ReMix: Red Alarm 'Red Dimension'

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Yes, it's McVaffe. Yes, it's Virtual Boy. And yes, unlike the console of the game being ReMixed, this mix has nothing to be ashamed of and kicks some major red-wireframe booty. But before I let The Big McV take the spotlight, I've got a brief(ish) announcement. I don't think Mike'll mind too much as he's a pretty laid-back, groovy fellow ^^

For around two years, I've wanted (and others have wanted me) to get some high-quality OC ReMix shirts produced and available for sale. Until recently, the problem has been finding a reliable, cheap, and high-quality way to get these made, shipped, and sellable. I didn't want to charge people ANYTHING for a product that would be heatpress or shoddy, etc. I'm happy to announce that OverClocked ReMix Shirts are now a reality. It took a sizable investment to get them made, but I hope that many of you will choose to support the site's bandwidth and maintenance costs as well as the spirit and community of OCR by buyin' one (or two!) and wearin' it as well. Who knows - you might meet (sexy, beautiful) locals in your region that you never knew existed and strike up a meaningful, productive conversation based on a mutual interest . . in a site . . . about video game arrangements. Okay, so you probably won't meet the love or your life because of these shirts. But they are good quality, they do help support our bandwidth, and they have got a purty cool, minimalist style to 'em. Buy one here, more info here.

Right then - plug mode over. The shirts really will help, and really are pretty groovy. But in deference to Mr. Vafeas, I'll proceed on to the duty at hand: our first Virtual Boy ReMix, and a badass one at that. I freely admit that I've not heard the original, and thus can't speak specifically to some aspects of the arrangement. But I know what the sound chip is capable of, roughly, and it ain't nowhere near this ballpark. This is damn good, synth-o-holic techno, with a massive variety of synth timbres going on simultaneously. You want a meaty, deep synth bass? You gots it. Computational blips and funky bleeps? Portamento square lead? Layered patterns? Wispy and warm synth pads? All that and a bag of chips. Beats are mostly breakbeat style, with things dropping to halftime/octave pitch later on, and jumping back up afterwards (for a much earlier example of the same trick, see Hyrulian). There's some cool, synth-choir counter-melody brought in towards the end that I really dig, and as the piece fades out - perhaps a tad bit too swiftly, you can really hear + appreciate the arsenal of aliasing high-pitched synth funk McVaffe has going on. That's definitely the vibe - hi-tech to the extreme, with a smorgasbord of synthesis on the table, lending a very sci-fi, futuristic motif. Only element I wasn't entirely satisfied with was the bass - it didn't stand out as being bad at all, it just felt underdeveloped. Then again, I'm a cuplrit of possibly over-extending the melodic priority+motion of basslines, so you'd expect that. McVaffe sets a high benchmark for any future Virtual Boy ReMixes, which we might not see simply due to lack of familiarity or the slim, mostly forgettable library, but the piece also adds yet another sound to his formidable array of mixed genres and styles. Recommended.

― djpretzel