One Synth Challenge #81: Oxe FM (z.prime wins!)

[psmacmur]

https://soundcloud.com/peter-macmurchy/ ... che-oxe-fm

psmacmur - Afterdouche (Oxe FM)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #81: Oxe FM

The original inspiration for this track was a million-dollar cell phone. Also, my wife keeps saying I use too many things in my tracks, so I tried to keep this one simple. Still, seems it was a bit too much for Reaper; thanks for the help last night, folks.

Made in Reaper 5.1/x64
(I am srsly considering dropping Reaper after all the trouble it gave me this month)

14 OXE FM instances

DAW FX (several each):
ReaComp
ReaEQ

Free FX:
A1StereoControl x2
BlueARP x2
CodeRedFree x1
Freeverb3 Hibiki x2
Freeverb3_X1_Limiter x1
Limiter No6 x2
LoudMax 64bit x1
MJUC Jr x2
Nova67p x1
Roughrider x1
TAL Reverb 4 x1
TDR Kotelnikov x2
TDR VOS SlickEQ x2
Tonecarver Delay8 x1
ToneCarver Nova x2
TSE R47 x1
Voxengo SPAN x1
Voxengo Stereo Touch x1
Voxengo Tube Amp x1

DR8

[rghvdberg]

man I'm running out of time ...

[z.prime]

man I'm running out of time ...

WWOD (what would the oxe do)?

[z.prime]

I couldn't agree more, but I can see how people would expect others to respond more favorably to something more "sensational" than to something relaxed. Oddly enough, I would expect them to listen to the more relaxed pieces again more often, hehe...I know I do.

It's all about the song, though. You may have some things you gravitate toward, and they may be slower pieces, but certainly not "most" people, I think... But really people can connect with either if it's good enough to transcend their preformulated conceptions of what is good. Faster songs have the benefit of extra energy, which is a bit like the loudness thing that - for better or worse - is just something that slower songs need to recognize and overcome.

[Taron]

I would kind of like to see a statistic on how long people to listen to which song... that would be really interesting to me.
I've made it a habit to really sit through most songs completely, unless they're really, really hard to bear...which happens. But I do acknowledge my impulse to skip, even when I'm hanging in there.
My point is, if a song doesn't have a really strong beginning, it's likely that the more "trollish" listeners simply skip it and give it a 1 or a 2, and there's a small but reliable group of them among us, haha. This is not about "voting", but just about how people seem to think/or not, and what they are able to respect/or not.
After having found that voting breakdown, my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I look over the voting, of course... (bad idea!) ...and it's stunning who some people give 1 or 2 points. ...it's like some kind of spite or bizarre ignorance. I mean, makes one want to approve voters. But then, that's reality out there. It can be a really sad place.
However, thankfully the majority is still given a brain and a heart, so...not all is lost!

At the end, it's all about taste.

[z.prime]

Yep. It boils down to what people like, which I disagree with for this contest... But that's life.

I also listen to every track all the way through, no matter how much I like it or don't... It was a bit hard with those 30 minute tracks (even though they were pleasant, I'm looking at you TJ ). Sometimes you find there are redeeming parts later in tracks... Although not that frequently. Usually I can find at least one positive thing about each track in there somewhere.

[wagtunes]

I would kind of like to see a statistic on how long people to listen to which song... that would be really interesting to me.
I've made it a habit to really sit through most songs completely, unless they're really, really hard to bear...which happens. But I do acknowledge my impulse to skip, even when I'm hanging in there.
My point is, if a song doesn't have a really strong beginning, it's likely that the more "trollish" listeners simply skip it and give it a 1 or a 2, and there's a small but reliable group of them among us, haha. This is not about "voting", but just about how people seem to think/or not, and what they are able to respect/or not.
After having found that voting breakdown, my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I look over the voting, of course... (bad idea!) ...and it's stunning who some people give 1 or 2 points. ...it's like some kind of spite or bizarre ignorance. I mean, makes one want to approve voters. But then, that's reality out there. It can be a really sad place.
However, thankfully the majority is still given a brain and a heart, so...not all is lost!

At the end, it's all about taste.

Well, having grown up as a songwriter in the "Don't bore us, get to the chorus" era, if a song starts off with a 30 second long drone, I'm not going to listen to it. You don't have to blow my brains out right from the starting gate, but if you're meandering about and it's already 60 seconds into the song and nothing's going on, I'm gone.

And yes, I know...during the prog rock era that's all you heard. But these guys aren't ELP, ELO, Kansas, Genesis, Yes, Renaissance, Triumvirat, Starcastle and King Crimson, no offense.

We live in an era (and it's been this way for a long time) where you have to deliver the goods quickly or people won't hang around. That's true not just with the OSC but all forms of entertainment. Watch an episode of NCIS (any of them) and there's a murder within the first minute of the show. Nobody waits for things to develop anymore. That's why I love Scorpion so much. That show is like a non stop roller coaster ride right out of the Steven Spielberg school of movie making.

So yeah, I'm as guilty as anybody else of not listening to whole songs. I can't be bothered when there are 40 or 50 tracks to listen to and you've got a 30 second wind/sine wave drone going on or a chord progression that just repeats and repeats with absolutely nothing changing for a minute in. If the song doesn't go anywhere, I'm going somewhere.

On to the next song.

[doctorbob]

... And yes, I know...during the prog rock era that's all you heard. But these guys aren't ELP, ELO, Kansas, Genesis, Yes, Renaissance, Triumvirat, Starcastle and King Crimson, no offense. ...

But I think many can draw on them for some sounds and feel if they go for the "prog rock" sound/genre! Sure we can't emulate them, but we can draw upon their good things and incorporate bits and bobs into our meagre offerings.

[anecdote]
I used to go for a drink with a crowd every Xmas Eve at a pub in Plymouth (Devon!!) when they tried to come home for Xmas time and be with family (from Uni, jobs away etc ...) - David Cross was one of them (violinst in the later King Crimson line up!) - interesting guy!
[/anecdote]

dB

[Taron]

Hehehe...7 degrees thing really has everyone connected to everyone, haha. Nice story, though!
Dang, I don't know King Crimson.
However, I'm a big sucker for progressive rock, really. It's kind of in my heart or maybe even soul, who knows. Anyhow, I think, it's really not about sounds, but about the whole nature of it. It's telling something, not necessarily stories, but sharing a more complex experience, unafraid to go theatrical, but also fearless to be raw. To me it seems like there are no rules in that, but rather a chance to channel with imagination and care. That means, it doesn't have to really say or be anything specific, just creative. I believe, to that spirit, the endless repetitions of current styles would be the equivalent to a complete nightmare.

Yeh, yeh, at the end you can try to somehow distill a formula or put together a recipe, but really...that seems to me like a betrayal of the very spirit behind it.
For a while I didn't know what to call my music, so I figured it might be progressive electronica. I'm still rather afraid that's quite wrong, but well... haven't done anything that complex in a while either.

Anyway, I'll go check out King Crimson!

...just listened to Epitaph. Yeah, that's nice. But it's evil, because it SO features the Mellotron and I wanted that vst...

[Eauson]

...just listened to Epitaph. Yeah, that's nice. But it's evil, because it SO features the Mellotron and I wanted that vst...

http://blog.wavosaur.com/5-free-mellotron-vst/

[ontrackp]

When I was 13 yrs old I heard "In the Court of the Crimson King" on the radio and it blew my mind. Radio was good back then....

https://vimeo.com/135162705 start at 34:27

[doctorbob]

Anyway, I'll go check out King Crimson!

You'll love 'em, really powerful stuff ... still have my vinyl album "In the Court of the Crimson King", with *that* big pink mouth on it staring down at me from the shelves!
<grin>
Vinyl is that thing records were made of running at 33.3333 rpm ... much better than my huge collection of 78's ... many talkies and plays as well as music and songs!
</grin>
As you say, I don't really categorise what I do, I have so many musical and life influences over my brief time on this planet (smells are generally the most evocative), that I would not dare to suggest any "genre". Just like making music, and what I do generally is simple and pure inspiration at the start of the month, which can get refined into an OSC track.

dB

[wagtunes]

It's not so much the genres. Any genre can be made to sound good or bad. It's the "Okay guys, here's my intro" except the darn thing goes on for 2 minutes. I love all kinds of music but for God's sake, please go somewhere with whatever it is you're doing and get there within a reasonable amount of time.

(he says this as he ponders listening to side 1 of Autobahn)

[Taron]

@dB:
Tihihi, believe it or not, I've got a vinyl of one of my own songs in the early 90's with a friend, who was a DJ then. It did play in a club, too, for a brief while. Pfff...even then I wasn't really a trance guy, but well...

Yeah, I'll certainly listen to more from them. But it isn't all that easy for me, somehow. There's an odd sinister feel that tends to drag me down a bit or rather escapes me as it goes into the pit, haha. But musically there are many of the things in there that have somehow always been in my blood. When I did my first songs, I had no conscious influences and friends simply introduced me to what they thought my stuff reminded them of, tssss...twisted, but great, too, because I didn't have to find music I liked, it kinda found me, hehehe.

@wag:
Funny how some folks don't quite get that they're not having a crowd of fans here, who are willing to wait for the glory they already know of somewhere 5 minutes into a track, hahahaha. It's cute, but silly, of course.
I think, putting the good, meaty stuff into the front is a type of humility that becomes all of us!

[ontrackp]

It's not so much the genres. Any genre can be made to sound good or bad. It's the "Okay guys, here's my intro" except the darn thing goes on for 2 minutes. I love all kinds of music but for God's sake, please go somewhere with whatever it is you're doing and get there within a reasonable amount of time.

(he says this as he ponders listening to side 1 of Autobahn)

I agree with Wag on this point. The OSC is a contest with 40 - 50 entries that we have to review. That takes a lot of time and is in addition to the time commitment we all put in making our tracks. When I hear an intro that repeats for 60 or 90 seconds before anything happens I perceive it as self-indulgence, or a lack of musical discipline on the part of the composer. I don't wish to step on any creative toes though -- if you feel that your piece requires a two chord ostinato or repeated bass figure that plays for two minutes without any harmonic, melodic or rhythmic development, that's fine, but I will probably take points off. If you feel that the creative integrity of your piece needs more length, I suggest you do an extended mix version to include on their album or personal creative website. For the OSC though, I think that it's courteous and practical for the songs to have a beginning, middle and end in 3 - 6 minutes.