In general, I really like this map. I just think that you could use some more hitsounds--mostly claps at the start of Normal and whistles during kiai time. For the whistles, I'll just mention them in [Insane] as a rough guide. Hopefully, this post isn't too confusing to read, but feel free to ignore the more elaborate parts.
[Insane]Definitely stick with AR8, because it suits the tempo better, distinguishes this from [Hard] and makes that one back-and-forth thing easier to read.
00:17:518 (8,9,10)- I think that this would play and read better as an actual pattern, instead of a back-and forth. With AR7, this actually confused me a little bit, but then I was feeling pretty hazy at the time. Here's what I came up with:
00:36:655 (3)- I would make this slider curve more, so that it doesn't create an overlap. Not a big thing, but then it didn't take me long to modify this. Also, moving (4) away from the slider's end could be nice as well. See here:
00:45:098 (1,2,3)- Finishes and turn this into an actual pattern; preferably, one which rises. Feels like that'd be appropriate for the rising synth strings or whatever they are.
00:48:100- From here, I'd try to use some whistles. I came up with with whistles at the following times:
00:49:600- on the end of (2)
00:50:726- (6)
00:51:664- the entire slider (4)
00:52:602- (1)
00:53:165- the entire slider (3)
00:56:355- start and middle of (6)
00:58:606- start of (5)
00:59:357- the entire slider (1)
Similar pattern for everything up to last spinner and possibly something similar for the other difficulties. I know that this might be a bit overdone, but I felt like being specific, in case you couldn't imagine how the whistles could be applied.
00:59:357 (1)- by the way, associate this with one of the combos around it. I suggest removing the new combo.
[Hard]I'll also mention whistles here, if only for this slider so that you know what I'm on about.
00:49:600 (3)- This entire slider would be perfect for a whistle.
00:52:602 (1)- Also here and (2)?
01:01:608 (4)- A whistle here would be nice.
01:04:610 (1,2)- Whistles here? They wouldn't sound offensive on the sliders in this map in the slightest imo.
01:09:113 (4)- I'd definitely remove the clap from this.
Everything else is fine.
[Normal]00:13:015 (2)- Add a clap here and on every similar instance of this. Basically, every red tick after the sliders. I shouldn't need to list everything for this. I assume that you want to save the claps for kiai, but the start sounds pretty bland without them and I already suggested the use of whistles anyway.
[Easy]00:12:077 (1)- Claps on the ends of these long sliders. Same principle as [Normal].
00:23:709 (4;1)- Finish on slider end; slider start.
00:29:713 (4;1)- Finish on slider end; slider start.
00:37:030 (1)- Clap on end to spice it up and complement the snare.
00:37:405 (2)- Finish on start to spice it up and complement the vocal stress.
[SHIIIINING TAIKO]
Okay, so I decided to suggest a couple of things for this, even though I don't know much about taiko mapping.
00:36:092 (1)- Big don here.
00:56:542 (7)- I don't know if this would flout the sacred authentic TnT rules, but this should be moved 1/4 later.
01:09:113 (1,2,3)- Big dons here.
I could get picky about the placement of other sounds, but I won't.
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Very nice map!