djpretzel

@Subz1987 Actually, @Liontamer found out what the real issue is - special characters in filenames that aren't encoded right, which are causing issues on Apple devices. We will be updating the zip shortly to address this.
UPDATE: zip files on all three mirrors updated with filenames that should no longer causes issues on Apple, etc. devices!

@Subz1987 Actually, @Liontamer found out what the real issue is - special characters in filenames that aren't encoded right, which are causing issues on Apple devices. We will be updating the zip shortly to address this.
UPDATE: zip files on all three mirrors updated with filenames that should no longer causes issues on Apple, etc. devices!

Preview Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora: https://youtu.be/WVx6a1JHaDk Download Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora: https://ff8.ocremix.org Torrent: https://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Final_Fantasy_VIII_-_SeeDs_of_Pandora.torrent To talk about SeeDs of Pandora, I feel I should start with Secret of Mana. It was my first RPG that I have ever played and it sparked the flame to play more in this genre. It ultimately led me to playing Final Fantasy VI (III at the time) for the SNES. I was hooked on the RPG genre and I wanted more Final Fantasy. Sadly, Sony had moved on from Nintendo at this point and all the cool new games, VII, VIII, IX, and more, were released on PlayStation systems - systems I was too young to have money for with parents who weren't willing to shell out more for additional consoles. So it would be near a decade before I had a chance to play Final Fantasy again and this time it was on the PC with the PC ports of Final Fantasy VII and VIII (strangely, IX never got one). And of course, my first Final Fantasy played was VIII. Coming back to the series after being gone from it for so long was like coming home and Final Fantasy VIII just seemed to be this perfect welcoming party of a game for me. I loved its characters, its world, and its music - the battle/junction system and card game would grow on me later.
Fast-forward to now and I was given the opportunity to direct a defunct FFVIII OC ReMix album project. It was attempted once, but for reasons, it fell through. I was offered, due to my experience in directing Arcadia Legends and Mizar Attacks!, the chance to direct and revive this album - being the last Final Fantasy of the PlayStation era not to have an OC ReMix album. Directing an album isn't easy, especially one of this magnitude that could easily reach 40 tracks or more. I mean, it took us 3 years to finish Arcadia Legends and that was 36 tracks! Enter Jorito, my co-director and essentially my lifeline throughout this entire process. If it weren't for him, I highly doubt this project would have gotten off the ground, let alone finished in record time. It was his insistence and push to give the entire album a year's timeline to complete all claimed tracks - a decision that paid off well and gave incentive to remixers to strive to complete their claims in record time! Jorito is just as much a director as I was on this project and is truly the star MVP of the album.
Despite having a solid directing team and the backing of OC ReMix to revive this project as an official album straight out of the starting gate, we still needed a solid vision for the project. We could have gone the traditional route and just do a chronological ordering of tracks from the beginning of the game to the end and let remixers decide what theming and genre is best for their claimed tracks - or we could go a more unique route and create special, themed groupings of tracks. Taking inspiration from the Spectrum of Mana album, directed by Nate Horsfall, I divided up FFVIII's soundtrack into three distinct styles:
CALM - Chill and slow remixes that had a cultural bent either via arrangement or unique instrument use that gave visions of a specific culture.
CRAZY - Toe-tapping, floor-thumping, heart-pounding beats and fast, frenetic energy in remix form.
GOOFY - Songs that are remixed in ways you would not expect, for example taking a waltz and making it death metal. Constantly surprise the listener and betray their expectations.
With the vision set, we recruited far and wide for remixers and artists. The unique flavoring of the three discs drew interested creatives to the project and helped nurture fantastic remixes and artwork. It was around this time, as musicians flooded in to claim tracks, that we might have more finished tracks by the end than the planned three discs could handle and thus the further theming of the album began to revolve around the three Gardens in the game: Balamb, Galbadia, and Trabia. However, the need for that fourth disc loomed and the only other option left which made the most sense was the Lunatic Pandora (or the Pandora) disc. With these themes locked in, the artists went to work straight away and created some fantastic pieces that matched the original vision. With the help of Jorito, it was an amazingly smooth experience and we managed to get a complete album finished in just over a year's time with a whopping 69 tracks!
But wait, there's more! In the 11th hour, weeks before we were to submit the album to OC ReMix, ZackParrish, among others, spearheaded a crazy last-minute bonus disc with 11 more tracks (get it, 11th hour?!) to cover any last, remaining songs on the OST the core album couldn't. It was a fun, insane rush to the finish line and with a final tally of 80 tracks in total, we have officially broken the record as of 2023 as being the biggest album ever produced out of OC ReMix! We are kings (and queens)! Kudos to all the talented people who helped make this album a reality! It was a joy working on this and seeing it come together.
Finally, one final note to you, the listener: If you are expecting these remixes to adhere close to their original inspirations or to have faithful adaptations of well-known and beloved tracks, then this album might not be for you. The intent with this album was to embrace the remix aspect of OC ReMix fully and to interpret the original melodies in ways you might not have heard before. Our goal is to provide something new and transformative with these songs. So go in with an open mind and know that this listening experience was carefully crafted to take you on a journey (I should know! I ordered the tracks specifically to flow in a way that felt natural). We hope you enjoy this album and may it always rekindle your fond memories of your time playing Final Fantasy VIII.
From the SeeDs of Pandora team to you: Happy listening!
- Darkflamewolf
I've been hooked on JRPGs and Final Fantasy in particular since discovering SNES emulators back in the late 90s, and that hasn't changed since. The very first console I owned was the original PlayStation (PSX), and the starter game I bought with it was Final Fantasy 7. And of course two years later I also made sure to get myself a copy of Final Fantasy 8. To this day I still distinctly remember the "WTF is going on" near the end of the game and, whatever the story was trying to tell me, it flew right over my head.
Fast-forward about fifteen years, and I got into VGM remixing and became an active member of the OC ReMix community. So when an album project got started to remix the Final Fantasy 8 music, I of course had to join and make a track for it. Unfortunately that album initiative got stranded early on in the process, something that always left me feeling a bit sad. At the time I was just wrapping up the OCR Secret of Mana album and was in need of a break, but I always kept the FF8 album in mind to potentially pick up as a (co-)director later. Given the sheer size of the OST I didn't want to do it alone though. So the idea got shelved for a few years.
That is, until Darkflamewolf randomly brought up the comatose FF8 album on the OC ReMix Discord in August 2021. We started talking about the album, djpretzel pointed out that I had expressed interest in helping out a few years before, and after a few chats we decided to team up and rejuvenate the Final Fantasy 8 album and make sure that the only missing OCR Final Fantasy PSX game album got the tribute it deserved. I did have one specific aim though: I wanted to get it done in about a year, because I know how much work these album projects can be and how hard it can be to keep people motivated long enough to create and deliver their tracks. All set and done, we outlined a rough planning, Darkflamewolf sketched out a compelling vision and tracklist suggestion for each disc and came up with a title, I started recruiting far and wide (apparently being in the VGM community for a while and doing lots of collaborations is a good way to build a network), and we were off to the races.
And boy, what a journey it was! We managed to interest a lot of people from the VGM community, with a good mix of OC ReMix veterans, people from other communities, and newcomers. We created a Discord server for the album to help coordinate things (not a small feat with I think in total some 70+ people), many fun conversations were had there, and the setup overall led to a positive, supportive environment that made the whole experience very enjoyable. And of course I would be amiss if I didn't mention the collaboration with Darkflamewolf; we worked really well together as a directing team, each of us with their own areas of expertise and roles yet always united to get the album done and cheering all the artists that joined us on this journey. All in all it was a very smooth experience, and I think all everyone involved should be very proud of what we've achieved together.
I hope all the fun and joy we had while creating this album for you shines through, and that you, dear listener, enjoy this fresh new take on the music of Final Fantasy 8 as much as we enjoyed making it.
- Jorrith Schaap (Jorito)

At first I thought the track had the word "Tip" and not "Trip" and I was laughing so hard at the joke. xD
 
Love the remix though, it's a fun trip through memory lane for me. As I played this game as a kid.

This is an interesting approach to arrangement that we don't really get often. The instrumentation feels almost identical to the original, though it's been clearly recreated with a pretty meticulous attention to detail. The end result reminds me a lot of Juke's approach with tracks like "Vacation in the Mushroom Kingdom" or "Our Home" where much of the personalization comes in the way that you interweave a number of other sources into the arrangement. This does feel a bit more like a medley but ultimately feels cohesive enough to pass muster on the arrangement. The Yoshi's Island theme is the only instance where the transition feels jarring, but you tie it back to the main arrangement by bringing in some of the Mario Kart tune at the same time. 
The whole mix definitely feels squished and messy, but in a way it almost kind of works? I feel like I'm listening to a maniacal live band play in a small pub somewhere, so the mixing doesn't feel entirely out of place for me and almost contributes to the live jam band sound. 
The organ solo rips, by the way. Nice work on that. 
I was fully prepared to vote NO on this when I first heard it but the more I engaged, the more I came around to it and appreciated all the subtle things you did with your arrangement. I'm glad to have flipped here, it's fun on this side
YES

@Liontamer got the writeup but I wanted to chime in since it's @DCT (!!) - great to see/hear new music after a hiatus, and that electric guitar solo was sweet!

I came in to say almost the exact same thing. Big picture, that choir isn't a major or even necessary part of the mix, but taking the time to add those articulations is a really cool touch, some real above-and-beyond stuff. And it blends so well with the piano.

I'm usually not that into this style, but this is some really excellent work. Definitely will be coming back to this mix regularly.

Absolutely love the synth brass leads on this - just the right analog warmth, buttery, uses the range well... melancholy meditation on some absolutely stellar source melodies. Feels like a different vibe than many of @Hemophiliac's other works, but absolutely clicks.

I was born in 2009, and this song actually slaps. 23 years and going strong. Man, was I born in the wrong generation...

checkout this remix tho!!
 
no one can do it betta!

Extensive vocoder... and it's NOT @Jorito?!?
So much fun! The sax solo put it over the top, for me, but the whole thing is just a blast. The glitching/record stops at the very end are a little less 1970's/disco, but very much in keeping with the mix title, and the hook reminds me a little of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky". I was coincidentally JUST playing this (gorgeous, creative) game, and while I will always remain a dog person, it's a unique & extremely well-done experience.
Amazing to think that composer Nurykabe had a Faxanadu mix posted wayyyyyyy back in 2009; time flies!

To be honest I also just yoinked that idea from a Youtube video where it was explained as the orchestra following the conducter who is also not a perfect metronome. Same thing still applies if you don't have a conductor but your partner instruments to follow.
This is what the tempo looks like from start to finish. There's really no pattern to the changes, and that's kind of the point. Just an avarage target tempo that the gets played around.

 
And while I was in the project anyway, this is what the violin's automations look like during the climax at around 2:52. From the top it's bow speed (think volume), vibrato amplitude, vibrato speed, bow pressure and bow position between bridge and finger board. So yeah, this is where those 30 hours went...

His eyes open!
As soon as I saw the title I wondered what kind of ReMix  would reference a TNG episode that way.
Unintentional Star Tek pun or not, this is a fantastic effort by @suikun.  Keep the good stuff coming!
 
 
 
 

Thank you! You definitely should, by the way. It's some of the best music I've heard that puts a modern twist on Japanese folk music. There are some really groovy tracks on the N64 games that I often put on for a nostalgia trip.

I don`t know exactly what I want to say, and none of this is planed out, but I think its wild this place is still around. For one reason or another Ill check the remixes and get a wave of "the good old days"  and not just from the music but this community, Which Ill admit, I was not super active, but from the time when I first came across it, I think maybe a  TechTv show sent me this way? Its wild people are still mixing Aquatic ambiance, and it still puts a smile on my face. 

I remember the first album I watched get released was Kong In Concert, I burned it to a disc (mp3 cd players were so cool) and would listen to it in Algebra 1, perhaps its why  took algebra one twice.  
I always wanted to be musical I would love to be able to contribute in that way. Thank you to everyone that still makes music for this community even If it gets said once or thousands of time it's very appreciated. 

 

You can do that for yourself, for your personal collection - absolutely, no one's stopping you, and why would they...
The key word here is "redistributed" - if you're hosting/mirroring portions of the collection for *others*, yeah, we want the files to be official & unmodified. If you're remixing them, that's no longer redistribution of the original audio, it's a different ballgame entirely. Conversion to OGG wouldn't make much sense (lossy to lossy?) - @Liontamerhas done work on silence trimming so if you find mixes w/ 10+ seconds of true silence (no signal), let us know here. The bigger no-no that we're especially concerned with would be modifying tagging/attribution, FYI.

OMG, I literally had made it to today without getting Whammed.  This is the farthest I've survived in the game.  So mad and laughing so hard at the same time.

It's dancing time ?~. Thanks for the fun song Timaeus!

Good to be around! I'm still writing music, not much on remixes lately, but I've been doing a lot of arrangements of iconic songs like "Here Comes the Sun" and "Memory" (Cats).

Man, this is dope. Well done. \m/

@Liontamer did the writeup but I had to chime in - so creative & unique! Lovely lower viola part that hit me like a cello, had to double-check the credits, but of course the thing most will latch onto is Joshua's vocals/vocalizing; really neat stuff, reminded me of Bobby McFerrin (High praise! he's done a lot more than "Don't Worry Be Happy"!) - interesting concept overall, loved the intro strumming (which reminded me of "Iguazu" from the Insider soundtrack), and the whole enchilada applies a very acoustic, folk, "organic" incantation to Metroid's contrasting stark, electronic, sci-fi universe. Precisely the type of mix that's less "obvious" and less likely to be made, which are the ones I tend to gravitate towards - kudos to all!

After a few listens, I'm hearing many of the same positives and negatives brought up by my fellow judges, but finding myself far more entranced by what you got right with this arrangement than off-put by any of its shortcomings. The sound design, while perhaps not as lush and full during the first 3 minutes as I would have hoped, is still quite dynamic and features a constantly-evolving set of sounds to hold my interest. This is a fantastic example of a track that fully justifies its length despite not making any radical evolutions over its runtime. The varying bass tones sound great, and each new retro arpeggio always seems to enter at just the right time. 
I understand the critiques regarding the choir sample, but I personally found the issue to be overstated in terms of impact. Yes, a lot of the sounds in the mix were exposed and would have benefitted from an additional element of padding to glue everything together better, and I would say this is probably my biggest gripe with the track overall. I'll also echo the comments regarding the drums for the first few minutes, but the underwhelming drums in the first half of the track do make the ones that come afterward sound more intense by contrast, so by the end of the arrangement, I found it to not be a terribly big deal. You got where you needed to go eventually ?
YES

What a beautiful intro - that subtle string pad dripping in reverb, followed by a very reflective and serene piano, set to a backdrop of what could be battle noise in the distance, evokes images of standing on an ancient battlefield, looking on as two armies go at one another.
The kick brings us back to Earth at 0:35 and we snap out of our shell-shock as we’re hit square in the chest with a wall of sound. I love the stylistic choice here to go big for the main source melody’s introduction, although the lead for me feels a little thin. I’d like a little more character to the saw, perhaps with some layering or extra stereo space to help it stand out. The lead at 1:51 is a more interesting sound, although the balance between the lead and drums here feels the wrong way round - the kick and snare are way up in the mix, and those filtered scream effects are also punching above their weight. There’s some nice detail in the lead synth that you really have to strain to hear, which is a shame.
2:46-3:11 is my favourite section, stripping everything back to the piano playing the source melody with that gorgeous reverb from the intro and a soft synth bell on the arp. The fire sound effects sound like they’ve been bitcrushed, and are a bit distracting to me - I’d have preferred them to be more natural sounding, and it’s an interesting choice to compress them and use them as a short build at 3:10. I felt that a little ill-fitting for the mood, however if you’re going for a calm/hectic juxtaposition then I suppose it’s a success!
The unresolved melody into more distorted noise to finish was a good way to work in elements of another source tune, and hint at some sort of battle aftermath, where lives can be rebuilt and melodies resolved.
This track isn’t without its flaws - some balance issues in the mixing being the main offenders - however as a whole the creativity is excellent, and it tells a cohesive story to the listener.
YES

Congrats on finally leaping that hurdle. It's a very beautiful piece. ♡

Thank you so much souperion. Truly just a dream come true.