Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars "Remachination" 3:46

There are certain VGM themes with odd time signatures that artists challenge themselves to accomodate in their arrangements, and Yoko Shimomura's "Weapons Factory" is right in the picture alongside Isao Abe's theme for Sagat. I couldn't image working in 6/8 OR 7/8, but combining them like Yoko did in Super Mario RPG seems crazy. Then again, DDRKirby's point-and-click desktop musician workflow's so strong, he makes the impossible possible (including his super-cute upcoming game Rhythm Quest)!. Now, DDRKirby(ISQ) is clangin' and bangin' in Smithy's factory to, as he explains, give the people what they want:

"This is a remix of Super Mario RPG's "Weapons Factory" theme requested by Agnes Stelmach through my Patreon -- Agnes told me in their request that this is one of their favorite songs in the soundtrack.

My normal approach to rearrangements is to look at what basic elements of the source material (time signature, tempo, feel) I can drastically change from the get-go to differentiate my take on it from the original. Agnes, however, explicitly put me up to the challenge of keeping the original 13/8 time signature from this track, so I knew that was going to be staying constant.

The main idea I had for this one was to up the tempo and see if the two main riffs in the source track would work when overlaid on top of some DnB-style drum patterns. After some drum sequencing, I found that the 13/8 structure didn't actually feel too awkward in that context, so I ran ahead with the idea. Along the way, I decided to lean into a sort of "liquid drum and bass" feel, with the tight drum sounds contrasting against synth elements with really lush reverb.

The original source track only has two real melodic motifs and doesn't have any sort of strong chordal progression, so it was a bit of a challenge to find ways to present the source in different ways. I tried my best to change up the rhythms here and there as well as change up the soundscape to provide some variety. The penultimate section of the song features some soloing work where I finally take a little more melodic liberty (while keeping some nods toward the source riffs). That section also includes a cameo appearance of the guzheng sample library I used in my last remix. Enjoy!"

Nice and apropos to hear some industrial SFX at the beginning. Cool idea slowing down the melody at :40 while retaining the speedy version underneath for a nice contrast. Very interesting approach having those concurrent instances of the theme at different tempos, which was also appreciated by judge prophetik music, among so many other things:

"super liquid feel once the beat comes in. agree with larry that the two representations of the melodic material simultaneously is a neat idea. 1:10's a great hit as well and feels really good. i also appreciate that you play with time constantly and mix up how you're handling the bars - often people working in mixed meter stick with a specific 2 and 3 beat combination per bar, and it sounds like you're mixing that up a lot which keeps the ear guessing.

there's a drum break at 1:31 and then 1:51's a true break. well timed since it's been very frenetic until this point. the voice samples are a great way to signal the break here too, and then we're back in the sauce at 2:10 with a classic ddrkirby lead. i really liked the subtle click on the attack of this lead. [...]

after this we get into the outro action...or do we? there's a fun new vibe that's hats-driven at 3:11 for a bit, and then we're actually done.

this is fantastic as expected. timmie brings the heat with this one, and the arrangement is just as good as the production. excellent work."

Loved the Mega Man-esque feel wih the drum break section at 1:30 as well, which was a brief shot until going back to the previous treatment of the theme (with new instrumentation) at 1:50. Man, this is all frenetic but cool, and the sampled guzheng from Impact Soundworks sounded good (of courrrrrse!). Really liked the tone of the slower version of the source at 3:11, with everything sounding carefully chosen throughout. It had been a while hearing DDRKirby(ISQ)'s material for then-judge Flexstyle, who quickly assessed that DDRKirby's LV & HP had both gone through the roof since their last encounter:

"Hell yes. This has all the signature elements: clean mix, chippy drums, smooth backing padscape, a chip-solo. TBH it's been a while since I've heard Timmie's stuff and this feels like a big level up from last time in terms of clarity and execution, which really is saying something, since there wasn't much to nitpick to begin with! Lovely arrangement, killer instrumentation, yep, nothing to stop this one!"

Seeing as I trust in Timmie as the truth and the way, I was here to rubber stamp this, just like proph and Flex! DDRKirby's constant interplay of two versions of the source melody playing is the secret sauce here in terms of being a rendition that uniquely stands out from any other version of "Weapons Factory" before it. VERY fun stuff and an impressive transformation of a Shimomura special!