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absurdist lover
Joined: 09/04/01
Posts: 223
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How do you arrive at the synth patches you use?
Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 9:31 AM
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For me, a small few of softsynth patches I use in my tracks start off as presets which are fine-tuned for my own individual needs in the song, and occasionally I use presets almost completely unchanged - probably more than some IDM people would think credible  )
I have started making my own soundbank for FM7. I find FM synthesis still quite unpredictable, but playing with it is fun and it doesn't really take any skill to mess around using intuition until you have a sound that you want to associate with. This is an attempt to break a possibly bad habit: I always design new sounds on the spot as and when I need them and while often this is fine (and actually can fit in since sometimes you just need that one sound you have in your head and it's not in the presets). It'd be good to have some of my own sounds to 'fall back on' when I just need to play something on an original patch.
I guess I'm becoming very aware of the need to sound as individual as possible. That's why the idea of Reactor or something similar is so appealing right now (but it's probably insanely expensive!)
Alex + Ra
I will teach you the significance of insignificance
http://www.artistserver.com/Sendy
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Kylo
Joined: 02/16/05
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 787
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How do you arrive at the synth patches you use?
Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 9:37 AM
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I hear ya. I usually use pre-set too often as well but only because I don't know where to begin on making my own... Thought that's what the help DVD I purchased was for but instead it covered a lot of things I already figured out just composing...
"Energizer bunny arrested- charged with battery."
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A Bit Crusher
Joined: 01/26/02
Location: Tilburg
Posts: 1794
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RE: How do you arrive....
Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 12:44 PM
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On the other hand....nowadays there are so many presets available that the chance of using the same sounds as somebody else is getting smaller and smaller....
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absurdist lover
Joined: 09/04/01
Posts: 223
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 1:41 PM
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That's certainly true. I do think some musicians overemphasize the importance of making your own patches. How you use them and the actual musical aspect (rather than timbral) goes a long way in creating an individual sound. Once upon a time this was all composers had! Then you have things like effects and wave editing, etc... and even context and combination, which can really take the most mundane and hackneyed sounds to new dimensions.
Another thing is that with a closed, limited system such as subtractive synthesis, there are no unheard sounds left (unless you get into really crazy modular pathing), only tried and true archetypes, so why not just dial them up and adjust them to fit or augment their individuality from there rather than labouring from scratch?
Alex + Rargh
I will teach you the significance of insignificance
http://www.artistserver.com/Sendy
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Michael Chocholak
Joined: 01/14/04
Posts: 135
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 10:52 AM
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I've got one synth demo that I use very occasionally that defaults to banks of presets - which I immediately tear into - everytime I use it since I can't save anything. its a totally amnesiac experience. actually the only reason I use that program is because it's qwerty.
if the other programs I use (none of which are keyboard oriented) have presets, I don't know anything about it. but for me that's a big part of the enjoyment and challenge - starting with a blank page, a blank canvas, and seeing what you can come up with and where you end up. 
Que la musique sonne - Edgard Varese
You don't need a mouth to communicate, you don't need rules to create. Anything is a potential instrument. Play it. - MC
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Sonic Wallpaper
Joined: 05/22/01
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 1266
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 11:36 AM
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for me it's a narrowing down process.
Synths usually come in later on in the track making process, unless it was a snyth patch that stimulated the whole process.
When it comes time for adding in some synths, I usually have a well structured piece, nearly complete drums, bassline, etc.
Then I get a basic sound up and record a progression in midi that fits over a key part of the track - or I paint in the notes directly.
Next I set that all to loop, and load up a virtual synth and start clicking through patches, listening to how they work with the loop. Once I have something that sounds close, I then begin adjusting the settings, to see if I can shape it for the given track. Often this is about thining or thickening the overall sound, or adjusting the effects to fit the space in the song.
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Another approach I use, is to have a sound session, where I'll set things up for recording, and I'll go wild on my hardware, simply exploring the knobs, routings, tweaking the effects and filters, and capturing it all to a WAV file. Then I open up SoundForge, and begin locating interesting sounds or progressions, setting loop points, and extracting them.
A few times I did this with my sequencer set to loop with a series of C notes in 3 positions on the keyboard, in addition to a few variations in attack and sustain. When you do it this way, you can create sample banks for use in a sampler, and not have to worry as much about how far you can pitch your samples.
Or, if you have a progression in a song, you can do something like this to generate variations of the progression in audio format, then take those recordings into an editor, tweak them, then bring them into your song and mix them in.
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I think all synths should have a screen where you can select what controls to randomize, and offer a 'random patch' button. This way, you could explore variations at any level. So if you like your current sound, but you aren't sure on the effects, you could select the effects for ramdomization, then you click on randomize until it sounds right.
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P9FM
Joined: 03/29/02
Posts: 198
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RE: the synth patches you use and abuse
Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 1:27 PM
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For me its not so much a question of synth patch, but rather about filtering. I have a few go to sounds that I am always reimaging through filtering.
I am most addicted the stereo filtering I can do with Metasynth 
not an Obliminal thought in his head
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absurdist lover
Joined: 09/04/01
Posts: 223
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Monday, November 20, 2006 at 6:45 AM
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FM7 has a good randomize feature. You can choose how much it will randomize the various aspects of the sound, such as the FM ratios (though changing this drastically produces atonal noise), envelopes, FM matrix and the like. It's good for mutating patches and if you go all out with it I end up recording half an hour of interesting ambient drones and noise washes. 
I will teach you the significance of insignificance
http://www.artistserver.com/Sendy
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A Bit Crusher
Joined: 01/26/02
Location: Tilburg
Posts: 1794
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Monday, November 20, 2006 at 11:02 AM
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absurdist lover wrote:That's certainly true. I do think some musicians overemphasize the importance of making your own patches. How you use them and the actual musical aspect (rather than timbral) goes a long way in creating an individual sound...........
I agree!
Although I usually never use presets without changing at least a small part of it.....
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A Bit Crusher
Joined: 01/26/02
Location: Tilburg
Posts: 1794
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Monday, November 20, 2006 at 11:06 AM
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absurdist lover wrote:FM7 has a good randomize feature....
There's also a great RND-function in Logic's ES2.....which I hardly ever use...
I'm an old-fashioned guy, I guess.
When I started making music, the gear I used just didn't have any presets on board....
Yes, there was some equipment (FM-synths, for example) with presets, but I just couldn't afford it.
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absurdist lover
Joined: 09/04/01
Posts: 223
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RE: How do you arrive at the synth patches you use
Monday, November 20, 2006 at 4:12 PM
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I just realized I really miss my Akai S3000... I used to love the routing options and knew it all inside out such that I was making many original sounds straight out of my head by sampling and using the Akai's 'synthing' capabilities.
These days I often have a less intimate relationship with my instruments, apart from Cool edit which I get really into, and perhaps the soft-samplers I use.
I will teach you the significance of insignificance
http://www.artistserver.com/Sendy
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