Chimpazilla

I would also like a good, dedicated brass vst. I have been using Miroslav (through Sampletank), which has some decent samples, but ST is a pain to load and sometimes crashes my daw altogether (also, it's expensive). I looked at Wivi Band, it is reasonably priced but the instruments are all modelled not sampled, and you've really got to know what you're doing (I don't) to make them work. They do have a demo you could try... I tried it but ST sounded better. Hhhmmm. So I'm stuck with my ST for now.

Gosh... that's impressive... wow... beautifully done song... nice video too.

Oki Doki Marioki update 4-24-12 Round 2. -Varied hat patterns for more dynamics. -Automated master volume and drum sum volume for quieter sections. -Added more interplay with backing groove. -Added extra backing elements. (my favorite is the "distant singer") -Changed/altered/layered most of the leads. I'm still not loving every lead. I have quite a few here. Which ones sound good or ok, and which ones really don't? -Rewrote some lead patterns, and lowered octaves of others, to avoid the "stupid high lead" effect. Is it improved? Does it still sound too basic? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- edit: I think I'm going to put this song on hold while I work on my instrumentation skills. This is my big weakness at this point, I feel. I may re-instrument this totally at a later date. If you would like to comment on the writing/arranging, that would be fine, though. Thanks. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oops you're right... sssshhhhh... let's pretend I never mentioned it in THIS thread... it's epic beyond belief. I'm about 40 hours in.

I agree... I loved Okami... we played the first half straight through... then got stuck at Kaguya... I've tried so many times, daily for awhile, then once a week, then every other month... don't even remember where we were in the story anymore. Sucks. Maybe we'll give the PS version a try, one day. For the moment I'm heavily into... Xenoblade! I'm loving this game.

Did this work for you? It didn't for me. My son keeps asking for us to go back to Okami... and I just can't... it's terrible to be stuck at that point. It would be different if the game could continue without doing this challenge, heck we got halfway through even with the difficulties. Up until this point, those digging challenges were optional, and I succeeded one time and vowed not to do them again. Then we get to Kaguya, and it is mandatory. Crap!

Sounds really nice so far! I like all your sounds except that lead that starts about 3/4 of the way through, that one isn't so pretty. You do realize FL 10.0.9 is available???

Okami is the only game I've ever had to abandon halfway through. What a beautiful, entertaining game... great for me and my 7 year old son both... but those digging challenges are a pain in the ass due to the instability of the wiimote when drawing lines and patterns. Halfway through the game, there is a digging challenge you must pass to continue the story (the "Kaguya" challenge). I tried it fifty hundred times with the most miserable failure. I've tried to teach my son about not screaming in frustration at a video game. Had to stop trying this challenge... I wasn't being a good role model anymore.

Welcome to OCR! Your song is a work in progress for sure. You need to change your title to "work in progress." "Mod review" is only for tracks ready to be submitted to the judges, after you have received replies from people on your track, and polished it as much as you are able to. To change your title, simply edit your post, and click "go advanced," then the option to change the title will appear at the top. Rozovian has written an excellent remixing guide which is very helpful. I suggest you start with that. Good luck and, again, welcome.

I think the lead in the first half is now too quiet... it sounds like background instrumentation now... which could work if you do some other lead-ish soloing on top of it. The whole section up to 1:11 sounds leadless. If it were my song, I would use what you have there as an opportunity to add some unique lead on top of it, from :48 up through the first break. The first break is better, in fact mighty cool. And I love that thing that happens at 1:21! The lead that follows, at 1:22 is very nice, although a tad vanilla. The writing gets a bit repetitive here. Another opportunity to do interesting and unique stuff here, with that lead, after you've introduced the melody, vary it up a bit. And how about some more interesting drum sounds added here as well? I hear some clicky-clacky stuff way in the background here, bring it up, it works. I like how you introduce that groove at 2:03, then after the break, you bring that back as a background groove. Great idea. The lead in the last part is underwhelming though, both in sound and writing, it is repetetive and discordant. Again, another opportunity to do something fabulous, leadwise, here. The final pitch rise is cool, much better without the speedup. There's a theme here: take your weak spots, and turn them into fabulous.

This won't be a full crit... there is still work to be done on this track... and I don't know the source at all... just a quick comment that I really like the track and I think this is your best work yet. That low kick is the bomb... make sure to roll off everything below 30Hz though, and maybe notch out arount 200Hz too... or things could get muddy. Nice gating work. I love your lead synths. The breaks might be a little too sparse, add something back for more continuity. The speedup at the end is a little unnerving, though. Nice work, keep going on it. Oh, it's not really DnB, more electro house? I'm terrible with genres...

This, exactly. Awesome, awesome tune... but how do you improve on it, structure-wise? Yeah, I tried too. And the links I posted are very conservative, despite some unique soloing. I love them, though. Go Rozo! Let's hear your version.

These are my favorite two versions of Molgera, done by the same guy: Both versions are great I think. Awesome guitar work in both versions. I have always wanted to do my own version of Molgera, but I'm not sure I'm good enough yet to do it justice. In fact I'm sure I'm not. It's a really great theme!

I stand corrected. Wise words, nonetheless. I wish I was better at instrumentation. This is such a tremendous learning process... sometimes painful, always interesting, and every now and then, deeply satisfying. I'm so very grateful for the amazing friends I've made since beginning this musical journey. *smiles at D*

Thanks guys. OK... so the general concensus is that the arrangement works... other friends have agreed on that as well... I'm so glad about this. That's half the battle won. Rozo, you hit many of the main points I had in my mind... the hi hat patterns being one (easy fix), and the other the leads (yikes). I'm not satisfied with them generally... I'm going to attempt to redo most of the leads (any tips on this will be appreciated folks!)(and I know I'm not the only one struggling with leads)... great tip about not having them play so darned high (thanks for the heads up on that). Not sure I will scrap every instrument though, I'm really happy with the mid and low stuff, interesting idea however. Also, I love your suggestion of adding more interplay between the backing grooves and leads, great idea, I will explore that. And I'll see what can be done about smoothing out the key change (or rather, "signaling" it), and Starman definitely stays. All wonderful suggestions and comments. Rozo, I count on you for your brutal honesty and you never disappoint. But, do ya really... have to... use the... "N" word? Dang, dude. As always, thanks, thanks, and thanks.

Hey thanks very much! Funny, others have said starman was their favorite part. Do you have specific suggestions regarding the overall dynamics? Thanks again for listening and commenting.

Gorgeous soundscape you've got going here. Backing grooves get a bit repetitive. Maybe a changeup here or there, in one or the other or both? Kick/snare in first half seem a little hardcore for the delicate soundscape (drum patterns seem ok but sounds are very heavy). Fairy lead is beautiful and I love the writing. ZL portion is lovely. Second half drums work well, samples and patterns are good. Very nice song so far! What about intermingling the two themes, as it is now they are one after the other (want to avoid medley-itis if you can). (or, is the next section going to be FF again?)

What I think I'm ok at: arrangement, chord progressions, writing in general, drums What I think I suck at: levels, balancing low end, picking good instrumentation (primarily, getting good lead sounds), mixing/getting room for things in the mix What I'm improving at: effects - learning what they are, and how/when to use them What I think I'm GREAT at: well, nothing, yet! A wise friend said "we are all works in progress." (wise friend, you know who you are)

Oki Doki update 4-24-12 Oki Doki Marioki Based on Super Mario 2, otherwise known as Doki Doki Panic. This is mainly finished, but I’m still working to perfect the bass and leads, as well as perfecting the mixing and adding more fills and effects as I think of them. I think it is pretty groovy and I hope you do to. Please enjoy, and give me your feedback, let me know what you think could be improved. Source breakdown: Super Mario Bros overworld 0:16 – 0:48 0:48 - 1:15 1:16 – 1:55Super Mario 2 character select 1:56 – 2:10 2:12 – 2:50Super Mario 2 overworld 2:51 – 3:06 Super Mario 2 character select 3:07 – 3:30 Super Mario Bros overworld 3:31 - end – throughout song

Thanks so much guys. I spent almost an entire day trying to replace and/or layer this bass, and nothing I did sounded as good in the song context as this sample did all by itself. The looooow sound of this bass supports other low things happening in the song beautifully. (I found that adding any higher harmonics to the sound just wrecked the soundscape I have created.) I just really wanted the notes to be distinct and to "bounce." I think I have it working to my satisfaction now, after some changes in compression, eq boosts/cuts, and the volume automation I did. I'm still going to play with it a little bit, and work to learn my synth better (that can never hurt!) but mainly I'm happy with it now. Thanks again everyone, so, so much!

^this^ plus what I said earlier, adding a touch of part two of the main melody, somewhere, would break it up and avoid some of the repetitiveness. I find I'm craving this as I listen. You left the farts in there... arg... guess I'll have to get used to them... That snare has a little too much something... like tone? Maybe cut some of the middle out of it. My only other crit is that main synth... who doesn't love a great square? But it's just abrasive to my ears, it needs to be mangled up a bit with some effects (mild flanger/phaser?) and some extra delay on it, just to tone it down and make it blend better with the track (also the dubstep parts would stand out even more in contrast). Maybe even a couple of portamento portions on the lead would be fun. You actually have the same lead instrument playing two lines at once... leave one as backing and change up the other for contrast. Leave the plain square in the back and make the front one more... well, fabulous. Overall I still really, really dig this track!!!!!

Thanks so much guys for really trying to help me with this! OK so double compression didn't work, eek that sounded terrible. One compressor is enough. I was frustrated enough to create a detailed volume automation which seems to have given the sound more bounce. Yes, I'm forcing what should have been accomplished with an envelope within the synth... but whatever works. I know the sound is terrible on its own. I hated posting it. But when I finally put the song in the wip forum, you'll hear why I picked this timbre and why it works. If it doesn't work within the context of the song, you can tell me then and I'll consider replacing it. Thanks everyone. Damn, why does low end have to be such a bitch??? (I know... because the payoff is soooo sweet when it is done right)

I love the low end in this song: So Will Be Now The main bass in the song is a springy-boingy sound, that's not what I want, but I want my low bass sound to behave in a similar way. The bass in the song sort of bounces and sounds so cool. My bass is a Sytrus (FL) preset that does not utilize global adsr parameters and I don't know what I can tweak to get it to do anything like this. It seems like if I could get the decay down somewhat I would be on my way.

That would be hard to do as the kick pattern is complex and changes all through the song. I spent the entire morning trying to replace or layer the sample. Nothing sounds as good.

Thanks Rozo, as usual, for your extensive and helpful post! I have spent most of the morning on this, and come up with almost nothing. I did the eq boosts/cuts to kick/bass as you suggested and that helps somewhat. Added some overdrive, yeah that's nice too. I've worked with the sidechaining as well as regular compression, and again, a slight help. I tried (and tried and tried) replacing this synth, and/or layering it with something else, bus compressing etc., and that was a dead end. This (the sample I posted) is the sound that the song requires. But I'm just not getting that "bump" that I want. It's too loose. I've eq'd everything else to not play below 200Hz so muddiness really isn't the issue. It's the lack of definition in this bass sound, no punch. It is a Sytrus preset that doesn't use a global adsr envelope, and I've tried tweaking every parameter in there, only to reload the preset and start from scratch. Gggggrrrrr. I know the sample I posted sounds weird and weak on it's own, but it works in the song. It just needs to, somehow, PUNCH. How. Hhhhmmm. Blah.