Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ewj.rsn - "New Junk City" (ewj-01.spc) Man the timing on this was so off the whole way through. Sounds very sloppy. Beats were rather simple and lazy. Instrumentation was relatively generic and sparse and resulted in a plain-jane result. After a sloppy transition section from 1:41-2:04, it briefly switched to some rock-based stuff until 2:38. Same problems, different sounds as far as I'm concerned. I go blehz on this. Not bad for a beginner's effort, but decidedly uncohesive and apparently proud of it. If you're not proud of it being like this, then bury your nose in the ReMixing and Works forums to learn more and allow people to criticize your material. I saw you look down on overly "meticulous" critique here, but it's clear you're in dire need of some. Especially as a n00b, you need to be receptive to criticism, especially detailed criticism. Keep at it, Kiefo. NO

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/castlev3.zip - Tracks 1 ("Beginning") & 11 ["Deja Vu (Vampire Killer)"] Decent a capella stuff. Ultimately the synching of the tracks is too loose. It may be difficult for you, but there are nonetheless a lot of rough spots where the collective timing sounds too shaky. Gotta get it sounding more cohesive and in time. Also, the structure of the beats and harmonization still leaves the track sounding very empty. It isn't until 1:36 that you had some basic but nice effects on your backing tracks that really attempted to fill out the background. Use those types of effects and techniques appropriately to beef up the rest of the voices, or work on adding more supporting vocal tracks. You also may want to double your lead the entire time, just to give it more body. Just some ideas, which you're free to take or leave. Arrangement was alright. I'd be interested in hearing a college a capella group give this arrangement a whirl with a lot more people involved. OL ReMiX could use this. Cool shit, Tom. If you really wanted to fill this track out further and get the timing down with everything, this could be something really solid. As is though, it sounds too rough in the execution. NO (rework/resubmit)

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 119 "The Man With the Machine Gun" The dance kick used here had no beef, and the overall texture was too subdued for the energy you were obviously trying to create. The atmosphere was dull and slightly lo-fi. Synth design and breakbeat style were both pretty plain, though I did like the melody being doubled with that chiptune sound (albeit briefly). Chorus right at 1:25 almost sounded out of key; probably wasn't, but just weird. Seemed to fix itself when it repeated. Relatively uncreative/conservative arrangement, as the source melody isn't really manipulated very much, only given a genre adaptation. Doesn't do enough to distinguish it from the style of the original. You gotta be more. Use the ReMixing & Works forums here in order to do that. NO

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 111 "Drowning Valley" This is very, very far from "in ya face". These stock breakbeats are incredibly sterile, and all of the synths and samples in play sound default-y. The piano sounds the best, but that's to be expected as it (arguably, I suppose) has a reasonably nice sound to it as is. In any case, the texture here was terrible, the sounds lack energy and drive, and the arrangement was weak. The section at 2:15 left me shaking my head. All a shame, as the drum & bass approach here was interesting given the source tune, just poorly executed the entire way through. Well, get yo' read on 'n shit at the ReMixing forum to learn more on how to work with Reason and beef up your work, and use the Works forum here for more feedback before you choose to submit something again. Right now, this is entirely too beginner-ish. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Corridors of Time" (ct-3-04.spc) Nice job adding the electric guitar. The production improvement on here has definitely been significant. I don't have a huge problem with this passing ultimately, but IMO the sound balance really needs to be addressed here. The overall volume is generally too quiet; I had to boost this +6db in Winamp to get more satisfying levels. Also, the snappy beats were too loud vs. everything else, but that's a more minor/subjective complaint that I'm not docking points for. More importantly, the lyrics are mushing into the instrumentation and need to be placed more in the foreground. To me, it's a problem for most of the track, but really stick out in areas like the chorus at 1:27-1:55. Sounds like the vocals could better occupy their own space by EQing them higher. Right now the vocals sound a bit obscured/indistinct and lo-fi. In any case, I think everything still sounds great on the arrangement front, but just needs some last refinement to correct any imbalances that are dragging it down. I might be the sticker here, so good luck with the rest of the vote Jovette, and I'm glad to see you actually reading the prior decision, as you've had a lot of good stuff that I think could make it if you ever decided to revisit it. Much success to you with Avex Trax, by the way. NO (refine/easy resubmit)

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/soe.rsn - "Introduction" (soe-02.spc) Well, it's certainly different than the last time around. Awfully sparse, minimalist deal you got going on. The percussion REALLY drags on after a while; it sounds way too beginner-ish. Source tune isn't really being meaningfully arranged, IMO. 1:46 continues on the same path only with some added synth instrumentation. The arrangement isn't "crazy", but somehow seems all over the place. Man, no offense, but this is like Shnabubula, only without any skills. Seriously, it might be Sam's bastard half-brother that no one in his family ever talks about. Nice try at avant-garde or whatever, but there's simply not much going on in terms of polyphony/texture, synth design, or arrangement. NO

Thanks for providing the original, even though I hated it. Brandon has definitely had some better stuff on Deus Ex. At 2:31-long, this is gonna have a hard time passing unless the arrangement and production are very strong, which is not the case for either. The percussion is really plain-jane and doesn't lend any energy to the mix, plus it repeats way too much. The foreground instrumentation also sound tepid and somewhat generic though the choice of sounds isn't terrible. Beyond 1:31 though, you've basically heard all that there is to hear. Really not much going on here melodically. Lacking meaningful direction and very underdeveloped. Not bad for a first submission though, Anis. Stay involved in the community and use the ReMixing and Works forums to learn more on music making and obtain criticism. NO

Well that's awfully disappointing. You were certainly groove-biasing me with the way this opened up. Too bad the beat goes non-stop like this. Aside from the beats though, you at least tried to go off on several minorly different variations of the melody, which turned out ok. The synth textures, IMO, were working pretty well here. Go for even more interpretation with the arrangement, and more dynamic contrast. (Weak as hell BTW, that shitty and eternally tacky cymbal shot ending. It does not get any more uncreative as an ending. Work on that close!) What was comparably holding this back though was the production. The sounds in play were nice and beefy, but the soundfield was too cluttered, and there were some occasionally piercing frequencies. You need more separation of the sounds in play with some judicious EQing, and despite the full atmosphere you need a cleaner overall sound. For a 165kbps VBR encoding, this sounds more like 96kbps CBR. It's a long way from say, bLiNd's quality. Look in the ReMixing forum for help on that so your stuff doesn't inadvertently sound lo-fi. Keep making use of the resources here to improve your material bro. This was a promising start. I don't believe you're at the level to get this passed with one resubmission, but I don't think you should drop this one altogether. Get more experience under your belt and then revisit it. I'll be hanging onto this, for verily thou hast groove-biased mine ears. NO (rework/resubmit) When's Bladiator gonna work futher on "MC Jazzer" and submit that? This game needs more love.

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/microsoft/xbox/morrowind.mid - "Morrowind Theme" Generic trance sounds, boring perc patterns, and arguably too liberal arrangement approach (though you guys should be able to hear the connections), and clipping like a motherfucker. Yuck. Unfortunately nothin' to love here. NO

Agreeing with TO's assessment here, the arrangement was very conservative, the composition was very sparse, the performance sounds too rigid, the production is awful, and the piano sample here isn't very expressive. The jazzy section from 1:54-2:52 was sloppy and didn't have anything to do with Blue Fields, which isn't normally a killer but contrast poorly with such an uncreative arrangement of the source. Yeah, please make use of the ReMixing and Works forums here to improve your game. For a beginner Mattias, you certainly have the right idea in terms of your arrangements, but just don't have the know-how and experience yet to turn out a solid finished product. NO

http://snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "The Brink of Time" (ct-2-13.spc) & "Guardia Millenial Fair" (ct-1-06.spc) http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 26 "Zelda's Theme" I do wonder why you gave 0 additional info about this 2nd resub, since the submission letter is almost exactly the same as last time. I said that last time around, Ken, and you really managed to bounce back in a big way on this one with the production, creating a much more ornate atmosphere. I'm glad you persevered here. The low-end sometimes got a bit cluttered, but other than that it was smooth sailing. After hearing some 2nd resubmissions not get the job done, this was a refreshing change of pace. The arrangement was already there beforehand, but adding more definition to the sounds improved the overall product in a synnergistic way. Congratulations, bro, and be sure to thank Sil. Very relaxing listen. YES

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/Authors/Game/Iveson_Martin/Jaguar_XJ220.lha - mod.worldmap I remember first hearing this off VGMix, and I can't lie when I say I was very unimpressed. I don't mind you trying new stuff of course. That's definitely encouraged, but this just isn't clicking. The beatwork is incredibly lazy, defaulty, and repetitive. It doesn't morph around and develop, and this is too LOOOONG track at 6:16 to let that happen. You get points for trying to entend a 41-second source tune, as there are some nice ideas here. Loved the breakdown at 2:40, for example. The section from 4:20-4:44 though was poorly written, IMO. The arrangement is decent but overly conservative, plus there's not enough evolution here. You could easily cut out some filler here and make this feel more varied. Definitely rewrite the percussion though with a lot more effort, as its weakness killed this from the outset, Nicolas. NO

http://vgmusic.com/music/console/sega/genesis/jp_youlose.mid http://vgmusic.com/music/console/sega/genesis/jp_grantstory.mid http://vgmusic.com/music/console/sega/genesis/jp_mapmusic.mid http://vgmusic.com/music/console/sega/genesis/jp_pstation.mid I somewhat agree with Koelsch that this is the best he can get it to sound, but it's still a NO go. Higher frequencies are still gone and the atmosphere now sounds incredibly dry, especially detrimental to the sampled instrumentation. There's still light but noticeable hiss here on my headphones. Couldn't you have de-essed the first version or something? (Prot: "Learn to de-ess.") Your initial setup being so bad in the first place ultimately messed this up. Sorry man, it's certainly not for a lack of liking the arrangement.

Still playing catch up on some back episodes. Feel free to pick 'em up as I wait to start the show again around January 22nd. Thanks for listening: VG Frequency #64 MP3 (249MB) VG Frequency #64 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.12265 VG Frequency #64 Chat Transcript VG Frequency #66 MP3 (125MB) VG Frequency #66 Playlist: http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.12550 VG Frequency #66 Chat Transcript

Best best is to mail Susie and find out if she has anything, as in general we really don't have many fans writing sheet music or tabs for work that isn't theirs. But AFAIK what's on her site is the only material that's available. With that said, let's please not treat the thread as a sort of request thread. But I'll be glad if it serves as an impetous though for others like chthonic to start proving tabs and the like for their own music. Thanks to everyone who has provided material so far, it's greatly appreciated.

Yeah, that's no issue at all. Irregardless of its relation to the game, as long as the SFX usage is tasteful and well-integrated into the track, it's fine.

Dunno any of the particulars, Mike, but why not take the opportunity now to PM a bio StarZander; I'm sure he'd replace the bootleg one with that.

To clarify, my vote on Fröhn 'Remastered Gabber Mix' cited both the arrangement and sounds as lacking. I felt the arrangement was too straightforward to pass regardless of sound choices. I'm really not concerned what the industry currently or retrospectively thinks of the 2A03 chip. Some like it, some hold it in no regard. I'm just saying that IMO, the arrangement sounds pleasing and well-written in spite of the "primitive" sound choices and more importantly pushes the limitations of the sound format. I do not hold the 2A03 format itself or its limitations as inherently a violation of guidelines or below standards provided the arrangement is comprehensive and the soundscape/atmosphere is solidly constructed, which both need to be the case for my YES. Ultimately I feel that is the situation here.

ATTENTION - If you are here to comment on the Chrono Symphonic: Regular Edition album, please direct your comments to the Chrono Symphonic Comments/Feedback thread. This thread is exclusively for the continued development of Chrono Symphonic: Special Edition. Any and all comments/feedback merely on the currently released album will be mercilessly deleted as we have no way to move them. Please enjoy the album and post in the correct thread.

VGF75 will have it if the Chrono Symphonic Special Edition isn't out by then. Otherwise VGF76 and probably a couple of episodes after that if I don't catch or don't have time for everything.

There aren't many 2A03/4-channel chiptunes working within the limits with as much compositional complexity as "Figaro Chiptune". Not so much in the beginning, this nonetheless has enough polyphony/activity going to be engaging in my opinion. Gray saying that the NSF synths are too "cheap and inferior" compared to soundfonts and General MIDI is merely an opinion that I don't agree with, the same way he doesn't agree with mine. While soundfonts are better, I don't think NSF is inferior to General MIDI, which is why, despite NSF being a basic sound format, I don't think you can merely take the above Submission Standards quotation and shoehorn NSF into it. The sounds involved don't sound ugly to me, and the fact that they don't have any added effects/processing doesn't amount to a violation. Depending on how you interpret the above guidelines, feel free to NO it sure, but even there I don't feel the sound format, synths, or lack of post-production processing are a dealbreaker. Like anything that has good composition and weaker production, it's a balance issue, which is partially how Gray sees it. Personally, I didn't have any significant production issues. The sounds are distinct and layer well. To me, it's all about proficiency of usage. The main concern for me regarding a chiptune is whether it creates a full enough atmosphere. NSFs ultimately sound too sparse if not pushed to their limits. Due to the 4-channel limit, the constant polyphony involved here is a direct reflection of substantive compositional choices. The sound is full and developed enough despite itself and its limitations. Literally if one doesn't think NSFs sound "ugly and inferior" in this context, then they're simply not gonna look at it the same way as Gray does. I certainly don't. I don't think this a particularly different situation from Final Fantasy 8 "Moontang", where arrangement was able to compensate for inferior samples. Basically what it boils down to on Gray's side is that NSF samples are inherently poor and displeasing in this context, which I don't agree with. Provided the complexity in arrangement and channel usage is there, and the sounds are distinct, there's nothing precluding a limited-format chiptune from passing. My vote is firmly with YES. For the record, I have no problem with a rejection for Gray's reasons or a veto from djp. If this is rejected, I think the precedent it sets is that limited channel chiptunes like NSFs or SIDs aren't passable, which I don't agree with but don't have a huge issue with. More importantly, it doesn't preclude anyone from making an NSF that doesn't hold to the 2A03's 4/5 channel limit, i.e. FDS, FME-07, MMC5, M106, VRC6, or VRC7 expansion channels.

Congrats to Chrono Symphonic finally being released. It's been a long time coming since the vote here closed.

Yeah, this is styled like SETI@Home, only for (IMO) a much more practical and legitimate purpose. I'm only running on dial-up, but I'll see if I can be of any use in the next few days.

Kyle. You made them, you fix them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Project_Chaos

Well, considering that Kyle made a Wikipedia article for the project (in haste, IMO), I'd recommend anyone else do what they can to contribute content regarding the project to prevent the article from being deleted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Project_Chaos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chaos In the future, I'd say wait until a project is wrapped up/about to be released before doing a page on it. Otherwise, people get the wrong idea that it's meant to be some sort of advertisement.