a feeling i get about synths

[kuniklo]

Same with music: today, everybody and his/her mother produces music in his/her bedroom studio with roughly the same tools, so 90% of it sounds the same.

It's not the tools, it's a lack of imagination. Jimi Hendrix took the same guitars everyone else was playing and made them sound completely different.

Anyway, these days I'm a lot less interested in "new" music than I am in good music.

[grymmjack]

Sadly, this makes marketing so very important - if there's not a powerful label that pushes your music and puts you through their marketing machine you'll never get noticed (even if your music deserves it!). In other words: the downside of a cluttered market is that if Mozart were alive today nobody would notice him for his music alone...

But this assumes that people making the music /want/ to be noticed. Some don't. Some people just have fun playing and writing songs without any pipedream about anything coming of it. They have no fans, or external encouragement. Only their own emotional release and gratification realized through making music.

I personally am one of these types of people. I know that I'll never become rich or famous but I don't care about that. I like to break my own records, try to go further than I did before, and make music that I enjoy listening to. If other people don't like it, f**k em' it's not for them f**k the market and the commercial bullshit labels and societies tendency to put everything in a box in general.

Please don't disqualify the little guys who are realistic and not motivated by monetary or egoistic gains. I personally like clutter in the market because it gives me more choices. It also prompts the developers to compete sometimes to outdo one another, and we all benefit from that.

[uvacom]

The dirty little secret of the VST world is that something on the level of, say, Albino 2, with enough dedication and some decent effects can produce just about any sound your average listener will be able to distinguish. One decent general purpose VA and a good sampler is plenty.

It's fun to have a whole folder full of toys but it doesn't have a lot to do with making music.

But that only matters if you're concerned with what the LCD can distinguish. It's a fine approach if you want to get as many listeners as possible. I don't think composing/producing based on what the LCD can distinguish is going to be particularly satisfying artistically, but if music is a commodity to you than you're probably not worried about that.

Myself, coming from the standpoint of an aspiring developer/proprietor of profressional audio products and instruments in particular, as well as being an avid synth enthusiast, I like having a lot of synths. To me, saying "Albino 2 is the only VA you need" is like saying "The Beatles' (white album) is the only record you need". Even if you accept that (white album) is the best/most influential pop record created, it's rediculous to suggest that owning several other albums similar to/influenced by (white album)(and there are quite a few) is redundant.

Indeed, if you look at instrument/effects plugins purely as tools, it makes the most sense to have an efficient, well-chosen assortment. But if you view them as works of art in their own right (and I do), it makes a lot more sense to choose based on what you enjoy, and there is a lot out there to enjoy.

[kuniklo]

Indeed, if you look at instrument/effects plugins purely as tools, it makes the most sense to have an efficient, well-chosen assortment. But if you view them as works of art in their own right (and I do), it makes a lot more sense to choose based on what you enjoy, and there is a lot out there to enjoy.

There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but it's rarely stated here that our obsession and collector mentality here is probably more a distraction than a help when it comes to actually making music.

[.jon]

Learning to uninstall, keep the folder small and stick to the synths I like is the best thing I've learned from KvR.

[funkychickendance]

... it's rarely stated here that our obsession and collector mentality here is probably more a distraction than a help when it comes to actually making music.

It's been a little that way for me, cos KVR is like a candy store to my kid-like persona. But, reviewing what I've collected in the way of synths since October or so -- a lot, and some on impulse -- I don't deeply regret any of them.

Being a bit obsessive has another side, aka planning: I have a fixed monthly budget (occasionally exceeded, I agree) and a fairly well-defined (but flexible) acquisition plan. Barring any utterly fantastic new introductions, my studio/plate will be full in June 06. I can already make pretty much any sound my head can conceive of...and my recording project starts in the next week or so, if all my assumptions about what I need to get songs produced is correct.

/funx

[grymmjack]

Learning to uninstall, keep the folder small and stick to the synths I like is the best thing I've learned from KvR.

Indeed.

[dover666]

i get inspired by lots of things.... there's nothing wrong with having lots of tools to work with... can you put together a car using just an adjusteable wrench? Yeah, maybe, but it will sure as hell show... same goes for making music... have a favourite lead synth, have a favourite fx synth... anyway the less a man makes declarative statements... etc.

[grymmjack]

i get inspired by lots of things.... there's nothing wrong with having lots of tools to work with... can you put together a car using just an adjusteable wrench? Yeah, maybe, but it will sure as hell show... same goes for making music... have a favourite lead synth, have a favourite fx synth... anyway the less a man makes declarative statements... etc.

Definitely agree but excessive clutter in the fx/instruments directories with no organization or system of defining "what I like" vs. "what I don't like" is counter productive. (not sure if you were referring to the topic of 'less = more' or 'keep things small'...

I think there is no better way. It is whatever works for each individual. I use many things, but I only use a few things well. It's very tempting to stop using other things in favor of the things that I do use well if they can achieve the same result, for example

Once bdDover is released , that will be an exception since the kicks are freaking nuts! It will happily live in instruments\drums along with drumatic and dr-fusion and sr202.

[kuniklo]

i get inspired by lots of things.... there's nothing wrong with having lots of tools to work with... can you put together a car using just an adjusteable wrench? Yeah, maybe, but it will sure as hell show... same goes for making music... have a favourite lead synth, have a favourite fx synth... anyway the less a man makes declarative statements... etc.

This analogy doesn't really work because a good synth is really a whole box of tools.