Master Mi   Members

Thanks. )) Have you already found any hints regarding the display of the remaining upload limit? As far as I remember correctly, this was previously always displayed somewhere on your own profile page or maybe at the logged-in account display under "Content" >>> “My Attachments”.

For media files uploaded to OCRemix, such as images and audio files, I have always checked from time to time how much I have already exhausted my upload limit for attachments in posts or to decide how much I want to compress this media data. When I checked my last uploads of attachments, I could no longer see any such upload limit. Does this mean that this upload limit restriction has now been lifted?

@pixelseph Yo, dude, I finally finished the guitar part and the whole remix project. Gave some of my best shots in terms of my momentary composing, instrumental and mixing skills. So I'm really lookin' forward to your critical opinion of a professional guitarist. )) I posted the full version of my remix in the forum "Post Your Game ReMixes!". The remix is called "Crisis Core - Final Fantasy 7 - Wings Of Freedom (Master Mi Remix)".

@DarkeSword Big thanks. )) I forgot another question. There was also some kind of an off-topic forum here on OCRemix some time ago. Has this also been removed - or is this hidden somewhere and has been integrated into another forum section?

I had just posted a new video game remix on OCRemix after a few years (in the “Post Your Game ReMixes!” forum) and wanted to take the opportunity to update the old tags for the remix, which were still there. But somehow you don't seem to have access to them anymore - or is the tagging function just a bit hidden now? I was a bit confused, as you can still search for tags in the search function on the site. ... The second thing is this. Years ago, when you posted a video game remix, you could indicate the current status or progress of the remix. According to my memory, you could indicate things like “work in progress”, “ready for review” or “submitted” etc.. Has this also been rationalized away at some point - or is it just related to the restructuring of the site some time ago and will return at some point? ... It would be really nice if someone could give me a short answer and explain the changes I apparently missed. ))

Now, about 8 years later and with much more sophisticated composition, mixing and sound design skills in my musical repertoire, I have radically reworked the entire remix and would now like to present to you the results of my ambitions. I think one of the main reasons that inspired me to get back into this remix project these days was the release of the Playstation 4 remake of the game called “Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion”, which I mainly played in 2024 together with a good friend and enjoyed the really good story to the fullest once again. I had also set myself the goal of perfecting and demonstrating my continuously evolving dynamic mixing concept called “Life Force”. To do this, I primarily wanted to use my beloved Yamaha MSP3 studio monitors and finally mix my second larger and this time somewhat more epic soundtrack on them, whereby I ultimately decided on my Crisis Core remix. I hope you, and especially the fans of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, like it. )) Here are the links for the new remix version 1.3: >>> or >>> https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm44603368 >>> https://soundcloud.com/master-mi/crisis-core-final-fantasy-7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This soundtrack is the newest (and maybe even the final) version of my remix for the original song "The Price Of Freedom" from the PSP game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, which was originally composed by Takeharu Ishimoto. I haven't uploaded any new soundtrack or remix content of mine in the last two years because I've been particularly dedicated to developing my mixing concept, which I call "Life Force", to be able to present my compositions and remixes at a much higher level of quality. This mixing concept, which I have developed over the last years, is primarily aimed at bringing much more clarity, a more natural, organic sound, much better dynamics, more atmosphere and spatiality back into the mix through sophisticated depth gradation and unique mixing techniques. In order to achieve this, I mix all my soundtracks and remixes in accordance with the loudness standards of the European Broadcasting Union, which are set out in the EBU R 128 recommendation with a target loudness level of -23 LUFS (or -23 dB in the context of the full scale), a loudness level at which the level peaks and transients can run out completely relaxed and naturally without the need to use compressors or limiters, which are prohibited in my mixing concept anyway. This is roughly at the loudness level of many soundtracks from the early 80s and about half as loud as most soundtracks produced according to the rather unfavorable trends of today's music industry. My aim with my mixing concept "Life Force" is to bring back or even surpass the very good sound quality and high dynamics of the soundtracks from the early 80s and to breathe a little more "life" back into the music, regardless of the music genre. … But I have also developed my compositional skills over the last few years, which I wanted to show in this heartfelt remix project. Not only did I make the dynamics and playing style of the existing instruments much more lively, natural and artistically elevated, I also recorded numerous new instruments and composed completely new passages to deepen the atmosphere of the remix even further and steer it in more specific directions. The early musical part with harp, strings and bells is primarily intended to emphasize the heaviness, sadness and tragedy of the approaching death of the main character Zack Fair, while his girlfriend Aerith apparently also suspects this at this moment or has been told this by the planet itself. This part becomes a little more powerful a little later with the introduction of the acoustic guitar and a slightly more intense way of playing the instruments. The section with the brass instruments such as trumpets in combination with an almost fanfare-like solo trumpet, followed by powerful French horns, is intended above all to emphasize the heroic side of Zack's self-sacrificing final battle against a veritable superior force of hostile Shinra troops, which presumably saved the life of his friend and companion Cloud, who was still incapacitated at the time, suffering from severe Mako poisoning. A slight musical change then takes place with the new electric guitar part, which transforms the previous orchestral part of the remix into an increasingly intensifying power ballad, which, in addition to driving power chords, also contains very beautiful melodic electric guitar leads, piano arpeggios as well as a Spanish guitar, all of which together are intended to illustrate once again the extremely liberating feeling that the main character Zack might have felt at the end of his hero's journey. For the soundscape and the mixing of the electric guitars, I drew a little inspiration from the really atmospheric electric guitar sounds in the song "Everytime We Touch", sung by Maggie Reilly. And for the final part of the remix, I composed an additional harp section to symbolize the path of the inner heaven that Zack has obviously taken, because he has always pursued his big dream of becoming a real hero with his heart in the right place, without forgetting the high value of honour, friendship, helpfulness and humanity. … In this sense, the title of my remix "Wings Of Freedom" does not stand for any small-minded, money-focused libertarian ideas or for one-sided freedom without justice, but rather for the freedom of the heart within the power of the unleashed soul, which allows some people in difficult situations and hard times to take not always the easiest but the right path, which fully convinces them, literally flows through them and gives them wings. Perhaps this is also part of the mysterious gift of the goddess. ))

Enhanced sound experiment with mono/stereo signal sources and mono/stereo reverb effects ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've probably taken my time with this, although this undesirable lobbyist government in my country is also producing a lot of problems these days (to cut a long story short: neoliberal bullshit politics >>> approval of a really hefty 500 billion euros primarily for arms companies, the military and war >>> in return, massive austerity measures for public and municipal budgets as well as a considerable reduction in public contracts mostly for critical infrastructure and the most existentially necessary things >>> mass redundancies at companies, including mine, which had primarily specialized in public construction, planting and vegetation maintenance contracts >>> I was also laid off after no major construction contracts had been recorded since the beginning of the year and my company had only been able to pay wages in chunks for the last few months >>> yeah, it radically sucks... once again). But apart from the not entirely voluntary job search, I can at least take all my remaining vacation these days and, after creating 4 different versions of my Crisis Core remix and doing the final checks of the audio samples on various audio playback systems, I was also able to complete my long-announced sound experiment and present it to you now. … With this sound experiment, I wanted to investigate the extent to which mono and stereo signal sources as well as mono and stereo reverb effects can be used in different combinations in order to primarily improve the clarity and spatiality in the mix and thus further increase the mixing quality. I have examined four main variants and compared them in detail: 1) A mix of stereo and mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends 2) Mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends 3) Mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends 4) A mix of stereo and mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends I tried to reproduce the four versions as faithfully as possible, taking particular care to ensure that the positioning of the signal sources (i.e. the instruments in this case) and aux reverb effects in the panorama were all correct and that the loudness ratios between the signal sources and the aux reverb effects were maintained without significant changes. This was quite time-consuming precision work with extremely fine, often multiple loudness measurements for each track within each of these four versions. The final listening tests of the audio samples (four full-length soundtrack versions + the soundtrack excerpts presented here, as well as further mono compatibility checks of the four complete soundtrack versions + mono compatibility checks of the four soundtrack excerpts) on a variety of tested audio playback systems (Yamaha MSP3 studio monitors, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro studio headphones, Presonus Eris E4.5 studio monitors, a somewhat larger stereo system as well as a somewhat smaller, kitchen-radio-like stereo system or my HD MP3 player, for example) also really took a lot of time. But these detailed comparisons, for which I also made a few notes on clarity and spatiality in the mix as well as on special things with regard to the overall sound impression, have provided me with some really important insights that I will take into account in the future application of my dynamic mixing concept “Life Force” and which have given me further certainty that I am probably on the right path in this respect. … And so let's start right away with the first version: 1) A mix of stereo and mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The track mainly contains signal sources or instruments in the stereo version (playing only on the outermost sides without further center participation in the panorama). I reduced a few signal sources (electric bass and kick drum) to centered mono signal sources to further improve clarity in the mix, while some other signal sources (all other drum elements) are present with a stereo width reduced to approx. 50% (playing between the outermost sides and the center in the stereo panorama, so to speak). All aux reverb effects are stereo in this version (but they only play on the outer sides without center participation). In the following audio sample, you can also hear the third and final electric guitar track for the previously mentioned part for the first time, which I wanted to compose in addition as part of my prior considerations (new electric guitar begins around minute 0:39 and plays on the left side in the stereo panorama) and which has really enhanced the electric guitar part and the overall sound ambience at this point: CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Stereo And Mono Source Signals + Stereo Reverb Version.mp3 As I had already used an electric lead guitar and a clean electric guitar for the big guitar part, I also wanted to use another individual setting for the third electric guitar. I decided on a crunch setting, for which I first experimented a little with a “Funk Frog” wah-wah effect. However, as this sounded far too playful in the context of the serious background of the soundtrack, I later deactivated this effect and instead used some really nice chorus and flanger effects in combination with the crunch setting, which made this electric guitar sound a bit more out of this world and also blended in really well with the soundscape of the other electric guitars. Here is a screenshot of this new electric guitar setting in my Vandal guitar amp plugin: After careful consideration, I also decided to use this first version of my mix as the new version for my remix, as I still find it to be the best overall package in terms of clarity, spatiality and the general sound quality of the mix, even after my extensive listening tests on various audio playback systems. Nevertheless, the following versions also have a few outstanding features that could be useful in certain mixing situations. 2) Mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this version, I used only mono signal sources (with a comparable positioning in the panorama as the previous stereo signal sources) and added an individual stereo reverb to each of them via aux sends in order to achieve a corresponding spatial effect, while at the same time trying to significantly increase the clarity of the mix: CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Mono Source Signals + Stereo Reverb Version.mp3 When listening on some audio playback systems, I actually had the feeling that this mixing approach was able to slightly increase the clarity in the mix in comparison to the first version. But on the other hand, this seemed to be at the expense of the spatial effect in the mix, whereby the connection between the playing instruments also seemed to get lost a little. 3) Mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the seemingly minor improvements in clarity to the detriment of the spatial effect in the mix with the previous mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb send version, I naturally wanted to find out whether the clarity in the mix could be increased even further if you combine the existing mono signal sources with mono aux reverb instead of stereo aux reverb sends: CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Mono Source Signals + Mono Reverb Version.mp3 And indeed, I had the impression that at some points in the remix (especially in the large part with the three electric guitars) this increased the clarity in the mix a little bit and you could hear the individual instruments even more clearly. But on the flip side, the whole thing seemed to worsen the spatial effect of the mix even further, while the individual instruments seemed even more detached from each other and somehow disjointed. On some audio playback systems, the spatiality and reverb in the mix even seemed downright strange. I sometimes even had the impression that this mixing approach tore some holes in the stereo panorama and that the mix sounded very thin at some points (especially at the beginning of the audio sample, when there weren't quite as many instruments playing). Nevertheless, such a mixing approach with well-placed mono signal sources and mono aux effects could perhaps come into play if you are confronted with such a complex and extremely extensive mix, whose stereo panorama is already fully utilized or even radically overstuffed, for example in such a remix here, in which a large number of instruments and other signal sources play simultaneously at various points in the soundtrack: 4) A mix of stereo and mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For the sake of completeness, I still wanted to find out how the mix behaves if I simply combine stereo and mono signal sources with mono aux reverb sends, which then sounds like this: CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Stereo And Mono Source Signals + Mono Reverb Version.mp3 This doesn't sound bad either, but here too the spatial effect seems to suffer considerable losses, while the reverb also seems to sound somehow strange and to be downright dominated and drowned out in the interplay with the predominant stereo signal sources of the instruments. … So much for that. However, as promised, I also wanted to carry out a further mono compatibility check for these four different mixing versions as part of a more detailed examination. This can be done quite easily with a DAW by simply switching the master track (this contains all the individual tracks in the music project) to mono in the mixer view at the touch of a button in this master track, of course only temporarily for control purposes. This not only sets all tracks in the mix to mono sources, they are also centered in the stereo panorama, which means that a stereo width is non-existent, so to say. And this also means that all signal sources and effects are virtually superimposed and squashed in a centered point in the panorama. On the one hand, some sound engineers do this test to get a vague idea of how well the mix translates or reproduces on a mono audio playback device. On the other hand, by centering all available signal sources and tracks with the master track mono button, you can find out whether there are any gross frequency overlaps between the various signal sources and effects (can be fixed by the precise use of EQ plug-ins, for example) or even serious phase cancellations (which can cause some sound elements to literally drown out in the mix). But let's start right away with the mono compatibility control tests of the four tracks. M1) Mono compatibility check - a mix of stereo and mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Mono Compatibility Check - Stereo And Mono Source Signals + Stereo Reverb Version.mp3 M2) Mono compatibility check - mono signal sources + stereo aux reverb sends ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Mono Compatibility Check - Mono Source Signals + Stereo Reverb Version.mp3 M3) Mono compatibility check - mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Mono Compatibility Check - Mono Source Signals + Mono Reverb Version.mp3 M4) Mono compatibility check - a mix of stereo and mono signal sources + mono aux reverb sends ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC - FF7 Remix (Excerpt) - Mono Compatibility Check - Stereo And Mono Source Signals + Mono Reverb Version.mp3 … To summarize, I would say that even in the mono compatibility checks of the 4 versions, the first version with the well thought-out mix of stereo and mono signal sources and the stereo reverb aux sends performs best as an overall package. The first version not only convinces with a really good clarity and perceptibility of all instruments and effects in the mix, but also with a really good representation of the spatial depth and the spatial coherence of the sound sources. Once again, the second version with the mono signal sources and stereo aux reverb sends as well as the third version with the mono signal sources and mono aux reverb sends seem to perform slightly better in terms of clarity in the mix. Nevertheless, the instruments in these versions sound a little more static, a little less spatial and less coherent than in the first version, while the reverb also sounds a little strange in some places or even seems to overlay and dominate some instruments. The fourth version with the combined stereo and mono signal sources and mono reverb aux sends comes off worst here in my opinion, because this somehow strange and sometimes stalled-sounding reverb does least justice to my actual intention as a composer and sound designer. … Certainly, the differences between the four versions here are more in the range of nuances, since I was able to achieve the far more resounding improvements in the mix with some of the previous mixing approaches and sound experiments. But I believe that with this second major stereo and mono sound experiment and with the previous first stereo width sound experiment from December 20, 2024 (with the title: "Using specific stereo widths for instrument and direct signal tracks for more clarity and assertiveness in the mix and for a more impressive representation of panorama and spatiality in the soundtrack"), I was able to demonstrate quite well that you can not only clean up a mix in terms of frequency. You can also clean up a mix by making more efficient use of the panorama or by using different stereo widths for signal sources and aux effect sends in the mix, whether you turn critical stereo sources completely into mono sources or simply reduce the stereo width of some stereo sources so that other signal sources have more space in the stereo panorama in order to be better perceived in the mix. … But I'm still curious to hear your opinions on the subject and very interested to hear your listening impressions of the four different mixing approaches. )) … In my next and possibly last post on this topic within this thread for now (I want to throw myself back into the passion of composing), I will show you the full version of my new Crisis Core remix and, as a comparison, upload the previous version of this remix from about 8 years ago as an audio streaming file. Because that was about the time when I started to deal much more profoundly with the topics of composition, mixing and sound design in many smaller and larger steps, while about 12 years ago (around 2013), through a few lucky coincidences (one of which was the OCRemix community) and without any previous musical knowledge, I stumbled into the topic of DAWs & remixes and some time later took the first awkward but joyful and curious steps in this direction with my first version of a DAW. ))

Dunno, when I saw the new dark theme the first times, I thought that some kind of apocalyptic Kefka cult must have raided the peaceful OCR platform - just to plunge the colourful world of video game music into chaos, darkness and depression. But then I thought you're just following the legendary Japanese prophecy, aren't you? O_O ... Nah, just thought that the world could need much more light 'cause of the annoying weather (c'mon - only writing about it and it's just already raining like in late autumn again) and because the world got already dark enough for many people. But maybe I'll just hang up a bright and sunny picture with a really nice tropical motif in my living room next to my studio environment. This one has a really stunning paradisiacal ambience: Or maybe this one? I'm not really a designer with an additional degree in psychology. But I think you understand how strongly certain colors and motifs can influence people's thoughts and feelings. This was perhaps one of the reasons why the painter Vincent van Gogh, in a mentally unstable phase of his life, longed for much more light, sun and colors to capture them in his works and even moved his place of residence to the sunny south. So if you want to have a few ambient-heavy Chrono Cross and Star Tropics remixes again, or if you want to tempt all the remixers on OC to make some of these, you can use the picture motifs as a new (tropical sun) light theme after the prophesied battle against darkness is over. ))

Thanks for also keeping the light version. )) Not fully sure about this one (due to a missing comparison) - it might be also a thing of adaptation. But my very first impression was that the former font was easier to read.

I recently finished my Crisis Core remix “Wings Of Freedom” and uploaded it on several platforms: You'll just have to turn up the volume quite a bit, as I master all my soundtracks at EBU R 128 loudness standards to around -23 dBFS in favor of dynamics, sound quality and to avoid loudness differences between my soundtracks and remixes (quite a similar level of loudness as lots of the original mixes of soundtracks from the early 80s and thus about half as loud as many modern mixes). Maybe I'll present it in more detail in the remix thread sometime soon and submit it to the judging panel. But before that, I still wanted to finish and present a small, quite interesting mixing sound experiment with mono and stereo signal sources.

Over the last few days and weeks, I have made a major update to my main post for this thread. Since some interesting new studio monitors have come onto the market or some studio monitor speaker series have been given the latest generation of studio monitor models, while the production of some older models has been discontinued and these are often no longer available at all, I have finally made this way overdue update. The update in my initial thread post contains the following main points: 1) newly released as well as time-tested studio monitor speakers made for accurate mixing in home studio conditions as well as for professional endeavors in audio engineering 2) new models within a studio monitor series (whereby I generally only took the new models as a basis for a more detailed description if they were actually better than the older models - if the old models were obviously better than the newer versions, on the other hand, I took the older models as a basis for a more detailed description and rather mentioned the newer models only in passing) 3) have slightly expanded the information in the descriptions of the studio monitor models, categorized it accordingly and standardized it (so that the frequency range, sound impression, build quality and especially their suitability for creating professional mixes are rather high up in the description of the respective studio monitor speakers and somewhat less important aspects such as design, power consumption, price and further information can be found at the bottom of the description) 4) updated links with the currently available studio monitor models as well as additional helpful information on older studio monitor models (which are sometimes even still available on the market) 5) a slightly adjusted personal rating for the larger and the smaller studio monitor speakers, which is primarily based on my personal sound impressions of the speakers in the music store as well as through comparative sound test videos, personal mixing experiences with some of these speakers, certain product characteristics such as build quality, frequency range, linearity of the frequency response or at least a frequency response that is advantageous for mixing, intensity of inherent noise, various buyer and user feedbacks, power consumption, price-benefit ratio as well as current availability on the market (whereby the sound characteristics and mixing suitability are the most important factors for my rating - although this should only be a rough assessment and I am not yet completely sure about some of the sometimes pretty close positions of my personal ranking) 6) a link to a YouTube channel where you can roughly compare the sound of a large number of studio monitor models even far away from specialist music shops (whereby the sound impression of the studio monitor speakers in the specialist music shop and even more so in the corresponding rooms at home should be the final factor, without prioritizing the first sound impression over the much more crucial mixing suitability - because what ultimately counts for composers and sound engineers is not the pleasant sound of these speakers, but the impressing sound of the final mix which you have created with the speakers and which should also sound really nice on all other playback systems) 7) a brief summery of my personal speaker search over many years (from the simplest desktop speakers to professional studio monitors with corresponding background information to better understand why I have taken certain steps in my home studio planning and why I do not always find larger studio monitors necessarily better and more suitable in terms of mixing suitability than slightly smaller models) Maybe this can help some people in their search for suitable studio monitor speakers for their room conditions. ... In addition, I wish you a happy Easter. Don't forget to bring rich offerings of natural, organic stuff (food) for the fluffy hares and bunnies to the radically sacred Long 'n' Floppy Ears Shrine to appease the gentle and wise rabbit gods. (\_/)

Must have radically missed this thread. Really amazing mindset and work. )) ... In today's world, unfortunately, far too much revolves around profits, mindless competition (competition for the sake of profits instead of real improvements and better quality standards), exploitation and the resulting conflicts in the world. That's why I'm really grateful that some people are still really concerned about the cause itself (in this case music and creative remixes of video game soundtracks), community endeavors as well as essential improvements, real progress and new opportunities for all people to participate. Since free time is often a precious and rare good, you certainly give up a lot for such a project. But on the other hand, you are creating something beautiful, valuable and perhaps even permanent - like freshly harvested, delicious fruits from the trees you planted many years ago. Just reminds me that about 10 years ago, I myself planted a variety of different fruit trees and bushes - from apples, cherries, plums, sea buckthorn, hazelnuts and others - in an open, secluded meadow area in my home town, mowed the meadow around the planted trees and bushes with a classic scythe and watered it the first time with the water of a nearby river. After three or four years, the trees and bushes yielded their first fruits and the people who came by could harvest some fresh 'n' tasty fruits. But I've also seen lots of birds coming by or even somebody who enjoyed reading something in the quiet, idyllic area of the lil' fruit tree paradise. Against all gardening knowledge and recommendations (I'm a landscape gardener myself), I never pruned one of those trees. And they grew up beautifully in their own unique and the most natural way they could grow. Didn't have to put any further work in these trees and bushes since then, only a few trees died within the first years, but the remaining ones grew really strong and vital. The only thing that can be a bigger threat to them now, are the greedy property sharks and rent roaches that literally infested my home town years ago. These kind of "people" mostly have eyes for easy money and huge profits - they don't care about natural beauty, community standards, good structures, social peace or creating something really useful (and affordable) most humans would benefit from. People like those would even sell paradise for the latest luxury resort or sell a good community for the newest sports car in their garage. It would be even a compliment for them to be called just "useless" because their greed and selfishness make them rather harmful for society, especially for the workers and common people. They piss off workers with ridiculously high (simply not affordable) rents, and then - without workers - these Trumpish Muskuitos and all the elitist, capitalist or even fascist money sniffers even dare to borrow eggs 'n food from other countries where workers don't have to live in tents yet. In this really batshit crazy world, I'm really glad I live in a social housing associating that even existed after the former socialist times of my country and still offers very stylish flats with really affordable rents, a good neighborhood, a rather rural silence and lots of trees 'n' natural green places around. Still no car (just the good ol' bike + trailer and a local public transport "gold ticket"), no expensive holidays and no luxury on my wish list - but at least plenty of good organic food in the fridge, a little home studio, a much more pleasant 4-days working week (around 30 hours a week on average) in my job life, a bit longer 3-days weekends - and much more time for recovery, for the things that need to be done and the things I really want to do. ... So if you are fine with a modest, more active and more healthy lifestyle, I'd radically recommend to shift down (especially in your working life) a bit - for the sake of the things you are really passionate about. Money is mostly for living in modern societies (and for saving a little bit), but not for hoarding meaningless luxuries and status symbols. Hoarding bananas, sashimi, good literature, video games and music as sources of life force, knowledge and joy is totally fine, of course. The higher currencies in the universe are still (life force) energy and time, with which you can really unleash your creative potential, create synergies, new possibilities and experience joy, intensity and really inspiring natural highs. ))

@AshleyXR Yeah, pretty much the perfect beat to knock the teeth out of drunken hooligans, fascists, their greedy capitalist sponsors and merchants of war. Though their connections are not limited to a few countries, it rather seems to be a global phenomenon, depending on where the big money of the rich 'n' greedy people flows - quite similar to the Shadaloo organization, which also spins their webs or "fasciae" secretly around the globe. I'm really not happy to have to live in an era of continuous downfall again, especially when I think that my birthright to grow up in a socialist society was literally taken away from me by some greedy sons of bitches. But as a martial artist who grew up with Japanese full-contact karate, I somehow still have hope that, in the worst case scenario, I won't have to stand completely alone with such often cowardly, opportunistic followers of Western German and European beer and schnitzel patriots. Since many Arabs, especially devout Muslims, have come here, I have the feeling that the tide has turned somewhat, that fascists will no longer have such an easy time terrorizing people here and that the newer generation of neo-Nazis in particular are really getting knocked out in the respective neighbourhoods. For me, it was really impressive to experience the down-to-earth, straightforward, virtuous and warm-hearted nature of the Muslim people on the one hand - and on the other, the impetuous fighting spirit, pride and sense of justice when they encounter disrespectful, unjust and malicious people. Sometimes just one of them can be some sort of a Saiyan-like one-man invasion or a small Saladin army in itself. I followed some media reports where, for example, an Arab teenager was racially insulted by an adult German, who then even wanted to get violent, but the Arab teenager only gave him about three punches, the consequences of which killed the adult within a short time. Certainly questionable from a moral point of view, but truly impressive in terms of fighting force. You will rarely see hardcore hooligans and neo-Nazis fool around in a Muslim hood, and they won't even dare to terrorize the people there for too long. Because they'll easily get engulfed in the flames of the battle they tried to start there, learning the hard way through massive pain, loss and humiliation as a just punishment for disrespectful behavior. As I have occasionally dealt with Muslims and refugees from the Arab world in my job and have often talked to them, I have noticed that some of them are also active in martial arts and often have a really good education, not to mention the many natural beauties among the really cute oriental ladies. ... Kinda chaotic but interesting times and strokes of fate these days. ... But back to the "real" (digital) Street Fighter series. I also think that Street Fighter 6 doesn't have too many memorable soundtracks besides Ed's theme "König oder Feigling". But I strongly believe that it's quite hard and annoying for the composers to make new remixes of the iconic character themes one after another for every new Street Fighter game. Sometimes you really have to try out new soundtracks, new styles and music genres to evolve as a composer and enjoy the variety of new attempts. This doesn't always meet the taste of most fans. But sometimes it works out quite well. I remember that the developers of the Street Fighter series had a similar approach with completely new character themes in Street Fighter Alpha 3 for Playstation (still own this game). And this game had at least a few pretty nice new tunes, for example Ryu's theme "The Road":

I might try a slightly more philosophical approach. A critical person might generally find it difficult to place 100% trust in a technology that they did not develop themselves, in the midst of a universe that they did not create (or at least not completely on their own). Based on the law of cause and effect, every life, every deed, every thought, every emotion, every energy and cause presumably leaves some kind of smaller or larger traces in the world - whether online or offline. The crucial question is rather how much trust or caution (both are justified) you put into your life and the things around you. Sometimes a little more courage pays off, sometimes caution is the better decision in terms of life. If you are afraid of data leaks or the loss of sensitive data, but still want to take advantage of the internet, I would simply not use any or as little sensitive data as possible on the computer or technological device you use to access the internet, or maybe change the way how you use the internet. Cell phones were once used to be reachable in emergencies (I still use them in this way - although I could easily live without a cell phone away from work) and not to immortalize almost your entire life on them, which could cause some serious problems in terms of data security and privacy in the event of loss. Nor do I have to use every convenience of modern civilization. I still get along really well without online banking and other such conveniences. ... I don't want to spill out any excessive campfire stories about the good old days. But according to my memory, there was a time of the Internet before the age of complex browsers and search engines, when kids used to hammer some weird terms directly into the URL line and, with a bit of luck, ended up on really bizarre websites (and that was probably only a quarter of a century ago). I wouldn't be at all surprised if even nowadays some people still occasionally end up on OC Remix in exactly the same way - like a few happily stranded Argonians, who were able to hide from Zoda and his space pirates just because they didn't use any modern browsers and search engines, or because they didn't put any selfies with their magic cubes on the already alien-slime-infested platform X.

I just came across it recently when a good friend told me that the Street Fighter series now also has a German character called Ed (who's been around since at least Street Fighter 5, though). And when I recently happened to listen to Ed's soundtrack theme with the real title "König oder Feigling" (it means "King or Coward") you will hear directly in the fight, it really knocked my socks off a bit, as it reached my expectant bunny knight ears in the form of a really stylish German rap track (a genre that is enjoying great popularity in this country these days). Here's a version of the soundtrack with English subtitles: Really charming groove, good messages, snappy rhymes and lush punchlines that keep building up, especially after the first part - plus the excellent electric guitar lines in the background. The skillful mix of rap and rock has a bit of a pretty cool Run-D.M.C. vibe. Basically a really good soundtrack that literally invites you to a workout, a spontaneous street fight or a more metaphorical battle against the adversities of life. The soundtrack was sung by Blumio, a Japanese rapper who grew up in Germany. The content of the soundtrack seems to be about both the life of the rapper and the life of the German character Ed. According to the story, Ed was abducted as a child or teenager by the criminal organization Shadaloo (or "Shadowlaw"), which deals in biochemical psycho-drugs and recruits many of the strongest fighters in the world, and was brought on the organization's course with these psycho-drugs and experiments, which apparently took away part of his soul in exchange for special powers based on "Psycho Power". He was prophesied that he would lose his ego or soul when he reached adulthood. And due to his superior fighting skills, he was destined to become the new heir to the throne of this organization, or at least his physical shell. Yet... The small spark of soul and willpower he still has left seems to be fighting back and fighting a completely new battle, the fate of which is still written in the stars. ... It is also interesting in this context that the Shadaloo organization was modelled on the Nazis or the fascist movement in general. Apart from a siegrune or a lightning bolt that appears in the skull logo of the Shadaloo organization, which is decorated with eagle wings, the Nazis also used various psychedelic drugs such as Pervitin (see "Panzerschokolade" or "tank chocolate") or methamphetamine to break people's wills and souls and turn them into performance-enhanced, disinhibited, but nevertheless obedient, brainwashed, unresisting fighting machines always ready for action (in the long term at the expense of their health and ultimately their lives) in line with their much more champagne-sipping and less combative leaders. Presumably the higher-ranking or "chosen" Nazis saw themselves as the leaders of an elite Roman state with a few leashed Celtic berserk warriors in the front row, who could be put into a fighting frenzy at the push of a button through appropriate propaganda, fear, hard punishments and psychedelic drugs and sent into any war without any bigger restance to be able to make use of the treasures and resources of other countries in a completely imperialistic manner. However, these elitist wannabes, many of whom came from high society or were at least their bootlickers, have probably forgotten something important that characterized the culture of the Celts and indigenous peoples in general. After all, a bioelectric form of energy called life force, which has many different names depending on the culture, can also - or in particular - put people into a state of ecstasy, bliss, joy and raging fighting spirit in a completely natural way. And apart from these artificial drugs, to which rather weak and small-minded people are susceptible, life force is also able to unleash one's own soul, which literally invites one to follow one's true nature or natural instincts against all odds ... ... perhaps remotely comparable to an untamed wild animal that also bites the hands of those who try to control it and keep it on a short leash for their own purposes. ... I have no idea whether, according to the Japanese game developers, this might also be a subliminal plot motif for the character Ed (who is perhaps trying to break out of the organization's control and go his own way), precisely because many Japanese developers of video games, films and anime often make such subliminal 'n' pretty witty allusions. But apart from the really good and meaningful message of always going your own way despite all adversity and following your true convictions, the soundtrack, especially in terms of composition ideas, is quite the banger. ))