How much do you use presets? [Poll]

[Wormhelmet]

I've heard a lot of analogies in this thread, but the one that I think of is the chef that makes a dish that is a fine creation made of things he has put together from various sources. One does not need to be the farmer and grow or raise everything from scratch, but how it is all blended together is what makes the dish. It certainly is possible to grow or raise it yourself, but entirely unnecessary to create a fine work and the people eating it will enjoy it without knowing the source of ingredients.

[Crackbaby]

The correct analogy for that chef would be if he bought ready-made fish fingers and served them. That's fine for a cheap restaurant or fast food place, but i don't think gordon ramsey would approve But not every restaurant needs to be a five star place naturally.. nor does every chef need to aim for working in such place either.





haha now im cruel

[Wormhelmet]

The correct analogy for that chef would be if he bought ready-made fish fingers and served them. That's fine for a cheap restaurant or fast food place, but i don't think gordon ramsey would approve But not every restaurant needs to be a five star place naturally.. nor does every chef need to aim for working in such place either.





haha now im cruel

And completely distorted that to fit your agenda! Cool.

But upward and onward with your back patting!

[jdoo]

[quote from a similar thread on another forum]
I had no idea that using presets was a looked down on by some people. It's just a bizarre ideology that comes across as misguided elitism.
[/q]

That's a nice way of putting it. I've learned fantastic amounts by purchasing presets and tweaking. It's a small price to pay to quickly get to the sounds I want. There was a contest a few weeks ago, where folks took free presets and molded them to their own songs. http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0 No two sounded the same, and the contest was based on a handful of presets. Point is -- presets are a starting point for many. If they are also the end point... who cares?

[jancivil]

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

Your analogy is faulty.

Its not even an analogy, just a pointing out of academia for its own sake.

Sound and fury..., now there's the analogy for this...

no, that is absolutely an analogy. do you want to say noticing that and saying it's faulty 'signifies nothing'? ariston's reply didn't seem terrifically furious to me.

You're actually referring to Shakespeare to make someone else's point seem pompous? Check you out.

[bailees7irish]

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

Your analogy is faulty.

Its not even an analogy, just a pointing out of academia for its own sake.

Sound and fury..., now there's the analogy for this...

no, that is absolutely an analogy. do you want to say noticing that and saying it's faulty 'signifies nothing'? ariston's reply didn't seem terrifically furious to me.

You're actually referring to Shakespeare to make someone else's point seem pompous? Check you out.

[jancivil]

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.

Who knew that 'thousands' amounted to astronomical odds.

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.

The second part of this doesn't really follow from your first statements. What are you trying to convey?

A composer might very well want to combine 'real' instruments in a way 'never heard in the universe'. Having more control over sound via technology may increase those odds. Does this seem suspect to you, who wouldn't even want to rely on your own programming? You're telling us about you in an oblique way that's argumentative. What's the story.

[Tricky-Loops]

Has anybody ever listened to the music of Enigma by Michael Cretu? He uses nearly exclusively synthesizers and samples, no other instruments.

But his music is VERY expressive, and he creates an impressive dynamic range (now it comes into play that he studied CLASSICAL music) where other artists only can dream of.

So it doesn't depend on the instrument. It depends on the artist if the music is expressive or not.

[ariston]

Has anybody ever listened to the music of Enigma by Michael Cretu?

Not without protective ear plugs.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

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…

never understood this idea...why would i mind ??....i feel my music to be of worth independently of the tools i use to make it (and yes, i regard sounds as tools in this regard)....

i regard every patch as it's own instrument, and just as i don't build other instruments i don't tend to build presets either...i have dabbled and i do like to tweek, but that's all i have time for..it is partly about priorities, partly not wishing to reinvent the wheel, but mainly just making my music

i'm happy for all those who are into the process of preset-creation as long as they leave the snobbish attitude behind (you know what i mean)

thousands of composers have been using the standard orchestra to realise their music for centuries, and the sound never gets 'old' or 'tired'...nor does the non-uniqueness of the instrument palette seem to bother

my classical guitar pretty much sounds like any other classical guitar, which is nice

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

There is a big difference between knowing how to make just about anything you want and actually making just about everything you want. In other words though you might have the know how you don't always have the ideas. I learned that in a surprising way after doing 128 sounds for sylenth1 then trying someone else's bank for Sylenth1.

think of how limited our palette would be without other sound designers' influence

[briandc]

There is a big difference between knowing how to make just about anything you want and actually making just about everything you want. In other words though you might have the know how you don't always have the ideas. I learned that in a surprising way after doing 128 sounds for sylenth1 then trying someone else's bank for Sylenth1.

think of how limited our palette would be without other sound designers' influence

I agree.

There's a saying: "you don't know what you don't know..."


brian

[vurt]

using presets makes you 20 - 40% less attractive to the opposite sex.

fact!

[The_Hidden_Goose]

I used presets, and it turned me into a newt!

[Wormhelmet]

Presets ruined my marriage!