# Patch Browsing vs sound design vs Creativity



## einei (Sep 18, 2015)

hey guys, 

I'm currently working on a short movie and I'm curious about how you approach certain things while composing. The score is quiet synth heavy and I guess "ambient". 

Anyways the point is, that a lot of times I have a very clear image in my mind of how I want the patches to sound. But then I load up a synth and start looking for presets and browsing and it just kills my creativity. Usually I don't find what I'm looking for and at the end I forgot the initial mental image I had and end up with something different. I easily get lost in all those patches from Omnisphere for example and loose track of what I was going for in the beginning. How do you approach this? Do you design from scratch? Do you just browse and see what happens and tweak? Or do you make a list favorite patches before you start a project to narrow your choices? What are your approaches?


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## Studio E (Sep 18, 2015)

I feel your pain as I've been there. The better you get a synthesis, and the more familiar you are with your own personal arsenal of synths, the less time you'll spend losing your initial inspiration. That said, it is truly overwhelming, the amount of choices that are available. I think it happens to everyone.

Sometimes I just have to tell myself that getting THAT sound is what I am going to spend my time on until I get it or something else that inspires me along the way. Worry less that you aren't writing notes at that moment and convince yourself that your vision is equal parts timbre and notes, so you realize that your search for "the sound" is as valid as writing on the staff.

Worry not, just do. You'll stumble upon the answers eventually


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## kunst91 (Sep 18, 2015)

einei said:


> hey guys,
> 
> I'm currently working on a short movie and I'm curious about how you approach certain things while composing. The score is quiet synth heavy and I guess "ambient".
> 
> Anyways the point is, that a lot of times I have a very clear image in my mind of how I want the patches to sound. But then I load up a synth and start looking for presets and browsing and it just kills my creativity. Usually I don't find what I'm looking for and at the end I forgot the initial mental image I had and end up with something different. I easily get lost in all those patches from Omnisphere for example and loose track of what I was going for in the beginning. How do you approach this? Do you design from scratch? Do you just browse and see what happens and tweak? Or do you make a list favorite patches before you start a project to narrow your choices? What are your approaches?



I also find omnisphere very difficult to tweak. I prefer to use omnisphere as my "preset" synth if I need a great sound in a hurry. 

If I'm trying to program my own sounds I will often use one of the U-he synths (zebra, diva, etc). I generally find them more intuitive when it comes to patch creation. 

I also love browsing the reaktor user library, there are some great synths that are very easy to program. Particle synth in particular comes to mind.


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## Daryl (Sep 18, 2015)

TBH you just need to learn your craft better. If you have a specific synth sound in your head, you need to know how to create it yourself. Browsing patches is a waste of time, and you are likely to lose perspective. However, a bit more knowledge of synth programming and you should be good to go.

My solution is to do no browsing at all. I play the notes that I want on some generic piano sound or dodgy string sound and leave a written description that will remind me what sound I was going for. Then when the track is finished, I can spend time messing around to try to get the sound that's in my head. 

D


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## Vin (Sep 18, 2015)

Daryl said:


> TBH you just need to learn your craft better. If you have a specific synth sound in your head, you need to know how to create it yourself. Browsing patches is a waste of time, and you are likely to lose perspective. However, a bit more knowledge of synth programming and you should be good to go.
> 
> My solution is to do no browsing at all. I play the notes that I want on some generic piano sound or dodgy string sound and leave a written description that will remind me what sound I was going for. Then when the track is finished, I can spend time messing around to try to get the sound that's in my head.
> 
> D



This.


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## gsilbers (Sep 18, 2015)

To go against the grain here little...

There is also a philosophy that you are a composer so you compose. IF you need sounds, you need a good performance on piano, drums etc you hire a professional.
now, we all know the peril$$ of hiring someone on a limited budget... but with the internet there has been a middle ground. You can buy a drum plugin that has midi performances of a real pro drummer and you can edit it. You can also buy individual packages from individual dummers and minimize a lot the idea that someone will play the same groove.
For synth, there are tons of people doing sound design. Same as a drummer, you can spend sometime playing and learning and you can go pretty far... but you will never EVER play as good as of drums as one of those Swedish kids playing death progressive metals that have been playing since they are like 8 yrs old on long ass winters Same with synths, there are some great sound designers that sell their patches individually. I for one like The unfinished style. I do however further edit his patches but its a great starting point as to where to start or just browse and play if it fits the track. I also make my own Virus TI patches and try to get several sounds sets before a project.
You can start browsing patches of the generic logic synths and you most likely sound like someone else. If you use a 3rd party synths and a buy a sound set from a random store for a specific style imo, is like paying for a sound designer or at least get close to that. And if you are not getting paid enough to hire a pro sound designer then this is ok in the intersection of creativity and individuality, specially if you are composing for media.
There is this dogma of making your own sounds or if not your a hack or something. this is only in the electronic realm. no one is saying hey that orchestra sounds like one from that other movie. And also no producer is saying that sounds like a patch I heard on another movie with another composer. If someone is aksing these type of questions about being a hack, then most likely they are already trying to cover up the initial patch in omnisphere is being disguised by effects or its within other elements so its noticeable enough to say hey that sounds like X. Ive heard some sample logic samples in movies but you know what. I am the only one noticing that. no one else besides 3 other people in the world will ever notice that. unless you use the first arp+rhythm patch in Omni or something. Also think that making your own patches might being in the creativity for jumpstarting a cue/project. So either way the point is to tailor make the music to picture or project no matter how you get there.
Anyways, just food for thought for those who are reading this and wondering. For those who are already hating thinking everyone using 3rd party patches is a hack or somehow think its wrong I say.. Hi!


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## Daryl (Sep 18, 2015)

I think you misunderstand. Nobody is saying that using a Preset sound makes you a hack. A sound is a sound. What you do with it makes you a composer.

The only exception to that is if the sound has a kind of complex morphing quality that makes it more of a composition. In this case it's not really your music.

D


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## EastWest Lurker (Sep 18, 2015)

Sometimes it helps to embrace one's limitations of either time and/or patience and /or talent for programming.

My first synth that could save patches was a Yamaha DX7. I was so excited I spent weeks designing my first "cartridge" full of patches. I was really proud of it, Then I bought a Bo Tomlin cartridge with patches that were so much better than mine, I decided to spend more time composing with already created patches and tweaking them later, (as Daryl suggests although he says piano sound rather than synth sound) to make them "mine."


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## AlexandreSafi (Sep 18, 2015)

If learning synthesis is your goal, then this can be of interest to you 
http://vi-control.net/community/threads/how-to-program-a-synthesizer.34637/
http://vi-control.net/community/threads/what-mr-zimmer-wrote-re-synths.28172/
http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorials/synthesis-topic

You'll find some great interventions from Ned Bouhalassa, germancomponist, rctec & Daniel James...


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## einei (Sep 18, 2015)

I think I have a basic knowledge of synthesis and can program basic patches. As Daryl said browsing presets often feels like a waist of time to me, especially when you are in a hurry. So Vin and Daryl how did you get your synthesis game to a point where you can just get it from your head to the synth under pressure? Is it just experience and learning by doing?


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## Daryl (Sep 18, 2015)

I can't speak for Vin, but my synth programming is very basic. I'm a bit of a whizz on the Novation, but haven't switched that on for years. I tend to get one of my "boys" to do the button clicking whilst I back seat drive. I could learn to do it myself by hard work and practice, but why bark yourself, if you have a dog...

D


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## Vin (Sep 18, 2015)

A bit of off topic, bu buy a cheap mic and use your imagination


einei said:


> I think I have a basic knowledge of synthesis and can program basic patches. As Daryl said browsing presets often feels like a waist of time to me, especially when you are in a hurry. So Vin and Daryl how did you get your synthesis game to a point where you can just get it from your head to the synth under pressure? Is it just experience and learning by doing?



This is the best way I found: http://www.syntorial.com/

Theory is ok, but learning by doing is a much faster way of learning for me.


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## proxima (Sep 18, 2015)

Vin said:


> This is the best way I found: http://www.syntorial.com/


+1. I was skeptical of the price relative to videos, tutorials, and just noodling around on your own, but Syntorial is amazing. Even if you know how subtractive synthesis works in principle, Syntorial teaches you to hear the differences in a way that would take a whole lot more time and effort without its step-by-step approach. This seems especially crucial for those situations where you have a desired sound in your head and you need to figure out how to make it.


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