MusicGASM

[LordOfganza]

As Hedley Lamarr said :
Today "My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."

I had another idea. Those here who play some instrument probably have or at least have heard of the Guitar Pro software. Those who have not it's a software where you can easily create sheet music and listen to it, with how many intruments you want but it also has a lot of cool tools to make acurate music for guitar players.
Since it's so easy to use such software we could do something like a collective criation of music through the use of the internet. Someone creates a part of a song (nothing big, just some riffs maybe, 1 or 2 instruments), names it (Prolapse Boogie for instance) and posts it on my new Google Group:
http://groups.google.com.br/group/musicgasm
Then, someone else downloads the file and adds or changes what he whants, and so forth. At some moment we can all decide that it is finished so i'll make a backup copy of the history of teh song (each of the previous files) and leave the final version, so that it doesn't take up much space.
It doens't have to end there! Us who have recording devices (having or not a band) can record themselves playing the songs or part of the songs and post there also! Maybe, if someone here knows how to use cakewalk or whatever, different people could record parts of the song and them it can all be mixed into one file.
How I thought it can be organized:

• As to the software: all os the participants should use the latest software (5.2), because it makes more sense for people to upgrade than to the ones who have the latest to uninstall it and install some earlier version, obviously. Those of you who don't have it, PM me and I can tell you where to....uhum..."buy" it
  
• As to the creation: Someone who plays the guitar can make guitar parts and someone who plays drums can make the percussion. Or the other way around! Doing that we will have a crappy guitar piece with horrible percussion so it will be awesome as well (no sarcasm here)!
  
  • As to the file name : Should maintain the name of the song, plus the number of the version and who altered it, for example "Prolapse Boogie_2_LordOfganza"
    
  • As to the posting: I still don't know if I should allow anyone to just post there because it might turn into a huge mess, So i thought of leaving the group public for viewing but only I will be able to post. With this, people could send me the files by email and I would organize them neatly over there.
    
  Well, I just vomited the toughts here. If anyone likes or dislikes or has some suggestion, please do. I'm still confused if lock the group and ask the interested party to become member, but it sounds fun to let it open so that the non participants can join in on the fun by listening to the files.

[Iron Sulfide]

I really like this idea.

Both Alphapance and I have, separately, tried to start one of these in the past. I digress.

I've been itching to collaborate with someone lately. Incidentally, I use GP and has recording
software. For audio hosting, I've found what I think are some of the most awesome sites ever:

http://www.soundcloud.org         < my fav...

http://www.indabamusic.com/

http://ccmixter.org/           < this one is actually already close to your idea. Creative Commons music mixing and editing.

I know that Alphapance and RWHN play instruments. They'd probably know better than I who's musical on the board.

[LordOfganza]

Great!

Good to know that someone is interested in this! If you know more people down here who would like it, I would appreciate if you could point them to this thread. I that with 2 people we can already work, but the more the better!

[Placid Dingo]

I still haven't heard all of the Spider Project but as a collaborative piece it impressed the crap out of me.

[President Television]

I like this idea. I play guitar. I could do something for it.

[Dalek]

Can we use other software apart from guitar pro? Because I am a musician(kind of) and I use fruity loops and a lot of software synths.

[Iron Sulfide]

My Thoughts:

The simplest way of universalizing this would be to use an audio format for sharing, instead of a Guitar Pro file.
That way, anyone who has audio editing software can Use/Edit the other sound files, regardless of most formats.

Also, for those that don't have audio editing software, obtaining free software (like Audacity)
allows more people to potentially participate.

Also also, you can simply DO more with audio programs than you can with Guitar Pro.

Personally, I like Guitar Pro and and have used it a lot in the past, But I wouldn't expect many people who aren't
familiar with it to learn how to use it. Ofganza, if you want to do something strictly Guitar Pro, i'm down with
that, too. I used to use guitar pro for midi writing, then messing with the midi in Fruity loops and Cool Edit Pro.
Fun, if sophomoric, times.

[BabylonHoruv]

I'd suggest using wav files to share.  Preferably in unmixed as well as mixed format, that'd give us a way to play with it lots.

I definitely want in on this.

[LordOfganza]

Wow, more people, nice!

I agree with the audio editing thing too. I'll download this Audacity and learn how to use it. I would like to use the guitar pro idea as well, as another possibility. Although I know that real audio recording is great for adding things on he spot, nothing beats guitar pro in the art of creating songs and sheet music so you can record it AFTER you really shaped it nicely.
Yeah, we definitely should have both projects and see how they go. If one of them seems not so cool, we just stop doing that. Also if some other idea shows itself, we should try it as well....
If I get the job I'll interview to tomorrow I'll send my guitar to some regulation, cleaning and etc and we could absolutely get started. We have more than enough people to start and show the other possible collaborators that this works!

[President Television]

Audacity, eh? I haven't used that in a while, but I did make this screwing around with the program when I was 14: http://files.myfrogbag.com/2anzvrh7sm7705x/experiment1autoplay1.swf
You might want to turn your volume down. It's pretty jarring.

[Dalek]

Audacity, eh? I haven't used that in a while, but I did make this screwing around with the program when I was 14: http://files.myfrogbag.com/2anzvrh7sm7705x/experiment1autoplay1.swf
You might want to turn your volume down. It's pretty jarring.

I don't know why, but I really like it. Maybe it's from listening to too many chiptunes.

[LMNO]

I'd be willing to do this, but from experience I've found that without some indiviual restraint, the whole thing becomes an unworkable mess fairly quickly.

Each contributer should try to limit themselves to one small idea at a time.  It's difficult, because most creative types will want to run with it.  Don't.  Let each person add a tiny bit.

[Iron Sulfide]

hear that, I'm definitely a runner.

I think we'll need some sort of rules. but it might be best to make most of them as we go.

I also think that we'll need some real organization. Just Some. This coming from someone who's organizational system is
usually remembering where he set something down.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

If we use Audacity, you can count me in. A lot of people play guitar so, in the interest of not having a guitar cluster fuck I can switch to mandolin or keyboard for this.

[LordOfganza]

I agree with the rules part, but it's impossible to create good ones before this thing starts rolling....
I would like all of your opinions on the subject of the avaliability of the google group to others. We can make it totally public, public to see but not to post (only members, appears to be the best option) and posting only by admins
Or maybe you think that we don't need the group at all, lets think about this