How much do you use presets? [Poll]

[vurt]

If I'd like cars as much as I like making electronic music, I could fix my own car for sure, even make one

real musicians dont drive.

[BBFG#]

With the literally thousands of sounds already programmed, the chances of designing a sound never heard in the universe has its odds astronomically against you. I 'program from scratch' as a means of learning the instrument and even come up with nice usable sounds.But I wouldn't want to depend on what I just come up with. And learning the machine allows me to tweak presets to balance in the mix easier.

Not even a violin is expressive until a musician learns to express themself through it. IMO - What real musicians do is transcend the instrument into something unexplainable. No matter what the form of that instrument is.

[ariston]

Well, to repeat what I was saying: the beauty of synthesis lies in its ability to make sounds that can't be made any other way. A violin has a limited number of sounds, but it is capable of great expression. Synths are not as expressive, but compensate for that with their sound capabilities. Hence the sound becomes an integral part of the expression.

A valid point, however, is whether the supposed differences between 1000 bass patches or kick drums really matter so much. Synth afficionados naturally pay more attention to the finer points, but most listeners either can't tell, don't care, or,more likely, both.

I'd be curious to know why you say that synths are not expressive...?


brian

Right, thanks hidden goose: I never said they weren't, they're just not as nuanced as "real" instruments. I was reiterating a point I made earlier. You can program some very detailed and expressive patches, and then you need a skilled player to breathe some life into it, but all of that detail still pales in comparison to an acoustic instrument. Speaking as someone who spent most of his life playing piano, then guitar, bass and percussion, playing a synth just doesn't compare. That's why I think that its strengths lie elsewhere.
Just as an example, I'm not a fan of synth patches that try to emulate real instruments. It can lead to some amusing or even impressive sounds, but why try to make it do something it can only do poorly? I like synths when they sound like synths, if that makes sense. I can get a real kick out of holding down one note to play an intricate arpeggio I just programmed. Some would say that's not "making music", but I've never been that way. It's a different kick than, say, playing a Jazz solo on a Kazoo, yeah, but a kick just the same.

How did I end up here? Oh right! I was trying to explain why it's important to me to make my own sounds: because they're as much a part of my music as the little nuances that make my piano or guitar playing uniquely mine.

[Moe Shinola]

I love finding great new factory sounds. Sometimes I'll find a synth that makes me wants to listen to every preset, just to hear how good the next one will sound. Recently Krakli's K700 and B. Serrano's Daedelus were like this. Daedelus, especially, just blew my doors off. I may contribute and get the upgrade.

[Ghostwave]

To me, synth presets are about direction.
Though I program most of my patches, I like great presets because they give me new ideas. They give me inspiration and a certain direction.
Sometimes I keep them untouched because they fit in my track, sometimes I tweak them, sometimes I reprogram them from scratch for fun and/or learning purposes.

A vast majority of listeners do not care about what patch you used or what synth you used.
They don't hear music like us. They hear tracks as a whole while we hear them as a sum of details.
When I listen to a track I like, I think of reverb, compression, panning, arrangement, loudness, transients, etc.
When I hear a synth sound, I think of waveforms, filters, LFOs and envelopes, etc.
The average listener will not care about any of that.

[Tricky-Loops]

If I'd like cars as much as I like making electronic music, I could fix my own car for sure, even make one

real musicians dont drive.

To compensate, there are "Drive" knobs on every synth...

[Tricky-Loops]

When I listen to a track I like, I think of reverb, compression, panning, arrangement, loudness, transients, etc.
When I hear a synth sound, I think of waveforms, filters, LFOs and envelopes, etc.
The average listener will not care about any of that.

Recently I listened to an Enigma album, and all I thought was: "What the heck is the name of this great reverb he's using?"

Jokes apart, it can get strenuous. I enjoyed music much more before I was a musician...

[gkangas]

To me, synth presets are about direction.
Though I program most of my patches, I like great presets because they give me new ideas. They give me inspiration and a certain direction.

Feel the same way. I mostly program my own patches from scratch...but I've learned a lot from studying presets.

Depends on the synth, but DCAM & ACE come to mind as instruments where reverse engineering presets has led to lots of inspiration.

[briandc]

Right, thanks hidden goose: I never said they weren't, they're just not as nuanced as "real" instruments. I was reiterating a point I made earlier. You can program some very detailed and expressive patches, and then you need a skilled player to breathe some life into it, but all of that detail still pales in comparison to an acoustic instrument. Speaking as someone who spent most of his life playing piano, then guitar, bass and percussion, playing a synth just doesn't compare. That's why I think that its strengths lie elsewhere.
Just as an example, I'm not a fan of synth patches that try to emulate real instruments. It can lead to some amusing or even impressive sounds, but why try to make it do something it can only do poorly? I like synths when they sound like synths, if that makes sense. I can get a real kick out of holding down one note to play an intricate arpeggio I just programmed. Some would say that's not "making music", but I've never been that way. It's a different kick than, say, playing a Jazz solo on a Kazoo, yeah, but a kick just the same.

How did I end up here? Oh right! I was trying to explain why it's important to me to make my own sounds: because they're as much a part of my music as the little nuances that make my piano or guitar playing uniquely mine.

I have to disagree. It's true that acoustic instruments can be very expressive. But I've also been moved emotionally by electronic instruments. So I can't say that they pale in comparison. I think it's more in the hands that play the instrument, as well as the sound itself.


brian

[briandc]

Synths like the Minimoog didn't have presets. But with a bit of tweaking, here's what one guy was able to get out of one:



brian

[BBFG#]

[Tricky-Loops]

After reading this article you'll never need Piano presets:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... H.-Davies/

[ariston]

How did I end up here? Oh right! I was trying to explain why it's important to me to make my own sounds: because they're as much a part of my music as the little nuances that make my piano or guitar playing uniquely mine.

I suppose with that reasoning you are building your own pianos, guitars, and violins then?

No, because of precisely that reasoning I'm NOT building my own instruments. Your analogy is faulty. Jeez louise, read the posts before replying, it's so much more constructive.

Now's the time on sprockets when we dance.

[jancivil]

that analogy reduces to the absurd. & it crops up about every time presets vs original design is discussed. that isn't thinking, that's just reacting.

actually understanding sound and developing the chops to roll your own patch or custom templates is not unlike understanding the nuances of instruments as a player. that presupposes being a luthier or something not at all.

my whole thing is creating a sound world in a piece of music. the mix, the ambience or room(s), the choices of instrumentation is a holistic process. sometimes I have actually found a preset that I didn't have to touch, one I didn't even bother assigning controllers to. there was no reason to build something, and that one would have taken quite some time. but I enjoy the process of 'sound design'. I very much have my own sound. It seems like utter reliance on presets could put one in danger of not having an identifiable physical sound. But a lot of people wouldn't have that, a lot of people here follow very commercial things and want to sound like this or another 'famous producer' and you'd better stick with the very patches in that case.

[BBFG#]