The guys at Casa da M?sica in Portugal are running a competition which involves Freesound.org and yours truly as a judge. Have a look! Enter! Win a midi controller!!
The first Digit?pia Miniatures Competition took place in 2008. The aim of this competition was to create a musical miniature of up to 90 seconds, using the resources available at Digit?pia. Entrants had to use at least one sound from those recorded on the Porto Underground by Factor E, Casa da M?sica?s resident team in the Education Department, on World Music Day in 2008. Aimed at stimulating the continual use of Digit?pia?s resources and encouraging greater musical ambition, this competition attracted many and varied entries, and the winner Jo?o Gravato, received a Midi controller and 20 tickets for events of his choice held at Casa da M?sica during 2009.
The next three competitions ? all of them international, which is also reflected in the panels comprising major figures from the field ? are physically separate from Digit?pia, although the facility possesses all the resources need to produce an entry. Nevertheless, they possibly come even closer to the philosophy of the project. The differences can immediately be seen in the prizes on offer: instead of a commercially-available Midi controller, we are developing a special one-off Midi controller, with the unmistakable Digit?pia stamp. But more importantly, all the competitions reflect the idea of sharing with the community: from original Max/MSP or Pure Data patches distributed with open source licences, to new contributions of small musical gestures to freesound.org. It all culminates in a special competition which is full of potential: we will reward the most daring dream by making it come true!”