SunVox Compo 2020.02

[NightRadio]

This competition is over

The rules:

• use SunVox;
• file must be packed into a ZIP archive (not RAR, not 7z, etc.);
• size of the ZIP must not be greater than 64kb (65536 bytes);
• no more than two works from one author, never published before;
• no covers, no remixes;
• any modules, any genre, any length.

Send your ZIP-packed .sunvox file(s) to nightradio@gmail.com with "SunVox Compo" topic.
Don't forget to name your project in the SunVox -> Main Menu -> Song Properties. Name format: Author - Song Name

Deadline: March 15 / 23:59 (UTC+05:00)

Winners will be announced later (after the public vote) on WarmPlace.ru and on all SunVox-related channels (FB, Instagram, Twitter, VK, etc.).
The best works (from the first three authors with the highest points) will be included to SunVox distribution. Promocodes for any of my apps will be provided for these authors.

Good luck!



Current state:
1) reception of works;
2) preparing the votepack;
3) voting;
4) announcement of the results.

Voting form
Votepack (compo entries + Linux/Windows/macOS player)

The final rating:
1. Trackerbound - Alpha Ursae Minoris : 177
2. Trackerbound - Silentium : 167
3. manganoid - Lazy Thunder : 165
4. SawZer - Phantom : 160
5. sk0 - murrelet : 159
6. SoundRise - Wandering Machine : 159
7. sk0 - submergence : 158
8. Echo2 - Polyphony : 157
9. manganoid - Sparkplug : 156
10. Kiberaver - Game time : 153
11. Figo - Melted Cumbia : 152
12. Kiberaver - Spring sadness : 152
13. Echo2 - RITM2 : 150
14. Seriy MLGamer - Strange emotion : 150
15. St1mos - Candles : 150
16. o9 - The English : 149
17. STOICSOUND - Street Lights : 148
18. Biscayne Houseboys - Hypnocrit : 143
19. STOICSOUND - Glittering Rust : 142
20. o9 - Auto Acid : 142
21. sunlox - i've made this entry because i was frustrated that my previous one was deleted because of a bug in sunvox : 142
22. donkerbot - Wild Rocket (instrumental) : 141
23. Keres - LightSpace : 140
24. Queries - Time Limit : 140
25. Biscayne Houseboys - Bluebass2 : 139
26. Seriy MLGamer - Compo chill : 139
27. Taneb - Sanempire : 139
28. RGNV - The Laser Path : 137
29. AzZzX - tWo_sWans : 136
30. LiamRowleyMusic - Adamantine : 136
31. Obscure - Turbo Mode : 135
32. Egor Vinogradov - Ambiguous : 134
33. Keres - Just : 134
34. RAVE LUNACY - Dark Rave Resurrection : 134
35. RGNV - The Stars Canon : 133
36. NT - Forest : 130
37. Beastcharmer x Taneb - thank you for trying this demo : 129
38. GrayLizard - Sunvox4FunNo1 : 129
39. Egor Vinogradov + Boris Potapov - Bronze : 128
40. kevintherobloxnoob - Vrr Vr : 125
41. Queries - Cosmic Zed : 124
42. Amp - rinse and repeat : 122
43. 21music - The School Party : 116
44. Mom Buy Me a Modular - Sequencer : 106
45. Mom Buy Me a Modular - Organum : 103
46. Bitonal Randomness - Uncertain Hierarchy : 95

Winners:


All works:

[Saltbearer]

aww yeh. We excited? We excited.

~

Some things I'd like to bring up ahead of this and future comps. Artistic license, personal necessity, plain disagreement, etc. can of course override any advice.


Winning submissions will be included with future versions of the program. This means you have the opportunity to submit entries that would help new users understand SunVox and the extent of its capabilities, especially in areas where other trackers may fall short! Clear organization and varied demonstrations of functions and techniques would be helpful!

It's more exciting for everyone if you try to present the peak of your ability! Submit something you can be proud of, whether for the effort or elegance of execution.

There may end up being a large number of submissions to listen to, analyze, and rank. Do your best to stand out, and keep in mind voters may be pressed for time! Disorganization and excessive length can impact judgements!

Sometimes people like to go the extra mile and give their projects unique visual aesthetics. In case readability would take a hit, something I did once was apply an aesthetic last, after loading the project into itself in its working state. That doubles the file size though! Attached it as an example. Module 84 contains the (rather opaque) raw project.

So_ing Machine - Mattress Imprint.zip

(15.36 KiB) Downloaded 1413 times

[edit: oop, the kill switch doesn't work now. ENJOY THE MUSIC INFINITELY.]

If file size is an issue, to start with, make sure you're using the maximum degree of zip compression! [edit: now advised to use standard compression with deflate algorithm]


What makes a file "organized" and "readable"? There are different ways to arrange and color-code with internal consistency, and different ways may be better suited to different workflows, but I personally like:

• Sticking to the default module colors, as they should be the most familiar to the most users at a glance.
• Making important modules slightly larger - for example, the beginnings of chains.
• Spacing modules out, for clarity of connection routes. Note that on mobile, in portrait, the module view is more vertically stretched than it would be for a desktop or landscape user, so what looks spaced may be pretty squashed-up for others! Same for if you've turned your module scaling way down.
• Grouping chains that are related - for example, keeping percussion instruments near each other.
• Matching unique names between modules and patterns. (Do this before you need to copy and paste them!)
• Leaving pattern icons visible - setting your own icons can be useful, but even the generative defaults can provide decent indications of change and similarity.


This is a relatively small, tight-knit community for a music program, with a number of skilled musicians who are already mutually fans and friends of each other. Keep an eye on your biases!

Aaaaand finally, *pulls you aside and lowers voice* here's the deal: if you're in it to win it, you'll have to play to the audience's tastes to some degree. Look to past competition entries' scores to get a feel for who's listening and what broadly appeals to them.

Anything else we should consider?

[a1matt]

Anything else we should consider?

Yes, have fun!

I can really feel the passion in your post. I love it.

I'm excited too, because I will get to hear lots of new sunvox tunes.

I hope that those who scored low in the past aren't put off from entering. I'm looking at you E8, I really enjoyed your 'Fantasia ex Machina' song.

[sk0]

I'm really looking forward to listening your works!
By the way, what is the sample rate of the player? I have some instruments whose timbre heavily depends on it.

EDIT: I found that in the previous player it is set to 44100 regardless of my system preferences and this is the default value in SunVox too.

[ragingcoast]

This is gonna be exciting!

Is module originality something that is usually considered when voting? I’m planning to enter with 100% original instruments but am using some bundled/community effects like fuzzer, exciter etc for some. Not too concerned with winning, but would just be good to know.

[Obscure]

YEEEEE! Excited!
I've wanted to participate in a competition for months!

While I set to work, I have a quick question:
Is it okay if we're using a slightly out-of-date version of SunVox to compose our songs or must we be using the latest version, v.1.9.5c?

[NightRadio]

Is it okay if we're using a slightly out-of-date version of SunVox to compose our songs or must we be using the latest version, v.1.9.5c?

Any version. Even 1.0 :)

[sk0]

There is one more thing I would like to ask you about the player of the coming compo: could you adjust the buffer size or something in order to play my song without stuttering?
I've done a song which uses CPU a little too much and cannot be played well in the past compo players.

[NightRadio]

There is one more thing I would like to ask you about the player of the coming compo: could you adjust the buffer size or something in order to play my song without stuttering?
I've done a song which uses CPU a little too much and cannot be played well in the past compo players.

Yes, you can change the parameters in the pixilang_config.ini (it's a simple text file).
For example:

Code: Select all

buffer 2048
frequency 44100

[sk0]

Thank you for letting me know that.

Somehow the past players (2019.04 and 2015.10 with its sunvox.dll replaced with the latest one) don't play the song smoothly in any buffersize I tried: 2048, 3072, 4096, 8192, 16384.
SunVox can do with its buffersize 2048 or more.

[NightRadio]

Please compare the other settings (driver, device, sample rate)
You can see it in the Terminal output of the player

[sk0]

Oops, I missed them.
In the output log of the players I couldn't find the selected driver and device.
But I don't think there is a problem with which driver and device is chosen, because in SunVox any driver (DirectSound, ASIO, Waveform Audio) and device works fine.
As for sample rate, it seems to be set to 44100 by default in both the players and SunVox.

Output of the 2019.03 player:

Code: Select all

SunDog Engine / Apr 26 2019 17:10:35
WM: initializing...
OpenGL version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 388.13. Renderer: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2. GLSL: 4.60 NVIDIA.
WM: 1280 x 720; PPI 110; lang en_US
WM: flags SCALABLE 
WM: ready
Variable OFFLINE_VIDEO_EXPORT is not initialized. Default value = 0.
DSOUND init...
Found output device 0: プライマリ サウンド ドライバー
Found output device 1: スピーカー (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Found output device 2: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
DSOUND: selected device: -1
DSOUND thread starting...
DSOUND play
OpenGL prog 23 -> attribute (v.shader IN) "color" not found (or removed as unused).
SOUND: sundog_sound_deinit() begin
SOUND: sundog_sound_deinit() end
Max memory used: 70331566

One of the 2015.10 player:

Code: Select all

Language: en_US
SunDog Engine / Nov  2 2015 18:16:13
MAIN: device start
OpenGL version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 388.13. Renderer: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2. GLSL: 4.60 NVIDIA.
MAIN: screen_angle = 0
MAIN: screen_zoom = 1
MAIN: screen_ppi = 110
MAIN: screen_scale = 256 / 256
MAIN: screen_xsize = 480
MAIN: screen_ysize = 320
MAIN: system palette init
MAIN: wmanager initialized
Variable SUNVOX_LIB_ANDROID_ARM_V7A is not initialized. Default value = 0.
Variable SUNVOX_LIB_ANDROID_ARM is not initialized. Default value = 0.
Variable SUNVOX_LIB_ANDROID_X86 is not initialized. Default value = 0.
Function/variable sv_get_sample_type not found.
Function/variable sv_get_module_scope not found.
SunVox library loaded
SunVox lib version: 1.9.5
DSOUND init...
Found output device 0: プライマリ サウンド ドライバー
Found output device 1: スピーカー (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Found output device 2: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
DSOUND: selected device: -1
DSOUND thread starting...
DSOUND play
SOUND: sound_stream_deinit() begin
SOUND: sound_stream_deinit() end
SOUND: sundog_sound_deinit() begin
SOUND: sundog_sound_deinit() end
Max memory used: 60887334
SunVox library unloaded
Max memory used: 2373225

One of SunVox v1.9.5d:

Code: Select all

SunDog Engine / Feb 20 2020 15:57:43
WM: initializing...
WM: 1122 x 799; PPI 110; lang en_US
WM: flags SCALABLE 
WM: color theme loading (other colors)
WM: ready
DSOUND init...
Found output device 0: プライマリ サウンド ドライバー
Found output device 1: スピーカー (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Found output device 2: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
DSOUND: selected device: -1
DSOUND thread starting...
DSOUND play
Stack ptr: 0
SunVox v1.9.5d Feb 20 2020 15:57:47; driver: DirectSound; 32bit floating-point; sample rate: 44100; ARCH: x86_64; OS: win64
SOUND: sundog_sound_deinit() begin
SOUND: sundog_sound_deinit() end
Max memory used: 66374464

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz

[sk0]

I've just found what makes difference: 32-bit SunVox also doesn't play the song well, in contrast to 64-bit one.
Therefore I suppose a 64-bit version of the compo player probably can play it smoothly.
I will try to optimize the project much more of course, but would it be possible for you to ship the coming compo pack with a 64-bit player?

[NightRadio]

I've just found what makes difference: 32-bit SunVox also doesn't play the song well, in contrast to 64-bit one.

How big is the difference?
In the WAV export use the following file name: exporttest
This will give you the exact export time in seconds. So you can compare performance of 32-bit and 64-bit version

would it be possible for you to ship the coming compo pack with a 64-bit player?

I think yes :)

[sk0]

How big is the difference?
In the WAV export use the following file name: exporttest
This will give you the exact export time in seconds. So you can compare performance of 32-bit and 64-bit version

It seems so significant: in 64-bit SunVox it takes 42.687000 sec to export 32bit-float wav.
In 32-bit SunVox, it is 82.297000 sec.

I think yes

I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you so much for all your help.
I will do my best for the compo.