My first simfile!

[TwistedPhoenix]

Well, after playing hard for about a year, I finally decided to go ahead and make my own simfile. The song is a trance remix of a factory/dubstep song, but hardly sounds like the original. It has some jumpstream, and it is filled with holdstream. 'Cause I like my holdstream, despite what everyone else says. That stuff is so much fun to do. Anyways, here's a preview to what I had completed 4 days ago (This is a bit loud, might wanna make sure your speakers/headphones aren't blaring) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdVDsLvj_K8

Yes, this IS pony related, but only in the slightest. If you hate all things pony related, then just hit that lovely back button up at the top of your screen. But if you don't really care either way, this is a safe song.

I'd like feedback on this. Like what patterns worked, what didn't, whether I should have or shouldn't have put arrows to a certain instrument/beat, etc. I'm planning on making my own pack eventually, and want the songs to be playable and fun.

Direct link to the simfile: http://www.mediafire.com/?qfy3io1b3fkf06m (This has a few SM5 features, but should work fine on 3.9)

Edit: I feel like such a noob. I didn't even notice the Simfile section up at the top. If I had seen that earlier, I would have read that simfile guide. That has some nice info. =P

[Choofers]

First thing I noticed was that the file is actually on sync, at least from what I could see in the video. Downloading right now.

[megamon88]

Yay, pony file! From the preview it looks quite good. One thing I noticed was that in your jumpstream you tend to have a lot of hidden anchor jacks - basically, they're 8th note chains that are hidden in your jumpstream. Usually when these chains reach 4+ notes they start to get awkward. I would try replacing them with more friendly patterns.

I'll download this and give it a go tomorrow, I'm too tired to play right now xD

[Choofers]

I personally don't like the freezes at the beginning, but you said you like freezes like that so oops.

Those 48th trills are definitely 48ths but you start them early and don't finish them on the 4th note. Intro kinda drags on, I'd layer the hi hats as well, to give it a bit more color until the 16th part comes in. Pitch relevancy shouldn't matter much, since it's your first file, but those 16ths are off in terms of what's playing. It should be something like left-left-right-left-left-right-left-left-left-left-right-left-left-right, etc. Not sure why you chose to change the bpm at this point. It's still on sync until you hit the 24ths, and as a result, the jump stream is off by a bit (.04 seconds, to be exact). That can be fixed by changing the slowdown bpm from 21.50 to 21.70.

Jumpstream is just your average everyday 175 bpm jumpstream, fits the song well enough but that jumptrill into the quad is awkward as all hell to hit. The freeze stream is weird, I wouldn't have stepped it like that myself, but again, you said you like freeze stream so that's your call. Kinda drags on a bit as well, I'd recommend that after the jumptrill at m58, you layer in the claps during the stream. Slowdown is kinda neat, mess around with making your freeze notes end whenever the sound does.

8th jump section after the slowdown feels like it's a bit random, but the main issue in this section is when the vocals come in again, you drop all of the jumps and it becomes merely 8th stream with freeze notes. That's fine for a small time but it drags on and on.

16th stream after this is pretty underlayered, in my opinion. You could still layer in the kick drums and turn the chimes that you currently have as jumps into hands. This stream also seems a bit random. If you're going for just a streamy feel, then you don't need to use pitch relevancy much. But you have trills in your stream when the synth is definitely not repeating itself as such.

The rest of the file is more of the stuff that I mentioned earlier, freeze streams and whatnot. Maybe layer in a bit more instruments or make the vocals jumps? That'll give the ending of the file more of a "this is the homestretch" feeling, if that makes sense. A little bit of climax theory.

Those 24ths... That is definitely not what the song is doing but in my opinion, they're fine because it's representative as the end of the file. I'd just change up the patterns a little bit to make it a tad easier to hit.


All in all, this is a pretty decent file for the first one you've released. If you have fun playing it, then the only thing you should change is that slow bpm issue (21.50 to 21.70).

Instead of making your own pack, make a couple files and send them to different packs. FFR Spring is about to be finished, so that's out. But I'm pretty sure FFRPartyy Pack 2 is being started soon, as well as a couple other smaller packs (maybe I'll start Dubstep Minipack 2 for real this time !). Generally, self released packs don't do as well as bigger packs, unless you're a well known simfile artist.

[TwistedPhoenix]

Wow. Thanks for such an in-depth review, and for taking the time to type all of that up.

So anyways, the beginning was slow because I hadn't had any stepping experience prior to that, so I had just been going with easy stuff. I've been thinking about going back and redoing it, but got a bit tired. Probably should have started with an easier song.

that jumptrill into the quad is awkward as all hell to hit.

I have no justification for putting that other than I was feeling a little evil when I made that part. XD

And for the layering, I had shared the WIP file with a couple friends, and they had said I shouldn't over layer; I stuck with a 2 layers, only bringing in 3 if it felt like it kept with the flow. I'm probably going to make a few more songs, then revisit this and do it properly. Right now I'm not so sure how to make it flow very well.

This is the next song I'm doing: http://soundcloud.com/markingdude/tw...s-sonata-remix

If you have any tips for certain parts, let me know. Hoping to be making many more songs after this, and I'd rather them not be the stuttering, bumpy train ride this one seems to be. =P