# How well do you know your tools, and how do you learn them?



## Alex Fraser (Jan 8, 2019)

Hey folks. Despite ploughing many hours into Logic every week, I still don't really know how to use the damn thing. I know a few plugins well enough to get the results I'm after and can scratch around altering synth presets.

To illustrate the scale of this - I've been making music professionally for over a decade and yet when it came to editing some audio in Logic last month, I was all at sea. I've produced approaching 900-odd tracks and yet have failed to bend any libraries or plugins to my will. Not a brag. Only mentioned to highlight the absurdity.

Am I the only one is this position? I see these massive lists of Black Friday/Special offer purchases and wonder how everyone is actually getting on top of these tools. Are most people simply collecting? How do you find the time to learn this stuff? What's your approach? How do you take time away from paid composing duties to plunge into the depths of your latest libraries?

Any workflow hints or tips on how to climb this technical mountain would be most appreciated.
In the meantime, I'll be trying to work out why the...thing...is making the other thing sound like that.


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## Steinmetzify (Jan 8, 2019)

Dude I can’t help you. 

I buy libraries, find literally ONE COOL SOUND and incorporate it into an intro/outro for a guitar jam and usually never touch it again...

Honorable mention goes to Sonuscore’s The Orchestra, much of the Heavyocity stuff, Obelisk from Frozen Plain, and Realitone’s FingerPick. 

Those things continually inspire me, some to the point that I’ll find something cool and go with a secondary idea that popped because of the cool noise I just found instead of what I was originally gonna do. 

For real tho; mostly YT vids (there are literally thousands on Logic alone), tips from buds, me asking direct questions on forums like you just did, and mostly trial and error (I know it does THIS, so that means it should be able to do THAT!).

This forum is extremely knowledgeable, I know someone is gonna chime in. 

Good luck!


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## anp27 (Jan 8, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Am I the only one is this position? I see these massive lists of Black Friday/Special offer purchases and wonder how everyone is actually getting on top of these tools. Are most people simply collecting? How do you find the time to learn this stuff? What's your approach? How do you take time away from paid composing duties to plunge into the depths of your latest libraries?



I used to be in your position but in recent years I've forced myself to spend more time learning and bonding with the tools I already have rather than buying every plugin and sample library under the sun. I definitely do not consider myself a "collector" as I simply do not have the computer bandwidth nor the funds to do so. I only buy plugins that are fool proof and simple to use plus provides good sounding results quickly. Plugins that are easy to use and with minimal controls solves the problem of needing to find the time to learn how to use this stuff.


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## charlieclouser (Jan 9, 2019)

Well, I can't speak to learning ProTools, Logic, Reason, or Ableton since I've clocked 27, 25, 18, and 17 years on them, respectively... but when it comes to new sound libraries or plugins that seem to flood my inbox and drain my PayPal this time of year, I take a rigorous, military-style approach:

I park all incoming new purchases on a scratch drive, and don't integrate them into my main drive structure until I can evaluate and get a feel for them. Depending on what the item in question is, this can take a few minutes or a few... days. If I buy something to use in the middle of a project, it stays on the scratch drives until I can use some down time to deal with it properly - but I almost never do that unless I need to buy Tina Guo Legato for just one cue or something. When I'm working, my rigs stay frozen in time. But, when downtime rolls around and I can hit the scratch drive:

--- For a new audio plug-in, I check it out and try it on a few sources. I have a few scratch cues in different styles that I keep on my desktop which contain a wide variety of audio and VI tracks to play with while auditioning plugins. If there are presets, I audition them, stash the original set in a folder called "zFactory" inside their normal plugin settings folder, and duplicate and rename only the ones I want to keep on hand up one level. That way I'm only looking at the few presets I liked while I'm working, but I have the full set one level down. I make sure to sort the plugin into one or more of the user-defined plugin category folders in Logic's plugin manager, and also use Logic's "user defined plugin name" and "short name" functions to cause these folders to group plugins by manufacturer. I have 1,100 AU plugins on my rig at the moment (not even joking), so it's no use seeing a plugin inside the "dynamics-COMPRESSORS" folder called "H-Comp" when it should be "waves-HCOMP". I make sure that inside my Applications folder there is a folder called something like "Waldorf-LARGO v1.51", and inside that is the original plugin installer, safety copies of any preset banks, documentation, and a separate text file that contains info like:

"Waldorf LARGO, purchased 12/07/2005 via PayPal from Waldorf.com. Transaction #1234. Invoice #4567. Username=xxxxx. Password=yyyy. Registered to email [email protected]. Activation key=ABCDEFG1234567" - basically, any and all info relevant to my purchase.

That way I never have to go digging through 15-year-old emails looking for the dang info when I try to log in after a decade to download an update. Then I move on to the next. Times a zillion this time of year! But as you all know, I type FAST.

--- For a new synth plugin, all of the above applies - but I also go through each and every supplied preset, right then and there. Let's hear what this sucker can do, and let's get it freaking over with. As before, duplicate and stash the originals and then delete every preset that isn't absolute solid gold right out of the gate. After so many years, so many synths, so many sample libraries - I don't need to second-guess about whether I should keep or toss a preset. Love it? It stays. Can't decide? It's gone. Right now. Empty trash. Move on. Apply my renaming scheme to all kept presets, ignoring any plugin-specific "tagging" or "keyword" schemes. I want all relevant info to be visible when I look at the raw files from the desktop. (More on naming schemes below)

--- For a library of synth presets, like the absolute goldmine of stuff I got in The Unfinished Complete Bundle this year, this can be a slog. It was two solid days of auditioning, deleting, sorting, and renaming just their Omnisphere stuff. (The full zip of the originals is on stash in the Applications folder just in case.) But at the end of that painful road I've got a super-set of only the top-top-shelf stuff, that I'll never wonder why the hell I bothered to keep, all sorted and clearly renamed, and it's about 1/10th the size (or less) than what I purchased, so it's small enough to be scrolled through from top to bottom while in the heat of battle if need be.

----------- (tedious dissertation continued in next post) ----------------


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## charlieclouser (Jan 9, 2019)

----------- (tedious dissertation continued from previous post) ----------------

--- For a new Kontakt library, this means listening to every single freaking articulation, snapshot, or .nki instrument for at least a few seconds, playing a little bit, and trying to get an idea of what that patch might be good at, whether I'm likely to ever use it, and what the hell it should be named and how it should be categorized. This can be quick, in the case of something "ordinary" like 8dio Century Strings, or unbelievable agony, in the case of something like Spitfire EDNA or EvoGrid stuff, where there's just a bazillion nki's to audition. But I blast through them and make immediate snap decisions. They're permanent decisions, but not "permanent-permanent" because here's what I do:

I keep the original library in its folder, just as it was downloaded, only adding my text file that contains my sales, serial number, and any other purchase-related info as described above. Then I duplicate the Instrument folder and any Snapshots folders, and zip the originals where they lie so I can get them back if needed. Then I put that library folder into the appropriate master category folder (Drums, Brass, Strings, etc.), inside a subfolder called "zLibraries" so it sits at the bottom of the list. Now the original libraries, with all their samples, instruments, documentation, my precious text file, and any other crap is safe and hidden. I do a batch re-save so the Instruments point to the Samples in their new, stashed location, and take those duplicated, batch-resaved, not-zipped Instruments / Snapshots folders and put them where I want them, which is one level above the "zLibraries" folder - so, inside "STRINGS" I'll have the following folders, named such that they appear in a list exactly like this:

a - STRING SECTIONS
b - string ensembles
c - BASSES
d - bass solo
e - CELLOS
f - cello solo
g - VIOLAS
h - viola solo
i - VIOLINS
j - violin solo
k - World Stringed Insts
l - Misc String crap
zLibraries

Inside each of the above folders will be four subfolders, with names stolen from the original EWQLSO library: 1-Long, 2-Short, 3-Effects, 4-KeySwitches. I force all Instruments to fit into one of those four categories.

So, ALL of my original strings-related libraries, in their originally-named folders, complete with zipped safeties and un-zipped, un-renamed original Instruments / Snapshots folders, and my precious text files, live inside "zLibraries". (Repeat this concept for each instrument type - brass, drums, perc, etc.)

Now the purge can begin in earnest.

By that I mean I completely re-work the file names because every developer has different, and usually totally stupid, ways of naming Instruments / Snapshots, and I require consistency and clarity or I'll never find anything. So I'll audition each and every single one, and right then and there I make a snap decision about whether to toss it, rename and use it, or rename and stash it. (Of course I have the zipped version as a safety) If it's "toss it", then into the trash it goes and immediately empty the trash so there's no going back - but for orchestral stuff there's not a lot to trash; I usually can rename everything and it all sorts nicely. If it's "rename and use it" then I apply the naming scheme that I use across all formats. If it's "rename and stash" then I apply the naming scheme but stash the instrument in a subfolder inside that library's Instruments folder, called "zUnused Renamed Insts".

The global naming scheme I use for orchestral sounds is:

[instrument type]-[articulation or description]-[developer or source]

which gives results like:

"strings-FLAUTANDO-adag" = (8dio Adagio full string ensemble flautando)
"cello-LEGATO-tina" = (CineSamples Tina Guo solo cello legato)
"violins-SPICCATO FEATHER-cent" = (8dio Century Strings violin section feathered spiccato)
"tbsec-PORTATO-sym2" = (Project Sam Symphobia2 trombones section portato)

etc. etc. ad infinitum.

This scheme keeps the names short enough to be entirely visible in Kontakt's GUI, Logic's various text entry fields, etc. and allows me to move all of the instruments from multiple libraries into that common folder structure, leaving the originals down in "zLibraries" for safe keeping.

Every single freaking orchestral Kontakt Instrument .nki gets it's name forced to conform, then gets put in the appropriate folder. As a result, "BASSES > 1-Long" contains ALL of my ContraBass Section Long Articulation nki's, and the list looks nice and organized:

basses-LEGATO-adag
basses-LEGATO-cent
basses-LEGATO-uist
basses-LEGATO-sym2

etc.

When I get down to actually working I can flip through .nki's and compare any and ALL "basses-LEGATO" from ALL of my libraries right next to each other in a list using the previous/next arrows on the Kontakt gui. If it's Snapshots, I do the same thing, dealing with the actual .nksm files. (I have yet to apply this scheme to QuickLoad DB, but that would be a nice way to just leave all the nki's alone and only rename and organize the QL DB aliases - but I'm not sure if I trust that system yet.) Of course, if I get an update to a big library, like I did today with 8dio Anthology Strings v1.2, I've got to repeat the process, but it's MUCH less work the second time around. I usually don't have too much to re-audition, it's mostly re-conforming the names and putting things where they need to go.

I apply this uniform naming scheme, obviously with variations tailored to each instrument type, stringently across every. single. freaking. file. that. makes. a. sound.

EXS, Kontakt, Omnisphere, Arturia, Zebra, raw WAV loops, whatever.

It is so nice when a plan comes together.

Obviously, for things like drums, percussion, and synths there's a world of minutae in my naming schemes that is tailored to how I hear things, so the categories in SYNTHS have names like:

akutex = ambient acoustic textures
ambisyn = ambient synthetic textures
ambinoiz = ambient noise, foley, and sfx textures
arpbass = arpeggiated / sequenced bass line type stuff
arperc = arpeggiated / sequenced percussion type stuff
arpmel = arpeggiated / sequenced melody type stuff
arpulse = arpeggiated / sequenced cine pulse type stuff
belew = adrian below-like guitar insanity
blasts = industrial, guitar-like blasts and tonal hits
braams = duh, braams
chordal = sounds with built-in chord structures
claytons = sounds with built-in chord structures that sound like the score to Michael Clayton
ebow = guitar-based drones and textures
reznoiz = resonant noise-based drones and textures, like what we used in NIN
spectrums = that Roland D-50 tuned spectral, frozen bowed metal type stuff
synths = things that sound like, well, ordinary Oberheim super-saw synths or whatever
tinysyn = little, itty-bitty awesome sounds


...and on and on and on and on. There's about 50 sub folders in my Synths category. I apply similar, but not always identical naming schemes when organizing patches for Massive, Alchemy, Arturia, Zebra, and any other soft synths. But it all makes sense to me. I wind up with file names like:


akutex-BOWDRONE-ghuz (bow scrape drones on a ghuzheng)
ambisyn-FULLMOONZ-air (a sample called "fullmoonz" from Sample Logic's old A.I.R. library)
braams-HYBRID2-8dio (all the braams I liked from 8dio's Hybrid Two library in one patch)
reznoiz-COCOLIKE-xpan (a pitched resonant noise I made on Xpander that's "like coco")

Raw WAV files, like percussion loops that I deal with in Ableton Live, get brutally renamed and sorted. Developers are so freaking clueless with names like:

"BLUE_OCTOPUS_SAMPLES_INC_TECHNO_DRUM_LOOP_TOP_KIT_102BPM_01"

I grind that down to "BO-102-TecTop-1" - always two letters to identify source, then three-digit bpm, then descriptor, then number if there's more than one "TecTop" loop. I only use this name format for loops, so the word "loop" isn't needed - it's self-evident in the placement of the "102". Boom, sorted by source, tempo, and descriptor when shown in a list, like in Ableton's file browser. And I do use duplicate-detection utilities to insure that I never, EVER use a file name twice.

...and on and on to infinity. Hovering right around 20tb at the moment. Maybe 25, 30 million files?

And it is SO WORTH THE TIME. By the point that sounds are renamed and into these categories, I freaking know them, intimately. I've had to decide which of my children shall live, and which I will drown in the creek out back. I've had to decide, using my own internal logic and various mnemonic devices, upon a descriptive, short, absolutely unique, ALL-CAPS name that will tell me at a glance what that sucker is. I can glance at my clean, crisp, beautifully sorted lists of patches and just visually scan for what I want, instead of endless flipping through them, auditioning them to the point of exhaustion. More importantly, during the process of initially auditioning, naming, and sorting them, I'm forced to confront whether each individual sound is really worth the effort - so a lot get tossed along the way, even after the initial deletion phase. That whole process is the only thing I do that actually seems like work - and even though it can get tedious, it's still totally fun.

And what winds up in the folders is.... Gold, Jerry. Gold!

So actually finding the right sounds and writing the music, when it comes time to do that, isn't even work at all. It's a freaking joyous romp through a curated wonderland of sonic nuggets, each more delicious than the last, each one a trusted ally or dear friend, and all of them ready to help me do battle with picture and deadline.

No enemies, no strangers... only friends.


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## anp27 (Jan 9, 2019)

charlieclouser said:


> And what winds up in the folders is.... Gold, Jerry.



Dissertation indeed! I have attempted to do what you did and go through all the presets, delete the crap and keep only the best stuff. It starts out well and I actually am able to identify what's crap and what's good but what ends up happening over time is I get to a point where I start keeping... everything... how do I get better at this? I reach a point where I'm like, "Well, I _might_ use that crazy synth preset for _something_ so I'll just keep it." And this starts happening over and over again until I eventually give up. I do as much as possible tag my Favorites and I usually tag the presets that end up being used on track so I'll know to either come back to it or avoid it (so that everything doesn't start sounding the same). I really would like to generally minimize my presets lists though. Any pointers?


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## charlieclouser (Jan 9, 2019)

Well, having my "hidden secret second-tier backup of the whole intact pile" approach helps me to eliminate any "deletion anxiety"... and after a few decades you realize that you never used one tenth the stuff you thought you needed to keep, so it gets easier to be brutal - and as the sheer quantities pile up, you start thinking, "Who cares if I delete an Omnisphere cine-pulse patch that I can't decide about? There's fifty more left to go through in this folder alone!" So that makes it easier - and once a brutal organization and naming scheme is implemented, and all similar things live together, you start to get a better perspective... like, "Holy crap that is a LOT of semi-okay synth bass patches, and I hardly ever use synth bass anyway, so... some of you have to GO! Only the champions shall survive, now... FIGHT!" And you compare and delete and reduce some more. Only possible when organized though.

I didn't set out for my organizing and naming to help me reduce, it was to help me deal with keeping MORE - but the unintended but happy side effect is that it gives perspective and a top-down view, so that makes deciding easier in the long run. Without perspective, deciding is much harder. It's like flying over the city - "The people, they all look like ants!" CRUSH THEM.

When things are disorganized and confusingly named, you don't know if it is safe to delete this bass patch because you don't know exactly how many others you have, where they are, and if they are better or worse than the one you're auditioning. "Something even better might be hiding in another folder, but where did I put it?" But as things get organized and you can compare quickly, the fog starts to lift - and you start to approach things with more ruthless efficiency.

Do you think Pink Floyd ever worried about erasing an Omnisphere preset?


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## anp27 (Jan 9, 2019)

charlieclouser said:


> Well, having my "hidden secret second-tier backup of the whole intact pile" approach helps me to eliminate any "deletion anxiety"... and after a few decades you realize that you never used one tenth the stuff you thought you needed to keep, so it gets easier to be brutal - and as the sheer quantities pile up, you start thinking, "Who cares if I delete an Omnisphere cine-pulse patch that I can't decide about? There's fifty more left to go through in this folder alone!" So that makes it easier - and once a brutal organization and naming scheme is implemented, and all similar things live together, you start to get a better perspective... like, "Holy crap that is a LOT of semi-okay synth bass patches, and I hardly ever use synth bass anyway, so.."
> 
> I didn't set out for my organizing and naming to help me reduce, it was to help me deal with keeping MORE - but the unintended but happy side effect is that it gives perspective and a top-down view, so that makes deciding easier in the long run. Without perspective, deciding is much harder.



That's it. I'm finally going to trim the fat. Thanks for hanging out and always being so helpful Charlie!


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## Bear Market (Jan 9, 2019)

charlieclouser said:


> Gold, Jerry. Gold!



Ha!

I'd like to take you out to Mendy's sometime. Best swordfish in the city. The best, Charlie!!


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## gregh (Jan 9, 2019)

I never save and reuse presets outside of the specific task. I use developer presets all the time (in Kontakt), but my own ones are specific to the task so have no use outside of that. Occasionally I will reuse or modify an impulse response I developed but I'm happy to start from scratch or modify a dev preset. I'm increasingly in the position of anp27 - I've sold a lot off this last few months, have a few more things to sell, and have been busy exploring what I have. I easily have enough tools to make whatever I want a sound to achieve


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## Akarin (Jan 9, 2019)

For the DAW (Cubase 10), I've RTFM'ed from cover to cover, and watched several hours of video on top of that. I think I know it quite well now and then took the time to customize key shortcuts, write tons of macros, designed some panels for TouchOSC. Knowing your tools through and through is the only way to a fast and efficient workflow, I think.

As for new libraries, I usually listen to each patch, write Expression Maps as needed and then directly integrate that in my template, balancing the patches while they are fresh (and yes, due to the BF craze, it took me nearly a month to do that, but now I'm set for 2019 hopefully and can concentrate on music rather than technical tasks.)


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## PaulBrimstone (Jan 9, 2019)

Thanks @charlieclouser for another remarkable, highly-informed chapter from the Clouser Chronicles (which I'm sure will one day be dug up from the smoking ruins of future LA and worshipped, per A Canticle for Leibowitz). I especially like the simple trick of the text info file. But oh, how I wish I had seen this advice 100+ libraries ago...


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## Rob (Jan 9, 2019)

@charlieclouser I'm full of admiration and envy for your ability to keep things so orderly... completely unreachable for me


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## Alex Fraser (Jan 9, 2019)

Yeah, I'll add to the thanks bandwagon for @charlieclouser. Such amazing info - though you're on an entirely different level to most of us! It's great that the forum gets nuggets (feasts?) like this from the pros.


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## charlieclouser (Jan 9, 2019)

Akarin said:


> For the DAW (Cubase 10), I've RTFM'ed from cover to cover, and watched several hours of video on top of that. I think I know it quite well now and then took the time to customize key shortcuts, write tons of macros, designed some panels for TouchOSC. Knowing your tools through and through is the only way to a fast and efficient workflow, I think.
> 
> As for new libraries, I usually listen to each patch, write Expression Maps as needed and then directly integrate that in my template, balancing the patches while they are fresh (and yes, due to the BF craze, it took me nearly a month to do that, but now I'm set for 2019 hopefully and can concentrate on music rather than technical tasks.)



I kind of feel silly for not mentioning anything about "R-ing the F-ing M", but with any tool as sophisticated as a modern DAW that kind of goes without saying. That was one thing I got into the habit of when working at the Sam Ash music store in the eighties - some new gadget would come out and one of us would get picked to take serial #001 home with us on the first night, under instructions to be NYC's only expert on the thing by morning. It's a great habit to get into for sure, and after a while it sort of becomes second nature... but getting into that habit is becoming less likely in today's era of self-explanatory user interfaces. 

It really hit home how important RTFM was when I switched from StudioVision to Logic in the early 1990's. StudioVision had a very simple layout, while in those days Logic was still showing its Atari heritage and German roots, and the program was full of menu items like "Pickup Clock and Move By Rounded SPL" - like, what does that even mean? I was totally lost for a couple of weeks. But what cracked it for me was not so much RTFM (which I was doing) but using the Key Commands window as a sort of checklist to make sure I was trying each of the program's hidden capabilities - and I did this again recently when learning Cubase.

What I had initially done was, instead of learning Logic's stock key command setup, I wanted as much of it to match those of StudioVision, so I wouldn't have to re-program my muscle memory. I totally wiped all of Logic's key commands and started from scratch, setting them up to match the ones in StudioVision, but then I was left with dozens (hundreds) of un-assigned commands like the dreaded "Pickup Clock and Move By Rounded SPL". So I went through the entire list of key commands one by one, assigning each in turn to F1, then hitting F1, and seeing what happened. Once I learned that "Pickup Clock and Move By Rounded SPL" really means "take the selected regions / events and move them to where the play cursor is, rounded to the nearest bar / beat", THEN I could make an educated decision about what key I wanted that assigned to - and I'd learned about a cool feature in Logic that StudioVision didn't have.

Just go through the entire key commands list and try them all out one at a time, deciding as you go whether each one deserves to be on F1 or can be stashed on option-shift-command-D or whatever. I took this same approach when learning Cubase recently. It really helped things stick in my brain more than just sitting with the manuals.


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## Living Fossil (Jan 9, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Any workflow hints or tips on how to climb this technical mountain would be most appreciated.
> .



Personally i believe in the joint power of organisation and chaos.

On one side, i spend a lot of time with categorizing sounds, plug ins etc.
Inside of Logic's structure of plug in settings i have two main branches:

1.) general favorites in different categories. 
(with folders that have names that are helpful)
When naming the preset itself i sometimes add some attributes to the name.
E.g. some sounds just work in a specific key range or a specific context. To avoid that i forget this when i revisit the sound, i would integrate this in the name.

2.) project related folders. Main folder is called: _Short name of Plug in_PROJECTS_YEAR (e.g. Zebra-Projekte-2018)
(I use the name of the plug in because it makes things easier when searching something in the finder.)
That's useful when i try different sounds/settings etc. for projects.
Usually i make additional folders inside of the folders, e.g. Zebra-<name of project>-category. (e.g. Zebra-XXY-Basses)
So, i can go through different possibilities on different days and narrow down the selection.
Of course, quite often i remember sounds from former projects that i liked.
This way it's easier to find them again.

Besides sounds/plug in settings etc. i have a large harddisk where i store and collect different kinds of sounds. Atmos, Effect sounds etc.
When i come across a new effect/atmo sound (e.g. people whispering in the cinema) i drop it into the category where it belongs.
Also, i use to resample most effect sounds (wooshes, hits, etc. etc.) from libraries that i purchase and place them in folders that are named accordingly.
(It's much easier this way than load e.g. Storm Drums 2 each time i need a reverse hit from a certain menu...)

However, inside of all these countless sounds, plug ins, settings etc. i don't think it's necessary to control everything.
First, if one has some routine, he will organise the most important tools.
Second, revisiting from time to time the hidden and forgotten treasures sometimes feels like buying a new plug in or a new library.

But it needs some time to getting an instinct where to search, if something is needed.


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## MrHStudio (Jan 9, 2019)

I tend to focus on one new thing on each track/project. This allows me to learn one thing at a time right now I’m struggling wth getting a smooth cello line out of Spitfire solo strings!


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## charlieclouser (Jan 9, 2019)

MrHStudio said:


> I tend to focus on one new thing on each track/project. This allows me to learn one thing at a time



That's a great idea. I need to remind myself to do this more.


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## dgburns (Jan 9, 2019)

I only learn stuff when I need to, lol, like when I’m in the middle of something and I need something specific. I’m not a librarian and have no aspirations to being one.

But I do religiously save my channel strip setting per cue in Logic so I can get them back for other cues. Seems kinda Davidish to @charlieclouser Goliath approach lol.


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## charlieclouser (Jan 9, 2019)

dgburns said:


> But I do religiously save my channel strip setting per cue in Logic so I can get them back for other cues. Seems kinda Davidish to @charlieclouser Goliath approach lol.



Well, if I had to give up all of my compulsive organization habits, doing what you're doing (religiously saving Channel Strip Presets) would be the one I would cling to the hardest! That's the most bang-for-the-buck habit you can have for sure.


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## InLight-Tone (Jan 9, 2019)

Reading that dissertation, I need a cigarette and I don't smoke. Holy cow...


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## dgburns (Jan 9, 2019)

But to be truthful, I am a bit of an organizational freak too, I just felt it was uncool to admit it. Again lol.

Sure wish we could save out multi track presets like those guys can in Cubase.


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## KMA (Jan 9, 2019)

charlieclouser said:


> So actually finding the right sounds and writing the music, when it comes time to do that, isn't even work at all. It's a freaking joyous romp through a curated wonderland of sonic nuggets, each more delicious than the last, each one a trusted ally or dear friend, and all of them ready to help me do battle with picture and deadline.
> 
> No enemies, no strangers... only friends.



I don't think I've read a better ode to being prepared.

That's goin on my wall.


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## storyteller (Jan 9, 2019)

I think a great way to learn them is when you hear something in a new library you don't have, see how you can recreate it. Maybe it is an articulation that your library didn't have. Is it possible to achieve the same thing through programming, better CC knowledge, or maybe layering? If not, buy the new library. Or if it is a new sound that makes you say, "I've gotta have it!" first see if you can try to replicate it with what you have. You'll probably be surprised to learn there isn't a lot of stuff that is truly new or innovative. Most of it is repackaged versions of what you can already do if you take the time to know your tools.

Now new instruments and such are a different story. And, sometimes it is nice just to buy something so it does what you want at the push of a button. I'm just saying a good way to learn your tools is to recreate what you hear when you think it is something new.


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## KMA (Jan 9, 2019)

I can't count the number of times I've bought a new toy, and then found out that I already had something that would have done the job, whether it's been a plugin or some functionality in the DAW that I was too lazy to have looked for.


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## charlieclouser (Jan 10, 2019)

Even


KMA said:


> I don't think I've read a better ode to being prepared.
> 
> That's goin on my wall.



That line of thought about "no strangers, no enemies... only friends" comes from my record-making years, where we were absolutely NOT trying to be "prepared for any eventuality", as film/tv composers might need to be. We had the luxury of ignoring/ejecting any gear or sounds that didn't fit the context of the band, the song, whatever. So we'd be sat in the studio with only the tools that were appropriate and would help us move in the right direction. Some synths, guitar amps, pedals, etc. were basically left on a single setting, ignoring the myriad of things they were capable of in favor of the one thing they did best. So instead of thinking, "I wonder if any of the 100 things a MiniMoog can do would help this track?" we'd be thinking, "I need that 3-osc bass which is my favorite thing a MiniMoog can do." As the years dragged on you'd wind up with so much gear, each piece aimed squarely at one target - but each was doing only what it did best. An all-star team. "Bring out the place-kicker to do one thing - kick a field goal. Good kick! Now sit back down." kind of thinking. My Prophet-VS's have about four sounds in them that have ever been used - but they are killer; uniquely appropriate for those four situations.

Move into scoring, and all of a sudden you feel like you need to keep every banjo sample and new-age-ambient synth patch "just in case" the next week's episode has a yoga hoedown scene. (Hey, it could happen!) I'm definitely guilty of hoarding any good examples of sounds that I've never used (and may never use) but that I recognize are good examples of their type. And that's where the clutter starts to get crazy - but that's also where extreme organization can have more noticable and useful benefits. For that one time a year when you do need to do a yoga hoedown, it really sucks to dip into the banjo folder and just see a hailstorm of un-labelled, un-sorted stuff - as opposed to three items called "king banjo, queen banjo, prince banjo" or whatever, with all the pawns and rooks hidden in the "zUnused" folder just in case.

On another tangent, of course there's lots of things that can't easily be shoved into the categories I outlined earlier - SonoKinetic phrase-based libraries, and the new crop of things like SampleLogic XoSphere that have a single .nki patch and an internal browser for selecting the content. What do ya do with stuff like that? Well, that stuff tends to get a "special" name or folder so that they're not just mixed in with the more conventional "one file = one sound" files. In the case of something like XoSphere you can often organize the SnapShots folders, even when you can't directly access, rename, and organize the items in their internal browser from the desktop. 

So there are a lot of situations where my "system" can't be rigorously applied - but when the system is implemented for everything else, and the number of wild-cards and exceptions-to-the-rules are kept to a minimum, it's much easier to deal with. Then, dipping into the wild-cards becomes almost a fun break from the routine of dealing with "the system" and all its darn rules, and it feels like a mini-side-trip through the trees - and you can have fun bush-whacking through the XoSphere content browser, but not lose your mind - and get back on the well-marked trails of "the system" once you find what you want. 

Some folks like skiing entirely off-piste - but it can take a long time to get back to the lodge. 

I prefer to have a leisurely cruise down the groomed trails until I spot an interesting chunk of powder in the trees, and then head in - but if I bush-whack all the way from the summit to the lodge my knees start to hurt by lunchtime, and I might only get a few good runs in before I have to call it a day.


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## Wally Garten (Jan 10, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Am I the only one is this position? I see these massive lists of Black Friday/Special offer purchases and wonder how everyone is actually getting on top of these tools. Are most people simply collecting? How do you find the time to learn this stuff?



I know what you mean. I haven't bought many libraries that I haven't used at all, but I've bought a _ton_ that I only used for "that one sound," and never bothered to really go in depth with the rest. So there's an incredible amount of capacity sitting out there on that hard drive, most of which I haven't exploited at all.

To combat this problem, I am actually instituting a buying freeze for the foreseeable future, and trying to really abide by the maxim "use what you have." Which really goes to this:



KMA said:


> I can't count the number of times I've bought a new toy, and then found out that I already had something that would have done the job, whether it's been a plugin or some functionality in the DAW that I was too lazy to have looked for.



But also just the idea of mastery. Instead of just grabbing the low-hanging fruit from 1,000 plugins or libraries, I'd like to pull out the hidden stuff from a dozen or so.


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## Paul Grymaud (Jan 10, 2019)

Can't answer to this question. I'm so busy with all these VST (and the manuals...)
I'm filling up a form to FXpansion because I have problems with re-downloading the data 
(That's true !!!)


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