Sound Bank Content

[Kriminal]

as a follow on to the other thread about prices...

i get put off buying '128' banks cos i know i wouldnt use at least 70% of the sounds, too many types i have no interest in

so, would you prefer smaller banks dedicated to a certain style

32 bass/32 lead sounds? (oe even 64 of each)

64 pads/soundscapes

32fx/drums?

i think its def the way to go, especially as audio demos for dedicated banks can show you more or less exactly what you are going to get...

i saw a bank the other day (commercial) that had the ususal mix of styles, but 71 drum sounds

even by my amateur sound designing standards, i think thats lazy programming

less money for each bank and more satisfaction...yes?

i like to make my own sounds where possible, but if i knew a bank sounded amazing and only had sounds i would actually use, i would prob buy it.

thoughts...?

[Kriminal]

anyone?

[himalaya]

i think its def the way to go,

I agree with you. There are occasions when a 'general' sound set is needed, or desired, but this division into smaller and focused sound banks would certainly be more useful for the end user. Especially in this day and age, where we are flooded by presets/sound banks. It makes sense to focus on specifics from now on.

Out of five commercial sound banks which I sell, three are dedicated to specific sound categories, and the other two are general. These general sound banks are for 1. Tassman = where I wanted to have my own replacement for the default preset library, so it had to be 'general' and rather big (and growing still) and 2. Rhino 'Electro Funk' = which was my flight of fancy. But the other are focused on specific sound categories. And this is how I am going to do my sound sets in the foreseeable future with two additional sound sets already in the making dedicated to certain styles/sound categories.

The only reservation I have is with the size of the sound bank. In the past, I would aim for 64 presets in a dedicated sound bank. This is also dictated by a synth's bank browser, which normally accepts a minimum of 64 presets. It would be strangle for example, to have 32 presets in a Rhino sound bank, as you would have 32 empty slots. Perhaps this can be offset by the price, so the end user would not be dissapointed with having 32 unused preset slots in a bank. Obviously, this is a non issue with synths that do not limit the size of a sound bank, like Tassman.

The other issue to think about is, if the sound bank is to be distributed by the synth developer, they may want to have a specific number of presets to keep it in line with other sound banks they sell.

Anyway. These are my fleeting thoughts on the subject, but I must say, sound design for me is like making music, ie: it's a very creative work, which might take me through twists and bends, so I could never stick just to dedicated sound banks, as I very well know, that if the inspiration strikes to make a general sound set, I need to follow it and make one. Ultimately, for me that's how I want to do sound design, ie: follow my creative urge, rather than a commercial need to fill the market, and yet, be successful at it.

[Kriminal]

i know what you mean about the size issue, but i think if you paid for only 32 presets, you dont mind having 32 blank slots (even tho you can fill those with favs from other banks...)

but, if its 32 sounds you would use, rather than 128 you prob wouldnt, its not a problem.

[stutter]

listening to the Camel Audio Alchemy demos of some of the new preset banks, I was wondering if there could be a model in which users can buy individual sounds... if they have the patience to do so ... I guess this is a lot of work for the web admin, but people make money out of mp3's in this way


anyway, I do think it helps having comprehensive audio demo's.

If you're suggesting that you'd rather have a bank of 32 sounds you would use, do you think sound designers are filling 128 banks with filler? In other words, do you think many sound designers would be able to whittle down to 32 lead sounds, and it match your expectations?

[Kriminal]

If you're suggesting that you'd rather have a bank of 32 sounds you would use, do you think sound designers are filling 128 banks with filler? In other words, do you think many sound designers would be able to whittle down to 32 lead sounds, and it match your expectations?

some def do fill banks with 'fillers', IMO, but...

personally: if i look ata bank of 128 sounds, and im a (for example) 'techno' artist...im unlikely to ant 40 soundscapes and 27 ambient seqs..im more likely to want 50 bass, 50 lead, 28 pads or something...

thats just an example, and a generalisation...but i think you know what i mean

same as an ambient soundscapologist (tm) isnt going to want 50 bass sounds...i guess not anyay

if you want ALL the types of sounds, you can buy ALL the banks...i dont think its unreasonable to have banks of 32 quality sounds that only cover one type for each bank...i would much rather do that than buy a big bank knowing i would only use 20 or 30 sounds...

[S-N-S]

make/process your own sounds then you dont have to buy sounds

if you buy sounds then IMHO you could just put together samples,and call it your own music

[1-2-Many]

make/process your own sounds then you dont have to buy sounds

if you buy sounds then IMHO you could just put together samples,and call it your own music

So what? Your "music" doesn't contain sounds? ...And you can lose the H

[Kriminal]

make/process your own sounds then you dont have to buy sounds

i do, ive never bought a soundbank in my life

if you buy sounds then IMHO you could just put together samples,and call it your own music

so using a preset to make an original track, is different to using a drum sample to make an original track....

[mcnoone]

I like mixed genre sounds.
Exclude the drum and sfx stuff.

No hi-hat's or electronic toms, but a good timpani or snare is okay.
I hate seeing 15 or more drum sounds.
Sound fx are only good for me if it's an atonal soundscape or the like, but no need for bird chirping stuff.
More real instrument sounds are good for me, even if it doesn't sound like the real thing.

I'll have a new bank out soon, but Krim won't buy it.

[Yuroun]

so, would you prefer smaller banks dedicated to a certain style

32 bass/32 lead sounds? (oe even 64 of each)

64 pads/soundscapes

32fx/drums?

Hee, you stole my idea. hahahaha

This is what I'm planning to do. I make packs of my presets. Packs with only basses, soundscapes or pads et cetera. And trying to sell them that way (when the shop on my site works I have some problems with it)

[Wildfunk]

personally: if i look ata bank of 128 sounds, and im a (for example) 'techno' artist...im unlikely to ant 40 soundscapes and 27 ambient seqs..im more likely to want 50 bass, 50 lead, 28 pads or something...

We focus on one music genre and offer only playable stuff (basses, chords and leads). There are no arps, seqs, pads, athmos, fx, brasses, ...

We also create "only" 100 sounds, not the common 128. Usually we got 200 sounds and sort out the best 100 ones.

I personally don't like soundbanks with "sounds for all genres" because only 5 -10% of the sounds are useful then. So I pay for stuff that i don't need.

So it's really better to make a small bank for a genre with no fillers.

[Lotuzia]

so, would you prefer smaller banks dedicated to a certain style

32 bass/32 lead sounds? (oe even 64 of each)

64 pads/soundscapes

32fx/drums?

Hee, you stole my idea. hahahaha

This is what I'm planning to do. I make packs of my presets. Packs with only basses, soundscapes or pads et cetera. And trying to sell them that way (when the shop on my site works I have some problems with it)

Just chiming in that ........

Our first soundbanks for Blue used this particular model. There are 13 banks of 32 presets ( 2 pads banks, 2 keys banks, 1 lead banks, aso )

And besides it is a lot of more work to make site pages, demos aso, it never worked so well, and I had numerous demands over the years to make bundles, special prices for 2 or 3 or 7 or 9 banks.

The Gladiator banks folllowed a similar model and the ImpOSCar banks too, with a simplified process (one bank with leads, basses, aso and other one with Pads, keys aso). The results was that for the imposcar banks for example only two dozen of seperate banks were bought, and ten times more of the Bundle

Then we stopped making such divided soundbanks : Too much additional work, and not really more sales or satisfied people. Note that if you update your banks, like we do, this also could turn into a complete nightmare. I think splitting the banks in two packages (leads, basses VS pads/keys) still make sense, but splitting them in more than that is totally time consuming, will increase in a drastic way the banks fees (Paypal takes minimal fees), your accountancy costs (yes each sale is several lines of accountancy) and the time needed to offer good delivery and support for their users.

One more thing I'd like to say to help those who would like to take this way despite of the above : Your shop MUST have a working and efficient cart/basket system.

We lost a lot of sales with the Blue banks, though our site DO HAVE such a cart system, because people thought they would have to go thru Paypal (or share it for other sites) system several times to buy several banks ( And everybody know these checkout systems are awfully long to go thru)

Just my 0.002 in case it helps.

LtZ

[Teksonik]

I'm a big fan of smaller banks around 32-64. You can put a lot more into each patch without the need to pump out what basically becomes filler for larger banks.

[rob_lee]

I'm a big fan of smaller banks around 32-64. You can put a lot more into each patch without the need to pump out what basically becomes filler for larger banks.

After some thought here im tending to side with you on this idea.The idea of 128 presets is a must when i program hardware synths for obvious reasons but for software anything from 32/50/64/100 would suffice because TBH the 128 slots are like for midi purposes i.e program changing etc so we tend to fill them up to this number when really nobodywould ever have 128 program changes with regards to sounds in a track..you would just open up so many instances of your synth and choose your presets etc..IMO of course.

For hardware synthsthis is not possible because users want evey slot filled but software and 3rd party soundsets don't require this..

So i side with Teksonik and Wildfunk on their views.

Rob