One Synth Challenge #7- 2022 Edition

[Rich Hanson]

I shall be trickling out a little more information later on...

[Folderol]

Surely number is by Folderol? And probably on Yoshimi?

Oh come on now. You really think number is my sort of thing? If I contributed it would be far more likely to be number or possibly number.

Besides which I said I was going to try to produce a track without Yoshimi (and have 5 other synths).

Sheesh!

[Drew Stephenson]

Ok, it appears I missed the pertinent detail "4" in my post.
I know you were doing a non-Yoshimi entry but as we have more entries than entrants I wondered if you'd sneaked in a bonus one as well.

I've had these on in the background today but I'm going to have to give them all a much more thorough listen later as there's so much happening in the details.

[Rich Hanson]

The following forum members contributed at least one composition:

adrian_k
BJG145
blinddrew
Bob Bickerton
Dr Bing Klazeby
Folderol
fruitcake
IAA
MarkOne
resistorman
Rich Hanson
RichardT

The following synths were used, two of them twice, one of them three times:

Arturia Microfreak
Arturia Pigments
Cherry Audio DCO-106
Expressive-e Imagine
Korg minilogue xd
Moog Sub37
Roland JDXi
Roland SC55
Waldorf Rocket
Yoshimi

Tomorrow I think I shall reveal who did what.

Let the speculation continue!

[BJG145]

Track 14 - this has some beautifully haunting timbres

+1, this is a gem.

I love track #8 too, been trying to figure out the words...

[Folderol]

Track 14: Ooh - this has some beautifully haunting timbres too, with lovely internal motion
Martin

Yes. That really grabbed me too... And an excellent choice as the last one in the list.

Quite a few people contributed who's style I'm not familiar with, and surprised Drew has joined in - always thought of him as a real+voice sort of guy.

I'm not helped by the fact I've no experience of most of the synths either

I'm guessing Roland JDXi for track 8

[Drew Stephenson]

and surprised Drew has joined in - always thought of him as a real+voice sort of guy.

This is my fourth one-synth challenge I'll have you know young sir.

[Folderol]

and surprised Drew has joined in - always thought of him as a real+voice sort of guy.

This is my fourth one-synth challenge I'll have you know young sir.

Oops. Lack of attention on my part

A pure guess. Bob Bickerton for track 14.

[N i g e l]

This is my fourth one-synth challenge I'll have you know young sir.

You were very defensive of track 4 previously [with a mental block on writing "4"] and now you mention "forth". For those spurious reasons alone, ill put you down for track 4, with the SC55, in the garden.

I'm guessing Roland JDXi for track 8

It is tempting to go for that as well but words like "Synthesizer" & "Analogue"
are on the Arturia Micro Freak vocal oscillator word set.
but "Winter" isnt.
Hmmm.

Ill go for it

Track 8:Arturia Micro Freak

Track 4:Roland SC55.

[Rich Hanson]

There have been two correct instrument guesses so far, but naturally I'm not going to tell you which ones

[Folderol]

There have been two correct instrument guesses so far, but naturally I'm not going to tell you which ones

You're supposed to make an echo-y scary laugh when you say that

[Bob Bickerton]

There have been two correct instrument guesses so far, but naturally I'm not going to tell you which ones

I can see you’re enjoying the process Rich!

Bob

[Folderol]

Hmmm. track 10 BJG145 Yoshimi + external percussion. That bass is a dead ringer for Steel Bass.

[BJG145]

Hmmm. track 10 BJG145 Yoshimi + external percussion. That bass is a dead ringer for Steel Bass.

...yup! Well spotted. Had fun working with Yoshimi on this.

[Martin Walker]

I'm not helped by the fact I've no experience of most of the synths either

I'm really not considering this as a listener's challenge, but instead, the perfect opportunity to hear some excellent examples of just what a batch of 'unknown' synths can do, without having any preconceptions such as "ah, this is made by Moog, so it will have a powerful bottom end and rich filter sweeps".

My favourites of the four I mentioned previously are now #6 (for its wonderful huffy percussive sounds) and #14 (for that internal motion and edging in and out of overload), and I for one am most interested in finding out which synths they were created with, and of course who created them.

[Folderol]

No 6 is indeed very interesting. Sounds like what you'd get from a group of 'alternatives' turning random bits of junk into musical instruments

Hmmm. I wonder if number 2 was done by the same person.

[Drew Stephenson]

A pure guess. Bob Bickerton for track 14.

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

[Folderol]

Hmmm. track 10 BJG145 Yoshimi + external percussion. That bass is a dead ringer for Steel Bass.

...yup! Well spotted. Had fun working with Yoshimi on this.

I'm delighted with what you've done with it. Very inventive.

[Rich Hanson]

Looks like there might be a few surprises at 7pm tonight

[Martin Walker]

And hopefully a few red faces too

[BJG145]

OK then...

1) Bonkers Bollywood, lovely track. I think this might be by the same hand as (3).

2) Starts with a "fizzing fuse" sound that reminds me of a sound in (5), so I think that might have the same synth.

6) Some kind of ethnic jam on 23rd Century junk instruments. I like that faux lead guitar sound; I thought this might be a guitar synth, but I don’t think there’s one in the list. Maybe a guitarist behind it though. Random thought just struck me - blinddrew.

8) Makes me smile this one, nicely done. Google tells me the JD-Xi has a vocoder so I’ll say that.

11) Lovely jazzy lead sequencing.

12) Texturetastic. Pigments…? Uses a ribbon surely. Who’s got a Hydrasynth in this comp?

13) There’s some vocoder-esque sounds in this which make me wonder if it’s the same person/synth as (8). Some of the progressions make me think this must be a classical buff; bits of it reminded me of Dvorak or something.

14) Great track, no idea who/what.

(The rest - well done! No clue though...)

[RichardT]

My only guess (other than Will for track 4) is that 8 sounds a bit like other tunes Rich H has produced….

[Rich Hanson]

Titles and composers as follows:

1 - "Fiesta de azul" by fruitcake
2 - "Triptych for a Broken World" by Bob Bickerton
3 - "And U R?" by Dr Bing Klazeby
4 - "Retro Rock" by Folderol
5 - "Late Summer Blues" by Rich Hanson
6 - "Scandinavia" by blinddrew
7 - "Silver Fields" by Rich Hanson
8 - "Synthesis" by IAA
9 - "Nothing to Say" by adrian_k
10 - "Modulark" by BJG145
11 - "These Days" by RichardT
12 - "Theme for a Non-Existant Cop Show" by MarkOne
13 - "The Dark" by Folderol
14 - "Non Existence" by resistorman

This time tomorrow: the synths!

[Drew Stephenson]

Well one guess right is more than I usually get so I'm pleased with that.