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SMWC Idol 9 - Voting!

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Music

27 July we back, baby!

adon: 9.2/10
These guitar samples are impressive, especially for SMW custom music. These drums samples are also very cool. I like the backing and melodies, and this chord progression is powerful. A shame it's a bit short, since the SPC loops it another time before ending by default in AddMusicK. Instant 9 out of 10.

Dragon Saber: 5.7/10
It's back to SMW instruments. I like how the noise is used sometimes, but as I've made clear previously, I hate SMW's instruments, especially drums. Never heard of the original game(apparently 'Dragon Saber: After Story of Dragon Spirit', the name doesn't appear to fit), or the original song. It sounds like typical fantasy fare, nothing much for me.

fightingthunder: 5.8/10
This song uses custom samples, but it sounds like a typical SNES game you would find in stores. That may be a good thing for SMW custom music to sound like a different game. Still don't like the SMW drums here. Again, I've never heard of the original game or song, but this doesn't sound good, nor is it crap. It is kind of action-y.

flaptowardsthehope: 7.8/10
Sounds much better. Custom drums this time, and they fit. Still sounds like a commercial SNES game, but a better one. This is based on Raiden 2, another game in the same series, I still never heard the original, or of the original game. I think the music box-y instrument is a nice touch. The instruments are good. Overall, good song, and pretty action-y.

kaiko: 5.1/10
This sounds like old SMW custom music, the kind you'd hear from a hack from 2009. That's not really a good thing. This one appears to be a custom song. The melody sounds a bit mischievous, like one of those stealth games that is a bit cartoony/comedic at time. It's short, and not that good, either. The SPC loops it more than twice.

rough: 7/10
Kind of relaxing. Sometimes, it sounds like a different SNES game, like one in stores. I still don't like the SMW lead instruments. I'm not a big fan of the melodies here. I don't thing the electric guitar fits, SMW instrument or not. I appreciate the chord work, though I don't like it.

stage9: 7.6/10
Some samples are high-quality. Sounds like the baby of a Street Fighter Alpha type of song, and OutRun's Magical Sound Shower, and it might sound a bit action-y, but I don't like the beach feel to it. The drums are high-fidelity for the SNES, but I just don't like them out of preference. I'm sorry if preference is unfair, but these are my scores, so I do whatever I want.

Anyways, I hope my scores aren't so unfair as a whole.
YouTube
This is definitely one of the weaker rounds. Maybe because of the requirements but very few songs stood out in excellence... my opinion of course#fim{XD}

adon: 7/10
Makes use of Capcom's SNES Sound Library. However being a Capcom title it sounds kind of run-of-the-road and very expected. It's better than the SNES version as the audio in that game was pretty awful even by launch *SNES standards.

Dragon Saber: 6/10
As an SMW instrument song I think it sounds good and fitting but those same instruments let it down. To put quite simply it's not breaking any barriers. However, as a result of the careful craft-work, I'll give a good hand.

fightingthunder: 6/10
As far as overall sampling goes I think it's pretty good except some of the instruments are weak, particularly leads. Adding stereo could help clean up the sound.

flaptowardsthehope: 5/10
Sounds a bit empty, this one also heavily uses Capcom's samples. If the FIR Filter values mean anything I already know who made this. That aside my thoughts are similar to Nikku4221 albeit a bleaker outlook.

kaiko: 5/10
The problem with the Arcade version of this game is that it, IMHO, is worse than the SNES version when it comes to music. Even without accounting for song choice this isn't too great. I won't lambast as the source material is arguably poor but execution could've been better.

rough: 8/10
This is the cheesiest SPC/song I've heard in the entire idol and not in a good way. However in terms of "overall" sound I think it's in the league of previous rounds. It makes use of plenty samples but also sounds "thrown together" as the samples don't always blend well. The mixing (including sampling) probably hurts it more than anything. I'd also criticize lack of echo but against Round 4 competition it's perfectly fine.

stage9: 10/10
Well it's faithful... Based on the more powerful CPS2 version and using the aforementioned instruments (albeit compressed.) Between a 9 or a 10 it'll get a 10 because I don't find it faulting in anything. The only competition would be rough but this is mixed a lot better. There is only one person I've seen who uses CPS2 samples (not that it's saying much) so this entry is easy to figure out..?

EDITED: Better Phrasing

*
Capcom applied a ton of GFX compression to make it fit in a 4MB Cart. The graphics pretty much ate into everything, mostly the audio budget. This game was released late in the console's life so it was a MAJOR step back.
adon: 7.5/10
Dragon Saber: 7.5/10
fightingthunder: 6/10
flaptowardsthehope: 6.5/10
kaiko: 4/10
rough: 8.5/10 nice
stage9: 8.5/10 nice
Round 5, here we go!

Formatting is the same as before--if you missed it, check the first post, or refer to the previous votes in the thread. Votes are due Saturday, August 18th at 16:00PT / 19:00ET. (edit: fixed date whoops)

SPCs here!
Mirror
MP3s (courtesy of Yuzu)
YouTube


Songs:
~shiroi~
chrono-dragon
dickens
miusaki
tanewan
topaz
zaxxon
I don't enter this round but unfortunately im gonna skip but is really hard to find.

Here is!

;============================
~shiroi~: 7.8
chrono-dragon: 9.6
dickens: 8.5
miusaki: 6.8
tanewan: 4.1
topaz: 6.4
zaxxon: 5.7
hi im a loser who's never voted in one of these please go easy on me and my crap opinions

~shiroi~: 6
instrumental is alright but the vocaloid vocals are bleh

chrono-dragon: 9
the odd vocals actually blend really well with the grave feel of the song

dickens: 9
great song and i'm a big sucker for vocal samples being used this way
please tell me that sample is one of the "introducing the krabby patty" dahs

miusaki: 7
a nice song but the vocals were literally only used for like 4 seconds

tanewan: 4
interesting use of vocal samples but it just doesn't feel like a very solid composition

topaz: 8
reminds me of something from the 70s i love it

zaxxon: 6
good song but the vocals don't do much to complement it
~shiroi~: 7/10
I appreciate the effort put into having actual lyrics but it just kinda ends up sounding silly due to how low the audio quality is. Still, it's a pleasant song once you look past that.

chrono-dragon: 7/10
This is a really cool port but I feel like in this case it'd actually be better off without the vocal samples, which is unfortunate considering the round's requirement.

dickens: 10/10
Big jam. At first the vocal samples seemed to be underused but then the last part kicked in. Speaking of that part, the end of it doesn't feel very conclusive, but maybe that's just how it is in the original song.

miusaki: 4/10
There's barely any usage of the round's requirement and it doesn't really do the original track justice in general. The sample choices feel weird, especially the brass one.

tanewan: 5/10
tbh I really can't stand this one composition-wise, but I can at least tell there was a fair amount of effort put into the port.

topaz: 8/10
Starts out kinda weak but gets better later on. I really like those weird changes in the second half. Round requirement could've been used a bit more effectively

zaxxon: 6/10
Doesn't really carry the same energy as the original track. Not the best use of the requirement either imo.
Some pretty interesting stuff going on this round! Not sure if it's just a coincidence or what, but it seems I like the ones at the beginning of the alphabet a lot more than the ones at the end.
~shiroi~: 8.3/10
I like a lot about this. Nice harmonies and melody, nice samples that really come together well in some places. And much effort on synthesizing singing. I have a soft spot for synth singing like that, but despite the things I Like about this entry, it is still stretched thin in places and there are some things which just don't work for me, which I wish had been forgone.

chrono-dragon: 8.5/10
Have a pretty good idea who was behind this one. Nice samples, valiant attempt on synthesizing singing. S sounds are pretty buzzy though, and there are some places where the arrangement feels a bit empty. Not sure if the original song is like this, or if some cuts had to be made to squeeze it down to 8 channels. Also I like the use of echo to give it some ambience, but I think it needs a fair bit more.

dickens: 8.8/10
This one's bangin! Despite my not doing much with dance music on this site, I do love it a lot and this one is done well imho. Really like the sidechaining emulation, and the fake da solo near the end is epic as well. If I liked the song less, I would've absolutely hated that part, but since I don't hate it, that part is cool for me.

miusaki:7.1/10
The song sounds aesthetically well done, but I don't like it quite as much as the others. Probably a preference thing though. The vocal sample isn't very noticeable but for a brief moment it shows up and I think it fits well.

tanewan: 5.1/10
For me, this is just meh. Samples are well done, especially drums and supersaw. But, whether it's because of my lack of enjoyment from this kind of music or something else, I really don't like the harmonies and overall development. There are some moments where some cool rhythmic things are going on with splicing the vocal fragments in catchy ways, but the song just doesn't seem to go anywhere. I would've at least hoped for something more exciting rhythmically to happen.

topaz: 7.0/10
This is pretty cool, though again the style isn't quite my thing, so I can't fully appreciate some of the work that might've gone into this. Aside from that, most samples are good but it sounds like some tunings are a smidge off.

zaxxon: 5.1/10
For a lot of this, I can't even tell what the vocal samples are needed for. Sometimes they're used rhythmically, but often they're buried behind the music. I like the instrument samples here, but not the song.
Make more of less, that way you won't make less of more!
~shiroi~: 6/10
What does #smrpg{sick} sound like

chrono-dragon: 8/10
The voice sample wasn't used that well, but the rest of the song was excellent.

dickens: 10/10
Evidently the modern age hasn't been listening to our dickens

miusaki: 4/10
This sounds incoherent

tanewan: 5/10
#smrpg{y} #lm{page}

topaz: 9/10
The voice sample really speaks to me

zaxxon: 4/10
I don't find this pleasant
~shiroi~: 8/10
         - I really like this, bummed about the vocaloid.

chrono-dragon: 9/10
         - This is so fucking good, could have used more echo (volume/feedback).

dickens: 10/10
         - OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU

miusaki: 7/10
         - The volume mixing isn't super good, flute starts out too loud, the trumpets are also a bit too overpowering, the voices could be louder.

tanewan: 8/10
         - This is dank. Bass line could be better.

topaz: 8.5/10
         - Very nice to listen to, don't really like the flute instrument, could have picked a better sample.

zaxxon: 6.5/10
         - this one is ok, should have picked a better song
~shiroi~: 7.6/10
chrono-dragon: 4.9/10
dickens: 7.0/10
miusaki: 8.2/10
tanewan: 3.1/10
topaz: 7.8/10
zaxxon: 3.7/10








~shiroi~: 7/10 - Pretty interesting, I'm okay with the way the vocals sound, I'm just not a big fan of the actual melody during that part.

chrono-dragon: 8/10 - Woo, this is pretty awesome after a couple of listens.

dickens: 10/10 - To quote 99% of conversations on the SiivaGunner Discord, this one's a BANGER

miusaki: 7/10 - This sounds pretty, but I agree about the volume levels feeling wrong.

tanewan: 9/10 - Hahahaha this is great!

topaz: 10/10 - Another banger right here. Some of the vocals really remind me of Persona 3, does this use the same samples?

zaxxon: 6/10 - A bit repetitive and hard to say anything about. It's pretty funky though.
Twitter
The handomest people in the world are ones who follow my Twitch
~shiroi~: 7/10 - nothing about this hits home with me, but the vocal samples sound super warm and pleasant to the ear
chrono-dragon: 7/10 - its pretty ok
dickens: 10/10 - dope as hell
miusaki: 6/10 - honestly just kinda "meh" the whole way through
tanewan: 5/10 - yikes, that volume balancing. there's a decent song here but it doesn't feel fully fleshed out.
topaz: 8/10 - chill aesthetic jam here, i dig it
zaxxon: 6/10 - not really feeling it. after checking out the original song i have a few recommendations; better bass sample, fuller synth leads and making the vocal sample sync up better with the rest of the song
~shiroi~: 7/10

chrono-dragon: 8/10

dickens: 10/10

miusaki: 6/10

tanewan: 6/10

topaz: 7/10

zaxxon: 5/10
Literally copypasted the post above thx eminus

~shiroi~: 8/10 - samples sound extremely downsampled even though some of them appear to be sampled at 44khz or so
(like the ones in the first channel), but still impressive how you managed to do somewhat decent vocals

chrono-dragon: 8.5/10 - screeching kills it for me, even though it was kinda clever to use dozens of samples like people do using the namco fc soundchip which I forgot its name

dickens: 9/10 - the voice sample is horrible... but the song is pretty good imo

miusaki: 4/10 - it's pretty boring, and the vocal sample doesn't do much

tanewan: 2/10 - is this a joke

topaz: 8/10 - vocal samples sound cool even though they aren't the best thing the port offers (I really like the composition itself)

zaxxon: 5/10 - the samples are too downsampled and they don't really go with the rhythm of the song


also this goes for every porter who participated in this round as some of them appear to be pissed in discord: I'm voting based on quality of vocals AND composition (the later is more important to me), even if you did pretty cool vocals with some incredible technical stuff, if the song itself sucks then I'm giving it a lower rating. Don't feel bad though, as I also know the pain of doing pretty cool stuff in technical aspects but without anybody to appreciate it.
~shiroi~: 5/10
this sounds like an animal crossing kk slider song with its vocals. or like tomodachi life. it kinda fucks me up. the port itself is fine but theres a disparity between the pleasant instrumentals and the alien vocals. props to you for undergoing the herculian task, but i can't say it presented itself in a well-sounding manner.

chrono-dragon: 6/10
actual use of the vocals is pretty poor. it's a solid port, but the vocal section is kind of hamfisted and segmented into its' own effectively different feeling area. i dont think this was a strong enough example to show off the gimmick of this round.

dickens: 9/10
yeah okay this is something. this track is a bop until the climax where it just goes all out.

miusaki: 6/10
this is cute. i wanna say more about this and pretty much all of the ports but i am sort of braindead. this has the shimmer of summer in it.

tanewan: 5/10
this track tries too hard to be saccharine with the way the synths grow and the song progresses. from the get go this sounds like it should be something grimy - like an ugly trap rap hit or some forbidden memphis rap. that interesting section is swept away into boring waves of simple synth ditties. missed opportunity.

topaz: 7/10
sounds like one of those anime game songs the kids are playing these days. it's also a bop. vocal samples are limited but used well.

zaxxon: 5/10
🤔
~shiroi~: 5/10
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chrono-dragon: 6/10
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dickens: 6/10
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miusaki: 6/10
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tanewan: 5/10
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topaz: 6/10
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zaxxon: 7/10
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~shiroi~: 7/10
The song felt really dreamy, but the voice was kinda offsetting.

chrono-dragon: 5/10
It felt like climbing up a mountain, the voice was really freaky, and The Saxophone (?) part was weird to me.

dickens: 9/10
It sounded like a remix of multiple game sound effects, the voice mixes with the beat really well.

miusaki: 8/10
Reminds me of RPG games like Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy.

tanewan: 6/10
Can I say #SWAG or is that out of style?

topaz: 8/10
Feels really mysterious. The vocals compliment it, to.

zaxxon: 7/10
Reminds me of Splatoon for some reason.

Music

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