Digital Coma

Which is exactly what the original is; bad news for a remix that does the same. The string flourishes sound like they're going to expand the mix into something more than a brief accompaniment of the chorals, but they're immediately dropped out following more dynamic percussion, just as this began. Like a hamster spinning a wheel. Develop the melody beyond simple round-trip intervals. NO

I like the leads and I like the flow (except the artificial guitar double-notes), but the first 47 seconds is set on repeat for a little less than two minutes with only two more elements introduced. Bringing in the drums only after looping the initial passage is poor development. Looping again with just improv piano and zero ending makes this unfinished at best, thoughtless at worst. The guitar+flute is enjoyable, but weaknesses like the generic drumloop, gritty recording, and absence of accompaniment solidify this as imperfect. Good WIP. Finish it up. NO

Go for it: jcarterd@hotmail.com

This ain't no rip. This is an immaculate medley of a rearrangment. Should have been direct posted. Not even going to bother writing a full review. YE

Lyrics start off pretty dumb, but thankfully improve. Rapping is tight, with that dirty gangsta tonal background, though its recording is poor. This would really benefit from a stereo-microphone setup so you could keep it real, yo. But is this a mix? This is a soliloquy with instrumental chord backing. It would be similar to someone "remixing" the SMetroid continue, Micromachines character select, or any simple chord looping theme by overlayering them with freestyle flows. Makes for a quick hiphop beat to rap by, but without any musical substance. How about trying this with a more interpretable Herzog theme? This is really not working out as is. NO

Perhaps it takes someone who can play piano to sequence piano? I wouldn't have even known this wasn't live. This is good work; I'm happy to see MC's recording has improved considerably since his last solo submissions. A somewhat concise arrangement as far as thematic piano goes, but develops greatly within its time frame. YES

Timing issues galore! That piano, average sounding as it is, is sequenced nicely, but does not match that chaotic percussion for a good part of the mix. The sax would've been cool if it hadn't collided so roughly with the piano and drums; it's messy and understated. To restate for further emphasis, the weakest link is most certainly the drumwork. Redo it, make it gel smoothly with the leads it overpowers. Incorporate the sax more thoroughly. Oil that piano with reverb. The arrangement is a bit repetitive, but not so much as to warrant gross flatulence in its general direction. Do as suggested and resubmit. NO

GNARLY. I'm really diggin' the harmonies of the slap bass, plucked guitar synth, and yummy bell timbres. Smart xylo bridge, love its second measure closure. Choral pad's chords are repetitive and drum roll at 3:26 is a little weird, but the hokeyness really captures that authentic early 90's PC game feel. Looping and fading out is usually "eh", but it works well in this case. YES EDIT: uh, missed the part where it says "GENESIS", but the synths sound very similar to the music of early PC games I think

First ten seconds has sounds and chords similar to many songs of this style, good way to start out. Yeah, this is turning out to be another excessively elongated intro of an arrangement. I guess that's some sort of accomplishment for three and a half minutes of sound. Like a looping soundscape beginning credits theme to a psycho-horror flick, there's not much music here. Also, I share Wingless' complaints on the voice clip; metallic flange is neat, but it's barely comprehensible. Take these sounds and make a mix. NO

At first I thought the organ at :08 just began too early, but it's probably off because of the same click that's present throughout the mix. That and the utterly poor EQ bothered me. Aside from that, I wasn't too impressed with the arrangement. The synth arpeggio is overrused as a transition into the separate themes and as a general accompaniment. Much of the instruments used share the same vague-sounding timbre, making some polyphonic sections sound like a blaring siren. Medleys of popular themes are difficult to carry out, usually sounding like half-assed chained renditions, and this is too borderline of a rearrangement to not be an exception. NO

Very stiff sequencing of piano. No velocity changes on chromatics. Much clipping on choral highs and percussion swells. The recording is unimpressive to say the least, which doesn't help acoustic instrumentation much. As for the arrangement's development, I largely agree with Israfel's qualms. Where are the emotive undertones? The piece flows like a chainsaw through cement, and it's none too pretty. It sounds like a quantized symphony with full-stop interludes. I like the arrangement itself, but it really needs proper processing to sound like an organic overture instead of a hacking, wheezing toad of a conductor. Give this the breath of live, it's dying over here. NO

Hey, nice to hear our feedback taken to good effect. Smooth soul mixage. I'd call this purposely down-tempo before calling it minimal. Delay and reverb are spot-on, eliciting a sort of cerulean feel. Great shufflebeat percussion, awesome flute. Recording isn't perfect; a couple pops, pipe organ is distorted at times due to compression, but the total arrangement definitely makes up for it. Sounds like something I'd hear at an upscale NYC coffee shop on a rainy day. YES

There is not much going on here in this trance mix to justify its length. For the most part, the only music heard is a simplistic preset synth lead and bass, 4/4 beat, and some gliding pads. I'm not familiar with the original, but considering how drawn-out the core melody is with little movement beside keychanges of the overdelayed strings, I don't doubt that there's little deviation. Not much here at all. NO

Volume level is very low starting off. Let's turn it up so I can actually hear this thing. Hmm... strange harmonies. Focusing on development instead of content, the progression is meandering in nature, without any clear structure. That'd be fine for the style, but the movement and order is also spastic in such a manner that I can barely recognize the themes that the medley is playing upon. I've labored in thought over this for a while. The performance is excellent, but the composition confounds me. I'm very uneasy of these arbitrarily discordant chords, aside from the issues of cohesion. NO

Good introduction. Beyond that, what harmony? The same solo synth wave just repeats without any backing. The weak bassline kicks in and its rhythm is quirky as hell. The drumline is pretty damn bad; sounds like something I'd play on a keyboard. Needs more than a tom and kick. At this point, all momentum of the original 38 seconds is lost; very static progression. Decent idea, poor execution. NO

The drumloop gets very tedious. There are good elements to this: befitting discords, synthy breakbeat bridge, piano breakdown, nice low-fi instrumentation. But I think someone was having more fun with the playlist than the piano roll! The patterns are constantly repeating, and the actual melody is rather unchanged from the original. If this is updated/resubmitted, I'd want to see more dynamic percussion and less reliance on reiteration. NO

Even if this was an original composition, it wouldn't fly just because of that repetitious drumloop. The faint distorted breakbeat is a sore placeholder for a better accompaniment. Vocal bridge may have worked if an expansion of the theme followed. Annoyingly lazy. NO

The problem with using preset sounds is that your listening audience has already heard them so many times that by the time they get to your mix, they're less than thrilled. Not creating/editing your own denotes a lack of creativity and laziness. Instrumentation is very sparse, too sparse even for "minimalist dance", if such a thing exists. Add fills, effects, more varied synths, accompaniment; more music. This is a neat beat, so finish it up! NO

Whoa wait, I'm not playing an N64? This sounds like it came straight from the game. Are the sounds all sampled from BFD? The sample set is very chirpy. Anyway, try not to literally copy the original melody. NO

Second link works now. Funk bass is pretty dry, needs some reverb/chorus... ah, good sax! Cute pipe sfx. This definitely picked up; improv is what I like to hear. Organ slide and snaps are wonderfully used, and the piano rounds it all up. Seems to be a fair amount of dissonance with the piano, especially when finishing off, giving the piece a dangerous, smoky edge. A lot of these sounds need some reverb lovin'. Standing short at barely two minutes, but very well-played within the time constraint. YES

This is a guitar+drums cover of the original Terran themes, no more, much less. The bridges are mediocre; find a common motif to hook the different melodies together. Watch those +0 db peaks: the song gets messy when more percussive elements are in play with the riffs. Some flubs and timing mishaps, but good playing nonetheless. What's up with the ending? Develop the progression and rearrange StarCraft! NO

What makes this interesting for me are the subtle pitch bends in the background and the synth gating. Though the piano is awkward as a lead along with the big ol' kick, its chords playing bass over the synths is a nice touch. Development, movement, escalation, and good EQ; everything a trance track needs. My only concern is with the terrible transition into Memories of Green; came across as totally arbitrary. Not an incredibly different TFAT interpretation, yet an enjoyable arrangement. YES

All I know of the original is that it's plastered all over the internet via an insane flash video. Can't access HTTP space.

I'm borderline on this one as well. The background FX are programmed well to make a great intro, and the voice clips (movie?) are appropriate at times. Phat and engaging sounds throughout. But once the actual beat begins, a tiresome chiptune lead takes center stage, with intervals that don't match up with the drums. This repetitively continues until I start to lose interest, after which the lead drops and sashaying toms end the mix. A neat arrangement of interesting sounds, but would there be much music left without the overstated "gee-whiz" effect? NO

We've already got one mix of this theme on the site, but technically it shouldn't be hosted. As for this, I'm not sure; what do you guys think, same treatment or no-go?