Callas

You know, for all the shit Capcom has been getting in this thread alone, I gotta point out that whoever is responding to your emails sounds honest, eager, and professional. Say what you will about the business and legal robots behind them, but give their community team credit for trying hard to make this a good experience.

Sadly, this movement's lost. However, you can read derako's recounting of the tragic tale, as well as updates on the FOURTH movement, in this thread.

I appreciate the hard work by so many artists over so many years to make this album and the other thousands of tracks already available. I appreciate the work put in by staff members to make OCR as a listener's dream and an artist's resource available at zero monetary cost to the community. And unfortunately, I know that the annual fundraising drive is theoretically next month. As I've become more interested in this community it's become clear that many staff members, including some of those responding in this thread, get extremely defensive against the community whenever their opinions about the topic at hand differs (regardless of how well those opinions on either side are expressed). I won't promote that kind of adversarial relationship, directly or indirectly, in part or whole, through social media advertising or donation support.

I would put that on shuffle+repeat for at least the entire month. Adding some Badger Badger would make it through June.

Sounding better! I wouldn't even blink an eye hearing this as part of a bigger set; it may be a confusing analogy but this "hits all the right notes" for me. Adding and subtracting instruments/tracks one by one during the intro and outro sounds just like I expected and hoped. The new siren and hiss crescendos add suspense appropriately. The length is in the sweet spot and doesn't leave me wanting more; I feel like I've heard the right amount of Saria when it's over. You have a couple new sound effects, I think they are Epona's whinny and an arrow being shot? I like where Epona is used, but while I was trying to figure out what the sound was it was a tossup between Epona and Skull Kid's laugh and was disappointed when it wasn't Skull Kid. (I think he fits better thematically with the Lost Woods, too.) The arrow didn't seem to fit at all, IMO. Now that you have a traditional outro, the last section of just UNTZ UNTZ past 4:51 seems boring. The original section from 2:44 to 3:12 is a welcome addition, but lacks an original melodic hook and simply reinforces the source. Based on your other comments, I suspect you intend to sub this in the future? Right now I'm pretty sure you're going to get NO'd across the board for lacking originality. Also, 30 seconds in a 5 minute song won't cut it. Find a good hook, something clearly recognizable as your own, and use it randomly but repeatedly elsewhere in the track. You should be trying to achieve the same effect you do with the source itself - play the first half of the hook everywhere you get a chance, but don't complete the phrase and chorus until late in the track. That way, when everyone re-plays your track, they'll hear your hook (several times) and anticipate the chorus.

I liked it. It needs more diversity, though. You have basically three passes over the chorus and you play them almost straight up each time (1:29-1:59, 1:59-2:43, 2:43-3:30). Second pass does some different effects on the latter half which is good, but the remainder don't have enough differences in the phrasing, instrumentation, or dynamics. Song could also stand to be longer, with more original composition. I would say between the second and third pass of the chorus, throw in a good chunk of original melody. Go nuts, you should bring more to the source than some background beatz. Everyone loves Saria, so make 'em wait for it while enjoying your own material before the third pass comes back (possibly with a second drop for suspense?) with additional impact. Commonly I hear this done either with a new layer of rhythm, a new chorded layer of melody, or by bringing your original hook back in as harmony. Don't let the tone or volume or impact match the first pass anymore; make the third chorus your best one yet. If you have two good ideas here, do one first and then come back for a fourth pass and do both. Finally, work on a good ending. You can definitely chop the dead tail off from 4:09 on and nobody would notice, but go for broke and try to get an ending that isn't a glorified fade-out. Hope that makes sense and gives you some ideas; I don't normally do reviews and crits but I felt like I could explain what was missing on this one. Good luck!

I think it's great. It's certainly Warcraft in space as others have claimed, but that's not such a terrible thing. It lacks some of the maturity and polish in the user interface and user interaction that Warcraft has. However, the complete voice acting and depth of most quests, plots, and storylines is like nothing the MMO market has ever seen and rivals other Bioware games for impact. (Mass Effect, I'm looking at you.) Despite the "MM" in this MMO, you can definitely treat it as a single-player game for the entirety of each class' main storyline if you so choose. Therefore if you're a Bioware fan, MMO fan, or Star Wars fan you could do a LOT worse for $50 these days.

It's gonna be epic when it gets here, looking forward to it! Thanks and good luck!

This source was one of the first four MP3s I ever downloaded. The WIP was great until the vocoded chorus - and then it turned awesome. I am looking forward to unparalleled epicosity here, hopefully soon.

Finally voted. Not going to do reviews, I don't have the expertise nor the time. But I wanted to echo that EVERYONE mixing this round made it really fraggin' hard to pick. That goes just as much for underdogs like Mr. L, as it does for the big dawgs who need no further ego fluffing. <corny> You may have donned the mantle of Robot Masters, but in this round... You are all ROCK MEN. </corny>

Oh yeah?

Unlurking to give an example (which I hope is right), because I would not want to see any of the excellent artists here disqualified or otherwise discouraged because of a misinterpretation. Team Metool has remixers A, B, and C. First week: A, B, and C are all available to be primary remixers. Team Metool chooses B. Remixer A and C can also help out B, but not by doing the majority of the work. Second week: A and C are available to be primary remixers. B is not allowed to be the primary remixer again until the fourth week, but he can help out the others until then. Team Metool chooses A. Remixers B and C can still help out. Third week: Only C is available to be the primary remixer. Both A and B have taken a turn, but they can help out C this week. Fourth week: A, B, and C are all available to be primary remixers again, since everyone on the team has gone once so far. Team Metool chooses C for the second week in a row. This is fine and dandy, but C won't be able to again be the primary remixer until the seventh week. A and B are, as always, welcome to help every week. etc...

This made my day.

I'm dying for this one. I must admit I was skeptical for a very long time, despite the cachet of its developers, because of Invisible War (which I liked more than most folks, but that's not very difficult). Then the "3 ways" trailer got me watching. Then a month or two ago something awesome happened and I learned first-hand that THIS is the follow-up to Deus Ex that we always wanted. Tons of room for exploration, and I very much like the fact that no upgrades (personal or equipment) seem to be mutually exclusive unlike the original - so long as you're willing to put in the work to earn the Praxis points or search for every hidden mod cache. I recently got the novel and comic books and am working through those while the last two weeks pass. The comics appear to begin a day or two after the game does, but I suppose only time will tell whether the HR story/lore is significantly improved by the extra media. Personally, I'm expecting the game to eclipse all "side-story" material, no matter how well it's written...

Holy hell. I'm finishing the first disc now and prepared to declare this my favorite fan album since Humans + Gears (for reference, best album evar). Haven't heard a single song that wasn't fantastic, and that includes unfamiliar sources like most of Metroid Fusion. Expecting great things from the Prime half of the album, which will tread even more unheard territory. Sam Dillard also wins the "Most Amazing Musician I've Never Heard Of Until Now" award, with Mercury Adept taking the silver. Congratulations and thank you to all the people who contributed to this!

You guys just got my entire California tax refund as well. Consider it repayment for past donation drives I missed.

Three questions (suggestions): 1) Does this plus whatever trickle of donations are made over the rest of the year completely cover costs, or are the Big Bosses paying a significant amount of money on top of months of their time? (If so, raise the goal or do 2-3 smaller drives?) 2) Why is the only front-page mention of the fundraiser an easily missed or un-bumped forum post? (No Announcement even, since the post was moved to a different forum.) 3) Will you continue promoting the fundraiser in mix posts for a month since the official start date, regardless of when the goal is reached? (You totally should.)

Dropped my spare change in the cup. Here's to another year of amazing music.

Donated the change in my pocket, just don't spend it on booze buddy. No, seriously, this music is amazing and I would never be able to listen to 75% of the stuff on my iPod guilt-free without dropping some love now. The Xenogears album and recent Grand Robot Master Remix Battle alone are worth spending on, much less the weekly singles from games long forgotten (but fondly remembered). Thanks, and a toast to the lasting support of OCRemix!