SuperiorX

Wow, wow, wow!!! I absolutely loved both of these songs, it was such a hard vote. @Jamphibious groovy, well-produced, great instrumentation as always! @Garpocalypse daaaaaaamn, I think this is the funkiest thing I've ever heard you make - I loved those dirty synths (that one that first came in at 0:28 was so juicy - another new sound of yours?) and rockin' guitar parts. Hats off to both of you fine gentlemen!

Can't wait to hear the mixes from @Jamphibious and @Garpocalypse !!! I finally left some comments in the voting thread for last round. You guys all rock

I really enjoyed all 4 songs across these two rounds! It was REALLY really tough voting between Mak and Arceace. A few quick thoughts: Gar: a really solid entry from you! I thoroughly enjoyed the instrumentation - the plucked strings, flute, Asian pipe thingy, the minimalist percussion - everything really clicked for me. Curious, was that Asian wind instrument thing a one-shot sample/loop or a VST? I loved the way it sounded, but I noticed as the song went on the articulation and attack seemed to be the same each time it played, so I was thinking it was a sample. It was more noticeable towards the end. It fit great regardless though. JAMF: totally digging the vibe here. I loved the interplay between the two themes, the Flash Man main melody really complemented the other melody. I really got into the 1:20 section with the bass taking the lead there for a little and the key changes / modulations. Really fun stuff. Mak: this was my favorite track of yours thus far from the compo! I thought you handled the two themes well. Air Man can be a little tricky to integrate, but it seemed to fit really well here playing off the Fire Man main melody. The guitar solo around 2:45 and the bridge section right thereafter were killer, nice work! The mix sounded a little muddy, but overall was very solid! Arceace: Whoa, I was not expecting a solo piano mix! It could have come across as hastily thrown together, but I think you made plenty of variations on the melodies to make it your own - especially with how you wove the two themes together. The humanization of the piano was solid enough, especially given the time constraints. A little short, but overall the arrangement steals the show on this one and bravo for trying something different!

Any effort that can be made to keep things on a consistent schedule would be greatly appreciated too! For example, mixing rounds will always begin on the same day, music due the same day, etc. I know it can be hard and things come up, but when I join these things I try to plan out my schedule around knowing when music will be due, how much time I have, etc. In other news, I really enjoyed the round 4 & 5 songs. Really great stuff! I'll leave some comments in the voting thread.

Did the music for round 4 go up?

I plan on expanding on the arrangement of my 1st round track and touching up some things over the coming weeks, so if there is any kind of final compo release planned, I'll have that for it assuming timing works out. Looking forward to the upcoming rounds, I still need to leave reviews for the Protomen! Overall what I heard was really good, nice job guys!

Unfortunately nothing ever came together. I had some major writer's block. Believe me, even if I had a hot pile of garbage WIP, I would've turned that in to at least have something I'm excited to hear what you came up with!

Ughhhh I don't think I'm going to have anything to turn in Excuses, excuses, but this week at work was brutal, I had family commitments over the holiday weekend, and then I got sick last night which made it really hard to focus. I'm really sorry guys, especially @Arceace cause I really wanted to have a solid showing and I hate it when folks have to drop out of these compos.

Secrets of The Creative Process: part 1

@Arceace Bring It.

please never let this die

Hey @DarkeSword, is round 2 of the Mega Man bracket going to start on Monday, Tuesday, or some other day?

Such a good source. Can't wait to hear what you do with it!

I realized this is my first compo with the new forums! Having this separate voting thread with the poll setup makes tracking votes and reviews sooooo much easier than the old format. Love it! First round was pretty awesome, nice job everyone! A few quick thoughts from me: Air Man vs Metal Man Arceace: loving this song! Probably my favorite one of the round. I love the atmosphere in the intro and the hints at each of the themes. The integration of Metal Man into the lead was groovy - nice use of SFX too! I felt the arrangement meandered a little there in the middle after the Air Man segment (~1:30ish mark), but things were groovin' again come ~2:00. Overall a very nice sounding song, I enjoyed it! AxLR: Nice use of the retro low-fi sounds. I echo Gario's thoughts on the atmosphere - trippy & sample heavy, in a good way. Sources were definitely harder to pick up on, but I enjoyed this for what it was! Fire Man vs Cut Man Mak: good stuff! Standard rock/metal affair - I thought the guitar work was really well done and the integration of both themes was handled well too. Very fun song! Ronald Poe: soundscape is pretty thin and I'm only hearing the one source, keep at it! Tornado Man vs Crash Man ahhhh this was the toughest matchup!!!! Ridiculously Garrett: groooooovy - I loved your instrumentation and the overall vibe of this song. That EP I live for this kind of low-fi jazzy/funky music. I liked how the EP kept the track moving forward and the string stabs on the melody line were very fitting. It reminds me a lot of the stuff Amphibious makes, which is also right up my alley. pixeltea: this one was sooo good too! Ironically kind of a similar style to Garrett's, just much faster paced with a swingy jazz style. Sax sounds a little fakey, but I thought it fit the atmosphere well enough. I really really dig the arrangement and the chord progressions. Piano Crash Man parts were the scene stealers for me Ground Man vs Shade Man supercoolmike: thanks for turning your song in good sir! I liked what you had going. The atmosphere was really eerie and I liked the use of the piano and pads in the intro. The lead your chose for Shade Man was really cool too. I wish you had had the time to finish it up and integrate Ground Man too. Good start! Thanks all for the thoughts on my song! Yeah it definitely relied more on Ground Man, but as others referenced I used the Shade Man motifs as ancillary supporting melody parts. It was harder to integrate than I thought it would be at first. The lead at 1:13 did do a direct interpretation of the Shade Man motif too. I wish I had more time for it, maybe I'll work on it some more after the compo.

Could you add the music download and voting links to the first post please? I can't wait to check them out! I'll leave some thoughts here after I do. Good luck this week Protomen!

Oh no! That's a bummer! I'd encourage you to still turn something in please. Believe me, I'm right there with ya: it's literally been 3 years since I've made any music so this round was a struggle for me too. My song isn't very long either, so even if you only submit a WIP, it's still better than nothing!

I just submitted my song. Didn't get to spend nearly as much time on it as I'd like to have, but it's not too shabby Best of luck to everyone else!

Awesome! I'll need to turn my song in by tomorrow night, I won't be around Monday to do so.

How's everyone doing on their tracks this week? I have about 30 seconds of a song and it sounds like butt, but hey, progress! I have *maybe* part of 2 days to work on it until I'll have to turn it in, so here's hoping it comes together

I remember when you had it in the WCRG 13' bud! I'm thrilled with my matchup, I'm a big fan of Shade Man's theme too. I have a couple of busy weeks between work and travel, so I'm going to have limited time to dedicate to this, but I'm excited to see what I can come up with! FUN FACT: I remixed Shade Man once, 15 years ago, in ModPlug Tracker. It was terrible

Soooo what's the plan?

I'm in favor of bumping it out a week, I'm out of town this Sunday and Monday. @DarkeSword if you do two brackets on alternating weeks, can I do the second week? If we just stick with the current schedule, that's cool too. Thanks!

That 1st round matchup between you and TGH was the toughest one to vote on! You both deserved to progress in the compo!

For old times' sake @WillRock (it took me a loooooong time to dig up and find this image)