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[Calum Bowen]

Thanks to Pgil for hosting the first TIGSource Musical Challenge (may there be many more!). I shall be continuing with a similarly restrictive challenge:

ONE INSTRUMENT/SOUND ONLY

You may have multiple tracks and you may alter the sound with any processing you see fit so long as it is using the original instrument selected.

As far as electric guitars go, i'm going to allow you to use different pedals/virtual amplifications/settings as many of these things can be achieved with audio effects (which are allowed) without changing presets.

With regards to MIDI instruments - I would like to restrict the instrument to a patch or preset whose parameters (other than pitch bend/mod wheel) CANNOT be altered (although you may use audio effects units on these instruments).

If you wish to supply a sample of the original instrument (if it is not apparent in your piece) along side your entry then feel free or merely include a description along side it.

This is a challenge about the potential of limited timbral sources. Seeing as the definition of an 'instrument' is very loose when it comes to midi instruments I would encourage entrants to make use of "physical" instruments HOWEVER I will certainly not hold that against anyone and although this is partly "see how many different sounds you can make from one sound" (a sort of sound design exercise), I am primarily judging these pieces on their compositional/production merit in the context of the challenge.

I look forward to hearing the entries and answering any queries about the challenge.

This challenge is a week long and I'd encouraged entrants to stick to this deadline but as we experienced last week, extensions are very possible if it means we get more entries.

[kz012]

Very interesting!

[JudahRoydes]

This should be a lot of fun. I am going to get started right away.

[MoritzPGKatz]

Hey Calum,

Nice idea! I love how the rules are so restrictive, makes it much easier to come up with ideas rather than selecting from a big palette of sounds.

[medieval]

It's way too short but meh I don't wanna work on it anymore. All done with my acoustic guitar and a shit load of effects.

http://soundcloud.com/ronin-narasu/fire-in-the-bottomless-pit

(The mastering is horrible though)

[raigan]

Are we allowed to use a sample of our instrument? i.e record an instrument part, then chop that up and mangle the samples to create accompaniment/drums/etc.?

I just feel like "alter the sound with any processing" and "I would like to restrict the instrument to a patch or preset whose parameters CANNOT be altered" are mutually contradictory, for example using a synth's built-in distortion/filter/etc. would be disallowed while using a distortion/filter/etc. effect on the synth's output would be allowed... but both can produce more or less the same results!

It seems like a really confusing/blurry line... maybe it's just me though.

For example, would it be valid to take a single-cycle loop of a guitar note and synthesize all sorts of crap out of it by using it as an oscillator? If so, does that mean I can do the same thing with an oscillator instead of a guitar, thereby getting around the "no altering of parameters" rule? I feel like e.g granular synthesis sort of breaks the rules.

Sorry for being a bit stupid... if it was "acoustic instruments only" it would make a lot more sense to my inflexible brain!

[Calum Bowen]

I think inevitably this will be a bit of an issue. With audio processing technically you can produce the same results. HOWEVER, what I wanted to encourage by enforcing these rules is that you start with one fairly limited sound (i considered restricting it to a 2-3 second audio sample instead of an instrument) and by using effects (pitch shifting/splicing/distortion etc.) and/or performance techniques create something which is an interesting composition BUT also makes full use of the potential of their original sound. I know that you can effectively reproduce different settings by using processing outside of the synth instrument HOWEVER I wanted to stress that you couldn't just use a bunch of different presets in one virtual instruments as that's not what the challenge is about.

I guess the challenge is to restrict oneself and overcome the limiting rules set out. If someone chooses the easy way out then it probably won't be that satisfying. I admit it's a bit of a loophole. But I would hope people wouldn't look for ways to win that don't really engage in what the challenge is about.

Anyway to address your queries directly - sampling your instrument is definitely allowed, i think that's a great idea.

To be honest, I don't know an awful lot about synthesis (perhaps it shows!) but if you want to mess around with a guitar note and put it into a sampler and play that, i'm fine with that too. I suppose the challenge isn't necessarily "how different can you make it sound?" (although that is interesting) but finding the maximum potential in sounds. But as I said, it's a challenge for you not for me. Do whatever you think abides by the rules and makes you write great music!

as for granular synthesis... you could if you like. As a judge I won't super be interested in WOW THAT'S A CRAAAZZYY SOUND YOU MADE but hearing the evolution of the sound, what is done with it and it's context in the whole piece.

If anyone has any suggestions for a neat way to solve the virtual instrument loophole then please let me know. Otherwise, I say to entrants - if it seems too easy and you're not satisfied by it then don't bother doing it.

I'm not gonna be meticulously checking that everyone has followed the rules (how could i)... I mean, if you win you only get to rack your brains thinking of an interesting but workable challenge for next week! (well... and a little bit of glory)

Does this kinda clear things up? I might have babbled on vaguely...

[raigan]

Okay, I think I understand a bit better now, maybe it makes sense!

I don't know if I can really pull it off though

[Calum Bowen]

Okay, I think I understand a bit better now, maybe it makes sense!

I don't know if I can really pull it off though

ahhh, you'll be fine! You can't really fail at this challenge GO FOR IT! 

Also Yoshimitsu, I like it! Is it finished now or will it be extended at all?

[medieval]

Also Yoshimitsu, I like it! Is it finished now or will it be extended at all?

At this point I'm not sure. If I continue working it I'll use the samples and make a different arrangement with some additional material, but until then, this is the end result.

[MoritzPGKatz]

Here's my entry:

Ditty on E-Bass

I chose my trusty electric bass, a 4-string fretted Cort Curbow.
No amps or amp-simulations, just DI, compression, EQ and Reverb/Delay.
Some explanations how I got the sounds in the SoundCloud comments.

Cheers,
Moritz

P.S.: Yoshimitsu, I like your track. Reminded me of the Diablo soundtrack. Memories of Tristram.
There's really nasty high-pitched noise going on before and after the guitar-solo though, you might want to check out what causes that.

[medieval]

P.S.: Yoshimitsu, I like your track. Reminded me of the Diablo soundtrack. Memories of Tristram.
There's really nasty high-pitched noise going on before and after the guitar-solo though, you might want to check out what causes that.

I'm aware of this; it's because of the sound effects I used on the bass and lead parts. However, I don't have the means and knowledge to fix this.

[MoritzPGKatz]

P.S.: Yoshimitsu, I like your track. Reminded me of the Diablo soundtrack. Memories of Tristram.
There's really nasty high-pitched noise going on before and after the guitar-solo though, you might want to check out what causes that.

I'm aware of this; it's because of the sound effects I used on the bass and lead parts. However, I don't have the means and knowledge to fix this.

Okay - it's not a big deal, didn't ruin your song for me.
Just thought I'd give you a heads up in case you didn't notice, I know how I tend to blend things out after working on a track for a while.

[medieval]

Okay - it's not a big deal, didn't ruin your song for me.
Just thought I'd give you a heads up in case you didn't notice, I know how I tend to blend things out after working on a track for a while.

Much appreciated

By the way, I'm listening to your track now, and I love it. Very solid composition and creative use of the bass. Looks like I've got some work to do.

[pgil]

Here's what I did: borcolispirits

The only source is a crappy flute sample that comes with Renoise.  It sounds like this.  I used a lot of chorus and distortion to do the strings and bass, and some resonant filters on a bunch of things. I used lots of distortion and fast pitch slides for the drums.  And I have one plugin which makes everything sound like white noise, which is how I did the hihats.

(I kind of feel like it's too easy to make a short, pitched sample sound like whatever I want, what with all the effects that are available... I might try something with my guitar later)

[tipp]

ooh that is qiute nice

distortion|distortion/distortion

[raigan]

@pgil: wow... that oozing-yet-grainy texture at the start is amazing! The range of the later part is pretty crazy too, some wonderful timbres!

@Tipp: also amazing! seriously, wow... crazy in the best possible way, it somehow comes together powerfully-but-slowly really well. man..

[medieval]

Here's what I did: borcolispirits

The only source is a crappy flute sample that comes with Renoise.  It sounds like this.  I used a lot of chorus and distortion to do the strings and bass, and some resonant filters on a bunch of things. I used lots of distortion and fast pitch slides for the drums.  And I have one plugin which makes everything sound like white noise, which is how I did the hihats.

(I kind of feel like it's too easy to make a short, pitched sample sound like whatever I want, what with all the effects that are available... I might try something with my guitar later)

This is good stuff! it might be a pitched sample, but this is a good composition nonetheless.

ooh that is qiute nice

distortion|distortion/distortion

trippy as hell. Is that all really from one sample?

[tipp]

its all from this distorted chime sample except for the cellphone message playing ;>

[somnia]

Is it mandatory to compose a new piece especially for the challenge? I'm asking cause I have some earlier work that fits the requirements.