One synth EP Challenge (No competition or prizes - just for fun)

Great fun, great prizes! Good luck!
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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

19 Mar 2018

ravisoni wrote:
25 Feb 2018
Just an update on mine, apologies for being gone for so long. So after that windows patch came through, dell decided to release 3 updates of their own, and the thing has gone to crap. Two instances of rostnomo, or 3 instances of kraft, or 3 instances of synapse antidote are enough to trigger computer too slow message. For some weird reason, even kong sees some DSP util. At the moment I've had to revert to old devices such as subtractor and trying redrum for the drums instead. Let's see how my little subtractor foray goes.

Tritone, I'd put you up for a Europa, but maybe add a bit more of a challenge: glitchy drums, all coming from Europa.
Good luck. We've probably all been in pc too slow hell. I have. It sucks. Also with regard for your forthcoming EPs, better late than never I always say.

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TheGodOfRainbows
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Joined: 31 Mar 2015

20 Mar 2018

I said I would adhere to the rule of a deadline this time, but clearly that went out the window. What trips me up is the mixing/mastering aspect. I go back and forth between my cheap headphones, mid range, and pro headphones, and the car, and bedroom speakers, and I'm continually amazed at how different each listening device sounds!!! I spent WAY too much time tweaking the mix to try to get it sounding good on everything, and I still think after all that time, it's not quite where I want it.

Top mixed songs that I used as reference tracks usually sound good even on the worse speakers/headphones. But my tracks just don't measure up, at least in my hears.

I make things extra difficult by trying to use the synth for the drum and percussion, because depending on the synth, percussion sounds are hard to coax out, at least for me. I used the JPSHS to generate as much percussion as I could, then added some drums from different sources, like the JackBox L1MDrum and the factory soundbank to make things sound a bit more complete and rounded. The whole time writing, I kept in mind that the listening audience doesn't really care about the behind the scenes difficulties and challenges I faced during the process. They just want to hear something good, and if they think the drums don't sound good, they don't care that it's because I was purposefully limiting my sound sources. Hence, the inclusion of outsourced drums.

All of Modecca's sound design explorations inspired me to include some supplementary sound effects, and that are my own patches. I used the noise generator on the synth to do most of the sound effects, including rain, thunder, screams, fire, and a vinyl turntable. Modecca perhaps might say "that could have been done on a Subractor", the point being that it's not showcasing anything unique about the synth that couldn't be done with another synth. And that would be a great point. But in this situation being a one synth challenge, I must use the synth at hand. And so I did!

Also, Modecca (TeflonTomb) remarked about my last album, that I "do more of that" and "loop things more". I tried to keep that in mind also, so while some songs are rambunctious and busy, I have SOME more calm moments throughout. And, I play more guitar this time. Still, things might be too busy!

Please let me know how the mix is. Too quiet? Shrill? No warmth? No bass? Criticism is welcome. Enjoy!


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Ahornberg
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21 Mar 2018

@TheGodOfRainbows this EP is top notch! All that different type of guitars sound so realistic! Great work!

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modecca
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21 Mar 2018

TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018


Albums like this, make me take a hard look at the limitations of my current composition abilities and strive to do better.
🔗💥

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Ahornberg
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21 Mar 2018

modecca wrote:
21 Mar 2018
TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018


Albums like this, make me take a hard look at the limitations of my current composition abilities and strive to do better.
me too

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teddymcw
Posts: 432
Joined: 13 May 2016

21 Mar 2018

TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018

Please let me know how the mix is. Too quiet? Shrill? No warmth? No bass? Criticism is welcome. Enjoy!


Awwwwwww yaahh. You just took some pretty solid limitations and proved that you absolutely have None!!

Sound quality? I'm listening in my open ear headphones and it sounds majestic tbh. The guitar is mixed very well and the interplay with the synths mixing and arranging is never less than great imho. The White Noise and high-end accents you add are brilliant. I'm just on 'Discovering The Truth' right now, wow section around 2:53 is awesome, almost getting a little Animals as Leaders 80s style for a moment. I haven't heard any classic mixing problems either like too much low-end which would be easy to do. Ok, one feedback item on this near perfect production now that I'm on 'Eighties Things.' On this track I'd personally like the bass in the first section and some subsequent sections to have a bit of a sharper envelope and maybe be louder with its sharper peaks as well. Just wow though, insta-classic full album.

Thank you for this GOR, good sir!

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Ahornberg
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21 Mar 2018

I'm going to use Parsec for my next EP. I plan to release it until end of March 2018.

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
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22 Mar 2018

Ahornberg wrote:
21 Mar 2018
@TheGodOfRainbows this EP is top notch! All that different type of guitars sound so realistic! Great work!
Thanks! Perhaps I should have emphasized how much more guitar I play on this record. A LOT more. So, while many lines are doubled with guitar and synth, there is a lot of guitar soloing compared to nanoBots. I need to add more comments into my song descriptions, for example for about 5 seconds on The Living Boogar, I'm using an E-Bow on guitar. All guitars were processed in some way with the onboard effects of the JPSHS. In some cases, the blue distortion pedal is used in place of the amp section, and run through Reason's Amp (impulse response/cab/room section).

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
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22 Mar 2018

modecca wrote:
21 Mar 2018
TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018


Albums like this, make me take a hard look at the limitations of my current composition abilities and strive to do better.
:D :D :D Thanks man!

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

22 Mar 2018

teddymcw wrote:
21 Mar 2018
TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018
Please let me know how the mix is. Too quiet? Shrill? No warmth? No bass? Criticism is welcome. Enjoy!
Awwwwwww yaahh. You just took some pretty solid limitations and proved that you absolutely have None!!

Sound quality? I'm listening in my open ear headphones and it sounds majestic tbh. The guitar is mixed very well and the interplay with the synths mixing and arranging is never less than great imho. The White Noise and high-end accents you add are brilliant. I'm just on 'Discovering The Truth' right now, wow section around 2:53 is awesome, almost getting a little Animals as Leaders 80s style for a moment. I haven't heard any classic mixing problems either like too much low-end which would be easy to do. Ok, one feedback item on this near perfect production now that I'm on 'Eighties Things.' On this track I'd personally like the bass in the first section and some subsequent sections to have a bit of a sharper envelope and maybe be louder with its sharper peaks as well. Just wow though, insta-classic full album.

Thank you for this GOR, good sir!
Wow too kind. Thanks for the advice about the bass on Eighties Things. I do appreciate the analysis. Btw, its actually white and pink noise! Moving between both is one parameter I modulated a lot for expression.

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

22 Mar 2018

Ahornberg wrote:
21 Mar 2018
I'm going to use Parsec for my next EP. I plan to release it until end of March 2018.
Wow, that's SOON. I look forward to it. That's a powerful synth right there.

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Runner2x
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26 Mar 2018

TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018
Impressive project here. Great work!

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TritoneAddiction
Competition Winner
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Joined: 29 Aug 2015
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28 Mar 2018

@GodOfRainbows

Another great record. Man I have no idea how you manage to make these full length albums. The commitment and discipline alone are worth some praise. Add to that the music is really good too.
Like your last album this one also feels very cohesive. The intermingling between the guitars and the synth totally works and makes for great sonic variation. The showcase of the synth is perfect. You show that it's capable of far more than I've thought.
On the last album I agreed with TeflonTomb that some parts could use some repetition. On this record I feel like you took that criticism to heart and let the different parts take the time they deserved.

The leads are very upfont in the mix which is totally fine. It makes it very impactful. The only time it bothered me was in the first track "Conscious Caverns". The synth lead at 0:28 was too loud and didn't gel with rest of the mix imo. Maybe a little reverb or delay would do the trick to help it blend in better. Other than the mixes sound fine to me.

Great work!

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TritoneAddiction
Competition Winner
Posts: 4212
Joined: 29 Aug 2015
Location: Sweden

28 Mar 2018

Btw I took the liberty to remove people from the joining list. If it hasn't happened 9 months later after their set deadline and I haven't heard from them I doubt that was going to happen.
But if I'm wrong just let me know and I'll add you again.

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TritoneAddiction
Competition Winner
Posts: 4212
Joined: 29 Aug 2015
Location: Sweden

28 Mar 2018

Looks like this thread is coming to an end soon. Well we had a good run. Lots of interesting has music has been made. Still not too late to join even if the thread is old.
Last edited by TritoneAddiction on 28 Mar 2018, edited 2 times in total.

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TritoneAddiction
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28 Mar 2018

As I've mentioned in other threads I got the Champagne SuperNova Vintage Synthesizer and wrote a couple of tunes. I don't know if 2 tracks makes an EP but it's more than just one track at least so I'll post it here.

I'll add a little rant on creativity also :)

The synth was just what I needed at this time. Lately I've felt like the usual creative spark hasn't been there and forcing things to happen doesn't seem to be the way to go right now.
Therefore I've allowed myself to take a more playful approach. Basically do whatever feels good at the moment. Try new things. Don't worry about the end result and so on. As long as the process of making music is fun. Reach for whatever RE feels fun at the moment.
And the SuperNova synth did just that. The simplicity of it was a relief and I felt inspired to make music with it. Sometimes the dumbest things matter, like that this RE had a different looking GUI with a bunch of colorful pedals. Those simple things drew me in and made me want to play with this synth and in about 4-5 days I had 2 new tracks written. Some might say that GUI doesn't matter and that the sound is the only thing that matters. Well in my case that's simply not true. Music making for me isn't logical at all. If a RE doesn't "feel" right it's a lot harder to make music with it even if it's objectively a great synth.

Things I like about this synth. It's simple, warm sounding (there's no high end at all), the drift knob, easy to add subtle noise, looks different, makes me focus on song writing rather that tweaking.

All effects (delays, reverb, rotor effect) come from the synth. The only other added effects are some subtle EQ and compression. I wanted these tracks to be about the synth.



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FLVZ
Posts: 518
Joined: 17 Aug 2016
Location: ZW | GB

28 Mar 2018

TritoneAddiction wrote:
28 Mar 2018
Looks like this thread is coming to an end soon. Well we had a good run. Lots of interesting has music has been made. Still not too late to join even if the thread is old.
Need to master my Es01 EP, coming very soon!

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teddymcw
Posts: 432
Joined: 13 May 2016

28 Mar 2018

TritoneAddiction wrote:
28 Mar 2018
Looks like this thread is coming to an end soon. Well we had a good run. Lots of interesting has music has been made. Still not too late to join even if the thread is old.
I've got two diff in the pipeline, but I haven't set a deadline bc I haven't finished my taxes yet :lol: True story though.

I can say:

Subtractor - April 30th

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Ahornberg
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29 Mar 2018

... and here it is ... all Parsec and nothing more (except the master bus compressor and a limiter):


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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

30 Mar 2018

Runner2x wrote:
26 Mar 2018
TheGodOfRainbows wrote:
20 Mar 2018
Impressive project here. Great work!
Your first post! Thank you, and welcome to ReasonTalk :D

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

30 Mar 2018

TritoneAddiction wrote:
28 Mar 2018
@GodOfRainbows

Another great record. Man I have no idea how you manage to make these full length albums. The commitment and discipline alone are worth some praise. Add to that the music is really good too.
Like your last album this one also feels very cohesive. The intermingling between the guitars and the synth totally works and makes for great sonic variation. The showcase of the synth is perfect. You show that it's capable of far more than I've thought.
On the last album I agreed with TeflonTomb that some parts could use some repetition. On this record I feel like you took that criticism to heart and let the different parts take the time they deserved.

The leads are very upfont in the mix which is totally fine. It makes it very impactful. The only time it bothered me was in the first track "Conscious Caverns". The synth lead at 0:28 was too loud and didn't gel with rest of the mix imo. Maybe a little reverb or delay would do the trick to help it blend in better. Other than the mixes sound fine to me.

Great work!
Thanks for listening and for your comments Tritone! Yes, this time I tried to not be too hyperactive with constant changes and be more focused. I indeed do heed advice given, so thanks for pointing out what's good and what needs work. It's fascinating to me how I can not hear things like 0:28, but when someone points it out, only then do I hear it.

I figure it has to do with my own personal fatigue with listening while working on my own songs. I get blinded somewhat by being focused on some other aspect of the song, and totally mentally filtering out some other issue because my ears and brain have adapted to hearing it and placing it in the background.

Thanks again!

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

30 Mar 2018

TritoneAddiction wrote:
28 Mar 2018
As I've mentioned in other threads I got the Champagne SuperNova Vintage Synthesizer and wrote a couple of tunes. I don't know if 2 tracks makes an EP but it's more than just one track at least so I'll post it here.

I'll add a little rant on creativity also :)

The synth was just what I needed at this time. Lately I've felt like the usual creative spark hasn't been there and forcing things to happen doesn't seem to be the way to go right now.
Therefore I've allowed myself to take a more playful approach. Basically do whatever feels good at the moment. Try new things. Don't worry about the end result and so on. As long as the process of making music is fun. Reach for whatever RE feels fun at the moment.
And the SuperNova synth did just that. The simplicity of it was a relief and I felt inspired to make music with it. Sometimes the dumbest things matter, like that this RE had a different looking GUI with a bunch of colorful pedals. Those simple things drew me in and made me want to play with this synth and in about 4-5 days I had 2 new tracks written. Some might say that GUI doesn't matter and that the sound is the only thing that matters. Well in my case that's simply not true. Music making for me isn't logical at all. If a RE doesn't "feel" right it's a lot harder to make music with it even if it's objectively a great synth.

Things I like about this synth. It's simple, warm sounding (there's no high end at all), the drift knob, easy to add subtle noise, looks different, makes me focus on song writing rather that tweaking.

All effects (delays, reverb, rotor effect) come from the synth. The only other added effects are some subtle EQ and compression. I wanted these tracks to be about the synth.


I like practically every track you release, and these are no exception. Wow! The synth and the songs are beautiful. So warm.

There is something about the pedals in Jiggery Pokery's synths and the overall interface that is fun. I'm on the fence about skeuomorphism. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. I generally would prefer a cleaner, albeit more bland, GUI. I wish Rack Extensions had a skin toggle for skeuomorphic GUI on/off, because a choice of BOTH would be nice for those days when you are in a mood that prefers more eyecandy.

But this Champagne SuperNova is appealing to me as well because of its lower complexity level, which I think stimulates the song writing part of your brain more.

Great work as always!

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TheGodOfRainbows
Posts: 640
Joined: 31 Mar 2015

30 Mar 2018

Ahornberg wrote:
29 Mar 2018
... and here it is ... all Parsec and nothing more (except the master bus compressor and a limiter):

Nice! This is what this thread is all about! I love Trance. Wonderful sounding surreal sitar-like instruments and crystal bells. I like the percussion sounds, such as that bongo-ish loop.

It's interesting to me that the music you made with it, along with the album title has a water/sea/abyss theme and quality because the song I made for the Parsec song challenge I titled Parsec Plasma Pool. There are moments in my song where I feel like the synth wrote it's own music, and it dips into that spooky watery realm. I like that we both got that watery vibe from it.

It definitely feels like 'underwater' music, where things slow down, and there is a dark, eerie but magical quality that engulfs you.

Parsec is very powerful. The wide variety of sounds, including percussive sounds and even cymbals it can make is awesome. Good job showing it off and congrats on completing this One Synth EP song challenge Ahornberg!

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FLVZ
Posts: 518
Joined: 17 Aug 2016
Location: ZW | GB

18 Apr 2018

Just finishing up the ES01 ep. I ended up creating two more songs so that's caused the delay...

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teddymcw
Posts: 432
Joined: 13 May 2016

30 Apr 2018

Subtractor.







Third track really needs much more editing and mixing TLC before jarring and tasting, bit of a mess rt now. May add some unfinished tracks later but wanted to hit the deadline.


Context: Was really getting into Grain and all the beautiful and diverse sounds it can make when I realized what I was producing was really lacking rhythm and certain textures. So I began messing around with on of the simplest and overlooked synths on the palette and started having fun again with polyrhythms, and getting back to basics of synthesis mixed with timing.

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