anosou

http://creators.xna.com/en-US/ the official site is a safe bet *cough*

I've been composing for some developers using XNA Game Studio and they haven't had many issues with 3.0. Still not the best at handling audio from what I've heard but they're working on it. I think it's fantastic they're giving this out for free and enabling tons of people to release games on XBL (albeit not under the Xbox Live Arcade title, instead Xbox Live Community Games). I'm pretty sure many developers will get publishing deals if they create a game that does well on Community Games. NOW IT JUST HAS TO LAUNCH IN THE REST OF THE WORLD TOO >:'(

Those are kick-ass! The only issue is if you add album art to MP3s you can't seed them in the torrent if I'm not mistaken since you're altering the files tags. :/

Palpable, check out the updated version Shariq posted (or change your mind like Larry!) so we can get this one outta here soon!

Intro arranging the main source. Not bad writing here, simple but effective. Not the most obvious source connection at times but you can hear it if you listen hard. I liked the move into the main theme of zelda. The move from Light Spirit via Zelda Theme to Great Fairy at 2:43-2:47 was awkward even though you changed the great fairy theme to minor for the most part. Overall the arrangement gets grating since it's quite static in how it's handled. Changing some instruments or making some breaks from the drum+pad+lead formula could be a good idea. The poly-synth riffing towards the end was good and a welcome addition. The soundscape is very sparse since you're basically relying on a plain synth pad, flute, harp and drums during most of the song. The flute, harp and choir all sound fake too. Drums were quite cool, overall nice processing and programming. I would've appreciated a break of some sort though. I feel this needs more work to pass. You've got some clever arrangement ideas but you have to work to make it less repetitive but still cohesive. The instruments all sound plain, the drums were good and all but they're not enough to carry the track. Good base so far but this one needs to be brought to the next level. NO

If anyone's got sources for this I'd appreciate it.

if anyone's interested: 0:00-0:46 - original intro 0:47-1:08 - sinewave-driven, source pattern 1:09-1:14 - original transition 1:14-1:53 - Tons of source, all elements from the source (sine, bass, brass) present 1:54-2:09 - source rides the backseat, bass is arranging source 2:09-2:16 - original transition 2:16-2:31 - Liberal arrangement of source brass 2:32-2:48 - original transition 2:49-2:58 - uses sine from original 2:59-3:09 - original transition 3:10-4:35 - source usage including arranged version of main sine-riff, bass present all the time 4:36-4:59 - original or very VERY liberal 5:00-END - obvious source I might've missed something but this is what I got out of it. Not that it matters but still!

God the source is so horrible it makes me sad. I'm glad there are drums after HALF the song though. :/ Intro scared the living crap outta me, in a good way! The theremin-style motif entered and was pretty much verbatim but the backing and additional FX was wicked and enough to outweigh that. Drums were especially well done and mangled. Bass and some synths handled the bass motif from the original, mostly unaltered. Source seems to take the back seat most of the time, understandable with this kind of source but I would've liked some more focus on the four note pattern, maybe evolve it a bit or put it in another instrument. The altered version of the theme at 3:52 was a VERY welcome addition and a good example of what I was talking about. I actually made a serious source breakdown just to check stuff out and you guys pushed a LOT of source in there. Most of the time it was the bass or the sine-wav being verbatim but the backing writing made up for this by a long shot. Production is slick. Nothing bothering me except that the drums during the second movement sounded very vanilla and kinda grating. They were also a too strong on the high-end imo. The "synth-guitar" during the second movement was also a weak link because it was much quieter than the backing beat and quite flat and uninteresting. No dealbreakers though. This is good. I didn't expect otherwise but still! Arrangement is quirky and interpretive enough and production is ace. Good jorb. YES

Pretty damn awesome and a fantastic way to get me even more psyched for Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts and the XBLA release of the original > Kirkhope for president! (you guys can be his closest men)

Worth getting a PS3 yet? I got a fat paycheck this month and I'm thinking about it. Since I've got a 360 already (and I'll buy most multi-platform titles to that one for the achievements >) I'm not really interested in anything but exclusives and downloadable games. enlighten me

Tough call. The piano sounds a bit thin but what really bothers me is the over-use of the sustain pedal. Everything blends together in a not-so-nice way, especially when you're handling so many dissonances in the chords and arpeggios. 1:36-1:41 is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. You have to let it up at the end of phrases to keep different harmonic content from bleeding into eachother. LET THE PEDAL GO MAN! Arrangement's interesting. The dissonances would probably have worked if you didn't hold down the pedal all the time but now they do not. I thought the arrangement was interpretive enough with the new chords and mood but it's all dragged down by the flat performance (and the constant use of the sustain pedal, I can't say this enough times..) Some more dynamic contrasts, like Larry said, would've been welcome but not necessary. I don't feel comfortable passing this yet but you have a good thing going. Keep working on your playing/sequencing together with refining the arrangement some more. Good luck! NO(resubmit

Still haven't found a way to play .miniusf on Mac OS X. If anyone has an MP3 I'd love you long time! EDIT: ROFL, there was a freaking link! No one told me that when I asked for an MP3! You guys all suck!

I rove YOU rong time! Nice work with this one, really smooth.

Now this is something. Production is a bit on the crowded side. The guitars are just so goddamn bold still I could hear all the important elements. Strings were a bit stale, vibrato would help, but overall everything sounds good. I should've balanced the guitar a bit better with the orchestral elements but it's decently done here so it's no dealbreaker. Some strange reverb on the lead guitars at times that makes them sound like they're played in a tin can. The filter sweeps (example: 2:15) are quite ugly and I could do without them, they're sharp and takes away some of the mood in the piece. The solo was also very buried. The brass impressed me though, that's hard to get right! Arrangement is solid all around. Straight connections to the source but good transitions and original content. Nice hints to the prelude at around 5 minutes. Orchestral breakdown was wicked. Yeah, arrangement is a keeper. This is a hard vote for me because the production is really crowded and the guitars aren't handled as well as they could've been. However the arrangement is just epic. I think I'm gonna go with YES here but if your remastered version is much better consider talking to Dave/Larry about switching them out before this one goes live. Good job though! YES(borderline)

I have a steinway at home, I love that thing. In your face Cain. Also, I love Eric Satie. Anyway, this is beautiful. While the arrangement is very minimal it is also very effective and never boring. Some additional movements in the right hand, perhaps triplets or something challenging and emotive (think Debussy, Deux Arabesques but only the right hand) will help it but I don't think you need to do much with the arrangement. Some chromatic movement to get to your desired notes is also great for adding some extra tension. Production is a mess however. The enconding gives this a horrible colored noise on top that just shouldn't be there. Since it's quite a short piece you should be able to get away with 192kbps. I liked the ambience in the sound but blending it with some closer mic'd sound would make the piano sound fuller and really make the steinway worth it! I urge you to re-record this, perhaps with some additions in the right hand for that extra movement but most of all to get the production over the bar. It's a beautiful emotive piece arranged in a clever way but it needs that extra push in the production area, trust me it will be worth it. NO(for the love of all that is holy, resubmit)

I know one of the issues last time was the buried melody. Now I think it's a bit too upfront at times because of the weak drums. I never complained about the level of the drums before, I'm generally in favor of louder drums. You're balancing between perfect and needs-some-work here so it's not a major issue but if this doesn't pass you could push the drums up another notch and add a bit more presence to the bass. The drum sequencing sounds better. I don't know if it has been changed at all but I don't have that many issues with it now. Perhaps during the solo bass+drums part some of the fills sound unnatural, especially the faster ones and those times the drummer has one extra arm The arrangement is still fairly close to the source but I found some interesting counter melodies on the left side during the last part and the improved production does help. All the transitions sounds good. In general there isn't much to complain about except it's a bit close to the source. Overall, this is a tough call imo but I think this is over the bar. The arrangment is interesting enough with the syncopation and drum sequencing, the production is a bit lacking but it's not enough to keep it from passing. Could've been improved but I think I feel comfortable passing this. YES(borderline)

I totally talked Moira out of doing that quest and therefore completed it within 1 minute I love 100 Speech.

AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Best. Lyrics. Ever. Level up! So yeah, I share some of Vinnie's concerns about the arrangement here. It's basically just source without much else. Event the vocals (even though awesome) are practically verbatim to the source melody. I think the thing that bothered me the most is that you stuck so close to the source's structure. The playing was fantastic and the transitions weren't horrible as with most medleys but I was hoping for some more personalization of the source. The backing parts doesn't have enough variation but are performed very well. Production was pretty good. Like the rest of the panel I think it could be improved with some EQ'ing. The guitar's are a bit too sharp at times and the drums sound hollow and clicky. Pull down the volume and focus on giving each instrument space and depth without it getting too crowded. Distortion was a bit too digital for my taste but it's no dealbreaker. Like Vinnie, I think the main issue is the arrangement. It's just so very close to the source most of the time. The vocals doesn't really make it as enough personalization for an arrangement this long either Alter the melodies and comping a bit, add some original counter-melodies or sections and fiddle a bit with the production and you've got a winner. I mean, this HAS to be on OCR so just polish it up for the win. NO(resubmit)

I haven't :3

God this source is horrible D: Cool intro, nice simple textures that worked. The distorted lead wasn't the most interesting but also served it's purpose. However the lack of a solid bass really hurts this. What you have is quiet and thin compared to how huge and wide the rest of the elements are. Didn't have a problem with any sounds other than the bass though, they might be a bit generic but not so generic they hurt the track. However some of the higher synths are too loud compared to the bass/backing which gives the song a strange balance. Especially the drums sounded thin compared to the synth-chords at about half the track. Arrangement was quite cool. When the source was present it was mostly verbatim but the original passages elements were cool when they appeared. Some more personalization (small alterations in the melody and backing track) would help though. Larry mentioned the dynamic curve and I'm with him there, work with breaks that might sound radically different from your original approach to keep the listener from getting worn out. Overall this needs some more work. You need to make the soundscape full and the instruments balanced, it should sound like a track not a bunch of instruments playing in their own little world. The arrangement could also be picked up another notch. It's a good base and hopefully you'll be back with a new refineed version too! Good luck! NO(resubmit)

The mixing and sound choices certainly put me off. For example when you put the main melody with the bells at 1:38, it just doesn't work for me. The bell sound is very buried and drowned in reverb and chorus/stereowidener and makes it very unfocused and hard to make out. Overall most sounds seem to be warbly/reverbed/drowned and with a too long release. The drums and bass are really loud, okay because this is DRUM and BASS but the other instruments shouldn't have to suffer. Your textures sound cool but they just don't sit right in soundscape together with the main beat. Arrangement was quite cool. You can hear the source but you messed around with the harmonies and structure a lot to make it really interesting. The beats could be a tiny bit more varied but it's not a dealbreaker for me, I listen to London Elektricity damnit This is really cool but I think the production is holding it back too much for me to comfortably pass it. I urge you to rework how you process your sounds and try to separate everything a bit because this is an awesome piece of music that would be even more awesome with the production it deserves. NO(resubmit)

I thought it was really good and above all fitting. That's something you don't see every day. I'd still be interested in this though. I'm on 360 but I can just import the MP3s and play them from my 360. no biggie. There are over 200 endings. I'm not even kidding about this http://fallout3.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/fallout-3-endings-an-update/ You're muddy and look like ass. Also, he's probably referring to a standalone editor as the one included with Oblivion, that one really helped the modding community making you know.. new content? In other news I found this game to be fantastic. I loved Oblivion and never played the original Fallouts (yeah, whatever) so it's not that strange but it just sits right with me. I have 100 small guns and 100 speech with my wicked wig and armor equiped and this just make the quests so much more easy (not like we needed that though..) and gives you a lot of freedom to do.. well whatever Need to get even more unique perks though, gotta find 'em all! Unlike bobbleheads.. I've found two :'(

Truth. Also since I'm born in -89 and never had a NES, SNES or anything I pretty much started from PSX and have heard only a fraction of earlier VGM. Heh. Yeah..

Ar Tonelico is in fact for PS2 not PS1, I wrote that but no problem. if it could be changed that'd be peachy. Also: WHERE ARE ALL THE PAL SALESMEN!?!?!? :'(

This one has more production issues than you can shake a stick at. It's very quiet. Everything sounds like it's been run through a low-pass filter and a distortion unit, and we're talking the SAME filter for all instruments. A lot of notes sound out of place. Pretty much every instrument sounds low-quality. Arrangement seemed equally unfocused, probably mostly because of the production. I can hear you have some good ideas for breaks and the section with the strings Larry mentioned is in fact quite cool. Overall, the production really needs a LOT of work before the arrangement can become a factor. I recommend you to check out some tutorials online, get some feedback at the WIP-forum or in #ocrwip and learning to use your equipment fully before you attempt to submit again. Sorry if this puts you off, you should definitely keep trying because you have some cool ideas. Good luck in the future! NO