Post by thetechnobear on Jan 7, 2019 12:17:41 GMT
Happy new year!
Inspired by another post on the forum, I thought Id launch the idea of a weekly patch challenge, where each week we (as a community) try to complete a simple challenge with our AE Modular.
goals of the challenges
are simple, to:
Id like to keep the format as simple as possible, the 'rules' loose, to allow as many to participated as possible, with as little effort as possible, and regardless of their modular experience.
How it works
a new challenge will be launched each Monday (Europe) with a simple theme in a dedicated thread, that will run for one week.
you have until the following Monday midnight (23:59:59) to submit a patch which has the theme as the central core of the patch.
you can submit an entry anytime during the submission window (hint: doing earlier in the window, might help inspire others)
but feel free, to submit later, if you stumble on the challenge and it seems like fun to do.
you can submit multiple entries if you wish.
You are actively encouraged to discuss others entries, please be supportive, and remember we all have different levels experience with modular.
if you have more experience, perhaps help others by providing extra ideas to try e.g. "thats cool, have you tried to modulate X?, what does that sound like?"
Your entry
Post on the relevant Patch Challenge thread
your post should contain:
a. an audio or video link to your patch running (embedded preferred, see below)
b. patch notes explaining how your patch adopts the theme
If you are posting on social media (youtube, soundcloud) , please tag with #AEChallenge and #AEModular, and include a link back to the challenge thread here on the AE Modular forum.
embedding: visitors are far more likely to watch/listen to entries if they are embedded, fortunately this is easy to do on this forum
on the menu bar you will find options to embed both audio (speaker icon) and video (movie clipboard) from many services (soundcloud/youtube/vimeo),
Rules
there really are no rules, though your entry should contain the 'theme' at its core, and an audio/video sample with patch notes in the entry.
generally, unless the theme specifies otherwise,
your entry can be anything from a raw sample, to a complete 'track', or just an audio sample, it can include additional fx, other synths or just a raw sound,
whatever you have time for. participation is the most important thing.
please feel free to expand on earlier entries, derivatives are cool - its a great way to learn, or kick start participation if you are short on time, or not sure where to start.
(its a good idea to credit the original patch as a starting pointing)
finally, don't be a slave to theme/background, feel free to use it as the basis for inspiration, and to incorporate other things you have been considering trying, or things you have seen heard on the AE forum.
similarly, if you are not able to follow a specific suggestion contained in the theme (e.g dont have an appropriate module), feel free to improvise and adapt.
Ideas for a Challenge?
Please list any ideas you have for a patch challenge in this thread, this will be extremely helpful, as it will form a pool of ideas for us to choose from, either taken 'as-is', or perhaps modified.
If you see an idea, you really like the idea of, also tell us here too - helps us choose
What can a theme be?
It can be anything, ideas of the top of my head
Some notes to keep in mind:
we want participation to be as high as possible, so bare in mind:
I think initially keeping things simple, with broad themes will help achieve this.
Mechanics:
Initially, to kick things off, I'm (thetechnobear ) happy to set the challenges each week, based on ideas found on this thread, or ideas I can come up with.
But, I'm more than happy to hand it over, either for a week, or a series of weeks (if you want to do a 'series challenge') to someone else, just PM me.
(or to hand it over to someone else entirely if they wish
)
note: if it gets to Tuesday, and Ive forgotten to post a challenge, please feel free to post your own, in the same format.
About this thread...
Please feel free to comment on the format of the challenge, and how you think it might be improved...
Also use this thread to detail ideas.
(hopefully I should be able to update this top post if there are format or rule changes)
Template for challenge threads
use the following template, copy it into your post into the BBcode tab
you then need to just edit the top part, leaving the bottom part as is.
(I'll keep this up to date, if we decide to change the format/rules etc)
Inspired by another post on the forum, I thought Id launch the idea of a weekly patch challenge, where each week we (as a community) try to complete a simple challenge with our AE Modular.
goals of the challenges
are simple, to:
- provide a small spark of inspiration each week, to have some patching fun on the AE modular.
- to occasionally try something different.
- to learn from each others submissions.
Id like to keep the format as simple as possible, the 'rules' loose, to allow as many to participated as possible, with as little effort as possible, and regardless of their modular experience.
How it works
a new challenge will be launched each Monday (Europe) with a simple theme in a dedicated thread, that will run for one week.
you have until the following Monday midnight (23:59:59) to submit a patch which has the theme as the central core of the patch.
you can submit an entry anytime during the submission window (hint: doing earlier in the window, might help inspire others)
but feel free, to submit later, if you stumble on the challenge and it seems like fun to do.
you can submit multiple entries if you wish.
You are actively encouraged to discuss others entries, please be supportive, and remember we all have different levels experience with modular.
if you have more experience, perhaps help others by providing extra ideas to try e.g. "thats cool, have you tried to modulate X?, what does that sound like?"
Your entry
Post on the relevant Patch Challenge thread
your post should contain:
a. an audio or video link to your patch running (embedded preferred, see below)
b. patch notes explaining how your patch adopts the theme
If you are posting on social media (youtube, soundcloud) , please tag with #AEChallenge and #AEModular, and include a link back to the challenge thread here on the AE Modular forum.
embedding: visitors are far more likely to watch/listen to entries if they are embedded, fortunately this is easy to do on this forum
on the menu bar you will find options to embed both audio (speaker icon) and video (movie clipboard) from many services (soundcloud/youtube/vimeo),
Rules
there really are no rules, though your entry should contain the 'theme' at its core, and an audio/video sample with patch notes in the entry.
generally, unless the theme specifies otherwise,
your entry can be anything from a raw sample, to a complete 'track', or just an audio sample, it can include additional fx, other synths or just a raw sound,
whatever you have time for. participation is the most important thing.
please feel free to expand on earlier entries, derivatives are cool - its a great way to learn, or kick start participation if you are short on time, or not sure where to start.
(its a good idea to credit the original patch as a starting pointing)
finally, don't be a slave to theme/background, feel free to use it as the basis for inspiration, and to incorporate other things you have been considering trying, or things you have seen heard on the AE forum.
similarly, if you are not able to follow a specific suggestion contained in the theme (e.g dont have an appropriate module), feel free to improvise and adapt.
Ideas for a Challenge?
Please list any ideas you have for a patch challenge in this thread, this will be extremely helpful, as it will form a pool of ideas for us to choose from, either taken 'as-is', or perhaps modified.
If you see an idea, you really like the idea of, also tell us here too - helps us choose

What can a theme be?
It can be anything, ideas of the top of my head
- a sound without using an oscillator
- a patch using module X, Y, Z
- a patch that sounds like water
- produce a piece/excerpt based on a musical genre
Some notes to keep in mind:
we want participation to be as high as possible, so bare in mind:
- we want both experienced and new patchers to participate, so be careful with complexity (hint/tips might be necessary)
- detailing particular modules, or something that requires lots of modules may limit participation.
- we all have time commitments... so allow for the 5 minute patcher, but depth for a 2 hour patching marathon
- patch notes, if patches are really complex it might get difficult to explain concisely.
I think initially keeping things simple, with broad themes will help achieve this.
Mechanics:
Initially, to kick things off, I'm (thetechnobear ) happy to set the challenges each week, based on ideas found on this thread, or ideas I can come up with.
But, I'm more than happy to hand it over, either for a week, or a series of weeks (if you want to do a 'series challenge') to someone else, just PM me.
(or to hand it over to someone else entirely if they wish

note: if it gets to Tuesday, and Ive forgotten to post a challenge, please feel free to post your own, in the same format.
About this thread...
Please feel free to comment on the format of the challenge, and how you think it might be improved...
Also use this thread to detail ideas.
(hopefully I should be able to update this top post if there are format or rule changes)
Template for challenge threads
use the following template, copy it into your post into the BBcode tab
you then need to just edit the top part, leaving the bottom part as is.
(I'll keep this up to date, if we decide to change the format/rules etc)
[font size="4"] TITLE [/font]
[b]Theme:[/b] SHORT DESCRIPTION OF CHALLENGE
[b]Submission window:[/b] Monday 21st Jan -> Monday 28th Jan (23:59:59)
[b]Background:[/b]
BACKGROUND FOR CHALLENGE - WHY? HOW IT RELATES TO AE/MODULAR?
TIPS? SUGGESTIONS?
BELOW HERE REMAINS THE SAME
[hr]The challenge is set, and runs during the submission window set out above, however, please feel free to add entries or leave comments after the initial challenge has ended.
[b]Each entry should contain:[/b]
[ul type="disc"][li]Link to audio or video example (embedded preferred)[/li][li]Short (or not so short) patch notes, explaining how you have built on the above theme[/li][/ul]
Your entry can be as short/long as you wish, a simple sound or a track, use external fx or synths, do what you can in the time you have - go wild, make the challenge yours!
You are welcome to use previous entries, as inspiration, build on them to form something new, or just use in a different way, you are welcome to submit multiple entries.
If you are posting on social media (youtube, soundcloud) , please tag with #AEChallenge and #AEModular, and include a link back to the challenge thread here on the AE Modular forum.
[b]Everyone is actively encouraged to comment on entries[/b],
provide feedback and ideas... you are welcome to continue commenting/discussing outside of the submission window.
the more we discuss the more we all learn [img alt=":)" class="smile" style="max-width:100%;" src="//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png"]
[hr]This is part of the AE patch challenge series - if you would like more information, or have ideas for the challenge, please post on the [a href="http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/144/ae-patch-challenges"]patch challenge thread[/a].