1. Enchanted - 4Key (3,31 stars, 568 notes)

Applequestria wrote:

testing

1. 00:01:039 (1039|3,1039|1,1213|3,1213|1) - I can understand why the top two notes are repeated to represent how the plucking synth sound plays the same note, but I would recommend the bottom two notes of both jumps to change to perhaps represent that the guitar doesn't play the same note twice
2. 00:03:813 (3813|3,3986|3,4160|2,4333|2) - Ignoring that you don't map the guitar here (see layering issues later in the mod), you map this fine - you repeat the same note to show that the synth plays the same note in the music, but you also move columns every second note to make the map interesting. However, this is ruined here: 00:04:507 (4507|1,4680|1,4854|0,5027|0) - because the synth doesn't follow your patterning. It might also be good to follow pitch relevancy - e.g. 00:04:507 (4507|1,4680|1) - the synth sound jumps upwards in pitch between these two notes, so the second one should be more right than the first note.
3. 00:07:802 (7802|2,7802|0,7802|1) - one of these notes is slightly off the beat, perhaps you can represent this with a grace note? Overall this shouldn't be a hand because it's guitar on the red 1/4 tick (1 note) and 'ting' a fraction of a snap after that (1 note) - see layering problems in the mod later on
4. 00:08:669 (8669|3,8842|3,9015|3,9189|3) - doesn't make sense to repeat the same note 4 times when the synth plays four different notes
5. 00:10:576 (10576|3,10576|2,10923|2,10923|3,11096|1,11270|2,11270|3,11617|2,11617|3,11790|2,11963|1) - bit of a bias on columns 2, 3 and 4 here
6. 00:11:963 (11963|1,12137|1,12310|1) - I don't think this triple repeated note properly represents the music, because no note is repeated three times between these snaps. Furthermore, 00:12:137 (12137|0,12137|1,12310|0,12310|1) - you repeat these two notes, when the vocals don't repeat the same the same pitch, nor does the guitar.
7. 00:13:697 (13697|1,13871|2,14044|2,14218|1,14391|1) - Here your layering problems is very clear, because now you again ignore guitar completely (see layering problems section blah blah), meaning it completely changes it's density for no reason compared to even less intense sections like 00:11:617 (11617|2,11617|3,11790|2,11963|1,12137|2,12137|1,12137|0,12310|1,12310|0) -
8. 00:14:478 (14478|2,14825|3,14998|2) - These notes make no sense because there's no individual discernable sound that plays on these snaps - so these are ghost notes and are unrankable in mania (unlike in osu!standard, where you can use ghost notes if justified in very particular situations). In fact, 00:14:565 (14565|3,14825|3) - these two LN make zero sense to what you're trying to represent musically, and during them, you ignore actually discernable sounds like the guitar and the vocals.
9. 00:15:258 (15258|0,15258|1,15432|2) - Again layering wise, doesn't make sense because the first chord highlighted is guitar + vocal, and the second note highlighted is guitar + vocal + 'ting' sound (see layering section)
10. 00:15:778 (15778|0,15952|0,16125|0) - The guitar plays three completely different notes, perhaps you can represent this with pitch relevancy rather than keeping the notes the same? I think it's clear with this that you switch between choosing to map guitar and choosing to ignore it in the same section, which is a big layering problem
11. 00:16:992 (16992|2,16992|3) - Again, layering problem - no guitar or 'ting' plays there, only vocals - but you map that as a jump. Same here: 00:17:512 (17512|2,17512|0) -
12. 00:17:339 (17339|2,17512|2,17686|2) - No sound repeats the same pitch three times in the song, so perhaps change?
13. 00:17:686 (17686|2,17686|1,17686|3) - No 'ting' here etc. - see layering section
14. 00:18:033 (18033|2,18380|2) - You ignore guitar between these two notes and during the next LN
15. 00:20:287 (20287|1,20460|1) - Nothing in the music repeats the same pitch
16. 00:20:460 (20460|2,20460|1,20460|0,21154|3,21154|2,21154|1,21848|2,21848|1,22368|3,22368|0) - I'd argue that all four chords have: 1. the same instrumentation, and 2. the same intensity so I recommend keeping all four chords the same size. Furthermore, considering how calm this section is, doesn't make sense to have hands, which are used to represent a number of instruments, or intense chords. In fact, your triple and double LNs cause issues because now you have to ignore the guitar and 'ting' sounds playing during this section, which you should be mapping.
17. 00:23:235 (23235|3,23408|2,23582|1,23582|0) - Layering wise, these also don't make sense because all three of these snaps are guitar + vocal. I'll stop mentionining layering issues from here, so you can check the rest yourself.
18. 00:25:403 (25403|3,25576|3) - Ghost notes, nothing in the music plays 1/4 offbeat
19. 00:25:836 (25836|2,26010|2,26010|1,26183|1,26183|2,26356|1) - You know what's up haha
20. 00:26:703 (26703|2) - Ghost note
21. 00:27:223 (27223|1,27223|2) - Perhaps grace note?
22. 00:28:091 (28091|2,28264|2) - Again pitch relevancy might be good. Same right after: 00:28:611 (28611|2,28784|2) -
23. 00:31:125 (31125|3) - Ghost note
24. 00:31:559 (31559|3,31559|2,31559|1,32252|1,32252|0,32946|3) - Here you completely change the style of mapping compared to the same section in the music before. See previous point on how I recommend mapping that.
25. 00:33:380 (33380|1,33466|2,33553|3) - Layering: not all three of these notes play the same low pitch drum/timpani sound - the second note highlighted also has a 'ting'
26. 00:33:640 (33640|1,33640|0,33726|3,33726|2,33813|1,33813|0,33900|3,33900|2,33986|0,33986|1,34073|2,34073|3,34160|0,34160|1,34247|2,34247|3) - I wouldn't recommend using a jumptrill considering how calm the music is, and how this increases note density massively compared to the mapping previous to this - overall I don't think this matches the intensity of the music very well.
27. 00:34:333 (34333|0,34333|2,34333|3,34333|1) - General rule of thumb is only use quads either due to 4+ separately-mapped instruments playing simultaneously or to represent an extraordinary stand-out sound in an intense section of music - here, although it stands out a bit, I don't think this warrants a full quad, and definitely not a quad LN. Instead I recommend a jump, or a hand at most. E.g. I recommend something like this AT MOST: https://i.imgur.com/CEkbFLa.png (I will discuss the reasoning of my patterning on this later on)
28. 00:35:027 (35027|3) - Should be placed on the red 1/4 tick prior to the white snap it's currently on.
29. 00:38:842 (38842|3,38929|2,39015|1,39102|0,39189|3,39189|2,39275|1,39275|0,39362|2,39362|3,39449|0,39449|1,39536|3,39536|2,39622|0,39622|1,39709|3,39709|2,39796|1,39796|0,39882|1,39882|2,39882|0,39882|3) - Same thing
30. 00:40:923 (40923|3,41096|3,41270|3) - Pitch relevancy
31. 00:45:432 (45432|1,45432|3,45432|2,45432|0,46125|1,46125|0,46125|2,46125|3) - Again, both of these do not warrant quads, or near quads at all. For example the second chord, it's just the vocal, and it's not the stronger emphasis of the two chord either - therefore, you can either choose to continue mapping the vocal with 1 LN, or at most, 2 LN if you wanted to represent intensity your own way.
32. 00:47:512 (47512|0,47512|1,47859|2,47859|0,47859|1,48206|3,48206|1,48206|2) - Layering etc.
33. 00:48:206 (48206|1,48206|3,48206|2,48900|2,48900|0,48900|1) - Previously you mapped this with two quads. I understand you want to show that the first one was more intense (i.e. it had a crash symbal), but again see the previous point on layering this.
34. 00:49:593 (49593|3) - Ghost note, unless you intended to map the 'ahh' background vocals, then I would recommend perhaps LN, and you should continue mapping all these 'ahh' sounds in this section.
35. 00:55:663 (55663|2,55663|1,55836|2,55836|1) - I think it's fine to repeat the same note here because the vocals repeat the same pitch, but I don't know what instrument the other note is meant to represent (so layering issues)
36. 00:55:836 (55836|2,55836|1,55836|3,56183|2,56183|3,56183|1) - Again, pitch is not repeated in any instrument in the music
37. 00:56:183 (56183|1,56183|3,56183|2,56530|3) - Layering makes no sense comparing these two highlighted snaps. First one you give a hand to vocal only, and second one you give only one LN to vocal + electric guitar + drum kick?
38. 01:03:380 (63380|0,63553|0) - Ghost notes
39. 01:06:934 (66934|0,67195|0,67455|0) - Err, no, guitar doesn't do this rhythm, and it doesn't play the same note three times
40. 01:07:628 (67628|3,67975|3,68322|3) - This is fine to represent the clapping sound, but why did you stop mapping the electric guitar after just having mapped it? Even here you decide to map it: 01:12:657 (72657|2,73004|1) -
41. 01:13:177 (73177|2,73524|0,73871|3) - All the LN from here on, you use to map the electric guitar. I would recommend using full continuous LN rather than releasing a 1/4 before each next note because the electric guitar constantly plays. During this section, I wouldn't recommend only following the guitar - would be interesting to use single notes to represent the drums too.
42. 01:16:645 (76645|0,76732|1,76819|2,76906|3,76992|0,77079|1,77166|3,77252|2,77426|1,77512|2,77599|0) - Again, ghost notes.

1. The note where the bright green line is, I've made that a jump because it's the very soft low pitch timpani (on the 1/4 blue ticks) + a very prominant loud timpani sound = jump. Same with the white tick right after that
2. The loud timpani sound then plays on every 1/4 from where the jumptrill starts.
3. However, you'll notice that the last blue tick, I do not map a jump - this is to help lead into the hand, which I decide to use to show that a very prominent crash cymbal plays. However, because this is still a relatively calm section of music, I want to avoid having a 1/4 jack from having jump to hand, so for playability, I decide to miss one note.

Overall, it's a pretty good start, considering this is one of your first mania maps, just a few big issues to work on and you'll map real good

Stuff before the mod:

stuff before the answer

Columns: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Jump: chords with two notes
Hand: chords with three notes
Quad: chords with four notes
LN: long notes

Mod:

00:01:039 (1039|3,1039|1,1213|3,1213|1) - I can understand why the top two notes are repeated to represent how the plucking synth sound plays the same note, but I would recommend the bottom two notes of both jumps to change to perhaps represent that the guitar doesn't play the same note twice i dont understand
00:03:813 (3813|3,3986|3,4160|2,4333|2) - Ignoring that you don't map the guitar here (see layering issues later in the mod), you map this fine - you repeat the same note to show that the synth plays the same note in the music, but you also move columns every second note to make the map interesting. However, this is ruined here: 00:04:507 (4507|1,4680|1,4854|0,5027|0) - because the synth doesn't follow your patterning. It might also be good to follow pitch relevancy - e.g. 00:04:507 (4507|1,4680|1) - the synth sound jumps upwards in pitch between these two notes, so the second one should be more right than the first note. moved second note to the right
00:07:802 (7802|2,7802|0,7802|1) - one of these notes is slightly off the beat, perhaps you can represent this with a grace note? Overall this shouldn't be a hand because it's guitar on the red 1/4 tick (1 note) and 'ting' a fraction of a snap after that (1 note) - see layering problems in the mod later on uhh i guess ill make this a jump
00:08:669 (8669|3,8842|3,9015|3,9189|3) - doesn't make sense to repeat the same note 4 times when the synth plays four different notes o ok
00:10:576 (10576|3,10576|2,10923|2,10923|3,11096|1,11270|2,11270|3,11617|2,11617|3,11790|2,11963|1) - bit of a bias on columns 2, 3 and 4 here yea i noticed that i like the right side a lot compared to the left side but here i mapped this like this to make it seem more intense i guess i dunno
00:11:963 (11963|1,12137|1,12310|1) - I don't think this triple repeated note properly represents the music, because no note is repeated three times between these snaps. Furthermore, 00:12:137 (12137|0,12137|1,12310|0,12310|1) - you repeat these two notes, when the vocals don't repeat the same the same pitch, nor does the guitar. uhhh ok
00:13:697 (13697|1,13871|2,14044|2,14218|1,14391|1) - Here your layering problems is very clear, because now you again ignore guitar completely (see layering problems section blah blah), meaning it completely changes it's density for no reason compared to even less intense sections like 00:11:617 (11617|2,11617|3,11790|2,11963|1,12137|2,12137|1,12137|0,12310|1,12310|0) - i made it like that to make vocals more intense but i guess ill change it a bit
00:14:478 (14478|2,14825|3,14998|2) - These notes make no sense because there's no individual discernable sound that plays on these snaps - so these are ghost notes and are unrankable in mania (unlike in osu!standard, where you can use ghost notes if justified in very particular situations). In fact, 00:14:565 (14565|3,14825|3) - these two LN make zero sense to what you're trying to represent musically, and during them, you ignore actually discernable sounds like the guitar and the vocals. i mapped this to the vocals but i guess ill change it a bit
00:15:258 (15258|0,15258|1,15432|2) - Again layering wise, doesn't make sense because the first chord highlighted is guitar + vocal, and the second note highlighted is guitar + vocal + 'ting' sound (see layering section) uh oke
00:15:778 (15778|0,15952|0,16125|0) - The guitar plays three completely different notes, perhaps you can represent this with pitch relevancy rather than keeping the notes the same? I think it's clear with this that you switch between choosing to map guitar and choosing to ignore it in the same section, which is a big layering problem made it a bit better i think fuk
00:16:992 (16992|2,16992|3) - Again, layering problem - no guitar or 'ting' plays there, only vocals - but you map that as a jump. Same here: 00:17:512 (17512|2,17512|0) - oooooooh
00:17:339 (17339|2,17512|2,17686|2) - No sound repeats the same pitch three times in the song, so perhaps change? i guess i change
00:17:686 (17686|2,17686|1,17686|3) - No 'ting' here etc. - see layering section oke
00:18:033 (18033|2,18380|2) - You ignore guitar between these two notes and during the next LN ok
00:20:287 (20287|1,20460|1) - Nothing in the music repeats the same pitch o

ill respond to the rest later

00:20:460 (20460|2,20460|1,20460|0,21154|3,21154|2,21154|1,21848|2,21848|1,22368|3,22368|0) - I'd argue that all four chords have: 1. the same instrumentation, and 2. the same intensity so I recommend keeping all four chords the same size. Furthermore, considering how calm this section is, doesn't make sense to have hands, which are used to represent a number of instruments, or intense chords. In fact, your triple and double LNs cause issues because now you have to ignore the guitar and 'ting' sounds playing during this section, which you should be mapping.
00:23:235 (23235|3,23408|2,23582|1,23582|0) - Layering wise, these also don't make sense because all three of these snaps are guitar + vocal. I'll stop mentionining layering issues from here, so you can check the rest yourself.
00:25:403 (25403|3,25576|3) - Ghost notes, nothing in the music plays 1/4 offbeat
00:25:836 (25836|2,26010|2,26010|1,26183|1,26183|2,26356|1) - You know what's up haha
00:26:703 (26703|2) - Ghost note
00:27:223 (27223|1,27223|2) - Perhaps grace note?
00:28:091 (28091|2,28264|2) - Again pitch relevancy might be good. Same right after: 00:28:611 (28611|2,28784|2) -
00:31:125 (31125|3) - Ghost note
00:31:559 (31559|3,31559|2,31559|1,32252|1,32252|0,32946|3) - Here you completely change the style of mapping compared to the same section in the music before. See previous point on how I recommend mapping that.
00:33:380 (33380|1,33466|2,33553|3) - Layering: not all three of these notes play the same low pitch drum/timpani sound - the second note highlighted also has a 'ting'
00:33:640 (33640|1,33640|0,33726|3,33726|2,33813|1,33813|0,33900|3,33900|2,33986|0,33986|1,34073|2,34073|3,34160|0,34160|1,34247|2,34247|3) - I wouldn't recommend using a jumptrill considering how calm the music is, and how this increases note density massively compared to the mapping previous to this - overall I don't think this matches the intensity of the music very well.
00:34:333 (34333|0,34333|2,34333|3,34333|1) - General rule of thumb is only use quads either due to 4+ separately-mapped instruments playing simultaneously or to represent an extraordinary stand-out sound in an intense section of music - here, although it stands out a bit, I don't think this warrants a full quad, and definitely not a quad LN. Instead I recommend a jump, or a hand at most. E.g. I recommend something like this AT MOST: https://i.imgur.com/CEkbFLa.png (I will discuss the reasoning of my patterning on this later on)
00:35:027 (35027|3) - Should be placed on the red 1/4 tick prior to the white snap it's currently on.
00:38:842 (38842|3,38929|2,39015|1,39102|0,39189|3,39189|2,39275|1,39275|0,39362|2,39362|3,39449|0,39449|1,39536|3,39536|2,39622|0,39622|1,39709|3,39709|2,39796|1,39796|0,39882|1,39882|2,39882|0,39882|3) - Same thing
00:40:923 (40923|3,41096|3,41270|3) - Pitch relevancy
00:45:432 (45432|1,45432|3,45432|2,45432|0,46125|1,46125|0,46125|2,46125|3) - Again, both of these do not warrant quads, or near quads at all. For example the second chord, it's just the vocal, and it's not the stronger emphasis of the two chord either - therefore, you can either choose to continue mapping the vocal with 1 LN, or at most, 2 LN if you wanted to represent intensity your own way.
00:47:512 (47512|0,47512|1,47859|2,47859|0,47859|1,48206|3,48206|1,48206|2) - Layering etc.
00:48:206 (48206|1,48206|3,48206|2,48900|2,48900|0,48900|1) - Previously you mapped this with two quads. I understand you want to show that the first one was more intense (i.e. it had a crash symbal), but again see the previous point on layering this.
00:49:593 (49593|3) - Ghost note, unless you intended to map the 'ahh' background vocals, then I would recommend perhaps LN, and you should continue mapping all these 'ahh' sounds in this section.
00:55:663 (55663|2,55663|1,55836|2,55836|1) - I think it's fine to repeat the same note here because the vocals repeat the same pitch, but I don't know what instrument the other note is meant to represent (so layering issues)
00:55:836 (55836|2,55836|1,55836|3,56183|2,56183|3,56183|1) - Again, pitch is not repeated in any instrument in the music
00:56:183 (56183|1,56183|3,56183|2,56530|3) - Layering makes no sense comparing these two highlighted snaps. First one you give a hand to vocal only, and second one you give only one LN to vocal + electric guitar + drum kick?
01:03:380 (63380|0,63553|0) - Ghost notes
01:06:934 (66934|0,67195|0,67455|0) - Err, no, guitar doesn't do this rhythm, and it doesn't play the same note three times
01:07:628 (67628|3,67975|3,68322|3) - This is fine to represent the clapping sound, but why did you stop mapping the electric guitar after just having mapped it? Even here you decide to map it: 01:12:657 (72657|2,73004|1) -
01:13:177 (73177|2,73524|0,73871|3) - All the LN from here on, you use to map the electric guitar. I would recommend using full continuous LN rather than releasing a 1/4 before each next note because the electric guitar constantly plays. During this section, I wouldn't recommend only following the guitar - would be interesting to use single notes to represent the drums too.
01:16:645 (76645|0,76732|1,76819|2,76906|3,76992|0,77079|1,77166|3,77252|2,77426|1,77512|2,77599|0) - Again, ghost notes.

Layering issues:

00:01:386 (1386|0,1386|2,1559|1,1559|3,1559|2) - from here you've established that plucking synth is worth 1 note, guitar is worth 1 note and a 'ting' sound is worth 1 note - that means synth + guitar is a jump, and synth + guitar + 'ting' is 3 notes.

However you are not consistent with this through the rest of the map (e.g. 00:01:906 (1906|2,2079|1) - both of these play synth + guitar so they should be jumps, but you map them as single notes, and 00:02:252 (2252|0,2252|2) - is synth + guitar + 'ting'. Similarly, 00:05:200 (5200|3,5374|3,5547|3,5721|3,5894|3,6067|2,6241|1,6414|0) - you completely ignore guitar and 'ting' sounds here. In contrast, here (00:03:813 (3813|3,3813|1,3813|2) -) you have a hand that does not have a 'ting'. 00:06:934 (6934|2,6934|3) - I would argue that this is fine because the 'ting' sound clearly isn't as prominent as the chord after it (00:07:108 (7108|0,7108|2,7108|1) - ) so it maintains constrast between the two chords.

00:09:882 (9882|1,9882|2,10229|0,10229|1,10576|3,10576|2) - Then here, the synth plucking sound you were mapping all that time before, you suddenly stop mapping here? I would say that stopping mapping a sound is fine, provided there is a new much more prominent sound that completely overrides the sound you were mapping before, but that isn't the case here. 00:12:657 (12657|1,12830|3,12830|2,13004|1,13177|3,13177|2,13351|1,13524|2,13524|3) - layering like this doesn't make sense because there are no two instruments playing on the jumps. In fact, the most prominent note there is 00:13:351 (13351|1) - because it has a 'ting' - but you map that with a single note in comparison.

It's important to choose which instruments you want to map, and keep it consistent through a section (e.g. if you decide to dedicate 1 note to guitar, then you should continue giving the guitar sound 1 note every time it sounds through that section). I'd suggest checking through the map and fixing sections, because it's up to you to decide your rules and keep them consistent.

i am dying inside

Oh yeah, justifying my pattern:

Image

The note where the bright green line is, I've made that a jump because it's the very soft low pitch timpani (on the 1/4 blue ticks) + a very prominant loud timpani sound = jump. Same with the white tick right after that
The loud timpani sound then plays on every 1/4 from where the jumptrill starts.
However, you'll notice that the last blue tick, I do not map a jump - this is to help lead into the hand, which I decide to use to show that a very prominent crash cymbal plays. However, because this is still a relatively calm section of music, I want to avoid having a 1/4 jack from having jump to hand, so for playability, I decide to miss one note.


Overall stuff:

1. Layering is a major issue here: Essentially, if you choose to map an instrument in a particular section, make sure you continue to map it throughout that section rather than map it sometimes and not map it other times. Say you're following more than one instrument, e.g. a sax and a piano. If the piano plays by itself, you say it's worth 1 note, so you put down a single. Similarly, if the sax plays by itself, you say it's worth 1 note too, so you put down a single. If they both play simultaneously, then you put down a jump - this is the essense of layering, and it's important that you keep it consistent.

Of course this doesn't have to always be the case, in an intense section, you might want to make the map more dense by making kicks worth 2 notes for example, so piano + kick = 3 notes (a hand). And of course, other exceptions include a certain piano note playing exceptionally loud compared to all the other piano notes, then you might decide to make that piano note worth 2 notes instead of one - but use this very very sparingly in 4k, otherwise you'll make the section overly dense for a relatively calm bit of music. Finally, if you can give a good justification why you stop mapping an instrument or ignore it for a snap or two, then that's also allowed - e.g. if you're mapping the piano and an overwhelmingly loud set of drums appears, you can stop mapping that piano for that short section and focus solely on the drums so that the player can feel its sole emphasis. Another reason you might want to ignore a certain note is for playability - I gave an example in explaining my pattern previously.

2. Pitch relevancy isn't always necessary, but good use of it is what sets a mediocre map apart from a very good map. Obviously, sometimes you want to repeat notes to keep things interesting (which usually isn't a good justification), or to emphasise a certain beat (better justification) - but make sure you try to follow pitch, especially clear pitch changes like big leaps in the pitch of an instrument (I'm saying pitch too much lol)

3. Ghost notes aren't allowed at all in ranked mania maps, unless you're making a graveyard dump practice map or something haha

Overall, it's a pretty good start, considering this is one of your first mania maps, just a few big issues to work on and you'll map real good