Asterin

thanks for the comments - yes, the drums have also been retooled significantly since the previous version. I personally liked the filtered piano at 1:55 - it's not a bad piano sample, it's just filtered to squash certain frequencies and sound a tad more electronic. But perhaps it's not meshing with the whole, a number of people keep bringing that piano up. After listening to it again, using some different speakers, I can hear that the guitar does need to come up a tad, and maybe the drums - my fear, obviously, is that if I get those elements up too high, the orchestra will be drowned out and ruin what little balance I already have. I keep hesitating when adjusting them for fear of making them too loud, whiny, muddled, annoying, etc.

Download the new version here. http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/~garrenjb/music/Dreamstone_Legend_2008.mp3 Download the old version here. http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/~garrenjb/music/Dreamstone_Legend_FINAL.mp3. (you may need to right-click and use Save-As to get smooth playback) I don't know why I keep coming back to this stupid piece. Perhaps it is a lost cause. It was rejected for submission about 2 months ago (with a request to re-submit) for various reasons. Mostly, people wanted the guitars redone. Well, now they are redone. I don't know if this made Dreamstone Legend any better. In fact, it may be worse. Better, worse, whatever - that's why I need feedback. The guitar segments may be more muddled, or perhaps someone will notice a whole new slew of problems to throw at it. I've had a hell of a time equalizing this piece and trying to balance channels, etc. Either way, I'm sick of working on it. If you haven't heard this before, it is a remix of "Battle With Magus" from Chrono Trigger.

Thanks for the compliments. About the guitar part... yeah, it still bugs me a bit also, although I've more or less made my peace with it, since it works. I'm not really set up to record guitar, although I do play a bit. I'm more of a pianist. I have an acoustic guitar with a pick-up, but no amp. I've tried plugging straight into my sound card before and using some programs to simulate an amp, but generally the latency is terrible and the quality of sound I recorded hasn't been worth the trouble. Still, there may be ways to make this work. Do you have any suggestions for a better program to add guitar effects and whatnot, or is mixing through my sound card (SB X-Fi Fatal1ty) unlikely to work at all? Barring that, do you have any suggestions for making the current guitars, which are soundfonts, sound better or more realistic? They already have several filters and distortion effects applied to punch up the sound. (Or perhaps a suggested soundfont or sample library containing better electric guitars?) Either way, I'll look for a solution myself before calling this done. -Thanks

download link - (I've been having some problems playing the piece in a browser, so you may want to Right-Click and use "Save As".) http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/~garrenjb/music/Magus_Dreamstone_Legend_08.mp3 This is a Chrono Trigger remix, (yes, another one), of Magus' Theme. It attempts to recreate and re-envision both the dark melody typically associated with Magus and also the heroic refrain that appears later in the original "Battle with Magus". This piece has been tinkered around with for more than two years, but I have recently set to the task of rewriting it. I posted it on these forums about a month ago and received some good feedback. Now, having made many of the changes suggested back then, I would like to hear some new opinions. As I called it back then, this is a "quasi-symphonic" work with some electronic elements, although those have been dwindling rapidly as I have rewritten it. Much has changed about the piece. At the very least, all of the orchestration sounds considerably fuller than it did a month ago. After a great many hours put into this, my own criticism has run out and I'd like to call it done. Still, I know there may be valid problems remaining with it. So... please gimme feedback! Gimme! Seriously though, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks, JBG (formerly Leonheart of the Flame)

Oops - sorry. Yes, I quoted the wrong person there. Thanks again for the suggestions.

Thanks for the compliments and critique. I think it's helped reinforce my opinion about things that need changing before the final work is complete. What you heard is vastly cleaned up from the original version, but many of the problems that you all pointed out are things left over that I haven't redone yet. I agree that the intro still seems a bit dull, at least in comparison with the rest of it... I think I'll shorten the intro, perhaps rewrite it a bit. The opening to the drums does sound cliche'd now that it has been pointed out to me, and the phony sounding orchestra hits don't fit well either. I think the original idea there was a brief retro throwback, but it doesn't match with the direction I ended up taking the piece. The 3:20 flute and the overused panning in that guitar loop... yes, annoying, definitely going to be changed. The biggest problem that remains is the "squashed" feeling of the sound quality in some of the orchestral areas. My inexperience and a slower computer that couldn't handle the number of instruments used led to a great deal of clipping when I originally wrote this, and cleaning up the sound has been a bitch. Apparently it needs some more work though. I assume that's a typo and Ark is saying that the piece is "rigid in the meter." Could anyone offer any suggestions as to how I might make it a bit more fluid? (edited for misquoting people)

Magus - Dreamstone Legend http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~garrenjb/music/Magus2007_2.mp3 It has been a few years since I last posted this for comments, under my previous name. I thought I would throw it out there again for kicks, since I recently reworked it a bit. It is a quasi-symphonic remix of the Magus theme from, obviously, Chrono Trigger. I have a few primary concerns that I'm looking at, but I'd welcome any intelligent feedback. One concern is that it might get dull being almost 5 minutes without any significant key change. Another is the equalization and certain instrument volumes, all of which still sounds a bit off to me. Another possible flaw is that the drums have not been seriously changed since the original version, and my drum part writing back then was frequently muddy. Also, I realize that the electric guitars remain somewhat phony sounding, but I really couldn't do away with them without completely changing the color and character of the piece. Thanks, JBG

I really enjoyed this. While listening, two different visual analogies came to mind that helped bring the piece to life for me. The first time I listened, the industrial hiss and crash sparked the mental imagery of some gargantuan creature breathing heavily. (Mother Brain, perhaps?) The second time, especially with the 2001 quotes mixed in there and the white noise clearing and later returning, it felt like someone was slowly flipping through different radio stations that were all playing variations on the same theme, producing a creepily awesome feeling. Whether you intended any this or not, I was very impressed with the piece.

I REALLY enjoyed this. It boasts incredible power and pulsing orchestration that leaves you hanging on every single long note. The kind of music that moves you. Excellent work. It may have already been covered, but I wondered about what instrument carries the main melody. Certainly the vibrato sounds violin'ish, but the attack sounds almost more like a sax. I wasn't sure if this was layered instrumentation, clever filtering, or just the particular violin you used. It almost seems electronic, providing interesting contrast to the more traditional orchestral elements backing it up. Either way, it brings an exceptionally unique and almost otherworldly sound to the piece.

I figure that with pages and pages of review already, this doesn't need any more, but I couldn't help but comment. This is a fascinating "remix", if you want to call it that. It is just as original if not more so than Pillar of Salt, and I can hear similarity to it however simply in the sheer depth of sound created. I really enjoy the opening rhythm. Excellent work!

It's been said, but I figure repetition can't hurt... this is incredible. I wish it were longer. The section with the vocals reminded me of a particular track from Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which contained a similarly beautiful and floating female vocal segment.

Grr... I really feel irritated that this piece actually was accepted. I submitted this almost 4 or 5 months ago, but decided that I wasn't satisfied with how it sounded, since it is rather monotonous in overall rhythm. I thought I removed the file so that OCR wouldn't be able to get it... but apparently they did. I'm probably my worst critic on this piece. While I was aiming for a Stomp reference, I don't feel that I really actualized it well. The song is technically sound, but not really very catchy. I'd planned to completely revamp it before I submitted it, but I suppose I should just be happy it got accepted. Maybe I can resubmit it and replace it later. Oh well, it's a start. Thanks, djp.

I love this piece, it is so incredibly peaceful, and the sound completely floods your senses. I love this piece, it is probably nearly my favorite Zelda theme, even if it does end waaaay too soon. Did I mention that I love the piece??!!???

I haven't listened to this piece in months, but I can still remember it clearly. It is very catchy and memorable, the sure sign a great piece. The first time I heard it, I only thought it was nice... however, I found myself listening to it more than I originally thought I would, and slowly liking it better. By now, I must admit that it is classic.

Although I thought that the jingle bells medley for an ending didn't flow as well as the rest of the piece, I otherwise thought that this piece was magnificent. Besides the brilliant melody integration of both seasonal and game themes,(which has already been mentioned, I believe,) I love the way the trumpet and sax alternate in leading the melody. Extremely musical, and incredibly enjoyable to listen to over and over and over and over and... you get the idea... Great Job!