*NO* Chrono Trigger "Hyperspace"

[Liontamer ⚖️]

Artist Name: Nobel Yoo

Unfortunately, some parts of the original project file were lost so I wasn't able to re-export it for this submission. Sorry!

I was struck with the thought for a drum and bass version of the Corridors of Time track after hearing it a bunch at Magfest. I was really excited by the allure of turning what's typical a pretty slow and somber song into something fast-paced and energetic. It turned out that the original song is a little too fast for an easy conversion to drum and bass. The original song is 117 BPM. I slowed down all the parts from the original song down to 100 BPM so that I could use it for a drum and bass track at 200 BPM, but that's still much faster than the typical 184 BPM that most rum and bass tracks run at, so it actually feels even faster! I really enjoyed juxtaposing instrumental/acoustic sounds with electronic sounds on this piece as well as adding some new melodies and harmonies. Hope you enjoy!

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Games & Sources

Chrono Trigger - Corridors of Time
Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda

Edited 6 hours ago by jnWake

[Liontamer ⚖️]

Starts with a fully original intro that has a nice sparkle to it. Zeal melody arrives at :40 with some basic but impactful beats with it for a nice, full sound. I liked the gated vox line and padding as well. Shift at 1:38 to some overdriven, distorted kicks that feel like a stylistic thing I'll have to get over; they lasted until 2:16 (back at 2:57). Very lush textural changeup at 2:16, great choice for the lead synth. As the added beat were in play until 2:56, I liked how much space the track had to breathe, and it made the dynamics of the instrumentation changes more effective.

2:57 brought back the beats and added an original countermelodic synth line and a gated-style supporting line until 3:33. Not as much contrast/dynamic as I would have liked, but just a personal taste thing, and the relative additional complexity's dult noted, though I could imagine other judges complaining.

I would have liked to have heard more dynamic evolution of the track from 2:57-on, because the continued build was very subtle and thus feeling on the vanilla, repetitive side. That said the overall transformation of the Zeal theme to this light dNb style works nicely. Definitely leaning towards what works more than getting hung up on what other potential twists or added sophistications there could have been. Nice job, Nobel, this was a cool concept. :-)

YES

[prophetik music ⚖️]

truly a seminal original.

opening has some nice glam on the lead's octaves. swelling pads have some nice movement too. beat hits at 0:41 with the iconic arpeggio line initially. i agree that it's very fast and feels really frenetic. there's no real melodic material here, it's just the arp. a bit of a build into 1:39 where the melody line shows up for the first time. the kick here is interesting, and the backing elements being stripped so far back to really just the down-flam of the piano rolled chords is an interesting idea. there's some crunchy notes in here (notably 2:05).

2:17's a recap of the original arp with some very simple elements from the B section, and there's some more percs added in over time. there's a recap of 1:39's melody line, and there continue to be some crunchy notes (i think that the bass and drum line are repeated completely as well).

3:34 is a break with a recap of the opening glammy line. there's a build at 3:53 to get it moving again for one last blow through the A theme, again repeated from earlier. this isn't 1:1 to 1:39, but it's very clear where each chunk was copied and pasted into this section. there's no real ending, just a final line from the opening section.

this feels a little too boxed up for me, i think. it's very clear where the 90s or so of material you arranged originally ends, and then it's just repeated in various combinations for the next three or so minutes. there really should be significant variation in the big chorus sections with the drums going, and i don't hear that at all - it really just sounds like the same thing each time. i think the sonic palette sounds great, and i like the approach overall a lot. i think there needs to be more detail on the individual sections so they're not just repeated blocks from earlier in different combinations. there's also some real crunch in several points that should be addressed.

it's a cool concept! i think it needs less repetition. you could probably knock a minute plus off of the overall length without losing anything.

 

NO

[jnWake ⚖️]

Begins with some pretty electric piano lines for the first 40 seconds or so. Nice sounds on the piano and the pads. At 0:40 we get the classic arpeggio from the original plus some frantic percussion as the piano fades away. There's a pad doing some ethereal crunchy chords and other effects as well. Small break at 1:20 and after a build-up we get the main melody of the source at 1:40, once again backed by frantic percussion and a very wobbly bass. The chords are so ethereal (with some quite spicy) and the bass so wobbly that it's hard to make much sense of the harmony here. For this section the kick's also more aggressive, in a way that gets distracting. At 2:16 we move into the second melody from the source on another break from the percussion. A percussion with a very odd sounding snare enters a bit after and then at 2:55 we return to the main melody, now with an additional melody playing on synths. On this section to me it feels like everyone is playing their part but not really interacting, the bass seems to be doing its own thing, the 2 melodies aren't really harmonizing each other... There's another break at 3:33 with a return of the intro piano. A new build-up starts at 3:53 and around 4:11 we get another repeat of the main melody section, with minor differences from the previous ones.

On arrangement, this is an interesting combination. Taking the calm melodies from Corridors of Time and pairing them with a frantic percussion and bass behind creates quite a contrast. There's also an array of crunchy chords on the backing pads that amplify the contrast, like taking something familiar and putting all this weird stuff on top. On a personal note the combination didn't hit at all times for me, the extreme wobbliness of the bass makes it very hard to understand what notes it's playing, making me mostly confused. Similarly, the additional melody added at 2:55 didn't really do it for me. That said, I think you had a goal in mind and nailed it. Besides from that, there's a definite issue with length/repetition, from 2:55 until the end we basically repeat earlier musical ideas without much variation, I think closing at around 3:53 would've been perfect.

On production I don't have too many notes, there's some odd picks for kick and snare in a couple sections but I don't think I can call that an objective negative. Similarly, the percussion seems way too upfront compared to the rest of the soundscape to me but that may be part of the intended contrast. I'll note, though, that with the track's length and the repetitive drum patterns the kick becomes grating to my ears by the end.

Overall, this is something definitely out of my wheelhouse but I can respect the intent behind it, you created an interesting blend of sounds. However, I have issues with how repetitive it is (impacting both arrangement and production) and there's parts of the soundscape (mainly the wobbly and unclear bass) that could get extra polish.

NO

Edited 6 hours ago by jnWake

[Hemophiliac ⚖️]

There's some atmosphere here that I do like. The upper FM synth bell, pads, and choir pad sound lovely. The vocal chops/sampling at 1:00 were a nice addition as well.

I'm however not sold on the dnb elements to the piece. They feel pasted underneath everything else and don't have a cohesion to them. It's like there's two different soundscapes going on with a large divide between them. The ethereal and bright upper elements, and then the harsh and gritty bass and drums. These things don't really feel like they belong together. The b

I have to bring up the repetition of the loops next. The overuse of the same loop is very repetitive and loses interest quickly.  You do at least change the pattern to something else when the sections change, but within a given section it stays the same. You could slice it up or write microvariation within it to spice it up more. 2:36-2:55 is an example of this. Halfway through you add claps on top to build the energy but the rest of the pattern stays the same throughout.

3:06-3:07 has a note here that sounds out of place. 3:19 is a very spicy harmony choice and it doesn't feel fitting.

So to recap, FM bells intro and outro sounded nice along with the upper elements (aside from a few dissonant harmonic choices). However, not digging the divide between upper parts and the dnb lower parts, these don't feel cohesive with each other. Too repetitive could use more variation, this would really keep the interest going on a 5 minute long track.

NO

[paradiddlesjosh ⚖️]

I'm with proph and Hemo on this one. This track feels too repetitive within each section to justify the 5-minute runtime, particularly the drums. Like jnWake and Hemo, I also agree about the lack of cohesion between the elements. While I'm certainly no expert on DnB, I found myself expecting -- wanting -- more bass than we've been given here; I think the wobbly bass starting at 1:40 is an interesting choice (though it lacks power and presence) and without other bass elements, the arrangement goes beyond feeling weightless to feeling ungrounded.

Like Hemo, I dig the atmospheric elements and the sampling; I also love the drum patterns (especially the double-tresillo segment at 3:37 with the "weird snare sound" according to jnWake -- maybe it's weird to you, but to me, it's got a nice ring to it that's a change of pace from the tighter, snappier snares we've gotten to up that point😜). The problem for me, ultimately, is that the overly repetitive elements and the lack of low-end are enough to keep me from signing off on this one, Nobel. With some more variation on the individual patterns (or the removal of some repetitive segments) and the addition of another bass element, I'd be on board!

NO