MadTracker - "phaser - Fatformer Plus" by phaser

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phaser - Fatformer Plus

by phaser

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Ogg Vorbis version

QBical

Originality:	6/10	Technical:	5/10
Theme:	7/10	Quality:	7/10
Arrangement:	5/10	Global:	6/10

Fat former is a VST only track by phaser.

First of the composition :
You've done well on creating these game like melody's but I feel like there is to much silence between the different parts of the track, and the different parts feel very much seperated because of this.

The sound :
I love the whisle sound at 2:30 it realy adds to the track, but the other synth are all a bit standard and flat, you could try to add a bit more depth to the different synths by experimenting more with filter envelopes or stuff like that. A trick that alway's works for me is setting the filter of an instrument to an LFO with a very low frequency this way the filter gently opens and closes in the span of maby 4 patterns, the result is that your track keeps intresting.

Overal:
As I said I like the game melody stuff and the whole track reminds me of crusader:noremorse wich is good.
But try to make it stand out by giving it a bit more edge using some good synths.

Keep it up!

Sunbuster

Originality:	4/10	Technical:	6/10
Theme:	6/10	Quality:	5/10
Arrangement:	7/10	Global:	6/10

Hmm, seems to be some sort of hybrid between chiptunish game music and breakbeatish drumprogramming.

The snare jumps out a bit too much compared to the kick. My suggestion is to either lower the volume of the snare to match the kick or since the bassline is pretty strong, raise the kick out of the background to match the kick and thus get a real powerhouse going in the drums. It seems the kick is working in pretty low frequencies so one idea would be to emphasize higher frequencies (120-180 hz). The snare has a good snappines to it, so I wouldn't want it changed too much. I was a bit sceptical about the delay on the bassline, fearing it would make things muddy. In the end it wasn't as bad as I feared, yet the track still lacked some clarity I think.

Between pattern 08 and 09 it seems a mute was forgotten. The background pads have just faded out in 08, but jump up for a short instance in 09.

The track falls on the mixing and to be honest, on sounding a bit old. It creates an "I've heard it before" vibe. I like the contrast between the more breakbeatish drums and the more chiptuneish leads. In the end though this track doesn't bring much new to the table.

TNK / ATK project

Originality:	7/10	Technical:	8/10
Theme:	7/10	Quality:	8/10
Arrangement:	8/10	Global:	8/10

Originality: 7
Theme: 7
Arrangement: 8
Technical: 8
Quality: 8
Global: 8

After dozens of track that seemed to date back to the time VST was just a daydream for home recording musicians, here comes the 100% VST entry ! Time to step into the XXIth century. This of course affects (in a positive way) the overall quality - especially the sound quality - of that entry.

While technically it could be improved, better mixing, the whole seems quite pro sounding so I bet that a mix between more traditionnal samples and VSTs could have done real wonders here, but anyway, my congrats for the effort.

The theme is nice, very demoish, but could be more catchy (this is the difference between a good and a great theme).

The arrangement, which seems very early 80's hiphopish, is interesting for those who like that kind of vintage sound.

Globally, I'ld say that this entry is good while it... while everything is good I'ld say (Just noticed that this track is from one of Nectarine's admins, and I know as a producer that you never should say anything bad about any radio programmer...) Seriously : This is a good entry that could have been made catchier by a stronger melody, but the 100% VST effort is a great plus here.

So my hints : Use *all* the available technologies (VST + samples), work your melodies out, and you'll be on the top !

Also something that I'll probably copy-paste 3 billion times within this reviewing process : NAME YOUR TRACKS ! This would give your audiance and us judges a better view of how your track is built, will help newbies to learn how to use MT and to beat you in next year's compo :)