Promo/Plasma Mobile Audio Competition

Submit your audio collections to this subcategory on the KDE Forum. Check the "Entering your Submission" section at the end of this page to know more.

Read everything on this page very carefully before entering your submission.

Contest Rules

Following these rules is mandatory

1. The deadline for submissions is until June 13th 11:59 PM (UTC).
2. Audio for system events must be original and created specifically for the contest.
3. Ringtone and alarm sounds don't need to be made specifically for the contest, however, they must still follow all the rules to be accepted.
4. The sounds must be produced in LMMS. Additionally, you may also use any other open-source program for mastering and post-processing the final files. If you use another program for modifying the final sounds, you should also include a text file in the source folder describing what modifications you made.
5. Your audio collection, and any other files sent must be released to KDE under a copyleft license (CC-BY, CC-BY-SA), or released into the public domain or equivalent (CC0).
6. Even if your work is not selected at first, your entire submission or parts of it may still be used in the future to promote KDE's software and in KDE software releases.
7. You may only use synthesis instruments, CC-BY(SA) or public domain samples. Please note most samples in LMMS are not in the public domain, that includes most .ogg samples. You can check a list of samples you should NOT use HERE and also where you can get public domain samples in the FAQ. If you send a preexisting sound, please make sure all samples used are copyright free and that if it contains a CC licensed sample, you post the links for each sample (or pack) download page with your submission.
8. If you use any non-free/closed source plugins or FOSS plugins with no Linux version, you must provide stems for those plugins in a lossless audio codec (e.g., WAV, FLAC, WavPack).
9. The preview for audio can be hosted by any third-party service such as SoundCloud or YouTube.
10. Final resources, which includes final sounds in .wav (or any other format described in the "Technical Specifications for Sounds" section) + LMMS project files + text file describing modifications made to sounds by third-party software (if applicable) must be made available for download from a storage (FTP or similar) or cloud service.
11. Your entry must be available for listening until the end of the judging process. If not, your entry will be disqualified.
12. The organizers will disqualify and erase any entry that is racist, sexist, demeaning or inappropriate in any way.
13. Judges and contest organizers are forbidden from sending entries to the contest.
14. The organizers will disqualify and erase any entry that is copied from elsewhere with no or minimum changes or violates third parties' copyrights.
15. Disqualifications and deletions are final and cannot be recurred.
16. We reserve our right to delay or cancel the competition at any time.

Technical Specifications for Sounds

Following these rules is mandatory

This section describes what are the technical specifications for the sounds you will send. Even if you fail to comply with them at first, you will have the chance of making the necessary adjustments during the submission process (as described in the "Process" section).

1. Ringtones and alarm sounds with reverb/echo at the end should include at least one loop.
2. Final sound files must be in WAV/PCM 48kHz, 16 bits, 24 bits or 32 bits float using the .wav extension. Optionally you can also use FLAC, WavPack or other FOSS lossless codecs with the same parameters.
3. Final sound files must be normalized to 0dBFS.

Process

A jury made up of members of KDE, LMMS and a tie-breaker will judge the audio collections. At the end of the submission phase, the finalists will be selected for the second round. The first phase will last one month.

The second round will last one week. At the end of that week, the the winner of the physical prizes and other artists that had their sounds chosen will be announced.

The judging process will happen on KDE Forums. In the first phase, judges will comment and ask for modifications in order to make the submissions more suitable for Plasma Mobile. During the second phase, judges will gather together in a private chat and discuss who the winners will be.

The competition organizers are responsible for checking if submissions respect the rules and will also ask for modifications in case they do not.

Prizes

One artist will be selected to win the physical prizes. The judges will select that person based on which ones they like best. The winner of the physical prizes and all other selected artists will also be promoted on KDE social media channels if desired.

Social Media Exposure:

All of the artists that had at least one of their sounds selected (including the winner of the physical prizes) will have the opportunity of getting promoted in many KDE social media channels. In the announcement of the winners, we will also promote your work and your social media/professional contact info if you so desire.

Physical Prizes:

The physical prizes will consist of a bundle of KDE Goodies, including stickers, apparel, and other goodies.

[EXAMPLES ONLY👇]

1. A KDE baseball cap
2. A plush Tux
3. KDE stickers
4. A frozen glass coffee mug

Disclaimer: We will do our best to get the prize to you, but please note KDE can't take responsibility if damage or any other problems occur to prizes during shipping.

List of Sounds

This section lists what sounds you can send. It is a good idea to send sounds for all categories, but you are not required to do so:

System events:

1. Sound when pressing normal key in virtual keyboard
2. Sound when pressing modifier key (like shift) in virtual keyboard
3. Notification sound used for incoming SMS messages

Ringtones:

At least one ringtone

Alarm sounds:

At least one alarm sound

General Recommendations

These are not required for participating, but still highly recommended:

1. We recommend making very short sounds for system events (<1 to 2 seconds).
2. Make small loops of music for ringtones and alarms (3 to 10 seconds).
3. For alarm sounds, avoid simple alarm beeps.
4. Try choosing some natural sounding instruments, even when using a synthesizer.

Entering your Submission

Click here to go to KDE Forum and check other people's submissions. You can check more details about how you can participate by clicking here.

To send your sounds, you can click on the "New Topic" button on the forum page or go straight to the new topic page by clicking HERE.

Please note you will need a KDE Identity account in order to post on the forum. You can create your forum user by clicking here and following the instructions.

F.A.Q

What is KDE?

"KDE is an international team co-operating on development and distribution of Free, Open Source Software for desktop and portable computing. Our community has developed a wide variety of applications for communication, work, education and entertainment. We have a strong focus on finding innovative solutions to old and new problems, creating a vibrant, open atmosphere for experimentation." - You can see more details HERE.

What is Plasma Mobile?

Plasma Mobile, a fully free mobile environment, is a beautiful and productive way of using your Linux smartphone. CLICK HERE to see screenshots and HERE to know more about the project.

What is LMMS?

"LMMS is a sound generation system, synthesizer, beat/baseline editor and MIDI control system which can power an entire home studio. Sounds and tones can be generated, played and artfully arranged to create entire tracks easily, giving you the opportunity to create music from beginning to end. The tools to create the sounds, arrange the sounds and rhythms to create tracks, layer the tracks to create songs, and then save the songs to an output format are all there, ready for you to use. LMMS can also connect to your MIDI keyboard, allowing you to play music live." Learn more about LMMS here.

Can I use another DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) program for making sounds for this contest?

We are working together with the LMMS community, so you cannot use another DAW for this contest.

Where can I get public domain samples for my sounds?

You can either use synthesizer instruments or download samples on Freesound and the LMMS Website. You can check the licenses each sound has on their respective download pages. If you use a CC-BY licensed sample, you need to post the link for each sample on the forum post with your submission.

Do I need to make a new forum topic for each sound or subset of sounds I send?

No. You can include all of the sounds in a single topic on KDE Forum.

How can I get my prize after the contest is done?

We will let you know if you have won the contest by replying on your submission topic. We may also reach out through a private message on the forum as well. Please pay attention to comments on your submission and to your forum private messages.

Help and Feedback

You can ask the Promo and Plasma team for help and feedback any time during the competition! Just join the the Promo and Plasma channels on Matrix and ask away.