One-Synth-Challenge: General discussion thread

[bluerobot]

Love your art, too, Jasinski. And this quote from your site: "My kids love it best when dad paints robots." Perhaps I should commission you to do a portrait?

Ah thanks Bluerobot! Glad you like the paintings! We could probably work something out. I do have this robot in blue- and I have a print of it available if you'd like?

That's gorgeous, Jasinski.

Going to PM you for details.

[MTLE]

This one sound interesting. Tried to dowload. Website is down and for sale ...
Got it somewhere else then. But if it's no longer supported does it make sense to bring it to competition? I think: no.

[rp314]

How to win OSC
Secret clique cabal knowledge revealed!


1. Make sounds that push the limits of the month's synthesizer. Make it sound like something that people will swear there is no way the synth could do!

2. Mixing and mastering. You may not be good at mixing. You may think mixing doesn't matter. That's cool. But with the explosion of amazing software (free and payware) and cheap audio gear, youtube, soundcloud, high-quality sample sets, everyone's a music producer- an amazing mix is going to separate your track from others. Nowadays, for listeners, it does matter. A lot people can't explain what they like in a mix but a good mix will make your track stand out and more people will like your music. That's how it is now-adays. The good thing is that there are A MILLION tutorials and mixing/mastering advice, tricks, tips, and videos out there! OSC presents an added challenge of trying to do it all with only freeware. It's an opportunity to learn the fundamentals! Every month! (I know it's helped me incredibly!)

3. Composition. This may seem the most prone to individuals tastes and it probably is more so than other points but I still think it transcends genre. For this I recommend listening to other music in a similar genre as your track. How does yours compare in arrangement and structure. Beyond that there is so much to play with here but really the goal is to make it interesting to listen to. Is your track too long or not long enough to convey the musical ideas your are presenting? Are there dynamics, low and high points? Is it the same riff for 3 minutes and nothing else? Are transitions between sections effective and guide the listener? Are there thematic elements that cary across the track? Are you constructing it like a song (a/b/a/b etc), if not are you using some kind of logical layout or progression that the user can pick up on?

4. Listenability. Is everything in tune. Are parts in the same key? Are things relatively in time. If you are breaking any of those guidelines on purpose, does it sound intentional or does it sound like an accident? Ask yourself if I didn't make this, would I want to listen to this again. Why? Is there an infectious hook that you just can't get out of your head, or some heart-wrenchy chord progressions that pulls the heart strings, a beat that makes you want to move your feet? Get some user-testers (also known as friends or family) to tell you what didn't work for them when they listen. (Most people will only say "sounds good!" cuz they don't want to hurt your feelings).

5. Surprise me. Identify what you did in the track that takes the listener by surprise. If I'm your listener, how did you psyche me out? Sometimes I call this delight factor. It's when you are listening and you think you know how a track is going to go- because the beat or chord progression or groove is familiar, right? And then comes a twist. Maybe it's a key change, a drop out of the beat when you think it's going to hit hard, a change up in instrumentation. Something that makes you go- Woah, that was brilliant! I would never have thought of that! With this in mind- Listen to your favorite pro tracks. You'll hear it, guaranteed.

Incidentally when I vote, these tips are each worth 1 of up to the total 5 points in a tracks score.
Coincidence or conspiracy?
You decide!

Great advice! Wish I read it a day ago!

Then again, maybe it's not generally about winning but about getting some love for your wonderful efforts.

Interesting fact regarding the Best Director Oscar:

Some directors who received one: Kevin Costner, Warren Beatty, Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford.

Some directors who didn't: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Howard Hawks, Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah, Orson Welles, Sidney Lumet, Brian DePalma, John Cassavetes, Quentin Tarantino.

With regards to this contest, maybe some who put in a lot of work and end up getting 1s and 2s might not just be feeling disappointment about not winning the OSC but about not getting enough of the other stuff.

[Stonail]

Hi guyz after a very long time

Last night i bought Sunvox(http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/) for my IPad ,because I'm usually in travel between cities (for my work) I thought it might be a good software to pass the boring time.
The software is stunning and very well programmed and its in all platform .
after spending some time with it an idea came to my mind : special OSC using Sunvox .

What do you think folks ?

[wagtunes]

Hi guyz after a very long time

Last night i bought Sunvox(http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/) for my IPad ,because I'm usually in travel between cities (for my work) I thought it might be a good software to pass the boring time.
The software is stunning and very well programmed and its in all platform .
after spending some time with it an idea came to my mind : special OSC using Sunvox .

What do you think folks ?

Seriously? As complex as that things is, relatively speaking to most VSTs, you'll have maybe 5 people entering. Might as well just give out prizes to everybody who does.

But, whatever. If KVR wants to do it, I'm game.

Just don't expect a huge turnout.

[Stonail]

It looks complex but it's not ,btw there are many tuts on the YT.
Are you one of those 5 ?

[mehum]

Hi guyz after a very long time

Last night i bought Sunvox(http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/) for my IPad ,because I'm usually in travel between cities (for my work) I thought it might be a good software to pass the boring time.
The software is stunning and very well programmed and its in all platform .
after spending some time with it an idea came to my mind : special OSC using Sunvox .

What do you think folks ?

Why not PhonoPaper from same dev?
http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/phonopaper/

[Stonail]

I think it's a plugin for Virtual ANS.
Virtual ANS based on russian ANS synth back in 1937 it used 144 sine generator with light sensors and....(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANS_synthesizer)

Virtual ANS is also a good choice .I'm in

PS : I was wrong it's not a plugin . Crazy stuff

[Compyfox]

We usually don't do aggressive cross-promotion. But I think this is a notable exception, as it binds our "challenge communities" together. And we should work together more often IMO.

OSC regular H-Man offered one of his entries (from OSC #71, U-HE HIVE) for the KVR Mix Challenge #10. And this one just went live.


A quick summary of the KVR Mix Challenge:
While the OSC (One Synth Challenge) and MCC (Music Cafe Contest) has a focus on songwriting, the MC (Mix Challenge) has a focus on mixing. Everyone can join, there is no limit in terms of tool usage, only certain given "per song" rules like "no drum replacement" and "please avoid pre-mastering".

The challenge usually runs for 21 days (plus 3-5 days depending on the amount of participants), while the song provider (taking up the role of a virtual client) is also the ultimate judge of the mixes. He/She provides the content after all.



Did we spark your interest?
Then please come over to the Production Techniques forum section here on KVR Audio and join us. Want to see your track being mixed by our excellent mix talents of the challenge, then please get in touch with us.

See you on the flipside!

[bjporter]

We usually don't do aggressive cross-promotion. But I think this is a notable exception, as it binds our "challenge communities" together. And we should work together more often IMO.

OSC regular H-Man offered one of his entries (from OSC #71, U-HE HIVE) for the KVR Mix Challenge #10. And this one just went live.


A quick summary of the KVR Mix Challenge:
While the OSC (One Synth Challenge) and MCC (Music Cafe Contest) has a focus on songwriting, the MC (Mix Challenge) has a focus on mixing. Everyone can join, there is no limit in terms of tool usage, only certain given "per song" rules like "no drum replacement" and "please avoid pre-mastering".

The challenge usually runs for 21 days (plus 3-5 days depending on the amount of participants), while the song provider (taking up the role of a virtual client) is also the ultimate judge of the mixes. He/She provides the content after all.



Did we spark your interest?
Then please come over to the Production Techniques forum section here on KVR Audio and join us. Want to see your track being mixed by our excellent mix talents of the challenge, then please get in touch with us.

See you on the flipside!

This is cool! Wow. I'll do a mention on the other thread Thanks for the headsup!

[Compyfox]

No problem.

[z.prime]

With all this talk about the uncertainty of effects, what do people think about a special month effect free? And a special month no holds barred including commercial effects? I think that could at least help settle what the result of effects vs none has in the contest as a whole. We could refer back to those momentous months when questions of the rules come up... Of course it would be important to pick similar bare bones synths to really show what kind of differences there are between those extremes...

[bjporter]

With all this talk about the uncertainty of effects, what do people think about a special month effect free? And a special month no holds barred including commercial effects? I think that could at least help settle what the result of effects vs none has in the contest as a whole. We could refer back to those momentous months when questions of the rules come up... Of course it would be important to pick similar bare bones synths to really show what kind of differences there are between those extremes...

I'm going with Mehum on this one: It has nothing to do with tools, and everything to do with how you use them!
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2#p6128622

I couldn't think of a top 5 tune ever in OSC that would sound much better with commercial effects to be honest

[Parduz]

I'm not against "no effects" in absolute, but some synths without a bit of effects just sounds ugly. It's a matter of tastes, but i never liked even the dry output of my real synths, no matter how much i love them, and it was still a bit more "sooth" that the harsh, pure digital sound. I already force myself to listen to certain genres in the OSC just 'cause i have to vote, but i could'nt stand a dry sound.
If effects are a problem (why should them be is a mistery, to me) the we should ban the ones in the DAWs and open a poll to elect a dozen of admitted VST effects and make only them avaliable for OSC.

Conversely, i really miss the use of distortion (heavy distortion): i use it for my stuffs from 25 years ago, and while not having it is a challenge by itself, i badly need the "angry" and "power" effect i sometimes want to express.
Given that achieving a good distorted sound is not so easy (and some synths are just unable to output something worthy for a distortion) i'd see what it can happens if we enabled it for some contests.

[bjporter]

Should we allow commercial plugins or not?

Feel free to post your feelings, and if there's anything new, I'll add it to the below:

Pros to allowing commercial plugins:
1. Freeware is about as good as commercial, so why not? (Anyone have objections here?)
2. It might make your tune sound a tiny bit better (There are many sub-types of plugins, so let's say we're doing a Yohng W1 limiter vs. Waves L1 Limiter type situation)
3. Allowing native DAW plugins is already like allowing (generally speaking) commercial plugins, so why not allow them all?
4. If we want to support the indie freeware dev scene, isn't it contradictory to allow commercial DAW plugins? Therefore, we should add commercial plugins!
5. I have serious GAS, or I won a lot of commercial FX, but I really want to use them, and OSC will give me a chance to use them!
6. Commercial plugs save time. They often combine stacked dsp, or add visual queues to make dialing in what you want easier.
7. The economic playing field isn't that much less, because you still have to consider CPU/Memory/Computer power, Monitors/Headphones, and DAW.

Cons to allowing commercial plugins:
1. Support the little guys! A lot of people are against commercial, because it goes against that sort of spirit we had in the early OSC - to support the indie freeware devs scene.
2. Commercial usually has a ton more pro presets, not as level playing field
3. Makes the contest fairer from an economic viewpoint: Some people can't afford shiny new Commercial plugs. We in the US or Western Europe generally have far more disposable / spendable income on such things, and to those outside this sphere, it is much less likely.
4. Saves money and helps against GAS: Learn to master free effects rather than buying into the latest shiny commercial plug.
5. We're already being generous, because it's already a bit unfair that some DAWs contain a BUNCH of effects that other daws don't.
6. Using freeware, you generally have to learn the tool better, because it doesn't come with so many range of presets
7. Perspective: It's about skill, dedication, practice, etc, so commercial plugins won't help make your song that much better, why do we need them? We are fine with freeware/native.
8. Using commercial plugs makes it difficult to share projects if you want to a) Collaborate with another OSCer, b) check the veracity of a project (if you're a mod or helper), c) learn from someone else's project. Other people may not have the plug, and there's no way to get it!
9. By using popular / exclusive / expensive / hotshot commercial plugins, people may be bias toward your track, or see your track as sounding better than it is. "Oh, they're using the latest XYZ plugin, it MUST sound good!"

Other considerations, observations, or misc:
1. What about using X amount of Commercial plugs? Perhaps one month where we have a particularly dry synth we allow commercial plugs too, and a FX sponsor could promote his plugs.
2. What about a one off OSC where commercial is allowed?
3. What about a one off OSC where no effects are used (Only the built in Synth FX)?
4. What about allowing commercial plugins which do not affect the sound (aka spectral analyzers, etc)?
5. Using all types of FX could move the focus of the Challenge away from the Synth
6. Six points instead of 5 in the voting scale. It gives more room.
7. What about hybrid hardware / software DSP plugins like the UAD?
8. What about commercial hardware / DIY hardware?
9. Do a month where we all use only Traktion 4 (free and linux/mac/pc)


References
One of the Older discussion on pros and cons of using Commercial plugins, Starts here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 8#p5648018


My personal thoughts: Maybe it's time to revisit this idea, but I'm not convinced that it is going level the playing field whatsoever (Certain people who put in time, skill, dedication, practice, are bound to do better, and we cannot limit those things. I'm just 1 of several dozen people here, so that's my 2 cents). I've been pretty full of GAS the past few years, so it would be fun to try out some commercial plugs once in a while though.