Monthly MIDI Contest #3 - July - results out

[Gigasoft]

When I listened, I could immediately tell that Rocco wrote Dennis the Rocket Camel, and that KungFuFurby wrote Techno Jungle (as parts of it remind me a lot of WhoWhoo from last month). The others, I had no clue about.

Anyway, I'm glad people liked my Organ Songs 1&2. Of the other songs, I think Dennis the Rocket Camel was my favourite.

[Solaphar]

I really enjoyed lituanica. I'd say it was probably my favorite. And I knew it was by DHR the moment I heard it. Had his tempo changeup+pseudo keychange, the 16th note partial scales, the seemingly random (yet well-placed) chord hit thrown in during said scales, and other things like the opening chord progression sounding familiar. Classic.

I loved how you ended on that major submediant (which as we should all know, is minor in a major key). I've told myself in the past that I was going to try doing that in my own compositions more. Sometimes I abuse the Picardy third too much, or more frequently, I end on the major mediant in a minor key (i.e. relative major tonic).

The rest of the comps were top-notch as well. Really good job guys. =)

[Maxo]

both of dhr's subs should have been higher up but I'm glad I got a C+ :3
congrats everyone! there wasn't really any one there that I didn't like!

[Rocco]

Well, my entries placed right about where I thought they would... except in reverse position. Dennis surprised me. s did lots of other pieces. This round was just too funky to predict, I think. Except for first place, I was really undecided on most of the other entries. It's almost unfair to rank these since they're so different.

Grats to Zach.

EDIT: Ooh, Long Trek Back even got a 1st place vote from DHR. *blush*
EDIT2: Since DHR will be away for much of next month, I'll be "hosting" the next round. I will try to have the next contest thread up by 8/1 @ 12:00 midnight Central Daylight Time (about 22 hours from now). It will have a simple theme based on something other than the three we've done so far. I already have an idea for it (nothing fancy), but suggestions are welcome via PM.

[Redmoonrising04]

LOL nice the results are out. I prepared a voting sheet, however I decided not to send it (a bit too late, anyway, I thought I had until the 31st but I got confused with the time zones XD) because I felt a little odd sending in scores.

I read all the comments, thanks for all the feedback and I appreciate your scores. I realize what hurt me most is the cheesiness. I was really having a hard time liking the A melody myself, but I decided to keep on going anyway and hold faith in it because I've never written like that before XD the middle section I felt much more comfortable writing. Next time, I'll change it up and do my very best to avoid the "cheesiness" and "chiche-ness", even if it is a happy feeling. I agree with you guys on that one .. HA.

My top three favorites were...

downshow
organsong2
anillegaloperation

Thanks for this, guys. I will definitely be in the next one, and sorry I didn't get over sending in a vote, I kinda feel like I should have now. ;P

[CBlockDis]

Wow... totally didn't expect to top out. :p Thought quite a few entries gave me a run for my money. O_o Thanks?

[KungFuFurby]

Kungfufurby: examining people's files with a hex editor to work out their identity is pretty lame, since we're supposed to stay anonymous until the end. Interesting, though, despite doing that, you still managed to get all but one of your guesses completely wrong.

The drums in my midi files play correctly on all the synths that I have available to me. That's probably rosegarden's fault rather than my own.
'lituanica.mid' was really just made for a joke. I made it in half an hour just before the deadline, just in time to submit it into the contest. It's not how I usually compose.
I don't know what detuned notes you're talking about in my other song. Which instrument did they play on?

I analyzed the MIDI via QMidi (which can mute/solo channels), and that would be the French Horn. That explains why the tune hit a bit of a foul note with me... it was how it sounded on QuickTime. MidRadio was better to some extent, minus the muted drums as I noted in the vote form.

Your tune wasn't the only MIDI that had some problems on my side... Flying Forest played the wrong drum kit on two of the three MIDI players that I had (The three MIDI players I had were MidRadio, QMidi and QuickTime). The tune played correctly on QMidi, and failed on QuickTime and MidRadio (both used the Standard drum kit instead of SFX. The tune was not affected other than this difference).

[Rocco]

KFK, since you're the only one who seems to ever have any trouble with the technical aspects of the entries (except for the ones you yourself create) I think it would be fair to overlook any percieved programming shortcomings in the future.

You don't have the benefit of opening the MIDIs up in a sequencer, so the benefit of the doubt seems appropriate.

[dust hill resident]

I agree with Rocco. The low rating you gave that song sent it from potentially being the winner to 9th place, all because of some glitchy synthesizers.
I tested it on a Creative Labs Soundblaster live, the MS GS synth, and also the SBPCI synth, and everything was in tune. My dad has a Mac so I'll test it on Quicktime on that now.

EDIT: I tested it on Quicktime. It seems that using the modulo controller can cause the Quicktime synth to go horribly out of tune, at least on the FrechHorn instrument. Havng listened to it, it's obviously a glitch with the synthesizer. I don't know how you could think otherwise, and that you docked so many points just for that is ridiculous.
This is a MIDI contest. There are many different synthesizers with their own quirks and glitches. The fact that some songs will break on some synths should be a given, and docking points because something didn't play correctly on one synth is not fair at all. Nobody can be expected to get their song to play flawlessly on everything.

Anyway, congratulations to everyone who took part. I enjoyed listening to everyone's songs, and there are some songs in this pack that I'll probably end up listening to quite a lot (I'm going on holiday next month, so I'll bring lots of music to listen to). There was something to be appreciated in every one of the songs.

[Charybdizs]

Wow... This was one crazy voting... Thing.

I was really disappointed that Funky Fellatio and Lituanica came in so far down... They were both two of my favorites.

@KungFuFurby: I was really surprised that you criticized Funky Fellatio for vamping, when mine, Flying Forest, was practically Vamp Paradise. I'm honored to know that you thought Wiseman had made my piece, though. You seem to be having a LOT of technical problems with Midi's... Why don't you get a sequencer you can actually see the stuff decently in? For example, you said that you thought Lituanica didn't use all the instruments. I wasn't so sure about that, so I just looked in FL Studio, and I could see that it had used all 8. It took me about 1 second to figure out that it had.

@Zach: I knew you had made MoEBT as soon as I heard it. Know how I knew? It sounded way too similar to your Eternus soundtrack to be anyone elses.

@Wiseman: totally lol'ing at your mosquito comment!

@Rocco: Dennis the Rocket Camel was my absolute favorite, It's the one I listened to the most.
I find it funny that you thought I got the Bird Tweet and Seashorewhen that was really just in the drum set!, I guess people just aren't used to hearing the SFX set get used?

Great fun, everyone. I'm already looking forward to next contest. I think I'm going to try a completely different style next contest if I get the chance... I have good ideas...

[Rocco]

@KungFuFurby: I was really surprised that you criticized Funky Fellatio for vamping, when mine, Flying Forest, was practically Vamp Paradise. I'm honored to know that you thought Wiseman had made my piece, though. You seem to be having a LOT of technical problems with Midi's... Why don't you get a sequencer you can actually see the stuff decently in? For example, you said that you thought Lituanica didn't use all the instruments. I wasn't so sure about that, so I just looked in FL Studio, and I could see that it had used all 8. It took me about 1 second to figure out that it had.

That was me, actually. Your entry was very minimalistic in places, especially the beginning and ending, but it developed well, remained interesting, and didn't sound like it was leading into something else. It stood up on its own. I wouldn't call it vamping. That's why I gave it a higher score than Funky Fellatio (which was still plenty groovy).

@Rocco: Dennis the Rocket Camel was my absolute favorite, It's the one I listened to the most.
I find it funny that you thought I got the Bird Tweet and Seashorewhen that was really just in the drum set!, I guess people just aren't used to hearing the SFX set get used?

w00t, thanks.
Yeah, I didn't look at the entries in a sequencer unless something stood out as questionable or exemplary in the programming.

[CBlockDis]

@Zach: I knew you had made MoEBT as soon as I heard it. Know how I knew? It sounded way too similar to your Eternus soundtrack to be anyone elses.

Hmm... guess that means I need a change of scenery... :p

[Charybdizs]

@Zach: I knew you had made MoEBT as soon as I heard it. Know how I knew? It sounded way too similar to your Eternus soundtrack to be anyone elses.

Hmm... guess that means I need a change of scenery... :p

Speaking of such, I was wondering, is Eternus going to be an actual game, or is it just concept stuff?

[wiseman]

I give a wahaha to a couple of comments:
DTR - Overall, this is bizzare and I like it a lot.
KFK - Whirlwind Forest.mid - Guess: The Ultimate Chimera?

In retrospect, I could have graded Manflow a bit higher.

Oh, and Maxo, I finally caught that super smooth transition you pulled off at 1:24-1:28. Super smooth! and this coming from Maxo! lol. Anyways, I thought it was a very good transition (so smooth, it almost sounded like a buildup).

I'm glad mine was enjoyed, although I'll have to work on consistency a little bit next time.

[KungFuFurby]

lituanica was missing the Tremolo Strings... (at least in the MIDI file I have) That I found in Manflow but didn't find in lituanica... speaking of which, I think you accidentally duplicated one instrument (the Bow Pad), if that were to be the cause of me not finding that instrument...

Actually, I can use Harmony Assistant to look up MIDI files in score form, complete with staffs... though I didn't really think of that. I can also use MIDISwing... I can look up every single MIDI event in the MIDI using this. I also didn't really think of that at the time...

Next time I come across such a glitch I'll see if it's the modulation wheel command. I looked up Manflow with MIDISwing... and it is the modulation wheel that's causing the piece to go out of whack on QuickTime. I think the glitch, on QuickTime's side, is caused by the pitch not resetting when a second note is played. I'll take note of that next time... speaking of which, I found hidden messages in Manflow using MIDISwing. To me, that's actually interesting... it's a nice little reward.