New Year, New Comp... One-Synth-Challenge 12 ... 'Rogue'

[V'ger]

...Although, now I need a compressor that I can sidechain. I really need sidechaining, as my bass parts interweave, and the kick is meant to have primacy.

Been looking through this myself, and all I could find in the freeware world was Slim Slow Slider's Side Chain Compressor, which works good but is finicky with the levels imo.

Is this any good?

Looks promising and found the downld link under the 2006 dev challenge page. Will try it right away.

[V'ger]

Blah, the dll wanted to install a global hook which is rude and it has no business or need of doing. I let it though, just to try, but couldn't make head or tails of the sidechaining quite frankly.

The quite good NYCompressor with sidechain by DDMF is just 50 US cents, but alas ineligible for OSC competitions not being freeware..

[hakey]

I let it though, just to try, but couldn't make head or tails of the sidechaining quite frankly.

Setting up sidechaining is a convoluted business. I don't know if this is the right way about it, but in Live I open a separate audio channel which I set it to receive audio from the channel that I want to use as the sc signal (most likely the kick). I then configure this to send audio to the channel containing the compressor and the audio to be compressed (in most cases the bass), dependant upon the plugin used this usually gives me a further choice to route the signal to the compressors sc input.

Does any of that make any sense what-so-ever? Probably not.

What's weird is that on the Reaper site, they say VST about the Reaplugs - even in the link itself - and then it turns out they are standalones. Bizarre.

They are labelled as 'standalone' but they are VST plugins and work fine, at least in Live. I think standalone in this case means that they work outside of the Reaper environment?

I don't know if it's already been mentioned but Bootsy's Density II does sc too.

[Yeager]

What's weird is that on the Reaper site, they say VST about the Reaplugs - even in the link itself - and then it turns out they are standalones. Bizarre.

They are labelled as 'standalone' but they are VST plugins and work fine, at least in Live. I think standalone in this case means that they work outside of the Reaper environment?

Correct !

[V'ger]

I let it though, just to try, but couldn't make head or tails of the sidechaining quite frankly.

Setting up sidechaining is a convoluted business. I don't know if this is the right way about it, but in Live I open a separate audio channel which I set it to receive audio from the channel that I want to use as the sc signal (most likely the kick). I then configure this to send audio to the channel containing the compressor and the audio to be compressed (in most cases the bass), dependant upon the plugin used this usually gives me a further choice to route the signal to the compressors sc input.

Does any of that make any sense what-so-ever? Probably not.

What's weird is that on the Reaper site, they say VST about the Reaplugs - even in the link itself - and then it turns out they are standalones. Bizarre.

They are labelled as 'standalone' but they are VST plugins and work fine, at least in Live. I think standalone in this case means that they work outside of the Reaper environment?

I don't know if it's already been mentioned but Bootsy's Density II does sc too.

Yeah, I've managed to set up SC on my system and with Slim Slow's aptly named 'Side Chain Compressor' and also NYCompressor everything works fine, but with Compressive I got lost, but then I didn't give it more than a minute after the global hook debacle.

About the Reaper plugs, I initially thought the dll's were misnamed so I tried them as normal, but they will not start in Cubase which for me confirmed they were indeed standalones, so interesting to hear they will start in Live.

But will definitely try Density like you say.

[hakey]

One thing I found with the Reaper comp was that if I loaded 2 instances both instances mirrored one another's settings - so altering the attck of one simultaneously altered the other. In effect I can only use one instance (maybe that's a Live thing?).

Anyway getting these gizmos hooked up right is one thing, using them properly - as in getting a pleasant sound out of the other end is the bit that defeats me, as will be evident in the terrible mix I submitted for this comp.

[tattiemannie]

Oh well, I'm back, and only one relevant post to reply to! ... so here goes ..

No yellowfever, we have not done polyiblit. I take that as a recommendation?

Looking over this thread, I wonder if the laid back approach to production and fx plugs is overshadowing the main focus of the comp ... THE SYNTH!

How can I refocus the aim? Lets see ..

Imagine the synth is your son/daughter going to school for the first time.
No, he/she cant go there naked ... got to have at least underwear ... so stick him/her in the school uniform ... yeah, thats the old leveller... now, make sure he/she is clean .. comb hair, stick a hanky in a pocket and there you go! ( thats the production sorted )... he/she will be fine ... you dont send him/her to school in a party hat, with a gold watch on the wrist and a weapon! ( mind you, a weapon would have saved me some considerable grief in my own early secondary school days!! ) .... cos basically, you want him/her to go to school as a well presented version of the wee lad/lass you know and love, and return the same way.

Or imagine the synth is your partner ... you are going out for dinner and you want him her to look good ...stunning even. A bit of make up is good, but greasepaint is not... and cosmetic surgery is definitely gonna come well in the range of transformation beyond recognition! A nice set of clothes is cool, but a hired period costume is not ... unless the dinner is doubling up as a film audition. ..... cos you want your partner to go to the event as a well presented version of the guy/girl you know and love, and want him/her to return the same way.

Or imagine the synth is your failing old granny/grandad. She's going to a party with other grannies/grandads. You're gonna see that his/her hair's done, and he/she's happy to be going where she's going, and knows where he/she's going, and he/she's up to date with his/her meds and supplied with the essential aids ( stick, walking frame, hearing aid, specs, incontinence pads, etc ) ... but you dont want to send him/her there with a wig, cool shades, wrinkles stretched and tied to the back of his her head, pumped full of steroids and amphetamines in the hope that he/she will end up dancing on the table, denouncing his/her friends as old farts, and punching the Dj's lights out cos he/she wont quickly aquire and play an entire Dead Kennedy's album!

So, I just want to know, where are we all hanging right now? Do I/we need to be more specific/restrictive when writing up the rules re. Fx? I kinda remember a post way back when it was suggested that a narrowly defined range of Fx should be specified ... eg the classic series, mda plus one free reverb.
I dont really want to go there, but the fact that there has been more discussion/confusion re. permitted Fx in this comp leads me to thinking the proverbial horse has bolted, and we need to shoot the bugger and get a new one!

To be honest, it pains me to have to consider this option, cos on the other hand, a bit of freedom over how folks produce stuff adds to the fun ... which ultimately results in more participation. But kinda worrying that that freedom is diluting the purpose of the comp.

[yellowfever]

No yellowfever, we have not done polyiblit. I take that as a recommendation?

Yup

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

(I smell some irony in there )

Oh, I liked; indeed. It's one of those ones which was telling a story to my ears.

They're all great.

It's going to be very tough to vote.

[MOK19]

So, I just want to know, where are we all hanging right now? Do I/we need to be more specific/restrictive when writing up the rules re. Fx?

In my case, there was one specific problem of misreading your wording on the rules. You said Native EQ was okay but other fx blah blah. I read that to mean native EQ and fx were ok. Which lead to much last-minute dialogue about not-Rogue.

So I don't think you need to do anything to refocus the competition, and if you absolutely have to do somethin, then just check back on your sentence structure. But again, I really don't think that's necessary. Everything's pretty clear, both in letter and spirit.

[Nahkranoth]

How about Majken's Subduer as a candidate?

[tattiemannie]

Cheers MOK19, you have a good point there ... I dont think it does any harm though to emphasise what the comp is all about, but glad you feel I dont have to make any changes .... cos I actually dont want to

Anyway, submission deadline has come and gone .... I'll get the voting thread up soon.

Meanwhile, keep throwing in those synth suggestions

[Nahkranoth]

Hey, tattie, can you make the zipped version of the whole OSC (mp3+txt)?
It gives me a headache to download every single track and it would be easier for other people as well

[tattiemannie]

Yeah nahkronoth, thats what I normally do ... though I dont usually include the txts in the zip, but this time I'm gonna do that!

[Nahkranoth]

Thank ye, kind sir!
And if my nick is too long to type, use the shortened - "Noth". That's because it's the second time during 24 hours that it's misspelled