Phonetic Hero

Half Empty E-Tank has been hosting a 72 hour, non-stop Mega Man marathon for the past 3 MAGs to raise money for Child's Play Charity, and this year will be no different. There'll be a stream for those unable to make the Fest, and if you're there, why not stop on by? Some folks from Inti Creates will even be joining the fun this year! I'm not quite sure what the schedule is yet, but I myself will be doing a speed run of Mega Man X on Friday, taking part in a 3-way speed run race of MMX4 (I think on Saturday), and chilling out with some (non-speedy) Mega Man 8 with my good friend and yours, Ben Briggs. If watching Mega Man games tickles your fancy at all, or if seeing them being horrendously broken in a speed run sounds even a little exciting, make sure to keep posted and stop by either in person or in the Twitch chat!

UNF, killed it dudes

Love this game's OST, looking forward to hearing the result gl everyone

I was convinced the guy was immortal. Someone must have found his last horcrux RIP

Sure, it certainly has been. In much the same way, you could say Castlevania is about the Belmont Clan's struggle with evil. But in order to tell a good story and keep things from getting stale, Iga knew things needed to be switched up now and then. In Symphony of the Night, Richter's struggle with evil is still very much a part of the story - but he wasn't the one who was able to stop Dracula this time.. instead, someone else had to take up the responsibility (ironically/topically, the now-main character Alucard actually IS the son of Dracula ). It gives you the sense that there's not just one all-powerful, all-important bloodline that ends up popping out the only people to matter in the struggle against evil. Personally, I think that's much more engaging and immersive, and creates a richer universe full of great/important characters. Again, Castlevania is a great example - tons of interesting characters and development of the universe that's not always *directly* involved with the Belmonts. SotN and Aria of Sorrow are shining examples of a narrative with a Belmont who's involved tangentially, and whose struggle is important to fleshing out the story, but without them being the main character or the ONLY person who stands a chance to fight evil I'm still going to argue that it's potentially a better story if Rey isn't a Skywalker. Just because the Skywalkers HAVE been the main characters doesn't mean they need to keep being the mains/only ones able to fight and stop the bad guys. I think instead of ANOTHER new Skywalker, it'd be more interesting to delve into Luke's personal battle with the dark side, carried over from ep VI. But hey, opinions and all that!

I totally agree with you about Kylo Ren's mental state and that it's definitely weakening him a LOT, but he's also the only person we've ever seen force stop a fucking *laser blast*. I don't think you can say he's not a strong force user haha. It seems like they put that right at the beginning to demonstrate his force prowess and let you know "this person is exceptionally strong with the force", and THEN developed him as a character by showing his immaturity and weak-mindedness EDIT: Also now that you mention it, I'm remembering a trailer in which Rey's likely blood connection to the Skywalkers was made preeetty obvious. Luke is narrating about how the force is strong in his family - his father had it, he has it, his sister has it, and then says "you have that power too". So... bummer? :\ It's phrased juuuust ambiguously enough that maybe he's not talking about her, or he's just talking about how strong his family is and comparing her to them even though she's not a part of it. But if you take it at face value... yeah, pretty obvious

It's a little hard to believe genetics don't have *anything* to do with it though, when Anakin, Luke & Leia, and now Kylo Ren are all extremely powerful force users I guess it's a little beside the point though. I just hope Rey doesn't turn out to be a Skywalker

Yeah I agree, I didn't even know she was supposed to have a bigger part until I read stuff after seeing the movie lol. Hopefully she's brought back and more interesting in the next episodes. I think my biggest concern for the trilogy at this point is that Rey will end up being a Skywalker. I really, reeeaaally don't want that to happen. I know everyone's expecting something along those lines, but it's just soooo cheesy. And the message kinda ends up being something along the lines of "you're a useless piece of shit unless you're a Skywalker"

Rather than piling on with the few issues I had with it, I'm just going to say that the score was AMAZINGLY refreshing, right from the very first scene. So, so welcome after the rather boring direction a lot of modern film music has gone

Man does no one remember that Kylo Ren was dealing with a fucking blaster wound during the last battle scene...? "HOW COME HE SUCK SO BAD" I'd probably fight like garbage too if I'd been fucking SHOT and was trying to like.. not bleed out, on top of dealing with what I assume is a lot of pain This is the only dueling scene in the entire movie, and he has a handicap. Of course he's going to fight like shit. On top of that, we have no idea how extensive his training has been, and it makes it seem like he's had hardly any formal force training and is instead just very force adept. I don't find this super hard to believe, since he's fully aware of his lineage and knows that the jedi/sith/force aren't just myths. There are plenty of people who are good at something with minimal (formal) training because they're aware of their affinity for it and have fostered their talents. There are plenty of musicians who fit the bill right here

Lol, this is still the suuuper shitty mix/master. Did we ever straighten this out?

I replied on the YT vid, but YT isn't really the place for in-depth feedback. Had no idea you posted here too, but I love it! I'm also the guy who wrote the source, so I'm a little biased It sounds pretty heavy in the lows/low-mids, especially with the combination of the low piano and low strings. I think you're getting a little mud from the two together, and it may be to the track's benefit to either make some concessions with part writing when both get a little busier, or to reexamine your EQ on the two instruments (possibly both). I love how the two work together, especially the lead cello stabs, they're just fighting each other really hard right now in the lower range. You may also be getting some unwanted compression from the drums, particularly the kick. You can hear it on the higher piano notes especially, they're pumping just a bit. A common thing with kicks is to have the subs boosted REAL high without really being able to hear it, since that's a range that typically gets fairly bad response in most headphones or speakers (if you don't have a sub). I LOVE the drum groove itself, it's exactly what it needs to be. I'm grooving all the way through, so no complaints on the part-writing there either. Hope that helps a bit! Again, love all the extra nods to the Melee theme you snuck in, and thanks for making the 'mix

Spoiler alert: it's amazing

Modern dnb drums mixed with amen break drums? You're cramping my style, man! But seriously, that's my favorite way to do dnb drums too, good call man Just to add on a bit as far as mixing the violin, I think having it up an octave would be really beneficial. The other strings are already really mid heavy, and I think pushing it up an octave and brightening up the higher range as Timaeus suggested would really help it cut. Ope, sounds like you already did that at 2:46, and.. man, I might have to take that back. The sample is just really rough around the edges to begin with. Solo strings are some of the hardest instruments to sequence, and personally I usually just shy away from them unless it's either a legato line that my limited sample firepower can handle, or if I get someone to record the actual instrument. I do have a suggestion though - first you'd have to get set up with the free Kontakt Player, if you don't already have it (or the full version). From there, you can download this library from Embertone, which is also free and works with Kontakt Player. It's primarily an effects library, but it comes with a demo of their Friedlander Violin, which works pretty well. The demo's a little bare-bones, so I'm not sure if it'll be able to handle your faster lines, but it's worth a shot (it also won't lock you out after 15 minutes like a lot of Kontakt demos)! There's also a gorgeous legato vocal patch that comes with it, it's definitely worth the download in my opinion. Doesn't get any cheaper than free Another thing to remember with the synth lead is that EDM leads are typically layered to hell. One of my good buddies is Kev Villecco (one of the 2 guys from Hyper Potions), and I remember him telling me at one point that he used EIGHT different layers for the main lead in Porta Vista. That being said, subtlety is everything! It's really easy to go overboard with synth layering, so be careful and use good judgment! Good luck, hope that helps

Bumping with gameplay footage! Guess I forgot sources too, so: Most of the first half is the final boss music from Wario Land Brief quote of Big Bridge from WL3 (0:18 in the source) From 0:53 till the loop at 1:43 is the Desert Ruins from WL3

You guys are too kind :') Had a lot of fun working on this one! Big ups to Ben for getting a solo together even though it was pretty last-minute. Glad y'all guys are liking it

Hey guys! Just posted a new track from the Project M OST on my SoundCloud. Last time I did the main theme, but this one's a remix for the Wario Land stage new in 3.6. I had a lot of fun trying to hit a lot of different marks, but mostly I wanted it to be fitting for the character and the stage while fitting alongside some of the newer Wario Land music (Shake It has an incredible OST). Pretty high bar, but hopefully I did Wario some justice. Let me know what you think Wario Land series remix - "Bad Mario"

So this beast just released last night, and it's got tracks from quite a few OCRemixers. CarboHydroM, Theory of N, Amphibious, Hylian Lemon, WillRock, Tuberz McGee, and myself all have tracks on it, but the whole thing is incredible and I'm pretty sure it's got something for everyone - from classic game-inspired chiptunes to insane funk and jazz fusion to metal and EDM-infused chip tracks. Go check it out!

I probably won't have time either :'( But if "session musicians/performers" covers any sort of light collaboration, I'd be happy to lend my sword where I'm able. If it's strictly instrumentalists, then I guess you're outta luck

Dude this is AWESOME! Mega Man 8 doesn't get enough love. I'm not really in a state to give critical feedback after an 11 hour shift at work, so if you want some for real feedback, shoot me a PM or something later haha. But on a cursory listen, this is badass dude, I love it

Yep, you're probably right on that bass. There was a *tiny* bit of FM modulation, but it was a mad scramble to get this thing done. I'm lucky it's not a lot worse hahaha. Thanks man!

This was my track for "Celt-Tunes = WIN", a chiptune compilation from the ChipWin community with a traditional Celtic influence. It started off as me being obnoxious and making a joke track, but all things considered, I'm pretty pleased with the turnout Of note is the fact that all the basses used in the drops are GMS (a default synth in FL 11), and most of the synths are actually FL defaults or natives except for the Sega Genesis slap bass. Anyway, enjoy! As always, all thoughts/criticisms welcome PUBSTEP

I first heard of him back a few years ago, when I was juuuust starting to discover OCR. I'd been wanting to try a Jetforce Gemini remix (probably would've been a bad idea, since I was just getting started ), and while I was looking for sources on YT. Didn't even remember he was the one to do it till I saw the thread and started thinking about it, and it's kind of a mess compared to the stuff he's putting out now. It's awesome to see the improvement he's made over time - I thought he was pretty good when I found him, dude's a BEAST now

Careful... Only reason the Devils didn't take first was that we dropped a round I'm half tempted to join and impose some additional constrictions on myself, like using only FL natives/defaults and maybe some tighter time constraints as well (though I probably won't have to impose those on myself...). FL 11 has some nasty stuff, I think that could end up being pretty fun, and I could post the project file for FL users to check out the synthesis (GUYS SERIOUSLY START USING GMS WTF) Preemptive disclaimer: I'm not a very organized producer

Just gonna pop in and say nice job polishing this up on the mixing end of things dude, sounds way better than the first version