It's my 4th burfday today, so I thought it would be cool to know that.
I'll be repeating what I said on my own profile to some extent, but this website has changed my life. Thanks to this community and the scene it got me into, I've found a lot of the music that defines me as an artist today.
I've met so many awesome people through it and a lot of them are major influences to me now, such as coda, goluigi and stinkbug to name a few. And obviously raphaelgoulart who I grew up as an artist with and collabed with multiple times.
Thank you, BotB!

i've met lots of friends and practiced music regularly for the past 10 or so months, which sounds like "yeah pretty cool" but that kind of shit is fucking amazing imo

got to meet merio, tmm12, fiv95, and way too many really cool botbr! also learned too much from them! <3 you are the best!

BotB is my favorite website no doubt - it always gives me something to do and to always have me trying out new things! Tons of awesome people here also, flip yeah. Super glad I found BotB! \.o./

it's actually crazy how drastically botb changed my life. over the past ~six years as a botbr i learned a ton about music and computers and people while having a stupid amount of fun in the process. i got to make serious friendships with lots of cool people, including some of my favorite musicians, and even though the community has had its hard times it's also helped me through a lot of my own.

hey xemogasa, this is a really cool thread and i love reading everyone's responses to this and i look forward to the ones other people post.

i joined botb when i was 16 because i was stalking strobe and trying to find where all his modules were (i will behave now). what i ended up discovering was a world that somehow simultaneously let me escape reality and come to terms with it.

i was relatively lonely in high school and i was growing increasingly lost. accidentally discovering this thriving and lively community of down to earth musicians (and uh....slightly crashing it at first...sorry) has been one of the most influential things that has happened to not only my music but also my life; it brought me out of my edgy teenager phase to being able to channel my energy into something enriching, even if the result was only a bunch small icon images and numbers calculated from god fuck knows what math on some deeply nested website not that visible to the public. this let me forget about whatever issues i was having in real life and focused my energy on something more productive.

...so much that i have literally become addicted to this drug, that is battle of the bits. the very same positive things i mentioned about this site are also the same reasons that sometimes throw off my sense of reality. i have on several occasions taken hiatuses from this site because of how much i visit it, it's definitely my most visited site out of everything i can think of. every time i come back, i feel refreshed and ready but after a while this effect wears me down and i end up taking a break. if i'm being truly honest to myself, i don't see this cycle ending anytime soon.

on a brighter note, many of the people i have met here have influenced my decisions in real life, and have probably made me a better person than i would have been without this site. here are some examples:

(many people are going to disagree with the following, but i'll write it for posterity) due to botb i decided to pursue cs instead of music in college because i realized i enjoy and appreciate music as a hobby and as something i can relax and wind down to (both listening and composing), rather than a job. if we look at this realistically, unless you were not only naturally musically talented but surrounded by it from the time you were born, doing music as a profession sounds stressful rather than fun and i can see how it can take the fun out of composing. at first you'll be excited to get new gigs, and jobs and work on fun projects. but as you continue your life on this path, the actual survival/monetary need of appealing to audiences that will purchase you work and hunting for gigs seems like it would turn your music in a direction you don't want to take it in. i didn't want music something that i'd grow tired of nor did i want to lose control of my own music (i even lose control of it often without being a professional) so due to discussions with various people i decided to keep music strictly a hobby and as a result, i'm still finding cool stuff and it never ceases to get old. now this is just my personal choice and i don't encourage or discourage anyone to follow this same path, nor am i asserting that everything i'm saying here is right and i am aware that there are many exceptions and this applies only to me. (side note: i will admit i am going into cs literally for job stability and that i dont mind working a 9-5 desk job, seeing as i've done that before and i quite enjoy it)

in addition, i started being more social and less edgy as a result of being on botb. botb led me to various places around the internet and it has shown me what happens when you get entrapped by it, unable to function in the real world. this created an urge in me to be more confident in real life instead of trying to construct some artificial personality online, only to see it falls flat during a real conversation. in this way, as a result of several interactions with many people, most of them connected to botb, i've taken control of my real life and become more proactive. i'm literally the same in real life as i am online, just ask the many botbrs whom i've met up with lol (also meetups are fun, come to california except california itself sux but hanging out with me is fun).


okay, now for something more concrete. i want to mention specific people here who have caused the above influence (chronological order):
- kajingsol for making lustycanadian.txt
- littletheremin/wing/pumpuli who introduced me to mod_shrine and modulez (other esper module music communities)
- mootbooxle for showing me numerous cool albums and letting me hang out on his minecraft server all night, building worlds that have probably now been lost (totally worth it though) whilst we just chatted about whatever.
- gyms for being probably the one person who managed to open the gates of the deep recesses of my mind and taught me how to write music instead of putting notes on a tracker grid. other than that, also a man who isn't afraid to tell you like it is and has a unique combination of experience and intuition to back it up that is very uncommon yet necessary in today's world. also i'll never forget something you said really recently, it was something like "how many man-hours have people individually spent total on botb?"
- raphaelgoulart for bringing back music to the community
- xemogasa, admit it, you're older than 15...........come on.....................
- tothejazz/jet i don't think i can name a single other person who i've managed to just completely vibe with on almost everything. has a fresh perspective grounded in reality rather than theory and thus has interesting stories to tell in not only his music but in his actual personality.
- beard, i did meet you on the first day i joined botb and i had been watching your videos even before joining botb but i only started talking to you around this time period. probably the funniest homo you'll ever know. also i've loved how not only your music but your personality has grown since those come to my party i'll pee in your mouth days. senis, Thanks I Really Appreciate it
- uuni, sorry i don't like musicals and theatre but i'm glad we are able to have actual discussions on something we're polar opposites about.
- jimmyoshi for probably being the most sincere person i know. often i get caught up in some crazy ass delusion but jimmyoshi is the one guy who tends to bring me back to reality. also best tsukkomi, and another guy who has brought music back to the community.
- schallwelle/apsarah, i want to thank you for the exact opposite reason i mentioned jimmyoshi, for entertaining all my crazy ass delusions and engaging with me in my long stream of consciousness discussions until dawn arises.
- sketchman3, same as schallwelle, i really enjoy having discussions at length with you, except yours tend to be a little less crazy and more down to earth but nonetheless we've had several good ones
- razerek, i kind of miss our old small talk skype conversations (though i don't miss skype at all), i think you're in the stage where you're really trying to figure out what direction you want to take your music and i really look forward to it because you have unprecedented talent that you weren't even aware of for a long time. i think you are aware of it now and i look forward your future songs (hey, try some stuff other than famitracker and chiptune~!)
- sincx, for being the first second true homo i've met. idk if you agree but you really remind me of myself when i was your age and i feel like i had the same mentality you did although you're definitely more matured than i was and in control and completely unlike me, you have the ability to do the most tedious work and see it through and finish somehow. also i plan on sending more golgicrates in the future for sure, and i expect streams for all of those. destroy all girls.
- a-zu-ra, the person i had my first conversation in japanese with where i literally looked up every word and i probably didn't comprehend the whole conversation anyway. japanese isn't the only reason though, you always put up with my antics and rival jimmyoshi as top tsukkomi as well. you literally went from "just because we technically live 10 minutes away from each other, doesn't mean we have to meet up" to entertaining my random messages i shoot at you now and then and my line stamp spam. we should go to round 1 and play ecchi fighter again sometime.
- vincmg, i messaged you somewhat occasionally and that definitely increased when i started learning Anime Letters but since you've joined botb we've been hanging out a lot and recently in real life too since you're in my area for a while. going random places and eating at random restaurants with you is a lot of fun and i want to keep doing it.

.sho

I've met a ton of extremely talented musicians and artists through this site alone who also turned out to be really cool, down to earth people as well. I'll admit I've felt kinda distanced from this site lately, but that happens when other life events and aspirations come to form. Still I have no regrets about joining BOTB and will continue to have fond memories of my times here.

if it wasnt for botb, i wouldnt ever:

-learn to track properly
-leave the poopy Hands Up genre
-find out how to make my own samples
-go to demoparties
-meet and learn from taltented moosic makers that have come across botb
-have some musical experience to brag about (people still question my 8 bit poop crap, but at least now im more open about it)
-decide medical studies arent my cup of tea (so are musical studies, it stops being fun when creative process gets overshadowed by the theoretical part)
-actually get myself into retro and aforementioned 8 bit poop crap

In all honesty, botb has taught me how to get off my ass and do shit. The clearly defined goals in a compo has really given me the chance to get out there and make some music. I think I can truly say that botb is the reason I decided to get off my ass try really hard to make a #actual game. I don't know if I'll finish it, but I really hope I do.

Botb has given me something to do. Instead of spending hours consuming media, I spend hours creating it. It's freaking amazing. I installed RescueTime on my computer so I could see how much time I was spending on things and before botb I was spending far, far too much time on YouTube and far, far too little time doing anything else productive. After botb that has changed, I still have an unhealthy YouTube addiction, but at least I'm making stuff now.

I really, really like this site and I really, really hope it never dies.

Ooh and I'll also take the time to mention Quirby 64 because he's a really cool dude and probably the person I respect the most on botb. \.o./

I came here because mod_shrine was lowkey dying...






Seriously though, this website expanded my artistic horizons and helped me experiment with ideas more frequently. The feedback on this website is absolutely invaluable. Puke7 and Strobe, with their subtle mockery, helped me grow as a person over time. Goluigi, SincX, and Jimmiyoshi have helped me come away from artistic funks more times than i can count. Mootbooxle keeps everyone's spirits up with their constantly upbeat attitude. B00daW is B00daW. Kefie is the one person that always makes sure I know I have room to improve and should work harder to make higher quality compositions through their harsh voting tactics. All the other botbrs i haven't mentioned have also helped me improve in various ways over the years. This community is ENORMOUS.

I have seen 3 generations of botbrs come and go, each one helping the next improve themselves, and I am glad it's helped to shape me as a person.


(Also, come to Oregon pls. I need peeps to jam with.)

BotB has always been family to me. We develop together.

Whoa, thanks Minerscale! That's awesome. :D You're definitely a gud BotBr around here also! _{just don't get scrub'd next time :p}

Back to BotB - Might as well compare musicstuffs also. I mean, who can forget such classic songs such as +4 Octaves and AHH.mod?

Now compare that to anything I've made recently and you'll see improvement. \.o./

Also, similar question for others : Where would you be without BotB? For me, it'd probably either :
1 - I keep making terrible sprite comics on smackjeeves lmao
2 - I end up sticking to FamiTracker and DefleMask for the next like

5 years lol before trying out anything new

So yeah, BotB has helped a flipton. All n00bs!!! :>

although i'm not too active here nowadays (mostly laziness but trolling comp csgo matches is also fun), this website is pretty much what shaped me as a musician, and in parts, as a person.

i've already had some experience with music since my dad is a professional and experienced musician (srsly check out his work

), but he's mostly focused on instruments and tbh i don't find playing instruments (and the process of actually learning how to play them properly) fun so i never ended up actually using what i've learned from him during my life

i didnt begin making chiptunes because of this site, i 'discovered' it through ytpmv, eventually i tried out famitracker and made !this

. after a while golgi told me about this website on skype, and...well

it was the perfect excuse for me to actually write music. and it was fun as hell receiving feedback from people, comments, favs, and mostly, from people i already liked their stuff and admired before i knew botb (ex. FoD), plus the formats thing and the game-like system motivated to try and learn new stuff, the people and music i've met here also heavily influenced my style and, well, i dont think i'd still be making music if it wasnt for botb, and i have no idea of what my style would be if i was making music but never met botb

plus i met many cool people through botb, directly or indirectly (most of which i dont talk too frequently or haven't talked for a long while, but i still consider them amazing people), far beyond recognition and fans i've gained friends, and i'm really thankful for it

and a last thing i'd like to comment - i've worked in some music for games (most notably 99vidas, on which Rafael Langoni Smith was the composer and i was the arranger), and it would NOT have happened without botb. why? its not only because of how botb made me improve - it was because langoni found my skype name through happy summer tune on modarchive (pretty much like Xemogasa and saviosiqueira), and you probably know that happy summer tune was the first song i've submitted on botb.

botb might not have changed my life as drastically as other people, but it had great importance, and i'm privileged to be here, to be part of this amazing community. thanks for it all.
(i've written this a bit too fast since i'm at work so sorry for any mistakes i might have made while writing this)

hey this is a nice thread. enjoying reading the posts above

it's hard to say what botb has changed in my life because i was 17 or 18 when i found botb and i am 25 now and obviously a lot would have changed even if i didn't find botb

but i have made some of the best (not just some of my best. some of THE best) friendships via botb, i have met up with six or seven of them too so it's not just online friendships. there are lots of ex botbrs i was friends with before who i'm not anymore and i still have fond memories of all of those too

there have always been botbrs encouraging me to be a better person whether that's via making music, programming, being less of an argumentative prick and more of an enjoyable person to chat to, etc

when i was in a psych ward in 2011 it felt like botbrs were the only people who cared whether i was in or out of it and that was nice

on the negative side i guess i spent a lot of time on botb that i could have spent sleeping, but ehhh whatever

i would make a list of all my frav pals but i don't want to miss anyone. you're ALL my frav pals. it's been so nice to feel included in something for the last quarter-of-my-life-so-far

i'd rather be the 102nd best botbr than the 1st best non-botbr

Whilst we're all getting sentimental here, I just want to thank pedipanol for inviting me here in the first place. I'm not very good at talking to people, so I never really learn about these nifty kinds of communities.
So thankyu pedipanol for having the initiative to tell me about BotB :D

its helped me in a lot of areas, here's some that ive taken;

that it is good to have other things going on in your life, for balance, so it can inspire you and also so that you are able to draw more inspiration.

that music making is more of a therapy when im not trying too hard to be the best of the best, and that means the endgame for creating stuff has shifted somewhat :)

that it is okay to express yourself and not just express technique or popularisms

that you dont always have to be happy with what you make

that it is ok for people to like the songs that you arent happy with

that if people dont like your song but you do, then thats okay

that winning isnt the game, that losing isnt game over

that it is worth investing time into listening to people more, not just their music but their day to day

that i dont have to continually see tangible marks of improvement per year to be happy

that the tunes in my first year of chipping sucked way more than i thought they did at the time but its okay because i was having fun anyway

that i don't have to make things just because there's a compo and that i dont have to not make things just because theres not a compo
-----------------------------------
might add to this if i can think of anything else

here's how it all happened...

~the origin~

Dear Jesus,

around the age of 12, I actively got into listening to music. before this time, I grew up on a passive diet of radio R&B and rap, and didn't really care for it but kinda figured that was all there was to music. then I started to play some older games like Earthbound and such, and noticed, "woah the music here is enjoyable to listen to, and so different!" from then on, my life was changed.

I rediscovered things like Jet Set Radio Future's soundtrack, which I passively enjoyed a lot as a kid, and even more as someone actively listening to it. I found songs I liked in the whole YTPMV scene that brought me deeper into a game music rabbithole, where I found out about famitracker.

I joined famitracker forums sometime in 2010 and made a lot of terrible music for two years before joining botb. I remember jrlepage's song "show me a moose" blew me away and made me start using botb because I was like, wtf if he can do this in an hour I can find a way too!! (though apparently I joined before then?)

~botb life~

then I went on botb constantly for like, two years, and kind of discovered my musical sense... and in this place I found the first community I ever actually grew attached to. I made friends, enemies, did a lot of stupid shit, and sorta fulfilled my goal to use the site as a tool for improvement. some of my best music is on here!

this site, and the people in it, made my life in those two years a lot of fun, and definitely helped me escape my "lol random edgelord 4channer" phase. because before then I was all about troll hitler rape rape pedophilia murder humor and I was kind of obnoxious and intolerable. totally not chill haha, and sorry you had to deal with that

sorry for stealing songs, sorry for being an edgy troll, but you guys calling me out on these things helped me become a way more chill and collected guy now. also thanks kf for some musicial advice you gave me back then, because it did shape my musical awareness. and you still show me some amazing music

the most important era in my botb life was actually as I began using the site way less in 2014. through a series of events, me kind of stepping out of the community made me latch on to only a few people that I found valuable. sorta like falling off a cliff but grabbing all the rocks you can on the way down haha

my best friends who I met back then and kept around on skype... these guys are still my best buddies today.

~the brobroys~

that's gyms, golgi, and jet, the closest friend trio. i met them individually at first, but through multiple group chats, starting off with some official botb one i believe, we wound up forming a little group out of us, and it's been over three years of friendship, hanging out, emotional support, and goodness since. these are my best friends, and if I never went on botb, I never would have met them. therefore, I never would have became who I am today.

if I never met gyms, wtf I probably would've straight up quit music. he's literally The Reason HYPERMIX, my sort of musical resurgence, exists. all because of some chord presets he sent me for ableton. through the past two years he's taught me at least 70% of what I know about music, and helped me through a lot of personal emotional bad spots, and I've been there for him too. important important guy

but even golgi and jet fed my mind with a lot of musical realizations and stuff to listen to, along with philosophies and perspectives that I really needed to acquire at some point. it's crazy how much this single group, us brobroys, me, golgi, jet, gyms, (moot, uuni), have enhanced my life and my own self.


~the present day~

botb still seems to play some role in my life, even though I don't use the site much nowadays. honestly, I keep a really small circle of online friends. like, six people or something. and they're all from botb, or at least stemmed from that.

through gyms last year, I met another important friend of mine that I became actual buddies with later that year, so I just gotta mention him

it is razerek, who is definitely one of my high level close friends right now. the amount of musical potential he has is insane and I know one day he's going to tap into it and probably cause World War III. but he'll also end World War III. probably the same day. he's such a cool guy, and got me into one of my most prevalent modern interests, cubing. that's like, solving rubik's cubes really fast lol. nutshell, he's colored this year a better hue for me, our daily calls are always a ton of fun. don't count this guy out, he's a great.

so yeah, without all these close buddies, wtf my life would be so different, and probably not in a good way. as I am about to go to college and live on campus in less than two months, I really reflect on the fact that I wouldn't be nearly as ready and confident in myself without these friends.

I could go on forever about these buddies, botb, and how my life was changed, but yeah that'd be really long and redundant and nobody would read it haha but thanks for reading this anyway! I'm glad a lot of members here have had similar positive effects from this site, meeting great friends and becoming better musicians and people.

it's so great to have met these great pals who augmented the course of my life in such major ways, despite such minor beginnings. nothing could diminish the importance of their existence

botb's good people and the music from it continue to inspire me even though it's easy after all this time to say, "eh botb ain't all that", and get all spiteful. but it is something, and something quite important. long live puke, long live botb, and I hope it keeps giving people good times forever

Infinity Amen.

It's awesome to read the rocking friendships that developed here, after reading a few comments it made me start to think of how selfish of a friend I typically tend to be (as well as deaf because I usually ended up doing my own thing like a dumbie :/)

It was definitely a maturing step. The main thing I felt I gained was freedom from molds, to keep thinking outside the box and push your own boundries. I developed my taste in music here and found some truly amazing tunes that have helped inspire things in my mind - some of which have yet to be created.
I've met some really dope people and I feel terrible that I acted really immature and broke off ties with almost all of you. I would probably never would have stopped writing if I kept plugged in - but you can't change the past right?

Thanks for always being encouraging and making me believe in myself and that I actually can write and create music. You guys rock~

Sometimes I forget that botb is a comparatively small community and I wonder how I was lucky enough to find it

I know I haven't submitted way too many musical entries but... I made like one chiptune ever before joining, and botb has been the only thing occasionally motivating me to try composing.

You all also put out some amazing stuff that I feel fortunate to hear. Like, I've listened to some songs literal hundreds of times (hi golgi) and I wouldn't even know they existed if I weren't here.

Also savestate is a really good friend and I met him here yes

Besides that I don't want to do shoutouts because I like a lot of you and I don't want to leave people out. Overall the community has just been very friendly to me.

I have logged in almost every day since joining, even if I haven't entered much in the past year. I also haven't been on IRC in a long time so I'm sure some of you don't know me that well. Sorry for being absent for so long, someone kick me to get on IRC some time

♥ y'all

My biggest success in life came from a random message in IRC from R3M about a game and later someone nagging me on mumble to update a dead mod for it, this allowed us to play on the same server. *much fun*

It felt great knowing that I was able to rely on the talent of people here to create music for that mod. In return I was able to share their music to an audience of some 50 million people, which to this day I still feel extremely proud of. During the time of developing the software a team formed around my project and there was a fair amount of resistance initially for incorporating music exclusively from botb, as it would have been easier to just link to some commercial music via youtube or whatever and embed that instead. It's difficult to convey why botb is so fantastic and special to those who do not partake.

Musically I have very little talent but I can knock out some electronic noise here and there which usually only takes place during an OHB, so incrementally I get to explore and challenge myself, all thanks to botb. I've become fairly efficient at banging out the heart of a track thanks to the one our battles and the shortcuts it forces us to use.

I'm glad puke takes on board what we express here and where reasonable he makes adjustments accordingly. I'm pretty sure he made gamejams possible because he got sick of me asking <3 yay.

This comment has turned into all the cool shit I've done for this community but I couldn't have done it without you, you have enabled me to be a better person and I'm pleased to contribute in small ways.

I have a lot of love and respect for this community.

i don't know where i would be without botb wrt music, some convos i've had in irc/skype really changed the way i approach making music for the better, and some of the connections i've made with you folk have literally been life-changing. i've met some really cool people here who are now what i'm glad to call close friends, and i've even met up with a couple of you goons in real life (greetz FoD and jangler <3) so yea there's that

uhhhhhhhhhhh i can honestly write a whole 12 page, single-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman essay about everything in my life that's been impacted by botb but i'll keep it short: i honestly don't know if i would still be making music if i hadn't stumbled upon botb as a young, 14-year-old skinnyhead2000!!!

I've had an account here since 2013 but didn't really become active until like January this year, but yeah this place is very cool because it helped reassure me that it's ok to have fun making music and that not everything has to be serious and have an explicit Message To Tell to be a great piece of Art. It's really cool being able to hang around people who are passionate about music and very talented but also very unpretentious and never above making a good joke in the comments and tags.

especially after dealing with an amorphous mix of reverse culture shock, school stress, and loneliness for most of 2016 it was really nice to rediscover why I love making music in the first place and I can definitely list botb among the reasons I was able to get out of that emotional funk as well as just the general quiet background sadness that's stuck around me for years. I didn't even fully notice that last part until right now as I write this post but now that I think about it yeah it's almost entirely gone, wow


Wow this post is very badly structured, I bet my high school english teacher would give it a C. but yeah even though I haven't even really ""been"" a botbr for a year this place is very cool and I'm very glad I joined.

Also I concur with golgi more people should cum to california so we can all hang out in this sucky state with very nice weather but way too much traffic. Maybe we can have like a Battle of the Barbecue or something someday

Through BotB, I have

- Learned how to track (I never bothered learning DOS modules until sixteenvania, and even then, I still approach them with reluctance)
- Made buddies with some people that I have, before BotB, just revered from the sidelines (like malmen)
- Realized that the world is not like ThaSauce and that not everyone will even like, let alone pay attention to, the stuff that you make
- Realized that shitting out low effort music will get you noticed for all the wrong reasons (hi pop music industry, bye mom)
- Realized that all I ever did in my early days of composing was copy other people (I was a DDRKirby(ISQ) pastiching tryhard back in ThaSauce, and with BotB, I had no DDRKirby to pastiche off of, so my music style got more and more lost until all I was doing was making the same thing over and over and over and over and then wonder why people were rating my stuff so low)
- Decided that my other hobbies are more worth it I guess

I can't even remember how this site really changed me for the better considering that a good amount of my own growth as a musician came from ThaSauce and all I can really remember about this site is all the crushing moments for me. Would I have been able to make the same quality of music that I do today without this site? Maybe. Or maybe not. Does it even matter anyway? I don't really know anymore. Why do I even make music...

A-zu-ra are you ok

idk, someone convince me that BotB did a good in my life because I can't think of any outside what I may have described

my mind is clouding all the good times, whatever they were ( ﾟ^ﾟ)

or maybe I should just not think about how BotB has changed me and just be...why did I decide to post in this thread :x

I'm just gonna go back to refining the Game Jam 2 speedrun splits for Wednesday

at least i'm trying ( ﾟ^ﾟ)

though those posts i made certainly did not help

i'm just gonna not think about this anymore and just be

i want to make it clear i don't necessarily agree with charlotte but i liēked liēkd her post because it started with "u fool"

it's ok; botb doesn't have to be for everyone. i think we've all had good experiences and bad experiences with it. you gotta recognize that though & decide for yourself whether it's healthy / fulfilling / worthwhile.

[well, it certainly is helping a little bit (´・ω:;.:...]

And Jangler, you're right. I would be lying if I told you guys that I didn't have urges to just leave BotB altogether.

But every time I have those urges ("do they really miss you?"), there's always this feeling that I get a little bit afterwards ("maybe they do. are you willing to throw that all away, a-zu-ra?")...that usually ends up with me coming back.

I mean, maybe there is something that BotB has done that has changed my life for the better. Maybe it was a good amount of what charlotte mentioned. The fact that I need someone else to point it out for me really says something about my ability to self-reflect without concurring biases.

HONESTY; HUMILITY; INNOVATION; COMMUNICATION; HUMANITY; SPIRIT; TROUBLESHOOTING; LOGIC; ART! <3

BotB

eat arbys

like a-zu-ra, i had a bit of a culture shock coming from thasauce where people generally liked my music to botb where people generally... didnt. :P

also botb is kind of cliquey and i found it hard to break into

idk i think u all are great musicians i just don't have the time to invest to be a cool kid like u are :/

azura i started out straight up stealing songs and ripping off kulor so you're on the right track i think. people probably didn't like me before. i am a good person now! i'm a good musician now! (true fact)

@ vince

don't worry about yours, my post is full of syntax errors but i don't want to change it because i feel like that'd be tampering with my stream of consciousness

also re: at my own long double spaced times new roman 12 pt essay

the part where i talk about my life choices regarding music is the opposite of the mentality said in this tweet https://twitter.com/NickBertke/status/882170590815174656

lol golgi that pogo tweet: when people win the occupational artist lottery and think it's because they tried harder or were more true to themselves than everyone else

Music. Yehhhh. At least I know I can do some pretty good stuff with music.

i realized my mixing was earrape

The biggest thing that this website gave me? The ability to sample a whole bunch of other chips, including the NES's. I would have never bothered with the NES or any of these other chips in the long run if it weren't for Battle of the Bits, because if I remember correctly... I think Battle of the Bits was the place that recommended IT2NSF for me in the first place. It took me a few years to get the DPCM right due to using the wrong player (NESTopia gave me the correct results, but before that I gave FlashNSF a go). Plus, I hacked SNESMod and showed off my modifications here first via my music, which contained brand new modifications that used the SPC700's features.

Amusingly, I have technically made chiptune for much longer than you might have expected... because I sampled off of a soundfont one day in August 2005 to make some kind of NES-styled remix for VGMix via Harmony Assistant. Naturally, it worked poorly. Very poorly at that... only the chip part came out kind of correctly: everything else fell apart at the seams due to inexperience. Actually... it predates the very first beta of Famitracker listed on the official website! And I was aware of Famitracker as far back as August 2007, when I was still on the G3! That's a very long time... and I discovered GoatTracker even earlier (August 2006)! That one had a Mac version, but I abandoned it for three years due to a serious bug with inserting and deleting rows. I did end up experimenting with Famitracker in January 2012 while my G5 was down, about six months before I showed up on Battle of the Bits. So... remember when I said that this website made me aware of IT2NSF? Well, I would have probably ignored the NES music scene in the long run, or I would have asked elsewhere for an alternative solution.

I will admit that these days I have grown a bit bored (and on the C64's end, I'm afraid of it killing my ears in the long run, which has spread to the other chips except for the SPC700... although in the SPC700's case, I have exposed SNESMod's weakness to the point that I have lost interest in the sound driver)... plus, all of those songs on Battle of the Bits actually caused me to genericize all of the music I was hearing (this was on the order of hundreds, if not a thousand or so of these tracks, on top of the hundreds of tracks I had made, and the hundreds of SNES tracks I had heard, simply from ripping the SPCs of them... and the music I heard over the radio, the TV, audio cassettes, CDs, MP3s, even including some of the past eras from the 30s to today).

I discovered this website in the first place by a fluke discovery of Super Anthropomorphic Space Turismo. Specifically, I was looking for others that were creating some actual SNES music (rather than psuedo-SNES... I am very touchy on having authenticity) and discovered Super Anthromorphic Space Turismo. I had been making actual SNES music since September 2009 (yes, that long ago! That was only three months after the game was originally released, so I was using SNESMod back when it was essentially brand new! That makes me one of the earliest users of the sound driver ever, only behind the creator of the sound driver, Mukunda. I was also aware of his prequel, XMSNES ever since I joined the SNESDev.net forums in July 2007... around the time web page was updated with new material for the last time). Now, I swear I may have run into XMSNES earlier via a website called SNESCentral.com (as a matter of fact, it is very likely that was the very website that allowed me to discover both of these!), and that led to the beginning of my SNES hacking (and I recall discovering SNESMusic.org a few months beforehand, and began contributing SPC sets there!). So I have no clue if I would have made as much progress if it weren't for Battle of the Bits.

Now that I think of it, this place has become a gathering of people that I had knew back in 2007! The two that come to my mind are bazz (Experimented with SNES music on the SNESDev.net forums.) and Jredd (a remixer/musician that I met I believe on OCRemix or Versus Compo... I remember Versus Compo much better, as I was directly responsible for Jredd producing a Revolution X remix that made it onto the OCRemix website.). ekid/mukunda was previously on this website from 2006-2008, so it goes both ways when you think of it...

I don't remember exactly how I discovered this website. My earliest memories involve finding a message board discussion here that was spearheaded by b00DAW. He was showcasing the Super NSF driver, with some really cool multisampling NSF tracks.

Another memory is that 80's Outrun chill wave contest from 2013. That's where I first found out about Raphael Goulart with his cute little OPENMPT track for that contest. I made an account then, but lurked until the following year when I posted Ocean Melody in the 2014 Winter Chip comp.

I became friends with Raphael, and loved him dearly as a little brother. Still do. But I've had many tradgedies and traumas over the past few years, and have difficulties maintaining friendships. Even though I want to be more sociable and feel guilty that I'm not.

So it's nothing personal to anyone of I'm not very responsive. It's something I'll be working to improve on.

BotBs is a mixed bag for me. I really don't enjoy all the raunchiness and crude ness rampant on this site. Especially the "pantsplosion" ratings on the final rating criteria for when people vote for a song. This is because Jesus had changes my heart to a degree where I desire purity and holiness instead of crudeness and debauchery.

However, it also means that I have and feel deeply an incredibly strong love and compassion for everyone on this site.

So it is a strange paradox.

As a musician and fan of chiptune style music, I find this website to be an excellent resource for tools, advice, and examples. Most of the users are really talented, far beyond my level of skill. And I think that's a good thing. It keeps me humble, and gives me something to shoot for.

I've discovered many cool resources that I didn't even knew existed or had even fathomed prior to coming here such as Super NSF, Sneventracker, and a tool for making music on Fairchild Channel F, and even the TIA tracker.

It is always a neat experience hearing feedback from other musicians whether positive or negative. I appreciate the interaction.

What I really need is to become sensitive to if and when the Holy Spirit wants me posting to contests here. And doing so with an attitude of loving humility.

I have learned much, and my skill has increased through my participation here as well. Although my life is really busy now, and participation may not be very common from me.

If you are reading this, know that I love you and care for you. I hope to share the love of Christ through the music I share, and through my interaction with all. <3 I wish I could give everyone here a big squishy hug! :3

Especially, Raphael! ;P

BotB helped me gain INCHES in DAYS

lots of love <3 *hugz0rz with disturbed, psychedelic eyes*

GOD I'M LAAAAATE

here's my needless niceties for yall

i think i'm almost by myself saying nearly all my botb experiences have been positive. back in late 2015 when i joined i was an absolute terrible musician and the competitive atmosphere here has really helped me improve. sure i don't win every time (hell i barely have any wins) but that's not a bad thing! every entry gave me a chance to improve and to look at what other people are doing better and that's how i can improve. so thanks for all your entries, it means a bunch

AND NOW FOR SHOUTOUTS TO MAKE THE PEOPLE I LEFT OUT FEEL BAD I MEAN CAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS DOIN IT

keffie - you already know, i tell you enough already that puttin stuff here aint justice
boodaw - thanks for all the support and chats, youre one of the most honest guys i know
quirby - hey you FUCK youre a good friend and improving at like fuckin rocket speeds, keep that shit up
sinc-x - stop being good and let me win god damn it, no wait i mean youre an amazing musician and i swear i will eat you lunch one day
tobikomi - youre just cool and i dont see you get a lot of recognition

i remember way back in 2014 i joined this community (edit: as mega9man), although i've heard of it before through christerious. back then, i was so, so shy (edit: i was also known under 5tapl3rguy back then, thats still my steam name haha). i saw botb display my country and fucked off back to what i was doing before, just because i didn't like people seeing which country i was from, even though i didn't have an account then.

i remember keffie posted a thread on ft forums about winter chip 9, and i was interested, so i entered. by that point, i only had famitracker under my belt. i didn't know about irc or anything, i just did my thing and thats it haha

but then as i inched closer to the irc medium, that's when shit really started to happen. i became aware of a lot of things, what a pentatonic scale is, !THIS, and a lot of other things. i genuinely had a good time, but i was 14 or 15. i was really immature and i was using botb injokes outside of botb, which people were disgusted of obviously lol. i was slowly getting over my shyness too which was great.

at the same time i was trying to improve my own composition skills -- i have to give shoutouts to kfaraday and mk26 here, they're the sole reason i even tried to improve honestly. but composition isn't all, right?

this site helped me get a lot more formats under my belt, which really shows in winter chip 10, a lot more musical tehniques, shown in another adventure and my recent music, and generally more knowledge.

but things really took a turn when usability 2 happened. i decided i'd stream the making of my song, and that's how i met one of my greatest friends, harumi. she tuned into the stream and i did my thing, and then i found out a whole neural tree of people connected to her, like sam and razero!

another one of my greatest friends i got to know here was dpc. he joined the botb irc one day and i was like "HI IM MEGAMELON" bc that's how i was on the ft forums back then haha, and then we got familiar and started talking on skype and it was great. we still talk today and he's a really great guy. i found a bunch of connections to this guy as well, like blaze weednix, who i used to talk to a lot, he is also a genuinely nice guy.

sincx, gtap, golgi, i might not talk to you at all, but that doesnt mean you're not great friends! id really like talking to you guys more often than right now!

zlew, you're also a great friend. you made me realize that my elitistic behaviour on my instruments was hurting everyone, including me. i'm still really sorry about that. the 3xvrc7 memes might be memes but the fact that theyre still around means youve impacted my life enough to have a worthy mention

th3 d34d is also a really nice friend. ive talked to him several times and he's really down to earth and i wish i could talk to him more honestly, that's how cool he is.

of course i have more friends, but i wanted to focus on botb for now. there's a lot of people i haven't mentioned but you all impacted my life in a way or another. honestly i wouldn't be here without this community or this site so i owe you big time. cheers!

m9m, i'm always on irc~ (also line)

botb made me less socially awkward

only less awkward, im still an awkward potato salad of a waffle

on that note every single one of you made me who i am today, wether that is a good thing or not, so i award you all with an invisible gold medal

also if anybody wants to talk contact me on discord @ MovieMovies1##6307, i use irc scarily little these days oops

@MovieMovies1: just use IRC to connect to Discord :D/

You won't be able to do/see reactions though, among other things

(Bitlbee through irc is still quite nice though)

BotB has of course helped me out in a musical way like most people will admit, but in my mind I mostly peg this community as a significant social fragment of my life. I've benefited from the competitions and music chats, but I've benefited even more from the friends I've made and the conversations and company I've held with people. That's a huge blessing for me cos the past 5 years of my life has been something of an extended existential crisis. My coping method has been a simple one of isolating myself in order to sort it all out more effectively, but in the mean time I've always had some group of friends to talk to, who are directly related to this community in some way, who've saved me from a lot of loneliness and grief.

I've had ups and downs with the community as well. Sometimes I've really loved this place to death, other times I've totally resented it into the ground. Sometimes what determines the love or resentment are particular members, and sometimes it's just the way the culture is in here at the time. However, a lot of the times it has everything to do with me and not others or the community, and it took me a long time to realize that.

In fewer words tho: BotB has had its ups and downs but it's always been something I care about, whether I'm passionately loving it, passionately resenting it, or whatever more neutralized passions you can have in between those two.

Another subtle thing that's probably not cool to observe or admit to is BotB has been a good source of validation for me over the years. My self-confidence waxes and wanes, but BotB was here to give me some amount of validation for my music during what I'd consider a very crucial and formative time period of musical development. Sometimes I just really need someone to pat me on the head and say Good Job!

Wow, lots of people talking about how this place affected their development as a person... and I'm one of them.

I joined this site in late, LATE 2013. I'd actually joined earlier than that as "luteus77," but a certain someone scared me off, possibly without even meaning to. I was still pretty gun-shy.

Eventually, though, I joined, and I joined hard. My first major was probably an achievement I'll never surpass on this site. It also prompted me to try out a handful of new formats, some of which still get use from me to this day. Stuff like NSFMania also helped me stretch my musical muscles. I gotta join something like that again; I'm stagnating for sure.

Regarding the social life here, that's a much more interesting story. Before I joined, I was very defensive due to participating in the Mega Man Fangame community, which was full of really shitty behavior, if I can be honest. (One person even sent me a cryptic note to kill myself just because I accidentally used the word "generic" too often in critique.) The first time I felt like I could actually TALK to people online, rather than just... communicating with them, was when I shared with the IRC chat that someone had been talking shit about my music unprovoked. Instead of being laughed at or told to stop whining, I received sympathy--from complete strangers! It felt like I'd found a place where it was not only my talent that could earn me respect, but who I am as a person as well.

It's hard to tell the story of BOTB without telling the story of my adolescence as well. The people I've met here, through my failures with them, have helped me grow as a person. That sounds a bit morbid on the surface, but the truth is, it's the only way to improve yourself.

I had to make sure I hadn't been here already.

Regardless of what happens in the future, for me, BOTB is a monument to how to make music fun.

I feel bad that BOTB often gets a bit of a back or side burner for me. I tried out for it as an afterthought, to experience something different from #mod_shrine and SounDevotion, but SounDevotion always got the bulk of my energy, because what I learned in BOTB's diversity is what I am and am not good at.

I also learned the value of my effort. I could quit my job and sink all of my spare time working my ass off to make the greatest chipmusic ever and it will only ever be thought of as mediocre. Then I'd end up homeless and divorced. By picking and choosing where I enter, maybe I can get a quick grin out of somebody going through the entries on my way to a tin can or two in between my other projects and taking care of my family.

I'm sorry that I haven't been social because of this. Once you're stuck in a routine of getting things ready for dinner, for work tomorrow, whatever... it makes social life matter less to a person who wasn't very social to begin with.

I wouldn't be here if not for gyms.
I am eternally grateful to him for that!
BotB has changed my life in significant ways.
I don't have the words to really get into it...that's one reason I've refrained from posting until now.
My creative vision and output has grown by leaps and bounds since joining BotB! Some of my greatest triumphs as an artist have been as a result of seeds that were planted in OHBs here.
I can't say enough good things about BotB!
It has carried me through the roughest period of my life thus far, 2011-2017. From one challenge, one crisis to another. BotB has been the constant through it all.
I love you all and I thank you for allowing me to do my thing here and have fun. I hope that I have contributed something that has inspired or helped someone else along the way.
<3

botb taught me how to stretch myself as an artist. i've been out of my creative comfort zone more on botb than anywhere else, and it's been a blast!

i've also met a lot of extremely talented people who have been amazing inspirations. i'm proud to consider myself part of the botb community!

Apsarah I would talking abt castlevania with you again anytime

okay today is my 2nd burfday, so i decided to bump this thread! there are some things i really have to say and i thought this is the right place to do it c:

this is both a summary of my botb history merged together with what changed in my life and/or how i developed as a person due to it. special thanks at the end!

the first time i heard about botb was in 2016, when robyn told me about it and asked me if i wanna join the site because it might be fun.
i opened it, looked at it for a minute, then closed and almost forgot it again lol

over one year later, in late 2017, i created my account (only because i wanted to download a .dmf file i didnt find anywhere else). again i didnt really try to understand this place or submit anything, so i left again and almost forgot about it, but finally, in feb 2018, robyn posted one of her submissions on twitter, so i checked it out and felt motivated to submit something as well.
took me a few more months, until may, to understand the concept of ohbs (i only did major entries before) and join the discord/botb-chat.
i guess, that was when i became addicted to this place.

i'm a person who always needs a hobby to invest a LOT of time in, thats just how i work as a person. i dont like it to only consume things, i need to create something!
at first, i made youtube videos for years since 2010... lets plays, ytpmvs and so much more, but it slowly became tiring to me. i needed something else. botb was just the perfect place to fill in the gap. it became my new hobby, something i can work on in my free time, something that challenges but also rewards me. a cool community with a lot of amazing people, mixed up with a lot of history and lore.
it's perfect!




i bet some of you are wondering, why i've been that active on here.

the simple answer is: its just a lot of fucking fun!


the more complex answer is: botb is amazing. - how everything works together.
when i joined, i thought my music were already good. lol. only because i submitted to battles, recieved feedback and got low scores, i realized thats not the case. but it helped me to have a reason to get better. suddenly, i wanted to understand, why i was ending up on the last places. i started to care about what i do and how i do it, and also about other peoples work as well. i started to analyze, learn and slowly get better.

the rpg-like system with leveling, badges, medals and getting more abilities is the second thing. its what motivates me in the long run.
it was around june 2018, when i started to really became interested in botb's origins and older battles, but when i also found out about leveling up and how to get points (yes it took some time, i didnt pay attention to all this at all at first). thats when i started to listen to older entries and tag them. but since i was a n00b (and still am), my tags were pointless and annoying. criticism and getting pointed out by admins helped me to understand the community as a whole and how i can make it better for everyone instead of only caring about my own projects.
during the second half of 2018, i learned a lot - about music on the one hand, and about the community/website on the other hand.

the botb community is awesome. so many different people, almost everyone is friendly and supportive af. everyone is different in the best way possible. everyone is important, is adding a small amount of chaos to all of this, so that botb feels wild and dynamic and like a big family where everyone is welcome. it makes this website and its community as interesting as it is to me.

so many evenings/nights/days (depending on timezone) in the past year, i was just chatting on discord/irc, maybe doing ohbs. it was so much fun. not only because i wanted to get a badge or wanted to try out a cool bit pack, but because i could do it together with all of you! the mix of seeing what you think about my work and seeing how you did something. this is so inspiring and beautiful and i never was part of a similar community before.
and even if i'll have some special thanks later, i just wanna say THANK YOU to everyone here, because no matter if you're online every day or just checking the site once in a month. you're an important member of the community!

its just so motivating to have a new challenge (major or minor battle) almost every day, to have inside jokes and stupid (but still funny) words that are only used on this website and to constantly learn something new - about botb, music, people, myself. its magical and i love it.



i always hope that im not too annoying. i know i can really be when something interests me a LOT. and botb is one of these things.
thats why im trying to listen to every entry, tagging every entry, working on the lyceum and joining almost every discussion thread. i really care about this site and the community, just because i spend so much time here and it helped me to think outside my own small box.

botb helped me to collaborate. in multiple ways.
- people helped me to get better at making music, now i also try to give feedback as best as i can, so that other people can get better.
- people helped me to get badges, now i try to give something back when i host ohbs for other botbrs, so that they can host their own ohbs as well.
- i learned that collaborating on music (or other projects) is a lot of fun, if you have someone who's motivated like you. im less inhibited to ask someone to collab on something.. thanks to all the cool people i already collaborated with.
- i also learned that not every collab and project will succeed, and thats okay, because you still work on something and get more experience

botb helped me to improve my english and helped me to speak it more fluently. i bet there are still 3498057984375 mistakes of every kind in this wall of text, but thats okay as long as people understand what im trying to say. every now and then i stumble upon an older comment from me and sometimes i realize a mistake i made and how i'd say it differently nowadays, and thats cool. being forced to talk english in a very repetitive pattern while hosting or doing ohbs (asking if someone is interested, asking if someone is voting, asking if everyone is done with voting) is really helpful.
discussions on topics (botb related but also botb unrelated) are easier to do in another language when i really care about the subject rather than not, like in school (obviously)

i found a website that is so much fun in so many ways, is encouraging me to make creative work (music, art), research (lyceum), making the website navigation better (tags) and improving my english (irc) + so much more... this ultimate mix of everything is what makes botb botb. if someone asks me what my favorite hobby is, i always struggle to sum up this beautiful place in just one or two sentences but im not able to. its not possible. its more than just a website for chipmusic competitions. its a living thing. its strange and weird but also very cozy. its exactly what i needed in my life tbh. im so glad i found this place.



Special Thanks!!!

sooo many people i've met, so many cool people.
if your name is not on this list, there are only 2 possible reasons why: 1. we literally never (or almost never) talked or interacted with each other; 2. i forgot you and am terribly sorry about it D:

This list is pretty much unsorted. since so many people on here make inspiring music, you'll see me saying this a lot. its just the truth okay? :D

- Robyn: for always supporting me since 2014, showing me this site, encouraging me to submit tracks and being a great friend
- puke7: for creating and still running this wonderful place. also thanks for letting me host my own major battle. getting this opportunity is really amazing. you're a cool person and a very good sysadmin. also you have the most incredible beard ever
- phil & vova: for being one of the best friends i made through botb. thanks for all the great hours, all the inspiration, every single silly joke and so much more! 56!!
- miau: for being the most friendliest cat on botb!!! also thanks for all the nsf ohbs and for working together with me. thanks for giving me a free copy of your game (it was amazing, i love it (i know, you already know this)). you're a great game designer and i really hope there will be more in the future!
- dhg2/GoldenDenis: for being a cocking awesome guy! your musical skill is impressive and inspiring, you as a person are so chill and supportive. its always a blast to work or just chat with you, man. i really hope we can do more stuff together in the future!!
- djmax: for hosting a lot of cool ohbs last year, hanging around on irc and also for the 3 collabs we made together.
- galgox: for being the cute bubble dragon! it's always amazing and inspiring to see how you can make good music with every format. you entering major battles is always cool! also thanks for collaborating with me on that snibbe track. another collab sometime? would be cool!
- savestate: for telling me how to tag entries properly and calling me out when i was acting stupid and annoying
- keffie: for being supportive and making very inspiring music
- chip champion: for being my top motivation regarding badges >:) seriously, its amazing to see how good you are at almost every format and how patient you are regarding botb. you're a true chip champion and thats extremly motivating!
- strobe: for a very successful and fun collab! also for your sense of humor and incredible inspiring entries on botb
- slimeball: for being cool af and making me think about something twice by telling me your opinion about something. also thanks for reusing silly memes and jokes to keep botb a fun place!
- sinc-x: for hosting and joining a lot of ohbs and making amazing music. you've been one of my main inspirations for quiet some time
- jyoshi: we didnt talk that much but you're cool, even if you like coffee and calling me "the taggist" (and your music is extremly good!)
- b00daw: for being supportive and fair. if you're around, the botb chat always feels even more friendly and cozy.
- tobikomi: for making winning a format gold medal a real challenge >:) your music is always fucking good, no matter which format u choose. we really need to collab someday. its always refreshing to see new entries from you!
- gtap: for your honest and helpful feedback on my music!
- kungfufurby: for your support and all your knowledge about snes-music which you shared with us on irc. you're a really supportive person and all your technical help is amazing!
- raphaelgoulart: i bet you dont remember me from before-botb when i watched your ytpmvs. but it was really cool to recognize your name and seeing you active on here. you're a cool person and i enjoyed our few and short conversations c:
- sc: you've been around for so long and its always cool to see you entering battles and writing comments just because it shows me how much fun this place has to be if someone is joining battles constantly for almost 15 years now (and is not the site owner)
- azura: for hosting the first synclisten stream i ever watched (spring tracks 7) and playing our tic80 game completely! i had a lot of fun watching it!
- mk7: you never hang out on irc but its always cool to see new stuff from you, both musically and visually. i love your art style and the atmosphere in your music. it is very inspiring! keep it up!
- petet: for not only creating music, but journeys, storys and feelings. every single compo win is deserved and i spent a lot of time analyzing your work because its so stunning!
- pumpuli: for helping me with learning renoise and sharing your project files with me. i really appreciate it. (i still wasnt able to really work with renoise due to lazyness and other projects but i hope i'm gonna do it soon!)
- pedipanol: for working together with me on that mt32 entry! i know our workflow and communication could've been better but it turned out really good nonetheless. also thanks for the pcx-ohbs and your inspiring fm work!
- malmen: you're a cool guy and i enjoyed every single conversation we had. thanks for being around on robyns server as well!
- flaminglog: your opus-entries inspired me multiple times and also teached me stuff about composing in famitracker in general. thank you!
- yuzu: your ability to work with almost every bit pack and your creative usage of themes and samples is always amazing and inspiring!
- sintel: your entries were my first contact with microtonal music and im glad about it, because your stuff is great. thanks for sending me your 0cc-source file of your nsf+ summer chip entry so that i can take a look at it and learn
- cessor: for helping me understanding pxtone and some cool remix ohbs last year!
- tennisers: the best latist after sincx lol, thanks for being around so much, joining a lot of my dumb ohbs and always creating interesting music. its always a surprise what you made , because you manage to keep your work variable like i've never seen it from someone else
- nerdmcboon/delta sign: damn, you left again? :( you're a really cool guy. thanks for creating some of the most stunning sound designs in size restricted module files. i've learned a lot from your work!
- th4 d34d: for all your feedback on my earliest entries. you encouraged me to keep doing this stuff and never give up!
- zillah: this isnt really botb-related funnily. but your ytpmvs inspired me to make better ytpmvs which might've lead to the situation of me creating a botb account WHO KNOWS! now that i know your music, i can say for sure, that your work is always inspiring me and its cool to see you around here!
- Lia: i hope you'll be more active soon, your presence on irc and the site was always refreshing and cool. you have a lot of interesting ideas and your work is always a combination of chaos and consistency. i think thats pretty amazing!
- dippy: one of the coolest botbrs on here. thank you for being around and hosting/joining ohbs. you're one of the most active ohb'ers on here atm and i really appreciate your presence. also thanks for the collabs! both were a lot of fun!
- argarak: same for you!!! you're a very cool person and i just wanna thanks for being around almost every day and joining ohbs!!
- ordinate: i remember when we talked about the aym-format and maxymizer back when atari trilogy happened. seeing how determined you are considering badges and your botb goals is extremely motivating!
- midori: for being around, giving me feedback, motivating me, ecouraging me and working together with me. your music is great and very inspiring and so are you as a person.
- ipi: your stuff is what helped me a lot to understand music in general and i really wanna say thank you for this! it was your song Garten which helped me to understand the concept of chords iirc.
- deltarazero: your work on modxk entries but also other formats was very motivating. you're really good at creating incredible stuff with very limited tools and this ability is motivating me to try the same as well
- ap0c: we only talked to each other one time, where i already told you this, but thank you for trying your best to moderate the botb community!
- yqn: for being active on the site and even if your battle activity is restricted to 2 ayms per year, its really cool to see you being around, commenting and supporting me and also other botbrs!
- xyz: for being around (same as with yqn) its always cool to see you being active and commenting/voting on entries.
- public toilet: uwu
- deved: for the cool gameboy/defle ohbs! i wish you were around more, so that we can do even more gameboy/defle ohbs!!! and also tic80!
- schallwelle: you're one of the most honest and supportive persons i know. its always cool to see you around. so many chats we had, both serious and fun-conversations and all of them were enriching! you're a very important part of my botb(irc) experience and i hope you'll be around more in the future again!
- dct master: for being around on discord/irc and a cool guy.
- xu: for all the chats we had and your attitude towards certain things. its cool to see you around! c:
- vinscool: for hanging around and collaborating with me! i really like how you keep being active and how you're getting better!





okay im done now. thats it. im pretty sure i forgot someone, im so sorry!

botb has changed a lot in my life, and i was active on here for only 1 and a half year. i cant wait to see what is waiting for me and all of us in the next years.
Try your worst and do your best. All n00bz!

,,,H-holy...shi...t... I can only say i'm glad you enjoy BotB so much that it made you write such a RESPECTABLE amount of text! Also thanks @ what you wrote about me.

PS. I don't think you're annoying in the slightest, if anything you make a great collab partner (yes, that means everybody should collab with Timo at least once) :3

PS. As for myself, i don't really have much to add, aside of agreeing that botb let me meet lots of really cool and talented people, learn more about old computers, synths and music, even if only a bit, and touch things i loved, but propably wouldn't have touched otherwise (like FM synthesis and learning Blender a bit more than i have before).

Also making me discover music i wouldn't have stumbled on otherwise, like T-Square and lots of niche things Robyn keeps finding (thanks!)

Honestly, for meeting some really awesome people, who helped me improve as a musician.

If it wasn't for some really cool battles and majors, I doubt I'd ever have ventured into making original music.

Fearofdark used to be the only chip musician I listened to until I found this website.

Thx kleed! I don't have time now to read your whole post but I will later.

Shortly what botb changed in my life is most importantly that it has made me a better musician. The competition is so fierce, there are such stunning composers here that I have to try to better know what I'm doing and learn a little theory. It's also very inspiring, in several ways botb has made my music better, and it's so cool to watch the sluts streams and hear great music and hope your entries score well, not to mention that the community is friendlier than in most sites I've joined in the past 20 years.

So thx puke and everyone!

Edit: actually I read your post kleed before going to bed and I so much agree with all you've written! I couldn't have put it better so thanks! I'm currently busy learning assembly to code an Atari ST music disk, I hope after that I'll have more time to join OHB's and other majors but I always have several projects at the same time!

It taught me that I am tooth.

It made me feel petty about competitions and terrible about myself because everyone else is better

As of posting this, I am 23 years old. I live in a new city for the first time in my life, I literally have a son and am in a committed relationship with my partner, and I have been involved in music my entire life now.

Last night, I was going through all of my audio files on my backup drive, and talking to my girlfriend about all of it while playing them in the room. I'm privileged to be with someone who is interested enough in my work to provide feedback and opinion, let alone sit and listen to all the crazy and weird stuff I've put out over the years. One thing that didn't occur to me until sitting down and listening to all of it was just how much music there actually was. I mean, we're talking hundreds and hundreds of songs, and beyond that... literally thousands of project files containing either full tracks or small ideas. Last night was when I realized how music is legitimately my second language. From the time I was four years old, I was taking piano lessons, and that went on into my teens. I was homeschooled, so I naturally allocated my time toward the thing I knew best, which was music. I sat and worked on music like there was no more time in the world. I neglected my studies to make music. In high school, I solicited myself to some barely-on-the-map digital music labels and managed to get my dance music on iTunes and wherever else they put shit. I vaguely recall telling people in my classes (despite being technically homeschooled, I attended weekly classes) about it but not getting much response. I had a few friends that shared the interest in dance music and music production at that time, but the way it has stuck with me has outlasted those old friends. I made music because I had to. And I still do. Even now in my crazy fast-paced and stressful lifestyle, I am making music all the time. I don't even have my good headphones or speakers out in my current situation— I'm making music on the damn built-in Mac computer speakers.

2013 is when I discovered BotB through SoundCloud because I found gyms (Karac) there posting in some VGM group, and his music outshined anything I was hearing there. I heard that shit and was like WOW what/who is this frog person? Through a mutual follow, I discovered BotB linked on his profile, and that's when I got into this place. 2014 was an absolute nuts year for me. Then, I was 17 years old, living with my parents in a house that wasn't ours, and I was practically confined to my little room. There, I hammered away at music for a good year or more on BotB. At the time, I was also pursuing Silk Music, a record label based in Moscow I think. They focus on trance and progressive house music, and they were an actual musical goal for me. I connected with an artist in Australia named Barzek who I collaborated with (my alternative artist name at that time was Jethimself), and we made it onto Silk and made a bit of change for our work. It wasn't very long before I realized that boxing myself in stylistically wasn't going to work out for me, and I soon left the musical partnership to pursue tothejazz in full. In 2014, I entered 118 songs to BotB. I was in the chat with golgi almost literally 24/7 lol. Karac can attest to how much we were online. I recall people leaving the room when sherwyn and I were online, and then they would come back online the next morning and be like, "omg are you guys STILL on here?"

I don't think I fully realized the value of what that year— as well as the years following— provided me musically until I was sitting in this room last night playing through all the BotB music for my upcoming compilation (I'm going to repost literally every song I've ever made to Bandcamp either tonight or tomorrow. kfaraday is going to hold me to this apparently lol). Being able to look back after almost 6 years on all the music I made being here on BotB makes me really deeply understand the value of this website for me. I have a sense of pride in what I did, because I realize how deep my love and commitment to music runs. It has always been there for me, and I have been handing myself over too it since as long ago as when I first started toying with production. BotB was the exact venue I needed when I discovered it because it gave me a real sense of purpose for my music and my commitment to it. I'm planning to get back to a place of such high productivity again since I'm in the middle of some kind of personal renaissance. BotB, I love you. Thank you for giving me what I needed when I needed it the most. And thank you to all of the individuals who have shaped my experience here. You are all colorful, interesting, and unique people with real passions for music and art.

I have made lifetime friendships here. Karac, Sherwyn, and Moot Booxlé are literally my brothers now. After six continuous years of correspondence, I've become closer to them than... well, basically anyone ever. Something about the format makes it easier to open up to people. We've communicated actively almost every single day since day one, it feels like. I've also had great experiences with uuni, sinc-x, vince, jimmyoshi, savestate, beard, and of course puke7. Just a big thank you to everyone. You make this place what it is, and you made it what it was for me over all these years.

I come and go about twice a year here but always come back because it’s nice to contribute, to listen, to engage with a community committed to enriching the experience of creating and curating music; rapidly prototyping the often ridiculous, the often indelible, the often sublime. It’s a special place.

edit: has it changed my life? Of course. I may not be as closed knit to everyone due to the nature of my occasional visits here, yet I still feel like I belong.

not much. but you're a fun gang and you create good stuff!

Neat thread, didn't spot it until 2 years after the fact but better late than never I s'pose...!
It was thanks to mainly here and 8bc (RIP) that I went from being someone who had very little confidence in their musical abilities, to who I am today, someone perpetually clobbered with projects that incidentally prevent me from being particularly active here these days. Going from being someone who occasionally saw some positive replies to random MIDIs posted in random forums that are flooded with the stuff, to watching people actually actively enjoying my stuff, hunting it down, even supporting me financially for it, has been possibly the most defining and enriching experience of my life, especially when compounded with the incredibly talented people I've seen grow from followers into musicians that massively outclass myself. This little community of video game music nerds has become an inextricable part of my life, and I couldn't be more thankful for it. I'll never forget the time I went to GDC and was greeted by a group of BotBrs that *recognized me*, came up and greeted me like some sort of celebrity, it was completely mindblowing. All this has driven me to be better, work on my craft, and keep as active with it as I can possibly be, where in its absence I might have simply grown out of music entirely.
So yeah, thanks everyone. I do it for y'all!

even more has changed now due to botb , compared to the comment i wrote in late 2019 two years ago here
lets see where i am at the end of 2023

Indirectly thanks to Battle of the Bits, I have achieved more readily loving myself, and by, loving stronger to other beings, albeit I acknowledge that I still fail to at times.

this site/community was pretty much the reason i'm still doing music today, i had a reason and an output for my creativity during my youth. i do kinda miss the simpler times where i was just on the irc doing thangs:tm: (or skype, god remember skype? better times honestly)

it's also how i happened to meet and get to know haru and she's now one of my best friends, so yanno

thank you all for everything, i genuinely mean it. we're coming up on... my 8th year of being on botb? what the fuck??????

at this point i had so much fun!! i met so many cool people and made lots of friends, including a tiny cute creature that i wana protect unconditionally!!
cheers to much more coolness and awsomness in the future!!!

I must say that I've been inspired to improve composition and art through learning from others and learn about how releasing stuff to public is, thanks to this site and surrounding communities.

It has always been a source for occasional but fun interesting happenings, or suddenly showing cool things I never knew of or didn't have full insight on.

_{(I also kinda wish I've had gone online to these kind of communities earlier in my middle teenage since I feel like I missed out on so much that's beautiful history now)}

before botb, i never imagined i could compose a song in 30 seconds... ^^

....holy shit, botb EXTREMELY changed the direction of my life, huh

Doing XHB’s has drastically improved the speed at which I compose
I feel comfortable with more formats as a result of being here
My recognition as a composer here is a small part of what keeps me in the world of chiptune
I feel proud of myself when I rank high in a battle
And I’ve developed an appreciation for the more musical and less technical side of chiptune as a genre.

10th burfday not long ago and I still stand by this

ohbs sped me up, like other people have already said.

also recently I went through a rough patch mentally, and just, getting back into music a bit and doing a few little battles recently gave me a creative outlet that felt small and easy. like.. oh look there's 20 minutes left on an ohb, let's knock something together quickly.. get lateist points.... get nice encouragement from botbrs. feel kinda good about myself, even if, the track objectively sucks - i still achieved something and had fun.

that small ray of sunshine, allowed me to realise i needed to allow myself time to make some music and have my hobbies and not be so hard on myself.

that then allowed me to get sucked into some youtube creator drama, from people who have nothing to do with chiptune or botb. it was stupid but i had fun making memes, have lots of lols. pissing about with ai voice cloning, and goofy music, etc.

i think i tend to come back to botb when i need to, there seems to be a particular set of circumstances that go on in my life which make me come back and it usually helps me to move forward.

right now, today, i feel pretty great and whilst i still have things i need to figure out - im happy.


Several years ago, i was faced with tough times and felt crappy..

I recall hanging out in botb chat and as silly as it sounds, if botb didn't exist i wouldnt have had a conversation with ian remson about agar.io - it was rem who told me the game existed which i then went on to create a mod for.

as i said, there is a set of life circumstances that seem to bring me back to botb and i'm pretty sure back then i was feeling quite rubbish and miserable but suddenly i got swept up in something that gave me a purpose again.

and well.. that is part of why i felt it really important to include botbrs music in my game mod.

Looking back, it's nice that.. i can look back and know that millions of people have heard my music.. which i made during battles on botb. I feel proud that i could include music from friends of botb

I sometimes feel like when i say with such enthusiasm and passion that I love botb and puke and all.. that it somehow isn't conveyed well and might seem hollow - but i truly do have these feelings and a deep fondness.

life cldnt be better.
botb has not only shaped me as an artist and made me find new friends - it also connected me with the love of my life.
mioh and me married last year and are now living together. and without botb as our shared community, we wldve never met.

damn das crazyyyy

spreadsheet software that happens to make sound

idk, it’s changed the way i think about making music. i’ve also met some great people here and tried some cool things! :)

absolutely nothing
but i guess learned something
learning new gears and making more better arts or whatever somethings

also taught me not to talk
------------------------------
Actually I still not learned this and I keep talking just like that lol

I now think of myself as a musician, rather than a guy who occasionally does music.

well for years before joining botb, i was way too anxiety-ridden to finish any music, let alone share anything on the internet. so i usually just played piano for myself or made mid four-bar loops on Ableton before abandoning them.

fast forward to now, well, i still struggle with that anxiety (particularly with majors), but it's nice to know i'm capable of finishing and sharing stuff, if mostly for XHBs. that alone is pretty big for me.

This site has taught me that I can't plan things well in advance

fuck, where to start?

i joined this site back when i was 16. technically i joined back when i was nearly 15 under a different username, but i did nothing back then lol. since then, i have done so many things for this community: i've hosted a battle series, contributed so much botbrcore to the site, won a major, nearly won another one before that, became the lord of ansi art, the list goes on and on.

i've sunk 6-ish years of my life as an artist into this site so it's best to thank botb for the training ground it's proven to be for me. i was just talking in the crosslink server about this, but in the past 6 years my pixel art has gone from scribbled doodlings to really impressive stuff, and same goes for my ansi art. surprisingly enough, being more focused on grafxicist and pixellist formats have paid off in my own endeavours to be better at art, and is probably the most tangible improvement i can point to. if it weren't for botb, i wouldn't be as good at art as i am today

moving on to the main thing botb focuses on, the fact that i actually started to learn a lot of the tricks of the tracker because of this site cannot be underestimated. through looking at modules, collaborating with others, or just finding cool stuff on my own, my audio entries are like a chronology of the cool stuff i've been able to find over the years. same goes for html and my own interest in it; same goes for my own writing endeavors as of late. it goes to show how well-rounded it's made me as an artist and while visual art is by far still the thing that's easiest for me to gravitate around, there's always a part of me who's down to at least vote in an ohb, if not participate in it.

by far the biggest, though, is this site's impact on me as a person. when i found botb, i was 16 years old, coming from a scarring and abusive community, horribly shaken and hardened into a defensive individual, and most of all scared. through the tight-knit nature of this community, i managed to shake a lot of that off. there are some things that this community has been through that still transports me back to those times (won't mention any specific events) but a lot of what everyone has built here has had a profound impact on me as an individual. without botb, i am not the person i am today. i wouldn't have learned the lessons i live by, made the friends i cherish today; hell, i wouldn't be in college! botb convinced me to go to college!! what the fuck!!!

i guess i'll drop some greetz down below. doing this in the order that my brain thinks of them so sorry if you're super low!!

PUKE7: thanks for creating this site and changing my life forever lol. here's hoping orange islands goes well!
OPM: in the ring, my most hated nemesis and foremost threat. out of the ring, my best friend from botb and a certified mad lad! thanks for everything, from the serious advice to the synclisten insanity!!
HANNA: you influenced my own behavior and attitude, on top of being one of the most talented botbrs out there. welcome back and best of luck in your recent endeavors!! :D/
FLAMINGLOG: your opuses and webcomic both inspired me to be more ambitious with my own entries and just got me to join in as a regular viewer of your streams and chatter in your server, and i can't thank you enough for that!
TOBIKOMI: you were always someone whose entries i looked up to, even to this day. never stop being awesome!!
JAKERSON: you basically created a part of my identity!! idk how else to thank you for that but thank you thank you thank you thank you?!!?!
MAXIMEMORING: your ultimate hum was i think one of two big community events that i was here for and it was absolutely awesome. here's hoping you return someday!
VAV: also someone i hope returns someday!! the other community event i was referring to was vavco and that one's definitely influenced my humor
SPRING: i know you'll never come back but you taught me the value of fan art and i will always remember you for that
VINSCOOL: one of the first botbrs i met! you taking over rmt is awesome, never has it felt so good using it. now if only i had a numpadded keyboard xP
DIMWIDDY: i still think of the time you drew my sona lol. cheers to the coolest pixelist out there!!
MK7: another person i still wish was here today. your grafxicist entries were so cool to teenage me and they're still really cool today
DAMI: when you joined in july of 2020, not only did i not know of your raw strength but i also didn't know how ingrained you would be in this community. your contributions have been a net positive to this site and to me as a whole and i can't thank you enough. you better take care of that advent calendar!!
PIGDEVIL2010: your wcxiv ansi entry was the thing that inspired every ansi entry i've done! i hope you're doing well, wherever you are
KILO: i'll say it again: your art is awesome; your music is awesome; damn it, YOU're awesome; make standoff ][ pl0x u3u
SC00P: another botbr i sorely miss, if only because his art was actually pretty dope
CASTLENES: SPEAKING OF BOTBRS I MISS!!! this dude didn't even make it to his first burfday and yet his sheer love for the community has only been replicated by a few i think. see you again, space wizard
SKYDEV: i still have the daydreaming cd!! your music imbues me with spirit like no other and i hope you release another cd sometime soon so i can blast it in the car over the speakers with the windows rolled down
AMELIA: another botbr i miss! i still remember your (endearingly) messy art style and game jam entry. hoping you return sometime soon!!
MIOH: the true g. we need to collab again, our advent calendar collab in musescore was fucking AWESOME
TILDE: you introduced me to kixels, which introduced me to gravity break, which i SWEAR i will come back to once all of this college shit is over in the summer
ORDINATE: the guy who got me into renoise, which has been a gift ever since i found out about it. here's hoping you're doing well :D/
PETET: fallspire is still something i think of every now and then. thank you for making that w/ sintel, as well as making a ton of really awesome and life-changing entries before and since then
TH4 D34D: your feedback on others entries inspired me to leave feedback on as many grafxicist entries as possible as they come up. n3v3r di3! l0ng l1v3 th4 d34d!!
ARGARAK: the person who really got me into html battles back then!! hope you're doing well and thank you for motivating me so much in those :D/
GOOGIE/GALGOX: another botbr i met early on! your tunes were always ones i bet on winning at least a few medals; here's hoping you come back soon
SEAN: my eternal ansi rival. your visual and microtonal stuff has always inspired me a lot, best of luck to you in wcxx!!

i'll also leave some words of wisdom here, since i feel like it. you don't have to take it, i'm just someone on the internet after all, but it's things that this community has made me face and i might as well pay the buck forward. plus, at this point, half of my personality is spouting advice so might as well play into that trait (hopefully without coming off as some know-it-all jackass)

• always know your limits. as much as we'd love to, we can't do everything and that is fine. something that hosting stuff like visufall taught me (and revenge of botbrcore reminded me) is that you kinda need that investment of time in order to host something, not just the boons. that goes for entering a battle as well. if you do not have the energy or time to fit it in, focus on recuperating that energy or doing what you fit in there in the first place
• vapid defeatism sucks. having done it a lot as a teen on this site, i know how it feels. it does nothing to improve your work; in fact, it helps enforce a negative impression into listeners, potential or otherwise, and makes you feel bad in turn about your own works. if you are seriously dissatisfied with the quality of your work, instead of saying "lol i'm bad" in chat, seek out feedback from your peers earnestly and see how they react and what they say. that way, you're both improving your own understanding of what's wrong and not sacrificing listener's opinions of your work.
• battle of the bits, despite the comparisons made, is not an accredited university. as such, do not take your performance in a battle as some sort of certation of skill or worth. sayings have been said to roughly the same effect: "try your worst or do your best," "all n00bz," "submit even if it's shit," etc. while botb is an archive, it is not an archive of the best of the best. rather, it is an archive of someone's growth over time, whether that be as a tracker musician, a producer, an artist, a coder, and so on. take pride in how much you have or will grow, rather than focusing on how bad you think you are now
• above all, do not be afraid to interact with others! this, especially, is something that has changed a lot overtime and something i still sorta grapple with from time to time. botb has evolved a LOT since it first started and i think at this point, it's probably become more engaging and welcoming than it's ever been before. if you are someone who simply does not want to engage with the community much, that is totally up to you. however, do not think that everyone does not have the time to talk to you or welcome your input. there's always someone out there after all; even if they're busy, they're not gonna be an asshole about it

with that, let's wrap up this long ass post:
what has botb changed in my life? well, it's made me a much more sociable person, for one. it's connected me with people who i will never forget, some of which still remain some of my closest friends and confidants. it's provided me an effective training ground for making art of all kinds, for another. i can firmly say that botb has influenced my growth and stylings as a multidisciplinary artist, especially when it comes to music. most of all, however, it's given me a community with which i can call home and i don't think that can be understated.

so cheers, botb! you're gonna be 20 this year; here's hoping you're around for another 20

thanks for the thoughtful comments lumby!

This place took me from thinking of myself as a strictly passive enjoyer of art to an artist, and I'm glad for that.

It also took me from thinking of the post-social media internet as a mostly toxic sinkhole to seeing the value in a lot of places and smaller communities. I think this is going to be a big theme going forward.

I spend a lot of time at this site.

god where do i even begin

botb is probably the first community that really grew on me, it's been a bit over 7 months (not even a full year! unreal) since i joined and i've been very active on the discord for most of them - this has never happened to me before with any other community (from the ones i remember)
i've met so many nice and cool people here, participated in lots of little conversations and fun times, learned about lots of interesting things - i really can't thank everyone enough for all of this

now, about music
prior to joining this community i had never properly made anything in openmpt. no joke
this place encouraged me to try so many new things out, and for good reason - i mean, just look at the stuff that i've made! first half of 2024 me probably couldn't have imagined doing any of this
i really appreciate everyone's feedback on my stuff, even just comments like "so pretty" - it all means a lot to me, to have so many people enjoying what i make and encouraging me to continue

i suppose i'll follow lumby's lead and get some greets going!

puke7: the big man himself. directly or not, you've allowed so many great things to happen by keeping this site up, and with the 20th anniversary fast approaching, i can only hope for 20 more years of creative fun!
dami: one of the artists that i take inspiration from and really look up to - it might seem insignificant, but one of your ohb vlogs basically unlocked a new way to make music for me, and i struggle to imagine what more could an artist do for another
kleeder & mioh: you know why i'm putting the two of you together :3 very happy for you on the marriage and really appreciate the awesome aura you two give off, i think botb wouldn't really be the same without it
hanna: i wasn't around during when you were really active here, but from the interactions we've had you seem like an awesome person to be around! good luck with the hardware tracker and any other cool future endeavors! also wow you are skilled with music, someday i hope to be able to do what you can do
nicole: really appreciate all of the support you've given to me and everyone else, truly a beacon of positivity and a really nice person to be around as well!

and why not, i'll list off some people who i eventually want to collab with! (either for the first time, or again):
damifortune, talen, hanna, icrawfish, kipallo, nicole, opilion, defmech (mayb telemelt someday..), prestune!

all in all, i just want to say thanks to everyone for being a part of my life! hoping to make some nice memories over the coming years!

[This n00b ashamed of what written. - BotB]

damn

honestly there are some odd and peculiar things on this website that im not sure i fully understand but i also get to hear a lot of fresh bangers so it evens out for me

BotB indirectly got me into making chiptune. A lot of the songs that inspired me enough to download Famitracker were BotB songs. It would be a few years before I fully joined the platform as of last year but I still feel like BotB had changed my life beforehand

Although I've been technically part of this site for almost 3 years now, I only began to become active in May 2023.

This site and it's community motivated me to continue pursuing music as a serious endeavor of artistic expression, along with being able to met wonderful people here in general.

I've met really wonderful and kind people; especially Hanna Lee who has been responsible of me being active here in the very first place, along with giving me a lot of support and care when it comes to our friendship, being somewhat of a musical teacher for a while too and just being a really awesome and nice girl.

I also learned how to compose under time constrains thanks to the XHBs going on in here. I don't think I would have made something in 1 hour as polished before i joined here.

Also like, the survival of this community and many other independent artist communities are really important especially during the age of gen ai bullshittery along with the corporate web becoming even more rampant. I wanna help contribute to this site more directly, but alas my mental health hasn't been the greatest since a long time ago.

I wanna also mention how it's helping me to be way more confident in my musical and artistic capabilities. I used to be even more of a defetatistcore than how I am now.. and i still am prone to falling into these habits >_<; but what matters is that how this place and community is helping a lot of people in general to be happy with what their make, without worrying that it might not be "good" according to subjective criteria.
Sure, i might flop really hard in majors sometimes (although I also girlbossed in them a few times), but what does ultimately matter is just me being here and around with the people i love along with sharing my art in general :3

perhaps the most useful thing botb did for me is teach me how to have ideas. this is one of the greatest things that XHBs in particular bestow upon you, because you don't have the luxury of discarding a whole sketch or an idea that you might otherwise not consider worth its salt given no impetus/timecrunch. it forces you to explore those ideas anyway, and though obviously that won't result in something great 100% of the time, you end up stumbling across lots of cool things along the way that you'd have otherwise missed out on. before i was on here, i was a lot more picky about what was "worth developing into a song" and letting go of that completely was so good for my workflow, my productivity, my own relationship with musicmaking. there's virtue in so many angles of attacking the process of creating. this doesn't even mean compromising on individual song quality, it means finding joy in more places more of the time, and it means when the Really Good ideas do come by, they're even more special, able to be even more keenly honed.