I need some general help with patch saving philosophy

The Lounge General Discussion
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It’s finally time I start saving patches.

This will probably be a somewhat long winded ramble but I appreciate any thoughts from those who stick around. Fair warning, this is absolutely one of those “You’re thinking too hard, just do the thing” moments.

I hate saving patches. I’ve had a fair amount of synths and my patches largely consist of a very small handful of variations on INIT with some minor tweaks like being in unison mode, being a self osc filter tuned to C, etc. Utility kind of stuff.

I’m happy with the command I’ve grown over my instruments and find I can arrive on fresh stuff fairly easily so I just never bother saving anything.

A random, older example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYl_II1ANrU&t=52s&ab_channel=philmakesnoise where I arrive on probably a small handful of “patches” in a pretty short time. And one last example of a longer exploratory session. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onbiLY-I-1c&t=1009s&ab_channel=philmakesnoise

Just showing the flow of a typical session because I enjoy this kind of process more than anything else.

I might have finally hit my match with the Prophet X.

Ok side bar. My fondness of the more “on the fly” style of exploration and live manipulation has led me to simpler instruments that have greater sweet-spots that let me feel like I can more easily guide the sound (and in turn, am guided by it… blah blah) - So I’ve eventually landed on a Prophet 6 and Moog Sub 25 as my primary two synths.

I love them to death and when I’m in the flow of creating actual music, both can be morphed and massaged to fit into any mix or situation with ease. Zero friction.

I’m not saying the PX gives me friction or is hard to pilot. I’ve got plenty of sounds in the PX thread I was happy with, and arrived at without much fuss.

But its just a different kind of beast when it comes to fitting it into an existing idea or song that didn’t originate on the PX. The other two synths are absolute chameleons. The PX is almost too broad for its own good in this situation.

I really think I need to develop some discipline around saving patches, specifically on the PX. It obviously rewards a deeper type of exploration and sound design that isn’t really fun to do when you just need a sound to “fill in the blanks” on an existing idea or start one from scratch.

I get stuff I love out of the box but I have so much damn trouble saving the patches that I know would probably amplify my experience with it during those times I don’t want to spend an hour “just seeing what happens.”

So what’s the problem?

I just don’t know. I start thinking about saving patches and it gets to be too big of a thing.

Ok, atmosphere can be 1-50, basses 51-100, leads…
…Wait, what if I need way less bass patches than I think? Maybe I should just save them as they come but give them really good names. (additional train of thought regarding finding the “best” naming system…)

Another harder to explain issue is that some of the patches I arrive on have some haphazardly applied modulations in the thick of the moment. I always feel like I should take the care to map certain things with a sense of purpose if I am to commit something to stone with a patch save. Maybe my mod wheel typically performs the same ish kind of roll. Etc…

Believe me, I know this is kind of looney. I know you can’t let “Perfect be the enemy of good” and its funny because I’m very much not a perfectionist in any other aspect of my life or music making.

I ain’t trying to save patches on everything right now. Hell, saving the damn songs I actually work on is hard enough ha. I’d rather just start fresh, hit it and quit it.

But I think I can start saving on the PX. Looking for thoughts on “systems” that have worked and haven’t worked for you. Just open to hearing and thinking about some ideas and philosophies around this subject.

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I have little to contribute here other than I hear you and understand. It took my Juno battery constantly draining to realise I actually felt more engaged and had more fun with the synth than if it had patches in memory.

I feel every synth should have a scratch bank you can save wherever and then rearrange later.

While having patches stored grouped by type you will end up overfilling or having patches you don’t know where to put.

If you use the synth live it might make sense to store patches sequentially in order if use (if not sending program changes).

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Ive only got 2 synths with patch memories.
Digitone.
Sub 37.

I save patches on the digitone very seldomly… and they disappear into the preset banks never to be used again.

I don’t bother saving patches on the moog, can’t be arsed. Make a sound, record it, move on.

All my other synths are front panel controls, no memories.

Is that useful to you? Probably not.

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Heh, this is basically how I roll.

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Scratch bank is exactly why I love P6.

I just use the first 10 preset buttons. Maybe using like 2-3 at a time for different sounds in a song but then overwriting them the next time.

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WARNING: since the original post was admittedly labeled as a “long rant”, I skimmed through it to just get the gist. My opinion is based on that gist, and it will most likely miss and misinterpret many points.

I completely get your approach of just doing things in the moment without having to consider saving and archiving. I do that all the time especially in the DAW where I just load this and that, save a DAW project, and don’t think about saving individual presets.

When it comes to using things outside of the DAW setting, i.e. the few Elektron boxes I have, I do make it a habit to save as often as possible everything that needs to be saved, because working with external gear does not give me the same level of freedom that a DAW provides to not have to think about these things. The more gear, the more tedious it gets, and that is just life, I guess.

It’s kinda like cooking. When someone is making a meal, one either has the choice to clean little by little here and there, or letting everything pile up to then have to do a massive clean up in the end.

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:beers: good points.

I do feel like it’s a problem unique to the accumulation of lots of gear and the tedium that entails.

Maybe I’m nearing the “Too much” point heh.

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I have to keep an Excel table with all my Medusa presets.

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I kind of love that. Then I can just save to the next open slot with any kind of patch but record some notes for it later.

I already have a spreadsheet for my patch bay. Works great.

Cool shit.

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I’ve only ever saved patches if they’re part of a track and I want the ability to recall. Usually just write stuff down in a small notebook with any other useful info at the time (track name >> synth patch, scale etc), easier than mucking about with organising spreadsheets etc.