Open Challenge #16 - Pure Sounds and No FX – Has Ended!

[B_LD]

Welcome to Open Challenge #16.
After a months of waiting and uncertainty the infamous Elektronauts Open Challenge is finally happening again.

For this challenge, you may create anything making use of synthesis only (analog, fm, am, …) and strictly no effects. You could use a sampler, but only if you’re limiting yourself to the most basic single cycle waveforms (sin, saw, tri, pul, sqr) and use it like a synth.

Use as many tracks and instruments as you wish, as long as you record in one take.

No multitrack editing or overdubs
No drones.
No samples.
No wavetables or other complex forms of synthesis.
No FX!! (reverb, delay, chorus, etc.)
No dynamics or DAW processing, except normalisation.

One single submission per participent. Embedded MP3, please!
You’re free to upload more than one, but please clearly indicate your final recording.

As usual this Challenge is open to the entire community and voting will also be open to the entire community regardless of whether or not a piece is submitted. The winner hosts the followup challenge.

See the Winner! << click!

NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: April 7th 18:00 CEST.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: April 30th high noon CET.

[Microtribe]

Yeah, I’m the first annoying bastard with a smart arse question…

If I smash my mixer to create distortion/saturation/mixglue is that allowed or not? I think Technically it’s not adding an effect, just abusing a mixer to make one…

Same question regarding reverb, if I record using a microphone to get room reverb sound, is that allowed?

[B_LD]

Good question! I knew someone would ask exactly that.

You may saturate the shit out of everything. Room reverb I’m not sure about. The fun starts when you have to create space without space, eh?

[proskynesis]

Its almost a description of Skweee. Im very much in.

[Sternenlicht]

But wavetables are not exactly FX? WT is an oscillator.

[B_LD]

Strictly speaking a wavetable is a set of sampled oscillators/tones afaik and thus ruled out as being complex synthesis as opposed to simple and pure/raw sounds.

There’s so many creative possibilities without them. Go for it!

[Smapti]

Thanks for setting this up! I have a few questions:
– Are filters considered an effect?
– Can we wavefold the oscillators (Buchla/Serge-style)? Since FM is allowed it would seem that this is also ok but I wanted to check.

[B_LD]

Filtering is ok. Preferably in the synth‘s signal path. But generally, yes!

Wavefolding absolutely allowed.

[alechko]

I’m intrigued, couple of questions, is simulating delay with panning and trigs is acceptable and how about outboard dynamics like rytm comp or my recently discovered hard clipping on the audio interface, is that ok as long as it’s outside of the daw?

[B_LD]

Volume, panning, LFOs … all good. Clipping counts more or less as saturation = ok!

No dynamics processing = no compression.

[Leonsarmiento]

@B_LD

You could use a sampler, but only if you’re limiting yourself to the most basic single cycle waveforms (sin, saw, tri, pul, sqr) and use it like a synth.

Nice, that is in mode Extra-Hard. I am in!

[Sternenlicht]

So midi delay is possible? (Its essentially retrig anyway.)

[B_LD]

Your choice!

[m0ld]

Just to make sure I understand the brief:

If I use my Syntakt, I can only use the machines that allow basic waveshapes? Or since FM is allowed, are ST machines fair game?

If I use Ableton’s Wavetable but only use basic wave shapes and don’t modulate them, is that allowed?

Is PWM allowed, assuming the synth has it built-in?

What about all the absolutely wild waveform options on the OpSix?

[swanage_fan]

i think there are a lot of potential ambiguities in this challenge (as with most of them) so i’d say, whatever you do, you’ll know if it’s “in the spirit” of the challenge or not and that’s all that really counts

[B_LD]

There’s a lot of possible questions regarding all sorts of synthesis. I fear I can’t provide answers to all of them, because I don’t even know them. In the spirit of this challenge lies the idea of limitation to very simple principles in order to achieve musically interesting results. If you decide to mimic things that are usually achieved with effects, so be it. If you feel your sound source as such fits into to set of rules, please go ahead!

[Tchu]

To avoid any confusion, I would limit the Challenge to Basic Waveforms : Sine, Sawtooth, Triangle, Square and Pulse.

[Sternenlicht]

Noise ! I think its more fun, to use FM than not using it, but i dont make the rules here.

[alechko]

only synthesis, no wavetables, no samples, no fx, no daw or dynamics processing.

simple!

[B_LD]

Yes, indeed. I thought that was clear.

Last answer with regards to forms of synthesis, just rephrasing myself:
Embrace simplicity. Analog basic shapes incl noise, AM, FM – no complex waveforms, no samples, no DAW processing, no dynamics. Just enjoy and start doing something!