Diva mini-Patchbank Contest



The return of the u-he patch contests! The synth is Diva and, rather than submitting single patches, the task this time around is to put together a mini-patchbank.

As ever, the prizes for this contest are pretty good:

1st prize - a free choice of one nfr* software product from the u-he range!

2nd prize - 3ee's Winter soundbank for Zebra.

How to enter

• Simply create one or two Diva mini-patchbanks, each comprising no more than eight patches, and which may be in any style, genre, flavour or mixture thereof.
  
• Give your patchbanks short, unique names (I don't want to receive a dozen banks all named "Diva Patchbank Contest" or similar!). If submitting two banks, don't use connected names, eg, "This Bank 1", "This Bank 2".
  
• Upload your patchbank/s (which should consist of a named folder containing patches in .h2p format) to an online file-sharing site such as dropbox or box.net and PM me a link.
  

Rulez and other important stuff:

• Up to two patchbanks may be submitted per person.
  
• Patchbanks must be no larger than eight patches.
  
• Patchbank folders should have short, unique names.
  
• All patchbanks and patches must be anonymized. When saving patches putting a "?" in the "author" field does the trick.
  
• Patches made using the Diva demo are admissible.
  
• The winning patchbank will be decided by a vote.
  
• In order to be eligible for the prize, patchbank submitters must vote - no vote no prize!
  
• Try to ensure that your patches do not exhibit significant - ideally no - audio clipping.
  
  
• The deadline for submissions is 14:00 UTC/GMT April 1st

*not for resale

The themes for these contests are decided upon by something approaching a democratic/consensual process, so if anyone has ideas for future contests, themes, or just general suggestions, please speak your brains in the next patch contest thread.

_____________________________________________
Last edited by hakey on Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:29 am; edited 11 times in total

For those who've taken part in recent patch contests, please note that I'm collecting the patchbanks this time around - not bmrzycki! (which means I won't be taking part - is that good news or bad news? hmm, I don't know...)

Note that the way to get your patchbank to me is to upload it to a file sharing site, to which you then send me a link. If uploading to Box.com or similar please put the patchbank folder inside a zipped folder, so that I can download the whole lot with one click.

Eight patches is the *maximum* patchbank size - there is no minimum size! If you only have five or six patches, you can still submit them as a bank. Five stupefyingly brilliant patches could still beat eight less stupefyingly brilliant patches.

And re. patchbank names: when it comes to voting, if the patchbanks all have short, distinctive names it will make the process easier for everyone!

Anyone has any problems, or questions let me know. Either post in this thread, or PM me.
_
Last edited by hakey on Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:24 am; edited 5 times in total

Diva Tips & Tricks

• In the mod section select Gate as the Lag source - Lag can now be used as a variable Attack/Release envelope.
  
• If you want to control (via modulation wheel) the amount that envelope 2 affects cutoff, select "Env2" and "ModWhl" as the two Multiply sources. Then select "Multiply" as a cutoff modulator in your filter, and turn up its amount.
  
• Try adding a square wave LFO to an inverted lagged version of itself, or multiplying a sine LFO with a rectified quantized version of itself... etc. etc..
  
• Chorus1 into Chorus2 with different settings can give some interesting results.
  
• Try Chorus with zero Rate and Depth for a static colouring effect.
  
• Max out resonance on the multi-mode VCF and bring the feedback (feedback needs to be selected instead of the HP filters) to max for a formant like resonant peak.
  
• Diva's filter responses change with the gain of the signal (~oscillator volume) fed into them. This is particularly so for the BITE filters at high resonance.
  
• Don't discount the Rotary effect. Veritable Swiss army blade. Need extra harmonic content? Need movement or other modulation? Rotary combos or pairing other FX with Rotary effect has great results to really liven patches.

And from previous contests:

Patch Design Tips

General Competition Tips

_
Last edited by hakey on Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:52 pm; edited 10 times in total

Where, typically, do most of you guys prefer to have a patch top-off gainwise? I mean when reaching Vel 120-127 or so?

My personal opinion is that I want it as hot as can be without clipping at highest velocity or modulation. I usually go in an take faders down on the mixer before beginning to compose anyway so it's not like I start with a super hot level on a VST track despite high output from the plug.

What's you opinion?

Edit: short and sweet version.

1. Use your DAW's output meter to check that patches don't clip; use your ears to balance the patches within a patchbank with reference to their relative perceived loudness.

2. A good rule of thumb is to compare your patches against similar patches in the factory bank.

_
Last edited by hakey on Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:33 pm; edited 3 times in total

Thanks for that hakey! I understand the difference b/t perceived and 'measured' level. I am only asking the other designers to get an idea what you producers usually prefer as a starting ground as it relates to patch gain.

As for me, I feel that gain is adjustable so it is not so much a worry and it does not concern me when judging another designer's patch. I notice when I do analyse some of the provided banks, as you make mention, in various VST the levels vary sometimes drastically between sounds within the same category. I suppose it depends who is designing the patch. I tend to always have a spectrum analyser following the instrument I am designing for so sneaky freqs which cause gain problems aren't really ever an issue. I suppose in the end I will use your earlier suggestion and try to keep the bank at generally the same level gainwise so as to keep a thread throughout it.

As much as I love the variety and quality of already existing stuff ...
I'm desperately looking for some more deep minimoog bass presets.
For example HS Bass Nine at notes A2 (1bar), F2 (1bar), E2 (2bars).
And a simple Kick 808, my skills on programming this myself is fairly limited.

Just bought Diva today as my very first synth. Maybe I figure it out by myself until April and submit a clearly marked amateur patchbank

Really bad move. This means that you're going to think that every synth you acquire from here on out sucks.

Sticky!

To get the numbers up, I was thinking of handing out a small bank of Diva patches to everyone who enters. That said, my crappy offerings might not be much inducement.

I don't know if he'd be up for it, but if Howard had maybe half a dozen Diva patches going spare...

_
Last edited by hakey on Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:10 am; edited 1 time in total

Nice idea!

Cheers
Dennis

Oh yeah.. we are back on... Thanks Hakey for restarting U-he patch contest. good luck to everyone!
Is it allowed to submit multiple banks?

Hmm, yeah, I'm tempted to allow two banks per person. What does everyone else think?

Thanks hakey. Sounds like fun.

Sounds cool! so.. than we would have a 8 patches per bank max and 3 banks per person max... how's this?


Hope he's OK!