One-Synth-Challenge 35: Diva - Submissions and gossip

[oxebe]

Or does everyone else spend 2 hours tweaking some pad, only to toss it the next day and start over?

I do... Or I spend hours on making snare sound.
All sounds for this OSC I made from scratch. Anyway I downloaded earlier Diva version with no presets.

[photonic]

I did the same. All sounds are made from the init-sound. I did the two songs with the version 467. Took me a while to get some (hopefully) good drum sounds. I never tried this before with a synth. But this is one of the reasons why I wanted to join OSC. It is a new challange.

[V'ger]

I'm more in the why-reinvent-the-wheel vein so will usually hunt for a preset close to what I want and take it from there. Of course sometimes presets are just so, but othertimes they are tweaked to the unrecognizable. Normal is usually somewhere in between..

But really should have all sounds ready before the writing like already said, would surely be the best. But somehow this never happens here for whatever reason.. You don't see many good chefs start frying something while preparing the rest of the ingredients, usually they are all lined up beforehand so he can get creative and not end up burning some parts..

[Doc Jon]

I'm usually a half and half mix of tweaked presets and sounds programmed from scratch

I tend to have no tune in my head at the start of each competition and find the presets are the best inspiration for suggesting the style of music for the month. I'll copy all those I like into a separate folder and then tweak them to fit, filling in the gaps with new sounds created by a combination of luck and random knob twiddling(!)

Jon

[olikana]

@joecat i too prefer to make all the sounds from scratch.
even if i end up spending 95% of the time making the sounds and only 5% of the time on the actual music (and most of the time i don't even reach that stage ..)...it's still more enjoyable and satisfying to me and if someone knows what he's doing, and time permitting, leads to a much better final result IMO (control over every little nuance, less compromising sound, all sounds made to fit with each other, sound design as part of the creative process, a more personal feel etc).
preset culture imo has made no favours to electronic music (but that's a topic for another thread) .
also i thought making all the sounds u need for a composition out of a synth was what the synth challenge was mainly about.....but from the discussion on the previous pages it's safe to say it's not so , not even encouraged...but i'll still go down that route personally as i only enjoy it that way. so yeah i hope i can make it in time for the deadline . but i have a fully free week ahead.

[photonic]

Oh, I thought the question was only about the DIVA-OSC. Normally I also use presets as inspiration or to modify them to my taste. And I can learn a lot by analysing them how the professionals do the programming.

[JoeCat]

Just our of curiosity - how many of you roll almost all your own patches for the OSC contests?:

TY for all the responses!

I figured most people roll their own or use a minimum of factory patches, if only because that's probably what drives a lot of us to the OSC contests / KVR community - the enjoyment of exploring an instrument and the technical aspect of programming synths. I'm guessing outside of OSC a lot of us still don't much use romplers, synth samples, etc.

I understand "preset culture" in commercial composition - if you know you need a hoover for a particular piece and are on a deadline, why re-invent the wheel? But I agree with @olikana - sound design is definitely part of the creative process. The challenge of OSC is that, after I use my 95% time with sound design, I still need 95% more to compose...

(That said, if there're presets that works, I'm certainly not against using them as templates or as-is - if I enter this month I've already got two un-tweaked presets that are perfect.)

I like the idea of spending some time getting to know the instrument, and letting a certain amount of that randomness and exploration fuel the composition/production. I like @DocJon 's approach of creating a "palette" of presets, sticking them in a separate folder, etc.

My personal issue is that I typically seed my composition with sounds that are NOT very representative of the synth, then let that composition drive the process, leaving me stuck with obsessing over creating sounds that work with the composition and against the nature of the instrument! I've done it again this month - it's another 5/4, movie-theme type piece with nary a traditional subtractive-analog sound to be found.

[JoeCat]

BTW - anyone using Live? I've noticed a weird initialization problem, which I believe is mostly with U-he synths (it's posted in U-he's forum).

It's a weird burst in the beginning of a clip playing that sounds like filter parameters not coming up properly. Haven't noticed it in Logic. This is the AU version. I think it's an Ableton AU bug, but not all instruments are affected.

The workaround is to setup a dummy clip with volume automated down to get the sound initialized properly.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Just our of curiosity - how many of you roll almost all your own patches for the OSC contests?:

TY for all the responses!

I figured most people roll their own or use a minimum of factory patches, if only because that's probably what drives a lot of us to the OSC contests

not me...preset perry's my name, using preset's my game

even if i did roll my own, i started with one week till deadline, so if i finish i'll be lucky

would be good to know how to do some drum sounds, though...maybe i'll look for some synth programming stuff online

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

just wanna run my fx choices by y'all, to see if i'm using any no-no's

tal-dub II/III
tal reverb
ambience
rough rider
soneq

cheers

[JoeCat]

not me...preset perry's my name, using preset's my game

LMAO
But no need for the (4) embarrassing faces; to each their own, and using presets lets you focus more on using the instrument.

just wanna run my fx choices by y'all, to see if i'm using any no-no's

Are you on a Mac? I ask because there are AU versions of all those effects, and I just found a decent AU compressor besides Rough Rider. I love Rough Rider, but it has a definite "sound", and it's not very suitable for the master track or anything you don't want to color. Found this compressor it it seems to be a lot more transparent:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/product- ... eware.html

BTW, something I noticed about Diva: I need much, much less EQ and compression on individual tracks to get a workable mix. Usually, working with just one synth, I find myself spending a lot of time tweaking channel strips as I go. With Diva, it's been just a little LP on the non-bass sounds, and I'm guessing the final mix will be a breeze!

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

not me...preset perry's my name, using preset's my game

LMAO
But no need for the (4) embarrassing faces; to each their own, and using presets lets you focus more on using the instrument.

just wanna run my fx choices by y'all, to see if i'm using any no-no's

Are you on a Mac? I ask because there are AU versions of all those effects, and I just found a decent AU compressor besides Rough Rider. I love Rough Rider, but it has a definite "sound", and it's not very suitable for the master track or anything you don't want to color. Found this compressor it it seems to be a lot more transparent:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/product- ... eware.html

thanks

BTW, something I noticed about Diva: I need much, much less EQ and compression on individual tracks to get a workable mix. Usually, working with just one synth, I find myself spending a lot of time tweaking channel strips as I go. With Diva, it's been just a little LP on the non-bass sounds, and I'm guessing the final mix will be a breeze!

yes, these au's are already in my folder...i only started the other day, so if i do complete it will be rough and ready...rough rider seems appropriate, especially on stuff i don't want to be transparent

someone pointed out that compressor the other day..i'll check it out

i'm actually starting to like the track i'm working on, but i only have access to earbuds going straight into the macbook pro...as such, any real idea about mix is out the window...i'd imagine diva kicking out a lot of low end that i can't even guess at with these buds, so it's probably gonna be a real mess to listen to

anyways, are there any of those effects that cannot be used ??

[V'ger]

Everything except TAL Dub 2 is fine, but as from next month effects like it that has modulation as a secondary effect can be used (minimally).

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Everything except TAL Dub 2 is fine, but as from next month effects like it that has modulation as a secondary effect can be used (minimally).

oooops, so glad i checked...looks like i have to remove a lot...are any of the tal delays ok ??

if not, can you recommend a mac au cross-platform delay that IS suitable...i will look, just want to know if anyone has any ideas

[V'ger]

Yes the others are fine, just TAL 2 has modulation hardwired on.