The Great Musical Collaboration Experiment

[weirdybeardy]

So, I was sipping my tea the other day when I had a brainwave.

I'll try to break my idea down into lumps. I'm not very good at writing things that make sense. For evidence, please refer to every LBPC post I've ever written.

Anyway:

LBP Music Monkeys Unite!

The idea is to create the largest musical collaboration in LBP, simply by creating a music sequencer and passing it around the community like a hot potato.

For example, one creator (eg. me) starts a new sequencer, sets the tempo, echo, swing, reverb, whatever. Places a few blocks. Scores a few bars. Establishes a melody. Whatever. Then I deliberately leave it open-ended, unfinished, and send it as a LittleBigGift to another music creator that I know on my friends list, or elsewhere. The next creator continues it, expands it, develops it, evolves it, does whatever the smeg they want with it.

You get the gist. It's not rocket science. The idea the interests me is that it's not a collaboration in the traditional sense. It doesn't have to be particularly cohesive or consistent. In fact, it doesn't HAVE to be anything at all. It can vary wildly in style and mood, go off on random tangents. People can create in their own establish style, or attempt something new. It doesn't really matter. I just thought it would be a fun experiment... to create a music sequencer stamped with the personalities of a dozen creators, maybe more. It could end up being completely different to what it began as. And that's not a bad thing.

Obviously, there could be thermo issues. This can be circumvented by agreeing beforehand to using only a specific set of instruments/sounds. I have no idea what. I haven't thought through the nitty-gritty details. I'll leave that until somebody actually thinks this isn't a waste of time.

I was partially inspired by Velvet's thread to submit this one of my own. I don't start threads very often. I pull threads, and people's jumpers become unravelled.

So?

Yes?

Well?

Hmmmm??

[FlipMeister]

This idea gets my whole-hearted approval. Do it now!

[Fang]

No objections here. I may even pitch in if you wanted... idk.

[weirdybeardy]

Well, judging form the luke-warm response, I was thinking of putting this on the back-burner... at least for the time being. When I've made a bigger dent in my backlog of unfinished music sequencers, the timing for a experiment like this will be better. Maybe. We'll see.

[Unexpecter]

Well this sounds great! Count me in :-D

[weirdybeardy]

Cool! I mean... I'm not sure how we would do it. I figured it would be simple, but maybe I was wrong. Any ideas?

[Unexpecter]

well....first off....how many participants you plan (or you imagine) to pull into this?

[weirdybeardy]

As many as are interested. In my mind, I figured the sequencer could be passed around to anyone who's online at the right time. Then, if they change their mind and don't want to take part, they could just capture the object and send it back again. It could be slow progress. And by the way, Shadowriver had the idea that the resulting mega-collaboration could be the 1000th song on LittleBigAudio. Which I think it pretty neat.

[Unexpecter]

A 1000th jubilee tune sounds great! But back to thing....I think we need starting group of people - let´s say 5-10 (if you already haven´t more. Together we need to discuss/pick instruments and basic rules ( how long can be each part, BPM, effects etc. ) Then make some sort of order and then we can rockn´roll :-D..... OR - You can make the rules ( as you come up with this thread ) and make the first part, then post it further...It will be fun no matter how it will be...

[weirdybeardy]

So far, I think you, me, Shadowriver, Festerd_Jester, nk827 and flippy3007 all know about it... as will anyone else who reads this forum. I mentioned it to Velvet too. It's just a matter of getting online and getting stuck in.

How about this: Wave and string/guitar sounds only, and percussion must come from Baiyon set and/or accoustic set (or whatever it's called... I forget. But you know which one I mean)...

EDIT: I just re-posted this thread at LittleBigPlanetarium. Let's see if that gives it a boost...

[Unexpecter]

Ok...strings are the most important for me, so I´m happy with this set of instruments. And what about BPM, length etc.?

[AntonyHelen]

When are you planning to do this? Now? or later in summer? If it's on summer count me in too!
I have exams for my school right now, so if it's this month I won't be able to participate... :/

[weirdybeardy]

Okay, troops! Here are some ground rules that I just made up on a whim. I figured it would be a good place to start. If you disagree, go right ahead and throw the book at me. But make sure the book you throw isn't a hardback, because those pointy edges hurt.

1) INSTRUMENTS! This list is designed to keep a good, flexible, variable sound in the song without it overloading the thermo. Believe me, I wish we could use all the instruments, but if you want to do this properly, we can't. But hey, it's a challenge, right?

Acoustic Kit 1
Baiyon Kit 1
Bass Guitar
Electric Guitar (muted)
Electric Guitar (distorted)
Strings Legato
Pulse Wave
Saw Wave
Sine Wave
Square Wave
Triangle Wave
Brass

Anything in this list that you hate? Tell the thread! Anything you love? Tell the thread! Anything to say at all? Tell the thread!

2) NO VOLUME SLIDERS! Huh??? But why? Because, on the whole, I've found that they impede flexibility in dynamics. If you're dividing a sequencer into volume-set strips it limits the freedom of the other creators. Altering things like volume and panning over a large chunk of music is easy enough to do with group-select. This is my humble opinion.

3) I forgot number 3. I'll just move on to point 4.

4) SET TEMPO! Music sequencers default to 125 beats per minute, which is fine, but I can't help thinking that we can set it to something else. Remember, there's an awful lot of possibilities within any given tempo, just by using things like double time or compound time, or crazy time signatures. I really don't know what to suggest might be a good tempo for everyone. Ideas?

5) This experiment is open to EVERYONE! The gist of it (as far as I understand) is that the end project is one long, continuous, linear sequencer, presumably of ridiculous length. The finished song could be all over the place stylistically speaking, and change a LOT from one thing to another, but it MUST exist within some kind of parameters - and that's where these "ground rules" come into play.

I hope this post didn't cause more confusion that it was meant to. I was just trying to get the ball rolling. And, let's face it, it's a big, solid, heavy ball.

Love, peace and semibreaves,
weirdybeardy

PS: AntonyHelen, I don't have a clue about when it's starting. I might be happening soon, it might not. You mentioned summer, well, summer is kind of breathing down our necks already, so let's see, eh?

[Antikris•]

You may want to set a limit as well to the amount of time one author works on his part - or rather, have the sequencer in his possession - before having to pass it onto the next creator. This might keep the project from slowing down and you can set a deadline for its finalization once you know the number of participants.

[AntonyHelen]

PS: AntonyHelen, I don't have a clue about when it's starting. I might be happening soon, it might not. You mentioned summer, well, summer is kind of breathing down our necks already, so let's see, eh?

Ya, ok! I hope I'll able to participate ... thx