I tend to overwrite preset sounds as I go.Most of them I don't even listen to.
When working on something I select the next available preset slot I haven't saved to, initialise it and then replace it if I come up with something I'm going to keep.
I find if I use presets I often end up in the situation where I can't decide between a few that fit well with what I'm doing.
If I just program from scratch and ignore the presets I spend less time procrastinating over weather I've choose the right one or not.
I enjoy programming sounds though, so I guess that helps.
How many of you delete the presets that come with your synthesizers?
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- KVRAF
- 2070 posts since 5 Oct, 2005
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- KVRAF
- 3477 posts since 27 Dec, 2002 from North East England
I've softened on presets over the last few years. I was purely audio + processing based when I was making more experimental stuff, no synths at all, so I got used to making sounds from scratch. FX presets tend to be a lot less useful because there's no accounting for the audio you're feeding them. When I started making more conventional music, I was much the same with synths, but I've since found there's generally something at least near the ball park I'm looking for in the presets of most synths, and I actually learn a lot from them! I'll be like "how are they doing that" and I'll pick up a new trick when I figure it out. There's the old adage that using presets will make you sound like everyone else, but I just don't buy it. Yeah, maybe if you're using the preset or Nexus patch of the moment you might, but not every preset out there represents some huge and inescapable trend in music. I probably can't place 99% of synth presets in any track I've heard.
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- KVRist
- 138 posts since 11 Apr, 2011 from Paris, France
+1planetearth wrote:I don't think using another person's patch in your compositions makes you "not original".
Take any acoustic instrument - there's only one patch there (variations of it with different playing techniques, but the same holds for a synth preset with mod wheel, etc). People obsessed with sound (I am one) sometimes mistake it for music.
I don't delete presets (takes time, I learn from them, updates often reinstall them anyway, etc). I throw most everything into Kore, and just rate the good stuff.
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fluffy_little_something fluffy_little_something https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=281847
- Banned
- 12880 posts since 5 Jun, 2012
I would not know how to delete factory presets even if I wanted to. They are usually embedded in the dll if I am not mistaken.
I don't care if they are there. In Sylenth I never use any of them, but they don't bother me, either. After all, they are not samples eating GB's on my hard drive and slowing my system down.
Maybe deleting them would even lead to certain issues, who knows...
I don't care if they are there. In Sylenth I never use any of them, but they don't bother me, either. After all, they are not samples eating GB's on my hard drive and slowing my system down.
Maybe deleting them would even lead to certain issues, who knows...
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- KVRAF
- 5361 posts since 20 Mar, 2012 from Babbleon
I never delete the FXBs, FXPs, etc., that came with the plugin because I presume the presets are made by the creator of the plugin. Who else knows more about the functions and capabilities of the plugin than the creator of the plugin? Okay, maybe a few really good preset-makers do know.
It's like if I am buying a unique computer I would rather have the creator(s) of the unique computer demonstrate the capabilities of it than an average computer salesperson. In the computer world, that is probably almost impossible to happen but in the VST world the creator would have been right there, and again, presets (and maybe videos) are the best way for the plugin creator to say "this is the range of what my plugin can do".
If the original presets suck, my initial (and perhaps wrong) impression is that the plugin is "limited" in terms of capability and I end up dismissing the plugin.
I keep plugins that don't have presets and plugins that have too-few presets in a rarely-used folder, just in case someone makes a really good usable preset randomizer or just in case some really good preset-maker(s) decides to make tons of free presets for them. I keep the plugins with 'sucky' presets in another folder named "VSTplugins Rejects" just in case it's a disadvantage to delete ANY plugin.
Music-making requires too much time to be bothering with equally time-consuming preset-making. 2-thousand VST plugins may not seem a lot but really, it is. Life is too short to be a jack-of-all-trades. Life is just long enough for specialists. No?
It's like if I am buying a unique computer I would rather have the creator(s) of the unique computer demonstrate the capabilities of it than an average computer salesperson. In the computer world, that is probably almost impossible to happen but in the VST world the creator would have been right there, and again, presets (and maybe videos) are the best way for the plugin creator to say "this is the range of what my plugin can do".
If the original presets suck, my initial (and perhaps wrong) impression is that the plugin is "limited" in terms of capability and I end up dismissing the plugin.
I keep plugins that don't have presets and plugins that have too-few presets in a rarely-used folder, just in case someone makes a really good usable preset randomizer or just in case some really good preset-maker(s) decides to make tons of free presets for them. I keep the plugins with 'sucky' presets in another folder named "VSTplugins Rejects" just in case it's a disadvantage to delete ANY plugin.
Music-making requires too much time to be bothering with equally time-consuming preset-making. 2-thousand VST plugins may not seem a lot but really, it is. Life is too short to be a jack-of-all-trades. Life is just long enough for specialists. No?
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fluffy_little_something fluffy_little_something https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=281847
- Banned
- 12880 posts since 5 Jun, 2012
Well, some developers are good at programming and physics, but they suck at sound design, GUI design and such things.
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- KVRAF
- 5361 posts since 20 Mar, 2012 from Babbleon
"Well, some developers are good at programming and physics, but they suck at sound design, GUI design and such things."
Probably true. But it should be a must that creators of plugins should be great at sound design because what good is a deaf violin maker?
Probably true. But it should be a must that creators of plugins should be great at sound design because what good is a deaf violin maker?
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fluffy_little_something fluffy_little_something https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=281847
- Banned
- 12880 posts since 5 Jun, 2012
I don't think so at all. A programmer does not need to be a musician. Just like a violin maker does not have to be able to play the violin well, he is a craftsman, while someone else does the artistic part. And vice versa, a musician does not have to know how to code a synth or build a violin.
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- KVRAF
- 35399 posts since 11 Apr, 2010 from Germany
True dat.fluffy_little_something wrote:I don't think so at all. A programmer does not need to be a musician. Just like a violin maker does not have to be able to play the violin well, he is a craftsman, while someone else does the artistic part. And vice versa, a musician does not have to know how to code a synth or build a violin.
But it's true that they should at least have a good set of ears to tune the sound of the synth and make it right. Tbh that's one point some soft synths lack IMO. I got a lot of "close but no cigar" moments in the past, and had to try out a holy lot to get close to what i consider good sound. I guess with hardware synth that's a bit easier.-
fluffy_little_something fluffy_little_something https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=281847
- Banned
- 12880 posts since 5 Jun, 2012
Making a synth sound right is a matter of physics and mathematics in my view, I know that sounds terribly unmusical 
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- KVRian
- 868 posts since 2 Jan, 2013
for me the pattern seems to be...
get a new synth, play with all the presets for a bit, learn how to use the synth, perhaps tweak the presets a bit.
BUT if it stays at this 'stage', i soon get bored of it... and tend to not use it much*
(* I keep it, because for quite a few of these, a few weeks/months later I come back to it, and sometimes gel with it better)
but the synths I gel with, I then tend to start from the init patch, and actually save very few patches, those that I do, tend to be more like 'templates' of common things I do - but its always these synths I use the most, and keep coming back to.
for me, with 100s (1000s?) of presets, they are just too distracting, and take forever to audition, its just more fun for me to create sounds as i go along., and as I only do it for fun... I don't care if my efforts are not up to the same level as a talented sound designer or if I'm less 'productive'.
If I found it more fun to use presets, I would, theres so much choice.
I guess I don't delete the presets, as sometimes I might go to them for inspiration, or to see how a patch works.
But you have got me thinking, perhaps if I did delete the presets after the initial 'what can it do' phase, perhaps Id be more likely to pick it up again?
does it count if I just archive them somewhere? .. or does it need to be a secure delete with no possibility of recovery
get a new synth, play with all the presets for a bit, learn how to use the synth, perhaps tweak the presets a bit.
BUT if it stays at this 'stage', i soon get bored of it... and tend to not use it much*
(* I keep it, because for quite a few of these, a few weeks/months later I come back to it, and sometimes gel with it better)
but the synths I gel with, I then tend to start from the init patch, and actually save very few patches, those that I do, tend to be more like 'templates' of common things I do - but its always these synths I use the most, and keep coming back to.
for me, with 100s (1000s?) of presets, they are just too distracting, and take forever to audition, its just more fun for me to create sounds as i go along., and as I only do it for fun... I don't care if my efforts are not up to the same level as a talented sound designer or if I'm less 'productive'.
If I found it more fun to use presets, I would, theres so much choice.
I guess I don't delete the presets, as sometimes I might go to them for inspiration, or to see how a patch works.
But you have got me thinking, perhaps if I did delete the presets after the initial 'what can it do' phase, perhaps Id be more likely to pick it up again?
does it count if I just archive them somewhere? .. or does it need to be a secure delete with no possibility of recovery
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- Banned
- 3490 posts since 6 Sep, 2007 from France
I never delete preset but rarely use it.I love to make a "blank" preset to build my own. I think factory preset are here to give a starting point to the one who don t like to build their own.
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- KVRAF
- 3879 posts since 28 Jun, 2009 from Wherever I lay my hat
Yep... except for the Jupiter Brass patches. You can never have too many Jupiter Brass patches.
On a side note, the acoustic instrument - synth patch analogy is totally daft. In terms of nuance and expressiveness, synths just can't compare with acoustic instruments. Their strength lies in their ability to make sounds that are interesting because of their unique character. And that's where programming comes in - I think being able to make interesting sounds is a part of the musicianship where synths are concerned - your mileage may and probably will vary, of course.
On a side note, the acoustic instrument - synth patch analogy is totally daft. In terms of nuance and expressiveness, synths just can't compare with acoustic instruments. Their strength lies in their ability to make sounds that are interesting because of their unique character. And that's where programming comes in - I think being able to make interesting sounds is a part of the musicianship where synths are concerned - your mileage may and probably will vary, of course.
