Stepmania University: We'll make your files suck less (under construction)

[TC_Halogen]

Just got the first assignment. Let's see what I can do.

[mnnicol]

Yeah, I'm in for student (spotted the question mark next to my name). Anyway, I think the university proxy will not let me connect to IRC but I may send in a file or something.

[operationstrawbarry]

Originally Posted by Patashu

Stepmania will read dwis as well as it'll read sms so it doesn't matter. Just be aware that dwi doesn't support edit charts, mines and maybe not 192nds (have no clue on that one)

ya I dont do any of that crap...

Alright thx.

[TC_Halogen]

Question:

Originally Posted by gnr61

The progression of pitch in 2-note jumps is generally [12] [13] [23] [14]* [24] [34].

Now that I hear the song, there are quite a few grace notes in it--does the progression work the same way?

[kommisar[os]]

Layering:

This can be done so many different ways, it's impossible to cover the various theories that connect to the idea. The basics however are quite simple to follow.

Layering is incorporating different instruments/melodies in your chart, most commonly percussion and melody. The melody is usually followed using single notes, then overlapped with percussions, often on 4th/8th notes. This would create a jump note on each percussion hit while the melody follows single arrows on every other note. Layering is very easy to exaggerate. Simply because two melodies are playing, this doesn't mean you should add jumps to every 16th because of dual melodies. The easiest way to layer a simfile is to determine which sounds you're going to follow. Refrain from trying to follow every sound in your chart; this would lead to overlayering and would be very unpleasant for the player. Only step more prominent sounds that aren't hidden in the background or aren't important to the feeling of the song. After all, an important aspect of playing a simfile is feeling like you're actually playing the song.

Layering with pitch relevancy becomes a little more complicated, since you now have two notes to place in accordance to the melody. In most cases, the 2nd note would be percussion, in which case pitch relevancy isn't much of an issue as long as the main melody is still following. When you have two distinctive notes (ex: piano) they much each be placed in accordance to their pitch relevancy. Since you can't place two on the same arrow, pitch relevancy can variate to fit what 4 arrows can give you.

Vocal theory (as told by Necros) - When vocals are being layered in a song, step them as single notes with pitch relevancy as required, but make them blend in the chart. This means they aren't to be counted as layered notes, thus anything else wouldn't over lap on these vocal notes. They would still be pitch relevant and present in the chart, but wouldn't have excessive jumps due to layering. (i'm not sure i'm explaining this right)

[ducky285]

[07:58] Patashu: was wondering how much you'd be interested in helping out at the...
[07:58] Patashu: STEPMANIA UNIVERSITY http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=107820
[07:58] Patashu: it's actually serious

and that's why I'm here.

[jyris1]

Are there going to be any syncing lessons? If so, I think I may be a bit of help, with any guidance on what people want. I have been following this thread since the start, and so far, it looks like this university is going to be a stepping university (which is not my subject).

[kommisar[os]]

holy **** its ducky

[ZC_Wolfy]

Originally Posted by moches

I tried registering on ChatSpike, but the friggin' bot said <insert email here> is not a valid email. Damn.

Did you type it is as <example@email.com> or example@email.com ? It should be the latter


And I'm probably going to work on the first assignment later today

[Patashu]

the government of planet earth is happy to subsidize the costs of giving a copy of ddream studio to every student enrolled at SMU

[jyris1]

I'm glad the funding is approved. I'll wait for the official syncing curriculum, and see what I can do then.

[gnr61]

i think having jyris come in as a "guest speaker" to give a live tutorial on ddream studio would be the coolest thing ever

@moches, make sure the server you try to connect to is irc.chatspike.NET if you haven't already
also be sure to tune in tonight at 9:00PM EST in irc for an overview on hand placement (triples and quads) from yours truly

[moches]

Oh, alright, thanks. I'd love to make the seminar but 9PM EST is 11AM AST (Azn Standard Time), which means school for me. Yay.

[Xandertrax]

I need to figure out ddream studio.

I have trouble sycing with it when the audio is off the charts, lots of background noise, like heavy metal, etc. It's hard to find a discernible beat in the wave image, as far as I can tell.



like that: where would the beats go?

And I don't quite follow how to use mIRC. How do you connect to this server?

[Necros140606]

Originally Posted by kommisar[os]

Vocal theory (as told by Necros) - When vocals are being layered in a song, step them as single notes with pitch relevancy as required, but make them blend in the chart. This means they aren't to be counted as layered notes, thus anything else wouldn't over lap on these vocal notes. They would still be pitch relevant and present in the chart, but wouldn't have excessive jumps due to layering. (i'm not sure i'm explaining this right)

I ACTUALLY FORGOT ABOUT EVER SAYING THIS LMAO

but now that you mention it, this could be explained in a simpler way by saying that if your song has somewhat prominent vocals but layering them does give you nasty outputs, you may choose to still consider them, stepping em as single arrows whenever you have a free spot. this way you aren't oversaturing yer chart and you aren't breaking the flow of the muziik.

alternatively, you could just place a freeze whenever there's some singing (regardless if you have single steps, jumps, hands, quads, or nothing), whose lenght you will have to decide accordingly to the intensity of the chart, the presence of jumps, jacks, etc. i think this has been explained already by patashu in the layering lessons so refer to those posts.

[warriormag17]

This sounds cool, in for student please

[Patashu]

For mIRC:
1. Go to file > select server
2. Click the add button. Fill in the address as irc.chatspike.net and call it Chatspike, click okay so it saves
3. Ensure that the Chatspike server is now selected, and hit the 'Connect to Server' button
4. Once you connect to the server, a box will come up. Type #smu and hit enter
5. Type /nick Xandertrax (that's u)

[warriormag17]

and the download didnt work for me for some weird reason =(

[jimerax]

Originally Posted by Xandertrax

I have trouble sycing with it when the audio is off the charts, lots of backgroun noise, like heavy metal, etc. It's hard to find a discernible beat in the wave image, as far as I can tell.

Actually, it's almost impossible to tell the beat from the wave on the music like heavy metal. plus when the music is louder than assist tick sound it's even harder to sync.

and often, there're quite embarrassing problems like
- attacks of instruments are different/off on non-digital music (especially vocal)
- the music gets really unclear when it's slowed down
etc.

If I have to sync songs like that, I may edit the volume of the music file (if needed) and use assist tick, and go with only primary sound (usually putting beats for drums).

[jyris1]

Originally Posted by Xandertrax

I need to figure out ddream studio.

I have trouble sycing with it when the audio is off the charts, lots of backgroun noise, like heavy metal, etc. It's hard to find a discernible beat in the wave image, as far as I can tell.



like that: where would the beats go?

And I don't quite follow how to use mIRC. How do you connect to this server?

For this we have to jump straight to the advanced tutorial:

http://www.ddreamstudio.com/manuals/...ide.html#noisy

Try to see if that helps. If you follow those tips and still dont see a workable drumline in the wave, come back.

EDIT: You can also try to get a BPM estimate using your preferred automatic BPM calculator (you may be surprised at how smart these automatic BPM calculators can be sometimes):

http://www.ddreamstudio.com/manuals/...e.html#autobpm

Jimerax - It is possible to soften the music so that you can better hear the assist (Ctrl+Alt+Down). It was a newer feature to help combat the pains of syncing this kind of music. Also, in the Tools->Options, you can edit the individual volumes of the assist ticks.