I bought too many soft synths

[BONES]

I heard music in my head that was close to what I ended up writing years before I had the equipment to write.

That's never happened to me, nothing even close. Every song I've ever written has come from mucking about with the gear and stumbling upon something I liked.

... sometimes it's to realize there are all kinds of things you can do to contribute to music in general besides write

Absolutely. I've had tremendous fun playing around with covers, some of songs I didn't even like at the time. In fact, I don't see writing as much of an accomplishment, really. It's more just a necessary part of having songs to perform.

... the melodic parts.

What are "melodic parts"?

[machinesworking]

When I was in college, I heard that film composers have to write 3 minutes of music per day to finish on schedule. So I did that for a year. A lot of what came out was fairly mediocre and unimaginative but it was good training in pushing forward no matter what.

Personally, I don't like arranging or programming drums, so my trick now is to open complete Maschine projects, strip them down to nothing but drums, and then write around them. The projects almost always have changes and breakdowns in them, and it's almost magical how easily things fall into place.

I completely have that issue, the solution was the MPC Live. I for some reason need for it to look and feel like a piece of hardware, so 90% of the time I'm using the MPC Live in controller mode with the plugin inside a DAW like DP. [ I just need them to update the MPC to VST3 since VST2 might be dropped in the next DAW upgrade cycle! ] To a lessor degree Push with Bitwig also works.

I can't do the Maschine project trick really because my sense of timing is weird and most patterns don't fit what I write. I can sometimes use REX or loops and chop them up to fit though.

[machinesworking]

I heard music in my head that was close to what I ended up writing years before I had the equipment to write.

That's never happened to me, nothing even close. Every song I've ever written has come from mucking about with the gear and stumbling upon something I liked.

I have qualify this, I have never matched the songs note for note I heard in my head before practicing and learning about music in general, but the concepts of what I wanted to do were there. The process is like you describe, but the result is close to what I wanted to do all those years ago. I think that's true for you in a more round about way, you know what you like, you muck about until something close comes out.

... sometimes it's to realize there are all kinds of things you can do to contribute to music in general besides write

Absolutely. I've had tremendous fun playing around with covers, some of songs I didn't even like at the time. In fact, I don't see writing as much of an accomplishment, really. It's more just a necessary part of having songs to perform.

Performance isn't necessary, it's fun but I have to say the recorded product is the goal, the performance is the treat you get, but personally I'm just as comfortable in the studio, and the biggest rush to me is when a song you wrote is inspiring to you like the songs you love.

... the melodic parts.

What are "melodic parts"?

the noise over the beats that isn't from a human.

[Jac459]

You are lucky to be creative... On my side I use most of my strong skills in my day job. My main skills as musician are only to be freaking tenacious and hardworking lol.
So I am constantly trying to find ways to be creative....
I am in a middle of a writter block. I did the beginning of a song which is awesome (by my standards) and I don't manage to move forward.... I have been blocked since 2 months already. Normally I produce one track a month... .

Your idea of a band is very good actually ... But difficult for me in practice.

Tenacious and hard working help for sure.
Honestly I never judge or count my output. I'm 100% someone with 25 incomplete songs to every complete one, but it doesn't bother me at all. Old ideas if they were good can be recycled at any time.

I'll respectfully disagree on the band thing. We're in a modern time you don't even have to live in the same city. Autechre for instance use like 4 DAWs and live in different cities, and that article is from 2008 where they mention this. You just have to find someone with similar taste who isn't easily distracted.

That's true actually, it could also be a service in kvr, to match people, Tinder of music making...

[Jac459]

When I was in college, I heard that film composers have to write 3 minutes of music per day to finish on schedule. So I did that for a year. A lot of what came out was fairly mediocre and unimaginative but it was good training in pushing forward no matter what.

Personally, I don't like arranging or programming drums, so my trick now is to open complete Maschine projects, strip them down to nothing but drums, and then write around them. The projects almost always have changes and breakdowns in them, and it's almost magical how easily things fall into place.

I completely have that issue, the solution was the MPC Live. I for some reason need for it to look and feel like a piece of hardware, so 90% of the time I'm using the MPC Live in controller mode with the plugin inside a DAW like DP. [ I just need them to update the MPC to VST3 since VST2 might be dropped in the next DAW upgrade cycle! ] To a lessor degree Push with Bitwig also works.

I can't do the Maschine project trick really because my sense of timing is weird and most patterns don't fit what I write. I can sometimes use REX or loops and chop them up to fit though.

Rex like in Rex Dr Loop Rack Extension?

Do you still use it over the Bitwig Drum Machine? I don't use it anymore except with Kong..

MPC is a great option.... Will you be tempted by the new arturia live keyboard?

[machinesworking]

Rex like in Rex Dr Loop Rack Extension?

Yeah I have a ton of them from years ago, mostly at this point I convert them and slice them up in the DAW.

Do you still use it over the Bitwig Drum Machine? I don't use it anymore except with Kong..

Not sure what you mean? Bitwig drum machine works with Push 2 a bit like hardware, but REX files I just slice up in the DAW, I should throw them in Bitwig, but I mainly use DP because I like being the odd man out I guess?

MPC is a great option.... Will you be tempted by the new arturia live keyboard?

I'm not that interested in it. I like using a laptop live, I'm not looking at getting away from that and I'm much more of a guitar player, but I've gotten decent at messing with clips in Bitwig or Live etc. so thats fun too. I was very tempted by the Push 3 standalone but it's just a performance device, has no ability to construct a song out of the Session clips and I don't even know if the audio input is good enough to use for Guitar live? The MPC Live is great that way, especially in controller mode with Amplitube.

I will say that if Ableton get off their ass and actually make the Push 3 standalone capable of composing whole songs on it alone I would 100% buy it, it's got ADAT in/out which plugs right into my old FF800 which works as a back end for my studio, currently a Babyface is taking care of that, but the Push 3 would eliminate push 2 and the Babyface. I should just get the controller version, it has the audio interface part. What I don't know is if it works as an MPE device in dumb MIDI controller mode? I just hate that the Push controllers don't work with DP except in dumb MIDI mode, but that's what I get for liking a misfit boomer DAW.

[Jac459]

Rex like in Rex Dr Loop Rack Extension?

Yeah I have a ton of them from years ago, mostly at this point I convert them and slice them up in the DAW.

Do you still use it over the Bitwig Drum Machine? I don't use it anymore except with Kong..

Not sure what you mean? Bitwig drum machine works with Push 2 a bit like hardware, but REX files I just slice up in the DAW, I should throw them in Bitwig, but I mainly use DP because I like being the odd man out I guess?

MPC is a great option.... Will you be tempted by the new arturia live keyboard?

I'm not that interested in it. I like using a laptop live, I'm not looking at getting away from that and I'm much more of a guitar player, but I've gotten decent at messing with clips in Bitwig or Live etc. so thats fun too. I was very tempted by the Push 3 standalone but it's just a performance device, has no ability to construct a song out of the Session clips and I don't even know if the audio input is good enough to use for Guitar live? The MPC Live is great that way, especially in controller mode with Amplitube.

I will say that if Ableton get off their ass and actually make the Push 3 standalone capable of composing whole songs on it alone I would 100% buy it, it's got ADAT in/out which plugs right into my old FF800 which works as a back end for my studio, currently a Babyface is taking care of that, but the Push 3 would eliminate push 2 and the Babyface. I should just get the controller version, it has the audio interface part. What I don't know is if it works as an MPE device in dumb MIDI controller mode? I just hate that the Push controllers don't work with DP except in dumb MIDI mode, but that's what I get for liking a misfit boomer DAW.

I am a Bitwig over Ableton guy. I could try to find fake logical reasons but the truth is it is mostly that it clicks on me.
BUT
Push 3 is about the sexiest thing I don't need I ever seen. I am glad it is not running Bitwig because I would be 2000usd lighter today lol....

[machinesworking]

I am a Bitwig over Ableton guy. I could try to find fake logical reasons but the truth is it is mostly that it clicks on me.
BUT
Push 3 is about the sexiest thing I don't need I ever seen. I am glad it is not running Bitwig because I would be 2000usd lighter today lol....

Don't get me wrong I'm in agreement. Live has multiple things I really think are great, but I for some reason end up writing better things in Bitwig. It's stupid I know but the success and commercially powerful element of the interface just drags me into less interesting music. The same thing applies with Logic or Cubase VS DP, I feel like I write more challenging music in DP, it's like the interfaces gear you towards certain styles.

It is psychological in my case, I wrote a black metal electonic peace in 9/4 in Logic, it's really got nothing to do with it, but I'm always going to be for the underdog if the underdog offers some great things. Now if I can just convince MOTU to implement DAWproject and CLAP.

[Jac459]

I am a Bitwig over Ableton guy. I could try to find fake logical reasons but the truth is it is mostly that it clicks on me.
BUT
Push 3 is about the sexiest thing I don't need I ever seen. I am glad it is not running Bitwig because I would be 2000usd lighter today lol....

Don't get me wrong I'm in agreement. Live has multiple things I really think are great, but I for some reason end up writing better things in Bitwig. It's stupid I know but the success and commercially powerful element of the interface just drags me into less interesting music. The same thing applies with Logic or Cubase VS DP, I feel like I write more challenging music in DP, it's like the interfaces gear you towards certain styles.

It is psychological in my case, I wrote a black metal electonic peace in 9/4 in Logic, it's really got nothing to do with it, but I'm always going to be for the underdog if the underdog offers some great things. Now if I can just convince MOTU to implement DAWproject and CLAP.

Ha ha, DAWproject and CLAP for the people!!

Live also has a mobile app.... I think that rocks also.

I fully agree that somehow DAWs can drive you to different directions and sparkle different types of creativity. I saw that alternating from reason to Bitwig.... But now I must admit that I am mostly on Bitiwig... I am considering studio one because of the compatibility...

[PatchAdamz]

Too.....many....synths......?

I understand what those words mean separately but together......no sense make.......

[Jac459]

Too.....many....synths......?

I understand what those words mean separately but together......no sense make.......

Totally

[FarleyCZ]

The other day I realized the very same thing. I have been down for a few ... well minutes, really... and then I realized the main reason is that I'm just a damn synthnerd. I like them. I like the lore, the hystorical context, or the novel approaches some of them bring. I like to bore people by explaining every knob and every button on them. So I started treating it as irrational but totally common collector's hobby. Some people collect post stems, some collect dead butterflies, I collect softsynths.

...when it comes to use itself, I did make a little folder structure in Ableton, where the 5 most useful synths I'm most at home with I have easily reachable and the rest is in the "less used, but interesting" subfolder. For times I need some out of the boxthinking. That way the choice paralysis doesn't hit that hard.

[ghostwhistler]

Delete the ones you use least, reinstall if you want to use them later.

I feel that I'd rather not own them. I'd be tempted to reinstall!

Then the problem lies within your own head, doesn't it? All it takes is the tiniest bit of self-discipline. Decide what you want to use for a particular project and make yourself stick to that. If you can't, maybe try psychotherapy?

I can relate, I also have too many soft synths. But I love owning the Arturia V Collection. Analog Lab has become my go-to synth because it contains all the presets from all their synths and the preset browser is the very best. Therefore, if I had to give up some of my synths, it would be anything but the Arturia synths.

That's interesting because Arturia was the first company's synths I stopped installing. I bought the V Collection when it was stupidly cheap a few years ago, installed them all and in 6 months I never used any of them. I never had any trouble at all finding something that sounded better. I haven't had them installed for the last couple of years or so and I don't miss them at all. I should probably sell them on but who can be arsed doing shit like that?

Which brings up an interesting question for ghostwhistler - don't you have favourites, aren't there some synths you just want to use all the time? Instruments you just love the sound of or that are great to work with? I have a handful of synths that I love using and I almost have to force myself to look beyond them sometimes, to the hundred or so other VSTi I have but rarely use. If all I had was Union, Thorn, Olga and bx-oberhausen, plus the stuff in Studio One, I'd be perfectly happy making music for the rest of my days.

I'll be honest here, I always read these posts as indications of writers block, which isn't the fault of the equipment.

I see it more as a lack of commitment from someone who thought it would be easy but is finding out it takes more effort than perhaps he/she is willing to put in. Because if it meant as much to them as it means to you and me, they wouldn't be having these kinds of problems, would they? I had a long period of what you'd call writer's block, probably 6 years or maybe longer, but it never felt to me like it was anything but my own lack of motivation to make it happen. I got it back eventually, it was just one of those things.

The next step is getting rid of everything you don't need and stop using forums. None of us achieved that.

I think I did. I was away from this place for something like 10 years. Didn't miss it at all. I only came back when we decided to move away from Orion, just to see what was going on out there.

How utterly patronising. "it's in your head", we're talking about creativity ffs. What a ridiculous attitude.

Commitment? Feel free to judge my 'commitment' (whatever that means) by looking over my work and telling me that I don't make any music. You're entitled not to like it, that's fine, but don't ever tell me I don't have 'commitment'. Gaslight someone else

Utterly insulting. You're blocked

[Jac459]

The other day I realized the very same thing. I have been down for a few ... well minutes, really... and then I realized the main reason is that I'm just a damn synthnerd. I like them. I like the lore, the hystorical context, or the novel approaches some of them bring. I like to bore people by explaining every knob and every button on them. So I started treating it as irrational but totally common collector's hobby. Some people collect post stems, some collect dead butterflies, I collect softsynths.

...when it comes to use itself, I did make a little folder structure in Ableton, where the 5 most useful synths I'm most at home with I have easily reachable and the rest is in the "less used, but interesting" subfolder. For times I need some out of the boxthinking. That way the choice paralysis doesn't hit that hard.

100%...
You are not alone...

Except that when I am explaining to my wife, kids and friends the knobs, they are actually genuinely interested.
.
.
.
Kidding.

[Jac459]

Delete the ones you use least, reinstall if you want to use them later.

I feel that I'd rather not own them. I'd be tempted to reinstall!

Then the problem lies within your own head, doesn't it? All it takes is the tiniest bit of self-discipline. Decide what you want to use for a particular project and make yourself stick to that. If you can't, maybe try psychotherapy?

I can relate, I also have too many soft synths. But I love owning the Arturia V Collection. Analog Lab has become my go-to synth because it contains all the presets from all their synths and the preset browser is the very best. Therefore, if I had to give up some of my synths, it would be anything but the Arturia synths.

That's interesting because Arturia was the first company's synths I stopped installing. I bought the V Collection when it was stupidly cheap a few years ago, installed them all and in 6 months I never used any of them. I never had any trouble at all finding something that sounded better. I haven't had them installed for the last couple of years or so and I don't miss them at all. I should probably sell them on but who can be arsed doing shit like that?

Which brings up an interesting question for ghostwhistler - don't you have favourites, aren't there some synths you just want to use all the time? Instruments you just love the sound of or that are great to work with? I have a handful of synths that I love using and I almost have to force myself to look beyond them sometimes, to the hundred or so other VSTi I have but rarely use. If all I had was Union, Thorn, Olga and bx-oberhausen, plus the stuff in Studio One, I'd be perfectly happy making music for the rest of my days.

I'll be honest here, I always read these posts as indications of writers block, which isn't the fault of the equipment.

I see it more as a lack of commitment from someone who thought it would be easy but is finding out it takes more effort than perhaps he/she is willing to put in. Because if it meant as much to them as it means to you and me, they wouldn't be having these kinds of problems, would they? I had a long period of what you'd call writer's block, probably 6 years or maybe longer, but it never felt to me like it was anything but my own lack of motivation to make it happen. I got it back eventually, it was just one of those things.

The next step is getting rid of everything you don't need and stop using forums. None of us achieved that.

I think I did. I was away from this place for something like 10 years. Didn't miss it at all. I only came back when we decided to move away from Orion, just to see what was going on out there.

How utterly patronising. "it's in your head", we're talking about creativity ffs. What a ridiculous attitude.

Commitment? Feel free to judge my 'commitment' (whatever that means) by looking over my work and telling me that I don't make any music. You're entitled not to like it, that's fine, but don't ever tell me I don't have 'commitment'. Gaslight someone else

Utterly insulting. You're blocked

I decided not to read anymore his comments, not because he is insulting, impolite and most of the time miss the point of a discussion, but because he is so boring to read in his self-unsmart, low IQ, low EQ importance... But it was fun to read your reaction ... You are not alone lol.