One-Synth-Challenge 64: Swierk by Saltline (Voting Done: Z.Prime Wins!)

[psmacmur]

Congrats to all the winners, and everyone else who pulled out all the stops to make Swierk work it. Also thanks to Saltline for the synth; it seemed like a rather vanilla VA (though with a tidy UI and sweet unison) until my mind opened to the possibilities of that 3rd "envelope"... very clever & capable. And finally, thanks to Z for the capsule reviews; feedback and positive spirit like that are an invaluable aspect of OSC that keeps me coming back!

[pmj_rit]

Thank you everyone for an enjoyable month. Great tracks as always. Thanks to Saltline for Swierk, ADHDidi, and in my case LISC Delay.

And of course kudos to BJPorter for administering the challenge.

[ccDuckett]

Congratulations to the winners, all top-notch demos of what Swierk can do in the right hands.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to listen to and comment on my track; sorry I didn't comment on others' entries,
it just takes me so long to actually figure out the right words that I get a tad overwhelmed (kinda like my lack of finished OSC
entries, heh).

19th is not too shabby from my POV, seeing as how it's my first OSC entry, and there were so many high-quality entries.

What I'm really curious about (as I work on my OSC 65 entry) is what the lot of you might get up to with ADHDidi- I'm so grateful
to Ted for taking my initial idea and further suggestions and making something that I feel has a lot of depth and possibility to
it. It might not be the easiest thing to jump into and create boatloads of presets for, but it's still something I'm delighted to
see my name on.

[Pulse Width Modulation]

Z. Prime ... entered the hall of fame

Holy moly!

Really, though, you guys who participate in this awesome contest are all winners. I started doing this a couple years ago now because I read a little blurb someone wrote to CM about why they like doing the OSC. For me, at least, it is as true today as it was when I started:

• it forces me to finish a track - before, I had a handful of finished tracks and hundreds of projects with a few bars of ideas)
• it forces me to get better and gives me a channel to do so - I thought I was 'pretty good'... and then I heard a track by Irion that I just loved and realized I wasn't; I tried to figure out how did he do some different things and got feedback how to improve, what to search for, etc.. I didn't even know what sidechain compression was (now, I really, really abuse it! )
• the people who participate are awesome (yes, that's YOU reading this) - really, cut from a different thread, everyone in the community is willing to help with advice and such
• winning prizes is a nice bonus

I'm really torn with music projects. I took a break from OSC for a while to develop some album projects, but now that I am back, I remembered the inspiration and camaraderie that it is here at OSC! It really does fire you up to complete a good project, and the feedback is better than any other place on the web! It amazes me that there are so many musicians, who may not be releasing music anywhere else, yet put out such amazing work on OSC! I know I have limited time for music, but I still want to sneak in some time for OSC projects. I learn so much every month! I should note that one other thing that OSC is great for is as a forum for trying new things. My main music style is ambient, but here it's a good place to try techno, retro sounds, classical soundtracks, and other styles.

[kraftraum]

[...]
Really, though, you guys who participate in this awesome contest are all winners. I started doing this a couple years ago now because I read a little blurb someone wrote to CM about why they like doing the OSC. For me, at least, it is as true today as it was when I started:

• it forces me to finish a track - before, I had a handful of finished tracks and hundreds of projects with a few bars of ideas)
• it forces me to get better and gives me a channel to do so - I thought I was 'pretty good'... and then I heard a track by Irion that I just loved and realized I wasn't; I tried to figure out how did he do some different things and got feedback how to improve, what to search for, etc.. I didn't even know what sidechain compression was (now, I really, really abuse it! )
• the people who participate are awesome (yes, that's YOU reading this) - really, cut from a different thread, everyone in the community is willing to help with advice and such
• winning prizes is a nice bonus

[...]

Totally agree As i started before 3 Years thats the same situation. And i also have read the article in the Cm and listen to the OSC 33 ... and me i am thinking: how in this world can be made so much awesome tunes with one synth?

Now, today i have the answer

[...]
Kraftraum - Rotation 21
You're amazing at getting your style out of every synth. Totally unique; can't be replicated.
[...]

Thanks a lot for this words, i have learn a lot how i can replicated my sounds .. and it fits
And backward to you: thx a lot for the hints and comments: i learn from you the idea of layering sounds, great

Have a great weekend and have fun with the TAL-Bassline

[kraftraum]

I just realized that Z.Prime had allready choosen his Price.
So I'll choose Synthmaster, oh glory, what a great Price.

Sorry to Kraftraum and others for making you wait.

Btw if you read this BJ, I havent recieved the ADHDidi Synth yet as it seems. I think there should have been a download link in my inbox if I remeber correctly.

No prob, mate, i choose the "Balance Mastering : One track of your choosing professionally mastered" ... this will be interesting for me and another chance to learn

You're next, BJ + Anime

[SKYZONE]

Congrats to the winners well deserved you guys , Thanks to saltline for his amazing work , thank you guys for voting enjoying your tracks month after month and a'm still learning and enjoying one-synth challenge , see you around............fabrizio.............

[thunderkyss]

Hey... any of you great musicians want to give a summary of your thoughts on Swierk? What you liked, what you didn't. What helped, what hindered. What you feel are its strengths, its weaknesses. How does it stand in this crowded genre?

Etc, etc, etc...

[Pulse Width Modulation]

Hey... any of you great musicians want to give a summary of your thoughts on Swierk? What you liked, what you didn't. What helped, what hindered. What you feel are its strengths, its weaknesses. How does it stand in this crowded genre?

Etc, etc, etc...

Sorry if this is not very specific, but here goes: Swierk has a lot of great character! It really evoked an early analog vibe. Kind of that quirky dinosaur synth sound, a little more organic sound to it, which is great! I have a Moog MG1 at home and Swierk kind of reminded me of it. Having a quirky sound can be a really good thing, especially when there are so many VA synths that sound too similar. When I was mixing, I did have some trouble with the EQ. There were some problems with the upper midrange sticking out too much, and I wound up over-doing my EQ in the final master, sucking out a lot of treble. (I'm sure a lot of you who heard my track could hear how muffled and dull the EQ was!). But, as I think back, maybe a lot of my trouble could have been from the fact that I was using a lot of filter sweeps, especially in a pad that I probably programmed with way too much filter resonance and too much dynamic range in the envelope. I could have paid attention to that and tamed it down. Maybe that's a good thing to have a filter or envelope design that can get a little more raw and outrageous. It shows that you have more tools you can work with. I'll have to revisit Swierk sometime again. Sorry if this is kind of vague. Maybe there's some others who have similar experiences. But thanks for sharing your design! Maybe we can get more designers in on the forum in the future!

[saltline]

Congratulations to the winners!!! I had a lot of fun listening to all the tracks and great to hear such a wide range of styles and creativity. I hope you all enjoyed using Swierk. I know it has it's pros and cons and I'm always looking to improve it. I'm always happy to read people's thoughts too and I hope as a freeware synth it has it's place and a certain quality to it that people enjoy. I hope you all managed to get your copy of ADHDidi (I know it's a bit of a strange animal) and I'd like to thanks ccDuckett for his continued input and suggestions for a synth that came from his initial idea. See you all next month, I just hope I find time to have a go myself with Bassline!!!

Ted

[animehaus]

Thanks, Kraft!

Then, I'd like to choose the Indie Fingers Bundle, from Dream Audio Tools.

H-man and/or J.Ruegg, it's up to you now.

[babistrihos]

Congratulations to the winners!!! I had a lot of fun listening to all the tracks and great to hear such a wide range of styles and creativity. I hope you all enjoyed using Swierk. I know it has it's pros and cons and I'm always looking to improve it. I'm always happy to read people's thoughts too and I hope as a freeware synth it has it's place and a certain quality to it that people enjoy. I hope you all managed to get your copy of ADHDidi (I know it's a bit of a strange animal) and I'd like to thanks ccDuckett for his continued input and suggestions for a synth that came from his initial idea. See you all next month, I just hope I find time to have a go myself with Bassline!!!

Ted

Hi.
I really enjoyed using Swierk to create my track.
I had a lot of fun and found it very kind giving me the opportunity to take part in this competition.
One thing that's not so clear to me:
About a week ago I downloaded the ADHDidi from the Facebook page.
What's the difference for anyone taking part in this contest, please?
Is it a different version, exclusive to all participants of the contest, please?

[saltline]

Hi.
I really enjoyed using Swierk to create my track.
I had a lot of fun and found it very kind giving me the opportunity to take part in this competition.
One thing that's not so clear to me:
About a week ago I downloaded the ADHDidi from the Facebook page.
What's the difference for anyone taking part in this contest, please?
Is it a different version, exclusive to all participants of the contest, please?

They are both the same version. ADHDidi was only ever meant to be available to FB fans but I know a lot of people dislike FB (I'm not to fond of it myself but it is the best tool available to me to get feedback from users). It just so happens that OSC 64 coincided with ADHDidi 1.0.1 being released and I thought it would be a good idea to also allow the participants of the contest to have a copy.

[J.Ruegg]

Its my turn? !

I want Renoise!!!

Thank you all for you votes and comments!!!

And a big thanks to Cactoos , Renoise will help me a lot, thank you !.

Finally I have proved that its possible to win a DAW and some really nice synths with 100% freeware .

See you in OSC 65.

[babistrihos]

Hi.
I really enjoyed using Swierk to create my track.
I had a lot of fun and found it very kind giving me the opportunity to take part in this competition.
One thing that's not so clear to me:
About a week ago I downloaded the ADHDidi from the Facebook page.
What's the difference for anyone taking part in this contest, please?
Is it a different version, exclusive to all participants of the contest, please?

They are both the same version. ADHDidi was only ever meant to be available to FB fans but I know a lot of people dislike FB (I'm not to fond of it myself but it is the best tool available to me to get feedback from users). It just so happens that OSC 64 coincided with ADHDidi 1.0.1 being released and I thought it would be a good idea to also allow the participants of the contest to have a copy.

Thank you very much for your reply.