So...do you use your OWN presets? Is that like, auto-cannibalism?

I'm the same way - and that's also why I never finish a track. Also why I just got Synplant - so I'd STOP doing sound design for a bit!

I do it both ways...

Sometimes I take a preset as starting point and alter it, and sometimes I program from the scratch.

Your audience doesn't know all kind of synthesizer to say: "Oh, that's Zebra, and that's Dune, and there's Synthmaster..."

Either it sounds good or not... But the other musicians of course may know from what synthesizer the sound is if it's a simple preset. That's why I don't like to use pure presets.

The only question should be "is this the sound I want to use for this purpose". Perhaps 1% of the people listening will know its a preset. If they give a shit, its their problem not yours.

If anything, it's people using their own presets repeatedly across multiple tracks that sticks out to me, particularly in the dance music world.

Presets are whats included with an instrument/effect/whatever. When you make them yourself, they are not pre-set. I usually refer to them as patches.

A lot of the instruments and effects I use don't have presets, so I have to start from scratch every time. However, I've used presets from Zebra, FabFilter's Timeless, Reaktor, Valhalla Room... all sorts and lots of other instruments and effects. If it does what I need it to, I don't feel like it's cheating or lazy to use presets.

I can use both pre-sets and init...then again, being a miserable old curmudgeon that had to write up my own patchbooks for the Arp2600 I have ..is it any wonder???

You don't really program a guitar or bass or drums. You tweak settings on your amp and effects, but essentially it's all very similar.

Such as it is with presets for me. I do want to learn how to program my synths form Init, but I don't really worry about that too much. I just find presets that inspire me...and play. I don't care if I came up with the patch myself or not, as long as it sounds good.

There are so many thousands upon thousands of presets available for the various synths nowadays, and sooooooo many of them sound very similar to one another, it doesn't bother me at all if someone can point out that I used such-and-such preset, not that many people outside of KVR would know, anyway.

I have the same problem. Stubborness and I feel that if I use presets, even if they would do good for me, I'll feel like shit over that.

And about mainstream music, I get it now. Though, supersaws and those saw plucks et cetera are easy to create, to be honest. Then again, they all seem to sound the same, difference probably comes from fx and synth specifics.

So cookiecutter sounds probably are better off with creating your own base for them and use that over and over again with your tweaks?

I just earlier thought that you'd say mainstream music as people percieve it usually. Like Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead. Pretty mainstream (or was), but if I'd found out that they used presets... I'd be crying in my room for days, because back couple of years ago, I really loved them and how unique they were

I'd NEVER call Radiohead or NIN mainstream. Mainstream to me is not defined by success. It's defined by the degree of adherence to a widespread sound aesthetic.

I also think that if you're using presets, then the result is very much determined by the context. A sound by itself is never "good", "bad", "cliche" or "original".

It was a joke (and I guess not a very good one!)
- Meaning if Dennis makes a preset bank for an instrument (like he did for the Diva factory library), does he not use them?

Happily, I know what patches are

iirc most of Faithless' "God is a DJ" is a Quasimidi Sirius preset pattern.

Oh noes.

I will NEVER listen to this again.



Frankly, if you're worrying about using presets, you're not spending long enough thinking about or making music.

I only listen to this if they'd give me a certificate that they have programmed all sounds from the scratch... I only buy CD's if there's a label with the mark "This CD is not made of presets."

Joke apart, it's the everlasting debate:

using presets = bad musician
programming from init = good musician

But I think, if the song sounds good, it is good. Independent from how it has been made.

There are so much sounds which are made without presets, but if they sound as the toilet flush, that's not musical. Even if they were made with hours of hours of work...

Hey, you just gave me an idea. I'll go record a flushing toilet and see what I can do with it granular-wise!

Always make my own. Most presets I hear don't fit in my music anyways.

Gratulation! Put some distortion on it and you'll get a tsunami of sound...