One Synth Challenge #161: Synth1 by Ichiro Toda (Vospi Wins!)

[Double Tap]

While I fully understand that point of view, let's not forget that this is a friendly competition about using one chosen synth (still a competition), -fair for all- rules are the juice of a competition, otherwise it would be something else.

As side note I don't agree that rules limit the creativity, actually it's the opposite.

Absolutely agree on the part about rules and creativity! I think I just mean that for me it doesn't need a particular rule because I'd hate to see someone disqualified because they put in a track at 4min 30sec and just didn't want to cut it or increase the tempo to make it fit. Most people won't do very long tracks very often because they (and I) agree with you that we're all busy and it's quite a time commitment to score and comment on 50+ tracks.

[Leonard Bowman]

I've put in my votes - lots of excellent music this round so it was hard to judge them against one another. Thanks to everyone for making such good music and sharing it with the world.

[bh9090]

voted. we should do synth1 for an entire year.

[BrainBeatMusic]

To me, I think for this competition it is best to try and keep our compositions under 5 minutes anything longer makes the voting process too long. I can mostly tell what I am going to give a track after about 60 seconds of listening so having a track go for even another 4 minutes I will rarely change that vote unless there is a surprising twist I was not expecting. I sometimes feel like I am wasting my time on tracks I don't like so much that are on the longer side.
I personally have tried to keep my tracks shorter than longer and then if I feel it needs to be longer I will make a 2nd version with the extra bits.
I have nothing against anyone who has created a longer track than the average just know that sometimes I might not hear the whole thing if I feel I have gotten a good sense of the track in the first few minutes.

Thinking the other way about tracks that are under 2 minutes are ideally a bit on the short side to give a good sense of a completed track but I think are still ok depending on how everyone votes on a track to begin with.

While I don't actually do this explicitly when voting I would say at least half of the 5 points are awarded for the sound design and mixing/mastering of the track as I feel that is more the point of this competition for me at least. So anything between 2 and 5 minutes would for me be what I would ideally like to see everyone doing but am happy to be wrong on this point. There is no need to make a rule on this too but maybe put it as a suggestion to try and keep your tracks within a length range.

[The Chase]

I feel guilty making long tracks for these comps. My song this month was 6 minutes. If all 45 submissions were 6 minutes that'd be 4.5 hours of listening for everyone lol. But Synth1's possibilities pull more and more ideas out. I ended up cutting out almost a minute of cute nonsense.

[hashify]

To me, I think for this competition it is best to try and keep our compositions under 5 minutes anything longer makes the voting process too long. I can mostly tell what I am going to give a track after about 60 seconds of listening so having a track go for even another 4 minutes I will rarely change that vote unless there is a surprising twist I was not expecting. I sometimes feel like I am wasting my time on tracks I don't like so much that are on the longer side.
I personally have tried to keep my tracks shorter than longer and then if I feel it needs to be longer I will make a 2nd version with the extra bits.
I have nothing against anyone who has created a longer track than the average just know that sometimes I might not hear the whole thing if I feel I have gotten a good sense of the track in the first few minutes.

Thinking the other way about tracks that are under 2 minutes are ideally a bit on the short side to give a good sense of a completed track but I think are still ok depending on how everyone votes on a track to begin with.

While I don't actually do this explicitly when voting I would say at least half of the 5 points are awarded for the sound design and mixing/mastering of the track as I feel that is more the point of this competition for me at least. So anything between 2 and 5 minutes would for me be what I would ideally like to see everyone doing but am happy to be wrong on this point. There is no need to make a rule on this too but maybe put it as a suggestion to try and keep your tracks within a length range.

if this argument is all about Voting/wining/racing ""maybe"" it would be discussable because of : " I will rarely change that vote unless there is a surprising twist I was not expecting." yeah you right.. sometimes there will be a surprising twist. BUT if this argument is about music/art/painting/cooking etc.. The whole argument is ALL meaningless, pointless and irrational.

[MyLoFy]

Nah, not a big fan of time limits. If a track noodles for 20 minutes and nothing much happens I bump it down a bucket. If a track catches my attention for 60 minutes without me realizing the length, well, that's a fiver for sure.

[IV!]

Exactly. We won't formulate a rule, and we don't need to. To summarize all of this, you can use one phrase: "Any length of a track must be justified by its content." This phrase can be asked to be added to the rulebook as a recommendation if there are many willing!
This is true for all tracks, because we have very different music here. If someone doesn't like the content of my track, it doesn't matter if it was 3 minutes or 30.

[ELEX]

I'd rather not like it for three than for thirty minutes, tbh.

[IV!]

I'm usually more critical of my tracks than anyone else. And I have no hard feelings towards those who will not listen to him to the end. I know that there are several people in OSC with similar views on music, and who knows, maybe I'm doing it all just for them) But anyone, who wants, please, can make your opinion about my track for the first 30-60 seconds, I'm fine with that, although keep in mind that I always have a few unexpected (sometimes even too) turns here and there!

[empphryio]

Just listen less or not at all instead of pressuring people to not make the music they want to make.

[IV!]

Just listen less or not at all instead of pressuring people to not make the music they want to make.

Yes, maybe it's a little rude, but in fact I agree with it! No one will scold a person who evaluates a track by 30 seconds if he himself does not say that and won 't try to prove the correctness of his point of view.
P.S. Although I didn't feel the pressure from the previous messages, everything is at the level of friendly discussions!)

[IV!]

I feel only the increasing pressure of the upcoming results, although I do not pretend to anything there!

[MyLoFy]

In fact I enjoy the tracks sounding meh in the first 30 seconds and then slap me in the face for being so wrong about them.

[574X]

I voted and enjoyed the entries!
Well done, everyone.