Larry's Comments: Wow, a great almost dance/big-beat groove, then fused with orchestral. Definitely very creative while clearly keeping the source melody intact. Nice pizz strings midway through. Despite the amount of textural changes, everything flowed fairly naturally. The drop-off at 2:02 almost felt like a total mistake until 2:12 beefed things up. Creativity, lots of technique to be sure, and the cohesiveness of the instrumentation definitely gets some personal tilt. It was a risky direction, but successfully pulled off.

Ronin's Comments: Excellent underlying structure used throughout the piece combined withbrilliant musical awareness.

Sebastian's Comments: Dark, upbeat and mysterious, and a very cool arrangment arrangment overal. Love it!

Larry's Comments: Lots of fun! The major drawback was the sequencing sounding so mechanical. There's a huge lack of polish there that limited the effectiveness of the writing, something where better samples wouldn't even get the job done if they were sequenced this way.

Ronin's Comments: If one word had to be used to describe this piece, it would definitely be smooth. If a second had to be used, it would be superb.

Sebastian's Comments: Uematsu meets Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Just the concept of that amazes me - amazing work! Loved every second of this.

Larry's Comments: Pretty strong arrangement ideas. Very beautiful piano lead, though the sample felt on the thin side; probably the only real criticism that affected the finished product. Simple yet effective and cohesive textures. The mallet percussion was a bit too loud in my opinion, but no big deal. The left-hand piano was bland at limited times, lowering the tilt a shade, but only because the other writing was so progressive. Definitely a pro-level executed, album quality arrangement; easy top 3 territory.

Ronin's Comments: A piece doesn't have to be complicated to be extremely effective, and this arrangement is testament to that.

Sebastian's Comments: Heartfelt and tragic. But so beautiful. An amazing arrangment.

Larry's Comments: Nice work here! I'm definitely feeling the composition; very sophisticated.

Ronin's Comments: The subtle inclusion of the Final Fantasy II main theme just helps to emphasise the imagination that oozes through this arrangement.

Sebastian's Comments: I love the dynamics of your arrangment; the contrast between the thoughtful violins and the grand orchestral ending. Beautiful.

Larry's Comments: Pretty cover-ish arrangement overall, but very stylish, and well-performed. The performance could have been a bit tighter, but live performance means personal tilt goes up!

Ronin's Comments: A very well thought out arrangement with lots of innovation and subtle touches. It definitely deserves a lot of praise.

Sebastian's Comments: A very authentic version of this song. Amazing arrangment; very fun to listen to!

Larry's Comments: The brass lead felt COMPLETELY wrong for the mood here, but the overall construction was solid. The parts could have been better balanced and separated. This was still very well written, with great energy and dynamics.

Ronin's Comments: This arrangement is very eloquent and displays a good level of musicality.

Sebastian's Comments: Amazing arrangment; you really captured the inteded suspense and quite harmoniously portrayed it.

Larry's Comments: Excellent piano piece, skillfully performed aside from one odd spot at 6:05. The recording leaves something to be desired, but wasn't factored into the score.

Ronin's Comments: This is a piano arrangement that weighs in at a very high standard. The negative though, is the addition of the extra themes after the initial one detracts from the overall structure of the piece.

Sebastian's Comments: Your arrangment has something very late-contemporary to it; Uematsu with a tad more classical. I think you were one of the very few who submitted an actual recording, and it makes me happy to hear your fully developed style come through the magic of this medley.

Larry's Comments: Heard these samples a million times, so they're definitely not all that; could be used a lot more effectively; produced like crap with tons of static and latency as a result; why did the artist send it like this; use some headphones to check it out before you send it (not a factor, but I always appreciate attention to detail, and this is a big one); anyway, great writing, would sound epic performed with real instruments; messed up the last note at 4:23, booooooooo :-P

Ronin's Comments: A very majestic and rich sounding arrangement.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Oooh, source tune bias, I loved this one from Chrono Trigger. The sequencing was generally good. Ah man, the drums brought in at :31 were such a big mistake; they sounded cheap and totally out of place. Those drums needed to be a lot thicker. Good transition into the Prelude though, very smooth. The vox at 2:03 sounded a bit robotic, but was a decent concept, and would sound awesome live. ROFL, those stupid drums were back again at 2:27. They're literally the only thing out of place with this one. Sad. With a better percussion choice, I would have thrown the personal tilt way up. The source tune was good, but the sounds generally had a great ethereal quality to them that gave the arrangement a lot of sonic depth.

Ronin's Comments: Solid undertones help to cement a good structure and musical feel throughout this piece.

Sebastian's Comments: Simply amazing. I love the exquesite job you did on this. The variation one the themes incorporated with your style brought out the best in the pieces. The choir was a lovely addition to the score. The subtle dynamics, the beat, the effects- everything: simply gorgeous. Very enjoyable to listen to; an excellent arrangment.

Larry's Comments: Good alteration of the mood of the originals while retaining the general structure.

Ronin's Comments: A near perfect melding together of all the elements that made the Final Fantasy X soundtrack so great.

Sebastian's Comments: Every second of your piece was pure pleasure to listen to. I'd love to hear a full orchestra perform your arrangment some time. Your ability to blend melodies so harmoniously is a mystery to me. Beautiful in every way.

Larry's Comments: This had beautiful plucked strings, and pretty good, well-balanced textures that filled up the space well, all showing very good technique. The arrangement was surprisingly substantive despite the length.

Ronin's Comments: The arrangement has some really defining moments that definitely make it stand out.

Sebastian's Comments: Beautiful. The dreamy feeling adds a very nice touch; the harp took my breath away.

Larry's Comments: Cool, a live ensemble recording. The balance between the parts was a little shaky, and the lower strings felt a little off on the first listen. The way the parts worked together felt too loose and unpracticed though. If this was actually multitracked, then it's not terrible, but it's also not great. Definitely some personal tilt for performing this.

Ronin's Comments: A vastly innovative arrangement, which excels at showing many forms of expressions given the instrumentation used.

Sebastian's Comments: Beautiful arrangment, very enjoyable to listen to.

Larry's Comments: Crappy production. There was probably no reason to encode this at 320kbps, but hey, not everyone has a pristine recording environment. The performance was a little rough to open it up, but the artist sounded like they found their rhythm pretty quickly. It was a little weak to have repetition for such a short piece, but the arrangement was reasonably well structured. Not a blowaway composition or performance, but very respectable.

Ronin's Comments: A very bold piano arrangement.

Sebastian's Comments: I really enjoyed your arrangment and performance. Very touching and beautiful to listen to.

Larry's Comments: Great concept. Fairly good but unpolished execution though, with very unnatural-sounding sequencing.

Ronin's Comments: This arrangement is quite hit and miss. Some elements of it work really well, as they're really inspiring and full of energy. However, other parts are quite dull and drag on. Overall though, it's a good arrangement.

Sebastian's Comments: Dark, mysterious, passionate. A wonderful piece; very enjoyable to listen to.

Larry's Comments: There was no justifiable reason to encode this at 64kbps/22kHz. It didn't affect the score dramatically, but I'm still wondering why it was in this format. The last couple of minutes felt a lot less focused and purposeful, but overall this was a solid solo piano arrangement.

Ronin's Comments: Overcomplicated would be a good way to sum up this arrangement. It could have been just as effective, if not more had the structure been more thought out.

Sebastian's Comments: I very much like the jazzy edge you added into this; very original. I think you were one of the very few who submitted an actual recording, and it makes me happy to hear your fully developed style come through the magic of this beautiful arrangment.

Larry's Comments: Interesting style change into a more chipper theme. Some of the sound choices were weak, even keeping in mind that it's MIDI.

Ronin's Comments: Gilgamesh himself would be extremely proud of how this arrangement sounds as the level of creative licence is exceedingly impressive throughout.

Sebastian's Comments: "Humoresque" would be a fitting term for the first minute. Beautiful arrangment; very fun to listen to.

Larry's Comments: This had poor textures that lacked depth, but the musicality was up there. A lot of that was due to the strengths of the original, but the artist did get interpretive with the instrumentation choices, and it was generally clicking on that level. Decent for what it was.

Ronin's Comments: This arrangement has a lot of extra flair over the original and is a good standalone piece.

Sebastian's Comments: Your style very much complimented Uematsu's vision. Excellent work; I really enjoyed listening to your arrangment!

Larry's Comments: Hahaha! Something about these almost chipper-sounding instruments (especially the brass) tended to mess up the ominous nature of the original. The vox during the familiar chorus sounded too quiet and flimsy in my opinion, but there seemed to be good interpretive part-writing taking the foreground. The arrangement was more of a cover here that attempted to change the feel through different instrumentation. I wish more work had been done to make the parts better balanced against each other, as well as (to a much lesser extent) improving the sample articulations.

Ronin's Comments: This is a good attempt, but sometimes the tempo changes and chord selection are a bit abrupt and cause the piece to lose its direction.

Sebastian's Comments: One Winged Angel always needed an organ. Thank you for finally including it! A really wonderful arrangment; loved every moment of it.

Larry's Comments: Cool source tune choice, but this felt half-finished in terms of the backing instrumentation. The piano there felt too droning and empty, not helped by the mechanical sequencing. 43 seconds of silence left on at the end is a record. :-D

Ronin's Comments: This arrangment displays a good structural awareness, and adds to the experience that the original first presented.

Sebastian's Comments: Very touching, exquisite and beautiful.

Larry's Comments: A bit too uninterpretive for my tastes, but still a very solid arrangement. The production was poor, with lots of distortion during the swells, but not a factor.

Ronin's Comments: I think the way the two pieces have been seemlessly merged together in this arrangement shouldn't be overlooked, as it is what defines this as a quality piece of arranging.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Another interesting concept, turning the source tune into more of a regal anthem. I felt like there needed to be more countermelodic activity during some portions, as the track felt lost without it.

Ronin's Comments: Writing Melodies of Life for a brass section is quite a daunting task, yet this arrangement passes with flying colours.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Nothing particularly interpretive. The wind instrument samples were pretty lame compared to the organicness of the piano, so that was a bad contrast. Otherwise, this played it pretty safe while simplifying the original most of the way.

Ronin's Comments: A nice arrangement which develops on the source material well in some points, but the ending is quite weak in comparison to the rest of the piece.

Sebastian's Comments: I like the variations you included. Very beautiful.

Larry's Comments: A little grating, but I just turned it down; I loved the concept here, though the sequencing was too rigid; for something like the bells, not as a big a deal, but for everything else, the flow wasn't quite there as a result

Ronin's Comments: Some of this piece is very solid, it's just a shame those sections weren't developed and ones that perhaps shouldn't have been were. The choice of instrument for the main melody probably isn't the best either.

Sebastian's Comments: Beautiful interpretation from IX. You really captured the mysterious feel.

Larry's Comments: Cool concept, definitely earning some tilt points, but fairly sloppy execution with the performance and, to a certain extent, the textures.

Ronin's Comments: Starts with a introduction which certainly captures the attention and leads into a very solid arrangement.

Sebastian's Comments: Definitely as its own category of arrangments, you did a very nice job setting the song to a new flavor of a mix. Rock on!

Larry's Comments: S'aight, but there wasn't enough substance behind the lead guitar to adequately pad this out, though the artist tried. Good concept; I would love to hear it extended.

Ronin's Comments: It doesn't really add anything new to the piece, but what it does add is executed well.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Pretty bad production. I didn't factor it into the score, but it's worth noting that the recording was awful. The performance should have been tighter in some brief spots, but it still sounded very intimate, which was a huge plus. Good style, though the ending tapered off fairly abruptly in my opinion, weakening the finish.

Ronin's Comments: The piece definitely has an atmospheric aura about it and it has a certain calming feel.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Very 16-bit style, with slightly better sample quality. This was probably the best execution of robotic, SNES-style timing in the competition, at least the first half was. The switch to electric guitar synth and vox at 1:16 was really bad though, and sounded like a mere swap of the instrument handling the exact same writing repeated over again. Too bad. This started out hot, but then got lazy and repetitive.

Ronin's Comments: A strong arrangement that certainly gets the job done, although the structure is fairly similar to the original.

Sebastian's Comments: That choir is awesome. I very much like what you did with this piece; beautiful and harmonious.

Larry's Comments: Awesome composition; why so quietly rendered though? It really mitigated the impact of the writing and sound choices.

Ronin's Comments: As an arrangement it doesn't do anything bad and the choice of instrumentation is good, but it certainly doesn't set the world alight. More improvisation could have helped to separate it from the source track and this could have really aided in the overall development of the piece. The beginning and ending are good though.

Sebastian's Comments: A beautiful opening and otherwise a very enjoyable adaptation.

Larry's Comments: There were some rough spots due to being lax with the sample articulations, but this was otherwise good composition.

Ronin's Comments: The arrangement has some really defining moments that definitely make it stand out.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: What the hell were those flurries at :45? I'm not a hater on unconventional approaches, but the arrangement felt way too scattershot and unfocused. The sound balance was really poor, with the glassy sounds drowning out everything else. There was some technical merit to it, with some cool ideas within the MIDI format, but the execution was lacking.

Ronin's Comments: Not a necessarily bad arrangement, it is just lacking in diversity a bit. The percussion is perhaps over-used in certain instances but there are some nice chords used.

Sebastian's Comments: Very fun arrangment to listen to. Well done!

Larry's Comments: Pretty repetitive to start, though that was the structure of the original. Once the chorus kicked in, the part balance was messed up. The piano sounded pretty cheap, but the bowed string work and brass sounded a lot more solid. The rinse-and-repeat of the composition at 2:04 was extremely lazy; personal tilt DOWN. Why were there 18 seconds of silence at the end? That's just sloppy.

Ronin's Comments: A fairly generic arrangement, which aside from using different instrumentation, doesn't really add much over the original

Sebastian's Comments: Excellent arrangment; very fun to listen to. Touching and heartfelt.

Larry's Comments: Weak sequencing, and some cheesy percussion. Some good ideas beneath the surface, but a rather ugly-sounding result due to some iffy sound choices.

Ronin's Comments: A very solid arrangement, which introduces some nice elements.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: The arrangement was basically a rinse-and-repeat after the halfway mark. There was no point in padding the length that way; it could have just switched over to the 2:30-ish section at 1:14. There were some ugly sound choices in here, but that didn't influence the score beyond personal tilt.

Ronin's Comments: While there is clear arranging going on, the structure isn't very good. The 2nd repetition of the main melody should at least attempt to be different instead of an exact replica. While the ending section is a nice change, it could have done with a solo instrument over the top to stop it getting bland.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: The instruments were too flimsy, and the piano sequencing was so mechanical that it hurt the energy of the composition. Still a great concept with some good sound choices, despite the weaker execution.

Ronin's Comments: This arrangement could definitely have done with more development across the board. What's present is good, but it needed much more.

Sebastian's Comments: Very beautiful and harmonious; Uematsu would be proud!

Larry's Comments: Good concept, but bland textures. I'm not against simplicity, but I am against the part-writing being too flimsy, leading to weak textures. There's a difference.

Ronin's Comments: The addition of You're Not Alone at the end of the piece doesn't add anything and perhaps hinders the piece as a whole, which is unfortunate.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Decent sound choices, with some interpretive part-writing and other source tune cameos to change the feel a little bit. This was pretty empty sounding. Other MIDIs in the contest did a better job of filling out the soundfield, but this was ok for a J-E-N-O-V-A mix. However, the ending totally had a bunch of wrong notes and odd harmonies that killed the finish and lowered the musicality score.

Ronin's Comments: The intricacies of the original have certainly been developed to a very proficient level.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Something was really wrong with a lot of the harmonies; everything ended up sounding very awkward as a result.

Ronin's Comments: While points should be awarded for trying a different take on this prominent piece, it does lose out on fluidity as a result. Through large sections the mix sounds over-crowded, but that's not to say there aren't some good sections in its duration.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Cool concept, but pretty sloppy execution with the sequencing.

Ronin's Comments: Definitely a really fun remix and an enjoyable one too. Things like the percussion bring it down though, as it is a bit monotonous and repetitive.

Sebastian's Comments: Lively and upbeat; a pleasure to listen to!

Larry's Comments: Wow, the energy of the originals is definitely not captured here with this piano take. Part of it was that the piano tone and sequencing had 0 depth to it. The performance just sounded completely stiff, flat, quiet and empty; only the higher octaves sounded decent. The transitions were abrupt and non-sequitur, but a beefier, more natural-sounding performance could have pulled those off better.

Ronin's Comments: Throughout quite a lot of this piece, the melody and accompaniment don't often blend together in a favourable way.

Sebastian's Comments: This would be very fun to play. I love the difficulty factor, and the overal way the entire arrangment came out.

Larry's Comments: Too much like the original in terms of the structure. The times where it deviated from the original writing had some brief sour notes.

Ronin's Comments: The piece has a good structure and there are some nice touches, but unfortunatley there are some elements that just don't work and they bring the experience of the piece down.

Sebastian's Comments: While straying a bit from the base harmonies and melodies, I absolutely love your interpretation. Very enjoyable to listen to and original indeed!

Larry's Comments: Too reliant on the vox to provide all the substance.

Ronin's Comments: Probably not the best source material to try and arrange, and as such, it is very uninspiring.

Sebastian's Comments: A very smooth an dreamy arrangment. Beautiful.

Larry's Comments: This doesn't need to be overly complicated, but at the same time this was very barebones writing for a piano, with very plodding left-hand writing.

Ronin's Comments: This arrangement is definitely a commendable effort, but more attention to detail should have been present from a technical perspective. The distinct lack of sustain destroys the atmosphere that this piece could have and certainly should have created, as does the odd out of time or incorrect note, and while some sections sound very inspiring, others seem very muddled.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: The sound quality was pretty crappy, but the arrangement stood out a bit. It was pretty close to the original though, so what was good was basically inherited, not created.

Ronin's Comments: More work could have been done to make the transitions smoother, the level of innovation is relatively low.

Sebastian's Comments: A beautiful orchestra medley; it must have been quite a challenge writing 378 measures for 23 instruments. You put a lot of passion into this work and I would love to see this version performed some time. Great job!

Larry's Comments: Why was this recorded so poorly? Anyway, pretty nice piano rendition, though all the details are lost in the muck and occasional warping. Great piano cover, and that's about that.

Ronin's Comments: Adds some nice subtle touches not present in the original and given the depth of the source, it is a nice attempt. More deviation from the original's structure would help improve the arrangement though.

Sebastian's Comments: Beautiful arrangment, very enjoyable to listen to. It really brought across the inteded mood for this touching song.

Larry's Comments: There were too many abrupt transitions. That only works better in a live setting, where there's ambient noise, but we'll look at that more from the writing perspective. Otherwise, fairly decent textures here, even though they were on the sparse side.

Ronin's Comments: The transition between Liberi Fatali and Theme of Love is 8 seconds long, and that shows really poor structuring. However, the transition between You're Not Alone and Battle with Gilgamesh is much smoother. Overall though, there isn't much in the way of flair, it's all very bare bones in terms of arranging away from the originals.

Sebastian's Comments: An amazing medley. While One Winged Angel and Fithos was probably the strongest, the other songs were very melodic and beautiful. The Ending Theme had a true passion to it. Great job!

Larry's Comments: Bah! Really sluggish brass sequencing, and poor textures. Being in mono rather than stereo really hurt this one in terms of the realism and letting the different parts shine through. The arrangement got more interpretive as it went along.

Ronin's Comments: Unfortunately this arrangement is quite bland lacking inspiration.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Wow, that's some glacial pacing. This was too limited in terms of the textures, with only the most basic harmonization and percussion writing. The arrangement was totally uncreative, repetitive and needlessly drawn out. Hopefully it was submitted for fun, because it definitely wasn't in it to win it.

Ronin's Comments: Too similar to the source material, without any real innovation.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Really bland textures. Absolutely boring, uncreative placeholder-quality drum writing. Poor balance among the parts, with the electric guitar synth on harmony barely audible even though it was supposed to be backing up the lead. Among other things, the drum writing kills off technique and hampers musicality, lowering those scores. That's because the drums never change, ruining the dynamics. Just a laundry list of things that needed significant work.

Ronin's Comments: Although a clear attempt has been made, it needs to deviate more in a positive way throughout in order to achieve better results.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Initially, this seemed like a solid track that wanted to be a contender, but once the brass came in at 1:33, the track became super muddy and lo-fi sounding. Unfortunate, especially since that and the strings sound incredibly lossy and created a really flimsy texture. What the hell was that squawking at 2:39? The vocals brought in at 5:34 sounded completely stapled on top. Texturally, everything got worse and worse and worse as it went on. It finished a little stronger going back to the orchestral stuff, but, man, what a shame.

Ronin's Comments: A good well structured arrangement which utilises lots of various styles to great effect for the most part, the Suteki da Ne lyrics could have perhaps been toned down though and not made so prominent. Overall though, a good job.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: There was nothing inherently wrong with this. It was a pretty capable piano cover of the Prelude, but otherwise boring. The low end resonated so much, it ended up muddying up the rest of the piece, though I can't count that against it. Aside from that, the arrangement was a corny, looped cover (sans the melody) that didn't even sound that good. This could have been half the length if it wasn't going to say anything new. One detail I hate hearing no matter what: The drop-off at 3:42 was impossible. You can't just have the piano strings resonate like they're in overdrive, then suddenly have them cut out with 0 decay time. It's sloppy. On the plus side, the last minute was the most interesting.

Ronin's Comments: The introduction to the piece seems slightly drawn out, and the use of sustain makes the piece far too dissonant. It is a good attempt though, but unfortunatley falls short.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Uh, where was the rest to fill in the track behind the melody? It failed as a style choice, because the track was EMPTY, not simply on account of being MIDI-based; I've heard bL1Tz Lunar do some crazy, complex stuff. This had totally lazy backing writing here, hurt this on personal tilt.

Ronin's Comments: This strongly resembles the original piece, just in direct MIDI form so little or no arrangement is present.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Wow, this was WEAK. I mean, I guess it wasn't bad IF this was done as a transcription, but otherwise this was just a MIDI cover with robotic-sounding sequencing, unrealistic articulations, and no textural depth.

Ronin's Comments: This strongly resembles the original piece, just in direct MIDI form so little or no arrangement is present.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A

Larry's Comments: Needed a lot more substance. A 1:31-long cover doesn't get it done.

Ronin's Comments: This strongly resembles the original piece, just in direct MIDI form so little or no arrangement is present.

Sebastian's Comments: N/A