Strive to Stand Out
Results
Best Score Most Novel
Best Impressor
Organizer's Impressions
Afterword
Back to top

Results

BEST SCORE
1st Vis10ns / paraneumann
2nd My Canvas / Zris
3rd supposedly / Be-Music Sampler
MOST NOVEL
1st supposedly / Be-Music Sampler
2nd Vis10ns / paraneumann
3rd Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani? / Mowl

Best Score Ranking

Highest final score achieved
Ranking Title / Artist Impre. NOVELTY RATE Final Score
1st Vis10ns
paraneumann
28 78.6% (+24pts) 200
2nd My Canvas
Zris
27 33.3% (+10pts) 174
3rd supposedly
Be-Music Sampler (Hyparpax)
25 80.0% (+24pts) 170
4th 5月病
空読無 白眼
27 48.1% (+14pts) 159
5th working
ルゼ + 140/fth
26 42.3% (+13pts) 157
6th Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani?
Mowl
25 60.0% (+18pts) 154
7th capacitorLeak
XNOR
25 20.0% (+6pts) 141
8th Mr. Rabbit's Dream
Lollipop
25 16.0% (+5pts) 138
9th weepreaxywxer
CYLTIE.
25 36.0% (+11pts) 136
10th Beginning Stage
Ace of Beat (feat. PizeroFox) (Daniel Rotwind)
25 56.0% (+17pts) 134
11th Analytic deal
M-kani
25 12.0% (+4pts) 119
12th S.E.R.V.E. ~目立つだけでなくサ☆ア☆ブ☆~
Stanley Twitter (DJ Excuses)
25 16.0% (+5pts) 115
13th Tera=Psycho
Trantech
26 42.3% (+13pts) 114
14th 市場町カレナウの大広場
SPLASHING ABOUT (a.k.a.4G)
24 4.2% (+1pts) 110
15th Seven hindering currents
Phleguratone
24 54.2% (+16pts) 80
16th Pinball☆Forever
Alex Turell
25 16.0% (+5pts) 77
17th Un monde sans danger
Franck Keller & Ygal Amar (DARQUESABOUNE)
20 25.0% (+8pts) 57

Most Novel Ranking

Highest NOVELTY RATE achieved
Ranking Title / Artist Impre. NOVEL NOVELTY RATE
1st supposedly
Be-Music Sampler (Hyparpax)
25 20 80.0%
2nd Vis10ns
paraneumann
28 22 78.6%
3rd Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani?
Mowl
25 15 60.0%
4th Beginning Stage
Ace of Beat (feat. PizeroFox) (Daniel Rotwind)
25 14 56.0%
5th Seven hindering currents
Phleguratone
24 13 54.2%
6th 5月病
空読無 白眼
27 13 48.1%
7th working
ルゼ + 140/fth
26 11 42.3%
7th Tera=Psycho
Trantech
26 11 42.3%
9th weepreaxywxer
CYLTIE.
25 9 36.0%
10th My Canvas
Zris
27 9 33.3%
11th Un monde sans danger
Franck Keller & Ygal Amar (DARQUESABOUNE)
20 5 25.0%
12th capacitorLeak
XNOR
25 5 20.0%
13th Mr. Rabbit's Dream
Lollipop
25 4 16.0%
13th S.E.R.V.E. ~目立つだけでなくサ☆ア☆ブ☆~
Stanley Twitter (DJ Excuses)
25 4 16.0%
13th Pinball☆Forever
Alex Turell
25 4 16.0%
16th Analytic deal
M-kani
25 3 12.0%
17th 市場町カレナウの大広場
SPLASHING ABOUT (a.k.a.4G)
24 1 4.2%

Best Impressor Ranking

Most Impre and Highest NOVELTY RATE (for reference only)
Ranking Player Impre. Average NOVELTY RATE
1st L216 17 5.59 100.0%
2nd HaWooL4 17 4.29 58.8%
3rd w 17 4.53 52.9%
4th Listifax 17 4.94 47.1%
4th LT 17 4.29 47.1%
6th Grimfearia 17 5.35 41.2%
7th Black 17 5.06 35.3%
8th LUXURY♪ 17 3.53 29.4%
9th Routine 17 4.53 23.5%
10th 69 de 74 17 4.06 17.6%
10th bms junior 17 3.12 17.6%
10th E-MAN 17 4.00 17.6%
13th Telperion 16 5.13 56.3%
14th Daniel Rotwind 16 4.31 37.5%
14th hpx 16 3.88 37.5%
16th Mowl 16 4.50 31.3%
16th Yamajet 16 4.94 31.3%
18th STANK! 16 4.50 25.0%
19th 空読無 白眼 16 4.00 18.8%
20th Phleguratone 16 4.44 12.5%
20th Zris 16 6.25 12.5%
22nd paraneumann 15 5.73 53.3%
23rd NASA 15 5.00 40.0%
24th portion 13 6.15 61.5%
25th K4Y5🌔Bた作 10 6.60 70.0%
26th T2o 9 6.22 0.0%
27th りょくちゃくん 8 5.00 12.5%
28th No. 584 4 6.75 100.0%
28th utzbo 4 7.00 100.0%
30th Arkaan Muyassar 1 6.00 0.0%

The Organizer's Impressions

私のインプレはすべて英語で書かれます。ご迷惑をおかけして申し訳ありません。

Vis10ns / paraneumann NOVEL

My first thought upon seeing this work was "Wow!! This is ridiculously good!" I was extremely impressed by the use of binaural sounds, and I loved the sense of space the song created with how every sound was placed. The drums sweeping over my head really scratched an itch inside my head. I thought it was seriously cool, and I have never seen a BMS like this before. It's extremely impressive that the author was able to fit all the variation into the #WAV definitions in the BMS. I've had to cut corners in the past myself because of reaching the limit of possible keysound definitions, with arguably less evolving and detailed tracks than this.

市場町カレナウの大広場 / SPLASHING ABOUT (a.k.a.4G)

It's a pleasant mixture of oriental and western traditional. I'd like to see this combination of folk music explored more in detail in the future. It did in many ways feel like a typical WORLD song, but with a slightly new twist. One thing that could improve the track greatly and its sense of novelty was if it had more variation in styles of folk music.

Un monde sans danger / Franck Keller & Ygal Amar NOVEL

This is a very interesting entry, as it is a copy BMS, where the song is taken from a French animation series. The entry seems to aim to be a sort of FOON entry, where the language of the vocals are random in one of the charts. Part of it seems to be genuine recreation of instruments, whilst some of it is seemingly done using phase cancellation or splitting algorhithms. However, it seems that the authors of the TV show encourage these sorts of derivative works by fans! Very cool. I had a hard time deciding wether or not I considered it a NOVEL work, but I think it has enough unique elements to count.

5月病 / 空読無 白眼 NOVEL

An ominous and threatening atmosphere. I really liked the textures and timbral quality of this work. Parts of it reminds me of the musique concrète movement, where normal sounds are used in a new context in order to create a new work with an entirely new context. Of course, this song is more musically conventional than most musique concrète works, but I still think the usage of textures from recorded audio still mirrors the philosophy of that movement.

weepreaxywxer / CYLTIE.

Highly chaotic nature. It's aggressive and full of energy. In many ways it reminds me of boss songs from other rhythm games. I think the NOVEL aspect of the songs first comes out in the last part of the song, with the ominous choir and chaotic violin. I think if this was a more consistent theme throughout the song, then I would consider it a lot more NOVEL.

working / ルゼ + 140/fth

Ah! Another "BGA first" type BMS like from WYSWIS. Since I have seen BMS works like this several times in the past, I find it hard to consider it NOVEL anymore, though the concept is still very cool and I want to see more of it despite not finding it as NOVEL anymore! I love the way the visuals has been translated to music, with the classical trope of the color red being used to express anger, frustration or sorrow, whilst brighter colors and blue are used to express more hopeful and positive feelings. These feelings are reflected quite well in the music too, and the theme of being overworked comes across clearly. Quite the impressive work nonetheless.

Mr. Rabbit's Dream / Lollipop

This song carries a lot of emotion with such a simple yet effective arrangement. You can tell that the author's very soul has been put into this piece. While this sort of instrumental/soundtrack type of song is not uncommon, very few people are able to convey emotions this clearly with their composition.

Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani? / Mowl NOVEL

A song with an overwhelmingly powerful atmosphere. It has a type of texture that is not commonly found in BMS. It is filled with emotions and drama, so I was really impressed. The distorted drums also fill the song with an aggressive emotion and it all comes together in this majestic piece. I can tell that this author has a very clear artistic vision that they want to express with their music.

Analytic deal / M-kani

Really cool and groovy minimal techno track! It definitely sounds like something that was made in the underground scene in the 90s. I would dance to this song if it was played at a rave party. It has very interesting sound design, but at the same time it sounds reminiscent of many other techno tracks from the 90s and early 2000s.

Tera=Psycho / Trantech

It's really rare to see speedcore and extratone BMS, so it was a surprise to see this song! It has a chaotic boss song feeling with a fun and quirky melody. That said, it doesn't feel too dissimilar from other speedcore and extratone songs.

S.E.R.V.E. ~目立つだけでなくサ☆ア☆ブ☆~ / Stanley Twitter NOVEL

This is a really funny song, but it's also kinda groovy! I especially liked that the song used a meme video as its vocal sample material. I don't think most Japanese people will understand why the video is funny, considering how it heavily references terminology and inside jokes to a specific culture... The use of RANDOM to shuffle around the vocal sample was also quite clever, and it made for a good surprise when replaying.

Pinball☆Forever / Alex Turell

This is a very classical style of otoge boss music. It has a high energy with many elements going on to create a constant progression and movement. It's also really loud!! I laughed out loud when i saw the reverse SCROLL effect.

capacitorLeak / XNOR

Really sexy techno! I love the acid sounds. It really sounds like a leaking capacitor. The breakbeats sections also work well to give the song some space to breathe. I think the main kick drum and groove is might a bit too light or thin. I really want to bang my head to the song, but the kick is very soft which makes me waiting for a bigger drop to come! Otherwise the song has really nice textures and sound design. I think it's very good.

supposedly / Be-Music Sampler NOVEL

A song built from keysounds from other BMS works! How cool!! I like the ominous atmosphere this song delivers. The soundscape and textures is very rough and dirty but it sounds very good. Overall very cool and impressive, and I hope more works like this show up in the future.

My Canvas / Zris NOVEL

K-Shoot Mania effects ported straight to BMS. In one way, that is super funny and cheesy, but at the same time, I've never seen a BMS do it before. The song itself is also very good. I appreciated the fact that every difficulty is effected differently in the BMS as well. It makes the work feel more thorough overall.

Beginning Stage / Ace of Beat (feat. PizeroFox) NOVEL

A fully-fledged "how to play" tutorial for BMS in English! I don't know if someone else made an English "how to play" tutorial for BMS in the past, but I am certain no one has made one with such level of detail before. I especially appreciated the thorough explanation of scratching and of the different types of long notes. I wish there was a bit less waiting between each practice part, but overall I am really impressed with this work. Maybe I should recommend this song to every BMS newcomer I meet...

Seven hindering currents / Phleguratone NOVEL

The concept of using the keys in BMS as mute buttons is really cool! It's a very cool experimental work that you'd be hard pressed to find in any other event. That said, I think the effect doesn't come through as well as it could have. Perhaps the song needed more time to evolve, but I also think that the effect of the mute would've been more effectful if it was more obvious and distinct. Hopefully we will see this concept explored more thoroughly in the future!
The organizer's impressions will not contribute to the final rankings of the event.
主催者のインプレは、イベントの最終順位には寄与しません。

Afterword

私の日本語能力が低すぎて、このあとがきを翻訳することができないので、英語のみで書かせていただきます。 ご迷惑をおかけしますが、このあとがきにご興味のある方は機械翻訳をご利用ください。

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate paraneumann and Hyparpax (a.k.a. Be-Music Sampler) for winning best score and most novel respectively. Their works were quite impressive.
I also decided to release the results of the players too, which reveals that L216 is the best impressor of the event, as he labelled every single entry as NOVEL. To everyone else who wrote impressions, thank you for your hard work! The vast majority of you wrote an impression for every single entry.

My motivation for organizing this event was a desire to see more experimental works that tried to push the boundaries of BMS. In many other events, I see a lot of great works that are not necessarily high quality compared to top-ranking entries, but still stand out in a way that deserves to be praised. Some of the entries are too avant-garde to be appreciated by the masses. This was my counter-movement to the typical popularity contest. However, I still had to recognise that a high quality work is still impressive, so I didn’t want to base the event solely around avant-garde works. This is why I ended up choosing the theme of “standing out”.

I was really unsure if I wanted to include the list of examples for what could be considered a novel work, but I ended up including it after all. The main motivation behind including it was to give people ideas and kickstart some creative processes. Without any prompts, it might be hard to get a good idea of what counts as novel, and thus many people might end up not joining at all due to insecurity. I also didn’t want to exclude anyone from participating with a more conventional work. After all, it wasn’t my job to judge wether or not a given work was novel or not. I wanted to leave that up to the players’ judgement, as it is very interesting to see what different people’s the threshold for a “novel work is.

When it came to the scoring method for the event, I went through a bunch of different iterations. I wanted to base myself on an impression system that most people would be familiar, so a normal point range for scoring simply the quality of the work was implemented. But on top of this, I wanted to reward people well for making works that were considered very novel. So the NOVEL label was added. Then, I tried making some calculations using hypothetical situations. This is how I landed on a potential 30 point bonus for getting a high novelty rate. 30 was a bit of an arbitrary number honestly, and it's the one thing I wish I had a better solution for in this event. However, it seems that the bonus points ended up mattering after all, although maybe not as much as I had originally hoped for. If I were to host a similar event in the future, I think I would use a more rational method of finding the maximum amount of bonus points one can achieve.

Originally, I was planning to participate with my own entry. My idea of a novel entry was to create a song that was made exclusively using code. That is, no DAW at all. All the instruments would be coded by myself using Csound, and the score would be written into the code as well. That way I could make a completely self-contained code that one could download and run on their own computer and get the whole song. Unfortunately, between exams and other projects, I simply didn’t have the time to finish this idea. I am actually not sure if people would’ve found this idea novel at all either. I’m really sad I didn’t make it in time, but maybe I will save the idea for later.

I hope that this event has inspired people to experiment more with the possibilities of BMS, both in what is possible to do with the format itself, and with the music. I’d love to see more works like the ones submitted to this event show up in other events. Perhaps, if there is enough demand, I may consider organizing another event like this one in the future.

Once again, I would like to thank q/stol for letting me use the BMS Search event venue, scytheleg for letting me use his pre-registration venue, and 空読無 白眼 for helping me translate the rules and information about the event.

— Dolphin