liquid wind

Definitely looks interesting, may be a long time before I get around to playing it but it looks legit both as a South Park game and as an RPG

The Wii's wifi was terrible but it's still kinda sad given that unlike the Wii U, the Wii never made me download 2 hours worth of shit to use online while disconnecting frequently. Yeah, the Wii had better online than the Wii U, there, I said it.

There are good modern game composers too but there is definitely something to the previous generations of composers just being really freaking amazing, you don't get Super Metroid or Pokemon RBY just by giving an average composer limited polyphony. Outliers don't appear with the same frequency throughout history, even if you could objectively say that game music is in a slump(you can't really), it would be waaaay premature to claim that game music has lost it's way based on a little under a decade maybe?

I think I already have a bonus entry for this lying around somewhere great theme choice, definitely a song that invites something closer to a cover more than going nuts arranging it, it's already so perfect the way it is

There are older games that give me that feel too, like I love FFT's soundtrack but probably wouldn't attempt to remix it any time soon, most of my favorite tracks from that are already pretty well fleshed out where more simplistic loops are easier and maybe more motivating to build off of. The density of the instrumentation and the structure of the music may be more of a factor than it being modern quality(at least for me it seems to be)

I don't remix in general as much as I should D: But old game soundtracks have a number of advantages in this realm, being old not only possesses nostalgic value but also means that we've had years and years to become familiar with the source material. Oldschool game soundtracks were also more melodically driven on average which is easier to remix without either sounding the same or making it nigh unrecognizable, not to say that all modern vgm is unsuitable of course. For those not skilled with transcription, the fact that there are so many MIDI files of old game music is also influential. Plus it's cool to hear those lofi samples and square waves replaced by modern synths and sample libraries and live instrumentation, you don't get the same effect with more modern soundtracks. You can take the opposite approach as has been mentioned, but people are more predisposed to taking the things they grew up with and putting their own twist on it than something that is more recent. It ultimately may have little to do with the actual music or even nostalgia, maybe it just takes time to digest

In the grand scheme of things listening to old game music is probably more unusual, the aliasing in old chiptunes, low sample rates, sample loop zones being very small, the intense resampling...old game music has an aesthetic that isn't appealing to a lot of people. Personally I think it works great for certain kinds of music and I have a lot of those kinds of samples in my own arsenal, but I know that that makes me weird, and if someone said that I felt that way because I grew up on game music it would probably be a fair argument

True, but examples of modern games can also be cherry picked(Brandon picking individual tracks from games instead of recommending whole OSTs for instance). But it is true that given 20-30 years, you're going to stop playing the more mediocre games and you're left thinking of the best of each era. I probably played more forgettable SNES games than on any other console because I'd just rent random games a lot back then, but if you ask me about that console I'm immediately thinking LTTP, Super Metroid, DKC series, Final Fantasy III/VI, Chrono Trigger, SMW etc. It isn't really fair to the current era to compare it to something that you've had much more time to digest and subsequently ignore all the mediocrity

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Part of having limited memory means you have to make choices about what is good enough to spend that memory on, now you have Nintendo making 5 variations of like every theme in Skyward Sword simply because they can. The lack of memory restrictions nowadays doesn't just influence composition, it's also a form of quality control that has been removed. I think this is actually more of the issue some people have, there's still tons of good game music being made, but it's rare to see something like DKC2 or Super Metroid where just about every track absolutely nails it Super Metroid is also a good counter IMO to the notion that creepier or tense atmospheres should emphasize music less, at least for me anyway, that game draws me into zebes way better than the more minimalist soundscapes of somewhere like dark aether. Even just in Echoes you get the juxtaposition, torvus bog and sanctuary fortress are the two locations that most people come away the most impressed with, both places that also have some of the better music in the game(not being all purple also probably helps though...)

Fair point, the distinction should be made. Bastion, Frozen Synapse, Dustforce, Neotokyo, and many more, some great stuff there. It's still worth calling attention to the major players in the industry missing the ball however-I don't totally agree with the contents of this article(I thought Journey's soundtrack was pretty good from what I heard of it, haven't played it yet)-but I do like for the issue to be discussed because I have had similar thoughts, the bigger developers could be doing better than what the current trend is

There are still some bright spots, but in the big picture, yes game music is not as strong as it used to be. I think it's a gross oversimplification to say that it is because game composers try to be cinematic however, it also has to do with voice acting becoming more prominent, directors wanting the loopy nature of game music disguised, polyphony and sound limitations being removed...and probably many other factors that I haven't considered even. There's no rule that says cinematic music can't be interesting, I think most of us would agree that John Williams has made some pretty good film scores I'd also disagree that it boils down to catchyness, while that is a product of more melodic emphasis, what I really feel like listening to a lot of modern game and Zimmer-clone film music is that it lacks feeling. A lot of it is very well produced and is aesthetically pleasing but it just doesn't evoke the same emotional response, as consistently at least

Sytrus is great for this in FL because you can set up mod X to control the vibrato amount(and controlling the slides from the piano roll is way better than having a preset glide setting). You can put your triangle or whatever waveform in op 1, and have op 2 modulate it at 0x and a low hz setting like 4-8hz. Edit the volume = mod X amount and you can now trigger vibrato notes directly from the piano roll without mucking with automation. A little volume envelope on op 2 can also make it so the vibrato delays a bit... I actually have a little template preset for this https://www.mediafire.com/?1y5p8g1qmc8raao Harmor is also easy to set this up with, when I'm in FL I like to use those generators because it's easier to do things like this than with VSTs You could also probably play with pitch = mod Y on op 2 to also control vibrato speed but I haven't done it yet

Pretty much what I thought, those parts revert to the original tonality while the rest of the song is now in a different key at that point. Just wanted to know for future use 15 minute breakcore mix that barely has any resemblance to the source incoming

I attempted some key trickery there that was probably out of my league as a total theory noob. Correct me if any of this is wrong(again, Ima noob), but the original was in G dorian and later parts of my mix are in G minor...I think where I really fucked up was when I tried to use the original melody with different accompaniment, I thought it might be interesting but it doesn't sound very good. I'm curious what parts were especially bad for everyone else. The one part where I did think it worked was around 3:30 when the bells first change, I liked the tension this created for that particular moment but I didn't feel it as much when the strings and flutes come back in May have been a little over ambitious given the compo theme to begin with