One-Synth-Challenge 45: Alchemy - Voting and Results

[angelremington]

Thx Numerologia and Loris

[loris16148]

SatYtunes, Numerologia, Angelremington thank you for your votes also.

[jasinski]

5pt - pedalsteeldrummer - Amrita (Water of Life) it was a hard decision between Bjulin and pedal but pedalsteel wins for me on sound design and unique playfulness.

4 pt- Bjulin - Electronic Pyjama Party

3 pt- Aiyn Zahev - Eyelids of Autumn

2 pt- Numerologia - PACMAN FOREVER

1 pt- Skyzone - Speed of life

Honorable mentions:
evo2slo - Soul Candy
e@rs - Autofocus

[ricler]

Hi, that's my votes for the Alchemy OSC:

5 points: numerologia - PacMan Forever

4 points: pedalsteeldrummer - Amrita

3 points: Ayin Zahev - Eyelids of Autumn

2 points: e@rs - Autofocus

1 points: Jasinski- Puppet Show

Best regards,
Ricler

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

5 points - jasinski - puppet show...

would love to hear this remixed a little to reduce some of the brightness..otherwise, blown away

---------------------------

4 points - bjulin - electronic pyjama party

solid mix..really enjoyed this

---------------------------

3 points - skyzone - ice mountain

chanelling jean michel jarre....took me back to a time when i knew nothing of synthesisers other than that i liked the sound


----------------------------

2 points - aiyn zahev - eyelids of autumn

solid execution...great sound

----------------------------

1 point - angel remington - alchemy reflections

this makes me smile...nice choon

----------------------------


honourable mention : pedalsteel - amrita......took a chance on something really different...pretty little ditty

[e@rs]

5p: bijulin - electronic pyjama party
4p: skyzone - speed of life
3p: skyzone - ice mountain
2p: angelremington - alchemy reflections
1p: nikp2000 - pick-er-roll

[SKYZONE]

short in time.........

5p e@rs - autofocus
4p angelremington - alchemyReflections
3p picapica - signal first contact
2p evo2slo - soulcandy
1p aiyn zahev - eyelids of autumn

Good luck

Fabrizio

[RuediRena]

5 pts: Key88 - Alchemy Your best yet! Variety, man variety!
4 pts: Picapica (aka steradd) - Signal:first contact Space Synth Bluegrass Bastard
3 pts: evo2slo - Soul Candy MASSIVE BASS
2 pts: Bjulin - Electronic Pyjama Party One word: Entertainment
1 pt: Numerologia - Pacman Forever Electrifying retro vibe

Well done everybody else! We mean it. This is no set phrase!

[bzur]

My votes, with some comments


1 - Bjulin - Electronic Pyjama Party
LIked it from the beginning, really thick pads, and evolving structure, and the theme that gradually raises, until the groovy part between 2.00 and 3.00. Man, that part captured me instantly. Beautifully crafted sounds, almost perfect shiny mix and production: this track kept alive my attention, and caressed my ears from 0.00 to 5.36. My 5 points are for you

2 - Jasinski - Puppet Show
It's amazing how you master the art of synthesis (drums, pads, leads...)... seemingly you could obtain the sound you want from any synth - and Alchemy is not the exception.
Regarding Puppet Show, there's an incredible amount of events and interesting things happening inside, especially in the groovy parts, so many events that I almost feel... lost. Moreover, this causes me loss of attention. My fault
I liked in particular the intro and the transitions, which reprise that particular mood. You definitely know when the ears need a rest.
A lot of ideas and... yes! "there's always something to learn from Jasinski" Take your 4 points


3 - Aiyn - Eyelids of Autumn OK
First of all: trance is not my cup of tea - my fault but the quality of your track is stunning, everything is in the right place. I admit, I was a bit headbanging You perfectly master the art of trance (now I'm just curious listen to your other tracks on sc).
Chapeau, 3 points for you!

4 - Skyzone - Across the Universe OK
The vangelisque opening captured my attention instantaneously - you know what i like - really beautifully crafted track, with your unique style. As said for other tracks, everything is in the right place, and the structure flows seamlessly from the beginning to the end. 2 points!


5 - evo2slo - Soul Candy
Very nice track, with a lot of interesting ideas... a sort of slow reggae, veeeeery thick sounds, and a big bass that appears right from the first seconds. I also liked the drums: at a certain point I felt I was into a reggae version of Pink Floyd's "Learning to fly"!!! Only a little "flaw": the track could have been a little shorter. My last point is for you


HM to everyone outside my magnificent 5 list.
Good job my friends, you are improving from month to month

[Aiynzahev]

My votes, with some comments

3 - Aiyn - Eyelids of Autumn OK
First of all: trance is not my cup of tea - my fault but the quality of your track is stunning, everything is in the right place. I admit, I was a bit headbanging You perfectly master the art of trance (now I'm just curious listen to your other tracks on sc).
Chapeau, 3 points for you!

Thank you very much! I only have one actual released track right now, it's called Crash, it's a remix actually. You'll see it on my SC, I just shared it today.

Or just check it here:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... highlight=

[evo2slo]

This contest really gave me an appreciation for the pure synth abilities of Alchemy. I've mainly used it with samples so it was really cool to just focus on that particular side of it. It's an amazing and powerful synth. Thanks to all for the comments and votes, I wasn't expecting to get as many as I did with the extremely strong competition this month. Anyway, on with my votes:

1. Jasinski - Puppet Show (5 pts)
Great arrangement with a lot of changes and yet the track never loses it's focus or momentum. Amazing sound wizardry and an awesome composition.

2. Bjulin - Electronic Pajama Party (4 pts)
Very strong textural sounds. Really great percussion. Nice compositional development with some very unique choices. This track grew on me the more I listened to it.

3. Numerologia - PACMAN FOREVER (3 pts)
BIG FUN!!!

4. pedalsteeldrummer - Amrita (Water of Life) (2 pts)
Very refreshing atmosphere and melodies. Wonderfully patient. Flows like a river.

5. Aiyn Zahev - Eyelids of Autumn (1 pt)
A nice combination of sounds that work extremely well together. Stays interesting throughout with many great transitions.

The rest of my top ten:
Skyzone - Across the universe
Picapica - Signal: first contact
Loris D Solic - Demolition imminent
e@rs - Autofocus
Key88 - Alchemy

[z.prime]

I'm very disappointed I couldn't participate; I've been an Alchemy preset tweaker for a couple years, I really wanted to get to know what it's capable of... but alas, it was hard and I had way too much other stuff going on. Anyway, I thought I'd vote since there were only a few tracks to listen to.

5pt - Aiyn Zahev - Eyelids of Autumn
Holy! Simply great sounds; assuredly best of the bunch... you do sound sets, though, right? It shows with this track! It's a bit on the "generic" side of trance, but... is really, really good.

4pt - Bjulin - Electronic Pyjama Party
Really love the sounds on this, the vibe, the beats - just about everything. Hard not to give it 5 points; had to flip a coin. Definitely dig the high-pitched squeeze-synth at the end.

3pt - Skyzone - Speed of life
Skygelis! So, I'm not the biggest Vangelis or old-school synth superstar fan, but this track certainly has some of the nicest pure sonic synth goodness; coupled with an uncharacteristic reduction in arps - really nice. The overall structure could have had some work in my opinion and I would have just left out the bit of unexpected percussion at the end, but as it stands, a very enjoyable track!

2pt - Jasinski- Puppet Show
If it wasn't for some other really strong entries, there would be an easy win with this one. Not my favorite track of yours - began to teeter on generic monotone dubstep in a few spots for me but some awesome elements melodic and otherwise kept it fresh, coupled with unsurpassed sound design makes for a hard track to beat. I'm not sure why I didn't give you 5 points for this... maybe some sort of jealousy or double-standard.

1pt - pedalsteeldrummer - Amrita (Water of Life)
Well, I thought Aiyn's sound programming was awesome (and it is), but you take the cake for uniqueness - I would not expect the sort of realism out of that synth... I like the tune, not my style particularly, but a very nice entry with a lot of character.

And I wrote comments along the way on all the other tracks:

Key88-Alchemy
King of the, well, Key88 style. One of your strongest entries yet - though there may be some specific things I would suggest to work on, there are increasingly appleaing melodic elements in your tracks. Main thing that I would try to focus on is percussive patches & variation to be more supportive of the melodic aspects of the track. Perhaps also give a bit more thought to the frequency spectrum; frequently there seems to be a lot going on in the mid ranges (common for everyone, for sure).

Numerologia - PACMAN FOREVER
As others stated, nice breaks & build-ups coupled with a videogame themed track, probably should have been in the top 5.

evo2slo - Soul Candy
Great vibe on this one; love the bass patch, drums; one of my favorite evo2slo tracks, probably. Nicely arranged and mixed. Probably also should have been in the top 5; I had you pegged for #1 until...

e@rs - Autofocus
Enjoyable minimalistic track; I'd like more definitive melodies throughout. Really strong percussion & bass sounds.

Nikp2000-pick-er-roll
Video-game-ish melodies and some other nice melodic elements thrown in... if anything I'd work on for next time: the overall mix was really muddled together - try some EQ/pan or otherwise to separate the tracks a bit. Or just use different patches that fit better *together*; that's a hard thing sometimes to decide.

Skyzone - Across the universe
Classic Fabrizio on this one, must say... I like your other track a whole lot more for some reason. I think you've done a good job with the sound programming, though - not typically your focus or strong point, right?

Loris D Solic - Demolition imminent
A lot of good stuff in here... the overall mix, in particular in relation to the percussion would help make it sound a lot better, I think. There are really a lot of good parts throughout.

Skyzone - Ice mountain
Arps, arps, and more arps; now throw in the Vangelis lead. This seems to be a Fabrizio formula. Don't get me wrong, I think there is always a lot of good stuff in your tracks, increasingly, even. But... your tracks *really* shine when you break out of the norm. Why not try to make a track in "style X" one month? Maybe ambient or progressive trance or drum n' bass or something a bit out of the norm to just think outside the Fabrizio box?

Picapica (aka steradd) Signal:first contact
The atmosphere is beautiful, the patches are really nice. Not really enough of an actual song here for me, but a solid entry nonetheless.

Angelremington - Alchemy Reflections (OSC)
You did some percussions, mate. Sorry you were so worked up about things... I'm in your court a bit when it comes to easing the pain dealing with Alchemy to have let more of it's features/presets through. Though, I would have had an unfair advantage - I have a bunch of the addon packs (which sound fantastic). To me, that was probably the biggest deciding factor in the low turnout, it was time consuming to learn. Oh... and back to your track, is nice to listen to: biggest problem for me, it's an EDM track but it lacks energy from the mix... easy to fix with some compression/eq/etc.

Skyzone - The basic bits
First to have a track done, as usual. I'm a little curious... how it sounds so similar to the others even from previous months when building the patches from scratch? Anyway.... rinse repeat the comments from above: I'd love to hear you break out of the box!

Great job everyone, really not a track that disappointed. It's looking promising to see you this month with some Cheese...

[key88]

Z-Prime thanks for the candid feedback!
RuediRena and nikp2000 thanks for the votes!

My votes:

5 Numerologia-PacmanForever
4 Skyzone-IceMountain
3 PicapicaakaSteradd-SignalFirstContact
2 Ers-Autofocus
1 Bjulin-ElectronicPyjamaParty

All very interesting tracks
I thought using Alchemy was fairly straightfoward, I had no issues, too bad it timed out.
Use two of the ganged together and it is almost like a drawbar Hammond!

Sorry no comments, just barely had time to listen to each tune more than once.

[papatomany]

5 pts: Jasinski -- Puppet Show [Slightly demented. If it's a puppet show, it's creepy ol' Punch and Judy as filmed by Terry Gilliam.]
4 pts: Key88 -- Alchemy [In the spirit of Joe Zawinul.]
3 pts: Bjulin -- Electronic Pajama Party [Edgy and nice.]
2 pts: pedalsteeldrummer -- Amrita (Water of Life) [Very pretty. Great programming on the flute sound.]
1 pt: evo2slo -- Soul Candy [Love the atmosphere.]

great stuff, as always.

[adagiocm]

Well, I finally managed to listen to all the tracks. While the number of tracks was a lot less this month, the quality was phenomenal. Without any exception I like every track quite a lot! Here are my votes; my comments are on SC.

5 pts: Skyzone - Speed of Life
4 pts: Bjulin - Electronic Pyjama Party
3 pts: Jasinski - Puppet Show
2 pts: Picapica - Signal: First Contact
1 pt : Aiyn Zahev - Eyelids of Autumn

HM: (I really wish I had more points to give you guys, awesome stuff!)
evo2slo - Soul Candy
e@rs - Autofocus
Loris Solic - Demolition Imminent
Skyzone - Across the Universe, Ice Mountain