Software Hoarding

[jethrobull]

When I'm a millionaire I will always be telling people how money isn't important

[Michael L]

Hans Zimmer says the same thing.

Always helpful when someone with $millions in gear says it's really not about the gear

His point is that he only (95%) uses Zebra HZ and The Legend HZ soft synths because he knows them so well, he can get the sound he needs out of them.

Jarre’s similar statement is about someone starting out.

Both say to focus on having a *feeling* for the instrument above all

[IvyBirds]

His point is that he only (95%) uses Zebra HZ and The Legend HZ soft synths because he knows them so well, he can get the sound he needs out of them.

Jarre’s similar statement is about someone starting out.

Both say to focus on having a *feeling* for the instrument above all

Hans Zimmer was able to go to U-he and have them make Zebra into the exact plugin with the exact features and capabilities that he wanted, he was able to go to Synapse and do the same with their "The Legend" software and turn a Minimoog clone into the Minimoog that HZ has always dreamt of the end result was software that works for him 95% of the time

Even with that he still has a room full of hardware, one can only imagine a hard drive full of plugins and when those won't cut it for what he wants to do he uses actual orchestras full of world class musicians, or gets Temple Church in London to close to the public so he can set up a recording studio inside of it to record their world class 1926 four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ

As a mere mortal I am unable to get world class software developers to make special versions of their software to my specs, or hire world class musicians to play for me, or shut down a church to record it's pipe organ

As a result I have to use sample libraries for orchestral stuff, I have to use plugins for the organ sounds, I have to use a myriad of plugins to accomplish what I wish one could do

In the end if we really want to apply what Hanz Zimmer is doing that means we need to make sure we have the ability to have access to whatever instruments and sounds we need and that means having a ton of synths and samples even if we don't use some of them hardly at all or even just once

[Michael L]

we need a ton of synths and samples even if we don't use some of them hardly at all or even just once

Not if the end point is just to have that ton of stuff. Thats hoarding.

If you know it all and have a use for it, great!

When Taylor Smith is working in the studio, she will say "What about a children's choir in the back" and sing what she wants to hear. Then she walks to the midi controller, and Jack has already loaded a childrens choir, and she plays a chord.
Such impressive file management and partnership!
That's not "hoarding" because they stay focused on the feeling.

[vurt]

taylor swift comes up an awful lot around here, probably after sharing the xhart with nova kill.
true story.

[jethrobull]

taylor swift comes up an awful lot around here, probably after sharing the xhart with nova kill.
true story.

Who iz this Taylor Swift/Smith bloke?

[Michael L]

taylor swift comes up an awful lot around here, probably after sharing the xhart with nova kill.
true story.

Who iz this Taylor Swift/Smith bloke?

BONES' homie

[IvyBirds]

we need a ton of synths and samples even if we don't use some of them hardly at all or even just once

Not if the end point is just to have that ton of stuff. Thats hoarding.

If you know it all and have a use for it, great!

When Taylor Smith is working in the studio, she will say "What about a children's choir in the back" and sing what she wants to hear. Then she walks to the midi controller, and Jack has already loaded a childrens choir, and she plays a chord.
Such impressive file management and partnership!
That's not "hoarding" because they stay focused on the feeling.

Actually if you are going to talk about Taylor Swift please get your story correct

She asked for Children's Choir and he went to a hardware Mellotron not a MIDI controller

That Mellotron might have been used or it might not have, but it was available to use when the need for it arose, That's the exact opposite of saying anyone should focus on one instrument

I don't have a hardware Mellotron but I do have several sample based versions of one in plugin form, I don't really use them very much, but when I need them or want them they are there

For me I view my entire computer and all of its music software from DAWs to plugins as a single instrument, one that I can continuously expand and grow with new features, samples, and sonic capabilities by buying inexpensive software. I most recently expanded its capabilities by adding Serum 2. That expansion costs me zero money.

[ROTMetro]

Even with that he still has a room full of hardware, one can only imagine a hard drive full of plugins and when those won't cut it for what he wants to do he uses actual orchestras full of world class musicians, or gets Temple Church in London to close to the public so he can set up a recording studio inside of it to record their world class 1926 four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ

hire world class musicians to play for me, or shut down a church to record it's pipe organ

Imagine the level of option paralysis we KVRs would have if those kinds of choices were available to us. Half would start denting up pipes to get a more analog sound. Mic selection and placement alone would take a year. Half of us would hire someone to do the recordings, null it against a sample library of the same organ, complain about the sample quality, then decide the real priority is comparing how other libraries null. Someone would decided it should all be played through the foot pedals and start rigging that up.

[BONES]

As a result I have to use sample libraries for orchestral stuff, I have to use plugins for the organ sounds, I have to use a myriad of plugins to accomplish what I wish one could do

Zimmer uses orchestral libraries when he's writing,.. IN the interview he says that sometimes his client prefers the version with the sample libraries to the full orchestra's version, so that's what he ends up using on the final score. But the thing is, he doesn't spend a lot of time patching synths, so the fact he might spend 95% of that time with ZebraHZ doesn't mean he spends a lot of time at all on it.

Oh, and the reason he uses LegendHZ is that he knows the MiniMoog so well, like a lot of us, and the extra features make it more like working with his modular gear. I thought doubling the oscillator count was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard of but I am happy to eat my words on that because the result is f**king brilliant (except for the shitful filter, of course).

[vurt]

stupid ladder filters

[Michael L]

That's the exact opposite of saying anyone should focus on one instrument...For me I view my entire computer and all of its music software from DAWs to plugins as a single instrument, one that I can continuously expand and grow with new features, samples, and sonic capabilities by buying inexpensive software. I most recently expanded its capabilities by adding Serum 2. That expansion costs me zero money.

If you listen to the interview with J-M Jarre, he suggests that people who are starting out choose just one instrument you have empathy with, because the choosing is what is important. And avoid archiving presets because you lose your self. He is encouraging decision-making with more personal feeling to discover your artistic identity.

Here in KVRLand we see lots of threads where people ask other people for advice on which synth to buy. Also, people choose a synth based on its features or its cost. The distinctive, individual artistic criteria encouraged by Jarre are rarely discussed in KVR Forums!!

I believe that decision-making focused on cost and features is encouraged in consumerist, common-denominator social media like KVR. It seems to influence software marketing, and can also encourage the FOMO which in turn drives hoarding.

[_leras]

For me I view my entire computer and all of its music software from DAWs to plugins as a single instrument, one that I can continuously expand and grow with new features, samples, and sonic capabilities by buying inexpensive software. I most recently expanded its capabilities by adding Serum 2. That expansion costs me zero money.

Yeah I feel like this also, it's all the instrument.

I definitely have way more plug ins than I need. A lot have come in bundles, some have come in the search for 'better' and some have arrived as 'new shiny'.

Some get used less over time, others more. Most kept so I can access parts from old projects.

Some could say hoarding for e.g. saturation tools, or reverb. But to me I just see it as more flavours. I'll often know which one I want, but will happily trial a bunch of things to get the exact sound I want. Does it matter to be so particular, well sometimes definitely yes.

[SebAV]

It's crazy.

"In days where you have so many products on the market ... instead of having this mad quest about being scared of missing something, try to just...breathe...take a break, and think about what instruments - a plugin, a module, a polyphonic synth... whatever - where you feel a kind of empathy with ... and then when you choose that, just stay focused for six months or one year only on this.

"Don't take anything else. Just on one element and try to express yourself because what's going to be unique is yourself.

"It's not the machine. It's not the instrument. It's what you are going to do with it which has the value, and nothing else. And that instead of being fully into the trap of being an archivist of presets, where you don't know where you are, you lose your identity. The best way to create something interesting is express your identity - to develop it - and the only way to do it is to focus on one instrument, whatever it is.... Even if you're wrong in your choice, the fact that you choose is more important than anything else."

Jean Michel Jarre 9:54



Hans Zimmer says the same thing. BUT you won't hear it from software companies. The new Reason ReCycle video says, change your software to change your music.

Sorry but Jean Michel Jarre doesn't even believe his own bullshit. He is the poster boy for hoarding instruments and every picture of him in studio or on stage you see features him surrounded by a ton of synths

Jean-Michel-Jarre_160229_205122.jpgUntitled-1.a08fc9f5.jpg

If it's not the machine or the instrument and we should only focus on one why does he have so many? Even in the video you linked he has multiple synths in frame

Not so much synths in these old photos. They take a lot of space but there is only 8 synths at the time of Equinoxe. But I agree with you Jarre is saying thnigs he doesn’t care about. He just wants to stay alive.

[sandandpaint]

this is the definitive insight from Umberto Eco, just substitute musical tools for books

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!

"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."