Ef-X's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Theeketel - Old Books]

Not so odd

You talking about esoteric knowledge O.o?

If newgrounds had a word count, dread would be your #1 word. The dissonant sounds reached through dissonant notes and effects (the echo of the first two instruments matching rhythmically) prove this. I'm curious at how the song keeps an interesting progression being repeated again and again i.e. not a boring loop :D you flavored the loop with a handful of different techniques and effects (i think i heard voices halfway into the track.) 5/5. Also the fact that I been reviewing your music late at night gives it an extra touch. What was your goal for this one?

AliceMako responds:

Sure, what if i am? ^_-

I don't know if it does but i don't know whom loops appeal to apart from easy quips about mild autism or inate absent mindedness.

Every trick employed here is due to more study and excercise with synthesizer programming, no external effect devices whatsoever though several oscillators may have been grievously injured during the making of this piece.

There's voices in the middle, courtesy of my love affair with formant filters.

Well i'd venture we're in different time zones so perhaps my experiments are dispensed when they best suit you? :3

The object of this excercise is a long story that i'm not going to relate here.

[Perfect Afternoon [Cmdtri]

Lol sounds happy

Reminds me somehow of the progression in Cannon by Pachelbel. I really digg'd the progression the piano loop took and the sound the guitar made (what's the name of the instrument.) It shows influence of classical music with the fast piano notes on place. The strings just felt a bit off for me (not off in the sense of rhythm but placing) perhaps lower them an octave, though with the introduction of a different guitar melody you seemed to back it up nice. Pretty solid. 5/5.

Cmdtrigun responds:

Half way into making it I realized it's super similar to Cannon :D The instrument is just and acoustic guitar that I tweaked a bit. I understand your qualm with the strings, they're a bit iffy for me too. Glad you liked it though, thanks :)

[Waking Dreams]

Listening to this...

@ 3 in the morning is a trip.
I symbolized the intro sound as footsteps...miners working on a mine exposed to all the horrible gases, their voices doing these weird sounds ...any how by the division they are trapped and attempt to leave...and as the track nears the end they mine themselves out...oh man. I am strangely attracted to this track (not sexually) just intrigued at how these sounds come together...panning and stuff...they make and all that other little technical details that makes me interested in your music. Interested at how you introduced the percussion and then stopped all the other instruments then proceeded to repeat...there's just something classical or at least natural to it for me. 5/5.

AliceMako responds:

It's perfectly natural :3

[Epic Ninja Bureaucrat]

Richard D. James?

I gotta note his influence here. I enjoyed how you built up the rhythm first and then boom! started with the main melody. The drums do this melody wonders giving a consonant feel to your ears while this epicness is happening in the background. The adding of arpeggio like sounds halfway through the song just enhance the abstract/hyper feel to the track. Truthfully the way the track is structured (everything attaches just in time) leads me to pick it as one of my favorite from your works, it is one of your most consonant sounding tracks. I like that trick of starting it how it ends.

AliceMako responds:

Richard D. James much? (lol)

I'm so glad you enjoy it cus incidentally this, along with the double d track i did a while later, is a piece that i put way more time and effort in then what i generally post here. (not that that saves it from being crap compared to how i'd want to be but so be it x3)

The inspiration came from this one track called "Vibrequency" by fellow newgrounder LucidSpore, not soundwise specifically but the feeling it gave me.

[Invasion Of The Emo Bots]

You can ask Igorina...

to bring the machine. Though this didn't brainwash me like the gizmo near the exit did, it still did leave an impact. Minimalism I presume...really i cant say much about it other than what you yourself stated below on the comments...but towards the end it did however get interesting with those low notes going so freaking fast. I'd like to see you do some sick unusual melody with the ubber duck-esque synth lead.

AliceMako responds:

I'll have her fetch me coffee while i'm at it :3

The object of this genre is provide background noise for ingesting synthetic uppers and dancing so whether or not hypnosis comes into play is up for debate though you're entirely correct in noting it's minimalistic.

I'm actually a bit perplexed why this piece is getting responses at all given that last year i uploaded two examples of considerably more popular subgenres of tekno.

Perhaps it's a novelty to this listener base too, i don't know.

I could make good on your suggestion and find more applications for this type of synth, who knows what'll happen :3

[Santa Muerte]

Quality Headphones

The intro sounded like doom was coming upon the listener. Great way to start it and the beat was just ol'skool electronic drum-pad nastiness. So many different sounds somehow equalizing together, you keep that repetitive background but you diverse the oh so unusual melody...now for phase 2... The drums got it going...brought upon the life this saint took...I c why I like your stuff. Three words, crazy, diverse, and repetitive. 5/5.

AliceMako responds:

I was attempting to recreate the feeling Droidlock's "people i meet" gave me years ago and i have to say i fell flat of that but i'm pleased nonetheless.

Noting a lot of grim reaper imagery surrounding the local experimental scene lately i did some digging to see if there was possibly something profound behind the copy pasta use of these depictions which everybody either has in their studio or on their person for no particular reason.

Turns out that in mexican syncretism there is such a thing they dubbed holy death, i can't quite tell if it's a deity, voodoo loa or patron saint or possibly all of the aforementioned but i thought it was rather neat given that it appears to be the local icon of would be musicians :3

Your three words sum it up quite nicely i think, thanks and glad you like <3

[Summon Slut]

Oh God!

*takes deep breath*

So destructive...I digg the rhythm the melody takes (the notes going up and down and the brief stops in them.) The atmosphere created by the pads just flows all over the rest of the instruments. 5/5.

AliceMako responds:

Glad you like, i'm just a touch proud of this critter myself as it's all made from scratch ie from programming the synths to employing field recorded samples exclusively :D

After a lot of initial difficulties with counter resonance and audio clipping it only took me an additional day to iron out all the creases.

Thank you <3

[wanderers and the majesty -sly]

Mastered?

I dont know if its the switch of my audio gear but this version sounds different (at least in the production.) It sounds "crispier" more clear/out there. I can note that you added that second half and it gives the song a different feeling more of an anticipation for something feeling (anticipation for the loop i guess.) Still liking it 5/5.

kjhsdgf responds:

yeah i tweaked some values and i hope it's an improvement over what i previously had..

anyhow, thanks for the review!

[Ascension - slunchy]

Velocidad

shift in speed...That trick is always nasty, and you pulled it off...well....nasty! This is remastering, the sounds were clear no doubt about it as well as the volume of each instrument. Bass/melody combo's a great way to enhance a melody and it fitted in this situation. I took liking to how the melody completely evolves within the span of two minutes by the time the breakdown came the bass was trying to keep up with the melody, and in the ending it gets engulfed by the arpeggio like sounds introduced in the bridge to the breakdown. The beat is great as always the build up for it was nice as hell and the reverb the snare was making, forget about it...it was great. I viewed the ending as the culmination of the entire loop with all the techniques and feelings of the first two phases added up into an epic finale...and then starting it all over again. Cinco de mayo.

kjhsdgf responds:

tbh, i just lost track of the song, and was interested in taking it in a newer direction :p
but i really appreciate the joviality!

[End of the Journey - slunchyy]

diversity

Yeah the melody does have an ambivalent tone but then again so does the majority of the melodies you create, you understand the great importance of having consonant and dissonant tones on a composition in order to have diversity within it (at least one of the ways to achieve diversity.) As for the beat...I liked the progression the bass drum took, it isn't your typical beat though it may seem at points to be, you also got diversity going in that bass drum (i heard bout three different ways the bass drum rolled in this song, my favorite being that second it gives the feeling of being offset nice touch for your ambivalence theme.) I cannot find anything to criticize about it, for me all the instruments are leveled fine when it comes to volume, and the composition structure is banging. Though the source of ambivalence comes mainly from the background support sound and the percussion (I seem to hear it that way.) Oh and fo' the bass...i don't have much to say in it other than it complimented the song, though i was expecting it to take another silence like it did for that second or two at the beginning however i would see how hard that is since the loop is only 23 seconds long. Overall its a great job, a totally 5/5.

kjhsdgf responds:

:D
i actually extended the loop a little, but haven't gotten around to uploading it...
i'm a sad panda because the chord progressions i like always end up being chiptune songs, and very short.
but i'm really glad you liked the song, ef-x!