I think inevitably this will be a bit of an issue. With audio processing technically you can produce the same results. HOWEVER, what I wanted to encourage by enforcing these rules is that you start with one fairly limited sound (i considered restricting it to a 2-3 second audio sample instead of an instrument) and by using effects (pitch shifting/splicing/distortion etc.) and/or performance techniques create something which is an interesting composition BUT also makes full use of the potential of their original sound. I know that you can effectively reproduce different settings by using processing outside of the synth instrument HOWEVER I wanted to stress that you couldn't just use a bunch of different presets in one virtual instruments as that's not what the challenge is about.

I guess the challenge is to restrict oneself and overcome the limiting rules set out. If someone chooses the easy way out then it probably won't be that satisfying. I admit it's a bit of a loophole. But I would hope people wouldn't look for ways to win that don't really engage in what the challenge is about.

Anyway to address your queries directly - sampling your instrument is definitely allowed, i think that's a great idea.

To be honest, I don't know an awful lot about synthesis (perhaps it shows!) but if you want to mess around with a guitar note and put it into a sampler and play that, i'm fine with that too. I suppose the challenge isn't necessarily "how different can you make it sound?" (although that is interesting) but finding the maximum potential in sounds. But as I said, it's a challenge for you not for me. Do whatever you think abides by the rules and makes you write great music!

as for granular synthesis... you could if you like. As a judge I won't super be interested in WOW THAT'S A CRAAAZZYY SOUND YOU MADE but hearing the evolution of the sound, what is done with it and it's context in the whole piece.

If anyone has any suggestions for a neat way to solve the virtual instrument loophole then please let me know. Otherwise, I say to entrants - if it seems too easy and you're not satisfied by it then don't bother doing it.

I'm not gonna be meticulously checking that everyone has followed the rules (how could i)... I mean, if you win you only get to rack your brains thinking of an interesting but workable challenge for next week! (well... and a little bit of glory)

Does this kinda clear things up? I might have babbled on vaguely...

Thanks morgan

Congrats, Cal! You deserve it, bud.

Thanks man! Will you be entering the current one?

Come all ye TIGSource pagans!

This thread is overshadowing the TIGSource Musical Challenge page . Lets shut our mouths (well... i'm gonna shut my mouth) and make some music with whichever rationale we wish.

there IS "something" in music (and all other art) that goes beyond theory though, or the phenomenon of peoples musical output lessening in quality over time (i.e. as they become more technically proficient) wouldn't exist.

also protip: "competently put together" isnt necessarily the same as "good"

weelll.... this is my word against yours. There is "something" in the sense that music isn't about anything concrete.  Sound is a phenomenon, music is a construct (a beautiful construct) based around the properties of sound. Music can affect us emotionally, of course. Where that comes from... what's at the bottom? Well it's not anything and by that measure it's not SOMETHING.

I hope you'll allow me a long Susan McClary Quote:
"an old legend tells of an earnest youth who went to a holy man seeking the meaning of life. In response to the disciple's questions about the world and its foundations, the guru explained that the earth sits on the back of a huge tiger, which stands on the flanks of an enormous elephant, and so on. When the cosmological series reached a giant turtle, the sage paused. His enraptured pupil - believing he had arrived finally at ultimate truth - exclaimed, "So the universe rests on that turtle!" "On, no," replied his mentor. "From there, it's turtles all the way down."

It's the same with music. We cannot reach the bottom really... But what we are trying to do here is talk about those turtles.

Certain frequencies make us feel uncomfortable others sound nice. Were they always nice? This is not the question of composition though. If you rest your compositional practise on "SOMETHING UNEXPLAINABLE"... something BENEATH the turtles, and you say that is all there is, no turtles! Then that is no help to us at all. For we are talking about turtles.

I'm kinda babbling about turtles now...

Science and engineering is more about solving a challenge or question, art is more of expressing "something" with the tools available. And the "something" is something I don't know what it is, it comes and goes. It has very little to do with technicalities. To be able, is enough.

Well this really depends what you think "art" or "inspiration" is... If you think (in pseudo-religious fashion) that composing is a case of allowing some kind of magic spirit to enter you - what you called "something" - then i'm afraid you've merely fallen into a trap and come to an extremely illogical but simple and satisfying rationale for "inspiration". The more you know about "technicalities" the quicker and more succinctly you are able to achieve the things you wish to achieve. Waiting for "something" to come is a nice romantic way of seeing it but it's also a bit of a waste of time as, like you said "something" comes and goes - because it's merely you improvising until you come up with something vaguely recognisable and thus catchy - a variation upon some already existing artefact that was lodged in your brain somewhere.

Umm... and with regards to "Am I raping your world?"... what on earth do I say to that. Hahaha.

As many have stated, hostility has come because your reasoning belittles the hard-work we as artists and technicians put in. To think that the artist "creates" an original work existing in and of itself FROM NOWHERE is what you may believe but I certainly don't. And I think believing that is a romantic vision and a symptom of christian creationist thought.  We like things to JUST COME TO US... God... I mean art works in mysterious ways...

I don't want to dismiss anyone's religious beliefs but merely point out that religious belief and the belief 1982 holds towards music-making are both pretty questionable but nice neat satisfying solutions for those who are looking for them.

Anyway... Aren't secondary dominants great?

[ONE INSTRUMENT/SOUND ONLY]

Thanks to Pgil for hosting the first TIGSource Musical Challenge (may there be many more!). I shall be continuing with a similarly restrictive challenge:

ONE INSTRUMENT/SOUND ONLY

You may have multiple tracks and you may alter the sound with any processing you see fit so long as it is using the original instrument selected.

As far as electric guitars go, i'm going to allow you to use different pedals/virtual amplifications/settings as many of these things can be achieved with audio effects (which are allowed) without changing presets.

With regards to MIDI instruments - I would like to restrict the instrument to a patch or preset whose parameters (other than pitch bend/mod wheel) CANNOT be altered (although you may use audio effects units on these instruments).

If you wish to supply a sample of the original instrument (if it is not apparent in your piece) along side your entry then feel free or merely include a description along side it.

This is a challenge about the potential of limited timbral sources. Seeing as the definition of an 'instrument' is very loose when it comes to midi instruments I would encourage entrants to make use of "physical" instruments HOWEVER I will certainly not hold that against anyone and although this is partly "see how many different sounds you can make from one sound" (a sort of sound design exercise), I am primarily judging these pieces on their compositional/production merit in the context of the challenge.

I look forward to hearing the entries and answering any queries about the challenge.

This challenge is a week long and I'd encouraged entrants to stick to this deadline but as we experienced last week, extensions are very possible if it means we get more entries.

I won! 

Thanks for making it an awesome competition everyone. OK, so shall I post the challenge (which is boggling my brain right now) here + change the title of the thread, if i can do that... or start a new thread?

I'm getting file not found as well. Any other links you can provide?

Congrats on this! I love the possibility for collaboration/deconstruction etc. and the scale names are charming

This is some pretty cool atmospheric stuff. It's not something I'd really listen to much by itself to be honest but some of the textures sound pretty chilling and tense. Haven't played the game yet but i can imagine this being some pretty immersive stuff.
I guess I can't compliment it as much as i'd like to because the music i most often make is almost ANTI-immersion music!
But yeah, this is some pretty cool stuff. It'd be interesting to hear about some of the processes you went through? pitch shifting? slowing down? layering? and about how one makes decisions in ambient music.

I'm all for an extension! Really looking forward to hearing more entries

I'm gonna get the ball rolling (hope i'm not the only one!)

This is frantic flight:
http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/frantic-flight

I went about it by using the bass note as an accent in many instances and allowing it to take a prominent rhythmic role to make up for it's harmonic stasis. Those who know Stravinsky's petrushka will find this fairly familiar as well as masashi hamauzu's music. When listening to it I kind of imagine a fast frantic ride on a old rickety plane which finally reaches through the clouds and finds a comfortable flight at the end (you'll know what i mean when you listen).

So that's my offering

I no longer think pedal notes are a bit of a novelty play-thing!

Nearly ready to post my entry... are we waiting 'til Thursday? Or shall I post away ASAP?

Here's a preview of a few things I'm working on at the moment (one of which may have something to do with a little compo held here )

http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/what-im-working-on-right-now

Enjoy

Excited and a little frustrated at my early attempts at this! haha, this will be a really interesting compo! Can't wait to submit and hear other entries.

The title is intriguing. Do tell more, it'd difficult to get excited about a project which has so little available information. If not about the project then about yourself?
Do also specify the kind of compensation you are willing to offer.

Look forward to hearing more.

Thanks for the tip - i think i'll need to try this in practise. I'm a pretty novice guitar player!
So today is thursday? Anyone got any compo ideas? If no one else has anything, maybe i can offer up the phrase "I'm late!" as the theme.
Equally, i'm open to anyone coming up with something else. Or perhaps we need set out some rules/place for entries/time limit/whatevers before diving in.

@noah - are you thinking of wabisabi?

I agree these tracks are very charming. I was also majorly digging pgil's track - where can we find the rest of it?

http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/wrath

Just a hard-rock violin vs. guitar battle theme kinda thing. (the ending is so sudden because it's supposed to loop)

Thursday is good!
I'm still a little confused but I won't worry myself too much about baritone ukulele chord shapes. OH WAIT - yeah, i think i get it... maybe. I suppose that is quite cool. It's dependent on you thinking about it in scales and then translating that to chords, right?

Compo yes!

I like the idea of winner picks theme. As for time scales, it's difficult to tell which is best - too long and people may lose interest, too short and people will not have enough time to enter. 1 week would be just about right for me but I can't talk for anyone else's timescales.

I wholeheartedly back all of the suggestions thus far and can't wait to get started!