One-Synth-Challenge 5! (yes 5!) - CRYSTAL

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tattiemannie wrote:Should there be no great weight of discussion, I will call the decision that patches and additions directly from the Crystal site will be permitted... discuss away!
Seconded.

MajorBloodnok
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Red peppers in dynamite sauce? I must have been out of my mind!

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.... So, we gonna go with what we have then? .....everybody happy?

.... Anyone fancy donating a prize or two?

Where is everybody? .... Two days left to submit a track for the Tal elec7ro comp .... !

.... How are those Crystal tracks coming along?? Anyone finished?? :hihi:

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I've got something odd I might enter. I can donate one of the things I mentioned if any use (some ftp/web space - no control panel though, and/or one of the 25 spots on a Jamroom-based site as I've got a 25-artist license and only using a few).

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Great stuff Buscemi .... you might have to explain how the prize works, but thanks very much! :)

Now we have more than one prize, I'll give the winner of the comp the choice of the two ( or three, or four .... ) and second place the choice of what remains, ( ...and third place etc ).

And as I said earlier, I'll come up with some interesting if barely useful contraption for all participants :hihi:

Thanks again ... and look forward to hearing your comp entry!! :tu:

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Hi, I'm back from the weekend's gigging, and I see no further discussion re. use of additions/patches/fonts. So, the rules will stay as they are.

I expect in any case that individual participants will find a level of discipline which suits their own balance between what is challenging, and what is liberating, and that the selection of tracks we end up with will reflect that shared 'sense' of balance.

If some sense of setting an example is more helpful than the rules, then here's where I'm coming from......
I personally will use only the basic download of crystal and contents thereof, and I will use freeware fx where necessary to aid the feel/mix of the track, but not as a means of compromising/misrepresenting/transforming etc ... individual sounds created in Crystal.
I will use only the free and unfancy mda fx, except for reverb if required ( mda doesn't do a reverb .... so I'll use the free Ariesverb ).
I might use a sample or two, but if so, it will be a sample directly from the output of Crystal ( ie. no effects in the sample. ).

So why dont I set this scenario down hard as the basis of a set of rules? simple ... because some people might actually think this is a boring approach and not bother to have a go! I would rather people had a good time cheating than not enjoy making music because the rules were too tight .... so each to their own!!

Lets give Crystal a good workout, and just have fun making music is what I say :)

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I doubt I'll partake in this one :? Crystal is way too strange for me. Basically I just can't figure it out :lol:

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Ha ha, I'm with ya there K-Bee .... its a minefield alright :cry:

.... 125 wonderfully complex presets, lovely to flick through, and then its 'OK, how the fk do I make a bass drum??' ....

I've just spent 2 hours doin exactly that!! :hihi:

But then I cloned the setting, and the snare and hats only took a few minutes each.

I think the trick is, pick a preset, any preset, and find every method of stripping out all the effex, modulations and envelopes. when you've done that destructive process, you now know where everything is should you wish to re-introduce same once you have chosen your sounds/voices.

I hope you reconsider joining in, theres plenty time, and I'm sure you could get more detailed advice re setting up sounds on this thread from folks who are probably not much further along the learning curve than yourself!

Beyond the competition aspect, one of the beauties of these OSCs is the learning and sharing ...focused on the particular synths characteristics.

Like many ( probably most ) users, I have sh!tloads of synths ready to go, kept in the folder because I have flicked through the presets and felt they would come in handy at some point. Truth is though, they dont ... because I have never explored them further, and so, when I need a particular sound, I find it where I got it last ... and so end up using the same small collection of 'go to' synths for everything.

I think this comp is going to be all the more interesting because experimentation and tweaking will be difficult to bypass, and the capabilities of Crystal will only be realised when we have really sussed it out ... even if that comes by struggling to get the simple things teased out of its bewildering complexity :help: :hihi:

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tattiemannie wrote:I hope you reconsider joining in, theres plenty time, and I'm sure you could get more detailed advice re setting up sounds on this thread from folks who are probably not much further along the learning curve than yourself!
Hmmm...I'll fiddle around a bit with it this upcoming weekend. If I can make a drum I'm in, if not I'll wait for potential SQ8L challenge (my fav freeware at the moment....soooo 80s)

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SQ8L eh? ... thanks for the suggestion! its good to keep ideas rolling!

Funny thing about getting those drum sounds though K-Bee, I dont know if I'll even use them!! :hihi: ... I was thinking along the lines of doing something a bit fluid/unstructured/experimental .... we'll see! ... best of luck anyway :) ... and as I said, feel free to ask for advice.

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tattiemannie wrote:I was thinking along the lines of doing something a bit fluid/unstructured/experimental .... we'll see!
I'm probably ending up the same road as well. Maybe a rubato ballad with laserbeams to top :D :lol:

tattiemannie wrote:SQ8L eh? ...
Yeah, in my opinion this is the only freebie (I know of) that comes close to the mid/late 80s digital sound that everyone around KVR seems to hate (but I love). It even has d50 like bottle blows :lol: :tu:

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I'm also finding myself using the presets as a starting/learning point. I didn't make a kick but was able to get hats and a bassline which is rhythmic enough. I've got my framework down but I need a few more tracks and possibly some timing adjustments since it is rhythmic but much of that matched manually and compensated as such. So there are some human errors to tweak. And since I'm giving a prize, all this is for the learning since I can't even win ;) Not that I would, my freeform pulsating noise-blast of angry mutant electric insects will probably scar people forever.

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whoaaah! ... just tried out SQ8L!!!! :-o ....

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Buscemi wrote
my freeform pulsating noise-blast of angry mutant electric insects will probably scar people forever.

... Sounds great ... cant wait :hihi:

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I guess we know what's coming next :) Looks like I might have to fire up a Windows box or see if I can run nicely in Parallels for SQ8L.

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Ha ha, we'll wait and see .... as I have said repeatedly, I prefer simpler plugs for OSCs, but if theres a collective call for a SQ8L comp, I would enjoy using it .... cant believe I haven't heard of it before.

Actually, its cross platform isn't it?

EDIT>>>> No, it isn't!

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