Poll - Do you prefer to use factory presets or your custom sounds in VSTs?

[Vortifex]

I rarely use presets. Much prefer to make my own sounds, although sometimes a preset can be a good starting point.

[rasmusklump]

I voted for option 2.
Starting with a preset and adjust it, sometimes more sometimes less.

[zvenx]

I voted for option 2.
Starting with a preset and adjust it, sometimes more sometimes less.

That is what I do 95% of the times too.
rsp

[martiu]

hi, i mostly make my own presets for production, but there is a catch, 80% of the time i use some sort of granular samplers
i use samples from sample packs, i use samples that i made with synths using my own presets and factory presets that i like
at the end i don't really care if i use presets made by me, change a factory preset to my liking or use it as it is
the sound i am looking for is the most important thing
big hugs

[Jac459]

...
the sound i am looking for is the most important thing
...

That makes no sense.

And if I may quote a wise member of this forum:

....
clearly you want to create your own sound. If you don't believe in artistic identity and are only interested in making money, then that's fine too, although to the detriment of music overall.
...

Get yourself together Martin! Your attitude is at the detriment of music overall.

[osiris]

I like to tweak presets into what I'm going for, so - am I making a new preset?

[egbert101]

I like to tweak presets into what I'm going for, so - am I making a new preset?

Good point. How far is tweaking a preset until it's no longer a preset.

[VOODOO U]

I use Cardinal so obviously no presets. And anyways presets are for sissies.

[jlgrimes11]

I thought it would be interesting to see how many of us prefer our plugins' presets over making custom patches. I am starting to get more into sound synthesis. I personally would rather use presets and go from there (especially for 80s synths), but I'd like to someday take on the challenge of creating more custom sounds from basic waveforms like sine, sawtooth, square and such.

The sound becomes richer if the plugin's oscillator(s) allows for combining and mixing at least 2 waveforms (or if one sound is layered with another). I want to experiment more with that.

You can select 1 answer in the poll. And yes, you are allowed to change your answer later. I tried to make enough choices for flexibility in responses. However, someone might realize one answer is closer than the initial one, or change their preference as soon as 1-2 months, or even longer. And so, the flexibility allowed for changing answers might be welcome.

I think it depends largely on someone's skillset and sometimes genre.

Some people are basically more composers who create melodies, chord progressions, and arrange and choose appropriate sounds. If they happen to be presets or made sounds I don't think it makes much difference. For example if you need a piano sound, would you just find a perfectly good piano preset (someone has already spent hours/days creating) or try to recreate one from scratch.

But then some people's skillsets are finding interesting and unique sounds that you never heard before. Certain EDM genres tend to promote this as well. Even in these genres there are preset users and just because someone uses presets doesn't mean they don't tweak their sounds as they might use EQ, Compression, effects to hone in on their sounds, but I think it pays to know how to program synths at least from a Subtractive perspective.


I would say too using "cliched" sounds or presets might be intentional sometimes to evoke a certain feeling. As sometimes presets become so popular that using them in a song evokes a familiar mood you want to capture but utilize different melodies, rhythms, chords to make it your own.

[VOODOO U]

if you need a piano sound, would you just find a perfectly good piano preset (someone has already spent hours/days creating) or try to recreate one from scratch..

Definitely the former. Unless you want to make an acoustic instrument sound from scratch for income (ie making some sort of vsti) otherwise it's a waste of time.
But it's different with synthesis because it's all about getting your hands dirty. Go in and twist knobs, tweak etc etc.

[cryophonik]

I make my own sounds, I tweak presets, and occasionally will use a straight preset if it’s the right sound for the job. And, I really don’t care what other people do. Whatever, it’s all good.

[IvyBirds]

These days pretty much everything I do is sample based either using HALion7 or Omnisphere or Arturia's Emulator II

Presets from the myriad of other plugins I own will just wind up in one of them which turns them into something else

You want to hear something amazing? If you have the Arturia V collection sample a Jupiter 8 preset and then make an instrument out of it using EII-V

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

There is something rewarding about rolling your own from init but sometimes it gets in the way of the creation process. Sometimes I enjoy taking a synth and spending a night making patches then use them later in my creations. Tweaking here and there. I also use insiring presets from others.

[martiu]

i just press the random button on Loom 2 and hope for the best

[seafire]

I prefer to use my own, because I enjoy making them, and I'm more than capable.

Also, I make what I need, the majority of factory sounds are not to my taste these days.