One Synth Challenge #80: MUX by MuTools (Voting Over, preliminary results in)

[psmacmur]

Okay, I am finally starting to work on this today. I've got a spare 6 hours that I can put in. I don't know if I'll get to finish this for the OSC but I'm going to at least give it a shot. This is one of my favorite synths so it's my chance to show what I can do with it.

A technique I've used for a few of my more favorite OSC submissions is to make like 5 - 20 seconds section of a song. Like have a beat, bass, melody, harmony, percussion, etc. Make that sound amazing. Then figure out how to stretch that over the whole song.

So rather than doing like a whole song and then figuring out how to polish it / mix it, just make a 5-20 second part of a song (maybe a chorus line or something), and make it sound amazing. Now you've done 80% of the work, then it's mostly composition, and some automation / track lane / midi stuff.

I've used that technique a few times. For the OR2v OSC, I went a step further: I had no notes or automation data at all until 2-3 weeks in. I just had a bunch of tracks listening to the keyboard input and set up such that holding one key ran everything.

[wagtunes]

Okay, I am finally starting to work on this today. I've got a spare 6 hours that I can put in. I don't know if I'll get to finish this for the OSC but I'm going to at least give it a shot. This is one of my favorite synths so it's my chance to show what I can do with it.

A technique I've used for a few of my more favorite OSC submissions is to make like 5 - 20 seconds section of a song. Like have a beat, bass, melody, harmony, percussion, etc. Make that sound amazing. Then figure out how to stretch that over the whole song.

So rather than doing like a whole song and then figuring out how to polish it / mix it, just make a 5-20 second part of a song (maybe a chorus line or something), and make it sound amazing. Now you've done 80% of the work, then it's mostly composition, and some automation / track lane / midi stuff.

That's actually kind of what I'm doing. I've got a 14 second main hook that I'm building around. I'm creating a basic skeleton first with all the melodic parts and then I'll work on filling in all the sprinkles to give it some life.

I think I can pull this off before the end of the month. I'm taking my time with each part to make sure it's exactly the way I want it. If it doesn't do well, it won't be from lack of trying but simply from difference in musical tastes. I'm not an EDM machine and it's silly for me to try to become one. So I'm going with the kind of music I do best. If it doesn't appeal, at least it'll be something I can listen to.

When I'm done, I'll post it.

[bjporter]

Okay, I am finally starting to work on this today. I've got a spare 6 hours that I can put in. I don't know if I'll get to finish this for the OSC but I'm going to at least give it a shot. This is one of my favorite synths so it's my chance to show what I can do with it.

A technique I've used for a few of my more favorite OSC submissions is to make like 5 - 20 seconds section of a song. Like have a beat, bass, melody, harmony, percussion, etc. Make that sound amazing. Then figure out how to stretch that over the whole song.

So rather than doing like a whole song and then figuring out how to polish it / mix it, just make a 5-20 second part of a song (maybe a chorus line or something), and make it sound amazing. Now you've done 80% of the work, then it's mostly composition, and some automation / track lane / midi stuff.

That's actually kind of what I'm doing. I've got a 14 second main hook that I'm building around. I'm creating a basic skeleton first with all the melodic parts and then I'll work on filling in all the sprinkles to give it some life.

I think I can pull this off before the end of the month. I'm taking my time with each part to make sure it's exactly the way I want it. If it doesn't do well, it won't be from lack of trying but simply from difference in musical tastes. I'm not an EDM machine and it's silly for me to try to become one. So I'm going with the kind of music I do best. If it doesn't appeal, at least it'll be something I can listen to.

When I'm done, I'll post it.

Honestly, if yo have to make your entire song like 1.5-2 minutes, it might work out better for ya

[psmacmur]

So, looks to me like MuLab is to audio what Houdini is to animation. The modular UI is really pretty. So, am I right in concluding that there's no undo in the modular areas? If so, Feature Request: universal undo! Please and thank you. Should only take a few months to implement Oh. Time's up. Gotta get back to work. TTYL

[z.prime]

make like 5 - 20 seconds section of a song. Like have a beat, bass, melody, harmony, percussion, etc. Make that sound amazing. Then figure out how to stretch that over the whole song.

So rather than doing like a whole song and then figuring out how to polish it / mix it, just make a 5-20 second part of a song (maybe a chorus line or something), and make it sound amazing. Now you've done 80% of the work, then it's mostly composition, and some automation / track lane / midi stuff.

That's actually kind of what I'm doing. I've got a 14 second main hook that I'm building around. I'm creating a basic skeleton first with all the melodic parts and then I'll work on filling in all the sprinkles to give it some life.

I think I can pull this off before the end of the month. I'm taking my time with each part to make sure it's exactly the way I want it. If it doesn't do well, it won't be from lack of trying but simply from difference in musical tastes. I'm not an EDM machine and it's silly for me to try to become one.

This is not exactly the same thing. What Brian is suggesting is a pretty common technique to make electronic tracks: make one REALLY GOOD part, spend almost all the time on that. Like... 80% (at least 50%) of the time you have. This means sounds, melody, chords, etc. Make that one 8-16 bar loop or so REALLY FRIKKIN GOOD, as GOOD AS YOU CAN MAKE IT! And then, spend the last of your time making filler parts to lead up to and transition from that REALLY GOOD part (not bad filler parts, just parts that are not as amazing, not as big in order to showcase that one part that is so wonderful). Usually you'll repeat it, as this is the "drop" or equivalent to the chorus of the song, so that takes care of ~ 1 minute. You add a 1 minute intro, 30 sec breakdown in the middle, 30 sec outro and you have a 3 minute song. This actually is a very good approach from a psychological point of view, because if done even remotely well, it can keep the listener focused on the main theme of that REALLY GOOD part.

The thing is, this doesn't really have to be EDM. Really, a similar formula is used in pop music and all kind of other music around the globe. Everything? Of course not. And there are variations as the track demands (start with the chorus, anyone? Sean Kingston, ahem). But given that a) you're making an electronic track, whether you like it or not - with one synth, even, and b) there's a limited time frame to perfect things; it's worth considering taking an approach like this. These restrictions limit the ability to tell a wonderful story with a track since you can't really have the perfect sounds, sound effects and vocals as queues for parts of the story.

That said, I expect to see a submission from you ON THE LAST DAY OF THE COMPO this time around!

[mehum]

Hm, does any other Reaper (4.6xx) -user have problems with using a Mux VST (not VSTi) on a folder track?

I put a Mux on my drum folder track and it works well until I press stop playback and then start it again. Seems it just stops processing and won't start again so the output from the folder gets muted.

I could probably work around this and instead make a drum bus with sends. If I have time I'll look into it tonight and see if it works better.

Small update if anyone else encounters this problem.
I made my drum folder into a drum bus, using sends from each channel instead. At first I still didn't get sound (seems like that instance of the Mux just have decided to be silent) but after reloading the project everything seems fine. Starting and stopping playback does not seem to stop the Mux from processing.

Also tried to recreate the bug in another project but have yet to succeed...

[bjporter]

So, looks to me like MuLab is to audio what Houdini is to animation. The modular UI is really pretty. So, am I right in concluding that there's no undo in the modular areas? If so, Feature Request: universal undo! Please and thank you. Should only take a few months to implement Oh. Time's up. Gotta get back to work. TTYL

+1

[bjporter]

When I'm done, I'll post it.

Cool. Post your progress after each session, and we can give you pointers. It will be like "One Synth Challenge Idol" with each one.

[ontrackp]

Mulab question: is there any way to get it to reset to the beginning of the loop marker automatically when I stop playback?

Great question. Also, is there a keyboard command for return to the beginning of the sequence?

Also, where do you set the quantize value? (sorry for the simple questions, but there is a lot here to wrap our heads around.

[ontrackp]

I'm not an EDM machine and it's silly for me to try to become one. So I'm going with the kind of music I do best. If it doesn't appeal, at least it'll be something I can listen to.

When I'm done, I'll post it.

I've entered at least a dozen (maybe more) OSC's and never done anything remotely close to EDM. Why are you concerned with that? The experience of each synth and your current emotional state should dictate the type of music you create. I hope that this group judges our work on more than how close it is to EDM or trance or any of those other crazy sub-genres. If you do something beautiful and emotional you'll get a 5 from me, regardless of the genre.

[z.prime]

Mulab question: is there any way to get it to reset to the beginning of the loop marker automatically when I stop playback?

Great question. Also, is there a keyboard command for return to the beginning of the sequence?

Also, where do you set the quantize value? (sorry for the simple questions, but there is a lot here to wrap our heads around.

I think quantize value is toward the bottom of the MIDI editor - next to the arrow / pencil selectors, it defaults to 1/16. You can click the LED thing to disable quantization altogether.

Looks like left arrow goes to the beginning of the sequence (I didn't know until just now, that will prove to be very useful given there's no way to reset on stop/pause).

[ontrackp]

Does anyone have a good way to do pulse width modulation with one of the MUX oscillators?

Thanks!

[mutools]

Mulab question: is there any way to get it to reset to the beginning of the loop marker automatically when I stop playback?

Great question. Also, is there a keyboard command for return to the beginning of the sequence?

Yes see MULAB menu -> Shortcuts, there you can assign a shortcut to
Goto Composition Start
Goto Loop Start
...

Also, where do you set the quantize value? (sorry for the simple questions, but there is a lot here to wrap our heads around.

The event recording quantize value can be set in the recording setup panel, which can be opened via PROJECT menu -> Setup Event Recording or via a right-click on the record button.

The editing snap can be set in the bottom-right corner of the composer / sequence editor, where you also see the cursor position.

[mutools]

Does anyone have a good way to do pulse width modulation with one of the MUX oscillators?

There are 2 ways:

1) Using an oscillator with a saw waveform, and then apply AIPS (=Add Inverted Phase Shifted) on it, and modulate this AIPS with an LFO this will result in PWM.
See http://www.mutools.com/info/docs/mux/mu ... dules.html

2) Using a Multi-Form Oscillator: You can choose a waveform (any waveform) and apply a "PWM" transform on it. See the "Spicy PWM" preset as a quick example. Here is a preview: (attention for volume)
http://www.mutools.com/audio/SpicyPwm.mp3

Doing it the MFO way you can apply PWM on any waveform:
http://www.mutools.com/audio/AltPwm.mp3

[ontrackp]

Thanks. I really appreciate the tips!
Playing around with building synths is so much fun it's going to be hard to actually write some music!