me! i rely on them heavily.
i do music in my spare time, which used to be limited, and these days is yet more limited than before.
so, my options are: spend it on sound design jobs or finish more tracks.
the choice is obvious.
after all, that’s what sound designers exist and work for.
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Depends on the music project.
For R&B, I overwhelmingly use presets from various keyboard workstations. Sound design is not a major aspect of the genre compared to other factors, such as vocal performance, musicianship, composition, arrangement, etc. That said, the presets are usually adjusted and EQ’ed to fix the mix.
Conversely, for Techno, it is the exact opposite and I primarily program my own sounds.
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Depends, sometimes I want to build up the sounds myself especially for the more ‘unique’ or memorable aspects of a song, totally use presets as a starting point and tweak as needed, usually prefer simple presets that I don’t need to spend too much time removing a bunch of modulation. Complex presets are great as demos of the device capabilities or ideas generators.
I have no problem with presets
809,909,606 etc are basically preset machines
Lately bass … preset
Slightly warbling pads … so derivative in many tracks it’s probably a preset in a vst
Funky drummer / amen break … basically presets and used in very lazy chopped up ways
Many fave techno / idm tracks are full of nord / Juno / Roland presets … people buy old reverbs just for certain presets ( quadraverb etc )
Those early sample cds … those sounds had been used to death before they’d been compiled onto cd …
many many electro tracks still stick to basic kraftwerk drum patterns and song structures …
I can’t remember buying preset packs but I’ve bought many sample packs.
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You know when you get a preset called Moogish, you’ve gone and bought the wrong synth.
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Presets are fine. Almost everyone on here will love a whole bunch of tunes which utilise presets. Some presets being ‘famous’ too. And then there’s the whole thing of a piano having one preset, an oboe, a saxophone etc etc
It’s complicated!
So you create presets!
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I’m more displeased at the prospect of being judged for using presets than I am with the ethical debate over the validity of using them.
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This!
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A user on here scolded someone about how they would never use sample packs, and a day later the same user was talking about a pack they recently purchased! Go figure, I guess it’s just the internet!!
I say do whatever makes you happy!!
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I suppose 
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True. I was messing around in those archive files online and the opening sound from Breathe is in one of those packs. Sure. The sound isn’t the riff and the riff is what matters. But yeah. It’s a sample off a disc, though Liam is of course a true crate digger. Mindyou, he now says he loves Tracklib so…
Gonna drop this here, from our very own @Scot_Solida, who might be induced to comment.
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PRINCE— only used presets.
I— find messing with sounds so gratifying that I almost always start from scratch.
Further research may be required, but I’m sensing the beginnings of a correlation here.
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I’ve been playing with my MC-707 over the last 3 days and I have to say, the factory presets are so made for me and full of classic sounds, that they’re virtually ready to go. It’s stuffed to the brim with sounds that just make music a joy and a doddle to make.
Similar, but much lesser so with the Maschine+, at least with the usable sounds and for me at least.
I think it’s better, at least in my case, to create the music quickly first while i’m feeling the vibe and in the moment and if I revisit the project a day or a few months later when I can listen with fresh ears, then I can fine tune or change anything that doesn’t quite sound right.
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As a hobbyist with no other skin in the game than my own pleasure in messing about with my gear, I generally don’t use presets. Some of it is just that cycling through and previewing them somehow feels depressing, but the main part of it is that I got into synths for the synthesis part, and when I do stumble onto a sound I really like on my own, I am really happy about it. I am by no means an ace sound designer.
I will sometimes use presets as a way to try to learn how different sounds can be made with a particular instrument/machine, and that can be super productive.
I have no judgment for anyone who just pulls up presets and gets in with making music though. Honestly, whatever you enjoy, do.
I think what separates electronic instruments from acoustic instruments of most stripes is that the timbre elicited from settings is central to their character, and therefore a big target of their purpose.
Synths are so fun.
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So refreshing to hear/read people are not biased in any one direction when it comes to presets (and sample packs).
About and over 5+ years ago there was definitely an elitist and defiant attitude towards presets and packs. As people have mentioned here, a lot of people DO make their own sounds but don’t shy away from a presets here and there. Also, who better to learn from than a professional sound designer. Learn from the preset and go and make your own.
Or. If you truly are a professional musician pumping out music, it’s probably better to work smarter and not harder…
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Pfft. The writer of that article doesn’t even use presets. He couldn’t possibly know what he’s talking about. Also, I’ve been told by reputable sources that his collection of 3.5" floppy disks smells of weasel musk.
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I start from INIT far more often than I should but I’ve gotten very fast at programming because of it.
It doesn’t hurt that I only really buy fast synths.
But honestly I can’t usually be bothered to save my own patches, let alone load someone else’s.
I don’t care what other people choose to do but I think most enthusiast should know the basics well enough to shape a preset to their needs. ADSR / filter shaping etc.
My relationship with presets is when I buy a new instrument that has presets I spend about 20mins scrolling through them then I delete them.
Presets serve as a means to demonstrate what the synth or drum machine can do and that’s it. Using them is absolutely cheating imo I could never write anything using presets without feeling like a complete fraud. It’s like buying a paint by numbers and filling it in and calling yourself a painter. I don’t go around trash talking someone for using them I couldn’t care less what other people do but for me it’s a 100% no.