@Heyez Its a great idea. Let's hope nature takes its course, it gets done, and people find out what it's like and speculate after. The only thing making me step back a little is the notion of "battle". I wouldn't invest too much time in something like that. Or anything too cutesy either. But the general concept... yeah. Creative restrictions can lead to new discoveries and break old habits that one may not be aware they have. A 'reset' as it were
@nick I think the term 'battle' in this case prob has its roots in hip-hop mc/dj battles? Possibly evolved from that in to a term to also be used in online production exercises. It's a friendly thing tho
@triton100 when you say "This will result in a bunch of completely different tracks which will have no similar defining anchors from which to judge and compare"....... Thats actually the thing that appeals most to me
Anyone can do any genre they like on this battle which doesn't restrict them, they can be naturally steered by the samples they choose and also stick in their own genre or try something new if it feels like that'll work better. And when voting it'll be cool to listen to a varied bunch of stuff instead of 15 dnb tracks or 15 pop tracks. So hopefully there'll be some stuff that everyone actually digs to listen to and not just 'appreciate' for the production skills (which might be the case if voting on a bunch of tracks which are all in a genre that doesn't interest someone)
The bpm thing isn't as limiting as it might sound. You can always work inside the bpm at half or double the tempo you get if that works better for you
@5pinlink I forgot to say before that where you wrote -
"I can announce the topic forum wide, but i have avoided doing that with the bugs list or request list, and i have to think about it before doing it with any thread"
I totally agree with your decision on not stickying the bugs list and feature requests posts on the main page. Neither are great things to instantly greet curious forum visitors with... could give potential BM3 users the wrong impression about BM3, like there's more wrong with it than there is right with it (which is far from the case!).
But promoting the battles and advertising that theres a community having fun/getting creative with the app, while at the same time making it more convenient for current BM3 users to refer to the rules and post their tracks, makes total sense to me
OK, i will announce it forum wide, if it gets zero or one entry, then it will need to be completely rethunk or just scrapped.
I have tidied up the title of the post too, I would suggest that tidying up the post/rules too might be in order too, not change the rules, just tidy up the post so it is less busy and easier to read.
Example
Battle 01 "ONE distraction"
RULES SUMMARY -
(maximum) 1 bank/pads track.
(maximum) 1 audio track (For vocals or resampling/routing).
1 AUX track.
Sorry but it is still too busy with this option and that fine print, here, this is simple, covers all your rules
Battle 01 "ONE distraction"
RULES
1 bank/pads track.
1 audio track (Optional)
1 AUX track (Optional)
1 ipad mic sample.
1 Radio sample from each of the 5 stations in this app (5 Samples total) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ström/id495549899?mt=81
1 AU instrument instance (If totally necessary. If an AUi is used, only 1 patch/drum kit allowed).
Unlimited fx - Native BM3 fx or freebie.
Hit the random number generator link below and add 85 to get your project tempo. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=random+100
If things are going to be this hard under a microscope throughout I'd rather not have to deal with all the paperwork/discussions on this challenge myself tbh. Seems like it needs to adhere to some kind of unwritten forum standards so maybe a mod should take over? I figured it would just be 'post a challenge, get it stickied, wait for entries, vote after deadline, the winner takes over for next one'...
I don't really have the time/energy for all this other stuff in relation to it Separate discussion threads, scrutinising over wording etc... Not really what I thought I was getting myself in to Seems like it'll probably be more work/time/stress than I can offer atm if the same kind of scrutiny vibe is gonna carry through posting the tracks/links/voting etc. I was probably the wrong person to kick it off, concise writing/organisation isn't something I do well...
Anyone wanna take over on this one? Or maybe just scrap the whole idea of user defined battles and maybe intua do something more official?
@5pinlink Haha, wasn't having a go at you, just starting to feel like maybe I shouldn't have thrown the idea out there and then put the first battle forward myself.
Bit too much paperwork for me atm
It was a suggestion for the forum, not for me, and kinda feels like I'm the wrong person for the job and its a turned in to too much hard work already and we haven't even reached the submission/vote/organisation of links etc stage yet
Anyone else want to handle it? If no one does then I'll see this one through in case anyone has a track already in progress.
I really like this ström radio app, and I got some very interesting samples from the stations. and no shit right now I'm sampling station 5 with "Pushing On" by Oliver $ & Jimi Jules. I admit I let the station 5 sample record for about 10 minutes.
oh, and I don't know what I did wrong, but when I first attempted to sample, I had ström playing in a pad in bank 1, armed audio track 1, set input to internal bank 1, and it worked to record the first station. I'm a little upset that when I simply changed stations and went back to the timeline to record the next sample, pressed record, red blinking metronome, it didn't record at all, and I missed a track that I really wanted to sample, and it's gone forever . I found sampling way more successful by going to the pattern helper thing for audio track 1, and using the "record sample" button.
@yeah sampling strom to timeline/audio tracks is probably a bit of a sketchy road atm. I've not tried it myself tho and usually sample strom straight to pads via the IAA/AU keys page where you can specify which pad each new sample goes to. That way you can spend 15 mins staying on that page, sample to as many pads as you want and then go slice or whatever per pad straight after. It's a pretty killer sampling workflow
I started a track for this battle earlier today too and like you ended up sampling one of the stations for like 5 minutes
@heyez I've never pressed the rec button on the sampler screen on a pad. turns out it's another way to get to the same audio recorder interface as from the pattern helper. good to know!
@Heyez said:
That way you can spend 15 mins staying on that page, sample to as many pads as you want and then go slice or whatever per pad straight after. It's a pretty killer sampling workflow
I’ve had a lot of fun doing just that. I’ve taken my five radio samples, chopped them to 30 usable slices, tuned them, saved to 30 pads. My radio samples consist of a couple of ladies talking swedish(?), some ambient strings, a progression of piano chords, a whole scale of plucked synth sounds, and an American woman explaining that boys like baseball with their fathers but girls do not.
Once the slices are saved to pads and can be played with the keys, that’s a lot of sounds to work with.
I’m missing drums though. Can I use my audio track allowance to record me hitting a bodhran and various household items, then slice it to drum pads? Or is that outside of the rules?
Not sure I’ll end up with a battle-worthy entry, but this battle idea is great.
@TheMediocritist sounds like you got some fun stuff to work with
Audio track was meant only for vocals/resampling really but you could use the 'one ipad mic sample' rule/allowance to get some drums on pads? If you haven't used that sample already? Only one ipad mic sample allowed tho, but no length limit and you can chop it
Have you tried making some kind of drums from what you already have? Like short snippets slices/layers + varied filters/drive/res for different types of drum? You might be surprised with what you can carve out of thin air
@tk32 Haha yeah it's cool to be discussing music instead of details Nice one.
Ive not seen multiple entries before in something like this so I dunno what to suggest on that really? Maybe something like - 'people can post as many entries as they like to the battle rules thread for other people to listen to. But if 10+ users enter then everyone must choose only 1 of their tracks to be linked in the post-deadline voting thread to be eligible for votes '?
Or we can have it totally open?
I'm easy on it either way personally, just thinking that in future if it catches on we might end up with a lot of songs for people to listen to and vote/feedback on if people can submit unlimited entries for voting and there are 10 or more users submitting. What does everyone think?
What's the alternative to asking for opinion? I decide? And then have to defend the decision. Kinda tiring...
Edit - I may have defended the challenge rules. But that's cos I thought they were feasible and to me seemed ok? I kept replies chill and polite, no 'narky' vibes at all? Even when I was asking if anyone else wanted to take over and I was saying that actually I might not have time/energy to govern the first battle cos it's gotten kind of weird/unnecessary/tedious... I was still being chill. No narky vibes at all? Kinda sucks to be here trying to start something for the community and then read stuff like that which would imply I'm on a dictator trip and not down for discussion etc... All feels a little ridiculous tbh.. It's just a battle!?
This 'multiple entries' thing isn't part of a specific challenge. It would be a general, on-going rule. So it's not down to me to decide. Unlike the battle rules, which is normally down to an individual on rotation. So if no one else wants to chime in then it can just stay grey area til someone else figures it out.
Edit 2 - and if it wasn't so frowned upon to give a detailed description of rules in the battle rules post, there'd be less need for separate post for discussions and on-going questions about fine details of rules etc. Whoever makes the challenge could just post it and pretty much forget it except for checking back in on entries. The whole thing is kind of a secretarial chore the way its gone this time.. Was meant to just be a bit of fun
Comments
@Heyez Its a great idea. Let's hope nature takes its course, it gets done, and people find out what it's like and speculate after. The only thing making me step back a little is the notion of "battle". I wouldn't invest too much time in something like that. Or anything too cutesy either. But the general concept... yeah. Creative restrictions can lead to new discoveries and break old habits that one may not be aware they have. A 'reset' as it were
Anyone can do any genre they like on this battle which doesn't restrict them, they can be naturally steered by the samples they choose and also stick in their own genre or try something new if it feels like that'll work better. And when voting it'll be cool to listen to a varied bunch of stuff instead of 15 dnb tracks or 15 pop tracks. So hopefully there'll be some stuff that everyone actually digs to listen to and not just 'appreciate' for the production skills (which might be the case if voting on a bunch of tracks which are all in a genre that doesn't interest someone)
The bpm thing isn't as limiting as it might sound. You can always work inside the bpm at half or double the tempo you get if that works better for you
"I can announce the topic forum wide, but i have avoided doing that with the bugs list or request list, and i have to think about it before doing it with any thread"
I totally agree with your decision on not stickying the bugs list and feature requests posts on the main page. Neither are great things to instantly greet curious forum visitors with... could give potential BM3 users the wrong impression about BM3, like there's more wrong with it than there is right with it (which is far from the case!).
But promoting the battles and advertising that theres a community having fun/getting creative with the app, while at the same time making it more convenient for current BM3 users to refer to the rules and post their tracks, makes total sense to me
Yes I would like 15 dnb tracks, plz thx
OK, i will announce it forum wide, if it gets zero or one entry, then it will need to be completely rethunk or just scrapped.
I have tidied up the title of the post too, I would suggest that tidying up the post/rules too might be in order too, not change the rules, just tidy up the post so it is less busy and easier to read.
Example
Battle 01 "ONE distraction"
RULES SUMMARY -
(maximum) 1 bank/pads track.
(maximum) 1 audio track (For vocals or resampling/routing).
1 AUX track.
Is easily
Rules
1 Bank
1 Audio Track
1 Aux Track
Sorry but it is still too busy with this option and that fine print, here, this is simple, covers all your rules
Battle 01 "ONE distraction"
RULES
1 bank/pads track.
1 audio track (Optional)
1 AUX track (Optional)
1 ipad mic sample.
1 Radio sample from each of the 5 stations in this app (5 Samples total)
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ström/id495549899?mt=81
1 AU instrument instance (If totally necessary. If an AUi is used, only 1 patch/drum kit allowed).
Unlimited fx - Native BM3 fx or freebie.
Hit the random number generator link below and add 85 to get your project tempo.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=random+100
Beatmaker 3 only
Deadline Sept 30th.
If things are going to be this hard under a microscope throughout I'd rather not have to deal with all the paperwork/discussions on this challenge myself tbh. Seems like it needs to adhere to some kind of unwritten forum standards so maybe a mod should take over? I figured it would just be 'post a challenge, get it stickied, wait for entries, vote after deadline, the winner takes over for next one'...
I don't really have the time/energy for all this other stuff in relation to it
Anyone wanna take over on this one? Or maybe just scrap the whole idea of user defined battles and maybe intua do something more official?
@Heyez Doh! Of course you meant it that way! Complete misinterpretation on my side- sorry about that!
@heyez there is no forum standard/scrutiny vibe, i am trying to simplify the post so that you get entries, I shall shut up and leave it now.
Kudos to @5pinlink for keeping discussion and entries in separate threads, and for trying to simplify rules in a way that encourages entries.
Forums need a healthy mix of instigators and organisers, so please don't fall out over this.
Regards,
T
Bit too much paperwork for me atm
It was a suggestion for the forum, not for me, and kinda feels like I'm the wrong person for the job and its a turned in to too much hard work already and we haven't even reached the submission/vote/organisation of links etc stage yet
Anyone else want to handle it? If no one does then I'll see this one through in case anyone has a track already in progress.
I really like this ström radio app, and I got some very interesting samples from the stations. and no shit right now I'm sampling station 5 with "Pushing On" by Oliver $ & Jimi Jules. I admit I let the station 5 sample record for about 10 minutes.
oh, and I don't know what I did wrong, but when I first attempted to sample, I had ström playing in a pad in bank 1, armed audio track 1, set input to internal bank 1, and it worked to record the first station. I'm a little upset that when I simply changed stations and went back to the timeline to record the next sample, pressed record, red blinking metronome, it didn't record at all, and I missed a track that I really wanted to sample, and it's gone forever
. I found sampling way more successful by going to the pattern helper thing for audio track 1, and using the "record sample" button.
I started a track for this battle earlier today too and like you ended up sampling one of the stations for like 5 minutes
@heyez I've never pressed the rec button on the sampler screen on a pad. turns out it's another way to get to the same audio recorder interface as from the pattern helper. good to know!
My first submission is now up, though it may not be to everyone's taste.
What genre is it? It's a post-rave ambient sci-fi tapestry of found-sound weirdness
...I'm not even sure it's to my taste; but I did have a great time getting outside my comfort zone,
T
I’ve had a lot of fun doing just that. I’ve taken my five radio samples, chopped them to 30 usable slices, tuned them, saved to 30 pads. My radio samples consist of a couple of ladies talking swedish(?), some ambient strings, a progression of piano chords, a whole scale of plucked synth sounds, and an American woman explaining that boys like baseball with their fathers but girls do not.
Once the slices are saved to pads and can be played with the keys, that’s a lot of sounds to work with.
I’m missing drums though. Can I use my audio track allowance to record me hitting a bodhran and various household items, then slice it to drum pads? Or is that outside of the rules?
Not sure I’ll end up with a battle-worthy entry, but this battle idea is great.
@tk32 awesome you found Amen on the radio to sample haha
Audio track was meant only for vocals/resampling really but you could use the 'one ipad mic sample' rule/allowance to get some drums on pads? If you haven't used that sample already? Only one ipad mic sample allowed tho, but no length limit and you can chop it
Have you tried making some kind of drums from what you already have? Like short snippets slices/layers + varied filters/drive/res for different types of drum? You might be surprised with what you can carve out of thin air
Thanks @Heyez - I decided battle discussions will only get us so far, and it was time to do something more productive (ie post the first entry)
Q: Can I submit a second (or even third!) entry later this month, or is that me done?
@5pinlink Amen FTW - it's possibly the only good bit in my track
Ive not seen multiple entries before in something like this so I dunno what to suggest on that really? Maybe something like - 'people can post as many entries as they like to the battle rules thread for other people to listen to. But if 10+ users enter then everyone must choose only 1 of their tracks to be linked in the post-deadline voting thread to be eligible for votes '?
Or we can have it totally open?
I'm easy on it either way personally, just thinking that in future if it catches on we might end up with a lot of songs for people to listen to and vote/feedback on if people can submit unlimited entries for voting and there are 10 or more users submitting. What does everyone think?
What's the alternative to asking for opinion? I decide? And then have to defend the decision. Kinda tiring...
Edit - I may have defended the challenge rules. But that's cos I thought they were feasible and to me seemed ok? I kept replies chill and polite, no 'narky' vibes at all? Even when I was asking if anyone else wanted to take over and I was saying that actually I might not have time/energy to govern the first battle cos it's gotten kind of weird/unnecessary/tedious... I was still being chill. No narky vibes at all? Kinda sucks to be here trying to start something for the community and then read stuff like that which would imply I'm on a dictator trip and not down for discussion etc... All feels a little ridiculous tbh.. It's just a battle!?
This 'multiple entries' thing isn't part of a specific challenge. It would be a general, on-going rule. So it's not down to me to decide. Unlike the battle rules, which is normally down to an individual on rotation. So if no one else wants to chime in then it can just stay grey area til someone else figures it out.
Edit 2 - and if it wasn't so frowned upon to give a detailed description of rules in the battle rules post, there'd be less need for separate post for discussions and on-going questions about fine details of rules etc. Whoever makes the challenge could just post it and pretty much forget it except for checking back in on entries. The whole thing is kind of a secretarial chore the way its gone this time.. Was meant to just be a bit of fun
The first battle is always going to throw open more questions than you'd expect. Once we've finished one it should become much easier in future.
My feelings are that consulting the forum (as @heyez is trying to do) is a noble pursuit, but ultimately leads to argument rather than decision.
Let's say multiple entries are permitted this time, and if it gets crazy future battles will be 1 per user only.
Settled.