dont lie. do you really never use presets?

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:04 pm

whatever guys...

why are you all ganging up on me?

:baby:

kidding

I would be more prone to drop a tune with more complexity in the sounds and synthwork, than I would a straightforward boring ass tune

^^^that is what I meant to say

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:19 pm

Often I look towards the presets when i'm looking for a sound or lacking creativity/time.. then tweak to get what I want from there...

But making you're own patch from scratch is definately more rewarding and fun.... Unless you're real lean up and you've wasted 3 hours making some kind of twisted scratchy turd noise that you'll never use

__________ · Post by **__________** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:32 pm

i think everyone in here has a point. there's no right or wrong way to make music anyway.

like two oh one says, you can spend more time composing or more time tweaking knobs. or spend loads of time doing both.

__________ · Post by **__________** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:34 pm

tempest wrote:Often I look towards the presets when i'm looking for a sound or lacking creativity/time.. then tweak to get what I want from there...

But making you're own patch from scratch is definately more rewarding and fun.... Unless you're real lean up and you've wasted 3 hours making some kind of twisted scratchy turd noise that you'll never use

hey i like twisted scratchy turd noises

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:52 pm

£10 Bag wrote:
tempest wrote:Often I look towards the presets when i'm looking for a sound or lacking creativity/time.. then tweak to get what I want from there...

But making you're own patch from scratch is definately more rewarding and fun.... Unless you're real lean up and you've wasted 3 hours making some kind of twisted scratchy turd noise that you'll never use
hey i like twisted scratchy turd noises

Let's collab

futures_untold · Post by **futures_untold** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:06 pm

who uses live guitars in their music..?

nope, sounds like a preset to me...!

There are certain sounds I'd love to use... but I can't find the right presets for them nor do I know how to patch 'em

I think I'll start using samples then... way easier..!

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:15 pm

Guitar synth presets are one thing I will NEVER touch

futures_untold · Post by **futures_untold** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:22 pm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ha ha ha

nothing a spot of reverb can't fix!

__________ · Post by **__________** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:30 pm

tempest wrote:
£10 Bag wrote:
tempest wrote:Often I look towards the presets when i'm looking for a sound or lacking creativity/time.. then tweak to get what I want from there...

But making you're own patch from scratch is definately more rewarding and fun.... Unless you're real lean up and you've wasted 3 hours making some kind of twisted scratchy turd noise that you'll never use
hey i like twisted scratchy turd noises
Let's collab

yeah i'm always up for a collaboration, let me know

two oh one · Post by **two oh one** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:10 am

unklefesta wrote:whatever guys...

why are you all ganging up on me?

kidding

I would be more prone to drop a tune with more complexity in the sounds and synthwork, than I would a straightforward boring ass tune

^^^that is what I meant to say

Heh heh. This is something interesting and possibly worth another thread. I we all have different ways of judging how good music is or not.

My way is quite simple. Can I remember a tune, or not? All the complexity and cleverness in the world won't matter to me if I can't remember a tune the next day. There's some really technical stuff out there that I enjoy enough as I listen to it, but I can't recall what it sounds like unless I hear it again. Then, there's stuff that's really simple, but somehow gets lodged in my brain, which I always think is a win.

...But, then there's complex stuff I can remember and simple stuff I've forgotten moments after the record ends.

But for me, that's it. Can I remember this tune? Is it a tune that can creep into my brain and store itself, or is it something that is simply some insipid blandness hidden behind clever programming and production?

I'm currently working on a remix for somebody and I'm a little worried. Everything is synthesized from scratch (geek hat on) and it has great production value - Really full and warm, despite being fairly minimal, yet if I leave if for some time I can't remember what it sounds like. I usually throw this stuff away and start again, but I've promised it this week.

Shite.

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:49 pm

if i cant remember something its usually either shite or something i've listen to on an almost purely production credentials basis - eg autechre tunes, i couldn't tell you how any of them went but by the same token ive got a good few albums of theirs which have given me ideas for things and/or taught me things

as far as presets go - i usually sketch tunes first so just for a general feeling i'll load a preset. when i revisit the tune i start re-building sounds or tweaking knobs to get the end product

psyphon · Post by **psyphon** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:09 pm

Know what you mean. I tend to work on the same principle, but I also remember tracks better if they bring out an emotion in me.

Be it a sparse ambient track, or a full bass stomper. I find emotion takes me on a better journey with a track if it makes me feels angry, sad or happy etc. If a track doesn't bring out some form of emotion, I'll generally forget it quickly.

I use presets, nothing wrong with that, although I fuck with mine and make them my own.

auan · Post by **auan** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:38 pm

Just on the Autechre thing, they're the perfect example of guys who know what they're doing musically AND take their time fiddling with synths. All the Ae albums up to like LP5 could be played by orchestras and would still sound good. From about EP7 onwards, and like all the copycats who sprang up in their wake, they lost that musicality, and became just about the mind-boggling Max/MSP patches, and I lost interest.

somejerk · Post by **somejerk** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:57 pm

i accidentally deleted all of my presets in live and Waves Diamond bundle (the only other plug ins i really use) doesn't have presets.

so no, no presets, though i see no shame in using them. gotta start somewhere.

mudda · Post by **mudda** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:14 pm

Techno eJay - Nah

Music2000 for the Playstation - Nah

Logic 8 - Yah

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:20 pm

Auan wrote:Just on the Autechre thing, they're the perfect example of guys who know what they're doing musically AND take their time fiddling with synths. All the Ae albums up to like LP5 could be played by orchestras and would still sound good. From about EP7 onwards, and like all the copycats who sprang up in their wake, they lost that musicality, and became just about the mind-boggling Max/MSP patches, and I lost interest.

Id like to hear an orchestra recreate Draft 7.30
I read somewhere that they just rip open their hardware synths and go to work on the circuitry... bonkers !

slothrop · Post by **slothrop** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:38 pm

Auan wrote:From about EP7 onwards, and like all the copycats who sprang up in their wake, they lost that musicality, and became just about the mind-boggling Max/MSP patches, and I lost interest.

I think Autechre are about the only one of the Max/MSP glitchwank crew that have really hung onto some sort of musicality. It's just that it's musical in a rhythmic and textural way rather than a melodic way. Listening to Draft 7.30 I always get the sense that they've actually built up quite a consistent rhythmic language and are actually using all the little stuttery microrhythms because they make sense musically not just because it's quite technically impressive.

Back on topic, I don't mind using presets if I don't want the sound to be particularly distinctive, eg if I wanted a fairly straightforward electric pianoish lead to play an interesting melody on I wouldn't mind using a preset (although I'd probably end up building my own because I enjoy it), whereas if I wanted a weird, morphing, bending, evolving bass sound taht's going to make people think 'hey, that's a cool sound' I'd almost certainly try to do it from scratch.

I'm also a lot happier using presets or lightly tweaked presets if a) I'm after a realistic emulation of a real instrument or a vintage sound and/or b) I'm using a synth or synthesis method that I'm unfamiliar with.

I quite like using fairly basic arps (eg up and down two octaves on a straight semiquaver rhythm or whatever) to chuck something surprising into a sound, although I probably wouldn't use an arp preset to write my melody for me, again mainly because I quite like to do that myself.

futures_untold · Post by **futures_untold** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:03 pm

I wonder whether Monster X uses presets?

http://www.myspace.com/beatzemonster

Fecking funky noise whatever happens

corpsey · Post by **corpsey** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:10 pm

Good read this thread

I'm a complete novice- I use the synths that are included in reason, put them through reverb/delay/phasing etc. though but I'm definitely thinking that I've got to start trying to make some of my own synths/sounds. Not sure how good Reason is for doing this as it seems relatively paininthearsey to import/use/timestretch samples in it...

Personally though I don't think it matters THAT much what someone uses as long as its used effectively. A lot of my favourite tunes were mad using really basic equipment, probably with presets- and still excite or move more than some tune thats technically amazing and not much else... Think appleblim told me that the Sleng Ting riddim, for example, was made using one of the demo/rhythm buttons on a casio lol.

I like that the standard of production in dubstep is getting high, in the case of a lot of tunes it enhances it to have that depth and clarity to sounds- but I hope it doesn't become a genre thats all about how well mixed down and innovative in terms of synth design it is- and loses its rawness and emphasis on how good the actual tune is compositionally. I realise there's overlap between how a tune is composed and what its composed of, but you get my drifter innit

auan · Post by **auan** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:56 pm

Corpsey wrote:I'm a complete novice- I use the synths that are included in reason, put them through reverb/delay/phasing etc. though but I'm definitely thinking that I've got to start trying to make some of my own synths/sounds. Not sure how good Reason is for doing this as it seems relatively paininthearsey to import/use/timestretch samples in it...

NN-XT and Malstrom are two of the best software noise-makers in the biz, even better than a lot of VST units. As for learning the basics, Subtractor is pretty invincible too. Reason is actually perfect for learning the basics on, because you're restricted to what it comes with, which forces you to dabble with it more to stay original. Stick with it.

Totally agree on what you say about dubstep getting high production values as well. The rawness is what turned me on to dubstep in the first place, after years of listening to DnB descend into over-produced wankery. If there was any genre that belongs in the bedroom, dubstep is it. It'll lose something huge when it goes all slick and polished, as it inevitably will. But I like the idea of it being made by a bunch of stoners in their bedrooms, out of whatever they can afford/borrow/steal.

dont lie. do you really never use presets?

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