TUNE CONTEST!! 21-28 (Finally)

[BOYD1981]

i actually make stuff in 3/3 sometimes, and for certain tunes i'll use a mixture of different bars, but now that i've helped myself understand them just through guesses based on what i already know i won't get confused in the future...

[Gregjazz]

Wooh, 3/3 is such an awesome time signature! You must be pretty skilled to be able to compose music in 3/3. Wow!

...

[Peter Thomas]

Could someone explain 3/3 to me?? This is a serious question, because as far as I know, it doesn't technically exist. Shouldn't it be 9/4 or some such?

The denominator of a time signature works by doubles (I'm trying to make sense here......). The most basic time signature you can have is 1/1. Doubling it gives you 1/2, and again is 1/4, and so on: 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 etc etc. This is my understanding of time signatures anyway, and it leaves no room for 3/3, because there is no such note value as a 3 (a dotted minum, perhaps, which is what makes me say 9/4, assuming there are three dotted minums in a bar....)

If someone can produce evidence to the contrary, then I revoke every word of this post....

Sorry if this looks like 'music masturbation'. It's not. It's a genuine question and I want a genuine answer

I'm still hoping for an entry or two as well.....

[Gregjazz]

You probably know all this stuff about the time signatures -- it's pretty basic:

4/4 means there are 4 beats in a measure, hence the first '4'. The second '4' means that a quarter note is one beat long.

4/8 means an eighth note is one beat long.

As Peter says, the most basic time signature you can have is 1/1 (though, I've never seen it used before), then 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, etc.

3/3 technically does not exist as a time signature, because there is no note length without a dot that is 3 beats long. It just doesn't work that way.

My reply to BOYD was in humor. My apologies to anyone I may have confused. On with the contest!

Here's my entry: http://www.sonic.net/~schlae/herculeaneffort/crystalempire.mp3

Enjoy!

[BOYD1981]

for me 3/3 is like 4/4 but with one less gap between the notes, which i suppose is probably technically the same as 4/4 but how i read it in my music app would lead me to the assumption that it's 3/3 as there is a note on every third bar, surely it would be easy to guess what i mean without needing to be sarcastic?

[Peter Thomas]

Sorry, boyd. But it WAS a little confusing, and it wasn't as easy to figure out as you might have thought. How you read your program and how I think are VERY different things. Remember that I've been stuffed with Theory since I was in preschool  :'( !! You, on the hand, have a more 'natural' / 'humanistic' interpretation. It's hard for me to just forget everything I know to try and understand a concept.

By the way, from what you've described, it sounds like your composing in 3/4.

Oh, and thanks to Geoff for his entry. Top stuff!!! I'll do a more complete review when the deadline ends.

[Damien]

Great entry Geoffkhan!

It's like Dream Theater meets Serious Sam

[Ghormak]

Well...

http://www.agagames.com/ghormak/ghormak_crystal_empire.ogg (796kB)

[Gregjazz]

So you got 2 bars of 12/4 there, eh? Nice job on the melody in the first part!

[Ben]

Really great entries, both of you. I'm trying to get mine done before the weekend is out..

[Peter Thomas]

Thanks Ghormak! Great stuff!

As I said, I won't do full reviews until I judge, but both entries have been VERY cool!!

[Damien]

Here's:
Escape From The Crystal Empire, my entry.

[Peter Thomas]

Thanks Damien

[loominous]

Not what I pictured it would sound like but:

Entry

[Peter Thomas]

Okay guys... sorry I'm a bit late posting, but some *insert very insulting name here* broke into my house last night and poured soft drink all over the computer

So I'm currently on a friend's computer, just posting a quickie...

GeoffKahn: A very mystical piece, with a beautiful melody accompanied by a soft, warm 'wash'. The non-metrical bars were amazingly well done, and the heavy reliance on percussion for that part really gave the piece a magic flavour.

Ghormak: I was really pleased to hear this entry. It was the type of piece that I could play over and over again, and I could truly picture these intricate paintings of a distant world coming to life before my eyes (well...... my EARS if you want to be technical)

Damien: An awesome slant on my idea. I'm glad you took the initiative to do something different. It worked out for the best, and even though it was a million miles away from what I expected, I really REALLY like it.

Loominous: If I were a man of few words I would just be saying "WOW!!!", but I'm not, so I'll take my time... The opening was very simple, but extremely ethereal, like drifting into a wild dream where you didn't recognise anything, but could still tell that it was a good place. The strings were the perfect accompaniment, and the melody truly soared.

Okay, now for the judging (my friend is getting impatient!! Why?? It's not like I'M paying for his internet hours..!!)

All the entries were great (I really mean that, too. They were astounding), but there can only be one winner, and this weeks award for excellence goes too:

LOOMINOUS!!! Congratulations, buddy. You now have my complete permission to go ahead with the next comp...

[Gregjazz]

Congrats, Loominous. Btw, what sounds are you using? (i.e. soundfonts, synthesizer, etc.)

[loominous]

Thanks. Competition will be up shortly.

Geoffkhan, I use gigastudio/files.

[Ghormak]

A well deserved victory!

(And a good server you hosted it on, I managed to get 500k/s from it. You need to put more stuff up there )

[Gregjazz]

Ah, gigastudio. I know gigastudio is a commercial product, but are the sounds free? I'd like to get some of those string sounds...

[loominous]

are the sounds free?

The ones used, no. Do free ones exist, yes.

Edit: For the record, the strings are backed up by many instruments, though not very audible, giving them a lush, full sound. It's miles away from the common practise of choosing a patch called 'full strings' and playing a chord.