2018 January/February Set 1 (complete)

Re: 2018 January/February Set 1

Goldstinger will be picking up Set 1.

Re: 2018 January/February Set 1

>Permissions check pass for -most- songs. TPRMX does not show up in forums for permissions, and is not listed in the permissions thread. Stepartist for Csikos Post TPRMX remix has also not posted anything to the forum in relations to permissions for TPRMX. While the original song ‘Csikos Post’ falls under free use due to copyright age, the remix does not. Auto-conditional queueing regardless of score, until step author can provide permissions.

Files:
Arctaic {Konestoga} [0/10]

> Permissions check pass.
> Sync is off by a little, see below note.

This entire song is more or less the same chart as the one submitted in the July/August 2017 batch, in Set 3. Notes for it are located here. It's the first one at the top:



Almost if not all of the same issues as the ones in these notes are still present, and the entire chart is quite off-sync, and swaps between 4ths and 16ths almost randomly to make up for that off-sync. Some portions of the song are entirely done in 16ths because of the sync.

Many improvements need to be made before acceptance, including prior fixes that haven't been done yet, and a sync overhaul, as 2/3rds of the song need to be shifted in position from it because notes were placed on different beats.

Csikos Post TPRMX remix {DDRNSTPMGMX} [0/10]

> Permissions check unavailable.
> Sync is good. (No changes necessary.)

- Checked the entire website before taking a look at the song for permissions check, and then after doing so opened this badboy up in ArrowVortex to be greeted with 40th, not 32nd or 48th, white trill walls off and on one-hand, at 164.9 bpm. File needs to be 100% overhauled. Falls off-sync slowly half-way through the file, and is horrendously overstepped beyond a normal dump file. Some D8 players would struggle with certain patterns in this.

Ruins {manicpies898} [5.5/10]

> Permissions check pass.
> Sync is good. (No changes necessary.)
> No issues found within simfile properties. No issues found within folder contents.

-[00:35.356] Jump positioning here isn’t too justified for the jack. Would suggest moving the 8th arrow prior to somewhere else that doesn’t cause a jack.
-[00:38.399, 00:43.834] Jumps don’t really go here that well. If there’s any place for a jump in this string of arrows, 00:39.269 would be the place to put it. Would put a jump on 00:27.530 to match if this is the case.
-[00:28.834, 00:30.138, 00:31.443, 00:32.747, 00:34.052, 00:36.660, 00:37.965, 00:39.269, 00:40.573, 00:41.878, 00:43.182, 00:44.486, 00:45.791] If above note is followed, all of these should be made into jumps. Opens a huge opportunity to move from a single note extravaganza, to a meaty slow jumpstream file with layering.
-[00:46.878 -> 00:47.095] This is alright.
-[00:48.399, 00:49.704, 00:51.008, 00:52.312, 00:53.617, 00:54.921, 00:56.225, 00:57.530, 00:58.834, 01:00.138, 01:01.443, 01:02.747] Just more timestamps for jumps. Should get the general pattern on these if following along.
-[01:00.138 -> 01:01.443] In regards to pitch relevance, these shouldn’t be on the same arrow column. Move them around. All of these arrows sound different.
-[01:02.747 onwards] Really not the best place for trills. So much can be done with the melody in this part, and the feel for it is somewhat ruined by the technological requirement of 138bpm one-handed 16th trills for an otherwise slow song filled mostly with 8th singles. Can create a lot of interesting patterns utilizing jumps with singles, and it’s probably the best bet to go for instead of 16th trills and the extended 16th spam that starts at 01:21.008 that doesn’t go all that much to anything.

*PERSONAL NOTES*
Song starts out relatively easy with 8ths to piano, but doesn’t beef up when the orchestra kicks in, and continues to follow the piano with singles with a few jumps to accent specifically good sounding parts, when they should be utilized all-around to convey the extra orchestral hits in the song. The last third of the song in my opinion was a bit of a loss to trills, that don’t really fit the bill. There are also a few pitch relevance sections that I don’t necessarily agree with, but the lack of structure, layering, and the lack of cohesion in the last 20 seconds or so is what ultimately does it in for me on this file. Good concept, great song, rough execution. Given how long this file was in queue for, I’m sure this step author can submit a much better song if they wanted to.

Dragonic Conjuring {M0nkeyz} [6.5/10]

>Permissions check pass.
>No issues found within simfile properties. The black-bg.jpg found within submission folder alongside SM & MP3. Consider removing.
>Sync is good. (No changes necessary)

(**)-[00:05.964] The [13] jump here is particularly weak here in contrast to drum hits for the rest of the jumptrill. It works as a pattern, but it doesn’t work the best with the song. A better suggestion would be a single note here, followed by a jump that’s different from the jumptrill, essentially turning the jumptrill part into a mini-jumptrill.
(**)-[00:09.771 -> 00:15.310] Not hearing the justification of the jumpjacks & single note jacks created by jumps here. The two jumps starting at 00:10.118 makes sense, but there’s multiple instances in this section where sometimes the pattern is a jumptrill, sometimes it’s a jumpjack. Sometimes it’s the example pointer at 00:10.118, other times it’s a single jack created by jumps, and it doesn’t make sense at all, when there’s no specific reason for those jack patterns to be layered differently compared to their counterparts.
(**)-[00:16.156] Missing 24th?
(**)-[00:20.733] Extra 16th. Should remove.
-[00:27.598] Opportunity for 32nd. Not necessary, just noting.
-[00:34.118] Was really hoping for a jack here, music lines up for it, matches the developing section.
(**)-[00:37.233 -> 00:43.002] Quite a bit to talk about in this specific part.
Firstly, there’s an extra jump at 00:37.464 for the pattern you’re prescribing here. Looks like it should just be a single right arrow with the current pattern.
Secondly, the majority of musical scaling is staircase patterns in 4/4 timing in this section. It doesn’t necessarily match well with the recurring triplet patterns to start with, and the song changes scales multiple times every 2 beats, which opens up the possibility for mixing it up, but instead gets the same treatment for 2 and a half measures. Essentially, what I’m getting at is the current pattern lasts way too long for what you’ve got going here.
Thirdly, there are a few 16th changes within the section that aren’t invested into at all. Most notably 00:39.887 & 00:40.118 being 16ths instead of 24ths. Another example of this solo swapping is 00:39.310, where going into the 8th [14], is 32nds. If not 32nds, then distinctively ‘4 notes’.
Fourth, the 24th stuff starts a whole 8th note early, at 00:37.233, when it should start on 00:37.464 with the added 24th accent at 00:37.387. The prior jump & 12th ‘up’ arrow is not necessary.
(**)-[00:43.079] Missing 24th accent.
-[00:44.271] Don’t necessarily agree with it being a jump, feels more like a single, but alright.
-[00:48.021] 32nd Jump here feels a bit excessive, fits better as a single imho. Following 32nd doesn’t really fit at all. Build-up sound is barely audible on 100%.
(**)-[00:48.887] Genuinely curious, because it appears to happen multiple times throughout the file now, is there something that I’m missing here that justifies it being stepped particularly differently to include jacks here? The immediate previous section has [14][23][12][34][12] (Note jack on 2), but this section is exactly the same, with zero jacks, and the 32nd jump becomes a single. Definitely needs changing for consistency.
-[00:50.964] This note and surrounding notes can be changed for consistency to follow the previous note.
-[00:51.598] Well justified 32nd, not sure if the 16ths match well, but it’s fine.
(**)-[01:12.541 -> 01:13.002] Doesn’t work well at all, as the major sounds are coming from the broken 32nd singles, instead of the jumps here, which are just kind of there, as the guitar overpowers the drum in this specific part. The immediately following [34][34] broken 32nd jumps however, do work.
(**)-[02:04.118] Over-stepped 16th here, because section was copy-pasted from the looks of it.
(**)-[02:07.925 -> 02:13.464] The 16ths in this section turn into stream when the keyboard kicks in, but becomes broken 16ths when the keyboard is not doing its thing, but gives the appearance that the broken 16ths don’t belong, as no keyboard notes land on the 16ths outside of the stream. Would probably just be better to follow your previous patterns that you’ve set for yourself in terms of guitar for this section.
(**)-[02:13.464 (16/24 polywall)] oof. Really hurts for the difficulty of this chart that has been set out for the past 2 minutes. Music-wise, feels more like 16th dense JS if you wanted to spice up the difficulty for that specific part, but it’s definitely not a 130bpm 24th & 16th poly wall with jumps in it. Also, missing the single up arrow in there is really mean.
-[02:17.156 -> 02:18.079] Pretty good way of showing what that earlier broken 16th compensating section for keyboard can look like when focusing on the keyboard.
(**)-[02:35.387 (pattern)] Again, starts an 8th too early, the [14] and following 8th ‘down’ arrow are not entirely necessary. The staircase pattern is correct, the only thing I could ask more out of this transitional solo is that the staircase pattern change to a different staircase pattern in the 2nd half.
*PERSONAL NOTES*
Definitely a very interesting song that switches a lot between 16th patterning and 24th patterning on both ends of the spectrum, whether it’s jacks, or stream. There are quite a few consistency errors, and a few patterning issues that could really use addressing. It’s going to need quite a few fixes, but I’ve put songs that have needed more fixing than this into conditional in the past. Biggest offenders are the 24th solos that don’t take advantage of staircase 4/4 sounds and repeats triplet sets for longer than necessary, and the 16th/24th poly wall. I understand it can be a bit brash wording it as that, ‘wall’, but the majority of people at this level would be hitting that specific section as jumptrill. Outside of errors, love the music and the swap to 32nds for the pacing guitar solo. By far my favorite part is the 12ths solo. Triplet jacks are well-placed, and their existence later near the end of the song is fantastic placement.

Human World - Wandering Soul {M0nkeyz} [8*/10]

>Permissions check pass.
>DanJohansen listed as ‘credit’ in simfile properties. Not really an issue, just not needed. Also shows up in its correct spot under ‘artist’. No issues found in submission folder contents.
>Sync is good. (No changes necessary)

(**)-[00:08.776, 00:12.776] Missing 32nds.
(**)-[00:24.713] Over-stepped 16th. Should remove.
(**)-[01:06.713] Over-stepped 16th again. Should remove. Maybe move the following 8th to the ‘down’ position?
(**)-[02:12.088 onwards] The harmonic 16ths here trail on for quite a bit longer, but fit for the first handful of uses in this section. Around the second half of the section, it becomes a fair bit more prominent and noted music-wise that the 16th harmonics should be getting a lot more attention than what is made available here. For example, at 01:17.088, they could go for quite a while longer, and at 01:20.588, the harmonics get even louder than before, and should be going all the way until at least 01:21.713 (16th after the 4th).
(**)-[01:36.088 onwards] drumming notes start a little bit early here. Both of the 8ths here are barely audible, and probably shouldn’t be there. The 16th located at 01:37.713 and the 4th located at 01:37.588 are audible, and probably should be there.
*PERSONAL NOTES*
Lovely song, well stepped, very consistent in difficulty. Needs a few things added here and there, but not by any means an overhaul in the sense. Beautiful addition to FFR. Just make changes for the notes listed here, and should be good.

Illusions of Magic {M0nkeyz} [8.5*/10]

>Permissions check pass.
>Missing ‘title’ property in simfile properties. Should be labeled as ‘Illusions of Magic’. No other issues found in simfile properties. No issues found in simfile folder contents.
>Sync is good. (No changes necessary)

(**)-[00:01.358] 4th note here goes to nothing. Great start.
-[00:04.152] 8th note here is quite different-sounding from the one before it, doesn’t match up too well in terms of pitch relevance.
(**)-[00:27.509 -> 00:30.081] Definitely don’t be afraid to go terribly pitch specific with this solo. You have a whole 24th section in this song, that lasts for 1/3rd of this song. 00:28.366 -> 00:29.581 sounds pretty good, missing a jump at 00:28.795. Could vary up the jump patterns for these specific kinds of sections, since I’ve noticed this exact similar pattern multiple times across specifically your work regarding DanJohansen, both in previous batches and this one. [12] - [12][34][12] - patterns can work for jumps in these situations and helps varies it up instead of just using a lot of [14]’s. Unsure of the exact reason for the usage of [13]’s in this set, but following the pitch relevance at 00:29.652, the roll should be in the opposite direction.
-[02:06.247] Grace notes would have been a nice touch from here on out, but this is alright.
*PERSONAL NOTES*
Fairly straightforward song, that contains a lot of variance in what is offered. The jumpstream nearing the end is to die for, and the broken 24th JS in the middle is a real treat. One small 24th breakdown transition and a 4th note are the only real issues I can find here. There are a few other patterning tastes that I would personally hunt after, like the 16th at 00:17.331 not being very similar to the rest of the 16ths in that specific section, but the issue with them is drastically small, and not merit enough for change.