midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Okaasan]

lots of atmosphere underneath the anime sample. would be cool to have something a bit more spacious with less talking. the sample chops would be great if it weren't for all the awful popping and clicking - sounds like your sample cuts aren't zero-crossed. if you can't remove the pops and clicks try to sync them up with the transients of other instruments. the drum sounds are mostly good, i would try a thicker sounding closed hihat though. when you use dialogue samples in a breakdown, don't let them keep talking over the drop - either cut the vocal off or push the drop back until the sample is finished. i really wanted to like this, hopefully you can fix the issue making your sample cuts so noisy.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

LPSounds responds:

[laughs] In fact, I left the voices on the beat because it feel more "Original".

Very thanks

[(Hard Techno)Radioactivity]

brave choice entering actual techno into a NG comp, but i like the main groove in this a lot! the extra synth elements are very hit and miss though. a lot of the extra sequences are too loud seem to just play at a different tempo and don't resolve in a sensible way, so 1:05 all the way until 5:47 is nigh on unlistenable for me. would be good to sidechain your rumble layer under the kick some more to help it really pump, and wouldn't be a bad idea to just drop the volume of all the synths a little so that the extra percussion and filter layers can still breathe. appreciate the dj-friendly structure but it's best to build up a bit more gradually, have something of a breakdown and 2nd buildup, and then outro on the kick so that djs have a strong downbeat to cue the next track off of. half of the track is quite bad cause of those sequences, but the other half without them was pretty good. make more!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

lllElectroMusiclll responds:

Thanks!

[TOO MANY LOUD NOISES!]

polarising! i definitely enjoyed the quieter parts in this the most. you say you didn't have time to make anything beautiful but these sections sound like they have a lot of effort put into them, in spite of the random bursts of crazy instrumentation. the rest feels like you were trying to be funny or obtuse for the sake of it, or is just 2 disparate musical parts slapped together and not really refined any further. it is what it is, though. appreciate using the bass guitar part as a cohesive leitmotif, and the blown out drum kit does provide some consistency. hope you get inspired soon!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

Koogai responds:

Thanks for the review! I'm happy it sounds like I put thought into some of the song lol, a lot of it is basically my process for finding something that sounds nice, but instead of refining a single idea, just making a bunch of random ones sound as cohesive as possible (since i didn't have much of a choice). And you're right a lot of it was just "wouldnt it be funny if" sound combinations :P

[Out of My Head]

definitely different! cool hat retriggers and old school dub snare delays. gigantic explosion kick is cool. decently compelling theme. the GM synth brass and piano combo is definitely on the cheesy side of things. the vocal sample sounds like it's still in the back of your throat, you can be more confident with it - pitch it up, chop it around and add some reverb and suddenly it's pro future bass. short little loop with not much else to say. windows stop sound at the end is a nice touch, not sure how intentional that was though. finish a full track!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

kinupsi responds:

hi, midi...thx 4 your kind words, but i cant understand why i should compose a whole track?! It is what it should be, a loop ;) Everything else is intended, too: subtle voice, window sounds..etc ...but anyway: thx ;) (only your voting is kind of harsh: 1 and a half stars is like trashing and downvoting!)

[Bittersweet Coffee Lo-Fi]

really nice smooth intro, beautiful soft piano + smokey upright bass = heaven. the piano parts here feel so human and playful, and the slow melodic bassline perfectly underpins everything from a harmonic standpoint. the drums, however, are comedically sloppy - and there's two different drum sets playing sloppy at the same time! take a cue from lofi hip hop, quantize the downbeats a little! they don't have to be robotically in time, but at least have 1, 2, and 4 in the pocket. keep your drum layers consistently in time with themselves too. i don't know if you recorded the other parts to a click, but the drums are so bad they sound like they're making the other instruments play out of time. disappointing overall, but i really do hope you make more!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

kantieno responds:

Thanks for the feedback! In restructuring the song for a more lofi vibe, I ended up being very unsure of whether/how I wanted to retain the feel of the original drums while adding in new drums to get a beat with more punch. By the end I definitely had some trouble deciding whether or not it fit at all, so it is nice to have some fresh perspective! That's something I will work on for sure.

Either way I'm glad to hear that you thought the piano and bass worked well together! Thanks again for the feedback!

[JuLn - Anion]

love when dnb tracks take elements from different styles together - hearing some ragga and liquid in the midst of the future bass goodness here. epiano solo is really nice touch. the sound design is definitely on the basic side, and i think the stock FL sounds used don't really fit the vibe on their own and need a little layering or replacement. really appreciate the anti-drop in the first part but the ultra-smooth kick made it too anticlimactic. second drop feels much nicer. not a whole lot else to critique, the structure is perfect, there's a lot of attention to detail and the main theme, while initially a bit goofy, is actually a dope little nod to flamenco that really grew on me. this track is a LOT more than the sum of its parts, and i can't help but imagine what it could be if those parts were stronger individually. make more!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

JuLn responds:

I really appreciate this detailed and constructive review, thanks for your work as a judge!

[relaxing synth beats to get lost in a forest to]

really love the coldwave vibe. the lack of kick drum is interesting but can see it making sense in a game setting. ride cymbal is definitely way too loud but otherwise the drums are cool and unique. nice synths, the bass is a little heavy and a bit too wide but the lead and pad are perfect choices for the genre and overall setting. and huh, okay, i guess i ran out of stuff to talk about cause this is basically just an 8 bar loop. i quite liked the 8 bar loop though.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

Paint2Acetone responds:

Wish I got more comments like this

[A world full of fairy tales]

it's really cute! i think the fake general midi instrumentation actually helps the cute feeling a bit - even though the repeated piano notes sound really weird. it feels like there's a big gap in the instrumentation between where the drums sit and where the panflute sound is - i think just adding a single bass line and some soft, brushy percussion would fill that gap perfectly. the note the kick drum makes as it bottoms out of key with your song, i think it wants to be about 3 semitones lower to match your song, but you'll need to manually adjust the fine pitch to get it right. or just use a kick drum with a shorter decay. song ends up feeling way too long and empty even at 3 minutes. love the sweet little melody though.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

insertNameHere0 responds:

Thanks for the review, I'll keep that in mind.

[Creation of a Hexagon]

hey, cool, famitracker! the instrument design here is pretty cool, nice little duty cycle modulations and interesting noise channel usage. would be cool to hear more percussive sounds in the pulse channels if you're not using DPCM. the track doesn't really develop very much after 0:28, and the composition gets very messy towards the end with every channel trying to do the same thing in the same pitch at the same volume. if you want the triangle to be the lead you can try lowering the volume of other instruments - while this lowers the dynamic resolution it doesn't sound like you need all 16 volume steps right now anyway.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

glotch responds:

thanks for the feedback! i'll keep this all in mind going forward. this is yet another sign that I need more practice with volume mixing lol

[Choking Evil Seeds ~ Waterfall Encounter]

not usually a fan of undertale remixes and i was on the fence on this until the ending section. i think the first 90 seconds or so suffers from sounding overly busy while not having a lot of impact - my instinct is to up the kick and snare and pull the choirs, hihats and shakers down. really enjoyed the ending though, that cheesy bright trumpet just works so well and i'm a sucker for the amen break. i would definitely lowpass the amens a little and maybe throw a subsynth or just bass boost them a little since they felt a bit anemic. had a lot of fun listening to this!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

Fantasyck responds:

Come to think of it, I guess I could've stood to mess with the EQ a bit now that you point it out lol. Thanks for the detailed feedback - I always appreciate it when people are crystal-clear about what they think works well and what they think doesn't work well, and I'll absolutely try to keep it in mind the next time I try making a song in this style.