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

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spidergod wrote:Has anyone used a ps3/xbox controller to control midi cc?
I have a ps3 controller and the joysticks would make great controls for the x-y pads.
As you can gather going to something a bit unusual this time.
I've used PS3 Guitar Hero controllers to control VST synths in the past, via MIDITar Hero and the PS3 sixaxis driver. Haven't actually used such a setup with SynthMaster or for an OSC, but I'd expect it to work quite well.

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psmacmur wrote:
spidergod wrote:Has anyone used a ps3/xbox controller to control midi cc?
I have a ps3 controller and the joysticks would make great controls for the x-y pads.
As you can gather going to something a bit unusual this time.
I've used PS3 Guitar Hero controllers to control VST synths in the past, via MIDITar Hero and the PS3 sixaxis driver. Haven't actually used such a setup with SynthMaster or for an OSC, but I'd expect it to work quite well.
Have found this :

https://code.google.com/p/ps3-to-midi/w ... stallation

and it works.

At the moment am only able to get one x-y pad working with full movement using both ps3 joysticks and it can create some quite crazy sounds (especially with seq and arps, some bonkers psy trance sounds can be created).

Not sure if there is a way of using left hand joystick with full movement for left hand x-y pad and the same for the right hand joystick for right hand x-y pad due to the way cc work.

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Wow! Read the rules on 1st and everything was clear.
Looking now there's a lot of excitement going on here. ;)

Even this is my 9th round I will run on SM Player Free. 200 sounds is enough material. Given options of the player allows to tweak some percussive stuff out of the included sounds. And still external FX can do everything else.

Have fun. :party:

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I didn't have all the details on the the first day, so I updated it to add that there is a limited amount of copies we can give out.

Very cool that everyone is finding the synth a blast to use so far :wheee: :wheee:

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psmacmur wrote:
spidergod wrote:Has anyone used a ps3/xbox controller to control midi cc?
I have a ps3 controller and the joysticks would make great controls for the x-y pads.
As you can gather going to something a bit unusual this time.
I've used PS3 Guitar Hero controllers to control VST synths in the past, via MIDITar Hero and the PS3 sixaxis driver. Haven't actually used such a setup with SynthMaster or for an OSC, but I'd expect it to work quite well.
OMG That's hardcore!! :o :o :o

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Mojo42 wrote: What`s about the objection of wagtunes concerning equality of opportunity? I mean: I even make this a point on my judging list for voting and I think it is definitely not equal if someone is using just factory presets or making patches by oneself. The player is nice, but you cannot compare it`s features with the full version of the Synthmaster Synthesizer.

Cheers Yvonne
Thanks for asking about this. :tu: I thought about it too (It's a very valid point), and here's how I came to the conclusion to think "yes, let's give it a try":

Firstly, there are actually a lot of people in the OSC that prefer using only patches, and this gives them a chance to really explore that (Most OSC synths have very few patches). Secondly, if your song is well done, I don't think people will really care which one you made it on. I'm not sure how many people actually read the submission descriptions, I didn't really read all of them back in the day, so will seeing "Synthmaster Player" give one a bias when voting? Most likely not if the song really hits a special spot in ones heart.

So we'll see. :hyper:

If it doesn't turn out a positive experience on the whole, we'll know better for the future.
Last edited by bjporter on Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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bjporter wrote:I didn't have all the details on the the first day, so I updated it to add that there is a limited amount of copies we can give out.

Very cool that everyone is finding the synth sounds awesome a blast to use so far :wheee: :wheee:
There, fixed that for you. :)

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FWIW, have you listened to just the factory presets that I am sure come with the player?

They kick ass. No kidding. I am using a few of them for my track because, quite honestly, for what they do, there is no way in hell I'm coming up with anything better.

Point is, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think anybody is really at that big a disadvantage given the quality of the Synthmaster sounds. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the top 5 tracks used nothing but presets and even the player to boot.

But like BJ says, if this turns out to be a bust, we'll know for the future.

Yes, I had my concerns, but then I actually dived into some of the presets and discovered the quality to be off the charts. Of course this isn't hard to do when you have a synth that sounds this good.

Anyway, let's just see how it goes and then we can take it from there.

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z.prime wrote:
bjporter wrote:I didn't have all the details on the the first day, so I updated it to add that there is a limited amount of copies we can give out.

Very cool that everyone is finding the synth sounds awesome a blast to use so far :wheee: :wheee:
There, fixed that for you. :)
You've never heard of an awesome a' blast? Old Irish?

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Hey folks, be very careful if you use the factory presets. I just discovered that one of the EDM snares uses an actual sfz file. I had to replace this with white noise. I will probably just go to YouTube and look up "how to make a snare in Synthmaster" because I normally just use stuff like Battery 4 for drums unless the synth has some drum patches. Unfortunately, it appears that some of the ones in Synthmaster are invalid for the purpose of this contest.

So be careful.

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There may be an abundance of ambient tunes this month :D
Beauty is only skin deep,
Ugliness, however, goes right the way through

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Okay, can somebody please confirm this because I am getting conflicting information.

Are we allowed to make our own sounds for this OSC or do we have to use ONLY the presets that come with Synthmaster? If that's the case, I will have to completely scratch the track that I have just done as the snare track was made from modifying the preset patch (because it contained an SFZ file) and replacing the file with white noise. If I have to remove this track, and there are no snare patches that I can find with no SFZ files, the whole piece falls apart and there is no point in submitting it.

So can somebody please confirm? Are we allowed to make our own patches from scratch or not?

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wagtunes wrote: So can somebody please confirm? Are we allowed to make our own patches from scratch or not?
It's like any OSC. You are free to use ANY sound that comes from the synth as long as it's not a sample, or using the input to record something like your voice. That's it :) So yes, any preset is valid if following that line.

I tried to do a quickie blacklist of of some obvious no no presets (specifically for Player).

We've never allowed samples / recording / input in any OSC - part of the "challenge".

Good luck :tu:

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bjporter wrote:
Mojo42 wrote: What`s about the objection of wagtunes concerning equality of opportunity? I mean: I even make this a point on my judging list for voting and I think it is definitely not equal if someone is using just factory presets or making patches by oneself. The player is nice, but you cannot compare it`s features with the full version of the Synthmaster Synthesizer.

Cheers Yvonne
Thanks for asking about this. :tu: I thought about it too (It's a very valid point), and here's how I came to the conclusion to think "yes, let's give it a try":

Firstly, there are actually a lot of people in the OSC that prefer using only patches, and this gives them a chance to really explore that (Most OSC synths have very few patches). Secondly, if your song is well done, I don't think people will really care which one you made it on. I'm not sure how many people actually read the submission descriptions, I didn't really read all of them back in the day, so will seeing "Synthmaster Player" give one a bias when voting? Most likely not if the song really hits a special spot in ones heart.

So we'll see. :hyper:

If it doesn't turn out a positive experience on the whole, we'll know better for the future.
What do we give a try? That all may only use factory presets in this contest for more equality? Or do we give it a try that we don`t have equality of opportunity in this contest? Sorry.... you know my english. Please make it more clear what exactly do we give a try here.
Simplicity without a name, is free from all external aim. With no desire, at rest and still,
all things go right as of their will.
Daodejing verse 37

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bjporter wrote:
wagtunes wrote: So can somebody please confirm? Are we allowed to make our own patches from scratch or not?
It's like any OSC. You are free to use ANY sound that comes from the synth as long as it's not a sample, or using the input to record something like your voice. That's it :) So yes, any preset is valid if following that line.

I tried to do a quickie blacklist of of some obvious no no presets (specifically for Player).

We've never allowed samples / recording / input in any OSC - part of the "challenge".

Good luck :tu:
My problem is that in the free player (200 sounds) there is no way to tell which patches use samples. The blacklist on page 1 does not help as I cannot find any of them among the 200 - except there are 30 patches by Nori Ubukata - does not specify a particular collection. There is 1 patch with sfz in its name 'DR 80's kit SFZ MK' which is certainly from samples.
Jasinski's guide is only useful to owners of the full version as there is no way I can find to access the pages described in the player version.

Some have said we're allowed to use any of the 200 factory presets of the free player but this does not appear to be the case.

Also - from my earlier post- It seems we cannot use additional patches created by other oscers as cannot load .smpr patches, unless someone with full version can export bank (.smpb files) - as it looks like these would load. Is this possible?

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