Kanped's Reviews

[Castle Repercussions - A]

Not really my kinda thing but...

I had to say that the sound design in this flash is incredible; from the foley work to all the crazy music and sfx hits, this is just a great piece of work any audio engineer should be proud of.

[Angry Dog]

Great

Awesome timing, really funny but I'm just writing to say that this isn't British, liger 91. Its either Australian or Newish Zealandish (or whatever). Never can tell.

[Epic Battle Fantasy]

Really enjoyed it

I think there should be a way to get MP other than just the Ether, though. You only get them at shops and if you run out, you don't last too long. Maybe a 'drain MP' move that does no physical damage or something?

[::gunny bunny::]

Lots of fun

Looks great, game plays really smooth. I would definitly like a cross-hair and more obvious health meter, though.

[-Grid-]

Great Concept, well excecuted

I love the idea of generating signal-flow around a board; the game looks great and (on my computer, at least) is smooth and easy to use.

I think the increases in difficulty could be a little steeper; 3-7 weren't much harder than each other, in my opinion, and that's a recurring pattern in subsequenct levels. I think it could get harder, faster.

I like the music, and I don't think it becomes irksome despite its repitition.

Overall, really enjoyed this one; its a great idea.

[Hero's Destiny v.2]

Much better

I was listening to the other version and felt that this was exactly what the song needed, but I still feel that you could have went further with it. You're still using some very synth-sounding sounds for representing acoustic instruments- I know you're trying to hark back to the older days where these sounds were commonplace but I feel that the results could sound so much sweeter with a good quality sampler (I like Cakewalk's Dimension, but there's hundreds of them).

I think the reason for this is that your work tends to sit between modern day VG composing and mid-late 90s composition, in terms of the sounds used. The problem is that the lower-quality sounds stick out quite badly alongside the depth that you get from newer synths.

I would suggest you do one of two things (or both), get yourself a tracker and some SID chip VSTs and compose like the early VG composers did, with approximations of their tools, or let it go and use the best quality sounds you possibly can, ALWAYS tweeking the settings (or better yet, designing a synth sound from scratch; use the 'init' preset and go nuts) to get something with richness and depth.

Good luck with your music making; you melody and control of dynamics is fantasic. You're very good at writing music and learning the technical side of things hopefully won't cause you too much hastle.

maestroji responds:

Thanks Kanped. I appreciate your words of wisdom :). I will take heed to what you say, but I have yet to find very real sounding VSTs. I do love the older stuff and the structure I use is early 90s-late 90s video game music composition. I do think my sounds need to be better, though the major problem is finding the right soundfonts and VSTs. Again I thank you for the advice. Please keep listening to my music and see if I improve.

-Ji

[. Game Over .]

Great Stuff

Noticed that you actually really know your shit about music technology while I was browsing the forums and decided too see what you could do with all the knowledge. Needless to say I was not disappointed. Simple but effective melody that flows nicely. The mixing is fantastic, very full sound and the drums maintain their impact even with the 'wall of sound' generated byt the pads (something I haven't got the hang of yet).

I think there's maybe a few synth sounds that are a little simplistic and some experimentation with FM or phase modulation synthesis could be of benefit. I tend to think that a lot, though because all I do is mess around and experiment without actually getting any tangible results, but anyway...

I'm giving it a 9 so I can give the next one a 10.

Xenoscape responds:

thanks man! music is like my addiction. I guess that's why I have a comment for most topics, it's seems like I've been there.

audio engineering is my favorite subject though...

[To Be Continued]

OK but boring

Its much more emo than punk. Its well played, recorded and mixed but its sorta music by numbers- I feel like I've heard this song done a million times by any amount of bands over the last 10 years. Its just too safe; nothing is different or challenging and I think its just too samey to hold anyone's attention for too long- and 4 minutes is definitly too long.