OSC13 - Synth1 - Totolitoto Wins!

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10 points - R2L4
6 points - TheLastSynthOnEarth
5 points - Thus Spoke Piazzolla
2 points - Another Soundtrack
1 point - Karma Sutra
1 point - synth one thingamabob
1 point - Wide Open

:tu:

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Excellent stuff ReXx ..welcome to OSC ... and cheers for the votes! :)

Its getting late here, so if you dont mind I'll do a tally up tomorrow :)

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mrblitz wrote:Thus Spoke Piazolla: This sounds like Weather Report meets Hall and Oates. This is great stuff. This could be the lead-in for a '70s televsion show. Those shows had a lot of jamming theme songs like this. Is this a cover?
Indeed this is a cover. I don't know how the original was called, but I used to hear it so often that it makes me sick. Fortunately Mr.Steplton managed it to sound good :tu: There were some godawful vocals in the original one.

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OK, here's the story after 3 sets of votes! :)


1. Land of Green Ginger - Mr Wobble .... 3, 10 = 13
2. RL24 - Kaiyoti .... 2, 10 = 12
3. The Last Synth on Earth - Totolitoto .... 2, 2, 6 = 10
4. Another Soundtrack - Yeager .... 7, 2 = 9
5. Thus Spoke Piazzolla - Steplton.... 2, 5 =7
6= Many as One - Xenobioz .... 6
6= Hyacinth1 Tattiemannie .... 4, 2 = 6
8. Synth One Thingamabob - Ah Dziz .... 1, 2, 1 = 4
9= Wide Open - Orbik .... 1, 1, 1 = 3
9= Karma Sutra - V'ger .... 2, 1 = 3
11. 13 Moons and a Sun too - MA-Simon .... 2
12. Sunny Ode - Dwsel.... 2
13. Visions of a Seagull - Nahkranoth .... 1


( Voters: 3, Total points 78 )

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This was very hard. I ended up giving each track marks out of 10 - 5 for composition/arrangement, 3 for production mix, 2 for interesting use of Synth1/patch design etc. Most tracks scored 7/10 or above! The shortlist consisted of those with 8.5 and over; there were many that just missed out on the cut.

Code: Select all

Wide Open                        Orbik       10
RTL4                             Kaiyoti      5
Another Soundtrack               Yeager       2
LastSynthOnEarth                 Totolitoto   2
synth one thingamabob            ah_dziz      2
Visions of a Seagull             Nahkranoth   2
Many as One                      Xenobioz     1
Nice Patch Shame About The Song  Mouxbar      1
Back To The Groove               K-Bee        1
I must say I am very surprised that Orbik's track isn't doing much better so far! The composition is so, so clever - it neatly manages the trick of building up an expectation which is then satisfied, sometimes with a twist, through clever chord changes, or adding/subtracting different elements - and doing so many times throughout the (very short!) track.

Some bits that I particularly liked were the wah-wah funk guitar, the woozy brass section (which was very cleverly arranged) and the fantastic solo just after the 1 minute mark. Superb musicianship on every level and just very clever - basically it's the kind of music I wish I had the skill to make!

Kaiyoti's composition, again, was well structured with a satisfying narrative arc and use of the expectation/pay off trick. Not quite my taste (sorry), but a top demonstration of compositional and arranging skills. I have to say it was just slightly let down by the mix, which was too dense (with some clipping). But, nevertheless, a really good demonstration of Synth1's timbrel range.

A quick note on Steplton's 'Thus Spoke Piazzolla' - judged on its own merits, this is definitely up there with Orbik's track - maybe, with that nice open, punchy mix, even a touch ahead. The composition is just perfect, however, as the composition isn't his own, I didn't feel I could give him much credit on that score (I awarded 2 points for the arrangement). As a result he didn't end up in the shortlist. Still, nice patch selection, production and a great, great track! This and Orbik's track were the two absolute stand-outs for me - and the ones that I listened to over and over again.

Sorry, but I can't give a commentary on every track. I'd just echo everyone else and say that the quality really was very high this time. :)
Last edited by hakey on Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Damn, I've just realised I've voted myself into second place! Should really have considered the strategic voting option! :wink:

So, anyhow, can we wrap the voting up here? I'm quite happy with equal second place (and I can't see it staying that way for much longer - flabbergasted that I was in actually first place for a short while there!)

And thanks for the comment mrblitz, glad you liked it. :)

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8 TheLastSynthOnEarth - Totolitoto
8 synth one thingamabob-ah_dziz
4 Back To The Groove - K-Bee
4 Wide Open - orbik
2 Visions of a Seagull - Nahkranoth

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hakey, shroom feverish, ...Cheers for the votes ! :)

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tattiemannie wrote:OK, here's the story after 3 sets of votes! :)


1. Land of Green Ginger - Mr Wobble .... 3, 10 = 13
2. RL24 - Kaiyoti .... 2, 10 = 12
3. The Last Synth on Earth - Totolitoto .... 2, 2, 6 = 10
4. Another Soundtrack - Yeager .... 7, 2 = 9
5. Thus Spoke Piazzolla - Steplton.... 2, 5 =7
6= Many as One - Xenobioz .... 6
6= Hyacinth1 Tattiemannie .... 4, 2 = 6
8. Synth One Thingamabob - Ah Dziz .... 1, 2, 1 = 4
9= Wide Open - Orbik .... 1, 1, 1 = 3
9= Karma Sutra - V'ger .... 2, 1 = 3
11. 13 Moons and a Sun too - MA-Simon .... 2
12. Sunny Ode - Dwsel.... 2
13. Visions of a Seagull - Nahkranoth .... 1


( Voters: 3, Total points 78 )
Damn it! :bang: nothing for me :(...I'll Never get to Carnegie Hall this way... :hihi:

I'll be voting in the next 48 hrs, thanks as allways to the T'man for handling the comp, you rock dude! :D

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This is so hard. There are a lot of strong tracks and I like them for different reasons.

My votes are based on three factors--sound design, composition, and arrangement/mix:

Wide Open - orbik (2)
Has an old school synth demo track feel. The brass type of sound is a bit awkward since it's not trying too hard to emulate brass, but sounds too loose for the way its used in the arrangment. The other patches are well designed in that old school synth style. The composition and arrangement is nice and musical, but the mix lacks spatial variation.

feeling of weirdness - shroom feverish (3)
Although the sound design is limited to a few well-chosen sounds with nice textural appeal, they are well used. The compositional development of the track is limited to mostly showcasing the patches, but it's effective for what it is. The arrangement and the mix also works well for the track.

Hyacinth1 - tattiemannie (2)
Reminds me a lot of Yellow Magic Orchestra in the sound design and composition. Melodic contour development over the whole track is a bit half-baked, although the direction of the development is fairly clear. The mix is nice and clear and the arrangement is well balanced.

Karma Sutra - V'ger (2)
The choice to not emulate realistic ethnic sounds was smart, as the ethnic feel comes from the composition and the arrangement, while the sound design had the freedom to remain fully electronic. The mix is nice and the dynamic development towards the last part of the track is interesting, but could've been even bigger and lusher.

Mr Wobble - Land of Green Ginger (2)
The choice to do a pseudo-jazz track was a double-edged sword. On one hand no one expected it for a Synth1 challenge, on the other hand, it's really hard to pull off good emulation of jazz instruments, and the track works best during parts when the sounds aren't meant to be emulations of well-known instruments (except for the vibraphone and the short flute line, which sounds fine). Mix-wise, the sense of space felt a bit awkward since it's hard to place pseudo jazz/synth instruments. On one hand you want to hear them in a credible and realistic space (like a nice convolution reverb of a nice jazz club), on the other hand, doing so would probably make the shortcomings of the sound design stick out even more.

Xenobioz - Many as One (2)
Nice sound design of a variety of ethnic styled sounds. Composition is dynamic, but the arrangement and mix isn't as lush as I think could be for the style of the track. Some of the sounds could use some thickening up and additional harmonic complexity.

Nice patch Shame About The Song - Mouxbar (1)
Some nice sound design with intriguing timbres. Compositionally it doesn't really develop much, and is more like just a showcase for the patches. The arrangement and the mix is average.

Kaiyoti - R2L4 (3)
Very nice compositionally, with lots of energy and one of the most melodically well-developed tracks. The sound design approach is the kind that tends to not interest me as much, since it's not overtly modern electronic sounds, nor is it artful emulation of well-known instruments. It's sort of organic but electronic, but the sounds tend to have similar timbre and feel, and makes the track texturally a bit bland. The arrangement is nice, but because of the the similar feel of the patches, isn't as dynamic as it could've been. The mix is nice, but the spatial planes aren't really used, as some sounds could be further back in the distance and some closer, instead of all living in the same plane.

synth one thingamabob - ah dziz (2)
The type of sound design and the dynamics of the composition feels like the kind of demo music that the guys at Korg would do for one of their synths, although the musicality is not as strong as the kind of stuff Korg does. The rhythmic development is interesting, but other aspects don't really go anywhere (similar to mouxbar's track). The high-pitched rythmic percussions (hi-hat and percolating 32nd note rolls) is perhaps most interesting part of the track. The arrangement and the mix are both effective and works well for the track.

TheLastSyntOneEarch - Totolitoto (3)
Nice variety of sound design with interesting timbre and textures. The feedback guitar-like sound is very well-done. Musically it's firmly rooted in the Tangerine Dream school of electronic music. The arrangement works very well for the style, and the mix is also very effective, with a nice sense of spatial relationships.

Steplton (Vladimir Stepanov)- Thus Spoke Piazzolla (4)
Musically and melodically this track was perhaps the most accomplished in terms of musicianship. Sound design is also very professional and polished. The type of sounds used are perhaps a bit conventional, but it suits the composition and arrangement very well. The arrangement and mix are excellent, with great balance across the frequency range, sounding nice and lush.
Last edited by Lunatique on Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Cheers for the votes Lunatique ... :tu:

.. just a little update, sorry I've not been able to launch OSC14 yet, I will as soon as I can give it the undivided time it needs ... it's just the way things are working out unfortunately ..... as some of you know, I'm doing the soundtrack for a film, and I feel I need at least the bare bones of all the material done by this weekend .. otherwise, I'm potentially holding up other processes.
So bear with me ... you all know it's an Anubis comp anyway, so launch or no launch, you can still move forward with it :)

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Land of Green Ginger - Mr Wobble 5
A great jazz track with lots of impressive sounds

Wide Open - orbik - (OSC13) 5
Another great jazz song but in another style. Great sounds and impressive melodies. Reminds a lot of Demoscene music and and some post 8-bit game music.

R2L4 - Kaiyoti 4
Great composition. Movie soundtrack style melody. Nice sounds.

TheLastSynthOnEarth - Totolitoto 4
Great atmosphere, good drums and nice electronic sounds.

Another Soundtrack - OSCXIII - Yeager 3
Game soundtrack-like start, that quickly changes. Lots of good sounds

Nice Patch Shame About The Song - Mouxbar 3
Good atmosphere with nice sounds

LIGHTHOUSE_ISLAND--Mac_of_BIOnighT 2
Long atmospheric track, reminds me of Vangelis.

If "Also spoke Piazolla" would have been an original song it would have been among the top as well.

BTW I looked like mr blitz commented on every song except mine?
:-o

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Xenobioz! I didn't listen to yours! It was a mistake. This is a really good piece. As to whether it would have gotten any votes from here; that's an interesting question. Anyway, in listening now; this is a 1st class production. It's got lots of different tones and parts. Yeah, this is really good!

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Yes there was a lot of songs on this OSC so it could easily happen.
Also it's very nice of you to comment on all songs. :tu:
Thanks. :)

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Thanks very much to hakey for sending me a complete tally up of the scores ... although I am not able to paste it wholesale and edit it easily, I will save me a good deal of time and hassle .. I'll get the scores posted soon :)

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