Soft Synths Whose Presets Don't Do Them Justice

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Apostate wrote:
wagtunes wrote:
Apostate wrote:
wagtunes wrote: Truth is, there are very few synths whose presets really make me want to use them. Blue II is one. I think many of those presets are amazing. And while I still create my own, I definitely get inspired by them.

Another synth whose presets I like are Bazille. They really show off how quirky that synth can be. I got lots of inspiration from Bazille's presets. Same with Omnisphere. But then again it's hard to make that synth sound bad with those samples.

One person's great preset is another person's "what were they thinking." I just could have expressed myself better.
Completely agree on both Bazille and Blue II, there are great and inspiring presets there imo.
XILS is another one. In fact, I don't know if I'd have been able to even get into that synth without listening to what it could do because trying to program that thing at the start was a bitch. It had a very different architecture than I'm used to with modulars and it took me a while to get the hang of it. The presets helped me reverse engineer some stuff in order to finally break through and come up with my own creations.
You put that perfectly. I still haven't gotten a firm handle on XILS 4, but that's one of the most fun parts for me.

I put out an album with my favorite singer ever, and it was an album modelled after my favorite albums. It did well for what it was, but of course I never made even half the money back I put into it. It's all for the love of creation for me, and that's probably all it ever will be. I ain't hurtin' anybody and don't intend to. I gave up the idea of financial profit, because I want to keep making the music I love. I don't complain, I don't point fingers (not that anyone here does). I just do my thing, it makes me happy. That's it.
Probably the best attitude anybody can have in this "business."

One I try to live by though there are days it's hard when the bills come due.

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wagtunes wrote: when I hear patches like "I Am Zebra" I really have to wonder how serious somebody was about their programming for this synth
That's Howard's edit of one of my patches. The answer is, not at all serious. Most days, I don't even wear a tie.

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I assume by 'Presets' the OP means Factory Presets included with the synth's initial download. Otherwise, if all the third party 'presets' equally did no justice, then the synth itself would be at fault. Or more accurately, the purchaser's perspective was off when they bought it. Since so many have demos and those are usually spent in both checking out the presets and also checking out the programming, it would be on each of us to decide before we bought it on which attributes we bought it for. But third party is also a good consideration in seeing what others are able to coax out of it.

So Synthmaster.
Would never have bought it off the supplied Factory presets or its programming flow. What sold me on it was simply one of the other offered soundbanks and a sale. Would love to strip the embedded factory sounds from it completely.

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hakey wrote:
wagtunes wrote: when I hear patches like "I Am Zebra" I really have to wonder how serious somebody was about their programming for this synth
That's Howard's edit of one of my patches. The answer is, not at all serious. Most days, I don't even wear a tie.
BLASPHEMY! Not wearing a tie while programming...dude....
Ha ha suck it!

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BBFG# wrote:I assume by 'Presets' the OP means Factory Presets included with the synth's initial download. Otherwise, if all the third party 'presets' equally did no justice, then the synth itself would be at fault. Or more accurately, the purchaser's perspective was off when they bought it. Since so many have demos and those are usually spent in both checking out the presets and also checking out the programming, it would be on each of us to decide before we bought it on which attributes we bought it for. But third party is also a good consideration in seeing what others are able to coax out of it.

So Synthmaster.
Would never have bought it off the supplied Factory presets or its programming flow. What sold me on it was simply one of the other offered soundbanks and a sale. Would love to strip the embedded factory sounds from it completely.
I agree, which is why I don't make my buying decisions based on presets. If I can make the synth sound good for my own use, that's all that matters. That's why I'll demo just about anything regardless of how crappy the demos are for the synth unless I hear something in the sound quality itself that puts me off.

For example, most synth edit synths have that paper thin sound that immediately turns me off of it. In fact, I'm actually amazed at the few synth edit synths that sound good. I'd love to know what these designers did to get them to sound that way. OP-X Pro II is a great example.

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The OP-X Pro's sound is based on hand-coded modules, that is why it does not sound like other SE synths, which use the standard modules or the common third-party modules by CK etc.

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fluffy_little_something wrote:The OP-X Pro's sound is based on hand-coded modules, that is why it does not sound like other SE synths.
Ah, that explains it. Thanks.

Any other synth edit synths created that way? I'd like to check them out if I haven't already.

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Definitely Synth Squad. Most of the factory presets are unusable for me.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's Diva. Beautiful factory presets.

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+1 for DCAM Synth Squad :)

Also Tone2 Gladiator - there are some trancey presets while, imho, this synth shines more for ambient, chillout, long evolving pads, keys etc.

also, there are some nice freebies with unfortunately low quality presets...

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D N A wrote:+1 for DCAM Synth Squad :)

Also Tone2 Gladiator - there are some trancey presets while, imho, this synth shines more for ambient, chillout, long evolving pads, keys etc.
To each their own, I love the Gladiator presets (in fact, I like quite a lot of the Tone 2 presets as a rule). I really love the Hoover sound that Gladiator opens with, it always gets me creatively motivated. Love that synth in general, in fact, both programming and preset wise.
Ha ha suck it!

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