Oh, that's right. We're back. And better than ever.
Welcome, everyone, to the 2015 NewGrounds Music Triathalon!
also known as the NGMT
For those who haven't been part of this contest in the past, this contest is all about challenges. It is a three-part contest designed to truly test the skills of musicians on Newgrounds, regardless of their preferred composition genre. It is gloriously difficult and unique on the website in terms of how it is run and how it progresses. So, let's get into it!
How does it work?
There are three rounds to the contest, each with its own unique challenge and theme. The themes are styled around one central idea which you can figure out if you want, but they're designed to work well with the challenge. Each round has a deadline of 2 weeks (similar to the NGADM), and you will know all of the challenges beforehand.
If you find that a challenge or theme just won't work for you... that's fine! You can enter any round that you want and skip any round that you want as well. If you enter all of them, you have a more likely chance of winning the contest - but you can do well by making one incredibly stellar piece, too! (See Step and Echo's piece "Encapsulation" from 2013)
You may also enter as many pieces as you want in each round, though that could decrease your chances of victory in the end...
So, for your convenience, here are all of the challenges!
Round 1: Percussive. You may only use one-shot instruments, percussive instruments, plucks, etc. And no, no cheesing out with spiccato or heavy reverb - as in, no using reverb to make a sustained note out of a one-shot, and no using short bursts of notes with sustain - if it can be sustained, it's out.
Fun fact - the first round has already had similar issues to the first round last time - defining the limits is much easier said than... stated.
Round 2: Soundfont. You may only use soundfont players (so no resampling) and the Fluid GM bank. Beyond that, you can have your normal effect library - but no other instrumcnet channels beyond the Fluid bank in a soundfont player. So it's like raw midi, but with slightly higher quality instruments and FX channels.
Fun fact - it took quite awhile to pick a good GM bank. It's also the GM bank I used when I first started making music!
Round 3: Inspired! No challenge here. Use whatever tools you have!
The only theme to always be round 3! Always.
I will be the judge of whether a piece fits the challenge, so feel free to ask me if your idea fits before writing and submitting it!
How to win.
Well. Here's why you'll be submitting your pieces anonymously. After they're submitted, I'll be stripping all metadata and uploading all the tracks with generic titles like "Track 1", "Track 2", "Track 3", etc. If you can submit your piece (to the contest, at least) without metadata, that would be excellent - it would actually help us get things set up a bit faster!
But, once they're all uploaded - it's your turn. For three days after the pieces are made, everyone who submitted at least one piece will get to vote. Each person can pick up to 3 pieces (their top three) and submit their votes. The votes need to clearly note which is #1, #2, and #3. (or just #1 and #2 if you only vote for two, if you only vote for one that's obviously #1). These votes give 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. The person with the post points at the end will then win the round - and the person with the greatest sum of points after all three rounds wins the contest! Simple.
And as for what you win...
Win a round, and you get a speshul signature and hopefully a frontpage for your victorious piece (if I get permission from the audio mods again).
Win 1st place overall, and you get a super-speshul signature, frontpaging of a piece of your choice (hopefully), and an awesome something from Samulis (once he figures it out)!
Win 2nd place overall, and you get a marginally less speshul signature, frontpaging a piece of your choice (hopefully), and a sweet something from Samulis (once he figures it out).
Win 3rd place overall, and you get a somewhat-cool signature, frontpaging a piece of your choice (hopefully), and a still-cool something from Samulis (once he figures it out).
Any ties in the final 3 will be decided by critical review by Samulis and myself on a range of criteria - including consistency in round participation, overall quality of submissions, and speed at which they are made.
But anyway, that's enough exposition... let's get to writing music!
ROUND 1 THEME AND CHALLENGE:
Your challenge is to only use percussive and one-shot instruments. Pianos, plucks, hit things smack things ping things pong things, as long as it cannot sustain a note in some fashion, you are good to go.
Your theme is the Jungle. Will you show us your wild side, or are you on an expedition?
Your deadline is November 16th, at 11:59:59 PM EST.
Also known as my birthday.
Good luck! As was the case last time, we have some inspirational art by a fantastic and relatively unknown newgrounds artist!
Remember: Any piece submitted to the newgrounds audio portal before the voting phase is over will be immediately disqualified! Send them to me, and I'll get it uploaded to the voting page!
Special thanks to:
Samulis, for the website.
Kiabugboy, for the fantastic art this year! Become a fan of his, as he deserves it!
Helpful links once the pages are updated: FAQ Submission and Voting Rules/Guidelines
Stuff.
My AIM piece is found if you clicky the image.
