Trackers have always been about getting the most out of little. Big productions from tiny bed rooms. Epic songs in kilobytes rather than megabytes. And most importantly, all that through your personal computer instead of a multi-million dollar studio.

Lately we've been spoiled with elaborate plugins, unlimited channels and an ever more powerful growing CPU. At the cost of the true ninja tracker spirit.

So here's a competition in honor of the tracker legacy. We'd like you to create a kick-ass song, using computer resources as efficiently as possible. In fact, you will need to optimize the hell out of your song if you want to win the grand prize: an Indamixx Netbook.

• 1x Indamixx Netbook MK II SE ($549.00) -- awarded by Ron Stewart from Indamixx

  

• 4x Indamixx USB stick versions ($149.00) -- awarded by the Renoise community

  

• 1x registered version of Renoise ($77.00) -- awarded by Peter Kirn from Create Digital Music

• Aside of the prizes above, the best entries will be used as demo songs. So there's a bit of fame involved as well.

1. You'll make your track in Renoise, saving as an .xrns file. Maximum filesize is 8 MB. Compress with XRNIRipper.

2. You can use any samples you like, but make sure they are your own recordings or samples you've cleared for this purpose, and that you properly attribute them.

3. No external plug-ins are permitted (eg. VST, LADSPA, AU). Renoise's built-in effects are OK, because they are available on every platform.

4. Make sure your track will play on a netbook - so go easy. The CPU usage of your song should be lower than of the benchmark song.

5. Be sure to apply a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license, eg. by adding a link in your song. This leaves others free to share your work and to remix it, while ensuring they can only do so if they attribute you properly and if their work is just as free to share. It does not preclude you from selling it later on, either.

6. Upload your .xrns file on this compo page. If possible, upload the rendered song to SoundCloud and supply the link when you upload the .xrns on this page.

7. Judging will evaluate whether tracks are relatively CPU efficient .xrns files, but - most importantly - are original, terrific music. There will be categories judged by producer/remix artist/DJ Ron Stewart of Indamixx and Peter Kirn of CDM, and a user's choice judged by you via public voting.

1. If necessary - Sign In or Register

2. Once you are logged into the compo site: drag the songs from the list into the vote box below it.

   Each song item can be expanded for details and in most cases you'll get a MP3 preview.

3. Sort the songs in the vote box through drag 'n drop: higher on the list means you like the song better than the ones below it.

4. Don't forget to regularly save your votes! If your list isn't complete or you changed your mind, you can come back later and resubmit your votes.

Your votes will be accepted until November 8th 2009

The CPU usage of your song should be lower than of the benchmark song. The target system is a single core Intel Atom N270 powered Netbook, so ideally you should test with Renoise set to use 1 core. Keep in mind it's only an indication. We occasionally measure the CPU usage of your track on the Netbook and post the results.

Need help with testing? Once you’ve got an entry in, Ronald Stewart of Indamixx offers a free download of the Transmission OS (based on Linux), which you can run on your laptop for testing purposes. Fill in the contact form and mention you’re entering the contest!