). I won't lie, I think anyone who doesn't mind that stuff wouldn't care about that, but it just sticks out like a sore thumb. I liked the arrangement here as well, but agreed with zircon that it didn't retain my interest and didn't really do much to stand out. The ending wasn't a total loss, but the very last brass note could have trailed off longer so the ending didn't come so abruptly and expose the samples. Sorry Ryan, the execution's just up to par. NO (rework)
  21. http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Kaeru's Theme" (ct-1-19.spc) I don't see how there was a problem with the inclusion of the theme. Aside from the quiet brass from :14-:31, Frog's Theme was noticeably present at :56. You can obviously hear Chris playing the simplified chords at :40 with the brass. They were allusions, but strong enough to make a meaningful connection before 1:30. Melody prominently kicked in at 1:34. The arrangement ideas initially sounded not unlike GrayLightning's "Sacratus Bellator". Not quite sure why the area around 1:48 was as quiet as it was. I think it could have been louder and still had the same contrast, but it's personal taste rather than a big criticism. Frog's Theme came back at 2:38 seemingly with the retread action, but soon changed up into some other good instrumentation ideas even if the arrangement was relatively conservative for the genre. The writing's not quite vanilla to me, but I can see why it could be interpreted that way. By 3:18 though when the strings come back in, and also with the Frog melody at 3:34, I felt like I've heard these ideas enough. Personally I liked what was in place, but it could use more liberal interpretation. The ending at 4:02 was pretty anti-climatic/sudden/lame. Not that I'm crapping on it, but I felt you could have drawn it out longer and formed something more satisfying. The samples also felt too exposed right at those last few seconds. I don't have as major issues with the lack of complexity in the writing. Nonetheless, Jesse's right in that the voicings are flat & bland and don't convey the energy and emotion your writing intends to express. The texture is decent, but when you focus in on the individual sounds, each instrument sounds too subdued and noticeably lacks power and energy. Where's the oomph? If you drastically refined the voicings for a richer more realistic sound, I'd likely YES this, as I think the writing does a fairly authentic job of adapting the theme to a movie score style. Promising work so far, and some of the best I've heard from you Chris. Definitely don't be discouraged at this vote, and see what else you can do with this. NO (refine/resubmit)
  22. It was a crowning achievement, believe me. I didn't know I was capable of doing 2 hours shows anymore. As for the Valentine's Day poll, ThatPaige is interested in what the boys and girls of OCR plan to do for their sig-Os this year. So vote or die. Preferably vote. (But I don't mind die.)
  23. http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 110 "Fighting" Dunno anything about Infected Mushroom, so I can't weigh in from that angle. Yeah, I hear the connections to "Fighting", but much like your Sonic & Knuckles submission a while ago the connections to the source are potentially too vague/tenuous to be easily recognizable. I heard a lot of what you're going for, but it's a tough sell. Good stuff from :16-:32 arranging the very beginning of the source. Melody came in at :40, but the overall texture here seemed rather simplistic. Most of the way through, it sounded like there supposed to be a lot more power and energy here, which I believe is a result of the plain synth design zircon alluded to. 1:23-2:08 had more tenuous-level connections to the source, most notably made by the brief vox (1:36-1:46). 2:08-2:27 had some more overt arrangement with some good piano-based ideas, though I felt like arranging other sections of the source would have provided more variation rather than repeating already-used portions of the source. I thought there was enough arrangement here overall to not need to be deemed too liberal in a standards sense, you just have to grasp the connections that are there. But like zirc mentioned, the mix feels underdeveloped overall because other areas of the source tune weren't explored. Overall, I liked the ideas here. I agreed with zircon in that the ending was really poor. It can work, but you have to build to that type of ending in some way. I too would suggest working more on synth design and polish, as well as expanding the arrangement. Personally, while I don't care for the genre, I thought this was pretty promising. Your subs continue to improve. NO (rework/resubmit)
  24. http://www.zophar.net/usf/smashbros_usf.rar - "Congo Jungle" http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/dkc.rsn - "Jungle Groove" (dkc-05.spc) The original of course is just a straightforward arrangement of the DKC original, so both are listed. Production gets awfully murky/distorted/crunchy. This arrangement is a straightforward cover with the occasional new ideas and some jazzier instrumentation. Arrangement also retreads itself at 1:31 while only 2:52-long. Not badly put together, but lacks any meaningful interpretation or development, and relies on the original as its crutch. NO
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