# What Synth you need/want Presets for in 2021?



## gsilbers (Sep 13, 2021)

You want more presets for a specific synth? Well here is your chance to let developers know.

This will help to know where the demand is and would help everyone out.

There are still many synth i didnt list as there are too many. But this list seems to be the most used for composers.



Whats your top 3? Please vote and let us know.


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## Living Fossil (Sep 13, 2021)

Personally, i think it's a huge pity that almost nobody does soundsets for both Melda's Powersynth and Soundfactory.
Their potential is immense; however, there are almost no sounds -> so nobody cares about them -> so nobody makes sounds for them.

Besides, personally I've voted for TAL-Jupiter and the PiA combo (thinking of Knif). 
With Reaktor, i have a strange relationship. Sometimes when i'm off studio for some days (and start missing it) i download lots of ensembles (from the NI user lib) to my laptop, but usually never open them when i'm back. Too many possibilities aren't always a bless


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## Pier (Sep 13, 2021)

Off topic but... Zebra 2 is the most popular synth for composers (see this poll I made some time ago).

Not sure if people are still looking for Zebra presets, but I'm in the process of finishing two libraries for Zebra. Then I will focus on Dune 3 for some time until Zebra 3 comes out (probably at least a year away if not more).


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## Bman70 (Sep 13, 2021)

Pier said:


> Off topic but... Zebra 2 is the most popular synth for composers (see this poll I made some time ago).
> 
> Not sure if people are still looking for Zebra presets, but I'm in the process of finishing two libraries for Zebra. Then I will focus on Dune 3 for some time until Zebra 3 comes out (probably at least a year away if not more).


Interesting, I wonder how much the HZ name association has made Zebra rise higher in popularity. Lol but back then I voted for Iris2. I'm gonna have to change to Omnisphere now that I have it.  

Wish you would make your subs presets for Omnisphere! I'm working on a rhythmic library for Omni for my own use / possible sale.. but those would compliment so well on some tracks. Maybe I'll have to buy Zebra if it ever gets discounted again. 

p.s. I think presets tend to be undervalued.. I pay routinely much more for Adobe Lightroom presets!


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## José Herring (Sep 13, 2021)

No Phase Plant? Pitty. I was building a patch and trying it out on everything synth I have, when I came to Phase Plant I pulled up one wavetable and the sound was 90% there without anything added, no filter, no modulation source, nothing. It's like the wavetable was already ready to take you there before you even know what "there" is. 

Other than that I voted for Reason Synths and Massive X. Some real untapped potential. I've been trying to get some guys more interested in Reason synths. ZebraHZ would also be a good choice.


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## Pier (Sep 13, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> Wish you would make your subs presets for Omnisphere! I'm working on a rhythmic library for Omni for my own use / possible sale.. but those would compliment so well on some tracks. Maybe I'll have to buy Zebra if it ever gets discounted again.


To be honest I've considered getting Omni to make presets for it since it's very popular around here... But I don't have much interest in its library which I reckon is what makes it so expensive. I wish Spectrasonics sold a version without any presets at all.

If you buy Zebra 2, be sure to also buy Zebra HZ which will give you Zebra 3 for free when it comes out.


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## gsilbers (Sep 13, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> Personally, i think it's a huge pity that almost nobody does soundsets for both Melda's Powersynth and Soundfactory.
> Their potential is immense; however, there are almost no sounds -> so nobody cares about them -> so nobody makes sounds for them.
> 
> Besides, personally I've voted for TAL-Jupiter and the PiA combo (thinking of Knif).
> With Reaktor, i have a strange relationship. Sometimes when i'm off studio for some days (and start missing it) i download lots of ensembles (from the NI user lib) to my laptop, but usually never open them when i'm back. Too many possibilities aren't always a bless



Yeah reaktor is one of those that you always forget and then are amazed by it. It used to be kind of meh for normal substrative synths but now it’s very good at that.

the issue is the development for a new synth is a lot of work. I think ni tried to ramp up and change to create a Kontakt like ecosystem but the sheer amount of free ensemble won’t help ni. Great for us though


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## Alchemedia (Sep 13, 2021)

First thing I do when I get a new synth is delete all the factory presets.


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## BassClef (Sep 13, 2021)

I don't know what percentage of composers use Logic. But I would like to see more development (presets) for Alchemy... a very powerful synth!


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## gsilbers (Sep 13, 2021)

Pier said:


> ).



melda synth has been added.

for now let’s call it melissa as my auto correct and smartphone are not letting me correct it :/


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## shadowsoflight (Sep 13, 2021)

BassClef said:


> I don't know what percentage of composers use Logic. But I would like to see more development (presets) for Alchemy... a very powerful synth!



I don't have Logic but I'm hanging onto my Windows version of Camel Audio Alchemy until the bitter end! 😅


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## chillbot (Sep 13, 2021)

Omni, Zebra, and Hive. Why mess with what works!


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## Dirtgrain (Sep 13, 2021)

I'd love to see someone take Phase Plant somewhere that other preset sellers haven't gone with it.


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## Alchemedia (Sep 13, 2021)

chillbot said:


> Omni, Zebra, and Hive. Why mess with what works!


I would have guessed all you really needed was Botdog & Off-World.


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## gsilbers (Sep 13, 2021)

Im surprise about Hive.


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## Soundbed (Sep 13, 2021)

Haven’t invested in Zebra yet so I voted Omni and Serum first because they together usually fulfill most of my current needs.

Third place for me is tied but I would buy presets for either Dune 2/3 or Knifonium … but they are a distant third.

(I own four other synths in the list for which I did not vote.)



Pier said:


> Zebra 2 is the most popular synth for composers (see this poll I made some time ago).



Looks like Omnisphere is a fraction of a percentage behind, today. 



Pier said:


> But I don't have much interest in its library which I reckon is what makes it so expensive. I wish Spectrasonics sold a version without any presets at all.



As a preset maker, I’d assume the goldmine of included recordings would make it an opportunity. Or if you’re only interested in “synth” waveforms … then maybe cater to the elite market who splurged on the extra $100 Moog Tribute Library and sell a package that uses those. 

Not really trying to give you advice! More like surprised, and thinking ‘out loud’. Feel free to chuckle.


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## Pier (Sep 13, 2021)

gsilbers said:


> Im surprise about Hive.


Same but OTOH most preset libraries out there are focused on EDM, like Dune for example, not much cinematic stuff.


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## Pier (Sep 13, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> As a preset maker, I’d assume the goldmine of included recordings would make it an opportunity. Or if you’re only interested in “synth” waveforms … then maybe cater to the elite market who splurged on the extra $100 Moog Tribute Library and sell a package that uses those.


I have a couple of ideas for a hybrid library (synth + samples layered) but if I do it, it will be with my own samples.

Still haven't decided on which platform to do it though. Falcon is tempting me... or maybe some other synth which can import samples like Dune, Pigments, etc.


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## Soundbed (Sep 13, 2021)

Pier said:


> I have a couple of ideas for a hybrid library (synth + samples layered) but if I do it, it will be with my own samples.
> 
> Still haven't decided on which platform to do it though. Falcon is tempting me... or maybe some other synth which can import samples like Dune, Pigments, etc.



Cool!

I have Falcon as well.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 13, 2021)

No Falcon 2. No LION. None of the Cherry Audio synths. None of the Tracktion synths. None of the Expressive E synths. Seems like a weird unbalanced selection to me.


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## Living Fossil (Sep 13, 2021)

gsilbers said:


> melda synth has been added.


I wanted to change my vote in favor of "Melisa", a coffee brand similar to Melda's Powersynth, but somehow it's not possible (maybe because i'm on my laptop?)


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> I wanted to change my vote in favor of "Melisa", a coffee brand similar to Melda's Powersynth, but somehow it's not possible (maybe because i'm on my laptop?)


Im on desktop now and still cannot change it :/

oh well... hope poeple see the thread before googlign melissa thinking its a new synth


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

Pier said:


> Same but OTOH most preset libraries out there are focused on EDM, like Dune for example, not much cinematic stuff.



true. spire, dune, serum, hive are defenitly mostly known for EDM but theres not reason its should be exclusive for that.


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> No Falcon 2. No LION. None of the Cherry Audio synths. None of the Tracktion synths. None of the Expressive E synths. Seems like a weird unbalanced selection to me.


yep, there is plenty of synths out there left out. 
left it as the most common ones for composers and preset creators. 
and the list is quite big in general for this sole purpose.


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

Soundbed said:


> Cool!
> 
> I have Falcon as well.



I thought falcon was like kontakt. which i also ommited since this time is for synth patches only.


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

hope its clear the purpose of this poll. Creating soundsets takes a LOT of time and effort and a chunk of change/investment. not only in programming but website/ecommerce, marketing, support, etc.
And developers want to make sure this investment is practical and used/bought by the most poeple.

Theres some random threads about massiveX and other synths so maybe the poll would spark instrests in other synths. with the top3 common synth maybe itll also entice sound designers to do sundsets for those.

How many poeple would buy a cinematic soundest for somethign likerob papen synths vs zebra2. I wish i could do sounds for all of them..


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

gsilbers said:


> I thought falcon was like kontakt. which i also ommited since this time is for synth patches only.


Gotcha. To be honest, Falcon is not like Kontakt. It is a synth first and foremost - and a very capable semi-modular one. I think it is in the same league as Omnisphere, MSoundFactory, Equator 2 and PhasePlant.


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

im surprise dune3 hasnt got more traction. Since Hanz zimmer used to be big on the VirusTI before zebra2 and Dune3 is based on the virusti (somehwat). 

And plugin alliance didnt see it get as many thus i lump them together. which one there is the best or most used?


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

Dune 3 seems to be Guy Michelmore’s favourite synth as well.

Of all the PA synths I’d argue Knifonium gets the most mentions on this forum. For what it’s worth of course. The hardware version is in mister Zimmer’s studio, which appears to appeal to you


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## Pier (Sep 14, 2021)

gsilbers said:


> im surprise dune3 hasnt got more traction. Since Hanz zimmer used to be big on the VirusTI before zebra2 and Dune3 is based on the virusti (somehwat).


Well, to be fair, Dune 1 and 2 weren't that impressive at the time compared to Zebra or Diva.

Dune 3 is amazing, but it was released in December 2018 so it's not even 3 years old at this point.

For comparison, Hive 1 was released in 2015 and it seems that only this year it's starting to be popular in the media composer world (although this is my anecdotal impression).


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## gsilbers (Sep 14, 2021)

Pier said:


> Well, to be fair, Dune 1 and 2 weren't that impressive at the time compared to Zebra or Diva.
> 
> Dune 3 is amazing, but it was released in December 2018 so it's not even 3 years old at this point.
> 
> For comparison, Hive 1 was released in 2015 and it seems that only this year it's starting to be popular in the media composer world (although this is my anecdotal impression).



hive1 was more like the oportunity for U-he to develop a sylenth1 alternative in the 64bit world where sylenth1 drop the ball for a few years. 
and of course the EDM crowd liked it a lot. 

the new stuff in hive2 is so good. those small 4 seq makes it like a modular like heaven. for those generative ambiance patches is really good.. plus all the stuff it had before. the sound is very modern. 
yet... still the patches are very edm centric. 

Dune3 is very new. I dont think many are seeing the Virusti connection or maybe no one cares about the virus anymore as it was the defacto synth for trance music. 
But the dual filter design, felxible envelopes and fx make it as useful as zebra imo.


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## Pier (Sep 14, 2021)

gsilbers said:


> But the dual filter design, felxible envelopes and fx make it as useful as zebra imo.


Oh yeah absolutely. I've been arguing exactly this in another thread.

People compare Dune to Hive/Spire/etc but IMO it's much closer to something like Zebra when you consider the layering, audio rate modulation, effects, filter types, etc.


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## Wunderhorn (Sep 14, 2021)

I'd love to see some more cool presets for the Knifonium!


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## Living Fossil (Sep 14, 2021)

gsilbers said:


> And plugin alliance didnt see it get as many thus i lump them together. which one there is the best or most used?


The Obi sounds good but has quite a simple architecture.
Knifonium has the best sound (in the sense of an analog emulation). I guess it can be a beast in the hands of a gifted sounddesigner.

Similar goes for LION. Lots of different synthesis modes, comes with a learning curve. 
Huge potential, also because of the used Unfiltered Audio modulation matrix. Most of the many presets it comes with are too experimental/nontonal/unusable in context for my taste.

To make a comparison with the Pulsetter soundsets i own (and use) i could imagine a soundset like "Subversive [repro] very well for the Knif, and something like Pulsor II [zebra] for the LION.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> Similar goes for LION. Lots of different synthesis modes, comes with a learning curve.
> Huge potential, also because of the used Unfiltered Audio modulation matrix. Most of the many presets it comes with are too experimental/nontonal/unusable in context for my taste.


LION isn’t on the list  and I largely agree with your assessment of the presets. But I want to point out that @Empty Vessel has created a couple of awesome presets for it (and also for Thorn by the way). I highly recommend all of his stuff, but these LION ones in particular.


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## bill5 (Sep 14, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> No Falcon 2. No LION. None of the Cherry Audio synths. None of the Tracktion synths. None of the Expressive E synths. Seems like a weird unbalanced selection to me.


I was thinking similar, but as he said, there are so many now, and hard to say which are really the biggest players across the board (e.g. I never heard of LION). He could add an "other" option FWIW.


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## bill5 (Sep 14, 2021)

PS I think we can agree Omnisphere is the very last one that should be on here. 10 million presets is enough.  And really the last thing I need is MORE presets to wade through lol


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

bill5 said:


> I was thinking similar, but as he said, there are so many now, and hard to say which are really the biggest players across the board (e.g. I never heard of LION). He could add an "other" option FWIW.


For sure. I was just thinking, if you’re going to do a poll, try and be somewhat “complete”. LION is a synth a lot of forum members happen to have, but I agree it is hardly a first contender when it comes to “media composer synth darling of the year”. I do feel Falcon should be on the list, as it is really a top tier synth and hardly an obscure one. But of course UVI already fully leverages the commercial potential of Falcon as an “add on” preset “platform” 

And yes, I also agree with you about Omnisphere


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## bill5 (Sep 14, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> For sure. I was just thinking, if you’re going to do a poll, try and be somewhat “complete”.


I'm pretty Type A about that myself lol - but it's impossible with synths; there are so many.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

bill5 said:


> I'm pretty Type A about that myself lol - but it's impossible with synths; there are so many.


Agreed!


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## digitallysane (Sep 14, 2021)

Falcon.


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## Pier (Sep 14, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> LION is a synth a lot of forum members happen to have, but I agree it is hardly a first contender when it comes to “media composer synth darling of the year”.


I'm surprised. I would have expected LION to be a pretty obscure synth.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

Pier said:


> I'm surprised. I would have expected LION to be a pretty obscure synth.


Well… PA has monthly sales. Unfiltered Audio is a pretty cool developer, and eventually all of the PA stuff ends up costing $39.99 at some point. PA customers get a monthly $25 loyalty voucher. Yada yada yada. All PA customers now own ALL synths for $15 each. So I am willing to bet at least hundreds of forum members will own bx_oberhausen, Knifonium, Thorn AND LION. (And BYOME and TRIAD too, which are the multi-fx that are also part of LION). For $60 you’d be a “fool” not to… right? 

Truth be told, LION is a pretty capable synth and a welcome breath of fresh air, in the sense that UA seem to have actively avoided “normal” sounding oscillators and have incorporated some truly original sounding stuff (albeit kind of harsh sounding).


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## Pier (Sep 14, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Truth be told, LION is a pretty capable synth and a welcome breath of fresh air, in the sense that UA seem to have actively avoided “normal” sounding oscillators and have incorporated some truly original sounding stuff (albeit kind of harsh sounding).


I haven't used it, but from the demos I kinda agree. Somehow LION always reminds me of the stuff by Glitchmachines which is designed specifically to make weird stuff.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 14, 2021)

Well… it ain’t Vital. Oh wait. Where’s Vital?

I’ll see myself out!
(OP: merely having fun! I’ll stop now)
❤️


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## emptyvessel (Sep 15, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> LION isn’t on the list  and I largely agree with your assessment of the presets. But I want to point out that @Empty Vessel has created a couple of awesome presets for it (and also for Thorn by the way). I highly recommend all of his stuff, but these LION ones in particular.



 Thanks as always for the mention Temme!
I think people didn't quite get Lion, I reach for it when I want to explore unusual ground definitely but it can also make a broad range of totally "conventional" and usable sounds. I think Mike and Josh took a great route with the oscillator types and the mixer module rather than just re-hash old ideas. Having the BYOME strip in there is great too. Personally I think if you like to *make* sounds and have a bit of depth to explore then it's a no brainer for picking up in one of the MAAAANY PA sales.
Sounds Divine (not sure if he's here) has released some really interesting Lion presets with a cool concept -


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## emptyvessel (Sep 15, 2021)

Dirtgrain said:


> I'd love to see someone take Phase Plant somewhere that other preset sellers haven't gone with it.


what area do you think is lacking out of interest? I made a pack for Kilohearts themselves which is in their store and I released a small pack myself but it's hard to pick what people might be looking for with Phase Plant. I'm left with a feeling that it's a synth people pick up to make their own sounds for, not buy presets. I love the synth and would love to make more packs for it but the performance/sales of what I did release doesn't fill me with the energy to spend time on more.

On the subject of Falcon, the comparison with Kontakt that is thrown back at me every time I mention it is confounding. Kontakt certainly has the following but there really is minimal reason to compare given the synthesis capability in Falcon, plus to me the effects are as good or better than most standalone plugins. It's one synth where I have no problem being totally satisfied with the sounds I can get straight from the plugin and not feeling the need to add fx afterwards, not something I can often say.

btw I'm just finishing off a job for Arturia then I will definitely be releasing some packs of my own for Pigments, likely in a similar vein to my content that's in the factory v3 presets and expansions that they bundled with it. I have a Falcon pack almost done, too. Just fine-tuning the macros and "info" page setup.


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## Dirtgrain (Sep 15, 2021)

I do get the sense that Phase Plant, partly due to its marketing when it came out, has been taken up by a lot of people to create dubstep metallic bases, wubs and chops. What I've heard in a number of the packs makes me think of Serum from ten years ago, but maybe with some more possibilities. But my favorite preset is Fluteophone--partly why I got Phase Plant, as I had created a song for a competition with a demo version, and I wanted to work on it more.

Still, maybe it would not be a great business decision to stray from the Phase Plant base. I just wonder what else might be done with it. Mind you, I don't have Suspension, which I am looking forward to getting (waiting for a Kilohearts voucher).


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## emptyvessel (Sep 15, 2021)

Dirtgrain said:


> I do get the sense that Phase Plant, partly due to its marketing when it came out, has been taken up by a lot of people to create dubstep metallic bases, wubs and chops. What I've heard in a number of the packs makes me think of Serum from ten years ago, but maybe with some more possibilities. But my favorite preset is Fluteophone--partly why I got Phase Plant, as I had created a song for a competition with a demo version, and I wanted to work on it more.
> 
> Still, maybe it would not be a great business decision to stray from the Phase Plant base. I just wonder what else might be done with it. Mind you, I don't have Suspension, which I am looking forward to getting (waiting for a Kilohearts voucher).


yeah it frustrates me when companies take such a directed approach with their marketing, Phase Plant is a very flexible synth and the wavetable editor is one of the best I've used, sample playback opens things up nicely for taking it really in any direction genre-wise.
Suspension was done to a brief from KHS and although it definitely in some ways reflected what I wanted to do it was within some constraints. I still feel there is a heap of ground to explore with it, I can't help feeling there must be plenty of composers who have it but have no interest in the wubbychopmodulatedbass area. It has plenty of scope to be a great sounding, expressive, cinematic (I know, such an over-used term now...) instrument while admittedly the FX to me are in general nowhere near the quality of those in a few other plugins - Falcon mainly but Arturia did a good job with Pigments, too.
I will check out the Fluteophone preset, I haven't tried any of the bundled presets at all.
Thanks for the thoughts, much appreciated.
Not intended as an advert at all but these are some of the presets from my own pack, just as an example, all single presets with no other fx or processing (in some cases other fx would help). The 2nd half in particular is more the soundtracky pad stuff. Mostly using my own samples and original wavetables myself and a friend created:


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## Patryk Scelina (Sep 15, 2021)

It's interesting there's no Arturia Pigments in the discussion. It's quite powerful workhorse. 
I recently use it more often in my own work.

I'm curious how much do We rely on presets anyway. For a sample developer to say that I rather try to avoid presets is like shooting in a foot, but It is honestly what gives us the chance to create something unique. Presets are time savers when We have tight deadlines though


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## jcrosby (Sep 15, 2021)

Patryk Scelina said:


> It's interesting there's no Arturia Pigments in the discussion. It's quite powerful workhorse.
> I recently use it more often in my own work.
> 
> I'm curious how much do We rely on presets anyway. For a sample developer to say that I rather try to avoid presets is like shooting in a foot, but It is honestly what gives us the chance to create something unique. Presets are time savers when We have tight deadlines though


Funny enough that's why I just headed here... I'm not crazy about most of the ones Arturia has to offer, and there aren't a lot of 3rd party preset libraries for Pigments. At least not by the developers I tend to favor, in the styles I typically lean toward. (Dystopian/atmospheric-techy-tension type stuff...) @TheUnfinished & Sonic Underworld & @Empty Vessel mainly ((glad to see EV here )... I'm aware there are others... This is just the short list that serves my needs.

I don't rely on presets per se, I don't mind rolling up my sleeves as needed... But I have no problem using them either... If something works it works... And yes, they can save you a lot of time if you need to quickly find a few more layers to build existing layers up...

Curious which sample developer said that. Most kontakt libraries are glorified presets as far as I'm concerned. More often than not you're given few sound sculpting options in Kontakt so I also find that an odd comment... And of course there are exceptions with Kontkat, but more often than not Kontakt libraries are treated more like romplers than sound sculpting tools. Some FX here and there sure; but it's pretty rare the developer gives you multiple-destination envelopes (especially pitch), multiple-destination LFOs, adjustable pitch bend range, etc; all from the UI.


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## Bman70 (Sep 15, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> yeah it frustrates me when companies take such a directed approach with their marketing, Phase Plant is a very flexible synth and the wavetable editor is one of the best I've used, sample playback opens things up nicely for taking it really in any direction genre-wise.
> Suspension was done to a brief from KHS and although it definitely in some ways reflected what I wanted to do it was within some constraints. I still feel there is a heap of ground to explore with it, I can't help feeling there must be plenty of composers who have it but have no interest in the wubbychopmodulatedbass area. It has plenty of scope to be a great sounding, expressive, cinematic (I know, such an over-used term now...) instrument while admittedly the FX to me are in general nowhere near the quality of those in a few other plugins - Falcon mainly but Arturia did a good job with Pigments, too.
> I will check out the Fluteophone preset, I haven't tried any of the bundled presets at all.
> Thanks for the thoughts, much appreciated.
> Not intended as an advert at all but these are some of the presets from my own pack, just as an example, all single presets with no other fx or processing (in some cases other fx would help). The 2nd half in particular is more the soundtracky pad stuff. Mostly using my own samples and original wavetables myself and a friend created:




I like the first part especially, that's more in the direction of what I like to design. I'm always after huge, gritty, evolving, organic soundscapes, sometimes barely musical.

I seem to be able to get closest in Omnisphere, but would be interested in any synth that's equally suited to this kind of thing. Here's one example I recently made.. just a single-key-press evolving sound, except for the hits which the mod wheel enables.


Dang it, the video doesn't seem to post here. I'll link it to Google Drive here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qxWbJoOnBHXRn8KgCOlhWanThm5YQYUe/view?usp=sharing (Omni Preset)


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## emptyvessel (Sep 15, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> Funny enough that's why I just headed here... I'm not crazy about most of the ones Arturia has to offer, and there aren't a lot of 3rd party preset libraries for Pigments. At least not by the developers I tend to favor, in the styles I typically lean toward. (Dystopian/atmospheric-techy-tension type stuff...) @TheUnfinished & Sonic Underworld & @Empty Vessel mainly ((glad to see EV here )... I'm aware there are others... This is just the short list that serves my needs.
> 
> I don't rely on presets per se, I don't mind rolling up my sleeves as needed... But I have no problem using them either... If something works it works... And yes, they can save you a lot of time if you need to quickly find a few more layers to build existing layers up...
> 
> Curious which sample developer said that. Most kontakt libraries are glorified presets as far as I'm concerned. More often than not you're given few sound sculpting options in Kontakt so I also find that an odd comment... And of course there are exceptions with Kontkat, but more often than not Kontakt libraries are treated more like romplers than sound sculpting tools. Some FX here and there sure; but it's pretty rare the developer gives you multiple-destination envelopes (especially pitch), multiple-destination LFOs, adjustable pitch bend range, etc; all from the UI


thanks so much for the mention Justin, I remember when you bought some of my stuff the first time and I was boring anyone who would listen, talking about the shows you work(ed) on  It always means a lot when people buy my noises but you, Mr Clouser and a few others' names showing up in my purchase emails brought a particularly warm glow to the start of my day.
interesting your comments on Kontakt libraries, I've been discussing things with a couple of coders and contemplating taking the plunge into Kontakt, which I've avoided up until now. Is that level of sculpting something you actually miss and would like to have? More like building a semi-full instrument around the base samples behind the scenes? I hadn't considered people might want that level of control and flexibility. I'm working on a Falcon pack just now, for me making something expressive and flexible feels way easier there and the sound is unbeatable IMO.


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## emptyvessel (Sep 15, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> I like the first part especially, that's more in the direction of what I like to design. I'm always after huge, gritty, evolving, organic soundscapes, sometimes barely musical.
> 
> I seem to be able to get closest in Omnisphere, but would be interested in any synth that's equally suited to this kind of thing. Here's one example I recently made.. just a single-key-press evolving sound, except for the hits which the mod wheel enables.
> 
> ...



thank you! Yeah huge, gritty, subtly dusty, slowly evolving, organic. All buzzwords for me and generally where I'm aiming with my sound design. I'm trying hard to use performance controls, modulation and macros to give control over the evolution, little details etc. so the composer can play or automate those accordingly rather than just have them play out. Not always possible but I'm always looking for ways to make sounds alive and believable even if holding no actual connection to a real instrument. Wandering the uncanny valley 
That Omnisphere patch is great, definitely my kind of thing. I like Falcon, Pigments, Phase Plant and Lion for those types of sounds, Lion I'd like even more if it let me involve samples somewhere because field recordings are such a rich source of organic modulation or texture. Absynth & Alchemy too (still the pre-Apple one for me) Dmitry Sches' Thorn is also much better for that than many people know I think, a very deep synth with some unusual features that can get very gritty with inter-oscillator modulation of many types and you can load samples into the "noise" oscillator and use it as a modulation source for osc 3.
Anyway, I could ramble endlessly about such things so I will sign off for the day and go and drink a beer or two. Thanks again!


----------



## Bman70 (Sep 15, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> thank you! Yeah huge, gritty, subtly dusty, slowly evolving, organic. All buzzwords for me and generally where I'm aiming with my sound design. I'm trying hard to use performance controls, modulation and macros to give control over the evolution, little details etc. so the composer can play or automate those accordingly rather than just have them play out. Not always possible but I'm always looking for ways to make sounds alive and believable even if holding no actual connection to a real instrument. Wandering the uncanny valley
> That Omnisphere patch is great, definitely my kind of thing. I like Falcon, Pigments, Phase Plant and Lion for those types of sounds, Lion I'd like even more if it let me involve samples somewhere because field recordings are such a rich source of organic modulation or texture. Absynth & Alchemy too (still the pre-Apple one for me) Dmitry Sches' Thorn is also much better for that than many people know I think, a very deep synth with some unusual features that can get very gritty with inter-oscillator modulation of many types and you can load samples into the "noise" oscillator and use it as a modulation source for osc 3.
> Anyway, I could ramble endlessly about such things so I will sign off for the day and go and drink a beer or two. Thanks again!



Thanks, I'll have to check some of those synths out! I suspect either Falcon or Pigments first. 

You're right it's hard to leave some control to the user when I've programmed it to just play out like a loop . But, usually with Omni it's easy to just add another layer with something they can bring in with the wheel or velocity. I know I'm on the right track when _I _just want to sit there and see where it goes! lol. There should be a thread where developers can go on endlessly about this stuff, that would be my favorite as I'm still learning.


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## jcrosby (Sep 15, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> thanks so much for the mention Justin, I remember when you bought some of my stuff the first time and I was boring anyone who would listen, talking about the shows you work(ed) on  It always means a lot when people buy my noises but you, Mr Clouser and a few others' names showing up in my purchase emails brought a particularly warm glow to the start of my day.
> interesting your comments on Kontakt libraries, I've been discussing things with a couple of coders and contemplating taking the plunge into Kontakt, which I've avoided up until now. Is that level of sculpting something you actually miss and would like to have? More like building a semi-full instrument around the base samples behind the scenes? I hadn't considered people might want that level of control and flexibility. I'm working on a Falcon pack just now, for me making something expressive and flexible feels way easier there and the sound is unbeatable IMO.


Thanks!! And it's incredibly flattering that you remember my purchase! You have a truly unique sound that I haven't hear from any other sound designer, your atmospheres especially standout as one of a kind 

As far as Kontakt it depends on the library. Obviously if something is primarily acoustic it makes more sense if the developer takes a more traditional approach. (Although I love how Sonic Couture completely breaks tradition.) When developers make sound design-ish products it's a really nice bonus if they give the UI some sound shaping options. As an example I actually often either render samples out of player libraries, or re-save quickload libraries (in order to access the wav files) and make my own patch versions in the Photosynthesis Engine...

Although Jeremiah no longer runs Exotic States, it does look like it still can be used as UI, or the basis of one for commercial products... The script is also unlocked which should give you lots of options to repurpose code and do your own thing... And it seems like from the link above your can still reach out to him and see what, if any limitations there might in terms of using it for a small commercial product.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 15, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> Thanks as always for the mention Temme!



My pleasure Greg. I was honoured to be on Samuel’s (@secondtiersound), Reid’s (@Reid Rosefelt) and Simeon’s (@Simeon) podcast yesterday (thanks guys - I had a ton of fun) and even managed to sneak in an unplanned Empty Vessel shoutout


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## emptyvessel (Sep 16, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> Thanks, I'll have to check some of those synths out! I suspect either Falcon or Pigments first.
> 
> You're right it's hard to leave some control to the user when I've programmed it to just play out like a loop . But, usually with Omni it's easy to just add another layer with something they can bring in with the wheel or velocity. I know I'm on the right track when _I _just want to sit there and see where it goes! lol. There should be a thread where developers can go on endlessly about this stuff, that would be my favorite as I'm still learning.


I feel the same, often actually things are happening randomly or at least unpredictably and I'm personally really happy with that  Totally with you on "when I just want to sit there and see where it goes"! If I've been sitting with my finger on a key for 20 minutes immersed and forgetting it's me "playing" what I'm hearing I know the patch can go in the pack 
Maybe an "immersive/organic soundscape programming tips" thread might be fun, hearing other peoples' techniques could be quite inspiring. I'm not sharing mine though, trade secrets!!!


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## emptyvessel (Sep 16, 2021)

jcrosby said:


> Thanks!! And it's incredibly flattering that you remember my purchase! You have a truly unique sound that I haven't hear from any other sound designer, your atmospheres especially standout as one of a kind
> 
> As far as Kontakt it depends on the library. Obviously if something is primarily acoustic it makes more sense if the developer takes a more traditional approach. (Although I love how Sonic Couture completely breaks tradition.) When developers make sound design-ish products it's a really nice bonus if they give the UI some sound shaping options. As an example I actually often either render samples out of player libraries, or re-save quickload libraries (in order to access the wav files) and make my own patch versions in the Photosynthesis Engine...
> 
> Although Jeremiah no longer runs Exotic States, it does look like it still can be used as UI, or the basis of one for commercial products... The script is also unlocked which should give you lots of options to repurpose code and do your own thing... And it seems like from the link above your can still reach out to him and see what, if any limitations there might in terms of using it for a small commercial product.


Of course! You're mentioned in my About page even!  Thank you for the lovely words, much appreciated.

I get you with SonicCouture, Dan who is half of the company is a good friend of mine and I really respect what they do. I'm much more in the re-imagining area, literal renditions of existing instruments have never been my interest even back in the 80s when I got my first synth or two I was trying to see what new sounds could be created. I have some ideas around this for Falcon and Kontakt but I need to give them some thought. Maybe I could email you about the concept? It's all very well coming at this from the theoretical sound designer end but it's invaluable to have working composers give thoughts on application since that's really the whole point!
Massive thanks for the link to Jeremiah's engine! I think that could serve as a really great jumping off point! I hoped for a second that it was my friend Jeremiah Savage who has created some amazing Kontakt instruments but it seems not. Either way I'll download it and reach out to Jeremiah for a chat, thank you very much for that and your thoughts.


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## emptyvessel (Sep 16, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> My pleasure Greg. I was honoured to be on Samuel’s (@secondtiersound), Reid’s (@Reid Rosefelt) and Simeon’s (@Simeon) podcast yesterday (thanks guys - I had a ton of fun) and even managed to sneak in an unplanned Empty Vessel shoutout



thank you Temme! I really should be paying you a marketing exec salary by now for the time you put into telling people about me :D
I'll watch/listen to that podcast today.


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## Bman70 (Sep 16, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> I feel the same, often actually things are happening randomly or at least unpredictably and I'm personally really happy with that  Totally with you on "when I just want to sit there and see where it goes"! If I've been sitting with my finger on a key for 20 minutes immersed and forgetting it's me "playing" what I'm hearing I know the patch can go in the pack
> Maybe an "immersive/organic soundscape programming tips" thread might be fun, hearing other peoples' techniques could be quite inspiring. I'm not sharing mine though, trade secrets!!!


Haha trade secrets is appealing when you've spent hours putting a patch together... but really any savvy user can deconstruct what I've done in an Omni patch – by carefully tracing back what is modding what, following each signal path. Now if there was a way to "lock" as with Kontakt scripts  ...

But really I'm not sure I'm cut out to sell presets. The idea of someone else's name in credits, when actually I programmed the sound they paid $0.30 for in a pack... maybe when it no longer takes me several hours to make something great.


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## emptyvessel (Sep 16, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> Haha trade secrets is appealing when you've spent hours putting a patch together... but really any savvy user can deconstruct what I've done in an Omni patch – by carefully tracing back what is modding what, following each signal path. Now if there was a way to "lock" as with Kontakt scripts  ...
> 
> But really I'm not sure I'm cut out to sell presets. The idea of someone else's name in credits, when actually I programmed the sound they paid $0.30 for in a pack... maybe when it no longer takes me several hours to make something great.


I'll still pretty regularly take an hour or two on a single preset, especially if there is sample creation involved since I'll often send the audio out of the computer multiple times, timestretch with the reel to reel, process in the ASR10 or Octatrack, a bit of software processing then back out again etc. It's ridiculous really, I wonder if anyone even notices all the little bits of detail and dust that are added along the way :D
Some composers are kind enough to credit me on their score or musicians in their album notes on Bandcamp and I find that very humbling, I don't feel it's necessary but I appreciate it a lot when it happens. Yeah I don't think you can go into it feeling cheated if you are not getting the credit I guess, in the end I'm just making the raw materials, it's a whole other thing to turn that into a successful soundtrack or album IMO.

I'm 100% kidding about the trade secrets, I do what I can to notate my patches and make them clear so it's hopefully possible to reverse engineer them. I've always been keen to share the fun that I find in actually _creating_ sounds with these amazing machines rather than just pulling up presets (not wishing to diss preset-usage, I *obviously *see the appeal/usefulness or I wouldn't do what I do!). If anyone ever asks how something was done I'm happy to explain - if I can remember  Often though because I use the tools I have very regularly I just kind of get lost in the creative exploration, throwing audio around a few plugins - out into the hardware and back and there are times if you'd asked me immediately I'm finished a sample or patch how I did it? I probably couldn't tell you what I did.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 17, 2021)

A GORGEOUS song by one of my favourite Scottish bands for my favourite Scot in New Zealand.






The sound programming they did on this album sounds as amazing to me today as it did in the early 1980s. Does anyone know what synths they used for this session?

I think all of their albums were recorded in the exact same studio that @christianhenson used to record Albion Solstice. Anyway… just some great music to enjoy for you all.


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## mscp (Sep 17, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> But really I'm not sure I'm cut out to sell presets. The idea of someone else's name in credits, when actually I programmed the sound they paid $0.30 for in a pack... maybe when it no longer takes me several hours to make something great.


The idea behind "my milkshake is worth gold" is at best questionable. Whatever someone does has been done before (sometimes exhaustively) I'm sure, so if I were you, I wouldn't be so concerned about creating a preset pack if you need another source of income. There are people who'd pay in the thousands for a great preset pack. Look at virtual libraries. Every week, we have new stuff coming up, most with marginally better (different) products than what's out there, and at a cost. I still think most are still cheap considering what you get in return. There's always demand somewhere. How many thousands have people spent, over the last year alone, on redundant things because they felt that they couldn't work with what they have for a particular task because it simply 'didn't fit'? My point is: you can make money selling packs if you want to, and for not as cheap as you think, unless you want to undervalue yourself and the years of training you've put into it. Nobody conceives a product in a matter or hours, or days. It takes months, sometimes years to release a product.If you see how many packs in places such as those websites that sell one-shot/loop samples (forgot the name but it's used by a lot of hiphop artists) there are, you'd be shocked. A lot of times, it's practically the same thing. The great thing about these sites is how fast you can find something.

As a sound designer, the possibilities/combinations you can come up with are not limitless, especially because "we" haven't come up with new types of source generators (yet).

Extra: It's kind of sad when years of research and development go into a plugin, library,... and for what? So there can be a sale a year later for at least 50% off the original MSRP. It's great for us consumers, but I cannot even fathom how opportune it is for the other side. 

Whoa, this is getting rather long. Let me stop here, otherwise I'll end up using a lot of my time. hehe. Back to work.


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## Pier (Sep 17, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> But really I'm not sure I'm cut out to sell presets. The idea of someone else's name in credits, when actually I programmed the sound they paid $0.30 for in a pack... maybe when it no longer takes me several hours to make something great.


SoundAuthor said in a video it takes him a full day to make a patch. Honestly I wouldn't worry about how much time it takes you. Sometimes I get something really simple I love in like 15 mins, and sometimes I spend hours on a patch I end up deleting...

I also feel impostors syndrome when making patches and thinking about selling them... but then I hear stuff on movies and tv shows and always think "Hey! I could have done that!".

Even if my stuff is probably not on par with The Unfinished (or Empty Vessel here) I hope at least someone will find a use for it. Or not... Eh, it's ok. After years of struggling with not enough time to write/produce music, last year I decided to focus on just making soundsets. It's a more realistic endeavour and I can get a sense of satisfaction that I've finished something.


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## Bman70 (Sep 17, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> I'll still pretty regularly take an hour or two on a single preset, especially if there is sample creation involved since I'll often send the audio out of the computer multiple times, timestretch with the reel to reel, process in the ASR10 or Octatrack, a bit of software processing then back out again etc. It's ridiculous really, I wonder if anyone even notices all the little bits of detail and dust that are added along the way :D
> Some composers are kind enough to credit me on their score or musicians in their album notes on Bandcamp and I find that very humbling, I don't feel it's necessary but I appreciate it a lot when it happens. Yeah I don't think you can go into it feeling cheated if you are not getting the credit I guess, in the end I'm just making the raw materials, it's a whole other thing to turn that into a successful soundtrack or album IMO.
> 
> I'm 100% kidding about the trade secrets, I do what I can to notate my patches and make them clear so it's hopefully possible to reverse engineer them. I've always been keen to share the fun that I find in actually _creating_ sounds with these amazing machines rather than just pulling up presets (not wishing to diss preset-usage, I *obviously *see the appeal/usefulness or I wouldn't do what I do!). If anyone ever asks how something was done I'm happy to explain - if I can remember  Often though because I use the tools I have very regularly I just kind of get lost in the creative exploration, throwing audio around a few plugins - out into the hardware and back and there are times if you'd asked me immediately I'm finished a sample or patch how I did it? I probably couldn't tell you what I did.


Haha yes several of my presets I feel bewildered about how I did that. It's just in the heat of the moment a flash of idea will happen, put this modulator on here and sweep the knob until it sounds cool... so many adjustments in succession, looking for accidental effects often. 

Yes ultimately it's a craft and art, and it always feels good when your craft is appreciated enough for someone to want to use it. Besides, liking presets as much as I do, and how fun it is to open up a new preset pack, I definitely wouldn't mind someone feeling that excited about buying one of mine.

There are maybe a few presets that feel like my babies, and I might not sell them. But certainly there are enough that would be fun to include in a commercial pack as well.


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## Bman70 (Sep 17, 2021)

mscp said:


> The idea behind "my milkshake is worth gold" is at best questionable. Whatever someone does has been done before (sometimes exhaustively) I'm sure...


I'm not sure I feel that way about presets... when I buy a preset pack, I don't feel like I've had those sounds anywhere else. True, often there are similar ones. But not similar enough to be a substitute, in most cases. The only thing I don't like is when developers include "B-Sides"... stuff you know they weren't excited about, just to fill up a pack. If I sell any, I'll only include stuff that I really feel excited to share. 

It's honestly hard to calculate the value of presets in a financial sense, since it seems unrelated to numerical considerations, and the fun and inspiration they can bring is probably priceless.


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## Pier (Sep 17, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> If I sell any, I'll only include stuff that I really feel excited to share.


I feel the same, I only want to share my best stuff, but OTOH the perception of what I feel is my best changes constantly... and at some point you have draw a line otherwise you'll never finish.


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## mscp (Sep 17, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> Haha yes several of my presets I feel bewildered about how I did that. It's just in the heat of the moment a flash of idea will happen, put this modulator on here and sweep the knob until it sounds cool... so many adjustments in succession, looking for accidental effects often.
> 
> Yes ultimately it's a craft and art, and it always feels good when your craft is appreciated enough for someone to want to use it. Besides, liking presets as much as I do, and how fun it is to open up a new preset pack, I definitely wouldn't mind someone feeling that excited about buying one of mine.
> 
> There are maybe a few presets that feel like my babies, and I might not sell them. But certainly there are enough that would be fun to include in a commercial pack as well.


When I buy gear, the first thing I do is wipe out most or all of its presets, once I listen through them -- not because I dislike them, but I've heard them before somehow or don't fit my work. It's not a bad thing. I just like to fill my gear with my own stuff, which I believe I haven't heard before or suits my line of work. I could end up selling them at some point, but definitely not for cents or petty money since it took me ages to think critically to build these things. Nothing was accidental. I just like maths and spatial physics.

It's been decades since I bought a preset pack, but I can clearly see a value and market for it and it's great that it's a viable source of income. I just wish some companies didn't undersold themselves. When I first started using synths, buying presets were a must for me. Coupled with great literature, they taught me a lot.


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## mscp (Sep 17, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> I'm not sure I feel that way about presets... when I buy a preset pack, I don't feel like I've had those sounds anywhere else. True, often there are similar ones. But not similar enough to be a substitute, in most cases. The only thing I don't like is when developers include "B-Sides"... stuff you know they weren't excited about, just to fill up a pack. If I sell any, I'll only include stuff that I really feel excited to share.
> 
> It's honestly hard to calculate the value of presets in a financial sense, since it seems unrelated to numerical considerations, and the fun and inspiration they can bring is probably priceless.


Also note that when I wrote that, I meant that there's always something out there that comes very close, but we don't know about it because we don't keep tally of every single patch in existence or we might not have used a particular software/hardware that had something similar.

Either way, it's definitely there. We just don't know about it. And it's not a bad thing. I'd hate to dig for something and waste time with the scavenger hunt. I just need something "pronto" so I can carry on with work. I doubt there's a human being in this planet who can remember every single patch made since the 70's. hehe.

Let's say, for instance, I make something. I'm quite sure someone has done something similar that I have no idea it has been done before. But to me, it's far faster to just create what I have in mind than to search for something that could take me years to find. If someone shows a preset pack that I hear and go "OOOh, that's what I need RIGHT NOW" , I'd definitely buy it even though I know how to make it. Speed is key.


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## shadowsoflight (Sep 17, 2021)

Bman70 said:


> It's honestly hard to calculate the value of presets in a financial sense, since it seems unrelated to numerical considerations, and the fun and inspiration they can bring is probably priceless.



From a consumer side, I agree that the fun and inspiration is priceless. I've started the habit of writing at least one "demo" track for every soundset I purchase (or win for solving elaborate puzzles) and it is usually a total joy to do. Not to mention the times where I'm feeling a bit stuck on a track and the right preset can reinvigorate me. Super helpful as a hobbyist with only self-imposed deadlines; I can't imagine how helpful that is for someone on an actual project!

All that to say, I agree that the value is hard to determine in an isolated way. So I would look to good old supply and demand - what are successful designers pricing their stuff at, and (with an honest lens) which of them do you feel you are at the same level / audience of? That, plus I'd imagine a bit of leeway for how much time you've spent on a pack.


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## gsilbers (Sep 20, 2021)

In a bit surprised pigments is doing so well here. 

It’s cool that sound designers can provide their own samples.


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## jcrosby (Sep 20, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> Of course! You're mentioned in my About page even!  Thank you for the lovely words, much appreciated.
> 
> I get you with SonicCouture, Dan who is half of the company is a good friend of mine and I really respect what they do. I'm much more in the re-imagining area, literal renditions of existing instruments have never been my interest even back in the 80s when I got my first synth or two I was trying to see what new sounds could be created. I have some ideas around this for Falcon and Kontakt but I need to give them some thought. Maybe I could email you about the concept? It's all very well coming at this from the theoretical sound designer end but it's invaluable to have working composers give thoughts on application since that's really the whole point!
> Massive thanks for the link to Jeremiah's engine! I think that could serve as a really great jumping off point! I hoped for a second that it was my friend Jeremiah Savage who has created some amazing Kontakt instruments but it seems not. Either way I'll download it and reach out to Jeremiah for a chat, thank you very much for that and your thoughts.


You bet! Very cool, unless it's a nuts and bolts instrument like an orchestral library I also prefer when developers either reimagine an instrument, or give you the ability to take that option into your own hands...

And for sure... I'd love to hear what you're thinking about and would be more than happy to offer feedback you might be curious about. Even if it's NDA territory that's totally fine... I've done some testing for a few developers and occasionally work under NDA for a few publishers... Publicly spilling the beans isn't really my kind of thing if it's sensitive territory 

Either way looking forward to see what you might do with Kontakt... Cheers!


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## spektralisk (Sep 24, 2021)

Very interesting and useful thread. I'm actually looking what sound pack to do next.

What do you guys think about Newfangled Audio Generate? I think this one should be composer friendly. It's sounds very organic to me and it's capable of some pretty dark/cinematic  atmospheres. There's something in it that seems to make it good companion for soundtrack stuff. I have a sound library for it in progress and I'm happy with what I hear.

What about Alchemy in Logic? How many do you think still use it? I would really like to revisit this one as it made me start with sound design. Still really powerful and unique amongst other synths.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 24, 2021)

spektralisk said:


> What do you guys think about Newfangled Audio Generate? I think this one should be composer friendly. It's sounds very organic to me and it's capable of some pretty dark/cinematic  atmospheres. There's something in it that seems to make it good companion for soundtrack stuff


That is a fantastic synth, with quite a loyal following of fans on this forum. I would love to hear some of your patches for it, and hope you’ll leverage Generate’s MPE capabilities here and there as well!


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## spektralisk (Sep 24, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> That is a fantastic synth, with quite a loyal following of fans on this forum. I would love to hear some of your patches for it, and hope you’ll leverage Generate’s MPE capabilities here and there as well!


Thanks for your feedback and good point on MPE, will take this into account.


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## KJL (Sep 24, 2021)

Actually, i want more *presets* for *Vital*!


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## Ben H (Sep 24, 2021)

I'm surprised that *IRIS* wasn't in the list. It never seems to get much love.

Also, I think that *Padshop* is a good choice. Since there aren't that many 3rd party presets for it either.

Zebra and Omni... well there are a bazillion of those!


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## Pier (Sep 24, 2021)

Ben H said:


> Zebra and Omni... well there are a bazillion of those!


It makes sense though, as these are the most popular in the media composing world.

See this poll I made last year.






Poll: What are your favorite virtual synths?


You can choose up to 4 synths and edit your answer later on if you change your mind. If I'm missing a synth you're using let me know and I will add it to the poll!




vi-control.net





Making a library of presets is a lot of work. I'm a hobbyist, but professional sound designers depend on actually getting a ROI over that work.


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## Ben H (Sep 24, 2021)

Pier said:


> It makes sense though, as these are the most popular in the media composing world.
> 
> Making a library of presets is a lot of work. I'm a hobbyist, but professional sound designers depend on actually getting a ROI over that work.


That's true BUT you also need to consider that there is a point of OVERSATURATION.

Have you seen how many different Omni libraries that are listed at World of Omniphere for example? And there are literally 100s of other banks that are not even listed there.

You need to consider that you are likely only going to sell to a small fraction of that market.

If you pick something that is LESS developed for, but still has a fairly decent userbase, then your competition is much smaller and your market will be MUCH bigger.


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## spektralisk (Sep 24, 2021)

KJL said:


> Actually, i want more *presets* for *Vital*!


There you go: https://www.spektralisk.com/products/polychrome

More Vital stuff is coming.


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## Pier (Sep 24, 2021)

Ben H said:


> That's true BUT you also need to consider that there is a point of OVERSATURATION.
> 
> Have you seen how many different Omni libraries that are listed at World of Omniphere for example? And there are literally 100s of other banks that are not even listed there.
> 
> ...


Sure, but if you look at the poll in this very thread, Zebra and Omni are in the top spots.

OTOH I'm finishing up some stuff for Zebra but then I will focus on Dune 3 which very few people want presets for... just because I like Dune


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## doctoremmet (Sep 24, 2021)

To the OP: please fix the typo in the poll (“Melisa”) 😆 - MSynth is a non-existing synth by the way (Meldaproduction MPowerSynth / MSoundFactory).


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## Pier (Sep 24, 2021)

spektralisk said:


> There you go: https://www.spektralisk.com/products/polychrome
> 
> More Vital stuff is coming.


Great stuff!


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## gsilbers (Sep 24, 2021)

Ben H said:


> That's true BUT you also need to consider that there is a point of OVERSATURATION.
> 
> Have you seen how many different Omni libraries that are listed at World of Omniphere for example? And there are literally 100s of other banks that are not even listed there.
> 
> ...


or poeple keep buying the same damn libraries 

but yeah, its true but it depends. MassiveX and pigments might be a good opportunity while some of the others ones doesnt seem so.


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## gsilbers (Sep 24, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> To the OP: please fix the typo in the poll (“Melisa”) 😆 - MSynth is a non-existing synth by the way (Meldaproduction MPowerSynth / MSoundFactory).



I coudnt figure out how to edit the names. I added somethig below.


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## spektralisk (Sep 24, 2021)

Pier said:


> Great stuff!


Thank you!


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## KJL (Sep 24, 2021)

spektralisk said:


> There you go: https://www.spektralisk.com/products/polychrome
> 
> More Vital stuff is coming.


Definitely checking it out! Thank you @spektralisk


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## woodslanding (Oct 7, 2021)

A few thoughts here....

I like sound designing, but would much rather start with something besides a zeroed init patch (although that has its place too...) so I'm looking to presets as starting points.

I do a lot of sound design, and have done it professionally for M-audio and Alesis. I bought Synthmaster because I thought its sound was just the best. Just a plain sawtooth sounds beautiful to me. But as many soundpacks as there are, I haven't even found that many good starting points for sounds. A few dozen, but obviously I'll have to make more of my own.

Massive and Massive X seem like such capable synths, but I found a sound pak of 12000 free sounds for massive, and after auditioning 150, hadn't found a sound that was a better starting point for me than INIT. Obviously you get what you pay for, but I'm a little amazed at the lack of just basic decent playable sounds. The NI sounds it shipped with were just as useless. Many not even pitched to the right key. I started through the Massive X sounds, and it wasn't much better, but there are a lot more to check out, so I should get on that.

I just got into Kontour, and after a few hours thinking it was useless, I started finding some sweet spots. Still a hard machine to get my head around. Same with FORM.

I do own these synths, because I got them with Komplete, but the sounds they ship with are obviously intended for a much different audience than myself. So I have to think programming against type in these situations might reel in some folks like me.... all of FORMs presets seem to be ultra-clean 80s sheen, but it's actually very good for gritty broken soundDust-type atmospheres. There's two or three modeled winds in the Kontour library, but you can come up with those sounds all day, and probably strikingly realistic versions of orchestral winds are hiding in there somewhere. Same with Prism, which I have a few dozen signature sounds for. Great for guitar twangs, feedbacky pads and strange flutes. Is anybody writing for it?

So yeah, a synth without sounds is pretty useless, and making sounds is time-consuming. So I'm going to start to look for sound designers first, and then I'll buy the synths I like the sounds for.

Probably starting with Lion for Fantastic Flaws. Although I'll have to wait for a sale again now.

Also, still waiting to hear what synths were used on Walk across the rooftops... c'mon, somebody knows, right?


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## doctoremmet (Oct 7, 2021)

woodslanding said:


> Also, still waiting to hear what synths were used on Walk across the rooftops... c'mon, somebody knows, right?


It was a Jupiter 8. Also used on Hats. Both albums recorded at Castlesound. The studio Christian Henson used for Albion Solstice.


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## woodslanding (Oct 8, 2021)

oh, that was a great synth... A good friend of mine bought one, and I bought a DX7, the year it came out. I did like having velocity sensitivity, but that jupiter sounded so much better.


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## Pier (Oct 8, 2021)

woodslanding said:


> oh, that was a great synth... A good friend of mine bought one, and I bought a DX7, the year it came out. I did like having velocity sensitivity, but that jupiter sounded so much better.


Well you're in luck!






TAL Software


TAL VST, AU, Audio Unit, AAX plug-ins for OSX and Windows




tal-software.com


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## Whywhy (Oct 27, 2021)

I will release, in 2 days, a new sound set for Pigments 3. - See video description for more info -
Here a first teaser:
I will post another teaser and a walkthrough soon.

Best wishes 
YY


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## sean8877 (Oct 27, 2021)

How about adding the new Plogue OPS7 to the list? My favorite new synth and it would be cool to have some additional presets.


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## Pier (Jul 17, 2022)

I wonder how this poll would look in 2022!

Should we start a new one?


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## doctoremmet (Jul 17, 2022)

Pier said:


> I wonder how this poll would look in 2022!
> 
> Should we start a new one?


Please do


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## emptyvessel (Jul 18, 2022)

Pier said:


> I wonder how this poll would look in 2022!
> 
> Should we start a new one?


if you do could you please link it here @Pier ?
Personally I think it makes sense if there's discussion of what areas of sounds seem to be lacking, genres, styles, colours, shapes, faint odours (no I haven't had odours mentioned, just being facetious but "could you make it sort of more rounded and...orange" has cropped up so smell descriptors surely must be a possibility)


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## doctoremmet (Jul 18, 2022)

Pier, not to drive you mad or anything… but today I had 5 spare minutes to program a synth and I gave Rapid some TLC. Another insane synth. It has its fans, but on VI-C it’s a sleeper. I think @Databroth has just released a preset pack for it. Maybe you have it. I think you’d kind of like the rather simple layer based / tabbed layout of the thing. The sound? As the Germans say: druckvoll!! 

Also, where are all the Tracktion synths? Biotek, the Dawesome duo, f.em?

EDIT: wait, I was in the old 2021 poll haha


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## shadowsoflight (Jul 18, 2022)

emptyvessel said:


> if you do could you please link it here @Pier ?
> Personally I think it makes sense if there's discussion of what areas of sounds seem to be lacking, genres, styles, colours, shapes, faint odours (no I haven't had odours mentioned, just being facetious but "could you make it sort of more rounded and...orange" has cropped up so smell descriptors surely must be a possibility)



Link for convenience:





What synths do you need/want presets for in 2022?


This is the 2022 version of the previous poll: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/what-synth-you-need-want-presets-for-in-2021.114414/ I've added the option to pick up to 3 synths and the voting is anonymous.




vi-control.net


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## emptyvessel (Jul 18, 2022)

shadowsoflight said:


> Link for convenience:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


awesome, thank you


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## Pier (Jul 18, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Pier, not to drive you mad or anything… but today I had 5 spare minutes to program a synth and I gave Rapid some TLC. Another insane synth. It has its fans, but on VI-C it’s a sleeper. I think @Databroth has just released a preset pack for it. Maybe you have it. I think you’d kind of like the rather simple layer based / tabbed layout of the thing. The sound? As the Germans say: druckvoll!!


I know it!

@venustheory brought it to my attention in one of his videos.

The workflow and UI seem fantastic. Super simple architecture. Sounds great and the dev keeps adding features.

I've been tempted a couple of times but since I'm a bit _mercurial_ with synths (pun intended) it annoys me that the license is NFR.


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## method1 (Jul 18, 2022)

Whew, saved by the internet.


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## Databroth (Jul 27, 2022)

doctoremmet said:


> Pier, not to drive you mad or anything… but today I had 5 spare minutes to program a synth and I gave Rapid some TLC. Another insane synth. It has its fans, but on VI-C it’s a sleeper. I think @Databroth has just released a preset pack for it. Maybe you have it. I think you’d kind of like the rather simple layer based / tabbed layout of the thing. The sound? As the Germans say: druckvoll!!
> 
> Also, where are all the Tracktion synths? Biotek, the Dawesome duo, f.em?
> 
> EDIT: wait, I was in the old 2021 poll haha


haha, yes, I did just release a pack, a very strange pack tbh
rapid is cool, it does some things VERY well, but it also has issues imo
it doesn't seem to be the most consistent in terms of triggering/envelopes, so it has more limited use cases, but for pads and experimental textures, and even leads/keys it's pretty damn good


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