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[Problem Machine]

I'm pretty new here, but I saw a link to the old music challenge thread in the sticky, and damn that looked fun. So I'm thinking if there's any interest I'd like to get that started back up again, with maybe some minor changes in the name of increased longevity. Here's what I'm thinking:

a) Bi or tri-weekly:
I think part of the reason the thread died down so fast before is because asking people to put together a piece in a week for a game is a little steep a participation price. Perhaps making it every other or every third week would keep people from burning out on the idea.

b) No 'winners':
This is an idea that I liked from the previous challenge. There's no accounting for subjective tastes, and if you're good at what you do you probably don't need a meaningless interweb trophy to showcase it. While I'd like to see a certain amount of competitive spirit, I think it should be more in the name of trying to showcase the extent of our abilities rather than trying to win some nebulous 'prize'

c) I don't wanna be the guy who sets the theme every week  :D
Okay, mostly selfishness on my part, but I don't think it'd be as much fun(for me) if I worked off of my own cues all the time. Also, I think this would keep the thread a lot fresher, because there would be all sorts of different and, most likely, unusual ideas presented for the themes. As to how to decide who does it... I'm not sure. Perhaps if we have a group of 'regulars' to the challenge then we could just pass the job around in circles? Which brings me to my next point...

d) Commitment?
Basically, as long as people can just walk in and out, there's eventually going to be one week where basically no one gives a shit and after that it's just going to die. That seems to be what happened to the last one. So basically all I'm thinking is maybe have a group of regs who, to some extent, expect each other to submit pieces. (edit: Holy crap I just reread that and I said basically like basically a gajillion times basically)
Nothing big, I'm just looking for minor guilt pangs to keep people honest

Well, how does that sound? If you guys generally like where I'm going with this, then I can stick up a theme to use on Thursday, in honor of the predecessor thread. If not, then I can change! Just let me know what you think would be a better way of doing it.

And the first NEW music challenge is more or less over-ish!
First theme: FIRE!!!
C418
Annabelle Kennedy
Kobel
RadRuss
KareemK

[C418]

I will so definetly join in. 

I guess that I'm not as creative as in the last thread with the themes, so I don't think I can set 'em :D

[RadRuss]

Count me all the way in.  Composing is my thing anyway, so you can be sure I'll be a regular.  Thanks for getting this going!

[Farbs]

Songfight scares the hell out of me, but I could certainly seem myself engaging in the odd TIGs music challenge. There's no way I could commit to being a regular, but if (when?) it starts I'll probably join in from time to time.

[cgmonkey]

I'm no composer per se but I've always wanted to take a stab at music creation.. I would've loved to join this sort of competition!!

[Problem Machine]

Seems like we've got a decent base for the first go. I've already got a theme in mind, and I'll be announcing it when I wake up tomorrow (probably around noon  :D)
As far as deciding successive themes goes, I figure the way we'll do it for now is whoever picks the theme also can pick someone to pick the next theme. No back and forths, obviously: if someone picks you, you can't pick them next. No 3 person cycles either, unless they're the only people participating. Also, if you pick someone, try to notify them a few days in advance and via PM so that they notice: I'd like to keep the themes coming on Thursday. If it gets to a certain point and no one's announced a theme, I'll go ahead and do so myself. Yeah. I think that'll work. 

[RadRuss]

Sounds great!  I look forward to tomorrow then 

[C418]

WAKE UP

[joshg]

WAKE UP

Why does this make me laugh so much? Why?  WHY?!?!?

[Problem Machine]

Okay, fine. I was gonna take a shower and generally neaten up beforehand, but if yer so damn impatient...  :D

The theme of the first challenge is...
FIRE!!!
Maybe it's the theme for a thrilling escape from a towering inferno? Or perhaps the fire is a campfire and it's the only thing keeping the wolves at bay? Maybe you're a sorcerer, and you make the flames dance to your whim to entertain your children. There's a lot of ways to go with this one guys. Enjoy! 

[RadRuss]

Cool.  What's our deadline?

[Problem Machine]

2 weeks. Ideally a little while before then so I can pass it off to someone whose piece I like 

[C418]

http://c418.org/fire.mp3

Nothing special :/

Anyway, our hero got safely out of the fire. But now he can see what it did to his previous life.

[Problem Machine]

Nice! Quickly done and definitely sets the scene you describe. I've got mebbe a minute of stuff down now and I'm not sure I like it. Doesn't feel fiery enough. Keep berating myself for picking such a vague open-ended theme  :D

[RadRuss]

Definitely!  The more the merrier.  I hope everyone on the forums takes a minute or two to take a look at this contest so that we composers can get a bit more exposure!  It seems to me that the music side of things seems to be a bit sparse on these boards.

[joshg]

I'm gonna try to make something for this, mostly to force myself past the learning curve in a tracker.

[Annabelle Kennedy]

okay okay, i did it.  heres my first *genuine* contribution to anything here..

Disclaimer:
The speakers i mix on and have the sound output on, are 5$ and came from a drugstore.  They are extremely soft.  When im audio editing, i have to turn everything up stupidly high to hear it, and then turn all the volumes back to normal levels when i export.  Im not sure if it will sound proper levels, but try to listen to it anyways.  one version might have clipping.  i uploaded two.

ah yes, i compose music too.  albeit not exceptionally, but  fooling around with big VSTs brings me much joy.

http://www.nanokostudios.com/uploads/Annabelle_Fire.mp3
http://www.nanokostudios.com/uploads/Annabelle_Fire_No-Clipping.mp3

[joshg]

Wow, that's pretty ***EPIC!!!*** except combined with quirky there in the second half.  Crazy!

I still can't figure out VSTs completely.  Is there some way to use all those free VSTs floating around without having to use some massively expensive program like that Ableton whatever?

[Annabelle Kennedy]

i use FLstudio.  its a common misconception that you need like big fancy programs to use VSTs.  As long as its in the plugins directory of FLstudio you can just import it as a channel, configure it to a chosen 'port' and then set up midi-out channels to make use of the multi-channel VSTs, or if its just a single-channel, then you can assign a piano roll to it directly. 

the tricky part is finding the worthwhile VSTs T^T

haha you didnt like the second half?

i thought it was fun, cause it was more of a detour from the stuff i normally try to make with music.

question though- is the sound quality okay, or is it like, clipping for you. (ie: weird distortions at the loud bits)


EDIT: I by no means am even remotely to be considered a person with any legitimate information about this subject... like, a lot of the time i still aren't really sure what im doing.  I just have a desire to be able to everything, at least a little bit.

[Problem Machine]

Fiery Duel
Made entirely in Reason. Spent a fair chunk of time on it. Still not sure if it's all that fiery, but oh well  :D