MIDIbox Olympic Contest 2007 ?

moxi · February 9, 2007, 6:37am

Hi all of you,

As you maybe know, I’ve founded last year an Organisation called “Sound & Breakfast”, dedicated to promote Artists and support/help Non-commercial project such MIDIbox one (and mainly this one for the while)…

This organisation is fully official, and registered here in France as “non-profit” organisation (Association Loi (law) 1901, the french guy will know what that mean)…

So we can ask money for service/goods we provide, but this money have to be re-invested into this organisation to serve its purpose, in the same year to avoid too complicated count…(in other case, I would’nt need to ask you how to spend them!)

You will find in this forum that I’ve started a production of lighted caps for butons, and, after one year, it appear that, selling this cap, we get back more money than the total cost of the needed materials.

So, there is now about 110 Euros that must be spend for the MIDIbox community…

This buck must go to a registerd member of this organisation (it’s the law), participation to be a member have been fixed since the beggining to 7 Euros, so the one who will benefit of this money will have to pay this 7 Euros, so let say it’s 100 Euros remaining.

I open a poll to know what the best way to use this money:

A. One gift of 100 Euros to buy parts at Smash TV or Mike shop for the best project submitted

B. Two gift of 50 Euros to buy parts at Smash TV or Mike shop for the two best project submitted

C. a donation of 100 Euros to TK

D. a gift of 50 E (best project) and a donation of 50 E to TK

E. a gift of 100 Euros to help the winner to pay a (schaeffer/other pro) front-panel (but here I have to find a way to be sure money won’t be used to anything else..)

what I think about what is a “best project” : original, fully documented, innovative, artistic… I think I will ask the help of old members here to decide. I don’t want to advantage those who are the richest and so can do a “bigger/costly project”, so many thing will be take to judge…

Please let some space between your response to the poll (If someone could explain me how to put an automatic poll :( ) and your comments, to make me more easy to count..

I think this competition will run to the middle of the year (let say we close the fight at 30 June), to let you the time to prepare your project as well as possible…

Thanks for your attention…

jimhenry · February 9, 2007, 8:06am

Might I suggest a contest for the best “Introduction to MidiBox” document? This is to be judged at least in part for its ability to make the Midibox accessible to more people.

Sasha · February 9, 2007, 9:07am

Moxi, I think only one that trully deserves that gift is Thorsten. None of those big fancy and ugly cheep recycled boxes could be posible without his work and dedication.

About the poll, there are poll scripts on the net, but you need to ask administrator Twin-x to do that for you, as it needs PHP and MySQL database access. There are also online polls around, where you don`t need to mess with scripts and databases.

Might I suggest a contest for the best “Introduction to MidiBox” document? This is to be judged at least in part for its ability to make the Midibox accessible to more people.

Jim, I think that is great idea. I support it in full!

Screaming_Rabbit · February 9, 2007, 9:21am

Might I suggest a contest for the best “Introduction to MidiBox” document? This is to be judged at least in part for its ability to make the Midibox accessible to more people.

… got my vote.

Greets, Roger

moxi · February 9, 2007, 10:36am

Might I suggest a contest for the best “Introduction to MidiBox” document? This is to be judged at least in part for its ability to make the Midibox accessible to more people.

it’s a great idea, but I think it’s not elegant to ask many people to spend a lot of time on such a work to finally pay only one of them, all the other will be frustated …

sacha:

Moxi, I think only one that trully deserves that gift is Thorsten. None of those big fancy and ugly cheep recycled boxes could be posible without his work and dedication.

so your choice is :

C. a donation of 100 Euros to TK

right?

Sasha · February 9, 2007, 10:40am

That`s right

bosone · February 9, 2007, 10:45am

i too think that the money should go to thorsten!

DavidBanner · February 9, 2007, 10:59am

As you maybe know, I’ve founded last year an Organisation called “Sound & Breakfast”, dedicated to promote Artists and support/help Non-commercial project such MIDIbox one (and mainly this one for the while)…

Nice one Moxi - what a great thing to do for the community!

I’m in favour of it going to TK & or SmashTV - I think it will do the most good and there are no real downsides to it as there could be with a prize type arrangement…

smashtv · February 9, 2007, 1:59pm

Good on ya Moxi!

My vote is for C, but I really like Jim’s suggestion…so I’ll happily kick in a “prize package” to facilitate best box, best documentation, and best user written app type awards. Best box should probably be more of a recognition type award, since you can spend your way into that.

Even though a vote script would make things easy, those are easy to cheat.

A thread with votes as individual posts is the best way.

Best

Smash

Wilba · February 9, 2007, 3:51pm

I also vote C.

I like the competition idea, without any prizes.

It’s hard to put all the MIDIboxes that exist into a single “best box” category, how do you compare an immaculate, pro-looking controller with an obviously DIY one? One has aesthetic appeal, the other has junkbox, recycled chic. I’m actually more interested in getting as many people as possible who have ever build a MIDIbox to take some good photos (fuzzy webcam images do not count as photos) inside and out and write a little bit about their MIDIbox experience. Then hand out some recognition awards like:

“Best panel design” award

“Best reuse of an enclosure” award

“Best recycled enclosure” award

“Best pro-looking” award

“Best DIY-looking” award

“Most internal wiring” award

“Neatest internal wiring” award

“Best internal construction” award

“Best customization/extensions” award

“Best keyboard/organ conversion” award

“Best integration into existing hardware” award

etc, in addition to “Best newbie doco” and “Best user app”

Maybe a competition might inspire a few more people to show off what they have done.

Sasha · February 9, 2007, 4:05pm

Wilba, you tought about it pretty seriously. I think sub-categorising makes much more sense.

ultra · February 9, 2007, 4:21pm

i vote giving this money to tk. of course, i have nothing to do with the raising of the money, so i’ll make a donation myself once i’ve completed my seq!

i’m with wilba. i like the competition idea and without the prizes. each person with a prize winning midibox already has their prize in right there in their studio. it would also be nice to consolidate things and get good pictures in one place. it would be a good chance to show off and compare, as well as to take inspiration from other people’s work.

if you need a place to permanently store images, hold polls, or do whatever else you want, i have a domain and web space to donate (www.sub-version.net/WhateverYouWantHere) and you could simply have an ftp account and full control over that part of the site. i’m not good at web pages, scripts, and all that stuff but i’m more than happy to give up some web space for someone else to use.

did i miss out on these lighted caps?

kris · February 9, 2007, 4:45pm

hey up

i vote for c for tk to get the money as this then goes to benefit the community as a whole

stryd_one · February 9, 2007, 5:27pm

Warning - while you were reading 11 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

Apparently a popular idea

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.

Yep, definitely.

I’m with Wilba too. Not too many categories of course

T.K · February 9, 2007, 7:46pm

I like the idea, but I would vote for small prices for each category, instead of giving me money. The fact, that this will result into an interesting contest with innovative and fancy ideas, improved documentation, happy community gives me enough.

As one of the prices I would contribute 4 CORE and 4 SID modules as can be seen in this picture: http://www.midibox.org/midibox_sid_blm_photos/05.jpg

They are second-hand, but well tested over a long “burn in” period of 4 years. They were housed in a non-dusty C64 case during this time. Soldered with leaded tin, best quality components, prepared for optimized PSU circuit and MBSID V2. Mounted on a pizza box (doesn’t smell anymore).

And the best: they are blotted with original fingerprints of TK!

SIDs and PICs, DIN/DOUT, IIC modules are not included!

As it doesn’t make much sense to give this stuff to somebody who already owns a MBSID, I would like to see it as a price for the best user application.

The nominations could be done in a seperate forum section.

Best Regards, Thorsten.

smashtv · February 9, 2007, 8:02pm

each person with a prize winning midibox already has their prize in right there in their studio.

Very well said!

Makes my prize package statement sound a bit patronizing.

I like Wilba’s idea, and the thought of a “highest percentage of recycled/repurposed parts” award.

That way maybe a few years down the road I can enjoy a bagel from my MB_Toaster, while sitting on my Seppoman-engineered MB_Sofa. ;D

Best

Smash

audiocommander · February 9, 2007, 10:31pm

About the poll, there are poll scripts on the net, but you need to ask administrator Twin-x to do that for you

In fact, there is already a button at the end of the posts page (REPLY | NOTIFY | ADD POLL | SEND THIS TOPIC | PRINT)

;D

And if there are different categories, IMHO one “best midibox song” should also be nominated!

Cheers,

Michael

Wilba · February 10, 2007, 4:10am

My list was just a suggestion… less is best probably…

“Best pro-looking MIDIbox” - where those boxes with awesome panels and custom layouts compete.

“Best DIY-looking MIDIbox” - it’s obviously DIY, but functional and well constructed and looks cool.

“Best recycled MIDIbox” - recycled C64 cases in this category, I guess, but also people who recycle things for their case, knobs, buttons, etc.

“Best customization/extension” - covers those who did hardware and software changes to an existing app, i.e. redesigned control surface, synth with built-in keyboard, or a synth with extra effects hardware.

“Best MIDIfication” - keyboard or organ conversions, or just adding knobs to something else.

“Best user application” - a totally new application, not just extensions to the existing ones.

“Best documentation effort”.

moxi · February 10, 2007, 6:36am

hi,

In fact, there is already a button at the end of the posts page (REPLY | NOTIFY | ADD POLL | SEND THIS TOPIC | PRINT)

:P :-[ aaaaah! I was sure to see that somewhere!!

ok, all suggestion seems to go in the same direction.

In fact, people here are more interrested by the fun of a competition than by the bucks…good feeling here…

TK prefer that the price serve to motive the communnity, so we will do according to his wish. On the other hand, I will see if there is a way, depending on the amount, to pay back to him for example all or a part the Ucapps server costs, I think I will be abble at the end of the year to have more money for that, as I’m working to obtain public subventions, and it’s more easy to obtain money when it’s to pay something that already exist for a long time (so your activity is know to be already usefull for a lot of people).. but my organisation need to be at least one year old to get the ability to obtain something, so I’ve to wait to May..let say it’s a subject that I will discuss with TK for the upcoming month, I don’t want to promise too much before being sure..

Back to the MB Olympics game:

TK give the price for the best user app, and from my side, I will split the 100 nEuros into 4 prices : 4 full Core Kit…two will be buy at Smash TV shop, and Two at Mike shop, the choice will be done depending on the locations of the winners.

It will be less price than contest section, so my thought is to give the prices to the following section where that will be more helpfull for MBoxers…