Lockdowns inspired me to finally try my hand at Arduino coding.  Here, they're adding something sorely lacking in the littleBits toy modular synth ecosystem: modulation.  Both are modulating the filter cutoff, 90s style; one is providing the 303-inspired decay envelope while the other runs a slow filter sweep.

LitteBits

Little Bit of Modulation

After several years of feeling that I just couldn't DAW it anymore, I suddenly found myself watching a certain salty local producer's master class and, so inspired, shat out this track.

Made in Studio One 3.5.6 using 20 instances of K1v.

DAW FX:
Analog Delay x2
Beat Delay x3
Compressor x8
Limiter x2
Multi Instrument x3 
Pro EQ x20
Spectrum Meter X1

3rd Party FX:
AXP SoftAmp PSA x1
FuzzPlus 3 x3
Limiter6 x1
LoudMax x1
MJUCJr x1
RoughRider x1
Sanford Reverb x1
Saturation Knob x6
Stereo Touch x9

Autumnal Romp (OSC 153 K1v)

OSC 167 - Any One DAW Synth
My entry: psmacmur - Dawstopia Now (Mojito)
Every now and then, mostly in the winter, I miss OSC.  And here I find the current challenge is a DAW synth, with commercial plugz allowed.  Years ago I'd thought to myself, Mojito would be a fun OSC synth.  I never went for it during the Any Synth challenges, though, because it's one of those obnoxious mono synths with a free-running oscillator and LFO.  It also lacks a noise osc, so percs are particularly pernicious.  These days, however, I don't have patience for flagship synths, so it was time.

 Specs:
 DAW: Studio One 3.5.6
 DAW Synth: Mojito x26
 DAW FX:
 Compressor x1
 Limiter x1
 Multi Instrument x5
 Pro EQ x15
 Redlight District x1
 Scope x1
  
 FX:
 Brainworx bx_limiter x3
 Brainworks bx_subfilter x2
 TAL Reverb 4 x2
 Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering Live Stereo x1
 Waves H-Comp x1
 Waves OneKnob Louder x2
 Waves SuperTap x1
 Voxengo Stereo Touch x4
 Voxengo Tube Amp x1

psmacmur - Dawstopia Now (Mojito)

Same instrumentation as the previous mix, but with added cat-themed speech bubbles.  Incidentally, I now suspect Soundwave's voiced was vocoded against a resonant analog synth.

Lolcatz meowmix

psmacmur - Afterdouche (Oxe FM)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #81: Oxe FM

The original inspiration for this track was a million-dollar cell phone.  Also, my wife keeps saying I use too many things in my tracks, so I tried to keep this one simple.  Still, it was too much for Reaper...

Made in Reaper 5.1/x64
(I am srsly considering dropping Reaper after all the trouble it gave me this month)

14 OXE FM instances 

DAW FX (several each):
ReaComp
ReaEQ

Free FX:
A1StereoControl x2
BlueARP x2
CodeRedFree x1
Freeverb3 Hibiki x2
Freeverb3_X1_Limiter x1
Limiter No6 x2
LoudMax 64bit x1
MJUC Jr x2
Nova67p x1
Roughrider x1
TAL Reverb 4 x1
TDR Kotelnikov x2
TDR VOS SlickEQ x2
Tonecarver Delay8 x1
ToneCarver Nova x2
TSE R47 x1
Voxengo SPAN x1
Voxengo Stereo Touch x1
Voxengo Tube Amp x1

DR8




Psmacmur - Afterdouche (Oxe FM)

psmacmur - Everybody's Falling Apart (Xhip)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #85: Xhip

Thank you aciddose for Xhip, it is everything an OSCer could want from a VA.

Made in Reaper 5.16 x64 (begrudgingly and under duress)


14 Xhip instances

DAW FX:
JS Time Adjustment Delay x1
ReaComp x1
ReaEQ x7

Free FX:
A1StereoControl-x32 x1
BlueARP 2.17 x6
Loudmax64 x1
MJUC Jr x1
u-he Protoverb x1
Voxengo Stereo Touch x2
Voxengo Tube Amp x2
Xhip Compressor x7
Xhip Limiter x2
Xhip mDelay x3
Xhip Reverb x3

Tonecarver Nova3 for generating the initial lead sequence, though I recorded it to MIDI and hand edited the result, so Nova3 wasn't in the final mixdown per se.
JS Oscilloscope for understanding Xhip

DR7

Psmacmur - Everybodys Falling Apart (Xhip)

psmacmur - Slacker Minions (TAL NoiseMaker)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #88: TAL NoiseMaker


Made in Studio One 3.2.3 x64


27 NoiseMaker instances 

DAW FX:
ProEQ x19
Compressor x2
Limiter x2
Spectrum Meter x1
Binaural Pan x1
Multi Instrument x2
Tricomp x1
Multiband Dynamics x1
VU Meter x1

Free FX:
A1StereoControl-x64 x1
Emissary x1
Freeverb3 Hibiki x1
Freeverb3 WindCompressor x1
LoundMax64 x4
Sanford Delay x1
Sanford Reverb x1 (since Taron recommended it)
Voxengo Stereo Touch x2
Limiter No6 x1
MJUC Jr x1
Nova64 x1
Roughrider x1
Saturation Knob x3

DR6


Psmacmur - Slacker Minions (TAL NoiseMaker)

psmacmur - Lounge Format (Helm)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #90: Helm

This month was touch&go.  I must've thrown in the towel at least thrice for various reasons, including Helm's tendency to load up with corrupt patches.  Luckily, the patches are usually repairable or inexplicably fix themselves.  Well, except for the time I had to start from one version back.  Ah well.  

Made in Studio One 3.2.3 x64

23 Helm instances 

DAW FX:
ProEQ x17
Compressor x4
Limiter x3
Spectrum Meter x1
Multi Instrument x1
Tricomp x2
Multiband Dynamics x2
VU Meter x1

Free FX:
A1StereoControl-x64 x1
Freeverb3 Hibiki x1
LeXtac x1
MJUC Jr x1
Nova64 x1
Pancake x2
Roughrider x1
Saturation Knob x3
Sanford Reverb x1
TAL Reverb-4 x1
Voxengo Stereo Touch x4
Voxengo Tube Amp x2

DR8


psmacmur - Lounge Format

psmacmur - Throw in the Towel (OBXD)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #93: OBXD

This month, I tried to apply a bunch of the tips, tricks, and techniques I picked up from my collab with H-man and various general and specific advice from the forum & slack.  
Thanks to everyone who had something to say this month; really helped a lot.  I was totally ready to throw in the towel after I heard the awesome sauce the masters were cooking, but they wisely encouraged me to persevere, and here we are.

Made in Studio One 3.3.1 x64

21 OBXD instances in the project; I think only 20 are actually making noise

DAW FX:
Analog Delay x2
Beat Delay x1
ProEQ x28
Compressor x8
Limiter x4
Spectrum Meter x1
Tricomp x1
Multiband Dynamics x1
VU Meter x1
X-Trem x1

Free FX:
A1StereoControl-x64 x1
A1TriggerGate-x64 x1
BlueARP x4
Emissary x1
Freeverb3 Hibiki x1
Limiter No6 x1
LoundMax64 x4
MJUC Jr x3
Nova67p x1
Sanford BassTightener x1
Sanford Reverb x2
Saturation Knob x4
OTT x1 
TAL Reverb x1
Tonecarver Delay8 x1
Transient x1
Voxengo Stereo Touch x2
Voxengo Tube Amp x2

DR8

psmacmur - Throw in the Tower (OBXD)

psmacmur - Carbon Dioxide (Nabla)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #96: Nabla

Back to my '90s melodic techno comfort zone.  Special thanks to Full Bucket for giving Nabla to the world; bjporter for agreeing to Nabla for this OSC, and to rghvdberg & everyone else who shared tips on DAW automation kicks over the last couple of months.  Not as much more time-consuming than conventional kick patches as I'd feared.

Made in Studio One 3.3.1 x64

28 Nabla instances in the project.  Each one of them is great.  Tiny CPU hit, but great sound.

DAW FX:
Multi Instrument x4
Compressor x5
ProEQ x25
Room Reverb x1
Spectrum Meter x1
VU Meter x1

Free FX:
A1StereoControl-x64 x3
Freeverb3 Hibiki x1
Freeverb3 NVerb x1
Limiter6 x3
MJUC Jr x1
Molot03 x3
OTT x3 
Roth-AIR x4
Sanford Reverb x1
Saturation Knob x5
TAL Reverb x1
Tonecarver Delay8 x1
Transient x3
TSE R47 x1
Voxengo Stereo Touch x6
Voxengo Tube Amp x6
WG Doffset x6

DR8

Carbon Dioxide (Nabla)

psmacmur - Vulputate (Fortune Cookie 2012)
My entry for KVR One Synth Challenge #97: Fortune Cookie 2012

This one's pretty much just techno. The month kinda got away from me, so it's not much musically at all, but mixing wise, it's my first foray into mid-side processing; nothing sophisticated, just basic use of MSED and Density Mk III in MS mode.

Made in Studio One 3.3.1 x64

16 cookies, I mean instances, in the project.

DAW FX:
Multi Instrument x2
Compressor x5
ProEQ x15
Spectrum Meter x1
Tricomp x1
VU Meter x1

Free FX:
A1StereoControl-x64 x1
Density MkIII x3
epicVerb x1
Ferric TDS x1
Limiter No6 x1
MJUC Jr x1
MSED x2
OTT x1 
RoughRider x1
Roth-AIR x4
Saturation Knob x3
Slick HDR x1
Stereo Touch x1
TAL Reverb-2 x2
TAL Reverb-3 x1
TAL Reverb-4 x3
Thrillseeker LA x1
WG Doffset x11

DR7

psmacmur - Vulputate (Fortune Cookie 2012)

I haven't had the patience to work in a DAW lately, but have been having fun with Reaktor Blocks, a software modular synth I picked up years ago but never really dived into.  Thought I'd see how far I could push it and also try out its recoder.  This track is literally just a raw live recording from Reaktor 6; one take, no external mixing or mastering etc.  Uses a mix of stock and community blocks.

Spaceline

I'm no musician, but I like to play with synths

peter-macmurchy

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