I just farted and it smelled so bad that my dog came over to sniff it, got a whiff, and just threw up from the smell and left the room.

Check that off the bucket list: fart so bad not even a dog can take it

I will find someone to play this with me.

Another thing to add to my list of fun things to do with my tie collection: learn cool knots
http://www.blacklapel.com/thecompass/ask-a-black-lapel-stylist-how-do-you-tie-a-trinity-knot/

...are pretty much related to the judging/file acceptance system, and Middie.

The issues with the judging system are simple. In the first place I've never liked the way files were judged by a select few, plus I HATE submission caps for obvious reasons. I accept that I can do little to change either of these but that's not stopping me from being annoyed every time the batch opens.

The other issue I have with this site is more pervasive: Middie, and the fact that the staff tolerates his incessant trolling for some reason.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a fairly chill guy, believe it or not. I can count the people on this site I've vehemently disagreed with on one hand:
-Kayla (2 or 3 times, I like to think we've worked out our differences at this point)
-AJ (1 or 2 times, honestly probably my fault for being too strident in the DF tournament threads)
-bmah (2 times, about SAMBISTA and Halcyon, which were entirely my fault no questions asked)
And yeah really that's about it, unless I'm forgetting something huge. Aside from Middie. (And to a MUCH lesser extent, Plan_B and krunky, but honestly I have no real problem with those two 99% of the time)

I was actually very excited when I received a 1-day ban about a month ago for "attempting to start drama" because I was hoping it was an omen of things to come; that people who post blatant drama-bait would actually be dealt with in the future. But no, too much to hope for I guess.

Of course I still need to explain why one person could bother me so much:
I'm a guy who really enjoys stepping. I put a lot of effort into my own files, and I put a lot of effort into evaluating and learning from others' files. Obviously receiving baseless hate from Middie directed at my own files annoys me a great deal, but it goes beyond that. To see one person constantly just spewing vitriol into otherwise civilized discussions of filemaking really takes the fun out of what I enjoy most about this site. It's -impossible- to have a constructive conversation about a new file in FFR without Middie making some wiseass remark (try it). His posts just make any discussion incredibly caustic.

I've tried everything to avoid the impact Middie has on my enjoyment of this site, but it's just impossible to completely escape-
Ignoring his posts is fine, but that does little to change the fact he frequently derails other people from rational discussions.
I've tried reporting his posts that contain rule-breaking baiting and trolling, and that kind of works. Occasionally they are modded or deleted but I'd say a good 80% are just ignored, not to mention the damage is usually already done.
And of course I have tried backseat modding him, which is really more contributing to the problem than solving it (but at least it feels good lmao)

Add the fact that Middie is posting more to the fact that people who I like are posting less, and you can see why I'm starting to get sick of the FFR forum atmosphere.

I'm going to still hang around, as one person cannot change the reasons I fundamentally enjoy this game and community. And I am going to try my best to finish the projects that I was working on, too:
-The file request thread I made... I let the thread die because I didn't want any more requests, but I do plan on finishing the requests that were already placed
-2+ packs worth of files I still need to release
-2+ tournaments worth of files that I need to somehow use or release (Delicious Tournament 2 and my Epic Music Tournament)
-Updating the thoughts on my files below (long overdue)
-Was writing a basic FFR file pattern guide to help some people with choosing flowing patterns; this may or may not be finished
-A number of pack and file ideas that will probably never come to fruition, such as a pack where I try to step in other people's styles, stepping Czerny's Op.821, and more.


As a side note, I went back to the corn avatar.
Cornface Pichu was getting old- and a little creepy!

{Rose} - My first FFR file and really my first release-ready file, to be honest. I had no idea what I was doing, maybe I got lucky that it turned out so well? This one seems to polarize people, they love it or they hate it. Me, I'm really proud of it despite its flaws. Of technical interest is copious amounts of copymirror, rudimentary use of pitch relevancy, and really, really BS 16ths in the beginning.

World of Dreams - I liked the song so I stepped it. It's unfortunately rather boring, but I've heard of it being used as practice for jump transitions. I don't regret it being in FFR but it's not a favorite.

Science Genius Girl - The opening wait annoys me to no end and the song is kinda weird. It's one I have no idea why I stepped it and I'm not too proud of it really.

Hardcore of the North - It's cool that it's the one token that most people actually bother to get, but its resemblance to the ITG chart is sorta embarrassing. I really did start with a blank slate and step it myself, but it seems that there's really only one way to step this song, lol

Tsugaru 180 New Version - One of my favorite songs and favorite files. It's a pad file at heart, so indexers and pad players get the most kick out of it. I really like it. 12th note patterns are so much fun!

Anubis - For a while this was one of the only files on FFR to actually have hittable jacks. I'm very happy with most of this file. The one part that goes from pitch relevant melody and degenerates into a 16th stream with jacks and 32nds in it is far less cool. I wish I could redo that part, but the rest is good.

Improvisation et Chien - Hilariously offsync but a cool song and one of the only songs of its type on FFR. I like it for its uniqueness, but from a file-making perspective it's pretty poor. If I had a chance to resync, I would, though the step placement and pitch-relevant patterns are perfect as far as I'm concerned. There was actually a bit of conflict over whether we had permission for this or not. Dog_E (Dissonance) gave blanket permission on a thread, but the thread was later locked and forgotten about. I submitted this, and he complained, saying he hadn't given permission. I had to dig through the locked threads for like half an hour to find where he gave permission, and in the end he just gave up pestering the admins about it. We still have blanket permission, I think :p

Let Me Be Your Pirate - Awesome song, decent steps for what the song offered me. It's not the best, but I have no regrets, really. I'm quite a fan of the song. This file was removed when DrugstoreCowboy had a falling-out with Synthlight. Though the terms of their little spat are still a bit of a mystery to me, I convinced Drugstore to restore permission for the file when I returned to the site in 2011. The terms were that he would give permission if I stepped a song for ThirdStyle... and he chose a BEAST of a song! I'm still stepping it, months later. But at least FFR has this file back.

That is Fair - The song had a ton of potential for nifty jacks and cool rolls to all the electronic sounds. I remember my v1 was awesome, but it was deemed too jacky for the old FFR build (curse you avemisses, curse youuuu!). This watered down version is actually quite lame, I really wish I could redo this! Strangely, this is also the file I play most when warming up (along with Brightone).

Video out A - Another vospi song, but I'm more proud of these steps than That is Fair. A bit overdone and sloppy in a few places but overall it's fun and it generally fits. I really like the song. I guess I would redo it given the chance. Both Video out A and That is Fair had some questions over permission. Vospi didn't want to have them used because they were just the right length and style for a DDR/ITG game, but he didn't communicate that well enough when initially giving his permission. So these files made it in, but now the permission is limited. I guess I got lucky!

Silence v2 - Far better than Arch's v1. A pity that so few find the token. It took a while to get those rhythms down, a lot of thanks go to Kit- for helping me nail them.

Jurs OP - I've been accused of stealing this file from Blurk a lot. I admit, I did use his syncing, which I guess is the hard part, but much like Hardcore of the North, I really did sit down with a blank slate and step if from scratch myself, but it just turned out similar. Sorry Blurk :x That said, it's a cool file. The whole thing flows very nicely. This is my first file to have really good pitch relevancy. World of Dreams showed hints of PR, and Improv et Chien was PR'd but there are some noticeable errors. This is the first FFR file I feel is really PR'd well.

That Tethnic Vibe - SUCH a good song that I felt I had to step it, but in hindsight there wasn't much potential for good steps unfortunately. The 32nds seem a bit BS in retrospect, but I feel no regrets because FFR does need more of this type of music. I was always looking for more of this style but there's just so little of it available for stepping. Re_Synthesis was working on another song for me, but after over a year of waiting and sending him occasional messages I gave up on him ever responding.

Brightone - Released specially for my birthday, at the time I was really proud of this one. It's not all that good but it flows really well which is why I was so excited by it at the time. In hindsight there's some BS arrows (the quiet middle part) and some missed potential, but hey, overall it's very fun. I remember Tass was such a bitch about one part; this file was basically when I started hating the review system.

HELLBEAT v2 - Better than v1. Took a while to get some of the rhythms in the drums right, a lot of thanks goes to Kit- for helping me! There's not much you can do with this song, but I feel like I've made a good file out of it. This has a very high rate of arrows per second, and it's not very hard to FC, so it's great for whoring points and credits, if that's your thing.

Roller Coaster Ride - At the time the trend was everyone fawning over stupid 16th stream files so I thought I'd make one too. It got released as a token and now nobody plays it, the end.

My When Clones I Am Out Many - Okay, what the hell was I thinking..? Terrible song choice in the first place, and my steps are just as confused as the song title. I would erase any trace of this from the site in a heartbeat.

Dazzling Soul - At the time I submitted this, I was certain it was my best file. I had asked Kit- to help me a lot with it, then she discovered Dazzling Destiny and started stepping it. We got into a friendly competition of sorts as to whose was better. When they were released, she won hands down (in retrospect, I can see why, hers is really good!) This song just doesn't have as much potential as Dazzling Destiny and I did a pretty bad job with the jumpstreams. A lot of people didn't like it, especially in the face of Dazzling Destiny, but a bunch of people seem to like it, too. Would I redo it? Probably, if I were allowed to. That said, it's by no means bad compared to some of the rest of the stuff on FFR.

Idol (Aniko is Pojinju Mix) - rofl 32nd rolls and Japanese lyrics. Generic as hell except for the rolls. There's also one totally BS green arrow I threw in there for variety (or something.) This was just practice for making mass-produced Rebirth-style sims to annoying Japanese songs, a form which I would perfect with my later masterpiece Kyuin.

EternuS - SUCH. A. GOOD. SONG. The steps are lame, but hey, there's not much else you can do with it. I released a version for SM which can be found on the database, but I dejacked it a bit for FFR and removed the crossovers. Remember this was still during the era of avemisses and indexers, and those were legitimate steps toward trying to make the file more popular. Mostly though, the steps are mostly an excuse to listen to the AMAZING SONG over and over and over... As a side note, the requirement to unlock this one is very cool. I'm glad Tass didn't screw that one up.

Divinity - So glad they put in the version with rolls. Apparently, the subscribers had a vote over whether to go with the one that's now in the game, or one of my toned-down and roll-less versions that Tass was favoring at the time. I think I had made four different versions of this file, not including the version I released to the simfile DB which has holds. In the end, this one turned out to be one of my better files. It's a ton of fun and everything is the way I want it. I still play it often.

Excite Bike - MEGA LOL. It's offsync, which is especially impressive considering the song length. The song is terrible, and yet it makes me all fuzzy inside to know this song tops the most played list day after day.

Forza Azzuri - This should have been a great file, but I don't think it is. Can't put my finger on it, but I guess it's not stepped enough for my tastes. I think I skimped too much, trying to make it newb friendly, when I really should have had more intense steps. I'm just not happy with it and would love the chance to redo it.

Destiny v2 - Better than the v1 dump but I not-so-secretly wish I could have gotten the version Shash played in his video onto FFR. The file itself is okay. About the best this song can give, but it's nothing to write home about. The song itself is pretty bland, too.

Piano Etude (Demon Fire) - Great song, sloppy steps. The jacks are really weirdly used, it's offsync as hell (holiday colored notes anyone?) and it's mostly just badly stepped. Would redo in a heartbeat. That said, it's surprisingly fun despite its obvious flaws, and I'm glad that it remains a good challenge even with the avemiss fix.

Endless Dream - 100% generic. I made this to be in the style of Rebirth and I think the results shows I was successful: nobody plays it.

Calm (Short 'n' Slow Mix) - Very chill. The steps are okay. I actually managed to get them completely offsync in some parts, but shhh... I had to argue with Pyroshock over AIM for a while about the song itself; I forced him to tone down the bass which originally just overpowered everything else in the song.

July - This file waited almost half a year to get into the game (I stepped it like the day after I stepped {Rose} and it just sat in the queue, waiting for the 4th of July to roll around) It's a good file, really fun and has interesting indexable pitch relevancy. I am proud of this one. It's odd how I seem to be more fond of my early works than my recent ones!

Party 4 U v3 - The only v3 on the site, that's cool I guess. File is good. Much better than v2, that's for sure. It feels a bit under-stepped, much like Forza Azzuri. I guess it's because these types of songs have so much energy, but the steps wind up comparatively easy.

Prison Break - What was I thinking? Terrible steps and not too good of a song choice either. This one also waited a long time in the queue, I think I stepped it right after {Rose} along with July and some others. Honestly, I'd like to remove this one from the game.

lolharp5000 - It's not stepped perfectly (I had a lot of trouble syncing because when I lowered the music rate it just became a jumble of noise) but I like it. The jack to trill to roll is very cool. Personally I find the song interesting, and in general I'm happy with this one. I suppose I could redo the sync given the chance, but it's not bad.

Otaku Speedvibe [Heavy] - Watered down and lame. Okay steps I guess but really not all that great. I much prefer the [Oni] version; after all, a crazy speedcore song deserves crazy speedcore steps!

Otaku Speedvibe [Oni] - Much better. Has some good fast stream and very fun rolls. I'm annoyed so few people get to play it. The file was actually a pain in the butt with avemisses (I played it on Shash's account once or twice), but I imagine it's gotten a lot more fun with the fix. I wish I could play it again.

Incognito v2 - Honestly why is v1 even in the game? Then again this file isn't all that much better, just much easier and more sensible. The song isn't particularly conducive to good steps, I don't think. Not too proud of this one. I'd like to have it removed from the game, but I'd only remove it if v1 was removed too!

Sail AwaY - Generic. It beat out a whole ton of competing files, which makes me wonder how many ways there actually is to step this simple song. I put 16th streams in the chorus and they don't quite feel right... That's because they're all supposed to be 16th minijacks! If I could have gotten my version with jacks past the review, I'd love this file a whole lot more.

Trisection - Lame and hugely under-stepped. Needs a v2 with 150bpm jumpjacks and 24th jumpstream a la Yesssss's file. I was hoping to appeal to the Final Fantasy lovers on this site, but I guess nobody even realized this was from an FF game. Oh well. Someone please do this song justice.

Kyuin - Honestly I have no idea what possessed me to make this. Trust me when I say it was a painful to step as it is to play. The steps are actually very good and quite fun if you turn off the speakers, but man the song choice... I'm also annoyed that so few people get to play this. If it were public, I think I'd enjoy the increased attention the file would get.

Hatten Carnival! v2 - Somewhat fun. I was disappointed with the utterly random patterns in v1, and at least this version corrects that issue well. I think I may have messed up some of the rhythms in the start of the file, if I had a chance I'd gladly go back and double check that part for errors.

Melonman's OP - I put zero effort into this and I'm sure it shows. Someone else's file should have beaten mine out, I really don't know why mine was chosen. Also, the requirement to unlock it is quite stupid, but as far as I am concerned it's a blessing so few people have to deal with the poor steps.

Midnight Dragon - Semi copied from Patashu's file, but it's all good because I had to FFRize it and that's basically like making a new file. I find this to be one of my better files. There's a few patterns I'd change and a few BS colored notes in the piano runs that don't belong, but hey. The whole thing is really fun overall and as far as the song itself goes it's one of my favorite in the whole game. Another one where it's a pity so few people have the credits to unlock it.

Infernoplex - Another 16ths at 180bpm file. Very well stepped and fun, but a tad too generic to be anything noteworthy. I remember when I submitted it Shash was raving about how good it was, but people hardly even noticed when it was put into the game. Really the steps are quite nicely done but it's just too easy to pass this file by.

Ice Candy Pop - Pitch relevancy plastered all over a lame song choice. I like the song itself, but it really didn't need to be stepped. The steps are mediocre at best, because the song really didn't lend itself to pitch relevant stepping. Overall this whole thing feels like a mistake, and I'd like the chance to redo it or to remove it totally.

Ninja Turtles Theme - Uhhh w/e. No seriously, this song sucks and the file isn't much better.

Dragon's Bane - Purely technical stepping makes the difficulty fluctuate a lot within the file, but it's good. I find it fun, especially the climax :) The song is really cool, again, I love 12th based rhythms. Plus it all flows fairly well.

Legendary Etude - More climax theory at work! The beginning is boring, and I'm unhappy with the way the 48th grace notes fit in with the 16th triplet patterns at the end. But all in all this is one of my better files, which is odd because I really didn't put any thought into it when I was making it. The climax may be a bit too BS compared to the rest of the file, I guess I might choose to tone it down if I were given the chance.

Reality - Best Reality file out there? Getting the jumps to go with the "vocals" was a bit of a crapshoot but it felt right. The 16ths couldn't possibly flow better, they're some of the best stream patterns I've done (if that counts for anything). Perhaps the only thing this suffers from is being too easy! I'm really proud of this one despite not living up to how finger-grindingly hard I wanted it to be.

M.A.M.A. - The invigorating new idea behind these steps spices up what ranks among my worst song choices. I remember having a tough time convincing the judges to let this one in, Tass loved it but Jimerax hated it. Eventually I think Tass just went ahead and added it, because I'm not sure if Jimerax ever relented trying to prevent it. It turned out to be harder than I imagined, though overall the file is just fun for the novelty factor, plus trying out totally different key setups just for this song.

Metal Gear Solid Piano Remix - Something for the kiddies. Pitch relevant, too, I guess. There's not really much to say about this one.

Power - The easiest song on FFR. I liked the song and I found that the background chords would make for a fun, super easy file. Of course I could have made harder steps, but I like it this way.

Canon in WHEE - I stepped this on a whim. Obviously it had more potential, but I just wanted a nice easy little Canon cover for FFR to enjoy. I'm rather disappointed it's a Purchase song, now by the time the nubs have enough credits many have moved on from this difficulty.

Johto Wild Pokemon Battle Remix - I actually came across MasterJace's remixes on youtube while looking for a remix of the R/B/Y bicycle theme. I asked for permission, and he responded promptly. Pretty much the next day I submitted this fun, easy file, and that was that. Similar to Canon, it's unfortunate that this is a Purchase song. Oh well. This too has more potential, especially in the places I stepped with gallops. There's a lot of sounds in those parts, and sometimes it was hard to pick just a few to keep the difficulty down.

Token Whore - So, dj tepples made this song like in 2003, before FFR tokens were a figment of anyone's imagination. Some time late 2006, after I stepped {Rose}, I was just randomly browsing tepples's site and came across this song. For some reason, something possessed me to download it. Skip to late 2007, when Tokens were the new thing, having just come out. I heard this song in iTunes and was like, WOW, how hilarious of a coincidence! I submitted this file (as it is in the game now), and it was rejected, probably because of the lack of variation in the steps. I just kinda put the file in my "junk files" folder. Now, skip to 2008. I was just cleaning out my junk files folder when I came across this. I submitted it to the easy files batch unaltered, expecting it to be rejected again. Tass took an interest in it, because after a year of Tokens there really were some true Token Whores on the site! Shash and I thought up of all sorts of outlandish requirements: my personal favorite was to FC all of the Rock genre, in ascending difficulty order, without missing once. Then at the end, you have to win one gambling bet! The req that Tass wound up is utterly generic and really not that cool, so I'm disappointed about that. But that is the story of the Token Whore file, in its entirety.

Tower - Around this time I started putting more effort into making some easy songs. A lot of players tend to forget how limited the song choice is at the bottom - we were all beginners once! Many of the easy songs focused mostly on single steps so I made this mostly jumps to help the newcomers out. Plus it's AKHT! Damn good music so I had to find a way to get it in the game just on principle.

300 This is Sparta EXTENDED Mix - Lots of potential in this song with the vocal clips and different layers of sound. Yet my file turned out to mostly consist of repeats of the same rhythm. A ton of people submitted files for this song, I guess it's good that this file is in the game because I certainly wouldn't want something WORSE than this to have been accepted instead. Really not that good of a file though, I would redo it or remove it if I could.

Fei Longer - I like jackhammers. At the time, all of the reviewers did not. Of course this motivated me even more to try to get a song full of jacks into FFR. This was one of the songs where I heard it for the first time and I could just see the steps in my head. It's a great song with great beats (in places it reminds me of "We Interrupt This Program" by Coburn) and I did it justice. The steps to the percussion at the start are fun, and the jack section turned out to have enough variation to also be great. Basically everything about this is the way I wanted it, it's one of my best files. Bonus points for pointless green arrows to the "WA-TA!"

A - I had made a pad file for this a long time ago. Then we got permission and I said to myself, why not, let's submit this and troll the hell out of people who were hoping for the more well known "A" by DJ Amuro. Generic song, generic file, but the trills are enjoyable.

NES-Style Eye of the Tiger - Cute little song. I stepped it with pitch relevance for extra Stepmania Professor points. It used to be near the top of the daily most played list all the time, but I guess it's lost its popularity over the years.

PianoCore - Very nice song and I love my steps. Good pitch relevance, fun rolls and trills and interesting rhythms. I argued a bit with Shash over the bass drum rolls in the quiet part, he kept hearing 24ths where they were clearly just 16ths. I think I wound up just putting the 24th roll in where he wanted after the 12th roll just to make him shut up about it. Everything else is exactly how I wanted it and this is one of my favorite of my files.

Battle Squadron Menu (Juno Reaktor Mix) - Repetitive song, repetitive steps. I think this was one of my earlier ones that sat around in my "to be submitted" folder for a long time, then sat around in the queue for a long time, and by the time it got released it was not as good as I thought it was when I made it. Honestly though that might not be the case because this file is so forgettable I almost don't remember stepping it. But apparently I did. Yeah.

Big Blue v2 - Collab with Shashakiro. My only file released in 2010 heh. Basically the thinking was that JX's Big Blue file was horribly overstepped and had some very uncomfortable patterns, so Shash and I wanted to make an easier version. We also halved the BPM so that the rhythms were a little more obvious from the colors. Overall, a very nice file. Possibly a little underlayered compared to how it ought to be (DukAmok's old SM file for this song is basically the gold standard as far as I am concerned) but we had to differentiate it a lot from the existing chart on FFR.

St. Scarhand - This song is the main reason I wanted to update this post. It has a lot of history. It started, of course, with Zagh's amazing Stepmania file, which introduced me to the song. When I realized FFR had gotten permission for this I tried to keep it secret because I knew Zagh's file was too intense to be accepted on FFR and I really wanted to step this myself. (AKIMO is like the side-project of the alias of one member of another band we had gotten blanket permission from or something convoluted like that - I asked the higher-ups in FFR and they confirmed we could use AKIMO songs too) I started with a clean slate and went through making perfectly pitch relevant streams to every section - I'm really proud of the streams and I actually feel they flow better than Zagh's. Then I added the necessary jumps and other bells and whistles that make a generic PR'd stream into a fun file. Then, life happened and I quit making files for FFR. I threw most of my unfinished files up on the forums, and dag12 jumped on the chance to finish this song. I had been helping him for a while with his files by providing feedback and stuff (I think he kind of idolized me a little, which is weird) and he was a really good stepper by that point so I was glad the project wound up in good hands.
Fast forward a few years and I get contacted on my various accounts across the interwebs (such as on Kongregate) by random people telling me that not only is FFR up and running again, but my St.Scarhand file finally got put in the game. Awesome! I went back to FFR but... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it was made into a token! Not only that, but a really BS skill token that requires playing, of all things, Reality to unlock, and only like 2 dozen people on the site will ever get the chance to play my file. Listen here FFR people: FUCK TOKENS. I want my files to be available for everyone to enjoy. I'm kinda pissed that this file is so exclusive but hey, what are you gonna do...
On the topic of the file itself: I really like some of the things dag12 did with the file and there are other parts I'm not so crazy about. First and foremost, he put hands in it. On principle I object to this because none of my previous files have had hands and I don't really like them, especially since some older keyboards have issues registering 3 keys pressed simultaneously and thus can't handle them. However, I do feel like the hands add some needed intensity to specific chords in the song that mere jumps can't provide, so I'm torn over whether I like the hands or not. Secondly, he added some more jumps (and hands) to the pitch relevant 16th streams, mostly coinciding with cymbal hits and big chords. Originally I had the jumpstream sections, then the pitch relevant 16th runs without jumps because the pitch relevance is so fun. The jumps take away part of this aesthetic. They do help even the difficulty out over the file, because unadorned 16ths are pretty easy, but that's not as important to me because I feel the fun factor suffers a bit. Lest it sound like I'm just complaining, dag12 added some more jumps in other places which I do feel were tastefully done, especially the quarter note jumps on the piano part which really do a lot better being highlighted like that.
In summary? My opinion doesn't really matter because basically nobody will get to play this file anyway. Seriously, fuck tokens.

Clash on the Big Bridge - FFR had permission from The Black Mages for a LONG time, but despite how obviously popular the band is, nobody ever stepped one of their songs. This is largely due to the terms of the permission: you can't cut their songs. At a hair under 4 minutes this is one of the shortest Black Mages songs, so that explains a lot. The file is quite fun overall, it's a good pitch relevant easy file with lots of interesting rhythms and patterns. The sync is not perfect and obviously many sounds are ignored, but I was trying to keep the difficulty mostly even. Originally added as a 5, I have a strong feeling this will eventually be bumped up to a 6 in difficulty. The length, the speed of some of the streams in the solos, and the ragebait jumpjacks at the end are all quite a lot for that low of a rating.

Night Walker - I originally stepped this way back around the beginning of 2008. It sat around without being submitted for a long time, and when I returned to the site it only took changing a handful of patterns and the addition of two arrows to get this file up to a 2011 standard. The streams are not perfectly synced but that is okay, as they flow excellently. Overall this is one of my favorite of my own files, and I'm glad it was used in the 6th Official Tournament.

CmR - Another one stepped in 2008 that I submitted when I returned to the site. This one took a lot more fixing up than Night Walker, as the PR had a lot of issues. When I submitted my fixes for this file, JX said they still weren't enough and made some sync changes of his own (nearly all the rainbow color arrows were his sync, not mine). Additionally, he never sent the file back for me to review. If he had, I would have picked up on the quite clearly missing gallops. These missing arrows were pointed out to me by YoshL almost immediately after the file was released and I'm a little embarrassed that the communication mix-up caused something that sloppy to get into the game, but what's done is done. It's still a very fun file and a nice relaxing song.

FREEDOM DiVE - Yet another file that was stepped in late 2008. I submitted this for the hard songs batch and it was the only one of my three submissions to be accepted. It didn't get particularly amazing reviews from the judges, but it got an excellent reception when it was released. I was very annoyed that this file was made into a token... and I was ESPECIALLY annoyed that it was made into an event token. FFR has a history of not following through with things, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if there was never an event again where this token was offered... that's just how it works I guess. The file itself is excellent. I put a lot of work into making the JS patterns flow well, and despite being one of the highest NPS files in the game it all feels quite smooth. Another fun file ruined by the token system, but I've honestly just come to expect that at this point.

Nedeleg Laouen! - FFR needed a Christmas themed song for the FFRmas event, so I stepped this. It's a fun file with lots of syncopated offbeat rhythms. Not much to say, it turned out fun. The name means "Happy Christmas!" in Breton, btw.

Rudi the Techno Pioneer - This song was shown to me by bluguerilla way back in 2008 (again) and I had been working on it on and off for years. I finally finished it early in December, and it fit extremely well with the FFRmas event. I asked JX to add it as part of the event and he agreed to allow the file to bypass the batch, which was extremely cool of him. Sadly, the file did not turn out as I intended. The main issue is that the 64th burst was supposed to be jumptrillable, but instead it converted as 1 [23] [14] [23] 4 which is just a fucking awful pattern. Additionally, once again one of my hard files got tokened, though this time the requirement was a nice, sensible one. And besides, considering the circumstances by which it was added I really have no right to complain about that.

Rave7 - Oh Rave7, my baby. Where to start... well, this is, once again, a song shown to me by bluguerilla in late 2008. This was around the time when Tasselfoot was indiscriminately shitting files such as RATO into the game because he could, so I was interested in the chance to get a retarded hard file of my own into FFR. I originally stepped this with 32nds in the streams (400 bpm 16ths) which was pretty utterly stupid to play (remember back then that 300 bpm 16ths were considered pretty extreme.)
Then I quit FFR and informally released this file for SM.
Fast forward to 2011, and 400 bpm 16ths are now in the realm of possibility for the best players, and as a result file is sort of making the rounds in SM as a good scoring file. After learning how to use DDReam, I decided that this file had a lot of potential, so I cleaned up the sync significantly. I submitted a version with 300 bpm streams to the DF custom tournament, but it was ruled by AJ and Kayla to be too extreme. I submitted that version to the FFR hard songs batch, and once again it was ruled too extreme (one wonders what the judges would have said about the 400 bpm stream version heh). Around this time I restepped it AGAIN from the ground up, and made 3 new charts for it- one with the original streams, the updated sync, but all-new layering in the breakcore section, one with 300 bpm streams and the new layering, and a much easier (VC by FFR standards) version with holds meant for SM. These three charts were accepted into the FFR 2011 Community Winter Pack, and I have to thank Gundam-Dude for his wisdom in not instinctively spazzing at the sight of 400 bpm streams.
A few weeks after getting the file accepted for that SM pack, the 6th Official Tournament was having a bit of a crisis. Specifically, D6 was having a tiebreaker in the 7th round, and there wasn't really anything suitable in the queue to use as a tiebreaker. I jumped on this chance to see if I could get a hard file into FFR, and miraculously after a few changes to the chart I had submitted to the Hard Songs Batch, AJ, Kayla and bmah agreed that Rave7 could go in FFR. After a little testing, it was determined to be harder than the originally planned round 8 file do i smile? and as such, would be used as the final round chart with do i smile? being moved to become the tiebreaker. After learning that Rave7 would go in, and as a PUBLIC FILE (wtf, hi19 getting a hard file into FFR without it becoming a token?) that COMPLETELY made up for the fact I had just been eliminated from D4 of the tournament. Needless to say, I was pretty happy that night.
On a related note, it was AAA'd less than a week after it was added... well okay, blackflagged, considering Dossar is more a machine than a player.
And yeah, that's the story of Rave7. I'm done with this chart now but it's always going to be as much of a part of my "stepman history" as my classic SM Destiny file, just because of how much I've done with this song.