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January - Composition Competition


charic
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[quote name='dumelow' timestamp='1357743974' post='1927647']is this open to anybody? How do I go about submitting my entry once its finished? [/quote]

Yes, very much open to anybody - all are welcome!

Once you've produced an entry, upload it to [url="http://soundcloud.com/"]SoundCloud[/url] and post the link to your track in this thread. The deadline for entries is usually the Friday of the 3rd week each month (so that'd be 25th January).

If you don't have a SoundCloud account, you can set one up easily for free.

Hope that helps and welcome aboard :)

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Well my original idea of all bass and guitar is now long abandoned and has been replaced by a weird thing centered around an awkward 9/4 hip-hop beat and a tape delayed guitar bit.......

Kinda stuck on the bass though, I've got a bass synth sound in my head but I just can't seem to get there with any of the VST's I've got, anyone got recommendations? The bass sound in this is the kind of thing I'm aiming for:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVRkQVzxGQE[/media]

Edited by bobbass4k
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[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1357753296' post='1927898']
I'd like to hear that....
[/quote]
So would I , but My thinking is waaaaayyy past my ability at the moment , mind you my easier idea is proving very awkward and a right pain in the derrier . I only just realised that to add a vocal I have to monitor the track , that involves ear phones so I had to work out how to recieve a signal via usb yet send it out vis the headphone socket , for some reason, the headphone out on the audio interface did not kill the output , and as I type this I realise I could of just pulled out the output jack :dash1: :dash1: when one headsmashing is just not enough

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[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1357763647' post='1928126']...I've got a bass synth sound in my head but I just can't seem to get there with any of the VST's I've got, anyone got recommendations? The bass sound in this is the kind of thing I'm aiming for[/quote]

^ Nice track! I like it.

As for the bass synth... I don't think I could pinpoint any specific VST that could produce that sound ready-made: it could be a pre-set patch from something, but goodness knows what (I use Rob Papen's [url="http://www.robpapen.com/predator.html"]Predator[/url] a lot at the moment, which probably has something akin to that in it's pre-loaded patches. Great synth if you're in the market for one - I think there's a demo available on the link I just gave).

The noise you're looking for sounds like a wavetable synth being run through a formant filter - it's got that kind of voice-like quality to it. I can't recommend any suitable VSTs as I use Reason for making music which has its own plug-in format (annoying at times, but it makes for a very stable system to work on). But that's where I'd start experimenting myself: wavetable synth and formant filter. It also has a fairly hefy sub bass layered underneath it (a basic sine wave) and you could probably get something close to the upper, more melodic synth but loading a church organ pre-set and messing with the settings.

Sorry Bob, but that's my best effort at trying to help! Probably nowhere near useful :lol: Let us know how you get on with it.

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I also use Predator for most of my Bass Synth stuff [mainly because it has a huge preset collection]

Two good [free] Synths that are good for Bass.

Charlatan 32 & 64 bit.
[url="http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=325499"]http://www.kvraudio....ic.php?t=325499[/url]

And this one...Bassimo [ only x32, but i have never had a problem using it bit bridged]
It's quite simple and basic, but a lot of good sounds can be manipulated from it.
A short operation video and download here.
[url="http://myvst.com/vst-instruments/bass-synths/list-by-popularity/2048-bassimo-free"]http://myvst.com/vst...48-bassimo-free[/url]


Garry

Edited by lowdown
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[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1357898762' post='1930120']
I also use Predator for most of my Bass Synth stuff [mainly because it has a huge preset collection]

Two good [free] Synths that are good for Bass.

Charlatan 32 & 64 bit.
[url="http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=325499"]http://www.kvraudio....ic.php?t=325499[/url]

And this one...Bassimo [ only x32, but i have never had a problem using it bit bridged]
It's quite simple and basic, but a lot of good sounds can be manipulated from it.
A short operation video and download here.
[url="http://myvst.com/vst-instruments/bass-synths/list-by-popularity/2048-bassimo-free"]http://myvst.com/vst...48-bassimo-free[/url]


Garry
[/quote]

Thanks Garry, will play with these later... :)

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I'm kind of in the same boat mate. Trust me to pick a picture and then be unable to get something down!! :rolleyes:
Very busy this month too, so not sure I'm gonna get anything in, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what people come up with from my pic

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Well I didn't plan on making a track today but having started something over Christmas I had a few things kicking around in Logic - plus I just got Omnispere, a truly awesome synth VST (and yes I paid for it :) ) anyway what was great about this track is all the stuff I had done intially went in the bin and I left off a lot of playing so in terms of bass there's not a lot going on - however all the chordal/melodic/bass parts are derived from stuff I played that then went into Melodyne to become MIDI files...

Anyway it's pretty glitchy but hopefully has a suffocating mysterious vibe which I got from the picture - I'm a big Alien (the movie) fan so almost called this 'Ripley's Song' but felt this was a better title:

[b]'What Lies Beneath'[/b]
[url="http://soundcloud.com/munkio/what-lies-beneath"]http://soundcloud.co...at-lies-beneath[/url]

Hope you enjoy it - this is definitely the way I want to go now... more hopefully forthcoming soon

Cheers

Mike

Edited by urb
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[quote name='urb' timestamp='1358110127' post='1933362']
[b]'What Lies Beneath'[/b]
[url="http://soundcloud.com/munkio/what-lies-beneath"]http://soundcloud.co...at-lies-beneath[/url]
[/quote]

I like that Mike - Interesting sounds as well. Fits the picture nicely.

Omnisphere is great, and not really that expensive for what's available in it.
Have you had a look at Stylus RMX from the same company ?
Grooves/Loops and beats ranging from straight Kits,Cinematic,huge Percussion right through to Insane out there mangles.
Hundreds of add on expansions for it - worth a look.

They both have eight outputs, so if you set up a project template with just those two Synths,
You have Sixteen MIDI channels to play with, great for messing around for ideas.


Garry

Edited by lowdown
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[quote name='urb' timestamp='1358110127' post='1933362']
[b]'What Lies Beneath'[/b]
[url="http://soundcloud.com/munkio/what-lies-beneath"]http://soundcloud.co...at-lies-beneath[/url]

Hope you enjoy it - this is definitely the way I want to go now... more hopefully forthcoming soon[/quote]

Wow Mike! That's a great track. It sounds like you've taken a very positive step off the beaten track towards the sort of sound we were discussing over Xmas. And it sounds like fairly uncharted territory to me, which is great!

I really like this direction. It's dark and dubsteppy, and it has a jazzy flavour too. But not too much of either; you seem to be finding the right balance. Production-wise it's fantastic. Sounds very 'alive' through headphones with a nice, full-bodied range of frequencies from glitchy highs to subby lows. Some great panning and filtering in places too.

Impressive stuff, mate :)

Just about to start mine... I've got an alright idea for it, but probably too little time to do it justice. But meh, that's the story of my life! Hoping to get a first sketch of it down this week.

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[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1358166430' post='1933992']
Wow Mike! That's a great track. It sounds like you've taken a very positive step off the beaten track towards the sort of sound we were discussing over Xmas. And it sounds like fairly uncharted territory to me, which is great!

I really like this direction. It's dark and dubsteppy, and it has a jazzy flavour too. But not too much of either; you seem to be finding the right balance. Production-wise it's fantastic. Sounds very 'alive' through headphones with a nice, full-bodied range of frequencies from glitchy highs to subby lows. Some great panning and filtering in places too.

Impressive stuff, mate :)

Just about to start mine... I've got an alright idea for it, but probably too little time to do it justice. But meh, that's the story of my life! Hoping to get a first sketch of it down this week.
[/quote]

Hey Paul

Thanks for all the positive feedback - like I say I didn't plan on doing something yesterday, or even enter a tune for this month's comp, but hey I'm happy with quite a lot of this - I may add a tiny synth melody towards the end if I get time - but I'm feeling quite inspired at the moment and have a bunch of tunes that I've worked on over the last couple of years that need developing... so hey I can't complain about not having any ideas! Now all I need to do is buy Stylus and I'm sorted :)

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[quote name='urb' timestamp='1358173359' post='1934187']
Now all I need to do is buy Stylus and I'm sorted :)
[/quote]

Make sure you check out the demo's - Sound wise they will knock you out.
http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/stylusrmx-audio.php

You can also use Rex files in RMX - It comes with a converter for this.
There are hundreds of free REX files on the net that kind folk upload.
And dozens of RMX expansion libraries that are of a reasonable price.


Garry

And of course plenty of stuff on YouTube.

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[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1358297435' post='1936778']
Here's mine. Swallow And The Kite. It starts off polite then turns on the sh*te.

https://soundcloud.com/silddx/swallow-and-the-kite
[/quote]

Excellent work Nige - love the groove/tempo change and that was some great guitar work - I can always hear the Zappa I your music - it's there whether you like it or not :)

Good effort man

M

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[quote name='urb' timestamp='1358328077' post='1936905']
Excellent work Nige - love the groove/tempo change and that was some great guitar work - I can always hear the Zappa I your music - it's there whether you like it or not :)

Good effort man

M
[/quote]

Thanks mate, and yeah, I know the Zappa and Rush and all that sh*t comes through in my music, can't help it when it's so much fun :D

Really like yours, nice groove, great sounds, I love the guitar chords at the beginning. It's all unmistakably you mate, you have a recognisable style. It especially comes out on the fretless, you have a particular way of intonating, and the cadences and tonality in many of your compositions are very much you. Top work man!

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[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1358297435' post='1936778']
Here's mine. Swallow And The Kite. It starts off polite then turns on the sh*te.

[url="https://soundcloud.com/silddx/swallow-and-the-kite"]https://soundcloud.c...ow-and-the-kite[/url]
[/quote]

Love this, very nice indeed :) Can definitely hear some Rush influence in there.

This thread has reminded me that I need to learn to polish up my recording techniques.

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[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1358331028' post='1936964']
Really like yours, nice groove, great sounds, I love the guitar chords at the beginning. It's all unmistakably you mate, you have a recognisable style. It especially comes out on the fretless, you have a particular way of intonating, and the cadences and tonality in many of your compositions are very much you. Top work man!
[/quote]

Thanks Nige - I guess it's good we have our own 'sounds' - funny how mine has developed, I just gravitate towards the sounds I like - and chord sequences that worm their way into your brain...! The fretless thing is just how I hear stuff and my custom bass (now 8 years old) has a very distinct personality too... all good I suppose

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[quote name='urb' timestamp='1358334800' post='1937060']
Thanks Nige - I guess it's good we have our own 'sounds' - funny how mine has developed, I just gravitate towards the sounds I like - and chord sequences that worm their way into your brain...! The fretless thing is just how I hear stuff and my custom bass (now 8 years old) has a very distinct personality too... all good I suppose
[/quote]
It's great we have our own sounds, however heavily influenced they are if they shine with personality that's a win.

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[quote name='jackers' timestamp='1358332707' post='1937006']
Love this, very nice indeed :) Can definitely hear some Rush influence in there.

This thread has reminded me that I need to learn to polish up my recording techniques.
[/quote]

Thanks mate!

You putting something up this month?

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