Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics of CTU became one of the partners of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of CTU in the seventh year of the Synth Challenge competition. Contest participants are challeged with submitting two tasks by the end of 2022 that will test their ability to synthesize sounds and musical compositions in a software environment. To do this, the CIIRC will provide them with data and video, which the competitors will use to generate the best possible simulator sound. In addition to university students, high school students will also be able to participate for the first time.
Opening of the competition to students of the lower level of schools is not the only change this year. Unlike previous years, when audio synthesis algorithms were programmed exclusively in the MATLAB environment, this year participants can use any programming environment.
„By enabling this, we hope to involve other university workplaces, attract a larger number of participants, including talented students from secondary schools, and increase the interest to study acoustic and audiovisual programs and subjects,“ explains the main organizer of the competition, prof. Roman Čmejla from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering CTU.
Another change of this year’s Synth Challenge is that the already traditional partners represented by FEE CTU, Czech Acoustic Society and the software company Humusoft have also been joined by the Faculty of Transport of the CTU and our institute.
Sound of an electric car and a typewriter
According to the assignment, all participants of the competition must complete the first task – to synthesize the sound of the Škoda Superb electric car. It will be entirely up to them how they create the sound. „Although the most important factor defining the resulting sound is the speed and number of revolutions of the engine, we do not dictate to the participants which parameters to choose from the 70 possible and use for synthesis,“ explain the organizers of the competition.
The second task is intended for university students only and includes the synthesis of musical instruments of one of the two compositions. These are Jacques Offenbach’s ‚Barcarola‘ from The Tales of Hoffmann, which emphasizes piano and string instruments, and Leroy Anderson’s ‚Typewriter‘, which is dominated by piano and a mechanical typewriter with a bell.
The final version of the competition tasks must be sent by midnight on December 31, 2022. The announcement of the competition results will take place on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 in the FEL CAFÉ. The detailed wording of the assignment can be found here.
Last year’s winner scored with his version of Bohemian Rhapsody
You can read in the article how the winner of last year’s Synth Challenge 2021, FEL ČVUT student Adrian Pitoňák, handled it. Among other things, he scored points with the international jury with his version of Bohemian Rhapsody, which was mandatory for all participants. You can listen to the winning song here.
Source: FEE CTU Press Release
