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Title: ..world of infinity Filename: se-woi.xm |
Posted Sun 26th May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| A nice ambient song with plenty of substance. Sculptor says in the instruments that it was "...made in a rush, so it ain't one of my best songs..." and "...this really ain't my style..." If that's true, his other songs must be amazing, because this one is pretty cool. It has a nice feel throughout, and is good to just sit back and listen to. I would have toned down some of the stuff near the end, since it makes it seem less ambient and more like a trance song. Overall, though, it's pretty nice. Technically, Sculptor has put together the song very well. Good samples and loops, and not too many or too few. The ending flows back into the beginning well, something I always like in a song. Basically nothing much to improve on on the technical side. | |
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Title: ShutDown Filename: shutdown.xm |
Posted Sun 26th May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| Shutdown is a fairly simple techno tune. The first minute is basically just the beat, and starts out with the bass, brings in a clap beat, and a couple hihats. Then comes the techno "melody." The song doesn't really go very far music wise. It basically just stays where it is, and adds in instruments as it sees fit. It does it quite well, and it doesn't seem to need to go any farther. However, as iCER writes in the instruments display, "If u don't like techno u wont like this mod." The technical side is done very well, and the samples are good quality. The song is fairly simple, and this partly comes from the fact that there are only 12 samples. Also, 4 of them are techno loops used in the main "melody." In this instance, and most instances really, a lot more work would have to go into the mod if iCER didn't use the loops, and he uses them well. | |
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Title: Flying Filename: trch-fly.it |
Posted Sun 19th May 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| I love songs by Tourach, and this is no execption. It is something different then what he usually makes, but it is still wonderful. It starts off with a dreamy string sort of sound, and then a synth comes in. It just goes way up from there. The melodies are great too, and constantly change to make it interesting. In the middle it has another section with out drums that acts as a wonderful scenery change. Great song. Well worth the download. This author is obviously very comfortable in a tracker program. He uses effects nicely ( volume slides, portamentos, etc ). One thing i like about his music is the percussion lines he makes. Its still wonderful here. Not the most complex he's ever done, but still complements the song in a great way. Its quite long clocking in at a 5:31. | |
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Title: Gathering From Ashes Filename: gatherfa.xm |
Posted Fri 17th May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| This is a song that draws you in, and impresses you with its quality; It is very good. BTW, I hate slow rock, but this song is an exception... :) ON ITS CASE======== Opening: Average. But It's hard to tell when the intro ends and the body begins. Bass: Average. The "bassiest" samples in the song the chorus pad and bass synth. I wish the bass synth would be louder, deeper, and last through more of the song. Rythm: Average. Because the song is a slow song, this is very noticeable. I would say that the samples sound good, but the pattern is generic, except in a few places. The bells add a nice variation, but should be used more sparingly. Refrain: Average. It is quite repetitive, and in fact alot more than I would have liked. More improvisation during the body of the song would help, especially for the flutes. (The electric solo rocks, though :) IN ITS DEFENSE======== Closing. Great. I like the electric solo. It stays true to the rythm, and simultaneously adds a nice improvisation to the melody. Melody: Very Good. Has a sad, yet comfortable "easy listening" feel. I'm not sure what genre this song fits into. I think slow rock or instrumental. The main theme is very dramatic in some parts, which works well in this song. The only improvements I could imagine would be to use more traditional woodwinds, because the ethnic one breaks the feel of this particular song. Harmony: Above Average. The song harmonizes well, but it's not very noticeable to the listener. More harmony could be done by using several strings to form chords (instead of a single, droning chorus sound.) Also, the chorus pad gets annoying after hearing it loop through half the song. The acoustic guitars harmonizes extremely well, but could use even more randomization to give a more "live" and "human" feel. TECHNICAL======== General: Average. The author used just the basic effects to make this song work, but nothing spectacular to make it stand out. It has plenty of set tone portamentos, but no portamento shifts. Pitch (portamento) shifts would add a "string slide" effect to the guitar and could possibly make it sound more realistic. Also, "string scrape" sounds and hums/static could add realism to the elctric guitar. Sample Usage: Good. The particular selection of intruments match very well, and are used correctly. The song gets it emotional feel from the way the samples come together, and they have a good ambience. OVERALL======== Great. This song is very powerful, dark, and yet "victorious." It would make a good "resolution song" for a video game, and could be played on the credits screen, or during an ending event. | |
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Title: 021 Filename: 0-021.xm |
Posted Wed 15th May 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| Well, I don't know much of this artist. His name is Devin Haddox and you should not make love when listening his songs.=) More of these advices can be found from his artistpage. Check it out or you may get a melanoma. But really, this guy has a rare style to compose. Most of his songs are under 100k's and sound more like a chiptunes but aren't quite that... When I started to listen this track, I was hilarious. Ever played Pirates with amiga? Well, if you have this will remind you of it again.=) A cheerful piece of music that is played with only 3 different cembalo instruments. Sounds weird? Well, in a way it is just that, but it is also quite refreshing... This song is pretty short with duration of 1.47 and it reaches its end fast. With 5 channels this guy has created a nice and happy little tune with neat melodies and textures. Sometimes when you get sick'n tired of electronic music, this kind of stuff is a great to listen. The idea of this song is great and it is created pretty well too. But what is tough here is giving the right scores to this song. When this kind of music was actually played (few hundred years ago) it propably wasn't that much complexed,but after you have listened piano songs with 20 channels and so on, this seems pretty "light". So, considering the facts that some propably cannot understand this song at all I must say that the rating of this song is something from the scale 4-8... Still, I sorta liked it.=) Nice track Devin. Well, not that much to say... 5 channels, 3 instruments, no effects.=) instruments were quite good and the song stayed in tune pretty well. Good mood and athmosphere was displayed in this piece. Nice tune that might stay in your head for a while, but that is sometimes also a good thing right? =) Worth trying.=) Size is only 52k.=) | |
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Title: Hymn of the Dragons Filename: ssdragon.xm |
Posted Thu 9th May 2002
Rated 10 / 10 |
| When I think of this song, one word comes to mind: "Power." I think that's what the artist intended when he wrote it. It's a very powerful song, and shouldn't a song about dragons be? There seem to be about three parts to the song. The first part lasts from the beginning to about 2:20, where it quiets down a bit, then plays a softer part, the action steadily rising until 4:00, where the third part seems to begin. The last two minutes is very triumphant sounding, and gives a very nice ending to the song. The sound of the song would all be for naught if it wasn't put together well, wouldn't it? That's not the case here. Not only does it sound good, but there are no apparent problems in the tracking and the samples are good quality. I really like this song, and the technical aspects only add to it all. | |
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Title: sendintheclowns Filename: sndclwns.mod |
Posted Thu 9th May 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| I don't know what clowns have to do with this song, because it certainly doesn't remind me of clowns very much. It's a slow song, and might be connected better with jesters or minstrels. It sounds like it could be played at a midievel festival or something like that, hence my song classification. It's done very well musically, and though the title doesn't describe it in my opinion, I'm sure someone could find a connection to clowns somewhere. I sure hope the artist could. This is an oldie, a .mod, with 4 tracks and only 5 samples. They're good quality, and used well throughout. It's short, only 1:47. You get the sense of closure at the end, but the ending still flows back into the beginning. I personally like that in a song. It's not repetitive, and there are no loops, which I always like. It's just a good song all around. | |
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Title: Shifting landscape Filename: shiftin.xm |
Posted Wed 8th May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| I love the sound of a piano, and this module has plenty of that. It starts out with a solo piano for a couple seconds with soft violins (I think) in the background. The hihat comes in after that, staying there for pretty much the rest of the song, but adding some body to the song that wouldn't be there otherwise. One problem I have is each time the second piano chorus comes in, it comes in on a different time than the first, so it sounds wrong for a couple seconds. The ending is a bit strange as well. At the very end, one of the samples is solo, rising in pitch for one second, but seems not to fit with any of rest of the song. Very nice technically. There are only five instruments in this module, though there are six different piano samples. It seems like there are more than that, however! The samples are very good quality also, no problems there. Technically, it's very well put together, and even though I would like to say add more samples, I hesitate because Kluris worked so well with the few he had. | |
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Title: Pump it up 'til it resist Filename: dgt_putir.it |
Posted Mon 6th May 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| This artist Digitbox is an Italian fellow and is a member of a Soundhall Crew. This track was made in some party within 1 hour. Might be yeah, the song is quite simple, but it has a nice touch of those old technosongs from the 80's. Quality ain't the best kind in this song, but the mood is nice.=) After choosing the "play" option from my player, an acidsweep swept to my ears. Some other synths join to this intro and so does hihats. Then the mainmelody begins its solorole. It is made with a sample that I had on my amiga say in '92 or something, but it sounds lovely.=) Bassdrum backs up this pattern soon and the song is getting to build up. Some bass and synths are added here alsoand the action is ok, but then comes a small break. The second part of this song uses some clubsamples for a while and I was scared for a while that "now this song starts to sound like any other dancetrack...", but nooo, soon a very usual, but lovely technosynth fills the channel and the action begins again, with the same style than in the beginning. A few moments more and the outro starts its looooong way to the end. Same pattern is played pretty long time here with only some fine volumeadjusting and slowly the song fades out... This track doesn't impress me with the quality or extremely skilled tracking, but the mood and athmosphere in this song made me hilarious.=) It was very refreshing to hear something like this. It is quite usual that an old mod might sound a bit like this, but now when the song has much more channels... Well, it sounds good to me.=) Nice one DigitBox.=) Well, the technical side in this song is ok. Nothing major appeared in this song like huge amount of effects, but that is understandable since this song was made in an hour. Panning was used well and so was tempo in one pattern, where the song slowed down nicely. Both 8 and 16-bit samples were used here. I liked the samples used since I got some nice vibes of nostalgia.=) Pretty good song overall.. | |
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Title: Bass Explosion Filename: bass_explosion.it |
Posted Sun 5th May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| Dj Scorpion... A new tracker for me, but this hard trance track got me convinced that maybe I should check some more of his stuff.=) This is quite aggressive piece of music, but that is one thing that I love in electronic music. On the other hand, this song is maybe a bit too monotonic... Nice one anyway.=) A synthsweep in the beginning playing for a while on its own, the synths fade in and bass gets to the background. Bassdrum hits once in a while till it starts to pump steadily. It is followed by a lovely industrial-snare and hihats. Then the synths fade out, and suddenly a highpitched synth breaks the air. It takes control of this song, and for a second the song has some hardcore influences. Some notechanges in this songs travel to end is used, but when that highpitched synth appeared the rest of the song actually repeats itself. I know that this kind of stuff does almost always, but it would be nice to hear some more variation to these tracks. A good idea is usually used too much and that thing has happened here too... Still, I liked this trancetune. I got couple of compilations of hard trance and this could very well appear on those. No mistakes anywhere, but a bit too repetitive. I'll check other tunes too and see how this Dj Scorpion has created his other tracks.=) Nice job Scorpion... I liked the instruments that were chosen to this piece. Especially the leadsample that was distorted and twisted. Pretty common sample in this style of trance but rarely I've heaed it used in mods. It was refreshing. Samplequality was mostly 16-bit so the soundworld is pretty clean. Use of effects wasn't anything that special.. In the beginning there was some midi macros and then there was some panning and vibration... Tracking was simple, but it worked ok... I'll recommend this to the people that are into some heavier style of trance... | |
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Title: late nights Filename: latenite.mod |
Posted Sun 5th May 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| Back in the year 1994 Mr.Man belonged to the group called Andromeda and in those days he composed this lovely piece of music. It is a ballad, but the chorus manages to sound like it would be from an adventuremovies climax.=) The beginning of this track is marvelous. It starts with strings and piano leaving some room to the flute and pecussions in the background. This part of the song is the best thing of this track in my opinion. Then the song raises into first chorus. It is quite massive (in a way that 4-channel mod can be) and the leading instruments are trumpets and orchestral drums. Then after a small chill, the chorus returns. The outro is also awesome... Piano and strings rule here and it just sounds so great. Too bad that this is the end of the song. I would've loved to hear some more of this. If this track would consist only from intro and outro, I would like it.=) But it works with the chorus too.=) Overall this track was really good and with the lenght of 3 minutes it never starts to sound boring. If I remember correctly, this one also belongs to Ghidorah's favorites, so why wait? Check this one out.=) Nice technics here. Effects are used well and there are pretty much of them. As an old module there have been used 8-bit samples, but still the sound is quite clear. Melodies and textures are great, despite the fact that the chorus part left me a feeling that something was missing... Well, I guess it because you just cannot do everything you want with 4 channels. No bigger flaws. There is one point where arpeggio sounds weird, but it might be that it has come when the module was converted from amiga to pc, but that is minor thing compared to the positive things in this song...=) | |
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Title: lifestyle.rules.1 Filename: lifestyl.mod |
Posted Sun 5th May 2002
Rated 6 / 10 |
| Another ok oldskool mod was found from the L-directory. This track is a fast paced tune that represents the style of synthpop. It is a bit different track among the 4 -channel modules. Well, don't expect now anything weird-creepy-experimental song here. What I meant that it is... well.. err.. Can't tell. Listen to yourself and decide.=) The song starts right away without an intro. Drums, strings and bass with brass are the main instruments used in this song through the whole package. Good selection I might say. Melodies and bassline are really nice and the use of strings was also something refreshing to hear. There were also some "odd" things in this piece like the sudden appearing and disappearing of the strings, but it works ok. Some parts the bass has a "solo" role and so has the drums. Anything major, but it adds a nice spices to this song. As a short song (1.59) this track doesn't loose its interest. If you listen this song with for example xm-play, you can listen to it pretty long time without knowing that it never ends actually. It loops to the first pattern, but it does it well enough so you can't tell it without deep listening. Nice snack for those who enjoy old modules. Since this is propably a really old module, there is no bigger technical tricks here. No use of effects. The only "action" that happens here are the volumechanges. Artist did quite nice job with this song. No bigger flaws, but also no bigger positive things. A decent track for rainy afternoons.=) | |
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Title: land of feeling Filename: land_of_feeling.mod |
Posted Sun 5th May 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| Ok boys and girls, this is my first review. Its a little hard for me. When I heard the song for the first time, it didnt catch my interest. Then soon it was something different. The song is pleasant with minor disruptions in the middles just when the mood shifts around a little bit, but eventualy it comes back to the same edge! The only drawback I found is the legnth of the song. Its just over 10 mins. Otherwise it is done well! At some stage it sounds like a Jarre song. Keep it up! 8 bit samples! They are good enough, considering this is a .mod file, so one doesnt need best of samples anyway! The song could be refurbished I think, there are some delibrate repeatitions. Samples werent tuned! A more proper bass line could be used! These are the little additions and details that could be worked upon, though it seems there has been some significant amount of work in this song! Weldone. | |
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Title: letters technodub Filename: letters.mod |
Posted Sat 4th May 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| Ahh... These old technomods are always so enjoyable to listen. Those aren't always so good but pretty often you can find that "something" from 'em if you just got courage to listen the whole song without sceptic thoughts.=) This track begins with very usual technosynth, but it sounded good. Then drums and another synth come along and the song starts to roll on. The drumloop that is used here is very good, but tempo is a bit wrong for it so it doesn't fit perfectly. With a small changes and nice patterns this track keeps on going. It has enough variation to keep it interesting and the textures are actually quite good. Strings are good and the "chorus" is decent ,yet not anything earthshaking. The artist has used many different samples during the song and I liked that. It is so usual that same sample keeps controlling the song, but this track doesn't belong to that category. Some late 80's more "underground" technotracks sounded like this a bit. You didn't heard this kind of music from disco after Dr. Alban which is a pitty. With a good feeling and lenght of 6.19 this track is a good choice to download.=) An old module with 4 channels and 8-bit samples. I liked the samples chosen to this piece and also the use of them. Some effects were used, but those didn't created anything special to mention about. Loop in the strings sounded bad in some points and the drumloop didn't fitted to the tempo, but if you are not so critical about these things when we are talking about mods then those flaws won't disturbe you.=) | |
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Title: LAGACY - Electricity Filename: lag_electric.xm |
Posted Sat 4th May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| This the first time that I've found a good real clubtrack from TMA. Artist Lagacy has composed a really good track with a actual feeling and sound of a clubmusic. Pretty impressing. This song should propably considered as a full version although it is a remix.=) In the way that this song lasts for almost 10 minutes. Radio edit would be nice to hear since now this track repeats itself pretty much... Anyway... The song starts off with lovely synthchords, but this intro part continues for a minute with no variation. But then something happens - bassdrum appears and soon after that more percussions and bass come along. Bassline is simple,but nice. Somewhere around 2.30 the song sounds really good. It is mellow and groovy, yet it still repeats itself too much. Now we get to the chillpart. First we hear some strings and then some sort of nylon guitar comes along. It sounds refreshing , but again, it seems to take hours to hear something new. Same patterns are played with only some small piano adds . Slowly the chill is changing into groove again and after the vocals say "Let the bass kick" , there can be heard an excellent drumline. I love it. It just sounds so damn good.=)From this point till the end this song just keeps on playing with same action that it had in the beginning. Generally this song is really good. It gets a bit boring , but if this would be shorter, It would propably lose something too. Anyway, I feel like that if the track would be shorter, lets say 5 minutes and it would contain everything this song has, I would give a 9 or more. Lovely clubmix.=) Good work. Quite a simple song after all. Since there is no actual melody, this might sound a bit monotonic and dull. Effects were on places and samples were really good - both 8 and 16-bit quality. And I loved the percussions. This sounds pro enough for me that I could play this on radio. I mean I've heard much more worse songs coming out of from the radioprograms that play something like this. Worth listening... | |
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Title: .mwg - |.iquid |.ife Filename: mwg-lil.xm |
Posted Fri 3rd May 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| Mista Waisgai has uploaded a pretty nice tune to TMA. This mellow tune is somehow sad, relaxed and stable from its athmosphere. It doesn't offer any great things, but it feels pretty good in your soul, if one can say like that.=) And the song goes somehow like this... It starts with nice synthtexture and bassline what is followed a very nice drumtrack and highpitched leadsample that plays through the song and is the main instrument here. But it creates a good catchy melody that left playing into my head, and the beat in this song is something that makes my feet pump the floor although it is not fast, but it is steady and clear. But this song doesn't have much of variation and to those that don't like the melody of this tune, it might sound boring. There is a small chillpart, but basically this song repeats the same thing over and over. It didn't bothered me so much since I really liked the synths in the background, melody was nice and drums together with bass felt good. Overall this track was good and I recommend it but with a word of advice, it might sound dull for somepeople, but hell, try it anyway. =) Nice job Waisgai... Err, this is always a hard part to describe the song. Most of the effects that were used were on the melodytracks and it contained slides mostly. But all the effects that can be found from this track were used well. I liked the samples in this tune. Those sounded a bit different and he soundworld was refreshing. Textures were really nice. A good sense of rhythm was displayed in this piece. Nothing special to complain except maybe the thing that the song repeated the maintheme pretty much. Good song still.=) | |
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Title: MY TELESCOPE Filename: timewyrm13.it |
Posted Fri 3rd May 2002
Rated 6 / 10 |
| This seems like two completly different songs in one, and its hard to say if they fit together or not. When the singing part in the middle to end of the song finishes, the drums come on rather fast and suddenly. I think the percussion should have been half the speed that it is. It would have made it much more enjoyable i think. Also, a bass line would have been nice. there is no real bottom-end to the mix at all, which is a shame. The artist uses Filter (Zxx Midi Macro) effects on the vocals, and seems like the artist knows how to use a tracker quite well. It seems just a bit rushed, because the music just cuts off at the end. No fade out, or real ending. 4:42mins | |
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Title: spectral intruder Filename: intrude.mod |
Posted Thu 2nd May 2002
Rated 6 / 10 |
| Not too much action in this song, a bit of an ambient type. It's slow, and some parts of it sound a little jerky, perhaps because of the samples. It's an good song, but some improvements here and there may help. It's a bit short, only 2:02, but it loops well, the ending flowing right back into the beginning, but after 2 or 3 loops, it gets kind of old. This is an old .mod, from '91. Only 4 tracks here, and 7 samples, but all samples used good enough. The ratchet sample doesn't seem to belong, and it only appears in two parts of the song. Perhaps a drum or something may have been better, or just take that out altogether. It's put together nicely, but polishing is needed in a few spots, principally in the area of samples. | |
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Title: Sunday mornin Groove Filename: sw-smg.xm |
Posted Thu 2nd May 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| Dj Sean is propably pretty new composer. I've listened couple of his songs (from 4 so far) and I must say that there is some great potential in this guy after he just tracks more and everything just starts to roll on well...=) Artist categorized this song as a "hard house". Well, it is something from the line of club & house, but for me it doesn't sound so hard.=) But still, it is pretty good. The beginning of this song ain't so good. A lame club-organ pattern and drums in the background. Then the song changes a bit : Organs disappear and some synths take place. Now the track starts to sound ok. It really sounds like a real housetrack - it is monotonic,but yet quite effective. Then again the organs come along, but not for long.=) The same nice monotonic feeling begins to build up again. It is nice that someone has managed to create something this nice, without anykind of real melody. The song leans mostly on soundworld and hypnotic athmosphere. And it actually works pretty well.=) So the song continues to its end which happens in 6.30 so this song is pretty long too. I cannot recommend this song for people who think that decent melody is the main thing in the song. This track is a bit repetitive, monotonic and simple from its musical and technical structure. But this track represents the kind of songs that in some points just makes you add some more volume, and that is a good thing.=) Pretty nice job Dj Sean.=) The technical side in this song is very simple. Effects that are used , are mostly pannings, but at least the samples are 16-bit quality. Despite the fact that there really is no bigger effects used here, the artist shows that he has some good ideas. Use of samples was good and I also liked the samples chosen to this piece. Sometimes the percussionchanges may sound a bit rude (snare changes into another that is quite different than the other), but in the end that doesn't matter. The only "bad" thing that I can say about from this piece is that the "houseorganparts" made the song sound sometimes a bit tame and the feeling of "hardhouse" is broken. | |
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Title: The Blue Valley (KK) Filename: blue_val.s3m |
Posted Thu 2nd May 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| Well, this is without doubt one of the longest mods I've ever listened to, 12 minutes in total and its really in a class of its own, like most of karstens mods. Listening to it brings about a very ambient feeling reminiscent of some of his other work, like Astaris and Chronologie. Its also worthwhile to note that several of karsten's mods were used as the theme in a great shareware game called Uplink, info on that at http://www.introversion.co.uk/ that should be an indication of his skill. Great use of the constant backround to create atmosphere, and then the integration of that with the other instruments is sublime, especially the strong beat with which the mod starts. Its obvious a lot of time has been spent perfecting this one, and it really shows. | |
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Title: A falling star Filename: synth_c_afs.xm |
Posted Wed 1st May 2002
Rated 10 / 10 |
| This is the winner of the synthpop compo and of course it has an exelent tune and theme, i like the mellow parts in it ,it´s so nice... you can really feel the feeling of victory.! The tech rating on this song get the top ... it has plento of vabbling and other professional stuff that i think is requierd for this rating.! | |
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Title: The Scene! Filename: thescene.it |
Posted Wed 1st May 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| This mod is supposed to be "about" the trackers (Quoted from comments: This tune is about us, the trackers!) Well, i don't know what that is supposed to mean. (Us, trackers, don't just make trance and techno, like alot of people think) No offence to the author of the song or anything, it's just, why dedicate it when its got nothing to do with the scene? Anyway, that aside, this is a pretty good mod. Its melodys have got a kind of Anime theme music feel to them. Thats not bad, and its kind of an addictive song. I think it could have had a bit more variation in it, but still, i think its a pretty darn good mod. It's staying in my collection. The one thing that really bites are the 8-bit samples. The author could not help it, because of download size restrictions, but the annoying thing is that there is no e-mail address left, so no one can e-mail the guy for the 16-bit version. Also, there are no effects (except volume) that i can see. The main lead part is just a tad too loud, because when its playing, it drowns out the rest of the song, and i think if it was just a little bit quieter, it would be better for it. 3:01 mins | |
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Title: Trancemanic Filename: trancema.xm |
Posted Tue 30th Apr 2002
Rated 4 / 10 |
| Oh boy. This one is not too impressive. The song is too repetitive. Some trance can be really good, because it keeps on changing and never repeats itself too often, but this is definatly not one of those cases. Through the whole 5:39 mins of this song, its got mainly the same drum patterns, and the bass line and synths are nothing ground-breaking. There are no effects used execpt for some basic volume pannings. The samples are your basic techno sounds. Nothing new here. At the end of this song, it takes just one 64 row pattern to fade out, so it ends rather sharpish. It really does not do the XM format justice. | |
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Title: toy story Filename: toytitle.mod |
Posted Tue 30th Apr 2002
Rated 6 / 10 |
| Well now , this song is pritty nice . I like the happy tune in it but not the sazzy guitar in the "fast part" of the song , it doesnt blend with all the other samples. the slow part is the nicest in this song it not to fast, not to slow it´s rather ... well i dont know but it´s good anyways.! Well here it wasn´t that much sketchy, only a few volume tunings and some pattern changes , not much to brag about .! | |
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Title: Trancestar Filename: klar.s3m |
Posted Mon 29th Apr 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| I have no idea that who this Dj V really is,but at least he can make some good dancetrance.=) This track represents the style that could well be played in local nightclub, after a couple of fix, but it works ok like this too.=) The beginning of the song ain't that appealing. Bassdrum and synthbass open this track with the help of other percussions. Slowly the song starts to sound ok as more samples come along. Then , after a small chill, the melody of this song reveals its face a bit. It sounds very basic, but it also improves a bit all the time and then the song raises into its peak.. At this point the track sounds really good. It is happy and sounds quite massive too.Then the actual melody fades out and the song is left playing with everything else, but hell - it sounds now almost better. This song is rare in the way that after the peak it sounds best. I loved the strings here and the bells that played in the background sounded really nice. I would also like to mention tomtoms that were used, since I liked those too. And then the song just slides into the end without any bigger changes or surprises... After a bit boring beginning, this song managed to save itself with raising into heaven. I can't help it, but the end just sounds so damn good to me. Those "chills" that I always miss, were damn close when listening to this piece.=) Very nice song overall.=) The technical side wasn't so impressive. Not in the way that something would be badly wrong, but there just wasn't anything special to mention about. Use of effects was minor, but the samples were good despite the 8-bit quality.=) Perfect selection for this kind of song. I especially liked the strings and bells in the end. Well, I guess that's it then.=) Very nice song with very nice athmosphere in the end. Yesh.=) | |
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Title: DMM Themetune Filename: dm_theme.s3m |
Posted Mon 29th Apr 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| Artist Darkmoon is from Essex, England and seems to be a quite good tracker. Well, what this track shows is that he surely has nice musical ideas,but the song ain' complexed at all. This sounds a bit like an Amiga mod as a multichannel-version. And it sounds... well, good actually.=) This song starts with good and rare strings and it is supported by clear bellsample-melody. After the intro the song gets in some synths and drums and it sounds now like some sort of game music. Nice synthpop with a small taste of adventure in it. Around 1.30 the song changes a bit and this point is the greatest in my opinion.=) The bassdrum is heavy here and the strings together with bells create a lovely athmosphere. To me it sounds like a mix of "Exorcist-theme" and Johnny Violent's hardcoreproject "Ultraviolence". Then the song returns to the softer style again and the song ends in 2.53. When I first listened this song, I wasn't impressed in anyway, but now I love it. For me it gives something that makes me want to track. I get an urge to create something that would have such an aggression that this song performs in some places. Very good job in my opinion.=) This song proves once again that technical side ain't that important if the song works anyway. There is no use of effects or any 16-bit samples, no vocals and actually all the samples sound pretty lame if you listen them through. But when you use those like Darkmoon has used, the result can be very nice to listen. This song ain't complexed as I wrote earlier, but there is enough variation and textures are really nice. Nice arrangement was displayed in this piece. Worth trying.=) | |
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Title: Devlyn - 8bit Wreckage Filename: dev8bit.it |
Posted Mon 22nd Apr 2002
Rated 5 / 10 |
| Devlyn is a new tracker from Netherlands. New in the way that he is quite a new artist in TMA , but he has also just started tracking. That can be heard from his songs, but at least in this one there are some nice things too...=) This track gets right into action without intro. Soft drums in background, hard electric guitar and some instruments that give some medieval influences. The same instruments are used through song and despite the fact that the song somehow sounds like it is repeating itself, it still manages to feel interesting. The quality of this song is actually pretty hard to describe. The song sounds very amateurish, but it also has some very nice textures and patterns. Without the electric guitar this would actually sound like a gamemusic. I get visions from an old amiga game called "Phantasie III". So I think this song is some sort of medieval - adventuremusic? Well, whatever this music is, it definetely is something confusing. Now that I've listened this song pretty many times, it starts to open. First it just sounded like some weird experiment, but now... It sounds quite ok. Creepy.=) The samples varied from hard guitar into cello, which wasn't so good idea. Everything else worked ok, but the guitar broke the harmony. Drums were quite soft but had nice amount of variation though. Repetition was cutted out nicely with changing the instruments together in some points. The use of effects was pretty minor, but I was quite impressed that the artist used pretty much channels and only the electric guitar got the song out of tune sometimes. Chords were nice and overall the musical side was so different that I think it was positive.=) If you get this song and you don't like it - I don't wonder. But if you get it, and find it to sound nice - I don't wonder that either. But you can always give it a try.=) Nice job Devlyn. Keep tracking.=) | |
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Title: Machine 10 Filename: dg_mac10.it |
Posted Tue 16th Apr 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| Damian is propably from Austria if I got the hint from his artistpage right?=) And this piece shows that he is a quite good composer. Maybe not so skilled with effects but his music is nice and fresh. This trance-like tune reminds me of Robert Miles a bit,although piano ain't "the thing". This track begins with good strings and "digdug"-bass that was used pretty much in old amiga-mods. After while the song is filled with synthsweeps and trancy drumtrack. So far the the instruments that keeps this song good are different strings, but towards the end the tune also uses small amounts of piano and some synths. And just when the song starts to sound very good - it ends.=/ After listening this track few times, I think that it is good. It is very simple, but once again music and the athmosphere are the things that makes the song enjoyable. The mood is pretty sad , but I also got some visions from the naturedocuments where thousands of butterflies are gathered dnacing into the air, so I guess this song is also somehow beautiful.=) Pretty simple structure, but in the end there are more complexed patterns. Use of effects was minor, but samples were mostly 16 bit so the song sounds good. I liked the samples chosen to this piece and the use of strings was good in my opinion. Nothing special in them actually, but those sounded so lovely to me.=) This song is a good opening from Damian. I'm propably gonna check some of his other tunes too.=) | |
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Title: Around the World-Cynecho Filename: cyn-atc.it |
Posted Mon 15th Apr 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| This Cynecho is an interesting artist. I've heard a few of his songs and despite the fact that the styles vary from happy hardcore to funkish music, it has been good. The artist also has some business with Laquered Mouse and they have composed songs together too.This song is a remix of the song called "around the world" and the original composer was ATC. The song starts nicely like the original version does. The familiar melody gives a feeling that something good might be coming and so it does. Steady dance beat pumps on and on with enough of variation and tracking is very good. In this song you can actually recognize the original song pretty easily. Using "bell /( xylophone"-like leadsample was a nice idea. Now this song has something a bit different from the other this kind of songs. Towards the end the song raises into very good peak and ends there. This was a really good song. Maybe I expected a bit more "rougher" version since this is a remix, but who cares? =)Points suffer from the fact that the music itself ain't Cynecho's own, but you should still get this if you're a fan of ATC or dance. Cynecho is a skilled composer. He uses effects nicely, panning is good and so on. I also like the samples he's using. Maybe because those are just a bit different from the mainstream. This song was tracked really well, and the result is good. Everything was in harmony and the ending was effective. Quite simple tune actually like many tunes from this genre (although over 20 channels were used). This guy is worth checking. Guaranteed.=) | |
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Title: Masterplan Filename: df_plan.xm |
Posted Tue 9th Apr 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| D Fast is a Finnish tracker, an youngster he says, but believe me, he's damn good.=) In this this song he was following the footsteps of Elwood and oh yes, he did it well. The style of Elwood can be heard,but this tune has better samples in my opinion. But for those who haven't heard Elwood lets tell something how this song works... The intro is based on strings and one synthsample mainly and at this point the song is just an enigma to the listener. But then the song starts. First chords and strings from the intro begin this song and it jumps into lovely beat of dance / demostyle. Synthlead plays its melodies while the background changes all the time a bit - sample-effects and fades give nice amount of variation to this song and towards the end the song just keeps on getting better. The "chorus" and melodies still play in my mind and the nect time you'll listen to this song, you just have to add some more volume and enjoy this song. Good intro, fadeout, lenght (4.42) and the song generally putted together creates this kind of song. I think this is better than many of Elwood's songs. And the artist really managed to do what he intended. Lovely job.=)So everyone - Get this. This D Fast rocks.=) It was surprising that this song sounds very good with 8-bit samples. In a technical way I mean.=) Musically this tune was great and I cannot complain about anything from technics either. I liked the bassline, it was simple, but good, the sample-effects were nice and textures everywhere were just lovely. I suggest that you'll just get this song and check some other works of this guy too.=) | |
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Title: s u n r i s e Filename: ch_sun.xm |
Posted Mon 8th Apr 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| Copperhand here is a Canadian tracker. He plays various instruments in real life and seems to me that he also tracks pretty well as this piece shows. It is a nice synthpoptrack with skillful use of effects and samples, but the song itself ain't that good. Pretty cool anyway.=) This tune begins with small synths, bass and hihats. As this nice intro fades out, some nice rhythms and synth backgrounds appear. Now the song actually starts to sound pretty good. It rolls on with a small drumloop and vibrating synths, but the best part so far comes when the distorted synthguitar plays its parts. That sample is only used as to give some strenght and "action",but it works well and I just liked it very much.=)Then the first part of this song ends and the second begins... The beginning of the second part is pretty lame compared to the first part. It sounds good, but it just is pretty dull to me. Towards the end the song gets better again when the piano plays for a while till the end. The real "action" is missed here too, but it is quite nice ending to this piece. Overall this song was good. It was well tracked and the musics were nice, sometimes even very nice, but I felt that something was missing. Too bad, but at least this song is quite long with the lenght of 5.36. After listening this song , I'm quite sure that this artist really plays some instruments. There was pretty much variation in every instrument that was used and it was refreshing. Most of the samples were quality of 8-bit, but the song sounds pretty good anyway. Samples that were chosen were also pretty nice and the use of effects, especially the panning, was great. This song was well putted together although it has couple separated parts, but it holds together and doesn't feel like you would be listening 2 different songs. Very nice opening from this guy. Worth checking.=) Good job. | |
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Title: No Affect. Filename: s-j5.xm |
Posted Tue 2nd Apr 2002
Rated 5 / 10 |
| This tune consists of nothing else than rushing percussion and a few synth samples which are used in an alarm-like sound. The outcome is actually alright, although crudeness and very familiar samples make it sound like an experiementation than a proper tune. Technically the piece is not impressive, very few effects are used and the overall effect of pleasantly disjointed rhythms is easily achieved randomly. Dynamics are brutal, which of course may serve a purpose, but the piece could be more effective if volume commands/column was utilized. The tune is also completely monophonic, though rather that than nauseating stereo effects which would have had rather disgusting results. However, there is structure, there are build-ups, repeats and variations. The piece is actually quite listeneable. The snare sample played in different pitches somewhat succeeds contributing melodical content. In my opinion, though, the same 'artistic effect' could have been more enjoyably achieved in less time, so the tune appears longish. Some variation should have been cut out in favor of the whole. Samples are quite standard, same breaks have been well worn in hundreds of tracks before. The sound of breaking glass (or something), used in a few patterns in the beginning and the end, giving a nice wrap-up feel, is a refreshing exception. The synths are used for an unlikely sound and achieve it surprisingly good, although there's a feeling they're not completely fit for the job. There's a little melody at one part of the song which stands out in a bad way - it does not fit since the rest of the song is devoid of real melody and the melody itself is executed poorly - the sample itself fades in, so when it's played on the same channel, the former note cuts out bit badly. Glissando or sample offsets could be used in such situations, as well as placing the new note on a second channel and fading out the old one. Overall, I was a bit surprised to find I liked this kind of tune, on the other hand, I would have loved to like it more. The track is a success for making an interesing piece out of nearly only percussion - however, such a piece could be better. | |
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Title: peaceunl.xm Filename: peaceunl.xm |
Posted Tue 2nd Apr 2002
Rated 8 / 10 |
| I have no idea yet that who this Cooth really is. His artistpage offers very limited information about him (check), but so what. All we really need to know is that he can make music and this track proves that to be true.=)This is very soft pop music, almost relaxing, but it also has some feeling of a ballad. Nice synthpianos and acoustic guitars in the beginning combined with smooth drums and soft,but clean strings. Combination that I like for some reason. From the very beginning this song has somehow happy feeling. Although it is soft,but it gives the mood like you would look your love to the eyes then smile climbs on your face. Pretty similar feeling and this song actually would be a nice background music to that situation.=) Well, anyways... I really was surprised from the use of xylophones. Those sounded very nice and real and it was refreshing since I rarely hear anyone using those. Also some flutes were used,but mostly the soundworld is built on synthpiano and guitars on the background. This song has very nice athmosphere and because of the xylophones it also offered something a bit different. I liked this piece. I really liked.=) There was used both 8- and 16-bit samples, but mostly 16-bit so the song sounds quite pure in everyway. Volumes are on balance, samples were chosen well in my opinion and the small amount of effects that was used, was also used well.The song was pretty simple from its structure, but it works out fine. Sometimes you just found the right notes and chords, so the song turns ou good, and that has happened here. Nothing in the technical side was extraordinary, but I guess I also cannot complain about anything. Very nice soft tune to feel that 'peace unlimited'.=) | |
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Title: gnaule Filename: lagnaule.mod |
Posted Tue 2nd Apr 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| DOH comes from France and at least belonged to the Dreamdealers.This is the second module from him that I've heard and I must say that so far I've really liked this guys work. This track represents some jazz and funk influenced music. Sounds pretty nice but is quite short. This song starts with nice bassline. It is followed by drums and strings. Drums were very nice although the rhythm sounds now a bit funny. Strings are basic soft amiga-kinda strings but fit to this piece well. Then the song sets on the air the best thing in this piece : Leadsamples. Those are pretty highpitched and may annoy some people. But if you can deal with that, you'll first hear some nice small melodies with them, and soon starts an awesome solopart with that lead, but this time it has some distortion. It sounds veeeery nice and the more I listen to this track, the more I like it. Despite the fact that the background is pretty similar through the song except for the chillpart where flute plays nicely, the song doesn't repeat itself. The leadsample takes care of that part. It is used very professionally and in wide scale. An excellent snack for modulelovers and why not to everyone else too? =) My opinion : Worth listening. This song is from the year '95 so every sample is 8-bit quality. If there wouldn't be that nice bassline and those lovely leads, this would be a quite simple song overall. Now the use of sample offsets and noteslides in the leads is great. It was also nice that this song doesn't last so long. 2.46 is perfect lenght to this piece. It lefts you a feeling that you want to hear some more of this and then you just have to listen it all over again. This guy fights in the same with Moby, so maybe that tells something.=) | |
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Title: kuutamotanssi Filename: kuutamot.xm |
Posted Sat 30th Mar 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| This Cirdan guy is a Finnish composer. I've listened now couple of his songs and think that he is a good artist and he uses.. well, different kind of samples. Which is good since now those sound pretty fresh and kinda "old".=) But let's check what we have here... Song starts like an old discotune but there are trumpets that eliminate that feeling for a while. But only for a while.The beginning also contains nice "hits" that gives a "massive" effect.=) Now the song sounds like any other poptune with synths, strings and drums and soon the trumpets come along again. So far I have been bothered the soft bassdrum. It really is so soft that it is hard to notice. I would like that a bit stronger. Till the end the song flows nicely without any bigger melodies except for those trumpets that have created some sort of chorus. Even I liked the trumpets, those could have been used better. The quality on 'em weren't so good and were now played with pretty low volume. I also liked the idea of those "hits", but maybe they were now too heavy? Not much, but just a bit.=) Anyway, I like this guys style. He has a nice way to create the song and the samples he is using are nice. I was left with a positive feeling of this song although it is not spectacular in any way. Nice tune Cirdan.=) Tracking in this song was pretty good. Many channels were used, but the song stayed clear and good. Every sample except for one was an 8-bit quality, and it gave a nice "oldies / oldskool" effect to this. Effects were used a lot and the artist did knew the meaning of 'em. Panning was good although it didn't create any marvelous echos or something, but the soundscape was now maybe a bit wider than it would otherwise be. Nothing special to complain here either.=) | |
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Title: Watcha ! Filename: watcha.s3m |
Posted Fri 29th Mar 2002
Rated 6 / 10 |
| This Camperman is propably a French. I'm not quite sure but that is how we thought it might be. I'm not also so sure about the style of this song. It is mostly some sort of rock, but it also has some jazz influences. It sounds pretty nice,but there are some things that should be changed. The intro is...well... different.=) It sounds like a fanfare in the old c64 game like Decathlon or something and it ends into nice trumpetsound. Then the song begins and simple bassline starts to play with hihats and other percussions. I really liked the fingersnap-sample in this place. Then electricguitars appear and so far the song sounds pretty good. But then guitars and bass get out of tune. If you think that this is progressive rock it may not sound so bad , but towards the end it propably will. That is the biggest problem in this song. That out-of-tune-thing I mean. Otherwise the song would sound pretty good. I liked the drums in this song. Those were used with lots of variation and pretty bravely which was nice. The whole song would sound very good into my ear with a bit different samples and if everything would be in tune. The idea on this song is good,but it wasn't tracked so well as it could have been done... I don't know, I'm starting to like this song the more I listen to it.=) Percussions were nice,but the bassdrum was maybe a bit too soft. Electricguitars weren't so great, but I liked the bass. Leadguitar could've been used more effectively. Tracking was good,effects were used and everything seems pretty nice. Some minor mistakes like that the sample is left playing for a moment as the pattern ends and new begins, but those aren't so serious. But when notes are out of tune, it really can be disturbing. If that is meaning to create some sort of psychotic feeling it can be used, but at least into my ear it wasn't so good idea here.=) But no worries mate, good song with some fixing to do.=) | |
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Title: At Nighfall Filename: anightfall.xm |
Posted Fri 29th Mar 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| This Caradryan is from The Netherlands and in his artistpage he mentions to be a fan of german techno, so it was pretty surprising to listen to this piece since I suspected to hear some Scooter-like techno.=) Well, it ain't bad song now either. In the beginning there are some of the nicest stringsamples used that I've heard, a soft femalesound mixed into normal strings. Actually the intro is totally based on strings but that ain't a bad thing since it sounds really nice. Then the song starts and straight away it reveals the main theme of this song and the background that is playing through the song. It contains of strings, bass and drums mainly , but there are some synthsamples involved and time to time synthpiano or something else is appearing.Usually in this kind of songs there is some sort of chillpart included ,but this one has a part where it "raves" a bit. And then the song again rolls on like in the beginning and then it ends in 3.56. This song really has no melody or part that will keep on playing in your mind, since it has no leadsamples or real melodies at all. Some samples form some sort of part of melody sometimes, but mostly this song is just something that lives its life in the background. It sounds fresh because of the samples used, but has also ethereal and ambience soundscapes. Sounds quite nice.=) Worth getting... Nothing major here. There weren't any great use of effects and samples had nice quality. Song was also pretty simple from its structure but it was built and connected well. I liked the samples that were chosen to this piece ; especially the strings and some synths that played on the background pretty often. Can't really complain about anything since nothing sounded so bad into my ear, but on the other hand nothing was that good either that it should be mentioned. Good tune anyway.=) | |
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Title: good_hk1.xm Filename: good_hk1.xm |
Posted Tue 26th Mar 2002
Rated 7 / 10 |
| Bluewing has no artistpage in MA, which is too bad in a way since this song proves that he can make some goodsounding music without being so professional. Or at least thats how this song makes me think.=) I don't know if this song can be think as a ballad since it is so melancholic and propably has nothing to do with sweet love, but it is slow and beautiful. It starts with nice synthpianopattern in the background and some birds singing for a moment. Strings fill the air and drums give some strenght to otherwise so fragile mood. So another synthpiano comes along and it is the leadsample in this point,but after a moment it is replaced with highpitched leadstring. Then those unite for a second before some slowdown. In this calm part piano starts to sound like that the whole song would get some more speed but that does not happen ; the song continues for a moment like it played in the beginning and then it fades away... The song was very simple from its structure, but this is again one of those songs where the tone of song means more than actual tracking. I liked the sad feeling in this song and musically this song was very nice. Good song Bluewing.=) Most of the samples used were 8-bit quality, but I liked the samples that were chosen to this piece. There was panning in some samples, but the effects weren't used that much - slides mostly. There was also some very nice use of effectsamples like rain, thunder, bird singing and laughter. Those sounded very nice since those weren't playing all the time. And as I said, the athmosphere was lovely created. It is too bad that the songs that somehow touch the listener are so often inspired by something negative. I'm not sure if that was happened in this song,but it seems and sounds like it... | |
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Title: gitanjali CA^SC Filename: ca-gitan.it |
Posted Tue 26th Mar 2002
Rated 9 / 10 |
| Oh Jesus Christ... I just founded my new favourite artist.=) The composer of this psychedelic trancetrack ,Cadra, is from The Netherlands and has managed to compose the best tracked piece of goa style that I've heard. Since I am a great fan of this kind of music, it was VERY nice to hear something like this.=) In this kind of music it is not unusual that the song starts with synths.=) So this is normal piece then? Noooo... Synths sound lovely because of the fact that those sound like the synths that belongs to goa. Soon the bass starts to pump and other drums get involved too, more synths come along with arabic influences and the song rolls on for a while. Then it takes a breath for a while and introduces a "piano-kind" sample which propably is the one that has something to do with pianoconcerto that from where the artist got inspiration to this piece.=) Sounds lovely... As the song travels it changes continuosly a bit and also gets more complexed, still managing to sound pure and fresh. It really gives the need to stand up and dance or at least adjusting the volume higher.=) The song is long (8.24), but I could listen to this few hours in a row. It has enough variation to keep it enjoyable to listen, but it also contains the same theme through the whole piece. Lovely build-ups, excellent patterns, marvelous samples, very good sense of rhythm and even very "goaish" song name appeared in this piece. I would love to give this a 10, but no chills, no 10.=) Lovely job Cadra.=) There was some midicontrol-effects used in this piece, but still the tracking and use of effects was very professional. Offsets, noteslides, some flanger, panning, surround sound and so many other things were used in this track. I really enjoyed the "real" sound of goa, since it has been quite hard to find any mods of this kind. Everything just fitted on its place here like s*it in to toilet. There wasn't even used that much of samples that it might sound, but I loved every sample.=) This is a MUST download for everyone. This got into my top 3 list.=) *sigh* | |
Title: the soul
Filename: soul_.xm
Rated 4 / 10