How much do you use presets? [Poll]

[Aiynzahev]

Question to the preset users & lovers: (pure curiosity here, no offence and not to denigrate): you don't mind having a sound that has been created by someone else and that can be used and found anywhere else? Having a sound in your work that can be used by pretty much anyone else? That's what I don't like about presets, to have a sound that 1000 other Joe's can have too…

I very rarely use a preset untweaked, there are almost always at least some parameters that need to be changed in order to make it sound more like I want. So I don't think it will sound the same for others. And then there are the 3rd party effects I use, mixing/mastering, etc..

On the other hand, how do you know that the sounds that you make from scratch are so unique, when there are literally thousands of other presets available? Especially for basses, supersaws and other common EDM or vintage bread and butter-like sounds.

With DubTurbo it's a different story though, there it's all just sounds that are already tweaked to perfection. Thousands of them. Ready to be used in nr.1 hit material. It's the execption to the rule.

Yeah dubturbo I don't even need to touch the mouse, I just load up "no.1 hit" from the menu and there it is.

You're still using tubdurbo for making silly old no.1 hits? Haven't you found the part of it that can open up portals to parallel universes where you're already a worshipped celebrity the moment you materialize? No need for messing around with wubs and epic drops, just cut straight to the limousines and sex slaves!

Dang, why am I always 2 steps behind you...

(somehow this description of success is even more detestable to me today than usual, I think it's because I've been watching indie films lately, get you thinking)

[SCprogfan]

I voted for the "mostly" option. I know that I could make my own sounds, because I have done it before, but I find that I just don't have the patience for it. I would rather get right down to attempting to compose. Now, starting off with good, inspiring presets is the key to satisfaction for me. What I do tend towards is making a preset unrecognizable by the time I have tracked with it and drenched it in various effects and processing, if that is what the piece calls for. I will say that while I have no problem letting other people make presets for me, I have never been able to bring myself to use pre-recorded commercial loops. I have no problem with anyone doing that, it just usually does not fit with what I do anyway. To sum up, I don't think anyone is required to program their own presets in order to be creative, any more than they need to build their own guitar, piano, or cowbell.

[Frantz]

Give the same presets to 10 ppl and they will come up with completely different songs.

Remember when you used a untweaked Sylenth1 preset which contained both the arp pattern and sound of the Blade Runner end titles and you posted it in the Music Cafe? Then I asked you if you sampled Blade Runner.

Was your track a "completely different song" than Blade Runner?

[mcnoone]

I like listening to and getting inspired by other preset designers works.
I don't like it when I hear other people say they don't listen to other peoples sound design work, as that...to me anyway, is the same as a musician saying they don't listen to, or get inspired by other musicians.
This really only applies to people that design sounds, and not to musicians who do not make your own sounds.
To not listen to others sounds, in a way is lessening ones potential, to be more creative with ones own work.

I've listened and enjoyed, learned, and felt inspired by others work.
I believe it has helped my own work to sound better than it would without doing so.

[Torchlight]

As I see it, sound designer and musician are two separate specialised roles. I analogise it to an F1 mechanic versus an F1 driver.

While I am slowly advancing my knowledge of synthesis, I still use presets almost entirely because I recognise that there are people far better at it than I am; and because my time for making music is limited and if I know that if I rolled all my own sounds I would end up doing nothing else.

[tapper mike]

I have to come back to a statement made earlier...

2. How many rock songs you know, that consist of drums, guitars, bass, vocals? 1? 10.000? 1.000.000? Did you ever caught yourself thinking "man, this guitar thing is getting old and has been used by..."? I know this comparison is a bit weird, but combine both and think about effects, automation and actual "use" of a sound in context to the rest of the elements. Not to forget things like layering 3 sounds to create a new one.

Steve Howe of Yes was a collector of guitars. And his rationale at the time was that he wanted to sound more and more like his heroes. Having the same guitar as them helped him to emulate them. The guitars kept on adding up and he was forever trying to change his sound. Until one day he had a revelation. No matter what guitar he played he still sounded like himself and that it was okay to be himself. He still collected guitars for something to hang on the wall and show off to journalists and friends but he stopped chasing after guitars to define his playing ability and left it in his own hands.

I too have several guitars and when I want to play a cover or my own music I pick up the one that most closely resembles the ideal I want to capture. I don't go out and build one. As well I find that if I'm doing something midi based when I want to get things done I reach for a preset. Because otherwise I'll spend all of my time tweaking and little to none of it actually writing/recording.

[bailees7irish]

I use presets and tweak from them a lot. Why? Because I get results that go near the sound I want a lot faster. It's the way I make my tracks and I would loose too much "momentum" when I'm in a creative mood/flow while I'm jammin' when I have to create every patch from scratch.

+1

[trimph1]

I use presets and tweak from them a lot. Why? Because I get results that go near the sound I want a lot faster. It's the way I make my tracks and I would loose too much "momentum" when I'm in a creative mood/flow while I'm jammin' when I have to create every patch from scratch.

+1

I tend to the same approach, but I do build some presets from scratch as well

[idfpower]

Remember when you used a untweaked Sylenth1 preset which contained both the arp pattern and sound of the Blade Runner end titles and you posted it in the Music Cafe? Then I asked you if you sampled Blade Runner.

Was your track a "completely different song" than Blade Runner?

So in your opinion that song sounded exactly like the Blade Runner score? Yes, that preset was BL inspired - which was precisely why I used it in the first place - but the song was as different from BL music as it can be. That is the whole point - same sounds & textures, different results.

[DJMashbot]

It really depends on the synth and what I want. If I have a particular sound in mind, I will browse through presets to find something close enough to where I can tweak it. Often I create my own sounds. But I tend to stack creative effects on to all sounds, so even if I start with a preset it sounds pretty different by the time I'm through.

[olepro]

Sometimes a preset can be inspiration to start a new song, but in the further process of the song i allways create the sounds i need on the fly or browse my own presets created through time.

[Lode_Runner]

Where's the "I never use pre-synths, I build my own in Reaktor" option?

I kid. I'm still a preset kiddie. I don't even tweak. I've never understood the emphasis in synth world of needing to roll your own. As others have pointed out, each preset is like a playable instrument and can be played in a million different ways. Maybe it's just a similar thing to guitarists all wanting their own signature tone?

The only thing I won't use is arp presets. That's like having someone write your song for you.

[Lode_Runner]

As I see it, sound designer and musician are two separate specialised roles. I analogise it to an F1 mechanic versus an F1 driver.

While I am slowly advancing my knowledge of synthesis, I still use presets almost entirely because I recognise that there are people far better at it than I am; and because my time for making music is limited and if I know that if I rolled all my own sounds I would end up doing nothing else.

+1

[Ingonator]

As I see it, sound designer and musician are two separate specialised roles. I analogise it to an F1 mechanic versus an F1 driver.

Bad comparison IMO.
The possibility that a F1 mechanic will drive an F1 car is close to 0.

The possibility that a sound designer will do music too is not that low. This should be true for most well know sound designers.


Ingo

[The_Hidden_Goose]

I certainly have no problem with them though - nopr for commercial sets. There's obviously a valid market for them, or they wouldn't get sold so frequently. That said, I don't use presets too often and they're pretty much always tweaked when I do. I've never bought a preset bank as far as I can remember. Although...maybe I've been drunk one night....?

However, a synth that doesn't have a reasonable amount of presets showing off what the synth can do will generally not get much initial attention from me. It kinda jumpstarts the "learning about this synth" process for me, so I think factory presets are pretty essential, whether I use them in productions or not.