One Synth Challenge #108: Diodow by HrastProgrammer (Schiing Wins!)

[Guenon]

"pure filth to your ears"

Sounds like a complement to meee

Speaking of which, your entry is pure filth to my ears! In a good way!

Seriously though, it's a wild one.

[wagtunes]

Ah, wag, thanks!
...goes for everyone, actually! I really am sorry I've unwittingly created such a fuzz.

FWIW, IMO, there is a lot of malicious voting in the OSC. I'll never be able to prove it but I know in my heart that it's true.

The key is not to care and just do this because of your love for music. It's something I'd lost sight of and when this synth came out, I finally realized that the only thing that ever mattered all along was enjoying the creation process. This month, I enjoyed it to the max.

Let the chips fall where they may.

[Harry_HH]

Hypocrisy at it peak...They guy is talking about "anonymoys manipulation", and he himself is sending private messages to the voters. I choose to let the cat out of the bag.
To me voting is not anonymous manipulation.

But maybe this tells as much about the different cultures as much as about the people.

At this point I'm just quoting these in case you delete these meh posts in the future, to be honest.

Good, come back time to time, and read it, and do some soulsearching.

[Guenon]

Good, come back time to time, and read it, and do some soulsearching.

http://bfy.tw/2YKC

[Harry_HH]

Good, come back time to time, and read it, and do some soulsearching.

http://bfy.tw/2YKC

OK - accepted.

[574X]

"pure filth to your ears"

Sounds like a complement to meee

Speaking of which, your entry is pure filth to my ears! In a good way!

Seriously though, it's a wild one.

Thanks Guenon! You're one of the greatest DnB masters here, a genre I've always struggled with, and your encouragement in that conversation that must've been a year ago is one of the reasons I still try to submit entries no matter how I think it turned out, or how it may be received.

[Guenon]

Ohh wow, I appreciate that, cheers! Very nice to hear. And you're doing great

[schiing]

I didn't check out the scoreboard last month, so I have no idea at all what the individual votes here look like. But I would never give Taron one point based on what I've heard so far - I think he'd have to consciously aim for it for me to consider that as an option - his tracks are so musical in a traditional, melodic way, and it's obvious to anyone with ears that you can't just put your hands down on the keys and come up with something like that. That alone should earn him a few points, in my opinion. But some people obviously use different criteria than I do.

Wag's track this month (I hope it's okay if I call you by your nick-nickname even though we've never talked - you can call me schi (t?) if you want to ) - which is the only one of his that I've heard yet - is a more complicated case, because it's not a song or a composition in the traditional sense.

I've only heard it once (+ right now - so, twice), so I'm not ready to cast judgment at all - but I think it's fair to say that you need to know more about music and/or programming in general and, indeed, maybe even know something about wag's musical background in particular, to give it a fair judgment.

Is it something that anyone with a decent set of patches (you constructed them yourself, so there goes that argument out the window) could mash together in a few minutes, or is it the work of a brilliant, criminally overlooked soundtrack composer? Not everyone will be able to tell, and even if we think we are, we might be fooling ourselves. Or wag might be fooling us. But even if that was the case and you heard a 5-star performance in there, that 5-er would be well earned for wag in my opinion.

Damn, music can be so complex.

But I would love to hear Harry_HH's arguments for the 1-pointer. Did we ever get to hear that in this thread??

[Frostline]

@Harry_HH
Here is the link to the voting data from the previous month.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =272715165

It seems to me this little drama would be quite easy to clear up and it is at the heart of why it even started first privately and now publicly.
So what criteria was used to give Taron's track a 1 if not just the fact it was Taron's?
Use my track as a comparison point if you like which you gave a 3.
On what metrics that you use to vote was my track significantly better than Tarons?
I'm genuinely curious.
I will try to do more of whatever those metrics turn out to be, so please share.
While I doubt I will ever have the skill/talent to be consistent top finisher like Taron I still attempt each month to get a little closer to that level. So knowing what I manage to do "better" than a person at Taron's level would be helpful.
Thanks.

[zarf]

Yeah, its all subtle and complex and so easy to misunderstand stuff.

Of course no one should feel like they are being held under the spotlight to justify the scores they have given. On the other hand - it's all supposed to be an open and friendly process - so I see no harm whatsoever in asking someone why they have scored the way they did.
Sure they might say - "None of your business" - but that seems rather odd to me in a community like this. If anyone ever wants to know why I have voted the way I have, please ask and I'll be happy to talk about it! It all helps us learn

best wishes to all...

[wagtunes]

I didn't check out the scoreboard last month, so I have no idea at all what the individual votes here look like. But I would never give Taron one point based on what I've heard so far - I think he'd have to consciously aim for it for me to consider that as an option - his tracks are so musical in a traditional, melodic way, and it's obvious to anyone with ears that you can't just put your hands down on the keys and come up with something like that. That alone should earn him a few points, in my opinion. But some people obviously use different criteria than I do.

Wag's track this month (I hope it's okay if I call you by your nick-nickname even though we've never talked - you can call me schi (t?) if you want to ) - which is the only one of his that I've heard yet - is a more complicated case, because it's not a song or a composition in the traditional sense.

I've only heard it once (+ right now - so, twice), so I'm not ready to cast judgment at all - but I think it's fair to say that you need to know more about music and/or programming in general and, indeed, maybe even know something about wag's musical background in particular, to give it a fair judgment.

Is it something that anyone with a decent set of patches (you constructed them yourself, so there goes that argument out the window) could mash together in a few minutes, or is it the work of a brilliant, criminally overlooked soundtrack composer? Not everyone will be able to tell, and even if we think we are, we might be fooling ourselves. Or wag might be fooling us. But even if that was the case and you heard a 5-star performance in there, that 5-er would be well earned for wag in my opinion.

Damn, music can be so complex.

But I would love to hear Harry_HH's arguments for the 1-pointer. Did we ever get to hear that in this thread??

Thanks for the kind words (I think they were kind words lol) but you're right. Music and be quite complex and quite subjective. As for my track, all sounds, outside of the kick, I designed myself. I had a specific goal in mind when doing the track and executed it exactly the way I wanted to. Whether or not anybody can appreciate what I did, that's another story. But it no longer matters to me. I'm finally free of the "desperate need for recognition" that has plagued me and so many other artists in their lifetime. I make music for ME. If I do that and I'M pleased with the results, that's ALL that matters.

Let those 1s fall as they will.

Makes no difference to me.

[Harry_HH]

If we add section "explanations - why I voted as I did" to the official voting, and its mandatory, I will, of course fill that query in the next votings. These explanations should concern naturally everyone.

[schiing]

Thanks for the kind words (I think they were kind words lol)

Don't you just love ambivalence [edit: after considerable self-doubt and googling: ambiguity, I meant ambiguity!]? I'm hearing good things in your work, for sure!

but you're right. Music and be quite complex and quite subjective. As for my track, all sounds, outside of the kick, I designed myself. I had a specific goal in mind when doing the track and executed it exactly the way I wanted to. Whether or not anybody can appreciate what I did, that's another story. But it no longer matters to me. I'm finally free of the "desperate need for recognition" that has plagued me and so many other artists in their lifetime. I make music for ME. If I do that and I'M pleased with the results, that's ALL that matters.

Let those 1s fall as they will.

Makes no difference to me.

Hallelujah! Now you're giving me goosebumps - words that I recognize every aspect of, and a conclusion that's 100% after my own heart.

[schiing]

I don't know if ambivalence was the right word there? Duality? Lack of clarity, maybe. My English skills fail me!

[wagtunes]

As far as the voting process goes, I have a system that works very well for me.

5. Riveting track. Great sound design, mix and composition

4. Excellent track. Just missing that extra special something that makes it a 5. That special something is often quite difficult to explain. In most cases though, it's in the composition end.

3. Average track. Competent, but nothing special. Bordering on the dull or same old same old. Like a stock track from a mix CD. You forget what it sounded like almost immediately after you heard it.

2. Most 2s, for me, are tracks where either the composition is decent but the mix is really bad or the mix is decent but there is no song there. Like those tracks that seem to have an intro that goes on for 2 minutes and don't go anywhere. Most of these tracks I can just about finish listening to.

1. A 1 is a track that is just abysmal. Like there was no effort put into it at all. Most 1s, for me, are tracks where there is a drone going on through the whole track and maybe a few odd sound FX thrown in here and there. Or, it's a track where the mix is so dreadful that it hurts my ears.

Okay, so where does my track fit in? See, this is what makes evaluating my songs so hard. You can't say my track is dull. But it's so odd, most people probably can't relate to it. There's obvious effort put in so while it shouldn't be rated a 1, because of the inability to relate to the music, it's understandable why some people would give it a 1. That's why, when you look at the history of my submissions, you'll find scores ranging from 5 to 1. In a month with 50 votes, my breakdown will go something like this.

5s - 2 (4%)
4s - 5 (10%)
3s - 13 (26%)
2s - 21 (42%)
1s - 9 (18%)

I can almost tell you, even before the voting begins, that's pretty much how the percentages are going to break down for me.

It will be interesting to see how close I come to the above predictions.