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

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@Mojo42 - One way to look at dithering is (very non-technical) -

There are inherent difficulties in recording digitally (sampling) as it causes discrete bits of music to be recorded in series (thousands of individual sound-bits per second). Because there is inherently a limit in sample rate and bit depth during computer recording, this method is likely to result in small errors.

And, more errors happen when you do any processing on what was recorded in (primarily due to multiplication, I always hated multiplication). If there are enough of them (and there are many quiet samples), it can make you audio less representative of what you recorded in (no good). :x

Adding a very small amount of (relatively) continuous noise helps to (kind of) smooth these errors and allows for better dynamic range in a track.

Whether it is a good idea or not is probably not important until everything else is prettied up. Really, that is the bit that I have not gotten figured yet as I am much newer to recording than to the tech that is used. :?

Anyway, for anyone who stayed awake during this, I hope it helps. :phones:

Edited for clarity.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” - Albert Einstein

https://soundcloud.com/groksynth

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After some very helpful feedback on my tracks from this month and last month I realized there were a lot of things I could do to improve (thanks everyone!). I've reworked my song, shortened it a bit by deleting the less interesting bits, did a lot of work on the percussion, and tried to get a better balance in the mix.

https://soundcloud.com/jeffdd/a-night-at-the-rto

Created in Reaper, additional plugins are ReaEQ (Cockos), Classic Compressor & Classic Master Limiter (Kjaerhus Audio). Patches are from the free player version of Synthmaster, except for most of the percussive sounds which are from the community presets.

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Forgot to say, used 18 instances of Synthmaster for this track...

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Hi again everyone,

Just a quick note to say that I have updated my track with a new mix and a few small additions as well as completing all my paperwork to meet the submission requirements. :clown:

The track is quite similar so you can choose to listen again or not. Certainly would recommend the download if you have the time.

Big thanks to those for likes and comments so far and a big up to J Ruegg for being my test listener. :tu:

Updated initial submission post here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 0#p6079670

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H-man wrote: Just a quick note to say that I have updated my track with a new mix and a few small additions as well
I'm glad you did, Ben - got an extra point (at least from me :) )
I followed your example and uploaded .wav file instead of .mp3.
Maybe I full myself, but it seems high frequencies of a reverb sound better now.
Slava

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sfiks wrote:
H-man wrote: Just a quick note to say that I have updated my track with a new mix and a few small additions as well
I'm glad you did, Ben - got an extra point (at least from me :) )
I followed your example and uploaded .wav file instead of .mp3.
Maybe I full myself, but it seems high frequencies of a reverb sound better now.
Slava
Thanks Slava. I ended up doing quite a few mixdowns until i got to this one which uses lots of eq, panning, gates and automations to clear up the muddy sounds of all those reverbs and delays.

As for the uploads, I have used an mp3 many times, usually because I'm uploading at the very last minute, however the standard advice has always been to upload at the highest possible quality. Soundcloud still alters the sound on conversion though which for me is something that I just accept because I have no idea other than trial and error as to how to manage that. :shrug:

I guess that hardest part is when a bass or arp or whatever seems to pop-out of the mix once processed.

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Finally finished streaming all parts :D Now I have 2 full days to arrange them :wheee: and one of those days I have class for 7 hours, the next 3 hours :oops: I forgot to take that into consideration when timing my schedule.. Then the leads.... oh dear... I already have the tracked all layed out in my mind and on paper, just need to arrange it but the melodies could be trouble, I just have a few hours or rough pieces played out on the keyboard which needs perfecting.... Where does the time go? I haven't been slacking either, I put a lot of time into this so far (too much to mention :hihi: ) Cheers and hope everyone can finish on time and satisfied!
High Quality Soundsets for Lush-101 | Hive | Electra 2 | Diversion | Halion | Largo | Rapid | Dune II | Thorn | and more.

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Mojo42 wrote: @SoundGoddess: I compared your new Song version with the previous (unmastered) version and I can hear a lot of improvements. The new version has much more clarity and sounds a lot better than the previous version and so I guess you have reached your goal so far :)

But I also wonder about your use of so many tools :o

I recommended TLs Pocket limiter to you, because it has only 2 knobs and so it is probably the most easiest limiter on this whole planet, but it wasn`t meant to use it in addition to limiter 6, but instead of it :lol:

Anyway, it seems you reached your goal so far and I wish you good luck for the contest :)
Yes, I will use less tools in the future I think. I just got to a point where I was happy with the mastering and I couldn't figure out which ones to turn off. I'd say the pocket limiter and the easyQ were the most important but it seemed like with all the others turned on it sounded better than with them turned off in my A/B tests. At the point that I liked the final mixout I just decided I didn't want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to cut to streamline the tool chain but rather just leave it. I actually had about half a dozen other tools in the chain that were bypassed. I really wanted to get this InfinityV2 working but it refused to output anything for some reason, so I guess it's buggy.

I would like to learn Maximus actually for productions that I'm not submitting to the contest. If I can figure out how to properly EQ and learn Maximus then that might be enough for my usual mixes. My friend helped me out with the EQ on this one so I really have to give him credit for that since I didn't know what I was doing.
~ good luck ~
~ re~member to do good in a spirit of love, unity, compassion, and kindness ~

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I think I'm finally finished with my song, here's my updated entry (mods please replace my original entry):
https://soundcloud.com/soundgoddess008/ ... ster-entry

Using 13 instances of SynthMaster...8 percussion, bass, lead, bells, and two FX. Made in Bitwig Studio 1.1.6.

For mastering using 2 dynamics (Bitwig native), EasyQ, 2x GranComp3, Blockfish, Soneq, TLS Pocket Limiter, and Limiter No6.

If anyone wants to remix the song or just wants to see what I did feel free to PM me and I'll upload the project files. Would love to collaborate. :)
~ good luck ~
~ re~member to do good in a spirit of love, unity, compassion, and kindness ~

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Here is my track! I might tweak the mix/mastering in the last 2 days but i'm happy with it tonight. I try to make different styles of music but everything ends up sounding like trance... so I guess I'll call this uplifting / epic trance.

https://soundcloud.com/starling-studios/orbit

Used 33 instances of Synthmaster Factory. Some modified presets, some homemade, and a few (mostly drums) from the awesome OSC preset bank.

Made in Ableton Live 9.2 beta. Only DAW built-in effects used:
EQ8 x 37, Compresssor x 6, Saturator x 6, Reverb x 4, Simple Delay x 5

Quick and dirty mastering chain:
Multiband dynamics x 3, Limiter x 4, EQ8 x 1, Compressor x 2

Thanks again for everyone who runs and supports this challenge and I'm honored to be part of it!

Michael

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mmoncur wrote:Quick and dirty mastering chain:
Multiband dynamics x 3, Limiter x 4, EQ8 x 1, Compressor x 2
OMG, only 1 eq? You can do better than that... :hihi:

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e@rs wrote: OMG, only 1 eq? You can do better than that... :hihi:
Well, I did mention the other 37 EQs... :)

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Mojo42 wrote: I see you are talking about plastic guitars in the meantime :lol:

Can`t make any contribution here because I still love my wooden guitar and can`t imagine anything else, but it is interesting what "dreams" young men really have :wink:
The plastic guitars have the positive effect of not disqualifying you from OSC!

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Dear OSC composers,

This is my first entry for the OSC, and I am very pleased to participate in this forum and exciting contest!

https://soundcloud.com/mcaitch/breath

I didn't touch a computer to make music for quite a long time. The last program I used to record and compose songs was Cubase VST 3.5 if I recall correctly. A couple of weeks ago, I bought Logic Pro X, and wow... I was very impressed how music software improved during the last years!

It was when I was looking for some free synths and plugins for Logic on the web that I actually found the KVR One Synth Challenge. I immediately decided to participate and after days (and nights) of trying out Logic and learning the basics of the software, my first composition is finally ready. Hope you enjoy it! I am very fascinated about what can be done with KV331 Audio's SynthMaster 2.6 Player Free and its Factory Presets that I used for this entry. The drum sounds are from the KVR OSC73 Users Bank. Many thanks to jasinski, Mojo 42, SoundGoddess, Steven Gruskin, Steven Wagenheim ‪and z.prime for programming and sharing!

Looking forward to improving my DAW and synth programming skills in future OSCs and to listening to great compositions.

Wishing good luck to everyone!

mcaitch

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OSC#73 Entry: mcaitch - breath
DAW: Logic Pro X (10.1.1)
Synth: KV331 Audio SynthMaster 2.6 Player Free. Sounds: Factory Presets - 20 instances. Drums are from KVR OSC73 Users Bank - Kick 1 SG (Steven Gruskin), osc hihat open (Mojo 42), osc low tomw (SoundGoddess), OSC Snare 10 (Steven Wagenheim), PRC Kick 3 AJ (‪jasinski [jaski]), PRC Snare 3 AJ (‪jasinski [jaski]), Snare 1 [z] (z.prime). Big thanks to all of you for the great programming and for sharing!!!
Logic Pro X Plugins: Adaptive Limiter, Arpeggiator, Channel EQ, Compressor, Direction Mixer, Enveloper, Exciter, Gain, Linear EQ, Multipressor, PlatinumVerb, Space Designer, Stereo Spread, Tape Delay
Free 3rd Party Plugins: Voxengo MSED

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Hi everyone, though I haven't made changes to my submitted track's "audio", I have changed the cover artwork on soundcloud. I am under the impression we are supposed to post any changes. Its just artwork, but it is a change ;-)

I am having a blast listening to all of the great work coming in. Have fun everyone and best of luck!

Here's the new cover:

Image
Software: Logic Pro X - Omnisphere 2 - Spire - Synthmaster - BIAS Desktop - Alchemy 2
Gear: iMac 27" - Zoom Tac-2 Thunderbolt Interface - Presonus Studio Monitors - M-audio Midi Controller x2 - Guitars

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