I'm not a plugin/synth developer, I'm just curious about people's opinions and see what they think about the subject. Chances are quite high that you already heard a song somewhere and at some point you could right away very easily spot the synth/vst'i used and say ''hey, that's *whatever synth* right there!'' cause obviously, the creator behind the track simply clicked and used a preset right away. Happened to me several times, a bunch of presets easily recognizable on a well known synth.

Now, what would actually happen if a major developer releases a really good synth but without ANY presets at all? And let's say on their website there's are alot of info, many solid videos to see and hear what the synth can do, a nice useable demo as well, but... No presets. Would it be a good thing, forcing people to really explore the synth and all its possibilities OR they would literally shoot themselves in the foot?

What do you think?

I indeed would think that developer shoots himself in the foot.

How many people, do you think, really know synthesis that well that they can explore a synth with all possibilites. 90% of the people probably use presets.

Those 90% would miss the potential of a synth and will turn it down. My guess.

I wouldn't like that at all personally, presets inform you about what a synth is capable of, they actually can help teach you how to make your own sounds. Maybe some very basic patches that are starting points coupled with good manuals and videos would be the sweet spot, but I do think presets are a good thing, especially on the most complex synths. But personally even if I start with a preset it HAS to be tweaked to fit the tune and sit in the mix.

I know how to program synths and i like presets - i treat them as starting points, not as finished sounds (ofc on a rare occasion a preset is just what i like and then i just use it).

Yes presets are definitly good starting points for further synthesis / manipulations. Especially when you're out of ideas and creativity.

Do you guys think synths are now too drowned & inflated of presets?

I like a nice well-organized, logically named assortment of patches, like 'long low filter sweep 1' sort of thing would be ideal for me, with the name descriptive of the sound and grouped with similar patches, not just crazy named things all thrown in one folder. That is when presets become unuasable for me. If I need a certain sound, actually finding an appropriate preset without hitting 10 whale-sound patches named like 'liquid ambrosia' etc would be helpful. Name them 'whale sounds 1, whale sounds 2, whale sounds 3' etc. That would help me out.

Rez 3 is like that, and for $25 you get all 3 patch banks (128 patches each I think) and it's better than any $25 synth you can buy. So also, yes. It's an interesting but somewhat viable business plan, just ask KvR local Ugo.

It does include a dozen or 20 patches from the 3 banks, but in reality the idea is that you will want to buy at least 1 or 2 of the banks of course. And again, at $25 for the triple bundle, and that synth's abilities, I'm surprised more smaller devs haven't gone this route yet. Although some big ones kind of have no ? Like Nexus, or even Massive ? They aren't as cheap, but they aren't too-too much, and they have a ton of 'factory authorized/approved' expansions.

It's already happened: Arturia Minibrute.
(btw: everyone go out and buy one so that we can get a bigger version from Arturia).

I agree, I think this is actually a good business model, offer the synth for free, but make sound banks proprietary. If you can program everything you need then you get it free, otherwise you buy patches. Only think is I see an issue if someone wants to export their own patches as backup or to move to another synth. Many user-created banks would be available in a short time, limiting the market for the developer's own patches, no?

If someone releases a very good synth without (or with very few) presets, I think it's likely that someone does a bank for it and then sells it (or even gives it away for free). The important thing is that the total price for the final user is right.
At the end the synth would be used as a preset machine, exactly as if it included some good factory preset, because a good amount of people buys synths for ready-to-play sounds, not to make their own.


Anyway I think that a decent amount of factory preset is useful, at least as a demo/tutorial of what the synth could do (and maybe event to show some tricks on the more complex synths). Manual and videos are useful too, but the presence of some factory presets is good as a starting point and to speed up things (plus videos and manual are not always very clear as they may take something forgranted, so presets are a good complement to them)

I recently got a Moog Slim Phatty and I swear I'd rather it have not come with a single preset, as man did the ones it came with suck. I know sounds are subjective but... anyway, so I made my own. Hurray for me! I can do it!

I read an interview many years ago of some famous artists who deletes all factory presets of new synths he purchased. This would force him to learn the synth and create unique patches from scratch.

Love the idea but I think for majority it's a deal breaker.

The first thing I do when I get a new synth/FX is deleting all presets, then I make an init preset (it drives me crazy when synths don't come with an init preset and/or a "new sound" button).
There are a few exceptions but that's what I do most of the time.

But I'm mainly a sound designer. Designing sounds is what I like to do, so I don't have a need for presets. But there are many people out there who just want to make music and don't want to learn how to make sounds from scratch and that's perfectly fine.

There will always be a need for presets. However, the Diva beta came without presets and users posted hundrets of presets within a few days! That usually doesn't happen when a synth includes presets.

I guess it would be an interesting experiment but if I'd be a dev I wouldn't want to be the one who tries it since a good factory library is an important part of a synth for many people and has a big influence on their buying decision.

Cheers
Dennis

If every dev did this today, after some time has passed, i would expect we would see something like:



I think what this tries to "fix", won't be.

Also, if devs didn't provide presets, we'd be here discussing how they certainly should