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2021-01-04 21:33

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

The C64 Grand Tour Challenge

Hey everyone,

I wanted a new year challenge for 2021. The idea is to compose 1 music per each month of the year. Yeah, it's nothing special, right?
So to spice it up, each month I'm going to use a different editor/player.
Now it sounds like some nice fun that I don't want to keep for myself only.
Composers, join me!

List of editors and rules to follow:

Jan: GMC V2 (GMC V2 (Unfinished))
Feb: SID Factory 2 (PC) (https://blog.chordian.net/sf2/ build 20200911)
Mar: Ninja Tracker 2.04 (C64) (NinjaTracker V2.04)
Apr: Defmon (C64) (defMON V20201008)
May: Goat Tracker 2.75 (PC) (GoatTracker V2.75)
Jun: DMC 7 (C64) (DMC 7.0)
Jul: Virtuoso 1.02 (C64) (Virtuoso V1.02)
Aug: X-SID (C64) (X-SID)
Sep: Cheesecutter 2.9.0 (PC) (CheeseCutter 2.9.0)
Oct: Sosperec 1.0 (C64) (Sosperec Editor V1.0)
Nov: SDI 2.17 (C64) (SID Duzz' It V2.1.7)
Dec: SID-Wizard 1.8 (C64) (SID-Wizard V1.8)

Rules:
- Use the linked version of the actual editor only (compatibility)
- 1 SID, 1x speed only
- Track length: please keep it within the usual limits. Not too short, not too long, make it as long as a regular composition would be.
- 1 track per month with the specified tool
- If the editor saves to a format where player is included, use address $1000
- Deadline: last day of the actual month, at midnight
- Send your projectfiles to: strayboom()gmail()com

I don't plan voting, this supposed to be a motivational-fun-self-challenge only. Do it for your own good or don't do it at all. Still, there will be a progress bar with the completed entries.
If there's enough tracks, I'll make a compilation in a form of musicdisk or music mix, etc.
There might be a huuuuuge - or small - C64 musicdisk release of all tracks at the end of the year/early next year. We'll see.

Sincerely,
vincenzo /Lethargy^Singular^SIDRIP^Rebels^Molecoola

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2021-05-12 22:21

F7sus4

Registered: Apr 2013
Posts: 112

Pity that Blackbird 1.2 didn't make it into the list.

2021-05-12 22:24

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

Quote: Pity that Blackbird 1.2 didn't make it into the list.

There are only 12 months in the year, so yeah, many editor/player didn't make it to the list. Maybe next year.
But honestly, does it make sense to include any, even more popular editors if there's nobody to make a music monthly..?

2021-05-12 22:45

F7sus4

Registered: Apr 2013
Posts: 112

I simply assumed that the idea behind the challenge was to bring interesting-yet-not-commonly-used editors to the table, which is why I thought Blackbird 1.2 could see fit. Although, as a defMON V20201008 user myself, I'm more than glad it was given a try. Always good to see how others approach this particular tracker "behind the scenes".

2021-05-13 09:34

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

Quote: I simply assumed that the idea behind the challenge was to bring interesting-yet-not-commonly-used editors to the table, which is why I thought Blackbird 1.2 could see fit. Although, as a defMON V20201008 user myself, I'm more than glad it was given a try. Always good to see how others approach this particular tracker "behind the scenes".

No, not exactly. The original idea doesn't really have to do anything with the public, originally I was trying to force myself to be more active and break out of my own little box because I felt I got stuck on a level without evolving further.
After ~10 years of hiatus I came back to SID composing and it seemed to be a good idea to experiment with other editors than SID-Wizard. The list contains editors that I heard about (I used Ninja, DMC and SW before), or seemed interesting enough to give them a test.

I had a longer list, of course. It included Future Composer, Music Assembly, and many more. How did I come up with this 12? Well, after I realied this might be an idea for the public too, I revisited the list with NecroPolo and basically that's it.
Yeah, it's a personal list, it's not easy to meet with people's taste but at least we started this challenge and so far each month was quite interesting and I already learned a lot about the SID and various editors. I try to believe my musical skills also evolved to the next level, but let the listener be the judge of this.

Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed that this turned out to be a personal challenge of NecroPolo and me only (hello da Blondie, thanks for February's entry!). Seeing that various CSDB music competitions have more than 30-40-50 entries, I expected that musicians will be more interested to join us.

I understand that it's not easy to get out of the comfort zone, sometimes people don't even have time to make some music (well, have you seen 1983 compo..?). But again, I myself can't really spend more than 2-3 afternoons per month to test, learn and compose a music with an editor that I'm completely unfamiliar with. And of course, a couple of days are simply not enough to get the best out of the month's editor. It's enough for scratching the surface and make a fairly decent track.
I also understand this might not be everyone's cup of tea, however, it's a challenge and in my opinion it's interesting enough to give it a try at least with the editor that you are familiar with, or with the editor that seems interesting.

Since this challenge has started, I found some great tools like SID Factory II and defMON, but if I'm 100% honest, all of the editors have something unique that makes them worth for a testride.

I truly hope this makes sense and I can inspire more composers to join the challenge. Even if the result is not your usual best, the experience of learning something new and/or finding out something that you didn't know about the SID is priceless.

2021-05-13 10:36

F7sus4

Registered: Apr 2013
Posts: 112

That's a good thing to hear and I wholeheartedly agree with the comfort zone part. So to speak, I also remember talking to some people around and hearing "Whoa, I guess I really need to put my fingers on defMON soon" from time to time, but yet that really never happened. So I guess, that's just pretty much the same thing as with any other music software we use on a daily basis - we choose the interface that we feel the most fluent with, even if there are obvious limitations (of said software) involved. Whether a month is enough to "click" with a new editor or not (considering there are limited amounts of time available, as you mentioned) is probably another factor.

If that changes anything post-factum, I'm open to share defMON sources to my tunes (other than those already included as a tutorial).

2021-06-01 13:30

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

3 releases for May 2021 are now online: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - May 2021

Thank you to Jammer and NecroPolo for participating and supporting "the cause" :)

June's event page: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - June 2021
June's editor: DMC 7.0

2021-07-01 20:21

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

June's Grand Tour Challenge is over, we received 2 entries as usual:
NecroPolo: Aegis VII
Vincenzo: Seven Nights Awake
Event's page: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - June 2021

Next month's editor: Virtuoso V1.02
July's event page: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - July 2021

C'mon lazy musicians, join us :)

2021-07-01 22:20

Frantic

Registered: Mar 2003
Posts: 1627

Will be interesting to hear what comes out of Virtuoso, and perhaps also to hear what you think about it. I haven't heard much talk about that editor at all, but I am sure it must have its virtues — of some sort or another.

2021-08-02 20:29

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

Another month is gone (c'mon 2021, slow down please...), another music editor has been explored.

Results:
NecroPolo - Experiment: Zeta
Vincenzo - One Hit Wonder

Next month's editor: X-SID
Next month's event page: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - August 2021

2021-09-01 19:46

vincenzo

Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 78

September 2021, The Grand Tour Challenge continues: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - August 2021

Releases:
NecroPolo - Snowpiercer
Vincenzo - Positivity

Next month's editor: CheeseCutter 2.9.0
Event page: The C64 Grand Tour Challenge - September 2021

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