Flexstyle

Are you trying to import the MIDI file straight from FL, or are you opening up the piano roll and opening the file there?

Pssshhh, Larry, you're just an old fart. I love those kicks and think they're swell. I dig this quite a bit. I'm especially a fan of the way you nod to the original source in some of your background instrumentation and FX--that chuntering, rhythmical low triplet sound effect, the fakey choirs, some clangs and stuff for good measure. Good stuff! Let's see--no production beef, no arrangement beef--yep, looks like I'm ready to sign off on this one. My only possible flag would be that Squeenix is usually a bit unhappy with people ripping sound from their games, so I'd be careful with that intro bit. YES

Chimp, you've clearly never listened to much UK Garage / 2-step. This is actually a fantastically-produced example of the genre, in terms of soundset, production values, etc. Here's my beef, though: this is basically a background track, and it wouldn't be out of place in the game itself. It sounds like it's mean to loop, and therefore doesn't go through the full arrangement stages of a full song. If we could get a version of this that had a more prominent structure to it--maybe do some soloing, get some good ebb and flow going, which would also help elaborate on a sparse-to-begin-with source--then I'd be totally fine with passing it. Basically, all I want to see is this, but with elaboration, and with an actual start/stop to the song--none of this wishy-washy fadeout stuff! NO (please resub!)

Here's the thing--those drums are just bugging me. Putting aside the fact that they're the FPC defaults, which I hate, there's a much bigger problem: I'm not hearing any sort of humanization at all. The patterns, while well-written, are locked to the grid and have no velocity variation at all. The rest of the song is pretty strong--the guitars are on point, and I dig the Mass Effect-esque breakdown arpeggio synths. The lead unison synth, like Larry said, is kinda weak, but not a dealbreaker. The arrangement is good stuff, so no complaints there. I'm not going to be upset if this makes it through anyways, but the drum humanization is something that I would REALLY love to hear fixed. Getting that synth lead squared up (no pun intended) would help, too, if this song does end up going back for another round. NO (resub!)

This is a tough one for me. On the one hand, this is a great arrangement, very catchy and head-bobbins-y. On the other hand, there's a crowding in the midrange that's really distracting me throughout the song. The balance between the crowded, overcompressed midrange and the relatively-lacking low end is really not doing it for me. The strings are all fighting for space with the horns, which are fighting for space with the organ...you get the point. I think this can be fixed by just lowering some volumes, and doing some clever volume automation throughout the piece to give each section its due time. Also, while we're at it, if we could get that little string bit that Chimp mentioned fixed, that would be greeeeeaaat. /meme I'm not going to be upset if this gets through on arrangement quality alone--which is something it has in spades. However, I'd really love to hear a version of this that has the midrange smoothed out, and the low end given a bit of a boost. NO (resubmit!)

:banghead::banghead: <-- those are not frustrated bangheads, but rather the most metal of headbanging bangheads that could possibly be. There are a couple of nitpicks, I suppose--the drum solo sounds a bit weird to my drummer ears, and the song seems just a bit dry and not terribly well-placed in the stereo field (a bit narrow), but that's stylistic 'n stuff. Folks, this song will put hair on your chest. YES

I'm cool with signing off on this one. The overcrowded mids that were bugging me so much last time seem to be smoothed out. Still not a fan of the uber-mechanical drums, but it's a nitpick at this point. Get this sucker on the front page! YES

Backed! I believe in this project and in the music. Hope it goes through!

Is this the version I mastered? Because if not, I can't tell any difference between my version and the one posted here, haha. Anyways. This is one of my personal favorites off of the Cid album, and it was a blast to listen to it over and over during the mastering process. Fantastic stuff, Argle!

Oh man, BIG smile on my face as soon as that first drop hit. Super creative arrangement, great chopping and layering of SFX and synths. I'm gonna side with Larry on this one in that I definitely think that the high and mids could stand to be cleaned up. In this case, I think it's as simple as lowering some elements of the mix--taking off a bit of the compression on the "real" drums, lowering some of the synthetic hats in the mix, maybe lowering some of the really glistening synth stuff so it's not quite as piercing. Some of the pad synths could use less energy in the high-midrange, just to leave room for the leads. Could use just a bit more low end to the entire mix as well, and that might help balance it out overall, too. So yeah, basically, I love this song! I just think it needs a *liiiittle* bit more production love to get it over the bar completely. I'm not gonna be mad if this makes it to the front page on arrangement strength alone, but I would really love to hear it cleaned up properly. NO (Resubmit, PLEASE!) EDIT - 9-9-14 I'm gonna go ahead and change my vote on this one. After listening to the song on several different sets of speakers and headphones, I think the arrangement is good enough and the source shines through clearly enough to go ahead and give this a pass. Yeah, it's a bit crowded, but the source is always legible, and the mixing isn't enough of a distraction on all the systems I've heard to where I can, in good conscience, keep holding this one back. YES

Kinda echoing what others have said on this one, I think there are some fantastic arrangement ideas in here. It just feels like it needs a good bit more production polish to make them work properly. The biggest issue is that there's too much fighting for space in the upper-midrange spectrum, which leads to the entire mix sounding piercing and harsh. It tends to bring this harshness at the cost of the low and low-mids, too, so a revamp on some of the instrument choices may be in order. Definitely hearing some overcompression when things start to get busy, too, so rearranging your instruments and mixing may help with that as well. The drums, too, could use some thickening. The snare, in particular, could use more beef in the low mid section--perhaps add another snare layer? I think I hear what you're trying to do with the bassline during the breakdown or "drop" sections, but you could use a patch with a lot more body to it. Right now, it's mostly sub frequencies and a bit of high mid--which, again, that high mid stuff is all fighting with the rest of the song for space in the mix. Really love the arrangement on this one, so I'd focus on beefing up your drums, making the synths play nice with one another, and getting that mix smoothed out. I hope we hear this one back again soon! NO (resubmit, please!)

I don't see it either. Win8 Pro x64, Chrome, at my usual zoom level (175%). EDIT: Changing the zoom level makes no difference. EDIT2: Cleared the page cache (by pressing ctrl+F5) and it's reappeared, in the slightly modified spot. Try that, guys.

If you've got a Mac, then you own Garageband. Have you tried that recently? It's built on the same engine as Logic Pro, which means that once you outgrow Garageband, you can still import your projects into Logic. Last time I used GB, it didn't have a great piano roll, so you may just want to give Logic a shot in the first place, though. The other tool you might look into is Reason, and I do believe it has a demo. I haven't used it a whole lot myself, but my younger brother does use it, and I was able to navigate its piano roll with very little trouble. For reference, my usual DAW is FL Studio, host of the best piano roll in the business.

Hey guys. I haven't forgotten about this, and--circumstances allowing--I plan to start work on it first thing after the Reno GAME Expo is over as my next big music project. I still plan on getting something usable together by January, too. I've been incredibly swamped even after my graduation, though, so I'm easing myself slowly back into the OCR waters.

Since I grew up without a console in my house (dirty lil' secret from an OCR judge, I know), I'm not very familiar with the Sega back catalog of games. Nintendo and Sony's stuff seems to get more airtime as far as "popular themes," aside from the Sonic stuff. I'm working on a project that involves Sega game remixes, and I need some education. What's your favorite non-Sonic Sega-based game? Doesn't have to be a Sega exclusive, necessarily. Bonus points: what's your favorite remix from a non-Sonic Sega game? Doesn't have to be from OCR, necessarily. Extra bonus points: what's your favorite electronic/dance remix with the above criteria?

I've always enjoyed watching his videos and his straight-laced, no-nonsense approach to video game reviews and the state of the industry in general. May he be blessed in his battle against a horrible disease.

I'm all for loops. When I'm on a deadline, they're lifesavers. When I'm in a dry spell, they're lifesavers. When I just need a flavor that I can't play myself (or don't feel like sequencing), they're lifesavers. Heck, even my contribution to the MM25 album leans heavily on some loops, just because they made it possible for me to force the song in some, any direction at all. Loops are there to be used, and you'd be a fool not to make full use of your toolbox. It's like a carpenter saying "Nah, I'm not gonna use that power drill--gotta use the hand crank or it's not really my work!"

Dude. I gotta visit your house sometime.

Reviving this thread to post this killer deal on a great interface and mic combo: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Blue18i8Bun I'm hoping I can afford this after my graduation party and the expected gifts that come with such a thing.

Sure, I wasn't necessarily suggesting you grab the unit from the store--of course Amazon is more reasonably-priced! I'm just saying you may find it useful to touch any given piece of hardware before you buy it.

Pioneer makes pretty decent gear, as far as I know. I personally own the Numark Mixtrack, with a Traktor Audio 2 as the audio interface. So far so good, although I need to sit down and manually re-map some stuff in Traktor 2. Numark also makes an upgraded version of the Mixtrack, called the Mixtrack Pro. It includes a built-in audio interface, much like the Pioneer unit you linked. Basically, my recommendation is to go to a music store, find out what feels most comfortable, and then get that. Keep in mind, too, that some products come with better included software than others--when I bought my Traktor Audio 2, it came with a full version of Traktor 2, not just Traktor LE. You should probably expect to spend about $250 for an entry-level controller and stable audio interface regardless, though.

Okay, what is this crap? I said I was on sabbatical a couple weeks ago, but I happened to check the front page today and...I'm out of a job? What a joke.

to SAVE MY LIFE!

Bullcrap. They know when they manufactured that drive. I mean, I'm not trying to discount that you're having difficulty, but that's utter crap on their part. As a guy who's spoken with many different warranty service folks, that's incredibly poor service from them (and possibly an outright lie), and they say "three-year warranty," then they need to honor that warranty. Just because they don't know where it was purchased doesn't mean that they don't know when it was made. The whole proof-of-purchase-needed bit is 100% unacceptable. On the more practical side of things, I'd make sure that everything important is backed up to SOMEWHERE. Sounds like you may be up a creek without a paddle very shortly here. Hard drives are probably the single most failure-prone computer component out there. One thing you COULD do--and this would DEFINITELY void the warranty, so this would be my last resort recommendation--is get a SATA-to-USB adapter of some sort and rip the drive out of its enclosure to see if it's the drive itself, or just the enclosure.

As long as you've got a serial number, you can get the warranty process going. That's the short answer.