New Year, New Comp... One-Synth-Challenge 12 ... 'Rogue'

[tattiemannie]

OK guys, we're off!

The voting thread is up!

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 29#3963129

[V'ger]

Guess what? Yep, you guessed it: the forum stopped sending me reply notifications AGAIN.

Notifications will only be sent after you have viewed the thread while logged in, but only once until the next time you do this. A pain I know..

[V'ger]

if I can improve the setup of the comps in the eyes of the vast majority, then I'll be happy to do so

Simply put, I want to hear the best songs and productions possible which means the best synths and best FX possible imo. This in itself might attract the best writers/producers possible, and perhaps also the biggest number of entries possible. I would like it to be a showcase for KVR talent and the high standard of the freeware VST world which fits as KVR is primarily a gear site which lots of talent are here discussing and getting informed about.

Limiting the synth to one is fine, but choosing esoteric ones and restricting the FX the same way is a bit against the grain of KVR and its VST searching crowd imho. A lot of the fun these last 2 comps I've joined has been to go through all the free gear presented on this site and elsewhere, and see what others have found and done with, a few gems discovered along the way.

There, I think I've made my point yet again, I'll be quiet now..

[V'ger]

Also, would it be an idea to have the entries on a page at Soundcloud for easy and inviting access? With the additional option to download them at 4shared of course.

[Mac of BIOnighT]

Guess what? Yep, you guessed it: the forum stopped sending me reply notifications AGAIN.

Notifications will only be sent after you have viewed the thread while logged in, but only once until the next time you do this. A pain I know..

Yep, but since I do visit the thread every time I get a notification, I should be notified again te following time, right? And that's the problem: sometimes I am, but very often I'm not

[tattiemannie]

Cheers for the input V'ger ... and you're right ... using better synths and better Fx would probably attract better/more accomplished writers/producers ... my only reservation is that its a bit like fishing a different stretch of a river where you might catch a different variety of fish, but lose the ones you were catching before.

I feel strongly about the comp being as inclusive as poss ... and thats why I would argue for sticking to freeware. It's also a challenge, which I feel is reinforced by using synths which are not gonna yield a killer kick in an instant, and write the beats while it makes you a cup of tea and mops the studio floor

Yeah, I do need to look at different hosts for the uploaded tracks, and I have done a good bit of digging around at various times over the last year ... thing is, different hosts work different for different folks ... Soundcloud is a good example in that I find it much more difficult to access material on soundcloud than I do on 4shared. It would be nice to find one that offers the play/preview facilty that 4shared does, but with a playlist facility which I fear 4shared may have abandoned.
I'm working on it though

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

Tattiemannie, I think that the free synth part is important to the contest. Well, I for one wouldn't be able to participate at the moment, if it were otherwise.

On the effects though, it's kind of like we're isolating these synths in a 'clean room' as a sort of experiment. In the 'real world' though, 'everyone' who is into this thing (the OSC) has access to myriad effects.

For example, it would be really cool to be able to employ modulators and distortion/guitar amps to these synths. I don't even mind people employing their paid-for VSTs. If the kernel of the contest is based on a free synth VSTI, that's quite enough for me.

To be honest, it's kind of a can of worms, isn't it; this whole thing of setting the contest parameters?

Your approach is purist, but it may not be inviting as much participation as it otherwise might.

I'm just going to go with the flow. For as long as these contests are based at their root upon freeware (and i've got time on my hands), i'll continue to participate. Heck, even if you moved to payware synths, if the budget for it were to appear in my life, i'd continue to participate.

To get down to brass tacks, it's really amazing what participants have done without wild external effects; and some of the percussion programming arriving from these synths is beyond amazing. So, it could be that you've got it right already.

I would say; continue to disallow external percussion samples, or drum machines, but allow sampling of the synth of the month, and replaying through samplers. Allow just about any effects plug-ins to be employed.

Of course, if you 'open things up' like that, some of us might get at least a hint of nostalgia over the way things 'used to be.' .. "when the sounds were engineered without much of any 'outside help.'"

If the real spirit of the contest is to display what a bare-bones VSTI can do 'on its own,' then so be it. You decide that.

[Mac of BIOnighT]

In brief, I believe that without the limits it currently has, this competition would just be like any other and would lose any reason to exist...
I can record one of my farts and make it sound like the London Symphony Orchestra with the right effects (it already sounds like the brass section of it even without effects, to be honest) and I can sample just about any bit of sound at all and turn it into a complete song, but that is simply not the point of this competition. We're talking about synthesis - the long lost and forgotten art - with an apparently simple and limited device, and the ability to make the best of what you've got, not super shiny production (which, unfortunately and very sadly, has today replaced music) and I think that's what the osc is - and should be - all about...
Just my half a euro (inflation, you know).

[batgab]

For the sake of more feedback for Tattie, my preference is for the OSC rules to stay as they are. I think Mac covered my thoughts pretty well - though I can't vouch for the tone of his farts!

[MOK19]

I read some words regarding lightening limitations.... I think that's a bad idea. For me, the attraction to this competition was the restrictions. I'm not a very experienced producer, and in a number of ways, I'm not very good.
However, the fact that everyone is relegated to the same simplistic synth and FX was very inviting for me. It was a leveler. I do not have the years of experience that perhaps a lot of guys here might have. I don't know how to go nuts with dblue glitch, I don't have compression down to a science, and I don't work many VST's like an extension of my body. But what I can do is learn a new, simple synth and in the course of a month, do something that exercises it to the limit..... Because there's not really other VST's vying for my attention and adding to the cumulative learning curve.

So by restricting the VST's and rules tightly, this is what attracted me. I feel that maybe I've got a shot, that I might compete with the experienced guys, if only for this time around. You might call me out for being competitive - Well this is a competition. The Music Cafe section is already an effective 'Show & Tell' for our day-to-day musical experimentation and explorations. If rules are lightened, and more complex and exotic instruments and FX are allowed, I could learn and experiment for a few more years before I'd be competitive with the more experienced musicians here, and as a result there'd be a little bit less of an impulse to join in on the competition in the meantime.

The tighter the restrictions the better - it's more inviting for noobs.
IMO.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

Those are some good responses. Opening things up could really turn it all into a bugbear.

[tattiemannie]

Thanks a lot for that input guys, a lot to think about there, but all in all, most of it saying "if it aint broke, dont fix it"

Also, I see 19 entries as a very healthy return, and the quality of these, for me, is all the more astounding given the limits that have been imposed.

I take particular note of the comments re. the spirit, inclusiveness and identity of OSC, and the danger of that being lost if we tinker too much.

Comments still welcome, but at this point in time, the argument seems to me very much towards keeping things as they are, but tidying up the launch post and making the rules clearer.

Just want to repeat, I really appreciate everyones input ... whatever direction they are facing. I want to run this comp *on behalf of* the OSC community .... not just the way I see fit .... so it's important to me to gather your thoughts.

[Mac of BIOnighT]

though I can't vouch for the tone of his farts!

You're a lucky person

[slugfest99]

I can record one of my farts and make it sound like the London Symphony Orchestra with the right effects (it already sounds like the brass section of it even without effects, to be honest)

No effects required here - sounds like the alien horns from War of The Worlds

In fact I kind of made a sound like that by reversing a trombone sample once -I digress.

Great post Mac - I'll add that the educational worth of OSC has been massive with me - even though you might not notice...

I even noticed a deadmau5 track recenty where he had "layered" up sounds for his drum kick. Something which tattie taught some OSC's back.

Kind of deadhaggi5 then

Off to the voting thread!

Mouxbar.

[Nahkranoth]

Tattie, wanted to ask if the choice on BSerrano's Adonis is final. It's a good synth, but it kinda puts me off, so I'd like to see something more unusual and quirky like Rogue, but not too much, like sfxr was That choice still makes me wonder
Are you still open for suggestions? Mystran's "pink VSTi" would be interesting and challenging too, I already did a track using only this little synth.