Wiki Guidelines

We're gonna try to avoid a whole lot of rules and formatting standards. Mainly just write the articles somewhat similarly to others and be precise with categorization since that's the primary way users navigate the wiki.

You will need to register an account to participate in the wiki. This is to avoid anonymous vandalism, which of course is easily removed. It's a wiki, after all.

## Naming and Categorization

To create a wiki, do a search for the page and create it if it doesn't exist. To create a category, apply a new name for a category to an already-existing page and just click the link to that once you hit publish.

There are a few naming conventions for this wiki, and I try to be consistent, but the most important thing is information categorization/flow. It should be easy for people to reach their desired information in less than five clicks, generally speaking.

* **Synthesizer Categorization**: Try to give synths categories that are similar to the other already established categories. Wavetable and waveform categories are separated but maintained similarly. If in doubt, look to Hoover as an example of how to categorize the synth. Pretty much all categories that synths fall will have "Designs" at the end of the name.
* **Multi-page Guides**: Each of these pages are assigned to a category with the name of the topic they fall under. The name of the category you assign to it can be any sensible thing you like, just make sure to preface it with "Topic of" (example: Topic of Basics) and to categorize that topic under Topics. In addition, please maintain a numbered list of the pages in the order they are meant to be read. Look to the Topic of Basics for a better idea of what is ideally expected.

## Synth Design Writing Guidelines

Really, the main thing is to avoid being excessively wordy with the synth designs. People are here to understand how the sound is made, first and foremost. Of course, prefacing it with a paragraph or two (but not more) of history (except maybe if it's a particularly important synth design). Generally, articles are written briefly like this:

1. Video showcasing the sound (and a caption of the timestamp to help people find it)
2. Who made it + history (where is its influence on genres, locations, etc)
3. Brief description of how it sounds (you can only describe it so well in text).
4. How it's generally recreated (avoid being specific to a single synthesizer if you can help it)
5. Links to how to make it in multiple synthesizers (example: 3XOSC in FL Studio, Serum in Ableton, etc)

### ZynAddSubFX Does Everything

There's also **one running joke** in this wiki and it is that ZynAddSubFX can remake or approximate pretty much every synthesized sound. If possible, try to find (or make) a video where someone with ZynAddSubFX attempts to make the sound. Considering that it is an additive and subtractive synthesizer, most synth designs should theoretically be possible to recreate. Since ZynAddSubFX is free and comes with the installation of LMMS, a free digital audio workstation, the joke gives those who can't afford expensive synthesizers the ability to make sounds almost like those who actually can afford the richer quality of better stuff.

## Community Rules of Thumb

* **The rules aren't *that* tight**, so don't waste a lot of time talking about how something should be done. If an article needs formatting in a way that follows the guidelines listed here, just go ahead and do that.
* **Incomplete articles are still articles**. All wikis will have incomplete articles, but that's just how organizing information turns out, in general. Don't worry about this, just add what is missing, if you can.
* **Popular designs follow a common sense rule of thumb**. Is it used a lot within a genre? That's popular, even if it wasn't used by Michael Jackson or whoever.
* **Uncommon and original designs are allowed in the wiki under a common sense rule**. Some musicians will create a particularly interesting kind of sound that deserves an article, but it doesn't end up particularly widespread (either due to its complexity or particular execution). If you find out how to emulate it, simply do not file it under the popular designs category and proceed as usual.
* **Original designs are partially allowed under the Community Designs category**. There is potential for a community member to spam the wiki with article after article about his or her synth designs. Try not to do this, especially if your sounds aren't very unique. **Do not use the wiki to promote yourself**.
	+ Your designs are allowed if they seem new in terms of design or are executed extremely well in a song you have made, which we leave you the responsibility of deciding (and the community polices it, of course). We will have two options if something feels out of control:
		- We will either decide to file your designs under a category dedicated to you, to avoid clutter but keep the work you put into it. Or...
		- We will purge any or all of the articles that we feel don't measure up or count as insightful or interesting content.

### The community is not brutal.

In judging subjective decisions such as the situation above, the community should lean towards keeping the work community members have made, even if some of it ends up coming from a self-centered standpoint. As long as the categorization of articles is clean and navigable, when it comes to original sounds, we favor the presence of content over the tailoring of it.

Many community folk will project onto the community an idealized version of it; a resource that is "perfectly clean and minimalist," only providing the absolute most important information and that's it. A "golden-age portal of only the highest quality content." This is well-intended, but is not the natural way for information communities, and pursuing it as an ideal is like pursuing happiness as if it's an ideal. Information communities are typically incomplete, kinda disorganized, and cluttered with extra stuff that the community will only clean if they come to a popular consensus as being necessary. It will never be any one person's Perfect Place.

Pursuing it personally by making contributions to incomplete is much more productive than making threads complaining about the community. Treat this subsection as a heads-up that we want to avoid arguing about how some people aren't following the guidelines. If you do need to point something out, try to do so with a positive tone and calm demeanor.

## No Piracy

**Don't upload or link to externally hosted pirated software or assets here**; it is irrelevant content to the wiki. This place is for educational purposes only. It any said content contributes to the wiki in an educational sense, it is encouraged that you make your own alternative and release it to the public domain before linking your alternative here.

## Images, Videos, and Content Licensing

Just use those buttons above the text editor and you'll be fine. Always try to add descriptive captions. For example, in videos that contain a demonstration of how a synthesizer sounds, you need to add the timestamp for when the actual synth begins. Try to find sources that isolate the noise as possible. One of the best examples is Donk Bass because the video with the featured noise brings it in pretty much immediately and is unmistakably isolated for clarity.

Generally we try to be lax with the copyright whenever we upload anything. Wikia assumes everything you actually upload is under some kind of creative commons, they can give you better info. I like to release it to the public domain.

## Links

It's easy to write links. You might need the source editor. Link to relevant external sites when necessary.

* ```
[[Wiki_Name_in_Address_Bar|Text that appears]]
```
* ```
[[https://www.google.com/|Google]]
```

## Tables

You might need the source editor. To make a table, do this:

```
{| class="article-table"
!Header one
!Header two

```

Result:

 Cell three