Original synthesis versus Presets

[i3igTripplets]

Just do whatever is fun - maybe hook your buddy up with some sweet presets you've made and see what you can come up with togather!

[MacGuffin]

It's all about personal satisfaction

my trick:

when I'm in the studio feeling uninspired to make a new track, I program my favourite synths and save a bunch of patches, then the next time I feel inspired I have my own bank of custom presets and don't waste too much time programming.

[southsounder]

What's your take on original synthesis versus the preset?

If you can't finish your tracks and you're spending all your time tweaking your sounds then either use presets or realize that you have more fun tweaking sounds than making finished songs...and that's OK.

Not everybody is great at songwriting and not everybody is great at sound design.

++1

Sounds design and composition are two different disciplines. They both influence each other, and some folks are really good at both, but to measure the "integrity" of a composition by the originality of the associated sounds is kind of missing the point.

There's nothing wrong with striving for unique sounds in your compositions if that's your thing, but to judge folks who don't as not meeting some sort of higher artistic standard is kind of missing the point that for most composers the goal is to simply produce music that their intended audience will enjoy. And the vast majority of listeners probably don't know and wouldn't care if they did that the pad in the 3rd chorus was an Operator present.

It really boils down to personal choice as far as I'm concerned.

[Jarvisimon]

I remember trying to make a bunch of presets on my old Z1. They sounded fine on their own but in the context of a mix, they weren't so good. Then I did some music with a friend of mine who had a number of commercial (and to some degree successful) releases and he showed me his way of working, which was completely different. He'd just tweak the sounds in the mix until everything sat in its own place.

Once you listened to them out of the mix, they still sounded good but you'd never consider them ready to save as a preset but it made me realise, that the only thing that matters is the mix.

Even if your friend is using mostly preset sounds, I guess he is also using extra effects/filters to make everything work as a coherent whole.

So what i'm trying to say is.....tweak away, you'll soon get things to gel but remember to stop once you're there.

[Tarekith]

I use whatever works, I don't care if it's a a stock preset, or I get an idea for coming up with something from scratch. I use to be one of those who was adamant about not using presets, but then I realized it was silly to not take advantage of other peoples skill sets in helping me realize the best sounding songs possible.

These days I equate it to being no different from how people used to hire session musicians. If you wanted a trumpet in your song but can't play one, you hire someone who can and the song is better for it, while you still get to realize your song the way you want.

I'm sure other people have different opinions on the matter, but I just don't care anymore