[TC_Halogen]

Two previous sections of resubmissions/pending fixes have been judged, and the notes can be found below, all of which were assigned to me. Stepartists with files in these groups have been notified via PM so they can see the current status of their submissions.

Summary of results:

Accepted
ElectroMashcore {Reizoko Cj} (gameboy42690) [9/10]
Pulse {YZYX} (GammaBlaster) [9/10]
Suit Up (feat. Southpaw Swagger) {Blue Stahli} (gameboy42690) [8.5/10]
Nest {Cardboard Box} (lurker) [8/10]
Starry Fate {TiS} (DarkZtar) [8/10]
where is my balls {LOLI RIPE} (YoshL) [8/10]

Conditional Queue/Pending Fixes
Phantom of the Opera {Lindsey Stirling} (VisD) [7.5/10] (see notes)
Nightfall (Original Mix) {Rogue} (XelNya) [7/10]

---

Nightfall (Original Mix) {Rogue}
Rating: 7/10

Check your jump placement throughout the file and just make sure that it’s entirely cleaned up and clear from start to finish. Some places to look:

• 65.127: should this be a jump? It seems like it should be compared to later sections. If not, remove the jumps that fall in this location for better layering clarity.
• 71.127: should also be a jump for the heavier synth as well
• 73.581: I’d personally move the up arrow to a right since it’s a different sound compared to what the mini-jacks are intended to accent.
• 77.809: move R to U to give that synth full attention
• 86.809: three down arrows is a pattern collision here because only two follow the synth, making this a [LUR] makes your accent stronger
• 92.740: not sure how this was missed before, but this jump should be moved to a 4th
• 95.263: same deal, move the R off to give your synth full attention!
• 97.308: missing jump?

You’re so close! Keep up the good work and this file will definitely get queue’d on the next pass.

OLD NOTES: --- green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
[6/10] Nightfall (Original Mix) {Rogue} (XelNya)
- this file, coupled with this song, has serious potential for being your best file yet
- personally, I would drop the hi-hats from being followed; this is basically any and all of the ambiguous 8th notes that you have at like 6.356, 9.628, 10.719; this does two things: a.) it gets rid of any arbitrary notes after the big synths that happen every measure or two and b.) it gives your synth 100% attention in accenting in locations like 8.810 (the 8th feels out of place despite being correct, whereas 17.538 is a more proper execution) -- your changes work! There are a few changes you could make to improve relevance even more; some examples include moving the notes at 25.446/69.030 off of R and onto something else to give the synth full attention, adding an up arrow to your jump at 27.218, etc.
- watch your pattern choices and avoid pattern collisions that cause two instruments/samples to be represented by the same arrow: 27.356 has a jump that includes the right arrow off of a synth, but there were 7 notes on the synth on the right arrow before (see 34.992 for more effective and correct pattern usage) -- this in general seems to be improved noticeably
- 36.628 to 54.083: try to either keep the repeated taps either on one arrow or one hand until the higher, shorter synths come in; this way, you get clear separation and it feels more correct
- ^ in addition to that note, make sure that you cover all of the higher synths as mini-jacks as well, as they are the same note (38.538, 40.719, etc) -- seems to be ignored, but the improvement of the structure as a whole makes this alright to deal with, honestly. You could also afford to mirror the down arrow jacks halfway through the phrase to have better distribution.
- 59.810: jump placement is incorrect for a bit here; should be jumps on 60.083, 60.356, and 60.628
- 62.810 to end: pretty much repeating the same notes as before; look out for pattern collision and improve your structure so that there is maximum clarity
- 72.083: watch your jack placement; the bass does change pitch here and breaks into multiple pitches -- this pattern really needed to be split anyway, it's quite uncomfortable
- 82.992: jumps seeem a bit out of place
- 85.719/86.265/90.083: missing jumps
- 92.810: should be 32nds
- 97.310: move to up arrow
- this file will be really memorable for players of this demographic if it gets in (it's already that way now); fix it up and solidify that structure!

Suit Up (feat. Southpaw Swagger) {Blue Stahli}
Rating: 8.5/10

Structure was cleaned up a noticeable bit. File was previously CQ’d at 7/10, but is more than able to go in now.

OLD NOTES: --- green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
Suit Up (feat. Southpaw Swagger) {Blue Stahli} (gameboy42690)
Rating: [7/10]
- deliberately forceful structure that doesn't adhere to standard layering structure, but the accenting is point blank and very acceptable due to the style of music/reduced tempo, it feels right
- 24.800: missing guitar note, likely a single step
- 33.527: missing guitar note, also likely to be a single note
- 35.436: switch to a [13] for pitch relevance (and move the 1 to something else)
- 39.254: three 64ths into a 8th, rather than four 48ths
- 41.709: not liking these jumps; it's quite hard to hear what they're following and how they differentiate from the vocals on their own (the single taps, that is)
- 42.868: missing note for vocals
- 45.697: remove
- 46.663: I hear the first two notes, this one though...
- 48.936: these three jumps are strange with the guitar accents falling on
- 45.390: check your rhythm, should be a bit more than 16ths
- 45.697: remove this note
- 46.481: having a bit of trouble hearing what the 24ths are for here, or at least, the third note in the sequence; tough to discern
- 48.936: three jumps is a little strange with no vocals and the guitar accent falling on 49.072
- 49.481: 48ths
- 52.345: 64th blip in the vocal sampling here
- 82.072: move this over to the right arrow, listen carefully!
- 84.118: should be a 4-note 64th burst starting at 84.152
- 87.663: this feels a bit strange; care to clarify?
- 120.663: note doesn't really represent anything that is audible; the other four 64ths are fine
- 129.390: little flourish of guitar notes here
- despite the large amount of notes, many of these details are rather small and the file is understandable overall - there's a clear PR scheme and understandable sequence of anchoring in the jumps for the guitar, though some more jump clarity could be established, I think... not bad overall, though.

Starry Fate {TiS}
Rating: 8/10

Slightly improved. File was already accepted in the tournament batch, but a bit more was done to it to make it more confidently queue-worthy.


OLD NOTES: --- green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
- 3.015: with all kicks designated on the right arrow, it's clear to see that 3.744, 5.225, 6.707, (etc) do not belong since they are supposed to attach to the guitar/synth (hard to tell)
- 16.348: just an fyi - there are 5 notes, but it's actually a five note 48th burst that ends on the 8th (could get a little sloppy, 32nds are acceptable at normal rate imo); if you opt into keeping the 32nds, you should tack on jumps at the end of them for layering consistency
- 32.274: why's there no note here? a kick and a hi-hat both exist here, surely that covers the scope of what you're following
- 43.014: obviously an intentional choice to leave the jumps out, but why? 8th notes earlier on cover your percussion, so having a single jump for the vocals arbitrarily at the end of the synth lead is a bit strange
- 45.607: this jump's a bit unclear
- 53.292: there is a synth note here
- 61.440: remove
- 61.533: since these kicks are going to lead into a triple that adds as a mid-phrase accent (62.274), adding jumps makes the accent a bit more powerful
- 65.144: missing note?
- 68.292: ^
- 71.996: ^
- more, etc - look accordingly (still a few unresolved in the pitch-increased chorus, but not a huge deal)
- 135.792: some 24ths here for percussion, good little transition into the final part
- despite the numerous missing notes and a few added notes, file has a decent structure

ElectroMashcore {Reizoko Cj}
Rating: 9/10

85.560: hardly a big deal, but these jacks actually should be separated by two 12th notes (so, you should have notes on beat 390, 390.67 and then 391.50 and 392.17 (second note/fourth note on a 12th and 24th respectively). Might not be necessary to fix with how fast the song runs, honestly.

Not too sure about the judgment note at 91.00, I hear a note right there and the 8th makes sense with the switch in quantize, so I personally won’t harp on that one.

All other notes resolved. This is a really good file, by the way.

PREVIOUS NOTES: green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
[9*/10] ElectroMashcore {Reizoko Cj} (gameboy42690)
- wow this was really fucking cool
- quite a good deal less difficult than the difficulty min for this batch though, but looks like we'll judge it anyways
- honestly nothing extraneous to add, I enjoyed this very much as is
- 14.23: There isn’t anything particularly bad about this, but I noticed the up jack after I got to the [14] jump.
- 55.16: This part is a short 16th run, there aren’t any 12ths.
- 75.41, 75.62: Missing 16th triplets after the jumpstream run.
- 85.75, 86.07: The vocal samples here are loud enough that they could be stepped.
- 91.00: This 8th is actually a ghost note. With the current syncing, the note should’ve been on the 64th after (91.05).
- 92.01: There should have either been a 3-note 16th jack here or a 16th triplet. One of the instruments goes to three different pitches, and the other has the same pitch so the minijack on 92.12 needs revision.
- 92.76: Why was this 8th left out?
- 97.86: Same issue as 91.00, the 8th note should really be stepped on the 64th after with the current syncing.
- Putting all the different colorings aside, I wanted to make sure the above points were addressed. This file has a solid foundation.

Nest {Cardboard Box}
Rating: 8/10

Rigid patterning for sure, but I’d say that the most glaring section forcing the conditional queue has been straightened out; the triples in that barrage of 12th notes at 333 BPM were (sadly) removed (I don’t share the same opinion about having to knock the difficulty down there, but ey, gotta do my job. <3). Patterning seems cleaned up a touch compared to the notes outside of the 12th note section, but I think there’s enough rigidity to keep this file interesting and super-playable for scoring.

PREVIOUS NOTES: green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
[7*/10] Nest {Cardboard Box} (lurker)
- this file's really fucking fun for the most part
- the 24th trills starting and ending on jumps are massive bootraps, I'd consider changing them to split rolls instead...but they're still doable, so fuck it I guess they're alright with me but lets see what Dossar says
- On the note of 24th trills, 20.03 is an example of how the trills should be stepped. The chiptune bursts don’t end on the 4th after, they end before. So having any 4-note 12th jacks here is wrong to begin with.
- What this file suffers from is a “layer everything” mindset. I can see the hands staying for the 222 BPM sections as this file does provide a nice opportunity for dense 16th jumpstreaming at a reasonably fast speed, although this density continuing at the 333 BPM 12th section causes a tremendous spike.
- 75.83: No hands in this section yet there were hands back in 32.63
- despite the rest of the file still being quite difficult, that middle section (78.197 - 96.197) is a MASSIVE spike and results in a pretty frustrating difficulty curve for scoring (I'm failing to SDG the file due to that section alone while AAA'ing everything else quite comfortably)
- if the rest of the file's difficulty was on par or closer to the difficulty reflected at this section, it wouldn't be a problem, but the equivalent of 250bpm 16th semi-dense handstreaming with bursts is a fuckton harder than everything else present
- I know you probably don't want to but I think you'd have to water down that section in order for this to be queued, since the rest of the file can't really be beefed up
- the 16th burst patterning here should be cleaned up a lot, many patterns (including a good handful of one hand minitrills) are forcing 8th minijacks that are ramping up the difficulty astronomically
- I'd also stick to strictly jumpstream, the hands are overkill
- For a summary of the above, removing the hands in the section from 78.197 - 96.197 would smooth out the difficulty curve for this file. It would provide for a good opportunity to contain semi-dense 250 BPM jumpstreaming as well. Note that with the current hands, they ALWAYS force an 8th minijack and an anchor so removing the hands also allows more flexibility. 84.77 is an example of how hands limit patterning here, and mixing 16ths with 12ths one handed at this speed doesn’t play well at all.
- 87.89: Snaking pattern here with the hands is a WWE-type difficulty spike that is influenced from overlayering instead of polyrhythms
- 88.84: Hidden up-arrow jack, very choppy to play here
- 91.13: Hidden up-arrow jack ending in a 16th triplet. Yuck.
- still really fun though, I hope you're able to smoothen out the difficulty curve in a way that you're happy with because I'd love to see this in FFR
- In general the hidden minijacks resulting from the overlayering issue in the 333 BPM 12th section results in very choppy patterning that needs to be revised. Overall this file’s layout looks alright, although it needs to be cleaned up to not spike up the difficulty unfairly in one section. The patterning could also be a bit better in the 222 BPM 16th sections, although that’s not as severe. Please consider more careful placement of the hands.

Phantom of the Opera {Lindsey Stirling}
Rating: 7.5*/10

I was the only judge to reject this last time, so I’ll just work off of my notes since they’re likely what were targeted the most. It’s been quite a bit since this was submitted, so I will say this:

PR in the opening doesn’t look half bad, I’m not sure if it was changed or not, but if it wasn’t, then I was likely being a bit too harsh, because it’s visible and reasonably effective.
Jumps were limited to snares in the opening section, and it really makes your structure very clear, so that’s a big deal.
49.605: your intent in making things accurate is great - however, with the difficulty of your file overall kept in mind, that jack is extremely tight and we’ll want that removed. Sending this to conditional queue to get this fixed up. Might as well take care of anything else you’d like in here.
51.441: A few more violin notes to accent here if you want to make a nice accent coming into this section; gives you a little burst into a cymbal crash.
57.536: missing violin note for ya, so flip that [14][23][14] into a [13][24][13] and create a nice little descending blip to catch it!
70.209: didn’t say this in my previous notes before but I’ll tell you here: this part’s great \o/
128.797 to 135.002: so, in my previous notes, I mentioned not being fond of the structure but never went into detail why, apologies about that -- here’s my mindset on it: when you contrast this section, which utilizes jacks for what seems like the bass, it’s not quite as clear as to what you’re accenting compared to the next section, which very explicitly has loud and repeated notes for the melody. This also differs a bit from the section at the end of the song with the eight note long 8th note repetition, as this section actually has a few other elements going for it: the violin is modulated upward, and there’s also a lower guitar that has prominent accents. It seems somewhat clear that you’re having issues balancing the structure looking at 131.906/132.489 - two clearly different notes in pitch but using the same jump, etc.
Overall, this chart looks acceptable; simply take care of that extremely tight mini-jack (or have one of us make the change since it’s a single step change) and you’ll be good to go.

PREVIOUS NOTES: green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
[6/10] [Resubmission] Phantom of the Opera {Lindsey Stirling} (VisD)
- as much as I'd like improved pitch relevancy in the opening before the chorus melody, it's understandable to generalize because it would produce really poor patterning otherwise
- patterning could be a bit better improved for PR purposes in the chorus from 26.849 to 39.240; a few jumps seem strange given that the snare is the prominent layering point
- accent the snare flams for a little more differentiation from the rest of the structure (see: 63.243, there are others)
- detail on some of the violin rhythms could be a bit better, though it's a little hard to tell because the song sounds like it drifts against the assist tick a little bit (seems improved, but there are a few notes kinda peppered about through the chart that are a touch off, but not the biggest of deals w/ frame timing)
- not a fan of the structure, but I do understand how it works; make the overall chart's sync a bit better and take another listen at some of the finer violin rhythms and make sure they are correct; various minor misrhythms/missing notes exist throughout the chart for the melody [28.147 (not quite even intervals between 2nd/3rd note there), 65.307, 74.175 (violin starts around 74.151, and at a slightly fast interval), 103.998, etc] (still a bit unsure about the ending)
- a few jumps seem strange since you elect to follow the snare for most of the chart (34.597, 37.692, 56.278, etc? - be less ambiguous with your choices)
- still needs a little more work, I think.

Pulse {YZYX}
Rating: 9/10

Not required, but I’m certainly interested in picking your brain: what are your thoughts for putting colored accents on notes like 69.410/69.674, 71.518/71.782, etc?

Nearly all of the notes seem to have been addressed, nicely done.

PREVIOUS NOTES: green for good changes, orange for questionable changes, red for further changes requested
[8*/10] ._Pulse {YZYX} (GammaBlaster)
- minijack at 3.383s kinda irks me, change the stream patterning beforehand if you want to keep the hands
- I literally laughed out loud when I got to that minijack because that 16th is actually a ghost note.
- 6.51: This shouldn’t be forming a 12th minijack
- 4.36, 7.25: Missing notes (4.36 was not resolved, but I don’t hear anything here anyway.)
- 4.75: This isn’t a fullblown 8th handjack
- 9.56: This 16th goes to a synth run that was ignored. Please include that 16th run starting at 8.97
- 25.57: This section needs to be looked at again in terms of the jump placement. There was the right idea in a few spots that the buzzes were 3/16ths apart, although some of these jumps don’t make sense (and I assume they were meant to layer the buzzes but were misplaced). For example, 25.96 this 8th jump should have been on the 16th before for the buzz. There is of course the powerful kick as well that lands every two 4th notes, although the other jumps need to be addressed. (This is an exceptionally difficult note to resolve, because there are some buzzes that fall 1/16 before triples, and fixing those triples would break your overall structure. I personally find this part of the chart to be a bit too abstract compared to the song; it’s not immediately clear as to what the jumps are following in some cases, but I do see the point.)
- 33.60: Overkill with quads. This is arguably just jumps.
- 37.43: Buzz missing a jump again, the misplaced jumps repeat.
- 46.65: Oh man this is like a longer extension of Adventures of Lolo’s 24th triplet jump things. (du, du-du, du-du-du-du, du-du, du-du-du-du, du-du, du-du-du-du, du-du, du-du-du-du)
- 59.16, 63.38, 65.49: Change this 32nd burst so it doesn’t create the 3-note 8th jack; the pitch changes.
- 67.46: It may be a good idea to include this 4th as it is the start of the 16th run after (it has a hold period in between). (I actually agree with this note, I’m glad you made that change.)
- 69.31: While this handstream is passable, the 7-note 8th jacks are really ugly when it comes to playing them. (mmmmmmm, this handstream <33333)
- 87.29: Missing jump
- 92.37: The 8th jack should start as it’s where the bass kick starts.
- 105.28: Missing jump (not entirely sure what’s hinted at here; in fact, I don’t even like this being three 16th notes, I hear two clear 8th note jumps)
- 107.52: These hands make no sense. It would be better to step the 16th run starting on 105.67 (and keep in mind spots like 108.04 don’t actually have 16th triplets for the bass kick) (aha, I know why the triples are here, and that’s really clever usage, but almost no one is going to hear that additional layer of sound; if you’re gonna do that, you’d be better off adding triples to all of the subsequent 8th notes as well, but considering that others are not comprehending the structure, you might be better off just using jumps instead -- nice little attempt, though :P)
- 113.31: There are a LOT of up notes starting in this section. Please distribute the patterns a little more evenly so there aren’t so many anchors based on the up arrow.
- 127.02: Ending should be kept to jumps.
- wow this is a lot beefier than the SM chart (incredibly high nps despite having lots of 'break' sections)
- Yes, close to 18 TPS average.
- nice meme gamma, I think it's great