Jumping the Trigger

I guess got online for some times now, but, better late than later, as someone probably always say.

Item in question is OCReMix's newest project, The Chrono Symphonic and this time it's the mother of all Game OST, the Chrono Trigger one. Probably the most loved, remixed, quoted and referenced game soundtrack, (apart from the Final Fantasies, natch).

The name hints of the nature of the project, it's a work of Symphonic re-arrangements/ReMixes. Not a good idea. Orchestrations are a hit and miss, as not everyone who can create a good, solid tune can carry something as massive as a symphonic orchestration. For every brilliant musician like Russell Cox, there are a dozen mediocre ones like Unknown, and worse, two dozen awful ones like Jeremy Robson (Link only supplied for the sake of completeness, actual listening to Robson's tracks is NOT RECOMMENDED). In this case, there are just too many down moments, and just too many Slow-chamber/Epic-massive transitions in almost every one. The usual problem with this kind of thinking is that repetitiveness, which works wonderfully in dance/techno tracks, usually kills an orchestrated track before it get a chance to develop.

Also, going symphonic deprives us of the more exciting and experimental works like Children of the Monkey Machine's Magus works, and many, many others.

It's available to download, and torrent, through the OCReMix site, but, and that's a big one, I really recommend listening to the original before taking a stroll through remix land. While not a prerequisite for 95% of the OCReMix site, in this case there are so many remixes done for almost every track it's always better to actually listen to the original beforehand.

If anyone feels a little experimental, I would suggest trying the Frog songs, the Memories of Green ones, and the Wind Scene ones, to see how different remixers tackle a similar tune.

And, it would seem that after all is said and done, Cox's "The Chrono Trigger" is the best track. Just goes to show, you can't beat quality.