zircon

Just go on IRC dude. If you can find OCR league people to play with, then you can play with them anytime. You don't only have to play on scheduled nights. C'mon, read the post!

Don't post in the Guides & Tutorials forum unless you have a Guide or Tutorial. Hence the title. Anyway, with regards to your question, do you want to speed up/slow down in REAL TIME? For example, the sound starts at one speed and gradually increases? An MP3 example would be helpful so we can point you in the right direction.

It was epic for the time; besides, it was a REAL choir that was just heavily downsized for the game's memory, not a synth or sample library. http://www.soundsonline.com/product.php?productid=EW-165

Is it me or are there some wrong notes in the rhythm part earlier on? Like at :33-:35. That part sounds very obviously wrong in some way. The guitar performance is otherwise good. Very good solos + original material! I would spruce up the lead guitar with some bright EQ, reverb, and delay so it cuts through the mix more. Not a big deal though. However that rezzy lead synth is no good, I would pick a different patch or sequence it differently. It sounds too mechanical as is. The arrangement factor is definitely here. While you do rely mostly on the chords of the original as your backing, you inject a lot of variation and solos. 2:16 for example was great. The breakdown is nice as well. The whole second half of the mix is quite good. The drum sequencing is on the weak side. The samples are good, as are the fills, but at times the pattern seems to lack energy. Maybe compress + saturate it more. I also feel like you could do more with synth stuff to add to the harmony. I don't want to come across as really harsh here but I think with minimal effort this could be significantly improved. To summarize; make the drums more energetic (mainly the kick/snare), brighten the lead guitar so it cuts more, revisit that lead synth, and perhaps add some new harmony or counter-melodic elements ("real" instruments or synths, up to you). You have the arrangement down, and you're about 90% of the way there. This is a strong first sub - tweak it and resubmit! NO

Hey, I just got FF6:A recently and played this scenario last night. Interesting rhythmic changes & syncopation between the strings, guitar, and flutes at the beginning. The clarinet that comes in is REALLY dry, centered, and fake-sounding though. Way too exposed, and having only three instruments going up until nearly halfway through the mix is no good when they sound fake to begin with. I liked where you were going with the drum sequencing but I don't think it really fit here. The beat itself was alright, but the production was on the weak & dull side, and you didn't add anything else to densify the rest of the texture. If you're going to combine orchestra and breakbeats you need to really go for a "wall of sound". If you're too sparse it just sounds goofy and out of place. Try to get better samples for the orchestral elements, or at least sequence/process them in a more realistic way. I was feeling the intro here and I'm not really sure what happened. The solo violin later is as bad as the clarinet earlier. The synths you added don't fit at all either. Also, no ending? Come on! The concept is good, and there are a couple nice arrangement ideas, but this isn't at our bar yet. Keep working at it and don't forget to use our ReMixing and Works-in-Progress forums to get help and feedback. NO

Taucer sent me an earlier version of this and I gave a bunch of comments on it. I was digging it back then but I felt there were some pacing problems and some awkwardly sparse spots. Let's see if those issues have been addressed. The "big picture" here is reminiscent of the electronic artist "BT", who regularly combines heavily processed synthetic sounds with acoustic sounds (among other things). Right off the bat you can hear that hybridization, and it is executed well. The groove is a little too slow for me though and by 1:28 I'm expecting it to move around more. Perhaps it's because the chords are hardly moving and so the whole thing feels too centered. Once the transition at 1:49 happens, things really start to get interesting. The soundscape feels less like it's on auto-pilot, the theme comes into play, we have some nice variations, and a very pleasant-sounding piano part. Great job there. At 2:45 Taucer gets the spotlight; the guitar is a little too distorted for this style I think, as it pushes the other elements away a little too much. However, it's not a big deal. 3:13 opens up a very cool synth part and a distorted electronic drum pattern which I was definitely feeling. The rhythmic chopping is an awesome homage to BT (though he's not the only artist who does this). I feel like there could be more in the background though. The section is too minimal, with only the gated synth and percussion. Need more - pads, harmony arpeggios or strums, just something to help fill up space. The next section marks another stylistic change. I liked all the melodic & harmonic elements, but the drums were no good. Not interesting at all, and in terms of mixing, too dull and muddy. This sounds like it should be the hook or climax of the song, but the drums contribute absolutely NO energy. The synth + guitar interplay is great, why give up on the drums when they were so good earlier on? The only other thing I would suggest here, again, is more harmony stuff (strings, pads, w/e) to densify things even more. The ending of the track is on the long side but OK. I don't feel quite comfortable passing this yet. To summarize my concerns: * Intro is a little too long considering how little motion it has. * Taucer's guitar when it comes in earlier sounds a bit too distorted and takes away from the soft atmosphere. * 3:13 needs more material besides just percussion & gated synth. * 4:19 is good so far, but the drums need to be seriously spiced up, and more harmony material would be nice. Perhaps sharper processing on the existing elements would be enough. The interpretation is all here, and the production is for the most part strong. This is very close to a pass, so I hope you two polish it up a little more. Refine + resub. NO

I agree with Larry & Vig. The production is at least at our level, and the execution is good... it's just extremely repetitive. The whole mix centers around a simple riff/chord progression with minor variations on it. I think there needs to be more "stuff" here - a B section at least! Change up the chords more substantially, add more original parts, maybe keep the bassline static for a bit, quote other themes from the game, anything to break up the repetition. You did vary the minimal source material admirably, but that doesn't necessarily mean the mix overall is musically interesting or stands on its own well. Work more on the arrangement here and resub. That's the only weak area. NO

FLStudio has a voice synth built in. So does Windows. But let me tell you, unless you buy the $500 Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs, you are NOT going to get anything where you type in words and get an epic choir like the one in One Winged Angel...

Wow! ilp0's first two ReMixes were great, but I think he has been improving from one to the next, and this mix is a good example of that. This is a smooth, instrumental alt. rock adaptation with strong performances, solid production chops, and a thoughtful arrangement. The prelude + fanfare quotes were tastefully placed and fit within the structure without feeling tacked on. We don't get this style very often, so I'm glad ilp0 keeps doing his thing, and doing it well. YES

The performances are really good here, but I agree with Larry that they could be just a LITTLE tighter at some poinst (with regards to eachother - the individual stuff is fine). It's more noticeable in the intro. Sound balance and mixing is weird and it doesn't quite sound right. The kick for example is extremely boomy, but it has no real attack... just bassy energy. The hat and snare are dull. The melody is sometimes the same volume or softer than the harmony. Basically, just take another look at the mixing and don't be afraid to use some effects to sweeten the parts.. some light verb or delay on the EP for example would probably sound great. The arrangement is great. No problems there. So really, fix up the production a bit and I think this will be gold and ready to post. Hope to hear more! NO

Sure it sounds great. I bought it during a group buy and it's useful. The problem is that it's almost impossible to program. I hate the interface. Editing envelopes is a huge pain and nothing is laid out like any other synth I've used. Basically, I have to rely on presets and presets only (and many of them have that signature "FL" sound).

Yeah, there is not any way to do that when you're looking at the playlist itself... though you can always organize things from the pattern/step sequencer window using those menus at the bottom (eg. you could make a folder called "Drum Auto Clips", another called "Synth Auto Clips", and so on) but that wouldn't impact the visual display.

Yes, if you have a ton of different clips you will have a ton of different patterns. This is really not a big deal. I regularly have projects with 100+ unlabelled patterns. As it takes seconds to scan through all of them and glance at the piano roll to see what pattern I'm on (or alternatively, just hit spacebar to preview) it is easy to find what I'm looking for. You do always have to record MIDI via the pattern sequencer (which is basically just a piano roll). You can't "collapse" clips. I don't even know what that would mean in the context of FL. If it's in the playlist, it's active. You can mute it but you can't hide it unless you delete it.

Ah yes, I believe those are basically workstations oriented towards more traditional (non-computer) arrangers who specialize in oriental music. Probably not what the average person here would want for a general purpose workstation.

Well, we didn't get to play too much tonight, but most of the people that did play got to about level 15 towards the end of Act 1. Everyone is encouraged to try to complete everything but the last Act 1 quest and level to about 15 if you want to play on Friday. OF COURSE... if there are enough people tomorrow, we might play then too... but probably not.

Awesome. Our mighty league is growing MUAHAHAHA!!!! But remember, if you're interested, join the IRC channel... it's the best way to communicate.

Who said Timbaland is going free, or that BT is guilty? You are confusing the issues here. The court case against Timbaland is going forward as far as I know (or at least, the original artist's lawyers are working on the papers). But he has Geffen behind him. He has unlimited resources. BT does not. BT will undoubtedly win the case, but in his own words, it took $10,000 worth of expert testimony to determine that one thing he was accused of "stealing" was a pattern from page 1 of a basic percussion textbook. The problem here has nothing to do with guilt or innocence, but legal fees.

Actually, Leah, a recent frivolous lawsuit over sampling someone initiated against BT has left him almost broke. He's not wealthy in the least. Additionally, I would imagine that his custom patches, custom tuned instruments, presets, and recordings are NOT replaceable. They are by definition unique.

You want Producer, just trust me. Buy FL Soundfont Player separately. Don't get XXL or Fruity edition.

When enough people get online, probably will be 8PM EST at the earliest. BTW while we will have scheduled nights, we will also have unscheduled nights... which is why I suggest being on IRC. If we can get 5 or 6 people together on any given night we will play.

FLStudio rules. 100% of my music is created with it. I do use external tools of course, but FL effects, generators, and samples show up constantly in my work. I do suggest augmenting it with some free effects like GlaceVerb, the mda series, Ambience, and various others. The compressor in particular is weak.

The point of this forum is to discuss songs - what you think about them, what is good, what is bad, how they were made, etc. You're free to have whatever opinion you want about my business model and my decision to share some songs and not others, but this isn't the thread to talk about it. If you had said someting like, "This is boring. The chiptune lead is obnoxious, the breakdown section loses interest, the intro is lackluster, and the drum pattern is overly generic," I might have asked you to go into more detail, but I would certainly accept your opinion. I get negative feedback all the time. I'm used to it. But once again, I'm talking about feedback and discussion regarding the music itself. So quit being a smartass. Ozone is a great product also - tefnek uses it to master his songs. It has a lot of features and numerous modes you can work in. However, I simply like the sound of TRacks better. Just tweak the Overload knob, Input Drive, or Stereo Enhance and you instantly have a better sound. No need to think about anything else.

Music is my career. I have to make money from it or I don't get to pay bills. I guess every one of the hundreds of thousands of people on Earth that works full time selling their music are all whoring out, huh. Then there was that Mozart guy and the rest of those baroque & classical-era composers. Asses. Always whoring themselves out to some king or another. Man, what a lame thing to say. Music has been written partially (if not entirely) for money for a very long time, including some of the greatest hits of the last century. Over half the music I write is available for free; just look at my web page's "VG Music" section. Oh yeah, this doesn't count all the video game remixes I do that are freely available - I could choose to get mechanical licenses and sell them instead, but I don't. Bottom line; nothing wrong with not giving out full versions of *some* of my stuff. And don't post if you don't have something constructive to say, either.

If we can get 5 people together tonight we'll play for real. Already have three... get on IRC guys!!

There's another version floating around. This sounds a LOT like SSH in terms of style, sequencing, and samples. However I haven't seen anything like this on his site. Who is the artist? What's the name of the song? Note: For those of you who don't recognize it, it's an arrangement of Dr. Wily stage 1 from Megaman 2.