Wow, I'm getting way too many 9's and 10's. I never thought I'd say this, but I think you guys are going to have to raise your standards for this compo... o_O
Amazing entries! Holy cow it's hard to determine who's best in these. I almost loved them all. Everyone has their own take on the VRC6, and I find that really interesting. So many sounds can be achieved with this amazing chip.
There's a TON of incredible stuff in here... but...
This three covers thing is a bit of a bother. Why not just make it one cover per entrant? In this way:
1.)Everyone's work would be more focused and polished
2.) There won't be as much pressure
3.) Song selections would have to be more thoughtful
4.) Voting would be much simpler
5.) No more sifting through filler
6.) See 5
I spy Interrobang Pie. :P Also, Fezuke, PaulMannIV, and maybe rainwarrior....
Voted!
_______________________
The only things certain in life are death and uncertainty.
The reason why I allow three covers is simple. Bear in mind the aim of the competition is to produce demo files. I don't want to spend 6 years looking for modules, so the best way to get as many demos as possible within a short time is to allow more than one cover per entrant per competition.
1) That's the entrant's problem really. Finding the right balance between polishing your entry or throwing more out there introduces an interesting strategy element.
2) Again, that's the entrant's choice whether to focus on one cover and minimise the pressure (potentially making that one cover better), or come up with two or three and risk running out of time/panicking at the last minute.
3) Song selection should always be thoughtful... Not sure what that has to do with multiple covers. :p
4) I could hire a panel of judges to score the entries if you prefer, but I think having the community vote makes entrants and spectators alike feel more involved in the whole deal. As for making it less time-consuming, just be glad DC5 didn't get 72 entries like the last Famicompo did. ;)
5) Not sure what you mean.
6) K.
Thanks for your input though. And it might interest you to know that reason 1) is essentially why I don't allow more than 1 original per entrant. Covers are easier and faster to dish out due to the fact you have concrete material to base your work on. Originals are purely a matter of creativity (mixed with a bit of knowledge of the tool you're given to create, in this case FamiTracker), so allowing more than one would probably give place to a handful of people making one original and scoring top-5, and a dozen more people making 3 botched entries and ending up at the bottom of the list.
There was one entry where having 3 songs to judge actually helped their score. It was the only project in which I considered all 3 songs for my votes, because each one had their own technical or musical merits. If they were all separate projects, I doubt I would've rated them favorably. But their combined efforts turned into a pretty good score.
Ha. Risk vs. reward, eh? I kind of like that perspective. :P
Still, I imagine you see totally unbalanced entries because some people feel like they NEED to have three to compete when that's not the case. That's sort of what I meant by 'thoughtful selection.' A few of these were probably hastily chosen as something to fill in the blanks. It's psychological, and it's a kind of game that isn't present in the original compos. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, that's all.
As for #5, there were a small number of tracks that were very lackluster and hard to listen to.
_______________________
The only things certain in life are death and uncertainty.
