I Have Come to the Conclusion That Naoki Writes Generic Music

[GOD GODDY]

I have noticed the following samples in songs not by Naoki:

Paranoia synth
"Let them move"
Afronova voices
The Legend of Max voices

There are countless other songs that have little vocal samples thrown in here and there, as well as songs that are sample-driven.

Is this (wo)man not able to write music without the use of a sound library?

The least he could do is use the samples in an innovative way.

[Axem Rangers]

I honestly hope that that post is a joke of some type that I am just missing.

[Morning Blue]

Naoki's been writing pretty much the same tunes since DDR 5th Mix. Prior to 5th Mix, though, I thought he was actually a pretty decent artist. Now his only good stuff involves jun.

[GOD GODDY]

He seems to write decent rave music and music that has singers, but most of his other stuff is simply generic, sample-driven (not creatively, either), or simplistic. If he used more obscure samples, or if he used the samples in an interesting way instead of just using them to make the song sound less repetitive, then I wouldn't have a problem.

I started out my electronic music listening experience with music from DDR and IIDX, and at the time I thought it was all pretty good music. However, over time I've indulged in a huge variety of music from other genres and similar genres, and I've determined that Naoki's music is in general not good. Part of this may be the rate at which he must write the tracks, but you don't see BanYa releasing sample-driven work of uninteresting music. Even when TaQ was with Bemani his music was of good quality.

One thing you can do to try examining the quality of his music is comparing the stepcharts to those of other songs not by Naoki. Notice the repeating and similar patterns (the Max series is an exception since it manages to build and change frequently), then notice that the music really has not changed much.

At least he knows how to theme his samples so the song sounds unique.

[The Rai-Rai]

Naoki is paid to pump out loads and loads of catchy music for music games. This doesn't make him bad at music, it just means he's personally more interested in profiting, which is good for him.

also

Originally Posted by God

... but you don't see BanYa releasing sample-driven work of uninteresting music.

You have no idea what you are talking about; BanYa music is LOADED TO THE BRIM with free samples.

ps Noaki using universally available samples does not in any way make him less skilled at all whatsoever thx
Unfortunately most people know too little about production to understand where his talents mainly lie.

pps exotic ethnic is fucking awesome

[GOD GODDY]

Being bad at music has nothing to do with the fact that much of his music is not that great. What he writes is what we focus on, if he wanted to show his talents then he would, but obviously he is not currently interested in doing so.

I know BanYa uses some samples, but even if he uses loads of them, he uses samples that are not often used, sound unique and interesting, and he does not rely on samples to make any of his songs sound good.

Naoki's talents, from what he commonly produces, seem to be sequencing and writing tracks with a blatant theme (that is not bad, I'm just pointing it out).

[darkamdusias]

The way I see it, Naoki has tended to play it safe more often than not as of late. Personally, I think he's a fantastic composer who could actually come up with pretty good stuff if he really chose to, but has instead taken Taka's route and now tends to publish what fans expect (and more often than not, want) him to publish. Honestly, I doubt this stems from a lack of talent. I think he just got lazy once he didn't need to distinguish himself anymore.

[linus]

ah, lots of banya's song are just classical remix.

[THD5%]

dont forget the Dropout "melody" which is just a sample.

[GOD GODDY]

Originally Posted by linus

ah, lots of banya's song are just classical remix.

That's because Yahpp likes classical music, and he likes remixing it. Remixing doesn't always show lack of musical talent, it's all in how you remix it, and he adds an original touch to most of his remixes. Take Moonlight, for example. That's not how the original song sounded.

[Sagat believer]

Originally Posted by darkamdusias

The way I see it, Naoki has tended to play it safe more often than not as of late. Personally, I think he's a fantastic composer who could actually come up with pretty good stuff if he really chose to, but has instead taken Taka's route and now tends to publish what fans expect (and more often than not, want) him to publish. Honestly, I doubt this stems from a lack of talent. I think he just got lazy once he didn't need to distinguish himself anymore.

If anything, that kind of conformity made DDR originals sound bad (Paula Terry aside). If Naoki returns making songs in his former glory, his styles would be more unpredictable (heck, Jun and he could have made a collaboration with Des-ROW & Shige, and make it a DDR original). Unpredictability, in my eyes, spices up the DDR original song line-up.

[GOD GODDY]

When you give the fans what they want, quality degrades and originality vanishes. This is what happened to artful genres such as rap. It's fucking hard to find good rap now, just like it's hard to find good DDR songs (there is a difference between "good" and "fun").

[Sagat believer]

God, does this conformity Naoki adheres to also applies to other Bemani franchises?

[Camerone]

I agree here, whenever I see a Naoki song now, I know pretty much what to expect from it, and generally avoid it ;p

However, I don't see how Taka has taken the same route.

[GOD GODDY]

Originally Posted by Tim

God, does this conformity Naoki adheres to also applies to other Bemani franchises?

It applies to Naoki himself, and judging from what I've heard so far, even some of his collaborations have a bit of this conformity trying to come out.

I don't think Taka did anything like that, but I do think his music is meh, regardless.