One Synth Challenge #143: Any Hardware or Emulation (Taron Wins!)

[PleaseAdvise]

I had some fun, true, but the track is likely to end way at the bottom of the list to be honest.

Well, not on mine
I tend to like creative tracks better than super polished ones that don't ring with me...

Finally voted.

Might need to revisit some titles again, but so far I got :

5 : 9 entries
4 : 13 entries
3 : 23 entries
2 : 6 entries
1 (my spot! Do not steal)

Great listening experience as it was last time! Thanks everyone for the diversity and creativity.

[ELEX]

1 (my spot! Do not steal)

Exactly, right you are !

[doctorbob]

Yeah I understand about mistakes re rules etc. I was just pointing out that going the software route opens more possibilities of "manging" sound in a legal way, compared to the hardware route, and therefore you stand a better "chance" of fitting a sound into the mix because you have the use of a multitude of sound "mangling" tools. Sure I could have just used the DX as the sound source - as per software emus - and then mangled and mixed the tracks via various VST's ITB. But, my choice (just mine!), was to not use any sound modifying VST's ITB, including EQ, and only use what I could do with the synth and external "FX", the EQ stage being done by passing each recorded track back through my analogue mixer and use the EQ section on that, and recording that output to a new track (very time consuming, and of course, I only had EQ's of +/- 15dB fixed at 80 Hz, 12kHz, and swept 100Hz to 8kHz and a lowcut at 75Hz. 37 tracks to re-EQ this way needed a lot critical listening, I can tell you! But then, this is what "old school" was all about and hopefully I have captured the "warmth" of sound from days bygone when it was all done this way, but recording to tape (where extra "warmth" would also be printed).

Take the lead flute track. This was first recorded from the DX. Then it was played back through an FX unit set to 100% wet reverb and that recorded. These 2 tracks can then be mixed for wet/dry balance of reverb at mix time. Then each of those tracks goes though the above EQ process, so now I have 4 tracks for the flute. I also recorded the flute again (from the midi this time) adding in some more "performance related" modulations on the synth. This again was re-recorded to give 4 tracks for that. So in the end the flute solos have 8 tracks to work with, but the first 2 of each discarded leaving just 4 for mixing (2 dry-EQ'd and 2 100% wet reverb-EQ'd). Repeated as I said for 37 tracks!

The final track was a culmination of not just composition, playing and sound designing (that in itself hard on a 2 line LCD!), but careful workflow and execution, and a whole lot of gain staging stuff I don't need to go into this - but seriously, NOT any ITB help. Only SPAN and Youlean for monitoring, as I don't have an oscilloscope or dB meter!

Hope this makes some sense as an outline of the rather lengthy process. Of course, I could have gone the easier way, and perhaps the track might have been better "sonically". But it is what it is, and hope you all enjoy it, warts an all.

In the end I had fun doing it, and setting myself the limitations, which is the essence of the OSC. Getting high marks and nice comments is a bonus. Getting to the Top 5? Well, anything over halfway seems to be my modus operandi!

dB

[L-EctroBit]

...But, my choice (just mine!), was to not use any sound modifying VST's...

Yes, at OSC 143 we were all equally given the opportunity to choose how each one would make their track. No one was forced to do anything against his will. So no one was given an advantage to work. There are many reasons why each contestant would decide to go the hardware or software route. Availability, comfort, technical problems, desire to face a more difficult challenge - as you did, right?.

In the playlist is the final result of everyone's work and voting is free for everyone, because the rules give total freedom in this regard.

In the end I had fun doing it...

Well, this is definitely the most important thing, isn't it? Having fun and learning new things is the essence of OSC for me.

[Full Bucket]

So are your tracks. Jaccid is great!

Thank you, sir! As so many others we are locked-down and had to cancel some gigs... and even more come-togethers in the rehearsal room...
Well, this OSC is some kind of a compensation... a least for myself!

[Halonmusic]

So are your tracks. Jaccid is great!

Thank you, sir! As so many others we are locked-down and had to cancel some gigs... and even more come-togethers in the rehearsal room...
Well, this OSC is some kind of a compensation... a least for myself!

Indeed Be healthy my friend

[Eauson]

Ok, voted
Given some comments, hopefully will give more, although it’s not very detailed and sometimes obscure
Weirdly enough, the more listens, the more my voting intentions change

[doctorbob]

[MalToné]

Doctor Bob, I was impressed by your description of your workflow. Respect to you and everyone using hardware for this OSC, I appreciate the extra hoops you have to jump through to make it happen

[Double Tap]

Doctor Bob is OSC's Yoda, only with much better hair.

[photonic]

Voted!

I think this month we can hear a huge variety of sounds, due to the different sound sources. But not only sounds, also the style is often quite unique. I enjoyed a lot some of the very reduces, but highly atmospheric tracks. This is an enrichment for the OSC!

[doctorbob]

Thanks @maltone ... even the DX-11 editing panel got in on the scene (ie the Vote announcement!)

Hardware to end end!!!!!!!!

dB

[MalToné]

Doctor Bob is OSC's Yoda, only with much better hair.

I wanna be the OSC's Ewok, I'm short, cute and furry - well, not so furry on top.

[liqih]

Going to be fun stacking the emulator tracks up against the "real
thing" tracks.

Yes, we can't blame those who don't have hard synth, but we must not
forget that those who went with hard synth overcame much more
difficulties!

I'm finding almost impossible to tell by ear whether each track in this
OSC was made with hardware or with software only.
As well as we had gray areas at the beginning we have them now, I think.
So I'm mostly looking for differences in the approaches to this uniquely
themed OSC.

Weirdly enough, the more listens, the more my voting intentions
change

That's very true for me as well, especially there are tracks that
benefit from the previous one played (in order of listening), others
that shine only after a long silence, where you can rest your ear.

[Tj Shredder]

I voted and made some statistics: we have 14 entries with real hardware, only two of those had sisters with the same synth as emulation (VL-1 and Nordlead 2). The emulation of the Nordlead 2 (Synth1) appeared 5 times. We had
6 Nordlead 2 (Hardware, Synth1)
5 DX7 (Dexed)
4 Jupiter 8 (Arturia, Tal & Diva)
3 Mono/Poly (Korg, Fullbucket)
3 MG-1 (Cherry Audio)
2 VL-1 (Hardware, VL-1 emu)
2 OB-X (OB-XD)
2 JX-8P (PG-8X)
2 Minimoog (The Legend, Diva)
2 ARP 2600 (Cherry Audio)
The rest counts 1
31 different synths...
In terms of developers:
Dexed, Cherry Audio and Synth1 share the top with 5 entries each,
Tal got 4,
Fullbucket, U-He and Arturia got 3 as well as Korg counting one in Hardware
Roland and Clavia got each 3 in hardware