One Synth Challenge #173: Bucket Pops and Bucket One by Full Bucket Music (exponent1 wins!)

[SynthDX7]

If Full Bucket Music ever reads this post, I have 3 synthesizers that I really want to see as a plugin:
- Akai AX-60
- Akai AX-80
- Korg Poly 61
Thank you for all the fantastic emulations you've made, such as Crumar Bit 01, Korg Mono/Fury, Korg FB-7999, Korg Fury 800, etc.

[Full Bucket]

I think Martinic already did a AX-73 which is almost identical to the AX-60 iirc. The 61 is on my bucket list , but please understand that I cannot promise anything...

Cheers , Björn

[BrainBeatMusic]

Congratulations to the winners while I did give 5 to the top 2 the other 3 I am a bit surprised by but I guess I have different tastes to the majority.

It seems like I brought up something controversial again sorry guys. I was just curious as to how much of a likely public-domain tune is ok to use before the track should DQd. Also how many melodic elements are also needed to be classified?

As for my performance, I am still very confused by my relative score and rank this time around. While I think this would seem to have been one of the closest contests at least in the middle of the pack for some time my score still put me in the bottom half but not by a lot. By all of the metrics, I can see it is the 5th most played track in the comp and the 3rd most personal (the others are over 1 year old), mostly very positive comments, and a good amount of likes (that said most are not from our group). I also felt this was probably my best track since my 1st one with a good mix/ sounds/ and master. So I would love to know what I am doing wrong still to not place in the top 50%. Is it just that I am making music in genre styles that are not known/liked well enough by the majority to succeed? Or did I say something that has made some not like what I have made to make me fairly?

I do know this is just a fun competition and all that really matters is if I think I have done my best and hope the listener likes the art I have made. It also is getting a bit wearing coming in the bottom half all of the time and not knowing what I am doing wrong.

[SynthDX7]

Congratulation to exponent1 for winning OSC 173. The song is very well produced. I wish one day I can have that level of production. I loved the percussion, the piano, the pads. I love how the song combines interstellar, ambient, and synthwave.

Congrats to davi-dj, The Sound of Merlin, Zio Mau, and MadMcMan for also being in the top 5. I want to thank all the people who commented on my song. Good job to the OSCers for their amazing songs this round. Let's see what amazing are there going to be in OSC 174.

[exponent1]

So I would love to know what I am doing wrong still to not place in the top 50%. Is it just that I am making music in genre styles that are not known/liked well enough by the majority to succeed? Or did I say something that has made some not like what I have made to make me fairly?

I do know this is just a fun competition and all that really matters is if I think I have done my best and hope the listener likes the art I have made. It also is getting a bit wearing coming in the bottom half all of the time and not knowing what I am doing wrong.

Actually there is very less evidence to support the theory that making music in certain styles leads to poor placement. There have been winners (and almost certainly top 5 placements) who have made music in extremely diverse styles, both mainstream and otherwise.

I think you're doing a good job! In my opinion, it's not what you're doing wrong, it's more about what more you could be doing.

I'm not an expert by any means, so please take this advice with a pinch of salt.

This is how I would like to approach it:

• Analyze the professional tracks by your favourite artists, which are in the ballpark of your style of music
• Composition - Study the structure and arrangement. How are they structuring their arrangement to deliver a certain emotion and how are they developing a track over time? How are they keeping the listener interested? How are the transitions? It doesn't have to be extremely complex to be emotionally relevant.
• Sound design - Are you sounds sounding as good as they could be compared to those professional tracks? Have you created a sound which awes others (very important in the context of OSC) ?
• Mix and Balance - Are your tracks sounding as good as those in terms of tonal balance? Are the percussion, bass, leads etc. at the right level and positioning? Does everything sound coherent, interesting in context?
• Hook and ear candy - What is the hook or wow factor of those tracks? Is it a certain ear candy element like transitions, fills, a motif, a theme, an effect? Or if it's a rhythmic track, is there enough variation? Are there layers that add more weight to the sounds, without taking over?

There are countless more I'm sure, but I'm not that knowledgeable. But depending on what you want out of your music, YMMV.

Honestly there are no set rules as such in music/art, just some best-practices and a lot of common sense and feelings. If the music can evoke a certain emotion and you'd like to listen to it over and over again, you've done a great job!

PS: Take it easy! Have fun, focus on competence and not the results for now. The results will always follow, sooner or later.

It's extremely important to enjoy what you're doing, else this becomes just a chore/job and not your craft/passion/hobby.

[Full Bucket]

It's extremely important to enjoy what you're doing, else this becomes just a chore/job and not your craft/passion/hobby.

This.

[davi-dj]

Wow thanks to everyone for this unexpected 2nd position.
I would had like to make more comments but I was on vacations and I've listen the songs with the headphones on the mobile and in the car and I prefer to make comments with the computer.
And thanks to BJ and Richard for make it posible this contest and to Björn from Full Bucket for his Synths.
I've enjoyed making music with them. I really like the wow/flutter analog sound i've got with bucketOne and the configuration parameters of each drum sound in the BucketPops that I believe in the real hardware it was not posible to modify.


As my prize i would like naskt Integrate and Jrr sounds alpha vol1. Dominator Roland Alpha Juno Sample Set

[The Sound Of Merlin]

I would like to get Ivoks by Red Rock Sound. These guys make wonderful software. Really great stuff!
Thanks you al again!

[SynthDX7]

I think Martinic already did a AX-73 which is almost identical to the AX-60 iirc. The 61 is on my bucket list , but please understand that I cannot promise anything...

Cheers , Björn

Sounds good.

[ZioMau]

It wseems like I brought up something controversial again sorry guys. I was just curious as to how much of a likely public-domain tune is ok to use before the track should DQd. Also how many melodic elements are also needed to be classified?

As for my performance, I am still very confused by my relative score and rank this time around. While I think this would seem to have been one of the closest contests at least in the middle of the pack for some time my score still put me in the bottom half but not by a lot. By all of the metrics, I can see it is the 5th most played track in the comp and the 3rd most personal (the others are over 1 year old), mostly very positive comments, and a good amount of likes (that said most are not from our group). I also felt this was probably my best track since my 1st one with a good mix/ sounds/ and master. So I would love to know what I am doing wrong still to not place in the top 50%. Is it just that I am making music in genre styles that are not known/liked well enough by the majority to succeed? Or did I say something that has made some not like what I have made to make me fairly?

I'll tell you my thoughts on it:
Music is made with two possible purposes: 1) to feel free, to express oneself, to have joy through an extraordinary creative tool; 2) being liked by other people, seeking approval, having popular and commercial success. The final result can contain both elements but at the start you have to choose which path to take. In OSC I believe that everyone participates for the 1st: have fun, have joy and express themselves, without worrying too much about the approval of others. If you managed to give all yourself in the track you have reached the goal. Then just by being yourself you are appreciated by others. In my first participation in OSC I was afraid of not being liked and I proposed something that didn't fully represent me. I finished 10th. The second I let myself go more. I finished 7th. I understood that I didn't have to fear the judgment of others and the third time I composed a track doing my best, that I liked and represented me completely. I finished 4th
In this last round, for example, I gave Yadrichick high marks because his style is a unique "apparent chaos" and makes me imagine how free as person and creative he is, to SilverPants, because in his sometimes strange songs, he perfectly manages to tell stories that seem to me to see, to Exponent, because his music is heaven for the ears, a magical blend of melody, harmony and rhythm, to Davi-Dj, because after 30 seconds my head was bobbing up and down with his rhythm(...and i like jazz); to TSOM because his piece is poetry. All elements that have emotionally reached my heart regardless of the musical genre or the construction technique.
You have to let what you have inside come out, take risks, dare, tell something deeply yours, give your best without worrying about whether someone will like the song or not and you will see that you reach a better consensus of others.

Ciaooo

[Spring Goose]

As for my performance, I am still very confused by my relative score and rank this time around. While I think this would seem to have been one of the closest contests at least in the middle of the pack for some time my score still put me in the bottom half but not by a lot. By all of the metrics, I can see it is the 5th most played track in the comp and the 3rd most personal (the others are over 1 year old), mostly very positive comments, and a good amount of likes (that said most are not from our group). I also felt this was probably my best track since my 1st one with a good mix/ sounds/ and master. So I would love to know what I am doing wrong still to not place in the top 50%. Is it just that I am making music in genre styles that are not known/liked well enough by the majority to succeed? Or did I say something that has made some not like what I have made to make me fairly?

I do know this is just a fun competition and all that really matters is if I think I have done my best and hope the listener likes the art I have made. It also is getting a bit wearing coming in the bottom half all of the time and not knowing what I am doing wrong.

It's a very difficult competition, get used to it!

You're not doing anything "wrong", it's just a very competitive competition. It isn't a conspiracy of voting to keep you (or me) down LOL.

I don't know where you have got the idea that your song is a "top half" song if the voters have decided it isn't.

Didn't Jasinski provide instructions on what to do to win (or finish highly) at OSC? It's upto you whether you want to take the instructions though because to me tbh it seems a bit of a contrived thing to do (it's like The KLF book "The Manual" how to make a number 1 single). People like different things in OSC for example (this one relevant to me): being minimal isn't rewarded (unless it is minimal and artistic). I have noticed that artistic songs seem to do well, but music isn't necessary to be artistic. I'll see if i can find the instructions/advice for you.

edit: Here are the instructions from Jasinski on this page:
viewtopic.php?p=6115044#p6115044

Also tbh about half of the songs which finish higher placed than me sound to me like supermarket/lift "muzak" which apparently is rewarded! I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's about perspective, in this case there were 39 people voting, that's 39 perspectives.

Finally i'll add this: I think the majority of the voters prefer progressive music. Maybe you can make progressive music if you want to get placed higher?!

oh and this: I made a song called Happysad Monique, for Monique OSC December 2020. I think there's nothing wrong with my song but it finished last but one of 23 places. So what is wrong with Happysad Monique? I think nothing but the other songs were just better or the voters liked the other songs better, it's that simple.
viewtopic.php?p=7975509&hilit=osc+monique#p7975509

& now i was looking at OSC #143 where i finished last place, and i found this:

You need to understand how different we all are: different levels, different evaluation criteria, and different motivations for participating in the OSC.

But someone is experimenting, and someone is just doing something well, and everyone evaluates in their own way, so if you think about it, the scores in OSC have a large percentage of chaos, so the most likely way to win is not to try to win, but to look for your inspiration and your best way for music creation! And then no rating systems will be able to stop you, because in all cases the maximum - is Beautiful!

viewtopic.php?t=558514&hilit=osc+hw&start=405

[] Peter:H []

[...] By all of the metrics, I can see it is the 5th most played track in the comp and the 3rd most personal (the others are over 1 year old), mostly very positive comments, and a good amount of likes (that said most are not from our group). [...] So I would love to know what I am doing wrong [...]

What did you do wrong? Thinking that the number of positive comments necessarily correlates with a good ranking. Could be but it's not a "must". And OSC community is a rather closed sociocultural group which has it's own mechanics ...

[The Sound Of Merlin]

How about asking yourself what you love most about music? What touches you deeply? What makes you happy? What comforts you when you are sad? What makes you want to dance? Or tap your feet?
And... Is there a story you want to tell? A picture you want to draw? What do you want to communicate? Is there something you want to share? What inspires you?

Who are your musical heroes? How would they answer those questions? Why are they your musical heroes?

Music is not about skills, nor analysis. We are not algorithms, we have souls. I think we all should try to find our own answers to questions like these and take it from there. There is a lot to learn of course. And it's a wonderful experience learning to make music for yourself in the first place. It's also a wonderful experience to share music with others. In the second place. It's also nice to have an audience. It feels great to me to let them be third.

[] Peter:H []

Also tbh about half of the songs which finish higher placed than me sound to me like supermarket/lift "muzak" ...

*rofl*
Lifts are important. So is lift music. Imagine somebody farts on your way up to the top floor of music academia ... lift music eases the awkward silence ...and if the farting person is able to fart in rhythm ... it would be a multi modal experience.

[Spring Goose]

Also tbh about half of the songs which finish higher placed than me sound to me like supermarket/lift "muzak" ...

*rofl*
Lifts are important. So is lift music. Imagine somebody farts on your way up to the top floor of music academia ... lift music eases the awkward silence ...and if the farting person is able to fart in rhythm ... it would be a multi modal experience.

Thankyou Peter. I'm interested in your farting ideas! Hopefully it will help me properly appreciate those songs.