timaeus222

Well, I finished 3 out of 4 (but only because the fourth isn't to 'finish', it was to 'work on'; I said that I wanted to work on the novel, textbook, synthesis tutorial, and music album, not finish; that'd be wicked fast). I did talk more, finished plenty of previously-unfinished remix WIPs (six, and I can happily say they're all crazy!), and survived college (especially Physical Chemistry. Got an A- on the final! <3). New resolutions: 1. Give more compliments in workshop feedback 2. Get more efficient in managing my time in college (it's getting crazier each year!) 3. Practice my martial arts more. Can't forget it now that I finally got my black belt last week!

Keywords are bass-enhancing and consumer-oriented. Bass enhancement tends to favor the experience of the casual listener (or gamer, perhaps) more than of the music producer (if you examine the frequency response graphs of these 'bass boosting' headphones, they look pretty bloated in the bass---a 6-14 dB boost below 100Hz...). Consumer-oriented headphones are rather self-explanatory; they're not for producers at all, but for the average gamer, listener, etc. Also, not all Sony headphones break easily. Some of them are pretty bad (MDR-7502 was way too band-passed; never broke though for me), but he's probably referring to the higher-end ones, like MDR-7506 or MDR-V6, which have better luck.

1. Roll (Mega Man) 2. Boo (Mario) 3. Eevee (OH YOU KNOW WHERE IT'S FROM)

Yeah, you got it!

Well, I think the arrangement is very close to the source tune. Too close, actually. The notes and main instrumentation are really similar. So similar, that I can predict almost the exact notes that'll come next. Even similar tonal metallic percussion from "Forest Interude" is in here somewhere. In other words, it's not so surprisingly interpretive that I'd go "woah, that's some creativity there." So, if you're looking to get onto OCR, this is the biggest problem with the make-up of the remix. It's too conservative. Other issues that are almost as major: - The piano is very mechanical; it sounds like it either has no more than one velocity layer, its velocity response is flat, or the velocities here have too little variation. - Finally, at 2:51 I hear something in the piano notes differentiating from the source tune. That kind of interpretation could have come earlier, and it would have helped a little on the arrangement side of things. - The mix as a whole, besides the piano, has lots of instruments that feel too quantized (and so they also sound mechanical). - Sudden ending, and note decay (it just cuts off without a full fade). So overall, for OCR at least, this would need more substantial interpretation of "Forest Interude" through new harmonies, instruments, melodic contour, etc., more rhythmic error to make the instruments sound more realistic, and a slightly tweaked ending. In isolation it does sound great though. The mixing seems pretty sufficient, though a little much on the bass.

I think it's an inviting arrangement. It's kind of conservative seeing how the original has a similar, watery, ambient feel, and you also have water, a flute, and a similar bass sound, but I think the guitar helps to personalize it some more since it covers pretty much the whole length of the remix. The main thing I would take another look at is the timing and volume on your guitar playing. Here are the timestamps where I find the guitar to be too late on the beat (only one or two strums at a time): 0:33, 0:37, 0:48, 2:22, 2:28, 3:01, 3:10, 3:15, 3:21 And here is where I thought it was too loud (for only about a second at the first timestamp): 1:07, 2:04 - 2:55 Also, the soundscape as a whole sounds rather washy, even for an organic, ambient remix like this. It starts being like that at 1:02 when that pad comes in; I think it'd help if you scooped the mids a bit (or a bit more) to let the flute or guitar lead come through. That way the lead doesn't have to be so loud, and it'll be easier to hear the bells in the background. Maybe slightly lower the reverb on everything, too, or raise the low cut (if possible) on the reverb so less low end is being reverberated, and so the bass can be better heard. I think it's most noticeable that the bass is hiding at 1:33 - 2:00. Great arrangement! I'd say, the mixing is the main thing to look into.

I think one is in the works. Super Cartography Bros.

Thanks. I'm just asking what he has listed there; so far it seems like HoboKa's said that he installed HPSE at C:\Program Files\VstPlugins, but he hasn't mentioned looking at the File settings folder.

Have you checked out the File settings window (Options > File settings)? http://www.image-line.com/support/FLHelp/html/envsettings_files.htm That lists the places FL searches for files like samples and such, but below that there's a spot for VST searching. Is the folder C:\Program Files\VstPlugins listed there? You might also want to take a gander at this too; it's pretty comprehensive: http://www.image-line.com/support/FLHelp/html/basics_externalplugins.htm

Piano roll that's easy to use? I'll refer you to FL Studio. http://www.image-line.com/support/FLHelp/html/pianoroll.htm I personally find it very intuitive and fluid.

Well, HPSE (I believe) installs like any other VST effects plugin. I do use FL, but it's been a while since I installed HPSE; try installing it again and write down the installation destination. I remember several times having a weird issue installing each new version of Guitar Rig where it kept saying an FL Studio 1 folder existed (even after changing the directory choice), and then it created it. Anything like that happening? i.e. Are you having issues with finding where it installed? Or, is it just an issue with registration? (That I don't really remember either) Is it not showing up in the list of VSTs that you own?

Hehe, I don't wanna boss ya around, buuuut Get a MIDI keyboard sometime! Automation gets you so far! It also helps if you want to play in notes for other sound sources that need the human rhythm (like piano, mallet instruments, etc.).

I found learning how to use Shreddage II to be pretty hard, but I still found it worth learning and it really does sound realistic to me. I kind of play guitar. I'm not good at it, and that's why I got Shreddage at all, but I do know enough to use it. It might require lots of automation, but not that much if you're just doing rhythm guitar. Lead guitar, on the other hand, needs lots of TLC to make sound realistic. Sometimes you can use modwheel to bring in vibrato, pitch wheel to bring in pitch bends, maybe even a little MIDI CC automation to change portamento speed, trigger pinch squeals, etc. This video should have covered plenty of that automation stuffs: Velocity, however, IS very helpful to incorporate; not so much for volume response, but there IS the option to make it more noticeable (there is a velocity->volume trigger). Here, velocities more so trigger certain "unique" articulations, like extents of mutes or chokes for rhythm, or staccato, tremolo, etc. for lead. You can see which ones in the Articulation page. By default, there's a "slop" feature that basically gives a bit of rhythmic error to all the notes to a certain extent, so even if all your notes are quantized completely, it won't play as if it is completely quantized.

This was probably really tough to write. I gotta give props to you two for stringing together these distorted textures so well. Great work.

That's not what I even meant. Read it again. You need to stop correcting people in such a blunt way. It's like an obsession. A bad habit. Why do I still need to tell you this? (because I care)Again, Shreddage 2 is the heading on the ISW website that when clicked, leads to the page with a list of bundles pertaining to Shreddage 2 as the main product with other products that sensibly can be associated with it. It's simply a list of options for people to buy in certain combinations that best fits their needs, financially or otherwise. There's no need to make it more complicated or pretend I said something like "umbrella family". Saying a page contains a list of products doesn't mean I said that it's a family of products (even though they're all quite related).

Seriously, I never said the product itself was a bundle, I said it, under the dropdown menu on the website, leads to a page with a list of bundles. Clear difference between saying that and saying it is a bundle in itself.

That's exactly what I already said, except Shreddage 2, as listed under the dropdown menu in the website, is presented as a list of bundles. ._. Calm down.

How does that work?

Some great stuff on here! I didn't know you played piano!

Right, the bundle on the "Shreddage 2" page is the latest, most up-to-date version of Shreddage with Shreddage 2X (Lead/Rhythm), Classic (mostly Rhythm), and Bass. "Shreddage Complete" is an older version that you already get with the bundle (involving Shreddage 2), as "Shreddage Classic". (If you had bought Shreddage 2X already, but not Shreddage Classic yet, the "Shreddage Classic Expansion" could be bought)

Quick history of Shreddage: [shreddage -> Shreddage X] -> [Shreddage 2 -> various Shreddage 2.# -> Shreddage 2X] The samples from the second version of Shreddage (called Shreddage X) were worked into the Shreddage 2X engine, and the package named Shreddage Classic. The "Shreddage Classic Expansion" seems to be the name of this on the website, to differentiate from Shreddage 2 and to emphasize that it's available as an added diversity component (different guitar model, as in the video). "Shreddage Complete" includes Shreddage (the very first version, ever, with the first scripting engine made for Shreddage in the first place) and Shreddage X (the expansion of the original, that came right after), and the package with both is available under the heading of "Shreddage 1" in the dropdown menu on the website. This is with the old, first scripting engine. "Shreddage 2" includes, like you said, Shreddage 2(X), Shreddage Classic (Shreddage X implemented into the Shreddage 2X engine), and Shreddage Bass (which has remained as it has always been since its initial release), and is available under the heading of "Shreddage 2" in the dropdown menu on the website. Shreddage 2X, as I've seen it in newsletters, is the naming zircon decided on after several patch updates to Shreddage 2 and the finalization of the skin/wallpaper of the second, new, better scripting engine. This is the newest one, and the package essentially includes all that Shreddage Complete had, but is more uniform with the new engine from Shreddage 2X. You'd get two different guitars and one bass, and one guitar is built for Rhythm and not so much for Lead (Classic), and one is built for Lead but can also do Rhythm very well (2X).

Depends on if you want more diversity; Shreddage 1 (Classic) and 2 (2X) were each sampled using different guitar models; there's a comparison here:

These are all great libraries, so I think you should check out the demos before making presumptions. =P (I know, because I have more than half of them)

Hm... okay, I've thought about it some more, and I decided, yeah, I'm not really feeling inspired here, so I'm gonna drop my claim. Sorry! Maybe next time. I usually prefer to just come up to a project and see what seems like something I would like to try.