u-he

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:59 am

Urs wrote:On a side note, I've talked to Hans aka wonshu (who'll be the editor of that patch design website) and we'll start doing contests in September. Each contest will go for a month to make things easy to follow.

So maybe we should just do the next contest here? I'll happily donate another Berlin Modular for the winner (or first runners up who hasn't got it yet), once it's out of course...

Whatever you think is best Urs

So, will the patch design website be part of the uhniverse, or some parallel uhniverse?

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:27 am

hakey wrote:
Urs wrote:On a side note, I've talked to Hans aka wonshu (who'll be the editor of that patch design website) and we'll start doing contests in September. Each contest will go for a month to make things easy to follow.

So maybe we should just do the next contest here? I'll happily donate another Berlin Modular for the winner (or first runners up who hasn't got it yet), once it's out of course...
Whatever you think is best Urs

So, will the patch design website be part of the uhniverse, or some parallel uhniverse?

Parallel...

The Uhniverse is merely going to be a news website and a hub. It'll have a link to the patch design website though...

blurk · Post by **blurk** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:58 am

Well, it's certainly an interesting selection of sounds people came up with again. But I'm really surprised that with all the scope Zebra has for alternative ways of creating a sound that so many people used a good old Osc1. 14 entries used it, with 3 FM oscillators and only 1 comb and 1 XMF. I guess it just goes to show how supremely flexible those Zebra oscs are. I'm kind of wishing I did a comb now.

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:58 pm

Well, I had a few goes at making a Comb patch, the thing is that using just the Comb's noise source tends toward overly bright sounds - I made one okayish patch, but it needed (a lot of) EQing to tame the top end, which then meant that I couldn't use reverb or delay to give it some space - and without that space it sounded pretty flat.

A lot of Howard's patches use an Osc into Comb combo, which obviously opens up many more possibilities (maybe a future competition task there?).

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:10 pm

hakey wrote:A lot of Howard's patches use an Osc into Comb combo, which obviously opens up many more possibilities (maybe a future competition task there?).

Not bad! Suggestion for the next "limited resources" competition: Comb + one other module in the main grid + unlimited FX.

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:34 pm

Howard wrote:
hakey wrote:A lot of Howard's patches use an Osc into Comb combo, which obviously opens up many more possibilities (maybe a future competition task there?).
Not bad! Suggestion for the next "limited resources" competition: Comb + one other module in the main grid + unlimited FX.

Yes, and I like the idea of "limited resources" becoming an occasional theme.

blurk · Post by **blurk** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:35 pm

Howard wrote:Not bad! Suggestion for the next "limited resources" competition: Comb + one other module in the main grid + unlimited FX.

Well I quite like working with constraints: over the years I have done a few tracks with different constraints, and it's been really helpful to explore new ideas. So I'd vote for more constrained competitions. For me they are helping me learn more about programming Zebra, and so the constraints certainly help with concentration.

metajack · Post by **metajack** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:38 pm

I really like the idea of limited resources coupled with having to use some obscure module. Then the patch contests become guided explorations of the lesser known areas.

Some ideas:

* combs
* arp
* modmappers

mcnoone · Post by **mcnoone** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 10:41 pm

hakey wrote:
MCnoone wrote:Anyone have any good ideas for the next patch competition?
I like real instrument emulation.(excluding synth emulation)
some might think it too difficult, or just too boring ('synths should sound like synths innit!').

You know there are many people who find recreating real instrument sounds on a synth is not boring, and synths should be wide enouph to sound like anything you want them to.
Just think of all the memory saved not having to use a sampler for a real instrument sound. I just like that Zebra is one of the few synths really capable of producing some very convincing real instrument sounds. It might be that certain popular modern music doesn't make any use of real instruments sounds, such as trance, that it's not something too interesting to do.

blurk · Post by **blurk** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:15 am

hakey wrote:Well, I had a few goes at making a Comb patch, the thing is that using just the Comb's noise source tends toward overly bright sounds - I made one okayish patch, but it needed (a lot of) EQing to tame the top end, which then meant that I couldn't use reverb or delay to give it some space - and without that space it sounded pretty flat.

Yeah, after typing up my post I had a bit of a go at a comb patch too. I think there is scope for something there but on its own its sound palette is more restricted than I had guessed, compared to the comb being driven by another osc. But I think some of that brightness can be tamed using the damping parameter, especially modulated via an env of some sort but it's not as trivial as I initially thought. So there is good reason for people sticking to the normal Oscs. With the draw-your-own option there's scope for a bigger variety of sounds. Maybe this is an argument for having a bit longer to work on each competition: setting a harder task but giving people more time to work on something unusual, instead of having to resort to easier options?

mcnoone · Post by **mcnoone** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:26 am

blurk wrote: I think there is scope for something there but on its own its sound palette is more restricted than I had guessed, compared to the comb being driven by another osc. But I think some of that brightness can be tamed using the damping parameter, especially modulated via an env of some sort but it's not as trivial as I initially thought.

The comb filters palette can be made wider by trying something like changing the "prefill" setting to saw or square too. On a pc, it might be right clicking on the prefill knob, on mac, it's ctrl clicking on it. Also trying the different modes helps too. Add a filter or sb mod in fx's section and your good to go.

sinzero · Post by **sinzero** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:08 am

so who won the 1st contest?

where was it announced?

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:05 am

MCnoone wrote:
hakey wrote:
MCnoone wrote:Anyone have any good ideas for the next patch competition?
I like real instrument emulation.(excluding synth emulation)
some might think it too difficult, or just too boring ('synths should sound like synths innit!').
You know there are many people who find recreating real instrument sounds on a synth is not boring.

Yes, I'm one of them - you missed out the bit where I said 'I'd be up for that'.

hakey · Post by **hakey** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:07 am

sinzero wrote:so who won the 1st contest?

where was it announced?

MCnoone - there was a separate voting thread for the first contest.

sinzero · Post by **sinzero** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:53 am

hakey wrote:
sinzero wrote:so who won the 1st contest?

where was it announced?
MCnoone

which patch is his? and whose are the others?

there was a separate voting thread for the first contest.

yeah but it doesn't say in that thread who won so where are you announcing this?

u-he

KVR Audio

Patch Contest # 2 (Ended)