The "How did you step that?" Thread

[bluguerrilla]

Yeah because I play the file and think it would be easier to change the **** than explain it and usually it just makes me go 'what the **** was he thinking when he stepped this??'

And Skeletor will still make people go 'wtf?!' even after I 'fixed' it (if it ever gets into FFR).

[Patashu]

I hope skeletor never makes it into ffr

[bluguerrilla]

there's nothing you can do, it's skeletor, he bows down to NO ONE

[Shashakiro]

Going into all the details of specific files would take forever since I tend to spend a while on each one (a comprehensive guide to how every part of HO is stepped would probably be the size of a 25-or-so page paper and take a full day or two to write), but some general things I do for "rock" type songs like SSH songs:

-Kick layered during verse/chorus parts, (every blue or every other red, depending on BPM), for a good song this will usually combine naturally with the guitar to make fun rhythms
-copypaste for identical verses/choruses (HO, ML, and BH all use this), there's really no reason at all to do anything else in a rock song IMO
-PR is crucial for a "guitar solo" or similar section, can be stressed less for other sections
-Tone down on layering during fast, very audible guitarwork (i.e. cut out the jumps to the kick for a while)
-Triple-layering is a pretty bad idea and I rarely do it unless there's basically no other option (HO has a part like this)
-difficulty of a section reflects how it feels, not what is played; chords on guitar are NOT necessarily jumps in the file
-stepping one layer at a time helps lots
-unnatural silences get arrows no matter what instrument is playing, if there's an instrument playing...I sometimes even step an instrument that I don't step anywhere else in the file/section to prevent awkward blank space
-fun factor > consistency if there's a conflict, so if there's a fast guitar part that slows way down for a bit but the rhythm guitar/drums are still playing like nuts, I step those instead for the duration of the "break"

Stuff like that.

[Vote4Nixon]

Nice! That sounds a solid guide on stepping rock songs.

Haha, writing 25 pgs in a day is actually pretty damn impressive

[championanwar]

Also Tiza, there are 2 files of yours that I quite like, and I was wondering "how did you step them" =P
Frozen Fire, and Sly. Care to explain?

[Silvuh]

Midnight asked for notes on {Firestorm}, so, uh... Well it was the first file I ever sent to FFR.. I didn't know as much about PR back then, which is why that's kind of wacky. Also, I'm really bad at describing noises in songs.. Aanyway...
m1-4. Attempted PR on that one melody thing, jumps on that loud crash noise thing.
m5-8. Continues with the same stuff, just a new melody. Attempted PR. Jumps on that loud noise.
m9-12. More attempted PR. Wasn't sure how to do that part, because there are only four possible three-note increasing patterns like that, but there were more than four things in the song.. So if A=123, B=124, C=134, D=234, the file in game has a BCAABCDD pattern. I think, though, now, that CCDDCBAB may have fit the PR better. Still not the best.. maybe I should have had a decreasing pattern even if it went to an increasing pitch just to make it different from the other ones, but then I may have run in some issues with, like, jacks or making it more fluent than it should be.. I mean, like, 123432 just wouldn't work there.... aanyway.
m13-16. More attempted PR to the obvious melody-ish whatever, with jumps on every red note to that deep beat.. that was also on some 8ths every two measures. But I didn't put notes to, I don't think at any time, the 16th deep beats like in measure 16. Maybe I thought that would make it messier? I don't know. But that's no excuse for other times I missed these 16ths...
m17-20. Same patterns from 9-12. I think instead of changing the placement of the arrows, I just added jumps on the eighths wherever they wouldn't cause a 16th jack or other stuff or something or what. The sound I put these jumps to is much more noticeable in m 41-44. It changes pitch every two notes. I realize now I should have had the jumps be like that instead of them all being 14 jumps like that. Which was really dumb of me to do. And it also has the jumps on the 4ths with that same beat as before, again missing the 16ths.
m21-24. It's mirrored. Stupid, I know now.
m25-28. More attempted PR with jumps when the bass-or-whatever is layered.
m29-32. Same as before, but with jumps on more 4ths because that bass picked up.
m33-40. Same as 25-28, except with that new melody layered on top.
m41-44. Those annoying, yet now more relevant, 8th jumps again. Same problems, etc.
m45-52. Mini-8th-trills, generic for the continuous back-and-forth of the back beat. Layered the melody on top. Some echos have jumps, too. Forgot the 16ths again.
m53-60. Pasted copy.
m61-68. Like 25-28, but with no jumps because there's no bass. (There is that clicking noise that is on the left arrow.)
m69-76. More pasted copies.
And the rest is just that melody stepped as an outro.

I don't remember everything that went through my head when I made that.. it was quite a while ago.

As for a more recent file... Well, my most recent file in-game is from the time when FFR Widgets just came out, so that's not really recent at all.
Guess, uh... Procrastination on a Paper..
All the jumps are either on crashes or chords. And only crashes during 16th stream.
m1-4. Just PR rolls.
m5. I wanted to come up with a PR-ish pattern that would work while having those jumps all on the same arrows for PR reasons. The melody is five descending notes. Anyway, so, the fourth note could not be on the same arrow as one of the arrows of the jump to avoid unnecessary jacks. The first and fifth notes had to be the arrows of jump. A 12 or 34 jump wouldn't work, because with the former I couldn't descend from the start, and with the latter I couldn't descend to the end. With a 13 jump, the second note would have to be a 2. The third note would have to be a 4 to avoid having a three-eighth-note jack. From there, the only note to descend to without causing a jack would be a 2. But that's the same as the second note, so that wouldn't work. Jumps causing a 23421 pattern to look like 12421 just doesn't work. Next you have the 23 jump. The first note would have to be a 1 or a 4 to avoid a 16th jack, and it would have to be a 1 to descend. The fourth note would have to be a 4... Now, the third note can't descend from the first two or descend to the last two. That doesn't work. I don't like playing a lot of 14 jumps, so I skipped that option. Left with 24. The second and fourth notes could be a 3 or a 1. I can descend from one to two and four to five without the 16ths being the same arrow with the second note being a 1 and the fourth being a 3. The third note does create a three-note eighth-jack with the jumps, but the descending pattern works well. It's not blended in with the jumps like if it was a 13 jump.
m6. Three 8ths on the 1, because they're lower than the last 8th of m5. The 4 4th is on that click noise. Same PR and layering and repeats for the next measures.
m14. Has triplets. The first one is higher, and is placed higher. Third repeat of that noise is not a triplet to fit the PR of the melody.
m16. Fitting the melody into those same drum beats.
m21-28. Wanted a sense of going up and down like in the song. I wanted to avoid more unnecessary minitrills. The lower parts have no 4s, the higher parts have no 1s. In m24 and 28, the third fourth is lower than the last one to help show how the last one is the highest, even though the first two fourths are 4s. Also, I felt like jumps on the 4ths in the second repeat were unnecessary.
m29-36. Pasted copy.
m37. The pitches go 4312. The chords are the same, so do make them the same arrow.. it would have to have a 4 for the first jump, but the second jump is between the highest and lowest notes of the melody, so that is automatically a 4(23)1 pattern. And, well, there's no 4 in 23. I made the last arrow a 4 to avoid the 16th or 8th jack on the second instance. And the first instance is higher than the second, so the first 16th there is a 3 instead of a 2. The first jump of the measure is 14 to avoid being a 24 like the one before it. The last four notes keep the beat (and there are sounds there, so that's fine).
m38. The pitches are, like, 63126546. Now I realize the fourth 16th should have been a 4. Whoops. And I probably should have made the second-to-last 16th a 1 because that note and the 16th pitch after it aren't the same, even though the second one is lower.. just to say that they're different. Having the third 4th be a 4 was to contrast that with the melody before it and how much higher the note after it is.
m39. With the last 16th of m38 being a 2, that left two options for the next jump excluding 14 which I don't necessarily like. On the second instance, the chord is on the second note. If the first note was a 4, a 34 jump would make a jack. So, I went with the 13 jump. The pitches go 4312. I couldn't do 12, though, because of the second jump. Moving those up, 4323 fit right into the 13 jump. So that worked. I wanted the last two notes to be the same in both instances, leaving the first 16th of the first instance to be an out-of-PR 4.
m45. Put 12 jumps on the chords on the first note and the 8ths. The other notes follow the drums.
m46. There is a bass of a 3/16th rhythm starting on the first note, so they're 4s. Some clicking noise is stepped on the 1. And two filler notes between to the other drums.
m53-56. Attempted pitch-and-instrument relative steps. As always, chords on the crashes and chords (not on other louder drum beats.) The last two 8ths of m56 are 3s to be different from the previous two 8ths which have a different distinct sound.
The rest is pasted copies and attempted-PR rolls and runningmen etc. If I recall correctly, the 32nds were suggested by JX.

So, uh, yeah...... Also this was all as it was finished. Forgot the order of process and what all I changed with each revision... I know you don't have measure counters in FFR, so I hope you can still tell what everything is.. Hope that, uh, answers... questions. And, sorry, I don't really have any questions to ask anyone else at this time.

[jimerax]

Novo Mundo is basically stepped consistently, just sounds for steps are picked quite uniquely (and not with normal layering) iirc. I liked the yellow note jumps btw.

[midare]

HELLO

i noticed your thread
it is very interesting, but lacks a certain unique perspective that I believe only I Can Provide For U

here is a qualification: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...p?songid=31121

listen making stepfiles is like feeling the magic. you have to feel the rhythm in your heart before you can incorporate the rhythm into a real stepfile pattern

for example! Jimerax's Ketsarku Mozgalom stepfile pattern shows an obvious lack of prior preparation...........you can tell by his jump placement that he was only layering the audible sounds...........if he had been feeling the real rhythm (like me!!) he would have layered in the inaudible rhythms too.

now take Solar (Eclipse)!! the 32nd streams!! are magic!! my fingers move so quickly over them not becaus e my fingers are very fast!! my heart resonates with the stepfiles arrows they were so expertly placed!! it makes it easy to be fast!! i can feel the fire in my hands even before the level has totally loaded!!!

now take my files for an example. i step files with my eyes closed. and only with my eyes closed. because u cant see the real notes with your eyes open. there are notes beyond notes that you cannot c when ur eyes are open. if u do not believe me just ask shashakiro.....................strangeprogram is an example of a simfile made with the eyes closed technique. But As I Was Saying. see http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...p?songid=31121 for example. this is an exmaple of an opening theme stepfile! it fits its users personality..........so, if you are following me, that means i do not step the arrows that are there.......i step the arrows that exist within the soul of the opening theme dedicated person..........so for this example, roundbUx has many arrows in his soul. they are beautiful. so i revealed them. really i am not so much a simfile artist as i am a simfile soul revealer. i do not make beautiful steps......i only Uncover them.

[Knoobish]

Originally Posted by midare

beautiful soul poetry

tru dat

[cetaka]

that is a good plan but tbh i just listen to the song and hear lots of sounds coming through my headphones and i pick out the best ones and put arrows somewheres close to where they occur

[Patashu]

all of cetaka's files are straightforward as far as I can recall

cept maybe eclipse solar but I'm a big dumb baby so

edit: oh ya while I'm making a post, if anyone wants to know my thoughts behind a particular file for sm or ffr let me know and I'll blather about it for a while!

[bluguerrilla]

Originally Posted by Vote4Nixon

- Night and Day; Dead and Direct. Two pretty sexy files IMO.

Originally Posted by Patashu

all of cetaka's files are straightforward as far as I can recall

cept maybe eclipse solar but I'm a big dumb baby so

edit: oh ya while I'm making a post, if anyone wants to know my thoughts behind a particular file for sm or ffr let me know and I'll blather about it for a while!

I need to try that stepping with eyes closed thing. I've got the perfect song for it.

[Vote4Nixon]

Originally Posted by Patashu

all of cetaka's files are straightforward as far as I can recall

cept maybe eclipse solar but I'm a big dumb baby so

edit: oh ya while I'm making a post, if anyone wants to know my thoughts behind a particular file for sm or ffr let me know and I'll blather about it for a while!

ded n direct

EDIT:
****, ninja'd by blu

[dore]

Originally Posted by bluguerrilla

I need to try that stepping with eyes closed thing. I've got the perfect song for it.

didn't you do that for a widget file? I remember it was fun as hell for ctrl+r lol

[bluguerrilla]

Shhhhhhhhhhh but yeah that was a fun experiment. Did touch it up after ctrl+r though so I can't claim to be perfect. But if you set the gap a little off your steps when you ctrl+r are so much more accurate.

[Patashu]

actually dead and direct was a direct layering of bass drum and hi hat then bassdrum/snare and vocals, bassdrum/snare and melody later excluding the 'bursts'

[cetaka]

if by straightforward you mean they make sense and ebb/flow with the song instead of attempting to invent gimmicks like quad freezes that end with a 4321 roll then yes. if not then dang i didnt know this was the how does pata "i layer everything no matter the cost to my family" shu think you step things thread

[Patashu]

what else would I have meant lol

[cetaka]

i don't know you seem pretty suspicious!?