Midi & MP3 Composition Contest for Composers, March 2002

CLASSICAL & ORCHESTRAL
Pastoral (36K6), XG - Mar 06
Category: Orchestral. Description: Ah, nature! Waves of grain from sea to shining... Nope, that's already been written. Um, purple mountains majesty, .. Shenandoah, oh well. There is dissonance in this song. You may not like it, but that's the way it is - intentionally. I wrote it with Copeland in mind. Aaron, not Fred. It is expressive - there is no fixed tempo. A few pauses to smell the flowers, then on to see the rest of the beauty around. Enjoy. Written with Finale and modified with Cakewalk Home Studio. Yamaha SXG-50 sound driver sounds best; GM fonts seem to raise the chimes an octave.

Monarch Morning (31K7), GM - Mar 06
I was walking in a park one morning long ago and saw a tree covered with Monarch Butter flies, it was one of the most spectacular sites I've seen, and this song is for the Monarch.- Orchestral Music, SBlive set to Concert hall. Cakewalk. and Merlin1.5

Symph 1, mov 1 (155K8), GM - Mar 09
The first movement of my recently completed Symphony #1. I used Cakewalk Gold, SoundBlaster Live! card, with the 8MB default soundbanks. They are best heard with at least concert hall reverb.

Mick's Jig (68K), GM - Mar 09
Mick's Jig, a piece I wrote for a great drinking buddy of mine after he danced a jig on the top of a barstool at our favorite Irish pub. Though he's actually from Liverpool, he can usually drink any Irishman under the table. The borrowing of the Irish Washer Woman's melody was intentional, and hopefully won't take away from any originality points. I used Cakewalk Gold, SoundBlaster Live! card, with the 8MB default soundbanks. They are best heard with at least concert hall reverb.

Dianne, I Love You (15K), GM - Mar 09
Category ORCHESTRAL AND CLASSICAL. I wrote this for my wife on Valentine's Day. Its not as beautiful as she is, but I can at least try communicate with music what I can't with my clumsy words.

Eine1 (44K8), Gm - Jan 15
"Eine Kleine Nichtmusik (A Little Non-music)" by Professor Peter Schickele, movements 1 and 4. Description: A cut-down and simplified version of the 1st (Allegro) and 4th (Rondo) movements from Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" with a few twists added, courtesy of the Professor. Made using Cakewalk and a Soundblaster Audigy 24-bit card. If I may sandbag a little: I'll admit it's not very impressive TECHNICALLY, but it's fun to listen to......

Eine4 (22K4), GM - Mar 15
See above.

Winter's Peril (32K3), ?? - Mar 15
Haven't written many songs before this one. Only played piano for about 6 years. This song is a fast paced Classical style with a bit of moderness to it.

Red & Brown (25K3), ?? - Mar 15
This is one of my very first attempts at writing an instrumental, classical/modern sounding song. I think its very melodic. The flute is the lead instrument with piano being the main accompaniment. Very musical and kind of catchy tune, but not what I'd call technical at all, simple is better I feel. I also didn't want to add percussion as I felt it would sound a lot more melodic without it.

Oboe Sonata One (12K), GM - Mar 15
Hey guys, may I enter a piece? This is my first attempt at a Sonata, and it's for oboe. So it's called "Oboe sonata No. One -Opus 39" - by XXX, but I don't think you enter names... I don't have any comments really. Only: "The three movements should be easily discernable (there's a presto, adagio, then moderato) - lot's of the piece is quiet, and then some of it is supposed to be fortissimo - so have your speakers not too loud, but not too quiet. - This piece is dedicated to my oboe teacher."

Let's Build Together (44K5), ?? - Mar 21
I wrote this peace to my friends computergame he is making. I wrote the music with a "Yamaha PSR-530" so in that kind of synt it will sound best.

Opus Populos for violin and Opus Populos for flute (34K), GM - Mar 23
Composed using Merlin 8M soundfont 1.3 (violin version).

Little Dance for Igor (46K5), XG - Mar 24
Category: 21th Century Classical. Descritption: It is just a little study, insprired by Stravinksy`s rhythmic structures. First time I`ve made it as a piano piece called "Ostinato", and some weeks later I`ve orchestrated it for piano, harp, woodwinds, and some percussion. In this piece - except the polytonal-ostinatos, and the ruined motives - there is no melody, and there is no harmony, just rhythm. I`ve used Thomas Young`s well temparament (1807) for this midi file. (Tempered with Fred Nachbaur`s Harmonic Analiser). It sounds great with SB16 and with Yamaha XG. I hope you will enjoy it!

Grand Finale Overture (88K8), GM - Mar 31
Category: Orchestral. Description: This one reminds me of the mixed-theme music played at the end of movies. Written on a SB Live! with concert hall reverberation, and a live orchestra in mind.

NON ORCHESTRAL
Iron Maiden - Losfer Words (Big O'rra) (61K2) - GM - Mar 03
I thought it was odd that after so many years I haven't heard a decent version of this one, so I went out and sequenced it. I put this together using nothing more than a music editing program called Music Write 2000. It took me about two weeks and about 11/2 a day, but it was lots of fun to make. Hope you enjoy.

Dream Theater Home (149K), GM - Mar 03
This one took me a little longer, since I had to work around how to put all the sounds I wanted in the number of measures I had to work with. If you notice the Dream Theater web site's midi section, Home is the only midi in the Scenes from a memory CD that is not listed there. I tried to e-mail the webmaster several times but after about a year I gave up. Oh, well. Hope you guys like it.

Tomorrow With You (62K2), GM - Mar 03
Rock category: Tomorrow with you.mid.

New World (81K4), XG - Mar 06
No description.

End of the Storm (18K8), ?? - Mar 06
Fairly simple piece. Staying true to my composition style, it has a more techno feel. I've had it on my hard drive for a while now and it's still one of my favourites. I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do.

You Saved my Soul (22K8), GM - Mar 06
Folk Rock. The point of this song is to portray guitar in midi sound, I think it turned out all right for a slow majestic song, and the lead guitar is excellent. For SB-live uses set your sound card to The Cave Setting. For PCI users set your Play Controls to Wide and Full. Cakewalk editor was used. You may what to play around with the sound a bit for other sound cards. Merlin 1.5 or better is good for a sound font.

The Snapper (8K2), GM - Mar 09
Category NON CLASSICAL. Here is a short little composition that works better if you pat your feet, left-right-left-right, etc., and snap your fingers on counts two and four. You have my permission to lean from side to side, but you might want to sit down first. Enjoy the fun, and I hope, the music.

Valhalla (44K6), GM - Mar 15
It is my first complete piece, and I am entering it to see how good it is. I don't know much about the technical stuff, but I wrote it on an iMac using Easy Beat. I didn't have a theme in mind when I made this, but it would probably fit under a metal-techno category.

Kiss (9K8), ?? - Mar 15
Here's my submission although I suppose it won't count 'cos it's not my song but it's my playing and interpretation.. I like it to go in the Jazz catagory. Used synth guitar (MIDI) to perform the two plus a bit parts.

A Strange Way (49K6), GM - Mar 16
"a strange way" (non-orchestral category) by...

Pigeons The Square (17K3), GM - Mar 21
Music name: Pigeons The Square. Category: Non Orchestral. Comment: The listening 8MB E-mu soundfont demand.

Somewhere Faraway (35K7), GM - Mar 21
Music name: Somewhere Faraway. Category: Non Orchestral. Comment: The listening 8MB E-mu soundfont demand.

Dreams (21K9), ?? - Mar 21
Description: The theme of this song was composed some time ago to satisfy the desire of a friend of mine which is a Dj. Naturally "dreams" is not a really dance song because a sense of calm is evident... Genre: Non orchestral.

Ballad for the Lonely (29K1), GM* - Mar 29
Category: Non-Orchestral. Comments: This music is difficult to categorize. I'm seeing it as a mixture of several musical styles. It is generally romantic in character with pleasant melody lines played by flugel horn (not trumpet!) and with a latin feel or even a little jazz touch. I admit that in some places I was inspired by Chuck Mangione's style, one of my favorite musicians. The sound of flugel horn is essential in this composition. There is no such instrument in GM set, so use virtual sound canvas (VSC-MP1) by Edirol to listen to it. MIDI type 1, sequenced with MicroLogic AV and SC-D70.

Thinkin of Palermo (16K3), ?? - Mar 31
My name is XXX and I like almost all kind of music. Espesialy Jazz and Balads. Here is a nice Jazz Vals that I made some mothe ago, and I like it to partisipate in the contest. Hope you like it.

MIXED & UNKNOWN
Magic Man (22K4), XG - Mar 06
No description.

The Lonely Swan (14K2), ?? - Mar 06
No description.

Hanging Out (71K), GM - Mar 09
My name is xxx. Iam a resident Of New Orleans,Louisiana. And I love composing midi files. For this,I use Cakewalk gold 8.0, a Sound Blaster Live card, and an 8Mb sound font. The title of this composition is "Hanging Out". It's a relaxing piece, smooth,soothing. I hope that you like it.

My Lil' Bonquee (18K1), GM - Mar 21
Category: Mixed & Unknown. "My Lil' Bonquee" is a pet name for my girlfriend... now fiancé. Have fun with this song! Dance around naked, get drunk if you want!

Top Gear (22K4), GM - Mar 21
Category: Mixed & Unknown. I named this song Top Gear because me and my roommates use to play a very old Nintendo game called Top Gear. I kind of thought about that game for a visual image - that's why it sounds like game music. We were really good at the game too, we beat all the levels and competed against each other a lot. I was not as good as them since I kept running into those stupid gray cars though. Oh well.

Colors of Coral Baja (49K5), GM - Mar 24
Title of Midi: Colors of Coral Baja. Info: GM type 1. Card: SB AWE64. Fonts: Sonic Implants Orchestral fonts. Input by hand with Noteworthy Composer. (BTW, I tried editing the notes as much as I could, but Noteworthy isn't any good with controllers beyond MPC volume control. I found out the hard way that you have to use it sparingly at that. Noteworthy's expression controller skewed my sound system so bad I had to redo the song a couple of times, not to mention shutting down my machine and rebooting countless times, before I finally realized that chorus depth and expression and reverb just aren't workable in my low-rent midi application. So most of the note editing is with velocity only. Even so, my fooling around with the other controllers threw the sound level balance off a bit; permanently, I'm afraid, for this song--- so some parts are still a little too soft and some too loud. Other than that, I still like the piece well enough to submit it. Next time, I'll know better. Comments: This is a musical recollection of a happy time down in Cabo de San Jose. As far as I know it is all original. I went for the feelings, the color, the ocean, the sunrise, the sunset, and the margaritas.No indigenous Mexican tunes or scales were used. There is even a bar or 2 of homage to the great Aaron Copland. If I did manage to catch any of the flavor of the place it's just out of sheer enthusiasm.

The Primal Fear (30K5), GM - Mar 29
Category: Mixed (progressive music). The last man was sitting and waiting. Somebody knocked on the door. "I made the meanest stuff and I feel innocent like a lamb". A.Clarke. SB live Cadenza Sonar.

Moving (28K1), XG - Mar 29
My stepson recently moved from Kansas, where he was a quarterback in DII football, to Bakersfield, California to play as quarterback for the Bakersfield Blitz. Bakersfield is Kansas with mountains. I just had to write something funky.

Gobin, Ruler of the Sands (47K2), GM - Mar 29
Mixed-unknown (the beginning is nonorchestral, but the end is orchestral). I made this using Jazz++ for the theme of Gobin, the general of the termite's desert division in my computer game Ant War. Here's my ideal set-up. Use a MIDI Mapper Set Concert Hall Reverb to 100% to aid the mysterious mystical feel. Tracks 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 16 belong to Creative Software Synth. The main importance of this is that the Creative S/W Synth Taiko drums have the perfect sound for the ending and don't produce static on my crappy speakers :). *If you don't use Creative S/W Synth for the percussion, be sure to set the pitch sensitivity on track 10 to zero! The others should use Cadenza (Tracks 14, 15) Creative SB LIVE! 4 MB (Tracks 8, and 1) Creative SB LIVE! 8 MB (Tracks 11 and 7). Track 3 uses Tamboura/Tabla from Indian Ensemble by E-mu Sound Central (a sitar will do). Track 4 uses LP Swept Aahs from Choral Aahs by E-mu Sound Central (a good, cinematic choir should do, but Cadenza just doesn't cut it). Track 5 uses GS wind from the 4MB Creative soundfont. Track 13 uses GS horse-gallop from the 4 MB Creative soundfont.

"John R. Hopeng" (genre hopping), 112K7, GM - Mar 29
This is the story of John R. Hopeng. He hopped around all the genres until he went mad. Composed in Cakewalk Sonar using more tracks than they'll give me, but as long as I hop on one foot, I miss the mud puddles. Configured for the new MerlinGM17 sound font. Play this in Cakewalk, if you've got it and load the font for all tracks, 1-16 ... It doesn't do the slap bass justice in media player, or most generic MIDI players. With GM, you'll be hopless, and not quite crispy around the edges, but it works.

Puerta del Sol (67K), GM - Mar 31
Category: Mixed. Description: Written on a SB Live! card with concerthall reverb. The classical guitar (track 1) is in balance on my card, but it may need to have the volume increased on other cards, otherwise the melody is drowned out.

Baroque for Organ and Harpsichord (43K), GM - Mar 31
Here is the 2nd composition I wish to submit for March... "Baroque for Organ and Harpsichord" configured for MErlin17 sound font.

EXPERIMENTAL
Hard & Pop (13K7), ?? - Mar 09
Category: Experimental. Description: Original composition in pop-rock style.

Medieval (K)nights (69K3), ?? - Mar 21
This is my first submission for a MIDI contest, called MEDIEVAL (K)NIGHTS - I created it in Cubasis VST, so far it is my only reasonable MIDI to date. I used to experiment with MIDI in the early 90's on an Atari STE but since then until recently haven't had time. This is based on a tune I wrote then. This starts off as a medieval-style piece but then goes into the dangerous zones of experimentation! It is either Non-orchestral or Other/Experimental category. There aren't any amazing effects or panning but it will be nice to hear comments on it!

The Rich Foreigners (34K8), GM - Mar 29
Experimental. I also made this on Jazz++. It uses the Cadenza soundfont. On SB Live! set the Concert Hall reverb high, that was the way it was recorded. With this one I just tried to be a bit wierd.

MARCH

VOTES

CLASSICAL & ORCHESTRAL

NON ORCHESTRAL

MIXED & UNKNOWN

EXPERIMENTAL