HVSC'

Jan 05, 2003: Let The BOV 2002 Nominations Begin!

Welcome Back!

Another year, another round for BOV! The time has come to kick off the BOV 2002 nomination phase. Many tunes have been added to HVSC during 2002 and several tunes from the DEMOS directory also found their way into VARIOUS. So much to listen to, but this is a good thing!

For informaiton about how to participate in BOV 2002, please see the FAQ.

Looking forward to all the nominations!

How do I get started?

The most convenient way to enjoy BOV is to have the following:
+ HVSC v5.2 or later
+ A SID emulator that supports SIDPlay's playlist format
+ Download BOV_Package_2001.zip and read the readme.txt file

(Note, check out the HVSC web site for more info on SID emulators.)

If the above doesn't suit you, then you have several options. You can download the package file and open the BOV_Results.txt file to see the listed BOV tunes. From there, you can manually find them in HVSC by using a SID search engine and then give them a spin.

Note, you can use the BOV playlist with older versions of HVSC, but due to some SIDs being renamed or moved during Updates, you may encounter a few small problems.

Why create BOV?

There are several reasons actually, but only the primary reasons will be mentioned. It is known that several C64 users left the machine before 1992 going to more powerful machines. These C64 users are much more interested in early famous SID composers from their time such as Hubbard, Galway, JT, etc. The bulk of these fans are either intimidated by VARIOUS' large size or unmotivated to break away from their comfort zone thus missing out on the new(er) SID music. This is where BOV steps in. It offers to be a guide or introduction to VARIOUS -- but most likely only the serious pre-1992 SID fans will enjoy BOV. However, the post-1992 SID fans may find that BOV gives an interesting rating of the tunes from their time.

Furthermore, one can say that HVSC's "Top 100 SIDs" is biased towards the pre-1992 era (understandable since game music receives higher exposure). BOV helps give proper recognition to the neglected VARIOUS directory.

How was the voting done?

In short, BOV 2001 was announced to the public in late 2001. The announcement requested SID fans to nominate SIDs (from any year) worthy of voting consideration. These nominations were then merged into one master list from which voters would eliminate the tunes they thought weren't best of VARIOUS. The tunes remaining on the list represented the voters' "votes".

Each voter's lists were then inputted into a script that would tally the number of votes per nominated SID. SIDs receiving votes from at least 50% of the voters become part of BOV.

The voting and nominating took about 2-3 months to finish since there were over 500 SIDs nominated. In addition, both the nomination and voting phases were publicly open to all SID fanatics. Of course, all vote lists were personally inspected for possible cheating, and I am happy to say that not one playlist was rejected.

For more detailed information about the voting, please see the BOV 2002 FAQ.

Interesting Observations...

-- For those of you new to VARIOUS, you'll find that the majority of the tunes have a different style compared to the tunes above the VARIOUS folder. A large number of them are faster and have a more advanced/modern sound compared to earlier SIDs. Influences of jazz, techno, and modern electronic music can often be heard.

-- There are 696 SIDs in BOV representing roughly 4% of all the SID tunes in the VARIOUS folder.

-- Rarely are BOV SIDs voted unanimously! This shows the diverse tastes among the voters.

-- You'll find that the BOV 2001 playlist has ending times for all the tunes. This means that when a tune ends the next tune on the list will be automatically played.

-- A great way to listen to the VARIOUS playlist is to set you playlist to Random mode. This gives you a fresh listening each time.

Known Issues...

What 'Top' list doesn't have its share of debates? BOV is no different, to say the least, but we do strive for a fair system. Below are some comments and observations made by the voters.

-- BOV nominations/results are too long or too short. Yup, that's right. Some thought the playlist was too long while others thought it was too short. Can't please everyone, however this year we limited the number of nominations to 50 per person (so at least those complaining about it too long will be happier :).

-- Omissions/Inclusions. This is definitely a hot topic with nearly all 'Top' lists. Why does Tune X appear on the list while Tune Y doesn't? Keep in mind that everyone has unique opinions and that BOV represents an average of the voters. There is a chance, though, that tunes omitted this time around will be included next year.

-- Voter behavior. Some voters decided not to include covers tunes in an attempt to award original tunes only. Others loved to hear a good cover and happily included them in their vote playlist. This is an example of the kind of mindset some voters had, which is well within their right.

-- Voter background. It seemed that about half of the voters weren't part of the post-1992 scene. This means that several of the voters had little preconceptions about the artists or music they were voting on. In addition, since many of these voters had not seen the demos where many of the VARIOUS tunes debuted, there wasn't as much nostalgic voting occurring. Depending on your point of view, this may be seen as good or bad. Personally, I think that it was good since it forced many SIDs to stand on their own merit.

-- Low voter turnout. For BOV 2000, we had seven voters in an invite-only voting system. Using a public voting system for BOV 2001, we gain just one more with eight total voters! Go figure. Although 7-8 voters are enough to make it worth our time, we'd like to have more for BOV 2002.

-- HVSC v4.3. In order to reduce voter confusion, we decided to make HVSC v4.3 the baseline for BOV 2001. With HVSC v4.5 available shortly after the BOV results were released, this may mean that there are a few SIDs made in 2001 that weren't eligible for BOV 2001. The good news is that these SIDS will be eligible for BOV 2002. Further, for BOV 2002, we waited until 2003 to start the nominations.

In the end, despite all the issues, we believe that the vast majority of the BOV SIDs are high quality tunes that many will find quite enjoyable. We're rather pleased with the results and hope you are too. Enjoy.