Do you have 'core sounds' or kits?

philroyjenkins · 2024-05-10T23:55:37.068Z

Man, I’ve been a “from scratch” person most of my music making life, but I’m just now starting to appreciate the beauty of some well crafted starting points.

It’s a struggle, because I am rather quick to get to a sound I’m happy with.

But the Rytm in particular, can be really rewarding to make some deeper patches that have a lot of reactivity and velocity mods applied.

In the heat of a sesh, I’m still going to warp and bend the crap out of that starting point, but the beginning stage already has something nice cooked up for me to start with,

KingDuppy · 2024-05-10T23:57:04.772Z

Sort of.

I often start a new project on the DT or AR by opening an old one with a similar sound to what I plan on doing, then saving it in a new slot and wiping all the pattern/sequencer data.

Then I go through and delete any samples I know I won’t use to make room for new stuff.

After years and years of this, the samples I like most tend to stick around and not get deleted from the pool so I guess I’ve naturally culled a “sound” out of doing that.

I’ll also make songs I like on the DT, and then copy & clear the patterns to see if I can make a new song from the same “kit.”

I don’t do a lot of synthesis, but I’ll usually start with something at least near to what I want to hear and then tweak accordingly, though sometimes it is easier just to start from scratch.

DJCHEMIE · 2024-05-11T00:01:22.577Z

I tried. But then I hated myself… i start everything from scratch even if it may end up being the same sound or patch…

Jindrek · 2024-05-11T00:11:08.156Z

If you process them, there is a chance you can use them later like a h3000 on a clap.

Uija · 2024-05-11T07:34:15.405Z

Heavily depends on the device I am working with.
I have a collection of drumsamples I use all the time (when using samples). I switch them out during the process if needed. But the chain after the sampleplayer is fresh every time.
When using stuff like Syntakt or Rytm I used to use the same machines but tuned them in fresh ever project.
For synths I start with the init patch around 98% of the time.

dzyndzel · 2024-05-11T07:52:09.070Z

While I am still in the honeymoon period with a device I try to make as many sounds as possible. That’s where the base sound/unique flavor comes from so its worth saving in my opinion. Months & years later I use those as as my init starting points for further modification. I think it’s fun to appreciate when you go back and listen. I have a lot of moments of “Wow this was really good, I can’t believe I made this.”

golddust · 2024-05-11T13:49:54.272Z

android:

NO! Start fresh everytime! Seriously!

I agree that it’s great to start fresh and many things I have don’t even have presets or have like… 32 because old… but sometimes I find myself wondering why I don’t I just use the other great sounds I’ve already created more often. We often find ourselves drawn to very similar sounds anyway and sometimes you don’t want to be heavily sculpting sounds and just want to actually tap buttons and play notes and make music. I mean you should probably at least retune your kick and make some basic adjustments to say hi hat decay if the tempo is different etc…

I remember a famous producer (I think it was Terry Lewis) once saying something like I need to write and produce music I don’t have time to sit around creating sounds I trust the company to do that for me - very much not the way I work, it’s just a different approach.

Anyway Hi Hat & Clap samples from my DR110 tend to work their way into many things - that clap is killer!!

SouvlakiPlaystation · 2024-05-11T14:09:27.082Z

This is something I grapple with sometimes. Early on I would have an everything but the kitchen sink approach where I would just scroll through hundreds of different samples in my Digitakt and see what sounded good with a particular synth. After that I would mix them in all kinds of odd ways and while yeah, that would lead to unique results, the downside is total lack of cohesiveness. These days I make much better use of the “sounds” feature in my Digitakt, and when I start working on something I envision as an EP I try to have certain sounds that carry across the entire release. Always a learning process.

4517 · 2024-05-11T14:15:03.176Z

For drums, I stick to the stuff I have made over the years because that’s the reason I made the stuff in the first place. I’m not going to spend six hours sorting through some massive hoard of samples to find something new for the sake of it. I’ve already made the drum sounds I want to use, so I’m going to use them.

Everything else heavily depends on what I am doing, but I will very often at least recycle sounds from previous tracks especially within an album with alternative processing applied.

If everything is new every single time, you easily end up with the “I like this one particular song from this person, but the rest doesn’t sound anything like it.” -effect.

feedback · 2024-05-11T14:16:01.056Z

I think it depends a lot on the musical instrument in question. Some instruments don’t have the concept of sounds that can arranged as kits. Others might not even have patch memory.

And in the case of the Rytm — and with Elektron style instruments in general, — yes, it does reward taking advantage of their abilities and bringing all of the features together, enhanced with sequencing and performance features on top.

Even a nice starting point doesn’t preclude being able to deform sounds into something new.

alechko · 2024-05-11T14:21:44.519Z

I keep saving presets (especially since the 1.70 made saving p-locks so fast and easy!) but never use them again, every time I start a kit I do everything from scratch, don’t really understand why, guess it’s a mentality thing…

thejewk · 2024-05-11T14:32:54.761Z

My releases are fairly few in number so far, but when I have released something cohesive it has generally been based around exploring a single idea in various ways, or a certain pairing of gear. I also think I benefit from working towards a fixed endpoint (like an EP release, for example) and then I am more inclined to use starting point sounds across those tracks to try and prevent any sort of whiplash feeling of change from one track to the next.

I’m currently doing mixing and fine tuning on a batch of four songs as I type, and I definitely hear a benefit to keeping some cohesion in this way.

That said, some of my favourite albums have massive changes in sound from track to track and I like them because of that, not in spite of it. It’s hard to say quite why though.

holonology · 2024-05-11T14:33:12.732Z

I do have go-to packs, sounds and presets (as a humble preset hunter.) I see a song like a cake of sorts, with various layers. In my mind I have a vibe for each layer, for example I’m a fan of plucks/bells and other similar sounds for leads, which leads me to try many physical modelling synths as well as analogue synths for plucks. I like to layer these so the more the merrier. I have similar thoughts about drums, bass, pads and everything else.

In the end, I find what works for me is a core of preset packs and sounds I get to know well and use often, with a rotating cast of alternatives that can fill in the gaps, offer something new or similar. It’s a constant process of discovery which can inject variety into using some sounds intended for a similar purpose. I only found my go-tos after a certain period of time, and one day I may delete the rest, but for now it’s a nice combo.

feedback · 2024-05-11T14:39:59.187Z

thejewk:

That said, some of my favourite albums have massive changes in sound from track to track and I like them because of that, not in spite of it. It’s hard to say quite why though.

Maybe because you’re able to appreciate the novelty of variety and don’t frame the world in absolutes.

golddust · 2024-05-11T14:59:51.761Z

It’s so funny being on one of the other DTII threads and seeing people say my modest/mid size 100mb library - that is beyond gigantic to me!!

I once got a free samples from mars x0x pack and threw it into my DT. Even having ~350 samples felt completely unnecessary, listening to 808kick1 & 808kickmpc & 808 kick tape sat or whatever they’re called… what an unpleasant experience scrolling through listening for minor variations on so many similar sounds… deleted them all and never looked back. Occasionally I’ll throw a few back on or download a legowelt sample pack and goof around, usually deleting everything after a few days except maybe a sound or two I’ll keep.

thejewk · 2024-05-11T15:12:14.782Z

I grabbed the Everything from Mars pack in the sale late last year, downloaded the ‘Essentials’ part only. I went through and grabbed 10 or so of each drum hit type and arranged them into roughly matching ‘kits’ with a naming convention for when I wanted to just grab things and go, and I haven’t looked at the samples again since haha.

Jindrek · 2024-05-11T15:12:45.648Z

I’m on patreon and have some sample packs of course.

alechko · 2024-05-11T15:16:25.983Z

thejewk:

Everything from Mars pack in the sale late last year, downloaded the ‘Essentials’ part only

I did something very similar with the stock samples from Ableton Live, just took some one shots and some other stuff that wasn’t too big, uploaded once and never got anything else again

thejewk · 2024-05-11T15:17:39.407Z

Don’t remind me. I got Ableton Standard too this year and it has been fantastic for my setup, but I haven’t used a single instrument or sample included with it yet.

I haven’t even looked at any VSTs other than the Elektron ones for Overbridge.

sacguy71 · 2024-05-11T15:19:30.967Z

I try to start with a core 909 drum kit if I am creating EDM, techno or dance music. For other stuff, I either start with basic 808/707 drum kit that I program in a DAW or I use experimental stuff.