where do all the bad sample packs actually come from??

[doghouse]

Despite the fact that everyone on EM forums boasts about how they never use presets, etc. there's obviously a huge market for "radio ready" sounds, whether it's synth patches or sample loops.

In fact there's more money in sounds than instruments. Look at NI, you can buy Komplete for $500 but they also sell individual Kore packs for $50 and up. Buy a dozen soundsets for the free Kore Player and you've paid more than buying Komplete which would give you all the instruments used to create those sounds!!!

Good sample packs make sense for people doing commercial music for hire who need sounds fast. If your client needs some speed garage for his radio spot, you go buy a sample set online for $50 and whip out the spot in an hour or two.

For the rest of us, it's just instant gratification.

Disclaimer: I have used pre-made samples at times, almost all of which I got free as demos that let you "try before you buy". I'd say 95% of them are not really suitable for the kind of music that I do anyway so I'm not about to pay for them. The ones I have paid for were drum loops of real drums played by real drummers, all with minimal processing. They don't sound mechanical like sequenced drums and are better recorded than anything I could do at home.

[anybody human]

I only buy drum samples. Agree 100% on Wave Alchemy, filthy- I certainly can't do any better than that but I'd still prefer to make my own. I'll use Microtonic & various synths to make drum sounds, but I lack the outboard gear to learn how to really dial it in. The new Skinnerbox M4L FM drum machine is really cool & free if u have M4L already.

As for loop packs I just don't get it. Not to sound harsh but if u don't write the melody u didn't write the song IMO. Commercials & helping beginners get into production must be the uses. Also, many people make part of their living by doing odds & ends like making sample packs, finishing productions or whatever's clever. People you've heard of, guys have to hussle like mad just to get by nowadays.

Next on my gear wishlist is a nice preamp, and a Machinedrum would be nice. Have a nice filter & a decent compressor so that would allow me to "roll my own". Maybe I should take out a loan and start selling sample packs Nah, been done

[H20nly]

As for loop packs I just don't get it. Not to sound harsh but if u don't write the melody u didn't write the song IMO.

+1

[WaveRider]

d

I have to say that im underwhelmed by the quality of this stuff,

yeah it's terrible quality and high price.... and I doubt of the usefulness of most of them, you can't really make tunes with one pattern and no variations... like most of these are... bad, bad, bad....

but in this age of instant gratification (youth don't know anything else really) it's as far as most will go... when making electronic music... that or be a dj...

[CR78]

the school i work at being considered a "cutting edge" art/technology school (Columbia College Chicago)

A hair OT:

Funny, I went to Columbia for a year to take a few art classes(late 80's).
The good professor's told me to save my money and go rent studio space. In a nutshell their message was, "Start painting, you don't need us". Great, honest advice. I bet,perhaps, 20+ years later I'd get the same advice.

[H20nly]

^ not til the end of the course.

[CR78]

^ not til the end of the course.

[anybody human]

I checked out Goldbaby samples. Wow, fantastic stuff. I noticed Joker uses them, nice.