MIDI Challenge!

[Dragonfly]

I've spent this evening knocking up a randomised MIDI composition challenge, hopefully the composers of Doomworld would like to take a shot at this?

 

https://www.dfdoom.com/midi-challenge/

[Lippeth]

This is the first song that I've ever "finished" in under two hours. I've been racking my brain on another song and needed a good exercise to stretch the muscles. Awesome challenge DF! I'm gonna bookmark that link for when I need to stop overthinking and start just putting down notes.

DFChallenge-Lippeth-NoParking.zip

 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Lippeth

[Dragonfly]

This is awesome Lippeth! Fantastic output, thanks for taking on the challenge!

 

I know a few others (@Jimmy, @Eris and @Dunn (& Dunn)) have already taken a shot at this challenge, hope to see more people have a go! :D

 

I had a shot at this today when I woke up - I was blessed with 2/4 and 3/4 time signatures which instantly put a riff idea into my head, as seen in the intro.  I'm quite surprised I got well over two minutes of audio out of this in the time I put in. :)

 

 

Full MIDI download available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/egq7v5n62q5b03w/DF-midichallenge1.mid?dl=1

 

These were the specs, I did a medium difficulty attempt. :)

 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Dragonfly

[ClumsyDoomer]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_m0D-ff56ppLfXFlAUmJjRly-drgsrZR/view?usp=sharing
Here's something. I'll regret this the next day, since me when chilling+jamming and me when self-reviewing what the hell I've done are two completely different people. Pacman death sound is a placeholder for the 13/16 riff that I failed to come up with. My system really doesn't like windows midi synth for some reason, so there was a lot of technical difficulties. It was fun though.

Time signatures: 11/8, 9/16, 13/16
Instruments: dulcimer, oboe, rock organ, woodblock
Tempos: 125 and 124 (pretty cheesable).

Edited September 5, 2021 by ClumsyDoomer

[Dragonfly]

Nicely done Clumsy! I really enjoyed bars 45 through 53. I'm not sure what DAW you're using to compose but when I load this up in sekaiju the heavy amount of tempo change events causes it to lag quite badly, I wonder if perhaps that could have been part of the cause for your technical issues?

 

Thanks for taking the challenge, great work imo!

 

 

 

 

EDIT: I've just updated the app to accurately pick instrument numbers, I was accidentally adding one to the value.

 

EDIT TWO: I've also made the page mobile friendly. 👍

Edited September 5, 2021 by Dragonfly

[Arbys550]

What program do people usually use to make midis? The program I use to compose doesn't have specific numbers for each instrument type.

[AD_79]

^ Check out Sekaiju. 

[ClumsyDoomer]

My issue is related to the motherboard/firmware/OS, not sure exactly. I'm using an external audio interface and seems to occasionally desynchronize. In basic audio editing it results in a bunch of little stutters and hiccups, but while hooked to the windows midi synth, that makes it completely lose track of all instrument data, current midi events, etc. Some daws go crazy more, some go crazy less, and the one i used didn't allow any sort of precise automation, so I sort of drew it manually on the graph. Not very successfully, since checking it was hard too. Many notes are off-grid as well, it's all turning out pretty user-hostile. Would be cool to fix all that one day.

[KeaganDunn]

Medium difficulty

7/8 and 9/16 time signatures

139 and 150 BPM

Distortion Guitar and Xylophone

 

This is the first quality one I've made so far. Might give Hard difficulty a try, and/or keep refreshing the page until I get the most cursed setup.

 

[Dragonfly]

I've made a whole host of updates to the challenge app!

 

https://www.dfdoom.com/midi-challenge/

 

• Random Generation can no longer select duplicate values.
• Pause Timer function added.
• BPM selection is derived from the "base tempo" meaning that you're less likely to get two tempos too close; however it's also controlled in reverse so that tempo choices aren't ridiculously wide apart either.
• Custom Difficulty option added!
  • Select how many instruments (1 - 15)
  • Select how many tempos (1 - 3)
  • Select how many time signatures (1 - 5)
  • Select duration of challenge (20 minutes - 5 hours)
  • When doing custom mode, it also suggests a drum kit, I will make this an optional thing at a later date.
• Further improvements to mobile display.

[PsychEyeball]

That sounds cool, I'll give it a try when I feel like I'll have a 2 hour to kill at some point.

[Dragonfly]

Go for it! If you find you are happy with what you were making but weren't able to finish what you started, you're more than welcome to continue any midi you started after the fact! I made this tool primarily to help me experiment more and to get more solid foundations composed; and it seems some others are enjoying it for the same reasons! :D