prophetik music

opens with just drums, before we get an FMy bass and some distorted drum elements. it was a touch confusing what was going on in the drums at first, but once the more electronic/effected elements came in, it was more clear what was going on. coming in fresh, the opening drums sound strange due to the effecting on them, but they do fit better once i have context. melodic material comes in at 0:16. i like the distortion on the melody line, and i like the little harmonic shouts in each ear when they come in. i don't like that it's pretty static of a sound with no lfo or delta on sustained notes. there's some backing elements here - bells and an organ maybe? - and they're very oofy and heavily verbed while the lead, drums, and bass don't have any verb that i can hear. those backing elements really feel surprisingly dense. being in the same range as the melody doesn't help, and when they go lower for the second part of that first melodic phrase, it sounds very dull and congealed. the cymbals throughout this section are also essentially just static - the part at 0:30 is actually kind of shrill. mixing up the lead at 0:49 is a good idea - it has some delay on it and sounds so different simply because of that bit of effecting. it also doesn't have anything that helps the sustains sound less grating, which is disappointing. 1:20's a recap of the melody. 1:30's the same as 0:49 to my ears, outside the panning of the melodic blurbs, but there's some minor added harmonic elements on the back half that help it not be completely copied. 1:50's a big dropoff - i wouldn't have minded a more gradual falloff there. the bells in this next section are nice but the hard panning felt a little weird in headphones. at 2:16, animal got tired of the slow dancing at Fozzywig's Annual Christmas Party and kicks it off for a bit, but after one pass, it's back to being quiet again with another hard transition for a bit before it builds back up for one last blow. at 3:01, we've got (i think) the fourth time we've had the melody in the same instrument coming in with the same ascending line. luckily this time there's some changed elements in the melodic representation, but this would have been a great chance to mix it up and not do the same sound again. there's the ascending single chord bit and it's done. the different background synths end at different times, which i'm not sure was intentional. for a track that's 3:30, it's surprising that the texture is the same for almost three of those minutes. the loose, heavily reverbed organ and bells in the background alongside the very not-verby lead, bass, and drums never changes. combined with the lead never really changing after that first change at 0:49 makes for a very static soundscape, and it got tiresome after a while. the melody's always in the same range, it's almost always represented the same way with only minor changes until the very last time, it always has the same chords, and while the backing drums do mix it up and do some neat stuff, the rest of the arrangement feels like it's missing some development. i liked the concept of the quieter sections to help give the band sound punch when it comes back, but in my opinion the first break comes too late (feels like it should be at least 30s earlier in the mix), and the transitions in and out of each section are very abrupt. the energy management feels lacking as a result. some transitional elements would help a lot to manage that, as would giving those transitions a bit of time to breathe. i think you've got some really interesting ideas here, and there's obviously a lot of craft that's gone into the drum work especially. a set of backing elements that more closely fits the soundscape, some more intentional and careful transitions, and more attention paid throughout to making the melody line unique and different each time it's played (via instrumentation, lfo on the synths, altered chord work, more personalization, changing ranges...) would really move the needle on this one. as it is right now, it feels like you're close but not there yet. NO

For the Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon album project. When reviewing the Tetris Attack / Panel de Pon soundtrack, this track immediately stood out as a bop. Of all the tracks, it resonated with me the most as a drummer. I already loved the original drum part, so it felt like the perfect choice for the "drum kit" highlight on the album. I started with a basic arrangement, honing in on the drums. To emphasize their presence in the remix, I decided to feature both an acoustic and electronic kit—using ML Drums for the acoustic elements and crafting my own electronic kit from chip drum samples and sound effects. After several iterations of the drum parts, I asked @paradiddlesjosh for feedback on MIDI programming and articulation, refining the feel to make it as realistic as possible. With the drum tracks starting to lock in, I moved to refining the rest of the arrangement around them. The energy felt a bit one-note, so I experimented with softer, dreamier sections to add contrast and break up the loop. This also gave me a chance to explore different drum textures and the full range of a kit. Once everything was in place, I fine-tuned the mix to really make the drum parts shine, with valuable feedback from members of the OCR community. Games & Sources Game: Panel de Pon / Tetris Attack Song: Lip's theme / Demo

my last vote centered around the oppressive feel of the mix and the limited sound palette, as well as some of the extended sections with a minimal amount of stuff going on. opens with some nice creepy arps and some woobly pads around the lavender town arpeggio. melody is there right away in some lower synths, and there's some sfx and a slow build into when it all hits at 0:56. the kick and bass have more punch this time than the last time i listened. the melody is carried by a distorted synth that feels kind of bland initially. there's a break with just some bass and snare at the 1:33 mark, and then another build (very similar but not quite to the first one) into a big bass triplet/gallop section. the track still feels kind of empty through here as it's primarily [bass and drums] and [arp] and [lead], and there aren't really a lot of other things to fill up the middle of the soundscape. there's a big style change at 2:25, led by a new bass groove, but it only lasts a few seconds. the subsequent break has a lot more body to it than it did the first time around, and the build has a lot more verve. i'd have liked a different kick fill than the last two. 3:13 is back to a similar feel as before - and, most damningly, it continues to use the same five or six elements. it's the same reversed arp tone, the same sweeps, the same lead tone, and the same bass riff as what started at 2:25. there's only so far you can stretch the same few things, no matter how much rhythmic variation you give each element - it really just sounds like you're alternating previous loops. 4:15 brings back the rising aleatoric sound with some heavily gated pad synths carrying the melody, but they're hard to hear. there's some subtractive elements for the ending, and it's done. it again cuts off hard instead of having a true fade. i think that, from a mastering perspective, this is a lot more listenable now. it's still loud and aggressive, and that makes sense from a stylistic perspective. my issue is that at no point does it actually feel upbeat and intense. all of the lead choices are very bland, and the lack of variety of sound choices behind those leads really makes it feel very rinse and repeat. separately, there's rarely a time where i feel the soundscape is filled out - i'm pretty sure there are pads going, but i rarely can tell they're there, and there's such a huge divide between the high arp sound (that never ever goes away) and the bass/kit that it's hard to connect them. i do think it's possible to use five instruments over a five-minute song and make it work. this track isn't doing that - there's enough variety in what's being said, but who's saying it becomes stale quickly. if you trim back some of the repetition (this track could probably be 3.5 minutes max pretty easily), and then focus on more intently crafting your soundscape and your lead choices especially, i think you'd have a much stronger track overall. NO

Original Decision Well I'm back, and thank you to the Judges for both being kind enough to suggest resubmitting and giving detailed feedback to action! So same story as last time, this is heavily inspired by what I'm listening to currently and right now that's Mandidextrous (Techno on My Mind) since she's in town this weekend! The other big thing that landed between last time and this is Reason 13, with an integrated sidechain tool that absolutely rocks for intuitive use, plus I discovered the Europa synthesiser rack extension (basically Serum for Reason). So with that in mind - addressing judge feedback and with a LOT of back and forth courtesy of the workshop channel on discord: - Stripped back the sausage significantly, removing the limiter and backing everything back to 0db before starting the mix again. - Added heaps of automation through the entire song to help drive build/decay elements and move the narrative along (yes it has a narrative - we arrive in Lavender Town, discover the truth of the tower, run from some ghosts and end up battling Sabrina - but did we win? At what cost?) - most significantly, totally replaced the bassline in the first section with a big filthy reese bass, cribbed from Neuro DnB. A friend dubbed it Neuro Hardcore. - added a couple extra layers of synths and relaxed out the main arp/chime sound to reduce the total overload. It's still heavy hard club music but maybe not quite so oppressive now? - this one is directly responding to Rexy and the fast triplets - added a phaser element to give that section some motion, but also rebuilt it to use a hand crafted laser effect (heavy modification of the earlier mentioned reese). In fact all of the synths have now had manual intervention to remove that "stock" feeling brought up by Liontamer. I think the end result is... Well, nowhere near what I originally intended this track to be, but it's a lot of fun to play loud and dance to (and make stinky bassface to in that middle bit 🤣), and I think it delivers on the promise of the extra long buildup at the start now. As bonus for me it mixes really well with Techno On My Mind so yay, I can play it in sets! Crossing fingers and toes, look forward to hearing back from the judges! Apologies for the external link, I still can't get the uploader to play nice. Games & Sources Pokemon Red - "Lavender Town"

in listening to this entire thing with an open mind, i do hear where there's a few specific thematic references to the original track (1:05, 2:21 for example). there's also some highly transformative sections, like the repeated descending section in the bass line that occurs several places (example: 2:06), which i wouldn't have tabbed being from this without knowing the context but understand where you came from after reading it. however, most of the track isn't recognizable in the slightest. this isn't a matter of not understanding the serial representation of the set you're using as far as i can tell - it's just that most of this is unintelligible. what's the point of speaking in tongues if there's no one to interpret? there's some genuinely interesting ideas in here - 3:31 for example is a pretty ripping take on the initial descending melodic line, with the frenetic sfx in the background and the very fast (if extremely repetitive) drums. but there's no usage of song form anywhere in this, there's no real synth design, and for the most part the master is "same volume for everything throughout". it's more reminiscent of the Undertale flowey fight's inanity, but that was far more defined and intentional than this is. this comes across as wild musings more than an intentionally crafted work. ultimately this falls short of several elements of the submission standards, but 4.3. the most: sorry, but this isn't something that we can post here. NO OVERRIDE

opens with what i think is ~30 of a joke, and then gets into the actual arrangement, so i'll start from there. opens with an expanded version of the dark world dungeon. there's some nice passing of the initial four-note pattern initially, and then a highly interpretive version of the dark world dungeon theme. this more outlines the chord structure and references the main riffs than it does directly arrange it - there's a lot of the original in the cello for example, but not a lot in the leading voices. there's a rhythmic and dynamic resolution around 1:57, and it starts referencing the ascending arpeggio riff from the NES dungeon. the melodic line here is roughly the same shape as the original's melody line that eventually comes in, but it's certainly more inspired by than it is the original's material. there's some octaves here that i didn't really care for in the scoring, actually - i would have much preferred more fleshed-out chords, at least partially because it wasn't obvious to me why those notes were being emphasized with octaves. the third section starts at 3:12 with some really fun disjointed and differently-timed ascending patterns. the cello here is overpoweringly loud for at least the first 20s or so. there's some resolution elements and it's done. there is what i think is some unintentional phasing going on throughout. later edit: this is apparently endemic to the samples used per the remixer, so it isn't something that we can correct easily. i also don't really get the first 35s and wouldn't mind if it was just from the true start of the piece that we posted. that said, what's here is a really interpretive and interesting take on several dungeon themes. there's a lot of complex arrangement going on here, and it's well-performed. what's here is still over my bar for execution as it's enjoyable and has a lot of depth in the performance and arrangement. YES

classic original. opens with some sfx and a screaming guitar riff. lots of verb on everything. bass has a really weird tone - the fundamental isn't the loudest element, so i'm guessing it's been layered with something to make it fuller (the distorted tone somehow isn't the only bass tone there?), or else a super-notched EQ. that opening section sounds very strange as a result. the petrucci-esque guitar that comes in right after is fun, and it's also super loud but the bass sounds better with it. it sounds like none of the instruments are in the same room - lead has a ton of verb on it, rhythm and bass don't, and drums have some arena long-tail verb on them. lead guitar riffs at 1:00 sound great. tom groove going into 1:29 sounds like a fill pattern that got reused a lot - doesn't really feel like a tom groove, although i like the idea. 1:29's drums are the same as the opening - guessing the chips are as well. i like the addition of strings that happens partway through this section. it adds a lot to the feel. 2:27's section is the same as 1:00 (backing is the same, lead is up an octave initially). that said, i love the escalating elements of this section, and it's easily the best part of the piece. the opening in the bass is enough for me to say no on this, and the subsequent reuse of drums throughout isn't a great thing either (although i do like most of your fills, they really feel nice and keep it rolling forward a lot). i'd love to hear some more variety in the drums and fills in the first half, so that the second half (which currently has a lot of repeated parts) can stay the way it is now. you may also want to consider unifying your verb throughout so that the instruments sound like they're more in the same area. this is a fun track! i don't think these tweaks would really take a long time to execute on, so hopefully we see you back soon. NO

This is my take on the track with a metal/guitar-driven focus. I recreated the chiptune elements myself from scratch to accompany the more modern guitar/bass/drum sound to blend the two eras. All guitars are performed by myself and I used the Neural Petrucci amp sim to transpose the rhythm guitars down by 10 steps to create a more 7/8-string guitar vibe, although everything was tracked on my 6-string. I felt as though that prominent bassline was crying out for a super low-tuned guitar sound and I think it came together nicely. I tweaked the timing a little to give it a bit more of a punchy staccato vibe which also lent itself well to guitar. I threw in some ad-libs to the arrangement, referencing the main theme of the game on guitar at times, with another cheeky reference at the end of the track that foreshadows the melody of the syndicate headquarters in the sequel to the game. Games & Sources Original track: "The Last Soul" (Round 8) from Streets of Rage 1, by Yuzo Koshiro.

opens with some filtered stutter synths. we get a lot more instruments at 0:14 - it gets pretty dense really quickly. a quick freq analysis sees a lot of sub-40hz content that's really clogging up the bottom of the mix. it also sounds like the hats are filtered alongside the arp - which means there's not much high content at all. so it sounds pretty condensed. dropping a significant highpass on the stuff below 40hz would be a big help. beyond that, the track is so compressed. it's very dense and oppressive. turning everything down a lot, getting volumes roughly where you want them before your compression and limiting, would be a big positive. there's a bit of a break with sfx at the 1:00 mark, and then we're back to a repeat of the first 30s of the full band sound. this is followed by another sfx break with some electro guitar in there to mix it up a bit (but the backing elements just repeat twice in a row), and then we're back to another repetition of 0:30-1:00...and, well, you get the picture. there's a lot of wholesale repetition that just gets tiring. something to change it up each time - even changing synths would help! - is really needed to avoid it just being repeated over and over again. better to repeat something once too few times than once too many. the same 30s of full band repeats like five or six times with various sfx around it until around 3:45 when the arp finally stops. the next several 16-bar sections involve the full band section repeating with various instruments added in or out, but it's the same thing overall. it repeats a few more time and then it's done with a kind of weird pitch as a final note. there's some audible static as well that just drops after a few seconds. overall i like the concept - 90s house is a specific vibe and i think that SoR would fit that a lot. what's here though is maybe one minute of material stretched over five. i know that house can be repetitious, but there's loads of examples of keeping the overall feel moving consistently by using instruments that have natural change over time. this just sounds like the same 30s repeated at least ten times, with a few breaks for sfx that also have similar backing elements. i'd suggest trimming the length way back and finding ways to never say the same thing twice the same way. add a new instrument, change a synth, use a different drum fill, etc. - it's going to add a ton to the overall package. NO

if this is a brand-new project, i don't know if it counts as a resubmission. opens with some organ outlining the chords and the opening melodic line. there's a stutter synth here that doesn't really fit the organ and voices, but then an edm beat comes in so it makes more sense. beat feels pretty cluttered - the snare has a lot of low content, kick feels unfocused, there's several low synths in this section, and the fills feel like they're layered on top instead of being different things the drums are doing. 0:27 has the melodic content come in for the first time in full. i really don't care for this lead as it's very occluded and hard to hear what it's doing. i do like the call and response concept that's going on there though! there's a break right after this for a bit, and then we get a new lead at 0:55. and then another new synth bass at 1:09, and another new lead at 1:23! it's a lot of change in a short period of time. it's ok to lean on one tone to help to tie sections together - this feels a little too bouncy between ideas (although i like the ascending arp a lot, and the 404 bassline that's right after it). there also continues to be a lot of drum fills that are complex and dense, and a little less there might be ok - a few well-timed tom hits are better than the same complex fill over and over. there's a break at 1:47 - and then a bigger break at 2:02, with some sound design on the transition. this goes into an outro that repeats the opening idea, and it's done. after hearing it, i'm remembering this one from when i voted on it in 2022 (and several times before). i think you've got a lot better overall sound quality than you did last submission! i'd like to see more cohesiveness from section to section, a few of the more complex leads reined in, and a lot more work on the drums - less of the same big complex fills and more intentionality about what it's doing. NO

all five previous submissions most recent rejection It has been some time since I have taken a crack at this track. This one is a brand new project, and I tried to use some of what I learned on my Twisted Systerz submission. It's the first walkabout theme from Dragon Warrior 2. I give thanks for the time and consideration ahead of time:) Games & Sources

opens with a kick-heavy beat and pads. there's a lot going on in the bottom 100hz and it doesn't have a ton of punch like i'd expect, and is somewhat dull. a synth bass comes in (in the same octave as the pad), and this progresses towards a break at 0:39 that adds some arps. there's some nice automation on the autopanned arp that works towards the front, although the panning is so wide it's a little confusing on headphones. this section drags a touch as it goes on as not a lot is going on during it, and there's not a lot to bring it back to the original outside that descending bassline (which isn't super unique). the remixer puts the screws in at 1:16 and we get a lot more going on and a big beat right there. again there's not a lot used from the original outside that initial descending lick (no arp, none of the actual melody line). there's another break with some guitar at 1:55 - that was pretty fast getting back to the build - and again this section feels like it drags a bit as it kind of just is a repeated pattern over and over, and there's no crescendo or anything to build energy, just adding new instruments after a few bars. i'd love to hear some more automation like what you had the first time around, adding in additional elements and building energy towards your big payoff chorus at 2:33. 2:33 hits and we get the solo that was called out in the writeup. there's some fun licks in here but overall i'd want to hear more movement and leaning into the chords themselves some more. there's some repetition in here too which is a bummer - this is your time to shine creatively! there's not really an ending, it just hits a note and it's done. there's a loud blap at the end that i think is the result of your volume automation not going to the end of the track. this is a neat idea! i like the synth-rock vibe - so many people just make lavender town creepy (or totally blasted-out EDM), so the darkwave/synth rock feel is a neat one that definitely has legs. and i like a lot of your choices for instrumentation. i feel like right now this is a great framework, and what's needed next is some more glam. i'd love to hear more from the actual lavender town original (there's only really one synth line used throughout the track - i think there's room to use more!), and i'd love to hear a lot more ear candy in each section - especially the transitions. lastly i think that the track sounds a bit dull throughout, and finding a way to keep the kick meaty without having it walk all over some of your other synth elements would really help the mix pop. i'm sure @Chimpazilla can give some suggestions about the mix. this isn't there yet! but it's a great start. the workshop discord can definitely help this get moving. NO

I recreated the production of the track from scratch, based mainly on the main melody of Lavender Town, a melody that could make us uncomfortable as children, and that currently has been the main course of most Pokémon Creepypastas. Having those two things, I started with the creation of the remix, where you can appreciate the dark and gloomy atmosphere that takes us back to that town. The remix is of the Synth Rock genre, so we can notice the characteristic Synthwave basses, synthesizers of the genre, chorus, Cubone's scream and some distorted electric guitars (although relaxed at the beginning of the song), but in the middle of the track around minute 1: 57 you can notice a change to a more aggressive guitar, accompanied by a Screamo voice that I myself had the pleasure of recording to use it in the track as accompaniment and finally around 2:34 thus entering a synth and guitar solo that would give end to the track. Games & Sources "Lavender Town", in this case named: "Ghost Town" is my remixed version of the song that we can hear in our adventure through the Kanto region within the first installments of the renowned collectible monster video game, "Pokémon", released on the Game Boy portable console in 1996 in Japan... Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo itself. Originally composed by Junichi Masuda. Pokémon accompanied me during my childhood with its anime and video games, and motivated by those beautiful memories, I ventured to create my own Remix, reimagining the original track from scratch and in a completely different musical genre, called, Synth Rock. I would like to share the original song: (Excuse me for publishing a channel that is not directed by Junichi himself, but it is the only area where I found the original version in better quality)

sfx opening, and then we get some chips and foley for the opening out of machine gun. there's a neat vibe that comes in once the beat and everything's active, and then we get the filters dropped and the 'real' vibe hits at 0:34. this is a really head-bobbing feel, and i really like the variety of sounds used. lot of sidechain on the lead at 0:57 when the melodic line comes in. there's tons of stuff changing and coming in every few bars which is neat, and it doesn't ever lose the core of the feel. there's a big drop at 1"59, and we get the driving feel still but it's all in the bass synth. there's some noodling around with the MwtMG theme, and it builds up to a big hit at 2:56 that's a chopped up version of the upbeat section from The Landing to my ears. i like the chord changes here as well - simple patterns but really updates the feel. there's a bit of a beat change right before the ending, and then it's done. ending isn't really prepped but what's here works fine. mix on this is great, it's loud and in your face and never feels squeezed. the kick's this huge boomy roomy sound and i think it works perfectly. what an enjoyable track. love the energy and love the style. excellent work. YES

Oh it's been a long time OCRemix! I was going through old computer files and found this track I apparently made in 2016, and just never uploaded....sorry about that. Anyway, here's a track that mostly remixes "The Man With The Machine Gun", which itself is a 1980s sounding track. My remix mostly takes that and dials it all up to 11. Keep doing what you do OCR team! Sorry it's been so long, life just got in the way, but here's to another 25 years of OCR! Games & Sources FFVIII - Man with the Machine Gun FFVIII - The Landing

my original vote loved the arrangement but had concerns over the instrumentation effectiveness. my second vote called out some execution elements but really liked the improvement in the instrumentation. piano opens with some sustained strings. cello is a new tone but has a lot more personalization to it, which is neat. there's a flip in the first line that's a little unnatural, but what's here is fine. if you've got the ability to vary vibrato, consider doing that more on the start of sustained lines or in moving sections. you vary rhythm a lot to make it feel more real and less quantized, and i think it's a little on the far side of that now to where the rhythm seems a touch off. the note at 1:16 sounds wrong (second descending tone). i really like the choir entrance. it's spooky and has a cool sound to the vocals. cello here sounds great too, really rough and mean. the string drops sound a little weird but aren't wrong, just don't sound real. there's some clipping in this section, notably at 2:23 and 2:55 - this just needs an actual limiter put on it. i think you're not EQing what's going to your reverb and that might be what's causing some of the boominess, alongside the bodhran or whatever the main drum that's in this section being very fundamental-focused and right in the front left (so it's very loud). consider backing it off a bit. 2:55 feels better than before, i think, but the lightness of the strings themselves shows here as compared to the cello part. the brass coming in at 3:22 is a big help and gives the partwriting some balls which it really needed. this is a triumphant section and i like it a lot, just needs to not clip. there's one more recap and it's done. i think what's here would be enough to pass if that middle section didn't clip like mad. the main issue is, i think, the bodhan you're using. it sounds dull and lifeless, and it occupies a lot of frequency range down low. you've got a few ways to address that: scoop the heck out of everything else in that frequency range so it speaks through easier without having to crank the volume choose a different percussion instrument to that speaks higher to let it cut through easier turn it down and live with it not being so far forward either way you need a limiter that's going to prevent clipping implemented at the end of your mastering chain so that it's not hitting 0.0. i think, for me, if you did that, this'd be enough. if you wanted to go farther, i think that making the section at 2:55 shorter (maybe only running through half the theme) and then fleshing it out sooner will help with the depth of that section from a part-writing perspective, and i think that reining in the overly-dynamic rhythms on the solo cello would be a good choice. but this is real close, zanezooked! we just had an accepted track go through eight revisions, and i certainly don't see this needing that many changes to make it. NO

original vote second vote there's a story in the submission notes of past votes, i recommend reading them since this is kind of a story piece but they're very long so i didn't copy them here - proph Third times a charm? :) Thank you all for your feedback on the first two drafts of this piece. This is an interesting hobby because you need to be competent in both the creative skills of writing music and in the very technical skills of mixing, mastering, and otherwise massaging the sound. I appreciate the help you’ve given me on both aspects, especially the technical side, which is a brand new world to me. I was a bit confused about the feedback on the solo cello. Some praised the tone, others criticized it. Chipzilla seemed to think that the cello used only a single articulation. In fact it used no articulations. It was a SWAM instrument, and entirely procedural, based on how I played it on the EWI. I honestly thought that was a strength of the piece, a really expressive solo cello that you don’t usually get with samples. But I guess that didn’t come across, perhaps because I played it with a wind instrument, ha. Anyway, rather than try to massage what was already there, I tossed it out and brought in the Apocalyptica solo cello from Musio instead. This turned out to be a perfect match for this piece, as the samples are performed by the Finnish cello metal group (!) Apocalyptica, and it has both a wonderfully expressive legato patch and an aggressive, grinding rhythm patch. So although I had to throw out my own performance, once I reworked the solo cello parts to “write to the samples,” I ended up much happier with the result. Other things I did: Remixed and remastered everything. Pretty sure the volume should be good now. Removed the master volume automation tweaking identified by Prophetik. Seeing that in the waveform was illuminating. Evened out the balance of octaves at the 2:57 mark, in response to Prophetik. Did this by: Doubling the strings with their common woodwind pairings at 2:57, to thicken the melody and harmony lines Tweaked which lines were played in which octaves. Adding the full cello section in unison with the solo cello, thickening the low end Added more humanization to the piano I hope this is finally up to par! Games & Sources Myth: The Fallen Lords The Siege of Madrigal, by Michael Salvatori The Fallen Lords, by Marty O'Donnell Myth II: Soulblighter The Great Library, by Marty O'Donnell

opens with some detuned synths and a generally nostalgic feel. similar to the original, the beat subverts where the downbeat is initially and makes you realize you had the wrong feel in your mind, which is a fun throwback. the melodic content is pretty subdued and overall this is a very slow, loose rendition of the original. there's a break at 1:30 and that builds up from there for a while. the beat comes back in at 2:27 and it goes through the melody a bit more, and then there's some surprisingly ambivalent chords that play us off. this is a really low-energy track. i think that some of the j's will complain about the lack of forward drive, but i feel like this fits the feel really well. it's very patient and intentionally doesn't lean into the energy of the original, which i actually like quite a bit. i think this is over the bar. YES

This is a Christmas-themed remix to Undertale, because it just makes sense. It was originally made for An OverClocked Remix XVIII back in 2020. I wanted to submit it back then, but it was so close to Christmas that I just didn't... for some reason. I was in the mood to make something pretty and chill, something more hopeful and uplifting. You could say this a spiritual sequel to my old Zelda remix, "Solace." I released it as part of an EP back in 202, "Winter Pixels". It's a little looser and more lofi than my usual stuff, hopefully, it fits the new guidelines! Games & Sources Game: Undertale Source: Undertale Theme

opens with some bitcrushed synths, and the beat drops quickly. the main source usage appears to be some of the first few beats in the intro, and they're modified so it doesn't sound like quite in line. i don't think that what's in the remix here is enough to constitute source usage. the backing elements sound the same the whole time outside of adding a bell line about a third of the way through, and it's only ever that initial representation. there's some cool ideas here, but this doesn't meet our source usage guidelines (4.3 is the big one) to fit onto OCR unfortunately. i wouldn't call this identifiable and dominant. i'm sure there's a place for this track on other streaming services though and i hope it is received well! NO

The beat for flex was a sample from WarioWare Inc, which came about when I started playing the game with my son on the Switch Gameboy Advance app. I immediately heard same hot fire and was inspired to flip some of the OST. I threw the intro sample into slicex on FL Studio, chopped it up, and the rest is history. Also a little fun fact, this beat was made around the first time I ever met the rest of NKM in person. - Lemmedoya of Nerdknight Music This song man. My brotha Lemmedoya sends us a lot of beats, but this one has to be one of my favorites. It's just so energetic and unique sounding! As soon as I got it, the idea for the chorus just popped into my head and wouldn't leave until I met up with NK Sensei to lay it down and write + record a couple of VERY chaotic verses. From there we sent that to Lemmedoya for thoughts on it and HE ended up laying a verse down too. And at that point, we knew we just HAD to make this posse cut happen and put it on the album we were working on at the time. From there we thought long and hard about who else to get on the track, and ended up hitting our friends Cas Hatchett, Mercutio X, and Drip$tick, who all absolutely KILLED IT! - NK Blackimar of Nerdknight Music NK Sensei: Verse 1 NK Blackimar: Verse 2 + Chorus Cas Hatchett: Verse 3 Lemmedoya: Instrumental + Verse 4 Mercutio X: Verse 5 Drip$tick: Verse 6 Games & Sources Sampled from the intro of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! Composed by Ryoji Yoshitomi and/or Kyoko Miyamoto. Couldn't find confirmation on which one of them did this song specifically.

original's pretty upbeat in its own right. opening is very similar to the original, right down to the drum beat, tempo, and lead performance. this goes on for quite a while - i A/B'd the entire length of the original on this track and indeed it's the same across the board. so this already isn't something that we'd really have a place for given the lack of original arrangement over the first half of the track. right at 2:00 we get a new section, which is clearly inspired by but isn't really arranging the original. it's a sick synth solo though! i'd like to hear more verb on it, it's pretty dry right now. guitar has a note or two that's funky in the chord that it's over, and then hits a fun chord at 2:47 before a hard cut break to the piano playing the melodic material (in a non-idiomatic way, you really should find ways to break up the left hand's block chords and velocitize the entire thing). there's another run-through the original's last section and opening, and it's done. ending is solid. i think this is a fun listen! i'd be happy to find this on youtube somewhere, but it doesn't meet the standards for arrangement that we require here. this is more of a cover with a little new section in the middle, which is hip in and of itself, but we'd expect more adaptation of the original's melody, chords, or other elements. i don't think this track would fit here without extensive modifications, but maybe future arrangements would fit more! take a look at the submissions standards i linked above (section 4 is the big one for you, the rest aren't as applicable for this) and hopefully we'll hear from you again. NO

thanks for the resub! i really liked the arrangement concept and some of the set pieces in the original mix, but didn't like a few of the synth choices which i found bland and thought some of it needed EQing/reinforcing elements. track opens with some really big broad strings which sound very rich, so that's fun. there's some more sfx at 0:50ish as the strings glitch their way out, and we start hearing the Durandal synth with the ascending motif. the beat comes in at 1:26 and we get into the blootering of alien backsides. i admittedly like the nastiness of the Durandal synth more than the subsequent synth choices, which still feel bland and rote. there's some repetition in this section too which i still don't care for, but i like the transition at 2:43 and that section just as much as i did before. this section is great. again, the transition into the techno section is also great. this time through the techno stuff feels a little better and less rote. there's a final hit and some sfx, and it's done. i don't care for the middle minute or so - that more upbeat section just feels really dull when it should be the energy highlight of the entire track. i get that it's a 90s feel, but at least those 90s techno vibes had more verve to them - this feels more like a framework than a finished section. i'm a bit torn on if it is offset by the great opening and the section at 2:43, which feel really expansive and introspective. i think that, in the interest of not making perfect the enemy of good, this is probably above the bar. i think it sounds solid and there's no big holes in the arrangement. YES edit 2/19: we used this track for our recent judgetest, and i spent a lot of time listening to it as a result. the more i listened to it, the more i felt that the middle was just not there. there's a lot of promise in the opening, but i think that i ultimately originally settled on the wrong side of the bar (in that it was close but not there, instead of barely squeaking by). that middle section needs more verve, better guitar tracking, and stronger instrument choices. i'm changing my vote. NO

opens with that creepy arp to start in a neat bell-like synth. melodic riff is in the pads initially with some big sweeps over top. the arp starts to double up and do some delay stuff with some rising action behind to escalate, drums that come in at 0:45 are kind of weak, but i see where they're going as you use them as an escalation element. the sausage starts to get made at 0:56 as the kick and bass elements come in more regularly. this track is super slammed in the feel despite not really having a ton of super loud elements, so it feels a bit oppressive, but i recognize that's both intentional and part of the style. it's nowhere near upbeat as i expected though given the big transition drums. 1:10-1:20 for example feels really empty, as does the section immediately following. 1:52 switches to a triplet feel (among other things), so it's a lot busier, but it's still just the beat, bass, melody in the pad, and arp repeating. i feel like there's not enough going on through most of these couple of sections. there's a big drop at 2:36 in energy, and the arp element is doing some hits in here. the off-beat part that followed was a fun feel. 3:09 hits and it's the same instruments as before but now they're doing different rhythms. still using the same synths after all this is starting to be tiresome, and the overall mastering is still super heavy so it's still feeling oppressive. to be clear - the variety you've implemented on the arrangement itself is really impressive. you're doing a ton of variety considering the melody itself is like 20s long. my issue is with the instruments being reused constantly and never changing, and with how empty several of the sections feel behind the melodic representation. we get to the end and it just kind of ends, and there's a cutoff on the synth instead of a fade. i wouldn't have minded something deconstructive to end this given how much you played with these elements throughout. i'm honestly not sure about this one. i love the arrangement. i don't like that it's four instruments throughout, and i don't like that there's a ton of room throughout for other stuff that doesn't seem to be capitalized on. it feels like this is the framework and it still needs the finishing bits. ? edit 12/3: ok, i slept on it, and i still don't dig the extended sections with so little going on, and i still don't dig the limited sound palette. kris's note about sidechaining is good too - that's why it doesn't feel like it can breathe (well, one of the reasons). so i think that a NO makes sense for me.

opens with some nicely filtered synths. there's some elements of the little stepwise melodic chunk initially. the feel at 0:36 is fantastic, i love the fat sixteenth note synth. i'll admit i don't hear a ton of original in this first section with the drums, but i do get more of that descending line around the one minute mark when the second drumloop comes in. definitely an intentional but bad note choice selection at 1:48. the correlation in the later sections (around 2:00) is more subtle - maybe too subtle - and it isn't until maybe 2:39 that we more consistently get melodic material for any stretch of time. there's an outro starting at 3:25 and it's done. i love the feel, i really do. you've nailed the style you're going for and it's handled well. i just don't think there's anywhere near a preponderance of original here. there's not much in Aquas to hang your hat on, and you limited yourself to an even smaller segment of it for your feel here. i think that, unless i'm missing something significant, we're nowhere near 50%. i hear overt elements of the original from 0:15-0:36, 1:02-1:24, and 2:39-3:3:24 - about 40%. so i think that'd need to change before i'd be able to think about a yes. NO