1.) SET 2
a.) ilikexd
b.) Silvuh
c.) TC_Halogen
d.) Wayward Vagabond
2.) SET 4
a.) DossarLX ODI
b.) hi19hi19
c.) Silvuh
d.) TC_Halogen
SET 2
=== JUDGE: ilikexd ===
[6.5/10] [Resubmission] Synchronized Hearts {Colony 5} (hi19hi19)
-56.4s The 2nd syllable of 'fallen' sounds like it falls closer to the 8th before.
-207s Pr and relative pr on the ending here can be much better using changing patterns.
-Quite a repetitive song with little to accent; the long streams focus on an element that isn't prominent and their sheer length with arbitrary patterning isn't a very enjoyable combination. It's clear there is an attempt at a "retro" style here, and perhaps it'd be better if the song and chart were shorter.
[8.5/10] [Resubmission] Trobbel {Animal Alpha} (Silvuh)
-There are a lot of colored parts such as 16th offsetted 24th bursts being yellow/cyan colored, among other things that would have a more common notation if the bpm was either doubled or temporarily offsetted, but is okay as is.
-Everything is stepped accurately and chart is quite enjoyable. The main issue before was all the yellow notes.
[8/10] Champion's Horizon {WillRock} (hi19hi19)
-16.209s Note for synth here
-25.584s Repeating guitar note
-27.834s Guitar note
-29.584s Repeating guitar note
-35.709s Noticeable pitch bend that can be stepped
-78.209s Synth note
-82.084s All the other crashes up to here had hands (outside of 24th streams).
-102.834s These triplets aren't exactly on 16ths; the 2nd one is slightly offsync and the 3rd one is very offsync.
-204.209s, 208.209s, etc. Kick drum (although omittable to contrast with the guitar)
-248.084s Tempo can be halved here to mark the change in intensity; there is also the possibility of doubling/halving other parts of the chart during very high and low intensity parts.
-Some minor errors to be addressed, but accurate as a whole. Very long song that uses mostly the same elements throughout, but there are enough different melodies and rhythms to offset that.
[8/10] Champions (feat. Harry Brooks Jnr) {Astronaut} [bmah]
-23.12s I don't hear a grace note in the piano itself. The vocal is slightly offset from the piano, but that happens many other times such as 15.620s and is okay to consistently simplify with just a jump.
-25s The repeating pattern sets have very good pr and relative pr to each other.
-The climax at 59s is of a significantly higher difficulty than everything else and there are a lot of ways to step it without such a significant elevation in difficulty. Since the chart is fairly short I don't think it significantly effects how enjoyable it is, but it is still worth noting.
-As a whole there is very good PR and nice layering in the chart.
[3/10] Fibonacci Sequence {Dr. Steel} (Coolgamer)
-Missing two seconds of silence
-Offset is early by about .085
-There is no pr in places where it can easily be included, such as in the intro; for example the minijack at the start doesn't accent anything.
-12.793s, 15.321s These 16ths are ghost notes.
-22s The patterns are arbitrary here, but they are also often biased to one side over extended periods, such as here without any apparent reason to exclude a column. This happens a lot throughout the chart.
-The minijacks in the streams don't follow anything.
-53.385s This jump doesn't go to anything. There are a lot of jumps that don't correspond to anything or follow anything consistently.
-68.232s There are two different repeating sounds for the first 2 notes and last 3 notes of this jack.
[5/10] Fractions {Dangerkids} (VisD)
-The jack usage at the start is hard to follow. It seems to go to repeating kick drums but sometimes leads into a jump for snares, and other times it breaks before a jump.
-17.902s Missing note for vocal
-23.510s Ambiguous jump
-43.823s I can't figure out what these 3-note anchors follow. Also sometimes a coinciding kick drum and vocal make a jump and sometimes it doesn't.
-59.239s These anchors seem to go to the background guitar, but they start early.
-67.573s This is confusing because the guitar is playing here but there's no note, presumably because there is no kick drum, but the anchors seemed to go to the guitar instead. If they don't, the layering is way too ambiguous.
-82.989s Adding the 16th triplets for the synth is good, but there are now a plethora of different things making anchors, so this doesn't even serve to accent the new sound very well. It would probably be better just as unanchored triplets.
130.281s Why is this not a jump with a vocal? At this point the layering is way too confusing to attempt trying to figure out.
147.364s The long anchoring here is kind of ridiculous.
[7/10] KXLU 1 {Lauren Bousfield} (DossarLX ODI)
-3.820s, 4.638s, 5.456s, etc. The pitch of this piano chord changes each time so there's room to change from [23] jumps. As it is there's a group of [23] jumps then [24] jumps, etc, but it'd be better to consistently cycle through instead.
-The 16th sounds are hard to distinguish individually very well, but as far as I can tell: 33.888s, 36.070s, 40.343s, 40.979s are ghost notes, and 35.934s, 42.479s are missing notes. Past here check for missing/ghost notes; they seem to be the same sounds.
65.797s Ghost note
90.956s Given the difficulty of the rest of the chart, there should be no problem difficulty-wise having this as a continual jack at the end since it's not even 225 bpm.
[8.5/10] Listen (Houkago Tea Time remix) {Stone McKnuckle} (DarkZtar)
-62s This 24th pattern is quite unforgiving at this speed, and the drum notes are hard to hear, so I think it'd be better to make this easier.
-The solos are stepped quite well.
-The very last 4 note drumroll should be 24ths, not 16ths.
-The pr, layering, and patterning in general are all very good.
[6/10] Miss Jackson {Panic! At The Disco} (Xiz)
-12.577s 32nd drum note
-Layering the very faint hihat in the start makes for a lot more jumps than there needs to be and makes it a bit less apparent what each jump is going to. There should be jumps at 13.217s, 13.949s, 19.071s, and 24.193s given the other jumps.
-25.930s, 28.857s Ghost note
-31.784s Ghost note
-40.290s Should be a jump.
-43.491s Ghost note
-85.016s, 90.869s, etc. These hihats are continual in this entire section but only apparently stepped here. I think it's better ignored as it is in the chart. But this is a more intense section of the music than places like the beginning where the faint hihat was layered the entire time.
-96.906s, 102.760s Ghost note
[8/10] Noetic {Docmo} (Silvuh)
-49.457s, 76.5s, 90.021s It would be nice if these sounds had some sort of accent given how much they stand out.
-Nothing to point out besides that. Chart is quite simplistic but fine. There is good pr for the synth.
[5/10] Paper Wings {Rise Against} (Xiz)
-Offset is early by .040
-31.320s This is just a 4th.
-55.324s Missing note
-56.748, 67.548s No vocal here, just one syllable
-108.614s, 111.014s No guitar note here
-121.964s Just a single note
-126.314s, 137.114s No vocal here, just one syllable
-143.564s Three snares in a row starts here, and the 8th should have a jump.
-145.514s, 155.114s, 156.314s Not a jump
-The ending jumpstream has tons of ghost notes; there's nothing that's clearly continuous 16ths until the 8th jumps.
-It may be better to have the chart at 200 bpm rather than 100 bpm given how energetic it is, and use halved bpms for calmer sections like 75s and 106s
[8/10] s.s.s.s {hyi} (Gradiant)
-It's curious that the streams are stepped with all rolls and spins. It seems somewhat arbitrary in lieu of more regular stream patterns, but isn't bad.
-The pr is good where applicable, and the layering is all understandable.
[7.5/10] Shiratsuyu {mo_no_chrome} (DarkZtar)
-113.995s 32nds, not 24ths
-117.353s Missing note
-118.137s Transition into this minijack section is really hard with this one-handed trill on the same hand.
Interesting layering, it mostly deals with the same elements and cycles through them, although it gets ambiguous and hard to figure out in many places ending before the stream.
[7/10] Stomp The Bats {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
-29.767s Missing 12ths
-36.173s 12ths
-44.610s Missing 12ths. The 12ths before were stepped with jacks to the repeating notes, but the jack is missing here.
-76.331s Missing note
-89.573s Missing 12ths
-152.855s Backwards pr
-The background bass synth is acknowledged throughout with 8ths and some 12ths, but there are lots of 16ths that are omitted: 16.837s, 18.712s, and many others.
-It's hard to follow a lot of the minijacks to vocals. For example 81.604s the first syllable of 'better' here really stands out yet forms a long jack.
[3/10] Under The Pale Moon {Alias Conrad Coldwood} (James May)
-14.322s, 16.721s - 200 bpm cameljack is pretty ridiculous.
-Song is incredibly repetitive and boring. Steps repeat and layer more and more until it becomes hard to understand.
-There are a lot of ghost notes and notes that don't seem to make sense. 66.897s these 32nds don't go to anything. Stuff like 69.221s doesn't make sense when playing through.
[!/10] What the #&%$ {Azul} (incubusrul3d1984)
-Chart has multiple holds. Please read the submission rules.
[8.5/10] Wood Man (Megaman 2) {Shnabubula} (hi19hi19)
-27.411s Missing note
-52.495s, 53.995s Piano note
-139.120s Piano note
-178.217s Missing piano note
-214.995s Given the extreme intensity of the last piano chords here, hands could be used, and even a quad. Jumps feel quite underwhelming.
-Very well done in pr, layering, accenting.
=== JUDGE: Silvuh ===
[7.5/10] [Resubmission] Synchronized Hearts {Colony 5} (hi19hi19)
// Most of the specific things mentioned were fixed, but you weren't convinced to change the structure at all. It still feels odd to give a high rating to something with long sections of steps that feel arbitrary. The intent makes it acceptable.
56.41s: I know I suggested that, for 56.20s to go to the vocal, it should be earlier, but the 3/16th jump ... Even though you aren't stepping the percussion, it's odd to have that 16th jump right before a clap. A single would play better, anywhere on or between the 8th before and that 16th.
[PASS] [Resubmission] Trobbel {Animal Alpha} (Silvuh)
[8.5/10] Champion's Horizon {WillRock} (hi19hi19)
// Structure and PR are good, just a few little suggestions.
23.83s: This percussion hit is lower in pitch than the rest, so it could be [12].
25.58, 29.58s: There are some pretty distinct echoes here you could step.
44.33, 49.33s: No melody notes on these 8ths, so they should just be singles. Unlayering 49.33 would break up all those 8th jumps, which would be helpful regardless. (You didn't jump 44.33's corresponding note at 122.33s)
78.83, 79.33s: Not sure what makes one a jump and the other not. They both have the guitar on them and the same percussion sounds.
101.83s: Same as 23.83s.
126.83s: Could be unlayered because it doesn't have a main synth note on it.
167.33s: Not hearing a minijack in the main guitar here, and a note is missing to it a 167.45s.
262.08s: File could end here.
[7.5/10] Champions (feat. Harry Brooks Jnr) {Astronaut} [bmah]
// Some of the additive layering is a bit odd, and the structure is pretty simple, but it works.
16.55s: Not sure what sound is layered here that makes it a jump. I hear a click, but that plus the vocal isn't jumpworthy.
23.15s: Not really hearing a grace note here at 1.0x.
23.90, 24.21s: This first 12th feels like it goes to "vup", which is fine. "Now" is on the 8th, not another 12th. But there is another instrument that has 16ths here, so the second 12th could be a 16th.
42.22s: 16th here rather than the early 48th for the vocal rhythm. The rhythm isn't totally quantized, so it's odd to have one offbeat note that isn't accurate anyway.
69.99-96.24s: So with the additive layering you're doing here, shouldn't every kick + snare + melody + crash (69.99+4m) be a quad? kick + snare + melody being hands takes away from the crashes when they're also just hands.
77.49-81.24s: You have the same layering here as 69.99-73.74s even though this section has some new instrumentation. Try stepping the echoes at 78.66, 80.65, and 81.01s to differentiate the two sections.
95.65s: There's an echo here you can step.
[3/10] Fibonacci Sequence {Dr. Steel} (Coolgamer)
#OFFSET:-0.090;
// Some of the spare layering makes sense for an easy file, but there should be a better balance. Also, PR is non-existant.
Pitch relevancy is signifying the contour of the melody in the stepfile. Higher pitches on the right, low pitches on the left. The way you start with 4321432 makes it look like the melody is descending. But this melody is mostly alternating. In 1.03-2.93s and repeats, the each pitch on an 8th is higher than each pitch on a 4th. For the 16ths, the melody ascends for three notes, so 234 would be accurate, but 322 and 212 are not. Arrows shouldn't repeat when the pitch of the melody (or percussion sound or whatever) doesn't repeat (it's unavoidable when there's a lot of layering, but it's just singles here.)
10.19s: Not really loud enough to be a jump compared to 10.83, 11.46s etc.
12.88, 15.41s: These 16ths don't feel like they go to anything.
19.99-20.30s: Example of where the arrows should repeat (the 8th should be anchored to the following jump), because the vocal/accordion melody play the same pitch.
20.93s: You seem to be ignoring the percussion in this section, evidence being all the breaks not stepped, but there are some percussion notes hidden in the steps to the vocals that you have stepped. It is a bit odd having this obvious rhythmic sound going unstepped, but if just the vocals are stepped consistently, then it should be okay for an easy file. Most of the minijacks feel incorrect because the pitches aren't repeating. Yeah, the vocal melody is a bit tough to hear because of how creaky it is, but it's possible. Like, 32.94-33.41s, "takin' takin'" is the same word repeated at the same pitches, so that could be a minitrill, like 4242.
Non-vocal notes to remove: 27.57, 28.04, 36.10; Missing vocal note to add: 36.25. Also, 25.67, 25.83s sound like vocal notes although they aren't words, so they could be stepped.
// Just gonna do little specific comments from here on, because all the stuff from before still applies.
48.57-48.73s: Could be a minijack to the stutter "ma-make".
60.42s: Missing vocal note to a "bomp".
65.47s: Not a lead vocal note and can be removed.
92.48, 97.54s: Missing vocal note.
101.64s: Just like in the intro, this minijack is incorrect for PR.
122.02s: There's an new melodic instrument in this section that should be stepped to distinguish it from the previous section (climax theory).
[6/10] Fractions {Dangerkids} (VisD)
// Intro is good, but then the anchors start getting messy. Having everything as long anchors isn't even totally necessary, because you can chain them together at predictable intervals so you have more freedom with your jumps, like at 94.65-97.57s. (Long anchors work at like, 56.32-69.65s where there aren't many different pitches.) Layering to the vocals, if that's what it is, should be more consistent.
10.69-11.11s: This used to be a three-note jack, but if you're going to break it up, 33[12]44 would work better, because there's a low guitar that goes up from 10.90 to 11.32s.
17.98s: Missing vocal note here. Sounds like the first syllable of "stayin'".
28.40-29.03s: These could be jumps to vocal additive layering.
41.11s: Could be [24] to continue the anchor to the bass, which doesn't change pitch until 41.32s. And then because you have the full anchor to the bass there, you should probably have 41.32-42.57s be a full anchor, too. The anchor needs to be on one of the arrows that 41.11s isn't on.
42.98-56.32s: You have a lot of kick-kick-snare in this section, and it may play better if the kicks aren't anchored to the jumps to the snare for drum relevance. Also, you don't seem to be layering to the vocals at all in this section, so I don't know what the jump at 50.69s goes to. Same for the not-snare jumps in 52.98-54.44s.
56.32-69.65s: Similar to 10.69s, every time the bass changes harmonies, there's a passing tone between them; so 57.78, 59.44, 61.11s etc. shouldn't be a part of either long anchor.
59.65, 61.32s: Harmony changes here, so this should be the start of a new anchor.
76.73-78.82, 80.07-80.90, 83.40-84.23, 84.65-87.57s: These could be filled with 16ths to the synth. It's only after a hand that the synth does only three notes for the most part.
91.94s: Now this feels like a jump to the vocals, but then you start ignoring them again (92.78, 96.94, 98.61s) (Things like 93.61s can either stay a single because they have vocal but no percussion, or they could be jumps that don't anchor with the kick.)
126.11, 130.28s: More 8ths that could be jumps to vocals.
127.98, 134.65, 137.98, 149.65, 151.32, 152.98s: Harmony changes, so the anchor should change column.
[6/10] KXLU 1 {Lauren Bousfield} (DossarLX ODI)
// Patterns are mostly playable, but the rhythms need work, and some PR would help. Rather than shorten the file by not stepping anything after 92.18s, you could cut out repetition in the different phrases.
3.82-20.18s: Might be nice to have all these 4th jumps PR to those low piano notes.
27.00-52.91s: This is basically the same six measures repeated four times. Half of it could easily be cut out. Usually when every 4th is jumped like this, it's because there's an instrument driving the beat, but I'm not hearing that here. I hear a melody that plays most 4ths and the snare on every third 4th.
27.07, 27.34, 27.88s: I'm not hearing 16ths here. At 0.8x, the rhythm feels more like triplets.
28.09, 31.36, 31.63s: On each of these, the melody on the 4th plays the same pitch as the 4th before it, so they should be the same jump to make it clear that the jumps go to the melody.
29.25s: This 16th shouldn't be anchored with the ones before it for percussion relevancy and playability. And really, 29.32s could be unanchored from the 4th before it, because that 8th minijack doesn't go to the same sound as the three before it, so it doesn't fit in.
29.38s: I hear a 16th here but not at 29.52s.
30.00s: This jump connects two long runs to the melody despite having no melody note on it, so it feels like it shouldn't be a jump, even though it goes to the snare. Try it without this jump.
30.34, 30.61s: Same thing about them feeling more like triplets as before.
30.95, 31.09s: There's a percussion that repeats on these two 8ths, so the 4th jump should be anchored with the 8th before it, not after it.
31.09-31.63s: There's a bass drum that plays constant 16ths here to step. If you do, then 31.36s can be different from the two jumps around it (as long as 31.09 and 31.63s are the same) to make a more playable pattern.
32.04s: The sound the following anchors go to doesn't play on this 8th, so this 8th shouldn't be anchored.
32.18, 33.00s: The main melody notes here are being held rather than repeating, so there are no melody notes or snares to jump here.
32.18-33.13s: The sound you're anchoring to does two groups of four, but 3432 doesn't make that clear, because the 432 feels like it should go to one sound. Something like 2413 would work.
Similar things until 52.91s.
57.22-57.66s: Sounds like there are some repeated notes here, but it's hard to tell if it's ABA, ABB, or AAB. 321 doesn't feel right, though.
66.27-79.09s: Same stuff as before, except for the changes at the end. You're missing some triplets to it: 76.84, 77.11, and 77.66s, with 76.97s being a ghost. You could also step the 16ths in 77.72-78.27s to the bass drum.
79.09-90.54s: It's nice that your jumps are consistent here, but it's counter-PR with the same piano from the intro. But you haven't been following it anyway.
80.25s: Ghost note.
88.70s: Missing 16th to the same sound 88.57s goes to. You could step that or 88.84s to the percussion or both. And it should be consistent with 89.59-90.00. (You didn't step the percussion at 89.93s.)
[8.5/10] Listen (Houkago Tea Time remix) {Stone McKnuckle} (DarkZtar)
// Good layering and patterns except for a couple spots.
7.22s: Missing guitar 16th.
16.29-16.75s: The 16th anchor is inaccurate here, because the pitch of the percussion is descending.
70.70-71.47, 78.02-81.68s: If you're going to keep all these anchors, mix it up a little more, so they aren't all on 1.
102.10-103.78, 106.98-108.66s: Doesn't sound like the layering in these two sections should be any different.
120.93s: Missing drum 16th.
[6/10] Miss Jackson {Panic! At The Disco} (Xiz)
// The bass kick layering being inconsistent is the most odd thing. The patterns are mostly good except for the three-note jacks.
13.21, 13.94, 19.07, 40.29, 43.21, 44.68, 46.14, 56.38, 58.94, 59.31s: Missing jumps to bass kick.
15.96-17.42s: Work on mixing up the patterns a bit more so you don't have long hidden trills like this.
46.32s: White note to back-up vocal here? And I don't hear the vocal at 46.69, 46.87s, so those can be on-beat.
47.60, 47.69s: Missing 16th, 32nd to that percussion roll you've been stepping.
49.07s: Missing percussion note. Same sound as 54.92s, which you have as a jump. They could both be singles.
68.27s: There's some slight slowing down going on, because this spot is about 15 ms early. There should be a beat on 71.231s (so the rest of your file is currently about 30 ms early), with it being 82 BPM from there. Select like 63.88-71.23s and Grow, and it'll be fixed (except for the break at 94.61-109.25s, which isn't quantized.)
71.02s: For all the "Miss Jackson"s, the pitch sounds more like ABA to me. If you want to use jacks, ABB might be better, so "Miss" isn't anchored to "Jackson".
88.21, 89.31, 90.04, 92.24s: Missing notes to the bass. Kind of weird to have jumps on them before but not even note them here.
95.90, 97.36s: You don't usually step the bass kick as a minijack, so doing so here when there's a minijack to a different sound anchored to the same jump is a bit confusing.
127.36, 128.09s: You stepped the bass kick between the "oh"s at 121.51, 122.24s, so you should step them here, too.
130.29s: One last bass kick missing here.
[PASS] Noetic {Docmo} (Silvuh)
[6.5/10] Paper Wings {Rise Against} (Xiz)
#OFFSET:-0.250; (-55 ms)
// During the bridge, the sync starts to get a little late, by about 32 ms (this taking into account you change the offset to where it should be.)
// Lots of 16th jumpstream that doesn't always feel structured, because you don't have much melody in the music to work from. PR in the jumps is good though.
9.85-29.05s: Lots of 32nds in here you could step. That would help vary it up, so it's not all just straight 16th jumpstream.
26.65s: Missing jump to bass/guitar (same as 14.65, 17.05s etc.)
31.45s : Just a 4th here, no 32nd.
32.35s+2m(3): Guitar doesn't play on these 8ths, so they could just be singles.
49.15-52.45s: Maybe vary up the patterns to go with the vocals (which are missing notes).
56.76s+2m(3): The way these words are sung don't really need an extra jump.
65.91s: The 32nds should just be a jump on the 8th, because you don't really feel the rhythm as having a 32nd triplet in the music.
74.61-84.21s: Trying changing up the pattern each measure to balance it between the fingers.
92.46s: Not part of the previous anchor. It's the same pitch as the following one, but then 92.61s doesn't have a guitar note on it, so that one shouldn't be a part of the anchor.
126.34s+2m(3): Same as 56.76s.
135.49s: Same as 65.91s.
143.89s: Jump to "and" here.
145.54s: These extra jumps are even more odd here now that they're between straight 8th jumps.
145.84s: It may help to unlayer the 8th jumps around 16ths to the vocals so the 3/16th rhythms aren't lost.
[8/10] s.s.s.s {hyi} (Gradiant)
// PR and layering are right on. It's just so short and simple.
45.28s: Percussion alternates kick - snare, so even though there's a kick here, because it's a snare that's expected, it may work better to have this be a single.
45.88s-end: Before when you stepped the kick, you didn't have other notes around it, so you didn't need to use minijacks. Now that you've filled 16ths to the synth, it may be good to have minijacks to the two-note kick things to distinguish them, like 48.13s and so on.
[6.5/10] Shiratsuyu {mo_no_chrome} (DarkZtar)
#OFFSET:-0.060; (-20 ms)
// Some issues with layering, some grace note inconsistency, but the structure is mostly good.
7.98-8.65s: These should be 2123 for PR. 7.98 is lower than 7.54s and 8.65s is higher than the two 16ths before it.
35.07s+4m(6): Different pitch than the bass minijack before it and shouldn't be on the same arrow.
43.04s: You didn't have a grace note for this sound at 28.71s. For each phrase, you do four 32nd grace notes then three 64th grace notes, even though it's only on the second 64th grace note (eg, 26.92s) that the sound feels different at 1.0x.
48.36s: A 32nd here would fit with your other grace notes. Wouldn't hurt to have these 16th jumps not be ABA. But then you do a 48th pseudo-jump at 62.74s. Either works, but it should be consistent.
50.63, 52.42s: Might be good to unlayer jumps to the clap when they get in the way of the rhythm of the main melody, like here.
55.00, 65.74s: Jump to the main melody? You miss jumping this gallop each time. It may help add variation, because there are a lot of just 4th jumps.
56.45s: Missing jump to the main melody, like the jump you have at 49.29s.
64.85, 65.18s: Main melody does 3/16ths here. These could be jumps, but you should at least have a single at 64.85s.
73.47-75.26s: Considering how much louder this is than everything else, you could use more hands than just one.
76.83s: At first I thought this was a jump to the chord, because that stands out in the melody to me, but then I realize it was additive layering to that "bop" sound. 78.39 and 81.98s don't have bops on them, so they should be singles. 82.42s is a downbeat chord, but it's still just a chord like all the ones you haven't been jumping, so it could be a single.
85.56, 85.78s: Swap the layering here.
89.61-103.94s: With how prominent steps to the bass have been, it's a bit odd to start ignoring it here, especially because you do have some minijacks to the bass later in the section.
103.02-103.92s: Might could use some more jumps to the drums here, because they're pretty loud.
103.94-118.26s: Additive layering to the two melodic instruments makes the layering feel unfocused. With how you were jumping just piano chords in the previous section, it feels like there should be more layering here for better climax theory.
123.75s: Rhythm of the instrument the minijacks have been going to isn't the same here. Starting from this 16th, it's xxxxx.xxx.x; you can split the five how you like, but it should be distinguishable from when the rhythm was xx.xx; also, this makes the minijack at 124.76s incorrect.
[6/10] Stomp The Bats {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
// Almost everything that's stepped is good, but there are so many sounds left out but followed at other times that it doesn't work.
The offset is wrong, but you have a BPM change before the steps start, so the steps are on-beat. That and the extra beat at the beginning are unnecessary.
21.64-22.11s: 12ths here? I understand not wanting to make a polyrhythm with the vocals, but you can add 12ths here.
30.54-45.07s: This section introduces a new percussion line (sounds like rims), so it would be good to follow it to differentiate this section from the previous one (climax theory). Makes it even more weird that there are 16ths unstepped that have both the passing tone in the bass and the rim in the new percussion line.
36.17-37.57s: Lots going on here rhythmically that is totally ignored.
48.59, 52.34s: Removing notes to breaks in the bass might help, because the bass was constant before.
71.79-73.19s: Could use something different here to follow the new sound that has a x.xx..x.xx rhythm on the 12ths.
81.37, 81.83s: "You" and "er" are different pitches from the rest of the vocal notes in this anchor.
84.29s: It's odd that you don't start stepping the passing tone in the bass until this break here. Then you stop in the next verse (91.79s) but start again later in the same verse, and stop at the beginning of the next verse ... If the reason for not stepping them was because they'd get in the way of the rhyhtms to the vocals, well ... every once in a while, like at 103.05s, it extends the 16th lines a bit, but there are more spots where they don't. Adding the 16ths in will further distinguish it from the section at 105.04s which doesn't have 16ths in the vocals or bass.
90.86, 92.73, 94.61s: New percussion line with 16ths. Stepping the other instruments in 95.19-97.54s but nowhere else until bass 12ths at 103.63s is odd.
119.92s: Missing 16th to "We".
154.26-155.66s: Same as 71.79s.
[5/10] Under The Pale Moon {Alias Conrad Coldwood} (James May)
X The music is exceptionally soft.
// The layering doesn't really work for such soft music. The patterns also need work. It all feels very uneven.
11.92, 14.32s: The bursts like these are a little odd, the first one because the 64th feels like an afterthought with the 32nds doing 4321, and the second because you basically have 200 BPM 16th minijacks there, which don't even fit the sound.
22.79, 28.34, 32.61, 35.31s: Missing some notes to the breathing.
23.09s: Missing note to the shiny synth.
37.12-38.02s: The 8th anchor is innacurate because 37.42s doesn't share a kick with either of the notes around it, and the trill is inaccurate, because the two 16ths have different main percussion sounds on them (kick vs hi-hat).
41.39s: If this 32nd goes to the long attack of the shiny synth, then it's odd that there's no steps at 41.77s, where the synth does some actual notes. There are many more notes to this synth that could be stepped.
41.92, 42.22s: The percussion sounds on these two, neither share the same pitch, so these shouldn't be anchored. One could argue 42.22s should be anchored to the following 4th jump instead, because the synth shares the same pitch.
43.72, 48.51s: These beats with the low synth don't feel as emphasized in the music as beats with the shiny synth, like 46.12s. Maybe try keeping hands to the louder sounds.
45.52s: Stepping these bursts from before start to feel like too much now that they're more layering. And you didn't add in all the other grace notes that you had before, so it makes these feel more out of place.
59.76-60.52, 69.22s: Given how chill the music is, the density here is too much.
Missing some more breathing notes and such in the outro.
[0/10] What the #&%$ {Azul} (incubusrul3d1984)
FFR files can't have holds. Read the rules.
[7.5/10] Wood Man (Megaman 2) {Shnabubula} (hi19hi19)
// Feels really long because it's mostly repeating the same theme.
// A lot of it is done really well, but there are some spots that could be cleared up. The music is difficult in that the melody and percussion often complement each other, so it's easy to lose jumps to one line in the other.
16.49, 16.66s: Same percussion sound and could be the same jump.
20.16s: Just a hi-hat and should be a single.
20.32, 20.66s: Different main melody pitches and should be different jumps.
24.16s: The melodic note here is so soft it doesn't feel like part of the main melody, so it could be a single.
36.66, 36.99s: Looks like you didn't jump these piano chords because they don't have percussion under them, but it still feels odd, them being singles in the same column.
46.99s: Shouldn't the chord here be a jump rather than 46.82s? It could be additive layering to the low synth, but then you don't step the repeated pitch to it at 47.16-47.32s and you jump the next set of chords without layering.
49.42s: Could step the low synth note here.
69.66-70.16s: Could break the anchor here.
117.16-117.99s: There are jumps to two different percussion sounds that complement each other two fill the whole section, so it would be good to either remove jumps to one of them or change the patterns so it's easier to feel which jumps go to which sound.
168.66, 169.99s: Maybe unlayer this percussion sound so the piano rhythm isn't so hidden.
=== JUDGE: TC_Halogen ===
[8/10] [Resubmission] Synchronized Hearts {Colony 5} (hi19hi19)
- looking at this file again for a bit, I was afraid I might have a different opinion of it than I did the first time
- I absolutely don't; this file legitimately feels and plays like an authentic file circa 2006; it's all so noticeable and deliberate
- one thing that I noticed that I feel like you should change is at 179.092; the jumps feel a little out of place given the claps being touched on for a moment
- still seems staircase heavy to me if there were any changed, particularly near the end
- still really like this file; would love to see/make a v2 for it that utilizes a bit more modern charting style, haha
[7.5/10] [Resubmission] Trobbel {Animal Alpha} (Silvuh)
- offset to a 8th note
- rhythms need some improvement particularly on the repeated snares (see: 29.018 [etc]); some snares are also quantized a bit too tightly (see: 40.159 [etc])
- some guitar notes noticeably missing in the last third of the song (see: 93.628 [etc])
- watch your offsetting near the end, as you end up synced to a 12th note at 113.847
- the chart could use a little bit of touching up with rhythms (both incorrect and simply missing), and structural offsetting (synced to an 8th)
- however, the overall patterning and layering is actually somewhat well executed despite the aforementioned note
[7.5/10] Champion's Horizon {WillRock} (hi19hi19)
- 10.834 to 13.084: PR as a whole could be improved in these jumps
- 27.834: missing note (trailing guitar note)
- a few missing jumps in first repeat of melody, all coinciding with bass kick: 43.084, 47.084, 53.834; etc -- it seems partially intentional but the structure looks strange seeing jumps for some coincidences and not others
- 65.584: polyrhythm is out of place (admittedly the guitar plays a strange rhythm here)
- 158.084:
- the first part of the guitar solo really bothers me because it puts no focus on the start of the guitar's sequence due to all of the jumps
- missing notes for the tremolo at 179.959 (optional)
- 200.084: missing bass kicks (you catch them in various other places)
- 202.084: if you're going to follow the guitar in the background, clean up your patterns so that other taps don't collide with the guitar (I see an appropriate 443322, but there's two 4s before?)
- 208.834/210.084: reassign some patterns since this is somewhat freeform patterning; the first instance has a left-handed trill not representing anything, the second one has a long slew of up arrows on the 8ths
- 226.334: glaring missing note
- ending is a bit dull, but so is the song -- maybe add some taps for the pikachu calls?
- solid file overall; a few tweaks could help but certainly not bad
[8.5/10] Champions (feat. Harry Brooks Jnr) {Astronaut} [bmah]
- 48th note at 23.159 doesn't quite sync to anything; no grace note in the piano and the vocal is fullest and most pronounced around 23.237 (or just a 16th after)
- 42.143: despite being correctly placed, this note just stands out as strange given that it's the only one in this section
- 45.386: missing note for vocal (slurred note after 45.151); multiple instances as vocal repeats
- 80.307: arguably an echo, but noticeably present; charting the synth might not be a bad idea
- triple usage is acceptable, but difficult to initially discern as direct layering
- great file! a bit heavy on the layering, but given the song style - quite fitting.
[3.5/10] Fibonacci Sequence {Dr. Steel} (Coolgamer)
- offset noticeably off, chart is quite early
- jump placement lacks consistency
- single note patterning attempts to be coherent and interesting towards the vocals (30.957 is a good example), but overall the patterning is fairly weak and almost random
- rhythms are reasonably close to correct
- layering however, needs substantial work for this file to be passable
[5/10] Fractions {Dangerkids} (VisD)
- watch vocal sync at 17.989s, 31.218s
- as a whole, this chart could benefit from better patterning -- there are a lot of repeated taps between multiple chart elements (like kicks and snares, or vocals and some other percussion, etc)
- 76.323 to 89.656: assigning jumps as a result of synth + percussion here makes the layering look poor visually; it feels way heavier than it should be
- if the chart is going to take advantage of the lower guitar, it has to be done effectively; the repeated taps are visually impossible to make sense of, and layering something like that with something as prominent as vocals is going to usually prove quite detrimental to your layering
- 147.989: that's a lot of up arrows
- has potential but the structure needs to be more concise
[7.5/10] KXLU 1 {Lauren Bousfield} (DossarLX ODI)
- to be perfectly honest, I feel like the chart is slightly overdone although I cannot personally figure out which notes do not belong due to how abrasive the song even sounds
- chart is surprisingly fluent despite looking rather abrasive on the surface
- jump placement could be slightly better/more relevant to the melody; the repeated taps don't quite coincide with the melody overall
- quite fun, almost reminds me of an easier but slightly longer Pandora without the violent bursts
[8/10] Listen (Houkago Tea Time remix) {Stone McKnuckle} (DarkZtar)
- 4.710: missing 8ths for underlying guitar notes (etc)
- a few missing taps for percussion (11.645, 21.248, etc)
- 38.700: after accenting it in the first part of the section, the guitar gets left out to dry, what a shame
- 62.021: quite a nasty pattern to have at 195 BPM, only because it forces a 24th note mini-trill
- a few missing percussion notes at 131.602 and 131.907
- 138.385: should be 16ths
- 144.177: should be 24ths
[5.5/10] Miss Jackson {Panic! At The Disco} (Xiz)
- some jumps feel like they are missing (13.217, 13.949, 19.071?)
- 34.421: interesting choice of white note usage
- 71.205 to end: I hate generalizing like this, but these last two chorus areas really could use a lot of work in my opinion so I'll break it down a bit
----- the jump usage could be way stronger: you repeat the same jumps in the chorus while including the jacks, but you could easily switch it up for more percussion relevance
----- some percussion is just left out, which someone brings the intensity of the chorus down a bit (72.485, 73.583 as two examples)
----- in situations where repeated vocals happen ("are you nasty?" - 78.888 and 80.351), patterns could repeat themselves very exclusively, breaking any pattern chaining before and after (see 79.985, where an up arrow connects the following three taps to follow the vocals)
----- some 8ths are ambiguous to your structure (71.571, 74.498, 77.424); this isn't to say those notes do not exist, but they break from what could be a really solid and explicit structure
----- various taps are actually missing for percussion as well, although in the current state it could further convolute a somewhat loaded structure again
- the chorus sections at the end have some good qualities: the jacks feel very correct and the jumps used for vocal sequences like those at 88.766 are somewhat intelligent
- however, as it stands, this structure doesn't really work to me
[8.5/10] Noetic {Docmo} (Silvuh)
- those synth flutters could use some love
- chart is solid and well done as an easier file
[4/10] Paper Wings {Rise Against} (Xiz)
- offset feels very early
- BPM should be doubled given the song's tempo
- noticeably glaring error at 31.320
- structure does not seem sound in the earlier parts of the song (why four jumps for coinciding vocals + percussion at 31.995 but no jumps at 31.695, 37.545, etc)
- many missing taps for percussion that are quite glaring and the structure seems quite incomplete without it given that it is somewhat dense
- jumps in the chorus from 55.360 to 74.564 occasionally feel overdone as some steps don't prominently follow the vocals
- 65.789: this jump is quite glaring and likely would be better quantized to the 8th to prevent such a jarring pattern
- 74.564: this lasts for almost 10 seconds and is quite boring; switch to L/R halfway to keep your player engaged
- 89.564: should be 32nds
- 105.764: this section would be quite appropriate for 100 BPM if the rest of the song had the proper 200 BPM
- second chorus shares similar note as first chorus about some jumps not prominently following the vocals
- chart somehow manages to appear overdone at half tempo because of massive jump overusage; chart does not play well at all and has many missing elements
[7/10] s.s.s.s {hyi} (Gradiant)
- I swear to god I've listened to 14.682 hundreds of times because the rhythm sounds ever so slightly different between those two gabber kicks but DDream says I'm wrong so whatever
- not a fan of the spins/rolls; however, they do keep the stream patterns relatively smooth
- it feels like a few jumps could be added outside of the streams because there are noticeable kicks still represented as single taps, despite being somewhat cutoff
- dislike the chart, but it is solid and coherent
[7.5/10] Shiratsuyu {mo_no_chrome} (DarkZtar)
- using the bass as leverage for minijacks is not the most well-advised idea here since it's quite tough to determine what the repeating element is that causes the mini-jack
- 54.891/64.853/(65.189 -> jump): missing note for string
- 113.889: should be 32nds
- 117.353: missing note for the accordion
- 125.413: check rhythm
- structure seems quite rigid, but generally passable; clean it up a bit
[5/10] Stomp The Bats {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
- various 12th notes seem to be missing throughout the entire song in areas where vocals don't coincide, which is quite distracting
- in situations where you're going to use repeating taps to represent an element, you likely should capture it fully and not partially; the repeated taps for the synth detract from your layering when you're not capturing the 16ths in the synth (which is fine given that you're trying to capture the vocals, but this somewhat causes clutters your structure and makes it confusing)
- 66.798: should be a 12th jack (same pitch as note before)
- 80.667: six down arrows?
- 149.261: should be a 12th jack (same pitch as note before)
- not a fan; the incomplete representation of the synth and use of it as a filler when it has some rhythmic content and potential for deviation really pulls the chart down for me -- additionally, the structure seems a bit heavy and could do better with some better note placement
[2.5/10] Under The Pale Moon {Alias Conrad Coldwood} (James May)
- 14.322: 64th one-handed mini-trill at 100 BPM, ouch?
- there are a ton of ghost notes that cause the structure to get absolutely ridiculous, especially in the latter half of the file where bursts start to become intertwined with these non-existent notes - very few of the 32nds are actually present, and the 64ths are a massive stretch
- despite being 94 seconds, the song drags on for ever
[0/10] What the #&%$ {Azul} (incubusrul3d1984)
- auto-rejected for freeze usage; please take a look at the submission rules listed on the first page of the Queue/Batch Discussion Thread
- as an aside: this file needs a reasonable amount of work; the chart offset is not quite correct, the jacks are quite overdone, rhythms can be tweaked a bit and as a whole, structure could be improved
[9/10] Wood Man (Megaman 2) {Shnabubula} (hi19hi19)
- slightly noticeable piano note missing at 53.995
- hot damn this file is great! I wish there were a few more triples used for some of those bigger 8-bit splash cymbals and the ending piano chords, but the file feels great regardless
=== JUDGE: Wayward Vagabond ===
[7*/10] [Resubmission] Synchronized Hearts {Colony 5} (hi19hi19)
nice old school file feelz file. the only real thing i can say in regards to it and how you stepped it is to use more index friendly patterns in the streams. a cut in the song would also keep it from dragging on especially with how repetitive the song is.
[9/10] [Resubmission] Trobbel {Animal Alpha} (Silvuh)
oh wow this was so much fun. silvuh rocking it
[8*/10] Champion's Horizon {WillRock} (hi19hi19)
32nd at 113.709 needs to be after the 16th.
what's up with you and never wanting to cut any song lol. everything after 200.00 can be cut. and one of the sections that repeats inbetween the solos earlier in the song can also be cut out.
[7*/10] Champions (feat. Harry Brooks Jnr) {Astronaut} [bmah]
the vocals at 23.12 specifically the 48th after the 4th and the 12th before the 8th can be removed. when playing the vocals sound like they land on the 4th and 8th so the added arrows just ruin the flow of that section. at 59.1 those 13 and 24 trill can be changed to 12 and 34 trills so they are easier to play and it would match better with the overall difficulty of the file. also remove the vocal layering you have going on in that section so it also fits better with the overall difficulty. the section will still have the climax without going overboard.
[4/10] Fibonacci Sequence {Dr. Steel} (Coolgamer)
very beginner file that needs a lot of restructuring before it can be considered. cool song choice though.
[5/10] Fractions {Dangerkids} (VisD)
this file was owning up until i hit the {firestorm} section at 76.32 and then it all just went downhill. the anchors before that weren't as over done because they were broken up more but after that section it becomes too excessive. why do you have so many anchored patterns that don't need to be anchored? change of the patterns so you dont have everything anchored and you have a pretty solid file.
[7/10] KXLU 1 {Lauren Bousfield} (DossarLX ODI)
file was nice just not sure why you stopped it so abruptly. you couldve done a fade out from where you stopped to 105.2 and just done single notes for the fade out and it wouldve turned out nice.
[8/10] Listen (Houkago Tea Time remix) {Stone McKnuckle} (DarkZtar)
the 24ths at 62.02 just change them to 16ths. it plays better and makes more sense. other than that file owns.
[8.5/10] Miss Jackson {Panic! At The Disco} (Xiz)
this song is bad and you should feel bad
[7/10] Noetic {Docmo} (Silvuh)
easy file not much to say.
[7/10] Paper Wings {Rise Against} (Xiz)
sync your file you noob it drifts. other than that it's fine
[7.5/10] s.s.s.s {hyi} (Gradiant)
i actually really liked this a lot lol. its repetitive but its short enough for it to not matter.
[7.5/10] Shiratsuyu {mo_no_chrome} (DarkZtar)
this is good though it drags a bit but not enough to be offputting.
[5/10] Stomp The Bats {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
this is definitely one of your weaker files. im pretty sure you were going for an easier file for this song but this file seemed so scattered like you weren't exactly sure what direction you wanted to go in so you just lazily put something down and copied when things repeated. you could definitely do a lot more with this song
[5/10] Under The Pale Moon {Alias Conrad Coldwood} (James May)
this is one of those songs that should probably never be fully stepped as far as sounds are concered. it plays like a jumbled mess because you are trying to fit waay to much at once. tone it waaay down and turn it into an easy file and it owuld play better and make more sense. the song is too calm to warrant how you stepped it.
[!/10] What the #&%$ {Azul} (incubusrul3d1984)
you have a terrible username. this wont affect how i judge your file i just thought you should know that you have a terrible username. oh hey check it out the file is bad and it has holds so i dont even have to really play through it hell yeah.
[8/10] Wood Man (Megaman 2) {Shnabubula} (hi19hi19)
this file owned. its hard to follow what you're stepping at times because there's so much going on but it doesnt really detract from the file. some pattern choices im not to fond of but that doesnt really affect the overall quality of the file
SET 4
=== JUDGE: DossarLX ODI ===
[7/10] [Resubmission] Crucial {David MeShow remixed by Kaiben} (VisD)
Length: 2:23.88
Steps: 495
Jumps: 115
Hands: 0
- 9.16, 28.36, 52.35: While these notes are here, I think it would be a good idea to take Silvuh's idea of removing soft notes like these that are barely audible. In this case, the 8ths I mentioned.
- 59.25: Missing guitar note (this isn't an echo sound and it's audible enough to be awkward to leave out)
- 64.05: Early, try the 48th after
- 71.55: There should have been a 11 minijack on this 8th (the [13] jump after can be changed to [23], etc.)
- 81.15: Same idea as 71.55 but a 22 minijack instead. Also there's a missing jump here, you layered a soft sound on the 4th after and it's also on this 8th but a single note instead
- 83.85: This [13] jump should've been a white jump considering the color scheme previously for this breezing effect (you even did it on 93.46)
- 87.15: Reversed PR, This 8th should've been on 1, it shouldn't be placed higher than the 16th after
- 94.65: Barely audible
- 119.40: There should've been a 16th minijack here (see 18.57)
- 124.05, 124.20: Barely audible
- 129.15: See 81.15
- 138.60: No 16th minijack here?
- 141.45: Why aren't the following down notes all white? They go with the breezing sound and the guitar
[6/10] [Resubmission] One For All All For One {Razihel & Virtual Riot} (Xiz)
Length: 4:20.62
Steps: 1245
Jumps: 466
Hands: 73
- 15.27, 21.89, 25.82: Prominent melody isn't playing here so these should be single notes, there is a softer melody running in the background but that's not what is being layered here. Alternatively for 25.82 you can step an 8th minijack into the [14] jump for the kick.
- 33.27: Jump on this 8th would be nice for accenting
- 35.44, 36.27: These 16ths are prominent enough that they can be included
- 39.58: Missing 16th, you can also have jumps for the 8th minijack right after to layer this in as well
- The 48th burst patterning makes sense, but at the same time they are 64ths technically and I think having 7-note 32nd bursts with spin-like patterns would work better (7-note to prevent 16th minijacks into the hands). For instance, 47.96 could have been 1243124-[123]
- 78.17, 170.86: No jump?
- 82.72: 8th jack should break up here
- 84.37: 8th jack should break up here, different pitch
- 89.13: These 8ths/4ths should have been on the same column (3-note 8th jack)
- 90.99: Change this 4th to left or right. Same idea as 84.37
- 105.89, 106.10: These should have been hands -- also, the long up jack on 104.44 isn't following anything for that long, it should be broken up
- 112.72: Missing offsetted 8th (see 109.42)
- 135.06: Missing jump (see 133.41)
- 175.27: 12th minijack should be for the kick, not the lighter synth (an alternative here for example could be [13][14][23])
- 181.89: Same idea as 175.27
- 190.58: Missing 12th
- 215.13: See 82.72
- 223.41: See 84.37
- 238.30: This is what I had in mind for 105.89
- I listed some inconsistencies above which can be expected from longer files that are hard to keep track during stepping. I would say this file suffers from repeating too many of the same themes for its length. 106.30 would have been a nice starting point as the song builds up from there. Watch out for long jacks as well
[7/10] [Resubmission] Revenge Of Mister Foxsky {Foxsky} (Xiz)
Length: 2:10.53
Steps: 812
Jumps: 226
Hands: 38
- 28.24: You could insert this 8th to "Foxy"
- 40.97: There's also a bass kick on this 24th like at 34.42 but no jump here. Keep to single notes or a jump, if you want better playability I would suggest single notes to prevent tight faster minijacks.
- 65.88: What's this 8th jump for? 67.51 I can see layers in the bass kick
- 76.24: This should have also been white (see 80.59)
- 109.24: You can layer in the "let's get ready to rumble" sounds, including the remaining 4ths up to 110.33 and the 24th on 109.88
- 113.60: Having all hands on the 4ths in this section is overkill, potentially turn them into jumps and remove the long 8th jacks (the 8ths are going to different sounds, e.g. the DJ mix sound and the "hey") so the ending could be fixed
[7/10] Alive (Pegboard Nerds Remix) {Krewella} [psychoangel691]
Length: 3:12.07
Steps: 981
Jumps: 235
Hands: 19
- This version was sent without a difficulty tag but this is the [Heavy] submission since [Standard] is already ingame.
- The beginning in [Standard] stepped all the 8ths in the beginning but for some reason in this version they were left out.
- 66.53, 152.25: The offsetting is fine, but a hand here is a bit overkill
- 74.80, 88.52, 160.52, 174.23: This very closely resembles a 24th stream; what's with all the color usage here?
- 77.02: Missing jump (76.71 had a jump layering this along with a color offset)
- 93.00: If this is offsetted 92.88 should have also been offsetted
- 111.52, 116.24, 119.67: Vocals don't land on this 4th, what's this jump for?
- 120.10-123.31: The jumps should only be used layering in the vocals (in this case, "every second here makes my heart beat faster")
- 164.02, 164.45: These two 8th notes are the same synth sound, they should have been in the same column (the 12th at 164.10 isn't the synth)
- 167.52: Why are the note placements different from the same "heart beat faster" stutter at 81.81? (32nds here for some reason)
[3/10] All I Ever Wanted {Basshunter} (VisD)
Length: 3:07.37
Steps: 989
Jumps: 312
Hands: 82
- I can see why the BPM change on the first note was done but this is unnecessary; the vocal just starts on an 8th, no BPM tricks are needed.
- 6.51-8.69: I'd recommend just sticking with the piano in this snippet since the piano is much more significant than the barely audible vocals
- 9.62: By this logic 4.24 should have also had an 8th. This should be removed (this deals with the barely audible or ghost notes, 11.27 for instance is real)
- 17.07: This is a 4-note 32nd burst, not 48ths.
- 22.44, 37.76, etc.: Going back to 9.62, only the significant words in the vocals should be stepped -- these are barely audible
- 31.34: This is a hand at most from what you're stepping
- 48.10, 48.31, 48.93, 49.13: None of these are hands. Change them to jumps; only the drum rolls and the synth are being layered
- 51.82: 32nds here, not 48ths (correct number of notes, wrong quantization)
- 52.44: Not a quad, quads shouldn't be used willy nilly like this
- For spots like 54.41 and 61.03 there is a 32nd triplet but no 64ths. Going from 52.86, only 64ths are included as inconsistently-placed gallops instead of 16ths for no discernible reason
- 56.58: Also from here I'm seeing jumps that aren't layering in the synth when it's playing on the 16ths, so the jump usage also needs work
- 64.44: More quad abuse
- 64.86: Single note when there's a bass kick and a cymbal? The layering needs a direction
- 78.62-78.82: Missing 16ths in the 16th run -- the 32nd split patterns themselves are already a difficulty spike
- 104.17, 105.82, 107.48: Assuming the jump at 102.51 was supposed to be for the piano, these jumps are also missing.
- 109.76: The percussion itself doesn't warrant all jumps
- 137.27: There basically hasn't been any variation and this section is incredibly overlayered.
- 145.55: Repeat of the first half with the 64ths instead of 16ths for the synths.
- This file has a massive overlayering issue and the 64ths are completely unwarranted. The synth is a normal element of the song and doesn't need any sort of emphasis like offsetting, and here it's abused. The file is also sparse with the sudden 16th/32nd difficulty spikes (especially the split 32nds). The overlayering also causes repetitive issues.
[7/10] Cirno's Perfect Math Class {IOSYS} (ilikexd)
Length: 2:10.80
Steps: 878
Jumps: 336
Hands: 34
- 24.40: Missing jump (see 25.77)
- It may help to make the BPM changes for the female vocals a different color than 8ths since there is also a prominent 16th melody running and the switch to the vocals can be sudden.
- 49.94: Doesn't go to the vocals. This should be removed
- 55.94: Missing jump
- 57.23: Ghost note, only prominent words should be stepped
- 65.20, 65.89, 66.57: Considering what's stepped right before, these should be jumps
- 80.29: Missing jump
- 83.71: An offsetted note here conflicts with 17.89 where there's just a 4th; make 17.89 a white note to match this as well
- The quad usage in this file was awkward but for the most part the structure was there. I'd recommend using different colors for those BPM change sections.
[6/10] Discord {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
Length: 2:18.84
Steps: 652
Jumps: 237
Hands: 0
- 13.17: Ghost note (17.74 fine but here is not)
- 20.60, 75.46: This 16th should be removed. The prominent word is "No" and anything in between isn't as significant
- 25.60: Missing 8th (low bass sound at 26.74 is stepped but not this one)
- 47.31: Too many up arrow 8th jacks. The "cord" triplets can be split up.
- 52.03, 61.17: The melody shouldn't land on the same note as the vocal triplets
- 80.46: Missing 8th (see 25.60)
- While the file does have the element of simplicity to it, too many patterns repeat over and over (I for instance saw [212] 16th triplets appear too often in many 16th sections). The structure is basic and alright, but the patterns need more variation.
[5/10] Duncan Hills Cover {Metaljonus} (trumaestro)
Length: 1:13.69
Steps: 373
Jumps: 71
Hands: 0
- 10.93: There are 32nds here, not 24ths; I could see this kind of patterning work if the sound could be represented as 24ths, but here the speed of the song and the prominent nature of the double bass pedals doesn't make it work. If you want 24ths at this speed, triplet patterns would work better (e.g. 434, 232, and so on)
- 11.89: No snare hit here, this should be a single note
- 19.44: Vocal is loud on this 16th, it's worth stepping
- 20.76, 21.24: You may want to include these cymbal crashes
- There are more of those 8th cymbal crashes that only have single notes in their place (just the guitar is being stepped) and there are missing vocal notes that could be included such as 23.28, 25.20, and so on.
- I should also note the guitar patterns from 19.56-34.66 have a tremendous copy-paste issue.
- 40.87: It's worth stepping the vocals in this song from how prominent they are. "You're gonna get some" is missing here and it's blasting at the player.
- 41.59: See 10.93
- 46.17: The 8th vocals for "and scream for your cream" should have jumps, layering both the percussion and the lyrics
- 49.29, 57.44-57.92: See 10.93
- 51.69: Jump usage from here gets confusing (missing jumps at 50.25, 53.12, 57.92, and 60.79?)
- 65.82, 66.06, 66.30: Jumps layering in the cymbals would be nice
- 67.02-67.50: This is a full 32nd run
- The copy/paste issue at 19.56-34.66 needs to be resolved and the file's layering choices don't add much; this song was meant to be fast paced. Playing an easier file with those blasting 250+ BPM 16th double bass pedal hits doesn't fit
[6/10] Gym Training Montage {Virt} (bmah)
Length: 4:44.18
Steps: 1383
Jumps: 503
Hands: 50
- 39.87-44.30: I can see why this spot has some gaps to put a focus on the percussion, but outside of this section there is a running 16th stream in the background and several notes of it are missing (49.13 for instance was an awkward gap)
- 40.93, 43.01, 44.31: Iffy on the color usage here. I can see why it's used, but not much is going on here and it doesn't do much.
- 67.00, 71.17: Missing guitar note
- 85.91: What's this 16th jump for?
- 104.99: Merge the 64ths here to 16th positions. So this part should be [13][24][13][24] 16th jumps. The 64ths are wrong and make this part a mess.
- 109.33: The sound is on the 24th after, not this 32nd. There's a 32nd triplet going into 24ths here.
- Many of the color placements look sketchy in this file
- 110.96, 112.65, 115.13: Missing jumps for bass kick
- 111.48: Missing note for bass kick
- A few measures later I have to say the layering is rather confusing. There are missing notes for the bass kick in several sections, and then I see jumps layering in the melody and the bass kick sometimes. I don't see a clear focus on the layering here.
- 129.61: Another missing bass kick. There are more of these, but I'll stop listing these -- the idea is there
- 135.61: It isn't a good idea to suddenly boost up the layering this heavy. Shortly after there are 16th jumpgluts where the jumps appear for the bass kicks; however that is overkill, this part can be executed differently.
- Note on the 64th gallops: These will be an entire frame off. Even a 96th such as 143.67 is most likely to be a frame off. If these were meant to be color offsets, there needs to be BPM changes to compensate for the low BPM of this song.
- 156.80: Shifting this 32nd a 64th later would shift an entire frame and create an 11/64th interval, which is what the guitar seems to be playing.
- 161.35: Missing 12th for guitar
- 164.83: The guitar here is 3/16ths
- 170.04: Guitar here is a 32nd gallop, not a 64th
- 213.38: These 64th gallops for the guitar make the file messy and don't land on the guitar; the 16th placements make more sense.
- 218.04: Why is this jump here?
- 223.52, 223.78, 224.30: Missing jumps
- 247.01: This is an example of an alternative that could have been taken to remove the 64th placements for the guitar that were mixed in with the 16ths -- the offsetting brings focus to the guitar without making it an entire frame off
- 267.67: From this point on to the end the jumps are unnecessary
- Many of the color placements in this file seemed sketchy but I'll have to see what other judges make of it; I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. The jump usage in this file is heavy so it was convoluted and hard to follow.
[3/10] If I Ruled the World {Futuristic Sex Robotz} (Xtreme2252)
Length: 4:29.97
Steps: 1095
Jumps: 202
Hands: 0
- Changed offset to -2.124
- 4.35, 9.67: These 24th gallops should change to 16th triplets for consistency with 15.02 and 20.34
- This file should have been running at half BPM -- the 4th beats are slow, there's an 8th kick but that's not the main beat. Also the song has lyrics that fall on different placements than 8ths but there are excessive BPM changes in attempt to compensate for this
- 30.13: How come all of a sudden there are jumps?
- 118.83: Up to here I've basically been seeing the same patterns over and over again. The jump usage doesn't make sense. I can see which lyrics are trying to be stepped but this file's sync needs work.
- 204.76: There isn't a 16th triplet
- 236.81: This ending is basically a bunch of copy-paste
- Song ends abruptly
- The syncing needs work. The copy paste has to lower -- the first chorus can be cut out since the first two minutes is basically repeating the same thing from a player's perspective. Along with that the layering needs to be established; jumps are just placed randomly and the patterning doesn't make sense and is overly repetitive.
[4/10] Kanon {tarolabo} (ilikexd)
Length: 2:26.07
Steps: 1129
Jumps: 220
Hands: 52
- 24.02-34.99: The way this section is stepped leaves out prominent percussion. Some parts of the percussion are in there, but then at 28.73 it seems like there is a sudden transition to the flute.
- 47.33: This section is a mess. Color notes everywhere. 50.20 there's a 32nd jump into a minijack, 55.26 there's another 32nd jump but with some 192nd gallop before it, and so on. First off, the color jumps should be removed. The fast triplets and gallops should also be removed (stuff like 51.54, 52.97, 55.15, etc.)
- The mess of color notes hurts the playability of the above section tremendously -- especially with those fast gallops and color jumps mixed in. Recoloring can be a suitable alternative, but as it is right now the section is just horrendous to play.
- 56.67: Layering in this file is rather convoluted. There is the piano playing 16ths here, but what are these jumps going to? They also create a minijack into the hand and I don't see why these are jumps
- 56.93: Right after this hand is empty space when there is prominent percussion playing. This section is severely understepped -- I see what the current notes are going to, but there's a lot missing here.
- The patterning in this file looks like it was intentionally placed to be unnecessarily difficult along with all the color placements; the fast trills are hard to discern
- 84.19-86.20: Excessive one-hand bias
- 93.45, 93.96: These are 32nd bursts
- 98.67: This 16th jump should've been stepped on the 32nd after (there's a 4-note 32nd burst starting on the 8th at 98.59)
- 103.90, 104.42, 105.27: These are also 32nds
- 109.56: There's a 4-note 32nd burst here. A 32nd triplet should have been stepped in this case.
- There were sections where the layering seemed to make sense, but for the most part this file is very convoluted. The patterning needs work and there are several incorrect rhythms; those color sections need to be fixed. Along with that the file has understepped sections that play awkwardly when other elements are running.
[6/10] Lavender Town [Fairytale Remix] {Rachel Macwhirter} (XelNya)
Length: 1:20.04
Steps: 101
Jumps: 41
Hands: 0
- The good news is that the hands have been removed, excellent for an easier for like this.
- However, the layering can still be toned down. Around 40% of the file is jumps.
- 2.80-37.71 You can just focus on the piano and not worry about any layering. Accenting will work better here. For instance, 8.80 and 26.25 could have used a jump and the surrounding notes singles -- this emphasizes the harder piano hit.
- So in other words, there shouldn't be any layering; just accenting jumps should be used since the piano is by far the most prominent element of the song.
- 37.71: Here a flute is introduced. This should also be single notes; layering in several elements causes the jump usage to be excessive.
- 52.43, 69.88: Louder piano notes that would be nice for accenting.
- From what I saw playing through this file, the jumps are from trying to layer in several elements but the jumps don't add anything significant. Accenting jumps would be a much better approach here to make the louder piano notes stand out -- otherwise you just have almost half the file as jumps with empty space, making the jumps lose their effect.
[8/10] Phantom Of The Opera {Lindsey Stirling} (VisD)
Length: 1:48.50
Steps: 524
Jumps: 223
Hands: 32
- 32.88: What's this jump for?
- 45.14: Not sure if this 64th placement was intentional color offsetting, but the 24th before on 45.13 is where the violin lands (creates the 12th interval).
- 56.88: Missing violin 8th note
- 60.17: Missing guitar note (potentially a jump?)
- 76.13: I can see two alternatives here: a 3/64th triplet, or a 24th triplet starting on this 16th. For the former there should be a 64th on 76.20 instead of the 48th on 76.19, and for the latter there should be a 48th on 76.26 instead of the 32nd on 76.28
- In other words, for 76.13 do either a 24th triplet or a 3/64th triplet, don't mix 48ths with 32nds -- that's not the interval
- 81.06, 81.26: Missing 8th notes, not sure what this gap here is for
- 85.71: Missing jump for violin and cymbal
- 87.07: Missing 8th guitar note
- 104.05: Missing 12th to violin
- A substantial improvement from what I saw in the July 2013 submission and was fun to play.
[9/10] R2 {Bumblefoot} (ilikexd)
Length: 2:13.93
Steps: 820
Jumps: 253
Hands: 28
- 18.02, 18.69: Missing jump (guitar and vocal)
- 20.47: Missing jump for snare
- 43.09: Missing jump
- 127.68: YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN! Although you're doing it with mirror...
- Man I have to say that was quite the ending. The guitar solos had many color notes and I think those could be touched up with some recoloring, but otherwise this file was a blast.
[6/10] Spooky Scary Skeletons {The Living Tombstone(remix)} (M0nkeyz)
Length: 1:54.36
Steps: 492
Jumps: 199
Hands: 2
- 6.80: This note is a different pitch than 5.86, should be on a different column
- In the beginning the vocals should be stepped; there are too many repetitive 8th notes that become boring fast.
- 10.90, 11.60, 18.40, 21.45, 22.15, 22.62, 25.90 (and so on): Examples of 16th placements that go to the vocals. The 8th notes can be reduced; it's not a good idea to fill up all the 8th notes for insignificant elements just to fill up space, a focus on the vocals would be better
- 37.15: Interesting, there's a 16th stepped for the vocals here but plenty of missing notes before
- 50.63, 58.13: Missing 16th for vocal
- 69.14: Missing jump
- 71.48: You already used the [23] 8th jump structure previously. Do a different pattern; along with that, 69.61-71.25 shouldn't have minijacks (see 62.11)
- You could also optionally add hands for 47.11, 54.61, 61.64, 62.11, 69.61, 76.64, and 77.11
- 88.09: Follow what was done at 50.39 (here it's double the BPM). This 48th should be on the 12th before, then an 8th note on 88.13 for the vocal, then a 24th on 88.28 for the gallop.
- 95.39: Follow what was done at 57.89 (here it's double the BPM).
- 101.02, 104.77: This 4th is a different pitch from the next two 12th notes, it shouldn't be part of the jack (example alternative is [23])
- 103.09: See 88.09
- 108.52, 112.27: Same idea as 101.02, this 4th is a different pitch than the two 12ths after
- 110.08: Suddenly the jack structure broke here. This 12th minijack should have been part of the 4th before.
- Song ends abruptly; an easing fade-out would be much better.
- I'm giving this rating under the condition that the jacks I mentioned above are fixed. Along with that the vocals should be included.
[4/10] Tasteless {Ken Ashcorp} (JSH)
Length: 2:58.11
Steps: 700
Jumps: 237
Hands: 0
- 26.09: The BPM should've been doubled here. The 4th beats land on 180 BPM.
- Going from there, the 16th usage and jump usage aren't clear. Sometimes it looks like the snare is being stepped as jumps with parts of the melody being stepped, some of the vocals seem to fall on the jumps, but there isn't anything that shows what the file is focusing on.
- 36.09: To give just one example going to the above line, I see four jumps here layering in both the melody and the snare, but not at 41.43 even though it's the same exact sounds.
- 130.09: This 16th stream doesn't belong here
- Most of the lyrics are stepped spot-on and the 4-note snare hits are stepped, but the other 16ths and the jump usage is inconsistent throughout the entire file and there is the noticeable copy paste since there were the same exact jump placements used for the chorus that repeated again. This file needs layering established and needs to fix the 16th usage.
- Also the song should have been 180 BPM at 26.09
[6/10] YATA {kireji} (Silvuh)
Length: 1:51.84
Steps: 857
Jumps: 199
Hands: 26
- 2.10, 7.43, 10.10: This jump should share a note with the 3/16ths after since the violin is the same sound
- 8.93, 9.43, 25.93: Missing jumps
- 32.88, 33.21: Missing 12ths
- 44.52, 46.77: Missing piano notes in the stream
- 47.35: Missing note
- 48.10: There are 32nds here, not 24ths. If a 24th staircase was to be stepped here, 64ths wouldn't be mixed in.
- 51.43: There's a slowdown and then a speedup here, and recoloring would more accurately reflect this than a colored placement mess.
- 56.02, 56.39, 56.89, 57.14: Missing notes
- 57.27-57.77: The scratch records here are all 24ths. The 12th up-right-up patterning is good, but the other placements are wrong, they should land on the 24ths and 8th.
- 59.02: There is a 32nd triplet starting on this 8th, but not 24ths. Right number of notes, incorrect quantization.
- 59.45: Ghost note
- 66.35, 66.68, 66.85, 67.18, 69.60: Missing notes
- 70.77: Missing jump
- 78.12: This is a 32nd burst but the way it's stepped right now is passable
- 96.17, 96.34: These notes should have also been offsetted for the scratch records
- At 96.59 there is an 8th and at 96.67 there is a 16th. These are the placements of what you meant to step.
- 100.75: Not a jump
[8/10] Yukidokeiro Flowers {daisan & zue-row} (Silvuh)
Length: 2:12.07
Steps: 773
Jumps: 175
Hands: 32
- This is a special case since the song is 150 BPM on the dot; the 64th triplet at 61.55 should be changed to 48ths because that snaps exactly to 1 frame for each note. A 64th would mean a messy conversion.
- 8.05: This is an insignificant sound compared to the piano that plays on the 8th after, not sure if this is worth stepping.
- 36.75: The way this is stepped is passable but for reference there is a 32nd triplet starting on the 16th at 36.85
- 75.45: Not sure what this jump is for. There is a missing piano note on the 4th after.
- 90.75, 91.35, 91.55: Missing jumps? (See 89.15) Same goes for the few measures after, the layering in this section isn't clear.
- 118.15, 118.95, 119.75, 120.35: Missing jumps (violin and piano)
=== JUDGE: hi19hi19 ===
[4/10] [Resubmission] Crucial {David MeShow remixed by Kaiben} (VisD)
- 9.290, 28.490, 52.484, etc. are noticably late from the actual sound. The first four notes of these passages are played faster than 16ths, then there's a bigger-than-16th gap before the resolution. As you have it feels kinda okay I guess, but it feels off to play.
- Note that there are passages like the one I mentioned above that are played strictly as 16ths. The guitar is very legato, you have to deal with each phrase's sync individually.
- PR fishy in places, like the 83.834 phrase being totally backwards.
- Lots of really minor errors everywhere. I'll just pick an example measure:
- 133.784 ghost note.
- 133.934 not supposed to be a jump
- 134.084 either a ghost note, or going to the guitar echo, in which case it should be a minijack like you do elsewhere in the file.
- In general, jack usage is strange. Why is 135.734 not a minijack while you have sections like 99.434 stepped really strictly with regards to same tone = jack.
- Missing a 32nd at 138.359. Sounds like an error by the guitarist, but it's so prominent as to be jarring when it's not stepped.
- Generally very inconsistent file. Will take significant effort to clean this up; the rating is an accumulation of lots of small errors and questionable stuff, not any one big issue.
[5/10] [Resubmission] One For All All For One {Razihel & Virtual Riot} (Xiz)
- You didn't include a .sm or .dwi file. DDReam files don't work with the converter.
- I'll judge it anyway because I'm nice. You're welcome.
- Beginning is generally very solid. If you want to add a little more, there's a noticable ton drum pattern at 16.387 etc. that could be layered.
- 26.836 you're layering... just the kick drum and hi-hat? So much more going on here, and it's pretty jarring to no longer be following the melody. Making this harder is fine difficulty wise too (compare to 72.767 for example). Not wrong, but a weak section of the file.
- 44.008, 47.318 etc. the tone actually changes on the 16th after. Not a clean sound = can be fudged, so up to you how you want it.
- Lots of grace notes to bends you can put here too, if you'd like. (50.008 etc.) Absolutely a style thing, just pointing it out for you.
- The copy/paste is noticable here but it's okay because it's long passages and only plays twice.
- 73.180 rougher on the left hand than it looks- worth considering for difficulty curve.
- 83.939, 87.249, etc. the wub doesn't play here so this shouldn't make a trill pattern. For example in the first one, [24] is much more appropriate.
- 84.353 different sound, shouldn't be jacking on the same finger.
- 83.939 & 84.560 using the same jump for the snare and the kick layering feels weird. You're changing one or both of them based on the above suggestions, make sure they are different. Little things add up.
- 104.422 this up anchor is very difficult and goes to nothing. You also repeat it, with even harsher layering, at the end of the file.
- Missing white arrows around 108.974, 112.698, 116.629.
- 115.387 is going to one of the repetitive echoes in this section, step them all or don't step them. Very inconsistent as it is.
- So much copy/paste aaah
- 225.457 really bro
- File is long without the variation to back it up. Cutting out one repeat of each phrase will drop it to about a nice 2:20-ish.
[5.5/10] [Resubmission] Revenge Of Mister Foxsky {Foxsky} (Xiz)
- You didn't include a .sm or .dwi file. DDReam files don't work with the converter.
- Notes around 2.721 and 2.994 missing, also in the repeats. They're actually after the 16th but before the 64th; one 192nd up from the 64th is most accurate but swing it how you want.
- Bit repetitive at 11.039. Good place for some structured variation.
- 34.402 I might have actually gotten finger cancer here on my playtest.
- 37.493 advanced tip for using hands: if a jump immediately following a hand shares both the arrows with the hand, it feels like it should go to the same sound. You can differentiate the hands from the jumps by making sure the jump includes the arrow that is missing from the hand. In this case, the following jump feels better as [14]
- 41.130 ghost note? Even if there is something there, it feels weird.
- 45.948 feels really cool and memorable. Good.
- 85.220 more obvious copy/paste. Not good.
- 120.675 so much copy/paste. Very difficult jack transitions too. If you're dead-set on jacks, consider 2-note minijacks instead. Patterns like 224[124] make for no one-handed transition.
- In general, I think this file would benefit from no 24th jacks. They are fast enough to likely be 2-framers (bad) and they just kinda stick out without really adding anything. The ones right at the end are okay, I guess, but the transition into hands is very difficult relative to everything else.
- Overall too repetitively copy/pasted in places. Adding structured variation (for example AABB if one part repeats four times), cleaning up inconsistencies, and removal of the occasional really dumb 165bpm one-handed jump transition (cough34.402) will make this file nice.
[7.5/10] Alive (Pegboard Nerds Remix) {Krewella} [psychoangel691]
- Beginning note omissions seem very strange. 5.005, 6.719, etc. are basically no quieter than anything else.
- 13.790 section is extremely fun. Good shit.
- There's some minor PR stuff you could do to make it even better, though. For example 23.219 could be [23] because it's lower than 22.362.
- 41.219 seems like, unfinished, especially in the context of the 54.933 section. The loud and energetic part is unlayered, leading into the quiet buildup... which you have densely layered. Feels weird. Also, compare this section to 126.933- how you do it in the later part of the file is much preferable.
- 76.683 why color theory'd? If it's going to the cleaner synth hit, there's also one at 77.005. Additionally, [13] is much better here. Considering how hard the minijacks are relative to everything else, it's preferable to have them transition nicely.
- 81.862 could make this 4231 to differentiate the vocal cut pattern from the wub pattern. Could honestly also use a trill for the vocals.
- The sound reaches its highest point around 85.433 so it's weird to have this be low PR-wise. The burst could feel more natural if PR'd better.
- How is 98.433 different from the three before? Stick with the type of patterns from the burst or commit to just down arrows here once it reaches 8ths and slower.
- 100.147 should be higher PR than the two after it.
- Consider here having the snares that are alone (without a vocal) only be singles. That would let you differentiate the patterns in the buildup more (for example 121.147, 122.005 etc. would be single) and then you can layer in the vocals at 123.505 so that the climax actually feels more intense than the buildup.
- 154.897 earlier in the file you have the minijacks repeating on the same finger twice, here they are different. Feels inconsistent. Additionally, early in the file they were all left-handed. These should either be all left-handed as well, all right-handed for mirror consistency, or the earlier section should switch hands like these.
- 3 minutes is a bit of a long file. The repeat seems unnessecary. This would be more fun IMO as a 100-ish second file. Using a similar style cut as Cheat Codes for this type of song makes it more focused.
- Overall fun burst patterns, interesting rhythms. Would prefer it cut, layer the 41.219 section, and clean up some minor things. Acceptable file now, but will be absolutely excellent with these fixes.
[5.5/10] All I Ever Wanted {Basshunter} (VisD)
- Vocal tone drops around 2.330, needs an arrow. Also wtf is up with the bpms here lol
- 2.976 move to up arrow for PR, jump becomes [14]
- He makes the "oo" of "to" a separate syllable (lolsinging) at 4.166, needs an arrow.
- PR of vocal echoes is backwards, the yellow arrows are lower than the red ones.
- 14.770 very fun.
- 17.045 slower than 48ths by a lot, dicksync it. (Up arrow down one 192nd, down arrow down two 192nds, left arrow down three is much better)
- Love the 64th swing part.
- Not going to go hugely into patterns, but stuff like 158.149 is not helping your score.
- Okay, so the file's difficulty is based around the hardest part being handstream, 32nd bursts with anchor jump transitions, and some 32nd walls. With that in mind, most of the file is total boring filler relative to the hard parts.
- To fix that, step the loud bass (18.287)- hell it's louder than the kicks! Just layer it in everywhere but the streams, that's my suggestion to beef up the rest of the file. Will wind up kinda jumpspammy in places, but the file is generally already pretty overlayered so it won't feel too out of place.
- The other option is to... get rid of the crazy difficulty spikes. Jumpstream instead of handstream, 32nd rolls only having a jump on start or end, not both, the big 32nd walls becoming 24ths instead (feels dirty I know), that kind of thing.
- Feels like one chorus could be cut. Drags a little at the end, 3 minutes is long when the song is this repetitive.
[9/10] Cirno's Perfect Math Class {IOSYS} (ilikexd)
- 19.239 why 8th jacks, vocals change tone here.
- Blue note color thing is cute and fitting. Coulda used the cyan notes though because the effect is rather lost in places like 33.296, 104.953 and 110.439.
- 94.896 you know you want to step this
- Extremely well-made file, no complaints.
[5/10] Discord {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
- You didn't include a .sm or .dwi file. DDReam files don't work with the converter.
- Notes start in the middle of a phrase. Either add silence and actually start it at the start, or start notes at 4.721 where the melodic phrase starts its repeat.
- Jacks in the vocals are incredibly forced.
- Lots of little errors, like 18.150 is only one syllable.
- This would actually be more fun without the percussion layering, as it would let the breaks in the vocals stand out instead of being basically a jumpstream to something that doesn't sound like a jumpstream.
- 25.579 noticably missing.
- 47.007 really repetitive- and you have that nice other melody going on too that could be stepped in a much more interesting way.
- In general, outside of technical errors, this file just feels very same-y and drags a lot, in my opinion as a result of the layering you chose. As it is, it's too monotonous to fit in FFR.
- I know it would totally change the feel of the file, so this is your choice, but vocals like the ones in this song really don't lend themselves to heavy percussion layering like you have. Un-layering it could actually make for a very varied and interesting easier file.
- If you stick with this layering, you're going to have to have to break the monotony by getting pretty creative with using patterns to make jumps that have vocal/melody layering versus ones that don't feel different.
[5/10] Duncan Hills Cover {Metaljonus} (trumaestro)
- Beginning feels really empty. Can layer the percussion here even if you aren't later on.
- 19.544 section is literally over a quarter of the file repeating the exact same pattern. Need to have structured variance in a file like this.
- For example, those loud crash cymbals are begging to be layered.
- All the drumrolls being 432 is boring as hell too (they're also not 24ths, but at least you're consistent about this)
- Overall, this file is extremely repetitive and feels monstrously underlayered in many parts. Even if you want it to be an easier file with 24th-speed streams as the hardest parts, there are many things that need to be done in order to make it not feel like a boring copy/paste-fest.
[5.5/10] Gym Training Montage {Virt} (bmah)
- 23.676 feels strange PR-wise, actually. The drums are so much higher than the guitar chord, I'd like to see them as [34][34][123] or something similar.
- 33.589 & 33.980 not the same sound. The latter should definitely be a right arrow, it's exclusively in the right side speaker.
- 59.023 all the previous jump sections to this sound had the pattern: jump, jump that shares no arrows, jump that shares one arrow, jump that shares no arrows. This one is different and significantly harder for no reason.
- 66.980 missing arrow to guitar?
- 69.067 split jump to other hands, this pattern is awkward
- 70.545 a guitar grace note around here. Sounds worth stepping to me.
- Layering was fairly clear until 70.893, no idea what's going on here though. Very messy.
- For example 73.893 is going to? The muted guitar twang? There's tons more of them in this part (75.458)
- 78.197 same tone, why are these not both [34] jumps for PR reasons?
- 84.328 same issue as earlier, there's a million more of this sound you're not stepping (83.023, 81.197, etc.) and it feels very arbitrary as a result.
- 89.415 missing jump to melody/kickdrum layering, and that down anchor is going to nothing.
- In this first section, 16th jacks are overused. They're used sometimes to the guitar, sometimes to kick drums. As a result you get stuff like 85.893 which doesn't feel good at all.
- Picking just one sound to be minijacks and being way more consistent about it in this section will clean it up.
- Guitar pinch note around 95.632 unstepped, also the bend at 96.589ish.
- 107.089 right arrow; way higher than the previous right arrow pitch.
- 110.415 while playing the file, this doesn't strike you as slightly inappropriate for the sounds it's going to? lol it's not technically wrong, but it's not fun either.
- 111.197 same pitch as previous 16ths, should be a runningman.
- 111.784 lower pitch than the 8th after it.
- 113.502 not the same pitch as the previous up arrow, move to down arrow. This also breaks up the unnessecary anchor.
- 115.110 missing kick drum. Also at 115.632.
- 123.589 really awful pattern to play; also dubious PR-wise because it's higher than the previous [24] jump and the melody implies it should be lower.
- 129.589 missing kick drum.
- Nothing repeating means 136.763 is inappropriate for a minijack.
- 138.328, 139.632 missing notes
- Missing layering on 144.458 to incoming melody.
- 159.458 ghost note, upwards harp-sounding arpeggio starts after this.
- Feels very weird that the synth and powerful guitar chords come in to hype up the energy at 195.067... and the section gets way easier than the previous one.
- Also 195.067 should be a jump (kick+guitar)
- Missing kick 197.023
- 220.893 lemme just put on my best Dossar impression here and say this should probably be quantized a little bit more reguarly- it converts so badly rofl
- If you're sticking with color spam here, you're missing important notes at 222.719, 222.882, and 223.197.
- If the above notes were omitted intentionally, then do that consistently- that would mean removing 223.067.
- 222.980 extremely easy to split, especially leading into another right arrow. Approaching and exiting it like 21[34]21 is optimal.
- Having minijacks because there's literally no other option like at 258.067 is the kind of thing that should raise red "overlayered" flags, but I guess it's alright in context.
- 262.110 stop the one-handed trill here because the sound stops. Having 262.371 not be [12] for example is incorrect PR.
- Overall, this file has problems:
- The insistence on layering every double kick drum as a minijack is hurting this file.
- Much more care and consistency needs to be put into jump patterns in areas that have several 16th jumps consecutively.
- The color vomit section is a gross difficulty spike.
- Way too many general ghost note/missing arrow/inconsistent layering issues.
[2.5/10] If I Ruled the World {Futuristic Sex Robotz} (Xtreme2252)
- Not sure what's up with the gigantic number of unnessecary bpm changes in this file, but even with all of them, it's pretty offsync.
- First arrow is 37 milliseconds early, for example.
- PR kinda weird, 5.592 is the highest but you have it going down.
- Copy/paste patterns get repetitive.
- Patterns and layering to the vocals are kinda arbitrary.
- Needs a lot of work. Start by deleting all the useless subbeats and setting the downbeat to match the percussion, then tweak vocal/guitar sync after.
[7.5/10] Kanon {tarolabo} (ilikexd)
- 13.025 the repeating bass worth stepping. Use a 1212 trill?
- 13.882 not the highest in PR, should be like 232 and the second one 242.
- 23.997 I see what you were going for in this section and I feel it didn't work.
- Lots more snares in here that should be adknowledged for this layering to feel good- 30.082, 30.254, etc.
- Also leads to issues like the snare at 34.625 being missing.
- If you are worried about losing the distinction between this and the next section where you did layer all the snares, don't be. That part will still have much higher NPS and feel very different.
- In that next section, becuase you were following the flute earlier, PR should continue to follow the flute first and the harp sound second. So for example 38.739 would feel better going downward with the flute instead of matching the harp.
- 56.825... the jumps don't even go to anything prominent lmao
- 69.082 etc. these jumps are to what sound? If you are going for the louder chords, you goofed a bit (for example that means 69.597 is wrong; should be the 16th before it)
- 73.797 PR very backward here (jump layering also wrong)
- 80.225 chime is layered later on, should be here too.
- 87.597 not feeling these jumps on the 8th at all
- Feels like you went full retard with the layering in some parts of these earlier color note solo sections in order to justify the breakcore-y section being as hard as it is.
- The breakcore part is very fun, but has lots of little inconsistencies.
- For example, you didn't step any burst at 101.139 but did to the exact same sound at 106.625
- 128.568 also weird to not step the burst. I know you want the quad and the burst which obviously can't happen, but I feel the burst should win out.
- You have to play a little loose with layering in this kind of file but this is too loose lol. Clean up layering in the early solos. Consider adding jumps to the snares instead of to... other stuff.
- That said, it's a very interesting file and would be a cool addition to the game.
[8/10] Lavender Town [Fairytale Remix] {Rachel Macwhirter} (XelNya)
- The same pattern repeats three times in the beginning, varying the middle repeat while keeping the PR correct could spice it up a little.
- Layering is solid in the first part.
- 36.051 and 37.141 I don't hear any other tones here. Single would be better, for difficulty reasons too.
- 79.135 should be a single down arrow, and the song should cut right here, ending before the next note.
- The last note trails off really awkwardly.
- Very solid easy file. Nothing groundbreaking, but well-made.
[6/10] Phantom Of The Opera {Lindsey Stirling} (VisD)
- Some interesting sounds you can drop in between big chords at the start, if you want. It's nice either way.
- Rather than jumpspam, consider selectively layering the guitar noises (15.881, 16.462) instead. Could use patterns connected with 8th jacks to convey the driving bassline instead, perhaps. This just feels dumpy as it is.
- 20.719 feels much more appropriate- in fact, this part feels a little light haha. Layering the cymbals on the quarter note, perhaps?
- Overall, these two parts at the start are too different for what are fundamentally the same in intensity (main difference being adding in cymbalwork in the second part, so if anything I feel that one should be the harder of the two)
- 28.405 LH trill does not feel like an appropriate pattern here.
- 32.855 jump goes to?
- 35.757 not the same tone as the previous [23] jump, this one should be [13]
- 36.338 note too early; dicksync this
- 36.918 if you are going to step the guitar, keep stepping the guitar.
- 56.471 jump goes to?
- 57.826 should not be lowest hand PR-wise, use [234] or [134]
- 64.017 advanced tip for using hands: if a jump immediately before a hand shares both the arrows with the hand, it feels like the two have the same tone. You can differentiate the hands from the jumps by making sure the jump includes the arrow that is missing from the hand, in this case [134]
- 73.692 this is just 16ths...
- 74.175 this is good though.
- 76.255 up arrow, hand becomes [124] for PR
- 80.851 ??? If this is going to the guitar or drum, keep stepping that sound. In general, layering is weak in this section.
- The 8th anchors convey energy well. That part is difficult, but interesting.
- Change the anchor at 104.675, following the chord change.
- Overall very promising, but also currently very messy. Layering, sync (lolrandom24ths), consistency... everything needs to be tightened up here.
[7.5/10] R2 {Bumblefoot} (ilikexd)
- 2.631 what are these jumps going to?
- You're stepping the guiltar pulloff at 7.921, but not 5.876? (or is this going to the kick drum, in which case why is it not layered at 7.510?)
- Layering is kinda weird to me in general in the beginning. Stepping kick drums in some places and not others.
- 24.879 weren't you the one complaining about the triplets to bends in FUSE? haha, this is totally fine because you're consistent about it, but I find it funny :P
- Of course I'm going to mention 38.588 bothers me, maybe a 432[14] or something?
- 41.288 this is damn good.
- 49.202 feels weird as hell going into the bend. 1[24]3 better?
- Why not put the jack at 75.380
- Ghost note 77.971
- Could easily add the kick drum at 88.421, 98.492, 102.857, 103.128, 106.136, 107.222, 108.316. Compare these locations to say, 109.394, and there's really no difference, so I think they should also be there. Fills this solo section out more, too.
- I was totally like 9/10 on board with this file until about 117.739, then uh... whut
- I'm not going to outright reject this file for this because we do have shit like Our Journey and Epilogue. and Pandora in this game, but I will have you know this section is completely fucking retarded and the file would be much more fun if this section was just the guitar with little/no layering.
- At the very least use better alternating JS patterns, 118.098 up anchor for example is pretty dumb.
- Either way, definitely clean up layering in the beginning.
[4.5/10] Spooky Scary Skeletons {The Living Tombstone(remix)} (M0nkeyz)
- Patterns in start don't fit melody at all.
- 10.762 you are not following the vocal rhythm correctly here.
- Same with 22.012 and many other places. Just 8ths is boring as hell; do more with this section.
- 39.590 is cool.
- Why not step the swing at 43.887 and 44.199 too?
- The next part is much stronger in terms of structure and rhythmic variety but still suffers from random minor issues. Sync, layering, breaking structure, etc.
- For example 65.761 goes to nothing. This is a very common rookie DDReam mistake- the spike on the waveform goes to the trailing "ssss" sound in "shouts" but gramatically, the sound of the "s" is NOT a syllable so it makes no sense to have an arrow going to it. This is not the only instance of this in the file; be very careful of this.
- Just like 39.590, I really like 77.089. Consider 12th jacks at the end? It would fit in the difficulty curve and make for a nice climax to these buildups.
- 99.589: Considering the fact you avoided 12th jacks in the earlier parts of the file in places they could have easily been used, having 12th jacks here WITH SHIT LAYERED IN is a huge difficulty spike. Pick either "I will use 3-note 12th jacks in this file" or not, and even out the difficulty curve with that in mind.
- If you enjoy it, definitely keep stepping man. All these things you have to consider certainly take a while to learn, and I can see your files improving.
[2/10] Tasteless {Ken Ashcorp} (JSH)
- Song is hilarious, I had no idea this existed lmfao
- Lyrical sync is off in places. 3.573 is a 16th late, 14.990 is a 32nd late.
- Random 16th jacks
- Layering is very inconsistent. Examples:
- 30.740 should be all jumps or all not jumps.
- No idea what the 16ths at 32.406 are going to, and they don't appear anywhere else.
- Overall: hilarious song for people who know who the lyrics are about, but the quality of the song itself is quite poor.
- The file is just far too inconsistent to even make sense of.
[8.5/10] YATA {kireji} (Silvuh)
- Siiick song.
- Stepping the flute-ish sound at 6.081 but not 10.206? (Also 12.748 grace note but I can understand conciously omitting that)
- 8.748 jump to? I'm assuming that clap sound, in which case, the 16th after this and 9.414 also have one.
- 15.914 sound that was consistently repeating finger really arbitraily becomes not on the same finger.
- Can start the minijacks to the rolling drums earlier if your issue is spreading notes around on the hands nicely during the buildup.
- 31.248 slowing the roll down here is very strange, much better flow to continue it 4321[34]
- You were following the piano earlier (31.859 clearly to piano) but at 32.859 you randomly switch to drums in the middle of the phrase. Stick with the piano.
- 36.748 PR is weird. [14]243[24] to keep the 8th jack to the bass while more properly putting the 16ths lower than the notes before them.
- 44.498 missing note.
- Aside from that error, the part starting at 43.414 is amazing. Patterns, color theory use, everything. Great stuff.
- 58.498 goes down, feels weird to have it go up.
- 58.998 faster than 24ths.
- 69.748 where'd the 12th jack go? lmfao
- 70.748 this should obviously be left arrow 12ths. Feels like this jack got moved from the part above and the proper left jack got lost... no idea how that would happen though lmao
- 78.713 can continue the 32nd roll here
- 83.463 missing 16th. If you add this, treat the 12th like it will be hit as a 32nd triplet (it will be), something like
http://i.imgur.com/Ld5Hmd5.png could work. Up to you.
- Lots of missing piano stuff in this last section. 97.066 (optional bass), 98.149, 98.482, 101.982... Not sure what you were going for with omitting these but it feels weird as fuck to hit.
- Missing layering: 99.399, 100.066, 100.566, 101.399. I can understand this raises difficulty issues, but leaving half in and half out is super awkward to play.
- Ending is a hilarious difficulty spike but I guess it fits. Not my favorite but not a huge issue.
- So many unnecessarily missing notes, then just random other minor issues. Overall extremely cool- would have been an easy 9.5 without all the missing stuff...
[5.5/10] Yukidokeiro Flowers {daisan & zue-row} (Silvuh)
- 8.027 ghost
- 11.627 goes to what? If it's the quiet beeping sound, there's many more of them (10.827) and I don't think this is worth stepping no matter what it goes to.
- 29.527 surprised this isn't color theory'd!
- 34.627 oh god
- 74.727 this piano is playing long before this (73.127 for example), rather arbitrary to start layering it here.
- 87.727 randomly not stepping one of the bursts?
- 114.227 pls
- Pick what difficulty you want this to be and step that file. Currently it feels like filler punctuated by occasional bursts that are hard in all the ways people tend to dislike.
- If the burst transitions were made more gentle it could be a great mid-difficulty file. I'd suggest don't layer anything in the bursts and limit them to either starting or ending in a jump, never both, and never into/out of hands.
- If the burst transitions stay this brutal, you have your work cut out for you trying to make the rest of the file feel hard enough that the bursts fit in context.
=== JUDGE: Silvuh ===
[7.5/10] [Resubmission] Crucial {David MeShow remixed by Kaiben} (VisD)
// Nice chill medium file with good PR and layering. Almost everything that was mentioned was fixed, but there are a few more things I didn't notice last time.
45.88, 46.78, 47.23s, etc.: There are a lot of pretty distinct guitar echoes in this section. It might be good to step them so the density in 45.43-64.63s will fit right between the two sections around it for climax theory.
66.73, 66.88s: This could be a minijack to the guitar.
72.95s: 32nd (or something; the 16th isn't exact, either) to the guitar here.
83.83s: The sweeping synth you've been putting white jumps to plays here, too, so this should be white.
94.63s: No main melody or percussion note here, so it could be removed to go with the break in the melody.
109.78s: Interesting that you didn't do a minijack here even though you changed it at 9.14s. These two are fine not being minijacks because of how soft the 8th is.
119.38s: Minijack here.
124.03, 124.18s: You removed arrows to these sounds at 66.43s but left them in here. Should be consistent.
125.23s: No main melody or percussion note here.
130.55s: Same as 72.95s.
133.78, 134.08s: Similarly, these could be removed.
138.38s: There's like a 48th grace note here you can step if you think it'd fit.
140.53-140.83s: This is 24ths in the guitar.
[6.5/10] [Resubmission] One For All All For One {Razihel & Virtual Riot} (Xiz)
// At four minutes, this is pretty long. Many different phrases but most repeat twice, so I was able to make a cut about 2:20 long that I can send you if you like.
// Looks like you fixed most of the specific issues that were mentioned, but there's still a lot more that could be done. Sorry I didn't catch this all last time.
29.42, 35.42, 37.90s: Missing percussion notes. You do step the other instances of this sound in this section.
39.56s: Missing 16th to the tom-like synth that plays on the 8ths around it.
42.35s: Could be anchored to the following jump for PR to the rough synth (same pitch. You do this at 95.31s.)
47.93s: If you want to step continuous notes as suggested, 32nds would be good, because they are actually 64ths. I don't mind the broken bursts, because I don't really hear it as two constant ascending runs. What I hear is more, like, 3/64th gallops. You should try all the options before sticking with the 48ths.
49.18s: Could be [13] so it doesn't anchor with anything around it (different sounds/pitches).
54.56s: Could be 134 so it stays anchored to the 8ths before it (the rough synth is the same pitch. You do this at 94.27s.)
56.00s: 34[14]234 would be more PR and would get rid of that unnecessary 8th anchor.
61.18s: This has a higher-pitched burst on top of it, so this could be stepped differently than 47.93s.
65.11s: High synth melody does have a note here you can step.
67.18, 67.38s+2m(2): Synth doing straight 8ths repeats pitch here, so this could be anchored.
72.56-73.18s: Something that doesn't anchor would work better. You can hear how there's a rhythmic break at 72.76s that's filled in with a kick, so a pattern that makes the 4th feel less like a part of the stream.
73.18-78.14s: I really like how all the kick jumps are closed and the clap jumps are open here. Try using this for more than just this one section (it's something I like to do for sound semblance but usually goes unnoticed.)
73.18-76.49s: Not bad, but you cooould do it without causing any three-note anchors or one-handed minitrills like you have.
76.38s: The synth the 16ths go to doesn't stop doing 16ths here.
78.97s: Odd that you filled in all the 16ths here but not 24 measures earlier (39.24s) The 79.49, 79.69s 16ths go to that bass you were never really stepping. Main difference between here and earlier is that there's a high synth doing the same pitch on each 8th, so you could complete that anchor.
80.62s+2m(4): Similarly to 72.76s, the rough synth doesn't play on the 4th, so [14], which doesn't share a note with the 32.23 thing, would work better (also breaks up the unnecessary long anchor). And the second instance should be [24] and so on.
92.21s: Pattern could be different so you don't have a one-handed minitrill here. The pitches are more like 43231.
95.73s: Same as 56.00s.
100.90s: Same as 61.18s.
104.42s: This is a kick, so it should be a different jump than all the [13] snares after it.
104.62-106.28s: The 8th anchor doesn't really go to anything, and so you can change it up. Also, the two 16th streams aren't the same pitch, so they shouldn't be the same steps.
104.73s: Remove this 16th for the same reason you removed the one at 105.35s.
105.87s: Should be a hand, because it's just like 105.24s. And really, 106.07s could be a hand too if you make 106.28s a quad. It would fit. (You do this at the very end, so it'd be fine to save the quad for last.)
108.97, 112.69s: A couple missing notes. Odd that you step one the first time and the other the second time, which is inconsistent.
115.38s: There's not really a note here. It's just a part of the every-fourth echo you're not stepping.
125.62s: Missing 16th to the tom-like synth.
129.25, 129.66s: If you jump the synth here, it would break the every-other-fourth jumping this section has for some nice variety.
131.93s: The four-note yellow anchor is unnecessary.
135.04s: Jump here to the bass/kick instead of 135.25s. You don't jump the loud melody at 138.56s. You don't want to fall into every-fourth jumping in one of the few sections where the percussion rhythm is varied.
142.28-143.73s: Change this up a bit to break the long 8th trill.
146.83, 150.14, 153.45s: This 4th could be anchored to the previous jump because one of the melodic synths repeats in pitch here. (And you missed the note the second time.)
147.87, 151.18, 154.49s: Doesn't share its pitch with either note around it and shouldn't be anchored.
148.59, 148.80s+2m(3): You don't need to stop stepping the loud percussion 16ths just because there's a new melody. These claps are new and noticeable. Also, stepping the percussion would help differentiate the 146.00-147.25s section which doesn't have any percussion.
155.73s: You jumped this kick at 149.11s.
The dubstep 12th section works fine, and everything after that is nothing new, so you can refer back to previous sections.
[8/10] [Resubmission] Revenge Of Mister Foxsky {Foxsky} (Xiz)
// Fixes are well done, and the layering works a lot better now.
26.85s: Straight 24ths should start here, so you're missing 26.94 and 27.22s.
34.40s: Should be a single so it doesn't make a 24th minijack.
39.67-41.58s: You can probably pattern this so it doesn't have a long, unnecessary 8th anchor. 41.58-42.67s doesn't need to be an anchor, either.
61.22s: This being [12] would break the anchor here. (This 4th doesn't share pitch/sounds with the 8ths around it.)
65.85s: Don't think this should be a jump, because the synth on 63.67s and such doesn't play here. (There is a low synth, but it also plays on 66.40s, so jumping the beats to it would be too much.)
105.67s: Shouldn't be [13]. The strings synth doesn't repeat pitches here, only the vocal sample does, which isn't on this 8th.
[6.5/10] Alive (Pegboard Nerds Remix) {Krewella} [psychoangel691]
// With how difficult the dubstep sections are, you won't add to the difficulty if you fill in the other sections. It would further distinguish it from the easy version and make the file feel more coherent. I didn't really understand all the colored bursts.
Intro: Some edits you made later in the Standard file should be made here too, like adding in the 8ths in the intro and making the offbeat arrows to the vocals more consistent.
27.50s: For something different, you could have a hand here.
37.79-41.21s: FSD, you could step the percussion on the 8ths.
41.21-54.93s: You do amp up the layering in the next repeat of this phrase, but you should do it here, too. It is backwards climax theory for this section to be less dense than 54.93-78.64s. (Your added layering is good, but it needs to be balanced with more layering before it.) Perhaps you could use the additive layering from 126.93-140.64s here and then do something more dense later, if you don't think the two sections should be layered the same.
65.21-67.57s: I think I may have said before that these shouldn't be minijacks to the vocals because the pitches are different, but I think that was just the vowels playing tricks. Like, 65.21-65.86s is all one pitch, but "oh" feels lower and "ih" feels higher. Maybe it's the rounding.
All the color stuff: I have no idea how you came up with these rhythms, because the vibrating is like at 100 Hz, which isn't translatable into steps. It's like they were added just to make it harder than the other version, but it's spikey and doesn't feel warranted.
77.00s: Should also be white to go with the same sound as 76.68s.
81.88-82.04s: Should be 32nds to the vocal stutter (it's distinguishable at a lower rate.)
82.17-82.29s: Two notes, approximately 16ths, should be fine here.
96.07-98.21s: Because this is constantly descending, a 4321 roll would work rather than trying to complicate it. (It goes up again after 98.21s.)
97.14s: This should be an 8th. Your notes start to get late after here. For example, 97.37-98.21s should be 3/32nds, so you have three notes in this interval when there should be four. Also, the jack is odd, because the notes are still descending.
99.34s: Missing the last arrow to the sound.
113.21-125.21s: FSD, you could put singles to the 3/16th synth rhythm like you do at 54.93-78.64s.
126.93-150.93s: When I playtested this, I didn't understand most of those 8ths were jumped, because it didn't feel like they were emphasized in the music. In the editor, I could see it was additive layering with the vocal and the 3/16th percussion. Maybe try jumping all the percussion here (with varied patterns, changing the jump more than just every measure) or something to help focus the layering and bring its density above that of the following section.
Everything after is repeats of previous sections.
[5.5/10] All I Ever Wanted {Basshunter} (VisD)
#OFFSET:-2.133; (-16 ms)
// With how repetitive it is, it could definitely be cut. PM me and I can send you something 2:17 in length, which cuts out half of each chorus and another repetitive melodic section.
// With how dense the breakdowns are, there might be more layering you could do in other sections so they don't feel like such big difficulty spikes.
2.35s: Not sure if it's because of the weird beat, but you miss an echo of "all" here.
17.04s: This should be 32nds, and you can step the vocal note at 17.25s.
18.08-41.25s: The layering works, because the music doesn't give much to work with. Even though all the clap hands feel like overlayering at first, it's really the only thing to do for climax theory.
30.70, 30.90s: Could probably step the vocal notes here.
41.66, 42.49s: These shouldn't be hands, because you have the crashes as hands now, which are much louder.
44.14s: Jump?
44.30s: Missing 32nd, because the roll starts on the 16th, not the 8th.
48.08, 48.28, 48.90, 49.11s: These are just snares, and you have jumps on snare + kick (the 8ths around the 32nds), so these world work better as singles.
51.80s: 32nds, not 48ths.
52.82-79.30s: Except for 54.40+4m(4), it's just 16ths here.
53.44, 53.65s: Repeating pitches should be anchored.
54.89, 56.54s: Unclear what makes some of these jumps and some not.
55.92, 56.13; 57.58, 57.78s: More repeating pitches to anchor, and so on.
65.44, 65.85s: Could be jumps to the strong melody notes + kick.
78.68, 78.78s: Missing percussion notes.
97.51s: Should be [14] or something to break the anchor.
99.16s: The vocal pitches don't go ABAB here.
102.47-109.09s: Runningmen aren't accurate here.
123.37, 123.58s: Same as 30.70s.
140.75-141.78s: These could be jumps this time.
145.51s: This is too emphasized to be a single. Same thing about the 64th rhythms in this last section.
171.16-171.58s: Should be all 16ths in here to the percussion.
[9/10] Cirno's Perfect Math Class {IOSYS} (ilikexd)
// Fun with good layering and patterns and everything.
24.38s: Jump to "ka" like 27.12s?
37.83s: Ghost note? The sound here isn't any different from 26.86, 32.35s.
[7/10] Discord {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
// Adding hands to accentuate the crashes would likely help, because the layering doesn't vary much. Another thing could be jumping both syllables in "Discord" during the chorus (even though it doesn't layer with percussion), because it's the most emphasized lyric. (Hands to crashes would help with this, so there'd be a hand at 82.43 to separate the phrases if you put a jump at 82.72s.)
4.43s: Doesn't share pitch with the two notes after it and shouldn't be a part of the anchor.
28.43s+2m(3): Doesn't share pitch, shouldn't anchor.
45.86-63.29, 100.72s: Only sections where the patterns really need work. 46.15s should anchor with the previous 4th (same bass pitch). For the vocal echoes, doing ABB (so the 16th-8ths are minijacks) should work well. They are the same pitch, with each 8th being slightly stronger. But this way, you won't end up with long unnecessary 8th anchors when you vary the 4th jumps for PR (don't keep the minijack in the same column for too long), and the 16ths at 49.72s and such will stand out more.
73.29-81.29s: You need to change your layering here like you do at the end (after 119.00s), because the percussion in these two sections are the same, which is different from all the other sections.
83.29s+2m(3): Same as 28.43s.
[5.5/10] Duncan Hills Cover {Metaljonus} (trumaestro)
// You're trying to make an easier file, but you're going to have 24th stream either way, so you could probably use some more layering to the vocals or percussion or anything.
10.91, 41.57s etc: These are really 32nds, and the patterns should be more relevant, like, showing the snare hits at 11.15, 11.39s.
19.54-34.88s: Either to the vocals or the cymbals, this section could use more jumps. Something to help make it less repetitive, because the guitar doesn't do much melodically.
42.54-49.26s: With how loud those snares are, you could add another layer to this. It really needs more for climax theory.
50.22-67.48s: The jumping in the guitar solo isn't consistent. You have a number of jumps that either go to the bass guitar or crashes, so you're missing jumps at 50.22, 53.10, 60.77s.
53.34, 61.01s: Having these jacks to the snare feels odd, because there aren't any other three-note anchors. Something AABB (starting from the 4th before) would work better, or just don't have anything anchored.
65.80-66.28s: These 8ths could be crash jumps.
67.24s: It's still just 32nds here.
67.66, 68.62, 70.54s: Missing notes to the "can" in "Duncan" and the "ffee" in "Coffee".
[6/10] Gym Training Montage {Virt} (bmah)
// The first minute is well done, but then it gets brought down with odd, sometimes inconsistent additive layering.
40.89, 44.28s: These being jumps feels odd, because there are louder percussion sound you don't jump in favor of just jumping the main synth.
65.54, 69.71s: The guitar + kick jumps here are particularly odd, because they get in the way of jumps to the main melody.
66.98s: Missing guitar 8th.
67.50s: This jump is guitar + kick, but I didn't even notice the guitar until I thought about why 67.50s was a minijack. 69.06s is similar.
71.15s: Missing guitar 8th.
71.67-76.37s: Throughout here, there's a secondary melodic instrument that emphasizes the main melody, so all the main melody notes could potentially be jumps here.
72.19s: Melody + cymbal here would be a jump. Odd to have kick + guitar be jumps but not layers with the louder cymbal.
73.37, 75.45s: Missing guitar 16ths.
75.85, 77.41s: This looks like guitar + main melody. I figured 73.76 was a jump to main melody + kick to explain why 72.71 and 73.24s weren't jumps. But 75.85 and 77.41s don't have a kick or cymbal, just guitar + main melody. 72.71s also has guitar + main melody, but it's not a jump. It's the weird thing about the guitar only being a layer when it's a minijack.
78.71, 83.67s: Guitar 8th.
84.71s: This could be a jump to main melody + cymbal.
85.89s: This kick + guitar jump doesn't fit in rhythmically with the music. That's the thing about additive layering sometimes, two light instruments don't make a heavy sound.
89.41, 91.50s: You have four-note jacks, but the secondary melody goes AABB, so the jacks should be broken in half.
93.78, 94.28s: These notes are both about a frame/64th early. (A 64th is 32.6 ms at this BPM)
95.35s, 96.13s: Kind of odd to have guitar flourishes here but not in notable spots like in 93.78-94.30, 99.15-99.33, 102.78-103.04, and after 103.43s.
96.45, 96.71, 99.85s: Could step the guitar echoes here.
99.58s: Guitar is on the 4th; the 64th is the flam.
102.78-103.43s: These are all a 96th to a 64th early.
104.54s: Not the same percussion pitch as the previous ones and shouldn't be a part of the trill.
105.03s: The guitar has a note on the 64th here, but really, the two 64ths here could just be a single 32nd, because that's what the rhythm feels like.
105.65-106.04s: These are all a 64th early.
111.45s: Missing 16th to the soft kick here (same sound as 110.41s), but it works as a break to the guitar.
111.65s: Not really hearing a note here at 1.0x; or at least, it's not as audible as the other 32nd.
115.11s: Missing kick 16th.
115.43s: This is more like a 32nd than a 64th. The 16th is a bit odd, because the same percussion continues 16ths for the whole beat, but you only step the one.
129.32, 129.45s: These two don't share instruments, so they shouldn't anchor.
130.24s: You missed a guitar 16th here despite stepping it at 129.19s (There was a number of guitar 8ths you didn't step, but that was consistent.)
140.28-144.98s: Considering all the hands with minijacks and polyrhythms you've stepped, this feels very light.
153.78s: Missing guitar note.
172.85s: Note here instead of after the 8th jump, because the guitar rolls down to the chord.
173.41s: Missing guitar note.
182.54s: This crash deserves a hand even though it doesn't have the main synth on it.
188.15, 188.67s: You haven't usually been stepping the background synth, but maybe you can here; there's room for it.
197.02s: Missing kick 16th.
208.63s: Guitar flam here?
212.67, 216.32s: Missing tom 16ths.
217.76s: This 8th can anchor with the following jump to the toms.
218.02s: Not sure if tom + kick needs to be a jump compared to the 8ths after it with the main synth.
220.37-220.76s: The guitar does 32nds here.
220.98 224.02s: When I tried stepping this solo, I ended up with four more taps: 222.74, 222.89, 223.21, and then 223.85, 223.93s is 24ths, not a 16th. Some arrows in my result were a 64th away from your notes. Notable is 221.48-221.67s which can be 32nds ending with a jump to the crash. If you do make that a jump, then 222.19s can be, too.
224.80s: Odd to only jump snare + guitar here, when you could jump 223.76 and 224.28s.
260.80-261.98s: I don't really hear these as having grace notes.
[3/10] If I Ruled the World {Futuristic Sex Robotz} (Xtreme2252)
// I don't care if the lyrics were written ironically, it hurts to listen to.
// The BPM changes don't work. It's 180 flat (with some offbeat notes at times) with an offset of -2.125. Your steps are as early by as much as 40 ms. At 4:29 long, this really needs a cut. Lots of repetition. The counter-intuitive structure is basically the same throughout.
0-23.45s: The PR in the intro is good.
30.12, 30.79s: These jumps came from out of nowhere. Snare is jumped sometimes, sometimes it's not. Lyrics are emphasized randomly.
55.45s-76.12s: The sparse layering in the chorus is odd. Feels like there should be more.
Next verse has all the same weirdness as the first. Next chorus has all the same weirdness as the first. Same for the next verse. And the next chorus. And the bridge. And the next verse and chorus, and then it's half a minute of outro which for some reason has more notes than the chorus, which is backwards climax theory.
[6/10] Kanon {tarolabo} (ilikexd)
// A 48th is 28.6 ms (less than a frame) here, so it would be okay to move some arrows a bit if it would make them easier to read. Some amount of color is good to represent the disharmony of the whole thing, but 47.99-55.88 might be too much.
// You mainly switch between jumping the snare and low/prominent melody notes. The snare is inconsistent in one section, but the melody-jumping isn't very clear throughout. Everything after 91.19s is pretty good.
25.36s: Flute isn't on this note, so it can be removed.
34.62s: Same flute pitch as the previous 8th here; not hearing one at 34.71s.
46.22s: Sounds like this goes to percussion rather than melody, and you haven't been stepping percussion.
50.05, 51.62s: Around some of the louder notes, it's harder to hear when there are really notes there. So sometimes these feel like ghost notes.
50.18s: This jumping of prominent melody notes is a bit odd, because there are some similar sounds you don't jump, like 51.09, 51.20s (which sound more like they could just be (pseudo)jumps, not a trill), and 53.85s.
51.53s: Could just be a (pseudo)jump. It's pretty similar to 51.09s.
52.96s: The rhythm here is more like four 24ths with a grace note into the 8th, rather than an 8th with two grace notes.
53.48-53.82s: This sounds closer to 12ths here, so you have an extra note.
53.91, 54.08s: These feel like ghost notes because of how much the notes around them stand out.
54.24-55.88s: This sounds like it could be straight 16ths. These steps are mostly 16ths just offset a 64th, so many of them will be on the same frame if put back on the beat.
65.91s: Missing low melody note here.
68.05-68.82s: If you're jumping the snare again, you're missing the 3/16th rhythm to it here. (That's what it looks like the 69.08-69.85s jumps go to, because if you were jumping loud melody notes, you'd have jumped 69.51 and 69.68s instead. But then you don't jump the snare in 69.93-73.36s, so it's a bit odd.)
72.96s: Not really hearing the grace note here.
73.02s: This does sound like a trill on a low rate, but at 1.0x, it just sounds like pseudojumps.
73.45, 73.79s: This first 16th jump seems to go to a prominent melody note, because the snare is on the following 8th, but then the second 16th jump seems to go to the snare, because melody note at 73.96s is more prominent. 74.49 seems like the clearer note over 74.31s, so I guess I can't really tell what's going on.
75.83s: Kinda similar to 53.91s, that this feels like a ghost note compared to the two notes around it.
76.57s: I have to go down to like 0.4x to hear the grace note here. Just sounds like one note at 1.0x.
77.48s: Like, I'd think this 4th is more jump-worthy than the following 16th, 77.56s.
117.06-121.32s: The trills feel a bit odd, especially 119.31-119.91s, because the sound kind of goes in and out, and there's the organ melody over everything.
[6.5/10] Lavender Town [Fairytale Remix] {Rachel Macwhirter} (XelNya)
#OFFSET:-0.052; #BPM:110.000;
// The steps are never off by more than 5 ms, so it doesn't make a difference with such a short track, but for anything longer, you shouldn't use a wrong offset to make up for using a slightly off BPM.
// The structure is basically AA'AA"BAA'AA", so you can cut out the A'A in the middle of each group of As. 45 seconds long should be acceptable for such an easy file.
// There's a little more arrow-repeating than there should be, and some of the layering could be changed up so the A and A' sections don't feel so similar.
8.78s: Jump here rather than at 9.32s because of how much louder the piano is on 8.78s. This would help distinguish it from 17.50, 18.05s.
9.87-10.96s: Shouldn't be in the same column as 9.32s, because the xylophone doesn't repeat pitch. Similarly with 10.96s and the jump after it. If these three 4ths were 142, that'd fix it.
20.23-21.32s: This could be [24]4 to not repeat with the 4th before it.
27.32s: Similar to 9.87s.
31.14s: Main piano is pretty loud here, so this could be a jump (33.32s is understandable as a single.)
44.23s: [14] to not repeat with the 4th after it.
78.49s: This one is higher in pitch than the 4th before it, so the PR with these jumps is a bit off.
[6.5/10] Phantom Of The Opera {Lindsey Stirling} (VisD)
// The relative layering of different sections doesn't always fit the intensity of the music, even though the sections mostly work well on their own.
14.52-25.30s: Climax theory is backwards. The second half (after 20.71s) should be more dense than the first half, because it introduces new percussion without losing any of the previous elements. The way everything leading up to 14.52s is jumps is fine; each 8th doesn't have as much emphasis after 14.52s as it does in the intro.
17.62s: In terms of emphasis, think of changing the note color as adding on another layer: just like a hand is more emphasized than a jump, a lone white jump is more emphasized than a 4th jump. So because you are putting white notes to the bell, they don't need to be hands. You can save hands sounds louder than the bell, like how 20.33s is snare + crash.
28.01s: Violin doesn't share the same pitch with the three 8ths before it, so this jump shouldn't be a part of the anchor.
28.59s: Is the lowest pitch in this set and shouldn't be in the anchor. You could put it on 3, but then 12321 would be backwards PR.
29.56-32.66s: I understand why this was stepped like this, but it feels light compared to the instrumentation. Filling in 8ths to the bass drum or background guitar might help.
32.85s: No snare here, so it doesn't need to be a jump.
34.59-37.69s: Similarly here. 36.14-36.72s could all be jumps, because the violin has both the guitar and bass under it.
42.33-44.65s: The previous two measures feel like a break compared to this (because of the change in snare rhythm), so you could use more layering here for climax theory.
45.44-51.24s: The bass plays more here, so in that way the more dense layering makes sense. But also, it feels like a break, because there's only one snare per measure and no driving cymbals. Just feels kind of odd to go from straight 8th jumps to the lighter layering of 51.63-54.14s when the cymbals start back up again, though the two sections make sense separately.
56.47s: Similar to 32.85s.
67.69s: The violin note is held, not echoing, so it doesn't fit being anchored with the snare.
68.46s: Missing bass note.
76.40-82.59s: Could use more layering with the driving bass.
85.68s: Jump to crash + violin?
92.67s: This could be [34]3[13]3 instead so it wouldn't over-extend the anchors. It's worth breaking the PR to 92.48, 92.67s having the same violin pitch.
98.09s: Now it feels odd to go back to the jacks to the bass at the end of a phrase with minijacks to the violin. It would help here if the snares weren't anchored in.
104.28s: An anchor should start here (don't have the previous 8th anchored to it), because it's the start of the measure, and the bass changes pitch.
[7.5/10] R2 {Bumblefoot} (ilikexd)
// Some of the percussion layering felt odd, but the offbeat stuff to the melodic instruments worked pretty well.
2.63, 5.79s: Your later steps (6.96s, 9.15) make it seem like these were supposed to go to the snare, but the snare doesn't have strong hits on these beats, so they shouldn't be jumps.
6.96, 7.37, 7.78s: The strength of the snare hit isn't the same each time, so these shouldn't all be the same jump.
11.59, 15.95s: It's more apparent here than before (9.29, 7.09) that you've been missing a note in this drum line.
24.12-36.00s: Some of the additive layering feels odd, because it makes some soft percussion + guitar be jumped (24.40, 28.76s) when there's more prominent percussion without guitar that isn't (27.00, 27.13, 31.49, 33.39, 34.91s)
48.93s: Percussion here could be jumped; it's louder than all the other singles.
82.96s: Feels more like this 32nd should be a 16th, because it's similar to 85.16s.
85.70, 85.83s: Swap these two, because 85.30, 85.52, 85.70s have that same high guitar pitch on them.
106.13, 106.80, 107.22s: I have to keep reminding myself that you're only stepping percussion at the ends of phrases, which is why these sounds aren't stepped here and such. Kinda feels odd, but it works.
113.27-114.72-116.58-117.30s: Would be cool if there was some way to show in the steps that the main percussion switches between the snare and the kick until they start playing together after 117.30s.
[6/10] Spooky Scary Skeletons {The Living Tombstone(remix)} (M0nkeyz)
// The file is consistent except for the steps to the vocals. But a lot of the consistency is in patterns that don't totally work.
2.09s: The xylophone and bass both have the same pitch contour, and it's not the same two pitches repeating; it's more like 3241.
4.90, 8.65s: These 8th jacks are incorrect, because the pitches aren't the same.
8.65, 8.88s: These could also be jumps, layering with the drum.
9.59-39.59s: You do a lot of anchoring, more than there are repeated pitches in the music.
10.87, 11.58, 18.37, 21.42, 22.12, 22.59, 25.87, 29.62, 33.37, 34.55s: Missing vocal 16ths. You stepped the swung vocal notes right and one vocal 16th at 37.12s, but it's odd to have just one.
11.69, 34.66s: No vocal note or melodic bass here, so these 8ths can be removed.
12.40, 19.90, 34.90s: The melodic bass does some ascending 1234 things here, so these shouldn't be anchored.
24.51s: This is the first non-8th you step, yet it doesn't feel like it goes to anything.
26.34s: Bass 16th here that could be stepped.
39.59-43.34s: PR on your 4ths is backwards.
50.37, 57.87s: Shouldn't be [34], because it doesn't have the same synth sound as the other [34]s in this section.
50.60, 58.10s: These are 16ths, not 12ths.
60.21-61.62s: Almost everything before was [12][34], closed jumps; these jumps go to loud claps rather than kicks, so they should be something different.
63.73-63.96 and 65.60-65.84s shouldn't be the same pattern, because they go to different sounds. Same for the other instances of the 48ths and 32nds.
77.08-82.71s: Same as 39.59s.
88.10s: Should be an 8th with a 24th on 88.26s (and 95.76s) so it's just like 50.60s.
100.99, 104.74, 108.49, 112.24s: Not the same pitch as the two 12ths after it, so this shouldn't anchor with them.
103.10, 110.60s: Same fix as 88.10s.
105.21-106.62s: You have a 12th 1-4 trill here, but the pitches are more varied than that.
97.71-99.12, 112.71-114.12s: The instrumentation of these two spots is different so the patterns shouldn't be exactly the same. And the PR could be better, like "scary skeletons" should be lower than "spooky scary".
[4.5/10] Tasteless {Ken Ashcorp} (JSH)
// This is the exact same file that you submitted in October 2011. Almost three minutes long, the chorus repeats four times, and the patterns don't vary much, so it could probably be cut a bit, even if it's just cutting out the first of the two instances of the chorus at the end (22 seconds). PM me and I'll send you a cut.
// Biggest problem with the file is that the layering and steps don't feel focused. The verses are more focused, but the patterns need more work (breaking up non-PR anchors and such.)
3.49s: The 16th is late; should be a 32nd to "chin" here.
20.24s: "Our" is a little higher in pitch than "be", so this should be on 4.
26.90, 28.24, 33.57s: These are your only 16ths in the chorus that don't go to the vocals or to the clap. That's not enough to be following any other instrument (the synth or the bass), so you either need to remove these, or step one of the other instruments more consistently. The bass mostly does xx.xx.x. and the synth mostly does ..x.xx.x, so stepping both would mean straight 16ths. (Which you can totally do, by stepping both in a single layer and putting PR minijacks to the bass to keep them distinct. And then all the vocals would be jumps by additive layering, with jumps on claps that don't have vocal 16ths next to them.)
28.74, 33.07, 45.74s: Similarly, these are your only jumps in this chorus that don't go to the vocals or the four-note clap things. It's not clear when the vocals are and aren't jumped, so the layering feels very unfocused.
35.32, 45.99s: There are 32nds to the guitar that you can step here for something other than just 16ths.
Because the verses just have jumps on the 8ths to the clap, they feel more focused.
52.07, 57.40s: These shouldn't be one-handed every time. (Also, 51.90s shouldn't be a part of the trill.)
57.07, 67.74, 78.40s: Jump here like at 51.74s.
61.07-62.07s: You have a four-note 8th anchor here, but the pitch on each 8th isn't the same, so this pattern doesn't fit.
61.90s: No vocal note here.
65.24, 66.24s: Missing vocal notes to "is" and "be".
75.74-77.74s: This pattern is unneedingly right-hand biased, with not enough variation for PR.
82.07-103.40s: This time, it feels like you're following the synth more, but it's still not complete (missing 83.24, 84.57s etc.)
87.24s: You're missing these clap jumps now when you weren't before.
104.40-107.40s: Lots of unnecessary anchoring here.
132.74-154.07s: This is the part I would cut out, because it's basically the same as before. Only after this does the synth guitar start doing something different.
164.90, 168.57s: The guitar has some missing notes, like here.
[PASS] YATA {kireji} (Silvuh)
[PASS] Yukidokeiro Flowers {daisan & zue-row} (Silvuh)
=== JUDGE: TC_Halogen ===
My notes are a little bit more concise than usual; if you dislike notes that I have given, feel free to address them in the queue/batch thread and send me a message letting me know that you would like further critique.
[8.5/10] [Resubmission] Crucial {David MeShow remixed by Kaiben} (VisD)
- third time I have to judge this? really?
- don't take that first statement as an insult, it's actually more out of frustration that I've found this file to be quite acceptable each time I've seen it and I'm surprised it's still not in; files worse than this certainly have made it into the game in previous batches
- file still seems great to me now as an mid-level file; the structure is quite explicit and to the point, which is commendable
[7/10] [Resubmission] One For All All For One {Razihel & Virtual Riot} (Xiz)
- submission rules stipulate the provision of a .sm file; this file had .sm and .ds, so I looked at the .sm
- jump usage is acceptable with regards to layering, but the patterning could be generally coordinated better as a whole as to not repeat the same jump for when a snare is represented instead of a bass (correct: 44.215; incorrect: 57.456, etc)
- keep the hi-hats going until they're completely unfiltered in the intro, i.e. up to 36.767
- not a fan of the 16ths disappearing at 76.491 since they continue the progression of the build-up into the next phrase
- noticeably similar patterning used in the drops give an impression of copy-paste, even though it's not quite the same -- deviate them up a bit more
- PR can use some slight touching up in a number of areas
- file has a respectable structure
[9/10] [Resubmission] Revenge Of Mister Foxsky {Foxsky} (Xiz)
- SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE LAST TIME I SAW THIS
- 34.402 is quite rude, but it is correct with regards to layering!
- absolutely love the structure of this file; this is easily your best file that you've made. The accenting feels great, and the intensity of the song is conveyed pretty nicely through your file.
[7/10] Alive (Pegboard Nerds Remix) {Krewella} [psychoangel691]
- a few missing taps in the intro for the more subtle guitar notes
- 41.219 to 54.933: very empty in comparison to the section which is musically, less lively -- also somewhat inappropriately light given the rest of the difficulty
- very interesting execution of bursts for the growling bass; it gives you a pretty interesting difficulty curve for the file
- 96.076: because this sound effect actually drops in pitch and somewhat fades into the soundscape, it'd be better (and a bit less arbitrary) if the patterning was some sort of backwards pattern
- the relative PR could be a bit better in the drops
- aside from the first chorus which is quite empty, the structure is respectably done; there's a noticeable back-and-forth patterning in the bass and snares in some spots (82.362 to 92.647), but the PR could use some more tweaking to really be effective repeated and differentiated at the same time; rhythms are accurate sans the obviously intentional walls of colored bursts which are very clear and consistently with similar rhythms each instance
[5/10] All I Ever Wanted {Basshunter} (VisD)
- what is up with the intro sync? literally, the first step
- feels largely over-layered
- 52.838 to 76.011/145.114 to 168.700: 64th swing should just be 16ths
- 78.494: missing snares?
- vocals in the verses are not consistent in representation (no 8th after 18.907 but 8th after 22.218 for the same word; this happens a few times throughout the file)
- structure feels way too forced and rhythms could generally be improved because of improperly used 64th swing
[8/10] Cirno's Perfect Math Class {IOSYS} (ilikexd)
- 20.096: snares start here as opposed to the triple
- 46.153: shift this vocal down a bit, probably to 1/12 before the next tap
- we've had this discussion before: your color theory collides with the actual structure of your chart using 8ths (besides,
Cirno is an ice fairy so it would be more objectively correct as 48ths anyway! 
)
[6/10] Discord {The Living Tombstone} (Xiz)
- missing bass notes at 25.579/80.436 are glaring
- 45.864 to 64.150/100.721 to 119.007: 16ths to the melody don't feel right because there is some light swing
- some 8ths are repeating/chained and could benefit from better pattern assignment (see: 91.007 with four right arrows covering two instruments as an example)
- structure has noticeable copy/paste with slight removals for proper layering
[5/10] Duncan Hills Cover {Metaljonus} (trumaestro)
- 16th patterns literally repeat themselves over and over again; yes, it's PR, but you should not have this much repetition happening in a just-over-70-second-song; overall PR can be improved slightly to prevent the 8th note chain at the end of each 15-note sequence
- structure seems redundant even outside of that scope; the drum fills are all 432432 patterning, and the bridge between the first and second verses is the same 4th note patterning
- solo could use some improvement; the mixing between guitar and drums makes some parts feel a bit heavier than they need to be
- for a 70 second song, it doesn't do the job
[9/10] Gym Training Montage {Virt} (bmah)
- -0.5 for not attempting to quantize the ending, shame on you
- great file
[3/10] If I Ruled the World {Futuristic Sex Robotz} (Xtreme2252)
- what is with all of the BPM changes
- this file tries too hard to stay quantized to simple rhythms; there are some instances where taps are noticeably off from their normal position yet are colored to be a particular way (30.067, 36.410, 47.078, etc).
- jump usage is not clear
- sync to the lyrics and other elements could be improved quite a bit
- the one thing that is executed respectably well is the PR to harp (the instrument playing in the beginning and various other places in the song)
- file needs a reasonable amount of work done
[8/10] Kanon {tarolabo} (ilikexd)
- 24.854: the accent to the kicks here makes the section seem empty in some spots; not feeling the opting out of the other percussion personally, either
- 56.911: seems a little empty
- 91.197 to 112.454: it feels like there's a few missing steps for some samples here; could be filled out a bit more aggressively
- 91.711: for continuity with the jack, a [34] or [13] might be appropriate
- 94.711/105.682: missing jumps to crashes?
- the overall intensity of the file is quite refreshing, I enjoy the technicality of the last half despite the somewhat empty first half
[6.5/10] Lavender Town [Fairytale Remix] {Rachel Macwhirter} (XelNya)
- 9.327/(etc): the second repeated 4ths are fine, but the first set is not with regards to PR, so shift your patterns around a bit
- 28.961: remove jump
- 36.051/37.141: these aren't chords on the piano
- 44.231: technically two instruments coming through this entirely, so these could all be jumps
- 76.954: despite these pianos having two notes (one octave separated a piece), it seems a bit arbitrary only because this doesn't/shouldn't happen anywhere else in the file
- patterning is a little strange given the structure, but for the most part it does make sense structurally
[6/10] Phantom Of The Opera {Lindsey Stirling} (VisD)
- 14.527 (etc): seems a bit overdone given the added element at 20.719 with reduced layering
- strange jump placement at 32.855, 56.741
- 34.210: sounds like 12ths
- 46.799: why are all these jumps here in particular? there doesn't seem to be a noticeable change in instrumental structure
- 51.247: a bit overemphasized
- missing note at 57.729 and 59.277
- chart feels somewhat empty in places due to the omission of the bass drum in the chart
[8/10] R2 {Bumblefoot} (ilikexd)
- 3.703 (etc): a few subtle guitar sounds could have steps to them; they are somewhat noticeable
- absolutely love the chart detail to the guitar pitch bends/tremolos -- looks great and just feels right
- a few more time signature changes can be added to make the chart feel more proper; the intro is synced to a blue note and there are a few other areas that have temporary BNS as well
[5.5/10] Spooky Scary Skeletons {The Living Tombstone(remix)} (M0nkeyz)
- lyrics are not fully represented and are missing a number of notes
- BPM cut in half isn't necessary given that the kick keeps driving the intensity of the song
- 50.371 (etc): the 12th note is a misrhythm, and the 48th note is questionable because it's barely noticeable if it's even there at all
- 99.389 (etc): watch your jack usage, as the synth doesn't play three of the same note all the time: listen carefully at 100.527 (1-1-1-2-3-3)
- structure of the file could use a little work; there are some noticeably incorrect rhythms and lyrical omissions as well
[3.5/10] Tasteless {Ken Ashcorp} (JSH)
- given the intensity of the percussion, the BPM could stand to be doubled either at 23.406 ot 26.073
- structure doesn't seem to clearly accent anything; it appears to be jumps at some points, percussion at others, and when instruments coincide, the structure doesn't always do the same
- another unfortunate thing is that the file simply drags because your structure doesn't differentiate itself much -- it's not quite copy/paste, but there is some noticeable pattern repetition
- rhythms are correct at the least, but that's about it
[6.5/10] YATA {kireji} (Silvuh)
- after accenting that percussion at 7.414, the chart felt quite empty because all of the remaining percussion simply played along with no representation
- a few missing notes in the intro, mostly for piano (25.831, 32.859, 33.192)
- PR could use some improvement visually (27.748, as a glaring example) and physically (34.081 to 34.498 - 6 notes; 34.581 to 34.998 - 6 notes, where all six notes are in common but in slightly different ordering)
- 39.664: if you're going to accent this percussion element, you'd best be picking up the others as well; there are many missed in this section
- 44.498: missing note for piano
- 56.248: this could be accounted for a bit more aggressively given the upcoming scratches
- 57.248: sounds just like regular 24ths, although it's understandable if you want to manipulate the separation a bit to better accent the underlying tonality
- 66.248 (etc): a number of missing piano notes
- 77.272: check rhythms after each 32nd burst
- 100.732: remove this jump
- a number of small errors need to be resolved
[9/10] Yukidokeiro Flowers {daisan & zue-row} (Silvuh)
- 8.027: remove this tap to give full focus to the piano
- don't really have much more than that; file is very well done, albeit quite spiky (but unavoidably so)