thoughts on using presets

[Crix]

Hi there. I made this topic so you can write your thoughts about presets. I started producing few months ago and I have been using presets all the time and modify them how i like. Now I decided to push it forward and learn how to make sound from basic but it's really hard. What do you think about presets? Do you use them from time to time or just make your own stuff?

 

[Ddream]

I use presets and I make my own as well. I think that:

1 - Presets were made by people far experienced than me, and you KNOW when a sound was made by someone professional;

2 - The only ones that are concerned about this matter are the producers. 90% of your listeners (common joes who don't even know what a DAW is) won't know if you used a preset or not. They'll care if YOUR SONG is good or not.

3 - It's not cheating, IMO. If a tool is there ready to be used, so why won't you use it? Just because the "producer comunity will know and tell me that I'm cheating"? Let's go back to item 2: you make your music for an average joe, not a producer.

 

[rayzer]

i dont mind people using presets if it gets the job done but eventually its a good idea to learn synthesis as some presets wont mix well with others. also if youre only using presets then youre kinda limited to the amount of sounds you can use depending on the plugins you have. sometimes creating a sound from scratch can be quicker than crawling through loads of plugins to find a particular sound or one close to it.

 

[Ametrine]

I agree with everything that's been said. There's nothing wrong with using presets. If it gets the sound you want, then I don't really see a problem with it.

But you do also open up a wider range of possiblities when you start manipulating and creating your own unique synths from the beginning, so it's just two different ways to do things. It is harder, but it can be more rewarding because you'll have more experience in creating a sound that you want, rather than just choosing a sound that fits.

 

[Ddream]

sometimes creating a sound from scratch can be quicker than crawling through loads of plugins to find a particular sound or one close to it.

If you plan to do "15609234908234 beats a week", well yes.

 

[KonKossKang]

Presets are usable tutorials. They help you figure out what each knob does to the output sound. Knowing the general synthesis knowledge will let you use multiple synth vsts.
There will be synths that confuse you with it's design though lol for me sytrus and massive, wow.
Just read the basics of synthesis on youtube, I read a book called synthesizer wizard and was disappointed because that stuff was on youtube already.
Although it was a free copy but still, was expecting something else.

 

[steffeeh]

I can't judge those who want to use presets (partly since I might start making a living of selling such materials haha) but I would never use bought presets myself, since it's way more fun to do it yourself and you feel more original and develope your own sound more easily. But that's just me.
If I ever use a preset it's either a very powerful emulation of a natural sound (like an advanced string preset that's very authentic), or it's a preset I've made myself sometime.

 

[SwagProductionz]

theres absolutely nothing wrong with using presets... it's about the final product ya know? nobody is going to be listening to the song.. like 'oh this is producer is using presets... i'm not going to listen to it.'

 

[Slaphead]

If it wasn't for presets/patches then I'd probably never get a track done - I'd just spend all of my time obsessively tweaking synths. Mostly I load up a suitable preset and adjust for my purposes

To be honest I find that this industry's obsession with skueomorphism (that is making software look analogous to real world counterparts) doesn't lend itself well to the ease of use of most VSTs, and quite frankly is off putting for anybody new to this game.

The only synth where I actually build a patch from the very beginning is Audulus because I can see exactly what I'm doing and can see exactly where things are being routed.

 

[Crix]

Thanks guys for your opinions! I just thought that if someone is making music for long time he just dont use presets, but you're right it's nothing wrong with using it anyway

 

[I'mNoGuru]

Presets are the preserve of the musician who works quickly... Presets are good...

Engineers hate presets nearly as much as they hate musicians... Presets are good...

 

[Desire Inspires]

I was told a long time ago that "only noobs use presets".

 

[Giegiegiengsoel]

i think, "presets" it's like "effect" used by.. let say rock n' roll guitarist like angus young, slash, eddie van halen, or even jimmy page! they never create the "sound" by their own, they found it, feel right about it, and buy it or order-it to the maker of the effects, and then use it for their music. the important is, "the man behind the gun"

in general, i think in the music industry, what's important is that about inovation, like led zepplin did, even if they have some issue about that. but what i see is if your music makes people dancing, makes them crazy, or happy, or even crying you are the true musician artist, and that's goes to the producer EDM to.

that is what music is about, right?. is to make the audience feel celebrate, like all musician/composer did, from mozart to these day.

​sorry little bit out of topic and sorry for my bad english.

 

[ReamOO]

I see nothing wrong with it. I've been making beats for some time & still do. Nothing wrong what so ever.

 

[TagYourBeats]

I use presets and I make my own as well. I think that:

1 - Presets were made by people far experienced than me, and you KNOW when a sound was made by someone professional;

2 - The only ones that are concerned about this matter are the producers. 90% of your listeners (common joes who don't even know what a DAW is) won't know if you used a preset or not. They'll care if YOUR SONG is good or not.

3 - It's not cheating, IMO. If a tool is there ready to be used, so why won't you use it? Just because the "producer comunity will know and tell me that I'm cheating"? Let's go back to item 2: you make your music for an average joe, not a producer.

Exactly this, IMHO.

If the sounds are good, use them. If they need tweaking, tweak them. If you can't find what you're looking for, consider making it.

When you're in the flow of making music I find it easier to just cycle through presets, get the melody down then move onto the next one, rather than messing around trying to make sounds. It really drains my enthusiasm and more often than not, I run out of time. This is why I stopped using Massive...it just got too time consuming for me.

Fair play fi you enjoy making sounds though...it is a very cool skill to have and one that I wish I could master.