Be honest, do you use presets often?

[CYSYS8993]

I was wondering if anyone uses presets to compensate for your lack of skill in synthesis. This also includes the presets in the NI plugins like Absynth and Massive, which thankfully became available in the recent update.

I'll admit, I heavily use them; only in rare cases do I actually design my own synth sounds, and frankly, they're kinda crappy. (Perhaps that's just me)

Synthesis seems quite an interesting topic to study. I'd love a comprehensive tutorial on Massive.

[Wickline]

I'll use them for starters if I'm having trouble creating a sound and then heavily edit from there, but even then that's less than 10% of the time. Can't even remember the last time I used a preset as is.

YouTube tutorials are a great place to start. I was in between jobs a few years back and took the extra free time to actually learn some stuff and it greatly improved my patches. I spend a lot less time moving knobs aimlessly hoping for something good to suddenly come out haha

[Oquasec]

Pretty rarely. Especially when it comes to propellerhead plugins
It is a very good idea for when you aren't in adventure mode.

[aeox]

not usually. although on a more recent track that i've done i used 2 presets. i was getting close to completion of the track(feeling really tired and lazy at this point) and decided it needed a lead and some background atmospheric chords. so quickly whipped out Zero synth and found a quick lead to fit what i needed.

at the end of the day, you want to be proud of the track you've created in it's entirety. i feel that creating your own sounds contributes a lot to that, and also makes you stand out from the rest of the people using the exact same preset.

people want to hear sounds they've never heard before and you should want to make sounds that would make someones ears perk up and make them wonder how it was created.

[madmacman]

To me it's a matter of time: Music is a hobby. And besides day job and family business I can roughly spend 4hrs/month for making music.

I try to follow a suggestion, Mattias made on his roadshows years ago: Use at least one "self made" piece of sound in your music.

[Oquasec]

Using just the subtractor for a bit is a really good way to get comfy with synthesis and Reason in general actually.
It is really effective.

[Steedus]

I was wondering if anyone uses presets to compensate for your lack of skill in synthesis.

I can't tell if you're intentionally trying to come across as antagonistic here.. I use presets all the time. The thought of programming a synth from scratch is one of the most mind numbing, and un-musical things I can think of. But I'm guessing I'm in the minority around these parts haha.

[Oquasec]

To me, that is probably the whole point of bothering with this program in the first place.
It is laid out in such a perfect way for producing, or exploring all the WIRES AT THE BACK and making completely custom configurations with whatever modules.

The best part [and the reason reason should even be a daw to recommend to anybody period] is it's Cv system.

[madmacman]

The thought of programming a synth from scratch is one of the most mind numbing, and un-musical things I can think of. But I'm guessing I'm in the minority around these parts haha.

At least I can tell that I spent nights in front of my trusty DX7 when I was a student, in order to get the perfect sound I want. Sound design is time consuming, and maybe an art of its own next to writing a song.

[CephaloPod]

The thought of programming a synth from scratch is one of the most mind numbing, and un-musical things I can think of. But I'm guessing I'm in the minority around these parts haha.

At least I can tell that I spent nights in front of my trusty DX7 when I was a student, in order to get the perfect sound I want. Sound design is time consuming, and maybe an art of its own next to writing a song.

Ha! Same here. First synth I ever started programming was a DX 7, at age 14. Had no clue what I was doing, and it kinda turned me off of programming synths almost for good. The SQ-80 brought me back around some, but still, I'd rather play keys and mix beats than stare at a synth at 'init'.

I think a lot of people that never use presets are probably using pretty basic synth sounds, then adjusting that sine/saw/square a little and working the effects section until they get the sound they're after. Which is, of course, great. A lot of synth presets suffer from being overly complicated and don't fit into a song very well. Not that much fun to play though!

[demt]

all the easiest settings have been taken and your battling with profesional preset makers for the best sounds that havnt yet been discovered

[aeox]

At least I can tell that I spent nights in front of my trusty DX7 when I was a student, in order to get the perfect sound I want. Sound design is time consuming, and maybe an art of its own next to writing a song.

Ha! Same here. First synth I ever started programming was a DX 7, at age 14. Had no clue what I was doing, and it kinda turned me off of programming synths almost for good. The SQ-80 brought me back around some, but still, I'd rather play keys and mix beats than stare at a synth at 'init'.

I think a lot of people that never use presets are probably using pretty basic synth sounds, then adjusting that sine/saw/square a little and working the effects section until they get the sound they're after. Which is, of course, great. A lot of synth presets suffer from being overly complicated and don't fit into a song very well. Not that much fun to play though!

yea pretty much. for me at least , 80-90% of designing a sound is in the effects processing

[Ahornberg]

I use presets for inspiration and as a starting point for my sounds.

[Aosta]

Depends really,
If I'm testing out a new synth I will build sounds from scratch but I will also use presets as jump off points and shape the sound to my liking.
I also like using combinators and replacing elements of them with my own like taking one in a refill that I like the effects on and using a different synth.

[tumar]

Nothing new here: I use presets as starting point to tweak my own patches. NI Massive is so easy - I mean well-laid, it's pleasure to tweak and get great sound in minutes. Sometimes I take commercial and sophisticated (multilayered) patches, but only to take its elements apart and see how things works

[Karim]

I was wondering if anyone uses presets to compensate for your lack of skill in synthesis. This also includes the presets in the NI plugins like Absynth and Massive, which thankfully became available in the recent update.

I'll admit, I heavily use them; only in rare cases do I actually design my own synth sounds, and frankly, they're kinda crappy. (Perhaps that's just me)

Synthesis seems quite an interesting topic to study. I'd love a comprehensive tutorial on Massive.

A lot of presets... I tweak them but they are my start point...

[pacorobles]

I do, BUT they almost never fit what I want without even a slight change - so I substitute the preset with my modified version for future uses.

[esselfortium]

Sometimes! For a long while I used to feel kind of ashamed to use preset patches, even if I had modified them. I still program a lot of my own sounds, but allowing myself to use more presets means I've been able to focus more on the act of composing, itself, which is good because that's what really counts. Knowing your way around the tools you use means you can easily modify preexisting sounds to fit what you need them to do, and having them available as starting points is extraordinarily helpful for maintaining inspiration and not falling into the same patterns too much.

[selig]

I was wondering if anyone uses presets to compensate for your lack of skill in synthesis. This also includes the presets in the NI plugins like Absynth and Massive, which thankfully became available in the recent update.

I'll admit, I heavily use them; only in rare cases do I actually design my own synth sounds, and frankly, they're kinda crappy. (Perhaps that's just me)

Synthesis seems quite an interesting topic to study. I'd love a comprehensive tutorial on Massive.

I use presets, but I don't use them as a way to compensate for anything - I use them when they inspire me musically! Sometimes a preset will inspire an entire song, and in some of those cases I don't even tweak them (but will often remove any FX that aren't working for me). Other times I start with a preset and end up with something unrecognizable in the end. Most of the time it's somewhere in between those two extremes.

My philosophy is that I consider myself a musician/composer first, sound designer/engineer second. I like to say that as a composer/arranger, my primary job is to recognize what works. If this means that if I use an idea or sound that is not from MY head, it doesn't matter. Only thing that matters to me is "does it serve the music". This includes working with other musicians, sound libraries, loops, whatever.

In short, "whatever works".

[Gorgon]

I'm not going to sit there tinkering with Subtractor for half an hour to get a bass sound. I just load up Phat Math and take it from there.

[satyr32]

I use hours and hours for creating my own sounds at the beginning of a track.
I only use presets at the final stage of completing a track because i just got too lazy and then i will use 1 or 2 presets.
I cannot explain why at the beginning i invest so much time and in the end i get in a hurry and do not care about perfection and details.

Otherwise no, except presets of FXs especially delay but with adjustments.

To be honest i would use presets more if the sounds i want would exist as presets, but usually they do not and i have never bought a refill except for drum samples like Jiggery Pokerys analog drum machine refill.

[PSoames]

All the time. Sometimes they fit, other times they don't and need to be tinkered with. Sometimes, I just enjoy playing with an initialised synth, other times I like to see which direction a preset sound will take me.

There is no formula.

[gullum]

Not a synth guy I make guitar music mainly so synths are some thing I add and always start with presets only FX, eq and such I don't use presets

[Daniel36]

All the time! I also buy preset packs, especially now that I have ReSpire, which already has a ton of quality preset packs available.

I feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. At times, I even load in entire rythmic elements such as hi-hat patterns, because to me, there is no difference between using something pre-made or making that same pattern or something extremely close myself. Why spend all that time to "make it yourself" when you can just throw it in there and get on with it?

I am not a good sound designer, so if I can get a headstart by using a preset and tweak it a bit, I see no reason not to. It's not like piano players build their own piano, or that the chef helped give birth to the piece of beef he is preparing, so there.

I think that people are scared that others will find them "fake" if they use presets, but it's not about whether or not you made the sound yourself, it is whether or not you combined all the ingredients into a delightful dish.

Also, sometimes a sound inspires me, so why not?

And also... Amen break. Just because. An entire genre emerged from just one sample, basically. Why be afraid of samples?

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I'm a proud preset user and I pretty much never design my own sounds from scratch. I tweak the envelopes and filters of presets to meet my taste though if that counts for anything. Sound design to me is incredibly boring and I find the preset snobbery that some people have to be pretty amusing. This question to me is like asking a painter if they create their own paints. It is nice if you make your own paints but that doesn't make you a great painter. Electronic music producers have to wear so many hats with sound design, composition, arrangement, mixing and mastering so it's best to think about how to approach the craft with an order of operations. Sound design and synth programming comes last for me.