Troisnyx's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Programmed Sky (NGRMC Remix)]

The lead and echoing cymbals at the beginning kinda killed it for me. It gave me the vibe of a bad trap beat. As it progressed, I had reason to like the drums, when you brought in more than the kick. I had reason to like the ambience you created in the middle, with all those windchime-like sounds.

I'd have appreciated a bass line early on, something to ground the piece with. It does otherwise sound like something that someone can rap over, all throughout the piece.

[For Them (NGRMC Remix)]

I like to think that long intros can make or break a piece. I've listened to a lot of Mike Oldfield to the point that I think a long intro with sufficient buildup could be powerful. That being said, as much as I liked what you did in your intro, it felt weaker and more underdeveloped compared to the power of the rest of your piece. A crash course in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells might serve as a good start, and I mean it.

When the rest of the instrumental kicks in at 3:00~, it's powerful. I love your drums. Cymbals feel too short in reverb / decay, so they sound fake. A solid bassline to ground the piece together would be much appreciated here as well. But I love everything you've done here otherwise -- the dissonance is on point, the piano is on point, and I could seriously see it as trailer music.

Those last few notes on the piano came abruptly, I didn't even realise that the piece hadn't ended by that point.

[save state (ngrmc remix) (vocaloid:MEGPOID)]

Parts of the instrumental remind me of Ar tonelico 3, specifically Tilia's version of EXEC_HYMME_BATTLESPHERE/. The instrumentation is similar, and gives that JRPG sort of feel to me. The mixing is on point, and I love the sliced up vocals a lot.

My one complaint, for which I'm docking one star, is that the tune of the vocals tends to go all over the place. Only "I can see the future" is memorable to me, along with the intro and the way you used the competition's melody. But ask me to sing this song from memory, I wouldn't be able to.

MrSmash64 responds:

thank you for this review! the vocals make sense to me, but maybe that's because i've made instrumentals my whole musical life and that's just where my head goes, vocalists might have different mindsets though, idk. vocals are very new to me and i'd love to get better with them in the future!

btw i LOVE your work

[Aura (NGRMC 2018)]

I have to concur with mrcompston -- powerful fill but very weak snare, pales in comparison to the very powerful kick used here.

1:08 does bring in some downtime and a nice change of chords, which is quite uplifting when it hits the 1:20. Not sure I'm a fan of what's happening at 1:45, just before the riser -- sudden change in feel that felt like emotional whiplash to an otherwise very powerful dance beat.

Ending feels a bit abrupt as well, like pssht! all gone.

That being said though: outside of that, I think it's mixed very well, perhaps even better than a lot of your last work. The kick had the air in my chest vibrating, which I find to be one of the best feelings I could have when listening to a piece of music like this. Onward and upward from here!

ClockbeatAdelony87 responds:

Thanks! :D

[NGRMC 2018 - King Krab]

The mix is nice, but the melody has faded a bit too much into the background past the intro I guess. It's short, but very decently varied so it kept my interest going all throughout, well done!

The sampled speech and voices certainly do provide for some interesting listening -- where'd you get them from?

I think I'd probably have a bit of a cleaner guitar at the solo at the end for something as groovy as this -- but it's a matter of taste, this one. It just feels too... hard-rock, angry to me I guess, coming from seeing a Telecaster being played aggressively and it having the same kind of sound.

[Burning Synthesizer (NGRMC Remix)]

Nice intro -- though I feel as though I'd have appreciated more warning to when all the other instruments kicked in. This piece certainly has quite the 80s vibe.

It's quite decently varied, if not around the same dynamic range nearly all throughout the piece -- I'd have appreciate a bit of loud-soft there. I like the driving feel that this piece has; it kinda feels like A-ha in some places. Ending feels a bit abrupt for my taste.

[Think Fast (NGRMC Remix)]

Right off the bat, I needed to turn the volume down for this -- it's loud. And peaking in places. One look at the waveform and a layperson, my fiancé, was able to tell this -- but I can certainly corroborate from listening.

The song itself is quite speedy, befitting the title. I'd imagine this as some high-speed chase battle taking place along a tunnel where you can go around the inner circumference, or on rails. I love the musical ideas you've got here. Parts of it bring back to mind a DNB theme from Kingdom Hearts II, of all games -- Cloudchasers -- but this one has more of a sense of urgency. Keep up the good work, and all the best!

Hippokopter responds:

Are you saying something can be... TOO loud? What does that mean? xD

Yeah, not only is it peaking in places, that's usually what I'm aiming for! I like to make my stuff as loud as it can be without becoming a disfigured and completely distorted mess, but I can certainly see why it would be too loud. :)

Also, I've never played Kingdom Hearts, I wonder what Cloudchasers sounds like...

*listens to Cloudchasers*

Huh, it does have a similar feel! ♫ The More You Know ♫

[[Xepho] NGRMC 2018 Submission [Edit]]

The drums seem standard-issue but everything else seems really nice and danceable; the bass in particular is quite nice. I'd noticed that you reharmonised the melody for your chords; it seems quite fitting.

My main complaint is that 1:00 and 1:13 have a huge dynamics difference. When the bass kicks in again it suddenly feels too loud to me. I like the sense of buildup that you have at 1:33. It's a short track, I suppose, and it's decently varied for what it is -- though I'd loved to have seen a few more peaks and valleys, highs and lows. All the best!

[Contested (Remix)]

To begin with, you can do a lot with just four bars.

I'm kinda not sure what to recommend except perhaps, to understand chords and how they work -- it feels quite jarring, purely on a musical standpoint, like everything feels all over the place. I guess with my lack of better phrases... I just imagine it'd do you a world of good, especially for future pieces.

[NiTi - I.N.F.1.N.I.T.Y (NGRMC Remix)]

That intro felt nice, especially for the short background that you provided, about a virus hack. I love the sounds you used here at 1:04 and thereabouts. The wubs in the middle felt a bit too long and drawn-out for my taste.

I think there were some missed opportunities -- you did use some good FX but I kinda felt more could be done with those sections. Frantic typing, error messages, pop-up screen noises... I'm not sure that this is a particularly *bad* virus as well, which kinda makes it lose its bite a little; parts of it felt relaxing, a bit too relaxing perhaps.

TodukenMusic responds:

Thanks for your opinion. And yes, I should have added that type of FX