Re: FFR Community Pack Summer 2012 Released
on behalf of the woefully underappreciated BynaryFission, here's two more reviews...
SoC - this was actually really fun. love the jaunty piano rhythms and you brought out the accents well with your layering. complaints mostly deal with aesthetic stuff: the 16th freezes you used for the chunkier guitar could be expressed through some jack theory or shortened minifreezes, some of the longer freezes had way too many jumpjacks around them, which were very hard to hit often (and oftentimes not ver consistent...), and I'm not sure you had to use as many grace notes on the guitar as you did in the first half of the file. solo stuff all ruled.
Magewind - okay this was also quite fun but I'm shocked at how ridiculously hard some of these parts are. this is a super chill song, and even if there are instruments going haywire everywhere, following ALL of them makes the file feel super claustrophobic and way too intense. selective layering is really key here. it wasn't a problem in most parts, because the percussion/melody stuff either snapped into place or was separated, but you struggled a lot when everything came together--particularly in the ending, which had a flute (??) solo being followed with full freezes, with 16th streams cramped around it and even percussion stuff. had you chosen to follow any one or two of those elements, it would have worked out, but as is it's incomprehensible when playing.
patterns had problems in this regard, too, mostly with SUPERTRILLS, but that might just be me. don't take my complaints about difficulty too seriously, but remember that intermediate players like myself need charts to cater to our level as well.
otherwise, solid file and I can see you put a lot of effort into this.
okay...17 files left
Nightmare Night - I seriously don't get the backlash to this song. "ITS ABOUT PONIES GAY AS FUC LOOOLLOOL". it's a pretty legit song if you ignore the lyrics (which you can barely hear when playing anyway and mean nothing if you aren't versed with My Little Pony anyway). anyway, this is fun. 32nd patterns felt shoehorned in though (ie just filling in random spots between 16ths), maybe some flowy 16th jack theory might have helped with that.
16
Passage D ~Neus Remix~ - I don't call many drum'n'bass files majestic, but not all of them are created by wc. this is a boss file, maybe a bit freezy at times but the flow captures the song so well
15
Polar 240 - minifreeze use is kinda weird here. it works really well in some parts (like when you alternate btw the main melody and that recurring three-note xylophone melody in the chorus), but other parts are just confusing or inconsistent. choice of rhythms is good though, nice variation. ending's weird. I remember stepping this file a long time ago, but yours is definitely better. well done.
14
Sayonaramatane - Scylaax, you have this mad, hypercompressed way of stepping that just throws a bunch of insane motifs together. that means sometimes your files lose their sense of direction or feel disorganized, but when the song rises to meet your level, you have gold. I think that's the reason you do so well with t+pazolite songs: there's so much to work with that others struggle to bring out that you can perceive and express. this is a Scylaax file to the core: super-dense, varied, and oftentimes frustratingly messy, but it's perfect for this song.
13
Whore - yes, you do have to pee in a girl's mouth to make babies. this is basically Saddest RMX for people who thought that file wasn't dizzying enough, so if you like Saddest RMX, make of that what you will
12
Foxy Lady - very fun if simple. reminds of Sargon's best work--straightforward but with great texture.
11
Hatsune Something Something VOCALOID - played Heavy (because I know better than to play a 15 from leonid). really neat concept for scoring with the mixed 16ths and 12ths--this was quite a tough one to MA. simple but excellent throughout.
10
Divided By Three - I feel the same way about this as I did circa UEMP. good file but way too accurate with details to feel comfortable
9
JPEG Jive - noticed I skipped over the Kommisar files for the most part until now, apologies to Chris.
EDIT: boy that sure was a Kommisar file. really jaunty and varied, but structure is flawless and patterns express the song in creative ways (I like how you stepped that stuttering 16th note in the solo as a series of jumps w/ jack theory instead of just a dumb pattern like 44444444...way more fun and fitting). freezes, in typical Kommisar fashion, might be overlong in some parts, but the file still plays very crisply overall.
8 more to go! I will finish this pack if it's the death of me.
on behalf of the woefully underappreciated BynaryFission, here's two more reviews...
SoC - this was actually really fun. love the jaunty piano rhythms and you brought out the accents well with your layering. complaints mostly deal with aesthetic stuff: the 16th freezes you used for the chunkier guitar could be expressed through some jack theory or shortened minifreezes, some of the longer freezes had way too many jumpjacks around them, which were very hard to hit often (and oftentimes not ver consistent...), and I'm not sure you had to use as many grace notes on the guitar as you did in the first half of the file. solo stuff all ruled.
Magewind - okay this was also quite fun but I'm shocked at how ridiculously hard some of these parts are. this is a super chill song, and even if there are instruments going haywire everywhere, following ALL of them makes the file feel super claustrophobic and way too intense. selective layering is really key here. it wasn't a problem in most parts, because the percussion/melody stuff either snapped into place or was separated, but you struggled a lot when everything came together--particularly in the ending, which had a flute (??) solo being followed with full freezes, with 16th streams cramped around it and even percussion stuff. had you chosen to follow any one or two of those elements, it would have worked out, but as is it's incomprehensible when playing.
patterns had problems in this regard, too, mostly with SUPERTRILLS, but that might just be me. don't take my complaints about difficulty too seriously, but remember that intermediate players like myself need charts to cater to our level as well.
otherwise, solid file and I can see you put a lot of effort into this.
okay...17 files left
Nightmare Night - I seriously don't get the backlash to this song. "ITS ABOUT PONIES GAY AS FUC LOOOLLOOL". it's a pretty legit song if you ignore the lyrics (which you can barely hear when playing anyway and mean nothing if you aren't versed with My Little Pony anyway). anyway, this is fun. 32nd patterns felt shoehorned in though (ie just filling in random spots between 16ths), maybe some flowy 16th jack theory might have helped with that.
16
Passage D ~Neus Remix~ - I don't call many drum'n'bass files majestic, but not all of them are created by wc. this is a boss file, maybe a bit freezy at times but the flow captures the song so well
15
Polar 240 - minifreeze use is kinda weird here. it works really well in some parts (like when you alternate btw the main melody and that recurring three-note xylophone melody in the chorus), but other parts are just confusing or inconsistent. choice of rhythms is good though, nice variation. ending's weird. I remember stepping this file a long time ago, but yours is definitely better. well done.
14
Sayonaramatane - Scylaax, you have this mad, hypercompressed way of stepping that just throws a bunch of insane motifs together. that means sometimes your files lose their sense of direction or feel disorganized, but when the song rises to meet your level, you have gold. I think that's the reason you do so well with t+pazolite songs: there's so much to work with that others struggle to bring out that you can perceive and express. this is a Scylaax file to the core: super-dense, varied, and oftentimes frustratingly messy, but it's perfect for this song.
13
Whore - yes, you do have to pee in a girl's mouth to make babies. this is basically Saddest RMX for people who thought that file wasn't dizzying enough, so if you like Saddest RMX, make of that what you will
12
Foxy Lady - very fun if simple. reminds of Sargon's best work--straightforward but with great texture.
11
Hatsune Something Something VOCALOID - played Heavy (because I know better than to play a 15 from leonid). really neat concept for scoring with the mixed 16ths and 12ths--this was quite a tough one to MA. simple but excellent throughout.
10
Divided By Three - I feel the same way about this as I did circa UEMP. good file but way too accurate with details to feel comfortable
9
JPEG Jive - noticed I skipped over the Kommisar files for the most part until now, apologies to Chris.
EDIT: boy that sure was a Kommisar file. really jaunty and varied, but structure is flawless and patterns express the song in creative ways (I like how you stepped that stuttering 16th note in the solo as a series of jumps w/ jack theory instead of just a dumb pattern like 44444444...way more fun and fitting). freezes, in typical Kommisar fashion, might be overlong in some parts, but the file still plays very crisply overall.
8 more to go! I will finish this pack if it's the death of me.
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