Digital Coma

yeah... Original: http://www.zophar.net/nsf/xexyz.zip - Track 3 and later 2 Pretty simple hard techno; has many awkward parts to it, but it's sort of decent as a whole. I'll vote later.

Yes, that distorted synth is very annoying as a melodic instrument. The rest of the instrumention is alright if not terribly interesting. There's a lot of weird pitch bends with the lead glassy synth. The arrangement is alright (assuming it's a rearrangement), but somewhat repetitious. This is close to a yes with more change-ups of melodic leads, less annoying distortion and resonance, more accompaniment, and a better ending. I'd usually suck a dick, but I'll suck a synth if you resubmit. NO

So we have the original melody courtesy of a faint, pretty bell instrument, repeating drumloops and breaks, and weird filtering effects amid more questionable mixing. Probably better than your last submission, but still nothing much developed or markedly interesting. NO

Ah, this is what I mean by expressive piano. Simply great; a very nicely developed interpretation of the Kirby theme. Do a better job of recording your set-up next time. Very enjoyable. YES

Let's see how quickly I can sum this up. Instrumentation is comprised of alternatively shrill and dull synths, repetitious strings, repeating drum pattern, and a dumb vocal clip. The pause at 1:25 is ridiculous. Just weird mixing decisions. NO

Yeah, that was annoying. It was downloading as AssetFile.aspxsdfasfaspx These are very unnatural tempo increase and decreases, the sequenced piano especially affected. In fact, the piano just sounds bad throughout the whole arrangement. It sits there dumbly repeating the same notes. Kills it. Now that you've made it to the panel, the next step is to write an engaging arrangement and get a YES. NO

Whoa there Captain P'ian O. DeLay. This does indeed contain new notes and new chords apart from the annoying Bubble Bobble theme, but it's just that: apart. We have a wholly original extended intro that has nothing to do with the following section that repeats the theme verbatim. That's no rearrangement. NO

DAMN YOU SIMPSONS Very few musical elements are very drawn out to make this arrangement. Good strings lead to awkward sfx, dry and downplayed piano, loudly mixed bells. Somewhere in this is a resemblance to the theme, maybe? Timing seems a little off a few times. More awkwardness thanks to a random marching beat. End. Enjoyable atmosphere and feel bhai-sahib, but this needs much more work and a real ending. NO

Krispy started this off as his entry to Kong in Concert before he dropped out. As I followed this mix through its WIP stages, it had great potential; cinematic voicings, rolling dynamics, original chord progressions and unique, bombastic handling of the Aquatic Ambiance theme. Five months ago, I thought of having Jesse play guitar for this. Unfortunately, not only did Krispy quit the project, he quit the song. Its B flute and shaker section sounds cheap and contrived compared to the song's beginnings. As it progresses, the instrumentation becomes thinner and thinner and weakens the arrangement as a whole. Even then, all of that wouldn't equal a NO vote right away. What does is the ending. What the hell is this? I don't care if you ran out of ideas or just got tired of making the song; give this an ending. The conclusion to this mix sounds like a rendering that cut off; it's that bad. Seriously, you must have literally stopped caring to not even resolve the build-up with a basic chord. Very poor to submit it like this. Write an ending, touch up the latter section with some matter of enthusiasm you showed in the former (smarter development, fuller instrumentation), and I'll put this right back on the panel. NO

Lots of random, incoherent original material here not tied to the theme. What does relate to the melody through harmony and actual accompaniment is cool. This mix is very sparse; sfx and looping instruments do not a sonic texture make. Well, they can, but it'll be a cheap and thin one, like we have here. Serviceable concept that requires better execution. NO

You won't get any better by copying originals exactly with worse percussion and a General MIDI drumkick. NO

Decent beginnings; OK groove, some harmonization, some interesting synthwork, but if I was synesthetic, I would be seeing concrete gray. It's all too stagnant with no development to speak of, just repeat repeat repeat. Try telling us where we can find the source material next time, okay? NO LT: "Try telling us where we can find the source material next time, okay?" Nice job, stupid.

Do you expect us to title your submission for you, or what? Oh, it's in the ID3 comments - Dueling Piano Remix. Not sure if this is totally sequenced piano, but it definitely sounds run through a not so great font. The arrangement is good and contains impressive voicings, but it's not expressive. It hurts in performance. Many accompanying 'grace' arpeggios sound inappropriate and made to sound nice, and as mentioned, there are a few iffy and grating parts. The theme is handled well, but the performance in this piece is lacking. I would like to see it either all recorded live, or sequenced with a solo piano font facilitating better expression. NO

My biggest issue with this mix is the dull synth lead that's constant throughout. No alterations, change-ups, trade-offs, nothing; just the same detuned saw for three minutes (except for the violin at 1:43, which was welcome). Beats are fine, some harmonic accompaniment OK, but the whole arrangement is very 'thin' - no sonic padding, instrumentation bare. Repeating bassline is tiring. Some parts are just awkward, like the beat transition at 2:15. Very little texture to very dry synthwork, and a bad ending. NO

The choral voices are sequenced horribly, start and stop. Drums are tinny and cheap. Much inattention to key as the theme finally comes in. Some interesting horn work, but the poor sample quality and paltry accompanying instrumentation just kills it. Pretty much sounds like a crappily made midi. Wait a second... did this whole song just fucking loop? What the HELL NO

A guy named Hybrid you say? Guess what? You've "remixed" an electronica group's commercial song used in but not produced for SSX. Finished Symphony isn't super, but this rearrangement is just sub-par. Bad mixing and bad sounds all around. Get more feedback next time by not submitting a violation. NO OVERRIDE

Right on the download page. http://dkcproject.ocremix.org/misc/Kong%20in%20Concert%20CD%20Cover%20Art.rar

First of all, the Russian folk music from Tetris should just be disqualified from being remixed. It's not original game music, whether or not videogamers identify it with the game. Secondly, half of this song has nothing to do with the unoriginal theme in Tetris, except arguably in style, which doesn't mean jack in terms of arrangement to me. Finally, this submission is just poor as a song. Lame, irrelevant sfx take up the whole intro as some military snares plod along, joined by limp piano and poor brass. Serviceable concept, but it fails in instrumentation as it is very simple and unfetching. Nothing about this "mix" interests me in any way. NO

Repetition is the word of the day. As untechnical as this statement sounds, it gets the point across: this is really boring. Most of the time absolutely nothing is going on. Strings are crap. Not much else to say but poorly done. NO

Wow, repetition really is the word of the day. Very lazy arrangement. Some sounds used ARE neat, such as the intro synth, but bad composition really kills this one. Problems throughout: poor sequencing of notes prevalent (example: 3:52), out of sync sounding synth at 1:25, crappy repeating patterns, etc. Lazy. NO

This FT gets a small ROFL along with a NO Jesse's description of the drums is probably more literal than analogous.

Yeah, --r3mix is what I meant. As for the musical allusions, I don't know how ~2:31 in Arboreal Ascent is a quote... it's part of an original organ solo. 3:15 in Beneath the Surface is also original, but yes, there are fragments of Frog, Kraid, and something from Zelda 64 at the end.

The mp3s were encoded with the lame-3.96 build, using RazorLame 1.1.5 front-end, alt VBR r3mix preset. I did encode the oggs with Vorbis 1.0; wasn't aware of a newer version, but as they were balanced between small filesize and fidelity, I think they came out great.

I consider the underlying trance structure to not have enough relevance to the verbatim source material; in other words, the trance is too original and the melody instrumentation IS the original.