I'd prefer keeping the sound of the instrument as close to it's original sound as possible, but if you feel the need to use effects as a crutch by all means... do so. I will frown on it though(not a lot... unless the whole piece sounds like 80's scifi music with the pads).

Just make sure if you do opt to do such a thing, you explain it in your entry's post.

I would suggest going to a guitar store and actually 'testing the waters' with several different ones to get a feel for the differences. You may also find some good info about them by searching for video reviews on youtube, because in some cases they will do comparisons between models(helps you hear the difference in the sound quality).

As for people that say 'a good music can make anything sound good'... @#$% them.  I  argued with someone on twitter about that before... there is a distinct difference in sound when it comes to the acoustics of a guitar.  Build quality makes a massive difference. Something as small as string height(on the fret board) can have a tremendous impact on the sound of the guitar(and also impact the performer).

As far as brands that might be in your price range... You've got Yamaha, Cordoba, and Washburn.  Yamaha can at times make a solid build of a guitar, but can also make one sound really cheap, so definitely play it/hear it before buying one of them.  Washburn's higher priced stuff sounds great, but their lower end stuff not so much. Usually suffers from a pretty thin sound. Cordoba I haven't really had any personal experience with.

I have played with 'pricier' nylons before and have heard several that sounded mediocre to bad compared to ones between $100 - $250. The price tag, really plays no part in how well something will sound/play. Taylor makes some astounding sounding guitars, sure... but they also make some relatively bad sounding ones. Same goes for Martin, Gibson, Breedlove, etc... So don't let a small price tag effect your decision to purchase something... but also don't just buy something because it IS cheap.

Oh, and I definitely do not recommend Ibanez for an acoustic... period. I've never played an Ibanez acoustic and walked away thinking 'That sounded/felt great'. They can make some killer electrics at times, but their acoustics... bleh.

[The Concept]

TIGSource Musical Challenge XXXIV - A Cymbal the Beats"

The Concept
For this contest... it's all about the percussion. I love rhythm, and I love pitched percussion on top of that, and it so seldom is used all on it's own without other instrumentation thrown into the mix. For this challenge... you must write a track using solely percussive instrumentation. Bongos, Congas, Timpani, Snare, Toms, Cymbals, Gongs, Windchimes, Xylophone, Marimba, Kalimba, Celesta, Glockenspiel, beatboxing, jew harp, didgeridoo(it's rhythm based so I'll allow it), log drums, bodhran, dulcimer(hit it with a hammer so why not, I'll allow it too), circle bells, all bells, tubular bells, your stomach, your face, etc...


The Rules
You must only use percussive instrumentation.
Pitched percussion is okay
You may use as many percussive sounds as you like.
Track needs to be at least 1 minute in length, try and hit 2 minutes if you can.
You must write the track FOR this challenge, recycling old stuff is a NO.
You may use DSPs to alter the sound of the instrumentation.


Judging Criteria
Following the rules most importantly
Creativity goes a long way
And generally just putting a grin on my face... because ultimately you want me to like the music enough to pick your piece.
Although I said you may use DSPs to alter the sound of the instruments, if you do so heavily that it is an apparent crutch for you, I will factor that into my decision.


Deadline
September 30th, 2014
When I get home from work on October the first I'll stop accepting entries. Why? Because well... that gives you a smidge of hope to get your entry in late, but try to get it in by the end of the 30th.


Closing Thoughts
Just because it's percussion only doesn't mean it has to be entirely rhythm based... you still have percussive instruments that are pitched and can create melody/harmony... the sky is the limit in this challenge, only you will prevent yourself from creating something amazing. But the most important thing, is that you have fun with it!


Now get to bangin'!

Hyperduck most likely acquired a license to distribute as such, but if you are willingly accepting money for music that wasn't originally written by you without explicit permission granted by the original artist then you are infringing on their rights. It's actually, strictly speaking, illegal to distribute 'covers', 'remixes', or 'arrangements' of music for free too... but nobody seems to care about that anywhere. The likelihood anybody from the company that owns the rights to the music finding that link on your bandcamp page and doing anything about it is pretty much slim to none, especially considering the franchise(from what I can tell) is pretty much dead(the game series). I just feel the need to express my concern since the penalties for a registered copyright being infringed on range from $750 to $30,000 dependent on the court's decision. The level of compensation you may have received, regardless of how little... literally plays no part in that number either. Just think of it like cigarettes... there is a risk, so as long as you are willing to accept the potential negative side effects of taking such a course... keep smokin'.

Now for the feedback...

My main complain is how robotic the arrangements sounds at time. From what I can tell everything is at one consistent velocity with no variation on it, and the humanization as far as start times on the notes just isn't there.  Everything always hits at exactly the same time. They don't have to be so off it sounds sloppy but it's okay for them not to hit at precisely the exact same time on every single note.

I know the original is mostly staccato but it'd be nice to hear more variance in the articulations... perhaps a legato section. There is one part I swear I heard trumpets but they were so quiet I could've been imagining it. Later in the song when you bring in the new section, it sounds like the track stopped and another track started playing. I feel like the transition into that part could've been handled a little smoother. It wasn't a shocking transition but it just felt like two distinct pieces of music playing back to back.  Might benefit from trying to tie the two into one, by using the original motifs as a kind of counter melody during the new section.

Another thing to play with is attempting to recolor the harmony.  You don't have to completely change it but see if you can add more depth to it than was originally there, as oppose to just recreating the original structure over again.  I'm fine with pacing of the track, especially considering the choice in instrumentation... so personally I wouldn't speed it up anyway.  Though I would suggest occasionally tossing in a retard or accelerando from time to time to give it a kind of 'performed' vibe since in most cases a piece like this would likely slow down and/or speed up from time to time in key parts of the music.

The EQ could use a little brightening but not a lot, raise the treb, cut a little out of the middle... and I think it'd be a bit better.

This is all just a matter of opinion though(except the copyright thing which is based on actual copyright laws).

Will listen and give feedback in a few hours... Currently at work.


Also... Remove the pay what you want bit, unless you have a license to sell the arrangement from whoever holds the rights to the original.

I have the worst luck getting someone from ludum dare to even ask for music... So kudos on that.  At written so can't listen at the moment but will check later.

I'd be willing to help you out with the feedback, sir. Depending on the language your are coding your site with I might be able to help you there as well(I do ASP.NET, Visual Basic, SQL Server, HTML, CSS, blah blah blah...)

Your soundcloud and website links are fudged, looks like you were missing the colon in your original url and the forum added another http:// to the start of it, so now your urls look like https://http//www.

Pretty sure the forum is adding a '%22' to the start and end of the url as well, but not sure why it would do that ... anyway, their fudged. Just FYI.

If you aren't getting any monetary game from them, no(so long as you credit the original artist).

If you are getting monetary gain... then you need to get a license for it.

I could care less what other people use for their drum parts... but me personally... I prefer crafting my own drum parts from scratch and refuse to use loops. Still, nothing wrong with it... totally agree with Python Blue on that front. It's overwhelming how many composers use drum loops... but if the 'loop' fits what you are looking for why bother trying to make something from scratch(unless your a stubborn a-hole like myself).

There may be legal implications when using specific soundsets... like the ones used for FF games. Since you are illegally using ripped audio from a game that's legal disclaimer says specifically not to rip assets from it. Square-Enix owns the copyright to those samples, and using them for your own music for a game is in all technicalities illegal unless they give you permission to use said samples.

But then there is the other hand... how can they prove you ripped the audio, and how do you know where the audio samples you are using even came from?

I think you'll be safe regardless so long as you do what guitarand said... and not make direct rips of popular titles(at least intentionally...)

https://soundcloud.com/zack-parrish/mario-gets-drunk-and-listens-to-dubstep

The title says it all...

And I thought my ukulele was cute... Oh well.

At least pearl won... <3

Wrote this just for the hell of writing music... which isn't a common occurrence for me...

https://soundcloud.com/zack-parrish/transcendence

Sample Modeling brass is really nice... can hear a sample of the trumpet in use at...
https://soundcloud.com/zack-parrish/chainsaw

They have a few different bundles, and all their instrument libraries are nicely made.

The full jazz kit from Battery 3(probably Battery 4 now) is really nice. It's the drumset I'm using in that link above as well.

http://www.samplemodeling.com/en/products.php

Sadly if you want quality and stuff that sounds pretty authentic next to the real thing you're going to have to dig into your wallet... free stuff just doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to realism.

On my phone so being lazy and not searching your site... But do you by any chance sing as well?  If so what is the cost to record one song?

https://soundcloud.com/zack-parrish/you-are-my-beach

Kind of a last minute deal... so not much to it sadly. :p

Might want to actually post the link to your individual Soundcloud instead of the entire site's URL...

Anybody wanting to hear his music in the mean time...

https://soundcloud.com/ietsu

Like upbeat free form jazz...?

"Crazy Talented Homeless People"

Dos.