One-Synth-Challenge: General discussion thread

[photonic]

As you know, I can agree to all those arguments for using FX.
There is one thing that started my interest in OSC before I joined the competition . I was amazed as I recognized that all this good music was done by using only one free synth and only free plug ins. So everyone with a small budget can do this. No invest in thousands of Dollars/Euros in gear or in commercial plugins. No, only freeware and tons of creativity and passion.

This is the soul of OSC for me. I want to keep it!

[idfpower]

retiring at a point where technical shortcomings and musical disabilities are problems of the past, would be a pretty unlogical decision, because you'd just right then enter a stage in which you'd finally have, symbolically spoken, established a "Brain-to-DAW" connection, which allows you to fulfill your musical ideas and intentions without drawbacks with a theoretical 100% accuracy.

The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know. It's almost impossible to know everything, which is why such a moment would be just a selfsuficient one, and not a real "I know it all"; once you hit that stage, you stop to improve/progress. Your peak is actually your limit. Quite simple, actually.

every aspect of your song, be it technical, arrangement-, composition- or design-wise, is highly influential for the listener's perception of your song and his appreciation for it.

so the technical aspect does have a direct impact on and stands in direct correlation with "how the song actually sounds".

every song which has technical weaknesses will lack expression and character and hence will sound less interesting and entertaining to listeners - no matter how well it was composed and arranged.

A lot of ppl - once they start learning an instrument and/or making music - tend to analyse a song rather than listening to it. It's a very different thing. Musicians often can't see the forest for the trees because they tend to lose their focus on technicalities and gradually forget to listen to a song from a regular listener's perspective. To someone how has no idea what a DAW or a VST instrument is, it's down to "this/that song sounds interesting/sucks".

On the other hand, you don't seem to understand that production is just a nice wrapping/polishing added to a foundation - which is songwriting. Without that, it's just an empty shell. A good song is a good song even if the recording is crappy. If you can't make that distinction, is pointless to continue. But then again ppl often mistake bad sound for a bad song, so hey.

why do you assume that the only reason for picking a particular synth is to obtain results which are as unadulterated as possible ?
i have a totally different perception regarding the intention:
- it limits every entrant to the same source of sound (principle of equality)
- it's supposed to be challenging to have nothing at your disposal but this very synth for everything you intend to create

Because theory is one thing, and reality another: ppl use different DAWs with different native effects. There's no actual equality unless we also agree on one (freeware) DAW. But that would raise too many issues so it's out of question. Ppl use a lot of effects. So in fact they have a lot more at their disposal than just the synth - which was actually my point.

sorry mate, this really sounds like the personal frustration about an aspect you'd like to get removed, because you find it to be uncomfortable or too stressful to comply with.

to me, it's maybe a bit like cooking a good meal at a cooking competition:
in order to make it "delicious", you will need the skill to..
- select the right ingredients
- cook it "to the point"
- add the right amount of spice, salt, sugar, etc..

i'm sorry if it sounds pathetic or rude, but to me you seem like a cook who's asking to remove the salt, sugar and spice from all cook's meals, just because his meals are always oversalted.

Feel free to assume whatever you want - I honestly don't care In order to get frustrated about something I'd need to be involved deeply enough to care - I've stopped taking things posted on the Internet personally a long time ago

What I was saying was quite the opposite of your conclusion: asking for removing the seasoning is pointless; start cooking with whatever is allowed just for the fun of it, or stop if there's no fun in it for you. Again, very simple. Maybe next time you'll actually take the time to read & understand what ppl are saying before commenting

[IrionDaRonin]

In my opinion about all this: It's easier than it seems. No need to ask for another contest, or new rules; that would make BJPorter our slave.

In the end of the day, we can vote the way we want.
Effects or not at all, repetitive structure or not, sound design or choice of sounds, etc. The final scores will show our choices.
And i think, this is what the votes are for.

·You don't like "effected" tracks that you prefer to listen to the original sound from the synth, vote with 1 point.
·You don't like the sound too dry as you think it a bit boring, same as above.
(I myself prefer to vote with 1 point only to my own track, and from 2 to 5 for the rest, but this is just me).

Enjoy the music people share (despite there is a contest or not, music are feelings), keep doing your own music and don't forget to learn in the way.

Have a nice day and good luck everyone

[idfpower]

I myself prefer to vote with 1 point only to my own track, and from 2 to 5 for the rest, but this is just me.

Same

[keith303]

The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know. It's almost impossible to know everything, which is why such a moment would be just a selfsuficient one, and not a real "I know it all"; once you hit that stage, you stop to improve/progress. Your peak is actually your limit. Quite simple, actually.

i was referring to the subjective feeling of reaching complete satisfaction with your own music, which implies, that the respective person no longer feels hindered or crippled in any respect which stands in connection with the creation process, because if he/she would, the person wouldn't be completely satisfied - right?
you mentioned in a reply to z.prime's initial statement that this would be the point where you could as well retire and i basically made a reply in which i disagreed for the mentioned reasons.
so even though what you said is pretentiously tagged as "quite simple, actually" (but totally wrong, btw), i fail to see the connection to what i wrote, as there is none.

On the other hand, you don't seem to understand that production is just a nice wrapping/polishing added to a foundation - which is songwriting. Without that, it's just an empty shell. A good song is a good song even if the recording is crappy. If you can't make that distinction, is pointless to continue. But then again ppl often mistake bad sound for a bad song, so hey.

if we were on the eric clapton fan forum, i'd probably agree. but as we're talking about electronic music, aka music created with synths and not "real" instruments, where maybe just the mic was misplaced or the tape recording introduced some noise or whatever led to the bad recording, it's a totally different story, because for certain genres, production quality is way more important than anything else.
for most of the time, you can't even call it "songwriting" what electronic musicians are doing, as most tracks barely follow a classic song scheme.
so "production" is so much more than just polishing, as long as synths are being used and the typical electronic music genres are aimed at.

Because theory is one thing, and reality another: ppl use different DAWs with different native effects. There's no actual equality unless we also agree on one (freeware) DAW. But that would raise too many issues so it's out of question. Ppl use a lot of effects. So in fact they have a lot more at their disposal than just the synth - which was actually my point.

yeah, i know that this was your point. so let me repost my question:
why do you assume that the only reason for picking a particular synth is to obtain results which are as unadulterated as possible ?

Feel free to assume whatever you want - I honestly don't care In order to get frustrated about something I'd need to be involved deeply enough to care - I've stopped taking things posted on the Internet personally a long time ago

that is very cool

What I was saying was quite the opposite of your conclusion: asking for removing the seasoning is pointless; start cooking with whatever is allowed just for the fun of it, or stop if there's no fun in it for you. Again, very simple. Maybe next time you'll actually take the time to read & understand what ppl are saying before commenting

your life, your choice, your kindness

[idfpower]

you mentioned in a reply to z.prime's initial statement that this would be the point where you could as well retire and i basically made a reply in which i disagreed for the mentioned reasons.

for most of the time, you can't even call it "songwriting" what electronic musicians are doing, as most tracks barely follow a classic song scheme.
so "production" is so much more than just polishing, as long as synths are being used and the typical electronic music genres are aimed at.

This is getting offtopic, so we'll have to agree to disagree and stop.

so let me repost my question:
why do you assume that the only reason for picking a particular synth is to obtain results which are as unadulterated as possible ?

It's actually a case of "you assume that I assume"... but quoting the OSC rules:

"- Any type of modulation effect like chorus, phaser, flanger etc is not allowed.
- Effects that pitch the sound are not allowed.
- Any effect that transform the sounds to make them unrecognizable as being from the synth is not allowed."

Yes, the main goal is to create a song using just one synth and all sounds coming out of it and no other external source, but the rules suggest that you shouldn't push it to the point the result has very little in common with the actual sound source. Seasoning is just enhancing the flavour of the food, it's not the main dish.

[psmacmur]

Are IR convolution reverbs allowed? I was playing with Freeverb's IR reverb & it seemed quite nice, though CPU heavy. It occurred to me though that an IR is a sample, so is it verboten in OSC?

[z.prime]

Are IR convolution reverbs allowed? I was playing with Freeverb's IR reverb & it seemed quite nice, though CPU heavy. It occurred to me though that an IR is a sample, so is it verboten in OSC?

Fine by me, at least. It's not a sample to create sound but rather just as a part of the reverb's definition. As long as reverb is allowed, IR reverb should be fine, I think...

[Mushy Mushy]

Not sure if you guys are running out of ideas or not, but I'd like to propose something if I may.

The One Sample Challenge for one-month's edition.

Essentially we will be given some random sound and we are only to use:
- Sampler of choice;
- DAW of choice;
- free FX (as per normal)

to come up with a track.

I'd really love to learn more about Kontakt and Sampler and think this would be an incredibly fun and insightful way to do so.
I can only imagine what wackyness you guys will come up with

[IrionDaRonin]

I always wanted to do that. But never happened.

This would be a nice way to thank Wusik for their donations during years and years showing a track made with Wusik Station or so.
In extreme case, you always can participate in Music Cafe, you can use samples there and put your own limitations, i know it's not the same, but well...

Have a nice day

[Mushy Mushy]

I always wanted to do that. But never happened.

This would be a nice way to thank Wusik for their donations during years and years showing a track made with Wusik Station or so.
In extreme case, you always can participate in Music Cafe, you can use samples there and put your own limitations, i know it's not the same, but well...

Have a nice day

Aren't you one of the main drivers of this OSC though?
Surely your voice goes a long way...

[IrionDaRonin]

I always wanted to do that. But never happened.

This would be a nice way to thank Wusik for their donations during years and years showing a track made with Wusik Station or so.
In extreme case, you always can participate in Music Cafe, you can use samples there and put your own limitations, i know it's not the same, but well...

Have a nice day

Aren't you one of the main drivers of this OSC though?
Surely your voice goes a long way...

No, i left OSC cooperation time ago. I needed time to make my life in order with a few important things.
As far as i know, is Brian who makes this happens now.

Have a nice day

[z.prime]

Surely your voice goes a long way...

No, ...

Well, really it still does. It's very loud.

(I also think a single sample / set of samples + sampler of your choice would be a nice divergence... unfortunately, I think anyone with Kontakt or any commercial sampler would pretty much have an unfair advantage over someone using a free one.)

[IrionDaRonin]

Surely your voice goes a long way...

No, ...

Well, really it still does. It's very loud.

(I also think a single sample / set of samples + sampler of your choice would be a nice divergence... unfortunately, I think anyone with Kontakt or any commercial sampler would pretty much have an unfair advantage over someone using a free one.)

We could use a free one, the same way we use a free synth in the most cases.

I'm in love with Sforzando. The another day i downloaded tons of sample libraries from free orquestral instruments and i'm doing the soundtrack for a graphic adventure video game and it's going pretty nice to be honest.

[psmacmur]

How about if the sample was a single sin wave cycle at 440Hz? In theory (specifically Fourier theory), that should be able to do anything, if samplers are sufficiently powerful.