One Synth Challenge #74: DEXED (Jasinski Wins!)

[jasinski]

I´m liking a lot this synth!.
Hasn't a lot of possibilities for automation, (automate the volume of the operators in "real time", would be cool), but there is enough fun with just filter cutoff, resonance & pitch well .

https://soundcloud.com/jruegg/dexed-drums-bass-test

delicious bass work man!

[mehum]

I have at least temporarily removed my entry from the group as I realize after comments and relistening after upload that it needs a bit more work in the first part.
Thanks a lot to especially Mojo42 and fese for pointing out the issues! I find it really hard to distance myself from my own tunes enough to see them more objectively and some good critique really helps!

I'll try to find time to make some fixes, otherwise I'll just re-enter with the same

[doctorbob]

@mehum ... looking forward to your next version then. Any improvement will make it a really stonking track.

dB

[mmoncur]

I updated my track -- I've fixed a few of the drum fills and added a mini-breakdown later in the track.

My main Mac computer died early this week (It's at the Apple store hopefully being repaired) so I had to use an older, slower machine -- luckily Dexed will happily run 30 instances on a slow mac, but it sure took a long time to render the WAV file... I'm planning some mixing/mastering tweaks but they're going to have to wait until I get my computer back.

Anyway, here is a slightly revised track. Thanks for all of the feedback so far.

https://soundcloud.com/starling-studios ... exed-osc74

[Skelpolu]

Hey there,

https://soundcloud.com/skelpolu/dexecute-string-7

I've been using Renoise for some years now, this ain't an exception.
The on-board reverb and delay as well as their bus-compressor and the external VST-plugins "TDR Feedback Compressor II", "TDR VOS SlickEQ" & the "W1 Limiter" as well as little on-board plugins like filters ( non-automated ), gainers ( some used for the sidechain-compression ), gates and last, but not least, EQ.
In total, this mix uses 16 instances of Dexed, although 2 of which are the exact same just split across two tracks for panning.
Honestly, counting all the instances of each individual Gainer, Reverb or Delay would be astoninglishly tiresome and confusing to the person counting. I'd say about 6 instances of both Reverb & Delay, over 13 instances of Gainers ( Again, most of which are just there for the sidechain, the rest for plain mixing and not creative-solutions ) about the same amount of filters ( Used to cut-off anything that doesn't affect the sound ) and the list goes on. I hope that's enough.

Anyways, good luck to everybody - Loving what's on SoundCloud already!
Cheers

[sfiks]

Thank you all for listening to my entry and the wonderful comments!
I uploaded a final version (took a day off to finish it ).
It's longer (as requested ) and, I hope, better.
Please find time to listen to it again.
Good luck to all of you!

[garmus]

Hello. My first comment here in OSC. Sorry about my english, is not my my native language.
I have a question for BJ Porter and all you musicians, sound designers, composers and OSC competitors.
One of the OSC rules say:
"Cover tracks are not permitted".
According to Wikipedia a cover is:
"In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song by someone other than the original artist or composer.".
In which cases this rule applies?
I'm asking this, because in previous days I had heard a OSC 74 Dexed's entry that is based in a well known piece of music created by Johann Sebastian Bach, specifically the prelude part.
Obviously this case does not apply to the rule, because the entry has been accepted into the competition.
The prelude to which I refer was titled:The Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846.
I have seen on the internet that this prelude was composed in 1722, first publication: 1801.

To clarify the point, according to Wikipedia Charles-François Gounod:
"was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by Bach..."
Later in the same page of Wikipedia:
"Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, introduced the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach to Gounod, who came to revere Bach. For him, The Well-Tempered Clavier was "the law to pianoforte study...the unquestioned textbook of musical composition". It inspired Gounod to devise a melody and superimpose it on the C major Prelude (BWV 846) from the collection's first book. To this melody, in 1859 (after the deaths of both Mendelssohn siblings), Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, resulting in a setting that became world-famous".

As we can see, the Gounod's Ave Maria is subsequent to the Bach's prelude.
If someone is interested, the Bach's prelude and Gounod's Ave Maria can be heard of course on Youtube, among other places on the web.
So, if working a entry based in well known classical music is OK with OSC's rules, what is the meaning of the rule that says "Cover tracks are not permitted". Please, I'm interested to know in which cases this rule applies.

Also, and most importantly of this comment is to clarify that Bach is the original composer of this prelude and the excellent work of Gounod is subsequent. According to Wikipedia, the Gounod's Ave Maria: "The piece consists of a melody by the French Romantic composer Charles Gounod especially designed to be superimposed over the Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from Book I of J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, written 137 years earlier."
I think Bach deserves all the credit for this magnificent prelude, known throughout the world.
To the musicians interested in theory, on the web there is information about the progression used by Bach in this prelude (see also Schwencke measure).

Clarification:
1- Is not my intention to discredit the work of any of the competitors. On the contrary, I think you all deserve my respect.
2- If for some reason someone does not like wikipedia as a source of information, there are other sources to corroborate this information on the web.

Thanks.

[z.prime]

"Cover tracks are not permitted". ... "In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song by someone other than the original artist or composer.".
...
Gounod to devise a melody and superimpose it on the C major Prelude (BWV 846) from the collection's first book. To this melody, in 1859 (after the deaths of both Mendelssohn siblings), Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, resulting in a setting that became world-famous".
...
I think Bach deserves all the credit for this magnificent prelude...

I think that pretty much sums it up. A "cover" is a remake of an existing song, or large portions of it. The melody would be the same or very similar, the chords would be essentially the same, etc.. In the case of Gounod, he did not simply redo the C major Prelude, nor did he simply play an additional melody over top of it. I do not believe this would or should generally be classified as a 'cover'. Though certainly the chord structure would have been similar... very many other songs in the world have similar, if not identical, chord structures which similarly would not be considered covers.

For the purposes of the OSC, I think it's safe to assume being inspired by another piece would be fine, even playing a melody while listening to something else and filling in the music later. If the chords themselves were copied verbatim that would definitely be frowned upon but I don't think necessarily classify it as a cover. If the melody is the same, however, or very close to the same and the chords similarly are to the degree that it sounds overall like the same song, it would definitely not be allowed. If the latter was the case, something must have slipped through.

I, on the other hand, would disagree with you that Bach deserves all the credit for Gounod's piece. By that rationale the inventor of the piano would almost certainly deserve all the credit for most of Bach's works as well as countless others, as they provided a foundation from which to work...

[z.prime]

Side note: the text you've quoted regarding does Gounod not as of this moment appear on the Wikpedia page regarding covers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_version
EDIT: I misread the source of the Gounod text.

[wagtunes]

Can we do covers of our own songs, not that anybody would know anyway?

Just curious.

[bjporter]

Welcome to the party garmus

The thrust of this OSC rule is to ensure a "level playing field". Think of it like everyone is on the same start line before the race.

I hear a bunch of OSC songs that sounds a lot like other songs, but generally it's a genre thing. Some people go deeper, and might even be inspired by a particular artist of a genre, etc.

BTW If you think someone cheated the rule, you can PM me

[z.prime]

Can we do covers of our own songs, not that anybody would know anyway?

So true, not that anyone would necessarily know. But no, as Brian said, level playing field: new synth, new song. If you had a completely previously composed track before the month and you just swapped out some new sounds, that wouldn't really be particularly fair to someone who was starting from scratch, would it?

[garmus]

Thanks BJ Porter and z.prime for answering my post and let me know what you think about that OSC rule.
I have heard many of your entries in previous editions of OSC and I have to congratulate you for your good work. I've also heard great music created by other competitors that deserve to be congratulated also.

I did not mean to cause controversy, but to understand the meaning of one of the contest rules.

Z.prime wrote: "I, on the other hand, would disagree with you that Bach deserves all the credit for Gounod's piece."

Sorry if I expressed myself in a confused way . What I meant is that Bach deserves all the credit for the composition of The Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846; in the same way that Gounod also deserves all the credit for creating his masterpiece Ave Maria, 137 years later. In fact, Wikipedia has a link with the content "Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)".

Z.prime wrote: "In the case of Gounod, he did not simply redo the C major Prelude, nor did he simply play an additional melody over top of it. I do not believe this would or should generally be classified as a 'cover'."

Again, Sorry if not express myself clearly . My intention was pointing out that the cited masterpiece of Gounod has a precedent on which it is based and is the Bach's prelude, which is undeniable. I agree with you that this not would or should be classified as a cover, sure not. Million lovers of classical music in the world will agree also.

Thanks again guys for your reply, and BJ Porter thanks for the welcome.

[bibz1st]

when using the tunings we do ie the twelve note chromatic scale, there is only a certain amount of variation that can be made from them so sometimes things will sound similar.
Obviously there is scope within those limits to change certain characteristics and it amazes me just how many 'different' songs/tunes have already been created since way back when music began.

Can we do covers of our own songs, not that anybody would know anyway?

Just curious.

It does say in the rules it has to be written specifically for that months challenge but yea, nobody would know providing you havent uploaded to soundcloud or wherever.

[wagtunes]

Well, then if that's the case, I can probably "technically" never enter another OSC again. After writing over 6,000 songs in my life, I can point to any song that I've written in the last 5 years and say "That part I probably ripped off from a song I wrote in 1989, and that part I ripped off from a song I wrote in 1979"

I mean how much original music can somebody write in 36 years when they've written over 6,000 songs.

If you want to talk about "fair" this really puts me at even more of a disadvantage because it keeps me from using ideas that come into my head simply because I've used them before. So how is THAT fair?

For example, I am almost 100% positive that at least 3 or 4 of the lead parts that I wrote for the Dexed challenge came froms songs I wrote in 2013. I can't tell you which ones they were but I'm almost positive they're direct rips.

So should I be disqualified this month? Nobody's ever heard these songs. They're sitting somewhere on my hard drive in obscurity but I know they are there. I know I've done them.

Certainly there has to be some leeway in this area or I might as well just withdraw my entry, take my marbles and go home because there is no way in hell after 36 years and 6,000 songs that I'm ever writing an "original" piece of music ever again. Everything is going to be some variation off of one, two or maybe several songs I've written in my life. In fact, it's one of the reasons I've more or less stopped writing because every time I sit down to write something I inevitably say to myself "Damn, I've done that already" and it's very frustrating.

I think no covers of your own material is an absurd rule. It places decades long composers at a horrible disadvantage. My best work musically is long behind me.

But whatever. Like I said, it's not like anybody would know and I'm not going to worry about it since nobody could possibly prove that the song I entered wasn't completely original, including myself, without going through my entire catalog of over 6,000 songs.

Good luck with that.

Sorry, but some rules are just plain stupid.