Liontamer   Judges ⚖️

Very mechanical organ sequencing to open it up. Moved over into some dense beats at :11. The synth design's pretty vanilla, but we'll see where it goes. Oh man, the lead at :27 is pretty brutal; too loud and the warbling like-effects on the lead are arguably obnoxious. A decent changeup at :43, but the balance of the parts doesn't make sense; leads were so bright. Very ugly, sluggish-sounding synths at :57 and the beats behind them are pretty plain, followed by a very awkward transition into some more generic synths around 1:08. At 1:23, the louder part of the doubled melody's OK in principle, but sounds like it has too much high end volume, so it's also not pleasant to listen to. Better stuff to an extent from 1:22-1:33, but the part-writing still sound very stilted and robotic. Cool transition at 2:01, though going back to the opening organ at 2:09 was a mistake given how behind the beat the attacks were. Right now, the sound design's very unsophisticated, but at least the efforts there to texturally expand on and broaden the energy of the source. It still needs a ton of TLC, though Audiomancer did eventually get his other Dragon Warrior arrangement passed after 8 or 9 tries, so the possibility is absolutely there to refine and retool this into a success, even if it takes numerous tries to get there. Keep at it! NO

Sounds like samples, but solid ones that get the job done. The arrangement was 3:59-long, so this needed at least 119.5 seconds of identifiable source usage to have he VGM source material be dominant: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - "Sanctuary Dungeon" - :00-:03.5, :04.75-:08.75, :10.75-:19 Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - "Ganon's Message" - :36.5-:53 (this wasn’t cited by the artist, but is a direct reference) Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - "Dark World Dungeon" - 1:16-1:45, 3:47.75-3:59 Legend of Zelda (NES) - "Dungeon" - 2:02-2:26.5, 2:34.75-3:04.25, 3:06.5-3:11.75, 3:13-3:29.5 Adds up to about 148.25 seconds, well over the line in terms of the VGM source material being dominant in the arrangement. I didn’t mind the intro. I didn’t get it, but not everything is for me. :-) I love and appreciate how shodan shifted the themes around to being performed by the different “players”, which can make the arranging more difficult to follow, though I’d argue not by much, at least not enough to put the source usage in question. Rubber stamp for an interpretive, well done chamber concept! YES

Pretty sure I heard the voices sampled in the start of WWE's Gangrel entrance theme quietly bookending this piece, but maybe it's just me. I'm coming into this fresh, having not heard the previous submission (nor have I read anyone's votes here), but boy these Marathon sources sure are catchy; pure 90s dance energy, the Marathon Infinity track in particular. Opens with some solid strings around :05 with an extended intro that I'm not immediately recognizing, but seems taken from one of the sources somehow. I do, however, recognize that phat lead at :56 with the first few notes of "Durandal"; nice presense, it's just filling up the space in a huge and impactful way. OK, now I'm hearing how this could have gotten NOs when the (very bland & boring) clap groove comes in at 1:26 and sounds too loud/bright/upfront, then from 1:56-2:11 & 2:26-2:41, the texture is so thin and empty despite the volume. Bummer, as this is piece definitely well in the right direction; it's a shame you have corny grooves here that are making the writing seem too simplistic. The electric guitar sample at 1:41 has very stiff, quantized-sounding timing, so while the sample's tone is thin yet decent, it sounds extremely stilted and exposed; even moreso on its return at 3:43. High strings from 2:39-2:45 sounded super fake also. On the other hand, the sweeping SFX from 2:26-2:35 was a nice touch (among other well-integrated sound effects). I dug the string leads at 2:55, which had more of an e-violin feeling the way they were produced; great tone to those! 3:45 was another example where there's a great energy ramp-up, but then the mixing's imbalanced; way too much emphasis on the (vanilla) beat pattern while the bassline's registering but quiet, and the high strings are very robotic-sounding and exposed, as well as behind the beat/slightly off-time. I'm unsure if this was checked on headphones, but the issues stand out on them. For every section that sounds solid enough though, you have others that are imbalanced, so this should get another production pass for some TLC. Same with the parts that sound very robotic with their timing, mainly the electric guitar, the higher bowed strings, and the overly simplistic and plodding clap groove (which need more body and sophistication to bring energy). I can somewhat understand why this is split based on the arrangement's potential, though I think these YES are way too lenient. The arrangement structure's fine, but the mixing & production aren't getting it done at all. I'd ask a ton more question on the Workshop forums and/or in the Discord, because your current tools aren't being used to their fullest potential. Even though my vote isn't close with this as is, Zane, it's a good base here, don't drop it! NO (resubmit)

When the volume's up, this does still feel muddy, and I see how the delay/warbling effects can feel disorienting; I'm OK, but I can see why others would take issue with it, and those effects could be reduced without removing the overall sound it's meant to create. I like a fair amount of the sound design, though this still has a stilted feel, not helped in part due to the underwhelming claps, e.g. 1:42-2:38, as well as the bassline now getting pulled back too much, though I do hear it well enough that's it's genuinely contributing. It's not the most sophisticated piece, but my reservations weren't on the arrangement last time around, they were about the imbalances between the parts and that causing the piece to feel too meandering and unfocused. The finish didn't need to be grandiose, but it was flat and underwhelming; I'll chock that up to personal taste and not let that strongly color my opinion I understand the comments on the perceived lack of dynamics, but there's enough going on within a narrower curve, mostly from textural changes. Nothing about the rhythms and time signatures was throwing me off; for whatever reason, the busyness of this ultimately feels grounded to me, perhaps because I already heard the previous version. Same with the panning, nothing felt mishandled there to me. Arrangement-wise, very transformative and it creatively invokes the three source tunes, so I remain on board with it on that level. The sound design could have been more sophisticated in parts, but I want to be very careful that we're not too subjective here, when IMO this is OK with the production. I'd recommend looping this more and familiarizing oneself with the flow of it; to me, the writing's solid and I can better follow along with it now that the mixing isn't so odd. It's a solid mood piece and an overall cohesive enough piece of music to me. I buck these NOs; this is arguably too selective instead of permissive and what's here may have flaws but is more than cohesive enough to work, IMO. It's improved enough mixing-wise to push it over the line, and as much as I'm addressing potential issues, I want to be clear that the arrangement structure and creativity is actually there and the overall sound design and production are good enough for a hobbyist bar. YES

Man, I would have sworn I chimed in on this. Excellent old-school soundset from MkVaff and an incredible extended intro and build. Loved the popping-style feel of the percussive sounds in the back. The organ cameo sounded great! A great groove with just the right amount of gothic spices here and there. Dug the electrosynths and you just appreciated how fluidly MkVaff evolved the textures; very creative combinations of organic- and electronic-sounding instrumentation throughout!

Hey, quite a lot of groove for the old-school ReMixes! You could argue that it should evolve more, but it's catchy enough where that's not a substantial problem, just a subjective one where you wouldn't MIND the track having some more variation. The piano's suuuuper fakey, but has such a quaint, nostalgic quality to it, it's a total throwback. Bass has some solid tone for its day as well. Although some of the sounds show their age, LeeBro's twinkly "Hidden Palace" countermelody found in the intro sounds really posh. Holds up very, very nicely for the pre-OCR00500 side!

Man, what a transformation. Listening to the source tune gives a whole new level of appreciation for the groove and intensity laid out here. VERY nice work, Rob!

Serene and sophisticated.

A thing of beauty. :-)

Given Pete's "typical" upbeat style, this one's quite the eye-opener for his range as a musician. Awesome orchestration, and I dug the finish with the piano, which resolved things nicely. :-)

The piece does generally stay in one gear, but it ebbs and flows nicely within that gear. Cool lil' mood piece, and an interesting direction to take it in, going instrumental and more of a groove-based vibe. Loved when the beats dropped out to let the lush textures shine through as well.

When the strings hit, I was like "Whooooooooa! This is my favorite part!" and then even more cool instrumentation kept dropping in as things kept shifting. Very dynamic and, at nearly 5 1/2 minutes, it does a great job evolving and justifying the length. Fun energy!

Awesome intensity from BMC_WarMachine's guitars, which were a huge highlight! Voice clips, mallet percussion, and spooky sounds were super on-point as well. Strong collab, boys!

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I broke it down just so I'd know what game to classify this under: 0:04-1:07 - "Mipha's Theme" (BotW) - Yasuaki Iwata 1:18-2:24 - "Lake Floria" (SS) - Hajime Wakai 2:24-3:01, 3:03-3:38 - "The Great Ocean" (WW) - Kenta Nagata 3:03-3:42.5, 4:55-5:01 - "Ballad of the Wind Fish" (LA) - Minako Hamano 3:52-4:27, 4:46-4:57.5 - "The Wind Fish Awakens" (LA) - Kazumi Totaka 5:04-5:09, 5:11-5:23 - "BotWF" variant 4:27-4:46 - "Water Side" (BotW) - Hajime Wakai YES, as a formality. I enjoyed. :-)

Silly as hell. I chuckled. :-) YES

Artist Name: Mike Norvak I made this remix on a 190BPM midtempo style as some of my other ReDoomed tracks. Probably a bit dated or weird choice to release it in 2025 when EBM is loosing force with more 90's sounds taking makin stage but I still love the energy and darkness of this genre, however the use of Acid FM sounds instead of virtual analogue or wavetable synths gives it a fresher approach IMHO. I think this remix can actually work on OCR with the hype of the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages, I hope a release date has been announced when you read this, so please consider this submission bearing that in mind 🙏 Games & Sources Doom (1993) Robert C. Prince At Doom's Gate

Artist Name: shodan A chamber arrangement of several dungeon themes from the early Zelda titles. This era of dungeon music was very chromatic, so I saw it as an interesting exercise in getting the themes to play well with each other. Started out as something closer to a serialist experiment, which wound up being unlistenable. In the end, not atonal, but flexibly tonal. There are some original ideas in here, but the major motifs that glue them together are clearly lifted from these three pieces. Begins with a slightly dramatic interpretation of the dark world dungeon theme, and the chromatic tremolo motif occurs frequently. Then moves onto a much lighter take on the NES dungeon theme. Closes with a brief reprise of some of the first ideas, incorporating light and dark world dungeon themes. Games & Sources Legend of Zelda (NES) - Dungeon theme (composed by Koji Kondo) Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - Sanctuary Dungeon (composed by Koji Kondo) Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - Dark World Dungeon (composed by Koji Kondo)

Ha, nice lil' pump going on once the source melody came in at :32. Bass also sounds great! Chorus at 1:11 felt like it should have been clearer and not had the pumping, but those are just personal taste things. Wasn't digging the directionless feeling from 1:36-1:52, but it was short. Love this piece; you clearly had fun with it, and there's so much personality added to this rendition of it through the slower tempo, honorific sound design, and copious voice clips. I'm a Homestar Runner fan from way back, so anything with the Brothers Chaps in it has my seal of approval. :-D Great change of pace from 744! YES

Original Decision Artist Name: Eino Keskitalo Hello again and again, panel! Another oldie but goldie. This was my piece from KNGI Game Duels EP vol.1, that I've touched up for the OCR submission. Which has now taken me from 2012 to 2025. I did take 10 year break somewhere in there though. Thanks to Guifrog, Rozovian, the WIP VIP Hemophiliac, Dj Mokram, pixelseph and the panel (and others!) for feedback during these years! There is some story behind this track! KNGI Game Duels was an EP of mash-ups.. I think it was the brainchild of Dj Mokram back in the day on the KNGI forums, after a few other album projects were hosted there. It had a cool theme of every arranger pitting two character types out of three against each other in a single arrangement. I picked a couple of games I had played recently. To represent ninja, I picked Ninja Gaiden Sigma on the PS3 that I played through with a friend around then. The aquaduct level music stuck in my mind as being pretty cool. It turned out to be quite challenging to transcribe and arrange, but today I think I did a pretty good job! To represent warrior, I picked a homebrew C64 game Knight 'n' Grail.. which by now is about 15 years old? I'd played it a bit and enjoyed the mood & music. The Ninja Gaiden source tune is from the original Xbox version. I think the Sigma version is a bit different, but maybe I couldn't find a reference source for it so I went with the original. Having gone through the gauntlet of varying feedback this somewhat strange arrangement is now pretty different when it comes to the mixing, and a bit different when it comes to structure towards the end. So this is definitely an alternate take to the EP version by now! It was especially interesting to really tone down the bass after the panel feedback. Hopefully this is decent enough to pass now so that this particular ghost can stop haunting me ... Source breakdown: The arpeggio from Ghost Castle plays from the beginning, starts to weave in and out and the last whispers may be heard around 3:08 or so. The two-note figure that plays in Aquaduct 0:00-0:38 is played 0:00-1:00 (though in 6/8 and 7/8 instead of 4/4) Dropping the bass to C# in Aquaduct at 0:20 is reflected at 0:45-1:00 (although the bass does come back to D# in the arrangement before going back to C#) The melody from Title Screen plays at 0:28-1:00 The melody from Ghost Castle at 0:47-> hums quietly in the background at 0:45-1:00 Aqueduct 0:39-> is approximated at 1:16-2:07 The two-note figure from Aquaduct plays at 2:07-2:38 The melody from Ghost Castle is played from 2:07->03:11 The bass in the final section 2:07-> also follows Ghost Castle chord changes. 03:27-> the title screen melody plays again That's about it. Cheers! --Eino Games & Sources 💫 RESUB 💫 Aquaduct from Ninja Gaiden (Xbox): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9qD2WA2CxQ Title Screen from Knight 'n' Grail (C64): https://haxel.bandcamp.com/track/title-screen Ghost Castle from Knight 'n' Grail (C64): https://haxel.bandcamp.com/track/ghost-castle

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I'm digging the dark, deliberate weight of the bells, liked the textural changes at 1:20 & 2:56 for the choruses, and appreciated the backing guitar going meedeley-meedeley-meedeley the first time and then screeeeeeech the second time, during those choruses. Some Js claimed the drums plodded, yet to me, the overall textural complexity amidst the slower tempo meant the drums as written were working very well. From 2:54-3:48, the drum kicks with varying intensities was a very subtle yet nice touch, so the relative drum-writing sophistication was on point for me. Loved the final winddown at 3:48, with the warmest most upfront tone yet for the guitar lead yet and beautiful cymbal work. There were so many low-key yet overt ways the textures were varied up over the course of the piece (if you're paying attention). Whatever ways this could be improved would just make a solid thing better. Nice debut, Pipko; definitely a lot of be proud of here! :-) YES

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