One Synth Challenge #94: Synth1 (Photonic Wins!)

[MaZe 6000]

ah... permissions... yes, yes...

Thank You!

[Cricetus]

My eurodance christmas tune submission!

https://soundcloud.com/cricetus/cricetus-mighty-rodent

DAW Ableton 9 Suite
8x Synth1
8x Ableton EQ8
4x Ableton Limiter
8x Ableton Utility
1x Ableton Compressor

[wagtunes]

Since I won't have anymore time to work on this track this month, submitting it now.

Cubase 7.0.7

12 instances of Synth1

FX Used

Fabfilter Pro Q2
Fabfilter Compressor
Fabfilter Limiter
QL Spaces Convolution Reverb
OTT Compressor on output buss

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... ahn-osc-94

[V-Future]

Why do you say someone is against the rules? just use Synth1, create great presets, apply some decent chorus/stereo, mix and master, that's all... if you don't like EDM because you are biased, that's subjective. but you must appreciate the melodies, scales, technique, creativity, even if I don not like one genre in specific, I can appreciate it as a musician. Let's have fun... no one will invent a new harmonic circle, neither new chords, there's nothing new under the sun, you know? just challenge yourselves and appreciate each others ideas

[rghvdberg]

Last month the hinting at Bach Ode to Joy in the intro:

That would be Beethoven.
Fun fact : Beethoven might have borrowed that from Mozart.
Listen at 1:00
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lEBYufTXJQk

[ontrackp]

Last month the hinting at Bach Ode to Joy in the intro:

That would be Beethoven.
Fun fact : Beethoven might have borrowed that from Mozart.
Listen at 1:00
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lEBYufTXJQk

Beethoven would have to be disqualified from the OSC then.

[Frostline]

Last month the hinting at Bach Ode to Joy in the intro:

That would be Beethoven.
Fun fact : Beethoven might have borrowed that from Mozart.
Listen at 1:00
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lEBYufTXJQk

Yeah, the melodies I have in my head often get misremembered. Someone commented on my track Bach, that sounded possible so it stuck in my head that way.
Puts me in good company of idea borrowers though.
Been listening to too much modern music I guess, it is jumbling up the music I used to enjoy most often. As I focus on production I find the classics harder to listen to because I now want the sounds to pan and move around and instrumentation to vary more.

[wagtunes]

Last month the hinting at Bach Ode to Joy in the intro:

That would be Beethoven.
Fun fact : Beethoven might have borrowed that from Mozart.
Listen at 1:00
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lEBYufTXJQk

Yeah, the melodies I have in my head often get misremembered. Someone commented on my track Bach, that sounded possible so it stuck in my head that way.
Puts me in good company of idea borrowers though.
Been listening to too much modern music I guess, it is jumbling up the music I used to enjoy most often. As I focus on production I find the classics harder to listen to because I now want the sounds to pan and move around and instrumentation to vary more.

Can I ask you a personal question? How long have you been creating your own music?

This is why I'm asking.

When I first started, I was like a kid in a candy store. I didn't care what I did or what it sounded like. I completely blocked out everything I'd ever heard in my life. I ended up doing a lot of experimental stuff that, quite honestly, sounded like crap. I mean it was so out there, especially for the time, that there was literally no coherence to it.

Then as time went on, I decided I wanted to try to sound like other people and started adapting ideas and then changing them enough so that it wasn't plagiarism, but I knew damn well where the "music" had come from.

Then I started actually doing covers when I started to tire of doing my own music.

Finally, I have come full circle and don't really care what I do anymore. I just sit down and start writing. I don't think of groups or anything. I just write.

Now, I am going to be doing a Yes tribute CD next year where I'm going to try to emulate the style of the band but with original songs. Actually, that project has now morphed into a generic prog rock tribute where I will be putting together a collection of songs that are bits and pieces, style wise, of the following groups.

Yes
Genesis
Kansas
ELO
ELP
Renaissance
Triumvirat
Tangerine Dream
Starcastle
Kraftwerk
Fire Ballet
Gentle Giant
King Crimson

What's it going to sound like? Damned if I know. Obviously, it's going to be out there. And it might totally turn out to sound like garbage. And if it does, I couldn't care less. It's what I want to do. It's what will make me happy.

You need to get less hung up on the contest and focus more on just making music. If you end up doing something that somebody thinks is not original, oh well, so what? Worst that can happen is they give you a 1.

Music is to be enjoyed. It's not to be turned into a chore and a worry. When I finally got that, in regard to this contest, I achieved a sense of peace and tranquility that I won't even try to describe. Wherever I wind up in this contest is no longer even a concern. I just want to make music. And if each month gives me a synth that doesn't blow up my DAW, I'll make music. It may sound like crap, but I'm still going to make it.

I don't know if any of this has helped but I hope so. Because the sooner you stop worrying about this contest, the happier you will be.

I wish I had learned that lesson a long time ago.

Don't make the same mistakes that I made.

[liqih]

here is my work for this month, I haven't compressed the track so turn up the volume if you like it pumping.


"You And Many Sides" [electropsychotrippy]

synth: 12 instances in Ableton Live 9
FX Ableton: Gate, Overdrive, EQ Three, EQ Eight, Reverb, Delays, Limiter.
FX free: Reverbering, TGB, Aradaz Green Amp.

https://soundcloud.com/liqih/you-and-many-sides

[Frostline]

Can I ask you a personal question? How long have you been creating your own music?

I guess that depends on how you define both creating and music.

Got my first recorder (what a dreadful little instrument) in the early 70's. Was I very musical with it? Probably not. But I enjoyed it.
Most of my musical history is structured around performing the works of others.
Be it choir, band, orchestra or community symphony. Mostly a brass player though there were a few years where I switched to clarinet and one terrible summer of percussion in a marching band. (Those dang quad toms get heavy after a few hours and was happy when that season was over). There was of course room for adding personal interpretations to things but it was limited due to needing to stay in sync with all the other performers. But in private practice I would often go on little musical journeys of my own creations, explore what would happen and that sort of thing. Not really a musical creation as in a set piece of work more more along the lines of little musical doodles. Does that count as either creation or music? I think so, but others might argue not.

I think there might be some misunderstanding on my feelings about this contest.
Yes, this contest is very important to me. But not to win.
I am here to learn.
And I am using techniques that worked for me when learning traditional instruments. Not by sitting quietly by myself doing my own private thing, but by grabbing the instrument, sitting in that instrument's section and listening to the sounds I was making and comparing those to the sounds the other performers were making. This contest is a perfect extension of that.

I recall the first time I heard the infamous "Switched on Bach" in the 7th grade. It was so outside yet so familiar to music I had grown up with. Then I heard Tomita's rendition of Holst. I wanted from that moment to make sounds like that, but this was pre-internet, almost pre home computer. So I set those sounds aside because they were just not possible given the rarity of the instruments where I lived.

Now decades later I find myself with an abundance of time to dedicate to learning how to make those sounds. I tried dabbling with it on my own but to my own ears there was just something lacking. I need feedback to improve.
I also don't know yet what I want a synth to do exactly or what feature are important to me. Again this contest works wonderfully for me because it exposes me to a variety of different types of synthesizers and forces me to get a handle on how they work.
The contest also exposes me to so many interesting musical ideas. And I have access to basically (outside of DAW particulars and this month's paid effects) the same exact tools so I can directly hear where my imagination took me and the tools vs someone else who went a completely different direction musically. It helps open my mind to new possibilities.

And because all of that is so important to me I feel that it is also important that I try to participate in more of the 'community' I guess for lack of a better term.
Put out what you want back, that sort of thing.
But right now all I have to offer are questions about what rules mean or what is the common feeling about this or that as it pertains to the contest. And maybe by my asking questions about things and getting answers it might also be answering the questions of others who for whatever reason didn't ask.

[Taron]

Ha! I had a feeling Jasinski was an artist, too!

Here's my go at this month...
https://soundcloud.com/taronium/taron-bornintosynth

OSC#94: "Born Into Synth"
Out of a nondescript, soft chaos evolves an exploration into sounds and patterns, more and more stretching its legs as it develops a voice and eventually fades into existence...

Synth 1: 29 instances
DAW: MULab (www.mutools.com)
DAW FX: delay_cross, binaural, PingPongBeat, Vintage Echo 2, simple_echo, TeaVerb, tight room, Highpass Filter, 2 Band EQ, 4 Band EQ

3rd party FX: Transient, OTT, Nova-67p, LoudMax64, Aubern Sounds Panagement, AXP SoftAmp 30D, OrilRiver, space360, Voxengo OldSkoolVerb, Voxengo SPAN

I totally did not notice the whole "commercial plugins allowed" part, but I happily ignored it... so... mine is still by the old rules.

[wagtunes]

Ha! I had a feeling Jasinski was an artist, too!

Here's my go at this month...
https://soundcloud.com/taronium/taron-bornintosynth

OSC#94: "Born Into Synth"
Out of a nondescript, soft chaos evolves an exploration into sounds and patterns, more and more stretching its legs as it develops a voice and eventually fades into existence...

Synth 1: 29 instances
DAW: MULab (http://www.mutools.com)
DAW FX: delay_cross, binaural, PingPongBeat, Vintage Echo 2, simple_echo, TeaVerb, tight room, Highpass Filter, 2 Band EQ, 4 Band EQ

3rd party FX: Transient, OTT, Nova-67p, LoudMax64, Aubern Sounds Panagement, AXP SoftAmp 30D, OrilRiver, space360, Voxengo OldSkoolVerb, Voxengo SPAN

I totally did not notice the whole "commercial plugins allowed" part, but I happily ignored it... so... mine is still by the old rules.

And another winner. I'd expect nothing less from you.

[jasinski]

Taron, you got some great melodies my man.

[Taron]

Thank you, both!
Hey, J, have you taken a look at Verve, yet? (Though, that's wildly off topic... I should PM you!)
Anyway... fantastic works! I had no idea that's your main occupation!? So prolific, too. Very inspiring!

[Paree]

Since I won't have anymore time to work on this track this month, submitting it now.

Cubase 7.0.7

12 instances of Synth1

FX Used

Fabfilter Pro Q2
Fabfilter Compressor
Fabfilter Limiter
QL Spaces Convolution Reverb
OTT Compressor on output buss

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... ahn-osc-94

That snare is great! Can you give a tutorial or share the preset file please?