Contest June: "Gossip" + Result

[violator_alba]

The trouble is comparing a great number of songs with each other if I have understood you people right. That can be easily avoided however.

Take a pen and paper (this is an old fashioned explanation) and write down some few qualities - subjective or objective, doesn't matter - that you appreciate in a song, eg. do you just like it, would you want to hear it again, is it skillfully performed, is it well mastered, is it in tune with your mood today etc. Then give every song points in every quality slot that you decided to use. Then add the points in the songs's quality slots. This should put the songs in order according to your criteria, without the need to compare every song with every other song.

I like this: I think I'll give it a shot as I think it could help my voting. Dunno why I couldn't've thought of this myself...

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

The trouble is comparing a great number of songs with each other if I have understood you people right. That can be easily avoided however.

Take a pen and paper (this is an old fashioned explanation) and write down some few qualities - subjective or objective, doesn't matter - that you appreciate in a song, eg. do you just like it, would you want to hear it again, is it skillfully performed, is it well mastered, is it in tune with your mood today etc. Then give every song points in every quality slot that you decided to use. Then add the points in the songs's quality slots. This should put the songs in order according to your criteria, without the need to compare every song with every other song.

But if each song can get points between 1 to 5 like in OSC (or maybe even between 1-10 for Music Café) it is way easier. That way several entries can get a high score and even the same amount of points and no comparison has to be made with other tracks

[IV!]

The big problem is not how to compare tracks, we will somehow cope with this. The problem is that if you have 30-50 tracks, but you only have to give a score to 10 tracks, then it's just not fair in relation to the rest. If I made a track for a contest, I want to know that someone listened and appreciated it, even with a low rating. Last month I specifically extended the unofficial list so that people could see that I rated them too. Next time, someone just won't want to make a track that will fly into the void. Everyone who has made an effort and made music deserves to know how highly he was appreciated by others. Even if I'm 3rd from the end, I want to see it)

As an variant of hybrid system: choose five favorites and give them 6-10p, rate all other tracks from 1p to 5p. This will give a balance between the ability to highlight your favorite tracks and everyone's right to a rating and a place in the list. I think, Silver Pants should say how acceptable this system is.

[harvon]

The trouble is comparing a great number of songs with each other if I have understood you people right. That can be easily avoided however.

Take a pen and paper (this is an old fashioned explanation) and write down some few qualities - subjective or objective, doesn't matter - that you appreciate in a song, eg. do you just like it, would you want to hear it again, is it skillfully performed, is it well mastered, is it in tune with your mood today etc. Then give every song points in every quality slot that you decided to use. Then add the points in the songs's quality slots. This should put the songs in order according to your criteria, without the need to compare every song with every other song.

But if each song can get points between 1 to 5 like in OSC (or maybe even between 1-10 for Music Café) it is way easier. That way several entries can get a high score and even the same amount of points and no comparison has to be made with other tracks

Of cause. It is you who decide how you vote in Cafe

[Hellfog]

Yes, maybe it’s time to change the voting system.

EDIT: Even though I personally don't have any problem with the current voting system.
At least not the points, but a hassle to sort through all the songs and put them in the right order. would be better to have a similar system like in OSC.

[beanpole]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s worked fine for the last 15 odd years, why change it now. It’s just a bit of fun, why make it all serious. All I do is listen to every song and give them a score out of 10. After I’ve listened to every song I have a ranking and create my top 10 from that. It’s that simple, no need to make it any more complicated

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s worked fine for the last 15 odd years, why change it now. It’s just a bit of fun, why make it all serious. All I do is listen to every song and give them a score out of 10. After I’ve listened to every song I have a ranking and create my top 10 from that. It’s that simple, no need to make it any more complicated

It makes it less complicated. Several tracks can get 10 pts, others might be 6 or 7 pts or even lower depending on the voter. After all there's always a new certain theme to adhere to every month and if let us say four entries happen to be superb, it is better to be able to give them all 9's or 10's instead of:

10
9
8
7
and from here it is time to give the other entries 6, 5, 4 and so on.

It's easier not to be forced to compare the tracks but to enjoy each track on its own but still in the context of the monthly contest.

Has nothing to do with making Music Café ”serious”, changing the voting system will probably attract more new participants and make it more of a friendly community - pretty much like OSC.

The beauty of Music Café is that the only restriction is the monthly theme unlike OSC where you can't use commercial effects etc.

Might just be worth a try

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

Yes, maybe it’s time to change the voting system.

EDIT: Even though I personally don't have any problem with the current voting system.
At least not the points, but a hassle to sort through all the songs and put them in the right order. would be better to have a similar system like in OSC.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


1-10 pts still remains but it is possible to give, just as an example, 8 pts to several entries instead of just one entry.

Voting becomes really easy and something like what happened last month, that @IV! mentioned, where many entries got 0 pts and it was very difficult to vote can't ever happen again.

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

Not only that, I know I'd try (depending on the monthly Music Café theme) to also use the monthly OSC synth in my Music Café entry(!) but in a whole nother context than OSC! So if I made some upbeat dance track in OSC I could use the very same OSC synth in Music Café but instead use it to play a solo over lush sampled strings + real instruments and also create percussion/drums with the OSC synth with any fx I feel like, but maybe that's just me.

Regardless I hope the OSC voting system, but still with 1-10 pts, is adopted for Music Café.

[Saffran]

I already use multiple 8's and multiple 3's. That gives me the group i think the song belongs in. Then it's easier to pinpoint the place in the group and the final list. It works well.
Apart from may when more than 20 was in the 8 group. When all those have 8 points, how would that help? It would only make me an indecisive wuss to list all as 8's and further to that make me a coward that let others make the decision for me.

[harvon]

I'm satisfied with the current voting system.

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

i respect that some of you prefer the current one, but the OSC voting system is still better

[IV!]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s worked fine for the last 15 odd years, why change it now. It’s just a bit of fun, why make it all serious. All I do is listen to every song and give them a score out of 10. After I’ve listened to every song I have a ranking and create my top 10 from that. It’s that simple, no need to make it any more complicated

It broke for me last month. And I really wonder how well it worked in the best days of Music Cafe, when there were 30-40 tracks here, but now, as for new member, it looks imperfect in two aspects:

1) Wasted efforts to vote. I have to spend a lot of time and creative energy to listening, understanding and relative evaluation of 30+ tracks, and here is a cherished list in front of me, where EACH is ranked according to my criteria, but now I can only give an assessment to the top-10, the remaining 20+ should get the same score (0) from me, although these tracks are not equal for me and I have spent time and effort to form this disparity. Time and effort wasted...

2) Wasted efforts for music. If I'm create track for a competition, I want to know my relative place, I want to know how I was evaluated. Since there is almost no commenting as such in Music Cafe, my place in the list is the only assessment from other participants. From the example above, let's say I didn't make the most outstanding out of 30+ entries and didn't get into anyone's top-10. Well, art is subjective) But now I'm among the 20+ who got 0p and I don't even know how good or bad I was in this 20+ according to others! Oh... sorry for the philosophical insertion if anything... I see everywhere in our world that the art of music composing is greatly oppressed, and its value is subjected to strongest inflation. Islets like OSC and MC may soon become the last havens for enthusiastic non-profit musicians, and at least inside such islets... here my philosophical insertion ends... in general, I believe that everyone deserves a rating and a place in the list with the number of points ≠ 0 just for making an effort and creating music! Otherwise, without an assessment and commenting, it would be equivalent to just creating music and not showing it to anyone.

Conclusion: all this was just my opinion, although some here also feel something similar. With a large number of tracks (I think, 15+), the current voting system does not allow me to fully express my attitude to each participant, and also does not allow each participant to receive an assessment of his creation from everyone.

[Saffran]

Well, May was exceptionally messy when you could vote on songs and not care about users.
Then more users where left out of top 10.
If the votes is about users i don't see it make a difference to change to OSC system.

[Hellfog]

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