The Crow Hill Company has introduced The Shit Synth, described as a “compendium of 48 circuit-, wave- and sample-bent instruments.”
The concept behind The Shit Synth is that a lot of musicians have used knackered instruments to create interesting music – and a lot of interesting music makes used of ‘knackered sounds’. This includes music from groups like Radiohead, Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada and Throbbing Gristle.
So – instead of taking the clean sounds of modern plugin synths and trying to make them sound knackered, The Shit Synth is designed to actually directly give you the wonky sounds of shit gear.
They say that the virtual instrument offers “a cohesive approach to making your music more lo-fi, retro, edgy and AI-slop-free.”
Is The Shit Synth “The Shit”, or just another crappy virtual instrument? Check out the demo video let us know what you think!
Pricing and Availability:
The Shit Synth is available now for $39 USD.
Well, one of the Crow Hill Company’s founders is a shit person so maybe this is apropos.
literally the guy in the video, right?
thankfully there’s so much great content out there, it’s really easy to vote with your wallet.
I didn’t even watch the video. Is it Christian Henson in the video? That’s the guy that’s a shit person.
The concept is certainly valid. You can have wonderful content ideas (actual melodies, chord-progression, rhythms), and execute those elements perfectly accurately (quantized, perfectly in-tune, etc.); but that might not be the best way to convey those ideas. If the performance itself has a particular range of flaws, it can make the content nicer to listen to. Similarly, if the sounds themselves are generic (i.e., samples of an impeccably tuned steinway grand) it might sound safe and convey the content well, but might lack other emotional conveyances. Playing instruments with inconsistent notes, tuning issues, flaws, and character can make a piece have character; a bit like the difference between a cold recitation of a text, vs a play with actors in character, costumes, and makeup.
I do think that digital processing is a reasonable way to simulate some of this. Pianoteq Pro has lots of ways of adding this kind of damaged character to the pianos.
When a company gives one of their creations a name like that, I know they don’t take things seriously, and I as a customer, I stop taking them seriously. Hard pass, just based on the name alone.
Every move these days seems to come with a personal takedown. I choose not to patronize the more serious scum, but its an added de-value thing to consider.
I have a Crow Hill string section and a tasty, slightly-off-tune Gaelic vocal group freebie thing. They’re well-designed and useful. This one is rather ill-named, but I get the joke. Thing is, I’ve learned enough about effects to add grit where needed. Stub is right about Pianoteq being readily molded. All it takes is a little flanging and its instant “Benny the Bouncer.”
No. It’s shit, and so is this guy. Shit is shit. I Christian may have had some sort of breakdown, and is determined to drown in his own…. shit.
/on his way.
FWIW: I loved his vids when he was attached to his former company. Great marketing, but he shit the bed…
Have I missed something what did he do?
He went all in against trans people.
https://tinyurl.com/Transphobia-in-Music-Tech