prophetik music   Judges ⚖️

the original is so minimalistic - like, the actual meaning of the word, not just 'there's not much going on' - so, i love the idea of a very stripped-down instrumentation to represent it. the rhodes elements appear to be a set of plectral percussion, which would work if they weren't so pitched. there are numerous places that the percussion feels like it's directly competing with a chordal element (0:32 is a good example, as is 1:08 and 2:18). separately, there are numerous times where the organ instrument has direct dissonances in the chorded rhodes (0:18, 1:21, ) that don't sound positive or like they're building stress - they just sound wrong. the track follows the same overall structure and essentially never changes - organ chords navigating through the original chord structure, left hand of the left rhodes on 1, 2, and the an of 3, and then chorded elements on the and of 3 alongside continuous burbling rhodes percussion. this is not an compositional technique that lends itself to personal interpretation or transformative arrangement. there are certainly examples of extreme minimalism used in remixes - we've got a track that apes In C, for example, and my own Animal Counterpoint is built from a heavily minimal original track and apes New York Counterpoint heavily. so it's absolutely doable. this however doesn't demonstrate the same level of transformative arrangement that those do, and what it does do isn't super pleasant to listen to due to the nature of the plectral percussion and the dissonances in the approach. i love the experimental nature of this. i don't think it works, unfortunately. NO

had no idea this game had music. i don't know if i had speakers on the computer that i played this on. sfx to start. the reference to ASZ is overt, but i'll note that ASZ has entered the zeitgeist for some time now so i don't feel too bad about the inclusion here. track kind of starts at 1:21, and we start to get a beat at 1:41 which is solid. love the the chordal approach here, and the lead is a perfect patch. agree with larry that the melody could have been clearer in that section. lead guitar at 2:55 is pretty treble-heavy, i found it to be kind of grating, especially in the chorded parts of this section. the subsequent section does indeed quote Sun of Nothing for quite a while. it's not quite a minute. as i am part of the reason this policy exists, i can just say i feel you ? that said - this is a track that is nearly eight minutes long (if you include the sfx elements, which i do, since it's integral to the concept), which makes the quote ~12% of the track. i'm actually ok with the length of the reference. the track continues trucking through some really great shreds until we get back to some more sfx to finish it out over some piano. this is an awesome concept. if indeed it does get rejected, i'd love to hear a version that trims enough of the reference elements from Sun of Nothing to be allowable here. really neat work. YES, BUT ONLY IF THE STANDARDS ARE NOT A HARD AND FAST RULE

my previous vote mentioned a death of a thousand cuts - namely a ton of little things that came together and made the sum less than the parts. still a heavily compressed beat right off the bat. sounds like less of the panning on that stutter synth, so that's a win. beat hits at 1:02 and it feels fuller than it did before, which is a positive. 1:33 still doesn't have much going on there besides the beat, lead, bass, and arp. around the 2 minute mark i noticed the arp's been hammering away the entire track and it's starting to feel a little much. 2:00's when the glidier synth comes in on the lead, and it's a nice change. it definitely feels too cluttered there - the arp's so loud that it feels louder than the lead, and it's a bit confusing what to listen to. the track then navigates a subtractive fade and it's done. it still feels really loud, and it's messy in several sections. the limiter's really doing a lot and it shouldn't be. but the song's got a catchy feel, it drives well, and conceptually i like what you're doing with the instruments. i'm actually kind of mixed about this one right now. ??? edit: based on the other judge votes, i am making perfect the enemy of good. i do think this is enough. YES

imo one of the strongest melodies on a melodically-driven soundtrack. opening section is very close to note for note to the original outside the natural adaptation to guitars. i'll note i didn't find the hammer-ons in the accompaniment guitar to sound like anything other than mistakes most of the time. at 1:32, we've gotten through the verse and chorus once, and it starts the verse again with essentially nothing changed outside of one or two notes being slightly different in approach. by the time the chorus comes around, we're beyond 50% of the track and it's still essentially a realization of what the original has going for it. we do finally get some updates at 2:44 with a new tag transition coming out of the chorus, which i love - the diminished stack going into the motivic movement was clever. the original writing that follows is great to listen to and enjoyable but has no correlation to the original that i heard. 4:16 is a bit of the original and resolves...then starts another last play-through of the end of the chorus for a second ending. this is well-performed and technically proficient. the guitar sounds pretty good although more warmth in the tone would have been nice. what sinks it is arrangement - you've got ~60% cover and 40% original (roughly in that order) with not a ton of correlative material between. we need more interpretive arrangement, and if you're going to feature original material, that original material should be better tied into the game content. NO

ff6's soundtrack is so distinct. the entire thing is such a musical, right down to the over-the-top clown as the bad guy, the broad and visually unique cast of characters, and the variety of solo aria-style tracks in the ost. opening section is a very straightforward adaptation of rachel. the transition into tifa's theme was very smooth, and while i don't particularly care for this piano's upper range tone, the right hand's got some fun harmonic content that's going on under the melody (like at 1:10) that's clearly inspired by tifa's melody. there's a few harmonic ideas that are a little weird (1:17-1:18 jumped out at me). i missed the transition from there into rachel's theme at 1:28 - that was a great dovetail. there's some noodling between the two themes back and forth for a while. 2:40's time shift was a little unexpected and unsupported. the two lines interweave a bit and it ends with a bit of tifa's theme as an unresolved cadence. from a technical side - there is very little room sound here and it shows. when the pedal comes up, the note is done and there's nothing that i'm hearing for a tail or for room tone. some more meaningful application of reverb would help a lot, especially with my second issue - the piano tone is very pale from a tonal color perspective. the far right hand really is not a particularly nice tone to listen to, and you use it a lot especially in block octaves. i found it to be less comfortable to listen to as a result. i do think that verb will help smooth out that tone a bit so it's not so sharp and striking. this piano tone would work for, say, the zanarkand arrangement we just got. i can't help but think a warmer piano tone would do wonders for such an emotive set of melodic lines. maybe even some EQing would help...i've never really EQ'd solo piano myself. overall, i think the arrangement is really solid. there's a few bits and bobs that maybe could have been handled in other ways, but overall the interweaving of the two themes is stellar and really enjoyable. however, this is a solo piano piece, and there's just less there from a technical side to support that. i really want a better application of reverb to pass this. separately and not as critically, i want a warmer piano tone if possible, and if not, then some adjustments made to the arrangement to have less block right hand octaves striking the 7th octave so sharply - maybe using more broken chords or acciaccatura to help provide more context to those notes. honestly i can see this passing - the arrangement is striking. i really am falling on the side of "this is technically not quite there" and i can't imagine it'd take that much to give it more warmth through room tone, and in turn really increase significantly the overall enjoyability of the arrangement. JUST BARELY NO

intro synths are just what i expected (and wanted, tbh) - i love the organ layered in there. track is pretty loud right off the bat. 0:30's groove shift is great and the guitar lead there is perfect. the arps going into a singing melodic line at 0:41 into 0:54 is very Octavarium-esque. the jenova bit was a clever idea, and continuing to use the triplet-quarter motif through this section does a nice job keeping it moving forward. solos are great and the subsequent ensemble work is a great contrast. 2:18's rising section with new chords was a great idea and again very DT-esque in the methodology. 2:54's a clever shift - both in how you used new chords and in the shift in the beat to a half-time beat for a bit to emphasize the broader scope of the backing parts. there's a recap for an ending and that's that. as expected, this is dope. your arrangements have become a consistent source of fun in the inbox over the last several months. excellent work with a proogy approach that doesn't rely exclusively on DAS CHUGCHUG in the guitars to make something interesting, engaging, and intense. YES

short intro with some sfx before the main gig starts at 0:14. larry's comment that it's a bit slow i think is going in the right direction - initially this certainly doesn't have as much vibrancy as the original, and feels a bit low-energy as a result. the early break may be part of that, but also there's a heavy emphasis on the downbeat through like 1:30 and it just feels very heavy on its feet - not particularly sonicy! there's a nice variety of synths being used (and sfx...never would have mashed up SC2 and S&K!), and the fm bass is indeed fun. the track essentially ends at 2:21, and there's some unrelated beat for a bit until it's actually over. this isn't anything super groundbreaking, but it's a quick and easy take on a good original track. i liked the gliding synths a lot. YES

upbeat start with some fun sound design thrown in there. 0:19's build into 0:33 is great, and the hit at 0:33 is ridiculously over the top as expected. there's a ton of variation after this in various sections which i appreciate. 1:15 is repeating an earlier section, but quickly moves to some new stuff, including switching to three for a bit and then making me jump a bit with the laugh sfx. by 1:59 it's mostly done and it's just NAVIgating an outro. short and fun, love it. this is an easy one. YES

intro is straightforward with little changes outside of the genre adaptation. the ascending burbles were nice and appropriately rare. 1:42 adds some doubling occasionally for harmony, but is still mostly the same as the first time through with no changes to key. A:Bing it does show some extremely minor changes (there's some different attack velocities on the lead EP in a few places), but it's basically twice through with almost exactly the same thing, and then it ends suddenly mid-loop. this is a pattern with LXE's music that i've seen - most of them have loop-point endings rather than properly prepared endings like you'd expect for a standalone song. this is not enough arrangement as-is. the genre feel is on point, but this is even more simple than the original track in terms of instrumentation so it would need to have truly stellar personalization. that is not the case here - if you slow the original down, it's doing roughly what's going on here with some changes to how the backing chords speak. i think the track itself sounds fine (although, again, all of LXE's tracks need compression), but from an arrangement perspective there's not enough personalization and it is the same loop twice with no ending. we need more here at OCR. NO

@MindWanderer @Gario should confirm their votes before we move this.

significant sfx to start (it's very loud!). 0:24 is where melodic material comes in, with an industrial-adjacent beat underneath it. there's a lot of noise in the backing beat, and it's hard to confirm if all of it is intentional as the track is mixed mega loud. there's some added elements in the opening minute or two from a countermelodic standpoint, but not a ton there. once we get to 2:00, however, there's a significant uptick in energy as the rhythm guitar gets going. that section is great with the driving beat. this however is over too quickly, and around 2:25 we get what sounds like the same elements as the opening section - strings, some pads, same industrial beat now for a while, and it doesn't really shift until after 3:00 when it does the same build that it did before 2:00 and does the same more intense section. so that's a lot of mirrored material with virtually no changes in there. coming out of that harder section, we get a nice shift to double-time at 3:36 - this is a good shift after hearing the same groove with mostly the same synths for >3.5 minutes. it's mostly guitar-driven and there's not a ton relating it back to the original through this. i liked the bass synth at 4:26. the drums simplify around this time and they sound like they did during the earlier harder sections, which is a bummer. the energy drops off significantly at 5:12 and the next 30s are mostly just vibing along the same drumbeat with the same vocal elements as before above it. we finally get a break from the beat at 5:42, but again this is repeating the same strings in the same octaves doing the same things as earlier, and the pads and vocal elements are even the same as before. there's a rising element and it's done. this is roughly three and a half minutes of music scraped over nearly 6.5 minutes of bread. i think that there is way too much wholesale repetition in this track for it to be a standalone thing vs. a background track at a presentation or con. separately, it's mastered so loud that it is very tiring to listen to. most of the instruments sound unintentionally distorted (separate from the drums, which i really like the grit on). i think you have some really great ideas here - the initial elements with the strings and vocals, the heavier section, and the double-time section all by themselves are objectively fun to listen to - they're just repeated ad nauseum until they lose impact. it's not good technique to paste in the same blocks of audio as you've already done several times, it's just going to bore the listener regardless of how exciting and masterful the block is. this needs serious trimming and to be scoped way back in the loudness department before i'd be willing to consider a yes vote. NO

sfx to start with some really broad synth strokes and a pulsing beat. significant departure from the original's feel with this first part - i definitely get the loneliness feel, although it's more of a sci-fi feel with the wide juno pads. beat comes in at 1:10, and the arps and chords are focusing on the vi and IV chords only initially, but we do finally get a root chord at 1:42 as the melodic material shows up for the first time. this part is more disjointed from the earlier, more patient, more isolated early section in many ways, including freq range, vibe, and pacing. 1:42's pretty straightforward with the arrangement. the arp's still there, the melody trucks through without really stopping like the original, but there's some nice soaring pads that go along with it. there's the first big departure (other than the opening) at 3:17, with the pulse coming back underneath the melodic line. this builds up starting at 3:58, using the kick and some repetitive synths and pads to gather energy towards a tonal shift at 4:30. this is more ballad-feeling here even with the borrowed dominant chord that the remixer uses, and after some more sfx we get the last big blow of the track starting at 5:15. a high note fading out at 5:45 is the last notable element, as we get a few of the wide synths and sfx from the beginning and it's done. as a whole, the intro doesn't feel like it's connected to the body of the work. there's not a lot that carries over into the main melodic sections. that said, the track sounds good and does a nice job of varying the instrumentation and backing elements around the melodic material, and it sounds good. i think the arrangement overall is a bit conservative and brings this down somewhat, but this is still over our bar. YES

big, frenetic opening. saxes took a second to settle but then i got what they were doing. michelle's vocals are just the right style for this kind of goofy shuffle disco pop. it does sound a touch high at the end of the chorus for her (can't sleep! is pretty nasally and not well enunciated). the break at 0:46 is a good idea to give a bit of a break after a big chorus. the saxes coming into the next verse are a touch off in terms of timing...timing on a song like this is so tough since the tempo is fast enough to make the shuffle hard to hit. the chorus at 1:20 is big and exciting. the sax lines between the vocal lines are a bit pitchy but having them mirror the vocals in some places is a great idea. solo break at 1:45 is fun to hear. alto solo is a little rough and out of time, but i liked the idea of passing ideas between each part. the subsequent chill section at 2:15 is a great counterpoint to the solo and soli section. alto solo at 2:40 sounds a lot better than the earlier riffs, albeit still a touch pitchy. transition to an octave groove in the bass at 2:54 is an immediate head-bobber - i love it! and kicking it up another notch at 3:05 with the slick groove there is awesome. tenor solo at 3:34 sounds great - the sudden introduction of the heavier guitars is a little much but i get what you're going for. 4:01's return to the chorus is just what i was looking for there. it's pretty busy here and probably needed more focus on mixing to prevent the vocals from getting drowned there - the sustains and strings in the background are a little too forward when michelle's voice goes into the middle range. the track kind of fizzles after that - there's the tag and a little riff and it's done. would have loved to hear the ending come from the chorus instead of chugging out like it did. this is a really fun track! there's a ton of character in the entire arrangement. it's pretty long for this style of track but none of it is filler. nice work. YES

train ride right off the bat. bass is surprisingly loud next to everything else. andromeda's voice is beautiful throughout this, although the lyrics really don't fit the melodic shape at all, and some of her appogiatura on faster note patterns make it hard to hear what the intended note was. the realization of this track is pretty close to the original, so the arrangement is more in the adaptation of instrumentation and the vocal arrangement. the melodic material for the second section is really well-adapted, compared to the first version. there's far less true melody in die toteninsel, and crafting something from that is really neat. the swan lake concept is interesting but in execution it just sounds atonal. the bass is even louder than before around 2:30, and the intentional dissonance do not sound good at all. andromeda's voice at the end of this is just stellar, really striking. the promise's creepier textures come across well in this third vignette. it's much more noodly but that's because of the original - i think the harmony especially is great throughout. the bass continues to be a lot louder than everything through here and the active playing is kind of taking the focus away from the really great vocal elements, so again confusing. there's a lot of sound design before the musical elements come in for the fourth one, and obviously this original track is way different than the other three. the vocal effecting is really interesting here. my sung german is not good but the pronunciations sound pretty solid. this, like the first vignette, doesn't have much extra arrangement outside the adaptation to the palette of instruments and the text. i never played signalis, so i'll assume these lyrics are striking and memorable references to important elements of the game. that said, lyrics are hard, and for a third of the piece the text doesn't fit the melodic line at all. that's not entirely the fault of the lyricist due to how spacey some of these melodic lines are, but it does mean that it's a jumble sometimes to hear what it's saying. separately, i mentioned several times how loud the bass is (and out of character, it's weird to hear it merrily chugging along below some parts when everything else is draped in black) - i'd say that's my biggest complaint about the track, and i'd love to hear it fixed before it goes out. all that said, the vocal performance is thoroughly excellent outside some detail work in the first vignette. the harp performance throughout is superb, just absolutely elevating in every sense. the arrangement and concept is really interesting as well, and for the most part the adaptation to the instruments and style works really well. i think this is definitely above our bar. YES

filtered chips to start. there's some subbass down there sliding around which sounds fun, and the initial hit at 0:45 is appropriately huge. this is a fun track to really crank up. 1:02 brings in the harpsichord/organ arp in the fore for a bit. 1:18's lead is doing some stuff that's influenced by the melodic material, but i'd say it's not particularly close to the original theme's melodic material (as admitted by the arranger in the submission email). there's also some weird panning/placement that's causing the sound to be more right-ear centric and it's confusing. once it gets jamming, it does its thing for a while until it just hard cuts as an ending. there's some soloing in there as well that's fun to hear. i think it's pretty hard to truly match the original to this track. there's essentially no melodic usage throughout - i heard the 1 b3 5 #4 riff a few times, but it's always blown through before doing other stuff. separately, the audio stage is really confusing - it's like the sounds are centered behind my right eye instead of in the middle of my head - and the ending is nonexistent to the point that i wonder if we got a bad wav. the sound of the track is dope though - there's tons of personalization in what's played, the tones of the synths sound great, and there's a great groove going through most of the track. adding more of the reference track's keys to this would be an insta-win, and fixing the ending would be a big help as well. i can't pass it as-is though as there's not enough source. NO edit 12/14: i missed that there was a revised version of this. i also straight-up missed that this was specifically focusing on the backing arpeggiated elements of the song, so that's on me. now that i catch the source and it has any ending at all, my main concern is mastering. i don't think it's enough to keep it back. YES

sfx intro. initial prologue presentation is really spot-on - excellent work. 0:31's ensemble sounds excellent as well, although the vocal parts have very bright siblants which stick out of the mix. 1:16's violin sounds beautiful, as does the female vocals that are heavily verbed at 1:27, there's a big transition into 1:38 that's much heavier. the guitar gets lost a bit under all those cymbals initially but the heaviness is still there. the melody from The Farthest Land is just great here, and the transition into Demise of the Ritual is appropriately creepy. there's some sfx going on here - sounds like storm sounds? - which make it pretty cluttered, but the addition of the guitar in the right ear helps balance it actually. the dropoff at 3:15 is so eerie. 3:30 switching to triple meter is inspired - what a great way to keep it feeling interesting and new this far into the track. there's a big hit and fall, which unfortunately doesn't fade entirely but has an artificial cut at 3:50. the ending elements sound to my ear to be pretty close to End of the Battle, and the vocals here are a bit loud. the violin part here is much more treble heavy and has a wrong note in the ascending line, which is really disappointing after the rest of the track is so well balanced (guessing whatever EQing is used in the ensemble parts wasn't removed for this part). the last note fades quickly. this is certainly not without flaws, but is a really interesting and engaging arrangement of several elements from one of the best soundtracks of the middle aughts. i think i'd have preferred the vocals to often be mixed quieter, some of the transitions to have more patience taken with them, and some more attention to detail between the big parts (cluttered elements, sfx usage) and the quieter parts (EQing, balance). these are more nitpicks than anything though, and i really enjoyed the experience. excellent work. YES

there is little when it comes to melody in this track, so i'll be looking for other recognizable elements in the remix - stuff like the consistent and driving beat, the bassline, and the notes of the sustained vocal lines. opening section is very quiet relatively speaking. the pulsing beat is immediately recognizable, but the head-heavy snare is really not fitting the beat. the bass is doing the two-beat pattern that was throughout the original. 0:31 brings in an arpeggiated chordal pattern that i couldn't identify in the original, but adding some chord elements to this track is not a bad idea given the lack of actual harmonic development. the texture quickly shifts to H36T standard "layer a vocal patch on top" stuff while doing the same thing underneath for a bit, and then eventually hits a break at about 2:00. 2:14's break is not particularly reminiscent of either breaks in the original, so i'm chalking this up to original writing vs. being an arrangement of those two elements of the reference track. we get the beat back at 2:44, but again this isn't particularly reminiscent of any elements in the original, and the strongest elements i can hear (the voice and the beat) are both new writing which doesn't help. 3:44 feels like a build but is more of a transition element to a lower-energy section. at this point we're 4 minutes in and i've heard very little that i can truly tie to the source in a tangible way (part of that is the source's fault). there's a significant build to the largest section of the track at 4:43, and it's back to the quieter beat. it noodles for another two minutes doing the same thing as the previous four plus, and then it's done. barring someone else giving me a source breakdown, i don't see any way this is even close to 50% source, let alone 33%.the original is light on leitmotifs, and what little there is there isn't really represented here. i'm not comfortable saying a two-beat bass pattern and a reversed cymbal is enough to map a track to the original. beyond that, it's very quiet - where is the compression? something this consistent in volume shouldn't be so quiet for so long - and some of the instrument choices seem like default choices rather than crafted for the song, like the head-heavy snare tone. i can't pass this as-is. there needs to be far more clear correlation to the original. NO

track oozes style right off the bat. i wish the nylon guitar at the beginning was a little brighter and more forward in the mix, but the whole ensemble sounds great together. the break at 1:02 is stylistically appropriate, and the following section at 1:16 feels like a solo break, so that transition worked. the main band sound picked back up at 2:13 after handing off melodic elements to various instruments, my only nitpick at this point is the variety of sources you're trying to cover makes this previous minute or so sound a bit disjointed. the themes don't lend themselves to sounding like true solos and they kind noodle around. what you did works, it's just not as strong as it could have been. 2:33 brings back the nylon guitar lead and this sounds pretty similar to the initial section until the silence break and subsequent solo section in the guitar. 3:11 introduces some shuffle which is a nice shift, but unfortunately we don't stay there. we get some more stage 1 theme, and then the track is done. it's a little sudden of an ending and doesn't feel particular prepared as compared to other transitions in the track. overall, i think this gets a bit noodly due to the variety of themes that are being used, but the strong performances and overall solid arrangement of the most commonly used theme (stage one) carry it over the finish line. the track sounds good and all instruments are clear and audible when they're supposed to be. nice work. YES

i am admittedly surprised that this is using Cosmo Canyon and not Launching a Dream Into Space. opens with strings, flute, and ethnic percussion. 0:38 starts the more melodic material, and opens with the iconic main theme riff of FF7 - oh wait, it's the Unknown Lands theme (i see what you did there!). shea does a gorgeous job there on the violin. the bamboo percussion at 1:27 sound great behind the overall orchestral tone, although i'll complain that the plectral instrument under the orchestra is a lot louder than the orchestral sound which lessens some of the impact of the orchestral ensemble. there's a beautiful dovetail of the CC theme into this around 1:51, and then there's a bit shift at 2:19 as the acid hits. much more aggressive use of rhythm-synced synths in this section - i love hearing the CC's arpeggio in those tight arps you have going on. the high fades pretty quick at 3:18 and we get a much more standard playback of the CC theme with a sudden transition to the soaring elements of the second half of Unknown Lands. the Horner influence is nowhere more obvious than at 3:57 with that chord shift and the vocals. the fadeout at the end is abrupt and i wouldn't mind more of a sustained tail, given the fairly quick ending shift already. this is excellent, demonstrating a broad scope of approach and a ton of flexibility and imagination from the creative side. YES

0:16 is kind of where it starts. the drums are louder than most of what else is going on. i agree that the bass is inaudible. i also agree that the track is the same thing repeated over and over without a ton of adaptation, humanization, or arrangement by the remixer. the backing pad changes chords too slowly to really account for the chord changes, and so you get a lot of conflicting notes. the track doesn't really have much in the way of a shape to it or any dynamics. it isn't all bad, of course - the drums overall sound good (they're the only thing i can hear clearly from start to finish), and when the B theme comes in, that airy lead is a nice pick. my suggestion now is to strip this back to the bolts beyond that and really focus on what YOU want to say with your remix. this is currently Bowser Road with New Instruments. that's not a remix - there needs to be transformative arrangement.by you. so do something different from the original, and make it really yours. and use the workshop, since this is not particularly close now and needs a lot of changes to really be something that approaches our bar. NO

that opening bell is extremely evocative even before it gets reversed. i know that OCR views Zelda games as The Sacred Texts (and the judges love them some BOTW especially), so it's always fun to see the reactions to remixes. such strong emotions tied to these tracks is why we all started remixing, after all. michael's approach here is a particularly patient and expansive one, especially suited to the project that he created it for. the airy, emotive motivic work alongside the aleatoric bells and restrained ostinado is exceptionally well done. the sfx of birds and other nature sounds alongside the windiness of many of the synths is a really neat combination, and the sweeping, all-embracing textures do a vivid job conveying endless space, timelessness, and a weighty, fulfilling sensation of "finally, we're here". as expected - excellent work. YES

we need more submission memes! and this meme is very correct, they're super similar enough that i'm having trouble keeping track of which is which. the little section in the middle of the initial presentation of cyrus that switches to the V is just delightful. what great originals. initial presentation is cyrus in the flute. clarinet tone is a bit reedy and pitchy in the lower register - the higher register though is a really nice singing tone. there's a few embouchure-related pitch bends as you jump around. the dovetail into valse di fantastica is stellar, i missed it the first time through - such a great combo. the key doesn't do the clarinet any favors. my only complaints here are around the shape of the piece. the piano pretty much just is on autopilot throughout, and any dynamic variation would be driven by the keys here...so there isn't any. having some push-pull both to the tempo (difficult assuming you're not in the same place for the recording) and the dynamics (easy even if you're remote) would help a ton with conveying the whimsy that this piece feels like it has. similarly, there's a ton of little flourishes and added elements in the originals that are not conveyed in the piano part (again, because it's on a strict pattern of left hand downbeat -> chord chord in the right throughout), and that's a disappointing loss of compositional fidelity as a result simply because those flourishes would have been really nice next to the winds. that said, the performances are great and the arrangement is a perfectly serviceable reduction of the orchestral parts. i certainly wish there was more but the flute especially carries the day here. YES

dizi to start and followed by some brass and vins, with a lot of patience between each section. the piano comes in with some arpeggiated elements, and the small ensemble continues flow forward in a pretty traditional motet style until we get some (obviously) synth orchestral elements at 1:17. this builds into a pretty big orchestral crescendo to 1:45 when we get a heavy orchestral metal section. there's some nice balance between the guitar and drums and the orchestral elements. there's a break at 2:58 again focusing on the castle theme for a bit, and it moves back to the chamber ensemble-led sound for a short recap before transitioning to the battle theme around 3:33. this noodles a bit until the metal elements come back in at 4:35. this section is particularly hard-hitting which is nice. 5:04 intros a plectral synth that wasn't my cup of tea, but i like the quiet energy of this section underneath that synth. hair is again lit on fire at 5:31 for the last big blow of the piece, and there's a brickwall transition at 6:01 with a recap of the initial two eighth note pattern in the lower strings to bring us to the end. this is a great track. i definitely hear the progressive influence in the different sections and don't consider the pacing or patience of the arrangement to be a negative. the metal parts hit hard and sound good, and the orchestral elements sound fine when they're not directly compared to live performances. i think the overall master is a bit quiet which i expect will be corrected as part of the final album master. this is solid, definitely over our bar. YES

the major differences between the Distant Worlds arrangement and the original come from a few passing chords in the first half, and then from 2:22 onward there's a lot more expansive content around the ostinado - instead of it being an arpeggiated left hand, there's a running pattern that starts in the violins while the celli have the melody and progresses throughout the orchestra after that. the melodic content, song structure, and most of the countermelodies actually are original from what i can hear. the major differences in the original to the piano collections version are much more minimal, primarily focusing around highlighting the beautiful dissonances between the running left hand and the direct harmony part to the melodic content, and also highlighting the performer's artistry and skill (there's quite a few flourishes added). aki kuroda's performances on this album are imo among the best in the piano collections series, and the arrangements for X and XIII are among the most virtuosic as well - fitting, since she's primarily a classical performer. i think this arrangement made it onto the X remaster soundtrack as well, actually. onto the actual track. the opening is note for note with the piano collections entry (i always loved the dissonance in the left hand at 0:12), albeit slower which imo reduces the impact of some of the dissonance a bit. 0:33 is where the melodic content starts. this to my ears is also pretty close to the PC version, maybe adding a bit of complexity to the left hand. the rolled chord at 0:56 is deliciously long, what a great change. the first big change i hear is at 1:03, which instead of going into the second half of the Z theme goes back to the beginning and starts over with a more grounded left hand bass. left hand here is a little loud, especially given that it's mostly doing perfect intervals. i again really appreciate the patience on the rolled chord at 1:31. we do finally get the last part of the main melody at 1:43, and this is again very patient with the approach. it sounds to my ear to be roughly the same with what the PC version has, just much quieter. 2:26's entrance of the Distant Worlds ostinado in the left hand is a clear adaptation of that version, right down to passing it into the right hand and carrying the melody in the middle/low voices. we do finally get the big dynamic section we've waited the entire time for, although again the left hand is very loud and we don't sustain on the high point (similar to the DW arrangement). 3:53's movement is also from the DW arrangement, and the subsequent flourish to the top note is from the PC arrangement I think. there's some call and response for the last few notes of the original, and a new chord resolution at the end. i'm quite familiar with the piano collections version, as i've been listening to the entire series of piano collection albums for years. separately, To Zanarkand is possibly my favorite piece of game music ever and i've done three arrangements of it for classical instrumentation, so i'm intimately familiar with the piece and especially the countermelodic elements of it. i am not as familiar with the DW arrangement, but outside the aforementioned ostinado in the middle, the work is essentially the same with no new elements being introduced outside of some work in the winds. all that said: i do not believe this arrangement stands far enough from either existing arrangement to be able to be considered for this site. the performance is truly superb - the artistry just oozes out from all of the space you give the work to breathe - but there's just too much here that's from the original arrangers and not enough new arrangement from josh winiberg. it's still a beautiful rendition, just doesn't fit our criteria for arrangement. NO =(

file fails to download correctly for whatever reason. i'm doing my analysis within the drive audio player as a result. intro is with piano, bass, and kit. the piano's got some delay on it, but the kit is ultra dry and the bass is essentially fundamental content only. drums are playing basic patterns and really don't sound in the same space as the piano, and the cymbals on the kit don't sound like they're in the space of either as well. the piano is mostly functioning in an exploratory sense around the melodic line - there's certainly expansion, but it usually is staying pretty close to the original melodic line or the arpeggiated perfect fifth that we hear at the beginning of the original. there doesn't appear to be a clear direction to where the piano's going, and the drums are so much louder than everything else that it's honestly hard to hear what it's playing most of the time anyways. the file breaks at around 2:03, but i'm comfortable rendering my thoughts on just that part as i don't see this changing. overall, this needs more workshopping. first of all, there's no real dynamic direction to the work. the original starts out smaller and swells through several sections. this track doesn't change at all in terms of instrumentation or dynamics in the first two minutes i heard. there's also nothing beyond those initial three instruments. you can absolutely make a small trio work, but it requires expansive, interesting work in the piano and bass, and some more complexity in the rhythm instrument. adding some pads, a few leads, some other keyboards, or even a bass with tone that we can hear instead of it just being in the sub would add a lot to the work. beyond that, getting all the instruments in the same room from an auditory standpoint would help a lot. all three instruments sound very different and are in very different spaces in terms of reverb, EQing, and volume. balancing those out - ie. improving the mixing - would make a huge improvement. right now this needs more work. NO