There are still a few days left for you to vote for your favourite entries in the latest KVR Developer Challenge with voting closing on the 18th December. If you haven’t checked out the submissions yet, I’d highly recommend it as there are some excellent entries.
I wanted to create a demo song using some of my favourites which I’ve listed below. However, the process was not as smooth as it could have been. I spent about an hour and a half setting up the workspace in Sensomusic Usine Hollyhock II only to find that when I tried to reload it later to record the song it completely crashed Hollyhock II and lost all the midi patterns.
Back to the drawing board, I needed a change of plan. I decided to do a quick setup, then do a one-take live recording. This expanded from one song to four to cover different instruments and effects. All of the sounds come from entries in the challenge, I did use a very basic ‘mastering’ during the recording but no other effects nor was any post-processing used. The recordings are by no means perfect, there are some glitches and artifacts from editing on the fly but they do capture the essence of the live performances. The EP is embedded above and available as a free download.
Slam by Extent of the Jam
Sometimes you can spend ages auditioning drum samples when all you really want is a drum machine that is easy to use and has great sounds. That’s what I really like about Slam. The synthesised drums capture that analogue feel and not only sound great but you can also shape the sound to produce a good range of sounds and they also have multiple velocities too.
Noisetar by NuSofting
This is a mathematical based noise synth which means it has a tiny file size – about 2Mb and is capable of producing a wide range of noises from bangs, rattles, scratches to drones. The sound engine is very flexible and all parameters can be automated to create complex custom modulations.
Lagrange by Ursa DSP
You can’t ever have enough delays, epsecially when they are a bit different. This is a delay effect which uses granular techniques to give some very interesting sounds from metallic chorus effects to droning evolving soundscapes.
Spaceship Delay by Musical Entropy
This is a very capable and fully featured delay which can produce standard delays but also more complex effects with its attack setting, modulation, looper and advanced filtering options. It comes with an excellent selection of presets which show some of the creative possibilities.
AntiKnot by iraisynn attinom
This is a stereo signal processing effect featuring EQ, saturation, flanger, compression, reverb and chorus. I especially like the randomise option which tends to generate very interesting effects which can be tweaked further as required.
T.Rex ArgenSynth by Max Project
This is a very good sounding 2 oscillator synth which also has a step LFO and arpeggiator. The arps sound excellent and the filter is very good too, producing an excellent acid-type lead sound.
