Is it necessary to design your own sounds?

[r_module]

the countless commercial presets, user presets, sample libraries..etc out there are more than enough to make incredible music.

true. and tons of them are really good. better than I could ever create them.

but in my case it's a psycho prob. I don't want anything that's not mine - like a body refusing strange cells. I take into account that my sounds aren't topclass, probably they will be one day but I don't care at all.

at least I tweak the given patches or let them inspire/teach me (by studying the modulations for example).

[kaden]

Takes me months to cultivate the samples I use in the Noise/ Dark Ambient stuff (which is what I'm mostly associated with). I couldn't compose in that genre any other way.

I grow the damned noises basically from scratch during the course of composition to match the specific needs of the piece, so the processes (composition and synthesis) tend to blur together. I'm kinda off the beaten path musically though: it's not actually synthesis per se involved in making the noises: It's more like sample manipulation taken to ridiculous extremes. I once turned an 808 cowbell sample into a 55 second heavy metal cello solo...


K

[Lunch Money]

I don't know from synths, but as a guitar player--

There is almost ALWAYS something to tweak, but it's wasted energy for me to always get my tone from scratch. Real-world is pretty much, "I want crunch, so I'll start with gain at 3, bass at 5, mids at 8, and treble at 9" (more or less). Then I go from there.

In the VST world, I call up a preset called "Classic Crunch" or whatever. But there's almost always the need to change SOMETHING. Maybe I don't like the dry/wet level of the reverb. Maybe the treble's a bit shrill with my particular guitar. Maybe I want a delay in there for whatever reason.

My limited experience with VSTi synths is Crystal. The presets are great, including the ones made by users (which are often even better). But sometimes I only want 1 of the 3 voices in a patch, or I like the sound in voice 2 but I want the LFO to be a different shape or speed.

If I tried to design a synth patch from scratch, I'd be up Shit Creek without a wooden manual velocity assistance tool.

Plus, I'm pretty sure the patch developers would be happy to know that their patches are being used either in an unaltered state or as a jumping-off point.

Greg

[jzero]

Synthesis, oddly enough, I find more rewarding than composition most of the time... It's the perfect crutch for failed-composers-in-denial, such as myself.

[Lunatique]

Does a pianist need to have his own 'custom-made' piano to be able to write? Does a poet need to 'invent' new words to write a poem? Does an artist need to create their own 'medium' to be a valid artist? Or can they all use the tools that are available and play, write, or paint what they like?

Sounds to me like saying someone has to create their own sounds is validation that you're 'better' than someone else.

I have a hard enough time finding music I find palettable to my ears, the last thing I'm worried about is did he/she make his own presets in the process. That's just fodder for people who actually care, which is a fraction of your audience most of the time anyway. Is the song good? Yes or no. A good song is good regardless of if a preset was used or not.

Devon

f**k yeah. I totally agree. I hate it when people comment about someone else's music saying "you shouldn't use presets--I can tell that sound at 2:15 is from blah patch on the blah synth." When people say that, it's like saying "I can tell you painted that tree with a Winsor Newton series 7 number 3 watercolor brush. You should use your own handmade brush so no one can tell what you paint with." WTF, you know?

But on the other hand, I do understand that when you listen to a new piece of music for the first time, you hear that very distince yet utterly familiar sound from a patch of a synth you often use to make music, it can be disconcerting because the clash of alien vs. familiar. Kinda like it's playing a trick on your brain. But this raises a very interesting question, which is:

At what point does a sound no longer become "easily identifiable sound that irks tweakheads" and become a "normal instrument/sound" that you don't dwell on other than the actual music it's playing?

[ATS]

If you like to program sounds then program them if you don't then don't. To me it's all about enjoying what I do.

[DevonB]

At what point does a sound no longer become "easily identifiable sound that irks tweakheads" and become a "normal instrument/sound" that you don't dwell on other than the actual music it's playing?

Let's look at it from this angle. How many threads do you read with "How does so-and-so make this sound", "What synth did so-and-so use?" etc. I think people are more interested in copying what someone else has already done than making something new. Hey, that's cool in my book. Get on with making music. I'm not out to please the 'train-spotters', I'm out to please myself, or my clients.

The problem is, the elist attitude I find with some (no, I'm not naming names. If you're getting offended, then look in yourself, not at me.) that you aren't a real musician unless you roll your own. It's hard enough writing a good song, learn synthesis on top of that, PLUS learn your host, how to mix, what effects do what, etc etc etc. Yes, I've spent years learning all this stuff, but it's my passion as well as my hobby and my business.

I just can't fault the guy who's only interested in WRITING, not everything else. If you like to tweak and make all your own from scratch, awesome. If you use only presets, awesome. If you like to leave your sound design to the pros, awesome. If you have the time to learn to make your own, awesome. If you don't have the time, awesome. Do you have time to put down someone else that doesn't feel inclined to do sound design? Not so awesome.

Bottom line again - Please yourself, however you wish to do such. Isn't that what a hobby is all about?

Devon

[progfusion74]

Devon,

Well said. As computer-based musicians, we often have to wear at least four hats, composer, instrumentalist, sound designer and producer, and I guess the most successful amongst us manage to find the correct balance, or perhaps its those who recognize their strengths and go with those. In general, like for so many other things, there is room for all kinds of people and let each person do what he/she feels comfortable with and enjoys the most

[gnu23]

Topic: Is is necessary to design your own sounds?

Of course not! But it IS fun!

What the Doctor said. I'm firmly in Category 3.

[.jon]

Of course not.

Nobody cares if you don't use your own dick when you f**k. It's completely okay to use someone else's - after all, it's only the end result that matters...


... to others

[mystahr]

I am a tweaker first and foremost and would classify myself more a sound-designer then an arranger. I steer clear from samples and presets for me are usually a starting point. I can hardly play the keys well except for maybe two bars (which is plenty to further program and tweak on)
And it simply scares the f**k out of me to be bringing my Fizmo to Southport and be expected to do something with it too

I don't save patches on the Juno60 as I just tweak away with whatever my needs are at the moment; playing the Juno to me is like playing a real instrument (although the playing usually means putting on an arpegio and my fingers on the controls). I tend to spend an enormous amount of time tweaking the Fizmo and get so lost in it sometimes (due to it's expansive range of possibilities). As for the soft synth department I love the VA's best where I had a great time doing some patch-work for the AnaMark and Texture. (the patch-work for M42 is more based on its rhythmic possibilities).

But for the most part I am a lazy bum and would rather let a sound make the tune, then play a melody (I'm a sucker for sequences and arpegio's)

I'm a sound-scaper at heart and perhaps one day I may learn how to properly play a keyboard and become a bit more disciplined in my actions

At the end of the line, it's not about single sounds but more about style and the endresult of a tune which can sound good whether you tweaked the hell out of it or not. So to answer your question: no, but it's amazing what you can achieve when diving deeper into a synth

[HanafiH]

Presets? Presets? That's luxury that is, you should make your own synthesizer from the sweat of your own brow, a soldering iron and sticky backed plastic. And be grateful for it.

[CypherOne]

I don't, but then I don't know my arse from my elbow, and my music's shite...

[bugs]

The question is "Is it necessary to design your own sounds?" The answer is no.

Beethoven didn't design he own sounds at the basic level. Sound design is not composition. It can definitely enhance composition, but it isn't composition. If you're great at sound design, do it. The tradition is to use great sounds irrespective of who creates them. I could spend the rest of my life perfecting my sound design technique and probably won't become half as good as someone such as Eric Persing--why waste my time. My interest is in using the sounds. Sometimes I do make sounds for very special purposes, but not as a dogmatic act. How many create there own samples? When you want an orchestral sound, do you hire and record all those instrumentalist? How many create there own instruments? The important question is not whether you made the sound, but is the particular sound what you want.

Orchestration is sound design, but at a higher hierarchical level. Did you create the individual component sounds? No. Did you create the overall sound? Yes. If you use Albino to create a sound, why didn't you create a new instrument? If you did make the instrument, why didn't you design the circuitry code for the individual oscillators and filters? Why didn't you create the programming language that you used? There is no end to this "creative" process, decisions must be made. Sometimes,--no, all the time, it is necessary to delegate responsibility for the good of the project. The "I made it all myself" syndrome is rather infantile and usually results in mediocrity. We've all experienced piss poor singers who insist on singing their own otherwise good songs--is this music or ego?

[Ian Ainslie]

Bugs said

Sound design is not composition

and therein lies the answer to the question

I like to use as many of my own sounds as I can, but being very pressed for time, I often end up using presets. No big deal, and as has been said above, if geniuses like Beethoven and Mozart didn't need to tweak the f+ck out of everything, why should I be bothered too much ??