Z-I-v Summer Contest 2016

Like I was trying to say, I know what a key change is, and I already know what song I want to step this week; I'm just sharing the same concern that Lisek and others have: pitch and rhythm are two related but ultimately different aspects of music. And I can't explain what a key change is either without using examples or using musical terminology.

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Honestly there's a big difference between making music and making simfiles for music. Not everyone pays fine attention to the key changes in music and steps according to every individual change in the song, that's crazy. While having knowledge of certain musical concepts may help, they are in no way necessary. Having a great sense of rhythm is very much a necessity, knowing what a key change is isn't, and that's fine if you don't.

As for what a key change is in simple terms, you move from one tone to the next, often a change in key signature. A lot of pop songs use it as a sort of climax to elevate the music, sort of a tonal shift. The song will be following one consistent key for most of the song, and then it either goes up or down a key and that's where you get your change. It may not always be towards the end, but you'll hear the change if you're listening closely, and I would recommend headphones for something like that if you're not hearing it the first time. If you're having difficulty finding a song that does this, that's not surprising, a lot of songs you listen to probably don't have any key shifts. I hoped this helps a little bit, I know it's not the best and i'm not music guru (I took two music classes in school) so it would be nice if someone else with more extensive knowledge would chime in.

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nice job missing the point entirely
you can't tell me someone's able to spend lord knows how long playing games focused on music and not pick up on basic observable things found in music. in order to follow the rhythm, you kinda need to know the song. it's basic observation. don't even try to act like the music itself isn't a factor.

i literally gave you a link that not only described what the topic was about in simple to understand terms, but gave hundreds of examples of it... and you're trying to tell me you couldn't find one song in the list devoted to them. four hours? you're either joking or lying.

this is not a hard concept to understand. especially when people are hand-feeding you the info you need and you're still trying to act like nothing works.

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If there's people still confused, I'm going to try one last time to demonstrate how to tell what would and wouldn't be a key change. I can't do it right now because my CPU needs to be used for something else, but once that's done, I'll post a video showcasing a song that qualifies, and then another one, modifying the song so it wouldn't be able to qualify. If people are still unable to understand, then... oh well.

Also, I'll be on until 11:00 PM (6 hours from now) unless something unexpected happens, so I'm still verifying song cuts for the day. Four people have sent me cuts and all of them have fit the week. Since I'm on this site on a daily basis, at most you'd need to wait half a day for me to respond. I'm not sure if ddrstepper will also verify song cuts but you can also try sending to him if you want or if I'm AWOL.

No, I'm not joking or lying - I'm just not grasping the concept of it. I can't find songs by myself that have those "key changes". I kinda understand what those MAYBE are (xXMokou98Xx explanation talks to me best right now) but that still doesn't change the fact that I don't hear those in all the songs that I have been checking for those. To be honest I don't hear some of the changes in the examples (like in +♂ or in Always Be My Baby).

I checked the list and it provides once again mostly rock, some not-so-simmable US pop and one single example of jPOP. I don't even know which music genres I should search in. Eurobeat doesn't seem to have those, same goes for Bubblegum Pop. I can't make a simfile to a song that doesn't musically appeal to me, that does not fit into my tastes.

For some people it may be easy-peasy to understand this term and find songs that fit into this theme, especially if they taken music lessons or are interestted in making music. For me it's not.

Step some rock then. It's not like the contest has a shortage of dull pop. Go and mix it up.

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Hmm... I guess I've just been used to the concept for so long that I forget that not everyone gets it like I do.
I'll try to give you an example of the concept. Not something you CAN step, but something that executes what I'm getting at.

Start at 2:00. Notice the sounds and the feel. Then, 2:25 comes along. Things sound brighter. More higher register for the vocals, the instrumentation. That's the key change. It even goes back down to the original key shortly after.
Great song, by the way.
Feel free to throw songs out there to people who work with music if you wanna know if they're applicable for the week or not.

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I know it may be frustrating for you but once again - I don't hear that in this example. For me that's two totally different sounds.

From what I understand this is what I'm looking for:


But when I listen to that... I hear two different sounds. That's not similiar to me. That's not like red and darkred which I would call 'two different shades of red colour'. That's more like red and blue for me. For my ears.

This.

If someone can throw few jPOP / kPOP / Bubblegum Pop / Eurobeat songs for an ideas and write which parts must be included in cut then I will just shut up and sim whatever I think of is okayish.

Step some rock then. It's not like the contest has a shortage of dull pop. Go and mix it up.

Whoa thanks for reposting that, phone

Anyway, I think your colour analogy just physically wounded me, what are you even saying?

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That second part doesn't have to be that extreme. It actually doesn't count either, because the first note of both parts are both C. It only has to differ by at least one, like...



The first note of each colored section is in fact different and the rest adjust to match. It can even go down instead of up if you wanted.

I think this should finally help clear all confusion about this week's theme and the concept around it.

This is brunobg24's Shironeko-san, submitted for the Qualifier of Tournament of Immortals 6, if you remember. It qualifies for this week to and I've made two edits to the heavy chart, one using split timing and another using split audio.



Can you identify why I decided to throw the chart into purple note syndrome at 1:42? It highlights something specific in the song itself that wasn't there before that point. Now compare it to this.



I artificially removed the key change here, but please note that this is for demonstration purposes.

1:42 again, the purple note syndrome is gone, but there's something else different about where it was. Compare the AUDIO of the two videos closely (particularly at the 311 combo mark). You'll have to notice what's going on.

If you still are not able to understand the theme then... I'm sorry. Again, I did not expect my theme idea to be picked up by ddrstepper and there were genuinely better ideas out there (in my opinion).

I might have a song finally. Took me just about six hours to find a song, welp. Time to pull all-nighter to sim it now. 02:46, night time simming go!
And no, I still don't fully understand this. In some songs I may be able to hear it, in others I won't.

My already posted High School Never Ends file can serve as an example.
Between the start of the song and the song preview, you'll notice what feels like a "drop" in the height of the pitch. Then, when it gets to that part where the song preview is, every note goes up to that higher pitch.
#MusicTheoryWithDJXYZ?
I will not be making a second file this week. Sorry everyone, too busy this week. Next week, theme permitting, I'll close it out with two.

Lol, more like #MusicTheoryWithNezemarth

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To anyone who still does not understand what a key change is:

Picturing a piano keyboard and playing on one may help.


Take note of the sharps and flats, which are typically found on the black keys.

As the diagram on the right (known as the Circle of Fifths) shows what combination of sharps or flats produces which key signatures, which determine the key that the music plays in. Each key signature belongs to a certain major key, and its relative minor key. On this diagram, the uppercase letter signifies the major key that any given key signature corresponds to, and the lowercase letter signifies the minor key that any given key signature corresponds to.

No Sharps/Flats- C Major, a minor

Key Signatures with sharps:
F#- G Major, e minor
F#, C#- D Major, b minor
F#, C#, G#-A Major, f# minor
F#, C#, G#, D#- E Major, c# minor
F#, C#, G#, D#, A#- B Major, g# minor
F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E# (the same as F)- F# Major, d# minor
F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B# (the same as C)- C# Major, a# minor

With Flats:
Bb- F Major, d minor
Bb, Eb- Bb Major, gb minor
Bb, Eb, Ab, Eb Major, cb minor
Bb, Eb, Ab, Db- Ab Major, f minor
Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb- Db Major, bb minor
Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb (The same as B)- Gb Major, eb minor
Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb (The same as E)- Cb Major, ab minor

To determine the key signature of any given part of a song, you will have to (as far as I know) play the melody on a piano, and keep in mind any flats or sharps, in order to help find the key signature. Play any parts where you suspect a key change, looking for any new sharp/flat notes being played or lack thereof; if you find any (especially recurring), chances are that the key signature has changed.

I apologize for making this post late, and for making it so convoluted, but hopefully, it can be of use. Please let me know if there is anything specific I should clarify.

On an unrelated note, one of my recent files, Playing a Capriccio to Awaken One's Love, is another solid example for this week's theme, with an abundance of key changes; a transcription of the song can be found here.

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File is nearly finished but need to playtest it and to finish graphics (and also it's 5 in the morning, so yeah). So I plan to upload it live tommorow.

Getting thread back on the tracks. Early votes from me. Overall one of better weeks, few pleasant surprises.

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Votes:
+4 Deep In The Night [Gameoson]
+3 Hikikomori [Benpai]
+3 Perfume! [Benpai/Feraligatr]
+2 Blow [Gameoson]
+2 Cosmical Rhythm ★ [ledgam3r1279]
+1 Ready For My Love (Factory Team Mix) [Nezemarth]

Totals:
Deep In The Night [Gameoson] - 4
Hikikomori [Benpai] - 3
Perfume! [Benpai/Feraligatr] - 3
Blow [Gameoson] - 2
Cosmical Rhythm ★ [ledgam3r1279] - 2
Ready For My Love (Factory Team Mix) [Nezemarth] - 1

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Also apparently I actually DON'T have correct song. I made steps, spent whole f***ing night and apparently person responsible for this week theme CuzcoBlock sends me a PM that he have made a mistake and this song that I made actually doesn't have the required s**t.

Now I'm f**king angry, because this is another level of s**t if someone who proposes theme can't even understand what he proposed. What the f**k. Seriously. It's 6 in the f***ing morning and I get such a PM.







Song in the question because at this point I don't really care about keeping at secret and also I don't think I will have time to work on another file tommorow. Cool.

https://mega.nz/#!Pc9kUDzK!4cqPAKh93Uoa4ZK63MUcY9Vr5ex0CJcBA3TkKvaYbZU

Someone who I asked said on skype to me:
"It does at the beginning around 17 seconds,. I think, I believe I heard one but never been a music student. Yes it is. I can confirm it."

Cuzco stated:
"1:05-1:20 is indeed different. It's good to go."
and then later said that it's not.

I took a listen to the song, and it seems to be that the song used modulation. Modulations, as far as I know, simply reuse the melody with a different key signature (as opposed to, for example. Sigrev's (Anonywolf's) song example), where the confusion is coming about. (This link illustrates the difference more effectively, but requires knowledge of musical terminology to fully comprehend.) Personally, I think theyshould be allowed for this week, but that is up to ddrstepper to decide. In the meantime, please do understand that Cuzco is in shambles over the ordeal, so it would help to be understanding of his feelings.

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Initially, I thought that it was a modulation, but after seeing the PM, I do have to concede that it does sound more like a chord progression, since the section in question does not seem to have a different key signature, but merely starts on a different key (with the same key signature). I apologize, but everything going on this week is also throwing me in a loop.

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In my opinion I think Lisek was doomed ever since it took two and a half pages to explain the theme week's idea to him, and by the time he found his song he still didn't entirely get it.

Also, something to note is as much as you'd want to do every week, if any one week in Summer Contest (or Simfile Shuffle, actually) is giving you too much trouble, you'd be better off sitting it out. You don't need to do every week. Trust me, I'd know.

Of course, that doesn't change the fact that I fucked up. Lisek's post says the truth. And I'm sorry. I'm very very sorry Lisek, I was completely irresponsible and should've looked closer at the cut before giving you the OK. You don't even have to accept my apology.

What I THINK happened here was I was starting to feel bad this theme was giving you so much trouble (evident by me sending you a song I thought you could make something good out of), noticed one part of the song you chose stood out, and decided "yeah, it'll work". But this is basically the same as accepting votes or a simfile that get submitted 5 minutes after the deadline. It's just not right, and as unfortunate as it is, given the circumstances of when you were stepping the file, I have to say something before it's too late. If I just let it slide, something bad was bound to happen either way.

I received song ideas/cuts from HealingDMax300, KevinRocker10, Benpai, Astroman129, and two from mf32892. Only one of mf32892's submissions wasn't eligible, everything else, I'm sure is good for the week. I'll be much careful when judging songs. Or you could get some more opinions (DDR Addict and AnonyWolf/Sigrev2 helped talk some sense into me, perhaps you can try for them). Again, I'm sorry, I can't say it enough, and I hope nothing else this ridiculous happens this week.

Heck, there were genuinely better ideas than Pitch Change week too...

What IS A FACT though was you giving me okay on file, on theme that you created and now that I have finished the file you are saying me that it is actually not okay.

Yes, it's a fact, but it's my reasoning for why I acted the way I did and it was clearly unacceptable. I'm not trying to sabotage anyone, my intentions are always good but sometimes go the opposite direction. I really hate when this happens and what it has created here, and I just hope this can be put behind us...