ectogemia

I want to meet the women who would walk the runway to a chiptune. There would be no survivors.

Hah, we can't all be PrototypeRaptor I hadn't heard any of his music when wrote this, but since then, ben briggs has showed me a ton of PR's music, and whaaaaaaaaat.... that guy is incredible. His production is so damn professional. Am I jealous? Yes, I am. I'm still pretty new to writing music, so at the time I wrote that mix, I hadn't even considered that, but if I were to go back and mess with the mix some more, I'd definitely add some more untz to the drums, especially the snare. I like the bass where it is, though. Very subtle. Anyway, thanks for the feedback, glad you liked it!

BLAM

EDIT: This isn't an original anymore. Yet again, I turned an original into a remix partway through. Oh well . It's a JENOVA remix, now. I'd delete the thread, but I have no idea how. Feel free to leave feedback here or in my other thread for this mix in the remix wip forum. If you're a mod reading this, please DESTROY this thread. song is here

The hats are very dry and blandly written. Process 'em. I know it's dancy, but the kick is very mechanical which is no biggie, but the 16th note drills around 0:40ish are no fun to listen to. The subby frequencies retriggering at that speed are especially unsettling. Maybe humanize the timing, or more importantly you should humanize the velocity. Maybe even cut the subs just for those drills? Kinda weird, but it would eliminate that subby drill sound. That plucked instrument (koto?? shamisen??) around 1:40 is gorgeous and very well-sequenced. The kick sequencing around 2:20 has the same issue as the one around 0:40, but it's covered up a bit more by other elements of the mix here, so it isn't so distracting. Nevertheless, it still needs to be addressed. The chimes around 3:20 are so very fitting Loved em. The piano outro seems very bright, narrow, and robotic. Give it some more processing and some humanization love. Maybe widen it with some reverb, maybe a tiny touch of delay. Overall: Excellent arrangment. Wonderful instrumentation. Poor percussion all around. Needs better EQing, needs more processing in general. It sounds like a 90s eurodance song, like something I could step around to in DDR, hah. I like it! That said, it would need some more attention to the percussion and production before it would pass the panel, or so I think.

You'll always be a prototype til you beat one. Bust out your NES and do yourself a favor

Oh jesus. I'd never heard of NEStalgia before. I clicked the link and almost shit my pants. I think that game caters to every possible addiction mechanism that exists within me. I dare not play it. The consequences would never be the same. Aaaand relevant to the thread: I beat level 20 again in Dr. Mario just now, fucked up in level 21 after setting myself up to win, threw the controller at the NES like the mature grow'd-ass man that I am, and the level just kinda reset and allowed me to try it again. And I beat it. I love the NES.

Yup. Chords make the world go round. Once you have the harmonic structure in place, you can do just about whatever you want with the melody so long as it fits within the chords, and it'll sound "right".

YOU HAD ME AT X-COM. Glad to see someone else loves that badass game And bahahaha, that's such an awesome way to beat the game.

Saying that sheet music is never a hindrance is a little absolute. I stopped progressing and being interested because of a reliance on sheet music. I eschewed it in lieu of just using my ear, and music suddenly became interesting again because I was able to make it my own, to improvise using themes others had written (sounds a bit like remixing, eh?). That skill helped me to develop my own musical ideas and write my own music.

I beat Shadowgate for the NES last night, and I only used a guide maybe 6 or 8 times. No, really, that's kinda impressive. Seriously, how am I going to intuit that I should use the command "OPEN" on a bucket to grab an item from it. Despite the unbelievable bullshit that game deals you at times, it was a pretty cool experience.

Hey, punters are important. Kinda.

NOOO!!! You HAVE to be shitting me! I JUST purchased computer parts for my new build two days ago from newegg. Mine is somewhat inferior to this build you have here, but just about the same price. It just shipped today... I totally would have bought this from you. As in, right now, boom, Paypal transfer, done. If you can intercept the UPS truck in Memphis, Tennessee, and "lose" my package, you've got yourself a customer.

You'd have to go back in time, my friend. I have a theory: kids can do friggin anything in video games, and adults cannot. Yep, that's the whole theory. Enjoy disproving it; it can't be done what. the. hell. My favorite games are sadistic NES games, but I played Ninja Gaiden recently and shut it off after about an hour. SO MANY DEATHS. The 3d Zelda games have always been loaded with graphical glitches, and man, are they awesome. If you play through Ocarina without seeing some goofy business, you did something wrong. Repeat this feat with the Lions, and I'll go steal a Lombardi Trophy just for you.

I don't think there's a thread yet for just completely bragging your ass off about awesome things you've done throughout your shockingly long career of gaming, so here is a place for you to dump your jaw-dropping accomplishments in the world of bits. Yesterday, I beat level 20 in Dr. Mario. Then, I beat level 21. Then I did the same thing again on my next try. YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! Or is that totally weak, and everyone can do it?

That's a blessing in disguise and an excellent reason to give guitar a shot As far as I'm concerned anymore, sheet music is a crutch and sometimes an impediment lying in the way of improvement. Your ear is the most important part of your musical self. Listen to guitar solos, figure out the chords behind it, solo over it yourself, and eventually you'll be able to hear how (and why, as far as theory goes) the guitarist did what he did. Did I mention I don't really like sheet music?

The bassline can help define the genre of music, as well. A heavily syncopated bass, for instance, is a staple of funk and disco. A walking bassline is an essential part of many jazz standards. Experiment. Write a melodic line, then write a bassline. Then write a different bassline. Keep doing it til you're out of ideas. Listen to each one separately with the melody and what each different bassline evokes with the melody. You don't necessarily need to learn theory to write good basslines, you just have to figure out what works. When I write basslines, I usually have my melody and percussion written, then I write a bassline to complement that. I tend to vary the bassline at times to make the chord progression sound a little more interesting (mostly because I'm awful at creating interesting, evolving chord progressions in the first place). This is all just kinda food for thought.

This is now a remix. I have no idea how to delete threads, so go check it out in the remix forum... but here's a link! http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/?fid=1287 If anyone could tell me how to delete the thread, please do! Or if you're a mod, go for it.

This is the second most emotionally evocative piece of music I've ever heard (Overarrow by Anamanaguchi = 1st; that screeching square solo just wrenches me), and my pick for the best mix on OCR -- and I've heard 'em all! You really did something amazing here, especially in light of the simplicity of the arrangment. Every single element contoured perfectly with the next. Just excellent work

I feel like I'm not entitled to post in this thread since my name doesn't end in ARIO, but rules are for kids, and I've been able to vote for a few years now. Sounding good, man I love me some chiptunes. I'll probably pick this up when it's released, money permitting (or is it free????).

I think you mean goatse. If I had a nickel for every time I've been tricked into gazing deep into the orifice of depravity... Haha, thanks man So fitting, right? Also, someday, we'll work on that Yoshi mix! I just had that game in the SNES today, too.

aaand done. I hope you enjoy it I'm wondering if anyone else thinks the solo near the end is just a bit too busy? It works, but I'm on the fence about it anyway. Well, go listen, smile some maybe, and give me your thoughts!

Both your songs?? I saw three!! Now that that's out of the way, this isn't really my genre of choice, generally speaking, so I can't give you too terribly many tips on lengthening your mixes, but one simple way to do it is to establish a strong motif -- some melody, or in the case of dubstep, some catchy wompwomp -- and vary it and add/remove complementary layers over time. Listen to some of my music to catch mah drift. Specifically, you could listen to my Starry-eyed, Empty-handed wip. I establish the chords in the atmospheric intro and some basic melodic motifs. In the first main melodic section, I establish a strong melody. I repeat a variation of that in the second atmospheric section near the end of the wip. I basically just wrote the melody, then varied it, then made some accompaniment, and I ended up with three very distinct parts to my mix that are all musically related. I plan to reprise the rockin melodic part for the outro right after that build at the end (with some variation, of course), then fade it back into some facsimile of the atmospheric intro. Blam, there's kinda the way I do it. You'll hear the same thing in my other mixes. House of Bits uses that, too, but I wrote a lengthy breakdown section in the middle with almost no melody, just a ton of automation of noise sweeps and such. Anyway, your music was actually pretty good, especially Lament's pad stuck out to me as excellent. You've written a "Part A" for each mix, now you just have to alter what you have in some way, just have to carry some part over to Part B and begin building around it. Sometimes I write the transition first which guides my mind to something that would follow from the transition. Other times, I write the next part first, then bridge it to the previous part with a transition that would reasonably connect the two. Whatever comes easier at the time. Sounds like you have some pricey synths... that, or I'm an idiot. And if you have any feedback for my wips, please leave them in their respective threads

Electric is indeed easier than acoustic. Also, just improvise on piano. A lot. It's what I've done for the past 9-12 months, and my musicianship has improved by over 9000. I'm not fluid with radically different rhythms between hands, but I can do some pretty sweet stuff with ol' lefty while righty shreds out some badass riffs. With more improv, I'm feeling more independence in both hands, and it beats the hell out of playing someone else's music off a sheet.