OSC2 - Oatmeal only - VOTE!

[tattiemannie]

OK, Here it is! The poll for best oatmeal only track. Please try and listen to all the tracks before casting a vote ... I know it takes a while, but its the fair way to do things ...

However, I hope I've done enough to make it as easy as poss.

There are FOUR ways to go about accessing the tracks.

**METHOD 1. work your way through these individual links

http://www.4shared.com/file/103415716/9 ... usher.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/103822650/b ... -Diek.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/100662147/c ... it_23.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/103383950/2 ... dream.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/103822167/7 ... ation.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/103750965/e ... ation.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/103863351/8 ... rcusz.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/103865341/b ... icana.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/101977999/c ... annie.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/102034442/1 ... eturn.html

**METHOD 2. Go to the online folder

http://onesynthcomp.4shared.com/ .... and listen to the tracks, and read the info texts.... You can download what you want to hear later/again/keep forever!!

**METHOD 3. Go to said online folder and download the 'All Oatmeal tracks' zipped folder. This will be a lot quicker than downloading individual tracks, You will then have all the tracks in one place to listen to at your leisure!

**METHOD 4. Thanks to BrainOvulations efforts, you can find all the tracks loaded on a player here ..... http://www.ilfungomagico.it/


******Tattiemannies guide to voting******


A broad approach I would recommend would be to disregard genre and to some extent, production quality. Its more about how the artist an the chosen synth have produced the range and quality of sounds necessary for the track.
so .... we dont go asking "why no brass?" in a folk tune, anymore than we ask "why no soft pad?" in a punk track....... The idea from the outset is to create a track using only one synth..... and the proof of the pudding is about how that challenge has been met, so it's not about the merits of the synth, nor the merits of the track, it's about how the artist has shown that the limitation of using only one synth, does not necesarily limit their ability to produce a quality track, in a style of their choosing.

So I suppose what we're looking for as a yardstick is the "wow! you did that whole track with one synth and hardly any effects????????" factor ...
.... but thats my take on things .... feel free to apply your own criteria when casting your vote. .... who cares anyway?

[olicana]

my reviews

boiling oats:
killer gummy bass and some nice sequenced sounds (the glitchy vox in particular) toppling up the track creating abstract melodies. a great start.
dancing ice:
1 huge evolving sound......if tim Conrady was still around i bet he'd really love this one.
rabbit hole circuit:
an ode to oatmeal versatility...an entire track .nice noisy percussion work cmin in at 0:40.
i only eat oatmeal:
wow that kick is so punchy.(puts a tr909 to shame)impressive to say the least. the bass is quite impressive too.
not me:
interesting "woody" kick and all large stereo sounds. few elemnts but they fill the spectrum.
oa11meal:
some nice noisy percussions and and squelching sounds again everything so stereo..
oatscollider:
a great track. very enjoyable.favourite to win challenge both in terms of composition and in terms of sound.
organica:
not reviewing my track...just sayin RELEASE > any reverb....and oversamplin made me enjoy oatmeal so much more..... at 96khz sounds spectacular.(aliasing gone and more accurate filter modulation) .
porridge beats viagra:
that VOx lead is just kickass! wicked...catchy too.. some sounds i think could benfit from oversampling though .
forced return:
class. great composition. great all round sound (i'm a sucker for that bass sound and synth choirs). don like that phasing sound in background though.


difficult to choose (the level of skill was very high) but voted for "boiling oats". it just captures me sonically....dark and sparkly at times. simply beautyful for me.

[tattiemannie]

Great reviews olicana! .... You managed to write a lot of comment/info on the tracks but not overload the post with too many words ... nice work!

[tattiemannie]

Oh, did I mention the poll is only active for 7 days? ... No i didn't ...ooops, well, you know now

[BrainOvulation]

hi all, great tracks guys , congratulation all...if I got time I will also try make a short review

to make listening easier I thought about uploading and made quickly a page for listening....I think could be nice, I post you the link in private tattiemannie if you like the idea

[popmoney]

Dancing Ice is my favourite.Quite a bit of atmosphere and power there.

Oatscollider is a great sketch/collage.
Brain Ovulations track Oatl1meal track = very accomplished...sounds kind of English in a Autechre warp records Richard James kind of way.Like the chord progressions and the emotion in his/her other track too.Nice stuff.Gated synth a bit to loud in the mix on my system here though.I'd turn that down and bring up the bass
I only eat oatmeal :I'd like to hear the melody sung .Very nice.


all the best



I bet the oatmeal developer feels quite honoured by everyone's entries

[BrainOvulation]

tattiemannie said ok so here's new option to listen to the tracks, I just made this little page ---->



LISTEN OATMEAL TRACKS----> http://www.ilfungomagico.it



@tattiemannie: maybe you could edit the first post if you want and add this option

@popmoney: thanks for your comment!


enjoy

[tattiemannie]

Aaaaargh! I edited my first post and added that link, but for some reason the whole post has disappeared?? Admin? help?

I need to rush off to a gig, so nothing i can do about it now ... mind if I swear a bit?? *?!%*! ?**"%$ ***!!!?? ....!!

[tattiemannie]

OK, kind restored it i think!

[Mutant]

My fav is Yeagers Forced Return

[tattiemannie]

OK, I got it restored, but it doesn't like having that link added BrainOvulation

Gotta go now, i'll get it fixed tomorrow.


EDIT ... update ... got the link in!!

[do_androids_dream]

many thanks for the kind words about my tune people

popmoney - i'm working with a vocalist friend of mine so that might become a reality! its going to be very 80's synth pop orientated...


i'm staggered by what people are achieving with this synth. everyone's compositions are of a very high standard and i have found it hard to decide who to vote for.


heres my mini review...

Boiling Oats - gorgeous little track. very vangelis like melody in the introduction

Dancing Ice - quite a mesmerising soundscape when listened to loud. good stuff

Down The Rabbit Hole - really great industrial flavoured track - love it. all that is missing is a david gahan vocal...

I Only Eat Oatmeal - ...well, i quite like it

Not Me - very nice tech house track. could easily be a force inc. records release. as olicana touched upon - great stereo width to the track

Oat11meal - very nice melancholic electronica. some nice sounds that complement each other very well

Oatscollider - a very accomplished track. great production and wonderful variation of sharp edged percussive tones. love the filter variations of the pad sound

Organica - great weighty bass sound and great fm squelchs! a good quirky piece

Porridge Beats Viagra - love this track - reminds me of the elegant chaos of severed heads. overall it has a great 'togetherness' and production. fantastic lead sound!

Forced Return - love this track also. you have achieved some very nice sounds. some a little like the zynaddsubfx sound (my absolute favourite sounding softsynth). i especially like the way the track changes around halfway through into a jarre like section - lovely.


It was very close for me but Forced Return gets my vote - a very emotional quality about this track and some spine tingly sounds (choirs especially)

best regards to everyone who participated

[Yeager]

Nice veriaty of tunes... well done.

I had some trouble making snappy percussive ( snare-like ) patches with Oatmeal,
but all of you show that this is one versatile synth.

My thoughts :


Boiling Oats - Nice hypnotic walz, brilliant bassline ( I love non 4/4 tracks )

Dancing ice - Atmospheric, taking the challenge very literally, just one syth, wow !

Down the rabbit hole - Like it, some very nice patches in there, very solid mix.

I only eat Oatmeal - like the solo, and the monotonous bass line driving the song ( nice chords ).

Not me - catchy ! good patches, solid mix.

Oat11meal - Yes ! I wish I made this ! good use of arps, breaks and patches, great track !

Oatscollider - very well made, highly original, and enjoyable ! (I could never make this ).

Organica - short and sweet, patches are good, should/must be made into a longer tune.

Porridge beats viagra - nice production, the arabic soloing is lovely.

Forced Return - well...


And te oscar goes to..... Oat11meal.
(Eventhough there is a static click on 3.41 right speaker.)

[glokraw]

After listening to the songs on two separate days, I liked each one better the second time,
and all of them have some element(s) that inspire. I voted for Forced Return. I liked that the main elements are quickly introduced, no waiting thru 8 bars of beats to hear 'the good part'. I also liked the balance of elements, each quite unique, but without seeming to be in the wrong song, or mixed in as afterthought. (This holds true for the other songs too!)
At 2:40 - 3:00, in Forced Return, I would love to hear the choir patch sound in two more layers, one with some echoes, and or delay, in a high register, and one with the release stretched way out, heavy on reverb/chorus, as a pad beneath the echoes. But as it is, it will be on my mp3 player at work, defeating my evil bosses with its wonderful presence.

@ the 'losers' (whoever you turn out to be) all your songs
make me want to turn on the keys and guitar amp and start jamming! And none have been deleted So THANKs for sharing your talents and work skills!!!

(edited for dislexia)

The individual sound that I thought helped its mix best was the organ lead patch in 'I Only Eat Oatmeal' by Do_Androids_Dream

The song with strongest theme seemed to be brainovulations 'Oat11Meal', and it might
be pretty easy to $place$ that one in a movie score environment!

Cheers

[marcusz]

I had fun listening to all of these pieces. Great entries guys.

I have to say the bouncy rhythms and the way the elements in the higher register play off each other in "Boiling Oats" remind me a little bit of quieter work by BOC/Aphex, and I guess I have a bit of a weak spot for that more subdued, less rave-ish synthy music.

Also, I could totally imagine "Forced Return" fitting perfectly in the background of some underwater scene in a nature documentary. Really lush sounds, and I think the percussion, which you claim you had trouble making snappy, suits it just fine.

I'm gunning for one of those two, but they only narrowly edge out the other entries, in my opinion. Looking forward to see you what you guys come up with for future challenges.

-Z