secantwave's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[HP] Artificial Nature]

Very mysterious.

This is a very intriguing and mysterious tune; the constantly beeping background seems to project a feeling of mechanical precision, whereas the reedy and marimba sounds at places such as at 1:17 sound more wild and natural. Or at least that's what it sounds like to me. I also really appreciate the piano tune at the very beginning--specifically, the first 4 notes; it sounds almost as if there's a note out of place, but I don't know what it is. This is _not_ a bad thing--rather, it sounds unsettling and unnatural. The contrast among the sounds involved is what makes this piece "paint a picture in my head", to make use of an overused phrase.
The only thing that could maybe be improved is that this piece seems a little spare at points, often with only one instrument leading at a time and no harmony apart from the background. However, as this is for a game, it might do better in this regard when associated with an area instead of playing by itself.
Finally, I'd just like to comment that what you describe sounds like a very interesting idea for an area in a game, and I'm curious to see what else you may come up with.

[B7 Lance Battle Final Remaster]

Excellent.

Normally I'm not terribly keen on metal as a genre, but I particularly like this song, probably in part just because I have a special fondness for this tune, but also because it's extremely well done. I appreciate the sheer quantity of energy in this song, and the fact that you've managed to combine both heavy guitar and drums with the 8-bit sound such as at 2:08 without making it sound silly. Obviously, they are two very different instruments that might not combine easily, but not only have you managed to make the combination work well, you've made them jell perfectly.
Also, the Dragonite cry works very well in the two places where you've put it in.
Overall, an excellent battle theme.

[ParagonX9 - Chaoz Twiligh]

I concur with the preceding reviewers.

I would agree with what some other people have said that this song is a bit disjointed. I think the trick is the changes in mood that you describe--the chaotic part is practically atonal, with an extremely heavy beat, whereas, the twilighty part has a clearly defined melody and is occasionally without drums. I do normally like songs with mood changes and similar shifting, but the ones in this song are so extreme that they're disruptive to my listening. (Just as I appreciate eating cake but not giant blocks of sugar, if you'll pardon a bizarre metaphor.) 1:41, 2:59, and 2:23 are particularly disorienting transitions and could be improved significantly.
I would, however, also agree that the individual parts are pretty good, and at the same time I really appreciate the part at the end (from 3:12 on) when the two are fused together: that's probably my favorite part of the song. In general, if you made the two separate parts more similar to each other, and/or made the segues between them more gradual (although the sudden, sharp changes _within_ the chaotic part were quite cool.) the piece would be improved.

[Psy-Kaliber 2097]

Quite awesome.

There are very few songs that I'm willing to give 10s to in reviews; usually, there's some sort of weak portion or poorly chosen sound that prevents me from doing that. (For example, even Waterflame's "-Village up north-", another of my favorite songs on this site, got a 9.) This song has no such handicap (which is especially impressive for a song that's 5:37). The syncopated portion from 2:07 to 2:31 was especially cool, due in part to the leading sound you used at 2:19. The way the song tends to alternate between heavy sawlike tunes such as at 3:11 and light, high-pitched leading melodies against the heavy background such as those occurring at 1:14 was excellent. You used a perfectly varied palette of sounds, and I literally cannot think of any significant criticism, which is a rarity.

NemesisTheory responds:

Wow, I'm really happy you feel that way!

I'm always a big advocate (did I use that word right? :P) of change ups myself, so it's very nice to hear that some of the parts where that happened are appreciated. <3

Thanks again for the really kind words! <3

[ParagonX9 - Blue Marine]

Good tune.

As the title says, this piece certainly has an excellent tune; the fiddling with the bass at 0:54-1:04 and 2:19-2:29 is particularly catchy, as is its "reprise" with the saw wave. The only things about this song I found particularly objectionable were the orch-hits that occurred throughout, which sounded kind of disruptingly artificial, and the lead at 0:33-0:42 (for example) tended a bit to the grating side of things. These are, of course, small nitpicks. Overall, great work.

[Thundersocks]

Very...interesting!

In this case, I'm not using interesting as a euphemism for bad; this piece is superb. I like in particular the sound used to bridge at 0:44 and then repeating at 0:55-0:59 and 1:12. The contrast in this particular piece between a complex and layered wall of sound topped by a clear melody is very cool. I like also the almost haunting way it ends. The only problems I have with it are very nitpicky things, mostly transitions; the shift at 0:34 seems a bit empty and awkward, and 1:37 also is a bit of an odd leap. The ending seems way too stretched.
I'd like to emphasize that these are really minor things; if the rating system were more versatile, you would probably get around a 9.4. Excellent job!

[-Village up north-]

Excellent song, with clear ties to "Space pirates"

This song seems to be getting a lower score (at least at time of posting) then many of your other songs, but I feel this is undeserved. The main theme of it is excellent and the sounds you use to play it also. The backing of the main theme at times by what sounds almost like a human voice (for example at 2:35) is an interesting touch that I highly appreciate. The guitar/lute/stringed instrument at 3:22 is another example of the great variety of interesting sounds that combine to make this song good. The one element of this song that I disliked was at the very beginning from 0:16 to 0:29. For some reason, I didn't particularly like the sound you use for the main melody there; it sounds like a poorly sampled wind instrument. (This is mostly a personal opinion, though.) Nevertheless, it was good overall.
To sum up, I think this song's main merit is its "density," so to speak. Some pieces of electronic music pile up all sorts of sounds on top of each other, until the end result sounds cluttered. On the other end, your "Space pirates" was a very "spare" song--while I still also like that one, it uses very few different sounds or tunes at once. This song seems to strike an excellent balance between the two extremes.
(Sorry that this review is so wordy, but I had a lot to say.)

[-To the skies-]

I agree with Corona688.

I'm not going to rate this differently solely on the basis of unoriginality; considered in a vacuum, this song is quite spiffy. I appreciate the sheer variety of sounds that were used, as well as the heavy and complex bassline, which contributed also to my appreciation of Race Around the Moon. However, it does still retain various themes and stylistic elements that have pervaded your work almost uniformly for the past few songs. (To be fair, this song did a better job of remaining distinct from previous ones, but not really enough.)

Waterflame responds:

thank you! =) yeah i see whay you mean, seems like its a general thing pepole are disspleased with these days. i guess i just cant get enugh of it myself. i always make music to mainly please my own ear. i make what i like, obviously, who dossnt.. i havent really been trying to be diffrent from myself. im just having fun! but i do see your point. thanks for the cirticicm. i have alot of unfinished other tracks, trance, dubstep, etc. so change will be here soon!

[-Clownparty remix-]

Interesting tune.

I like how, when incorporating the clownish tune at 1:08, you give it interesting harmonies in the background to flesh out what is an essentially trivial little tune into something that sounds rich, as well as somewhat eerie. The rest of the song is also fine, but that part in particular stands out. Good job!

[The Greatest Song In the]

Doesn't quite deserve the name, I'm afraid...

The tune of this song is quite good, and the instrumentation and sounds are appealing. However, the tune is very repetitive. It's also very repetitive. While this can sometimes be made to work, it usually doesn't unless the sounds used are sufficiently varied, and in this case they aren't particularly. Still, the individual elements of the song are fine; good job with that. It's at putting them together where this song falls somewhat short.