One-Synth-Challenge 25: Superwave P8 - Voting and Results

[V'ger]

Time to vote for your top 5 tracks. (All tracks are here)

RULES:
- Give 5 points to the track you think is best, 4 for second, then 3, 2 and 1.
- Voting is open to anyone.
- Last day for voting is 15th March (KVR time).
- If you have entered in the competition, you must vote to be eligible for prizes.
- No voting for yourself.
- Voters must have had 20 prior forum posts or participated in this month's contest.
-In the case of equal scores after voting, they will be separated by how many 5pts they got, then 4pts and so on.

HOW TO VOTE:
You should allocate your votes, in a single post, in this thread ... something like this ....
Track zxy - 5
Track xqy - 4
Track zyx - 3
Track zqx - 2
Track qzx - 1

NOTE:
Reviews, however brief, are always welcome. Even if you can only find the time to add a short comment, then please do! ...it keeps the thread alive and encourages others to listen/vote. A pro/con type review is always most interesting and useful, so do that if you can.

[Torchlight]

War of the Plushies - 5
Ride the Saw - 4
Three Beer Chicken Monkey - 3
Bamboo Synthtar Hymn - 2
Makkverk - 1

[gorgorgathgorgorgor]

5 - Ancient - WarOfThePlushies
4 - Revorg1 - Three Beer Chicken Monkey
3 - Tattiemannie - Defin-8-ly something...
2 - Uiiuiiu - Only Three Seasons
1 - Yeager - Knights in Manhattan

I have Included a few of the actual notes I made while listening!

Bjporter - Shoobatiedoobop
very cinematic... nice shakers, really nice ocean effect. fun with LFOs... Reminds me of Kitaro

Yeager - Knights in Manhattan T5
beautifully constructed composition. Hard to beat...

Uiiuiiu - Only Three Seasons T5
Love the drum sounds and cool Dub bassline. I like the three movement structure, good stuff.

Doc Jon - Everybody Wants to Play With Triplets
Killer snare!

MrBlitz000 - Anonymous Call
love the tone poem-meets-outrageous-LFO thing goin' on here.... having a Boobah flashback!

Tattiemannie - Defin-8-ly something...
Tattie you are a madman. took me straight to my 8 year old self at the Disneyland Parade of Lights.

Revorg1 - Three Beer Chicken Monkey
Might be my #1 or #2. Freakin' brilliant. I love all the dynamic space! Bob Katz would be proud. Love the D&B feel at the end. I would totally buy the record.

Painpotato - sincerely yours
very dark and brooding intro... I can feel it building... Here we go... wait, what happened? Where's the rest of it!?!?

Ancient - WarOfThePlushies
I think this is my #1. Vaguely Peter Gabriel in tone, tells a story (I can hear the marching feet of the stuffed army!) All I want to know now is who won? The Teddies or the Unicorns?

Awesome job everybody, Obviously P8 was a great choice for the OSC!

[ParadoxUn]

5. Ride the Saw
4. Wrest
3. Sunshine
2. Everybody wants to play with triplets.
1. War of the plushies

[tattiemannie]

Cheers for the votes and comments folks ... sorry about my enforced absence once again ... had hoped to do my comments tonight, but time has allowed for only 5 reviews and a couple of notes on other tracks ... I'll get there

gorgorgathgorgorgor - yeah! not only are you bang on about the track, but you have also provided the best character reference for me ever ... just lock me up now and save some innocents from theoretical grief!

I may do all this in a small corner of a relatively small flat, but when I'm writing, I am up for exploring places I've never been .... I trust your judgement, and I have now crossed off Disneyland from my list of 'things I want to do before I'm too much of an insurance risk to attempt'

Anyway, bit more than a week to go ... some ground to make up I reckon ..

[Happy Frog]

ParadoxUn-Makkverk 5
Painpotato-sincerely yours 4
SatYatunes-Sunshine 3
Mike777-Hymn For The Lost Planet 2
Revorg1-Three Beer Chicken Monkey 1
ParadoxUn-Makkverk Brilliant nice melody nailed house chords great use of this VST
Painpotato-sincerely yours progressive and hauntingly beautiful
SatYatunes-Sunshine Outstanding very beautiful piece and well produced you have a great ability to get great hats etc., sound out of this VST nice work great
Mike777-Hymn For The Lost Planet Amazing and beautiful the very style of music I like to listen to well done
Revorg1-Three Beer Chicken Monkey very chilled and great to listen to smooth and well produced

[bjporter]

**Updated**

One of the best OSC!!! Really exciting tunes, hard to choose

Voting
-----------------------------------------
5 - Tattiemannie - Defin-8-ly barrawehweemanyeno (Great mix of synths)
4 - Revorg1 - 5651 (really trippy)
3 - Mr. Blitz - Anonymous Call (awesome atmosphere and synth fx)
2 - Doc Jon - Everyone wants to play with triplets (nice 80's feel, perfect snare)
1 - Ancient (AKA Raygun Ballet) - War of the Plushies (awesome marching fx)
0.000021 rounded to 0 - ParadoxUn - Makkverk (Awesome 90's feel on the pads, made me groove my underpants off)


Reviews (In order of ones I liked most):
------------------------------------------
Tattiemannie - Defin-8-ly barrawehweemanyeno
Like: Loads of funk and spunk. I love the arps that pan around in the beginning. Drum arrangement is top notch. The melody is very playful. The chorus - like louder section is awesome - really really epic arrangement here, full of energy. Well written, the sections are clearly identifiable in an original way, and fit together well.
Con: Maybe its my ipod but it either sounds compressed too much or put on a bit crusher.
Overall: Totally awesome sounds, and arrangement. Cool use of pitch wheel.

Revorg - 5651
Like: Love the meows hehe. Lots of stuff happening… very trippy. Nice melodic doo hickies and doo dads all over. Fun counterpoint action. Nice use of effects. I really digged the trippyness here. It was a battle of synths - so trippy. Elaborating on the above, which occurs around 1:05... just a really huge smorgasbord of flavor and space. The melody doesn't totally make sense, but that adds to the interest. It always felt like it was never finished... like hmm, where's the part of the melody that completes the counterpoint... but never really comes, there's just more. Exciting. Again around 2:15, it comes to crescendo, very nice ease of volume here.
Con: Hard to figure out arrangement on some parts… other parts seem out of place, but not too many. Whistle was a tad loud in the intro, or had a freq that was a tad high.
Overall: Nice song - I Will definitely need travel advisor … was very trippy

Mrblitz000 - Anonymous Call
Like: I'm a huge fan of sound effects, and I really liked this creepy ass door opening sound. Freaked me out actually. I was sitting in my underwear in the dark, and … anyways. At first the song is too dissonant, but after a few listens you come to appreciate the sounds. Scary, disturbing, desperate… they are calling out to you asking you to come in to the nice mansion.. Its ok, we'll give you some warm food, then KABLAMOO BAMO! You're p0wned!!!
Creepy stuff. Love the door opening sound, very nice.
Con: A bit dry for my general taste, but for retro its great obviously.
Overall: I understand where the artist here was going for - an older school sound - and it delivers.

Doc Jon - Everyone Wants to play with triplets
Like: Totally epic 80's sound here. Reminds me of the episode from Dark Place (Doc jon - you have to see this: ). Great saxaphone. Easily the best snare of all the OSC songs. Does a great job of not sounding dry, or even sounding like Superwave - very warm mixing.
Con: Nothing off hand.
Overall: Totally badass intro. The dude must have 40 gallons of mousse in his hair, slicked back, and 100 cigarettes leaning over that bar stool, chatting up like 60 broads.

Ancient (AKA Raygun Ballet) - War of the Plushies
Like: Great intro - it reminds of Orbital. Love the whistling (a tad harsh on some frequencies), and the noise perc keeps the song going like a combustion powered train. One part that stuck out was the sequencing of the snares. They are really nice, and even more so the soldier's walk. That was really nice. The main theme was very nice, subtle, inspiring, and courageous feeling. The plushies surely fought gloriously.
Con: Nothing off hand

ParadoxUn - Makkverk
Like: Intro is awesome - really gets my groove on - totally feeling it. Absolutely loved the 90's dance feel here with the pad lead. Totally kick ass. Really great percussion. Love the crash perc. Nice 808/909 sounding snare - my 2nd favorite snare of this competition.
Con: Slightly dry for my tastes.
Overall: Tune - Really wish there there 6 slots for voting. I mentioned you on my votes anyways.

Archon1024 - Forget the Rain
Like: Love the crackly effect. The percusson was just great - sounds just like a proper sci fi epic. Really nice. Probably my favorite percussion of the bunch, it's very badass. It really reminded me of the matrix theme song at first listen - with the percs, pads, and string stabs.
Con: Wasn't fond of the solo, or solo synth patch - I thought it ruined it a bit (melodic wise, and timbre).
Overall: Would have been my top pick, sans the solo. Also a few more elements would have been nice, and more changing up of the arrangement. Was pretty short too.

Mike777 - Hymm For The Lost Planet
Like: Love most of the arrangement and melody/harmony. Nice swooshing. Oh man, the arrangement after 3:00 is amazingly good. I really felt it hard. So much power. Mike777, if you'd care to elaborate, what happened to the planet? Also, why is it lost?
Con: Which the main strings were fuller. Just a few string parts seemed out of place. Which there were a few more elements in the song. 0:48, and 0:57 there's a nice bridge, but it seems to have some notes that don't quite fit in.
Overall: Very emotional piece, and honestly thought this was a romantic/love story piece. Very nice. Would have been higher on my list if you had more elements.

Xaphoid - Ride the Saw (Massive Mix)
Like: Great use of superwave multi-voice oscillator feature. My ears were melting by the acid bassline, totally rocked. Nice use of pads, and percussive synths. Bassline really compliments the saw superwave pad. 3:50 is a really sexy portamento-ish sound. Really picks up around this time, love it. The sounds are coming together, sticking together, and fit wondrously. The excitement is high still up to 4:40.
Con: It's a shame because the kick is really wimpy, and doesn't fit… it kindof plonks along.

satYatunes - Sunshine
Like: Great strings in the intro. The lead is really beautiful, and fits perfectly with the melody. Interesting melody, keeps one into the groove. I feel like I'm on a trippy high school field trip to pluto or uranus. Nice use of saw pad. Interesting bassline - integrated very well, didn't notice it until later. Absolutely love the bass and kick combo, because it feels very heavy on the thump. You feel the low end. The pads and melody around 2:00 is simple but awesomely effective, and really pulls this part of the song together, and changes it up effectively.
Con: I wish that saw pad in the back was a bit louder, because that was a nice touch. Wasn't fond of the percussion, but the rhythm was effective, and pulled the song together. In the beginning of the breakdown around 1:00-1:06 there's a melody that doesn't quite seem to fit, or maybe needed a change of notes for me to really feel it. However at 1:30 it really picks up again melodically.

Uiiuiiu - Only three seasons
Like: Nice atmosphere, and intro was good use of string pad. I like the cutoff automation here, and reverb combo - it sucks you in. Nice synth effects. Outro was crazy. I love how the string pad fades (It was inspiring, full of hope), and then the darker percussion comes in. It's like we're walking down into the underworld, then walking partially back out (you hear the strings again). 1:27 is like walking into a room full of smokers, and you're looking for 'Tim' in the purple raincoat, with the green left sock, who has the goods. 2:20 has some lovely modulations! 2:28 is totally kick ass fade in of sounds. This sounds like you caused some trouble, and need to run from Tim quick. The sounds here are great, love the tape reverse fx modulations.
Con: A bit minimal, but cool use of interesting timbres and modulation kept me coming back. 3:24 didn't seem to fit 100%, but perhaps needed more wetness or perhaps more filter envelope amount for a tight stab?
Overall: A solid trip into worlds of mysterious wonder, and excitement.

Painpotato - sincerely yours
Like: Nice build up in the intro… it totally sounds like music from a movie introducing the bad ass anti-hero. Nice use of acid/resonance to create the popply bopply sounds… I love those. 52 seconds is a nice bridge. Really hot sounds hardpanned left around 30 seconds. And then on the right channel there's a mysterious, almost creepy synth. Love the Square synth at 1:00. 1:26 there's a little jingle that's great on the left channel. Really full sounds. Very nice.
Con: Too short!

CapDan - Run for Cover
Like: Intro rocks, and really bridges you into the next part, which is equally nice. Nice thick gated saw pad action in the middle. Love the resy/filtered bass sounds. Nice wowow pad. Love the bassline. The chorus is lovely. Very friendly feel. Very nice use of high pass filter coming in toward the middle. Totally digging the gated pad, I must say once again - really awesome.
Cons: Dry lead The kick isn't my favorite, a bit rocky, tough. Felt that a bit more time based effects could have lifted the atmosphere a bit.

Revorg1 - Three Beer Chicken Monkey
Like: Cool intro glitch. Percussion is good. Nice drop at 1:25ish. Sexy glitching at 3:18. Lots of blings, and doodads, and boing boings which I like. Outro is awesome. Around 1:05 there's a chord that sounds scrumptious. 2:45 is really fun, great way to change it up - adds excitement and wonder. Adding to what I said about 3:18, after 3:00 has great percussion, and even though it's a bit dry, the dryness is nice here, it really adds a dimension.
Con: Not sure, maybe make it less dry. Bass kick was a bit wimpy.
Is it a monkey with 3 Beer Chickens? I did not like the square/triangle wave sounds. I think the song was amazing until about 20 seconds in when the lead comes in.

Yeager - Knights in Manhattan
Like: The intro gives a sense of mystery and power, I like it. The rezo style synth cuts through well. Percussion had a nice old school feel to it. Loved the gated pads again Nice solo - and accompanying rhythmic patterns. After a few listens this song definitely grows on me. The ending is nice - really interesting change up of vibe - a bit more upbeat for a minute. Cool noise pad in the outro.
Con: Felt the production side sounded too dry in general, but doesn't really matter in OSC.

Gorgorgathgorgorgor - The Imposter
Like: Nice solo towards end. Love the automation and sound fx.
Cons: Wasn't fond of sounds.

Gorgorgathgorgorgor - Wrest
Like: Reminds me of the music from Deus Ex video game when in the dance club. Very nice spacey futuristic vibes.
Con: A bit dry, but holds together with panning, and effects use.
Overall: The synths/fx were not too particularly interesting. Nice sci fi like atmosphere though!

Happy Frog - She Want's future Pop
Likes: Nice playful intro, and interesting arrangement. I always dig any sort of automation or filter envelope. Love the filter envelope use on melody. Nice bassline - nice and warm. Atmosphere was very positive, and friendly.
Cons: Wasn't fond of percussions or sounds. This is probably because they were subtle and a tad too noisy... not in volume but the shaping via filter of the noise didn't seem tight enough for me. Arrangement wasn't as exciting for me.


My Own Song:
Likes: I wanted to put a record player fuz in the intro/outro… I liked that. I also liked the main theme, and the dolphins. The kick is very full and sweeps the subs - that's how I Like them. Favorite part is the buildup to the dolphins… the strange pitchy bamboo synthar hym that caused the dolphins to come out - then the ocean… one of my favorite oceans I've done.
Cons: Wish I integrated more sounds into the intro and outro. Arrangement was almost how I wanted. Some parts maybe were too minimal.

[DonGoliath]

cool

[gorgorgathgorgorgor]

Yay! Feedback! Guess I gotta work on sounds... lets see, tubas are interesting, I like tubas... That's it! From now on, nothing but tuba sounds! Seriously, thank you Bj, but I must confess, I could never get off the docks in Deus Ex!

[Doc Jon]

Ok, have now listened to them all several times

Uiiuiiu - Only three seasons - 5
this was really unexpected, just grew on me with each listen, who would have thought Superwave could do dub so well, and the transition into the third movement/season was really well done

Yeager - Knights in Manhattan - 4
obvious listening to this how much work had gone into it, great arrangement, great use of stereo field, clearly a lot of skill at work here

satYatunes - Sunshine - 3
small but perfectly formed!

Xaphoid - Ride the Saw (Massive Mix) - 2
this is what Superwave was invented for

Revorg - 5651 - 1
each time I listened to this I just kept thinking: modular! Wendy Carlos! Really impressed me

Thanks so much everyone for the positive comments for my tune, most kind

[satYatunes]

satYatunes - Sunshine
Like: Interesting melody, keeps one into the groove. I feel like I'm on a trippy high school field trip to pluto or uranus. Nice use of saw pad. Interesting bassline - integrated very well, didn't notice it until later.
Con: I wish that saw pad in the back was a bit louder, because that was a nice touch.

Thanks for the review. The composition started off with the bassline only, I'm glad that you liked it. The saw pad was clashing with the chorus part hence I made it a bit quieter.

satYatunes - Sunshine - 3
small but perfectly formed!

Thank you, Doc Jon.

SatYatunes-Sunshine Outstanding very beautiful piece and well produced you have a great ability to get great hats etc., sound out of this VST nice work great

Thanks a lot for the review and vote. That's the beauty of these contests, I used to be a preset player but these challenges are making me get right into the synthesis part of the synth. That's why I'm taking part in it. I never knew it would be so much fun.

3. Sunshine

Thanks for the vote, ParadoxUn. Appreciate it.

[ancient]

Great stuff guys. I had a hard time with ranking them and I'd give everyone a 5 if I could.

--------------------------------------------------

5 Revorg1 - 5651
4 Yeager - Knights in Manhattan
3 Doc Jon - Everybody Wants to Play With Triplets
2 Bjporter - Shubatiedoobop
1 Painpotato - Sincerely Yours

--------------------------------------------------

Revorg1 - 5651 sounds like it could be an algorithmic Bach-style composition. You've achieved the Walter/Wendy sound! Bravo! I'd like to hear how you created it.

And SatYatunes, I really wanted to add Sunshine to the list but I ran out of numbers. Very nice work!

[V'ger]

Cheers for the votes so far, only 3 more days to go.

I have at least made a shortlist already, but awfully difficult to choose as usual..

[satYatunes]

And SatYatunes, I really wanted to add Sunshine to the list but I ran out of numbers. Very nice work!

Your comment is good enough reward for me. Thanks.

[Mike777]

5 Ancient - War of the plushies
4 Painpotato - Sincerely Yours
3 Xaphoid - Ride The Saw
2 Revorg1 - 5651
1 Satyatunes - Sunshine