The SECOND Drill Design Software Exhibition

[greatcow95]

We're going to go for it again and see if we can get anyone over the cold winter months. In addition, we're going to see if we can goad Pyware Mark and Pyware Dustin to enter and have a friendly competition with each other.

Introduction

This will be divided into four parts: Disclaimer, Procedures for the Drill, Band, and Procedures for Reviewing. You may choose to submit one and review, just submit, or just review. The choice is yours.

Part I—Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any piece of drill design software. I am not even affiliated with pen and paper drill design companies! However, I do use Pyware and if you’re reading this, you likely use it also! So care to take a guess at what software will be used the most? Probably Pyware, but for legal reasons, I have to state this is in no way affiliated with them or with any other drill design software company.

This is in no way a branded exhibition unless a drill design company decides to sponsor it and turn it into their own. I have no control over that kind of thing and will happily allow them to sponsor it if a company so desires to be a sponsor. Until that moment happens, though, there is no official sponsor.

I hate to harp on this, but it needs stated multiple times. This is in absolutely no way sponsored by any company. This is a community effort to have some fun.

In addition, there is no prize. I will not offer one, as I would rather have this as an exhibition rather than a competition and I’m just plain broke! In addition, there are significant copyright concerns raised by having a tangible prize.

All drills are the respective property of the drill creator and they have final say about what can be shared and what cannot. Songs used belong to whoever owns the songs. No infringement of copyright is intended.

[greatcow95]

Part II—Procedures for the Drill

1. The style of the band can be whatever you so desire, so have fun. Military style, corps style, giant productions, or simple and fast—all are welcome this year! Please note, however, that future exhibitions might require you to write in a particular style, so make sure to read the procedures every time.

2. You may use whatever drill design software you want.

3. You may use up to three songs. One of them, if you use all three, has to be a "percussion feature." The feature is unwritten and will last 275 beats. The total time may not exceed 10 minutes in length. While some of us might love to see a three-hour tour de force, others like me are limited on our Youtube accounts (more on that later).

4. Those two songs have to be available in an audio format somehow. MIDI files are fine. You may also use any other audio file provided they reasonably sync up with the drill file. Wading through a five-second delay will only give us headaches. Background/audience noises are all right but please make your best attempt to find a recording without it.

5. You are allowed to use a video editor only for minimal editing purposes, i.e. syncing an MP3 to the drill. Don’t use transitions.

6. If you use Pyware 7, try to only use the fabric files on the Pyware message boards or within the application itself. Minor alterations are fine. For example, changing black pants to white is perfectly fine. This is not required, but it would help for simplicity’s sake.

7. Try to capture the field performance view when possible. I know some of us have older systems and this might be impossible. If so, then get the main screen.

8. Please use the default field. I know some will want to use “Super Awesome Football Field 3000” but it just isn’t worth it. Use the default.

9. You must upload the video file to somewhere so we can view it (i.e. Youtube, Dropbox file, etc). What’s the point of an exhibition if you can’t exhibit it?

10. Make sure to clearly note the style of the group in your design. This will help tremendously with reviewing and prevent “raging forum beast” issues.

11. You must provide the entire drill (not just the first 80 counts) as an attachment on the message board or a Dropbox (or any kind of cloud-based service) link. In addition, please state whether or not we are allowed to use it. Give permission to use it or not—either is acceptable and there will be no “revenge” against someone that doesn’t want to share their work. However, the file must still be posted. There will be a thread for attaching them so watch for it in the next couple of months.

12. If something is not in the procedures, you may use it without asking for permission.

13. The “due date” is March 31, 2013. It’s just an arbitrary date I picked. If anyone wants to turn one in during the first part of April, I won’t say anything about it.

14. Have fun creating it!

[greatcow95]

Part III—The Band

The band itself is composed of 84 winds, 15 percussion, and 1 field commander. This is done for the sake of making things as uniform as possible and is one of the only things that are set in stone.

The winds are broken down this way:
Flutes/Piccolos 12
Clarinets 20
Saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone all together) 24
Trumpets 12
Trombones 8
Mellophones 4
Tubas 4

Percussion is as follows:
Snare Drum 4
Tenor Drum 3
Bass Drum 4
Cymbal 4
You may have an unlimited number in a percussion pit. They won’t count this time, but could count in future versions of this.

You may use 15 auxiliary people but are not required to. They can be split up however you so desire (flags, rifles, etc). It is not necessary to define exactly what they are doing other than their position on the field. So don’t worry about what moves they are going to do unless you want to worry about it.

[greatcow95]

Part IV—Procedures for Reviewing

1. You can review as many or as few as you want. Have fun and look at them all if you desire! Don’t look at any of them if you don’t want to!

2. Do not criticize because someone chose a MIDI file over an MP3 or the file has audience noises in it. That’s just rude and it might be the only audio they can find for it!

3. No trash talking. This is the single rudest thing you can do and this isn’t a competition. The message board rules still apply.

4. Go in it with an open mind. The more open, the better, because you might find a little something in someone else’s drill that you just love. You might even find a style that you never knew you would like.

5. Be constructive. “I don’t like it” as an entire reply is not constructive.

6. Remember the little things like military-styled bands don’t normally do curves. Some might even choose not to use any auxiliary units. Don’t be “That one judge everyone hates because he screws groups over.” (I can probably name at least three judges like this and I’m sure other people can name some also)

7. Leave your comments in an accessible spot. The message board is probably the best spot. Youtube and other video site comments are good also. Try to avoid video responses when possible, because it just leads to MORE video responses.

8. The due date for responses is April 20, 2013.

9. Have fun reviewing!

[greatcow95]

I'm on the last song of mine now. Hopefully, I am not the only one that is doing this. Do a couple of quickie songs, post it in the exhibition thread, and you're done.