Terms and Vocab
Table of Contents
- Intro
- Clears
- Scoring
- Ways to play
- Controls
- General Terms
- Kuso Techniques
- Improvement/Skill
- Music Theory
- Miscellaneous
Intro
Here, you will find common terms and vocabulary used in conversations about SDVX.
This will mainly go over SDVX terms, there are other terms that exist. For more general terms, you can look at this video
Clears
Clear/Effective Clear
This is a clear with the gauge that starts at 0% and you have to be over 70% gauge. Read more about Effective Gauge on the Gauge Options page.
Crash/Fail
This is when you fail a chart either by not getting the 70% mark, hitting 0% on Excessive gauge, or quitting out.
Hard clear/Excessive Clear
This is clearing with the gauge that starts at 100% and goes to 0%. This gauge is considered harder than a normal clear, hence Hard clear. Read more about Excessive Gauge on the Gauge Options page.
PUC/Perfect Ultimate Chain/Perfect
This is when you get only crits and above, meaning no nears or errors.
It is also called a Perfect Ultimate Chain in-game
S-PUC/Max/Max-0
This is when you get only S-Crit and above, meaning no crits, nears, or errors.
UC/Ultimate Chain/Full Combo/FC
This is when you get no errors in a chart. You keep your combo throughout the chart.
It is also called an Ultimate Chain in-game
Scoring
Ex-score
This is an alternative form of scoring that factors in S-Crits which is a tighter timing window.
Max-x
x in this refers to any number.
This refers to how far away you were from a max-0. For example, if you were max-2, that means you were 2 crits away from a max-0 or a S-PUC.
Notably, if you score good enough instead of showing a percentage for your max score, it will show a MAX-x.
S
This is a score above 9,900,000. This is commonly what people aim for when going for accuracy. See more about scores and grades here
Ways to play
Arcade/Cab/AC
This refers to playing on an Arcade Cabinet of SDVX.
Konasute コナステ
This refers to playing the official online version of SDVX made by Konami.
KSM/K-Shoot Mania
This refers to playing with KSM or K-Shoot Mania , an older simulator of SDVX.
Simulators
Simulators of Sound Voltex. Usually refers to USC or KSM.
USC/Untitled Sound Voltex Clone
This refers to playing with USC , the newer simulator of SDVX.
Controls
BT
BT means the white big buttons. These are orders from BT-A, BT-B, BT-C, BT-D from left to right. So, the leftmost button is BT-A while the rightmost button is BT-D.
FX
FX means the smaller orange buttons under the BT buttons. These are either FX-L meaning FX left, or FX-R meaning FX right.
Knobs
These refer to the knobs on the left and right of the controller. By default, the left one is blue and the right one is red.
General Terms
Charts/Maps
These reference the charts of the songs. The correct word for this is Chart.
Chips/Notes/Buttons
Refers to the BT and FX buttons of a chart.
Effector
The person who made the chart.
Mirror
A game option that allows you to flip the lanes horizontally, similar to many other rhythm games. Can be used as a challenge or a way to combat mindblock.
NOV, ADV, EXH, MXM, INF, GRV, HVN, VVD, XCD
These represent the difficulties of each song. NOV, or novice, is the easiest while MXM, or maxmium, is the hardest.
These each have their own full names which can be seen here:
| Acronym | Name |
|---|---|
| NOV | Novice |
| ADV | Advance |
| EXH | Exhaust |
| MXM | Maximum |
| INF | Infinite |
| GRV | Gravity |
| HVN | Heaven |
| VVD | Vivid |
| XCD | Exceed |
Note that INF-XCD means that a chart has another difficulty in that specified version. For example, if a chart got another difficulty in Sound Voltex Vivid Wave, it would be a VVD difficulty.
Random
A game option that randomly swaps the position of each lane and laser. Note that BT lanes are swapped to each other and the same is true for FX lanes.
S-Random
A game option similar to Random but instead of swapping the position of the lanes, the game swaps the position of every individual note and laser, resulting in very chaotic gameplay.
Tsumami つまみ/Lasers/Knobs
This refers to the lasers. In the game, lasers are referenced as Tsumami.
V-Random
A hidden game option that constantly changes the color of both your lasers, giving them an RGB-like effect. This option was intended as an April Fools joke and only works when the April Fools event is going on.
Kuso Techniques
In Japanese, “kuso” (くそ / 糞) literally means “shit”. Kuso techniques refer to unorthodox ways to play charts, usually for entertainment. Oftentimes, they complicate more than trivialize patterns.
Forearm Strats
This refers to using your forearms to alternatively hit quad jacks. Examples include Ganymede kamome mix EXH 17 and Gerbera MXM 18
Freestyling
Freestyling are unconventional and expressive ways to play charts, often incorporating “unnecessary” crosshands and alternations. Examples include leviern’s GEROL (Yooh Remix) MXM Gameplay and nb1rs’s CHOVERY GOOSE!! MXM Gameplay
Sliding
This refers to using your hands to “slide” across buttons to hit fast stairs. This technique is inefficient and can cause pain.
Improvement/Skill
Earth Power
Loosely similar to skill floor - Your general ability to read and hit notes, not specific to any rhythm games. Can be used to imply one’s skill level at playing rhythm games.
For example: If a player who is regarded as having high earth power moves to a new rhythm game, they are expected to perform decently well in that game too.
Mindblock
A phenomenon where you are mentally blocked from properly reading a pattern. This usually happens when you grind a chart continuously for too long. You can get mindblocked to a pattern specifically to a chart or globally. To combat mindblock, it is advised to take a break from the chart that caused the mindblock in the first place.
Session
A gaming session, can be at home or arcade.
Skill Ceiling
One’s ability to inconsistently perform better than their skill floor. Can be understood as their “upper skill level”. Being able to consistently demonstrate this performance turns it into a floor. When looking at one’s best 50 scores, the skill floor can be reflected by their upper 20 scores.
Skill Floor
The range of one’s consistent performance. Can be understood as their “average skill level”. When looking at one’s best 50 scores, the skill floor can be reflected by their lower 30 scores.
Skillsets
One’s skill to execute different “aspects” of a rhythm game. For example in Sound Voltex, 6 parameters in the skill radar can be considered as 6 skillsets.
Warm-up
A time period in a session where you spend getting mentally and physically prepared. This usually takes up the first 30% of your session’s length. Each player has their own warm-up routine but generally, they consist of playing lower levels.
Music Theory
Measures
For voltex, a measure is how the chart is divided. Each new measure is represented by the white line that is shown when playing a chart. Usually, most charts are under 4/4 time signature, meaning there are 4 “beats” for each measure.
Note that there are 4 beats in this measure (each beat seperated by the grey line) meaning this is a 4/4 time signature.
Measures are a complex topic. For a more in-depth breakdown, refer to this website
Time Signatures
Time signature defines how many beats are per measure. For most SDVX songs, this is 4 beats or 4/4. There are certain songs that do use different time signatures, for example *Erm, could it be a Spatiotemporal ShockWAVE Syndrome…? and *Feels Seasickness…* .
Time Signatures are a complex topic. For a more in-depth breakdown, refer to this website
n-th Notes
n represents any number.
n-th notes refers to how notes are spaced in a measure with respect to the original 4/4 time signature (Amount of notes within a beat). For SDVX, this is commonly used to describe streams/trills and how fast they are. A 8-th note staircase would have 2 notes each beat, 12th would have 3 notes each beat, 16th would have 4 notes each beat, etc.
Note that a 32th note stream on a 200 BPM song is the same speed as a 16th note stream on a 100 bpm song. The faster the BPM, the faster the speed.
n-th Notes are a complex topic. For a more in-depth breakdown on how to count, please refer to this tutorial .
Miscellaneous
Convert
A recreation of an official chart intended for play in simulators.
Custom
A user-created chart for play in simulators.
Insane KSM
Refers to the community created charts that are often much more difficult and unforgiving. You can read more at Insane KSM OS/US scale page.
Overshoot/os
Overshoot or os refers to the difficulty in Insane KSM. Overshoots are the harder difficulties of Insane KSM. You can read more at Insane KSM OS/US scale page.
Undershoot/us
Undershoot or us refers to the difficulty in Insane KSM. Undershoots are the easier difficulties of Insane KSM. You can read more at Insane KSM OS/US scale page.
Soflan
Soflan refers to the change in BPM for a song. Your lane speed is tied to BPM changes, so when the BPM increases, your lane speed increases and same visa versa.
Soflan (ソフラン, sofuran) originated from the IIDX chart “SOFT LANDING ON THE BODY” . This chart is one of the first charts in IIDX to have noteably BPM changes.
Hand Cam/Hand Shot
Video footage focused on player’s hands to help demonstrate techniques/gameplay.
Sight-read
Attempting a chart at first sight, without having practiced or seen it before.
Play-read
Attempting a chart the first time after watching gameplay of it before. ../../../components/Media