What makes a good song for FFR?

[Wayward Vagabond]

i had the option of stepping gotta catch em all with or without lyrics. i chose with because tgotta catch em all isnt the same without lyrics

[rushyrulz]

should have stepped gotta catch em all w/o vocals and slashmaid with vocals :/

[LongGone]

Originally Posted by bmah

I'd like a song with variety and reducing exact repetition as much as possible. Stuffing in as many interesting aspects as you can within 2 minutes for instance can make the song feel a lot longer, even though it isn't. That means you have to be more creative with structuring your songs within a shorter time frame.

That'd be something I'd rather play over a longer, 3+ minute song.

Isn't it the contrary? You'd want varied, interesting and non-repetitive patterns in a file to make sure the song/file doesn't drag on instead

[mrpreggers]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

slashmaid with vocals :/

too awkward to play D:

[bmah]

Originally Posted by LongGone

Isn't it the contrary? You'd want varied, interesting and non-repetitive patterns in a file to make sure the song/file doesn't drag on instead

A varied song can do both actually. I was thinking along the lines of giving the apparent perception of having a fuller song by increasing variation - making it as complete as possible within a restriction of a shorter length of time. You're thinking of it from the other end. Entirely psychological, but it seems that most people can agree that we want a varied song.

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by LongGone

Isn't it the contrary? You'd want varied, interesting and non-repetitive patterns in a file to make sure the song/file doesn't drag on instead

It's both and neither. If a song has multiple components that are vastly different, you have to absorb each and every element, one phrase at a time. However, if the components are relatively similar, a sense of familiarity sets in.

You could have a background melody that's accompanied by one instrument, and then have that same background melody accompanied by a different instrument and it will feel like you've gone through that section before. You are familiar with it, but a new element passing by makes the song easier to pay attention and listen to, therefore not slowing the feel down.

EDIT: ninja'd by bmah somewhat

[igotrhythm]

That's because Slashmaid's vocals are...distracting, shall we say?

I'm getting really sick of the main difficulty of a file originating from difficulty spikes. There's something to be said for climax theory, but there's a right and a wrong way to go about it. On the one hand, it's the most intense part of the song, but if it's at the end, people wring their hands because they have to play the whole thing over again if they screw up. Legendary Etude and For FFR are good examples of this sort of thing.

3020 is climax theory done right. The patterns are nothing the player hasn't seen before, but it's all coming together just like it is in the music, plus it's not at the VERY end of the song so there's no gnashing of teeth over a last note miss.

As for the song itself, I think the Single Song Pack was the epitome of how different people will step the same thing different ways, so it's really up to the stepartist. I agree with what AJ said before, though: It's really gratifying to be hitting perfects during a fast stream, the definition of "fast" being up to the player. Streaming is both fun to do and fun to watch, so the song should probably have a prominent instrumental to provide such a stream. Guitar and piano seem to be popular choices, but in either case I'd go with a synthesized version to avoid extra arrows in the form of grace notes. Shining Sword would have an okay 16th stream section, but there's the occasional 32nd slipped in there.

A fun file can definitely make up for any hang-ups about song length. Flying High and The Brain of the Moon both have fun streams, and they're also both over 4 minutes long. They achieve this by having well-chosen patterns that keep coming, variety in the song structure, and clearly defined instrument sounds. In the defense of steppers everywhere, long songs represent a more significant investment of time and effort on their part, and a lot of active players are in college or have other obligations and they don't have the time to play long songs.

[{Zero}]

I feel like 'MASCARADA' is a great example of a good song. I played this and I felt the energy through-out the whole song, although, I was pissed I got past the crazy sextuplet stream and then got 2 goods, the ONLY 2 goods D:<

[Patashu]

hahaha so is the op going to try and consolidate and convey all of this or just link to the thread and say 'you figure this out'

[psychoangel691]

I'm not going to just link it lol. I'm going to try to make sense of everything. Maybe take key points and put up a poll for people to vote on to try to get a general idea. Obviously we're not all going to love the same things, but maybe we can at least get a generalized idea of what would be liked more over other stuff.