darkmaster987

Why is it so fucking difficult for people to post working links?

In truth, nobody would mind if there wasn't a weeks-long backlog in the judging forum (unless that's changed now?).

Cool it. ~ Emu

I'm pretty sure the otherworld reference is intentional.

No thanks for the links

Very nice remix. I definitely hear Final Fantasy X in this, in fact several parts could pass for a rather original FFX remix

Might help if you pasted the link correctly.

Beginning is definitely Lava Reef zone.

Very nice. Parts of it also seem heavily inspired by Time's Scar from Chrono Cross - one of the backing melodies matches very closely, and I don't remember it being there in the original.

Providing a working link might be a good start...

Sounds great so far. Hm...the part beginning at 0:48 reminds me a lot of the introduction stage from Megaman Zero 2. Probably just a coincidence.

I'm not just talking about OCRemixes. Ever checked out Newgrounds or Youtube?

Nice remix, but I'm not a fan of the random key change at 1:21. You're far from the only person to do this - it's a trick that been done to death by popular music, but IMO it's a very bad example to follow. They usually do it to hide the fact that they're repeating lyrics, but only succeed because they create an even more jarring disconnect in the music which distracts listeners away from the lyrics. It's the musical equivalent of covering up a bad odor with an even stronger one.

Very nice, except for a wrong note at 0:36-0:37 and 0:47. You got the same part exactly right at 0:22, so I'm not sure what happened. But don't let that discourage you. You're one of the relatively few remixers who really dares to experiment with the source and really make it into your own thing.

Awesome, but not particularly original.

Put it this way, we can't do worse the guys who did Sonic Rush, who did practically nothing but "borrow" melodies and samples for their music. I wouldn't be surprised if not a single tune in that entire game was completely original...might be interesting to start a thread and see if people here can find out the various sources those tunes were "borrowed" from.

Interesting one, this...and a real mixed bag. 0:00-0:25 - First thought: "Generic is right, I've heard this a thousand times before". That low-pitched phasing thing in the background just reeks of n00bishness. Get rid of it, replace it, whatever, just do something about it. 0:25-0:42 - Maybe it's not looking so generic after all. Interesting thing you've got going on with the counter-melody here, not often I've heard anything like that in remixes of this track. Just use a nicer synth, please. The little "transition" you have at 0:32 sticks out like a sore thumb currently and needs to be quieter with a less horrible-sounding synth. 0:40 - I'd credit you for that little touch...if it was actually your idea. 0:42-0:58 - Good ideas, horrible samples. Recurring theme, I'm afraid. Again the phasing effect needs to go. 0:59-1:24 - OUCH. That background melody in the first part *might* work if you used a different sound. Seriously WTF possessed you here!? Your choice of sounds is utterly ridiculous - the main tune sounds like it's being played by a swarm of bees. Change it, all of it. 1:25-1:57 - What. The. Hell. You've got a tinny piano in the background hitting seemingly random notes, which just doesn't work, it's completely dissonant. Then for some reason you bring in the counter-melody from 0:25, which again doesn't work since you don't have the background chords - the overall effect is unsettling. 1:58-2:14 - Main melody again, with the same horrible lead synth as last time but different, equally poor choices for all the other parts. 2:15-2:30 - Again, what you've done doesn't work. Same criticism as 1:25, minus the piano. 2:31-2:48 - See 0:25-0:42. 2:49-2:58 - That synth hurts my ears. Honestly you should probably have just ended it at 2:50...I can see how you might thing that's a bit abrupt, but I think it would work here since the part before seems to lead up to it. On the other hand what you've got now doesn't, it sounds like a build-up, which then fades out, which is anticlimactic. The worst thing is, I think this mix has potential, especially based on what I heard from 0:25-0:58, you just need to completely rethink your sound choices, throw away the parts at 1:25-1:57 and 2:15-2:30, and fix your ending. Perhaps vary the intro a little.

It's a good mix with nice improvization which doesn't clash with the original melody. I can't hear any major issues, your samples aren't great, but I've heard much worse. The guy who mentioned clipping around 3:47 is right, either you've got a bad sample or you've boosted it up to a volume it's just not supposed to be played it. As for cameos, did you really think we wouldn't notice the one at 0:31-0:41? You even repeated it at 2:17 before going into the melody outright.

I think the reason it seems forced is because your intro melody doesn't fit with the chord progression of the main melody (it uses a completely different rythm, for a start); your intro actually reminds me more of a tune from Final Fantasy 4. It's great as a stand-alone but perhaps not suited to what you're remixing. Honestly, my personal suggestion at this point would actually be to drop the melody you're trying to remix and turn it into an original piece. But that's not your main problem, your main problem is that you have a clash of styles. IMO, guitar + trance is not a good combo; pick one or the other and stick with it (I'd say stick with the guitar).

Very nice, you've improvised around the melody and used exactly the right style. In some parts it even reminds me more of Super Mario Galaxy's desert theme. Only real issue is a wrong note at 2:38 As for improvements... I'd say shorten by about 20 seconds. Right now it feels like a hip-hop track, which would be fine...if it actually was a hip-hop track, and it's not. As it is, it just feels rather empty. Also as someone else already mentioned, see if you can work the sitar into the first synth melody.

I take it you were thinking slightly of the intro of S3&K when you composed the main synth melody? Anyway, good so far, but you really need to strengthen that main synth, it seems to weak compared to the background. In fact, that's what this track needs in general - dynamics, and perhaps a little more direction and a little less reverb. So far it just seems a little too "new age-ish" for a piece that's meant to imply speed. In fact my first thought when I heard the intro was Megaman Battle Network or Ape Escape - probably not what you were aiming for.

Well, according to them, of course.

I had no idea OCRemix had been involved in Street Fighter, or that virt had done music for Contra 4. Wow, and all this coming from a community that has its roots in the bane of the Video Game industry; emulation.

My bad. I haven't seen the VGMix main page updated in months, and didn't even think he still posted here. First post edited with new information in mind.

I used to have a couple of hundred on my MAXTOR exteral HDD (name stressed so you know what not to buy ) which recently failed, so I'm down to the 20 or so that I burned to CD, assuming I ever find the CD. We've probably all seen by now that virt is a [very nice person who's unfortunately been quite busy with real life]. He could have easily set up the old song database on a cheap FTP server, but [couldn't, because it apparently is over 20GB and completely unorganized]. [until VGMix and virt's upcoming torrent release are done] I'm thinking [it would be nice if we had a thread with] a decent amount of the content from there in one place. Here's what I'd like to suggest: anyone here who has any files from VGMix (1.0 or 2.0), upload whatever you have (zipped if you prefer, or just pick your favorite ones if you have a slow connection) and post it here along with the list of filenames. [Or just wait for the torrent...] EDIT: Fixed, according to new info. ;D He really needs to update the main page of the site though