# Soundpaint Demo Submission Contest



## doctoremmet (Apr 8, 2022)

Guidelines for entry:

1. Create one or more impressive demos that use at least one instance or more of Soundpaint. The demo can be any style you want. Make up an entirely new genre! You can use any Soundpaint ™ library you have

2. Save your track(s) as an MP3 file. Each demo should be between 60 seconds and two minutes in length and must be uploaded as separate files.

3. Upload to SoundCloud, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, orTwitter with the hashtag #soundpaint_demo

4. Join the Soundpaint Discord Community.

Link to Discord (and all the details) can be found here:









Calling All Soundpainters!


We are launching our first ever demo writing contest (this will be ongoing)! Interested in spreading sonic color and vibes to producers and music makers all over the world? This is a stellar opportunity for you to gain exposure! What's in it for you: - Get the next upcoming Soundpaint...




soundpaint.com





5. Drop a link in the #demo-submissions channel to your uploaded sonic masterpiece.

6. The Soundpaint Team will select demos on an ongoing basis to feature on Soundpaint's official website! 

7. The winners will receive notification by email... (or telepathic vibration energy, if the internet is down that day)

8. Most importantly, have fun exploring how quickly you can go from thought to creation


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## doctoremmet (Apr 8, 2022)

What's in it for you:

-Get the next upcoming Soundpaint library, before it's officially released. You've earned it!

- An opportunity to be featured on Soundpaint.com on the product launch day

- Have a reserved spot in the Soundpaint Demo Writing team for as long as you keep submitting work that is accepted.

-Help The Soundpaint Team pick future demos for Soundpaint's Official website.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 8, 2022)

I posted this here so we can maybe discuss our demos here, both before and after submission


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## doctoremmet (Apr 8, 2022)

I don’t think they mention a deadline, did they?


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## Markrs (Apr 8, 2022)

Great opportunity to play around with the soundpaint libraries, and trying to resist buying more of them.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 8, 2022)

Earn your spot on the demo team and work for your next library. What a concept!


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## davidson (Apr 8, 2022)

So they're doing this instead of beta testers for expansions now?


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## doctoremmet (Apr 8, 2022)

davidson said:


> So they're doing this instead of beta testers for expansions now?


Are they? I don’t think so to be honest. I think it’s an extra and smart way to collect more user demos and create some noise on social media at the same time?


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## davidson (Apr 8, 2022)

It looks like it to me, yeah. Maybe not for people who got into the beta testing expansion earlier, but for new 'applicants', this seems to be the way forward.


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## Bee_Abney (Apr 9, 2022)

Wow, a competition using libraries I love, with no deadline. I already feel like I've failed, somehow.

Maybe I'll just wait until I happen to have written something that fits the description, then there won't be any dread pressure. As it's ongoing though, this thread will be a great place to get to hear what people have been up to and to share ideas on using Soundpaint.

Here's a hint: you use nuns. Nuns are where it's at. If you can work dogs into your piece too, then you'll be onto a winner. You should probably throw in some good composing, orchestration and mixing too; but start with the nuns.


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## Taron (Apr 10, 2022)

I probably shouldn't say anything to avoid burning bridges... but, uhm...I'm glad this made me finally try soundpaint on my win10 machine, briefly filling it up with 11Gb of free stuff and then finally freeing me from wondering about it ever again! Hurray! 

It's fascinating to me, though. I guess, I'm too eager to make the most out of the least, rather than the other way around.


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## Bee_Abney (Apr 10, 2022)

Taron said:


> I probably shouldn't say anything to avoid burning bridges... but, uhm...I'm glad this made me finally try soundpaint on my win10 machine, briefly filling it up with 11Gb of free stuff and then finally freeing me from wondering about it ever again! Hurray!
> 
> It's fascinating to me, though. I guess, I'm too eager to make the most out of the least, rather than the other way around.


Did you take the same approach to Kontakt?!

I hope you enjoy your freedom, now, anyway!


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## davidson (Apr 10, 2022)




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## c0nsilience (Apr 10, 2022)

It's a rolling competition with no deadlines and hardly any rules to follow. Should be interesting to hear what people come up with!


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## doctoremmet (Apr 10, 2022)

c0nsilience said:


> It's a rolling competition with no deadlines and hardly any rules to follow. Should be interesting to hear what people come up with!


Drop the submissions here! I’d love to hear them


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## c0nsilience (Apr 10, 2022)

Working on it


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## Taron (Apr 10, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> Did you take the same approach to Kontakt?!
> 
> I hope you enjoy your freedom, now, anyway!


Oh, Kontakt came with instruments for musicians and instantly managed to inspire and excite, making one hope for more, rather than making one anxious to quickly clean up the system from it again. But it also became the breeding ground for exactly that, which brought about soundpaint, I guess.

But you're right, it's probably not "soundpaint" itself. My bad.  

I didn't give it enough of a chance to explore how valuable it may be beyond the bloated attempt at gratification it came with. Though I had looked for a few modulation options and the likes only to find more reasons to assume that I'm not in the target demographic for this one. My cry for freedom goes many hecks of a lot deeper.


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## c0nsilience (Apr 10, 2022)

I don’t think Soundpaint is the antithesis to Kontakt, or should even be viewed as a replacement to it.

When I came across Soundpaint, a few months after it’s release, I had already started pairing down my VST and plugin obsession (800+ at that time, built over a decade) to things that I found essential. The realization that I was spending most of my time with too many options, which is worse than not enough, meant that I was squandering my time, the most valuable commodity we have, rather than using it efficiently to create.

Soundpaint fit the bill because it was nimble and very easy to use, so I could spend more time actually creating music.

I’ve gotten most of the libraries now and while user sample import is welcomed, I get quite a lot of satisfaction out of what can be created with a modicum of parts and a basic understanding of synthesis.

The raw material they have started with is good. It’s going to be cool to see and hear where it goes.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 10, 2022)

Pretty much my take on it. Although I initially was completely caught off-guard and expected it to be more of a synth of sorts. In a geeky sense. Tons and tons of IRCAM level physical modelling controls. Of course nobody ever said something to warrant the expectation. But there I was, thinking “oh. It’s just another sample player”.

Now… within a week or so I started to see things more clearly and “got” the concept. Now I see it as “just another musical instrument”, albeit one that has a cool interface, allows me to work fast and use samples as basic building / morphing blocks to quickly create sounds. I remember when my kids rushed in my room back in 2015, or thereabout, and showed me Minecraft. I was like, what can possibly be the appeal of this simple looking bit of retro 8 bit Lego rip-off. Then I played the game once, and it clicked. 

Soundpaint to me is like the Minecraft of the sampling / sounddesign world. I don’t have to learn any scripting, it doesn’t expect me to hit a spanner icon and deep-dive into a bazillion options, I don’t get to build gorgeous looking personalized UIs with drop-dead beautiful background graphics of a scarcely dressed cello-player. What a relief. The only thing I need to do to become a Soundpainter is get my Lego’s out and clickety-click them into some cool new thing. And lucky for me, if I do want to geek out I roll out MSoundFactory, Halion or Falcon and make macros.

So yeah. Soundpaint is all about simplicity, getting results quickly and good sounds. At the end of the day the latter is what matters most to a lot of people. I do find it very important. But here’s the kicker: having fun may just be more important to me personally, spoken as the true hobbyist I am of course. And SP delivers.

Disclosure: I have beta tested Soundpaint libraries & have received free libraries from them. I have also purchased most of my SP collection with my own money - because I happen to like them. Of course I am also a huge 8Dio fanboy, and own a ridiculous number of their libraries - never received any of those for free, although I may have abused a glitch or two  - all opinions expressed are strictly my own and are of little to no value as I am a mere hobbyist who has only ever cranked out shitty music anyway. But the instruments used were not to blame for that, I take full responsibility haha.


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## davidson (Apr 10, 2022)

I like soundpaint, but it doesnt half have its shortcomings. The main one (IMO) is the lack of time stretching. It uses varispeed which makes the one shots (ie, the majority of the libraries I've bought) pretty useless to play stretched across the keys.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 10, 2022)

I agree and suspect a lot of functionality is still being developed. That’s why it still says Beta in the player.


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## Taron (Apr 10, 2022)

To me the biggest trouble is that I generally totally prefer complete synthesis, whether it's any of the classical types (Subtractive, FM, etc...) or physical modeling (which I love). If I reach for samples, it's because of their authentic qualities. The moment you try and bend that stuff beyond their breaking point, it just rubs me the wrong way. I don't want Mickey Mouse to "Lala" my chords, if you know what I mean. Just how I dislike when a heavy resonance lowpass tortures an innocent piano and the likes. Good for a brief, deliberate effect, but there are much easier ways to get that externally than to have it as part of the "player" itself.

IF there was anything innovative to look forward to, regarding samples, it would be some clever AI solution to pick up on certain characteristics of samples, morphing those or finding ways to combine that. This could be exciting again and a curious evolution in the use of high quality samples. For everything else, I don't think there's a tool missing. It's all there, I think.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 10, 2022)

Agreed. If using samples like Lego bricks isn’t your idea to create new sounds, SP is not for you. Like you I am mainly a synth guy myself (PM even!) so I get you. I am even a bit amazed I apparently now also like sample mangling, lol!


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## davidson (Apr 10, 2022)

Does anyone know the legalities regarding the music you submit? Do you retain full ownership etc?


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## doctoremmet (Apr 10, 2022)

davidson said:


> Does anyone know the legalities regarding the music you submit? Do you retain full ownership etc?


“ By submitting a demo track you grant us the permission to use it for advertising. The licenses of the prizes are NFR (not for resale). You're also agreeing to spread some inspiration and ❤️ in the world. “

All I could find. So this is a question that may need further investigation. @Soundpaint


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## cedricm (Apr 10, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Soundpaint to me is like the Minecraft of the sampling / sounddesign world. I don’t have to learn any scripting, it doesn’t expect me to hit a spanner icon and deep-dive into a bazillion options, I don’t get to build gorgeous looking personalized UIs with drop-dead beautiful background graphics of a scarcely dressed cello-player.


Asking for a friend : what's wrong with scarcely dressed cello players?


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## Bee_Abney (Apr 10, 2022)

Since they say nothing about transferring ownership, then you don't. By entering, you grant them a free perpetual license for marketing purposes only. Anything other than that will remain in your possession.

Note, there is no exclusivity specified. So you are free to use and license the composition anyway you wish, except terminating Soundpaint's license.

That's my reading. Sounds fair to me. It leaves you free to make money with the composition elsewhere; though I doubt full-time professionals would be too interested in entering.


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## Troels Folmann (Apr 10, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> Since they say nothing about transferring ownership, then you don't. By entering, you grant them a free perpetual license for marketing purposes only. Anything other than that will remain in your possession.
> 
> Note, there is no exclusivity specified. So you are free to use and license the composition anyway you wish, except terminating Soundpaint's license.
> 
> That's my reading. Sounds fair to me. It leaves you free to make money with the composition elsewhere; though I doubt full-time professionals would be too interested in entering.


Absolutely!


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## Troels Folmann (Apr 10, 2022)

davidson said:


> I like soundpaint, but it doesnt half have its shortcomings. The main one (IMO) is the lack of time stretching. It uses varispeed which makes the one shots (ie, the majority of the libraries I've bought) pretty useless to play stretched across the keys.


Timestretching is coming shortly (currently in alpha). We had to build it completely from scratch due to the new SP audio format, but managed to create a really organic stretcher that doesn’t tax the cpu much. We even build the ability to modulate time too, so for example you can control the ramp of an attack if you desire. I wholeheartedly agree that this is an important feature!

In addition User Sample Import (USI) just went into private beta and hopefully open discord beta week after next.

❤️


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## Taron (Apr 10, 2022)

Troels Folmann said:


> In addition User Sample Import (USI) just went into private beta and hopefully open discord beta week after next.
> 
> ❤️


AHHHh, that was the thing that really threw me off... I wanted to make a preset from scratch with my own samples, but couldn't see that option. It might get more interesting to me then... I'll keep an eye on what you're doing!  Thanks!


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## h.s.j.e (Apr 13, 2022)

I'm diving into SP a bit more with the demo-writing contest, and my thoughts are in the same ballpark as what a lot of people are saying in the thread.
1) I think it's already tied with MSoundfactory as my favorite of the recent proprietary rompler/samplers, because it gets closer to the dream of Kontakt-level under-the-hood features and sample handling without Kontakt-level complications (MSF can do a lot more, but is a lot more complicated). 
2) SP still doesn't seem as straightforward for straight-up sample playback as the other proprietary romplers. 
3) SP still isn't quite the creative playground fever-dream I want it to be. I'd love more modulators and mangling options, but it seems like the SoundPaint team is working on adding more of that functionality.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 13, 2022)

I get a lot of your points. Part of me wanted this to be a geeky fever-dream of a synth too. More modulators would be nice.

On the other hand, I kind of decided to embrace what Soundpaint is in the eyes of its creator and just roll with it. And I am honestly amazed how creatively satisfying that feels. Liberating hehe! But like I said before… I also still do a lot with Equator, Falcon, Phase Plant, MSF and the like of course.


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## c0nsilience (Apr 13, 2022)

Soundpaint doesn’t replace Falcon, HALion, etc. for me, but it compliments and augments them. As soon as they drop user sample import, I’ll have a nice home for some granular files that have been pre-mangled. I dig the community a lot and I also get what all guys are sayin


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## davidson (Apr 13, 2022)

Troels Folmann said:


> Timestretching is coming shortly (currently in alpha). We had to build it completely from scratch due to the new SP audio format, but managed to create a really organic stretcher that doesn’t tax the cpu much. We even build the ability to modulate time too, so for example you can control the ramp of an attack if you desire. I wholeheartedly agree that this is an important feature!
> 
> In addition User Sample Import (USI) just went into private beta and hopefully open discord beta week after next.
> 
> ❤️


Brilliant news. This will take soundpaint to the next level, for me at least


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## Hoopyfrood (Apr 19, 2022)

This was mine, I don't know if it counts as I only used the free concert grand from Soundpaint, but using it did convince me to buy one of the guitars for it. It's called Piano Concerto in D Dorian for People With Short Attention Spans, because the 2 minute time limit means the changes are quite rapid.


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## monochrome (Apr 19, 2022)

Hoopyfrood said:


> This was mine, I don't know if it counts as I only used the free concert grand from Soundpaint, but using it did convince me to buy one of the guitars for it. It's called Piano Concerto in D Dorian for People With Short Attention Spans, because the 2 minute time limit means the changes are quite rapid.



it counts! any soundpaint library works, but you're way more likely to be chosen if you _only_ use soundpaint libraries


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## Bee_Abney (May 12, 2022)

Hoopyfrood said:


> This was mine, I don't know if it counts as I only used the free concert grand from Soundpaint, but using it did convince me to buy one of the guitars for it. It's called Piano Concerto in D Dorian for People With Short Attention Spans, because the 2 minute time limit means the changes are quite rapid.



Sorry, I missed this when you posted it. I've commented over on YouTube now. I really like it, it's got lots of drama, it's very cinematic - these are things that Troels might like. The fact that only the piano is from Soundpaint might be an issue (unless the strings are by 8Dio...); but that does also mean that it is good for highlighting that particular library. And as it is free, and it is part of the attempt to appeal to new users, this could be in your favour.


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## Hoopyfrood (May 12, 2022)

Bee_Abney said:


> Sorry, I missed this when you posted it. I've commented over on YouTube now. I really like it, it's got lots of drama, it's very cinematic - these are things that Troels might like. The fact that only the piano is from Soundpaint might be an issue (unless the strings are by 8Dio...); but that does also mean that it is good for highlighting that particular library. And as it is free, and it is part of the attempt to appeal to new users, this could be in your favour.


Thanks a lot, you're too kind. I can replace the strings with 8dio ones if they request (have Anthology and Majestica). But I'm not that fussed about if I win or not really, I didn't start writing this with entering the contest in mind and in fact I originally downloaded Soundpaint because I was looking for a piano for another project.


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