Stages

[eataninja]

Every MPCer's career seems to go through certain stages. Every few pieces, there's a standout piece that brings a composer up (or down) a level. My question to you guys is this: what do you consider your stages? How have you evolved? I can break my career down into several stages

The Beginning (Everything pre-Youtube): This was me playing arounf with MPC for a few months. Honesly, none of my finished pieces were all that great, although there are a few simple gems.

YouTube Start (Ninja Gaiden 4-2 to Plug Man): These pieces are all fairly simple, with no dickspeed, and some soundfont experimentation. I didn't really use many dynamics or glitches.

Early Dickspeed (02 Battle to Sonic Boom): These pieces featured me using dickspeed for the first time. I started producing some halfway decent wprks, and experimenting with dynamics more.

Hey, I Be Gettin' Pretty Good (Danger to Corneria): This is where the bulk of my best pieces are. Seriously quality stuff in here. Good volume control, great low A-glitching, good instrument choice...I miss those days :/

Wandering Period (Twisted Carnival to Cortex Battle): Didn't release many pieces in this period. Most of 'em aren't great, IMHO only Temple is as good as my older stuff. I played around with the original soundfont a bit more, and did many songs by ear.

Current (Trail to What's My Age Again?): Stuff is meeting my quality standards again. There's some nice Original SF and Orchestra work here. I personally think Trial and GHZ are my two best current pieces.

So how have you evolved? What are your stages?

[Pokésonic]

Hmm... let me see here...

Early days (before YouTube): I REALLY sucked when I first started out. I was mostly inspired by Cat to start using MPC, but the first piece I tried was inspired by TBB. I tried my hand at MPCing Green Hill Zone, but it sucked so bad that I didn't even consider releasing it. Other stuff I did then included Emerald Hill Zone, Team Galactic Grunt Battle, etc.

Onto YouTube (R/B/Y Gym Leader to PMD2 Palkia): Let's face it, I SUCKED back when I first started putting MPCs onto YouTube. I'd like to think PMD2 Palkia Battle bucked that trend a little, but it still wasn't all that good.

Days of Meh (S&K Sandopolis Zone Act 1 to King Dedede's Theme): Basically, everything I released in this stretch was meh. At this point, I was probably one of the worst MPC'ers on YouTube.

A Spark of Talent (Welcome to the Jungle to Boomer Kuwanger 2nd redo): I started to hit a bit of a stride when I released Welcome to the Jungle. Looking back on it, I don't think it's aged well, but most of my early works haven't either That stride kind of ended after I released my second redo of Boomer Kuwanger. I guess you could kind of extend this period to include Sweet Child o' Mine, but that turned out kind of blah, especially at the end.

More Days of Meh (1st OC to Mega Man Star Force 2 Boss): A lot of what I released in this period was rather meh as well, though Blast Hornet certainly stood out as a lot better than what I had been releasing at that point.

Getting better (MM2 Wily Castle 1 to MMX3 Blast Hornet redo): I started to regain a bit of that old stride here. I'd have to say my Scorch Pterosaur OC and Sonic 2 Oil Ocean were the best of this period.

Lots o' Soundfonts (Dialga/Palkia Battle to MMX4 Colonel/General Battle): This is where I used a bunch of soundfonts to make my MPCs. They're not bad, considering the stuff I had released previously, but nothing beats the original SF.

In the Middle (Sonic 3 Ice Cap Act 2 to R2TGE The Cave of Bad Dreams): Nothing too great here, though I think I have some pretty good compositions from this period. Air Fleet from Shadow the Hedgehog and The Cave of Bad Dreams from Rayman 2 stand out to me the best of this period. I still paled in comparison to composers like Rusty, but I never claimed to be the best. I consider this period to be my "middle" days as I think I was just finding out what I could do.

EPIC MEDLEYS (Mega Man X Epic Medley to Sonic the Hedgehog Epic Medley): Tried something new here. EPIC MEDLEYS. It's kinda obvious that I was inspired by Adolfo to make some epic medleys. After the MMX Epic Medley, i think I started to hit a stride with the original SF, 'cuz I started churning out stuff like MMX5 X vs. Zero, which I still think to be one of my best, after the medleys.

Ups and Downs (MMX5 X vs. Zero to Sonic 2 Chemical Plant Zone): I had a bit of a bumpy road during this period. After X vs. Zero, a few of my compositions were failing to meet the standards I had essentialy set for myself with X vs. Zero. My guess is I was trying too hard to match X vs. Zero. Chemical Plant Zone is a perfect example of that (hint: the Marios and Piranha Plants in the second part are really bad).

Picking up the Pace (MMX3 Opening Stage to MMZ3 Cannon Ball): I think I truly hit a stride around this point. I was starting to perform well in contests, with my one OC of this period winning OC Contest 8 and MMX3 Opening Stage and MMZXA Trap Phantasm placing high in Mega Man Contest Round 3. This really gave me some confidence as I thought I could only do better from here on out.

Present days (MMZX Area O to MMZ4 Esperanto (present)): This period has really proved to me that I've been improving in leaps and bounds. Some of my most recent compositions have even placed in Song of the week (which is a first for me). Standout compositions, for me, include MMZXA Soul Ablaze, MMZX Trap Factory, and MMZ4 Esperanto. I wonder where I'll go from here. I'm hoping that I'll only keep getting better.

Whew... big post is big

[jokinjoe]

Sometimes I wonder how good I could possibly be at Mario Paint if I tried. I've only released four MPC's and I feel a half-assed them for the most part. I think the hardest part for me is getting motivated to start on something, and choosing a song.

I think I enjoy watching other people make compositions more than making my own!

[PhantomTaco]

Before YouTube: Mainly copied some guy named pmrprocuction's videos, because they were bad and I made them "better." I did/copied Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Let It Be by the Beatles, Power Rangers, Gerudo Valley, Flathead by the Fratellis, New Born by Muse (I WILL DO THIS SONG), and 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago.

First Videos: Uploaded my first video because three other people uploaded an awful version. I'm not really sure why I kept on going, but I definitely posted S.S. Anubis to put Jet Force Gemini out in the Mario Paint world. You're welcome, world.

First Soundfonts: I was against them for a while, and then I just started using them randomly for songs that didn't need it. Through this came the Yoshi's Story ending and Dream Chaser. New Born was started up again, too (I WILL FINISH THIS SONG). This period of time brought my

First Dickspeed Use: Like soundfonts, I was totally against dickspeed. Then I randomly made the Diddy Kong Racing intro with a speed of about 1500. However, I didn't break the 5 note limit until the very end (I used the high speed for trills or whatever), and I felt good about myself for not succumbing to dickspeed's evil grasp. But then Gandrayda came out and completely disregarded everything.

Mario Paint V.2: I finally thought my recording woes would be over, and I could record a long video without lag. I was wrong (Or at least I thought I was wrong, because I've done absolutely nothing regarding my recording and everything's fine now).

Soundfont Party WOOP WOOP: With Mario Paint V.2, I suddenly stared using soundfonts and only soundfonts. Sure, there was the occasional Kids Aren't Alright, but it was mainly soundfonts. The thing that confuses me most now is why I used the Orchestra soundfont so much, when I can only record out of one side of the stereo... Oh, and I picked up New Born again. I WILL FINISH THIS SONG.

Reconstruction: I got angry at myself because Floyd Missions was a failure, and I got angry at BlueHeat because he tried stealing Crazy Little Thing Called Love from me (I'm 95% sure of this). Then I finally learned that I could record videos myself without any lag, and peace was restored! BlueHeat went on to bigger and better things after this. With this new-found ability to record, I started strictly doing original soundfont songs, and I started making my first original compositions.

YOU GOT BOOST POWER!!: I made Climb Up! And Get The Last Chance in the Hard Rock soundfont, the first time I used a soundfont in a while. Then came a Piano soundfont song. I haven't touched a soundfont since that. Lots of volume editing, but no soundfonts.

A Bold Declaration: I made Heavy Lobster for Axelrod's big collab thingy. Along with this came the huge statement that I wouldn't be using as much dickspeed as I used to. Later, Somewhere in the Between came out, with my fastest speed of almost 4000.

Present Day: NEW BORN. I WILL FINISH THIS SONG.

[eataninja]

Feb 3, 2010 19:37:17 GMT -6 jokinjoe said:

Sometimes I wonder how good I could possibly be at Mario Paint if I tried. I've only released four MPC's and I feel a half-assed them for the most part. I think the hardest part for me is getting motivated to start on something, and choosing a song.

I think I enjoy watching other people make compositions more than making my own!

I would kinds be like this too if I didn't have so many subscribers :/. I mever feel like I'm good enough, or I'm doing my fans a serivce. And I do try, because I strive to get better at this. It just doesn't always work out :/

[buckyboy2009]

Ooh... this should be fun looking back...

Pre-YouTube -- While looking up Still Alive music videos, I came across Still Alive 2.0. After watching it, I decided to see a few more MPCs before deciding I wanted to make one. I struggled to create a song at first (I attempted King DeDeDe's theme from SSBB and Cornered! from AA)

Baby Steps (Kraid - Hot Air Skyway) -- I released my first few videos. All were relatively simple, low tempo, and around 1-2 files in length. Out of these, my Crash Bandicoot MPCs turned out to be fan favorites.

Growing Pains (What I've Done - Time Machine) -- What I've Done marked a huge jump for me, in length and files. At seven files and over 3 minutes, it was the longest MPC for me. It was also the first MPC I did with a song that had already been done. These songs turned out to be big hits as well.

Making a Name (Numb - Medieval Theme) -- With the arrival of Numb, it marked my first use of a edited soundfont. It was also the first time I made a video based off of a number of requests asking for it. This also marked my first contest, with Rainbow Road, which was my fastest tempo'd song, clocking in at a "fast" 1200.

Contest Bug (Tension Rising - 0²) -- I made it a mission to complete a MPC before the song was actually chosen, or before the contest opened to entries. Tension Rising for MPC Contest Round 4 and 0² for Round 5. It also marked my first OC, which was, of course, the first entered in the OC Contest Round 2.

Calm Before the Storm (Polar Themes - Bleed It Out) -- Nothing major. Mostly a relaxing period for me. Showed off the BUMP soundfont, which was only used once. A quiet resting period.

Big Bang (Melancholy - JS 'n' Bucky) -- YAY. Melancholy, Rampant Emotions, and JS 'n' Bucky. A wave of OCs. Not to mention my first contest win and hosting Round 5 of the OC Contest. Also Ricco Harbor, which was fun.

Dead Period (Diamond on a Landmine - Daily Agony) -- Slow times over here. Usually a month or more until a new MPC. Nothing more than a dead area where waiting for the next amazing soundfont was just fine.

I wanna win a SotW (I'm Looking - Christmastime is Here) -- A last run for a SotW/SotM/SotY candidate (Melancholy was a Wild Card). My second LOC, and the second Ska MPC. No luck though.

The Horizon (Present) -- Looks dark. I can't see anything yet. Deathbed and my grand Sub Special are gaining some light, but not fast enough.

[powerpc127]

Pre-youtube: Nada. Just two years of advanced music theory and a whole lot of instrument playing.

First song: I donwloaded MPC, worked for two nights, then released Starwolf battle theme. Not much to say here. It's still one of my better pieces. One of the problems with it though is that I adhered a little too closely to a midi and didn't rely on my ear enough, so the instrumentation and the drum parts could be better.

Hiatus: After my first song I disappeared for nine months from youtube because my computer wasn't fast enough to record stuff up to speed. I still worked on another song (fatalize), but I didn't release it until I figured out how to record on my new computer. I also had problems with the txt files.

Return: once I got back into it, I made a few... meh songs. Ones I always wanted to do, but just didn't have the experience to pull off well. The notes are all there, but the instrumentation is not what it could have been. I also tried my first dickspeed song, which when I rerecorded it, skipped beats at the transitions. Oh well.

Experimentation: Once I figured out (with some help) how soundfonts worked, I started releasing songs that were much higher quality. I also started putting a lot more work into songs. I've been using my ear more and have been playing around with both instrumentation and rhythms. My next song is going to be along the same vein.

So... I don't have many stages, but this is a cool thread so I figured I'd post them anyway.

[RehdBlob]

Pre-MPC:This was me playing around with stop-motion animation, which has carried throughout my MPC'ing career.


Early YouTube:This was me playing around with Lego Digital Designer while still keeping up with my stop-motion animations.


Inspiration (Get Smart Theme):After watching several MPC videos, I decided to make the Get Smart Theme. This involved me learning the song on piano, and then making the song on MPC from memory. It wasn't really great, but the main notes were there.

Dickspeed Competition with theEvilGrimace (Booster's Railroad): This song was made after watching tEG's SMW Castle thing. It marks my first jump in skills. Volume control, dickspeed, low A glitch, etc

SMB Theme: This deserves a section by itself because the SMB theme marks a point that I would hearken back to later.

Soundfont Play (Clock Town Day 1 - The Easy Winners): With the advent of SatoshiLyish's soundfont editing, the trend became to use soundfonts for songs. Which was fine. These songs are pretty good. This is where I somewhat learned to use volume control.

Original Soundfont Classicism (Midnight Cave/The Great Escape - Starfox 2: Eladard/The Forest Temple): Getting back to the original soundfont, but not exactly... In a few of these songs (like Eladard), I raised/lowered the octaves of several notes.

Piano (Castle Courtyard - Lon Lon Ranch/FFIIj Battle): More shifting around. This was a test of the Piano soundfont, and it worked alright.

Original Soundfont Impressionism (The Impact Site - Present): This is my present-day status. I take a long time to finish stuff, but I'm aiming to recreate sounds in the original soundfont, while also using volume control to make echos and such.

[Rusty]

Pre MPC: I had my account on youtube years before I started MPC. One day, after playing SNESMP, I decided to look up videos to see if anyone put their compositions on youtube. This was in May. After looking it up, I found TBB, and eventually other people and the MPC program. I watched compositions from May to Late November. //May 2008 to November 2008//

Getting Started/Beginner Era (Rusty's Original Song - This Land): A large gap of time (about 3 or 4 months) only spanning 7 songs. One day, someone I really looked up to in my time of watching, BrianLED, hosted an OC contest. On a whim, I decided to enter. This was only going to be a one time deal, and I wasn't planning on really releasing MPCs often. However, the results of the contest surprised me, and changed my mind, namely, winning the Wild Card, and placing in the top 15. After that I decided to continue working with things, but at a slow pace. The rest of the time period contained random Soundfont abused + MIDI copied songs, and lots of OCs. This Land marked a turning point. It was my first song to use dickspeed, and the first one I really feel I started developing my style. //November 2008 to March 2009//

Hitting my Stride/Soundfont Era (Caves Boss - vs. Lord Blazer): This era was mainly defined as rushing to improve, so that I can be at least half as good as the people I really looked up to in this time period (Balloon, Kace, and Banjo). After This Land, I decided to really challenge myself, and take on a more complex song. Thus, I decided upon Caves Boss. It ended up landing big for me, and got me some notice. After that, however, I struggled with inconsistancy. Following my best song at the time, I made possibly my worst (Long March Ahead). This style continued pretty much throughout this era. I had some pretty solid songs, and some fairly weak ones. For the longest time, I was defined mainly by one of my unfinished compositions, Star Fox Main Theme. It was considered my best song for a long time, but sat there unfinished. However, I finally put that to rest with the release of Lord Blazer. Lord Blazer was by far my best when it was released, and I was really pleased with the outcome. //March 2009 to May 2009//

Falling Away/Filler Era (Zed's Theme - Area 6 Redo): After my success with Lord Blazer, I started composing like crazy. In one month, I made 8 compositions. Sadly, most of them were filler, minus Aquatic Serenity and Area 6 Redo. During this time, I really lost my way. Any feeling of accomplishment I got from Lord Blazer was fumbled away. This time period was mainly defined by me as the time period where I became a slave of myself, and lost most of the fun I had. It continued until Area 6 Redo, one of my few actually decent songs from this time. However, it didn't perform as well as I had hoped in SotW. I realized that I wasn't having any fun anymore, and decided to silently step away from the program. //May 2009//

Revival/Transitional Era (Flying Battery Zone - Duo OC With Phazon): About a month after Area 6, I realized something. I wasn't having fun because 1. I was trying to hard to match the greats, 2. because I was doing the same thing over and over, and 3. because I began to do what I thought people would like, and not what I wanted to do. I also took notice at the lack of dickspeed original sf artists that had once been very common. I recorded a song by JF, Fear Factory, which finally pushed me to try dickspeed original sf style. After Flying Battery Zone, I was hooked. I also gave lots of variety, in songs like Coral Coast, and Tension Rising. I had finally found my niche, and what I had most fun doing. //June 2009 to July 2009//

Quest for Power/Original SF Era (Liberi Fatali - Forze Del Male): Liberi Fatali was an old project that was revived. It was intended to be an experiment way back during the Soundfont Era, but it eventually evolved into being my 100 sub special. Liberi gained me a lot of momentum for future songs. All of the songs in this era used the original sf, and most used dickspeed. There was a time in the middle with Wily Stage 2 and Boomerang Flash where I experimented with low tempos though. However, what I was mainly looking for was to ooze as much power and emotion out of the original sf as I could. I always viewed the original as weak compared to other sfs, and I wanted to change that. So I started learning combos, stacking instruments, and even dipping into 5000 tempos. //July 2009 to September 2009//

Changing it Up/Variety Era (Cyber Peacock - Forest Interlude): After Forze, I took a short break. When I got back, I decided to gain more variety. I returned to doing more songs with sfs (Cyber Peacock, Castle Boss), more OCs (Haunted House), experimenting with lower tempos than what I was used to (Nom, Magma Man, Grass Land, Forest Interlude), while still maintaning my typical style (Arctic Abyss, Stickerbrush Symphony). However, I took on a considerably more ambient approach. The era before was mainly defined by power, but this one was defined by ambience, thanks in part to my influence from DKC composer David Wise. //October 2009 to January 2010//

The Future: I don't really know what's in store. I'm thinking more stuff styled like the Quest for Power. I'm working on an OC, and an Unfinished Comps video.

[Theultimatezoralink]

Pre-YouTube (Hyrule Castle Courtyard - Tac Challange): As to be expected, definitely my lowest point. Everything I made here was based off piano music, so I mainly used two or three instruments for the entire song. I made this stuff before I decided to share my stuff with YT. I was practically unknown when I released these, so they had low views, ratings, and comments. Even now these comps don't get much attention.

The Legend of Zelda phase AKA Cat's real symphony sf phase (ALTTP Sanctuary - Great Deku Tree): This is what happens when I discover how to use soundfonts and a site full of Legend of Zelda piano music at the same time. All of the songs in this series are from Zelda games and use Cat's real symphony soundfont. I start to get discovered in this phase, and so my vids are a little more popular. It's also notable that the with the last two vids in the series, I finally start recording just the actual MPC screen instead of my whole screen.

Small Transition (Unfinished Great Toad - RBY Show Me Around): In this small phase, I finally discover MIDIs, so I no longer use piano music. Due to this transition my comps are more accurate and use more instruments. Two of these are unfinished sf songs, while the other three are Pokemon original sf songs. Around this phase I discovered Balloon's Morpheel video and whined about how his vid got a lot more attention than mine. This then led to Balloon discovering me and posting a topic about me here at the Hangout, increasing my popularity and actually making me more known.

SF Phase Two (Majora's Mask Boss - Clock Town Day 3): This small phase is me returning to soundfonts, and I continue to mostly create Zelda tunes.

Tiny Transition (Hag 1 Battle): This comp is simply an unimpressive transition between my sf obsession, and my BK obsession.

Banjo-Kazooie phase AKA Return to original sf (Terrydactyland - Canary Mary Race): Between here and the last phase I discover PopTart, who has just recently started. He got me into two things, first of all his use of the original sf inspired me to start using it more. Secondly his Bubblegloop swamp composition made me decide to play BK, which I got for Christmas that year but stopped playing for a long time because it kept freezing. I really got into BK and its music. With the exception of Klavier Gavin, all these songs are from BK and use the original sf. It's also notable that I finally discover the Hangout around here and start posting my comps, giving me a little more attention. This run goes through practically the whole summer, and I have lots of time to compose

Short Filler (Windmill Hut redo): It's now late July, and I'm spending a lot of time at band camp preparing for the marching season, and so I have less time for the big project I'm working on. So I pull out a filler that remakes an old sf song I did.

My first Peak (Targitzan): After two weeks of work, I release what was my biggest project to date (In fact, it still might have be my biggest project). This song definitely increased my popularity, including getting me subs from the MPH who weren't that impressed with me before. Most likely my best comp to that point.

Piano Comps AKA Decay One (OoT Title and Chilly Willy/Chilli Billi): Band Camp is now over, the piano contest is going on, and I have one week until school starts back up. So I make two comps with the piano sf and enter them in the contest. Unfortunately these were a step back from Targitzan. I released Chilly Willy/Chilli Billi the day before school starts, and it ends up being the last comp people see from me for around a month.

Filler 1 (Unfinished Comps - Grant Kirkhope had a Little Lamb): School has started, afterschool band has started, and I started making a BK playthrough. I've lost practically all time for MPC. So as a filler I release an unfinished comps video. After that I buy a mic and I begin an LP. After episode seven I finally release a new MPC, Azalea Town, and never release another episode of the LP after that. Soon the whole Mary has a Little Lamb fad starts, and so I make a version of it based off Weldar. Also notable that my fad entry won second place when the voting started.

My Second Peak (Crocodile Cacophony): I finally get 50 subs, so I decide to release a special. The result, my best comp to date. Another popularity boost occurs here. Unfortunately I really peaked here, so I had no idea how to follow this up.

The Big Gap (ALTTP Sanctuary Chorus version): I see PopTart's Oath to Order chorus version, and realize that would be the perfect sf to redo ALTTP Sanctuary. And so a day before my birthday I release this little piece. After this I don't release a vid for two months.

Filler Era AKA Decay Two (What's In The Box - Intergalactic Field Trip): I decide it's been long enough, so I release a filler. Following that filler come two OCs. Unfortunately nothing here is that impressive, and everything is a step behind Crocodile Cacophony.

Future (Some notable events that will happen soon): 1. My computer will be wiped and I will lose MPC and all the songs I made on it. 2. Angry Aztec, a redo I've been meaning to make for a long time, will finally be released. 3. My one year anniversary special will be released.

[AdolfoBaez]

Hope you´re ready for some engrish

Well first of all I´ve always worked by ear, I would like to clear that out so I dont have to repeat it later on.

Pre-youtube-
I had a lot of experience with the music tool of mario paint, that game stole countless hours of my life long before internet was mainstream.

Youtube early days-
The first 3 videos I uploaded were live performances from bands I really like (Muse, Radiohead, Gorillaz), later after watching TBB´s videos I was amazed, not because of his good technique, but for the fact that he edited many clips together to make a full song, this is when I decided to upload some short and goofy songs just for the lulz, MPC wasn´t out yet, (The little mermaid, smells like teen spirit, summer nights, london bridge and stuff.), during this stage I tried to make something different and made an OC using mario paint and FL Studio together. by the way, I was amazed by the popularity of my lazy rendition of smells like teen spirit.

MPC-
This is when I discovered MPC (I think it was one of tiger´s videos..) I decided to give it a try and made the lazy rendition of Feel Good Inc. which became popular too, at first I didnt liked the program at all, I found it so buggy, I wanted to do Zelda´s overworld theme so bad using the SNES mario paint and found it impossible to make a decent rendition of the song, that´s when I decided to give MPC another chance, once again the video became so popular and that gave me a lot of motivation to "entertain people with my songs", here I uploaded a lot of videos using both MPC and SNES MP, another Mario Paint and FL Studio video was uploaded, This is also when I discovered Lologuru and Axelrod channels, it was nice to comment on our videos and compliment each others songs, a nice and friendly "competition".

Innovation, Peak-
Just like when I made my MP and FL Studio working together songs. I felt the urge to make something completely different than the rest, this is when I decided to add that "extra creativity" to my remixes, first I uploaded my Zelda epic medley which, to this day, I still really like the transitions I made (specially the zelda 2 overworld-gerudo valley), Then I the SSBB remix which became a spam board of "post your top 5 brawl characters", after that I decided to make my final SNES MP song, the Donkey Kong mini medley (TBB commented on that video, that made my happy :-P ), Later on I uploaded what is (probably) my most respected song, Super Mario Galaxy Gusty Garden remix, I consider this song the pinnacle of what I am able to create using the oldschool MPC technique, (low tempo, no soundfonts, no 4 extra instruments).
later I made my first and only song ny request, Nayru´s song, filler song, nothing special.
After Gusty Garden´s amazing feedback I gained a lot of motivation to enter Rainbow Road´s contest, I still consider that song one of my favorite "creative" remixes, specially the chord transposition.

LAZYNESS-
I felt that I peaked with Gusty Garden and I was feeling kinda tired of making so many time consuming songs, I gave custom soundfonts a try (it´s my party), It took my some time to find the ideal songs that would motivate me (Castlevania´s darkness of fear, Dracula´s Castle and Back to the future remix).

BACK-
With Paranoid Android (one of my favorite rock songs ever) I was back with big MPC projects, thankfully it received great feedback and attention and gave my motivation to continue making MPC songs.
when I got 3 million total video views I wanted to make something special and decided to remake my most viewed song, tLoZ overworld theme making a custom soundfont ripping the original a link to the past instruments, it was fun to make.
I organized the first MPC community song which was awesome.
one day after looking at the stats of my viewers I wanted to make something mainstream to attract more female subscribers, that´s why I made Katy Perry´s Hot n Cold and added that extra cutessy with all the meows and stuff, I know.. shame on me.. but it worked and it just reached 100,000 views 2 days ago :-P.
Then I released the electronica soundfont, uploaded another epic medley (mega man) and made 2 more remixes, inspector gadget with the electronica sf and it´s a small world.

Second Peak-
Levus´ original compositions inspired me to enter the MPC OC contest with the Astro Chase (it was the first time I used insane dickspeed), after that I uploaded many OCs using FL Studio.
With a huge project like the evolution of video games I feel that I peaked once again (just like with Gusty Garden back then).

Currently-
5 months with no new MPC songs in mind, I just don´t feel the motivation right now, I´m more motivated for making FL Studio OCS but I still enjoy watching the songs you people upload and logging in to the forum once in a while, maybe when I find something to innovate what I´ve done so far or a song that I really enjoy making I´ll give MPC another try.

wow that was long

[PopTart]

I really love reading all these stories :-D

I still feel quite new here, at least in the company of everyone else who is here. So much had transpired on the MPH and in the MPC world in general before I started MPC that I feel like I will forever be a "new addition" to this well established family. Thus, my story will not be long and reference notable historical events, but I decided that I would make a post here anyway

Pre-YouTube: (This part will be long, because I like to reminisce ) Back in March of 2009, I was surfing YouTube randomly like I always do when I stumbled across an MPC video (I don't know which one). Immediately, memories of my childhood came rushing back to me. Mario Paint (along with Super Mario World) was my very first video game that I received from my dad back in 1991 when I was 3. I played that game constantly, having a blast and of course loving the music composing feature. Seeing a video of this "Mario Paint Composer" computer program made me go crazy, and I immediately started a frenzied search for more.

I was completely awed by basically everything I heard. I saw all the classics like Cat's Bohemian Rhapsody and geoffnet's Thriller and kept showing my roommate at school each new one I found. We both thought these were so awesome, though unfortunately he never went on to try MPC himself I immediately created a folder in my Favorites called "Mario Paint Composer" (which still exists on my computer today ) and added links of videos to it for about a month. I loved the work of every composer I came across, but the composers I enjoyed the most then were Friedfischer, theEvilGrimace, Levus28, axelrod777, JohnFreeman1337, and balloon303 (which is amazing, because I had no idea at the time that balloon had basically just started...)

I then decided in April that I wanted to try it out myself. I downloaded the program and quickly decided that I wanted to try my hand at Mine Cart Madness from Donkey Kong Country. That catchy song had already been in my head for like a week straight before then lol. After a nice handful of days, it became my first completed MPC song From the rest of April all the way through May, I completed 5 more songs, having a blast the whole way but never seriously thinking about starting my own YouTube channel.

YouTube beginnings: I was minding my own business when I saw a comment by Fullnintendo on somebody's video or channel that he wanted to see them make Disco Train from DKC2. I actually had just finished it, and suddenly I began freaking out that nobody was going to be able to see it So that night I made my channel, May 31, 2009, and uploaded Disco Train as my first video I also uploaded my other 5 completed songs all at once. Honestly I was incredibly surprised to see "famous" MPCers comment on my videos and subscribe to me within days (azerkablam was my first subscriber, then I think hotrods4ben, IroncladPhazon, and ChristeriousNinja, followed by others). I felt almost undeserving to be complimented by well-known people such as Rehdblob, JohnFreeman1337, and Rusty8984, but it felt really good at the same time Disco Train got some nice reviews (though I want to redo the song now ), but I was really happy to see Mine Cart Madness receive the best praise out of my videos, since it was my first ever work. I even saw it get put on the next SOTW poll on the MPH and was ecstatic, though it didn't get any votes


Gaining recognition: After several days of waiting for my MPH account to be accepted, it finally happened in early June (I was informed that Tiger and the mods were starting to cut back on allowing new accounts ) As far as my new MPC career, I knew from the get-go that I wanted to not take peoples' requests and just do songs that I wanted to do. I made a list of them on my channel...and I still update that list today I loved (and still do) the quirks and challenges of the original soundfont but also loved the greater potential that soundfonts can provide. I marveled at what people could do with low tempos despite the challenge but also at the things that dickspeed can allow. Thus, I never set any restrictions or preferences for my composing, though over time I found myself to really enjoy dickspeed over non-dickspeed

TUZL and I conversed a lot through channel comments and became one of my first YouTube friends. Regarding my new songs, after about a full week of work, I released Crescent Island "Gameplay Sequence" in the original soundfont, a big medley that I had a blast making This ended up placing 2nd in SOTW and I was ecstatic, never thinking it would happen Soon after, I worked on and released Sonic 3 Final Boss in Adolfo's Electronica soundfont (which is like, MADE for Sonic 3 songs) for the Sonic contest that was going on at the time. I also finished Doomsday Zone with the same soundfont soon after, but it was past the deadline by that point and I couldn't enter it. However, incredibly, Sonic 3 Final Boss won the contest and suddenly I found myself hosting the next round Everything seemed to happen so fast, it amazed me

Ever since: I could really just tack on the rest of my MPC career to that last section. I don't feel like I've really gone through specific phases or stages, even since I started my YouTube channel. I've always just done what I wanted to do, never feeling compelled to please my subscribers. All of my songs that I have released thus far in my MPC career have been made with various soundfonts (including the original) and various tempos (though mostly dickspeed ) There haven't been any changing phases; I just do what I feel like doing for each song Also, I've never really ever lost "motivation" on a song. I have a heck of a lot of unfinished songs, but only because I start one project and then suddenly want to see what another song sounds like in MPC if I tried to make it. However, I also have no problem with focusing all my energy on one song as well (as with Zant Battle, for example). For some reason or another, MPC has the same appeal to me as it had when I first started playing with it, and I cannot wait until I finish all the songs on my list. I will be completely satisfied and proud if and when I do so

I guess I can mention a few things here and there, such as that I didn't visit the Chatzy all the way until August 2009 when I was on vacation in Cape Cod, Massachussetts People really started to get to know me much better after that. Gallahaut and I had a conversation in which we half-jokingly challenged each other to make Demon Fire with the piano soundfont and then release our versions at the same time for the piano contest. Unfortunately he never finished his version, but Demon Fire remains one of the works I am most proud of since I did it all by ear (as with all my songs). Also, I surpassed 100 subscribers in December (which I thought I'd NEVER do) and released Zant Battle as my 100 sub special. To date, it is arguably one of my best works in my opinion :-)

EDIT: LOL Attack of the smilies!!!

[Cat]

Joining YouTube
I only joined YouTube (October 2006) so I could save videos in my favorites. It was about 9 months before I decided to actually put something up (HSOWA).

First MSQ Works (Pokémon Center to I Love Rock 'n' Roll)
Nearly all of my early works were actually released because not many existed and many fared worse than mine (save for TomBobBlender).

First MPC Works (DP Game Corner to RSE Surfing)
Well, as you know, I'm one of the earliest adopters of MPC. I think I only learned about it by seeing one of Tiger's works, but I'm not positive. Anyway, I started messing around, learned how to break 500 tempo right away, figured out how to use accidentals, and posted some quick works. I was mostly just dabbling.

Getting the Hang of It (DP Trainer Battle to RSE Rival)
Once Diamond & Pearl Trainer Battle hit, I knew I finally started getting the hang of the program and got addicted to it. That and Uxie/Azelf/Mesprit Battle remain two of my favorites. I tried to get weekly releases from that point.

Bohemian Rhapsody
I think this one should be able to speak on its own. At just under a million views (as of the time of this post), it's my most-viewed video. 20 hours well spent. Would you believe this was a social experiment intended to test YouTube nature?

More Experimentation (DP Rival Battle to Arceus Battle)
More Pokémon themes. Galactic Grunt Battle is another of my favorites because I had finally managed to pull off a song with a tempo greater than 1,000 effectively. Later, DP Gym Leader Battle became another favorite.

Original Mario Paint (within last stage, includes Route 201 and 205)
I dabbled in the original Mario Paint a little bit just to mess around with it a bit.

SoundFonts (Brahms' Lullaby, several experiment videos, Gremlins)
First work with a different SoundFont. I also released a couple SoundFonts around this time.

Returning to MarioSequencer (Caramelldansen)
Caramelldansen decided to take the role of my first MSQ work in quite a while. I believe I did quite well.

Contest
Just one. The other one doesn't exist. *runs*

8-bit
FamiTracker loaned its hand in several times in eating my time away from Mario Paint.

Cat Discovers Ustream
Once I found Ustream, I got addicted to that.

Giratina
Another work that stands by its own, this song really emphasized the peak of my work. This was my last big piece before signing off. It stands well too: 157,932 views as of this post.

The Fall of Cat (another Caramelldansen to Cat's Adventure)
I just quit. I didn't care much for Mario Paint as I discovered more music composition techniques. FamiTracker, Evolution Audio, my Roland Fantom-Xa keyboard, and Ustream played a huge hand in this.

The Quick Return of Cat (The Mean Kitty Song)
This was another social YouTube experiment. It was still fun to make, though.

To Make It as Accurate as Possible (Mary Had a Little Lamb)
This was a fun diversion.

Oh My Arceus! HGSS!
I became addicted to HeartGold and SoulSilver news and SoulSilver itself. This was also my first LP.

Forum Administration
This was also the time in which my site and forum really took a sharp upward turn in popularity. For several months, my focus was dedicated to Floatzel.Net and Victory Road.

Another Quickie (Stairway to Heaven Intro)
Some say this could be the real return of Cat into MPC. Only time will tell...

Current Status
I still have huge work involved in my sites and college to deal with. I cannot guarantee I'll finish Stairway to Heaven soon, but I will say that if I get back into MPC, I'll try to finish it. Oh, and there's that second contest that never existed...

Edit: Going through these videos makes me feel nostalgic.

[shinyjiggly]

Back when I was 5:
This is the TRUE beginning for me! I had Mario Paint for the SNES and I regarded it as "Way better than MS Paint". One of the things that I found interesting was the music making thingy on there. I remember changing all of the stars in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Gameboys. Other than that, I had no idea what I was doing.

First starting out:
I was browsing Youtube one day and stumbled across a bunch of Mario Paint vids. I really liked them. I found a link to Mario Sequencer and started using that. I started by trying to copy the ocarina songs from Ocarina of time (and they sucked) and a couple other things. I've never released anything from these because I had no idea how to record and to tell the truth, I was a little shy. Also, the limitations really messed with me. And the glitches! I was working on 12 days of Christmas and I got to the end of the staff and saw some notes already placed and one thing led to another, almost endless loop of error messages popping up at full speed... I think this is when I stopped using it. I made a couple halfway decant ones. I attempted to do the overworld theme from Twilight Princess but only got the first couple of seconds before I gave up on that piece.

1,2, skip a few:
During this time, I still watched other people's videos and I wondered how they did it so well. Eventually I found a download link for MPC and decided to give it a shot. I never went back to Mario Sequencer ever again (well maybe once or twice, but I didn't actually do anything in it). By this time, I had already started making midis with my dad's laptop so I kinda knew what I was doing. To test it out, I tried making MPC versions of my crummy midis (by ear) and I was able to get them down somewhat easily (not like it was that hard). I also tried a couple other things like Chao Karate (only got the intro done, kinda sucked). I still haven't released anything but I was working on things nonetheless.

Soundfonts!:
Once I learned about soundfonts, I was hooked. I absolutely LOVED Satoshi Lysh's soundfonts (and I still do) and I downloaded them right away. This is kinda where I discovered this program's potential for awesomeness.

Saving the Willamette:
This is where I started actually doing amazing things. Me and my friends were in a Game Maker competition last year and I had joined their team as their spriter. But since nobody seemed to be getting anything done, I took it to myself to pull the weight. I even did some programming even though this was the first time that I had used Game Maker! Since my dad's laptop died, I couldn't make midis anymore so the only program that I had worth using for making music was MPC. So I used my time to work on the soundtrack for this game. It turned out amazing.

Too bad the actual game didn't fare so well. Due to my lack of experience with game maker and the unconectedness of our team, the game never really was completed all the way. This was mostly due to me using functions that could only be used in the pro edition (changing the cursor sprite; this was an important thing that the game absolutely needed in order to understand what you were doing.)
We didn't get any prizes due to our game not being able to run, but I was still proud of the soundtrack. So I finally got off my lazy butt and recorded a video of my work (I probably should have stuck with the MP3's that I made, but I kinda thought that you were supposed to show the song in action so I went with the lower quality.)

Joining the community:
Eventually I found these forums and posted my videos. They really sucked in video quality compared to others. I then began to get really serious about this thing. I worked on Metropolis Zone and I got someone (Phazon) to record it for me. I was happy with the results. But this is also where my decline is really enunciated (even though technically I've always been in some sort of decline). Very quickly I started recording for myself using Camstudio and became more independent. I released a couple of videos but not that many.

Hiatuses:
By this time, I was a regular here (mostly on Chatzy). I hadn't been using MPC for a really long time (since the summer) because I recently had gotten a program for making midis. Midis take up much less space than an MP3 and I really liked that since I was using these midis for games that I was working on. I still hung around here a lot but I didn't really do anything.

Now:
I'm kinda still in that hiatus stage, but at the same time not really. I'm thinking about releasing a bunch of pieces that I've done that I've never released due to them being too short and such. I have some really great original compositions sitting in my laptop that just didn't make the cut due to not being long enough. I think my future with this program is looking up but I don't expect to start going at Dorkspeed anytime soon.

[That One User]

Pre-MPC
Minuet ~ Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Two songs on Mario Paint Sequencer which are still two of my most watched videos :/

Getting my feet wet
We Wish You A Merry Christmas ~ Yoshi's Island Goal & Score
Using MPC more often and getting some half decent compositions up

Starting to get good
Bowser's Castle ~ Wizpig
A progression of me getting a lot better at Mario Paint, leading up to at the time my ultimate contribution, Wizpig.

Post-Wizpig
Moo Moo Meadows II ~ 12 Days of Christmas
Wizpig took a lot out of me, so I had trouble thinking of ideas for compositions and making them as well.

::Hiatus the First::

Return to Glory
Dr. Wily ~ Wario's Gold Mine
After the hiatus, I came back with three solid compositions that I consider my best.

The First Ban
Windfall Island ~ Sherbet Island
After a controversial comment on Windfall Island, I was banned from MPH. After cleaning up a bit, I got back on.

My Peak
Mega Man 3 Intro ~ Rage Anemone
This is when I was reeling out awesome compositions and was in contention often for SotW.

Steadily Declining
Spark Mandrill ~ Koopa Troopa Beach
This is when my compositions were getting lazier.

Not Much Left in the Tank
New Divide ~ Paintward
After New Divide I put up a few cruddy compositions that didn't go over too well.

::Hiatus the Second::

So Much to Prove
Jigoku no Final Attack ~ Present
Now I have to prove myself once again as a prominent composer, and there are lots of awesome compositions coming out.

[tommy73]

Reviving dead topic for the hell of it.

Well, here goes.... And I hope more people decides to do this, because I really think it's interesting and good to reflect on. Oh god though, I overdid it. -_-

MARIO7MARIO3'S HISTORY OF MARIO PAINT!!

YOU: "WHO'S GONNA READ ALL THIS BUNCH OF TEXT?!?!"
ME: ";o;"

Stage 1 - Non-MPC: (22/03/08) I joined youtube the 22nd of March. I wasn't really into youtube that much, and I didn't really care. I had a lot of other stuff to do instead. I did make rubbish spoofs of timesplitters, (Game) And made 9 weird episodes, which I originally copied from another timesplitters spoof series from youtube. Ah... I can remember my first comment I have =) "You spelt cortez wrong." When I spelt Cortex. Yea...

Stage 2 - Discoveries: (Around late 2009) This is all true. I loved lemmings at the time, so I started to find music of it. I found tons of music from lemmings in youtube, like the SNES and sega genisis versions of the musics, (Of course, they were great 8)) Anyway, I wanted to look up some remixes of the basic tune of lemmings, lem1. While scrolling down, I saw a video link: "Lemmings Music on Mario Paint" and I clicked on it. I was like This is amazing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDeBZRw-qSo Yea, it had crap recording and I'm sure it could be better, but at the time, I loved it. You could say that 500 views came from me =P. Then I saw some other mario paint videos. I kept seeing other mario paint videos one after another. They were all basic stuff, =D I watched about countless, which the one I was like the most was "What is love?" Yes, and then something came to my mind. "Should I make some?"

Stage 3 - First touch: (December 09/January 2010)I used a crappy computer and just the MPC. Yep, yay. I made REALLY rubbish tunes, they were horrible. I made about 20 OCs that were like, 10-30 seconds short. I loved them back then. I didn't bother looking at other ones, I dunno why. (Yea, MPC has regenerated loads of times, and I missed maybe 90% of it. D=) But I saw Levus28's "Through the fire and flames". Because it was 7 minutes long, I only saw 20 seconds of it (Don't worry, I've seen the full version now =P). That discription. It said he recorded it with camstudio, along with a link, so I thought I gave it a try. It took lengthy tries to download it and to make it work D-X. Well, I didn't know what to do with it, lol. THEN I discovered soundfonts. Along with Cat's real soundfont. I used that, and the lemmings song was stuck in my head. Yay. xD. So, I made the LEMMINGS SONG!!! Here's the link, of my first video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui4735vbRv4
On, the 23rd January, 2010. And I was like, "=)"

Stage 4 - The beginning: (Early February - Early March) So I thought, why not make more? I loved lemmings (WAY TOO MUCH THAT TIME) so I decided to make the lemmings medley!! Since I listen to all the 18 main pieces of lemmings, I wanted to do it all. Additionally, I did a preview of the medley, including 7 pieces, original soundfont, with 3 instruments, because I thought the others were useless. =P. Anyway, I saw my homepage, and I saw my inbox. That "0" on the comments was different from the other four "0"s. It was "1". The comment was from NAEAN, and he said it was awesome and amazing. I was praised. And relieved. He also "subbed" me, and I thought: "Weren't it be cool if I had more subs?" Then I made two OCs. "The plains" and "Looking at the sky*". I got few comments on OC2, but none on the plains. I didn't earn subs. I only had 3, which was my alt, NAEAN and someone else I knew in real life =P. n00bist!!!

Stage 5 - Baby Development: (March - Early April) This is when I started alittle serious. While doing the ultimate medley I was finding a sheet music for the first lemmings piece that hasn't been done in the preview. But I couldn't find it, so I thought screw it. So I had to listen to each note in each of the SNES lemmings piece. Considering it was the SNES, the notes were easy to find. Oh god though, most of the time I made up the baseline =P. DONE. MPC is done. The medley, holy crud it's done. Well, yeah, I was happy. But my skills did improve, I learnt the very basic of grabbing right notes and timing. Yahoo. So then I composed I ultimatly rubbish MPC, but great tune, bomberman. ONOES. Go on, I darn ya to watch it. If you do, please feel free to laugh and troll at it. lol. I tested soundfonts like the electonica and the hard rock 2, which lead me to mary and her little lamb, along with looking at the sky rock remix. Mary was actually the first EVER time I used dickspeed in one file. Don't get up though, my old crappy computer couldn't record that, so I DID record (Ultimate lag) and fast forward it. Inventive. Looking at the sky was fail. Aslo, electrcipoptart18 subbed me and commented on my mary video. The truth is, he was the first proper mario paint composer to sub me ;o;. Thank you, poppy =D

Stage 6 - The change of M7M3: (April - June) Okay. I first saw the awesome website your in right now, the mario paint hangout. I saw a topic where it said how to record. Since I had my laptop, I didn't record on that because it won't record sound. The topic said to set the settings thinymajigy on or something like that. I did, and it work!! So I could record dickspeed stuff. I released my 10th MPC, lemmings again. The medley in hard rock 1 soundfont. It was full dickspeed, tempo was at highest, 2400. I liked it back then, but right now, I could've done better with dyamics and such. After that, I finally decided to do another VG music that dosen't involved lemmings or bomberman. I picked gourmet race. I knew that there was tons of gourmet races (Around 15) already done on mario paint, and TomBobBlender's gourmet race influenced me to do so. I did it, and I was proud of it. No comments that time, but I hardly knew anything about the community, so I frankly cared. In the mean time, I've earned some subs who I knew about. Not about my videos, I did knew quite alot of composers but never talked to them. I knew that they won't reconize me as a composer, that's why I kept composing. (THERE WAS A KEY, AND I HAD TO FIND THE KEY, SO DO I??) I saw alot of dickspeed compositions and great stuff, even though I didn't really get. I saw balloon's Katamari On The Swing, and I thought: Cool. Yea.... But you'll find out later on. I hope your not bored reading all this. :@. In the mean time, I made OC3, unknown truth. It was rubbish, even though I got poppy to recorded it. D=. Oh well. lol I entered the OC contest 10, and got around 6th place as my highest. I entered with the 2 other OCs, the plains and the sky. Yep. I was having a month break, while making two useless fillers, tetris and the can-can. Then my 15th MPC was release: The rock remix of SMB2 boss theme. I was proud. =P

Stage 7 - Month delay and August: (July and all of August) I have made a preview of a sequel of SMW, rock remix castle. It went rubbish anyway, so I dropped it. I only had 12 subs about. How sad, lol. Even balloon unsubbed me, I was sad. But now if I think about it, I really was rubbish. No one really commented anyway, it was rare for me. Maybe the community wasn't that big afterall, I thought. So I didn't bother making anything. It still made me wondered why I even bothered checking stuff anyway. lol I dunno. xP. So then I made mary and her little lamb (Again) rock version, and KM commented that I should change the discription. xP ONOES. August came. I had a whole month free. =o. I think I made a record on this, releasing the most MPCs in one month, 12, in the whole August. This includes: Angel Beats OP - lem1 orchestra remix - OC4 Attention!! - lemmings medley remastered, preview (Although the full version died xP) - Clannad ED - SMB medely square wave - tetris techno remix - OC5 Last meeting - 4 Gldemo songs. AND the only good ones are two of them, -_-. The 2 OCs were for the OC contest 11. Again, I wasn't expecting to win, so I came 12th and 11th, although there was ALOT of people in the contest. And attention got personal favorite. Thanks buckyboy!! Anyhow, I got 20 subs by then. Still, I sucked.

Stage 8 - The orignal days, I should've been in: (September and so on) I began reconizing more MPCs and why they are getting good. I once again saw balloon's Katamari On The Swing, and I thought: This was so amazing and awesome. Yes, I began watching rusty's and poppy's videos, and kept watching original soundfont stuff. I knew more composers and got used to the hangout. What I felt like composing was a simple piece in the original soundfont. So I did. I think I did well, but too much sillyiness. lol. Still. Anyhow I saw poppy's meta knight's revenge. I went to happy, with all those dyamics. And I really thought I could do something good. So I did Dr mario fever theme (SSBM) in the original soundfont, with dickspeed. This was a fun experiment, because I never used it properly. I loved echoing stuff, so I did alot of that. I was impressed. I got poppy to record it and he said alot of stuff that made me glad. I got like 8 comments at the same time. And I was like, "MY GOD." It was a new experience. I was very happy. =). So I made some fillers with the same soundfont (SMB2 underground and Super bomberman battle theme) Along with a super, duper remix, SMB3 overworld theme 2. =D. Then I released my 6th OC, forest intruder, and winning a song of the week, entering herty's 12th OC contest. Results are still to come, to make sure to vote!! ^_^ Also I'm used to the community by now, and I talk to composers, ^_^. I'm pretty much now reconized, but I need to improve much more than now and push myself further =P

Stage 9 - The future: Hm.... I dunno what I'm gonna do in the future, or how I would end up. lol. Well, I'm doing a late medley right now!! Along with a filler. Yay. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to use the original soundfont by now, and the rest of 2010. Yay. I hope you read all this, =P. My God, this took a pain to right this, lol. xP And yes, the key was the original soundfont =)

DUN

[tommy73]

I'm bumping because I really love this thread. There should be more people making long stories about their MPC careers, as it's charming to read them.

[Rusty]

I remember thissss. I've probably gone through more stages since Forest Interlude so let's see.

The Prankster Era - (Bumper Crop - April Fools Joke)

This was definitely a fun time. Filled with dual releases of the same song (Bumper Crop and Culex), polarizing song choices (Anger), and other general jokes related to April Fools (the one with Rusty Ruin Zone). Not to mention, my Aeolian prank with Poptart also started around this time. This was a pretty prank-ish time for me I guess. Magma Dragoon doesn't really fit in, but there will always be some oddballs.

MORE Experimentation Era (Hyrule Temple - Judas Priest Medley)

Just more random stuff you wouldn't have really expected at that point, such as doing non-VGM stuff (Everybody's Fool and the Judas Priest Medley), more frequent OCing (Moral Confliction, Peaceful Village, Peace and Triumph), and toying with SFX (Hyrule Temple and Hot Head Bop). This was a fun time, because it tested my creative side.

The Lazy/Relaxation Era - (Port Town - Current)

I think once 2011 rolled around, I just stopped really caring whether I was impressive or not. MPC is all about fun IMO, so I just started relaxing and doing whatever I felt like (Not like I wasn't before, but I was also pushing myself and trying to do impressive songs). I've also been developing more of a liking toward OCs. I've just been finding them more fun as of late. I don't think this is a very popular era for me, as I've been getting more negative comments than I used to, but really, I don't care too much, especially on songs that aren't OCs.

[RehdBlob]

I'll pick up from the last entry.

Original Soundfont Impressionism (The Impact Site - Current):
Basically, during this time, I was aiming to recreate sounds from games using MPC instruments. I don't think I've moved too far away from this goal, so consequently, I'm still keeping this as my most recent stage. MMX5 Zero Stage 1 is currently the magnum opus of this period. Of course, there are some intertwined stages that I'm going through concurrently...

Community Composition Madness (Third Community Composition - Current)
I originally didn't recognize that I was actually decent at original compositions until I tried my hand at #3, which helped prompt Buckyboy to make a great part right after mine. After I ended #5, which, by the way, was not easy, I proceeded (somehow) to host #6 with Herty.
Looking back, I really improved in OC'ing.

MPC Inconsistency (Forest Maze - Current)
When Forest Maze came out, I surprised myself and a lot of other people since I was working on completely different songs at the time. I think this pattern has persisted to this day, since I still can't figure out which song I'll finish next, only the percentage chance that I will.

[shinyjiggly]

The very beginning:
Back when I was 6, I had Mario Paint for the Snes. All I remember doing was changing all of the stars to gameboys in "Twinkle twinkle little star". Later on the game and the console got lost in storage limbo.

Mario sequencer days:
At this point, I was at least 16 or something. I went on youtube occasionally. I found TomBobBlender's, 333catpokemon's, and a bunch of others' videos and I quite enjoyed them. Somehow, I found a download link for a free program called Mario Sequencer. I started off trying to do the ocarina tunes from Ocarina of Time (and sometimes failing horribly). None of the things that I did with that program made it anywhere due to a lack of a recording device.

Saving the Willamette:
At this point, I had found MPC v.2 and started messing around with it. I also dabbled in soundfonts quite a bit. Due to not having any midi software at the time, I used MPC to create the soundtrack for a (unfinished) video game for a contest that I was participating in with a couple of friends from school. When we were in front of the judges that were looking at our game, one of the very few things that worked properly was the soundtrack (which I had recorded using a handy piece of freeware to turn into a wav file). After the contest was over, I whipped out my crummy camera, turned up the volume to nearly full blast, and recorded the songs so that I could share them with the world (unlike the rest of the game that they came from...>_>).

Wait, there's a forum?!:
Somehow after many months of 'tubing and watching videos, I discovered that nearly all of the MPCers were in cahoots with one another (how else did they organize those competitions and somehow know each other?). I found my way in though a link in one of 333catpokemon's videos. I eagerly wished to meet the great ones who did all that great stuff. What I found was startling to my young eyes; they were all just normal people in their teens-20s searching for something to fill a void in their time. It wasn't until the day that Chatzy was used that I truly felt like I belonged. I participated in a couple of contests but placed poorly due to the other competitors being at higher levels/tiers than I. I stuck with MPC because of the community.

The void/midiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!:
Eventually, I finally acquired a midi sequencing program. I used that to work on the music for an RPG that I am making in my free time. Meanwhile, MPCing got put on the back-burner. However, I was still very much in contact with the others around here.

On and off:
At this point, the novelty of making midis was starting to taper off. Occasionally I would MPC if I had enough motivation, but more often than not I was busy not MPCing. I still used soundfonts around this time as well.

Right now:
It's hard to say really. I still MPC, but not very often. I signed up for the collab and the others really liked how my part fit in with the others (yet still stood out with all of its baby faces and yoshi-goodness). Only the future will know what happens next...