One Synth Challenge #71: Hive by u-he (Jasinski wins! 2+ hours of epic music)

[Yeager]

Congratz to the top 5, and to the rest of you old farts WELL DONE !

[Bjulin]

Yup, passing down the prize is the humble act of increasing the chance of 'top loot' for the next person.



K, prizes finished:
#1. Bazille (Jasinski) - Request sent
#2. Diversion (Photonic) - Request sent
#3. Pass
#4. Balance Mastering (ThePresent) - Finished
#5. Pass

ooook... that´s cool! I´m going to complete my Ayin Zahev Sound Collection
I´ll take Dystopia 1 + 2

Cheers!

[bjporter]

K, prizes finished:
#1. Bazille (Jasinski) - Request sent
#2. Diversion (Photonic) - Request sent
#3. Pass
#4. Balance Mastering (ThePresent) - Finished
#5. Pass

[/quote]

That's the final prize list. Top 5 get prizes unless we vote to change it

[MTLE]

Wondering who voted for the top 5 if so many people here don't really like it. Except Photonic and ThePresent I have no idea what does the other 3 tracks have so extraordinary. I'm sorry, the winner starts with a minute of terrible noise. Well, everything is mixed nice and there is a lot of sound design in these tracks. From composition and musical quality there are better tracks in this round. (I do not talk about mine!)
I'm open to almost every style, but after some rounds of OSC the etreme cluttered tracks are annoying to me.

Anyway, congrats to the winners.

[Bjulin]

uh, ok... missunderstanding there. No problem!

on the other hand: I vote for a change!

[wagtunes]

Wondering who voted for the top 5 if so many people here don't really like it. Except Photonic and ThePresent I have no idea what does the other 3 tracks have so extraordinary. I'm sorry, the winner starts with a minute of terrible noise. Well, everything is mixed nice and there is a lot of sound design in these tracks. From composition and musical quality there are better tracks in this round. (I do not talk about mine!)
I'm open to almost every style, but after some rounds of OSC the etreme cluttered tracks are annoying to me.

Anyway, congrats to the winners.

Thank you. At least I'm not the only one who heard that and literally had to turn it off.

But that's why one vote doesn't decide these things, which is how it should be. If the majority feels that these are the best tracks, who am I to question.

Anyway, yeah, congrats to the winners.

They earned it fair and square.

[z.prime]

I'm really curious, should people not experiment with sound in musical composition? Given a synthesizer, should we all use it in traditional ways? Should we stick to 12 tone scales entirely without deviation? Perhaps we should emulate only classical instruments? And have a standard arrangement of sounds? Where is the line between creativity and noise? And to whom should the track be catered?

I think most people who enter this contest are far from being "pro". Most people make the music for fun and enter this contest for some friendly competition. My tracks are so far from what I want them to be on all fronts, but that's why I keep making them: to learn and get better. Personally, I know a lot of you hate my tracks. And really, it doesn't bother me at all; though I am also absolutely open to hearing constructive criticism! But I'm going to do whatever I feel like; I might completely surprise you one day with something completely different...

But it's a little discouraging to see so much negativity this time around, honestly. I could have seen the voting go a bit differently, but overall things were pretty much as I expected them to be. Everyone understands that musical tastes are different; but perhaps instead of talking about how "bad" the winning track(s) are, how they lack whatever musical merit you may deem most important, spend some time to create a composition that is truly phenomenal and prove how important the composition is and how powerful it can be! But also keep in mind, there is a limited amount of time for the contest each month, so when not every entry is a Beethoven Sonata, you really shouldn't be surprised.

I will add one other point, not directly related to this month's competition, but modern electronic music in general: it does very frequently have limited musical content. A 2-4 bar phrase that repeats is certainly very common, interspersed with fancy effects and other types of automation to keep it from getting absolutely boring. Some people like that. Pop music is very similar and yet many people like pop music, too. And you may not, which is perfectly fine. But understand that it is very popular for a reason. But unfortunately also very short lived due to the lack of complexity...

[Szlartibartfaszt]

Congratulations to the winners and every participants! This OSC was fun, I learnt a few things, met a few phenomena again. Notes updated, lesson drawn, on to the next project!

[bjporter]

Glad we have a lot of different voters here. One thing can be for certain: If a track gets #1 it's almost surely due to a few factors: Tremendous production values, and/or superb composition, and/or amazing sound design.

I've been meaning to write a comprehensive exhortation on how to improve one's track in the OSC (and get a higher ranking presumably).

One of the questions I ask myself: Could I easily re-produce this track? Or is there something really crazy / special going on.

[doctorbob]

@Z.Prime ... well said- I hear you ...

Basically you can look at the voting in 2 ways ...

1. People liked my track, but they liked others more.

2. People hated my track, but hated others less.

OSC is about making music, across genres (some you like, others you like less), being creative with making sounds from a single synth, mixing/mastering, but most of all having fun and learning.

I have learnt that my "style" of music is not likely to appeal to enough people here to get into the high spots (except when there were only a few entries hehe!) - but, enough people DO like it and say so, which is a nice pat on the back for this old-timer. I get plenty of "advice" on here via comments and PM's. I like the interaction, and well, if you like my track, all good and well, if you hate it, well, that's your choice (not necessarily your "problem" - hehe).

Remember, everyone loves their own musical baby born out of one month's hard labour!

dB

[bjporter]

I have learnt that my "style" of music is not likely to appeal to enough people here to get into the high spots (except when there were only a few entries hehe!) -

I agree with everything but this part...I absolutely know you can place in top 5. Some unconventional OSC genres here for example:

https://soundcloud.com/cactoos/cactoos- ... ard-osc-56
#1 winner, From OSC#56: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-56-mono-fury

or

https://soundcloud.com/paulmehlhaff/pul ... sh-captain
#2 winner, from OSC#62: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-62-polyiblit

Not the usual genres, but definitely did well. I'm going to make a post about these sort of tracks, and why they do well, and some tips how to improve your track, etc.

[doctorbob]

@BJP - yeah OK ... I might be sulking a bit - look forward to your hints and tips ... I sort of know what I should do if I want top 5 glory, but I simply just keep on making tracks which people comment on and like, but like other tracks more, simple as that I'm sure. As I said it's not about the top 5 at all, that's just a little bit of icing on the top of the cake - the rest of the experience is the most valuable to me, and really should be to others as well. Not saying we shouldn't "strive" for the glory, we are all "driven" people, else we would not be here.

But, all things considered it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on what makes a top 5-er, in an abstract sort of way - it's easy to say good composition, good sounds design, good mixing, good mastering etc etc ... but putting your finger on that little extra something, well, that's a hard thing to do.

dB

[bjporter]

@BJP - yeah OK ... I might be sulking a bit - look forward to your hints and tips ... I sort of know what I should do if I want top 5 glory, but I simply just keep on making tracks which people comment on and like, but like other tracks more, simple as that I'm sure. As I said it's not about the top 5 at all, that's just a little bit of icing on the top of the cake - the rest of the experience is the most valuable to me, and really should be to others as well. Not saying we shouldn't "strive" for the glory, we are all "driven" people, else we would not be here.

But, all things considered it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on what makes a top 5-er, in an abstract sort of way - it's easy to say good composition, good sounds design, good mixing, good mastering etc etc ... but putting your finger on that little extra something, well, that's a hard thing to do.

dB

Ah yeah I should have phrased that - perhaps how to make one's track shine greatly or even sound more 'produced' etc. There are definitely key differences between top 5-15 tracks. It could be sharper eq'ed sounds, more panned out, richer, bigger bass, etc in terms of mixing. With sound design, for example a really realistic guitar might make a track shine, or maybe a really powerful kick, or amazing percussion. With composition, I think most of you guys have that, but there are a few things one can do to make it shine more.

[z.prime]

... it's easy to say good composition, good sounds design, good mixing, good mastering etc etc ... but putting your finger on that little extra something, well, that's a hard thing ...

But, really, it does amount to that. But not just good - the best of the month. If everyone is good than no one is going to stand out for the top spots... and obviously some talented people are submitting tracks all the time.

This is also why I always group composition & creativity together. Having very nice chords, nice changes is one thing but, again, that's just a good song at best. Throwing in a part about a rocket blasting off is unique. It makes the track as a whole something more. Something to tell more of a story. Whatever that 'creative' bit is... it's hard to put a finger on, for sure.

But being the best means spending more time to make a string sound just right, or to clean up the muddy low end of a mix, or pitch bend automation to add some nuance, or adding some barely audible effects to spice up a section that is just lacking a little something, or whatever it is... it's spending the time to make the best patches and make the best track and make it all sound the best. All of those things work together to make something wonderful and I'm sure will be reflected appropriately in the voting. Using the example of the Spanish Captain... it had the best patch of the month. That Spanish guitar, unsurpassed. But then, it was also programmed extremely well with nuance.

[ImNotDedYet]

Wondering who voted for the top 5 if so many people here don't really like it. Except Photonic and ThePresent I have no idea what does the other 3 tracks have so extraordinary. I'm sorry, the winner starts with a minute of terrible noise. Well, everything is mixed nice and there is a lot of sound design in these tracks. From composition and musical quality there are better tracks in this round. (I do not talk about mine!)
I'm open to almost every style, but after some rounds of OSC the etreme cluttered tracks are annoying to me.

Anyway, congrats to the winners.

It was actually a helluva buildup that didn't lose my interest, and to do that for a minute takes some skill. The flow of the song is very well done IMO with nice builds and breaks, the mix is spot on, and there's a nice variety of "types of sounds" as you get some more gentle sounds around the two minute mark. Musically, not my thing, but certainly when considering overall song composition, mix and sounds, it was very well done.