One Synth Challenge #94: Synth1 (Photonic Wins!)

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Voted.

[liqih]

I will vote today within midnight.

[574X]

I finished voting a few days ago. It was an especially impressive OSC and I'm very thankful that I could participate. As far as how I voted, there's an interesting and somewhat applicable quote by MLK: "I judge people by their own principles - not by my own." Understandably, that's a unique perspective but I've found lots of value in it.

[RichardSemper]

Voted!

[chilledpanda]

Voted!

[ontrackp]

Voted. This was a great month.

I don't think anybody has commented on the use of the commercial plug ins. Personally, I don't think that it made any difference for the quality of the tracks. Some of the best sounding tracks were done with all freebies. I still feel it should be allowed just for ease of workflow -- I really don't think it sets up an unfair advantage.

[bhy]

Voted before the deadline (on the 14th I think), but didn't realise I needed to post here to report my voting.

Hope I'm not too late!

[Edit:] Ah, I think I'm ok, it's still the 15th in KVR timezone.

[bjporter]

Voted. Amazing stuff


PM me if yo have issues with the voting

[Cruba]

Voted. This was a great month.

I don't think anybody has commented on the use of the commercial plug ins. Personally, I don't think that it made any difference for the quality of the tracks. Some of the best sounding tracks were done with all freebies. I still feel it should be allowed just for ease of workflow -- I really don't think it sets up an unfair advantage.

Not really... I came in contact with my 1st hardware reverb (Behringer, oooh that was expansive in the 90's when you were young! lol) and I must say the free effects are more than good and I'm not missing anything.

More and more I missuse delays for reverb (it just sound better and more subtile) so all in all ther's the question what's a good effect and what is not. lol

[doctorbob]

re the Commercial FX ...

I just found that ther Valhalla reverb is just a little "smoother" to my ears, and maybe a little easier to dial in what I want. Same with the Waves L3 Ultramaximiser (I find Limiter No.6 can be a little harsh at times - but then, perhaps that's just me not doing it right). I do like the Stillwell buss compressor - again, doesn't over colour things, and is dead easy to dial in just the right amount of comp. The Stillwell EQ is generally my master buss goto - just for a "broad brush" final adjustment (I always do my EQ per track, or track group, with all master fx OFF).

That said, I can still get good sounding tracks with free FX, just takes a little longer IMHO, that's all in this amateur world.

Again, good tracks everyone. Tough month indeed to be competing.

dB

[wagtunes]

re the Commercial FX ...

I just found that ther Valhalla reverb is just a little "smoother" to my ears, and maybe a little easier to dial in what I want. Same with the Waves L3 Ultramaximiser (I find Limiter No.6 can be a little harsh at times - but then, perhaps that's just me not doing it right). I do like the Stillwell buss compressor - again, doesn't over colour things, and is dead easy to dial in just the right amount of comp. The Stillwell EQ is generally my master buss goto - just for a "broad brush" final adjustment (I always do my EQ per track, or track group, with all master fx OFF).

That said, I can still get good sounding tracks with free FX, just takes a little longer IMHO, that's all in this amateur world.

Again, good tracks everyone. Tough month indeed to be competing.

dB

I think the biggest difference in free vs paid FX is in the reverbs. I have yet to find a free reverb that is as clean and rich as EWQL's Spaces Convolution Reverb. Free reverbs, at least the ones I've found are either thin or harsh or both.

Everything else, at least in my experience, comes down to ease of use. Free FX generally have to all be dialed in by hand while paid FX have some great presets that are perfect for many styles of music.

Otherwise, I agree. Not a lot of difference.

However, because there are differences which can't be denied, if we want to put everybody on a somewhat level playing field (it will never be perfectly level because of too many factors to go into here) I do not feel paid FX should be allowed. I have tons of them so I really don't care personally. But to be fair to those who can't afford them, I think this should be the end of them for the OSC.

However, I am not against the once per quarter idea that I came up with if the majority feel paid FX should be allowed. All the time I think would put too many people at a disadvantage.

I mean let's be honest. If paid FX weren't better, why aren't they free?

My 2 cents for whatever they're worth. Either way, I'm cool with it.

[ontrackp]

re the Commercial FX ...

I just found that ther Valhalla reverb is just a little "smoother" to my ears, and maybe a little easier to dial in what I want. Same with the Waves L3 Ultramaximiser (I find Limiter No.6 can be a little harsh at times - but then, perhaps that's just me not doing it right). I do like the Stillwell buss compressor - again, doesn't over colour things, and is dead easy to dial in just the right amount of comp. The Stillwell EQ is generally my master buss goto - just for a "broad brush" final adjustment (I always do my EQ per track, or track group, with all master fx OFF).

That said, I can still get good sounding tracks with free FX, just takes a little longer IMHO, that's all in this amateur world.

Again, good tracks everyone. Tough month indeed to be competing.

dB

I think the biggest difference in free vs paid FX is in the reverbs. I have yet to find a free reverb that is as clean and rich as EWQL's Spaces Convolution Reverb. Free reverbs, at least the ones I've found are either thin or harsh or both.

Everything else, at least in my experience, comes down to ease of use. Free FX generally have to all be dialed in by hand while paid FX have some great presets that are perfect for many styles of music.

Otherwise, I agree. Not a lot of difference.

However, because there are differences which can't be denied, if we want to put everybody on a somewhat level playing field (it will never be perfectly level because of too many factors to go into here) I do not feel paid FX should be allowed. I have tons of them so I really don't care personally. But to be fair to those who can't afford them, I think this should be the end of them for the OSC.

However, I am not against the once per quarter idea that I came up with if the majority feel paid FX should be allowed. All the time I think would put too many people at a disadvantage.

I mean let's be honest. If paid FX weren't better, why aren't they free?

My 2 cents for whatever they're worth. Either way, I'm cool with it.

I think you make good points (especially re: reverbs), but as the playing field is already so uneven, I don't think this particular issue matters. Are my effects in Logic better or worse than what comes in another DAW? I'm sure there are qualitative differences. As so much of the OSC seems to be about learning, allowing the use of commercial effects could open the door to helping some of the folks who are trying to figure out what to get see some real-life results. But like Wags, I'm good either way. As time is limited anything I can do to save time during production would help. I know that when I was working on my HY piece yesterday, using a compressor that I know and love would have helped me move a little faster when trying to tame a lead part.

Here's a subtle aspect of this. Using a compressor (in moderation) doesn't change the timbre or feel of a sound (against the rules of course) but in order to get a lead sound I made to sit better in the mix, I did a test, and found that if I put it thru a commercial compressor I could dial it in quickly -- the Logic compressors (which are also pretty good) needed more tweaking, and I also had to go back to the sound to tweak. So maybe that makes using commercial plugs a bad idea. If using commercial plugs makes it so that not as much time is needed to tweak the sound in the synth, does that violate the rules? But maybe a compressor including in another DAW would have been easier to get the results I wanted.

Sorry, don't want to complicate this and I am in favor of using the commercial plugs, but I also wish to be fair to everyone.

[wagtunes]

There is also a psychological factor to consider which also can't be denied, especially since I'm a student of psychology going way back.

Those who don't have paid FX, if they're allowed, are going to feel like they are at a disadvantage. Whether or not they actually are doesn't matter. They will feel that those who have paid FX have an advantage over them. This MAY discourage some people from participating. And that is the last thing we want. We want everybody to feel like they have an equal chance even if the reality is that those who are more skilled are going to win these things anyway.

Psychology plays a big part in everything we do, even if it's illogical psychology.

It's just the way we're put together.

[Taron]

I somehow think that most musicians here are mature enough not to feel disadvantaged because of paid FX. But the thing is, we all decide for different paths and end up having very different sets of tools, which just makes the whole challenge too convoluted, if you asked me. To allow only the use of free tools not only promotes the free tools, brings them to everybody's attention (about which I'm super happy and grateful), but also creates the possibility of a well balanced challenge, bringing the focus closer to music and understanding, rather than battling with technologies for which hardly any one of the "contestants" is responsible, other than choice.

So...on two very important dimensions I find the choice to only permit free FX a very wise one. It also actually encourages developers or would-be-developers to begin this kind of a journey and get more recognition, validating their passion.

I've chosen to just stick with free effects, because I simply overlooked the pro option, hahahaha, but then just figured it feels nicer to ignore it. I have Valhalla reverbs around, which are really soooo juicy, smooth and pretty, as well as some impulse reverbs, which are hard to rival in quality, but somewhere between Sanford, Ambience and Orilriver, besides my very own modular concoctions, I'm quite satisfied with the free reverb choices. They illustrate the setting for the stage quite well, even if not super hifi, so to say.

[wagtunes]

I somehow think that most musicians here are mature enough not to feel disadvantaged because of paid FX. But the thing is, we all decide for different paths and end up having very different sets of tools, which just makes the whole challenge too convoluted, if you asked me. To allow only the use of free tools not only promotes the free tools, brings them to everybody's attention (about which I'm super happy and grateful), but also creates the possibility of a well balanced challenge, bringing the focus closer to music and understanding, rather than battling with technologies for which hardly any one of the "contestants" is responsible, other than choice.

So...on two very important dimensions I find the choice to only permit free FX a very wise one. It also actually encourages developers or would-be-developers to begin this kind of a journey and get more recognition, validating their passion.

I've chosen to just stick with free effects, because I simply overlooked the pro option, hahahaha, but then just figured it feels nicer to ignore it. I have Valhalla reverbs around, which are really soooo juicy, smooth and pretty, as well as some impulse reverbs, which are hard to rival in quality, but somewhere between Sanford, Ambience and Orilriver, besides my very own modular concoctions, I'm quite satisfied with the free reverb choices. They illustrate the setting for the stage quite well, even if not super hifi, so to say.

Very well said. Can't argue with any of it.

Oh, I am so busy with my prog rock project that I may not be able to return to the OSC until about August or September anyway. So I have no horse in this race whatever is decided.