Libre Music Challenge #26: Amsynth

[nyxeles]

Welcome to the Libre Music Challenge #26, for the month of January 2024.

This is a friendly contest where we make music with free (libre) software exclusively. Everyone is welcome to join, at any skill level.
This is a place for learning and sharing knowledge, and an opportunity to explore creativity through limitation.
But most importantly, we just hope it inspires you to make some music!

The challenge for this month is to make a track with the amsynth synthesizer.
You can find it here: https://github.com/amsynth/amsynth
There's also a very nice alternative skin for amsynth here: https://github.com/TuriSc/amsynth-skin-etna

You can use any plugin and any DAW, as long as everything is free software, but amsynth must be the only sound source.

Happy music making!

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Rules

Rules are the same as the previous challenges.

You can find them here for convenience: https://lmc.nyxkn.org/rules
Or here under version control: https://github.com/nyxkn/libre-music-ch ... a/rules.md

Links

Playlists and results of all the events: https://lmc.nyxkn.org/events

Join us on unfa's RocketChat/Discord server! We all hang out on #libre-music-challenge at https://chat.unfa.xyz

And if you'd like to stay up to date with future announcements, there's an RSS feed you can subscribe to: https://lmc.nyxkn.org/rss

Voting

Once the voting period starts, head on over to https://lmc.nyxkn.org/vote to enter your votes.

If you are a participant of this or any previous challenge, you can simply log in with your linuxmusicians username.

If you're not a participant but still want to vote, make your interest known and I'll enable an account for you.

[nyxeles]

Submission Checklist

1. Use a libre audio file format (flac, ogg...)
2. Name your audio file correctly: "Artist Name - Track Name". This is going to be used as the final name for your work
3. Upload your submission, anywhere publicly accessible
4. Ensure the file is downloadable, particularly if you are uploading to a streaming service like Soundcloud
5. [Bonus] Upload your project files! This is not mandatory but encouraged, in the spirit of learning and sharing knowledge with each other

[bhilmers]

Upload your project files!

It would be really cool if the participants released their patches and they were all collected into a bank for future amsynth users!

[nyxeles]

It would be really cool if the participants released their patches and they were all collected into a bank for future amsynth users!

Nice suggestion!

[autostatic]

Looking to participate but so far it's kind of a struggle to get amsynth to work properly in Ardour. The LV2 version keeps crashing on me and I could replace them with their VST counterparts but unfortunately those don't sound the same. So don't expect a lot from my side this time even though I like amsynth a lot, heck, I even created a skin and a preset for my BCR2000 back in the days (https://sourceforge.net/projects/autost ... n-bcr2000/)

Edit: VST instances sound the same, didn't check the routing carefully enough.

[trumpetrespas]

Ok, here's my submission.
Funny enough, the title was created after the composition; I decided the bass line needed some sprucing up, and what I created sounded very whale like to me.

Code: Select all

Plugins Used:
 - AmSynth (Duh)
 - Calf Chorus
 - Dyson Compressor (included in radium)
 - Zita Reverb (included in radium)

Audio:
https://on.soundcloud.com/GbVSs

Project Files:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/n84u06k8 ... e.rad/file

[asublin]

Please find my submission below.

• Title: The Walker Thinker
• Author: A-Lin
• Render: https://github.com/asublin/asublin-comp ... 01-27.flac
• Ardour Session: https://github.com/asublin/asublin-comp ... %20Thinker
• Made with: 13 instances of amsynth

Enjoy!

[bsg75]

Here is my submission to LMC#26 Amsynth
https://soundcloud.com/sg75_2/brawl

Amsynth is just such a gorgeous synth. Actually, it was the first synth I ever used
I used slightly tweaked presets for the instruments. The background ambiance stuff is sound designed from scratch.

From the topic happy accidents: My MIDI keyboard was accidentally wired to two channels: weired percussion and main melody.
With this setup, the song was outlined in one evening. Finishing it took much longer, because I recorded most notes with the keyboard but without click. The project is a mess, everthing is slightly off grid, no quantisation besides manual note shifting was used

Session archive:
https://sonnengesicht.de/sg75_-_B.Rawl_ ... on-archive

Code: Select all

CNT | TYPE | NAME
  1 * VST2   ToTape5 (by airwindows)
  1 * LV2    GxAmplifier-Stereo-X (by Guitarix team)
  1 * VST2   Crystal (by airwindows)
  1 * VST2   ADClip7 (by airwindows)
  1 * VST2   GlitchShifter (by airwindows)
  1 * LV2    SoftClipper (by Uhhyou)
  1 * LV2    DR-14 - Crest Factor Loudness Range Meter (Stereo) (by Robin Gareus)
  1 * LV2    LSP Clipper Stereo (by LSP LV2)
  1 * LV2    Calf Analyzer (by Calf Studio Gear)
  2 * VST2   MultiBandDistortion (by airwindows)
  1 * LADSPA GLAME Butterworth Highpass (by Alexander Ehlert)
  1 * LV2    Tal-Dub-3 (by TAL-Togu Audio Line)
  6 * LV2    LSP Compressor Stereo (by LSP LV2)
  4 * LV2    LSP GOTT Compressor Stereo (by LSP LV2)
  1 * LV2    B.Slizr (by Sven Jaehnichen)
  2 * LV2    B.Angr (by Sven Jaehnichen)
  1 * LV2    x42-dpl - Digital Peak Limiter Stereo (by Robin Gareus)
  1 * LV2    LSP Multiband Compressor Stereo x8 (by LSP LV2)
 14 * LV2    amsynth (by Nick Dowell)
  1 * LV2    ReFine (by Lkjb)
  1 * VST2   Wider (by airwindows)
 15 * LV2    LSP Parametric Equalizer x16 Stereo (by LSP LV2)
  1 * LV2    B.Shapr (by Sven Jaehnichen)
  1 * LV2    Luftikus (by Lkjb)
  1 * LV2    LUFS Meter (by Klangfreund)

[nyxeles]

Here's my submission!

https://soundcloud.com/nyxeles/its-a-good-day

Made with Ardour 8.2.

Code: Select all

CNT | TYPE | NAME
  4 * LV2    Dragonfly Hall Reverb (by Michael Willis and Rob vd Berg)
  2 * LV2    x42-dpl - Digital Peak Limiter Stereo (by Robin Gareus)
  1 * LV2    LSP Parametric Equalizer x16 Stereo (by LSP LV2)
 19 * LV2    amsynth (by Nick Dowell)
  4 * VST3   Fire (by Wings)
  4 * LV2    x42-comp - Dynamic Compressor Stereo (by Robin Gareus)
  1 * LV2    TAP AutoPanner (by MOD Team)
  2 * Lua    ACE Amplifier (by Ardour Community)

Ardour project:

nyxeles_lmc26_2024-02-01_005216.ardour-session-archive.zip

(133.55 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

[nyxeles]

All submissions are in, and voting is now open!

Here's the playlist: https://archive.org/details/libre-music-challenge-26

For the voting, head on over to https://lmc.nyxkn.org/vote. Use your linuxmusicians username to log in. You'll find more instructions on the page.

As usual, on top of voting, you're encouraged to post some feedback on the songs here on the forums.

[asublin]

Here are my feedback. Some of my comments sound harsh but they come
from a good place.

• The Walker Thinker - A-Lin: someone is walking, asking the why of
  the how.

• the foraging whale - Trumpetrespas: The initiating chords are
  beautiful. They are dissonant but in an interesting and grandiose
  way. However at 0:20 when the melody is introduced, it trashes that
  majestic atmosphere. I can't quite tell if it is the sound or the
  melody, maybe both. A break comes at 1:47, the drop is a relief
  because the melody goes away, and leaves place to yet another
  dissonant but majestic arpeggio. The interference in the bass is
  powerful, I like it in spite of being uneasing. The melody comes
  back, well by now I'm used to it so it's less of an annoyance. The
  song ends and I'm left with disappointment because the beginning was
  so promising.

• It's A Good Day - nyx eles: It starts with a simple but nice chord
  progression, then a melodic motif is introduced at 0:13, so far so
  good. Then the main melody is introduced at 0:19, alongside some
  troubles. First, it sucks that it is the same instrument as the
  melodic motif, just louder. You have to understand: an instrument
  is a soul, it is a being expressing a subjective experience and
  trying to communicate that subjective experience to others. Unless
  you have a good reason, I would advice to give each being a distinct
  personality. Then, the melody itself, I'm not sure about the
  landing pitch at 0:25. The bass timbre at 0:41 also sounds too
  similar to the other instruments. Gees, you must really love the
  Little Green Men in Toy Story! I love the chord change at 0:50,
  alongside the arpeggio change. Two changes at once, it can't be a
  coincidence, the beings are forming a coherent whole! I'm not too
  sure about the pitch of the melody at 1:05. Nice change at 2:00.
  The melody is becoming something! Plus one for the vibrato. Change
  of chords and arpeggio once again. There are a few melodies
  overlaying each others. It's pity that they use the same instruments
  cause they are hard to distinguish. Johann Fux wrote an entire book
  to help compose easy to distinguish melodies. It's great but we,
  modern humans, have another trick under our sleeves: multi-timbral
  instruments.

• B.Rawl - sg75: interesting sonic landscape. The musicality is
  simple but flawless. I love the combination of pure musicality and
  industrial sonic madness. Very well put together.

[bsg75]

Here is some feedback. Overall, I like that in all songs the character of Amsynth shines through
Good job everbody!

The Walker Thinker - A-Lin
Nice stereo width, tasty delays, gnarly bass - quite amsynthy

the foraging whale - Trumpetrespas
Great atmosphere. The lead is perhaps is little too much. More pauses would let the great ambiance breath more.
+1 for the sweep at 2:50. Also quite amsynthy

It's A Good Day - nyx eles
Catchy main theme in a quite evolving tune. Good use of tension and release.
I like the stereo panning in the first third. Mixing could be improved. For my taste some instruments are too lood compared to the precussion.

B.Rawl - sg75
Someone was not quantizing ...

[nyxeles]

The event concludes.
And the winner is... @bsg75 !

1. [13] sg75
2. [10] A-Lin
3. [10] nyx eles
4. [8] Trumpetrespas

The scoreboard can also be found on this webpage: https://lmc.nyxkn.org/results/26

For a breakdown of all the votes, see the attached spreadsheet. You can also find the spreadsheet on github

Thanks to everyone for participating! And see you all in the next one :)