most overused synths

[collective]

personally, I try to make most of my sounds rape-you-in-the-ear/introduce-cheese-grater-to-face, but I am obsessive about doing it all from scratch, down to building all custom tools in reaktor and max and modular synths. just a by product of my music tech degree. that being said, I dont care too much when I know people are using presets. some people are more into the technical challenge and some people just wanna make tunes. to each their own.

nice tunes.

[contakt321]

[feral witchchild]

If it's good music, it's good music. Regardless of how 'artificial' it is. If it's bad music, it's bad music - regardless of how 'organic' it is.

[dubmission]

I never even use patches, it's so much more fun making your own! you don't buy synths (hardware or software) for the patches, that's just a waste of money.

[kapital]

Another thing...I think sampling takes way more, let's say, "time & care". I go through my music, go through tracks....try and piece together loops. Try and manipulate loops to my own liking, and that becomes the foundation for a track more times.

I just two nights ago went into the preset bank in Massive...if cats choose that shit straight up, there is no real creativity involved. If you straight up click "Elephant Federation" and hold down g and let it do what it does, its in no way similar to carefully selected samples from musical sources. That's more like, I dunno, Madlib giving you his loops sans beats....get my drift?

To me it's not some sort of pissing contest about who can do the hardest thing, though. I like the idea of people being happy or moved or dancing and music in general being better because of the stuff I'm doing, and if I can do that better via taking a shortcut then I'll go for it.

There are long term problems that are going to come with always taking the easy way and always relying on the preset to write the tune for you - you end up with a scene that's limited by the preset designers rather than driven forward by the producers - but I wouldn't write it off straight out under all circumstances.

And to be honest, a lot of sounds are going to be generic whether you roll your own presets or not. I mean, some people might care whether the big evolving pad sound you used is entirely your own work, but if you're using a basic organ sound or a standard analogue style bass or whatever then worrying about whether it's a preset or not is like worrying about whether a guitarist made their own guitar.

In my situation, I don't worry about any sound being a straight preset. I just don't use straight presets . It's not even a competitive thing, because guaranteed more time than not my music remains personal listening...so maybe that's where shit differs for me. Whether people recognize the sound is carefully made or a preset isnt even a thought. And even if my shit was more in the public domain, and 85% of them couldnt catch the difference between preset or not, it's all about the personal satisfaction knowing my sound was that dope.

Also, I'm never thinking like, "Mr. Johnson" preset sounds like its gonna work on a dance-floor or whatever it may be. Building a patch should just be about having an interesting in learning how to make sound. If folks choose to get down to it, that's on them. That's the angle I approach this music shit from. Maybe it's a focus thing, cuz I'll make arbitrary beats based on whatever mood I'm in. It's not like I'm known to make dancefloor tunes and direct my sound towards a specific way...so I never feel compelled to go a certain route. Maybe that's a bad thing lol....dunno really.

I don't know if somebody already said this or not, but I find that when they list 50 presets or whatever; sure it's meant to be used...no question there, but it's more like telling people "if you actually try, your shit will sound this dope". I also don't think something like Massive can be truly "generic", maybe it is generic insofar as ppl arent creative and hijack the next mans style. I guess there's something like the low wobble where inevitably cats are gonna body that sound (to me it doesnt get old lol)...but I think as it is, with that synth you have a near unlimited ability to create the widest array of sounds. It's just how much willingness somebody has to not sound like 1 000 000 other producers.

Whatever though, from a home listening perspective, I don't listen to music and hate on tunes because I can identify a preset (well...depends)...if it's sick, then it's sick. But as one who likes to make music, I stay away from them. Plus, it's fuckin overwhelming....there's sooooo many to go through. I can see that in itself being frustrating.

[scooterjack]

I never even use patches, it's so much more fun making your own! you don't buy synths (hardware or software) for the patches, that's just a waste of money.

um..... wrong, by a feckin mile




tons of people have bought pieces of kit for the extremely great presets on em + what it's capable of...

[egoless]

Massive is just a MASSIVE synth! Great for wobbles, great for reece, great for sub, great for moving pads and sounds, amazing soundscapes...

Don't throw it away because everyone's using fucking brutal electro patch...

It's very very powerfull peace of software...

[lukki]

I must add...

the presets on my access virus are quite nice

HEHE...I have the KC, myself Loverly lil beast she is.

[magma]

Me making a patch on my synth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIMPmZ0kTro

[atomik chronic]

lol brutal electro could become a "classic / staple" in edm and years from now people will be hunting down "Vintage" copies of Massive just for it, like 808s and Roland JP-8s

God forbid

Dude I love you for this.

[pumice]

there are pretty cheap and fun to play with

[ascii]

tons of people have bought pieces of kit for the extremely great presets on em + what it's capable of...

Timberland springs to mind. However serious musicians should know synthesis like the back of their hand and not rely on presets imo.

[POND LIFE]

ok i just heard a new song by the count / sinden called 'stinging nettles'. it really should have been called ' the brutal electro patch and some drums'

at least when chase and status used it they changed it for the better. this song just uses the default patch.

pretty sure ive heard this patch in some other songs too, cant remember atm.

woah. i've just lost a lot of respect for herve and sinden right there. they were my heroes. upsetting.

[serox]

personally, I try to make most of my sounds rape-you-in-the-ear/introduce-cheese-grater-to-face, but I am obsessive about doing it all from scratch, down to building all custom tools in reaktor and max and modular synths. just a by product of my music tech degree. that being said, I dont care too much when I know people are using presets. some people are more into the technical challenge and some people just wanna make tunes. to each their own.

/checks this is the Dubstep forum and not the Breakcore forum.

[r]

tons of people have bought pieces of kit for the extremely great presets on em + what it's capable of...

Timberland springs to mind. However serious musicians should know synthesis like the back of their hand and not rely on presets imo.

you mean artificial/techpeeps. Musicians just wanna make music.

[POND LIFE]

i feel a rant coming on. this has got to be the most bullshit tune i've ever heard, coming from two of my very favourite producers. it literally is brutal electro in its base form plus drums, and the drums arent even good.
pisses me off that because they're count and sinden they can release and sell this. that's not what dance music is about. im almost positive if some newcomer had made this track and posted it in dubs it would have been ignored at best and laughed out of the fucking door and flooded with alpacas at worst. but because its count and sinden 'big tune big tune!'

no. not big tune. i love count and sinden but this is an absolute joke.