CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION
Time Frame: Saturday, 01st January 2023 to Tuesday, 24th January 2022 (24 days)
Challenge submission will end on 24-JAN-2022, 23:59 UTC+1/CET (Germany) - until further notice.
Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please either consult the
Global Countdown (dedicated page), or the countdown on the
landing site. There will also be short reminders on Social Media and on
Discord. Does the game time frame feel too long? Why not set a personal shorter one of 5-7 days absolute max to push yourself to focus on the essentials, then use the rest of the time to ask for feedback and possible refinements.
SONGWRITING THEME: "Community Scramble" (Special Sound Design Challenge / limited sound set challenge)
GENRE: free to select
Image Source: ArtsyBee (background, via Pixabay), released under Creative Commons CC0
A few word about this month's theme:
Staff (Mister Fox) wrote:
Hello and welcome to or fifth special challenge on the Mix Challenge audio community - called "Community Scramble".
The twist of the current Songwriting Competition:
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Create a music production in any genre that you feel like.
However, you are only allowed to use the sounds and samples that have been sourced and provided by the Mix Challenge audio community. You can read more about the "Community Scramble" concept in the
news post from September 2018.
This year, you get access to 47 new "community sourced" samples, with additional content off of the web for more variety, and once more some "recycled" material from previous years (to balance things out).
You can find the source material for "SWC065 / January 2023 - Community Scramble" here, and again further down below:
SWC065 Source Sound Package - on the Mix Challenge server (236,79 MB, LZMA compressed, zip)
Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create
a production in any music genre you feel like. Due to the community sourced content, this might be more electronic based. However, since this game's focus is creative sound design, there is zero limitation of which route this could go.
Some Ground Rules:
- you are only allowed to use the sounds and samples that have been provided for this particular challenge (exceptions apply)
- you are free to mangle the content as much as you like, in fact, this is highly encouraged
- you are allowed to use re-sampling, wavetable / sample-based synthesis, granular synthesis, modulation, or whatever else is at your disposal in terms of tools, to this counts:
- time stretching, pitch shifting, layering, slicing into chunks, reversing, re-sampling, etc - then further treating the material with whatever is at your your disposal, and maybe redo everything again (e.g.: common technique for very stylized Reese Basses)
- you can use your synths and samplers to their full potential (layering of more samples and/or build in signal generators, spectral editing, granulation, built-in modulation like LFOs and/or ring-modulation, etc), as long as one/the main oscillator/"wavetable" is from the the provided content (please also see "Audio Examples" follow up post, especially Andrew Huang's videos on "make a wavetable out of everything")
- you are not allowed to add any additional sounds or instruments that have not been created from the available source material in any shape or form (e.g. synthesizer stock lead, pads or drum sounds, acoustic drum kits, pianos, choirs and/or strings from Kontakt samples, etc).
- you can add vocals and ad-libs (your own voice or a collaborating singer), or sound effects created from your voice (think: breathing, shouts, grunts, robot voice, etc). This material can be as clean or as processed as you want, be creative!
- if you feel the need that your production really can't do without, you are allowed to record an electric guitar or electric bass. As long as you twist, bend, glitch, warp and/or morph (blend with other sound sources) it in some form or another (the focus is sound design! not just guitar > DI > amp suite preset, see "Audio Examples" follow up post, especially Mick Gordon, Geoffrey Day and David Levy's videos)
![Arrow :arrow:](./images/smilies/icon_arrow.gif)
Your creativity will be pushed to the limits this month. This is your chance to try something completely new out of your comfort zone, experiment with synthesis and sound shaping, to get a different perspective on sound design.
I am more than curious about the results.
Songwriting Rule Summary / Add-On Rules:
► Show Spoiler
- create a production fitting to the given theme, genre and general premise
- you are only allowed to use the sounds provided in the package above (exceptions do apply)
- you can use any tools that are at your disposal to mangle the provided audio content (samplers, wavetable synths, modulation tools, etc)
- for newcomers: no finished productions that have already been released outside of the time frame of the current Songwriting Competition (Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, etc), no cover versions or remixes, no ripped acapella's -- please only showcase your own new and original content
- do not go higher than -14,0 LUFS ILk/-1,00 dBTP in terms of perceived loudness (mastering). Music doesn't have to be squashed to bits in order to be impactful
- name your files properly prior to uploading and make the production downloadable. If you opt to present your entry through SoundCloud, the forum can also convert your links into a Soundcloud player through the [soundcloud] BBCode from the text editor (orange square with a white cloud in it)
- ADD-ON RULES:
- Filename Template: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav and/or .mp3
- see "Ground Rules" above
- <no (additional) add-on rules specified>
For a full set of rules, please consult the
Official Rules and Guidelines (most notably
Rule Book - post #6). If you got any questions regarding the game mechanics or similar, please either utilize the
SWC - Gossip and Discussion thread, or reach out through
Discord.
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Source Files:
SWC065 Source Sound Package - on the Mix Challenge server (236,79 MB, LZMA compressed, zip)
The provided files were packed as ZIP with LZMA compression (specs from 2015).
File size extracted: 418,08 MB, packed 236,79 MB (ZIP, LZMA)
In order to extract the files, we can recommend these programs / apps:
Macintosh:
The Unarchiver -
get it here
Keka (open source) -
get it here (please take note of the
file extraction guide)
Windows:
7zip -
Installation /
Portable
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SPONSORS (Prizes):
Prizes for Songwriting Challenge participants:
Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.
RECURRING LICENSE SPONSORSHIP:
Cherry Audio is kind enough to give away one license of Voltage Modular Ignite, plus either a license of "Year One Collection" or "Year Two Collection"
License will turn into NFR
More info on Cherry Audio:
https://cherryaudio.com
IK Multimedia is kind enough to give away one license of MODO BASS 2 to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com
Musiclab is kind enough to donate any 1 guitar of your choice to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Musiclab:
https://www.musiclab.com
Tone2 is kind enough to donate a license of Saurus3 to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2:
https://tone2.com
kv331 audio is kind enough to give away a bundle of either SynthMaster 1+2 Bundle, or a freely selectable set of 3 SynthMaster Expansions
License will not turn into NFR, you need to have a kv311 audio user account in order to pick up Expansions
More info on kv331 audio:
https://www.kv331audio.com
JRR Sounds is kind enough to give away any-1 sound sets or sample set of winner's choice (
exception: Bundles)
More info on JRR Sounds:
https://www.jrrshop.com/jrr-sounds
Luftrum is kind enough to give away either a license of Lunaris 2, a license of Bioscape, or any two sound sets of winner's choice
License will turn into NFR
More info on Luftrum:
http://www.luftrum.com
Rekkerd Sounds is kind enough to give away 1 sound set of winners choice (
exception: Krezie EDM and Neurofunk Vol. 1)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Rekkerd Sounds:
http://sounds.rekkerd.org/
Ghostwave Audio (Vincent Bastiat) is kind enough to donate any 2 sound sets to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Ghostwave Audio:
http://ghostwaveaudio.com
Hollow Sun is kind to donate one license of "Music Laboratory Machines - The Suite I" to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hollow Sun:
http://www.hollowsun.com
Hornet Plugins is kind enough to give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins:
http://www.hornetplugins.com
![Image](https://mix-challenge.com/assets/images/sponsor_satyatunes.jpg)
Sound / Graphic Designer, and honorary Mix Challenge staff
satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page:
http://www.satyatunes.com/
THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.
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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!