MindWanderer

And week 5: Fiesta Con Las Ardillas y El Hombre Ra faga: Hm, Google is failing me on "Ra faga." Integration isn't bad, actually. It's just alternating, but both parts sound like part of a whole. You can tell where one source ends and the other begins easily enough (with really good "vs." remixes, you can't), and the transitions could be a bit smoother, but it doesn't feel like two separate songs stapled together. The fade-out is weaksauce, and the instrumentation is too much like the original Green Grove Zone for my comfort, but this is still head and shoulders above your other mixes so far. Burst Grove Man Zone 3D: So the mighty Theory of Nonexistence manages to exist in the compo... just barely. Snappy arrangement, definitely still favors the Green Grove aesthetic. Nice original content, something that the other 11 of us struggle a lot with. Good riffing on the themes, too. Oddly not really any more integration of the two themes than NovaReaper, they basically just alternate. Considering I know how good you are, and how stoked you were about this entry, I actually expected a lot more. Probably would have been better as a standalone Green Grove remix. Neptune's Voyage to Atlantis: I don't really have anything to say about this one that I haven't said about your other mixes. Nice ambient, aquatic sound, pleasant use of Neptune. Cop-out ending. Do Not Pass Go Do Not Collect $200: Hearing acoustic guitar Quick Man, I have to fight the expectation that The Megas will start singing. Solid integration of the themes, though it's more of the taking-turns sort of integration, and I'm still hearing Temple of Fiends. I can't understand why you focus so much on the harmony parts of Prison Lane when the melody is so badass. Weak fade-out ending. Definitely feels like a rest week for you. Rainfall in Eco-Dome Viridian: Pretty much the same Mr. L stuff I've been saying all along. 1:44 before the second theme comes in is a bit much, and the other parts don't even acknowledge that it happened, they just keep doing their thing.

Review time! Starting with round 6, 'cuz I was in it. Chrome Cafe: A little more cohesive than some of your other entries, but the parts aren't always in tune with each other. A little too much randomness in the sax scat. Something I learned when doing my own sax piece is that one of the tricks to maxing the sax sound good is to use a few "Hard" notes at appropriate places. It's tricky to choose where, but the results are good. Mosfungus Bombs: Well... keep working on it. These sources don't inherently play well together, so it's understandable that you had a hard time with it. But your samples and production have improved, so you really just have to keep working on the arrangements themselves. A couple of big things that could be improved here are the drums (boring) and the ending (nonexistent). Mega Yeezus Man: Interesting take on Marble Zone. A minute and thirteen seconds of it was too much, though. 30 seconds would have been plenty. No integration between the sources, obviously. And I gather your use of voice clips at the end was your way of saying you gave up. Eighth Marble from the Sun: Hmm... I get the feeling you have become very bored with Marble Zone, considering how much you changed it this time around. Keep working on integration! I really, really liked your take on Neptune, especially from 3:13 on, but there just wasn't nearly enough of it. There's a lot of fun stuff here, it just isn't cohesive. Hydroplane Zone: Clearly out of your comfort zone. I'm glad you're willing to experiment, but this shallow soundscape definitely doesn't suit you. Minimalism works well with orchestral samples, not so well with synths. Still having a tough time with source usage. Sometimes you really need to beat the melody part over the head. 1:04-1:36 sounds strangely like Heat Man in Final Fantasy VII. A Gaol of Strings: Gaah, why does my production always sound so good in isolation and so bad when I listen to it later? In any event, I'm very happy with the arrangement of this one, especially the interplay of the two themes. Lots of melody-used-as-harmony going on here, and it generally worked really well. Tuberz gave me a great source to work with--thanks!--and I used it to the fullest. I intend to take this one to the WIP forums to improve the production, and then I think it will be a pretty strong candidate for OCR. Out with a Bang: Heh, I recognize the Cryogen MIDI for Mega Water S here--I used it myself and had to take extra steps to make it sounds more like the original than his remix. Mega Water S is a pretty short source, and you played it several times with very little modification, which got a bit old after a while. I wish you'd use Prison Lane more, it's a really awesome source and you barely do more than hint at it in any of your mixes. In this one, it ends up sounding a lot like the Temple of Fiends from Final Fantasy I. Otherwise, it is of course very good, and easily the best entry I went up against.

It's technically a Wily theme, so maybe Darkesword will be nice and pick it.

There's competition over Gravity Man. I'm fairly certain that's a sign that this is the Mega Man compo to end all Mega Man compos.

And Spinning Cat Buzzsaw doesn't have quite the same ring to it. More badass, though.

1. Briggs gets Metal Man 2. SuperiorX gets Sheep Man 3. SuperiorX gets stuck doing Wily 2-2 @Jakesnke17: Sweet, Gravity Man is possibly my favorite source of the whole series. I know you'll do a great job on it. Edit: Fun fact: There are 89 eligible themes, and we already have 28 people who've listed their picks (and a couple more who have teams but no picks yet). That's basically a full third of the entire Robot Master roster represented. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of people ended up with their fifth choices.

Basically done. There are some minor imperfections in production which I can more feel than hear, and don't know what to do about, but I'll probably just listen to it one more time tomorrow to make sure and then submit it. I had a lot of fun with it, I think you'll enjoy it.

You need to post five, not three.Were those his choices, or a description of his career as a Scottish porn star?

Otherwise, yes. If you search on YouTube for "Mega Man OST" you'll get playlists. Just make sure you stick to the games Darkesword listed (1-10, Powered Up, and Mega Man & Bass, not Mega Man X or any other spinoffs). The robot master themes all end in "Man", except for Splash Woman, and Dark Man is actually a boss stage so it isn't allowed (though Darkesword might pick it). You can also check out the last time this compo was run to get an idea of how it worked (and download some amazing music) [thread=37157]here[/thread].

Probably after the WCRG. In the meantime, why don't you sign up for that one? It's semi-collaborative, so you should still be able to pick up some tips.

Triple Edit: Team confirmed! Cash and Change, Trism, and myself. Hey, Darkesword, would it be all right if we chose team names after the Robot Master draft? It might be better to have names that are more thematic of the team, rather than just random Mega Man nouns pulled out of a hat. Although I have some ideas on that front anyway. Also, when do we get to find out about your big secret twist? My picks: 1) Toad Man 2) Bright Man 3) Fire Man 4) Drill Man 5) Pharaoh Man Edit: This just sank in. Holy hell, the three of you could come up with some crazy good chiptune wackiness. Looking forward to it!Edit 4: Replaced Slash Man due to excessive popularity. Just in case anyone is crazy enough to fight me for Toad Man.

Yeah. I'm sorry. but I'm going to have to concede this one. I wasn't able to come up with anything that meshed with the two sources at all. Everything I tried that deviated from just a straight re-instrumentation just sounded awful. With some effort, I could possibly have come up with something by the deadline that was maybe an 80/20 split favoring Mega Water S that wasn't a total affront to the senses, but really, what's the point? I did learn a lot about oscillators, which I'd never used before, so it wasn't a total loss, but there was no way I was going to be able to submit something that was anything more than just barely tolerable to listen to.Again, sorry to disappoint.

Can't blame you for not wanting a repeat of this outcome, but there are other formats you could use for a crossover tournament that wouldn't be quite so demanding. You'd just have to get a little creative.Also, we need a full-scale Robot Master vs. Maverick compo some time in the future. Just sayin'. And while I'm on the subject of compo suggestions, next time there's a void in the schedule, think about this: Final Fantasy compo, character themes vs. battle themes, Wily Gauntlet format. If RMWtS isn't running at the time, I could even organize this myself. I personally love the collaborative and relaxed schedule of the gauntlet format and would like to see it happen more often.

Yeah, 6 mixes in 6 weeks is pretty rough. I'm seriously tempted to drop work on Chrome Gadget, since I don't like how it's going and it wasn't a very good idea to begin with, and start on Prison Lane since I know it's going to have to be done next week anyway and I actually have a plan for it. I'm definitely looking forward to a week or two mixing-free, and a 1 mix/3 weeks schedule for WCRG. Also, I don't believe any previous compo here with 12 or more participants in a week have had 100% participation at any time. Although I don't think we've exceeded 75% here, 7-9 mixes every week from the same 12 people, 6 weeks running, is actually pretty good IMO.

@Mr. L: I really want to reply in detail as to the aspects of each piece that I find to be extremely similar, but to do that I'll have to listen to each piece several times, and I don't have time for that right now, especially if I'm going to challenge you in any kind of respectable way this week. I promise I'll give it my full attention some time after next Sunday.

Difficulty Spikes: I'll try to keep this to a few constructive criticisms. First, seriously, use better samples! Darkesword's list of soundfonts is an excellent place to start. Load them into a VST soundfont player, such as shortcircuit (my choice). Otherwise, use a decent synth VST. These can be extremely intimidating, but you can start off by using the presets, and branch out into more creative settings as you learn about sound synthesis. I've just started to use these myself, so I don't have any favorites, but TAL-NoiseMaker is popular, reasonably friendly, and has great presets. Second, measures are your friend! Stick your sounds to the beat. This can take some practice if you're doing it by ear, but is a lot easier if you start with a MIDI you find online. The Bursting of Marble Man: Strange instrumentation and pacing. Takes until almost a minute in before a source becomes obvious, and when it does, it's almost a straight copy of the original, not interpreted at all, for another full minute. Burst Man is somewhat more creative, but not a whole lot. I know you said you put more effort into integrating the two sources, but I'm still hearing mainly Marble Zone followed by Burst Man and that's it. H2Oil: An interesting attempt to carry the same feeling as Aquatic Base. Good use of Turbo Man, reasonably good use of Aquatic Base given how tricky the source is to use. Nothing earth-shattering. Velocity X - Race Chaos Turbo: Still having a tough time with source. I think it's just an extremely liberal interpretation. Strings sound a little hollow and fake this time. Could do without the "returns" at 1:26 and 1:34. Good exciting epic energy at the beginning, though. Don't Drop the Soap: Very cool concept. Needs some production tweaking--not a big fan of the crackling noise that accompanies the rap sections, and some parts are a little muddy. There are some off-key moments, too, especially in the 1:27 Neptune section. Many vocal pieces do so at the expense of source usage, and you did so a little, but both are still easily recognizable. End loops maybe one too many times. Overall great arrangement, good performance, good lyrics. I'd love to see this one cleaned up and submitted. Into the Future: More typical Mr. L. Good source usage, but I have to admit I'm feeling some fatigue at hearing the exact same style and instrumentation from you every time, and I'm not a fan of this style to begin with. Don't Drink the Water: I finally figured out compression, yay! Some moments could stand to be rebalanced, and there are some points that could be spiced up a bit more. Transition at 1:50 is a bit awkward, and yeah, the organ solo after that does drag on a bit. If I revise this I'll definitely do something different there, maybe use a different source altogether. I still have mixed feelings about when the whole thing increases tempo and becomes silly in the last third, I'll see what others have to say about that.

I'm not terribly happy with mine--Chrome Gadget really doesn't do anything for me--but it's coming.I definitely plan to take some of my pieces to the WIP forum and see how much I can polish them up. If I can improve the production of Amy and the Water Devil, I think it has a shot, and I'm pretty pleased with Don't Drink the Water, though there are definitely changes I'd like to make. The decision to submit them to OCR or not will come after I've gotten my first mod review.

Very nice, I definitely catch the Lindsey Sterling vibe, I would almost have believed it was one of hers, if it weren't for the fact that the violin doesn't kick in for over a minute, and I'm not sure she ever glitches her own playing. Beautifully done.

I have a sort of an idea, but this is certainly a strange source. And I'm trying something very different this round from anything I've done before. So, we'll see if it's any good.

I think mine is pretty much done. Gonna come at it with fresh ears tonight before subbing it, but otherwise I think it's probably my strongest piece so far.

Great job with the subtle harmonies. This is the kind of thing I strive for myself. Special props for making it past the judges with samples/VSTi's/soundfonts that aren't professional-grade. May I ask what you used for these?

The section from 1:50 to 2:06 is actually from the Link's Awakening version of the source, I believe, and should probably get credit.

Notes as I listen: Marbles in a Needle Stack: I gotta say, Cash, you've certainly gotten a lot better over the last year. I'm not a huge fan of some of your synth sound choices, but some of the arrangement here is truly stellar. The opening was really clean and energizing, reminded me very much of NES Ninja Gaiden. But yeah, it certainly fell apart when you tried to add Marble Zone. Burst Man Comes Back: That this was your first attempt should surprise no one, I think. Find some better soundfonts/samples/VSTi's. I recommend starting with Sir_NutS's guide: http://sirnuts.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-budget-music-producer-kit.html. It's a little dated, so there are some better alternatives to a couple of his suggestions now, but it's an excellent place to start. And don't ever just use the original music and try to dub over it. I know that with Aquatic Base, the usual cheat of finding a MIDI and starting with that isn't an option, since there isn't one out there, but hopefully you won't have to get that desparate again over the next 3 weeks. Soul Aquas: Rise Above the Clouds: Well, you clearly have string backing down. Violin riff at 1:17 really doesn't work. Otherwise, the few seconds you have of overt Burst Man is really good, possibly the best Burst Man I've heard (I'm not a huge fan of the MM7 track in general). I don't really hear the Aquatic Base melody at all--it doesn't have much, but you should still use what it does have. When this is all over, you should try an Aquatic Base mix with pieces of Kingdom Hearts and/or Chrono Trigger. Your mixes seem to trend in that direction, and I kept wanting to do that while working on my own Aquatic Base mix. Speeding Ticket: I can tell right off the bat that you ran out of time to tune the production, it's not up to your usual standards. And also, using electric guitar to remix an electric guitar source? I mean, it's all reasonably well done, it's just kind of meh. Turbo Man is kind of tossed in at the end, too. Better luck next week. Fantasia ~ Op. 1 No. 1 Deve Andare Veloce: Well, this was unexpected. Soundscape seems a little narrow for orchestral (although I have my cheap headphones on right now). Great arrangement, great harmony. A little light on Prison Lane. Seems like you accidentally ended up with a couple of measures of the Temple of Fiends from Final Fantasy 1. Great use of Turbo Man, easily my favorite use of the source so far in this compo. Should go faster, though. Submerged: A little more melodic than your usual mixes, and I like that. Typical Mr. L fare as far as style goes, but your production and arrangement skills keep steadily climbing. Keep it up! I Am the Quick Man: Nice singing, nice try. Could definitely use some compression, and there's one or two notes off key. The Soulful Sonata of Dr. Kwick Mann: Some nice light synth. Fun arrangement, nice creative interpretations, nothing too ambitious as far as instrumentation goes. Overall just a solid contribution. Sex with Squirrels: Was originally going to be "Sex in the Grove," but the more I came to dislike how it was going, the more I preferred the silly and apropos title. I was going for a classic jazz organ quartet, and discovered far too late that I don't actually like the Hammond organ as a backup instrument. Volume balance is way off--I tried to improve my skills with compression/limiting and did not get very far. EQ is also way off. Ugh. At least the power of the famous tenor sax soundfont was good enough to please one person, even if I didn't have time to humanize (and that particular soundfont is hard to humanize, since it's completely intolerant of overlapping notes).

I've discovered an interesting dilemma in Mega Water S in the Toxic Caves: a lot of the secondary patterns of the two songs are really similar. I just did what was supposed to be an arrangement of the transition in MWS and ended up with something darn similar to one of the transitions in Toxic Caves. Really looking forward to see what therex does with this!

Entry is away. A strong contender for worst remix I've ever done. I probably would have given up days ago if I didn't know I had no opponent this week.