ReMix:Octopath Traveler II "The Fountain of Doubt" 5:06

We've got a fork in the road from Pixel Mixers' new album, Octopath Traveler II: Crossed Paths (BUY IT NAOW)! Two great ReMixes will be featured, but which direction do you take? First on the path is tibonev's tribute to Yasunori Nishiki & Octopath 2 with dark, electronic overtones:

"A bit of changing time signatures, heavy-ish guitars, and loads of synths.

Instead of going with the most obvious reference, which was John Carpenter's Halloween theme, I decided to sprinkle in some Rush and a bit of Mitch Murder in it.

I used the chord progressions from the source, but added a modified version of the chords. For the bridge, the main melody is intact, but I added lots of variations, pads, and etc.

And I gotta say, I really like that whistling synth sound I got for the outro. :)"

Beyond transforming the source from moody to something more sinister, like you're being hunted, tibone's effective time signature change-ups caught the ear of judge prophetik music:

"i think this a pretty neat idea. i like the concept of switching time signatures in a song where the original has a clock ticking, and i think the execution overall sounds solid. nice work."

Chimpazilla was won over in much the same way with tibone's time sig hijinx, but the sonic choices obviously didn't escape her notice either:

"What an unique way to re-imagine this source. I love the 6/4 time signature throughout most of it, ending in a lovely 3/4 arpeggio. [...] Interesting [...] instruments, setting a very purposeful creepy mood."

Spooky-ooky's definitely the name of the game with some unsettling sound design and pulsating bass backing going on, and even judge Gario got bit of Lena Raine feeling from tibone's synths:

"Octopath love! Some great music in that OST, so it's nice to see it getting attention in here. [...] Most of the instruments chosen create a nice, ethereal blend with that clean guitar and those synths that remind me of Celeste, and that opening section with the panning phased pads is brilliant. [...] The production values are pretty good in this one overall, with a nice soundscape to boot."

The synergy genuinely came through with tibone's sound choices; solid performances & body to the instrumentation did a nice job of setting a grim scene. :-) I loved the echo of the guitar strums in particular, and the whistling synth was clutch as well both for the intro at :09 and for our close at 4:19. There's tons of ways the ReMixer can take things to an even scarier and more atmospheric level, should he go this route in the future! If you're scared of being chased down by dark forces and doubt your ability to hang on, maybe tibonev's too much for you, we get it. :-) Will you take solace from the other choice of our fork in the Octopath road?