One Synth Challenge #157: FB-7999 by Full Bucket Music (Taron Wins)

[IV!]

I had 1.0.0!

me too. what's the difference?


sorry: resizable interface, that is the answer.

https://www.fullbucket.de/music/fb7999_ ... _notes.txt

[Aro]

Thanks for all the encouraging and thoughtful replies to my late night (for me) rant. I have a lot of respect for this community and I'm glad you all took it well. I'm usually afraid to express my opinion. In fact, I was inspired to say this after my partner coaxed me like 20 times to give an honest opinion about a graphic he's designing for me. I kept telling him, "I love it, its perfect". But I guess he knows me better. And it wasn't so hard telling him the truth. He wasn't offended, and he liked my ideas. So, I thought, why not just express my opinion here too. Its a kind of liberation for me!

[jasinski]

Aro,
I'm one of the guys that occassionally likes to do realistic sounds. I don't fault you at all for preferring more abstract or electronic sound design. I love that too.

I enjoy the challenge of trying to get something as realistic as possible. Kind of like painting a photorealistic painting. Seeing how close you can get is enjoyable.

[silverpants]

As long as I remember that everything people say on here is just an opinion - I'm ok. If someone says "If you do x y and z - it will make it a good song" (like it's an objective fact) - I have to quietly insert "in my opinion". I don't believe art can be judged objectively. It is worth something different to different people - that's the joy of it. The track that gets to Number 1 in this competition is not objectively the "best song". It is the most popular amongst that particular group of people at that time. That's all.

I'm glad you feel free to express your opinion Aro. It's prompted an interesting discussion.

[Aro]

Just some more thoughts in response to the sound of merlin and taron. Its not that I think its wrong for a synthesizer to try and sound like another instrument. A synthesizer is so dynamic, that it has a great potential for different sounds qualities, even ones with no real reference point. All I'm saying is that to my ears, when you get so close to the sound of say, a violin, but its essence is not that of an actual violin, this sounds a bit off to me.

Maybe its because synthesizers have a lot more power to shape sound. If a violin could bow the shape of actual consonants of the human voice, this might come close but not quite. And it might sound a bit like its too close to the human voice, rather than staying true to itself.

I don't know what is the essential synthesizer sound. Its an interesting question because you can have so much control. I'm going to think more on this. Right now its happening on a higher level than I can bring down to earth. And I need some sleep.

[ELEX]

You might as well ask "what is the essence of a violin ?" or "What is the essential violin sound ?" and get different answers. The line of reasoning you are following leads imo only to restrictions, not possibilities. The only way to define 'the essential synthesizer sound' would be to be restrictive about it and the starting point could imo only be: "what do synthesizers offer that other instruments don't ? " The answer to which logically would be: to sound unnatural. And therefore unnatural sounds should be preferred and any others rejected ? Seems like a needlessly limited approach to me. I fact , I believe questions like these to be not only irrelevant, but even a hindrance when it comes to using synthesizers. Much more important would imo be, to strive for using synths in such a way that chosen sounds support composition. Which would be a valid reason to not use only unnatural sounds. Those do most certainly not fit all music. "Should then that music not be made with electronics ?" would be the next question. The answer "indeed not !" would mean even more severe restrictions. Personally I choose not to go down that particular road. I do not believe it to lead anywhere good.

[silverpants]

Aro - sounds like the synth equivalent to the Uncanny Valley in CGI.

I personally like that the fundamental concept of a synth is purely mathematical and abstract - rather than tied to our physical world and it's constraints. It's plausible that if there are some other civilisations out there in the galaxy - they might have music constructed from saw waves, square waves, FM etc - since they are just mathematical objects - and mathematics is universal. That's a cool thought. I don't suppose they will have violins as such. Maybe if we do make contact - we should send them some OSC gems

[The Sound Of Merlin]

Hi there. I had a wonderful time with this synth. It's been great fun tweaking the FB7999 and make music with it. So my entry for this month has already been finished. If you would like to have the presets I used for this track you can use this link: https://we.tl/t-AhnFe4zCfs You are free to use them. Also for this OSC. Have fun! And lots of success while working on your entries. The FB7999 is a true gem and I am anxious to hear what you all are going to do with it. Peace!

https://soundcloud.com/thesoundofmerlin ... lue-osc157

[schiing]

I agree, Aro, I love pure synth landscapes. And emulating a band or an orchestra will more often than not sound rather cheap. It doesn't mean I never try to emulate and incorporate real instruments, though - I love it when I get a hint of the real thing along with some quaint, otherworldly feeling. Or a dead-on cowbell, for that matter. And these days it can also be used for nostalgic effect, evoking images of '80s/'90s cartoons, computer games and corporate music, which can be rather lovely.

And we should remember that lots of what's now considered classical "pure" synth, like brass, flutes and strings for Moogs, Prophets and Junos were sound designers doing their darndest to get as close as they could to the real thing at the time!

But, yeah, main point: Pure synth is great!

[schiing]

This also plays into something I have experienced in the past couple of years: I upped my game and bought some decent orchestral sound libraries, thinking I'd get into mock-ups and orchestral scoring. But I hate it! I'm generally okay with sampled stuff like acoustic drums, electric bass, classic keyboards and general rhythm elements, and I'm also happy using these orchestral libraries for the occasional background string or horn riff/lead in pop music.

But using them as self-supporting elements in orchestral music, even with a fair amount of dynamic ranges and round robins to choose from gives me absolutely nothing - it feels completely dead to me. And listening to the work of mock-up maestros on YouTube, I realize theirs do, too. Hate it!

So synth is definitely where I feel most at home in computer music - everything else feels "borrowed", like I'm just cutting and pasting someone else's performance (which you sort of do with samples, to be fair). Anyway, there's another tangent for you!

[] Peter:H []

Somebody said techno rumble? Okay...
It's just a preview to see where this synth and I can travel to ... seems we are going to techno land together with a bunch of new Cubase 12 toys. FX Modulator is fun ... only if we could use distortion in OSC, that would be real techno rumble and not the "beginners" version. Let's see ... may be I can come up with something better.
https://soundcloud.com/p-e-t-e-r-h/osc- ... al_sharing

[silverpants]

With it being fairly new - I assume the FB7999 has never been used before in OSC?

[FrogsInPants]

With it being fairly new - I assume the FB7999 has never been used before in OSC?

I think it could only have been used for Any One Synth in January. Skimming through the playlist, it looks like at least Taron used it.

[Aro]

You might as well ask "what is the essence of a violin ?" or "What is the essential violin sound ?" and get different answers. The line of reasoning you are following leads imo only to restrictions, not possibilities. The only way to define 'the essential synthesizer sound' would be to be restrictive about it and the starting point could imo only be: "what do synthesizers offer that other instruments don't ? " The answer to which logically would be: to sound unnatural. And therefore unnatural sounds should be preferred and any others rejected ? Seems like a needlessly limited approach to me. I fact , I believe questions like these to be not only irrelevant, but even a hindrance when it comes to using synthesizers. Much more important would imo be, to strive for using synths in such a way that chosen sounds support composition. Which would be a valid reason to not use only unnatural sounds. Those do most certainly not fit all music. "Should then that music not be made with electronics ?" would be the next question. The answer "indeed not !" would mean even more severe restrictions. Personally I choose not to go down that particular road. I do not believe it to lead anywhere good.

Hey Elex,

I'm not trying to be restrictive. I think its important for many people to strive to move towards an already existing sound. All I'm saying is that when a synth gets close to the sound of say a violin, but doesn't quite hit the mark because I don't think it will ever fully hit the mark, it can never quite capture the essence of a violin, because its not a violin, its a synth. I'm not saying don't try to aim for violin. All I'm saying is that the closer you get to violin, the more I"m not fond of the sound. I prefer things on the border of being a violin, more than sounding close to the center of being a violin. Just my opinion. Go for it!

[Aro]

And also I'm just playing with ideas, but I'm not sure they're all cohesive. When I start thinking about how most recorded music is just ones and zeros, and not actual violins, then everything falls flat. Just putting some thoughts out there.