hi there
M4M from my queue
sorry for being so late but i explained that in my pm for you
most of the map is deeply checked on 25-50% playback rate to find deep mistakes that ruin the map and the song itself or that somehow just don't match the flow and plays or feels strange
parts i didn't check or that playback rate seemed to be fine yet maybe i'll recheck them in the future
since i'm still improving in the modding so i may be able to find something elseGeneral
I guess as metadata was checked by the previous modder it should be ok when you'll apply it.
But i should say about the bg. It would be much better to put bg related to the source of the song if possible. Even if the Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" is kind of origin of Alice Margatroid (both young and older; young is from the mystic square that is source) still the second one is the original character of touhou project with her own theme that's been arranged by demetori that you've mapped. I strongly suggest to put source related bg.
There was even a situation when map was dq'ed due to the reason of just the wrong touhou character. So i can almost insure you that somebody else will tell you the same as i did.
About the map itself in general. Actually drum-kick system you've followed in this map is actually messed up since you're emphasizing kicks with kats and drums with dons. But it actually works since you're also emphasizing guitar that has even more value in this track.
Inner Oni
00:07:353 (68) - pitch of this note is the same as the previous and is also affected by the long and high pitched guitar sound. However on this note 00:07:611 (71) pitch is lowering, that's why it better fits with the don instead of kat.
00:08:468 (81) - i don't think that this note emphasizes that sound well. Pitch doesn't grow that high to make this kat. You can't even notice that change on the 100% playback rate at first.
00:12:753 (123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132,133,134) - this amount of triplets kind of breaks rhythm of the song. Try at least put these 00:13:782 (132,133,134,135) together to make a 5plet. Or even join these 00:13:439 (129,130,131,132,133,134,135) together to make a stream. Music allows that and it's much more fun instead of four boring triplets.
You are missing such an important sound at this point 00:14:724. Try k there to extend the stream, looks good to me.
Missed an important sound here 00:15:410 too. Put k there to extend the stream and emphasize that sound that has same pitch as the previous note.
I understand the structure of this stream 00:15:496 (148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164). But why is 00:16:182 (155) a don? It has higher pitch even that those four notes before it and it even has a cymbals sound that you can emphasize with kat. I strongly suggest that.
It's also better to switch 00:16:096 (154) to d because pitch there is lowering and it will let 00:16:182 (155) emphasize it's pitch better too.
Try k on 00:16:525 (159) to follow guitar better. I don't see any sign to put k on 00:24:839 (240). Pitch is low there and drum sound doesn't appear.
00:27:324 (261,265) - you've missed drum sound there, kat should be in there. At least it's audible on the 50% playback rate.
00:32:552 - you've missed pretty audible sound in there. Put k there to follow the pitch and extend the stream. Pitch is also lowering on 00:36:068 (336) this note, don will follow the flow better in my opinion. 00:37:439 (347) - same for this one.
00:38:295 (355,359) - these are the same as 00:27:324 (261,265).
Maybe try to fill the gaps in these 00:42:068 (388,389,390,391,392,393,394)? You've missed plenty of sounds in there. But if you don't want do extend the stream by uniting it with the stream at the right (00:42:925 (395,396,397,398,399,400,401,402,403,404,405,406,407,408,409,410,411)) that's ok.
As you are following the guitar at this part mostly, you should switch 00:43:439 (401,406,411) to kat. Otherwise it breaks the structure of this whole part beginning from 00:27:839 (266).
00:45:839 (424) - this should probably be kat considering pitch of the guitar and drum sound that is pretty audible. Also pitch on 00:48:411 (446) is lowering and it doesn't seem that the cymbals are that strong to make it k finisher. Try d finisher in there. It will also make good and very fitting the flow k D k pattern.
00:51:839 (476,478) - switch these notes (ctrl+g) kat will fit better on that note because of the drum sound as you've started to follow mostly drums in this part because guitar there is kind of lowering it's pressure. Ctrl+g 00:52:353 (481,482) these for the same reason. Also make the new don finisher as it is placed where the cymbals appear and they're pretty audible to follow + you were following cymbals throughout all the map till this point and because of that it breaks the structure you've built.
00:52:696 (483,484,485,486,487) - this one is messed up too. It's literally ruining the structure of drum following that you were doing. Switch 00:52:868 (485) to d and 00:52:696 (483,487) to k to follow that structure again.
00:53:381 (491,495) - these are the same i've mentioned before 00:38:295 (355,359),; 00:27:324 (261,265).
00:58:524 (541) - as you've started to follow guitar to switch this to k to emphasize it better. It's really controversial when i listen to this part on 50% and 25% playback rate but you can give it a shot and just try k in there i suppose.
01:11:210 (667,671) - i don't think i need to point this to you anymore but still xD
01:11:895 (673,674,675,676,677,678) - what's about joining these together? I think i've mentioned it at the beginning :thinking: If you will then switch 01:12:410 (678) to k to follow the guitar. And also 01:13:010 (683,684) ctrl+g them for the same reason. 683 is affected by the long pitch note but 684 has more audible change in pitch that is getting higher in there.
01:15:152 (702,703,704,705,706,707) - this really seems to be empty and needs to be joined in one stream. Avoiding those sounds really breaks the structure you've been following since it does not emphasize a full amount of guitar sounds there.
01:16:867 (719,720) - i really don't understand the purpose of these kats. This 01:16:867 (719) sounds is deep drum sound so it doesn't feel right to emphasize it with kat, the next one just don't have any of high-pitched note or drum so these kats are just random placed. Though this 01:17:038 (721) - really could be emphasized with kat because pitch increases a bit on it.
01:20:295 (748) - no need to emphasize this with kat too even if you hear the long mid-pitched note that has its beginning on 01:19:952 (746) because it's not affecting it that much at all. This 01:20:124 (747) one is okay with kat because of the drum sound it has.
01:29:467 (16,17) - ctrl+g these to follow the pitch there. Since the guitar has leading role in those streams it should be emphasized more careful.
01:34:781 (69) - if i were you i'd actually placed it at 01:34:610. That will emphasize guitar much better.
01:35:038 (71) - also this could be switched to d finisher and it will be emphasized with these 01:34:867 (70,72) kats much more better then if it would be as kat.
01:35:724 (77) - this kat seems to be random since there is no drum or high pitch in there. 01:37:867 (98) - same for this; also this pattern breaks the consistency of all map because you didn't use any of these anywhere. And it shouldn't be used because it doesn't fit to this part.
01:38:552 (104,105) - ctrl+g to replace that random kat. You use a lot of them tbh and it's bad. You need to build something consistent and flow-following and not put random things that just ruin the map you're trying to make good.
01:39:495 (113) - this seems to be in need to emphasize it with k due to the increasing of pitch there. kdkdk will fit okay in there imo.
01:39:838 (116) - make this d to keep consistency with 01:35:724 (77,78,79). It's still a random kat.
01:44:724 (54,55,56) - it's not necessary to emphasize long note with a bunch of notes in map. Same for 01:44:981 (57,58,59,60). Use variation in here please.
01:45:152 (59) - put k here to follow the drum sound.
01:45:324 (61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70) - this part is really boring, you could really use more color in there. For example switch this 01:45:410 (62) - to d to emphasize the lowering pitch in there and ctrl+g these 01:45:752 (66,67) notes to emphasize the pitch better.
01:49:438 (109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125) - since this part is similar as the situations i've written about, you can change them as i told and then recheck for the pitch-correct sounds.
01:50:981 (127,129) - ctrl+g these two since first is a random kat again and second is actually a drum sound so this change will emphasize sounds better.
01:51:752 (137,138,139,140,141,142,143,144,145,146) - i think that all of these should be dons. Changing notes that are kick sounds to kats is wrong there since this part doesn't even have changes in pitch.
01:53:552,01:54:238,01:56:295,01:56:981,01:59:038,02:01:781,02:02:467 - this bunch of time points i've pointed have snare sounds in the music. I think that you've never actually checked the song itself for the hidden sounds on lower playback rate that the 100%. Such an approach for the mapping is really amateur. I don't want to hurt you with this words but i know it for myself. I was mapping in such "style" for a long time but when i started modding 3 months ago i realized that i was making so many mistakes that were ruining my maps. So i just want you to know about this stuff not to come this road for yourself. For this situation i simple suggest you to put dons since those sounds are not that audible on 100% but they do exist. And emphasizing them with kats is totally wrong.
01:55:267,01:57:324,01:58:010,02:00:067,02:00:752,02:02:810 - at these points you've missed a lot of kats. So place them in there please.
02:03:267 (194,197,198) - these could be as kats because pitch is increasing a bit at that point so you can emphasize that change with blue-colored notes.
02:12:752 (1,2,3,4) - emphasizing a slightly increasing pitch with finishes is strange. It's better to misplace them with kats. Otherwise it doesn't have much sense.
02:14:124 (13,14) - ctrl+g these to follow the pitch correctly.
02:14:552 (18,20) - change these to kats so you can make a finisher on this 02:14:810 (21) note. It will emphasize the cymbals at the end of the stream and also it's good for the beginning of the kiai to have a finisher.
02:19:524 - it would be nice to put a kat here since you're following guitar in your map mostly. Also place a don on 02:19:352 to emphasize the kick sound. These changes will make a stream in there but it is okay since it will follow the song correctly.
02:20:981 (79) - you've missed high-pitched sound in there, make it k. Same for this one 02:25:867 (136). And for this 02:31:095 (197). And for this too 02:32:467 (213). This have a bit increased pitch but it works better with kat too 02:33:152 (221).
I think that the part that has it's beginning on 02:36:838 is empty. Actually there should be a spinner since the sound is long in there. Put it from the point i've mentioned to 02:38:467 to cover that gap.
02:57:839 (90) - it's better to emphasize this with kat since the pitch is increasing from there.
03:12:410 (43) - it's not necessary to emphasize this finisher. It's actually better to make that a triplet adding don at 03:12:324.
03:16:352 (77) - make this k since it has the same pitch as 03:12:410 (43). Also this will help to keep consistency.
03:17:810 - you're missing a guitar sound on there, place a don there.
03:20:981 (123) - make this k since of the drum sound. Also it will make a variation in that d part of the stream. Same for 03:22:352 (137).
03:26:038 (176) - make this k to emphasize the change of the pitch since it's the first note when it starts it's increasing.
03:26:467 (181) - make this k to keep consistency with 03:22:352 (137) and 03:20:981 (123). Same for 03:27:838 (195).
03:36:238 (24) - this note is ok since it's drum but 03:36:152 (23) shouldn't be kat. Pitch or drum sound don't affect this note. Same for this note 03:42:667 (85). Also ctrl+g these two 03:43:352 (91,92) - for the same reason.
04:21:581 (205,206) - ctrl+g these to follow the pitch correctly in there. Also make this 04:29:038 (279) k to emphasize the change in pitch.
04:36:324 (356,357) - ctrl+g these due to the same as above.
04:41:981 (422,423,424,425,426,427,428,429,430,431) - this part is not 1/4. This should be mapped on 1/3. Make it something like
this.
04:44:724 (448,449) - ctrl+g these to follow the pitch correctly. This 04:45:581 (458) can also be good as kat to emphasize the beginning of pitch change.
04:54:495 (562) - pitch is getting lower on this note, make this d.
04:58:610 - place a note here since you've missed a pretty solid sound there. Same for this 04:59:295. Actually i've pointed that in the beginning. It will make a good change and keep consistency with the thing i've pointed on 00:14:724.
Everything else seems to be fine.
Good luck with this map.