I’m going to start a little Renoise compo right here on this place! No special web necessary, is it?
So… There are 2 categories - 128 kB (131072 Bytes) and 512 kB (524288 Bytes) of uncompressed *.rns file. The main theme is chillout! Show us Your ambient, cosmic downtempo, deep house, atmospheric D&B, etc… skills! You may use Renoise v1.5 as the standalone app., no external plug-ins! Just Renoise + samples + renoise built-in fxs, ait? Only 1 track/artist/category might be posted (2 tracks by one artist, 1 in 128kB cat, the 2nd in 512kB cat.).
The deadline is the 25th of aug, the voting sheet will be posted here the 31st of aug. The voting deadline is the 14th of sep, the results will be online later during september.
i always dig compos and this is a nice idea but let me voice just one little but pretty important suggestion if i may:
it would be very nice to have a compo-related samplepack for each category.
i think there’s more competition (-> more fun) if there is a fixed set of samples everybody has to use in order to write the respective songs.
the samples however, may be copied, cutted and edited from within renoise with all given possibilities if wanted / required.
what do you think?
btw:
you should keep in mind that an entirely empty .rns file (just one empty pattern, no samples/instr.) already occupies 23kb. maybe one should at least add these to the 64kb (87kb compo?), otherwise this is really gonna get troublesome or very minimalistic.
btw2:
just loaded a 9kb 4channel .mod chiptune (really bad-ass samples) into renoise and saved it as .rns - new filesize is 55kb
just to illustrate how hard it’ll be to not pass the 64kb limit if you plan to use more than 4 channels, more than 3-5 pattern and want to add internal dsp effects…
i think that since dealing with a brutal filesize-limit is part of the compo, the “design” of own samples that sound good but are ultimatively small is also part of the competition?
Oh yep, i see, 64k is not really much! CHANGING IT TO 128kB!!! I hope it’s not too late! Thanks man!
i don’t think that using default samplepack is a good idea in this case. Yep, the compo could be more competetive, but the deep electronica, which this compo is about, offers too wide range of styles and points of views…
The design of samples? 1 second bleep, 0.001s long looped sinus or 1s long looped noise or 3 seconds long looped pad? The filesize limits will 100% make necessary for the artists to use lots and lots of FXs, which will change the sound of used samples pretty much! The used samples could be discussed here and maybe could be the source for next possible remix compo
lets bring more and more ideas to make this compo really juicy
i agree that there should be a samplepack. that way everybody is on equal terms and it really shows who has more skill in composing – i.e. everybody has the same resources but some people use their resources more effectively.
it would be like me racing a ferrari in my chevy malibu… even though we are on the track, it wouldn’t be fair because we don’t have the same class of car. what if i decide to use shit samples but somebody else comes up with some way better samples and his song sounds hella better because of it? if we all have the same samples there is no wondering about things like that.
as said earlier we cant use some kickass good sounding samples because of the very tight size limitations. we have tu use very small or chip samples. so IMO this sets things straight (we cant drive ferraris or chevys because the cost of the car is limited to 100$ . and as far as i can see this compo is not just a plain composing compo but also you can show your sound mainpulation skills in order to get good sound from very small samples!
if we will have samplepack then there is no point in file size limitation IMO!!!
ok well mine is going to be the shittiest sounding because i’m not very good with this kind of thing. back in impulse tracker instead of using effects i used to just find the best sounding samples i could. and nowadays i use vsti’s for everything except percussion
yeah, i know, im not some “master” in that either. But still i suggest you to learn that thing, that will help you a lot with vsts also (when programming a synth) if you know how sound works. I know, its easier to browse through presets but i think that programming a synth, designing a fresh sound is also art like composing music is. And in todays (dance) music its quite important to come up with some fresh and dope sounds that nobody have ever heard before.
trackit sure has a point there concerning the fact that filesizelimitation would become almost superflous if a sample preselection would be made, but i think it’s way more intuitive and enforces creativity to get the most out of the samples in order to stand out from the crowd / the average production.
and afterall filiesize would still be a limiting factor, because sample modification with internal renoise features would still be allowed, which can become heavy on size if you chop, crop, copy and modify the given sample material.
it would be the same as with previous beatbattles - things start to become really interesting if you listen to the compo tunes whilst thinking " how the heck did he write THAT with THESE samples ?? ".
and then you start to realize, that it’s all about the artistic usage of effect parameters and creative utilization of pre-selected samples.
i still second my point that it would be more creative and challenging to compete against others using the exact same source material.
but as i initially said, it’s just an idea and if the compo-host doesn’t like it (which seems to be the case), it will always stay what it is - a suggestion! =)
I find the limitations to be quite enjoyable because, as some of you have already said, it forces you to think more deeply about how sounds are actually created at the basic level. It reminds me of the FT2 days when you could draw waveforms right into the sample editor.
I also enjoy it because it’s forcing me to use more of Renoise’s instrument options which, apart from volume envelopes, I rarely ever touch. Now I’m forced to take advantage of the other stuff like filter envelopes to mold the chip noises into the sound I need/want.
Anyway, if anyone wants a helping hand to understand a little more about crafting some chip noises into useable sounds, I’ve zipped up a handful of instruments I created for my own entry (which I probably won’t even finish). Hopefully they will be useful for somebody. Just a few bass sounds, a trancy kind of synth, a simple pad and a couple of percussion sounds, all based around very basic waveforms or tiny looped portions of larger samples.
but lets make then that sample pack of those basic waveforms chip samples!!! what you think? then we will be all equal and it will be good training for us to get better understanding of how sound synthesis works.
no size limit, the only limitation is that we can use (whatever how many instances) of those basic waveform chip samples and renoise internal effects. or we can do this in another compo, if the host of this compo doesnt like it! what you think?
Well, I’m not sure if there’d be enough in my little pack, but it’s certainly an interesting idea. Somebody could compile a pack containing the basic primary waveforms such as sinewave, squarewave, sawtooth, a couple of colours of noise (white, pink, etc). Then we could also have a handful of formant based waveforms, maybe the vowel sounds or something like that?
I say, for this time around stick to your original ideas of the 128k and 512k entries. Then after this compo is finished you can see how everything went, see what needs to be improved, etc., and use that as a basis for the next one.
Seems like a good idea to start slowly/small, and build things up gradually.
OK!! So what about this: keep the original idea, deep electronica compo, only 2 categories - 128k and 512k with no other limits…
The next compo will be the focused on remixes of the winners in each category. The tunes themselves will be the samplepacks for the compo - usage of other than the original samples will be prohibited …
Only 1 track/artist/category might be posted (2 tracks by one artist, 1 in 128kB cat, the 2nd in 512kB cat.).
i think i will make a submission! 
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