All My KVR OSC Children

[foxAsteria]

No longer exists.

[JHughes]

That sounds cool! Seems to have a reverse-smiley face curve though, maybe a slight mid scoop would help.

[Jorgen]

No critique, really... it's a full, dramatic piece... the first 30 seconds are very nice, I would have liked to hear more from those guys, the 4/4 passages... yeah, they return, with a lighter mood, the arpeggios... mixed messages, right? Or mixed feelings about the same life-changing news/circumstances?

Btw... some things around 3.00 made me think: to do a lead phrase that is not really melody, rooted in harmony, but rather disregarding harmony and melodic, rhythmic convention as a whole, as a an effect... it's a very ambitious thing. Maybe it can't really be done. But I appreciate the approach very much.

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by JHughes

That sounds cool! Seems to have a reverse-smiley face curve though, maybe a slight mid scoop would help.

thanks, i noticed that in span but thought it sounded fine on my monitors. i'll have to check some others. isn't that more necessary to leave room in the middle when you have vox?

@jorgen thanks, i invite critiques. but i try to leave out the intellect when i write. actually i hardly know any theory. i mean i knew it changed from 4/4 to 3/4 at the start, but that's about it and it wasn't intentional. it's great to hear how others analyze and interpret though. a lot of my guitar solos disregard musical convention as a whole, maybe i should try one of those in there now that i don't have to worry about the contest rules...

[JHughes]

Originally Posted by PooFox

thanks, i noticed that in span but thought it sounded fine on my monitors. i'll have to check some others. isn't that more necessary to leave room in the middle when you have vox?

Yes, but in this case I'm not talking about making room, just making sure that all freq bands are in proportion. A matter of taste, true, but I think the track could use some more weight.

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by JHughes

Yes, but in this case I'm not talking about making room, just making sure that all freq bands are in proportion. A matter of taste, true, but I think the track could use some more weight.

good to know, thx again!

[foxAsteria]

and i got me ass handed to me (18/34)... well at least i got some feedback for a change.

[hamish]

Hi man, I just dredged up this thread to check out your music. It looks like you got some really good feedback in OSC 59. Seeing that junglist has been around for quite a few years and would be a favourite of quite a few producers I think 18/34 is not bad at all.

Then looking at the OSC site I see that the current challenge is Synth1, by rights then this should yield some epic music considering the status of the instrument.

[foxAsteria]

thanks for digging man. i was on the fence about this month, but there's still a few days left... i just wish it was totally anonymous. seems like there's a lot of regulars giving each other pats on the back, which makes things less about the effort, imo. but im just jealous maybe... but there is a certain laziness in the voting system which favors familiarity, i've noticed.

anyways it's good fun and practice.

[hamish]

Originally Posted by PooFox

i just wish it was totally anonymous. seems like there's a lot of regulars giving each other pats on the back, which makes things less about the effort, imo. but im just jealous maybe... but there is a certain laziness in the voting system which favors familiarity, i've noticed.

anyways it's good fun and practice.

You're right about that, and I find the same thing at indaba.

In fact spending about 20-30 mins on Soundcloud OSC 68 I only found one tune that grabbed me in any way whatsoever: pedalsteeldrummer - Shambhala.

[mostlyjustj]

Originally Posted by hamish

In fact spending about 20-30 mins on Soundcloud OSC 68 I only found one tune that grabbed me in any way whatsoever: pedalsteeldrummer - Shambhala.

SOOO weird that this thread came up here just now... I just found out about the whole One Synth Challenge concept at the beginning of this month, and when I downloaded Synth1 and saw what it could do, I went for it - I just submitted my entry! Here it is: https://soundcloud.com/mostlyjustj/thank-you-ichiro


Hamish, maybe you could find 3 minutes and 36 seconds more and let me know what you think? Haha!! VERY fun project that uses alot Reaper Routing and of course, alot of Synth1's.

PS. Anyone who wants an INCREDIBLE free synth, download Synth1 here: http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/#down

And then download and unzip a gazillion somewhat organized patches here: http://goo.gl/ZhCrEB

[hamish]

Originally Posted by mostlyjustj

Hamish, maybe you could find 3 minutes and 36 seconds more and let me know what you think? Haha!! VERY fun project that uses alot Reaper Routing and of course, alot of Synth1's.

Hi j, that sounds OK, but I think probably the bass is too 'basic' and monotonous, even with the layering you have got going on.

It does sound big and cinematic (maybe not hard with Synth 1, and the 10,000 presets?). Also the way you vary it up for the outro is good.

The sound design and development in 'Shambhala' is obviously on a really high level, and you'd have to do well to get past that.

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by hamish

The sound design and development in 'Shambhala' is obviously on a really high level, and you'd have to do well to get past that.

yea thats like trying to catch up to forrest gump when he's already a state away. he's not going to get tired and give you a break. pedalsteel has already won a few times in the months since i first found out about osc and enters seemingly every one. not really a fair contest for such reasons, but still a really awesome way to get to know a particular synth, test your skills and get feedback. if you enter to win youll most likely be bummed.

[Dr Bob]

Some great sounds there ... left some comments on the SC timeline (as DoctorBob!).

Do please check mine as well, all comments welcome - REAPER made of course.

https://soundcloud.com/doctorbob/doc...-osc-68-synth1

All synth1 and freeware fx.

Enjoy!

dB (aka DoctorBob)

[Fex]

Originally Posted by PooFox

ps isnt there some way to embed soundcloud player in a post?

Probably not, and there probably shouldn't be. People make enough of a pig's ear of posting quotes, and embeding YouTube videos is apparently completely beyond most mere mortals.

Your first effort was quite good. This, OTOH....

Originally Posted by PooFox

i snuck this one in there at the last minute:
https://soundcloud.com/twilightmyste...ight-222osc-68

.... is bloody brilliant.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by PooFox

isnt there some way to embed soundcloud player in a post?

It is totally doable, if forum admins want to implement it:
http://blog.soundcloud.com/2009/07/2...cloud-bb-code/

[mostlyjustj]

Originally Posted by hamish

Hi j, that sounds OK, but I think probably the bass is too 'basic' and monotonous, even with the layering you have got going on.

It does sound big and cinematic (maybe not hard with Synth 1, and the 10,000 presets?). Also the way you vary it up for the outro is good.

The sound design and development in 'Shambhala' is obviously on a really high level, and you'd have to do well to get past that.

Thanks Hamish - very fair feedback which is all that I'm after, besides the fun of trying something new! I *definitely* did not expect to be taking the competition, haha!!

Truth - I've been messing around with synths for MANY years but have only been actually cranking out completed tunes for about 18 months, so I'm still very much a newbie at mixing. So for ME that basic bass sound is a massive success because a) I like the sound of it, and b) it is recognizably the same sound on crappy little cellphone speakers or earbuds. This is an accomplishment for me no matter how many presets I had to blend together since I could never seem to do that before with big sounds!!

But hearing from an objective listener that it is too basic to base a whole song on is very useful feedback - I thought it might be but my roommate convinced me that it was good enough to submit as-is. She probably just wanted me to move on because it sounded so repetitive, haha!!

Originally Posted by PooFox

not really a fair contest for such reasons, but still a really awesome way to get to know a particular synth, test your skills and get feedback. if you enter to win youll most likely be bummed.

Do you mean it's unfair because really good sound designers repeatedly enter??? Haha... no, I think I get what you're saying. I'm definitely in it for the fun of trying, for the honest feedback, and for the chance to push my skills and put them up against a group of people all dealing with the same set of limitations. It's definitely a cool concept!!

[mostlyjustj]

Originally Posted by PooFox

i snuck this one in there at the last minute:
https://soundcloud.com/twilightmyste...ight-222osc-68
thanks hamish, for the reminder/impetus.

ps isnt there some way to embed soundcloud player in a post?

In short, I need to suppress feelings of envy when I listening to this, knowing that you were able to throw this together in 4 days, haha!!

Very interesting piece of music, with interesting sounds! Stuck listening on my laptop right now - looking forward to hearing this at home on good speakers!

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by Dr Bob

Some great sounds there ... left some comments on the SC timeline (as DoctorBob!).

Do please check mine as well, all comments welcome - REAPER made of course.

https://soundcloud.com/doctorbob/doc...-osc-68-synth1

Always love your stuff, Bob. I think my favorite OSC entry of yours was the western/cowboy-style tune three or four OSCs back. It was far more original than all the rest in that month.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by mostlyjustj

In short, I need to suppress feelings of envy when I listening to this, knowing that you were able to throw this together in 4 days, haha!!

I thought much the same. Maybe it was already around, as a sketch? Or maybe PooFox just really knows his gear, and his style....

[foxAsteria]

k, yall got me. not that i dont appreciate your compliments, but tbh actually the tune was already composed. i discovered OSC shortly before or after discovering synth1's bad-assery. either the OSC gave me the idea or i thought OSC was neat because i had just had the idea, but at any rate, it was done almost entirely w synth1. originally i did the beats with maschine, but redid them with synth1 for the contest and honestly ended up largely reinventing the song while i mixed. kinda like it better now anyway. but yea, that's more the couple days of polish what you hear. though to be fair, i did write the original one pretty quick in like a day or 2, so technically i could have achieved said feat, only i didnt. just learned how to ride that wave and ignore real life...and sleep...and food.

some of these other guys i bet are doing it much quicker. i get pretty envious of the production on some of these when i see they use all plugins from my own collection. guess it just takes time to get to that level.

oh yea and as far as "knowing my gear" goes, i did recently start double checking my mixes on headphones, which seems to help a lot. between them and the monitors and SPAN, im getting a lot closer to an even mix. gonna try out room eq wizard this weekend and see if that does anything good for me. my "style" otoh, is inescapable.

ill be checking out all the other entries and giving feedback soon, when i have access to faster internet.

[hamish]

Nice entry, i like all those shifting rhythms and the tones are good. The section from 2:00 - 2:45 is excellent, very effective and imaginative.

The very spread bass is OK, seems to suit.

It never loses interest, and it's really deep sonically so best luck with it in the judging.

I think you should be proud of how far you have got. I would never have entered this comp, I'm way way off the pace as I'm still just working through the Mr Wobble patchbanks from a few years ago, and the amazing sounds that he managed to create with it.

[foxAsteria]

1st z.prime - Pray for Change - 191pts

2nd Pulse Width Modulation - Looking Out Looking In - 188pts
(Paul, I couldn't think of a better way to break from OSC than a #2 finish, congratulations, and we'll miss you, and will see you soon :hug

3rd Photonic - Ichiro's Theme - 188pts

4th keith303 - since april may not march in june - 188pts

5th Hanz Meyzer - Dance in the Bureau - 183pts
(Hanz, congrats for your first top 5!!!!!!!!!) :hug:

6th bzur - 9planets - 173pts
7th Caine123 - City Of The Damned - 172pts
8th Bjporter - The Electric Fairy's After - Party Ball - 170pts
9th Orboscope - Combat Drugs - 168pts
10th Skyzone - Soulmates - 166pts
11th Loris DS - Midnight Affair - 164pts
12th H-man - Tink - 161pts
13th DoctorBob - Space Bubbles - 160pts
dq DzAH - NeoClass2 - 160pts
14th NedK - Last 2nd Observation - 159pts
15th pedalsteeldrummer - Shambhala - 158pts
16th G-Roove - The One - 157pts
17th Saga Musix - Synthetic Journey - 157pts
18th APZX - Vivimus Hodie - 155pts
dq Subject 36 - Light Of Death - 154pts
19th Saukar30 - The Intergalactic Funking Of Lt. Veronica Killagroove - 153pts
20th Yeager - Scene Missing - 151pts
21st BlitBit - At The Fireworks - 148pts
22nd ballacr75 - high voltage - 147pts
23rd Kullervo - OBL - 146pts
24th Richard Semper - The Rebel OSC Synth1 - 145pts
26th Poofox - My Girlfriend's A Robot (And It's Alright) - 144pts
25th Doc Jon - Run Run Don't Look Back - 142pts
27th Ricler - Devil In Details - 133pts
28th JKFlashico - Dune Of The Sorrow - 132pts
29th spider - Eighties Rularr - 132pts
30th ImNotDedYet - Um Dia No Brasil - 131pts
31st Carl_saved - God In The Desert - 130pts
32nd rokces - Game - 130pts
33rd Jared Juntunen - Holiday - 123pts
34th jlanthier - Thanks Ichiro! - 122pts
35th Psmacmur - Crossing The Brooklyn Bridge - 122pts
36th RuediRena - Hopfen Und Malz (Rich Draft) - 120pts
37th Krepssound - Move Ya - 116pts
38th Hwangman - Fringe Kick - 114pts
dq besh - kiesel1 - 113pts
39th bibz1st - bibz1st-March-As-A-Mad-Hare - 112pts
40th excessional - bladerunners - 112pts
41st Particle Ray - Colony Alpha - 103pts
42nd IrregularDan - To The Beta Lyrae! - 86pts

many of my top ten were in the bottom half anyway...

just shows how subjective the voting is. also shows me that i have no chance of ever "winning," since the voters clearly favor mainstream styles and musicianship and i pretty much have no control over my own style or taste (neck deep in creepy) and can't actually play the keys. but like i said; fruits of this comp are not in the numbers.

[hamish]

The voting is almost totally subjective. I thought 90% of those entries were very very competent in their chosen style (yours included). There was only one that sounded completely half assed and unfinished, and it scored 42nd. Those styles were quite diverse, so the voting ended up being more 'what is the most popular style'.

Don't give up, I think it is a Synth1 thing too, if they ever do 'Mr Alias' again you'll be in with a chance, because industrial strength glitch will be the order of the day then

[Fex]

There should be a consolation prize for best song title. It would probably be won by Saukar30 for The Intergalactic Funking Of Lt. Veronica Killagroove, but My Girlfriend's A Robot (And It's Alright) would have to come a close 2nd.

[foxAsteria]

haha, thanks guys. im not giving up, but im just realizing that the synth geeks over at kvr are not as into weird sounds as i thought/hoped they would be.

any other regular comps like this you guys know of that might be more up my alley? i have no idea what sub-genres i fit into, but yea i guess theres some "industrial" influence. and by industrial i mean post-industrial, since i wasnt actually around for the original industrial stuff...

[JHughes]

Ha, we ALL missed it

[Mivo]

The "problem" (which really isn't a problem) is that people all have their own voting criteria. When I vote (only sometimes when I have time and am in the mood for listening to 40+ songs), I base the score on whether I "like" a track. Totally subjective and very heavily based on my taste in music. Unless something is actually wrong with a track or audibly little effort went into it, that will be my main criterion.

Or differently put, I vote like a recreational listener would, not like an audio engineer might. I believe this is how a lot of people vote, too, though some will base their ranking on technical aspects, e.g. how well the mixing was done, the sound design, how far a synth's limits were stretched, etc.

My favorite entry was the one by keith303, but I generally like his stuff, so that's not surprising. I did have a lot of trouble voting this time, though. The vast majority of tracks sounded fantastic to me, which really speaks for synth1.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by Mivo

Or differently put, I vote like a recreational listener would, not like an audio engineer might.

And so you should. Listening to so many songs made on one synth has never appealed to me, but if 25 of these songs ranked higher than My Girlfriend's A Robot (And It's Alright), I might have to give it a go.

PooFox is quite the synth-wiz. As for his numerical skills.... well...

Originally Posted by PooFox

24th Richard Semper - The Rebel OSC Synth1 - 145pts
26th Poofox - My Girlfriend's A Robot (And It's Alright) - 144pts
25th Doc Jon - Run Run Don't Look Back - 142pts

....that's one way to place higher, I suppose....

[foxAsteria]

@Fex- aha that's funny i didn't notice the misprint. just copied that from kvr. actually took me a couple minutes to notice even after you pointed it out...but yea, numbers are still not my forte. and maybe not someone else's either; dq besh didnt even get a number, just got smashed in between 38th and 39th.

@Jhughes- ah, now i get it...industrial... man i'm thick.

@Mivo- i vote subjectively as well (and i'm very hard to please), but ill still give points for technical skill and risky explorations (or subtract for lack thereof). i think it's fine for everyone to have their own criteria, but i just don't see the use in the drama or bias of having everyone's vote publicly documented.

the one time i examined the scores, i had to call somebody out because they gave me and pretty much everyone else a 1 and then a few isolated 4s and 5s. when i asked what the deal was he just said he didn't have time to listen to them all, and so (i assumed) just gave the few high scores to people he happened to know and a default 1 to the rest.

that's just selfish to participate at all if you dont have time to listen right? and when i looked at the forum page, it was rife with bitter arguments and justifications like that. just unnecessary. i'm not going to rate him low because of that, but i definitely imagine that goes on.

i simply think people are more honest when they are anonymous. when i enter a contest like that, i'm only looking for honest feedback, and not ass-kissing. the people who rated me low are the ones i want to hear from but don't. not so i can cater to their tastes (i can't), but more so i can understand why people like what they like (it's interesting) and so i can better take the positive stuff seriously. i get jaded when people make nice all the time and don't balance it out. plus, i'd like to be able to voice my criticisms (which come all too naturally) without feeling like i'm shooting myself in the foot.

[Dr Bob]

Hi, DoctorBob here ...

Last month had a lot of very good entries. The voting is often strange. I can see from my SC account that some who voted didn't listen to mine! Make what you will (but they were low votes!).

This time I've done a more melodic theme which disintegrates in to electronica via some electric guitar like sounds, and then back to the more mellow sounds you all come to love from db.

XJ Flexoid is a PITA to program - very non-intuitive interface, but it can be made to work quite well.

Enjoy (it is also in it's own post, so forgive me!)

https://soundcloud.com/doctorbob/doc...flexoid-osc-69

dB

[Mivo]

I always download the OSC tracks bundle instead of going to SC or even using the web applet, because I prefer the higher quality and just drop the tracks in a playlist on my media player. Others might do the same, so someone could have listened without showing up in the SC stats.

[foxAsteria]

Originally Posted by Mivo

I always download the OSC tracks bundle instead of going to SC or even using the web applet, because I prefer the higher quality and just drop the tracks in a playlist on my media player. Others might do the same, so someone could have listened without showing up in the SC stats.

me too. i actually posted some comments on sc but just used the waveform to find the right spot (musicbee has that feature, conveniently) since i wasnt listening online. my internet cant handle streams atm.

btw did you get a song from "urb sergeant" in the zip that wasn't anywhere else in the comp? that was weird, it was my fave track. not even sure if it was synth1 though.

yea i wasnt too impressed with flexoid. didnt spend a lot of time, but couldn't manage a single decent sound before i formed an opinion and deleted it.

but good luck dr b.

[Dr Bob]

Originally Posted by Mivo

I always download the OSC tracks bundle instead of going to SC or even using the web applet, because I prefer the higher quality and just drop the tracks in a playlist on my media player. Others might do the same, so someone could have listened without showing up in the SC stats.

Yeah, you may be right. I may be maligning the good folk at KVR and OSC.

I do think quite a few people "dip" into tracks - rather than give them a critical listening.

I get the bundle too, SC just mangles things badly sometimes. I found that my track was much better as a FLAC compared to even a 320kbps mp3 that time.

But, all in all I like the tight deadline set my these challenges - it does make one "get on with it".

[Dr Bob]

Originally Posted by PooFox

yea i wasnt too impressed with flexoid. didnt spend a lot of time, but couldn't manage a single decent sound before i formed an opinion and deleted it.

but good luck dr b.

Thanks for that PF. I spent nearly 3 weeks wrestling with the thing. Even today I was re-doing many of the sounds.

But, it's now what it is ...

dB

[Dr Bob]

Yeah! Well done there - I only seem to hit the halfway point whatever I do - hehe!

Cheers,

dB (aka DoctorBob)

[maxdembo]

Originally Posted by foxAsteria

Finally broke the top ten this time. I think some of my previous submissions were a lot more interesting, so I assume this means my production skills are improving.

https://soundcloud.com/foxasteria/fo...e-charlatan-45

Enjoying this a lot!

[foxAsteria]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. Whether we score well or not, the contest remains an excellent way to hone our skills. I wonder why it still seems so niche, though. Thought it would have caught on a bit more by now...

[Erpers]

Sweet, mate. Excellent.

[hamish]

Hi Foxman, and other OSC followers.

Well I did a real double take when I browsed over to the OSC site yesterday and saw that OSC 82 is featuring the audacious bad boy that is BR 808.

For anyone curious about what might be difficult about BR808 consider this for starters, try naming a patch!



P.S. Just checked Dr Bob's track - COOL!!