One Synth Challenge #92: Digits 2 by Extent of the Jam (z.prime wins!)

[subject36]

I really need to know.. Guenon - how the heck did you do the "voices"?

[bjporter]

Voting time, click here

Comment on the tracks here: https://soundcloud.com/kvrosc/reposts

[bjporter]

High Quality tracks streaming / torrenting / zipping / playlisting here: https://archive.org/details/OSC92Digits

[bjporter]

37th track added, make sure to vote for it (and refresh page) if you're almost done.

[Guenon]

I really need to know.. Guenon - how the heck did you do the "voices"?

A combination of trial and error and experience. The voices all use the "Bit" module of Digits, finding human (or animal ) characteristics in the aliasing. Depending on the pitch, pitch modulation and resonance settings in the other parts of the sound, one can "zoom in" on qualities that sound convincing enough when heard in the mix. The "I'm a horse" phrase was done like this, one phoneme at a time, and then sequenced in the correct order and timing. The other short shouts and syllables were done in a similar way, but more with the tone of single syllables/oneshots in mind than the ability to form words, so there was more freedom to get the tone more organic.

In the end, it's a trick of the ear, of sorts. I guess that's where the experience part comes in, being able to create an impression of hearing a particular sound when all the elements are in, even though the sound doesn't quite exist. If I solo the layers of a single shout, it's apparent that it sounds pretty "meh" when played separately:

There's one layer hard right:
http://lunarladder.kuutikkaat.net/voicelayer1.mp3

A main layer roughly center:
http://lunarladder.kuutikkaat.net/voicelayer2.mp3

Here's what they sound like combined:
http://lunarladder.kuutikkaat.net/voice ... mbined.mp3

Sending quite a bit of those layers to Sanford reverb, and with some of the musical elements added:
http://lunarladder.kuutikkaat.net/voice ... ionals.mp3

And in context with the full mix, it starts to behave like a shout:
http://lunarladder.kuutikkaat.net/voice ... ything.mp3

The whole track has many perceptual tricks like this, and they always come down to listening for desired qualities in rather basic sounds and combining them in a way that sells an impression of a sound that quite isn't there, but suddenly appears to be. The main snares have 22 layers [counting all the ghost hits and necessary tone variations in order to get the different parts off the ground] because I kind of couldn't let them go before they gave the impression I was after - so there are doubled layers of differently toned noise at different positions of the stereo image, similarly doubled hard transients, the actual body and sizzle layers at the center, and so on. All of them sound quite awful by themselves, but the combination sells it.

Still dodgy snares by themselves, even the combined signal, but with everything else going on they successfully give the impression of better ones, hah, and that was the goal. (Z.prime, yes it was those snares I was talking about, previously, when I remarked in a reply to you, "I'm going nuts over one particular element that just won't budge." : D Spent a week on those horsing horsey horsed snares.)

[zerofox97]

Voted. Have to say, I liked a heck of a lot of the entries this month. Weren't many 2s and no 1s except my own because that's what I have to do, right?

[Cricetus]

voted for all tracks

[Guenon]

Thanks Guenon for reminding me of archive.org, been years since I used to download live shows from there.
You like any Jack Dangers, Meat Beat Manifesto? I dunno where he finds his archival stuff but I dig it.

Yeah, it's a treasure trove! And yep, I'm familiar with some Jack Dangers/MBM stuff, although not familiar enough . My guess is, there must be quite a lot of effectively public domain archival video material in academic storage around the globe, and asking around in places like that can yield something interesting.

[subject36]

I really need to know.. Guenon - how the heck did you do the "voices"?

The whole track has many perceptual tricks like this, and they always come down to listening for desired qualities in rather basic sounds and combining them in a way that sells an impression of a sound that quite isn't there, but suddenly appears to be. The main snares have 22 layers [counting all the ghost hits and necessary tone variations in order to get the different parts off the ground] because I kind of couldn't let them go before they gave the impression I was after - so there are doubled layers of differently toned noise at different positions of the stereo image, similarly doubled hard transients, the actual body and sizzle layers at the center, and so on. All of them sound quite awful by themselves, but the combination sells it.

Thanx for sharing!

[VELLISLAV]

Sorry for missing this competition - some unique sounds here :)My personal favorite: METAMORPHOSIS,SWEET HALLOWEEN,STOLEN MOMENTS AND MONTEREY :)Voted:)

[rghvdberg]

updated my original post with track details
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=470879&start=210#p6602520

[Darksynth FX]

Voting done for all tracks.

[ATN69]

Done voting

[Jazzaria]

Voted!

[wagtunes]

Voted

What an odd month. No 1s and only 5 5s.

Here they are

Guenon - NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE HORSE (amazing sound design)
zippy731 - Stolen Moments (OSC 92 Digits)
Crosscountry (OSC92 Digits)
z.prime - Friends With The Devil
rghvdberg - The Unthinkable [OSC92 Digits2]

I think Guenon takes this one. Still can't believe what I heard.

Also gave out a lot of 4s. This was one special month and I don't envy the contestants.

Quite glad I skipped this one.