One Synth Challenge #83: MPowerSynth by MeldaProduction (Z.Prime Wins!)

[ontrackp]

Yes. Do the direct download, worked fine for me on Mac.

[z.prime]

@surreal - do you have any automation? Could you explain exactly the difference in playback of these patches? One after a save/restore? Or just after sequencing midi?

Edit: if it is only when you reload the project, it might be possible to change the format used to save plugin settings... Don't know about sonar but Bitwig lets you toggle per plugin between fxp/non-fxp. Sometimes that was necessary for me to do in certain cases

[z.prime]

I'm going to try to get something done this month. I hope to carve out time! Appreciate the Mac friendly software BJ.

THIS must have been what Brian meant by "it's January"... Aka: Jasinski will be back to pwn the competition with another magical track

[Harthstein]

...
Lost Ancestors preset Whale like modulations missing after sequenced playback
...
Lost Ancestors preset Whale like modulations while previewing presets Live.

did this with only one instance of Melda to prevent any other interferences of multiple instance but the differances is still prominent

Is it velocity?

The value of velocity changes the sound in some presets without changing the volume.
For example preset "Mono Jam" in the folder Sequences-Complex: the higher the velocity, the higher is the portion of a pad sound.

[SoundGoddess]

Here's take 2 of my song idea, I think I added about six more instances of MPowerSynth. Tried to fatten up the bass drum and the bassline a bit, added some new elements, kicked the melody in a little earlier.

Thanks for everyone's feedback and encouragement, I do greatly appreciate it

https://soundcloud.com/soundgoddess008/ ... powersynth

[wagtunes]

Here's take 2 of my song idea, I think I added about six more instances of MPowerSynth. Tried to fatten up the bass drum and the bassline a bit, added some new elements, kicked the melody in a little earlier.

Thanks for everyone's feedback and encouragement, I do greatly appreciate it

https://soundcloud.com/soundgoddess008/ ... powersynth

Well, it had me tapping my foot and certainly had a lot of energy, that's for sure. And the mix, albeit maybe a little on the hot side, seemed fine to my ears.

If I had to score this for the contest right now, I'd probably be torn between a 3 and a 4. I can't even consider a 5 because there just isn't enough variation in the melody. It's musically kind of monotonous but maybe that's just the genre you're going for and one that I don't particularly relate to. If that's the case, then mission accomplished and I'm just too old to appreciate it for what it is. You may need to consult younger musicians for a more valid critique and ignore my comments completely.

But personally, I'd just like to see more variation in something. Outside of the intro, it's pretty much at a steady level throughout with the same repeating patterns and nothing I can really sing. Yes, I'm old and kind of old school and actually still like to listen to "songs" in the traditional sense.

Having said all that, your track is nothing to be ashamed of and is well done for what it is. I'd be shocked if you ended up near the bottom of this contest with this one. But take that with a grain of salt from somebody who is almost always at the bottom outside of one fluke a couple of months ago.

Hope this helps a little. It was honest and from my heart.

[bjporter]

...personally, I'd just like to see more variation in something. Outside of the intro, it's pretty much at a steady level throughout with the same repeating patterns and nothing I can really sing.

+1, agreed .

The mix is getting very good - spacious to boot. Maybe wagtunes is onto something about the hotness. That could be fixed with eq or fiddling with the master settings maybe?

[SoundGoddess]

Thanks so much for the feedback. I probably sound like a total n00b but what do you'll mean by "hotness"? I guess I have enough time this month to go back through my EQ and compression tutorials to try to improve the mix a bit. Just been focused mostly on the structure and composition. I'm not sure what to do with the melody exactly, might just be that the genre I picked for the song is a bit loopy. I hadn't considered looking at it from a vocals standpoint.

[surreal]

@surreal - do you have any automation? Could you explain exactly the difference in playback of these patches? One after a save/restore? Or just after sequencing midi?

Edit: if it is only when you reload the project, it might be possible to change the format used to save plugin settings... Don't know about sonar but Bitwig lets you toggle per plugin between fxp/non-fxp. Sometimes that was necessary for me to do in certain cases

Thank You Z.prime

The preset in question is one of the stock presets of the synth and is found under the demo category... If you browse the presets before sequencing it sounds like the "live" eg..

https://soundcloud.com/tb4c/lost-ancest ... ve-capture

but once the preset is sequenced in the DAW holding the same note with no other automation or settings it plays back like this....

https://soundcloud.com/tb4c/lost-ancest ... e-playback

if it was only to be used as a straight pad i would have just left it but as i wanted to use it as the anchor drone (with the movement of the pitches) it does not do what i expected it to do...

hope that is more clear....

[surreal]

...
Lost Ancestors preset Whale like modulations missing after sequenced playback
...
Lost Ancestors preset Whale like modulations while previewing presets Live.

did this with only one instance of Melda to prevent any other interferences of multiple instance but the differances is still prominent

Is it velocity?

The value of velocity changes the sound in some presets without changing the volume.
For example preset "Mono Jam" in the folder Sequences-Complex: the higher the velocity, the higher is the portion of a pad sound.

No I tested it live with varying modulations and the sound results were still the same....

[.jon]

Real challenge would be to design a synth worse than this. It's like the developer, once he had included every possible DSP trick in the world history of synths ever in his code, presented himself with the question "how to arrange all these features as uninspiringly and impractically as possible". Then he spent 4 years perfecting the obscure interfaces, iterating over and over again, every time increasing the depth of submenus and figuring out new ways to reduce the amount of information and controls a user can have visible and accessible at any given moment.

[bjporter]

Real challenge would be to design a synth worse than this.

This will be a good new years challenge for you then!

[photonic]

HELP

This synth drives me crazy! I get lost in the trillions of sub-menues. I more or less found out how to use the modulation. But I cannot find the "keyboard" as controller or modulation source. I want to make for example the decay faster on higher keys. That is essential for acoustic sounds. But I cannot find the keyboras as controller source.
I found a big matrix under "midi", which is showing all controllers. But no keyboard there. Is any of those numbers the keyboard, but maybe only titeled different?

[Syntilla]

Yes, I'm old

+1, agreed .

Careful with those quote tags, BJ!

[bjporter]

Yes, I'm old

+1, agreed .

Careful with those quote tags, BJ!

I quoted an needed sentence at the end there