Tune Contest (Jan 7th - Jan 23rd) -- CLOSED

DrewCCU · Tue 08/01/2008 00:54:55

As winner of the last tune contest it is my responsibility to administer the next one. So here it is ... and the theme for this contest is:

HERO VS VILLAIN

Compose a piece that fits this criteria:

- There is a good guy and a bad guy. They meet and engage in battle. One wins, one loses. Tell this story through music.
- Use any kind of orchestration you like.
- Length. It doesn't have to be short and it doesn't have to be real long. As long as you portray the scene well the length doesn't matter.
- There are two characters in this "story" - a hero and a villain. The music should portray this. The listener should know what part of the piece is the hero's and which is the villain's. There should also be evidence of some sort of battle and a conclusion (the end of the battle).

So let me try to recap it for you: A tune about a battle between a good guy and a bad guy. The tune should have evidence of a hero entrance and villain entrance (doesn't matter who enters first) and a battle scene. There can be one winner - who will it be?

bartillier · Wed 09/01/2008 17:23:18

Here's a piece. Not very polished but epic non the less

http://www.matchingsuits.net/sale/muzka/Prelude_to_War.mp3

MoodyBlues · Wed 09/01/2008 22:02:55

Holy crap, Bartiller! :o That's beautiful! What program did you use to make this? It sounds very realistic.

DrewCCU · Thu 10/01/2008 00:29:12

he probably used garritan sounds (am i correct bartillier?)

i have the garritan sounds for finale 08 - but i think you can use them on other programs too - such as sibelius.

Unless he wrote the piece and had it recorded by an orchestra (which i doubt he did) then garritan is the only way i know of to get realistic sounds like that.

Tell us bartillier - is this what you used?

Jens · Sat 12/01/2008 13:22:00

beside GPO there are a lot of different orchestra-sets around like the SAM-samples, VSL, Edirol, HALion, EWQLSO, Miroslav etc.
digital orchestral composition is a very expensive hobby (the full VSL-strings package for example is around 5000 EUR / 6500 USD), especially when you consider that for a real good sound you should own every compilation to be able to pick the instruments which have the best sound (there are good and bad samples in every one of them).

bartillier · Mon 14/01/2008 00:11:20

no more entries? and jens is right, i used several things, not just one library

DrewCCU · Mon 14/01/2008 19:34:26

if anyone is in the process of composing a piece for this competition then go ahead and post to let me know we have more entries coming ... if you really want to enter but are not sure if you will have enough time to complete it - post anyway - i'd like to see more entries.

MoodyBlues · Mon 14/01/2008 23:51:30

I'm half-way through composing a song right now; I'll probably get it done by Friday or so. I reserve this spot (I guess)!

We really need more entries, especially with an open-ended topic like this.

DrewCCU · Sat 19/01/2008 08:10:33

MoodyBlues - I hate for you to not be able to enter what you've been working hard on - so if you are pretty close to completion - i will extend the contest a couple of days so you have time to enter - plus - I'm sure bartillier wants a little competition.

PixelPerfect · Sat 19/01/2008 16:14:06

I can't make the deadline so I'll just post what I have cooked up at the moment. This has establishing and the good guy part so I guess it's somewhere halfway there.

EDIT2: link removed to unfinished tune - Thanks for the 3 more days. I'll try to finish my piece in that time!

I'm so slow with these and then bartillier makes something like that in 1 1/2 days. That's impressive bartillier! :o

~~EDIT: Just wait for the play button to appear in the upper left hand corner and click it. Volume might be a little low.~~

DrewCCU · Sat 19/01/2008 22:51:55

I'll tell you what - since we have people still working I'm going to extend the deadline until the 23rd. Hopefully you can wrap it up by then.

MoodyBlues · Sun 20/01/2008 06:51:45

Whew! I'm finally done. This was so fun to write!

http://www.freewebs.com/luvrayman/Oko_the_Hero.mid

I recommend listening to this in iTunes because, for some reason, it gets stuck on notes if I play it in WinAmp or Windows Media Player.

As I was writing this piece, I had the basic fight scene in my mind: Oko Bokog (from Forces of Nature) vs. A Giant Spikey Vine Creature. Since there's a lot of "Mickey Mousing" going on, I'll roughly plot out what I think was going on:

0:00 - Oko realizes he and Kiri must run for their lives. (Oko's theme enters and becomes heroic as he realizes he can do what must be done.)
0:29 - The snake-like vine slithers after our heroes.
0:57 - The vine attacks.
1:08 - Oko and Kiri hide.
1:27 - The vine flings Oko into the air and stabs him.
1:40 - Kiri watches as Oko struggles to stand.
2:08 - The God of Water gives him strength he never had before. (Cheesy? NO. SHUT UP.)
2:32 - Oko and the vine fight furiously.
3:00 - The vine makes one final attempt to kill Oko, but he strikes it dead. Yay!

(Note: I composed the basics of Oko's Theme about half a year ago: http://www.freewebs.com/luvrayman/A_Kinder_Gentler_Themefix.mid I hope that's all right.)

tube · Sun 20/01/2008 12:18:43

Here's an ogg vorbis version of MoodyBlues' song for those who don't want to install iTunes. Please listen to the original if possible, as this was not recorded using the windows default soundfont. Or whatever iTunes uses.

Moody, tell me if you want this removed.

I love both entries, and the unfinished tune by PixelPerfect sounded like an excellent start.

MoodyBlues · Mon 21/01/2008 00:31:50

Thanks, Tube. It sounds pretty good! I think I might post an mp3 version before the contest ends.

PixelPerfect, your hero theme is really purdy.

PixelPerfect · Tue 22/01/2008 19:59:51

Dagnabit. I almost finished this piece but hit into problems on the battlescene. No worries though I updated the whole song with little something extra and added the "baddie"-part. I have too much to do tomorrow so I know I haven't time to finish it. $:-\$

I hope you like it the way it is!

PixelPerfect - Life And Death.mp3

To listen click on the play button when it appears in the upper left hand side image. This kinda remind me of the ongoing battle of life and death and that's why it's named after that.
Thanks for the compliments MoodyBlues & tube! I really like MoodyBlues your midi a lot aswell!

DrewCCU · Thu 24/01/2008 02:44:41

Wow! I was really impressed with everyones piece in this competition. But there must be a winner and based on the contest guidelines i think that MoodyBlues's piece fit the criteria for the competition the best. That's not to take anything away from bartillier or PixelPerfect's works at all - like i said they were all really great but i really like the way MoodyBlues portrayed the scene the best.

MoodyBlues you are the winner. Feel free to start the next competition whenever you'd like.

MoodyBlues · Thu 24/01/2008 03:30:49

Aw, thanks. I'll get the next contest started soon.

("Life and Death" turned out great. The baddie sounds big and menacing; he's like, "Foolish mortals! I will crush your civilization to oblivion with my army of giants!")