What do you think about presets ?

[FAARE FACED]

I've just been showed that, and I thought it could be a good start for a discussion.

"Laidback Luke - Break the House Down. Not the main lead but another synth. V-Station >> Noughty Lead
Axwell - I found you remode - the main bass and synth riff. FM7 > Ghooole
Dirty South - Let it go (Axwell remix). NI Massive >> SQ Power Stab
Axwell ID w/ "put your hands up in the air". Absynth >> candrum
HardFi (Axwell remix). Korg Monopoly >> Kord Rain
Axwell & Dirty South - Open Your Heart. NI Massive >> Midnight Children
Arno Cost & Norman Dorey - Apocalypse. Minimoog V >> CD_Scary_SeQ
Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso - Partouze. Cakewalk Rapture : 06-Keys >> Classic Chicago Stack 1
Adele - Hometown Glory (Axwell Remode). Cakewalk Rapture : 06-Keys >> Classic Chicago Stack 4 is from
Steve Angello & Laidback Luke - Be. Korg M1 >> House Organ Split
Chemical Brothers - Salmon Dance. NI Massive >> Big Deeper
SHM & LBL - Get Dumb. ABSYNTH preset >> Birdie Scratch
Axwell - Submariner. Fx Sound. ABSYNTH preset >> Avionics
Julien Jabre - Swimming Places (Seb Ingrosso Remix). z3ta+ preset : B >> chicago 01
No love lost (DONS & DBN Remix). z3ta+ preset : B >> chicago 02
Deadmau5 chord sound. Z3ta : C >> Chords of life
Deadmau5 - Reward Is Cheese. NI Massive >> TresManos
Tristan Garner - Caribe. NI Massive >> butterfly
Pryda - Loaded. Korg legacy collection : legacycell >> influx strings
Pryda - Shadows. Korg Legacy Collection : legacycell >> 006eep Searchin
Don & Palm - Apollo. FM8 >> Smooth stab
Deadmau5 - Slip. z3ta : E bank >> the other same arp
Nelly Furtardo - Promiscuous (Axwell Remix). Pro 53 >> Analog SQ1
TV Rock - Been A Long Time (Laidback Luke Remix). Pro 53 >> Analog SQ1
SHM & LBL - Leave the World Behind. FM8 >> Short Seq
Nari & Milani - Gnuk!. FM8 >> Squarelead
David Guetta - Love Takes Over (Laidback Luke Mix). Massive >> D-Droid
John Dahlback - World Of Love. Sylenth1 : 1st bank : KEY : Chicago and KEY >> Pizzicato
Funkagenda and Mark Knight - Man with the Red Face. FM8 >> Short seq
Axwell WMC ID http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6qVr8XPRdU . NI Massive - Fudgecake
Pryda - Pjanoo. String preset Korg M1 : Card 9 >> Brass-Ens(emble) & piano preset Korg M1 : Card 1 >> Piano 8
Axwell - I Found U. one of the RefX NEXUS patches for the piano sound
Novy & Bahil - Fluxkompensator. Logic 8 Studio >> Apple Loops >> Modern Rock Guitar 22
Awell & Dirty South - Open your heart. NI Absynth >> Square Pad With Flange & Vember Audio Surge >> Pluck (fast) >> Sinus Verby Pops
Axwell - Feel the vibe (Eric Prydz mix) >> Patch 33 in Korg Legacy
Kanye West - Harder Better Faster Stronger. Logic preset >> Fifth Moon
Seamus Haji. Z3ta >> Microwave Bass
Soul Central - In-Ten-City. Club-beat 006 loop
Rhianna - Umbrella. Vintage Funk preset loop from Garageband
deadmau5 - Ghost n Stuff. Sytrus >> 4 drawbars

This is mostry pop/progressive stuff, but still, knows artist in these scenes.

What do you think about presets ? For intruments ? For FX or other parameters (mastering ?)


My opinion on that (if it can make the thread start) :
The fact that a handful of guys used one or two in few (one?) of their track doesn't make a statement true or false, and the use of patchs allowed or forbidden.
I think it's a matter of personnal opinion, but to me, if you don't bring anything of your own, ok, but don't put your name on the track then. Brutal electro 2 ? No thanks.

[Brothulhu]

As long as they sound good and the person doesn't claim they made them themselves when asked its fine. That's what they are there for

[mthrfnk]

If they help you get ideas down quicker, then there's not really much issue imo, especially since if you make something good with them it'll be your notes/melody, FX and mixing that helps the piece to sound good.

If it's something based around sound design, then I have more of an issue, but in the case if your post it's literally all house artists.... I thought it was pretty common knowledge most house artists used a lot of preset stuff anyway

[rockonin]

If its alright to use loops then there should definitely not be a problem using a sound preset. At the end of the day you still have to write the music.

[Brothulhu]

I think it's only shunned as producers are seen as jacks of all trades. You wouldn't expect most other musicians to craft the sound of their instruments themselves

[lloydy]

Sort of the same as sampling isn't it?
Pads i will sometimes use presets,bass sounds not really but if i like a tone of a preset i may set to work on it and try to shape that.For me shaping presets in to your own sound is no different than using an oscillator,you start with a single oscillator and shape it,presets can be the same.
I have used probably 3 straight up presets in a few of my tunes because they fitted the ambience of the track others i normally wet up with a shit load of effects.
It's funny to me this elitist attitude that you have to make everything from scratch,does that mean if i want to learn to play guitar i need to build one?
I remember me and my friend were going through these sample packs he had been given by someone,shit loads of folders.We stumbled across a pad type arpeggiator sample that chase and status used in a tune from their first album.It had effects added in their track but still sounded pretty much the same as the one in this folder and still got played on national radio,i think it made it into the charts!!
At the end of the day it is sound and if it sounds good why spend a shit load of time trying to carve it out yourself when the fuckers sitting there in your programme.Honestly i'm not saying you should't learn the techniques yourself but why spend hours and hours for a simple sound that might not have that much bearing on the overall sound of the track.
If you straight up only use presets then you are one lazy fucker but come on man we want to make music and at some point presets make the process a hell of a lot easier!

[Huts]

This attitude of having to make everything from scratch, or on your own doesn't really make any sense to me. Presets are there to be used, they're wonderful inspiration when you've got nowhere to start, and frankly if you can make the sounds fit well in a tune who cares. I think a lot of people fail to realize first and foremost this is music. Stop analyzing every song like a math problem, if it makes you nod your head, move your feet, or feel something then the producer accomplished their job. Whether they used a massive preset or recorded and chopped samples from a 100 year old piano shouldn't matter. If I can find a preset that fits the sound I have in my head, inspires a new idea, or just works, you can damn well bet I'm going to use it and you should too.

[hudson]

Synth presets are fine, mastering presets on the other hand...

[kreutzbube]

using presets is ok if it benefits the song. having the ambition to create stuff completely from scratch isn't wrong either. to me sound design is the most rewarding part of making a tune, so i tend to refrain from using presets. still i use em when i get lazy or uninspired.

[outdropt]

Everyone wants to make a good tune.

Some people have an idea of a sound they want, and can sculpt it.

Some people search through samples/patches and find a sound that inspires them.

There is no right or wrong way to compose. Of course if you know how to design sounds you can adjust patches/samples to work better for your song, you can also make variations to the sound to keep things interesting.

I feel like this is a never ending argument. Just because you spend hours on sound design, doesn't make you better then someone that searches through thousands of samples/patches for a desired sound; all that matters is the end result.

[Hostile Invasion]

Only us producers give a shit if someone uses a preset. The vast majority of listeners (95%, probably more) do not care if the music they're listening to is part of a preset. They don't even have any idea how that type of music is made.

[blinx]

I think presets are fair game, dont lie about them, but dont be afraid to use them either.

Especially if your using them correctly a preset should be just another tool in your toolbox of music creation, along with loops, sampling, synthesis, theory and all the other fun stuff we learn and use in our journey of production.

[fragments]

You know, it's hilarious to me that people get all arsed about using presets, "I design all my own sounds! I'm not a cheater! I'm soooooo ooo original" then proceed to spend six hours designing a midrange patch that sounds like all the other cock juice squirted all over the scene.

[samurai]

it all depends on the individual.

a friend of mine in college creates all his songs from loop packs and construction kits. drum loops, melody loops, bassline, random sound fx, everything. he's fine with that. I wouldn't be ok with creating music like that.

I try to synthesise the majority of elements in my tracks. but I partly do that so I can continue learning. the more sounds I synthesise, the more drum patterns I program, the more basslines I write, the better I get at it.

I have no problem with people using presets or loop packs in their music. however, for me, how the music is actually made imparts an additional element to the music. but that's just me and how I feel about music. the great thing about art is that everybody can feel however they want about it.

[Ebolaman]

Some people can make awesome patches and then do fuck all interesting with them, we all know this. I'd much rather those people give out their patches so I could hear what good composers could do with them.

My sound-design journey is still in its infancy. I can make some cool noises but I like grimy, garagey, dark but fairly simple sounds. I can get those things out of basic synths, so I'm happy enough at the moment because I do have some ability to create some noises myself. I'm always learning too. but I find things like pads and such beyond my level of skill atm. So, for pads I'll look for presets and usually find things similar to what I want. Then I tweak the presets to get what I'm after. And this is where presets are also useful. By reverse engineering ones I like I'm gradually figuring out what makes them sound the way they do... so the argument that they promote laziness is pretty invalid tbh, if people can use them as learning tools. Besides, sometimes I use stretched samples for pads and there doesn't seem to be any stigma around that despite it being essentially the same thing in principal.

Ugh, so knackered that came out a rambling mess. If you can get sense out of it then fair play.

[drake89]

Joker master class he shows some presets he uses- totally changed my attitude towards this question.

[Dahneboy]

do what ever you have to do to make good music, but when it comes to basses imo your really missing all the fun of creating cool synths n shit