Cerrax

They advertise Logic Pro at $500 at my local Apple Store. EDIT--Oh wait that was Logic Pro 6. Logic Pro 7 is $999.

Sounds like Logic is the way to go (my first choice but I wanted to make sure I was right). But why Express. Shouldn't I just go for all the extra stuff of the Pro version for like $150 more?

It would be news to me if it did. I've been keeping a keen eye out for FL OSX with no such happiness being brought to me.

Please read. No Fruity Loops

I've recently been searching for a new sequencer (Garage Band has been stunning, but the lack of tempo and effects automation is driving me crazy). So with tha being said, what program will suit me best for the smallest amount of money possible? I am running a Mac G5 1.2 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive; OS X Tiger 10.4 These are the programs that I know of which run on OS X: Logic (duh) Cubase Reason Metro Pro Tools Digital Performer Ableton Live I've heard a lot of good things about Logic, especially Logic Pro, but its $500. I've heard Cubase is really good too and not as expensive as Logic. I have a lot of experience with Pro Tools, but not the music composition end of it (which I've heard is not very easy to use) I also hear a lot of good things about Reason, but then that $500 price tag makes me sad. Don't know much about the others, but I want to know, what should I buy that will get me what I want and not give me shit I don't need. Basically I want to be able to: (items with a * are the most important attributes) -VSTi support (as well as SF & SF2, possibly even AU and DLS?) -Reverse samples -Have variable tempo and tempo automation* -Have effects automation (especially filters)* -Better samples (some of GB's drums and samples just don't cut it) -Better syths (GB also needs to give me more freedom with the synths; automation possibly?) -Better and more effects (the amp simulation alone makes me hate GB;s built-in effects. If I can find an AU-ready program (like Logic) that would be fantastic) -Real-time file bounce (GB has an accelerated bounce that usually creates problems when I use high-latency stuff like EWQLSO)* -MIDI export is a great plus

Garage Band is free (it comes with any OS X Mac in the iLife package). GB 2.0 has a lot of excellent features such as: -basic, mono, pad, swirl, and sync analog synthesizers -basic, mono, and stepper digital synthesizers -a few decent drum kits, and many other decent sampled instruments -tons of effects Basically, its great bang for your buck (its $70 for the entire iLife package which is the only way to get GB ifg you don't buy an OS X Mac). Biggest setbacks for GB are: -no tempo automation -no effects automation -some effects and sampled instruments leave much more to be desired (crappy guitar amp simulation and weak drum kits come to mind) -no support for VSTi (but strangely enough there is support forAudioUnits (AU), Dowlaodable Sounds(DLS), SoundFont(SF) and SoundFont2(SF2)) -MIDI import is supported, but not MIDI export (why is Apple so weird?) -Files can only be bounced as AIFF (Must use iTunes or other encoder to translate to mp3, ogg, wav, etc) -somewhat high CPU usage ALSO I have heard of a free Mac OS X program called Anvil Studio(?) but I don't know much about it. EDIT--Here's a link to a whole bunch of free, shareware and commercial Mac music stuff: http://pete.yandell.com/links/index.html

I LOVE THE END OF THE SONG!!! The beginning of the song is okay (not really my style and it does sound an awful lot like Banjo-Kazooie) but the second part really took me back. It was a weird mix of Gameboy nostalgia and modern day Prince of Persia. If anything, I would suggest taking the mix in that direction and get rid of the beginning altogether. Please do that. This mix would be SO COOL ifthat part was at least longer.

Saw this on R: TS a while ago and loved it. While it doesn't use very much from the source, it is nonetheless and excellent arrangement. I love it. Great tune that is completely different from Protricity's "Neighburgers". We need more remixes like this where its not so much about the re-arranging of the source technically, as how much fun it can be to play it and just rock out! Great job Cpacaud!

The SNES version is exactly the same as that except in first person view and it's still damn hard (thanks to SNES's horrible draw distance). I love it. One of my favorite parts of any Star Wars game.

Compyfox: Clipping everything at its maximum is not the same as what I said. That would just make the mix sound jerky and unbalanced (volume-wise). My suggestion works (for an example of this listen to a digital recording of "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straights and then a vinyl recording of it. The vinyl recording does what you say and it sounds horrible, while the digital recording slowly reduces in volume as the different layers come in. The result is a song that sounds louder than it actually is with out being absolutely obvious that the master volume was changed. In addition, I just remembered that you may need to do a low and high end cutoff of frequencies. Sound below 20Hz and above 20kHz is inaudible to human ears, so there's no point in keepoing those frequencies in the song. Many "professional" recordings do just this to give a little bit of head room for more volume. As others have said, compression and peak limiting can also help, especially if applied to individual instruments (say for example a very punchy bass drum that just needs a little compression, instead of compressing the whole song). Plus most "professional" are pushed to the 0 dB mark (which IMO as well as others is not a good idea).

Soul Calibur III did it and I loved it. Custom characters are really only about 45 or so movesets (with about 7 for each character type) so the only true difference IS their costume. Still is damn fun. EDIT- I take back this post. After realizing that the Great Sword, Nightmare, and Siegfreid are all clones of each other with subtle changes in the moves. Same goes for other disciplines as well. Sorry. SC3 still kicks ass tho.

I always find my self doing this on every instrument to make the mix sound as good and balanced as I see fit.

True studio monitors are designed to allow pure unadultered sound to be heard. In other words a completely flat frequency response. Every single frequency is given the same amount of energy. This allows a sound engineer to create a sound that will be very close to the same on any system. Unfortunately, consumer speakers do not have flat frequency response. Most consumer systems give higher energy to the bass and treble frequencies. As a result, the sound that comes from them is not natural, because it has been changed to "sound better and more realistic" but the truth of the matter is, that the sound is being augmented from its original form and therefore cannot not be true natural sound. So while that hip-hop song that you wrote and mixed on your consumer speakers will sound awesome, someone else's system will make it sound totally different, because his speakers have a different frequency response than your system. The point of flat frequency response is that you can hear the sound as it is naturally created, without any augmentations to the frequencies. This allows for you to get the best and most effective sound possible.

Well it hasn't come up that often and its usually not a drastic change that needs to be done anyway. I mainly use my MDR headphones for mixing and then listen to the mix on the Bose and JBL's (as well as sometimes my car stereo and iPod headphones) to get a general idea of how it sounds on different systems. Ususally, my car stereo and iPod headphones sound very different (much less bass, a lot more mids and treble) but the JBL's and 301's sound pretty close to my headphones. I guess I sort of answered my own question but is there anything good about JBL or Bose stuff? I've heard that the MDR's aren't bad, but that my model (V700's) are DJ headphones and may present a little too much bass. My L26's are from 1973 and I've heard mixed reviews on their capabilities as effective studio monitors. Many people have told me that Bose are only great for listening and not recording, but the 301's I have don't seem to differ much in sound from the JBL's.

Maybe this is terribly obvious and I'm a n00b but if your song has a great dynamic range (very soft to very loud) you can fool the listener into believing that the track is louder than it actually is. During a very soft spot in the song bring the master volume way up so that it is very clear and (possibly loud) then as it nears a part where the volume jumps up (like a cymbal crash into a huge allegro section of a song) gradually decrease the master volume. The listener's ear will unknowingly adjust to the lower sound and percieve it as the same volume as before. Then when the crash comes in, the sudden spike in volume seems to be very loud, but it's not really that loud at all. I do it all the time to push the perceived loudness of my songs further.

Okay I've read the whole monitors/headphones thread and I fail to see JBL and Bose on the list. I also notice Sony on the Bad List. So I am worried about my choices for sound equipment. I have: Sony MDR-V700 headphones a pair of Bose 301 Series V speakers and a pair of JBL L26 speakers I know its not at all what is recommended here, but will this equipment seriously harm my goal of quality mixing? Will I be able to mix appropriately with this equipment?

Just heard this yesterday or so. Pure awesome. I love it.

UPDATED ON 3-26-2007 In Progress Pokemon (Viridian forest remix; almost done!) 7th Saga (Town Theme) Mega Man 4 (Stage select) Ideas Yet To Be Started None... Waiting To Be Judged None, thinking about sending in a few mixes, just to get feedback.

Snake is in SSBB because ever since the near-completion of SSBM, Kojima has been bugging Nintendo to include Snake in Smash Bros. Ideally he would have showed up in SSBM but they were shaky on it and it was too far into production to really add him in. So this time around Kojima made sure Snake would get in. And with all the mad publicity Snake will bring, Nintendo would be suicidal not to add Snake when the guy who created him is pratically throwing the entire liscened character at your feet.

Thats what I said like two posts ago.

Man I know, it bugged me that they gave that pansy-ass moron C. Falcon the same moves that Ganondorf already had. or vice versa, whatever. Anyway, it was so pointless having two characters with repeat moves. Pichu and Dr. Mario really bugged me. Yes Ganondorf is a clone of C. Falcon BUT Ganondorf is heavier and a tad slower, so the same moveset has been applied to a different character type. Its like giving a Fighter class the same spells as a Mage. The Fighter's stats are different, but his moves are the same, opening up a whole new strategy (*cough*Battlemage*cough*). I see why they made them completely different characters, but it really isn;t necessary. A simple costume swap will do.

Hellz ya! Fire Stingray FTW!

I wouldn't mind a few Custom Robo characters. Ireally enjoyed the artistic style of the game, just the game itself was a little to childish for me.

It would giove me a reason to find my GBA and play it. (I haven't touched in since I finished ZOE: Fist of Mars about two years ago)

Hey now, I won a game or two when you weren't one of your better characters (*cough* bowser and link). Ahem excuse me. As for the screenshot, It would be kinda fun if there was an actual mode for that with all the retro sprites. Or perhaps revamped sprites, such that the original sprite look is there, but the styles match up. I second this motion. Only make it 32-bit sprites, not 8-bit; otherwise it will be a little difficult to tell who is who. I am in favor of 16-bit sprites. The SNES's graphics always had this certain, almost surreal feel to them that I still love even now. My brother always comments "ugh, what bad graphics"; but I feel that the SNES has good graphics, while 2D. I am one of those people who believes that the Gameboy line should always remain 2D, because that is a style that nothing else can quite capture. I don't know what 32-bit sprites were used on, so I cannot comment on that. I agree. 32 bits sprites don't have the same feel as 16 bit sprites do. 8 bits are too simple, and 32 bits just look plastic and fake. 16 bit is perfect.