One Synth Challenge #111: Crust by Eugene Yakshin (Jasinski Wins!)

[TheNeverScene]

Crust might fall into classic status along with Synth1 and OB-Xd. It really has it's own thing going on, especially the shiver. I wish noise went through the filter though.

[schiing]

I wish noise went through the filter though.

Yeah, good point - possibly a switch option where you could choose the routing.

[TheNeverScene]

I wish noise went through the filter though.

Yeah, good point - possibly a switch option where you could choose the routing.

Exactly. Outside the filter is good for "crusty" effects, but through is much more useful for me in general.

[1eqinfinity]

Some further notes along the way: 1eqinfinity confirmed my feeling that the slow attack envelopes need some adjustment, but apart from that adsr is so easy to work with - of all the synths I've tried in OSC, Crust surprisingly feels like the most reliable and stable - no unexpected clicking problems at all along the envelope edges, solid hard attack. Poly also very predictable on ram use. Generally just a breeze to work with - no unexpected artifacts or behaviour, easy to eq, rich sound... you can sign me up as a Crust fanboy!

Btw, isn't there a little quiet here on the forum so far? Perhaps the "pre-alpha" tag caused some people to skip this round? That would be a pity, I think Crust will bring out some great tracks.

Thanks for the feedback!

I think now Crust could be called alpha. Beta usually starts with a feature-freeze. So it would be better to call it that after I add modulators and mod matrix in some form.

[TheNeverScene]

So it would be better to call it that after I add modulators and mod matrix in some form.

Looking forward to that!! You've really created something great here.

[1eqinfinity]

I'm blushing the whole week here

[doctorbob]

Btw, isn't there a little quiet here on the forum so far? Perhaps the "pre-alpha" tag caused some people to skip this round? That would be a pity, I think Crust will bring out some great tracks.

I'm in - just not had time so far this month to delve ... not sure as to where I might lean this time round ... ambient, soundtrack, jazz, blues, classical etc - hmm ... a lot of choice - I need to build up my "sound library" and then think a bit more about how I might "deploy" my favourite sounds.

If the noise could be tweaked into the filter as a pre-alpha test, that would be good, as I think filtering outside would be against the rules somewhat - although we could always claim it's automated EQ

dB

[Frostline]

I think filtering outside would be against the rules somewhat - although we could always claim it's automated EQ

Firstly why do you think that filtering outside the synth would be against the rules even somewhat?
The OSC webpage has a list of suggested filters to use. Why would that list be there if they were not allowed?

Secondly, while I believe you are somewhat "joking" in your suggestion to claim that your filter was an automated EQ, not listing a used plug-in is clearly against the rules because it specifically states

The DAW/host, all FX used, and how many instances of the synth and FX was used.

.
Though it seems many people fail on this rule because they don't list the numbers of the FXs.

-------------

But some people (near a third of last months entries) don't follow this rule either

Soundcloud File name format: Artist - Track Title where artist name is the same as KVR nick

I'm sure this is rather inconvenient for the volunteer who has to coordinate the voting and score totals when entries are not properly titled.

All that just makes me wonder the point of the rules sometimes if they are so often ignored without penalty.

[doctorbob]

Filtering the noise outside the synth would significantly alter the inherent sound generated by said synth, whereas when using the synth's inbuilt filter you would be using audio as generated by the synth. At the extreme take a swept white noise, done in the synth would be OK, outside, maybe not!

But then, EQ-ing the hell out of a white noise hit to make hat sounds is perhaps acceptable? Maybe most do this anyway.

As always, rules are open to interpretation, as the rules often say - use your own judgement - e.g. we must not use an external chorus, but then multiple instances slightly detuned will give a chorus effect anyway ...

I always list every instance of every FX I use, without fail! And, I think I have used the designated title format for all my entries since my first entry at OSC #61 (and have managed to do one every month since! Makes 50 consecutive entries and mostly 50 halfway finishes!).

In the end I was just wondering if the dev could route the noise to the filter as a post-pre-alpha for us to "test"??? No more than that ...

dB

[progtronic]

...

The DAW/host, all FX used, and how many instances of the synth and FX was used.

.
Though it seems many people fail on this rule because they don't list the numbers of the FXs...

I really feel the rules need a makeover. It should be enough to simply list the fx used, without an exact count of each. The number of instances, of the synth of the month.. is the only number that I think most folks are interested in seeing anyway.

Also.. the list of suggested (freebie) vst's needs to be revised. One of the listed vst's that I initially used, and I thought was totally OK.. is now, no longer free to use (apparently). So I had to go back though my entire project to replace it when I found out. Who knows how many others on that list are no longer valid?

I think the OSC community (as a whole) would have to bear some responsibility for helping to get stuff like this done.. because bjporter can't be expected to handle absolutely every aspect of this competition.

He does a lot of stuff for this challenge, as it is.. and I'm sure is busy with other things in his life as well.

Hell.. even just having these OSC threads regularly stickied every month, seems to be an issue. *cough*

[Frostline]

Filtering the noise outside the synth would significantly alter the inherent sound generated by said synth, whereas when using the synth's inbuilt filter you would be using audio as generated by the synth.

Not necessarily.
It could if pushed to extreme, but so could distortion, bit crushing, tape saturation, compression, EQ or reverb. Yet all those are allowed as long as one follows the suggestion to "Try to keep the original sound recognizable."
So in your opinion any use of those other types of FX would significantly alter the inherent sound of the synth in a similar fashion to an external filter?
And again I will ask, if an external filter is not to ever be used because any use would significantly alter the sound generated by the synth why then is there a list of suggested filters to use specifically for OSC tracks?

I am not trying to pick a fight here DB, but I see these statements come up from many people (not just you) where any use of "X" (often it is distortion, just happens to be filters this time) is "against the rules" when there is no official rule stating that and often the rules or other official documentation indicate the opposite being true. The FX is actually allowed.
I am trying to understand where these supposed "rules" that are not actually official rules come from.
I try to follow the official rules as best I can, but it is near impossible to follow the rules that some people just seem to make up, especially when that person is such a seasoned veteran of OSC as you are. I would think you would know the rules and supporting documentation back to front.

[Frostline]

I really feel the rules need a makeover. It should be enough to simply list the fx used, without an exact count of each. The number of instances, of the synth of the month.. is the only number that I think most folks are interested in seeing anyway.:

I must be an odd duck then.
I like seeing the number of each FX.
For example someone makes a mix I really like. Say they list OTT (poor example yeah) as one of their plugs. Kind of a big difference if they used one instance as opposed to 10 as to how I might incorporate that plug into my workflow to attempt to achieve a similar result.
EQ is another, maybe better example, did they use one EQ or more EQs than synth instances? It is possible to learn a bit from that knowledge.
To me anyway part of OSC is learning how others do things. The number of the tools others use is a part of that.

Yeah, not having to count them might save me 5-10 minutes while posting my track only because I try to be as complete as possible and my count sum must match what Reaper said my total FX was or I have to count again.

[] Peter:H []

Btw, isn't there a little quiet here on the forum so far? Perhaps the "pre-alpha" tag caused some people to skip this round? That would be a pity, I think Crust will bring out some great tracks.

True for me, I will skip this round. "pre-alpha" was just the icing on the cake...since my journey into OSC I have neglegted too many sketches and synths...giving transistow a ride requires a lot of attention...but I'm lurking around and definitely will vote. hopefully not too many epic 32 minutes concept tracks... my attention time span is way too short these days
] Peter:H [

[1eqinfinity]

That's an interesting point about filtering the noise.
Btw just in case somebody missed that: there is a dedicated tilt filter for each oscillator's noise. It's visible when the show/hide AM params switch is in the leftmost position.
But I understand the idea of having the noise have similar sort of spectral character as the osc does. I actually had this idea back when I wrote that part of the synth, but thought that I was overengineering. Perhaps I should give this idea a try after all.

[schiing]

True for me, I will skip this round. "pre-alpha" was just the icing on the cake...since my journey into OSC I have neglegted too many sketches and synths...giving transistow a ride requires a lot of attention...but I'm lurking around and definitely will vote. hopefully not too many epic 32 minutes concept tracks... my attention time span is way too short these days
] Peter:H [

I'm getting around to working on my 7''single edit this month . And yeah, I've started working on Transistow a couple of times - but I'm nowhere near getting the hang of it yet. I think it could be a full-time job figuring out that monster.