MindWanderer

Thanks. Please give me a source from a Mega Man X game to write down for you. Or I can just roll 2d8 and pick a random Maverick from a random game--or some up with something a little more sophisticated to cover all the possible sources. Same goes for ectogemia: If he doesn't give me a source, I'll pick one randomly. @wildfire: Hm... I don't want people to sit out, either, but this is supposed to be a compo, and while it's more for the novices than the stars, I like to think that the stars are competing for "best mentor" as well. I'm certainly going to run some statistics to that effect at the end of each season. I guess the most important thing is that the novices who want to participate are able to do so, as long as you're 100% sure you have enough time to give both of them your full attention. So for this time, we'll try it, if we don't get enough Star signups. I will ask you to give me a second Mega Man X source for the second "you," though.

Current roster: Novices Cash and Change: Elec Man shadow24: Tomahawk Man jnWake: MM1, Wily Boss Trism: Skull Man Tuberz McGee: Dark Man Zerothemaster: Neptune Stars ectogemia: ???? wildfire: Optic Sunflower DusK: Boomer Kuwanger hakstock: Vanishing Gungaroo Could still use a couple more Stars, and a source choice from ectogemia.

I originally passed this up because I already had Red Chamomile, which uses similar Plant Man riffs, plus Dr. Cossack 2 is awesome. But listening to Synthesize This again, it's pretty darn good. The 20th Anniversary rock arrangement album does a good Tomahawk Man, and of course Vurez did the whole roster. I'm personally looking for a Mr. X remix where the week's winner isn't doped up on cold medication.

I tried that in the pilot, but it didn't work out well. Nobody expressed any preferences, probably because I discouraged it because I was too afraid it would end up being a "Who's the best remixer" popularity contest. Besides, over a whole season, consistent participants will end up working with almost everyone eventually. Ah, sorry. Yeah, I saw Tomahawk and Spark and thought you missed the whole thing.I'm glad someone has already made a pick from Mega Man V, the Game Boy games need more love. Also Wily Wars--Buster Rod G and Mega Water S are personal favorites.

Randomly. It's mentioned in the rules post, briefly. I don't want to play favorites, especially since I'll hopefully be able to participate myself someday. Otherwise I'd have paired Tuberz and DusK for this one already. Two rocking guitarists, Dark Man meets Boomer Kuwanger? Yes please.

Looks like you missed the [thread=37157]Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet[/thread].

What would be the point of that? If your friend wants your help in learning how to be a remixer, you're already there. This compo is intended to help beginners pick up tips and advice that they wouldn't ordinarily be able to get.

Remember to post your choice of a source (from an Original Series Mega Man game). Your signup doesn't count until you do.

Season 1, Episode 3: Special "You Can Never Have Too Much Mega Man" edition! Current News Voting is concluded! Results are below. Results! First Place: "Charge! Toward the Sunset of Intergalactic Dictatorship" by HeavenWraith feat. DusK, with 19 points. Second Place: "Dark Wing Duck" by Tuberz McGee feat. wildfire, with 13 points. Third Place: "Sigma has an Electric Fence" by Cash and Change feat. ectogemia, with 10 points. Fourth Place: "Scalpalectic Immolation" by shadow24 feat. Rozovian, with 7 points. Fifth Place: "The Unfinished Gungaroon" by Trism feat. hakstock, with 5 points. Download Season 1 Now! Pairings Cash and Change (Elec Man) with ectogemia (Sigma 1st, MMX6) shadow24 (Tomahawk Man) with Rozovian (Flame Mammoth) HeavenWraith (Metal Man) with DusK (Boomer Kuwanger) Trism (Skull Man) with hakstock (Vanishing Gungaroo) Tuberz McGee (Dark Man) with wildfire (Chill Penguin) Zerothemaster (Neptune) with wildfire (Optic Sunflower) Mega Man special edition I was expecting the Grand Maverick Remix Battle 2012 to be over by now, but Sandy and Apex conspired otherwise. But as the title says, you can never have too much Mega Man! For this edition, we're doing something a little different for signups. Novices, when signing up, should choose one source from any game in the main Mega Man series (eligible titles below). It can be any source: a robot master stage, a Wily stage, title screen, password screen, whatever. First-come, first served. If you change your mind, make a new post rather than editing your signup post. Stars, when signing up, should choose one source from any game in the Mega Man X series. Again, any source from an eligible game is fine, first-come, first-served. Mixes will be similar to those in DarkeSword's tournaments: each mix should use a roughly equal blend of the source chosen by the Novice and the one chosen by the Star. Making them sound like one song instead of a medley is key! Eligible Mega Man Games: Mega Man 1-10 Mega Man and Bass Mega Man I-V (the Game Boy games) Mega Man Powered Up Mega Man: The Wily Wars Eligible Mega Man X Games: Mega Man X 1-8 Mega Man Maverick Hunter X Mega Man X: Command Mission About ReMixing With the Stars ReMixing With the Stars is intended to give beginning remixers some support, encouragement, and mentoring in their quest to become great, and as a sidenote, to become posted remixers. Beginners are mentored by experienced remixers to push their abilities to new heights and submit collaborative works according to the theme of the month. Who's a "Star" and who's a "Novice?" Any posted or accepted-to-be-posted remixer, as the only artist or as the lead arranger on a piece, is automatically considered a "Star." This isn't meant to be a statement on who's a "good" or "expert" artist, but it's a somewhat meaningful threshhold which doesn't require any subjective judgment on my part (however subjective the OCR judging process may be). Additionally, anyone who wants to sign up as a Star can also be put into that category. This is because a lot more "Novices" (who is everyone else) sign up than stars, and it's better to receive some mentoring from someone who's good but not posted than from no one at all. If you've done any of the following things, as examples, I strongly recommend you sign up as a Star: Contributed to an OCR album Had a submitted remix rejected but with one or more "Yes" votes Beat a posted remixer in direct competition (not counting forfeit) Sold your compositions (remixes or not) for money If you want to sign up conditionally (e.g. "I'd prefer to be a Novice, but if you need me to be a Star so more people can participate, that's fine too"), then go ahead, and bless you. If you do so for this episode, please choose both a source from Mega Man and one from Mega Man X. Rules Enrollment/Pairings: For episode 2 and onward, pairings will be a little different. They'll still be first-come, first-served, except that Novices who participated in a previous episode get priority. This is so that the community can watch a consistent group of OCR newcomers grow in skills as the season progresses. (Don't worry, this won't carry over into next season, so people won't be matriculated through forever. In fact, for Season 2, Episode 1, priority will be exactly the other way around, with Season 1 participants getting lower preference for slots.) As before, once the signup deadline is reached, whichever list of signups has more people in it will be truncated, based on order of priority as described above, so the lists are the same size. Then Novices will be randomly paired with Stars, except that Novice-Star pairings won't be repeated twice in a season. Mixes: The Novice must be the primary remixer. Stars can contribute by giving advice, playing a live instrument or vocals, and with production, including minor adjustments to fix timing or dissonance issues. They may also contribute a short solo segment. No one other than the Novice and Star may help in any way. Submissions: All entries must be sent to me by the 12PM PDT deadline via PM on the forums, with a link to a reliable host for me to download your mix from. Please don't use Tindeck, as it doesn't give you control over what the filename will be when downloaded. I also recommend you post in this thread that you've submitted your mix, since I know there have been issues in other compos with PM's not being received. Please submit your file as an mp3, preferably encoded at a high-quality VBR or 320kbps. Filenames must be in the following format: Novice feat. Star - Title (Game 1 and Game 2).mp3 Example: MindWanderer feat. djpretzel - The World's MOST AWESOME MEGA MAN REMIX EVER!!! (Mega Man: The Wily Wars and Mega Man Maverick Hunter X).mp3 Proper file names mean I can do my job of getting the compliation done and posted faster, which means you get to hear the great music produced by this sooner. Schedule All deadlines are 12 PM (noon) Pacific time (PST). Signups until Wednesday, Dec 5, 1200 PST. If you're signing up as a Novice, and didn't sign up for a previous episode, you must post links to at least two samples of your previous work! They don't have to be good, they don't even have to be game remixes, you just have to prove you're not brand-spanking-new to this music production thing. Things you've posted to the WIP forum are preferable but not required. If you're signing up as a Star, say a little bit about your strengths, and maybe post a link or three to remixes you feel best represent them. You can mention anything else you think would be helpful in working with you (software preferences, instruments you play, etc). Announcement of the pairings on Dec. 5. ReMixing from Dec. 5 to Wednesday, Dec. 19, 1200 PST (2 weeks). Rules and guidelines above. Voting from whenever I get the compilation posted (should be no more than a few hours after the deadline) until Wednesday, Jan. 2, 1200 PST (2 weeks). Votes should be based on, in roughly descending order, use of sources (i.e. interpreted but recognizable, with roughly equal use of both sources), arrangement, production, and enjoyability. You'll pick your three favorites, in order. Your first-place vote will get 3 points, your second-place 2 points, and your third-place 1 point. Participants (both Novices and Stars) may not vote for their own mixes, but participants who vote will get a free first-place vote added to their score. Please send me a PM with your votes, like this: 1. First-place ReMix 2. Second-place ReMix 3. Third-place ReMix Thanks for your interest, and lets get this show on the road! Previous Episodes [thread=40611]Pilot Episode: "Beginnings"[/thread] [thread=41556]Season 1, Episode 1: "Spooky!"[/thread] [thread=41864]Season 1, Episode 2: "Origins of Home Gaming"[/thread]

Results are up! Results! First Place: "2 Sizes, 4 Swords, 8 Bits" by Kuolema feat. wildfire, with 21 points. Second Place: "Remembering the Storm" by TheRexAsaurous feat. Dafydd, with 17 points. Third Place: "A Passing Dream 2" by Tuberz McGee feat. ectogemia, with 14 points. Fourth Place: "Cool Side of the Mountain" by Cash and Change feat. urdailywater, with 8 points. I thought everyone did a great job given the round's constraints. Our first-place winner was especially catchy, and I find myself humming it often. I'm not a particularly good judge, but at least a couple of these could be OCR quality with a trip through the WIP forums, and I encourage the effort.

Doing that would make the mixes due on Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, which, based on the procrastination levels I've seen, would probably result in fewer mixes being turned in rather than more.

Speaking of votes, I still have only a whopping three of them: Kuolema, SuperiorX, and TheRexAsaurous. If you sent votes and you're not one of those three people, I didn't get them. There's just under a day left, so please don't forget. Because of the upcoming holiday week, I'll also be announcing the next episode tomorrow and extending the voting period to 2 weeks.

Sure, I'll share some opinions. 2 Sizes, 4 Swords, 8 Bits: Amazing job of using the NES sound spectrum authentically while creating a deep and varied soundscape. Lengthy without being repetitive; it has a good flow and progression throughout. Overall I'm just really impressed with this one, although those four notes at 0:15 are just slightly grating, I have no other complaints. It really exemplifies the theme of the month. A Passing Dream 2: A bit coverish, but the source is so long that it's really tempting to just cover. The piece does go above and beyond the source, it just takes a while. The instrumentation lies somewhere between 8-bit and the original, which was slightly chippy for the era anyway. I do like the marriage of guitar and chip; while I was hoping that Tuberz would treat us to a modern rock version of an early-80's source, this is pretty darn good too. Cool Side of the Mountain: Taking such a short source and spinning it out for 2 minutes is quite a challenge, and this does get a little repetitious. The original content works well but isn't as much as I would have liked. Perhaps one less pass-through of the source at the beginning, or some more off-the-wall rearrangement as it looped through would have helped. The end was a bit abrupt, too. Still, there are some good ideas here, and I'm glad that someone tackled the challenge of ancient source material. Remembering the Storm: Definitely late-NES instrumentation, and a far deeper soundscape than it was capable of, but that's forgivable. A lot of fun, a really good and complex arrangement overall. I'm not crazy about the thin part from 1:10 to 1:30, but overall it's a really rich, interesting mix and I enjoyed it a lot.

I've only received votes from one person so far. I know it was a long holiday weekend, but please try to vote by the deadline, which is in 47 hours. I'm hoping it's not a forum bug.

Looks like Phonetic Hero pulled into the lead in the last couple of hours of voting.

Uploaded a new zip of the episode, with some fixed tags and shadow24's bonus mix. Please don't vote for it.

Oh, you're right. Sorry, must have copied the wrong one. Hm... not what I was remembering, but there are apparently several versions of that theme in the game. Not sure which one was the actual inspiration.

Mixes from our four competitors are available for download. I'll post the sources shortly. Edit: Sources are up, except for TheRexAsaurous/Dafydd's. For some reason I'm having a hard time finding a clip of the relevant source by itself. I imagine you all know it well, though.

So that's 4 submitted (TheRexAsaurous, Cash and Change, Kuolema, and Tuberz McGee) and 4 confirmed dropouts (Zerothemaster, Trism, Xarnax42, and DrevanZero). Ouch. But at least everyone is accounted for. I'll have the download up, minus shadow24's bonus mix, up around 12. I've never heard the Ultima IV PC soundtrack before (it's different from the NES one, which was released too late to qualify for this compo), I'll have to check that out. I forgot Ultima was quite that old! Gyromite should be fun, I was hoping someone would pick it. Very short but catchy ditties.

20 hours to go, and I only have 1 submission. I know not to expect one from Trism or Xarnax42, but that leaves 5 teams unaccounted for. Hope everyone else can squeeze this out!

Thanks for the feedback, those who provided it. toilet goat said he couldn't understand the voice part, which kind of surprises me, since he chose the source: Five to find, three are one One gives access, the bladed sun The silver orb, to banish below The Staff of Ages, to vanquish the foe Joining two, the golden thorn Last to invoke, the platinum horn ... which should be familiar to anyone who finished the game. ("Thorn" was "Blade" in at least the NES version of the game, for some reason, but "Thorn" is the canonical word according to the developers.) As a bonus, here are the lyrics for the version I originally had in mind: You are the last of a great line of hero-kings Prophecy says you are destined for mighty things A wizard named Lakmir has magicked you here At Shadowgate Castle there's no time for fear You'll face tons of cheap deaths once you pass through this gate At the end of it all, there's a warlock in wait Sure, he'll kill you quick with a wave of his staff But if you don't hurry that's not all by half He's gonna summon something badder than you A big fuschia titan that can mash you into stew Given half a chance There's gargoyles, trolls, wyverns, dragons and more But you needn't worry, cause you know the score Talimar's doomed, he may not know it yet But he should get worried the closer you get Don't mess with heroes badder than you 'Specially not when they can always continue Even when they're dead. (Death music bridge) (Five to find, three are one One gives access, the bladed sun The silver orb, to banish below The Staff of Ages, to vanquish the foe!) The staff is complete with the werewoman's thorn And the last to invoke is the platinum horn From the depths of the chasm the behemoth climbs But the warlock's not seen you yet, so there's still time You lift up your staff and its light blazes forth But not at the warlock, you know that won't work The behemoth screams and drags its master to hell You can go home and you've a moral to tell: Don't ever summon something badder than you If it can kill you then you should eschew (And that's as far as I got.)

Any of the NES launch titles qualify: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games There are also a number of Atari and Colecovision games with solid (if limited) soundtracks, and a substantial number of PC games. Moon Patrol is one such that does in fact have an OCR entry already. If I were participating, I'd probably pick Pitfall 2. Or, there's always option 2. Oh, I see the confusion. Not only arcade (I thought that was clear when we mentioned SMB). The reason is that games like Dragon's Lair showed that arcade games had no real limitations as far as what they could produce. Anything that had both an arcade and a console release counts, as long as the track in question appears in the console version. Ice Climbers is fine, and a great choice.

Subbed! Technically kept a tiny vocal thing, but it's not really a vocal mix anymore. I can't imagine how people can churn out good remixes without a full weekend to devote to it (Reaper has me logged at 37 hours, although probably 10 hours of that was the original version that I scrapped). I wish I could say I'll get better and faster with practice, but it'll probably be a while before I can set aside even half that amount of time to a mix. Still, it was fun, and I'm glad I did it. I'm also glad PRC exists--the timeframe it gives is just about right, and it's actually kind of nice to be given a source to practice one's skills on without being The Giant Opus You've Always Wanted To Do. Plus the standards are lower than those of the big compos. So thanks, Bundeslang, for keeping this going. Hopefully I can do it again sometime.

I agree: even though the range of sources is a bit more constrained this time, it's still a few dozen non-obscure titles that actually have music, and there's always option B. Plus, even if two pairs pick option A, and pick the same title, they're not going to do the same thing with it. The PRC doesn't have a problem with that, and even in Darke's tournaments, two people are forced to use the exact same sources.

I understand where the complaints are coming from: it is rather lengthy without necessarily introducing enough variation to merit it, especially considering how short the source is. And there are moments when the chips and the orchestra don't jive very well. I'm also really don't like the timing used in 0:55-1:05. But other than those complaints, which are pretty minor, it's an excellent piece. I definitely don't think people should be discouraged from genre-bending like this on occasion. It would have been a real shame for this to get NO'd. OCR has passed more exotic efforts before. Heck, OCR should probably encourage this sort of mix. We're fans of video game music, after all, and a hell of a lot of that is chiptunes. Mixes like this help establish the legitimacy of chiptunes as instruments that belong right alongside live instruments and more "traditional" synths.