I was hooked since the beginning. Your use of instruments made the sense of a "sanctuary" immediate.
The main melody's introduction at 1:30 was perfect and only continued from there.
Only actual composition qualm is that, at the 3:20ish mark, when everything calms down, I would have gone into a very noticeable and beautiful melody there and ended it at that. While that tends to be a no-no in composition to never bring up something you don't plan on repeating, I think it would have had a very positive and lasting effect on the audience, perhaps leaving them with that bit of the song stuck in their head.
Anyhow, the instrumentation was also great and creative. I wish I had these sounds! Everything was mixed beautifully and this is far more than what I could ever have done.
Wow that was quick. Thanks a lot for reviewing back. Much appreciated.
"I'm writing as I listen, so bear with me."
Haha no problem. I do that too sometimes!
"I was hooked since the beginning. Your use of instruments made the sense of a "sanctuary" immediate."
Phew! I'm glad you think so - it took me a while to think of a good name for this. Before, it was just called "Orchestral Idea" but I thought that didn't have as much of a ring to it *cough* :3.
"The main melody's introduction at 1:30 was perfect and only continued from there."
Great! Although, this doesn't really have a main melody. You can perhaps call the intro's melody the main melody since it's repeated again at the end, but to be honest instead of having a main melody in a climax that I repeat a few times in the track like I usually do, I decided to try and vary my style a little.
"Only actual composition qualm is that, at the 3:20ish mark, when everything calms down, I would have gone into a very noticeable and beautiful melody there and ended it at that. While that tends to be a no-no in composition to never bring up something you don't plan on repeating, I think it would have had a very positive and lasting effect on the audience, perhaps leaving them with that bit of the song stuck in their head."
Hm... I wanted to end it with the beginning's melody because I thought ending it with a totally new melody might feel a bit... unsatisfactory if you get what I mean. Although I see where you're getting at, and I agree it was quite uncreative of me to end with the same melody I started with!
"Anyhow, the instrumentation was also great and creative. I wish I had these sounds!"
Haha, these are East/West sounds. Believe it or not, getting better sounds actually helped me a LOT more than I thought it would. If you listen to my very old song "Ready for Battle", made using crappy free soundfonts, and then you hear the first song I made with East/West a few weeks afterwards, "Cobra", the difference in quality is massive :P. East/West is by far my favourite VST and I'd highly recommend it to anyone!
"Everything was mixed beautifully"
Thanks! Mixing isn't my strong point but I did work hard on it nevertheless.
"and this is far more than what I could ever have done."
Well, I dunno about that, but in any case I'm really glad you liked the track. Thanks a million for the insightful review and hit me up if you ever want to exchange reviews again!
I hate to be a downer. I really wanted to give this an extra point or two, but could not. The mixing is great, the instrument choice good, the feel very calming.
But, the chords are so overused. I have literally heard this countless times. Not only that, but they never really change. It's the same thing over and over, although you masked it REALLY well and kept my interest throughout the song, which takes skill. I'll definitely check out any other work you've done, but I honestly cannot give this more than a 7. Either way, I hope you keep making music :)
I have nothing bad to say about this. Ingenious use of instrumentation, extremely unique feel to it...all while keeping the listener's attention. This is amazing.
For it to be "OMFG panic there's a boss!" unless you have an extremely happy game =P
For the opening, try a different last note, something minor. That's really the problem: I could see this being effective if the key wasn't in something so happy =P
The sounds simply need to be better. Maybe a bit more "icy" feeling. But the song itself, like it's composition is well done. Although at 50 it seems to switch something much less dark. I liked it better when it was more heavy, and the transition seems...strange.
Try some higher quality sounds, and a bit of tweaking. Aside from that, it's fairly nice :)
It'd be a GREAT piece for some sort of RPG. I'm seriously in love with this, and it loops REALLY well. The one thing it's "missing" for me though, is that it needs a bit of extra "umph."
Perhaps add a new part near 00:52 that hasn't been heard before, since you're using a lot of the same keys. Or, simply add an extra layer for when 1:06 comes, like adding a direct harmony to the melody to give it a more fulfilling "epic" feel. Since the sounds used for the melody at that part are so smooth, it needs a bit of something extra to hook the listeners. (Sorry, I don't know fancy musical phrases D:) That's it, really. Just make that one part at 1:10 feel more epic, and you'll have a perfect score. This is a well done piece :)
I really like how you used a rough guitar sound to contrast the overall smooth feel of it, too.
Yay, I got a favorite! XD
I'm glad you think this would work for an RPG, I'm planning for it to be a boss theme if I ever produce my game. Maybe if I decide to lengthen it/rework it, I could give it that... extra "umph". There's actually an arpeggiating brass at 0:52, I turned it down so it wouldn't freak out my processor... A little too much I guess... But thanks for the awesome review and I'm glad you liked it!
I like the parts in it, but after hearing those parts so many times it loses a bit of what it had. Try editing out the parts that repeat so many times, and I can see this as a fairly nice song. The transitions are nice, make sense with eachother, and are VERY well composed. The problem is you beat the life out of them XD Also, it doesn't really end and doesn't loop well.
However, I can see this as the background for something.
The ending was a failure because I was trying to give 4 different endings, so you could in a way select your own, the one that fits best, however when I listened to it after a few days away from it I realised it did not give that impression, and your expecting a change that was not included.
First, just wanted to say thank you for reviewing my music, made my day to see something constructive. :3
I like the things added onto eachother one after the other, it's a great effect. At first, it sounds more experimental, but goes into something composed well. I especially like the part at 2:20 where it builds up again.
Only qualm I have are are some of the sounds don't fit in as well as others would, perhaps something smoother coming in at some point? A lot of it stands out, which is fine, although adding some more unique sounds that layer over eachother in the first minute may be more pleasing to the ear.
But you, too, have talent. I would've never thought to add some of those...rifts? That layer over eacher. (Sorry, I don't know fancy music terms. xD )
However, it's so scattered that it's hard to give it a really high score. Especially the beginning, it's just too abstract and there are a few too many mistakes. But if you ever redo this with a professional program, or simply error-free, I can see this being a really good song.
Also, the ending is too abrupt D: try ending it on a "hopeful" chord.
Am I a popular artist? No. Am I that interesting? No. But, I submit anyway. Please enjoy my music, and PLEASE remember to blindly prai- I mean, constructively criticize my work. (Unlike people who just blam and leave. Don't be one of them!)
Sanctuary 
Sygnus