zircon

Hmm, anyone up for a collab between pixietricks and myself - Freezepop style? I think it would rock.

VoTA has been superceded by East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs, for the record. Also, I'm selling a copy of GOS if anyone wants it.

Weekly, I believe.

Nice additions and improvements. The production sounds a lot better, and there's a greater level of variation and interpretation in the instrumental. I still don't really like how the horns drag in timing in a few parts. The ending is also better IMO. Comparing to the first version, it also sounds like the middle solo section was tightened and now it doesn't drag much (if at all.) Really, the whole thing sounds better. Revising my initial vote to a YES

I've taken things like this before. It's a stupid test and really has nothing to do with tone deafness. It's more about your short term ability to remember a musical phrase. Obviously if you are tone deaf you won't be able to do it, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to do it well if you AREN'T tone deaf. It's flawed. Actual tone deaf people will simply have trouble differentiating between two notes right next to eachother. I have a tone deaf classmate who had an incredibly hard time singing a simple major scale, and found it very difficult to determine intervals (a skill that is normally pretty easy to acquire.)

Before I begin, this is definitely a fun discussion, Coop, and is quite helpful as another form of 'market feedback' for our assignment! The majority of new games reside in the $50-60 range when NEW - except handhelds, which are more like $30-40 - and these prices typically go down very quickly. Despite inflation, the price of games hasn't really gone up that much, if at all. At least with regards to this survey, I was presenting the pay-per-content delivery method as an alternative to monthly fees. With a game like WoW, your monthly fee goes towards the development of new areas, new monsters, and new items. What if you're so low level you don't use any of that stuff? Your money is being wasted. Conversely, with the proposed system, you only pay for what you need (or want.) Ah, you're the first person to really touch on this. Expansion packs! You see THAT is truly what we're getting at with the mini-content purchasing method. The problem with expansion packs is exactly like the problem with a monthly fee. You might not want the new stuff you are actually paying for - or at least, not all of it. Let's put this in RTS terms for a moment. What if you loved Warcraft III, and wanted to use the new units from it and play with them in multiplayer, but had no interest in the single player storyline? You're out of luck. What if you could simply pay $10 to get that functionality, rather than $30 for the entire expansion pack? See what we're getting at? This is particularly pertinent in a single-player RPG setting, which is what our first product would be (of course, this is all hypothetical.) Due to the highly procedural and modular nature of our game, it is highly suited for a system where the player chooses what new features he or she wants. Let's say they really love the combat aspect of the game, as opposed to diplomacy and exploration, and just want more flashy spells. Well, they can order an addon that increases the spell library size by a good 25% - for $7 or 8 of course. Another player might be more interested in playing new and interesting locales, so they buy the New Continent addon, which adds an assortment of new possible areas for their continued playthroughs. Perhaps this would be $10. Then there might be the monster addon, which offers a variety of high level creatures that you might find in your playthrough. OR you could order all that stuff at once, which is, effectively, an expansion pack (and would be priced about the same.) However, we think breaking it down is a superior method.

That is nothing more than a sine wave played in monophonic (or 'legato') mode with portamento to create those nice glides from note to note. You may also want to add some light vibrato (either manually via modwheel, or as part of an LFO with a delay on it).

That's exactly what it does, or rather, what it CAN do. Put some notes in the piano roll. Press ALT+R. Check "Levels" and uncheck "Pattern" if it is selected. Turn the "Vol" knob up a bit. Notice how the velocities of your notes are now different than what they were? Now cycle through the "Seed" to get a bunch of different permutations. Increasing the "Vol" knob makes the random variance even more noticeable. If you only want stuff to go down, uncheck "Bipolar" and just turn the "Vol" knob down. All the randomization will only decrease volume now, rather than increase and sometimes decrease.

ALT+Q to apply swing quantization ALT+R to apply randomization/humanization Come on, man. It's right there in the piano roll menu.

Apparently it does, as many respondents to the survey said they would be willing to pay for extra content in that regard. Plus, you're assuming that by offering such additions, the developer is restricting content on release. That certainly isn't a given. What if the developer releases a wonderful, polished game with lots of content, and simply wants to add more later? You might say 'free patches', but again, I argue that development and maintenance costs are higher than ever, particularly for any game with an online component. I see absolutely nothing wrong with offering additional paid content. I think it's a wonderful delivery system. Of course I agree that devs shouldn't release crippled games, but who's to say that offering MORE stuff later means that you have to?

Dude, Antipode, you really need to look harder. ALT+Q. Applies custom quantization to a piano roll - you can select from a whole bunch of different types of swing files, or in theory make your own. So easy to do. Filters: What about them? Filters on synths, or filters used as FX on mixer track channels? There's not a lot to the latter. Load up Fruity Free Filter, select a filter type, mess with the cutoff... there's your filter. On synths, it's the same general concept. What do you need help on? Automation clips: Right click on any knob in FL and click "Create Automation Clip". This will create an automation clip in the playlist. You can right click in it to create a new point and left click + drag to move points around. This will control whatever knob or slider you created the automation clip for.

Coop, because development costs are increasingly higher and the level of competition is far greater than it previously was? Companies need more methods of revenue. Part of the research for this project involved getting statistics for the industry, and we found that something like only 5% of all released games even turn a profit. You also have to consider that there is a GREAT deal more content being offered in games these days than previously. Gameplay time and replay value has generally risen across the board; I've just been playing "Megaman ZX" for example and while I've spent over an hour on it, I've only just beaten what is essentially the intro. In MMX, I probably could have completed half the entire game in that time.

I actually think this is really great. The production overall is very good, and I can appreciate all the creative harmonic changes. The chord structure of many of the originals is quite varied, even if the melodies aren't. Rhythmically there are some nice changes too. Additionally, there's a decent amount of original material to supplement the VG stuff. The percussion is pretty dynamic over time. So there aren't any really great transitions, so what? Blue Balls didn't have any either and we YESed that. This really is a no-brainer IMO. BRAVO! YES

I'm feeling generous, so it's time for TWO giveaways! Winners are... * Kureejii Lee * Turraken Let me know what you want!

Very quirky source - I can see how it could easily lend itself to a Halloween theme. I also caught the little Mozart quote in it... fun Anyway, on to the remix. The production here sounds a little muddier and in general not quite as tight as some of Mazedude's previous subs. This might be an intentional production choice, but I don't think it really benefits the mix overall. Part of it has to do with the low piano chords meshing with other instruments in that crowded lower register. The end result is that it's harder to make things out, so the dissonance doesn't even really come through like it should. That being said, it's not a dealbreaker. Considering the disjointed nature of the source, I think the level of arrangement here is very good. While it might not be the most creative approach, as it has the same general mood and style of the original, the remix is thoughtful and well-executed. One thing I love about Mazedude is how he rarely just relies on a single groove or riff to carry a piece; there are always significant musical aspects of his mixes that are changing at any given time. A fairly straightforward- YES

The stereo image threw me off guard at first, being pretty much mono at the beginning, and only expanding later. I would have preferred more consistency, but I can appreciate the creative effect. I do think the bass freqs were a little lacking (on the main piano, not the prepared FX) compared to the clear and detailed highs. Some simple bass expansion would fix this easily. The audio fidelity in general was good, as was the creative performance and execution. In terms of arrangement, I do hear a certain degree of arrangement (sounds like the chords were spruced up, besides the periodic additive elements) but I agree with Larry that it is not quite enough. At some point I think it would be cool to hear an expanded version. I could imagine that after the ending of this, there could be another minute or two of more heavily interpreted material. Of course, I understand this was made under time constraints. I would genuinely like to hear a fully fleshed out resub of this. NO

Been awhile since I've posted anything... I was messing around last night after listening to copious amounts of Pendulum (including their latest single "Granite") and I came up with this basic downtempo beat. Today, I managed to create a nice bass, distorted bass, and ultimately ended up with a little clip that was definitely a big nod to Pendulum's style - from the synths to the drums. As I tried out some chords on top I ended up with a familiar progression. Here's what I came up with, after further tweaking (and excessive mixing/mastering.) www.soundtempest.net/n-FLASH.mp3 Not much yet, but enjoy!

Again, thanks everyone! BTW, this has nothing to do with Hellgate: London or any other existing game. Also, HG:L doesn't have procedurally generated storylines and events - those are set in stone. Only the areas and items are random.

"I Don't Fight Boys" is not gonna be in AFAIK, does it REALLY sound like fighting game music? It's more like smooth lounge.. not energetic enough.

In my years at OCR I have rarely if ever posted out of excitement for a non-VGM artist, so you know this is gonna be good.. The electronic/rock act "Pendulum" just put up a new single at their MySpace. It's called "Granite" and it is SICK AS HELL!!! Absolutely earthshaking beats, bass, and guitars, but more importantly, they use some badass chords, melodies, and synths. C64-style arps, 'Poltergeist' style sine wave leads, choir... man, it's just awesome. Very reminiscent of VGM in spots. www.myspace.com/officialpendulum While you're there, check out the other tracks and the live videos. *headbangs*

The Ken Song is great, but - and this goes for anyone here - try to imagine the effectiveness of this music in the game. There's a big difference between great music and effective game music. I believe Cap asked for no lyrics of any kind which would rule it out anyway, but more importantly, these are being cut + looped; the Ken Song is more of a 'real' song and cutting it to 1:30-2:00 would screw up the dynamic build as compared with Sixto's version, which mimics the feel of the original more closely.

So, SO good. I bought this for $20 after all the hype, and at first I was skeptical. But it really is amazing. Fantastic atmosphere, great music & sound design, great humor, awesome gameplay. Took me about 4-6 hours total, I did die a lot (20-30 times) so I felt the challenge level was there. Not too many really annoying parts. The post-testchamber stuff is where I really began to enjoy it in earnest, particularly the end parts. One thing that makes the game good is how it really makes you feel rewarded for figuring out how to do something. You genuinely feel smart and accomplished when you solve a difficult puzzle.

Well, no, Compyfox's ridiculous hypothetical involved a remixer being independently approached by a company looking to get their exclusive distribution rights - also forcing them to take down the remixes everywhere else. That really isn't anything like what is happening here..

Well, you have to admit, not all of BotA really makes sense for pump-up fighting game music.

The mixing here is really weak. You NEED new monitors/headphones badly. The bass is practically inaudible. The guitars are ultra treble-heavy and incredibly thin. Tones are just really, really weak. The drum sequencing is good but the kit could definitely be better overall. In general, the mix is top heavy with, at times, a narrow stereo image. Too much panning of individual elements, not enough stereo effects (IMO) - gives it a lo-fi feel which is not pleasant. Guitar performance also could be tighter. The arrangement and interpretation is definitely solid, though around 2:05 having those exposed passages for the piano/drums makes them sound very fake and bland. There are some spots where the chords don't mix well, throughout. I'd go through and double check your harmonies. :41-:42 is one spot. :44 immediately following as well. Not sure that new progression works. Good ideas, but needs a lot more refinement, please resub. NO