One Synth Challenge #159: Surge XT (j5v Wins!)

[phankiejankie303]

My entry for this month.

https://soundcloud.com/user-38230094/se ... al_sharing

Session Details

x16 Surge XT

x1 dbComp
x2 Initial Clipper
x1 Stochas
x SequencAir
x1 IVGI2
x2 Surge XT Effects
x1 HY-Delay 4 Free

[Andreya_Autumn]

Here's my last minute entry.

'https://soundcloud.com/aliv_music/aliv- ... al_sharing

[Andreya_Autumn]

OK, I'm a little confused. When I look at the timestamp of the post above, it reads 9:06 for me. That makes it look like I had an hour to go, but the actual time here is 10:xx not 9:xx now. In other words, I seem to have submitted my track 6 minutes late. That's a little unfortunate (and very typical for me), and I fully respect if that disqualifies my entry.

And speaking of possible grounds for disqualification, I have used the Oddsound MTS-ESP master in the project. 100% honestly, I just kinda forgot about that. It really has become such and integrated part of the DAW environment for me that I didn't even think twice.
When I realized this could be an issue I was a bit downhearted, but I got some nice encouragement from the sweet folks in the Surge Discord to just try to finish it anyway (thank you!). And so, here it is. <3

To be clear, I'm not doing *anything* here that Surge itself couldn't do on its own.
At first I had used the "scale morph" function, which isn't really realistically achievable without the master plugin. But I took that out when I realized, and just used the ODDsound thing to switch between tuning mappings. This means a perfectly identical result could've been achieved by creating duplicates of the Surge instances that play in more than one tuning.
You could argue that this is additional work which I didn't do, which is unfair. If so, I'll absolutely respect that! I just hope y'all believe me when I say I sincerely had zero thought of, like, gaining a competitive edge or anything like that.

Also I realize that my KVR name isn't the same as my artist moniker. Do I remember correctly that this also disqualifies an entry? (EDIT: nvm, I found it in the rules and edited the track title).

Haha, writing this all out... well, I'm really on the edge in like 3 ways ain't I? Well, my bad.

None the less, I'm happy that I actually got this in at all. I'm pretty happy with it all in all. If I'd spent some more time on it earlier in the month, I would've liked to polish the mix a little more. I did want an ending that had some uncertainty to it, to go with the theme of the tune, and the fade out worked to that end. I would've liked to have time to give it a proper ending though. Live and learn I guess. Here's the info:

Lyrics:

Springtime in full swing.
See what life may bring.
Live to meet the change.
Asking to be brave.

Surge Instances: 26

Reaper Stock Plugins:
ReaEQ
ReaComp
ReaLimit
MIDI Velocity and Timing Humanizer
MIDI Arpeggiator
MIDI Random Note Generator
gmem Send/Receive*

3rd party plugins:
DC1A3
IVGI2
SuperMassive
LoudMax
Oddsound MTS-ESP Master (see above).

*That last one is a feedback router, which I placed around one Surge instance to route the audio from scene A into scene B, and also the output from scene B into itself to create feedback. The result can be heard in the treble percussion at the end. This was one of the most fun learning experiences in this process!

[Andreya_Autumn]

Oh and btw. 3 different Surge XT bugs were found during my working on this song. One of which even caused a crash! The cool thing is, each of those bugs was immediately taken care of, and a nightly with a fix released typically within hours of my letting the team know.
I'm really impressed with the team, and want to say a deep thanks to BaconPaul, EvilDragon and all the others who've made this amazing synth. <3

[liqih]

Well... it seems to be ready. Nah, of course not, it's just that time is over! I didn't even notice how a day and a half flew by and how it happened that the length of the track almost ran into ten minutes! Won't judge you if you give less points for it) But I wouldn't cut out a single piece now, because all together it works the way... the way I Imagine.

---

I'm totally with you this month, in the first week on May I ran into a happy-here-flow of 8 minutes, playing with 10 Surges, then I was on other jobs and then (when there was just few hours left to deliver the entry) I had barely the time for quick mastering and I shortened the track to 6 minutes (as compassion for the listeners, but feeling it was loosing some of the flow <wink>). So I'm absolutely fine with people that will judge my entry by just listening to the first minute of it.LOL.

Ciao everybody. Happy Listening.

[empphryio]

Well... it seems to be ready. Nah, of course not, it's just that time is over! I didn't even notice how a day and a half flew by and how it happened that the length of the track almost ran into ten minutes! Won't judge you if you give less points for it) But I wouldn't cut out a single piece now, because all together it works the way... the way I Imagine.

---

I'm totally with you this month, in the first week on May I ran into a happy-here-flow of 8 minutes, playing with 10 Surges, then I was on other jobs and then (when there was just few hours left to deliver the entry) I had barely the time for quick mastering and I shortened the track to 6 minutes (as compassion for the listeners, but feeling it was loosing some of the flow <wink>). So I'm absolutely fine with people that will judge my entry by just listening to the first minute of it.LOL.

Ciao everybody. Happy Listening.

I like long tracks. Sorry to hear you shortened yours. There's nothing wrong at all with making a track ten minutes long. In fact some dude claims it takes at least ten minutes before your brain waves start to get "in sync" with the music. Ted Gioia. Probably full of crap but you know, hey.

[baconpaul]

And speaking of possible grounds for disqualification, I have used the Oddsound MTS-ESP master in the project. 100% honestly, I just kinda forgot about that. It really has become such and integrated part of the DAW environment for me that I didn't even think twice.
When I realized this could be an issue I was a bit downhearted, but I got some nice encouragement from the sweet folks in the Surge Discord to just try to finish it anyway (thank you!). And so, here it is. <3

I'm not a judge obviously, but my view on MTS-ESP is

1: it doesn't create sound just configuration
2: that configuration is a fully supported part of the Surge API just like parameter automation is
3: so I agree it seems fair game but
4: From the track I agree that a tiny bit of mechanics (basically export the scale from MTS and import it into each of the surge instances) would have made the same result

if that's of any help to folks!

And nice track and thanks for the bug reports

[emikaela]

yeah mts-esp shouldn't be an issue at all. it doesn't change the audio after coming out of the synth, just the midi data that goes in (or perhaps rather how that midi data is interpreted). you can use anything you like to generate midi, this should be considered to be on the same level.

[doctorbob]

So I'm absolutely fine with people that will judge my entry by just listening to the first minute of it.LOL.
Ciao everybody. Happy Listening.

Very nice listening. As you know I like jazz and blues. I think I will have to get my bluesy/jazzy hat on again if the next month's synth allows me to do one in the jazz/blues genre.

My first was OSC #61, and have submitted one every month since. So, #160 will make it 100 in a row!!!!!!!! So I think I need to stay true to may majority genre for this one ...

db

[liqih]

So I'm absolutely fine with people that will judge my entry by just listening to the first minute of it.LOL.
Ciao everybody. Happy Listening.

Very nice listening. As you know I like jazz and blues. I think I will have to get my bluesy/jazzy hat on again if the next month's synth allows me to do one in the jazz/blues genre.

My first was OSC #61, and have submitted one every month since. So, #160 will make it 100 in a row!!!!!!!! So I think I need to stay true to may majority genre for this one ...

db

Thanks db, let's see which synth we have in #160, we might do a swing challenge, between me and you? LOL
Ciao from Italy

[Rahodees]

And speaking of possible grounds for disqualification, I have used the Oddsound MTS-ESP master in the project. 100% honestly, I just kinda forgot about that. It really has become such and integrated part of the DAW environment for me that I didn't even think twice.
When I realized this could be an issue I was a bit downhearted, but I got some nice encouragement from the sweet folks in the Surge Discord to just try to finish it anyway (thank you!). And so, here it is. <3

What does MTS-ESP actually do, just change the pitch of notes? That doesn't seem like changing the sound of the synth to me, it changes the signal that goes _into_ the synth I'd assume?

[FrogsInPants]

What does MTS-ESP actually do, just change the pitch of notes? That doesn't seem like changing the sound of the synth to me, it changes the signal that goes _into_ the synth I'd assume?

It broadcasts tuning information to any other plugin which connects to it, providing a way to synchronize and automate the tuning parameters of those plugins. So yes, it's an input.

The issue with MTS-ESP isn't how it works. I think Andreya_Autumn was saying it's the commercial version, so it conflicts with the no commercial plugins rule. That rule is there in part for fairness and in part so that the judges can (in principle, since it rarely happens) load projects to verify rules compliance without needing to have access to those plugins. I don't think this particular plugin is a real problem for fairness, and I suppose the tuning could be ignored if it came to inspecting the project for other reasons. But I don't think it's a good idea to start making post hoc exceptions for specific commercial plugins.

[RichardSemper]

A quick reminder to please make sure your tracks are downloadable on soundcloud. Thank you

[Andreya_Autumn]

Indeed, the MTS-ESP thing just changes the pitch of notes. In my case it's not even doing it that drastically, except for the little intro part. I do feel like the just tuning makes the synth chords sound (slightly) better. But again, in this case the exact same result could've been achieved by just loading tuning tables manually into the all Surges.

I did consider that perspective, FrogInPants. And would've respected any decision on the judges part.
Now it seems like the decision is in fact favorable, since my track shows up on the voting page now. Happy to see that, and looking forward to listening through all the tracks!

[Korg Supporter]

How do I begin voting? I can't log in.