Is it necessary to design your own sounds?

[Lunatique]

There seem to be 3 types of musicians:

1)Must use all original sounds, painstakingly designed or manipulated, so that it sounds like nothing else anyone's ever heard.

2)Use presets, samples, or recognizable instruments without worrying about if the sounds are unique, but concentrates on the actual composition/arrangement.

3)Inbetween the two. Use the sounds as they are, unless can't find a preset that suits a particular part of the arrangement--then design/tweak a sound to fit the need.

Now, it seems especially in the arena of electronic music, there's a heavy emphasis on sound design/manipulation. Sometimes I wonder if it's a little over the top. We've all heard the lot of the trippy sounding stuff that just grates on your nerves instead of being good music (of course this is subjective). In cases like that, it seems sound design was placed before actual composition/arrangement.

My personal disposition is that the countless commercial presets, user presets, sample libraries..etc out there are more than enough to make incredible music. You can sit for hours, days, or months and try to design your own sounds, but the truth is, you are not a professional sound designer, and you are not paid to design sound like the professionals are. The pros know what they're doing and they are very experienced at it. The chances of you designing a sound that exists in no available preset/sample library, and sounds better than any designed sound that came before it is...well, quite slim. So, why slave over the concept of designing original sounds?

Or, maybe it's just a matter of degrees. You can take a preset sound and tweak some parameters so that it fits closer to what you imagine in your head. Or, you can be a real tweakhead and start off with just a waveform and then go wild. I suppose in the end, we make music for different reasons, and our motivations are all different as well. I guess for the tweakheads, the process of making the trippy sounds is alone worth the price of admission--whether these sounds can add up to a good piece of music is another matter altogether.

[progfusion74]

It depends on what gets your juices flowing. I am in the middle, but part of what interested me to electronic music in the first place was the ability to design my own sounds. If I didn't have the desire to design sounds, I would probably prefer to play weekend gigs with a good cover band and hone my playing chops


In other words, no it is not necessary, but there's nothing wrong with it either .. IMO of course

[DrApostropheX]

Topic: Is is necessary to design your own sounds?

Of course not! But it IS fun!

[putte]

Topic: Is is necessary to design your own sounds?

Of course! But it IS not the most convenient thing to do!



putte

[uncadave]

i have made very few sounds myself that are any good, but i have tweaked presets and ended up with some goodies. if i make a tune and use a preset that isn't mine and the author of said preset hears it, i assume they would be flattered.i listen to the kriminal stuff and the endmusic stuff and hear sounds i love and wouldn't feel like a whore using those sounds if i had the presets or could duplicate. i pick up a bit more skill every time i try to make a sound i've heard but don't have the preset or instrument for.

[Shane Sanders]

I think a little of both works for me. I like some traditional instruments, and I also like bizarre stuff. The process of tweaking a sound is pure joy, whether it's based on someone else's work or my own.

You can read a rambling outline of my personal aesthetic here. There are a couple of good ideas in there about what a composer controls and why it matters, etc.

http://www.futurehaus.com/projects/aest ... ine-01.cfm

[Dave Blakely]

Every synth player should strive to attain a degree of personalisation with their sounds, even if that only means tweaking a preset as a starting point, we expect guitarists to try different combinations of fx, amp, tuning whatever to get a sound of their own, why not synthesists. Presets are included in synths as a starting off point.

[Sam C Spacey]

You do have to be able to program your sound to sound different to everyone else. Now that a lot of people use the same sample banks and the same vsti's you have to be a little inventive to get your own sound.

Presets are great for inspiration, but I tend to mess them up and make them sound like ....wel how my sound is with fx, filters...etc.. it's very hard to get your identity these days. But then a good tune is a good tune.

Hi Davy

[Meffy]

On my EM final exam it sure was necessary. :-) Past that, it opens up all of a synths' possibilities.

The comment that everyone's got their own way, and nobody's got a monopoly on The Truth, is right on target. Here's my take:

Presets make great starting points, and ones designed by experts are often far better than what I could manage by myself. Often I learn more about a synth by studying its presets than by reading the fine manual (that was the case with Cameleon, for instance).

Once I've learned how a synth works, got an idea what existing sounds are available, then it's time to decide whether to make my own and how.

When it comes down to it, I love not only tweaking sounds but patching together a Moog or creating whole new synths in Reaktor or the Tassman. Spend far too much time doing this but what the heck. It's so much fun! :-)

Meffy

[Scot Solida]

It's necessary to make MUSIC, not sounds. But making sounds can be an enjoyable part of the process for some folks. Still, when the inspiration is hot, nothing slows me down like patching a complicated synth. I don't use other people's presets or samples these days (with the exception of the M-Tron), but that is mainly because I make so many of my own as a part of my work. However, when I am composing, I often call upon the library of preset patches I have made, if the synth is complex. I don't want to be slowed down just then, you know?

Mind you I almost NEVER save a sound on an analogue or virtual analogue. I patch those pretty quickly, and it takes less time o design the thing than it does to dig through presets.

However, there aint nothin' wrong with using a preset. I find it funny that some people will refuse to use a synth preset, but will call up factory patches on their reverb units all day long.

[DevonB]

Bottom line - do what makes you happy, and quit giving a shit what everyone else thinks.

Devon

[lunarsea]

I tend to tweak presets but then send them thru multiple effects thus in a sense designing my own sounds, i mean your still starting with a waveform tho be it a more complex rather than a pure waveform.

But yeahs its hosres for courses

cheers

matt

[donkey tugger]

I smash my acoustic guitar into little bits after every song then stick it back together, to get a new sound.

[Har]

I smash my acoustic guitar into little bits after every song then stick it back together, to get a new sound.

Yes indeed: the classic "Timber Reconfiguration Preset Randomizer" technique.

[bugs]

No.