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$$$$                                                                       $$$$
$$$$ . G  E  N  E  R  A  L    I  N  F  O .                                 $$$$
$$$:                                                                       :$$$
$$::        c r u e l i z a t i o n  is yet another biweekly music         ::$$
$$:`      competition.  in case you are not familiar with these,           ':$$
$:`.      the principle is quite simple:  the compo is being held          .':$
$: $      every two weeks, of which the first one is for tracking,         $ :$
$` $      and the second one is for voting.  having received the           $ '$
:  $      sample pack (see below), you are to track a tune, and            $  :
:  $      submit it until 00:00 GMT on sunday.  then you must get          $  :
`  $      the voting pack (see below) and judge the compo in order         $  '
   $      not to get disqualified.  for more specific information,         $
   $      read ahead.                                                      $
   $                             - cruel creator , the organizer.          $
   $                                                                       $
   $ . F  O  R  E  W  O  R  D  .                                           $
   $                                                                       $
   $        after the 20th successful time of the trackering music compo   $
   $      it became obvious to everyone that such compos are a serious     $
   $      factor in 'moving' the musician, making him compose more and     $
   $      better since instead of just making a music piece, he is         $
   $      actually competing against other musicians who use the same      $
   $      sample set but can come with radically different ideas and       $
   $      sample modifications. the trackering's success is well           $
   $      deserved.  yet, there is still room for something similiar,      $
   $      yet different.  while maintaining the same basic idea as the     $
   $      trackering, i wanted to improve some points and change some      $
   $      others.                                                          $
   $                                                                       $
   $        first of all,  i think many will agree with me that tt's       $
   $      9-point rating system is way too generalizing.  yet, many told   $
   $      me that mc's 100-point rating system was just confusing for      $
   $      them and made them throw a random number in the limits they      $
   $      considered fair for that particular song.  that makes sense -    $
   $      how can you be completely objective when there is a whole 100    $
   $      points to get lost in.  in  c r u e l i z a t i o n,  i tried    $
   $      to compromise.  it uses a 20-point rating system, which should   $
   $      be large enough to allow exact rating of a tune yet small        $
   $      enough not to get lost in.  also, i came up with a few 'anti-    $
   $      unfair' voting scheme,read about it under  v o t i n g  subject. $
   $                                                                       $
   $         also, if you hadn't noticed,  c r u e l i z a t i o n 's      $
   $      tracking week is held on the trackering's voting week, and the   $
   $      voting week, obviously, of the trackering's tracking week.       $
   $      clearly, people might want to enter both contests, and might     $
   $      not have the time to enter them both in one same week.           $
   $                                                                       $
   $        additionally, maintaining a sample pack / voting pack / info   $
   $      mailing list should make life alot easier for those who want     $
   $      to get updated quickly and effeciently.                          $
   $                                                                       $
   $        and, finally. bad samples quality and intense samples          $
   $      handicapping in order to get more space for data sucks. size     $
   $      limits may activate the tracker's inventitive skills of 'how to  $
   $      chip those samples better' but they do take the quality from the $
   $      samples.  we are going to change that. here you are.  welcome to $
   $      c r u e l i z a t i o n.                                         $
   $        there are no extra samples allowed (except when indicated so   $
   $      by a special rule), so that should keep the pack not-so-giant.   $
   $                                                                       $
   $        if you have any cool ideas concerning the contest, i'll be     $
   $      more than happy to consider them - please email them to me at    $
   $      'cruel@kosmic.com' .                                             $
   $                                                                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $ . G  E  T  T  I  N  G    S  A  M  P  L  E  P  A  C  K .               $
   $                                                                       $
   $      the sample pack ( 'cr##_smp.zip' where ## is the contest         $
   $      number ) will be uploaded to ftp.cdrom.com , into the            $
   $      /pub/demos/incoming/music/cruel/ directory as well as to         $
   $      ftp.arosnet.se , into the /demo/musicdisk/ directory. it is      $
   $      also available through e-mail.  mail me with your request        $
   $      and i will encode it to you.  my address is (as stated)          $
   $      'cruel@kosmic.com'. sample packs from past contests can be       $
   $      found on ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/demos/music/contests/cruel/       $
   $      directory, and on ftp.arosnet.se in /demo/musicdisk/ directory.  $
   $                                                                       $
   $      sample packs will also include a last contest results            $
   $      'cr##_res.txt' , and the top ten entries 'cr_top10.txt' .        $
   $                                                                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $ . R  U  L  E  S .                                                     $
   $                                                                       $
   $      formats allowed:  mod mtm s3m it xm , or any other format        $
   $      that cubic player 1.6+ can play.                                 $
   $                                                                       $
   $      must specify your name/hande in the title or the sampletext.     $
   $                                                                       $
   $      no size limit.                                                   $
   $                                                                       $
   $      no channel limit.                                                $
   $                                                                       $
   $      no external samples.                                             $
   $                                                                       $
   $      no covers / remixes whatsoever unless permitted/forced by the    $
   $      special rules of that specific  c r u e l i z a t i o n .  if    $
   $      a song is found to be a cover / remix while special rules don't  $
   $      allow it, it will be disqualified. if a song is found to be a    $ 
   $      part cover / remix, 25% of the score will be taken off in the    $
   $      results.                                                         $
   $                                                                       $
   $      co-ops are allowed - and are regarded as separate entries from   $
   $      the musicians participating, i.e. if two musicians make a co-op, $
   $      both of them can as well enter on their own.                     $
   $                                                                       $
   $      one musician can enter up to 3 different tunes into the same     $
   $      contest if he wishes to.  in co-ops cases, up to 3 different     $
   $      co-ops by the same participants can be entered. any different    $
   $      combination of co-ops participants can be used up to 3 times.    $
   $      for example, if musicians X Y and Z enter the contets, they can  $
   $      enter up to 3 tunes each one alone (X,Y,Z) and up to 3 tunes for $
   $      every possible co-op combination (XY,XZ,YZ,XYZ).                 $
   $                                                                       $
   $      you can do anything to a sample as long as its inside this       $
   $      sample only, no external copy/paste. 'anything' includes         $
   $      editing the sample with advanced editors and applying reverb,    $
   $      flange, echo or any other effect on that particular sample.      $
   $      no mixing/morphing/copying from/to/with other samples.           $
   $                                                                       $
   $      ft2 samples drawing is allowed.  yet, total number of the        $
   $      samples must not exceed the original number, i.e. you can        $
   $      only redraw an existing sample.                                  $
   $                                                                       $
   $      must dcc or mail it to cruel creator at 'cruel@kosmic.com'       $
   $      before the set deadline.  the standard one is 00:00 GMT Sunday.  $
   $                                                                       $
   $      must vote.  contestants who will not vote will be disqualified.  $
   $      for co-ops entries at least one co-op participant is required to $
   $      vote to qualify.                                                 $
   $                                                                       $
   $      all rules are overridable by a special compo rules, which        $
   $      will be states in the file 'about_##.txt' where ## is the        $
   $      contest number.  if no such  file exists in the sample pack,     $
   $      all the rules above should be followed closely. same goes if     $
   $      the file text does not specify any deviation from the rules.     $
   $                                                                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $ . V  O  T  I  N  G .                                                  $
   $                                                                       $
   $      the voting pack ( 'cr##_vot.zip' where ## is the contest         $
   $      number ) will be uploaded to ftp.cdrom.com , into the            $
   $      /pub/demos/incoming/music/cruel/ directory as well as to         $
   $      ftp.arosnet.se , into the /demo/musicdisk/ directory. it is      $
   $      also available through e-mail.  mail me with your request        $
   $      and i will uuencode it to you.  my address is (as stated)        $
   $      'cruel@kosmic.com'. old voting packs can be retrived from        $
   $      ftp.cdrom.com ,  /pub/demos/music/contests/cruel/ directory,     $
   $      and ftp.arosnet.se , /demo/musicdisk/ directory.                 $
   $                                                                       $
   $      the voting program was made in a real rush so i will not         $
   $      describe it here for now, but it is very self explanatory. just  $
   $      run crvote##.exe and see the help. it will generate a file named $
   $      nicknm##.crv where the the ## is the  c r u e l i z a t i o n    $
   $      number.  e-mail or dcc this file to me on irc. remember, you are $
   $      to rate the modules, not to assign them a place.                 $
   $                                                                       $
   $      when a contestant is voting, naturally his vote for himself      $
   $      (if any) will be discarded.  intsead, the average of his ratings $ 
   $      will figure as a vote for him.  that is being done to prevent    $
   $      people from voting very low for others on purpose, to improve    $
   $      their own song's placing.  using this method, if you vote low    $
   $      for others, you also lower your own score relatively.  if you    $
   $      vote fair, that shouldn't matter to you - if your voting scale   $
   $      is, for example 0 to 16 (and higher than 16 is considered just   $
   $      _amazing_ by you) , then you yourself should be rated by the     $
   $      same voting scale, fair enough?  that is what the system does.   $
   $      i do realize that if the pack is going to have one decent tune   $
   $      and the rest is bad, it is going to lower the score a bit on     $
   $      the good tune (if the composer votes fair). but since it is      $
   $      only one vote, it should not matter much.  same goes for the     $
   $      direct opposit situation (all good tunes and one bad).  one      $
   $      last thing to say about this system: don't hurry to vote high    $ 
   $      on everybody because it will raise your score, think of it, it   $
   $      will also raise everybody's score, so it is best to just vote    $
   $      plain and simple fair.  hope this is understood by everybody.    $
   $      if you have any comments/questions on this system - mail me.     $
   $                                                                       $
   $      another anti-unfair voting scheme had been implemented. it is    $
   $      pretty simple - after calculating the results with the existing  $
   $      votes (using the first scheme mentioned above) all the votes     $
   $      will be compared with the actual result (i.e your vote on        $
   $      someone will be compared with his end score) . then, all votes   $
   $      which deviate from the end score by 15 points or more, will be   $
   $      discarded, and the scores will be recalculated using the         $
   $      remaining votes. this is done in order to remove most rediculous $
   $      votes (think of it as 'interpolation' :D ), and usually no votes $
   $      will be removed by this scheme. the recalculation only takes     $
   $      place once, it doesn't cycle (taking averages of the second end  $
   $      scores, comparing them, etc.), since then it could cut more      $
   $      votes than needed :D . this system is _very_ simple, but if you  $
   $      have any questions - mail me and i will answer.                  $
   $                                                                       $
   $      in addition, due to many complaints the following rule had been  $
   $      added to voting: you _must_ use impulse tracker to listen to .it $
   $      modules and you _must_ use either fast tracker 2 or cubic player $
   $      to listen to .xm modules. it is a widely known fact that cubic   $
   $      player's .it module support is awful at best. also, .xm modules  $
   $      are mostly played _quite_ incorrectly in implulse tracker. of    $
   $      course, there is no way to check what did the voter use to play  $
   $      a module, but if anything will indicate that the rule above was  $
   $      violated on a certain song, the vote and the comment for that    $
   $      particular song will be discarded. however, it will not afffect  $
   $      that voter's votes and comments on other songs.                  $
   $                                                                       $
   $      anyone can vote.  contestants must vote in order not to          $
   $      be disqualified - see the 'rules' section.                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $ . M  A  I  L  I  N  G    L  I  S  T .                                 $
   $                                                                       $
   $        get on the  c r u e l i z a t i o n  mailing list if you       $
   $      want to receive sample packs and/or vote packs and/or any        $
   $      other info about  c r u e l i z a t i o n  by e-mail!            $
   $                                                                       $
   $        to subscribe, send email to 'cruel@kosmic.com' with            $
   $      'subscribe cruelization [tag] <name> <address>' in the subject   $
   $      field (or the message body).                                     $
   $                                                                       $
   $        to unsubscribe, send email to 'cruel@kosmic.com' with          $
   $      'unsubscribe cruelization [tag] <name> <address>' in the subject $
   $      field (or the message body).                                     $
   $                                                                       $
   $        the tag field is optional and can be left blank for a full     $
   $      subscribtion (information, sample packs, and voting packs), or   $
   $      it can be [info] for the information, [samples] for the sample   $
   $      packs and [votepaqs] for the voting packs. the tags can be       $
   $      multiplied, for example if you wish to subscribe to both the     $
   $      information and sample packs you should use the following:       $
   $      'subscribe cruelization [info+samples] <name> <address>' .       $
   $                                                                       $
   $        if an email returns with an error (if your account is no       $
   $      longer valid or your ISP was temporarily shut down), you will    $
   $      be removed from the list. just re-subscribe to get back on it.   $
   $                                                                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $ . I  R  C .                                                           $
   $                                                                       $
   $     i can be frequently found on '#trax' channel on anothernet, which $
   $     can be accessed on servers 'irc.neato.org' and 'irc.together.net' $
   $     (among others), port 6667. if i have my xdcc set up there, which  $
   $     you can verify by doing a '/whois cc_xdcc' , you can also get the $
   $     c r u e l i z a t i o n  sample pack or voting pack by xdcc/tdcc. $
   $     do a '/ctcp cc_xdcc xdcc send #1' to receive a sample pack if     $
   $     it's a tracking week, or a voting pack if it's a voting week.     $
   $                                                                       $
   $                                                                       $
   $ .:..:.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:..:. $
   $                                                                       $
   $            - cruel creator -            - cruel@kosmic.com -          $
`ıs$                                                                       $
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