The Official Treble Synth Kei Discussion Thread!

[fitear1590 2414]

We need to talk about the elephant in the neo VK room.

What the hell is with "treble synth kei" and why does it seem like this style is gaining more and more traction? Not only is it the same exact synth in each song, but it is always used in the same one or two rhythms. Lemme give you some specific examples in chronological order so you know exactly which sound I'm talking about.

2008: Girugamesh
2011: Suzaku, REALies
2012: LM.C
2014: メカクシ (mekakushi) , ROYZ, MAJOLICA
2015: anfiel, MegaMasso, Jupiter, DIV
2016: i.Rias, 0.1gの誤算, LONDBOY
2017: Soan project

What's most alarming to me is how ubiquitous this trend is in the scene. It's not just limited to the poppier or host-kei bands--even if just for one song, it's also gotten to Jupiter (supposed to be metuhl!!), DIV (a momentary fall from grace for the VK kings of electronic), and the upcoming Soan project (even art kei, dear god, why?!). What's next, are Kiryu gonna use it? The god and death stars?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of offenders; in fact, help me fill out the list! I have a sick obsession of getting to the bottom of this grating trend. I'm particularly curious if the sound predates Girugamesh in 2008 (thanks to @nekkichi for bringing this example to my attention in VK Tropes You Can't Stand thread) and/or if there are many other examples between 2008-2013.

I can definitively say that this is one of my least favorite aspects of VK at the moment, but am I just overreacting about treble synth kei? What are your thoughts on it?

Discuss!

[Aferni 2381]

I guess it's okay, its not as great as crystal synth kei. I'd really like to see that make a return, some of the best vk songs had that nice crystal, sparkly nostalgic synth. (2005-2012 VK)

[Mamo 1172]

Quote

I hate it, instant song ruiner. Definitely one of the worst trends right now. #Please_stop_trash_synth_kei_2k17!

 

I'll just repost that as my answer.

[ShTon 268]

Not my favorite effect but also not the one i hate. To be honest I don't even pay attention to it unless someone points it out.

[Pretsy 1343]

Frankly speaking there has been always a huge ( HUUUUUUUUUGE) batch of vk acts going for rather sloppy, plastered synthcraft per each era visual scene had during its existence. Even now I could barely name significant neo-vk chaps whose synth work I actually *feel* - take say, Blu-Billion? Their synth game MAKES SENSE to me, idk.

[fitear1590 2414]

2 hours ago, 『 A F E R N I 』 said:

I guess it's okay, its not as great as crystal synth kei. I'd really like to see that make a return, some of the best vk songs had that nice crystal, sparkly nostalgic synth. (2005-2012 VK)

Ha, "crystal synth kei". Sounds nice! I think I know what you're talking about, but do you have any specific examples?

 

3 minutes ago, Carmelzors said:

Frankly speaking there has been always a huge ( HUUUUUUUUUGE) batch of vk acts going for rather sloppy, plastered synthcraft per each era visual scene had during its existence.

I definitely understand that, but for me, this particular style of synthwork detailed in this thread really gets under my skin and makes me reach for the skip button faster than anything.

I remember back in 2011 when REALies came out with "NuAGE" and a lot of people accused them of having super sloppy synths with no sense of dynamics, myself included. However, compared to what I'm calling the "treble synth kei" style that seems pretty prevalent now, that REALies song sounds innovative!

[herpes 1597]

i'm biased because i'm a stan, but i think the first ~wave~ was caused by laputa/everlasting-k/aki

 

[Pretsy 1343]

1 hour ago, fitear1590 said:

Ha, "crystal synth kei". Sounds nice! I think I know what you're talking about, but do you have any specific examples?

 

I definitely understand that, but for me, this particular style of synthwork detailed in this thread really gets under my skin and makes me reach for the skip button faster than anything.

I remember back in 2011 when REALies came out with "NuAGE" and a lot of people accused them of having super sloppy synths with no sense of dynamics, myself included. However, compared to what I'm calling the "treble synth kei" style that seems pretty prevalent now, that REALies song sounds innovative!

By looking back to REALies, I could  agree that their presence would be rather missed in this context since god knows how many possible programming loops and tracks VK acts slam these days (aside from this treble fad you spoke of). With cases in point like Lycaon's Anima or pretty much anything Pentagon I could definitely tolerate a single or a couple of elements like in NuAGE rather than mishmash these formerly mentioned collectives put out.

 

Elaborating this by supporting @herpeshere:

 

 

Love or hate Laputa's rave/trance era but just like in NuAGE, synths here are added in for "thematic" purposes - instruments are not drowned etc. etc.. God knows what happened after this and during 10s really....Sorry for derailing this thread!

Edited January 19, 2017 by Alroy

[fitear1590 2414]

On 1/19/2017 at 4:54 PM, Carmelzors said:

Elaborating this by supporting @herpeshere:

 

 

Love or hate Laputa's rave/trance era but just like in NuAGE, synths here are added in for "thematic" purposes - instruments are not drowned etc. etc.. God knows what happened after this and during 10s really....

Interesting, but it's hard for me to even connect the "rave/trance" synths here (I looked it up; this is from 2002ish?) with the trebly stuff now. Definitely a big change. What electronic genre could we even relate the synths to nowadays?