extra life - 1 (extra_life_-_1.mod)

Overall Impression (10/10)

I have a folder on my computer, lovingly called "weird shit". This little piece found its place in that folder. It's an amazing creation that was a real discovery. A 4-channel mod, based on a mix of one-shot and sampled bits, but which must have been meticulously planned and expertly executed.

Technique, Arrangement, Composition (10/10)

The skill here is more in the way the samples are sequenced and less in the used effects. Those are mostly volume slides. An offset command is used on sample 4 to better align it with the beat, which was a technique new to me. Basically, he found the places he required and then put them on the lines. This way he utilized a sample that has a rhythm to it but which would otherwise be offbeat. Very clever!

Development (10/10)

The interesting feature of this mod is perhaps pretty characteristic of all mods of that era: if you wanted it to sound like something other than a chiptune or a very minimalistic piece, you would either employ crazy techniques, mixing in hihats, base snare and individual lead notes in a single channel. But in many cases you would just use samples.

In this case it's the latter, and one should not underestimate the skill of putting together the right mix of samples and then using them in ways that make sense.

Browsing through the samples, you get the feeling that a lot of planning went into this. And muffler squeezes 200% out of what he has.

Creativity (8/10)

The tune can be said to be comprised of three themes. All blend very nicely, making me think that this tune had been planned in advance, probably using hardware.

The only complaint is that I would have loved for this tune to be longer. Much longer!

Enjoyment (10/10)

Absolutely. This is wonderful! I wonder what the origin of the samples is and whether it was actually written on hardware first and sequenced in a tracker, but regardless of the samples origin, this stands on its own as an interesting electronic music piece with a lot of variability.