One Synth Challenge #73 special: Synthmaster (Jasinski wins!)

[Anthony Newcomb]

I simply find most "EDM" stuff incredibly boring (sorry, Anthony Newcomb, no hate, just my taste)

Well it's all personal taste. I personally don't think my song is EDM as its not really a dance song. Maybe a new Knight rider theme...haha

So with that said, I guess what is clear with the votes is that nobody is afraid to score low with something they don't like. I think what is leading to a lot of aggravation is the lack of anonymity in the voting system. For myself, I was a little shocked to see that all that information was available for everyone. And I'm not really sure the reasons why it's so.....available

[fese]

Oh, and congrats to all who took part!

[bjporter]

I tried a new way to vote, but won't do it again. I normally try and vote outside of my emotions, and this time I didn't, and it's incredible how quickly your feelings change about a song. The colder, more removed from the song, the more likely you have a solid score. However, if too cold, it seems to remove the own reviewer's feeling, so i'll leave a bit of emotion in. Next time I'll change it to:
1 - seems to lack much effort,
2 - Could be improved in various ways / harsh / rough draft sound,
3 - A great effort, but perhaps the sounds are not interesting, the mixing is ok, and the composition doesn't work for me,
4 - Polished tune, good effort on mixing, composition. The sounds are well done.
5 - Mixing / Composition / sounds good, but something really incredible, or breath taking in this tune.

[Reefius]

Congrats to the winners! I'm somewhere in the middle, I think I did even better than last month. And knowing that I was kinda crippled by the fact that I could not create my own sounds with the free player, I'm quite happy with the result

What's with all the negativity and conspiry theories every month when the results are posted? Why enter a competition if you don't like to lose? Very sad...

[fese]

Well it's all personal taste. I personally don't think my song is EDM as its not really a dance song. Maybe a new Knight rider theme...haha

No, i didn't mean to imply that ours is a dance song

So with that said, I guess what is clear with the votes is that nobody is afraid to score low with something they don't like. I think what is leading to a lot of aggravation is the lack of anonymity in the voting system. For myself, I was a little shocked to see that all that information was available for everyone. And I'm not really sure the reasons why it's so.....available

It's all about transparency, if our governments aren't, at least let us be

I personally don't think the lack of anonymity is aggravating, i find it kind of interesting, e.g. i noticed that most of the people who voted me a 1 had tracks that i actually didn't care about much, so i guess taste goes both ways, and i can live with that.

@wagtunes: you will notice that those who gave z.prime a 1 (apart from himself) were exactly those who have that bad generosity score, so of course it is not a statement about quality. Doesn't change the outcome, though, the top 5 wouldn't change if you removed those votes.

Still, just for reminding people that obviously biased voting is not nice, I would maybe opt for removing the vote with the worst generosity score.

[Parduz]

I also can't figure out all the 1's and 2's I got as well.

Ok, seems to me it is time to explain my "2", then.
I hope to be able to explain myself with my poor english... i lack of enough words (let alone proper grammar) so pls take my words with a bit of .... elasticity: i'll use some words to explain more a "color" or an emotion than a proper meaning.

(I'm writing while listening the parts i mention, looped until i need to write about the next part)


Your composition starts with a low arpeggio in a minor tone, surrounded by a dark sweeping pad. The two chord sequence sounds a bit "mid-eastern". I'm intrigued, and i'm waiting to the "start" after the intro, curious about where you'll bringing me.
At 0:30 a "square" Kick Drum starts, with a bass-line and shortly after with a lead synth. Here's where i jumped the first time:

• the kick drum is "square", but the bass-line is off-tempo after the very first 5 notes. It regain the beat after but in general is off.
• The lead start with repeated "jumps" between the dominant and the fifth. Nothing wrong, here it is just a matter of taste, but it annoys me.
• No more traces of the suggested "mid-eastern" tone... i was bring back to "standard" techno (house? EDM? i'm not able to assign genres) harmony.

At 0:35 the hi-hat and the snare enters.

• Also off-beat. Around 0:50 the snare and the kick are at the most "distance".
• The lead keeps jumping on the root and the fifth, sometime replcating the bass line, sometime "shredding around" (and somtime off-beat also). It gives me the idea of an uninspired player (yes, i know, lead parts are hard).

1:00 Here begins the "Genesis" part, IMO the best of the composition. A nice, happy chord progression and well suited pads. I like the "short" bass-line. At 1:39 another lead start, and it's beautiful.... it "talks", it's telling a story, he's bringing me somewhere. It ends at 2:05, where another part starts... I believed it was a bridge to something other, instead it was and ending, followed by another ending, which i felt a bit too long for such a short voyage.
At the end, i felt "abandoned". None of the three parts (the "mid-eastern" intro, the EDM first half, and the slow paced second half) were "finished": they promised me to bring me in a travel but the voyage never happened.

Now, so much of what i said is a matter of personal tastes and personal "involvement" with the song, but i think that, while not agreeing, you can understand what i mean. But IMO the EDM part is the worst: it sounds "bad". I'm not saying that you should quantize everything, but the off-beat i hear is too much to call it "humanized".... obviously, IMO again.
Anyway, that's my reasoning beyond my "2", which is a "2" 'cause the "Genesis-like" part is really good, but no more than "2" 'cause also the good part sounds unfinished.

Hope that this all don't hurt you. As i always said, i just like to talk about music, and i have no titles to support my reasoning.

I could submit a symphony with full orchestra all synthed out and probably still come close to the bottom.
Nobody likes that stuff. Nobody wants to hear that stuff. It wouldn't matter how good it was. If Z-Prime can get a professionally done track rated a 1 by even one person, then this has nothing to do with skill.
And with that, I actually feel a lot better about my results because quite honestly, they don't reflect anything more than the tastes of the community.
Why that surprised me is something I will never understand.
Because duh! That's how the whole world works.
It's not how good you are but whether or not people like you, which is why songs like "Celluloid Heroes" don't chart and songs like "Coco" are big hits.
(Scratches head as he walks away shaking it)

I don't get this all. If there was a recipe to produce always great songs, we will never complains about the last album by Toto, or Michael Jackson, or Aerosmith, or Led Zeppelin, saying "Still is not at the level of that old album".
Even the most great artists had surprises when a song they loved did'nt become a hit as they were thinking, but another one they felt of less quality sold millions of copies. Sometimes a song clicks, sometime not, without care of the composer thoughts.
And there's not an artist or group loved by everyone. I don't like Led Zeppelin. I feel that "Whole lotta love" is an example about how to ruin a marvelous, powerful guitar riff with a dull verse (talking about music, not lyrics). I also keep my No Sweat's CD like a treasure, 'cause no one remember who they was while i think it was on of the greatest albums of the "hair/glam rock" genre. Am i wrong? I don't think so. Is the whole world wrong then? i don't think either. Music resonates to each of us in a different manner, we can't think that there is a Truth.
Also, we (OSC contestant) are a very small sample: we can't know how could it goes if we had, say, 2000 votes. So i think we should'nt jump on big assetion about what's good and what's awful. I value each critic i get 'cause i have 1/100 of the experience (and perhaps also of the talent) some ppl here have.... still, we're just a small group of ppl having fun with instruments

[wagtunes]

@Parduz

Thanks for taking the time to break that all down for me. At least it gives me something to go on.

[fese]

Hey, Parduz, that was a pretty detailed and fair explanation of your thought process, but you gave me a 2, too, now I also want your comment on my track

(no, seriously, don't feel obliged to!)

[Anthony Newcomb]

It's all about transparency, if our governments aren't, at least let us be

I personally don't think the lack of anonymity is aggravating, i find it kind of interesting.

I suppose...interesting it is then. Well guys I'm going to sign off and move on. I've got important matters to attend to. This has been pretty fun and a cool experience.

[RichardSemper]

Congratulations to Jasinski, z.prime, H-man, Lemmike, and Harthstein, all very well deserved!

And thanks to everyone who participated and voted. You all make this a great forum and community to be involved in.
Must get a good word in for Mojo42, SoundGoddess, and all the peeps who contributed to the OSC soundbank; awesome community effort, without which this comp might have been quite different. Thank you guys n gals
and also thanks to Brian, KVR and KV331 - keep up the good work

Hopefully i might soon be able to get involved with the next dexed one, hmmm FM

[fese]

Must get a good word in for Mojo42, SoundGoddess, and all the peeps who contributed to the OSC soundbank; awesome community effort, without which this comp might have been quite different.

yeah, I didn't notice those after until it was to late

[MTLE]

Congrats to the Top 5 , though I voted a bit different.
For my taste Top 6 should be in reversed order, Harthstein and evo2slo are my favourites.

I feel fine with my position in the ranking. 22 is in upper half. A problem is still a strong difference between the comments on the track, which are most friendly. Voting is really different and I got low scores from people with very frienldy comments.
(Not asking people to be less friendy. )

But I discovered this by my own voting procedure. Sometimes I comment a track (never made it to comment all, sorry) when it comes out and I like it particular or at all. In the voting compared with other tracks I can't hold them up as I would.

People who are disappointed with own scores should get used to it. It was not the last time if you continue participating.
I know what I'm talking about

[doctorbob]

I was almost sure, as badly as I did, that Z-Prime had given me a 1 or a 2, even though I felt my song was a solid 3.

Guess what?

He agreed with me. He gave me a 3.

I too value the opinions of those who are consistently in the top 5. As I said, this time round, they liked it, so that to me means musically and production-wise I am not so far off!

And with that, I actually feel a lot better about my results because quite honestly, they don't reflect anything more than the tastes of the community.

In the main you are probably right. This of course does not mean this is a rigged or uncrackable forum. I do hope you continue to work here and submit tunes. As many have said, the 1 month or so deadline helps to focus the mind on the tasks, and then the fact you have to use just one synth is simply an amazing challenge, and worth every minute of pain to participate. I simply enjoy presenting my different styles of music for people to enjoy, or not as the case may be.

Not sure why there is SO much attention to the detail on people's percussion patches. Some synths will let you make decent perc sounds, others may need lots of clever layering to get close to a decent sound. I just think all this effort can sometimes detract from the production of a stonking track. But then, yes, I have to admit that perhaps this is simply part of the "challenge" each month. So be it.

It's not how good you are but whether or not people like you

In part maybe, but I don't think you can construe bad marks as anything personal. If I thought that was the case, I would be outta here PDQ.

Hope you can muster the effort to come into the next round - at least WE can compete against each other if nothing else -

Cheers all, and again, well done to the winners, let's not take THAT it away from them.

dB

[BlitBit]

First of all: Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who has participated this month! As always it has been a very interesting experience, a great opportunity to apply all the things learned since the last contest and a great motivation to actually finish a song.

What's with all the negativity and conspiry theories every month when the results are posted? Why enter a competition if you don't like to lose? Very sad...

I think part of it might stem from the "schizophrenic" (or rather bipolar?) nature of the contest and atmosphere in the forum during the contest. Let me explain what I mean.

In the beginning everyone seems to be excited about the new synth, there is so much new and interesting stuff to explore and learn. There is a great atmosphere in the forum. People help out each other, swap presets, give advice on songs which are released early in the cycle. Everything is cozy and warm.

Then the voting and main commenting phase on SoundCloud begins. No one wants to come across as offending and therefore mostly nice comments are posted to the tracks. You have heard your song a thousand times during production and you can really identify with it. It's hard for you to imagine what impression it will make on listeners who will hear it for the first time and who especially don't have the time to listen to it as often as you have done. But hey, they must like it, otherwise you would not get these nice comments. So you have this great track and everyone is writing nice things in the comments. Wow! That's it! This time you will hit it big and might score in the upper half of the field. You can't wait until the voting results are released.

The voting results are released and harsh reality kicks in. People might not have voted as nice as the comments on SoundCloud seemed to promise. There are some people who don't like the genre you have composed for and who have likely not commented at all. People don't use the same voting system as you do. You are surprised at the results and your dreams are destroyed (once again?)! Perhaps an iceberg is a good metapher for it. The bigger part of it is not visible in the first phases of the contest and in the end it might surprise you.

I hope that this does not come across as bitter because I am not. It's just how the dynamics of the OSCs appear to me now that I have attended them (a measly) four times.

I really like the OSCs (otherwise I would not have attended them repeatedly) because I think they are a great opportunity to learn something. They "force" you to think about what you do, make you work outside of a comfort zone and are a great opportunity to get feedback on what you do. In fact the only songs I have ever finished are the ones for the OSC and for that alone I am very thankful that it exists.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised about the results as well but I guess I have fallen victim to the aforementioned identification problem. I liked it more than my entry for the Synth1 challenge where I have scored right in the middle. Therefore I thought that this time the result should be even better. But hey, you cannot predict the results especially with so many unknowns.

Guess I will attend the OSC again in one the next months so that the whole vicious cycle can start over again.

[SoundGoddess]

@foxAsteria - I did really like your song, I only gave it a 4 instead of 5 because it was a little long for me.