OSC13 - Synth1 - Totolitoto Wins!

[wakkadude]

My Votes:

Land of Green Ginger 5
Another Soundtrack 5
R2l4 4
Wide Open 4
Hyacinth1 3
TheLastSynthOnEarth 2
Synth one Thingamabob 2
13 Moons and a Sun too 1

I found it really hard to form an objective opinion (without involving my personal preferences), which I ended up doing to some extend.. I couldn't have figured it out otherwise!
I think these tracks stand out when it comes to: sound design, mix, composition, originality. (Or at least the majority of the criteria)

Most of the other tracks are great too, in there own right. but to me these are the ones^^

21 Synths One - Wakkadude. 1

haha, I feel like a winner already
Gracias!!

[orbik]

Ok, here comes.. some comments first (hope I don't come off as too rude ), points at the bottom. I decided to vote according to what I happened to like most, with not that much attention to "objectivity". The tracks are (almost) in order by time of submission.

Many as One - Xenobioz

Interesting mystical soundscape. I liked the simple but effective percussion, and eastern wind instrument-like lead lines. The song progresses nicely in different moods - calm, tension, danger, rush - but lacks a "conclusion", the ending seems arbitrary.

The crimson - guitarbro

5ths-happy
Could've given more attention to sound design.
Mid-way when all instruments are playing sounds pretty nice - chords, lead, rhythm... But kind of flattens later on.

13 Moons and a Sun too - MA-Simon

This baroque'ish arrangement feels like a green alien tripping on acid.
But sounds all too messy - the distortion and harmony defying pitch bends make me flinch a little.

Impromptus 1,2,3 - mrblitz000

Omg, my ears aren't trained to handle these complex chord structures. :p Are these compositions some kind of a protest?
Rhythmically simple though - 4/4 and everything quantized to 16th notes.

Wide Open - orbik

Argh, my ears! What is this sh*t. There's just no sense of rhythm, harmony, or anything musical about it. That supposed to be brass? Sounds more like farting in an can. And the attempt at a lead solo was hilarious first, but got quickly boring . I hope I won't hear more from this guy again.

Synth one thingamabob - ah dziz

Not really my style of music, but those "computer bleep" sounds made me smile. Drum programming is pretty elaborate - sound and sequencing.

Nice Patch Shame About The Song - Mouxbar

Sounds like minimalistic techno combined with slow attack pad chords. Again not exactly my style, and those chords could use some variation.

Back To The Groove - K-Bee

Synthetic chillout groove - me likes. But somewhat repetitive. The breaks at 1:30 and 3:35 do their part nicely though. I would've liked to hear more play with chord progressions, and maybe a lead of some sort. The snare sound caught my ear as surprisingly realistic, and turns out it's basically just enveloped filtered white noise with low freq peak eq - a preset by kaiyoti. Makes me wish the other instruments were of similar quality though - less distinctive source-filter character.

Thus Spoke Piazzolla - Steplton

Others have pointed out that this is more of a cover than original composition, but that doesn't mean it lacks merit. The instruments are carefully arranged and the lead and e-piano solos show respectable talent. Actually I'm not a big fan of that accordion, or the sound accordions in general :p, but this is certainly a worthy tribute to mr. Piazzolla, previously unknown to me. As a little downside the mix seems heavy on the treble, especially the cymbals/hi-hats.

Another Soundtrack - Yeager

I'm having mixed feelings about this. The most prominent feature is the big war movie-like drum section towards the end, which together with the string/choir pad makes for a really nice sounding "epic" atmosphere. But the techno synth like parts seem misplaced in comparison. And this "creaking rusty door hinge" sound.. aarg. I'd rather hear a completely orchestral arrangement. Oh and I think the first submitted version sounded better - cleaner dynamics, less distortion.

Lighthouse Island - Mac of BIOnighT

19 minutes whew, where should I begin? The composition is more like a medley of several nearly independent sections sonically bridged together to create this continuum of melodic ambient bliss. Nothing spectacular synth programming-wise, though I like the choice of sounds in general, and that noiselike texture at ~1:30 and between 7 and 8 min is clever. On their own, the parts are quite straightforward, but seems like the real merit is in making the whole a fluent and enjoyable experience. But still, makes me wish the entries had length limitation. Would a 3 min limit really suppress your productivity, or rather work as a stimulus?

Hyacinth1 - tattiemannie

I can almost smell the flowers. The intricate interplay between the various synth lead lines induce a feeling of happiness - although they could benefit from some moderation of portamento glides. Also I'm not sure if I like the banjo thingie. And again, more elaborate chord progressions could really make a difference. Overall, this track still stands out positively.

Follow the Groove - HiEnergy

Mmm, nice clavinet groove right from the start. Too bad the rest of the rhythm section seem lacking - that jumpy bassline, and I can hardly hear other percussion besides the shaker, and later the bongos. That trumpet flutter-like effect on the lead sounds interesting but could be used more sparingly. It's also quite repetitive, which doesn't help. Anyway, with a strong groove support from bass & drums this could be fighting for top spots.

AlphaSynthExpress - AbstractCats
Dreaming At dusk - AbstractCats

Grouped together because the feeling I got from the second one was almost identical to the other. :p I'd describe both as loop-based, experimental, not exactly sophisticated. Some nice-sounding ideas, but overall a rather.. abstract mishmash of synthness.

R2L4 - Kaiyoti

First impression: turn down the volume! I mean really, the sound is just so submerged in clipping distortion and dynamic compression artifacts that it makes more careful listening a somewhat painful experience, for me at least. The composition... focuses on a single "theme" with actually quite catchy chord progression. It's then explored with a healthy array of different sounds (patches). Anyway, percussion and bass lack cohesion and together with some midrange accompaniment result in this part inharmonious chaos. With proper mixing&mastering this would still be worth at least a point or two, imo.

TheLastSynthOnEarth - Totolitoto

Still not really my style but that slow and powerful feel from the drums and (sub) bass track ownz. But apart from that, and from introducing several (quite typical) synth sounds into the mix, we're left with a constant droning F# natural minor (with a hint of phrygian), and whether that's good or bad is a matter of taste - personally I'd prefer more melodical progression.

Final Frontier - MajorBloodnok

I seem to have a personal affection towards that gated, filter modulated octave bassline. That and the overall song structure remind me of early 90s game music. Composition could use a break or two - a part b? Sound design isn't particularly impressive (except the bass), and the tonewheel organ feels a bit too dominating.

Sunny Ode - dwsel

Just drums and a sharp attack lead - and occassionally a violin? I seem to recall a quote (or was it a joke) about bands without various instruments - basically anything else missing made a band something special, but without a bass player it's just shit. :p The melody sounds fine anyway (you have lyrics for this?) and I have a feeling that given the right backing, this could be a hit song.

Visions of a Seagull - Nahkranoth

Somewhat similar to mouxbar's entry. Maybe with more tonal variation - chord progressions. Don't really have much to say about this.

feeling of weirdness - shroom feverish

This track carries on with the ever so popular monotonic one chord, stepsequenced, resonantfiltersweeped, long crossdelayed techno/trance-line I wouldn't say generally catches my fancy, but manages to do it in enough sense of style that listening again a few times didn't even hurt.

Nucleus-1 - cosmo1

Mm, a real resonant filter sweep fest. Lead guitarist has a great sound for being a synth emulation - but should work on that vibrato technique to make it more natural. The distant drums and the pink floyd-like lead could make an excellent ambient track but with something more gentle as bass, harmony etc.

Land of Green Ginger - Mr Wobble

Oh yeah, dreamy ambient acid jazz. With an excellent selection of acoustic-sounding patches - the piano, upright bass, brushed snare - gj. The vibraphone(?) and that woodwind thing at 1 minute mark could be better though. Maybe shorter attack & release on the strings to avoid mud in chord changes too. And the high lead, hmm, sounds like a Cross between a saxophone and a tesla coil. I would've liked to hear more - maybe a solo - by that wind (sax?) at 00:27. Also the composition suffers from a little monotony in my ears, but other aspects more than make up for it.

Karma Sutra - V'ger

Ambient music the way it should be done, well at least in the right direction. Sounded really good up to about half way. After that the atmosphere kinda collapses with the trance-like pads and stuff.

21 Synths One - Wakkadude

Quantization and/or good timing is overrated, right? And what is this I hear - a synth bass solo, but not guitar! Blasphemy! Ok, honestly if the timing wasn't so off, and if the bass was doing what a bass should be doing - providing a base for harmony and rhythm, this could be one of my favorites in this challenge.

And the points go to:

Code: Select all

5   Thus Spoke Piazzolla   Steplton
5   Land of Green Ginger   Mr Wobble
5   Back To The Groove     K-Bee
3   Hyacinth1              tattiemannie
2   TheLastSynthOnEarth    Totolitoto
2   Lighthouse Island      Mac of BIOnighT
2   Many as One            Xenobioz
1   Final Frontier         MajorBloodnok
1   Karma Sutra            V'ger

[hakey]

Thanks for the kind words orbik about my little tune, and I completely agree with the criticisms. FWIW, the sax patch is the same one that produces the flutey tones towards the end - I named it saxamafloot - and the brushed snare effect is 4 separate patches, pretty much just filtered noise with different env settings all going through a bit of small room type verb.

Was the funk guitar patch in your track your own? How did you get the wah - was it through using the filter in band pass mode, or with the eq? A nice patch, but what really made it for me was the use of spot on phrasing that really suggested funk guitar technique. Very clever.

[orbik]

Wide Open - orbik 10 points
The single best piece of music ever to be featured in any osc! EVER!!

Yes!! Couldn't agree more!

Your support is noted and appreciated. If only more people would think like you...
Let's have some more emoticons

[Mac of BIOnighT]

hey, thanks Totolitoto, slugfest99, and orbik for the votes! At least I'll not be responsible for choosing the next synth

Would a 3 min limit really suppress your productivity, or rather work as a stimulus?

Actually, track length is just a coincidence - or rather, I just follow the musical flow. I also have a track that's just 8 seconds long, just like I have 26 minutes long tracks, and every other length imaginable in between

[orbik]

Was the funk guitar patch in your track your own? How did you get the wah - was it through using the filter in band pass mode, or with the eq? A nice patch, but what really made it for me was the use of spot on phrasing that really suggested funk guitar technique. Very clever.

It's actually the bandpass (or is it lowpass) filter associated with the distortion effect (a.d.1)
If you have Reaper (and the used plugins) you can get the project file I uploaded to http://ihme.org/~orbik/mp3/osc/wide%20open.RPP and see what's going on.

[cosmosis]

Nucleus-1 - cosmo1

Lead guitarist has a great sound for being a synth emulation - but should work on that vibrato technique to make it more natural.

I hear ya. The plan was to make it natural and exagerated vibrato for the last note, and change the sound to make it more synth-like. I upped it at the last minute unfinished. I don't have much free times these days, but synth1 being my favorite synth, I wasn't gonna miss it

[wakkadude]

Great feedback, you've done all the entries

Quantization and/or good timing is overrated, right?

Well, this was an attempt to get a more acoustic feel. quantizing would make the tune sound static, as I figured - but that might have been better then badly timed drums after al.

And what is this I hear - a synth bass solo, but not guitar! Blasphemy!

hmm, this is probably do to lack of general musical knowledge (bad timing probably too).
what part of the track are you referring to exactly?

Ok, honestly if the timing wasn't so off, and if the bass was doing what a bass should be doing - providing a base for harmony and rhythm, this could be one of my favorites in this challenge.

This kind of inspires me to improve!

Could you maybe point me to some reference music I could Learn from?

Thank you for your effort, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll benefit from your feedback!

Cheers!

[tattiemannie]

Orbik, wakkadude, cheers for the votes ...( and the comments Orbik! )...


.... OSC14 is launched!!!!

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 84#4005184

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

Orbik, thanks for writing.

I should have switched the 3rd and 2nd pieces. As they are, the 1st and 2nd are too much alike. Putting the 3rd between them would have made the series better.

The 1st piece has a minor arpeggio which is being shifted through the semitones on the pitch shifter.

The 2nd one has more structure, chordally. It's 12-bar blues. Admittedly, the different notes from the chords do overlap; and sometimes i'm playing outside the given chord, intentionally..

The 3rd piece has a cool bass sound, and some interesting violin-type sounds. It's in 3/4. The 3rd piece is probably the most interesting.

I really enjoy the different ways synth1 can sound, and just noodling around on the computer keyboard with synth1 and quantize.

[V'ger]

Wide Open - orbik

Argh, my ears! What is this sh*t. There's just no sense of rhythm, harmony, or anything musical about it. That supposed to be brass? Sounds more like farting in an can. And the attempt at a lead solo was hilarious first, but got quickly boring . I hope I won't hear more from this guy again.

Cruel, but had to be said.. Let's just hope he takes this to heart..

[HiEnergy]

My votes are as follows:

Wide Open: 6
TheLastSynthOnEarth: 5
Land of Green Ginger: 4
Hyacinth1: 3
Thus Spoke Piazzolla: 2
Karma Sutra: 2
R2L4: 1
Lighthouse Island: 1
Visions of a Seagull: 1
synth one thingamabob: 1

Was a tough decision on some of those tracks' rankings (at least for me).

[Totolitoto]

TheLastSynthOnEarth - Totolitoto
[...]we're left with a constant droning F# natural minor (with a hint of phrygian)

Damn, what an ear you have, I didn't know that myself
I agree about the lack of chord progression, but I've never been confortable with this, so I prefer not to go this way. I wish I could, though...

[MajorBloodnok]

Final Frontier - MajorBloodnok

I seem to have a personal affection towards that gated, filter modulated octave bassline. That and the overall song structure remind me of early 90s game music. Composition could use a break or two - a part b? Sound design isn't particularly impressive (except the bass), and the tonewheel organ feels a bit too dominating.

Thanks for these constructive comments - very fair and right on the money. I sort of knew that these were issues but didn't have the ability to sort them. And thanks for the vote!

MajorBloodnok

[tattiemannie]

Cheers for the votes HiEnergy , and thanks again for your help hakey!

So here's the story after 15 sets of votes!

1. (1.) The Last Synth on Earth - Totolitoto .... 2, 2, 6, 2, 8, 3, 4, 10, 10, 2, 2, 2, 5 = 58
2. (5=) Wide Open - Orbik .... 1, 1, 1, 10, 4, 2, 5, 1, 10, 4, 6 = 45
3. (4.) Land of Green Ginger - Mr Wobble .... 3, 10, 2, 5, 5, 2, 2, 5, 5, 4 = 43
4. (2.) R2L4 - Kaiyoti .... 2, 10, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 1 = 34
5. (3.) Synth One Thingamabob - Ah Dziz .... 1, 2, 1, 2, 8, 2, 7, 5, 2, 1 = 31
6. (8.) Thus Spoke Piazzolla - Steplton.... 2, 5, 4, 6, 6, 5, 2 = 30
7. (5=) Karma Sutra - V'ger .... 2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 2, 1, 2 = 28
8. (7.) Another Soundtrack - Yeager .... 7, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5 = 26
9. (9=) Hyacinth1 Tattiemannie .... 4, 2, 2, 5, 3, 3, 3 = 22
10 (9=) Many as One - Xenobioz .... 6, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2 = 18
11= (12=) LIGHTHOUSE_ISLAND - Mac_of_BIOnighT.... 2, 3, 2, 2, 1 = 10
11= (14=) Back To The Groove - K-bee .... 4, 1, 5 = 10
13= (11.) feeling_of_weirdness - shroom_feverish .... 3, 5 = 8
13= (12=) Visions of a Seagull - Nahkranoth .... 1, 2, 2, 2, 1 = 8
13= (14=) Nice Patch Shame About The Song - Mouxbar .... 1, 1, 3, 3 = 8
16= (16=) 13 Moons and a Sun too - MA-Simon .... 2, 1 = 3
16= (16=) Final Frontier - MajorBloodnok .... 2, 1 = 3
18. (16=) Sunny Ode - Dwsel.... 2
19. (19.) 21 Synths One - Wakkadude .... 1
20= (20=) AlphaSynthExpress - AbstractCats ....
20= (20=) Dreaming At dusk - AbstractCats ....
20= (20=) Impromptu(1,2,3) - mrblitz000 ....
20= (20=) Nucleus-1 - cosmo1 ....
20= (20=) The crimson - guitarbro ....
20= (20=) Follow the Groove - HiEnergy ....


(15 voters, 388 votes)


'Last Synth' stays strong out in front, but a bit of a shuffle has occurred from 2nd to 5th place ... 'Wide open' recovers to claim 2nd, with 'Green Ginger' sneaking into 3rd, and very close behind.

'R2L4' and 'thingamabob' lose some momentum, dropping to 4th and 5th respectively, and now find 'Piazzola', 'Karma Sutra' and Another Soundtrack breathing down their necks!

Not too far behind, 'Hyacinth1' and 'Many as One' stay more or less as they were, and still in with a chance of joining the chasers, whilst from 11th to 15th, two points seperate a tight group who could still yet make a sprint to make the top 3rd of the table .... but there's a lot of action still to come! .... and anything could happen ...!

Keep those votes coming!