Hey! Logickin! The annual event is coming; what is your SunVox Entry?
Well… I think I will disappoint you because… I am not going to join the Compo this time. Perhaps… let me tell you the story of each of my compo entries and you may find the answer for that.
Since 2019, this was my first appearance on the SunVox Compo, and I have submitted the well-known trance track “Soar Beyond”. The reason behind the track is that before this particular compo, I just found there were not many users writing trance track using SunVox, and uplifting trance was even out of the question, while I loved the genre at the time, and before the compo, I have been experimenting how to build a good sounding supersaw since this is the main component for uplifting trance, but I found that there weren’t many supersaw module made in the community either. Thus, I decided to submit an uplifting trance featuring that iconic filter fade in automation that commonly used for the genre so that I wished to give other audience to have a refreshing experience while let them know writing professional genre is possible with SunVox.
I didn’t join the compo in 2020 because I got some struggle during my job which the progress of software project wasn’t that great, along with the infamous Covid. I didn’t have a good mood to write something, well… Not really. I have written “Local Minima”, but I have already uploaded the track before the announcement of the compo, while “Imaginary Reality/ Realm” was a remix from the original, trance version (which shortly removed) that didn’t fit the submission requirement; in addition, although these tracks are good, I just can’t find any interesting concepts introduced into the track (perhaps the epic percussion module). Even if these two tracks are being qualified, I don’t see much value because it doesn’t show any new possibilities in SunVox, ending up no submission.
I could say 2021 was my peak performance because that was the only time I have ever submitted two tracks at once; well, it is actually three and people always know that is my “Super Position” and “Mech Haven”. Mech Haven had a “technology advancement” because that was the time I had discovered the Delay Module Input in MetaModule trick which it can accepts both midi and audio signal simultaneously, making things like “OP block”, “Key Tracking Filter”, and “Stereo Vocoder” possible. I also find that the cinematic – dubstep switch up can be a great demo song for SunVox where many other music making app like Xewton music studio and single cell software caustic (both discontinued, unfortunately) has the similar mash up tracks that sounds cool; meanwhile, super position was made for fun because I was wondering if it is possible to squeeze two tracks into one to get around the two track limitation, while bring some confusions to the audience which they will questioning why didn’t they get the same track. And obviously, since the 2019 compo result featured a piano roll for the entry playback, I decided to play around with the piano roll to create some patterns, ending up with some QR codes that goes to my SoundCloud. Surely, that was such a fun time.
In 2022, this was my first collaboration entry with fuzion_mixer. Tbh, we nearly gave up at the beginning because we were stuck at a progression that didn’t sound interesting:
Everything seems slow, and it didn’t flow well, not to mention that funky, springy, quirky progressive key sound. How can we suppose turn into something cool and unforgettable? We were so puzzled at the moment, but suddenly, I was thinking: “what happened if we exaggerate the melody along the progressions, with some ostinato and some powerful impact sound to introduce some movement?” Thus, we decided to experiment with the idea. We started by finding a way to make the melody more appealing, introducing some larger intervals jumps. After finding a cool sounding melody, I got inspired by Thomas Bergersen, aka Two Steps From Hell, trying to add some impactful percussive sounds, along with some supersaws that acts like a string section. Since we decided to go through the Epic path, we did a choir synth which enhances the epicness of the track:
Keep in mind, these two audio examples were originated from the same idea, but with different instrumentation; however, a question remain: how do we increase the length of the track? We decided to go with our strength, building an epic trance track with actual epic music built into the breakdown. Along the construction, we also tried to used one of the most unused module at the time, the loop, and it turns out Loop module is quite underrated because we managed to get a lot of scratching and glitchy sound for our breakbeat drum loop, sonically more interesting.
Let move on to the final entry. Here might be something surprising: Spaghetti Express Train was intended to be a 2023 entry, but because of my burnt out, and I was questioning about my career due to a stressful pathway toward to be a system analyst, I didn’t make any progress other than a four bar loop draft; nonetheless, the real question is: Why did I decide to write a spaghetti western track in the first place? Well… considering I have created trance, dubstep, cinematic-ish tracks, I don’t want to join the compo with the same formula again. I can always make cool trance or synthwave track, and if my mix is loud enough, it is quite easy to get some attentions; however, joining compo like this is not fun and manipulative, and it is meaningless even if I win. Thus, I decided to try something new, something I have never done before. During the time, fluffy audio has released a sample library called spaghetti western, featuring some instruments that creates the iconic western theme soundtrack, while despite a few years late, I just found Ennio Morricone has passed away. In combined all these inspirations, I was thinking if it is possible to create a spaghetti western track only using SunVox modules. I started by building some guitars, and it turns out the sound is quite simple, and all you need is a filtered pulse wave with a bit of reverb that creates the sound of a resonance box of the guitar. To emphasize the lead guitar, I threw some chorus to it. The trumpet was a happy accident which I just messed around with a key tracked filtered sawtooth wave, with my C->Horus module, and it somehow created a brassy sound. After I have quit my job for my study tour, I decided to study how Morricone wrote his track, especially all the twists and turns of the trumpet line so that I can complete such an exotic SunVox entry in 2024.
Time flies, it is now 2025… Not only my semester has started, but… I also really have no idea what I should go for my next entry. I have some advancements on the logic processing part, such as division with Newton Method, some Simple Neural Networks, and Nyquist Clock audio transmission, but… what musical value can brings with those tricks? I don’t seem to find any; besides, I don’t seem to find any new genre that is unexpected yet cool which can expend a new possibility for SunVox.
I think some of you have already recognize some patterns here: Whenever I join a compo, I usually attempt to brings a new idea, such as a genre that no one would formerly do for SunVox or some cool mechanisms that is beneficial for creating your songs or modules. It is more about exploration than winning competition; however, time flies, it is now 2025… Not only my semester has started, but… I also really have no idea what I should go for my next entry. I have some advancements on the logic processing part, such as division with Newton Method, some Simple Neural Networks, and Nyquist Clock audio transmission, but… what musical value can brings with those tricks? I don’t seem to find any…; besides, I don’t seem to find any new genre that is unexpected yet cool which can expend a new possibility for SunVox. For sure, I can just write another EDM track, introducing bright and flashy melodies, and playing the loudness and brightness war game like some of the other entries, but… what is the value with such track for the audience and what they can learn from the track? I am still trying to find one for those.
For all those reasons, I decided to be an audience this time, and let see if there are any new blood join in the force and create something cool. Besides, I will rate the entries in a different ways for this compo, mainly focusing on the benefits for the future SunVox user, rating based on the value given from the entry.