One Synth Challenge #91: Tyrell N6 v3 by u-he (Taron Wins!)

[jackoo]

What I would like to see are the critic comments that are almost totally missing from SC.
I mean, if I'm not mistaking, that the comments on SC are positive or missing.

Completely agree! Comments on SC are mostly positive comments - both because one likes to encourage the person - and they are public for everybody to see.

Comments about improving the work are perhaps a better option as private messages.

[Taron]

LOL, I got hit over the head at least once directly for speaking my mind. Yet, I still do it, though with more clarity about what I was saying, rather than an emotional outburst, hehehe. I'm fairly certain that I also did get one or two 1 point votes as a passive aggressive smack.

But, yeah, we all benefit from greater clarity, if comments can really provide help there. The sandwich principles I've learned and embraced in my time in the States really help to give truly constructive feedback. Something like "this is crap", or "I'd do this differently" without some "I'm enjoying this part or this idea" isn't really that helpful, I think. Without some confirmation for the "good", a musician is left with the impression that all was crap and that's not helping anyone.

[liqih]

What I would like to see are the critic comments that are almost totally missing from SC.
I mean, if I'm not mistaking, that the comments on SC are positive or missing.

Completely agree! Comments on SC are mostly positive comments - both because one likes to encourage the person - and they are public for everybody to see.

Comments about improving the work are perhaps a better option as private messages.

Yes I see, so by that "rule" the criticism (or the comments on low rating) should be private or linked only to the OSC voting page,
which is public but no so public like SC. The private way is quite narrow I think.

[jackoo]

What I would like to see are the critic comments that are almost totally missing from SC.
I mean, if I'm not mistaking, that the comments on SC are positive or missing.

Completely agree! Comments on SC are mostly positive comments - both because one likes to encourage the person - and they are public for everybody to see.

Comments about improving the work are perhaps a better option as private messages.

Yes I see, so by that "rule" the criticism (or the comments on low rating) should be private or linked only to the OSC voting page,
which is public but no so public like SC. The private way is quite narrow I think.

I have nothing against public criticism on my tracks! Not trying to impose rules, here...
I was just trying to think what would work with most people.

EDIT: I didn't mean private messages on the forum. I meant messages on the OSC site.

[liqih]

What I would like to see are the critic comments that are almost totally missing from SC.
I mean, if I'm not mistaking, that the comments on SC are positive or missing.

Completely agree! Comments on SC are mostly positive comments - both because one likes to encourage the person - and they are public for everybody to see.

Comments about improving the work are perhaps a better option as private messages.

Yes I see, so by that "rule" the criticism (or the comments on low rating) should be private or linked only to the OSC voting page,
which is public but no so public like SC. The private way is quite narrow I think.

I have nothing against public criticism on my tracks! Not trying to impose rules, here...
I was just trying to think what would work with most people.

I got that, I meant rule by some general etiquette from the web. I agree with you on public criticism.

Cheers.

[Frostline]

Also I think it's humanly impossible to avoid the subjective taste while voting. Since "taste" includes the personal experiences of what is wrong or right. And in music what is "wrong" or "right" is totally subjective, related to taste and culture of the listener.

Cheers.

That was very well put.

Personally I look at it this way. What is the minimum it takes to get a 1? To me that would be holding a single note of whatever the default patch is for about 2 minutes and calling the tune done. So anything that shows more effort than that is above a 1. From the previous contest I am in the majority (for that contest anyway) in that over 60% of the people who both created and voted did not give another contestant a 1. So it seems like others may have a similar attitude about what makes a 1.

This time I started everything at a 3 and moved them from there. Nothing to me seemed drastically below the average standard of 3, though one tune has this really annoying sound throughout the piece and I'm tempted to give it a 2 for that. But a single point is not going to make or break the song from winning a prize so I'll probably leave it at a 3.

The field is so packed with great songs I am finding I am extremely picky about what makes the jump from 4 to 5. I think it may come down to number of 5s received so it has to be just amazing on every metric I can come up with and personal style taste is having a huge impact at this point. So I only have 3 5's with another that could bump from a 4 depending on how it does in the car test (yes I listen to a selection of 4s as I run around town to give them a chance to sway me) but right now I find it fatiguing to listen to because it is just so loud in my living room.
But in the end I may just have a single 5 because if I could I would give the song with the motorcycle in it a 6.

[sfiks]

Here is how I vote.

Music has to touch my Soul or Feet or Brain (in that order of importance )
If the entry touches two of them - 5
one of them - 4
none of them, but I still can listen to it - 3
can't listen to it - 2
it's not music, just sounds - 1

and yes, I voted.

[wagtunes]

Well, I've finally finished my voting. I gave out 7 5s this month.

Here they are.

My personal favorite first

Toggleaudio - Barcelona

80s TV theme that really brought me back to the Mike Post days.

And now the rest of the 5s

Solar (KVR One Synth Challenge #91)
mcaitch - pursuit (osc91 tyrell n6)
Orboscope - Exterminatrix
Ancient - Trans Pacifica 1.01
z.prime - The Apprentice
Jasinski- Something For Everyone (OSC91 Tyrell)

Production wise, z,prime and Jasinski bring it month after month.

I've come a long way since I started these a year of so ago. No, not in the quality of my tracks. I'm a hack and always will be. No, I've come a long way in that I've finally come to terms with who I am and what I'm capable of doing without killing myself in the process. How I finish in these no longer matters. I made this month's track for no other reason than to just have fun with one of the better free synths out there. I'm only sorry that I can't enter next month's contest because I'm done wrestling with 32 bit synths. They're just not worth the hassle.

Lots of good tracks this months. Most of the 4s missed being 5s for no other reason than musically, they just weren't my cup of tea. The two exceptions were Z and Jas because their production skills are just so over the top good. When you're that good, you get 5s. The rest of the 5s, you earned it mostly for the music as well as the production if not more so.

Anyway, good luck to everybody. I don't envy the voters this month.

[JPQ]

Try vote something and i say i dont vote itself i feel even is allowed is not very good thing to do.
5 Alvfaria - Robotonik 3000 XL
4 3lu5iv3 - OSC
3 Darksynth FX - LOst in Space
2 Laxplanet - I used to watch VHS
1 Curiosity - Marat Tanalin

ps. one thing what i some tunes disliked is over compressed and sometimes over rough sound. but is common today synth music to my taste. which is harder avoid when we use software. and its hard put them order even more when i prefer melodic music more than rythmic music.

[tylenol]

Man, as a first-timer it's going to take me quite a while to actually manage to sort through ~70 entries!

From the previous contest I am in the majority (for that contest anyway) in that over 60% of the people who both created and voted did not give another contestant a 1. So it seems like others may have a similar attitude about what makes a 1.

...

But in the end I may just have a single 5

One thing this sort of discussion has been making me wonder -- has there been any past discussion in the OSC community of doing any kind of normalization on the ratings?

(I ask this as someone whose day job is as a researcher who often does human subject experiments where subjects are giving ratings of some stimuli on some dimension on a Likert scale, much like the ratings of OSC. It's really problematic to try to analyze such experiments without normalizing in some fashion to control for different ways that subjects will use the scale, and without normalization some rating strategies can measurably obscure others depending on what happens across the whole population. For example, without normalization I suspect strategies that avoid the ends of the scale will lower your impact on the results, though this is just a very rough guess...)

[doctorbob]

Phew! Going to be hard work this month!

Re the SC comments - I for one try to comment on every song with my thoughts - the good bits, the bad bits and any areas where I think things might be better. This is because I have appreciated the comments on my tracks over the last couple of years of being here - some good, some bad - but it all helps me improve. I especially like getting comments from those who do not like the particular genres I have a go at. I don't mind "this is crepe" (may well be!), or "this is great" (probably isn't!) - if I end up around the middle of the pack, that's fine by me - I tried, spent a month making some music. It's a great motivator (Thanks BJ for running the show )

dB

PS Tylenol - I hear you re Likert scales. was also a researcher (now long retired!) and we used them in most psychometric testing - sample sizes > 2000! People naturally avoid the bottom of the scale (don't want to appear mean and get some retribution next time!), then a 4 point scale is not very discriminating. Just making it a 7 point scale would probably be a good change - also, there are many stats which can be used thereafter if anyone was interested.

[tylenol]

don't want to appear mean and get some retribution next time!

Uh, also, for first timers like me, be aware that when the rules say "Once voting has ended, all votes will be published" they mean that all individual pairings of voters and vote assigned to a particular track will be published, with names . (I don't mean this as a criticism, I can understand why things might be set up this way, but it was quite unexpected to me until this comment made me go look, so I thought others might want the warning.)

[satYatunes]

Voted.
Some really awesome tracks this month. Good luck to all.

[z.prime]

all individual pairings of voters and vote assigned to a particular track will be published, with names

Yes, it's shared as a spreadsheet so all voters and all votes for each track are visible.

[Taron]

Yeah, the retribution thing is really concerning lately. I've observed quite some weird things and I find them really unsettling. We're here to make music, or at least most of us, I gather, and this should never drop into the background for childish games.
Besides all the great influences this fantastic exchange of musical and technical understanding has, it also has some rather bad influences. One of them is the flipping loudness crap, honestly. It drives people to ruin their otherwise really great music! I wager it even ruins their otherwise great mix, which sounds odd. But, yeah, for once: No freaking broadcast music out there goes all the way to 0db, so if you think "screaming the loudest" shows strength and character, think again! In this day and age, we still have the stunning privilege of a flipping volume knob, which can be pumped up to max and not only is it loud then, but it might still have some lingering dynamics that are part of the whole musical experience, you know!? ...oh man, I could go on and on about it.
Next time you hear something overly loud, associate it with total weakness, please, because that is what it is! Good music makes you want to turn up the volume, NOT DOWN! ...anyway, I can only hope you dare understand it.

This time around, I chose to go with the common master limits of -0.3db, I guess, which is apparently a healthy choice. By the time people arrive at my song, their hearing and their expectations are totally worn out and they will perceive it probably as wimpy, I'd assume. It's the longest track I've ever made in my still young OSC history and I felt like making it musical instead of assaulting physically. But after almost everything I've heard, it feels like I'd be literally from another planet or somehow tumbled into a bewildering party... though, there are a few folks from the same planet, who might sense the same trouble I do, haha!?

Anyway, I'd carefully ask you not to encourage the foolish hypercranking in hopes to dominate the listener. Dominates me right out the door for sure.

Music is so many things, so much more than just an ear-raping-gut-turning-punch-out-the-teeth-hatred-mega-anger-panic-mind-melting medium to pretend you had any justifiable power over unsuspecting listeners, who hopefully are dumb and submissive enough to think they can borrow such power or identify you as lord of the hour. Music is how we communicate our most complicated sensations, how we can share things beyond words, provide moments of all kind of qualities besides terror. And even if it has to be the latter, music is the means to do so in much more delicate ways then gear-shredding-rotten-limiter-squeezed-mid range-boosted attempts of .... ok, ok, ok, enough, I know, sorry, really. I'm totally taking a deep breath right now, I am!

In short: You're all (except a select few) better than that!