KVR Audio

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:03 am

Well, folks, there is now ONE DAY TO GO on Mongo's Competition. Remember, we have our Grand Prize winner - Tomislav - so it can be done. However, we've already set aside those three runners-up prizes, and we don't want them gathering dust in the lab, so I'm going to GIVE YOU SOME HINTS in the hopes that some of you can break the mental logjam and win a freebie...

Here goes. Some clues coming up.

"That ancient swift-winged messenger,
The daughter of the light"...

Quite a lot of people have got this right now, so you should be able to work it out just by looking back at the posts. The most popular answer is correct. But maybe you should be thinking of other meanings here. Again, some people have already done this, so I'm not really giving much away. And then there are all those other clues: hidden gold and so on. C'mon, what might we be talking about here? And what is that thing known for?

"Now joins the swiftest from below"...

The first bit was mythological (hence "ancient") but this bit isn't. It's real. What's the swiftest thing? Again, a couple of people have got this right, so glance back at previous posts...

"forbidden love"...

...would join them together. Cos that's what love does, dudes.

"And sampling each forbidden bite"

...this should've been a big clue, but it's gone pretty much unnoticed. Sampling is what we do here at Rhythmic Robot, right? And what about "bite"? Different meaning (perhaps a different spelling...?)

Right. That's enough clues to be going on with. Remember, we're after the name of the PRODUCT WE SAMPLED, not some made-up name that we invented. And you've got until tomorrow to crack this and win yourself The Thing for free

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:35 am

Charles (a third Charles, we reckon!) says: I found this riddle after I should have already been asleep, but it vexed me. Hence, my reasoning may be a bit vague, but here goes quick progression:Early associations went through Apollo, Phoebe, Titans, and so on. COmpress that for time.The offspring of Poseidon and Amphitrite, living in the gold palace under the sea - one of them is named Triton.Could the answer be Korg Triton? Well, that doesn't fit your product line so much. It is too modern and not a "crusty old artifact"(The Trident is just a 'tool' of Poseidon's, though perhaps it would be a good sampled synth)So to continue the clue trail, with another offspring, named Rhodes...The fastest thing is not imaginary, not a god, not even a fish perhaps, but light itself.So, final answer, one that fits your history, and indeed should be sampled, even if it is NOT the correct answer... Rhodes Chroma?It is barely rational at all, and the more I think on it, the more I am sure it is wrong. ^__^Nice Ode/riddle for sure. Must sleep now, safe in the arms of Morpheus...

Prof says: YOU'RE RIGHT! - we should sample the Rhodes Chroma. But unfortunately the rest of it is wrong. (Which you said yourself. So I guess you were right about that, too

)

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:37 am

PS: At the moment, Gearslutz is still hacked (it's been turned into a porn hub... Mongo can't get enough of it) so updates on the Competition will be here on KVR and on the NI forums ONLY for a while!

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:24 am

Charles says: swiftest below makes me think of a cheetah and bite is byte which is 8 bit. so is it Cheetah MD8 - 8 bit MIDI drum machine.

Prof says: Ooh... interesting, interesting.... mmm.... some very good thinking here! But what about the first stanza of the Ode? How does that fit with this? Come on, nearly there...

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:35 am

WE HAVE ANOTHER WINNER!!!

Charles (um... the third Charles, we think; we seem to have waaaay too many Charleses) is our first runner-up. He kept at it, and he got there. Congratulations! Tomorrow, when we release The Thing, he'll get one for free.

There are still TWO MORE TO GIVE AWAY. Come on, guys, don't give up yet... keep at it! And while Gearslutz is still advertising Granny Dating Sites and Asian Babes, this is the chance for you KVRers to steal a march on 'em...

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:44 am

Charles (our winner!) says: Dude I feel like i figured out the answer to life HAHAHA. I told you I couldnt let it go. Thanks for the hours of lost sleep and all the knowledge I receieved from Greek mythology to vintage synths and drum machines. Most of all thanks for the freebie

. Tell Mongo to ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................keep up the good work.

Prof says:

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:37 pm

We have ANOTHER WINNER!!!

Looks like those clues are really taking hold.

Matt has got the answer spot-on, with a nice little explanation, too. He goes on the runners-up list alongside Charles. That means there's just ONE runners-up prize left to give away - so you guys had better get cracking...

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 4:44 pm

Morgan says: Iris = your eye and the "swiftest from below" = light, so when the two meet it's something that you see. Perhaps it's a PPG Waveterm that displays "tattoo'd patterns" and you've sampled every "bite" of its digital sounds.

Prof says: Mmm.... something that you see? Wouldn't that be... almost anything at all? Sorry, better luck next time! (Though isn't the PPG Waveterm a neat machine?)

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:48 am

Jonathan says : I know the contest is probably over, but that's fine! I just wanted to throw in my two cents and get on the mailing list ;)The first stanza is about Iris, and I'm guessing the second is about Mercury, but I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell it's leading toward! Hahaha. The curiosity was killing me, so I had to write in! Does it have something to do with a lyre, or a caduceus?

Prof says: It's not over till someone wins that last runners-up prize! But... unfortunately, that someone won't be you. Sorry!

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:51 am

Jay says: Did you sample the Atari2600/Jaguar???Iris = Daughter of light and she was the Goddess of the Rainbow...which happens to be part of Atari's logo, they had a whole spectrum/rainbow on alot of their systemsJaguars are pretty swift..and Atari also released a Jaguar game system...And if I'm not mistaken, Atari was an 8-bit system?

Prof says: I love Ataris. I had the Mega 2 ST back in the day. You have to love a computer whose operating system is called TOS. Anyhoo... you're wrong.

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:07 am

Okay, folks, brace yourselves please...

THE COMPETITION IS CLOSED!!!

We have all the winners we can handle! Doug and Christian both got the correct answer within minutes of each other. Rather than choose between them, we're calling them the joint-third-runner-up and giving them both The Thing. Well done to them!

Now... presumably, you want to know the answer, right? What the riddle meant? What the product is? DAMMIT, TELL US, YOU CRUEL FREAK???!!! That kind of thing?

Patience, young ones. The answer, the entire winners list, and the product launch details will all be coming your way in less than 12 hours. All will be revealed this evening. (Who knows... perhaps by then Gearslutz will be up and those poor sods can join in?) And meanwhile, although the competition's done with, if you'd like to join our mailing list - or just browse round the website - do head on over to www.rhythmicrobot.com and pay us a visit.

WATCH THIS SPACE. COMPLETE ANSWER, PLUS EXPLANATION, PLUS PRODUCT LAUNCH DETAILS, PLUS WINNERS, all coming your way at 1900 HOURS GMT!

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:03 pm

Just updating the website now... the moment it's done, I promise to reveal all

the professor · Post by **the professor** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:45 pm

Well, I promised you answers, so here you go…

MONGO'S ODE: THE SOLUTION!

First of all, congratulations to our lucky winners! They sweated blood and tears, and though they may bear the mental scars of wrestling with Mongo, they at least have shiny new toys to show for it. Tomislav won the Grand Prize of any of our line-up of products, plus the New Thing. Then Charles and Matt got runners-up prizes of the New Thing. Finally, Christian and Doug got the answer so close to each other that we've decided to award them both the New Thing as well. That's the kind of nice scientists we are.

Many thanks to all you good sports who took part. We've loved your comments. Admittedly, many of those comments have been along the lines of, "I will hunt you down for doing this to me". But we loved those too. And it was interesting that when people won something, they completely changed their tune, and were all "This was the best promo ever!"

Sooo… I guess you want to know what Mongo's Ode was all about, eh? All right, keep your hair on. Here goes.

MONGO'S ODE REVISITED

That ancient swift-winged messenger
So we start with a female messenger of the gods. Not Hermes, not Mercury, cos they're blokes. You need to go Greek, not Roman, too.
The daughter of the light
Perhaps the daughter of Electra? Electra light, geddit?
Who onetime paced across the sky
And sang dispatches from on high
Cos she was messenger of the gods, right...
Her footsteps burning bright
Okay, you should have her by now. It's Iris, Greek messenger of the gods and all-round hot tottie.

Now joins the swiftest from below
Swiftest from below… that would be below the sky, then. What's the fastest creature on the earth?
In reckless wondrous dance
And tattoo'd patterns weaving round
Now, tattoo'd patterns could be tattoo'd on skin, or they COULD be tattoo'd on something else. Another meaning of tattoo?
Keep step with vaults of pulsing sound
Well, the original meaning of "tattoo" was a complex rhythm beat out on a drum. You beat a tattoo on a drum, and you program a drum machine PATTERN in STEP time
Infusing their romance
Aww, they're in love!

The taste of this forbidden love
Is nectar to the bold
And sampling each forbidden bite
In-joke. Sampling is of course what we do here at Rhythmic Robot. Bite? 8 bits = a byte, and this is an 8-bit drum machine we're talking about here...
They dance away along the light
Something about light again here...
Toward their hidden gold.
Where do you find hidden gold?
At the end of the rainbow. Which is made of light, coloured light. Lots of colours of light. Which is also what Iris means: the spectrum of colours in the rainbow.
So we've got…
…an 8-bit drum machine.
Something to do with a rainbow of colours - in other words, the spectrum of visible light.
So this 8-bit drum machine is a marriage between a spectrum and the fastest creature on the earth -
- the cheetah.

Which makes our product the amazingly retro, gloriously 8-bit
CHEETAH SPECDRUM FOR THE SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM
…the perfect marriage of Spectrum and Cheetah!

So congrats again to our winners, Big Hugs to our gallant losers, and do come along to see what all the fuss has been about right here: http://www.rhythmicrobot.com/page0/page ... index.html

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bpblog · Post by **bpblog** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:21 pm

it really was a great promo, thanks guys!

EdC · Post by **EdC** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:43 pm

Aaaaargh my first computer... the spectrum....

Rhythmic Robot new product: Crack the riddle, win the thing!