Dafydd

That's funny, I installed it and it worked with my midi stuff without changing hardly any settings... Remember you don't need to choose a midi out port. Did you create an instrument before trying to play something? I know that had me for a while. Also, you must "enable midi" in the Edit menu, but that's about it. Where do you go to screw up your midi devices? I mean, I'm sure there's a built-in button in windows that does just this, but what did you do? The competition would be like: You have X weeks (3, maybe?) to remix a specific song from a specific game, and it's non-reinterpretive in the sense that you're making a cover, but it's reinterpretive in that you have very limited technology to work with and will have to "reinterpret" the instruments used in the source into NES sounds (and velocity curves, arpeggios and duty cycle switches means there's a lot of possibilities there).

Maybe I didn't state it clearly enough, but yes, game soundtracks. What do you mean by "Famitracker never did it for me" - you didn't like it, or you didn't manage to figure out how to use it, or you just plain don't like the NES sound? You have to mess a bit with instrument configurations to get the right sound, but it's not that difficult. Listening to some of the more obscure NES soundtracks, it's obvious that whoever was making their soundtracks was either lazy or incompetent. Koji knew his stuff though. Is "dod style" any different from PRC? I don't know anything about dod other than that the people who participate put out some really good stuff sometimes.

Wow, the compo thingy looks very nice. I'll read more about it on the wiki there. I wonder if I could host the thing there, sort of, and use my framework for the visuals, or if I should let only the submission / voting process take place there. Either way, you need a thasauce account both to participate and to vote, which is kind of meh if I want this to be an OCR-based competition (which I do), but if PRC and ORC can do it...

Yes, I hate that. My post wasn't serious though. I really have no idea. I would have preferred to start from scratch instead of botching my new hard drive down with my old config.

Heh, try installing Windows on the new hard drive and then copy EVERYTHING from your old drive onto your new one, overwriting everything. I really wonder if that would work...

The thing is, it's not really a fair competition if some submit SPCs, some NSFs, some SIDs... it'd be like midis competing with MP3s. What I'd enjoy most from this competition would be hearing what this and that song would have sounded like if played on the NES. Also, anyone can make NSFs, so you're not the only one who will be "able" to participate. All anyone needs is Famitracker (which is free), musical talent and a lot of patience. I got it like a month ago and I don't totally suck at it. And I had no previous experience with trackers. Anyone could learn how to do it. It would be pretty cool to have a grand-scale version of your suggestion, however - a whole new website named UnderClocked ReMix where all submissions were chiptunes - any source (so long as it's a game) - any emulated format - and with possible creative reinterpretations (what would the megaman 3 title theme sound like on the SNES, eh?). This, however, is not the purpose of this competition, although I'm certainly not averse to the idea.

There's no reason to have war anymore, both sites are well-established and one won't go down because the other one grows more powerful. I think both DJP and Virt can accept that OCR and VGMix are alternatives to each other and not mutually exclusive, regardless of whatever hard feelings bubbled up in the past. That said - Virt, thank you for making that Balloon Fight mix years ago, and congratulations on getting where most of us probably want to be.

Wait - you're saying you don't think enough people will be interested, or just that you know someone who will be?

Ok - I've got most of this sorted out, but before I can actually launch the competition in the proper forum, I need all the rules and regulations set up and decided on, and I need you to help me with this. What would be the best way to handle submissions, the voting process and so on? WTF? I think it's time for a new kind of ReMix Competition here at OCR - one that deals with RetroMixing rather than ReMixing. Similarly to in PRC, all participants will be assigned the one and same song to ReMix, but unlike in PRC, participants will not attempt to modernize the source tune and reinterpret it into "their own", as suggested by the OCR submission standards. Instead, the competition is about making an adaption of the source tune into an NSF - a cover, if you will. Participants will not ask themselves "what would this song have sounded like had it been made today?" but rather "what would this song have sounded like had it been part of a NES game soundtrack?" Whoever makes the best and most accurate, and most pleasant-sounding adaption wins, and will also get to pick the song to be RetroMixed next. Care could also be taken to make the NSF sound like other game soundtracks made by the same company - I remember someone posted a chiptune a while back in which a song from the NES Duck Tales soundtracks had been remade to sound like a Konami game, which was very interesting to listen to. The winner will be elected by means of a voting process. DISCLAIMER: Making NSFs is easy - and free. Anyone can make an NSF. Making good NSFs is hard. Hence the fun in participating in and having this competition. There's already a competition just like this. OSHI - Seriously though, what? Where? If one's already out there, close this thread and nevermind. What's the deadline? Which song is next up for RetroMixation? The competition won't be launched until the rules and practical issues have been resolved. Example RetroMix NSFs Here are two adaptions of mine: Starfox - Corneria (poor adaption) - original SPC Super Mario World - Map 2: Overworld (better) - original SPC Why NSFs? Because I like them and I've just learned how to make them. If you want a similar competition but with GYM's, SPC's, mods or GBS's instead of NSFs, or if you want one where you remix non-game music into chiptunes, I'm not stopping you - go right ahead. What's the point? I need an excuse to waste my time making NSFs instead of something worthwhile. Besides, I know there's a number of people around here who make chiptunes for fun, so I figured they might be interested. Hopefully, there will be others as well - after all, who hasn't dreamed of making their own NES music? What songs can be RetroMixed? Obviously, any song that plays in a NES or GameBoy game will not be eligible. Most songs from any other consoles are eligible, excepting monophonic PC speaker tunes and other overly simplistic game music. Most anything from any fourth-generation console or newer is probably good to go, including PC AdLib music, mod/xm music, CD soundtracks and so on. The winner will most likely be familiar enough with the limitations of the NSF format not to pick source music that is musically dependent on more than 3 melodic parts, i.e. that relies on complex chords rather than melody and rhythm. That said, while I'd love to hear the Mega Man X soundtrack as an NSF, a lot of difficult choices need to made when considering which of the 6 or 7 melodic parts are to be left out in any given part of the most the songs in it. Only a few of the songs in the soundtrack could successfully be adapted into NSFs without losing too much of the original musical content. Songs like the SMW OW theme above are ideal in that they only contain 3 musical parts and a percussion line, which is exactly what the NSFs are capable of, save for the DMC channel, which is normally used for drums. Most songs in the SMW soundtrack would probably make good NSF tunes, simply because of their oligophony. What the competition should be called Like the other competitions here at OCR, this one needs a fancy name and a flashy, easy to remember and easy to pronounce acronym. Ideally, either the name or the acronym (or, preferrably, both) should be a pun on OverClocked ReMix or OCR, respectively. ORC succeeded admirably in the latter aspect, OLR in both. Suggestions: the Monobyte RetroMix Competition (MRC) the People's 8-bit Competition (P8C) the UnderClocked ReMix Competition (UCRC) the Chiptune Cover RetroMix Competition (CCRC) or variations and combinations thereof. You know what I'm getting at - now come up with better suggestions, because I know they're out there. Personally, I like the word "Monobyte" as an alternative for 8-bit. Hosting previous competitions, source tunes and winning submissions I'm working on a website for the competition. The source tune for the current competition could be hosted here, as well as all submissions for all competitions (NSFs are tiny), as well an image from the source game, edited into NES-styled graphics. The website is located at http://8-bit.ngst.nu/ . The site header will be replaced once a name for the competition has been decided. Submissions I guess the best thing would be if everyone just e-mailed all their submissions. The problem is that whoever checks the inbox won't be able to participate in the competition, or he'll be able to "cheat", taking too much influence from the other submissions. Since I'd like to participate myself, at least sometimes, I'd need someone to help me here. Voting Process I don't know how this should be set up and regulated, but would appreciate it if someone who has experience in this field could suggest ways to do this. Personally, I'd prefer a simple forum poll, but since they don't seem to be included with VBulletin, or they're disabled by the administrators, this doesn't seem to be an option. I do like the idea of having the competition run until a set deadline after which the voting process kicks in, and once a winner has been elected, the next competition starts, similarly to PRC. How do I make NSFs? You need one of the following programs: (more suggestions?) FAMITRACKER - Comes with a good help file and is capable of pretty much anything the NSFs are, save for using special expansion chips such as the Konami VRC6. NERD TRACKER II - DOS.

The thing is, if you want to learn how to remix, you should start with something simple. Also, if you submit a CT remix you will be compared to the other CT mixes, many of which are extremely good. I don't think the judges would be as biased as I am about you submitting a remix of a game that has too few remixes, but who knows... EDIT: actually, nevermind me. I know nothing of your remix skills. Maybe you already rock even before making your first remix. Maybe CT is just right for you. The important thing is to start remixing and getting it out there so people can tell you what you can do to improve.

You could at least have read the first post.

Do you mean "eventually" or "éventuellement"? That would be awesome, I just need to compile a list of changes that need to be made. I think the Namco font would be best to start from - it has the right dimensions.

Excellent. I searched for something like it but didn't find anything. EDIT: Oh no, I need to install Cygwin again. Gripe. Anyway, you wouldn't know of any other occurence of the original font? It's the same one as on the controllers (where it says select, start, A, and , but is there any more of it? I'd like to see the rest of the alphabet with the original font. As far as I know, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, Q, U, V, X, Z do not appear on either console or controllers.

Oooh, EMBLAZONED. Ok, I guess I'll try to speed up wrapping up my project then. I'll want to discuss the very last stages with you, but in that thread or over PM.

Oh, now I remember. I used to play "digger", not dig dug.

Thanks!! As you can see, neither font is idenical, but all come close with different letters. None have the same E (rounded bottom but squared top). They're all close enough though. I wonder if they can be edited easily...

Yeah! Too bad his Converse shoes wouldn't fit though. How come all the avatars are in a jumbled order anyway? They're not alphabetical, not chronological, just a mess. Even the recently added ones seem randomly placed. This is more out of curiosity than for the sake of critisism/improvement, btw.

Zeke looks much better from front...

Well, here's Donatello from TMNT II. Thanks for uploading all the TMNT stuff I posted earlier. This cropping really sucks, but it's the best I could do. LT: That was good. Polo had a version that was more centered, but this would have been good regardless.

Agreed. We have enough Chrono Trigger music, thank you, but we could definitely use some more live music.

Dig dug had music...? What did it sound like? I can't remember.

Thanks, Polo, and nice bio, too.

No, I was... replying to Tenucha. He didn't seem to get it.

EDIT: I found one named SDF that does that job. Nevermind the mods - I only picked this picture because it was zoomed in on the text. I want the font used for the small text that says "ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM", or one that looks very similar to it. I already have one that looks just like the text that reads "Nintendo" - it's called Pretendo and is not what I'm looking for. Please help me...

This is a really good ReMix for being from back in AD 2000. Would probably have passed the judges panel even in 2004.