Cyberdevil's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Holding On - [Trance]]

Feelgood tune, good energy, good vocal samples that waver and move along with melody, high notes, a build, beautiful breaks and pauses...

The actual words are somewhat difficult to make out, but then again that seems to just amplify the music itself somehow. Like it adds to the atmosphere and mysticism.

Really solid tune. Crisp quality and great structure overall, it builds and breaks and keeps you going, and bring it all around towards the end...

-cd-

Euphoric-Danique responds:

Thanks for the feedback! :)

[[Hyperpop] you won't know.]

A bit much clipping on the vocals y'all, and loudness overall! Otherwise this was hypnotic in the best possible way. Love the sound. Love the build and breaks and everything about it, it moves in fresh and unpredictable ways, but always melodic.

Yet the clipping gets in the way of the experience for me... I wonder if it's intentional. Feels like vocals might've just not been recorded with the ideal kind of equipment?

Musically this is amazing. The vocals are on point melodically too, and the pacing's great, but the clipping...

-cd-

G2961 responds:

Thanks for the review! I literally just went to this song's page an hour ago, and then an hour later here's your review. I think this song is the worst thing I've ever done, but I don't want to delete it because some people like it, lol. I've never been able to record quality vocals as I'm not good at it, so most of my songs are instrumentals

[Thick-it]

Such a rich mix with this one, and the titillating saw-like synth, it hits some special frequencies it seems, they both bounce and sizzle around my headphones... the production's great, and the music's both ambient and powerful. It transitions seamlessly...

Feels futuristic. I could see this in some Blade Runner type movie too, robotic and new, and that subtle beat in the background too... the instrumentation's great.

Really dope mix.

-cd-

CaperCube responds:

I really appreciate this dude! I've been on a slow journey to figure out how to mix well, so this is really nice to hear

[i'm sooo scared..!]

Daaammn what a quick build... and the way it starts with a video reel sound effect! Considering the title it feels like I'm jumping straight into a horror movie right there. Just watched Sinister, supposedly the scariest movie ever made, and the video reel element was a prominent part of that movie too, so that's suitable...

I do wish the music would switch up a bit more along the way though. The vocal sample shift a bit. Some kind of screams maybe? Something that goes a bit better with theme. All things considered it's a little tame, and the beat - despite the ominous overtone - starts getting occasionally a bit too upbeat along the way considering the theme.

I love the beat though; I love the style. The breaks. Everything about this. Just doesn't feel like it really amped up that scare potential and theme to the fullest.

I'm dead but you make want to live is a cool catchphrase though.

Dope work.

-cd-

itstdx responds:

woah, this is an amazing review man. thank u very much! i'll take ur points into consideration -as you're so right about the inconsistent changes in tone-! it's been a while since i made this kinda breakcore now, so i'll try to do so with your advice soon enough.

hope to see you again in my comments, thank you again! =)

[Tension Temple]

I could imagine this playing in something like Pokémon. :)

Feels like a familiar kind of style. Upbeat and adventurous, videogame style, with a psychedelic kind of background synth all the way, yet plenty of variation atop of that...

Lovely tune. Production quality feels just like it would for an older console too, pixel perfect.

-cd-

Kman465 responds:

Ah, funny you say Pokemon; a lot of my soundfonts actually come from Hoenn. The bass for example is the Pokemart! :P

If you liked this one, a lot of my recent tracks have been following suite in the same style.

Thanks for the kind words!

[Silk Wrapped Mothberry]

What a descriptive title. :) The monotony of the tune... it's like you're just waiting for a cocoon to break too. Then instrumentation with Eastern influences, silky.

Unfortunately it does get a bit monotone though IMO! And the way the different instrumental layers play atop each others, though at a different pace... is pretty cool initially, but after a while starts to feel badly timed to me. Like you wait either for a break or for a build, something to bring everything together; something to align or expand everything, yet it never really does, it stays slightly out of tune, never going in unison... though it may be the layers are just a similar loudness, and so you focus on both, may be different if one was more in back; the other the central part of the mix.

I love the concept; the style, unfortunately the composition's just feels a little lackluster and simple to me. Feels like it needs... something more. Some more variation at least.

Keep up the good stuff! I do love the vibe.

-cd-

Tyhond responds:

Thanks :3 It's old soundtrack and I've gotten better now.

[ADR3-N / 10 / A200]

Such a good podcast. :) Awesome you actually use pretty much the exact same recording setup! And there's so much good stuff in this, both life advice and experiences and pure unadulterated NG historia and nostalgia... thanks for them answers too; obscure NG trivia.

You've been exposed to some wild stuff through those early years here huh AD! I wonder if the Internet is getting better or worse though. Content-wise at least the content we had earlier was actual content, now with the gen alpha skibbidipi toilet and what-not shots though... where is this all going, is the Internet still progressing and growing or will it go the same way as NG General some day, just devolve into shitposts, memery and matterless mannerless madness... it may not be as violent or sexual yet I'm not sure this is better, what's the purpose now, edgy or deranged or mindless and strange. Which is most cognitively enhancing and useful...

...at least NG's still holding the fort huh! Plenty of sensible creativity of all sorts to go around here. And podcasts that last almost an exact 4:20. :P

Props on managing the red thread surprisingly well throughout too Adrean, despite the early warning this'd be all over the place it doesn't seem like it was! Subject detours albeit there may be they all seemed like natural detours.

Guess I'm a have to [I forget the word - some unusual one in audio context mentioned in an entertaining manner somewhere herein] some of your audio too some day @Aalasteir. :P

Good stuff y'all! And @TheShokBlok on the visuals as always! Starting to take the art for granted I think... it's always on point though. Profile perfect.

-cd-

ADR3-N responds:

I love me some internet historiography! It was sure a different place 10 years ago, miles more so than today where everything somehow feels cookie cutter, even if it isn't all AI generated yet!

I actually do like skibbidi toilet -- I think it's one of the finest memes of its era, to the point it's developed an entire story and community. Certified best shitpost. Brings back the good old G'mod days imo, and the creator does spectacular skits and stories to breathe life into it. I think this style is a hangover from the old internet, where we would sit around and read creepypastas while chatting IM and so on.

I'm most concerned the internet will turn into a bunch of AI advertisements and influencers, completely censored, with only private telegrams, discords, and their analogues as the places humans try to hide lol. It feels much smaller already than it did when I first discovered the internet, when StumbleUpon was a massive trove of intrigue, and now instead of going there and to all those strange sites for our amusement, we turn to YT, NG, snapchat, facebook, and so on. The internet is now... quaint. Boring.

It's thanks to Aalasteir's great editing that the interview didn't go completely off the rails. Some of these questions and answers were TOTALLY all over the place.

Thanks for tuning in!

EDIT: I removed like 4 occurrences of the word "actually," because I'm factually liable to say it every 3 sentences when I get excited LOL

[Koibs / 11 / A200]

Thanks for the answers. :) I wish I'd opted for a simpler name myself looking back, but once you choose one it's with you forever!!! Alas. You got a good one at least. Easy to remember. Easy to speak. And it makes you wonder... if there's something underneath. Something beaming. Some hidden secret or meaning... seems you have plenty of history with the site too, I thought you were relatively new here!

And hey I started with Apple as well. XD Though eventually succumbed to... the cheaper side! Or rather the side with a pricing that better balances the functionality you get with the price you pay for it IMHO. Though Apple's awesome. How you like them apples? Pretty well.

nigahiga! :D 'The Best Joke Ever' comes to mind...

Great interview y'all. This was fun to listen to. A fluent, always entertaining and occasionally also enlightening/thoughtful convo all the way through.

Props @TheShokBlok too on that FNF style and potentially somewhat babified but very smooth looking @Koibs cover art. :P

Good stuff all!

-cd-

Aalasteir responds:

@Cyberdevil your name is great! I'm always happy to see you! As long as the Apples are not Pink Lady! I didn't know you started on an Apple computer. 'The Best Joke Ever' ! I remember when you introduced me to the video—thank you, it is really funny.

You Are Truly Awesome!

[CarterSterling / 9 / A200]

Your passion and appreciation for the community's contagious @CarterSterling! Definitely appreciate your presence here too, and the effort you put into helping out! I've seen your name a lot around the site but probably never really connected, so this interview was great.

Interesting to know the in and out's of both the icon work and photography too. Icons in particular were way more elaborate a process than I assumed, figured it was more so old ones that needing upscaling, or new screenshots, but remaking individual ones as they originally were in high-res is a big job! And in the thousands potentially! Impressive. On going out of your way to find submissions with historic values too; preserving that grand NG legacy one thumb at a time.

Photography sounds like a fun profession too, a lot of time outside at least initially. Must be pretty cool to work at concerts in particular, seeing everything in a whole other way than you would as a regular visitor.

Can also relate to re-occurring annoyance factors re: Adobe. XD And after what they did to Flash... I'm really hoping other software developers manage to shatter their studio monopoly a bit. Apart from bugs their programs oftentimes just feel overly complex compared to their counterparts too IMO. Like Photoshop when compared to Fireworks, at the peak of Macromedia, when both seemed maybe just as viable alternatives for photo-related work, before Adobe bought the competition, kept improving Photoshop over the latter, and eventually dropped that one too... Adobe do seem to be in the lead though feature-wise right now, but maybe I just don't know the alternatives, hope some with a better balance between usability/functionality are on the rise somewhere, Macromedia really had that down initially...

Since you love Nine Inch Nails btw, I wonder what you think of Johnny Cash's version of Hurt? If you've heard it. Personally love both, but they're so different.

Impeccable musical tastes there, love all these bands/artists, Korn and Limp Bizkit in particular, that's my youth!

lol @ that Bigfoot podcast idea. XD

As for ironic jokes, unfortunately I think Gen Z are changing the comedic landscape a bit online, with an overload of memes and oftentimes pretty lazy animated material. Shorter content for shorter attention spans, thus bigger output, thus also less effort for each individual piece... but maybe it's just a momentary wave. There definitely are content creators out there going against the grain, and putting abnormal amounts of effort into the content they make too.

Anyhow great interview y'all; nice to get to know more about that iconic NGer with the impeccable haircut! ;) Solid questions; picture; all!

-cd-

Aalasteir responds:

Great to see you, @Cyberdevil Your positivity, kindness, and care for the community are always a shining beacon of great inspiration. You have my admiration and deepest respect, and I aspire to embody the same values as you!

Thank you! I also enjoyed Carter's talk about his icon work. I learned a lot, and I'm very grateful for the information shared. Carter greatly helps the community! It's very impressive that Carter has made thousands of icons. You put it extremely well: preserving the grand NG legacy one thumb at a time. Photography is excellent! I'm excited to hear the stories that will come from the Pico Day NJ Meetup! I hope they all have fun!

You are right; it is bad what they did to Flash!

Thank you so much for teaching me a lot about Flash; I now know more about decompiling and audio for Flash now.

I personally think that Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" is extremely awesome, and I also really like it. I fully agree that the Bigfoot podcasts are funny. It's interesting how humor and the comedic landscape change. You're right that shorter material has become more widespread, though I still see amazing long-form and soulful art that is full of life, such as the legendary animation "Jimmy and Baby" by @PaulRobertson

[Aalasteir / 8 / A200]

The energy in this one is just off the charts man! And you sound awesome however you try to sound. XD Voice Acting skills for real, I'm impressed!

You definitely do have to get to Sweden eventually! :D Great answer on that great question too. I suppose I already knew what you'd say, but not how. Well-worded. The journey's the goal fo rizzle!

Must have made a serious dish-related investment to be able to have them cover such vast expanses of rooms and other areas too. XD All of this food looks delicious too... some of the earlier ones could've maybe looked even better with a little more green, or other additional color, but they all look hella tasty. Plenty of nutritious stuff too, impressed in your cuisine too you kitchen fiend you! If you don't know about it there's a Baking/Cooking club in the Clubs & Crews forum, maybe you'd be interested. :)

The GTA games are pretty good at letting you blow stuff up too. XD Oughta try some of the ones you mention, haven't played the games you play the most yet...

Also thanks for the Inktober thanks man. :) And for reaching out then. Devil's Night turned out one of my favorite tracks last year. It may btw subconsciously also be a homage at least in title to one of my favorite rap tracks from back in the day, D12 have one with the same name.

As for how I met Kwing hmm... I don't know really! He's reviewed some of my stuff before, I might've reviewed some of his... I've known about him a long time, and seen him around the site, but it's only recently we actually connected, and he asked if I'd want to do the visuals for a game idea he had. Last year he gave me some advice on how I could improve the AS2 on my own game, so maybe that's when it all started. Happy with how that turned out anyhow, even if some people apparently are pretty critical about brawler strategies and mechanics and how such things should be. :) Personally I just love a good masher, doesn't have to be too complex.

Ten MORE ways to make NG worse?! XD Oh man... I think @LilSpook did a pretty good job on those with the last one, what could I possibly contribute that hasn't been said yet, hmm maybe:

1. Remove pagination, so content just loads endlessly and makes it impossible to navigate to a particular point within any selection or collection of content!
2. Combine all menus in a collapsible dropdown, so every menu item is a dropdown menu item of another menu item, so you have to open one menu item to reach the next menu item, all the way to the last menu item.
3. Generate a random emoji reaction for everything you post, that you have absolutely no control over. Additionally have an AI algorithm learn which emojis are most unsuitable in every situation, and have it apply specifically that.
4. Require a FaceBook login to login, track everything and send all user data to Zuckerberg.
5. Ban animations, and focus on short-form video material instead, though only allow these videos in .gif format with no sound so we still stand out against competitors like YT.
6. Make the max length of a video five seconds, as to really compete with TikTok and attract a more short-attention span audience.
7. Replace the frontpage with a Pac-Man game, where you have to complete a level each time you want to open the collapsible dropdown menu or play a submission.
8. Put all of the above behind a paywall, that only allows access to the one user who bids the highest for exclusive entry to the site.
9. Have all text be the same color as the background color, so you never get any unnecessary spoilers, and can choose to highlight just the text you yourself want to read.
10. Play the sound from a random YTMND entry every time you load the site, and have it loop endlessly until you win a game of Pac-Man. At which point it'll be paused for at least five seconds, so you can manage to view a full five second video if you happen to have paid enough to be current; exclusive viewer of the site!

That'd be pretty dystopian though hmm. :) Hope they do something about the one of these that actually is implemented, and may the rest never come to pass!

Awesome interview here. Didn't expect a monologue to be this fun but you went above and beyond with it! I mean I thought it'd be a MONOLOGUE, not an actual interview. XD Took this way beyond how ever far I could have assumed you could take it!

Awesome work. Learned a bundle too.

-cd-

Aalasteir responds:

You are awesome, Cyberdevil! Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, I would be very happy to visit Sweden. I am grateful you say that you like some of the funny voices I do. I've been insecure about speaking for a long time!

Thank you for saying that you like the cooking pictures I've made. I like cooking, but it is very rare that I eat desserts, and I tend to avoid them when offered. However, when I do eat them, I do think they are great, especially on rare and special occasions.

Absolutely! I am a massive fan of the GTA games! The reason I got a PSP was so I could play Chinatown Wars, Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories.

You are absolutely right! Devil's Night turned out great. You are very skilled at creating lyrics and rapping.

Thank you for sharing your story of how you met Kwing. I would say the game turned out great.

Those are excellent ways of making NG worse! We can only hope Tom doesn't implement those. They all sound like nightmare scenarios. Combining all of the menus into one would be so annoying, and having to complete a Pac-Man game level to open a drop-down menu to play a submission... that's just crazy! And having the sound of a random YTMND entry every... They all sound like insane pranks!

Thank you. I'm happy you enjoyed the MONOLOGUE interview and that you would like to share your thoughts. I'm extremely grateful, and you are super awesome! You always brighten up my day with your thoughtful and kind personality. You are an amazing friend!