e-Symphony Studio

If you're into the idea of making your own electronic music on an online platform, you can try e-Symphony Studio by Panasonic Asia. They're currently holding a competition with some impressive prizes (think TV, camera and home audio system). Deadline's on 23rd July 2012. Go check it out!

Basically, there is a collection of sounds in the studio itself and it is up to you to put these sounds together to create music. There are 3 background tracks for you to choose from - techno (track A), pop (track B) and classical (track C). A timeline with tiny boxes runs across the bottom of the screen and that's where you insert the sounds. Each square box represents 1 second - trust me, it's very useful to remember this small piece of information! The sounds are found below the timeline in the form of cute pictures. Click on each picture to hear the sounds.

But, (aha!), guess what, you do not have all the sounds! See the lock images, there are a lot more sounds hidden behind them. To unlock the sounds, you have to answer certain questions or fulfill certain criteria. If you are having difficulty answering the questions, I have in my hand (actually, on my table right now) a whole lot of hints which you might find useful and yes, I am going to list them here. After I've finished explaining how to play it in my usual long-winded style.

After you've finished creating and saving your work (remember to SAVE! It is very important!), you need to PUBLISH to Panasonic Asia's facebook as well in order to be eligible for the competition. After which, you may get your friends to vote for you at the "Collections" page, or to listen to others' creations. Here's another video with more explanations:

Some tips:

1. Have a piece of rough paper and pencil with you. Watch the timing of the background track as it plays and note down the time at which you think you want to insert a particular sound. 
2. Always, ALWAYS write down on your paper the latest mix of sounds you want (write the sound and box number, which is also actually the time) because sometimes it doesn't save the way you want it then you might have to re-insert sounds, and imagine the horror at finding out that you've forgotten what sound you want and where. Also, I find it easier to start on a new timeline than to delete sounds I've randomly inserted.
3. You may want to insert a few sounds at one time because it takes some time to save. You may be surprised by how sometimes randomly (or wrongly) inserting sounds can give you some interesting combination! 
4. To insert sounds, click on the box in the timeline and then click on the sound you want. When you click on the next box, you might realize that the previous sound inserts itself into the box. Don't worry, simply overwrite that box with the sound that you want by clicking on the new sound, or click delete.

And now for the hints!

#1: Earth day first started 5 years after Singapore separation from Malaysia.
#2: The highest energy consuming items are normally located in your kitchen!
#3: 20% of a gaming console power for a Fridge.
#4: The average home uses about 300 liters of water every day!
#5: The number of plastic bags produced per day is almost 20 billion!
#7: Almost 30kg of pollutants can be filtered by a tree every year.
#8: "Changi Fast Chicken" hasn't been incorporated yet.
#9: The average family consumes over 100 liters of juice, almost 400 liters of milk and 100 liters of bottled water each year.
#10: Be environmentally friendly. Better a shower than a bath.
#11: Remember the Panasonic Evolta range!
#12: Lights left on do have an impact on surrounding air temperature.
#13: Typically more than 2/3 or waste from this pressed cellulose pulp.
#14: Almost 450 british barrels of water for 2 cooling showers a day, over a year.
#15: You could fill quite a few buckets with this dripping tap.
#16: Almost 576 km-sq of forests are being cut down every day.
#17: Be processed now, come back in a month!
#18: Close to 70% of office waste, it makes up for about 40% of general waste.

Ans #19: Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution.
Ans #20: Yes! Actually between 12 and 15.
Ans #21: Ag Clean technology by Panasonic uses the anti-bacterial effects of silver to keep foo fresh by inactivating 99.9% of mold and bacteria in the refrigerator.
Ans #22: Yes: In 1970, 2.2 million Sydney residents and more than 2,100 businesses participated.


OK, I have to admit I do not know which questions the hints addresses, but you can scan through it and something might just jump out at you. I hope this helps! And hope you learn some new facts from it too, just as I did!

For one, use less plastic bags!