Zebra Patch Contest 17 - Voting

[bmrzycki]

You all are very welcome, I enjoy learning from other presets and enriching the u-he community. It's a good place to be.

[petedako]

awesome info here... and two grrrrrrrreat patches! many thanks 3ee!

honestly, i almost gave Helvetica the 3 pts but got swayed watching the voting derby pile up

first contest for me and it's been a totally great experience -so many kind thanks to everyone

especially for this kind of help from 3ee in the threads! before, after and during!!!
So valuable and greatly appreciated!

Didn't say nothing.

I would like to share some of the stuff I've learned during this contest, if someone else has something to share please do so here.

Helvetica:
- I was inspired by hermode tuning when I was making this one. Try to reset the oscillator's detune with this one and notice the sharpness and extra clarity will be gone.
- Delay2 was used as a modulation effect for the higher lead part only. Take a look at the modulation matrix under "Delay2:Mix" I used keyfollow on keyfollow to distort the liniar keyboard follower modulation. (you can also try velocity on velocity for an exponential velocity curve )
- Global section - under Send2 knob, the "Send2 Depth" is used to give the attack of the sound some extra sharp punch... next time you'll use the compressor to shape a sound for punch, you can try this instead... envelopes are polyphonic.. that means you'll still have the punch when playing multiple notes instead of an overdriving mess usually caused with a compressor in this case.

Hope these are helpful!
Cheers mates
3ee

[Breeze]

Thanks for the accolades and bmrzycki's masterful handling of the contest. Again, there were just too many good patches this time round!

(By the way, I had fun Pumpin up the Jam to House Stab... oops, that sounds pretty gross actually... )

Two very interesting points about these contests:

The tension! The top 4 all deserve a prize, imo.

Yep, for sure. IMO, it would be more motivating if there were more than one prize, but I understand how that can be difficult; if individual Uhbik's could be prizes, that might work. It struck me as odd that the patch libs being offered in the last couple of contests weren't a 2nd prize award; the more winners the more participants, no?

I am surprised that one of my favorite patches got only 2 points .. maybe you guys don't know how to play it!

Clearly knowing the way a sound is intended to be used makes a tremendous difference. For example, it's odd to me that Corpus Fugit won. I got that done really quickly, but then it's played by simply holding a note so you don't have to work to "get it". I spent a lot more time on Chord Clouds and I still consider it to be a more complex and versatile patch. If you just play a note, it sounds like a lame dull pad, but it totally comes to life with aftertouch and the modulations. Like the Bach Reonswitched (whew! Kudos for the work!): if you don't know to play chromatically up, you don't get it.

What helps me is reading the author's performance notes (in Zebra's normal size... on the bug list, I know ...) to give me some idea on what to do with the patch. But sometimes those instructions are less than clear (or completely absent). At least one patch in this contest had active but unlabeled XY controls; that seems to happen every time. Some of the arpeggiated patches don't indicate a favored tempo. Adding an audio demo of the patch might help, but it would also complicate things.

There are MANY flaws with this contest, and I'm not going to enumerate them here as it's not the place. At the very least, these contest give U-he some visibility, educate the patch creators, and in the end, astound anyone who's listening on the amazing versatility of Zebra and the other U-he synths. It ain't perfect, but I still find it fun, educational, and rewarding, win or not.

[mcnoone]

Congratulations to Breeze and hakey for winning, and everyone else who entered.

@Breeze: Check your pm for details about winning the Soliton set.

[hakey]

There are MANY flaws with this contest, and I'm not going to enumerate them here as it's not the place.

1. Yep, there are definitely flaws - it's difficult to imagine a contest that everyone would agree was anywhere near perfect.

2. I'm more than happy to hear opinions and suggestions - in fact I say this over and over (it's at the bottom of every contest announcement). I'll try my hardest to make the most people happy, but pleasing everybody just isn't possible.

3. I'm not sure how to take your use of the word "MANY" (ALL IN CAPITALS!) there - a trifle overblown and just unnecessary, IMO. Similarly, I found the the sarcasm in your earlier post regarding the voting format slightly off. Like I say, if you have suggestions, let's hear them, but erm, you know, civility and courtesy are probably more likely to get results.

4. Perhaps most importantly, please remember that Brian and I give our time freely for these contests. We do this for fun - ours and everybody else's. Being told that we're doing it all wrong, either by sarcastic insinuation, or just straight up, as you have just done, isn't all that much fun...

[RexXx]

Congrats hakey and Breeze!
Patch contests are a big win for all.

[Neverone]

A hearty congratulations to both winners. Well deserved.

Thanks to all the contestants for the inspiring work and to bmrzycki and hakey for keeping the comps going every month.

In unrelated news: I'm holding onto the hope that the "questionable voter" was indeed sincere in their choices, as they account for the single vote I got.

[Breeze]

3. I'm not sure how to take your use of the word "MANY" (ALL IN CAPITALS!) there - a trifle overblown and just unnecessary, IMO. Similarly, I found the the sarcasm in your earlier post regarding the voting format slightly off. Like I say, if you have suggestions, let's hear them, but erm, you know, civility and courtesy are probably more likely to get results.

4. Perhaps most importantly, please remember that Brian and I give our time freely for these contests. We do this for fun - ours and everybody else's. Being told that we're doing it all wrong, either by sarcastic insinuation, or just straight up, as you have just done, isn't all that much fun...

Whoa! I'm really sorry to have offended anyone here in any way! This was never the intention of any of my posts ("voting format"? The hat? or the horses?). If anything, my comments were amusing hyperbole for the sake of a good chuckle, but only with best of intentions at heart and never with the intent of insulting, disparaging, or discouraging the efforts of the people making this possible or participating in it. I guess we just have a different sense of humor. Or my comedic timing is totally off...

The capitalized "many" came from the many observations I've made to myself over the past year on how things could be better. I did not mean to imply that your work was shoddy or incompetent. I'll gather my thoughts on these contests and join in on one of the other threads.

I totally appreciate the time, effort, and generosity of everyone involved and I apologize for making any negative or derogatory readings from my comments even possible. I could have been more sensitive and I apologize for any hurt feelings. Please note that I honestly think there are many things you are doing right too, and that I wasn't a hypocrite when on several occasions I've thanked the people organizing these contests. Peace!

[serhiy06]

By the way, I had fun Pumpin up the Jam to House Stab... oops, that sounds pretty gross actually...

What you mean, pretty gross? Is it closely or not?
Actually I made just an one of typical house stabs, I did not want to get a "D.O.N.S. sound", hehe. But thank you for the comment

[Breeze]

By the way, I had fun Pumpin up the Jam to House Stab... oops, that sounds pretty gross actually...

What you mean, pretty gross? Is it closely or not?
Actually I made just an one of typical house stabs, I did not want to get a "D.O.N.S. sound", hehe. But thank you for the comment

Boy I'm really scoring high today... it's practically THE sound, yes. I was referring to the phrase: "pumping up the jam to house stab" taken out of context, but in reality it's mostly meaningless...

[hakey]

my comments were amusing hyperbole for the sake of a good chuckle, but only with best of intentions at heart and never with the intent of insulting, disparaging, or discouraging the efforts of the people making this possible or participating in it

The voting post was fine right up until the last line - 'Nah... but apparently some do' - which made all that preceded it read like a sarcastic criticism of the arguments I (and Brian?) put forward the last time the voting format was discussed.

The capitalized "many" came from the many observations I've made to myself over the past year on how things could be better.

Take that word out and it's an entirely fair comment.

I'm really sorry to have offended anyone here in any way!

Okay, apology accepted!

If you have any suggestions for how the contest can be improved please share them in this thread!

[classicalmafia]

Congrats to Breeze and hakey for two really nice patches!

I didn't vote for either of them, but they were close - as were many others

...looking forward to the next contest....

[Versia Nova]

Congrats to the winners

[Urs]

Congrats from the HQ too!

I guess we'll have to roll out some Divas as prices soon...

[3ee]

Congrats from the HQ too!

I guess we'll have to roll out some Divas as prices soon...

OMG!