March Tune Contest - MIDI Funk (Winner announced)

Juan Dahmen · Fri 13/03/2015 09:25:53

As almost every game in development here has a retro aesthetic, forcing the visual artist to cope with minimum resolutions (how to make six pixels look like a mouse), we, in the sound department, could force us to some old limitations as well. Just for learning.

Yes, I'm talking MIDI here.
Try to make something really funky with just MIDI sounds (not sound libraries). Can you make something feel good with those awkward sounds?

The funkiest will win.

Juan Dahmen · Thu 26/03/2015 12:05:22

Tune contests don't get much attention around here, do they?

selmiak · Thu 26/03/2015 17:22:22

hey, I've seen the thread!
But I'm no musician...

Haggis · Fri 27/03/2015 00:08:29

Well - I play guitar and drums - but I'm no composer of tunes.

Here, to get the ball rolling and kick-start the funk I've created this short midi *cough* masterpiece *cough*!
https://soundcloud.com/haggini/the-haggini-strut-2

It was supposed to be loopable but given i didn't know what I was doing... I messed up.
Also - I'm not even sure it's 'just MIDI'.

BRING THE FUNK PEOPLE

Disclaimer - it may not even qualify as funk.

Monsieur OUXX · Fri 27/03/2015 09:59:45

PEOPLE. You MUST make that funky midi track. I really really want to hear that in my headphones.

Imagine that you're walking down the corridor of an old British mansion, and all the portraits of all the illustrious family ancestors are hanging on the walls, looking down at you. These ancestors are Rise of the Triad, Warcraft II, Goblins 3, etc. Do not disappoint them or you'll be haunted until the end of times.

Erenan · Fri 27/03/2015 23:03:58

Posting this mostly just because there's so little response. I'm kind of cheating here because I submitted this as an entry to a tune contest here nearly ten years ago, so you can decide whether this is a legitimate entry or not. Personally, I'd disqualify it simply because I had it lying around and didn't actually write anything for the contest. Also, not sure if this qualifies as funky anyway.

Snails

boojiboy · Sat 28/03/2015 04:13:52

Here's mine.

Juan Dahmen · Wed 01/04/2015 10:49:48

This contest started on March 13th. Do you feel like ending it on April 13th so as to make it a whole month and give some time to others to participate or should I end it now?

Good work, btw.

Haggis · Wed 01/04/2015 20:01:07

I honestly don't mind. How long do they normally run for?

Juan Dahmen · Fri 03/04/2015 09:48:19

A month, I believe. Although I even remember season competitions. This one isn't so big as to need a season, I guess.

Haggis · Fri 03/04/2015 11:30:13

May as well leave it open until April 13th then - maybe we'll get some more midi masterpieces in... speaking of which, where is yours

Surely there isn't a rule which says the previous winner can't take part?

Cuiki · Mon 06/04/2015 15:23:08

Okay... I'm kinda new to this, but there you go:
Click

Let me know if I should upload the .mid version as well!

Juan Dahmen · Tue 14/04/2015 14:01:25

I haven't seen a rule forbidding me to participate in this contest, but I just came home from traveling so I'm out of the deadline. Also, giving myself a price would feel awkward.

You could tell which piece you think is the funkiest use for MIDI. I'll read your opinions and this week beat the hammer of judgement.

Cheers.

Cuiki · Wed 15/04/2015 13:34:48

Okay...

My personal favourite would be boojiboy's song. It sounds like it could work really well in a space arcade type of game. I'm not sure it falls under the category of 'funky', but then I don't think any one of us followed that rule too closely anyway.

Erenan's song has some very cool bits in there, and it sounds pretty trippy (like some sort of weird circus parade

), though I think there's a bit too much going on for my taste. And I wish Haggis's song was longer than it is!

Haggis · Wed 15/04/2015 22:03:53

I'm on holiday at the moment, but checking in to say cuiki gets my vote. Thanks to all who took part.

Juan Dahmen · Mon 20/04/2015 12:15:51

Well, I have listened to every piece a few times and thought about it.

I would say, although the pieces are a little far of what I would call funky, Cuiki's track is the closest. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, funky can mean several things. I meant it to sound funky like funk music.

Therefore, winner announced. Cuiki.

If any you'd like to have some feedback here, just talk about it.

Congratulations to everyone, you have very cool ideas going on. Keep the good work.

Cuiki · Fri 24/04/2015 13:56:57

Thank you.

I'll open a new thread shortly, hope to see you there!

SonikBuster · Sun 10/05/2015 03:19:23

I would love to participate in something like this, but honestly I'm not sure where to look to work with 8-bit sound directly. I've been mimicking the sounds by tweaking samples. Tell me where to find a direct 8 or 16-bit sound system for my xco64 computer and I'll shape up an entry for the next competiton. ;-)

-SbK

Juan Dahmen · Tue 12/05/2015 23:43:33

Quote from: SonikBuster on Sun 10/05/2015 03:19:23
I would love to participate in something like this, but honestly I'm not sure where to look to work with 8-bit sound directly. I've been mimicking the sounds by tweaking samples. Tell me where to find a direct 8 or 16-bit sound system for my xco64 computer and I'll shape up an entry for the next competiton. ;-)

-SbK

The idea was to compose using any MIDI editor (any audio daw or score editor works with MIDI) and export the piece in MIDI, sounding slightly different in every computer due to it's audio card (or exporting the midi sound to audio if you want). It was about being able to make something sound funky even with those dull sounds.
I asume you know of some score editors or daws, if no, just ask and we'll find one suited for you

Peace, work and enjoy the music.