.Start.of.Music.Contest.IV.Veteran.Comments....................................
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 Music Contest IV Veteran Comments - 01 Sep 1996

 Music Contest was a competition hosted by Hornet        Veteran Entries : 96
 Our archive is located at ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos

==[Contents]===================================================================

           Files
           Articles
             Introduction................................Snowman and GD
           Comments
             m4v-abba (Abba Gabba).......................Diggity Dank+Jase
             m4v-acry (A Cry of Sense)...................Mikpos
             m4v-afro (Afro Redemption)..................D.J.Skyjump
             m4v-algo (Algorhythm).......................theHacker
             m4v-allt (All the Way)......................Lemm
             m4v-amor (Un Amore Impossible)..............Mix
             m4v-amus (Electronic Humangods).............TheFear
             m4v-arbo (Arborea)..........................Zaigamor
             m4v-ashe (Ashes)............................Nova
             m4v-autu (Leaves of Autumn).................Zastar
             m4v-bblu (Blue).............................Screamager
             m4v-blit (Blitz)............................Nemesis
             m4v-brai (Sex on the Brain).................McScooter
             m4v-brea (Breath of Time)...................Chris Jarvis
             m4v-brit (Brittlestitch)....................Smeg
             m4v-broa (Broadband Shuffle)................DD
             m4v-burn (Burning Symbols)..................Vivid
             m4v-calm (Jazzy Calmness)...................Mateus
             m4v-cape (Capel Celyn)......................Galahad
             m4v-cloc (The Clockwork Melon)..............QPorcupine
             m4v-cogn (Cognizance).......................Parity
             m4v-conv (Convergence)......................Daedalus
             m4v-degr (100 Degrees)......................Roby Bar
             m4v-disf (D. Tendencies)....................Yannis
             m4v-diso (Out of Disorder)..................Komah
             m4v-divi (Divided n' Conquered).............Alca
             m4v-drea (The Dream World)..................Qyv
             m4v-ejec (Ejector)..........................Zodiak
             m4v-emot (Emotional Discharge)..............GoD
             m4v-equi (Equinox)..........................Scolnick
             m4v-fall (Friends And Lovers)...............Asyntote
             m4v-fasc (TangerineFascination).............Necros
             m4v-fequ (Final Equinox)....................Floss
             m4v-fien (Fiendish Friend)..................Emzet
             m4v-fina (Finality).........................Aztechie
             m4v-food (Soul Food)........................Glitch
             m4v-forg (Forgotten Smile)..................Syrinx
             m4v-furt (Fur Trimmed Seats)................Schizoid
             m4v-gaja (Impression of Gaja)...............Sigmatic
             m4v-grat (In Gratitude).....................Lloyd Yoon
             m4v-hist (History of Present)...............LaveoM
             m4v-hold (Hold On Tight)....................Xuthl
             m4v-josh (Joshua's Mind)....................Aquafresh
             m4v-ladd (Ladder of Hope)...................Populus
             m4v-larn (Larndow (Starfield))..............Dangtrin
             m4v-libe (Liberation).......................Tek
             m4v-liqu (Liquifaction).....................Domine
             m4v-lita (Litany Against Fear)..............Sturm
             m4v-mank (Mankind Roots)....................SoundMaster
             m4v-mcfx (LKSLMCFX).........................*
             m4v-mids (Midsummer's Day)..................Leviathan
             m4v-mill (A Million to One).................Gamera
             m4v-mmrr (Mystic Ruins).....................4go10
             m4v-mods (The Spirit of Mods)...............Blurry
             m4v-morn (Morning Sunrise)..................Nexus
             m4v-mosq (Killer Mosquito)..................Bonzai Plant
             m4v-naut (Nautical).........................IV
             m4v-near (Nearly There).....................Porus
             m4v-nsex (Brain Sex)........................MickRIp
             m4v-ocea (Oceanic Dream)....................Stalker
             m4v-oitg (Out in the Garden)................Nabo
             m4v-over (Over the Seas)....................Rage
             m4v-ozon (Ozone)............................Tangerine
             m4v-peac (Peaceful Love)....................Monacos
             m4v-phas (Funk Phasia)......................Spyder
             m4v-pock (Pocketwatch)......................Sikamikanico
             m4v-pool (Pools of Poison)..................WAVE
             m4v-prop (Prophetic Vision).................Blanka
             m4v-puls (Pulsar)...........................Phaze
             m4v-raid (The Final Raid)...................Blackwolf
             m4v-real (10 Dimension Reality).............Xenoc
             m4v-reas (Reason)...........................Cruel Creator
             m4v-reli (Relish)...........................Elemental
             m4v-rest (Restful)..........................Ma Reuter
             m4v-scal (Scalar World).....................Vector/3NO
             m4v-scat (Scattered Mind)...................Andy Chen
             m4v-secr (Secret Spectra)...................Mild
             m4v-silv (Silverwear).......................EV
             m4v-sing (Crossing).........................Dilvish
             m4v-soar (Soar).............................Human
             m4v-span (Timespan).........................Primal
             m4v-spir (Spirit)...........................GooRoo
             m4v-surr (Surrender)........................Hunz
             m4v-syst (System Seven).....................Jedi
             m4v-thel (The Last Dancer)..................Catspaw+Dude
             m4v-tien (Tienimi Vicino)...................Dustbin
             m4v-tran (Transmission).....................Scott
             m4v-trek (Earthwide Trek)...................Zinc
             m4v-trut (Truth Always Hurts)...............Dinugz
             m4v-turp (Turpentine Kisses)................Caramel
             m4v-unce (Uncertain Dreams).................BassQ
             m4v-univ (Universe Electric)................Siren
             m4v-unkn (The Unknown Land).................Welti
             m4v-vani (Vanishing Point)..................Mesonyx
             m4v-vvow (Vow)..............................Centurion
             m4v-whya (Why All This Pain)................Black Lotion
             m4v-zeus (Zeus & Genevieve).................Zapper

==[Files]======================================================================

 All files listed can be found at:

   ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/hornet/mc/mc4/veteran

 Filename.Ext  Size     Author             Title
 ------------  -------  -----------------  -----------------------
 m4v-abba.zip  489,241  Diggity Dank+Jase  Abba Gabba
 m4v-acry.zip  245,964  Mikpos             A Cry of Sense
 m4v-afro.zip  342,605  D.J.Skyjump        Afro Redemption
 m4v-algo.zip  165,572  theHacker          Algorhythm
 m4v-allt.zip  204,194  Lemm               All the Way
 m4v-amor.zip  342,379  Mix                Un Amore Impossible
 m4v-amus.zip  473,994  TheFear            Electronic Humangods
 m4v-arbo.zip  156,390  Zaigamor           Arborea
 m4v-ashe.zip  166,377  Nova               Ashes
 m4v-autu.zip   60,023  Zastar             Leaves of Autumn
 m4v-bblu.zip  335,830  Screamager         Blue
 m4v-blit.zip  283,513  Nemesis            Blitz
 m4v-brai.zip  160,986  McScooter          Sex on the Brain
 m4v-brea.zip  313,992  Chris Jarvis       Breath of Time
 m4v-brit.zip  365,246  Smeg               Brittlestitch
 m4v-broa.zip  360,084  DD                 Broadband Shuffle
 m4v-burn.zip  398,174  Vivid              Burning Symbols
 m4v-calm.zip  569,344  Mateus             Jazzy Calmness
 m4v-cape.zip  324,474  Galahad            Capel Celyn
 m4v-cloc.zip  463,374  QPorcupine         The Clockwork Melon
 m4v-cogn.zip  158,169  Parity             Cognizance
 m4v-conv.zip  346,162  Daedalus           Convergence
 m4v-degr.zip  234,652  Roby Bar           100 Degrees
 m4v-disf.zip   89,162  Yannis             D. Tendencies
 m4v-diso.zip  270,378  Komah              Out of Disorder
 m4v-divi.zip  437,516  Alca               Divided n' Conquered
 m4v-drea.zip  103,657  Qyv                The Dream World
 m4v-ejec.zip  508,201  Zodiak             Ejector
 m4v-emot.zip  565,946  GoD                Emotional Discharge
 m4v-equi.zip  273,868  Scolnick           Equinox
 m4v-fall.zip  285,243  Asyntote           Friends And Lovers
 m4v-fasc.zip  454,106  Necros             TangerineFascination
 m4v-fequ.zip  582,147  Floss              Final Equinox
 m4v-fien.zip  572,349  Emzet              Fiendish Friend
 m4v-fina.zip  317,662  Aztechie           Finality
 m4v-food.zip  546,755  Glitch             Soul Food
 m4v-forg.zip  172,454  Syrinx             Forgotten Smile
 m4v-furt.zip  538,335  Schizoid           Fur Trimmed Seats
 m4v-gaja.zip  189,747  Sigmatic           Impression of Gaja
 m4v-grat.zip  740,270  Lloyd Yoon         In Gratitude
 m4v-hist.zip  248,902  LaveoM             History of Present
 m4v-hold.zip  530,350  Xuthl              Hold On Tight
 m4v-josh.zip  422,126  Aquafresh          Joshua's Mind
 m4v-ladd.zip  157,260  Populus            Ladder of Hope
 m4v-larn.zip  283,334  Dangtrin           Larndow (Starfield)
 m4v-libe.zip  520,239  Tek                Liberation
 m4v-liqu.zip  246,948  Domine             Liquifaction
 m4v-lita.zip  288,577  Sturm              Litany Against Fear
 m4v-mank.zip  533,429  SoundMaster        Mankind Roots
 m4v-mcfx.zip  328,922  *                  LKSLMCFX
 m4v-mids.zip  166,206  Leviathan          Midsummer's Day
 m4v-mill.zip  161,812  Gamera             A Million to One
 m4v-mmrr.zip  333,232  4go10              Mystic Ruins
 m4v-mods.zip  231,660  Blurry             The Spirit of Mods
 m4v-morn.zip  524,259  Nexus              Morning Sunrise
 m4v-mosq.zip  678,600  Bonzai Plant       Killer Mosquito
 m4v-naut.zip  167,936  IV                 Nautical
 m4v-near.zip  414,523  Porus              Nearly There
 m4v-ocea.zip  392,932  Stalker            Oceanic Dream
 m4v-oitg.zip  212,437  Nabo               Out in the Garden
 m4v-over.zip  262,243  Rage               Over the Seas
 m4v-ozon.zip  494,605  Tangerine          Ozone
 m4v-peac.zip  295,291  Monacos            Peaceful Love
 m4v-phas.zip  284,787  Spyder             Funk Phasia
 m4v-pock.zip  301,428  Sikamikanico       Pocketwatch
 m4v-pool.zip  483,851  WAVE               Pools of Poison
 m4v-prop.zip  418,552  Blanka             Prophetic Vision
 m4v-puls.zip  190,419  Phaze              Pulsar
 m4v-raid.zip  125,074  Blackwolf          The Final Raid
 m4v-real.zip  111,014  Xenoc              10 Dimension Reality
 m4v-reas.zip  515,731  Cruel Creator      Reason
 m4v-reli.zip  686,026  Elemental          Relish
 m4v-rest.zip  523,572  Ma Reuter          Restful
 m4v-scal.zip  211,851  Vector/3NO         Scalar World
 m4v-scat.zip  266,364  Andy Chen          Scattered Mind
 m4v-secr.zip  304,635  Mild               Secret Spectra
 m4v-silv.zip  133,588  EV                 Silverwear
 m4v-sing.zip  333,681  Dilvish            Crossing
 m4v-soar.zip  297,743  Human              Soar
 m4v-span.zip  394,652  Primal             Timespan
 m4v-spir.zip  209,710  GooRoo             Spirit
 m4v-surr.zip  350,583  Hunz               Surrender
 m4v-syst.zip  198,156  Jedi               System Seven
 m4v-thel.zip  300,491  Catspaw+Dude       The Last Dancer
 m4v-tien.zip  606,196  Dustbin            Tienimi Vicino
 m4v-tran.zip  185,998  Scott              Transmission
 m4v-trek.zip  313,502  Zinc               Earthwide Trek
 m4v-trut.zip  441,773  Dinugz             Truth Always Hurts
 m4v-turp.zip  213,619  Caramel            Turpentine Kisses
 m4v-unce.zip  518,592  BassQ              Uncertain Dreams
 m4v-univ.zip  834,247  Siren              Universe Electric
 m4v-unkn.zip  684,801  Welti              The Unknown Land
 m4v-vani.zip  251,761  Mesonyx            Vanishing Point
 m4v-vvow.zip  657,918  Centurion          Vow
 m4v-whya.zip  640,896  Black Lotion       Why All This Pain
 m4v-zeus.zip  301,278  Zapper             Zeus & Genevieve

==[Articles]===================================================================

=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=

 :: "Introduction"
 :: Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@cdrom.com
 :: GD / Hornet - gd@ftp.cdrom.com

 Believe it or not, comment processing was the most time consuming part of
 putting the final results together.  We started with a 300k raw ASCII text
 file containing a jumbled bunch of disorganized, misspelled, and poorly
 written comments.  14 hours hours were needed to organized, reformat, spell
 check, grammar check, and remove defamatory material.  Enjoy!  :)

==[Comments]===================================================================

 _____m4v-abba (Abba Gabba) by Diggity Dank+Jase

   ..........

 Good, but repetitive.  Samples are ok.  First transition seems rushed.

   ..........

 Bass is out of tune, and use of same bass riff whole way through was boring.
 Nice percussion though.

   ..........

 This piece just seemed like random notes and beats.  Make it come together
 more.  At times it seemed highly repetitive.  You did use great channel and
 volume slides, though.

   ..........

 Better than average.  Nice sound, yet a bit repetitive.

   ..........

 The beginning was muddled.  Channel 17 prior to order 15 was rather annoying.

   ..........

 The piano chords did not fit very well with the ambient sounds in the
 background.  Decent percussion line.  The bass was not in tune with the rest
 of the song.  It was way too long of a song without any variation.

   ..........

 Dissonant chords, bad intro/beginning, fairly good samples, strong drums.

 _____m4v-acry (A Cry of Sense) by Mikpos

   ..........

 Weak beat with a melody that seems weak.

   ..........

 Very cliche opening riff, and the samples were a bit noisy.  Panning was
 nice but maybe a bit overdone.

   ..........

 I loved the intro and how the piece builds.  At patterns 6+, some of the
 chords seemed way out of tune.  There was far too much panning.  Great
 samples!

   ..........

 This song desperately needs better timing and more orchestration.

   ..........

 Channel 9 (the lead) should not pan back and forth.  It gets quite annoying
 after a while.  Your loops are very noticeable.  The song probably should be
 2 speeds faster in most cases.  As it is I lose interest rather quickly.

   ..........

 The chords are a little too eratic.  Try to be more structured when using
 guitar samples.  The wide vibrato of the lead instrument makes it sound like
 it's seasick.  When using vibrato, don't wave the sample so quickly.  Give it
 a little delay, then start using vibrato, but make the range from high to low
 far smaller.  The hihat sample is played way too low for it's sample rate.
 Quick panning of the lead instrument is annoying.  Some of the samples could
 have been higher quality.

   ..........

 Bad samples, dissonant chords, and poor composition.  Very simplistic and
 little originality.

 _____m4v-afro (Afro Redemption) by D.J.Skyjump

   ..........

 Unusual beat loop.  Repetitive.  Song doesn't seem to move anywhere.

   ..........

 Nice intro.  The song is nice to listen to, but it does become repetitive
 near the end.  Instead of trying to make it longer and just causing monotony,
 just end the song.  :)  That flute is not really in proportion to the song
 around the second bridge, but the piano part brings the song back.

   ..........

 The building of the intro was intense!  The monotone bell in the mid-thirty
 patterns is too overpowering.  The piece gets a little too repetitive and is
 far too long.

   ..........

 This song doesn't really hang well together.  The voice samples don't fit,
 the timing is distorted, and it sounds pretty repetitive.

   ..........

 The voice sample was used too much.  Overall average.

   ..........

 Fade the beginning chords to make the sound much cleaner.  Change the tempo
 Refreshingly different concept.  Some of the samples were noticably out of
 tune.  Way too long for a compo song.  After the vocal sample fades out
 halfway through the song, the middle part needs a little more fullness to
 the sound.  Try some quiet chords in the background, or something to cover
 the unused frequencies.

   ..........

 No sync with the voice sample and too overused.  Too long.

 _____m4v-algo (Algorhythm) by theHacker

   ..........

 Good rhythm, but that's all this song is.  A melody would've really helped.

   ..........

 Very slow to start, perhaps a faster intro (timewise) would have been more
 effective.  Very nice use of samples and lead riff is very catchy.  Monotony
 is what makes this song fall short.  Instead of changing the melody, you just
 add another melody on top, and the repeating first one gets tedious.

   ..........

 This takes way too long to develop into anything. The plus is that when it
 finally does, the percussion is well done and so are the backing themes.
 Unfortunately, no lead takes charge which left this great set-up hanging.

   ..........

 Loved the sinewaves! Overall, an excellent tune.  Not anything that isn't
 interpretation that can be said bad about it.  It's solid all the way
 through.

   ..........

 Beginning is a little too quiet in the higher samples, but the bass is very
 overpowering.  Try to even the balance.  It took far too long to get there,
 but the lead into the main body of the song was very nice.  Good transitions,
 even though the song is a little too redundant.

   ...........

 Fairly good composition, interesting mood (overhall) average samples, not an
 outstanding song, but good.

 _____m4v-allt (All the Way) by Lemm

   ..........

 Good tracking skill.  Seems to want to go somewhere.

   ..........

 Superb percussion.  Great bass line.  Nice lead.  I found myself just smiling
 listening to this upbeat tune.  There was only one small criticism I had with
 this piece: it was in mono.

   ..........

 Generally a good song.  Nice leads, although I would recommend more
 variation.  Personally I think that the song builds up too slow, making the
 listener want to skip a pattern or two.  A little more orchestration could
 add a lot, as well as more variety of chords and a bit smoother passages.
 Nice song.

   ..........

 This tune was tracked well, but the samples weren't of the greatest quality.
 The lead was vibratoed a little heavy and the porta was a little overused.
 Also, when you 5th the lead, it goes a little too high.  Transpose everything
 down a note or two.

   ..........

 Nice beginning, good mood song.  Maybe an extra sax sample would make the
 higher notes sound a little better rather than trying to play the low one out
 of its range.  Good expression.  A little too long though.  At the end of the
 song, in the second to last pattern, it ends with high notes, yet you end the
 song with all low notes.  It didn't seem like a good transition.

   ..........

 Good composition, the sax sample sounds weird at higher pitches.

 _____m4v-amor (Un Amore Impossible) by Mix

   ..........

 Nice song.  Meshes well.  Good piano melody.

   ..........

 Beautiful piano intro.  All of the samples were top-notch. The transitions
 were great.  This was a very well done piece.  My only complaint was it was
 too short.

   ..........

 I liked this song.  Nice melodies and orchestration, although the chord
 progression is familiar.  It could use a little difference towards the end,
 but overall a good song.

   ...........

 The leads stands out a little much.  Blend them in with the tune a little.
 Also, parts of the square wave were a little choppy.  Overall, I liked the
 idea and most problem spots were very minor.

   ..........

 Piano sample sounded a little too tinny.  Maybe an extra piano sample or two
 would make the higher notes sound cleaner.  When retriggering hihat samples,
 always make sure that the retriggering part is quieter than the initial
 volume.  Very interesing mix of several different styles of samples.  I'd bet
 that you're a Yanni fan.  Very unique time signature, and well used.

   ..........

 Good composition with an odd timing.  Good technique.

   ..........

 Great work on the pianos.

 The lead after the orchestral smash is out of place.  The second synth lead
 is a bit better and gives a nicer sound with the other instruments.  The
 themes are quite nice but not entangled enough with the chord progression
 that the strings and pianos build.

 Overall very nice.  I was very impessed with the piano work.  The structure
 was good, the themes were good, the orchestral break was refreshing and the
 unusual signature was really nice.

 _____m4v-amus (Electronic Humangods) by TheFear

   ...........

 Horn and electric bass samples are not good.  Good rhythm, however.  For the
 most part, this entry is enjoyable.

   ..........

 The drums are a little too overpowering but I liked the beat a lot.  The
 pulsating chords and early backing bass were great but the "lead bass" didn't
 quite fit.  The lead sample was a little too whiny.

   ..........

 The guitar sample isn't too fitting.  Nice bass work.  The only thing keeping
 this song down is that it gets repetitive.

   ..........

 I like the beat and the theme is good.

   ..........

 Percussion line is lacking something.  Piano sample is out of tune.  Study
 the use of a bass guitar before you use one in a song.  You'll find that
 there is a lot more to the instrument than just the slapping part.  The rezo
 sample you chose just does not fit.  Your piano part would sound much better
 if it was tuned!

   ..........

 Weird rhythm section, good samples with fairly good technique, the
 composition was okay.

 _____m4v-arbo (Arborea) by Zaigamor

   ..........

 Just when the song seems about to pick up, it ends.

   ..........

 The bells had a haunting charm to them which I really liked.  The strings and
 flute were great.  It felt like a full orchestra was playing for me.  This
 piece was too short.  You could and should have done so much more with it.
 This piece ends right when it should be getting started.

   ..........

 Short yet nice song.  Good orchestration.

   ..........

 I loved it!  It just needed another 2 minutes or so.

   ..........

 The piano sample is a little muffled.  Could be better quality.  Some samples
 were out of tune to each other.  A bit too abrupt in the change from no drums
 to drums for the overall sound.

   ..........

 Very good composing, interesting mood, good technique with good samples,
 maybe a bit short.

   ..........

 _____m4v-ashe (Ashes) by Nova

   ..........

 Nice mellow piece.

   ..........

 The intro sets a nice tone for the piece but that "thunder" sample is a bit
 annoying.  Some samples and the percussion are often too overpowering.

   ..........

 Variation could be added to both leads and orchstration, since the song
 sounds pretty repetitive.  It seems even more repetitive at this slow speed.
 Also, the drums should me more quiet.

   ..........

 The beginning is solid, but after that it's rather thin.

   ..........

 Bad use of a bass slap sample.  Not a bad mood in the overall song.  That
 thump+woosh sample is overused far too much.  Make sure when using the choral
 sample in chords to let the original chord fade out to almost nothing or it
 sounds cut off too early.  Use extra channels if you have to, that's what
 they're there for.

   ..........

 Bad snare sample, average technique and medium composing.

 _____m4v-autu (Leaves of Autumn) by Zastar

   ..........

 Shows good skill, but too short.  Samples are poor.

   ..........

 This piece should have ben about 3x as long!  You have many "mini-movements"
 within this which you never fully developed.  The piece only slowly fades
 away.  I wanted more excitement but it stopped at the edge of fulfillment.

   ..........

 Nice overall sound.  Yet, I think the song could have been made a little
 longer, and more varying.

   ..........

 Very muddled, especially the begining.  No real structure.

   ..........

 Samples are out of tune.

   ..........

 Good composing.  Good technique with an interesting mood.

 _____m4v-bblu (Blue) by Screamager

   ..........

 Good beat that goes well with the melody.  Too short.

   ..........

 Great bass and piano! The hihat was a little too overpowering, though.  Some
 sections seemed a little empty.  This piece has a good basis, it just needs
 more actually going on.

   ..........

 This one could use more variations and perhaps a more quiet hihat.  Not bad
 though.

   ..........

 Solidly tracked, but nothing spectacular.  The style is a little common
 though.

   ..........

 I like the melodies and drum beat.

   ..........

 Don't cut samples off  (i.e. strings).  Fade them, it sounds much cleaner.
 You have plenty of channels to work with.  Not a bad overall theme to the
 song, it could just use a little more fullness in some places.

   ..........

 Average samples, bad composition with average technique.

 _____m4v-blit (Blitz) by Nemesis

   ..........

 Drum loops are used well.  Good transitions, nice blend of instruments.

   ..........

 Exceptional percussion!  I really liked the lead but the backing airy chords
 seemed too depressing for me.  This piece couldn't decide whether it wanted
 to be "up" or "down".  The tempo change at order 24 was too abrupt.

   ..........

 Good leads.  The sample quality (and especially the drumloops) could be
 better though.

   ..........

 A much softer (tracked?) beat would have been nice, or at least some work
 with loop, such as splitting it in 4 pieces for more control.  Nice lead
 work.

   ..........

 Nice fading of the chords in beginning.  Pleasing to hear progression.  A few
 sour notes here and there but good overall.  "Chill out" music.  Interesting
 Ministry sample.

   ..........

 Good drum loops, fairly good technique, there's a couple of bad samples and
 weird chord progressions.

 _____m4v-brai (Sex on the Brain) by McScooter

   ..........

 This song is repetitive and boring.  The composer should try to make
 something that has a flow to it, not just a collection of weird "sex" and
 "lust" samples.

   ..........

 This song is a total cacophonia.  Terrible voice samples used, they are used
 in a terrible way, poor drumloop and not timed correctly.  No transitions.

   ..........

 Two words: Crack Kills.


 _____m4v-brea (Breath of Time) by Chris Jarvis

   ..........

 Good samples, and used well too.  The song was fairly typical though.  By the
 time you reached the end of the buildup, there were too many different things
 happening, and they didn't mesh too well.

   ..........

 A nice piece of music.  Only things I didn't like were: the piano sometimes
 sounds out of tune, and the spanish guitar lead sounds a little 'synthy' and
 doesn't quite fit with the otherwise excellent samples.

   ..........

 I don't think this song brings any originality to this style of music.

   ..........

 Very nice lead guitar.  Very focused if a bit on the cheese side for my
 tastes.

   ..........

 Starts out wonderfully and refreshingly nice.  The song was a little quiet
 overall though.  The bass drum was a little too loud throughout the song,
 and the snare drum sounded a little dead.  Nice song overall.

   ..........

 The quality of the instruments is excellent.  Good song overall.  The main
 loss occurs at the end with a feeling of "oh ... it's over already? I was
 waiting for something else there."

 _____m4v-brit (Brittlestitch) by Smeg

   ..........

 Overall good.  Rhythm works well.  Never stops being interesting.
 Captivating theme.  Nice samples.  My only complaint is that it didn't last
 long enough!

   ..........

 Good mood-creating intro, effective use of panning.  Use of dynamics helps
 transition to main body.  Clean samples, well-tuned.  Very nice piece.

   ..........

 Good choice of samples.  Great tune, but nothing particularly exceptional.

   ..........

 The intro on this one was pretty well done, and it was a smooth transition
 into the song.  I thought this song was just not quite as full as it could
 have been.  It was relatively short, and could really have used an additional
 segment that varied from the rest of the song.

   ..........

 Cool intro.

   ..........

 Starts with a strong build.  Reaches a very full sound.  However, it lacks
 dynamics and is fairly repetitive.

   ..........

 The song had very little variation and sounded quite cluttered.

   ..........

 Sounds like an alien film in the beginning.  It tends to add elements
 after a while.  The lead doesn't get boring but nothing seems to change very
 much in this song.

 Some samples don't stand out in the mix as they should.  Overall it's well
 done but not a lot happens.

 _____m4v-broa (Broadband Shuffle) by DD

   ..........

 Imaginitive.  Samples work well.  You handle the effects well.  The tremolo
 adds a good effect.  The looping could have been a bit better.  Ending done
 well.

   ..........

 Slick intro.  Excessive portas on lead instuments.  Too many lead
 instruments, which are sometimes harsh.  Good panning.  Strong bass line.
 Absence of dynamics harms overall quality.

   ..........

 Great beginning, and very unique!  Poor choice of samples.

   ..........

 Sounds pretty close to a "big band" style.

   ..........

 Good use of samples and volume levels.  Verse could be more articulate.

   ..........

 _____m4v-burn (Burning Symbols) by Vivid

   ..........

 I like the beginning theme.  Haunting.  Percussion is good.  You kept the
 beginning theme on for a couple tracks too long.

 That high, tinny electric guitar sample could have been better, but it
 doesn't detract too much from the song.  I like the bridges between the
 parts.  Never stays the same for too long, never gets boring.  No large
 complaints.  Overall a very good song.

   ..........

 Great mysterious intro.  Good chord progression and tempo.  Guitar chords
 good, guitar lead is very harsh.  Drums are interesting, but not too
 distracting.  Strange mix of instruments.  After intro, song becomes
 repetitve and boring.  Ending is too quick.

   ..........

 You had a great start, but you drown out the background towards the middle
 and lose the uniqueness.

   ..........

 This tune is refreshingly catchy.  I think this is a good example of a simple
 yet solid tune that didn't sound forced in the least.  One of the lead
 samples is a tad ear-piercing but the volume control is very good so it works
 okay.  Nothing ground-breaking here, but just a nice kinda catchy tune.

   ..........

 I like the key.  Good instruments.

   ..........

 Interesting "calliope" lead, creative.  Main body is static.  Lacks
 progression.

   ..........

 Interesing mix of different style samples.  The song just seemed incredibly
 repetitive for a while and didn't go anywhere.  Not too bad overall.

 _____m4v-calm (Jazzy Calmness) by Mateus

   ..........

 Pretty basic song.  Parts were uneven and did not fit together well.  Got
 boring fast.  You tried to get it a little too complicated at times.

   ..........

 String progression in intro is too abrupt; fades would have been nicer.
 Interesting choice of piano samples.  Lead organ sounds out of place and too
 loud.  Nice drum line and well-chosen tempo.  Song gets much better towards
 end; better samples and balance.  Nice transitions between sections.  Too
 much porta on lead guitar in last section.

   ..........

 Boring samples.  Loses the beat at times.

   ..........

 This song started out okay but starting from pattern 2 the author brought in
 some lead type strings which to be honest was terrible.  They sounded very
 un-professional and out of place.  The song went from segment to segment and
 never really established much.  There were some nice progressions here and
 there but nothing came off as very well done.

   ..........

 Lead sample around pattern 15 is played well below the sweet spot.
 Progression of song is good, but you need to explore beyond the basics.

 _____m4v-cape (Capel Celyn) by Galahad

   ..........

 What were those strange samples?  They didn't fit.  Arythmic.  Electric
 guitar doesn't fit either.  What effect are you trying to achieve?  The song
 started to get better in the middle, then went back to its former state of
 disharmonics.

   ..........

 Good creepy string intro, but a little too weird.  Transition from intro
 sounds harsh.  Too much clash between strings and choir samples.  After
 electric guitar comes in, song just goes downhill;  too busy, too much
 dissonance, lack of progression.  Change at order 16 isn't much better; crash
 is bad and overused; still too much dissonance.

   ..........

 Interesting beginning, but loses it quickly. I can't hear the tune in this
 song.

   ..........

 Tracked reasonably well, but not catchy at all.  The author shows tracking
 skill, but there isn't much else appealing about the song.

   ..........

 Transitions rather rough.  Good sample set.

   ..........

 There are just some things that should be expected from someone entering the
 veteran division, and none of those things were accomplished in this song.
 First of all, ripping samples from Mechanism Eight is not exactly a wise
 idea, considering the exclusive purpose they served.  Doubling the crash
 cymbal not only makes it far too loud, it sometimes distorts and flanges the
 sound, and that doesn't help when the sample is cut off to quickly in the
 first place.  There seemed to be no sense of coherancy.  What were you trying
 to accomplish?

 _____m4v-cloc (The Clockwork Melon) by QPorcupine

   ..........

 Nice classical-style song.  Only gets tedious once.  Samples are good.

   ..........

 Dramatic opening piano runs drown out an excellent melody.  Simplistic,
 slower middle section is a good contrast from opening.  Transition to ending
 recap too sudden and jarring.  Very nice piano samples.  The piece could have
 been a little longer.

   ..........

 The long samples were unnecessary.

   ..........

 Overall this song seemed better done and more enjoyable than the other piano
 tune I've judged.

   ..........

 Nice piano samples.  Excessive rolls are distracting but middle section is
 very good.

   ...........

 Good piano piece, of which there are not many of.  I cannot get over the
 feeling that parts of it are way too familiar.  Also, in the parts where you
 are covering a wide range of frequencies from low to high, your lower
 frequencies (the bass) are overpowering the rest of the music, making it
 difficult to hear.

 _____m4v-cogn (Cognizance) by Parity

   ..........

 A pretty good song.  Most of the effects worked fine, but the arpeggios
 didn't work too great.  You masked the drumloop well, but why did you bother?
 You seemed to be using effects just for the sake of using effects.  You
 over-used echos.  Some things just don't need them.  A nice song to play in
 the background.

   ..........

 Extended sample is different.  Could have been avoided, and confuses the
 tempo in parts.  Some sections are too drawn out.  I didn't really like the
 lead guitar, and the timpani doesn't quite fit.  There isn't really a focus
 and the song wanders/switches themes too much.

   ...........

 Poor samples and somewhat boring.

   ..........

 The song is quite rough overall, and it has no real intro.  The lead itself
 isn't bad, but at times so many effects are applied it sounds very overdone
 and un-professional.  The extended sample used for the main bass line and
 drums sounds bad when going from note to note.  The lower notes make the
 drums sound really bad.

   ..........

 Beware giving large pans to bass percussion samples.  The offsets on the
 percussion loop are cool.  Nice piece with a good flow.

   ..........

 The songs only redeeming quality was the end, which sounded very nice in
 comparison to the rest of the song.  That drum loop you were offsetting to
 different notes seemed totally pointless to me, considering you could easily
 track the drums seperately, as demonstrated later in the song.  Dropping the
 frequency of the loop makes it sound sloppy and the quality of the actual
 percussion is quite less than it could be.

 _____m4v-conv (Convergence) by Daedalus

   ..........

 Nice sounding.  Basic, though.  A pretty background song.  Sample quality is
 good.  Nothing really special, fresh, or new about it, but a pretty good
 song, nonetheless.  Predictable.

   ..........

 Bass line is simple but effective.  Catchy tempo.  Strings could be quieter.
 Nice chord progression and harmony on melody lines.  Guitar solo needs to
 stand out more.  Clean, clear samples.  Not a bad composition.

   ..........

 Nice use of the panflute.  Nice changes, but doesn't keep my attention.

   ..........

 This song sounded a little too restrained to me.  It was simple, which is
 okay, but it just wasn't catchy.  There were some parts that I liked and that
 were kinda catchy, but overall it seemed a little repetative and somewhat
 unoriginal.  Things to work on would a little more complexity, and get a
 little more wild with the tune.

   ..........

 The hihat work is nice.  An interlude from the main theme would help.

   ...........

 Nice to have a song in 6/8.  Some of your samples are a bit out of tune, and
 the instrument you're using (I can only assume it is a piano of some kind) is
 being played way out of its frequency range.  Good use of percussion
 instruments.  Ending was a little weak.

 _____m4v-degr (100 Degrees) by Roby Bar

   ..........

 Strange.  Nice rhythm.  Voice samples not needed, detracted from overall song
 quality.  The beeping background (in the first channel) got tiring after a
 short while.  Strange samples.

   ..........

 Voice samples were totally unecessary, they add nothing.  Progression is
 constant and repetitive throughout piece.  Choir chords sound out of tune and
 sometimes get cut off by piano or crash.  Parts could have been balanced
 better.  Samples sound well together.  Piece ends poorly.

   ..........

 Beginning could use some work.

   ..........

 This had a fun intro and ending.  Pretty good selection of samples.  I didn't
 really like when the violin string came in now and then.  The thing is that
 again this song just wasn't really catchy.  I could never really get into
 this tune.  This tune may benefit from more variety.

   ..........

 Consider varying the percussion.  Catchy main theme.

   ..........

 Most people I know are not too particular as far as houseish music is
 concerned.  If I were at a dance party and someone was playing this, chances
 are I would not notice the fact that some of your samples are way out of
 tune.  Some of your percussion is a little sloppy.  Don't use a crash cymbal
 one right after another and cut the first one off too soon.  Nice overall
 song, except for being out of tune.

 _____m4v-disf (D. Tendencies) by Yannis

   ..........

 I liked the panning, but after a while wondered if it was maybe a bit too
 excessive.  Has a good rythym, a nice beat, and a good choice of samples.

   ..........

 Good slow intro.  Could do without the c-2 wind effects. Main section is a
 nice contrast.  Technical elements are well done: panning, balance, clean
 samples.  Nice choice of alternative lead instruments and complex chord
 progressions.  Ending is a let down.

   ..........

 Good choice of samples, and a great beginning.  I didn't like the change at
 order 7 however.

   ..........

 Refreshing change from the other overdone piano .ITs I've judged so far.  I
 like this song because its pretty catchy and fun to listen to.  I didn't like
 the organ sample too much, but other than that this is a nice one. Not
 perfect or mind-blowing or anything, just a nice, fun, and fresh tune.  What
 more can I say?

   ..........

 Impressive track.  Miramba rocks.  Only criticism is the boring fadeout
 ending.

   ..........

 A few samples were slightly out of tune.  Little things could make any good
 song go sour like milk in the sun.

   ..........

 It gets off to a good start witha slow build up.  The first time the
 bass sound comes in it's your happy demo tune that builds up more power but
 then this lead comes in that seems to be out of tune

 The intro is the best part about this song for me.  The lead takes a lot of
 feeling from the tune.  And that's a real shame because with a better lead
 here the verses would be a real good build up to the following parts which
 oose out on tracking in the organ chords.  The tune needs some more work but
 has its good parts.

 _____m4v-diso (Out of Disorder) by Komah

   ..........

 My largest complaint is that the song was way too long.  If it was four
 minutes long, or even six minutes long instead of over eight minutes, it
 would have been much less tiring.  I found it hard to listen all the way
 through.  You managed to keep it from getting too repitive, but did not do
 good enough; it still got tiring in parts.

 The voice sample was definitely not needed, and detracted from the song.  In
 fact, it really got on my nerves after the first couple times you used it.
 The song hangs together, but simply lasts much too long.

   ..........

 Vocal sample is good but overused.  Progression is too slow to create
 interest.  Song is way too long.  A few modifications could change it to a
 reasonably good tune.

   ..........

 Nice beat, but too repetitive.

   ..........

 I didn't like the "add a track every few patterns" build up in the beginning
 of this tune, but from when the author first brought in the chords to the end
 it was cool.  I respect the author for turning in dance/techno among the slew
 of piano/string type songs.

   ..........

 Track 7 is a bit loud/distracting.  Rhythm loop is nice and your layering is
 very successful.  The vocal sample is overused.  The tone of the string chord
 samples does not fit with the rest of the composition.

   ..........

 There's nothing about this song that sets it apart from the rest of the
 techno songs in the contest.  That is the hard thing about entering a dance
 tune into a contest like this.  Some of your string chords don't fit with the
 bass happening at the time.  The vocal sample is too repetitive.

 _____m4v-divi (Divided n' Conquered) by Alca

   ..........

 The brass lead got a bit choppy at times, and sometimes didn't blend very
 well with the accompaniment.

   ..........

 Repetitive yet original.

   ..........

 Sounds good, nice tracking though song is a bit repetitive and solos are
 awkward.

   ..........

 This tune is catchy for the first 15 or so patterns, but then gets a bit
 boring, with little variation.  Trumpet multisample is bland.

   ..........

 The samples are quiet.  Song seems to cry for more variation.

   ..........

 The coherancy of your trombones seems to be lacking, almost random.  Most
 improvising is a lot more structured.  Your percussion sounds more like a
 stadium Metallica set rather than something that would more easily fit the
 style of this song.  The ending was weak and abrupt.

 _____m4v-drea (The Dream World) by Qyv

   ..........

 The flute melody was used well..  Add some pads on both channels to give a
 fuller sound to the piece as a whole.

   ..........

 Good musical concept, but some samples were bad.

   ..........

 This tune isn't fully developed.  Work it up and it could be interesting.
 This song has a nice concept.

   ..........

 I like the echos and the melodies.

   ..........

 Tune your samples and set your panning positions.  Makes a much cleaner song
 in the long run.  When using a hihat sample, don't play it too low from its
 original sampled frequency.  Makes it sound messy.

 _____m4v-ejec (Ejector) by Zodiak

   ..........

 A fun and fresh idea!  Some of the samples didn't take very well to being
 pushed up into the higher octaves.

   ..........

 Frightening beginning.

   ..........

 Very impressive!  Samples might have been a bit better..

   ..........

 Its hard to make good brass samples, isn't it?  Cool job, with the exception
 of sample 1.  I liked this tune.  :)  Where's the rest of it?

   ..........

 The lounge sound pulled off finally!  Very well done.

   ..........

 Took me by surprise.  Cool concept.  Although, sometimes your sampled brass
 riffs don't fit too well in the overall song.  The song sounded mostly like
 you sampled a lot of different jazzy/big band cd's and just played them back
 with different percussion.  While that will give you a lot of high quality in
 the sample department, it detracts from the variety of the rest of the song.
 Good ending.

   ..........

 The well chosen samples give a good show.  They're handled with skill too
 where there's need.

 _____m4v-emot (Emotional Discharge) by GoD

   ..........

 There is a place for dissonance and lack of melody, but this song wasn't
 catchy enough for it to really work.

   ..........

 A bit loud.

   ..........

 Didn't flow well.  Badly mixed.

   ..........

 The samples are perfect for this industrial, bang-your-head-into-the-wall
 tune, but for some reason, this tune didn't click with me. I'm looking for a
 memorable melody, but the melodies in this tune are simple and not catchy.

   ..........

 Very nice intro.  Some of the samples could be of better quality.  A little
 bit on the bass intensive.  As the song gets into the main body, I notice a
 couple things.  As you get into the main body of the song, it seems to be
 lacking some of the fullness in frequency coverage as far as the ranges
 you're covering.  And if I hear one more person ripping the distorted samples
 from necros' Mechanism 8 song, I am going to go nuts.  Your song is way too
 bass intensive.  Someone with a decent stereo system like mine is going to
 wake up the neighbors at a very quiet playback, and that's not something you
 want for a contest.  Some of your samples are a little out of tune, as well.
 Nice ending.

 _____m4v-equi (Equinox) by Scolnick

   ..........

 Unclear, mixed up, too many things at the same time.

   ..........

 Nicely written.

   ..........

 I like this.  I only wish the mixing was a bit cleaner, though.

   ..........

 The samples are very muddy.

   ..........

 Some of your samples are out of tune.  The beginning is quite a bit erratic,
 and not too coherent.  Not too bad a concept for a song, but could use some
 work in the fullness department.  When doing trills (with pianos and such),
 don't let the notes be cut off too quickly, or it sounds messy and choppy.
 As it gets later into the song, it gets very repetitive.  Variety is good.

 _____m4v-fall (Friends And Lovers) by Asyntote

   ..........

 A nice ballad melody.  Echoes on the leads were almost delayed too much
 such that they were distracting.

   ..........

 Good song.  Samples were cut off a lot.  A little choppy.

   ..........

 This tune was interesting.  Nicely panned, excellent samples.  Simple
 structure; variations on a musical "sentence".  And it all fits.  :)

   ..........

 Tune your samples carefully.  That's the kind of thing that can mean the
 difference between the life and death of your songs.  At first, I was
 inclined not to like the song in general, but as I listen more, it gets much
 better.  You stick with a theme and keep it interesting without going
 overboard.  Some of your piano licks are a little unorthodox, but if that's
 the most of your problems, then you're in good shape.  Fascinating use of
 "When Heavens Fall" samples.

 Your ending has a couple sour notes from time to time.

   ..........

 Just a small feeling of having heard some things before.

 Good sample quality in general.  Some loops aren't clean, there's a slight
 hiss in some instruments and a piano sample is a bit distorted but you don't
 realy hear this in the mix.  The samples work very good for this song.

 _____m4v-fasc (Tangerine Fascination) by Necros

   ..........

 Excellent catchy rhythm and tune!  Some notes are too choppy and get a bit
 muddled with the echoes.

   ..........

 Great beginning, needs more variance.  Tell-tale style.

   ..........

 Likable song.

   ..........

 Whoa.  :)  I dig the uplifting chorus.  Excellent distortion samples.

   ..........

 Like the light at the end of a deep, dark, and dank tunnel, this song shines
 like a lone star in a bleak sky.  Samples are original, the song is smooth,
 it sticks to its theme, grabs you and holds you to the end.

 Your quick part in patterns 11 through 14 seems to be missing something that
 the rest of the song has in fullness.  Great use of samples.  Interesing in
 the leads department however.  You seem to have a certain kind of pattern
 when it comes to points in a measure when you start the use of any given
 lead.  Perhaps a little variety there could add to the song, but overall it
 rocks.  There are very few songs that swing the tempo setting for their swing
 beat, as opposed to the speed.  Quite a "fascinating" song.

   ..........

 A good intro that sets the mood nicely introduced this tune.

 The structure obviously is one of the most advanced of the bunch but it can
 get confusing to get that many harmonies thrown at you.  The style the
 guitars in the verse and the keyboards(backing) is handled points to jazz but
 the leads are very freestyle.  It's a bit hard to say here about the
 harmonies because they're quite advanced to the point where some get
 overlooked by the listener.

 This isn't bad however as I had feared in the beginning as the listener has
 to listen to the song a few times not to get overwhelmed as I did.  High
 degree of structure, some parts perhaps overdone.  While this doesn't hold
 true for the intro, which tends to appear a bit long but is justified by the
 first verse.

 The chorus is a bit off balance in the mix as the verse is somewhat louder
 compared to the chorus.  The keyboards are really good with just the right
 amount of ideas popping up to continue the last notes.

 Bringing all those tracks together isn't easy but the job is done nicely
 here.  To cut it short, all the stuff is well placed and attention to detail
 is obvious even at a quick glance.  The chorus part is a bit on the quiet
 side but the keyboards are well layed and lets not forget the flying tempo.

 Some of the samples don't sound like much when played one by one, but in the
 mix they work nicely. Especially noteworthy are the wha-bass guitars, one of
 the slaps(#19), the percussions and the last sample(church organ combo).  The
 leads best left to play in the song as they're not what you'd expect them to
 be.  The song does all the magic here.

 At first I wasn't impressed.  The second time I started to like it a bit.
 The third and fourth time I loved it and that's how I still feel about it.
 With jazz-like songs, instant appeal doesn't come often and this wild song
 isn't different.  Best not call it jazz but freestyle rock perhaps.  This
 song does not amaze at first 'glance' but takes some time to like.  I'll be
 damned if Andy didn't write this.

 _____m4v-fequ (Final Equinox) by Floss

   ...........

 A standard regal orchestral song.  There wasn't anything really new to make
 it catchy.  Well tracked, nonetheless.

   ..........

 Boring, needs more parts (and originality), excessive use of channels.

   ..........

 Good samples, song was somewhat bland.

   ..........

 A movie score!  :)  The trumpet and string samples get a bit "tinny" when the
 high notes are reached, and I dunno about the ending. :)

   ..........

 Orchestral film music with lots of moods.

 The good intro puts us up for a dramatic start as the piece gets going
 building up a climax where one can see the hero stepping out into light and
 meeting his princess.  The heroic part is very nice and builds up momentum to
 a would-be-theme that's just build up into the quieter part.  Here a new
 melody comes in which could describe the hero and his princess riding into
 the sunset.  And here come the credits or a new fight that our hero wins with
 grace and our couple finally gets to ride away to happiness.  The structure
 is excellent, the buildup of climax is great.

 Wonderful work.  For an orchestral film-like piece provides all the balance
 and right moods.  Carefully assembled material sets the moods, times its
 climaxes right and tells a story just like this style of music should.

 Instruments are the prime provider for the good orchestra sounds. All the
 chords are created with a single sample playing on multiple channels.  The
 panning is handled via channel preset so nothing exciting there but the song
 works file like that.  The sound is smooth and that's all that counts.  The
 mix is well balanced.

 The horns could be a bit beefier and some of the loops aren't clean but the
 song doesn't show this.  The sample set is put together to function like an
 orchestra and except for the slightly weak horns it works.  Some samples
 aren't of high quality individually.  Together they're great.

 Very, very enjoyable.  Orchestral piece with hero themes do tend to be full
 of cliches and even though this song uses some it does so to its advantage
 and creates a wonderful atmosphere that effectively pulls the listener into a
 story.  Listened to more than once a story begins to form more vividly and
 gives you a reason for coming back.  It does have a drawback or two but
 that's up to individual taste.

 _____m4v-fien (Fiendish Friend) by Emzet

   ..........

 A nice idea, but it got repetitive after the first minute or so.  Introduce
 more leads later on.

   ..........

 Nice samples, good timing, lots of depth.

   ..........

 Nice style.

   ..........

 This is one cool cat.  :)

   ..........

 The sax sample you were using was quite a bit out of its sampled range.  The
 free-form performance is a very good idea, but when it sounds a little too
 sloppy it can detract from the overall song.  The piano sample that you used
 didn't seem to fit the song too well.  When trying to track a song of a
 specific style, make sure that the samples you choose are going to fit the
 style well.

 _____m4v-fina (Finality) by Aztechie

   ..........

 Problems with the lead: it was banished to the right channel only.
 Glissandos didn't sound so good.

   ..........

 Too short and choppy.  Song lacks substance.

   ..........

 I'm not comfortable with the major/minor chord changes in this tune; often
 some notes are off key.  But an original tune.  :)

   ..........

 Interesting concept as far as music goes.  The overuse of the timpani
 detracts from the song.  In the beginning, the marcato string is far too
 loud.  Different percussion line, seems to fit well.  However, some of your
 notes in the overall song are a bit on the sour side.  It lacks some of the
 fullness I would listen for in a song that fits this description.

 _____m4v-food (Soul Food) by Glitch

   ..........

 Really nice lead instruments and melody!  Vary the drum patterns a bit more
 to help break up the song.

   ..........

 Good fade out, got that faraway/dramatic/fanatasy feel.

   ..........

 A pleasure to listen to!  Very good song, tracking and mixing. I'm keeping
 this one!  :)

   ..........

 Its the same chord progression throughout the entire song, but the variation
 on the other elements more than compensates.  Awesome resolution with the
 voice samples.  I like your style.

   ..........

 Some of your notes are a little sour.  The hihat samples are played too loud
 and drown out the rest of the music most of the time.  Some samples are out
 of tune.  Always try to make sure samples are in tune.  It can be the
 determining factor in the making or breaking of a song. The song concept
 overall is not bad at all.  Some really good chords, but the percussion
 drowns it out half the time.

 _____m4v-forg (Forgotten Smile) by Syrinx

   ..........

 Leads were way too choppy.  Rhythm was pretty standard; followed 4/4 time,
 little use of off-beats.  Repetitive.

   ..........

 Nice sample quality.  Song seems a little empty.

   ..........

 This tune doesn't click with me.  :(  Those pizzacatos and pianos get boring.
 Not a very risky tune.

   ..........

 Beginning is a little weak.  Moves into the second part cleanly.  That piano
 sample is way too big to sound like it does.  Some of your samples are out of
 tune. The tuning of samples can make or break any song, no matter who the
 composer.

 Interesting concept in the mixing of the different styles of sample.  Some of
 the samples could have been much better quality, however.  The pizzacato
 sample sounds very dull.  The ending was weak.

 _____m4v-furt (Fur Trimmed Seats) by Schizoid

   ..........


 Interesting concept, good execution at the opening.

   ..........

 Very poor tracked rock tune.  Too noisy and long samples.

   ..........

 Nice rhythm.  Like the trumpets.  However, the rhythm gets too repetitive
 after a while.

   ..........

 The sample quality for the most part is worse than worse.  The song is too
 loud.  I had to turn down the volume to half of what the rest of the songs
 for the contest were.  Doubling up on the samples is poor technique.  Most of
 the song was noise for the most part.  I can't think of very many redeeming
 qualities other than the concept in general being interesting.

 _____m4v-gaja (Impression of Gaja) by Sigmatic

   ..........

 Last beat in the song is a torture, some clicks in samples.

   ..........

 Nice lead, drums a tad repetitive.

   ..........

 Quite nice composition from the beginning.  The main theme doesn't change.

   ..........

 Relaxing.  Majestic, almost gothic.  Nice.  But, the background is a little
 repetitive.

   ..........

 Cool concept, but never really goes anywhere.

   ..........

 Very good solid song concept.  The leads you use later in the song don't have
 a wide enough gap in the volume, and making the time seperation between them
 longer would benefit as well.  Interesting idea for a song.

 _____m4v-grat (In Gratitude) by Lloyd Yoon

   ..........

 A good song.

   ..........

 Excellent piano, drums are suitably in the background.

   ..........

 Great guitar song with nice melody and good selection of hi-quality samples.

   ..........

 Captured the mood of the 50's.  The lead Piano could've even been a bit
 better though.

   ..........

 Nice acoustic guitar, but the rest is fairly generic.

   ..........

 Wonderful!  All the things we're looking for in a song.  We have a good
 general progression, we have good samples, we have good use of samples, we
 have good percussion, and we have good song.  The piano lead could use a
 bit of work, but your use of dynamics from time to time almost makes up for
 that.  You have to be one of a few people in the world who knows how to make
 a piano trill tracked sound good by playing with the volume.  Cheers.  My hat
 goes off to you for technical knoweledge.

   ..........

 A central theme doesn't stand out.

 Nice multisample instrument which was very well used.  The methods to arrange
 the material were simple and didn't require much skill.  The author relied on
 instruments rather than effects.  The clean arrangment is only sometimes cut
 with some clumsy use of effects.

 _____m4v-hist (History of Present) by LaveoM

   ..........

 Could use more effects and better form.

   ..........

 Terrible use of string samples.  NNA's are overworked.

   ..........

 Bad tracked song with no strong idea and chaotic melody.

   ..........

 The violin's a little too incoherent and incohesive.  Not all samples seem
 appropriate.  Though the guitar and drum rolls are done well.

   ..........

 The beginning is sloppy and noisy, not to mention annoying.  I can see what
 you were trying to do from time to time while listening, but it is just too
 messy.  Later on the song gets better as we get to the main body, but even
 then it is messy and sloppy.

 _____m4v-hold (Hold On Tight) by Xuthl

   ..........

 Pad chords are okay, but there's way too much of it.

   ..........

 Nice melody and good chord progression.  Simple main theme and the end part
 is quite a positive change.

   ..........

 Relaxing.  Sweet.  Nice samples.  Perfect chords.  Well balanced.

   ..........

 Quiet samples, so short i hardly noticed it end.  =)

   ..........

 Nice sound overall, but don't let your percussion drown out the rest of the
 music being played.  It is easy to do, but can be the difference in making
 or breaking a song sometimes.  Some of your samples are a shade out of tune.
 Nice ending.

 _____m4v-josh (Joshua's Mind) by Aquafresh

   ..........

 Nice music but with a poor form.

   ..........

 Great intro and atmosphere!

   ..........

 Well tracked tune but has got ambient/groove/jazz parts which are completely
 different and don't fit together.

   ..........

 Exotic.

   ..........

 Odd, interesting song.

   ..........

 Very nice mood it sets, different concept.  Interesting percussion line as
 the song progresses.  Nice ambience in the beginning.  However, the faster
 percussion beat doesn't seem to fit initially.  After a while of the
 repetition, it gets a little more bearable, but the song was so good
 initially that it is hard to grow accustomed to.  Entirely too long for a
 compo song, and it gets too repetitive after a while.

 _____m4v-ladd (Ladder of Hope) by Populus

   ..........

 Good guitar work.

   ..........

 Neat rock tune but very short.  The main melody is not very strong and should
 be enhanced.

   ..........

 Nice choice of samples.  Smooth.

   ..........

 Not a bad concept in song.  The percussion could use a little work as far as
 realism goes.  Repeating the crash cymbal like you do so often detracts from
 the overall song.  Some of your samples sound a little out of tune from time
 to time.  Good overall.

 _____m4v-larn (Larndow (Starfield) by Dangtrin

   ..........

 Transitions choppy, sample changes abrubt.

   ..........

 Very odd beginning followed by not too developed part.  It has poor,
 repeating melody and overused samples.

   ..........

 Dreamy.  Background and lead notes support each other well.  However, the
 bass guitar could've been done better.

   ..........

 This song had some wonderful ideas, but for some reason the overall song just
 did not turn out that great.  You had several different themes in the
 beginning, and just when I'm sitting here waiting for you to continue on with
 any one of them, the whole song changes.

 The very beginning left some things to be desired however.  As we get into
 the main body of the song, there are some notes that you are cutting off too
 quickly.  Try not to do that to your samples, it makes it sound sloppy.

 This song had some great ideas, but just develop them instead of moving onto
 something else so quickly.  Also, don't play some of your percussion
 instruments below or above their given sampled frequencies.  That makes the
 quality of the sample (snare and crash in this case) much worse.

 _____m4v-libe (Liberation) by Tek

   ..........

 Not good, but not bad too.  Samples are poor.

   ..........

 Nice vocals, good "feel."

   ..........

 Nice techno-house tune with good choice of samples and good rhythm.

   ..........

 Well done throughout.  The selection of samples mix very nicely into the
 song.  Love how the drum/cymbals are done.

   ..........

 I could almost have liked the song overall, except for the absolutely
 tasteless concept behind it.

 _____m4v-liqu (Liquifaction) by Domine

   ..........

 Bad form.

   ..........

 Smooth opening, but a badly looped sample ruins the feel.  Drum samples
 aren't very clean.

   ..........

 Attempt of an ambient tune with quite nice background.  Some minor bugs
 occured in chords and drumtrack.

   ..........

 Nice beat.  Nice chords.  Bass could improve.

   ..........

 I like everything about this song.

   ..........

 A bit too on the repetitive side of things.  There is almost no variety worth
 speaking of.  It has a good sound initially, has a little variation in later
 parts in the song, but just doesn't change at all through the song.  Maybe a
 chord change or two would be a good idea from time to time to make things a
 little different.  My recommendation is this: when entering a compo of any
 kind, your best bet is to write a song that is going to grab the judges
 attention in some way, and keep it.  This went on for so long it was a
 miracle that I would have listened to it all the way through.  Just a few
 things to keep in mind.  It has good ideas, just needs to be a little more to
 the point.

 _____m4v-lita (Litany Against Fear) by Sturm

   ..........

 Unpleasant.

   ...........

 Nice groovy rhythm but foreground theme is very poor.

   ..........

 Clearly masters the drums/cymbals.  However, piano's a bit weak.  Vocals
 mixed nicely.

   ..........

 Interesting concept in title and vocal samples.  However, the song itself
 lasts so long and has very little variation that it is hard to listen to
 without losing interest in short order.  Adding a little variety is always a
 good idea, maybe even a few chord changes, or something along those lines.
 Just try to keep the judges interest, especially in the situation of a compo
 like this one.  Nice ideas, regardless.

 _____m4v-mank (Mankind Roots) by SoundMaster

   ..........

 Pleasant noise.  Drums are worked in nicely, but there's simply too much
 going on at once.  A jumble of sound.

   ..........

 Excelent jungle movie soundtrack with awesome native rhythms and great
 hi-quality sample collection.  Cool!  It reminded me Vangelis' "Conquest of
 Paradise".

   ..........

 Mysterious.  Truly sounds like a tribe of people around a fire.

   ..........

 A bit mid-ranged in frequency.

   ..........

 To be perfectly honest, it is difficult to judge a song like this in the
 tracker scene, simply because it has no precedence that I am aware of.  The
 concept is amazing and original (as far as tracked music is concerned).  It
 sounds professional, well done, and well thought out.

 _____m4v-mcfx (LKSLMCFX) by *

   ..........

 Nice percussion.  The guitar lead isn't the best, sounds a bit like a
 c64-lead sample.  Otherwise it's an average tune, really not my style.
 Change that lead.

   ..........

 Intro pattern is very poor, whistle sound is annoying.  Song is only
 different ideas pasted together, and has no structure.

   ..........

 This song wasn't too bad, other than some wierd portas in the metal sample
 towards the beginning.  The song did not get repetitive, which is definitely
 a compliment, but it did have some major flaws.  At order 12h a piano came in
 which sounded like it was played way too high for it's range; solution -
 resample your piano in the range you will be tracking and use the 4 octave
 range instead of 7, or create lots of samples at different ranges and make an
 instrument.  Also at order 28h, the lead becomes very odd, and throughout the
 song the lead is just slightly out of tune.  Pattern 4 goes backwards, which
 is pretty clever, but it's probably a waste of time to do that; it should not
 affect your score.

   ..........

 Bad titling, nice samples, lots notes off in places, bad ending

   ..........

 Curious song title.  Some of your samples are out of tune.  The very first
 thought of the song was that it was going to be a high school march, but that
 was changed real quick like.  Your percussion is very well thought out, but
 seems to lack some of the cleanliness in real percussion.  The electric power
 chord would be real nice if it weren't being played out of its range so
 often. Some of the percussion samples are played a little out of their range
 as well, and that can detract from the whole rest of the song.  The piano
 sample is played way too high for it to sound like a real piano.  Add more
 samples to get better quality.  In some cases, you are cutting some of the
 samples off too soon when playing them in repeated situations.  Try not to do
 that by using other channels to keep them going a little longer.  Sounds much
 cleaner that way.

 _____m4v-mids (Midsummer's Day) by Leviathan

   ..........

 The melody is too repetitive.  Needs more change.  And those samples aren't
 the best either.

   ..........

 Song seems too straightforward and is predictable.  Well done jazz though.
 Bass line could be more active and prominent.  Instead of doubling the sax
 with the organ, why not use alternate notes to provide some harmony?

   ..........

 This was a nice solid tune.  Nice beginning with the rhodes piano, good chord
 progression at the beginning. But as the song progressed in to the middle, a
 lead organ began, and I didn't particularly like the melody used with it.
 Sax towards the end sounded ok.  The one thing that really hurts your score
 is that many of its samples are used in Metroplex (on Necros's Progression
 Musicdisk), and the style is also very similar.  If you had used different
 samples, the similarities in its style may have gone unnoticed.

   ..........

 Very nice intro.  Your hihats are overpowering the rest of the song in some
 cases, as it is relatively quiet in nature.  Try to add variety to your
 percussion tracks. Just leaving them to repeat the same thing over and over
 again can be a little detracting to a decent song.  Good groove throughout
 most of the song.  A couple of your samples are a little out of tune.  Try to
 make sure your samples are in tune with each other.

 _____m4v-mill (A Million to One) by Gamera

   ..........

 The tune doesn't change a bit so listening to that melody becomes quite
 boring.  The organ doesn't fit as a lead in this tune either.

   ..........

 Timing is way off.  Panning drums wide to one side sounds bad.  Crash cymbal
 is overused.  Song contains no distinct sections, only one long continuous
 stream.

   ...........

 There were some major flaws with this tune.  It's very very repetitive, and
 melody, chords, and bass often clash with each other.  The drums are Force
 Ten's, and have been used a lot in other songs.  The pan flute in the
 background really needs more variety; I'd almost call it annoying at some
 points in the song.  No panning.

   ..........

 Bad timing in some places, panflute intersects badly, lots of repetition.

   ..........

 Bad frequency range in the samples.

   ..........

 Don't double up playing samples on multiple channels if you can help it.  It
 can turn out a lot worse sounding than originally intended.  Your samples are
 quite out of tune.  Tuning your samples is indrecibly easy, and it can mean
 the difference between the life or death of a song. Your percussion is
 repeated too much without any kind of variation.  Add a few changes from time
 to time to make sure you have a hook to keep people listening.  Your bass
 line is not played in the same key as the rest of the song.  Simple music
 theory there.

 _____m4v-mmrr (Mystic Ruins) by 4go10

   ..........

 The intro is superb.  The strings are a bit off tune though.  No real melody,
 but good samples.

   ..........

 Interesting mood in introduction. song seems to move slowly after that.

   ..........

 This song was well tracked and had very good samples.  Most notable was it's
 chorused piano, which sounded real, and was quite well integrated in the
 song.  I haven't heard these samples before, and the style is certainly not
 overused, so the song gets good marks for originality.  Panning is good.

 But it is not without it's flaws, either.  First of all, the yell sample is
 overused.  Second, portamentos on strings sound bad. It's starting to get too
 repetitive by order 0Ch.  There is not much melody to speak of.  But overall
 it did sound good.

   ..........

 Some effects not needed.  Nice song.

   ..........

 Nice intro and samples!

   ..........

 Nice concept for the song overall.  Some of the samples were out of tune
 though.  The main body of the song seemed to lack some fullness in overall
 sound.  It sounds like you're cutting some samples off from time to time
 instead of letting them play their course, or fading them out first.  That,
 along with being out of tune, can either make or break a song sometimes.
 The concept is really nice, but some of the samples you use just do not fit
 the mood you're trying to set.

 _____m4v-mods (The Spirit of Mods) by Blurry

   ..........

 Not a good melody, the samples are medicore.  That digdug-part is quite funny
 :).  Reminds me of some very old 4CHN mod.

   ..........

 Using the same lead sample through the entire song makes it seem monotonous.

   ..........

 This one was ok, but I'd say it falls in to the mediocre category.  The
 melody is ok, but the main body of the song is practically the whole thing -
 not much of an intro or ending.  There is a particularly annoying "clacking"
 sound used at orders 05h, 0Fh, and 17h which I didn't like.  This song does
 show potential for the composer though.

   ..........

 Pseudo-familiar melody, a bit generic (intentional?) like the breath sample.

   ..........

 Some very nice ideas.  However, some of the samples are a bit out of tune.
 Your percussion line could use a little variation, and some of the samples
 just do not seem to work out very well.  It gets a little repetitive as the
 song goes on.  Nice ending to the song.  Work on the main body to get a
 little more variation, maybe a chord change or two, or change the main theme
 to add a little variation.  Work on percussion a little more as well.  It can
 only help.

 _____m4v-morn (Morning Sunrise) by Nexus

   ..........

 Nice enigmaeque tune.  Too bad that the flute in the begining has a bad
 melody.  The organ needs some fixing too.  No other complaints.

   ..........

 Intro is much too slow moving.  "Snare" sample is inadequate.

   ..........

 This tune kept me interested the whole way through. Problems included a flute
 recorded with vibrato, and played very high, which sounded wierd.  Hihats
 were very flakey, and minor chord used at the end of the song just didn't fit
 very well.  I liked this one pretty well.

   ..........

 Nice piece of music, good ending!

   ..........

 Very nice, very smooth.  Some samples a little out of tune.  Great structure.
 Replacing the usual snare drum with a tommy is an interesting idea, but I
 don't know if it worked too well.  When using tommy drums in a roll at the
 end of any given expression, put a little more space in between their
 respective notes to make them sound a little more realistic.

   ..........

 Very good overall quality.  In the mix the not so clean loops do show
 up and more chords could have made a difference but the samples are well
 sampled (only one with some hiss) and work together nicely if you don't count
 the sine sound as a lead in the first verse.

 The mood the song tries to achieve is partly there but the chords and some
 helpless melody parts do bring the atmosphere down.  As nice it wants to be I
 can't give it a high rating in its present form.  It's not thought out well
 enough and some things on the tracking side could have been added to better
 the atmosphere.

 _____m4v-mosq (Killer Mosquito) by Bonzai Plant

   ..........

 Nice samples.  Too bad it's missing a real melody.  The style changes a lot
 (the transitions between the parts aren't that great either) and the
 unoriginal europop-beat cuts the rating by some points.  I really dig that
 acid sample in the begining.

   ..........

 The repetition in this song is annoying at best.  It shows lack of
 creativity.

   ..........

 This song's title fits nicely with it, and it was fun to listen to.  The idea
 of using mosquito-like sounds seems pretty original to me.  But musically,
 this song leaves much to be desired.  It has no real tune, except for a low
 bass type sound at first.  Towards the middle some chords come along, and
 that helps the musicality of the song somewhat.  It's a fun piece, but I
 don't really think it should get a very high rating.

   ..........

 Pretty cool job!

   ..........

 Nice intro, frequency range is great!  Masterful stereo use.

   ..........

 Interesing idea for a song.  It stands out from the rest of the dance songs
 that made their way into the contest.  A couple suggestions.  When you have
 the beginning sound effects happening, they have a tone about them, and that
 tone leads to a note in a certain key.  So I was waiting for the other parts
 of the song to come in, and when it came in, it wasn't nearly what I expected
 to hear.  Later on in the song, it works out fine, but in the initial stages
 of the song, it is a little confusing.  Be careful when you play notes in a
 certain key, because it can confuse the listener, and listeners don't like to
 be confused.

 _____m4v-naut (Nautical) by IV

   ...........

 Bad samples.  The melody-lead is offtune.

   ..........

 Melody notes should not be left playing so long.  Fade them or use volume
 cuts.

   ..........

 This song reminded me of really bad elevator music.  It starts out ok, but
 jumps to a really horrible chord progression with a very annoying melody.  At
 order 9 it starts to sound a little better, but by order 14 it's following
 that horrible chord progression again and soon starts the very annoying
 melody.  Pretty repetitive.  Even 2:40 of this stuff seems too long (which
 happens to be the length of this song), I didn't really like this much at
 all.

   ..........

 Hmm.  To think I thought the Dream Theater bass drum sample was out of
 season.  Good groove, nice chords.  Some of the samples you used in a leading
 situation sounded just a shade on the tinny side.  Very nice intro.  Play
 your tambourines a little higher tho.  You're using it below its intended
 frequency.

 _____m4v-near (Nearly There) by Porus

   ...........

 The intro seemed to me like it had been set up in 1 minute before MC4
 deadline.  The rest of the tune is actually quite nice, too bad the
 percussion isn't the best.

   ..........

 Well done mood.  Overused cymbals and tom drum.  This song shows
 compositional skill that could be better developed in a tracker.  Distorted
 lead sample sounds poor for this style of song.

   ...........

 The intro isn't too spectacular on this song, but it does have an impressive
 transition from the intro to the main part.  The piano is tracked quite well,
 and definitely added something.  The song is slightly discordant at times,
 and occasionally the chord progression is odd.  The ending is good, but is
 not transitioned well from the last part of the song.  Nice work though.

   ..........

 Bad beginning, excessive use of channels.

   ..........

 A bit slow and long for me.

   ..........

 The beginning percussion intro is a little loud.  A few of your samples are
 quite out of tune.  Don't use that leadin crash sample unless you can time it
 just right.  Hearing it start to go quiet right before the next pattern is
 just not how the sample is supposed to be used.  The song sounds a little on
 the messy side.  There are some very nice ideas, it could just use a little
 more work.  Nice ending.

 _____m4v-ocea (Oceanic Dream) by Stalker

   ..........

 Bad samples.  Some nice lead in the middle, otherwise quite boring.

   ..........

 Nice intro.  Pitch panning is annoying.

   ..........

 Nice melody, bass and percussion were particulary commendable, and use of
 panning was good.  The drum loop did add substance to the song, but loops
 should in all cases be avoided unless absolutely essential.  Good attempt
 the melody overlaying and structure was sound.

   ..........

 I didn't like this one.  The boing sample which is used in most of the song
 is not fun to listen to, wierd chords in the beginning.  After the song gets
 going the chords start to sound a little better, but at order 29 everything
 sounds terrible, and after that point the song never really has a good chord
 progression.  There is not a melody.  It's also too long.

   ..........

 Not a half bad song as far as this style goes.  It would make great
 background music, which disturbs me a little. This contest is generally not
 noted for being a techno dance music fest, and yet there are quite a lot of
 the genre available this year.  My only suggestion is that if you are going
 to insist on entering a song of this kind into a music contest (I emphasize
 the word music), then to try to make a little more music out of it and less
 repetition.  Variations, chord changes, other things along those lines.  I
 realize that doing that might give you a demo music feel in some ways, but in
 reality, we're looking for music.  Also, it is far too long to be a compo
 song.  Keep in mind that you want to be able to keep the judges interest for
 as long as possible.

 _____m4v-oitg (Out in the Garden) by Nabo

   ..........

 Sounds like some bad jazz tune.  The organs are offtune.  And the guitar
 needs lots of work on.  The samples need some changes too.  This tune gives
 me a headache.

   ..........

 Interesting mood and feel to this song.  Guitar seems to be too loud in the
 mix.

   ..........

 It seems the composer was going after a bluesy feel here, but some things
 seem to have gone wrong.  First of all, near the beginning of the song the
 organ chords were innapropriate, they reminded me of an organ in a
 dracula-type movie and that certainly does not fit well into a bluesy song.
 The organ lead could have been a lot more interesting.  At order 0Dh there is
 a much needed change of pace, but it didn't really flow well.  The organ used
 at order 24h was recorded with a lot of tremolo/vibrato and since it's played
 so high, it sounds strange.  Towards the end, the song jumps back to the same
 tempo and sound as what is heard at the beginning. Overall good originality,
 chord progression fits the style nicely although the chords have a few odd
 notes thrown in them.

   ..........

 Interesting music, samples mix well, good sample quality.

   ..........

 Guitar solo nicely done.

   ..........

 Samples are out of tune.  The lead guitar (?) sample is playing some notes
 that just do not fit from time to time and that can detract from an overall
 song.  Your percussion seems to be relatively accurate, which is good.
 Samples out of tune can make or break any song, no matter how good in concept
 or tracking.  Keep that in mind.  I like the concept of the song in general.

 _____m4v-over (Over the Seas) by Rage

   ..........

 Good sound effects in the intro.  Song moved along well, but it was a little
 too short.  Middle section was cramped between the main theme, and the
 repetition of the theme at the end.  Stereo panning would have helped, but
 the "over the seas" idea was received well in the tune.

   ..........

 This song actually was too nice.  :)  It has a wicked intro that really
 draws one into the song, the conga's are a very nice touch, and the
 percussion as a whole is well done.  The variation of melodies was excellent
 and the ending was well executed.  A song that would best be suited to a lazy
 afternoon at the sea.

   ..........

 A little repetitive.  Nice choice of samples.  Overall nice, but not what I'd
 call exceptional.  It's not unique enough for me.

   ..........

 Interesting tune.

   ..........

 Nice percussion line.  Some samples were a little out of tune.  This has
 nothing to do with my scoring, but the seagull sample was played a little too
 low from its original sampling rate.  At least it sounded way too low from
 having heard seagulls.  (Living on an ocean coast gives lots of water
 experience.)  Nice ending.

   ..........

 Song creates and builds on a consistent mood.  Nice introduction!  This song
 shows compositional skill.  Percussion is well done and fits the song.

   ..........

 An ocean style atmosphere isn't common in tracking.  In this form it brings
 some new elements in.  The guitars give of a unique feeling.  The instruments
 are well known but are put together nicely and complemented by good
 percussion and drums which aren't too much off the norm but deliver the
 goods for the atmosphere.

 _____m4v-ozon (Ozone) by Tangerine

   ..........

 Intro dragged a bit.  Until I couldn't tell whether it was actually an
 intro or the actual song.  The percussion at order 01b seemed out of place,
 and the extended sample #012 was grainy sounding.  Ending was too abrupt,
 just a quick fade out.

   ..........

 Average intro, nice chords and progression, I found the pan-flutes were vital
 to the song's overall rating as they were such a nice touch and in perfect
 proportion to the rest of the song.  The rest of the song wasn't particularly
 exciting or innovating, but not bad at all.

   ..........

 A little too slow for my taste.  Pretty much bored me.

   ..........

 I like the panning bass, but needs more bass frequencies.

   ..........

 Nice beginning chords and effects.  Drum loops?  Why would you want to
 detract from a good beginning like that by throwing first a really crazy
 quick drum loop, then one that is played way too low from its original
 frequency?  The song was wonderful until it got to that point.  Add a little
 more variation to the song to give it something to keep the judge listening.
 This is a compo, after all.

   ..........

 Nice moody introduction.  Echoed "blip" samples help create an atmosphere.
 Percussion makes this sound like enigma.  :)

 _____m4v-peac (Peaceful Love) by Monacos

   ..........

 Intro sounded too thin, and got boring until the flute melody stepped in.
 The tune had a good variety of tempo and style, but no transitions or
 connection between the different parts.

   ..........

 Nice piano intro, and a great melody over the pianos.  Perhaps the fade
 should have been faster on the strings as when the D and D# were together,
 the sound was a bit false.  There was a nice change in tempo and style, but
 I found it to be a very cliche ending.

   ..........

 Pretty promising start, absolutely no transition at order 5.  Changes to a
 pretty fast paced tune.  Order 1C has pretty interesting samples.  Original
 song altogether, pretty solid tune.

   ..........

 Chords are good, really efficiently written.

   ..........

 As the song gets into the main body, it seems to get a little better, but
 there is no cure for playing piano samples out of their original range of
 usefulness.  When you are doing the broken chords, some of your notes are
 ringing sour because they're played in the wrong key.  Your lead also has
 this problem from time to time.  The intro just was not happening.  When you
 play piano chords and repeat other ones right afterwards, use other some
 other channels if possible, because you are going to find that cutting your
 samples off too quickly is going to make for sloppy sounding chords.  Later
 in the song, it sounds more and more sloppy.  Mixing random samples just is
 not the thing to do.  The old enigma flute sample is not happening either.
 It is out of tune, as well.

   ..........

 Sloppy and too slow intro.  Volume fades too choppy.  Piano background in
 second section is too plain and volume should be altered to indicate beat
 dominance.

 _____m4v-phas (Funk Phasia) by Spyder

   ..........

 The entire song moved well, good transitions but a bit more melodic variety
 would have helped.  Clear sounding samples, and excellent percussion work.
 The ending needed a little more than just a volume fadeout.

   ..........

 What a funky intro!  This song really must have been a real pain to track
 with all those superbly placed off beat drums.  :)  The percussion really
 does make the song.  Excellent melody changes, song structure and
 progression.  Truly a musically "sound" piece of music, very well tracked,
 result is really a great song!

   ..........

 Nice idea but poorly performed.  Somewhere around there there's a part that
 reminds me of Purple Motion.  Pretty nice transitions.

   ..........

 When using a snare drum, never ever play it that low.  It sounds way out of
 its range.  Where is the funk in this song?  That's what the title says.
 Your percussion lines are unreal.  There is no way that any drummer alive or
 dead could play that, so naturally it does not sound very good in a tracker
 setting.  Some of your samples are very out of tune.  The song has good
 ideas, it is just not tracked very well.  The drum solo is a lot better than
 I expected.  Your percussion is too loud in comparison to the overall song.

   ..........

 Nice job compositionally.  Did you test this in cubic?  The panning seems
 awful.  Samples could be much better.

 _____m4v-pock (Pocketwatch) by Sikamikanico

   ..........

 Good intro, but needed more of a transition to order 04 to accomodate the
 speed change.  Good interaction between the siner synth and piano.  Too long,
 and too repetitive overall.  Ending needed more of a resolution than just a
 quick fadeout.

   ..........

 I found the bass line to be a integral part of the song and the percussion
 was very well planned and very effective.  Use of leads is commendable, and
 melody changes are well positioned and strucured.  Musically, not flawed, but
 not exactly exciting, vibrant or different although very nice to listen to.

   ..........

 Nice bassline.  Pretty nice tune.  Changes pretty smoothly, although at some
 points it tends to get annoyingly repetitive.

   ..........

 Not a bad sounding song at all.  Nice bass guitar line, none of that cheezy
 Seinfeld stuff that drives me nuts.  Nice changes.  Good fadeout ending.

   ..........

 Nice feeling to the song.  Bass line is well done.  Song structure is present
 and helps fulfill the musical concept.  Short breaks before "chorus" section
 are well executed.

 _____m4v-pool (Pools of Poison) by WAVE

   ..........

 First third of the song seemed to drag a little.  Good transitions at 0C and
 0E.  Ending needed a bit more of a resolution.  Clear samples, well tracked!

   ..........

 Wicked percussion, jumping straight into the song is very effective.  Chord
 structure is excellent and progression is well structured and excellent
 positioning of melody changes.  Transitions are smooth, and bass line is
 particularly commendable.  Leads are well proportioned to backing and overall
 a wonderfully structured song.

   ..........

 Nice drums.  Very professional sound.  Good basslines.  Great solos. Very
 nice part around orders 0A-0C.  Great piano solo.  Tends to get a little
 boring though since it's a bit long.

   ..........

 Unless I'm totally mistaken, you have to write video game music for a living.
 The leads you use in this song are so of that genre that it almost scares me.
 I like the human sounds in your percussion.  The more I listen to this song,
 it better it gets.  Nice middle interlude theme.  I've never heard one of
 that kind in a swing tempo before.  Nice transition into the last part.  My
 goodness.  This chord part is absolutely awesome!  The single string note
 playing throughout the last part of the song fits so well.  Your swing lead
 later sounds very reminiscant of a George Michael song I can't place at the
 moment, but it's more style than actual song.  Great feel-good song.  This is
 the kind of song I plan on throwing on when I need to be put into a good mood
 real quick like.  My hat goes off to you.  Amazingly wonderful song.

   ..........

 Song shows exceptional compositional skill.  Glass shatter sample a bit
 overused.  Section beginning at order 10h is very well done!  Great song that
 required a lot of talent and effort.

   ..........

 This tune is one of the most excellently mixed tunes here.  The author uses
 the method of putting the sample on extreme left and right to double the
 volume and to achieve a better mix.  On the tech side this tunes lives of
 its good mix and well placed timing that is achieved with spit timing.

 Instruments are put together nicely and get used.  Good panning is applied
 throughout.

 _____m4v-prop (Prophetic Vision) by Blanka

   ..........

 Good sound effects in intro.  interesting sample choice at order 06.  drum
 loop sounded out of place, and was it really necessary?  My attention began
 to drift around order 16.  No variety or form was visible.  Good return to
 the original theme at the end, though.

   ..........

 Those chants and congo drums are done well and the intro is excellent.
 Originality is definately the key factor to this song, and samples are clean
 and have a good sound.  The only problem was this hip hop beat you used.
 It isnt even such a difficult beat to compose.  A great song though,
 structure and progression are well executed.

   ..........

 Awesome beggining, but the wannabe middle-east part isn't done too well.
 Nice transition of drum beats.  Order 14 noticeably improves the song.  Seems
 that it was only a momentary fuck-up at the first orders.

   ..........

 Nice overall song.  The drum loops actually strangely fit, even though I
 wouldn't expect them in this kind of a setting.  Some of your samples are
 quite out of tune.  The ending drags on far too long.  Interesing style,
 nonetheless.  Why must every song start with rain in it?

   ..........

 Rain and thunder.  Not original.

 _____m4v-puls (Pulsar) by Phaze

   ..........

 Is there a melody playing?  The song drifts until order 10, when it speeds
 up, but there is no new theme developed with the speed change.  Good stereo
 effects, and some samples were slightly out of tune.

   ..........

 Nice intro, the strongest point of the song are definately the breaks in
 percussion, I found this to be the key to this songs "sound".  Some nice
 ideas, I also liked the piano part.  Percussion is definately your strong
 point.  Musically, not flawed, just not very innovative but still nice
 to listen to.

   ..........

 The song starts out fine.  Falls apart around order 11.  Couldn't find any
 profound elements in the tune.  Pretty mediocre and boring.  Re-uses the same
 elements only with different instruments.

   ..........

 This is called Music Contest.  Generally, one would expect to hear music
 coming out of it.  You were playing chords that did not match, you were
 playing some notes that were just way out of key, you were playing some
 samples that were out of tune.

 _____m4v-raid (The Final Raid) by Blackwolf

   ..........

 Snare drum at the beginning was too loud.  The real song started at order
 01C.  This should have been the main theme!  Intro section previous to this
 was too long at 13 orders.  Good snare work at 01c.  The repeated piano riff
 starting at 031h was repeated too many times before the end.

   ..........

 Well, perhaps a bit more sample variety would have made this song better.
 The monotony of the march snare really did get tedious, and the song was
 basically two songs in one.  You used the one theme over and over, and then
 threw a completely different song in it seemed.  The integration of the piano
 part was really non-existant and I felt that this song really did need some
 work.

   ..........

 Nice drums.  Overall this tune is not going anywhere.  Rotten selection of
 lead instrument.  Drove me mad hearing it.  Overuse of orchestra sample.  Order
 19+.  Order 29 (The piano part) was getting a lot better and practically
 saved this song from being a total disaster.

   ..........

 Reminscant of one of the Warlords 2 themes.  If you were trying to make an
 orchestral song, then I think I have a little advice for you.  Pianos, a
 crash cymbal, a timpani drum, a few horns, a snare, and an orch hit, do not
 make anything nearly orchestral.  the 11/8 time signature was very unique.
 When you are playing samples, don't let them be cut off too quickly.  It
 makes it sound sloppy when there is nothing else to back it up.  Make sure
 that the notes you play are not interfering with each others chords.  You
 have two different themes.  The second theme works out a lot better than
 whatever you were trying to do in the beginning.

   ..........

 Song is too straightforward and predictable.  Does not display the
 exceptional skill expected in a veteran entry.

 _____m4v-real (10 Dimension Reality) by Xenoc

   ..........

 Good building intro, but started to drag around order 06h.  I would have
 liked to see the melody at 0dh developed a bit more.  Song form was easy to
 follow, ending seemed to need more of a bang.

   ..........

 Very nice lead riff, the drum loop should really have been avoided as those
 loops should really have been tracked instead of just repeated.  Nice
 overlaying of melodies, percussion is great(with exception to the loop) but
 the rest of the song is comprised of old cliche riffs which seem to come
 out of an old Purple Motion track.  Also, the use of FCSINE7.SMP was not a
 good idea, this is probably the most easily recognised sample on the planet.
 Otherwise, besides the obvious ripping of riffs and samples, the song was
 actually well structured and the progression was well done.

   ..........

 Pretty nice beginning.  Nice drums.  It's pretty repetitive but I guess
 that's just the style.  Nice use of lead at order D.  Tends to bored around
 the middle.  Order 1E repeats order D thus overusing the nice lead.  :)

   ..........

 Good song, but really needs to be stereo friendly.

   ..........

 Did you test this song in Cubic Player?  The panning sounds bad and makes the
 song difficult to follow.  "Plain" key changes do not help the song.

 _____m4v-reas (Reason) by Cruel Creator

   ..........

 First order seemed a bit out of place with the rest of the song.  Excellent
 lead into order 05h.  Good transitions into the fast and slow sections, with
 retaining the same basic melody.  Good ending.

   ..........

 Very nice intro, effective.  You really had a good bass line but it wasn't
 audible enough even with the bass turned up!  The guitar riffs were obviously
 well worked out and the main chorus is very well structured with outstanding
 layering of melodies.  Transitions are well positioned and effective.

   ..........

 Lacks the low end and crispness frequency.  Two songs in one?

   ..........

 Some of your percussion samples are played way too low from their original
 frequencies of being sampled.  The lead guitar could use a few different
 parts to make it sound a little more clean.  Not a bad progression for the
 overall song.  The powerchord sample is just not happening.  Way out of its
 own range.  The song has good ideas, but it just does not sound realistic in
 parts where it should.  Way too long for a compo song.

   ..........

 Percussion samples are poor.  Well done intro, but the glissando on the
 guitar are too quick.

 _____m4v-reli (Relish) by Elemental

   ..........

 Good intro and melody throughout the song.  More panning needed.  Good
 transition into percussion at order 12.  Samples sounded out of tune.

   ..........

 Out of tune samples are just not something that make a veteran song, and that
 was the major thing that stands out about this particular one.  It is not
 that difficult to make sure your samples are in tune with one another, and
 there is just no reason why a composer can't do that.

   ..........

 Song does not display exceptional compositional skill or tracker experience.

 _____m4v-rest (Restful) by Ma Reuter

   ..........

 Somewhat enjoyable, but the simulation of horns just doesn't work real well
 in trackers, and I think that sample should have been eliminated.  Also the
 choir sample just didn't sound right.  Also somewhat redundant.

   ..........

 Good overall, but couple of samples (such as choir type sample in pat. 9)
 don't fit.  Otherwise, great sample set, cleverly tracked, good sound, nice
 flow.  Not massively original, this brassy style has been done before a lot,
 but this song does bring a few new elements in.  I like it.

   ..........

 You may want to think about lowering the volume during the samples that loop
 (or cutting them off completely), since it does add an amateurish
 characteristic to the quality sound of this song.  Overall, good work, good
 song.

   ..........

 The samples tie in together very well here, and reflect the joyous mood that
 this song seems to be written in.

   ..........

 I like the frequency ranges.

   ..........

 Nice intro, nice lead into the main part of the song.  Sounds like a couple
 of samples are a little out of tune, and there are a few parts where the
 vibratos don't match too well (they make other notes sound not too good).
 Not a bad overall dancish song.  Good structure, but it didn't seem to have a
 whole lot of variation.

   ..........

 Horns and synth?  These do not blend well at all, especially in a piece of
 pop like this.  Starts to get repetitive too soon.  Percussion could have
 been stronger.

   ..........

 Slightly repetitive, full-bodied sound.

 _____m4v-scal (Scalar World) by Vector/3NO

   ..........

 You cut off that opening sample.  It died and sounded mechanical!  Not much
 variation in the rhythm.  Some nice piano work, which i've heard often, but
 not enough variation throughout the whole song.

   ..........

 Dull.  Average.  Uninteresting.  Samples are dull, the song is dull, nothing
 remarkable about it.  This is not up to the quality of an average veteran
 entry.

   ..........

 Good song, although the voice sample doesn't really seem to fit with the
 whole scheme of things.

   ..........

 Some of your synth samples don't fit in with the others.  The piano line is
 good.

   ..........

 Some of your samples were a bit out of tune.  Always make sure that the
 samples you use are in tune.  It's not that hard to do.  When using
 percussion samples, try at all costs to avoid doubling them up in different
 channels, else they will sound flanged and very unprofessional, as there is
 no way of realy predicting how it will sound.  Work on the fullness of a
 song; making sure all the frequencies in different parts are covered, or part
 will sound tinny in some places, or harsh in others.

   ..........

 Speech sample at beginning just cuts off!  Should have echoed it out.
 Nothing really stands out about the song.  Squarewave sample sounds bad.
 Use of tremor command in order 16 is baffling.

   ..........

 Pretty cool middle section.  Why the weak and confusing intro?  Didn't
 understand the voice.  Other than that, neato song.

 _____m4v-scat (Scattered Mind) by Andy Chen

   ..........

 This song has some really nice piano work; however, it sounds very sparse, as
 there is no bass.  The fact that there is no bass, also makes the drum
 track about useless.  There's nothing to play off of, so it's basically just
 a piano, and drums.  While the piano work is quite good, it left me empty.

   ..........

 This song has the best piano samples I've seen in a long while.  And its not
 afraid to use them.  Superb piano work, sounds very realistic and
 professional.  Unfortunately the other element of the song, the drum beat,
 is quite bad.  Fortunately, the piano is far more noticable than the
 drumming.  However this song really is just a piano song.  There are some
 pianos and some drums, thats it.  No leads or anything.

 Still, the piano part is practically faultless.  Very nice.  However not
 extremely complicated, and I have doubts about whether a song like this can
 progress in a competition.  I like it anyway.  At least the composer didn't
 give in and do a piece of demomusic or an orchestral piece, which tend to win
 this sort of compo.

   ..........

 Nice drum entrance at the beginning, great song with hardly no effects used.
 Beautiful piano part, and the key change was a very effective part of the
 piece.

   ..........

 The piano here is well done.  Great use of the instrument feature in IT.

   ..........

 Very nice song, with only a few things missing.  Your samples are incredibly
 clean, and sound very well used.  However, you're missing something very
 crucial to a song like this: the lower frequencies.  Either lower octave
 piano samples, or a bass instument, or something along those lines to fill up
 that lower frequency.  A nice, fretlass bass would have made this song a
 million times better, and the song is already good to begin with.

   ..........

 Nice piano set, and the arrangement is good, but the lack of bass leaves it
 sounding empty; there's no real "oomph" behind it, which is a big shame.
 Quite anticlimactic too.

   ..........

 Really talented musician this person is.  That drum beat wasn't especially
 good but the lead pianos were positively delightful.

 _____m4v-secr (Secret Spectra) by Mild

   ..........

 A little over done with the bass drum, trying for a Jan Hammer sound, hey,
 it's Miami Vice!  A couple samples are out of tune.

   ..........

 Some terrible chords and clashes of samples hurt this song a lot.  Not much
 of a "core" idea to the song.  Some of the samples are just plain annoying.
 Clever in places, however.  Lead instrument is sometimes very well used.
 Doesn't flow too well.

   ..........

 This tune doesn't hold my attention for too long, but good sample usage here
 (especially the hammond sample), and a very almost tribal sounding piece.

   ..........

 The drum groove at the beginning of this tune is good.  You seem to get just
 a little carried away on the portas.  Portas are good, but don't overuse
 them, because they sound unrealistic here.

   ..........

 I like the lead instrument, but it gets annoying fast.

   ..........

 Not a bad concept for a song, as far as music goes, but it probably could
 have been tracked a little better.  It seemed to just be missing some things.
 Sample choice comes to mind.  Sample tuning comes to mind as well.  When you
 play the same samples at the same note at the same time, you're going to have
 some interference, and that just does not sound good.

   ..........

 Bass guitar sample sounded off-key.  Nice hammond.  Fadeout seemed a bit
 long, you could have made it fade out a little quicker.

   ..........

 Percussion wasn't bad, but leads just sounded tinny and unpolished.  Author
 sounds talented but inexperienced.

 _____m4v-silv (Silverwear) by EV

   ..........

 I really feel like i'm listening to a Casio Keyboard demo, with an occasional
 out of tune sample.  It has a good arrangement, but it really lacks in soul
 and feeling.

   ..........

 Piano tune.  Same piano samples that have been used since the dawn of time.
 However, it has quite a nice jazzy sound, and the samples work pretty well
 together.  The key part to the song is the piano, which is on the whole well
 tracked, but there is the odd dischord.  Good flow.  Sample offsets on piano
 don't help its cause.  Very clicky in places.  Not very high on originality.

   ..........

 A few occasional out of key notes, but that is just a small detail in this
 song.  Great bass line and percussion entrance.  Very catchy.

   ..........

 Fade the piano a little more, because it cuts off too early and doesn't sound
 realistic with the rest of the samples.  Sounds like something you'd hear in
 some Carribean hotel.

   ..........

 Some of your samples are out of tune, and it almost sounds like you're
 playing the piano samples out of their original frequency range from time to
 time.  Don't let some percussion instruments drown out others (like the tommy
 drum run early on in the song) and make sure when using the reverse cymbal
 sample, you have some kind of emphasis on the end of the sample, or it just
 sounds like a special effect, not a reverse cymbal like it should.  Good
 overall song concept.

   ..........

 What is with the panning?  That's ridiculous!  The arrangement is good, and
 the fadeout is decent.

   ..........

 Sounded very good and polished but not nearly high-energy enough to win a
 contest.  A cool song but it just doesn't grab me.

 _____m4v-sing (Crossing) by Dilvish

   ..........

 A lot of this just sounds random.  These samples hurt my ears, very high
 pitched and tinny.  The panning is bizarre, and the samples are out of tune.

   ..........

 Nice samples. Leviathan's guitars, again.  Getting very boring now.  Please,
 if you want a song to sound original don't use them.  It is getting beyond a
 joke.  A ridiculous number of songs in MC4 use them.  Anyway, it sounds very
 nice, it is quite clever, flows well, samples work together well (as they
 did in Emerald Visions).  However it is not the most original song ever
 written, or the most interesting.  Nice all the same.

   ..........

 Not a wholly bad idea as a song, but the tracking of it had some problems.
 The bells that you were using were played way too low for their original
 frequency that they were sampled at, and sounded messy.  Some of the
 percussion samples could use a little work, as well as how you use them.  Try
 to be realistic when using any kind of drum line, and make sure that it
 sounds like something that would be theoretically done in real life.  Always
 make sure your samples are tuned, there is really no excuse for not having
 tuned them.  There is a part where you are using a snare drum WAY too low
 from its original sampling frequency, which is just not cool.

   ..........

 Some of the samples are off key!  This is not good for a veteran.  The
 arrangement is good, even so.  The panning is too divisive; sounds like the
 tune's coming half out of one speaker and half out the other.

   ..........

 Nothing particularly wrong with this song, just seemed directionless.

 _____m4v-soar (Soar) by Human

   ..........

 OK, the Jan Hammer thing is a bit overdone.  But I like this one for the
 first half!  Nice chord changes in there, to give it some authentic feeling,
 but then something happens.  Some clashing through the middle but it returns
 to the nice feel it had.

   ..........

 Very reminiscent of Big Jim's MC3 entry.

   ..........

 Some of the drums cut off too quick, and the guitars just seem a little bit
 too synthy.

   ..........

 Always make sure your samples are tuned.  It is so darned easy to do so that
 there is no excuse for not doing it.  Some of your percussion samples I can
 recall from songs that date over 3 years ago.  If you are going to rip
 samples, try to at least rip them from new songs.  When using a crash cymbal,
 make sure you play it high enough or it sounds out of frequency.  When using
 a reverse cymbal, always make sure you time it to the crash that is coming
 up, or it sounds too sloppy to believe.

   ..........

 Very obvious influence from Big Jim and Leviathan.  Two major flaws stand
 out: sample 8 is a 5th, so it clashes with the melody on some notes, and the
 song cuts off badly at the end.  If that was supposed to be a fadeout, it was
 done poorly.

   ..........

 Solid chord progression.  Good sample choices except for crash cymbal.  This
 one is hard to comment on.  Pretty good job!

   ..........

 _____m4v-span (Timespan) by Primal

   ..........

 Overused vibrato in the guitar sample.  Sounds almost like you're using a tom
 as a bass drum here at times.  Some nice work at times, but nothing that
 really jumps out at me and says there's feeling in the music, some samples
 sound out of tune, as well.

   ..........

 Guitar song.  And out come the Leviathan-ish leads.  I like this.  Superb
 tracking of leads.  Flow is not terrific.  Nice mix of guitars, work well
 together.  The song is in several sections, which are bridged ok.

 One problem it has is an overall low sample rate, which stop it sounding as
 clean as it could.  Especially on the drums, which sound pretty bad.  Very
 well tracked however.  Brilliant in places, a bit dodgy in others.  Brilliant
 bits manage to compensate enough to get this a good rating.

   ..........

 Your guitar samples are not too great.  Good background/rythym guitar and
 bass lines.

   ..........

 Your guitar sample doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the piece.  Your
 transition between parts seems a bit forced.

   ..........

 The beginning sounds a little messy.  Later on in the song, you're playing
 some of the percussion samples too low from their original sampling
 frequency.  Your chords in a lot of places are just not fitting well
 together. When doing a drum roll, never change the frequency of the snare
 drum so much.  That is just not cool.  The song has some good ideas, it is
 just tracked poorly.

   ..........

 Echo on the guitar lead is too loud.  Percussion early on sounds messy and
 confused.  In the second half, sounds as if the different facets of the song
 are fighting each other to be heard.  Fadeout is good.

   ..........

 Had some cool parts and good rhythm at times, but at other times I started to
 port down so often that I wanted to slouch in my chair.  Lead sounds a bit
 like Adrenaline from MC3.  Beginning sounded a bit out of synch.

 _____m4v-spir (Spirit) by GooRoo

   ..........

 Long intro, or at least, until the song goes anywhere.  Very redundant for a
 lot of the song.  The global volume also seems to be unusually low, and
 nothing has any punch throughout the song.

   ..........

 Dancey, new age piece.  Its main problems are it is extremely repetitive, the
 vocal samples are too quiet, and it is overly long too.  See, whereas you
 would hope a song would develop and bring in new ideas, this one doesn't.
 Once the vocals have been brought in around a third of the way through,
 that's it, it just keeps on using the same patterns over and over.  Samples
 aren't bad, but it's a bit too unoriginal and repetitive.

   ..........

 Good drum track, catchy rhythms, but a bit repetitive and the samples could
 be improved.

   ..........

 The drums are too loud compared to the other samples in this piece.  This
 song is also a little bit too repetitive.

   ..........

 Some variety would have been real nice about the fourth minute into the song.
 The song was way too long for any kind of compo.  Keep in mind that while
 this contest is a good way to introduce various different styles into the
 scene, it is also a good idea to make sure that you are not losing the judges
 interest in the process.  Why was the global volume set at half through the
 whole song?  I can't seem to find a reason why you would find this necessary.
 The song just repeated itself far too much.

   ..........

 Despite the decent use of sax, this song sounds repetitive way before order
 20 whem it changes.  Bass goes well with the vocal samples.  Starts to sound
 repetitive around order 38 again, then it's the first section again.  This
 song needs more variation.

   ..........

 Too repetitive and long.  Try to lay off the pattern copy.

 _____m4v-surr (Surrender) by Hunz

   ..........

 Nice and kick back!  Good sample selection.  This is a Song Jan Hammer would
 be proud of.  I do expect it to go somewhere though, and it just seems to be
 a little redundant at times.

   ..........

 Here we go.  A sort of jazzy tune, only quite "dark".  Very nice indeed.  Not
 very much wrong with it at all.  Well tracked, nice flow, good sample set,
 good drum beat.  I like it.  Minor classic.

   ..........

 Good samples, but not a very interesting tune overall.  It bored me a bit.
 Perhaps change some samples around.  There is definitely talent going on
 here.

   ..........

 The groove you have here is really good.  Simple song, but nice.

   ..........

 Good samples.  Meshes nicely together!

   ..........

 Not a bad concept for a song.  It has some of the better percussion I've
 heard throughout the whole contest.  The chip samples make it a little
 curious to listen to.  Not a lot of people opt to use so many lines in each
 of their patterns, and nor do they playback at such an accelerated speed.
 Nice music to chill out to.

   ..........

 Nice jazzy/mellow piece.  Hihats didn't quite sound right.  Nice melody.
 Maybe could have done with a distinctive lead?

   ..........

 Good use of odd tempo.  :)  Sounds clean and professional.  Pretty catchy.
 Sounds almost like George Michael.

   ..........

 _____m4v-syst (System Seven) by Jedi

   ..........

 I love the intro on this, but am not crazy about the rhythm.  Then it goes
 on to sound like a video game.  I keep expecting it to level out, but it goes
 from level to level, with no melody to follow.

   ..........

 Drum loop alert.  Rave/techno.  Manages to be quite impressive in parts and
 annoying in others.  Poor ending.  Not particularly interesting unless you
 love this style of music.  Its tracked ok, some of the samples are awful and
 some are pretty good.  One of the best things about it is the drum loop,
 which seems to be almost in surround sound and is quite impressive.
 Otherwise, it is a tune soon forgotten.

   ..........

 Tracking a drum track separately would have probably spiced up this piece a
 lot more, for the drumloop sounds a bit out of place.  Other than that, it's
 decent.

   ..........

 This song is a bit too repetitive.  The samples don't really agree with each
 other, because some some of them are too chippy.  Kinda sounds bad to have
 both realistic and chip instruments in the same song.

   ..........

 Nice instruments.  The bass is so cool!

   ..........

 The song started out really nice.  Usually it is a good idea to set your
 panning.  On a stereo, it sounds horrid when you've seperated the channels,
 as well as the percussion samples.  That drum loop is just not happening in
 this song.  Then the "ravesque" sample comes in and ruins the song totally.
 At that point is when the song starts to get incredibly sloppy sounding, and
 then I notice some out of tune samples.

   ..........

 Decent techno.  Maintained a melody throughout.

   ..........

 Really cool intro but then a non-catchy or sub-standard drum beat.  Totally
 odd use of portamentos on techno sounds.  Lack of consistency between
 sections.

 _____m4v-thel (The Last Dancer) by Catspaw+Dude

   ..........

 I'm not crazy about the samples used here at all.  Very little development,
 and many abrupt changes.  Make your segues so that you flow from one piece to
 the next.  Completely fading out and going to something else just doesn't cut
 it here.

   ..........

 Orchestral with a drum beat.  Samples are all ripped, but well used.  And
 yes, it uses the Marcato strings too.  The song itself flows very well
 indeed, with good changes of pace around patterns 16 and 28.  Starts slowish,
 then goes to fast, then to slow, all with smooth transitions.  It sounds
 good, and also comes very close to the channel limit in places.  Lacking in
 originality, and over-long, but not repetitive, so can almost be forgiven
 for its length.

   ..........

 Good drum track, and effective use of strings.

   ..........

 I can tell that this song is supposed to be programatic, and it handles that
 purpose very well.  I like the way that the different emotions are showed.
 Transitions were good.  My only complaint is just nit-picking, but it seems
 like the violins don't fade away quickly enough.

   ..........

 The song had some good ideas, but there were some parts that detracted from
 the overall concept.  First of all, I cannot stress how important it is to
 make sure your samples are in tune with each other.

 The song lacks some fullness that would be evident in other songs. There are
 parts in the song where you are cutting samples off way too quickly, and it
 sounds choppy when you do that.  NNA's are a good quality, but they are way
 overused in this song.  There are chords that are still playing that
 interfere with the newer chords playing.  If you want to solve that problem,
 make the volume fade out quicker on that particular instrument.  Otherwise,
 it is going to be considered sloppy.  Keep in mind that this is a contest,
 and like any other contest, your goal is to keep the judge interested in
 listening to the song.  While it is possible to introduce new ideas, it is
 usually a good idea to remember that this is a contest first.  I bring this
 up because your song is just way too long.  Also, try not to use the reverse
 cymbal unless you have a crash or some other emphasizing point after it.
 That's just plain tacky.

   ..........

 Orchestration is good; excellent feel of reverb, but the transition at order
 16 was unexpected and uncomfortable; strings/pizzicato on a racy section?
 Also, transition at order 27/28 sounds like a different song has been clipped
 onto the end.

   ..........

 Not a bad effort.  A little long and slow... made me sleepy.  :)

 _____m4v-tien (Tienimi Vicino) by Dustbin

   ..........

 Nice melody and vocals.  Guitar solo a bit loud/over vibed.

   ..........

 Good use of the vocal samples, even if I couldn't understand what they were
 saying.  They fit well with the tune, which is something I've found lacking
 in other songs.

   ..........

 Nice clear samples.  Very nice voice!  But some forced sounding chord
 progressions and keychanges.  Perhaps a bit more variation in the chord
 progression, and less echo.  Also a tad out of sync in some places.

   ..........

 Good intro sequence, voices good, but a bit muddy with echo.

   ..........

 A very pleasent song to listen to.  Too bad it isn't in english so I can
 actually understand what I am hearing.  Use dynamics with your percussion
 instruments so they don't sound plain.  Definitely do not overuse the crash
 cymbal if you can avoid it.  There are parts where the vocals are being
 drowned out by the rest of the music. Your use of echo is very nice, but
 sometimes a little overdone and that makes it sound just a shade on the
 sloppy side.  The song has good structure, but there are parts where it
 sounds like the vocal samples are just a bit on the out of tune side.  Try
 to keep an ear on that.

   ..........

 Impressive singing and overall production.

   ..........

 Well done "clean" guitar part.  Excellent quality on the voice samples.
 Percussion and bass line work well in the song.  Distorted guitar could sound
 much better sample-wise.  How loud are those vocal echoes?  They should be
 1/2 the original volume or even less.

   ..........

 Guitar song with actual real vocals, and well done too.

 Quite a surprising tune if a little short.  A shame I don't understand the
 language.  At fist I thought it's italian but I'm not sure anymore.  A nice
 guitar song, well executed and nicely tracked.

 _____m4v-tran (Transmission) by Scott

   ..........

 Nice drum loops, but lacking in tracking skill.  Overuse of channels to make
 samples louder is poor technique.

   ..........

 Hard to discern when everything was practically at the same volume.

   ..........

 The rhythm is nice, but gets boring after a while, and the progression wears
 down quickly.  Needs something to jump out and grab you after the first
 quiet part.

   ..........

 Doubling your samples up is just not cool.  It sometimes flanges them in ways
 that sound sloppy.  It also is very overpowering.  Too overpowering.  I know
 there is a point to this song, I just cannot seem to hear what it might be.
 This is a music contest.  While this particular contest is a good way to
 expose the scene to new and unusual styles of music, it is also expected that
 you are going to try to keep the judge interested in the song to begin with.
 This song just is not tracked well at all.

   ..........

 Noisy samples, needs more dynamics.

   ..........

 The first thing that came to my mind when I heard this song is a NIN song
 that didn't make the album cut.  Unfortunately, even that is a generous
 offering.  Song is repetitious and shows little to no compositional skill.
 Also, composer doesn't seem to have much experience with a tracker.

 _____m4v-trek (Earthwide Trek) by Zinc

   ..........

 Decent track.  Needs more of something.

   ..........

 Murky through out the song, vocals sounded straight out of "Mission
 Impossible".

   ..........

 Interesting style, good range of samples, but where does it go?  There is no
 definite start or ending, the title doesn't really suit the piece.

   ..........

 A bit slow and generic.

   ..........

 Keep something in mind.  This is a contest.  You have a group of judges who
 will be listening to this music, and if their interest can't be held by
 something even remotely musical, then chances are you will not get very far.
 Since this is a contest, I can't see it getting very far when your object is
 to grab the judges by the nerves and not to let go.

   ..........

 Good use of stereo and dynamics, would improve with cleaner samples.

   ..........

 Percussion samples used poorly.  Song seems to be a failed attempt at
 ambient.  Too random and little direction.  Song has no quality musical
 elements.  Unless you made all these samples yourself, this can't even be
 called an original composition because all you did was play the samples back
 as they are.

 _____m4v-trut (Truth Always Hurts) by Dinugz

   ..........

 Good attempt at this style of music. Female vocals too quiet.  Lead doesn't
 seem to fit.

   ..........

 Another song with vocals, this time they were descernable.  The opening was
 well done, but the bridge could use some work.

   ..........

 Lacks direction, needs more variation.

   ..........

 The stereo pan wobble is hard on my ears.

   ..........

 The vocals of the song are drowned out by the rest of the music.  The leads
 are little on the whiney side as far as volume fades go.  The percussion
 could use a lot of work.  The crash cymbal coming in a little too early would
 be ok if it were once in a while, but it happens constantly throughout the
 song.  Try not to use that reverse cymbal unless you can time it just right,
 and cut it off at the right moment, otherwise it just sounds tacky.  The song
 is a good concept overall, but it is just not tracked very well.

   ..........

 Vocals could be made to stand out more.

   ..........

 Song is below average quality in composition and tracker skill.  Female vocal
 samples seem buried in the mix.  Percussion is poorly structured.

 _____m4v-turp (Turpentine Kisses) by Caramel

   ..........

 Funky!  Leads could use some work, more song developement.

   ..........

 Wow!  An actual MOD, it's amazing what some people can do in only 4 channels.
 A little short I thought, but I enjoyed the change from the trip-hoppy to the
 rock.

   ..........

 Sounds fine if I flip to mono, but stereo is bad!

   ..........

 Woah, four channel lives.  The intro has absolutely nada to do with the rest
 of the song?  Some of your samples are out of tune.  The main body of the
 song is very interesting to listen to.

   ..........

 Would score higher in a 4 channel competition.

   ..........

 Interesting intro that leads to a surprising and more interesting next
 section.  Song is well executed and composer is able to show skill and
 talent.  Samples sound nice and work well for the song.

   ..........

 Sweet intro and funky main part.  Not many groundbreaking ideas though.

 _____m4v-unce (Uncertain Dreams) by BassQ

   ..........

 Generally good.  Brass leads slightly over-powering.

   ..........

 Really slow through order 11, then it picked up the tempo.  Died down again
 at the end, not a good ending.

   ..........

 Great intro, but the main body doesn't follow on too well.  I think you could
 have developed the ambient part more.  The main body needs more variation,
 and perhaps a clearer/precise melody.

   ...........

 The overuse of panning gets on the nerves.  The song overall is a decent
 idea.  Good musical ideas, but some of your samples are out of tune.  Not a
 bad song at all, it just needs a bit more work.

   ..........

 Effective intro, brass samples a bit cheesy.

   ..........

 "Tampered" voice sample is overused.  Interesting intro section with the
 chords but song doesn't develop quickly enough.  Song breaks into next
 section without a smooth transition.  Composer seems too intent on being
 flashy while neglecting production of a solid composition.

 _____m4v-univ (Universe Electric) by Siren

   ..........

 Superior tracking, excellent samples.

   ..........

 This is an awesome song, very clear samples and a melody that is still stuck
 in my head.

   ...........

 Great samples, great melody, good chord progression, you definitely know how
 to use the features of the tracker well!  Slightly ridgid though, could have
 used a little more "flexibility" instead of sticking to the 1 note per beat
 routine.  Nice to see a tune that knows when to put variation in!

   ..........

 Wonderful intro, very nice chords, very interesting voice samples, good
 percussion lines, good overall sound, very good progression.  I had a hard
 time finding anything wrong with the song at all.

   ..........

 Competent, but could use more direction.

   ..........

 Song shows strong compositional skills and knowledge of the tracker.  Nice
 groove that is maintained throughout. The samples used in this piece helped
 to create and extend the mood.

   ..........

 Some nice ideas on the percussion and backing.

 A smooth beginning that leads to the main part heavy on percussion.  Very
 well tracked.  The chords are smooth.  The percussion is well done.  A very
 good sample set and well equalized.

 Enjoyable listening.  The lack of a consistent theme by using chords and an
 indistinguishable lead string isn't bad but it means the song might get a
 little boring.

 _____m4v-unkn (The Unknown Land) by Welti

   ..........

 Great potential, but unfortunately you didn't seize the chance.  A bit
 quiet, had to turn up the stereo loud to hear some of it. Segments don't
 quite follow on from each other.

   ..........

 I hate having to turn up the volume on my stereo to a very high setting to
 hear a song at any point, and the whole song was just too quiet.  There were
 a lot of very good ideas throughout the song, but it doesn't change at all it
 seems.  The same theme is evident throughout the whole song, and it just
 doesn't grab me as a competition song should.  Don't forget, this competition
 may be known for introducing new ideas into the scene, but you have to be
 able to get them past the judges first.

   ..........

 Outstanding dynamics and a haunting theme.

   ..........

 Song is not strong enough to hold one's interest.  Intro is too slow to
 build.

 _____m4v-vani (Vanishing Point) by Mesonyx

   ..........

 An overused guitar riff.

   ..........

 Repetitive towards the end.

   ..........

 The guitar riffs are out of sync, needs better timing.  The tune is very
 weak, and the riff is used too much.  Stronger backing would have helped to
 ease the "hollow" feel.  More variation needed in the chord progressions.

   ..........

 The beginning seperated chords have a very sour note in the third
 progression.  If you are going to write any kind of guitar song, then sample
 your own guitar or find one to sample.  Ripping them out of a song where they
 were used for a specific setting is poor ethics.

   ..........

 Aren't these guitar samples from an old amiga mod?  This doesn't sound very
 original.  Repetition and use of samples displays lack of creativity.

 _____m4v-vvow (Vow) by Centurion

   ..........

 Great structure. Slightly rough transition into finale.

   ..........

 The background sometimes overshadowed the melody, but a great song through
 out.  Rotated the melody between different instruments, a nice touch.

   ..........

 Great melody.  Piano was a great touch before the intro wore out its welcome.
 The change in order 11 doesn't quite fit, and the ending was a disappointment
 after a great piece.

   ..........

 Using the same chip sample at different octaves can prove to be a little
 out of tune from time to time, as was the case in this song.  Other samples
 were out of tune as well.  There is no excuse for not tuning your samples.
 The song has some very nice ideas, regardless of the above stated problems.
 Work on your transitions.

   ..........

 Very nice overall feel.

   ..........

 Introduction builds nicely.  Percussion in first section is poorly done.
 Piano section after the building introduction is a disappointment.

 _____m4v-whya (Why All This Pain) by Black Lotion

   ..........

 Some good parts.  "Why" samples amusing, but too overused.

   ..........

 Poor use of vocals, the "why" sample got really annoying, took away from the
 instruments.

   ..........

 Well, the title certainly rings true of the feeling I get listening to this
 piece.  Quite disturbing!  Well done for conveying across feeling.

   ..........

 Work on your percussion.  Don't let some samples drown out others.  There are
 a few sour notes here and there in the piano lines.  That singing "why"
 sample sounds very familiar.  I have no idea what the song says later on
 because the vocal is being drowned out by the rest of the music.  The shouted
 "WHY?!!?" makes me ask the same thing from time to time while listening.

   ..........

 Piano could use more feel.

   ..........

 Voice sample is out of place.

 _____m4v-zeus (Zeus & Genevieve) by Zapper

   ..........

 Catchy tune, good all around track.

   ..........

 Great opening, but I thought the vocal was out of place there. Otherwise a
 well rounded song.

   ..........

 Needs more variation.

   ..........

 There are some parts where it sounds like you are mixing the playing of the
 samples at the same time, and it is flanging it somewhat.  Some of your
 samples are just a shade out of tune.  However, despite those things, this
 song grabs me by the ankles and takes me along for the ride.  It almost
 sounds like it has some reminiscance of the old Commodore 64 music days.  If
 only the C64 was this good.  Very very nice overall song.  Good ending.

   ..........

 Excellent work.  Several textured layers make this song interesting with each
 listen.  Song shows exceptional compositional and tracker skill.  Key changes
 are done well.  Slow moving 8-note melody over the backgrounds creates a nice
 mood.  This song still plays in my head long after I stopped listening to it.

   ..........

 Some really great new driving sounds and great ideas.  Whining intro but the
 song takes up the main sound pretty fast.

 Commands are used skillfuly to achieve the sweeps. Panning is there but it
 doesn't do anything big. Good use of channels.

 Clean samples with good loops.  They work very good in the mix.

......................................End.of.Music.Contest.IV.Veteran.Comments.

