Only two questions.

1.) How many sample packs do you have on your computer?
2.) How many of those sample packs do you actually use?

I'm kind of embarrassed to say how many I have on my machine. I'll often be inspired to bang out a track (or more likely, an extended loop that I swear I'll finish later) but in terms of my go to sample packs -- There's probably ten or so I'll immediately reach for, another twenty or so that I'll browse for inspiration.

It's pretty rare for me to actually use a synth or drum loop for anything but inspiration. I'll put them in as placeholders and then generally replace them later, but I can't for the life of me to bring myself to throw them out -- and I've got literally hundreds of the damn things.

 

There are now samples and presets just like groceries on the shelves of your supermarket. In the supermarket you only buy what you need. Imagine you buy the whole supermarket empty, where do you want to store it, when do you want to eat? It is wise to burn and archive the samples, you can also give them away or keep them for posterity. Everyone has too many samples and it tends to slow down creativity and slow down the workflow. Less is often more ... as the saying goes.

Spoiler: Sound libraries - How presets shape modern music

Sound libraries

How presets shape modern music

For many musicians it is too cumbersome to form sounds with synthesizers themselves.
They prefer to use the presets, the presets that still influence pop music to this day.

By Teresa Sickert (October 2, 2016)

The first presets were in the synthesizers of the 1970s. The sounds programmed into their devices by the manufacturers should only show which sounds are possible with the electronic instruments. Today electronic musical instruments often come with hundreds of such presets. This plays into the hands of musicians who do not feel like dealing with complicated sound shaping. For your music, you simply use the sounds that are supplied from the factory. Presets shape how pop music sounds to this day.

Mate Galic is someone who knows about it. At the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, the technical director of the software manufacturer Native Instruments (NI), who was a successful techno DJ in the nineties, spoke about the influences of presets on music.
For example, how Roland's TB-303 synthesizer played a key role in defining the sound of the Acidhouse in the eighties. "It wasn't really about doing so much sound design, it was just so minimal - you just had to abuse it a bit and then it made a new sound," says Galic. To this day, the sound of the TB-303 has a high recognition value.

One of the most famous examples of the use of ready-made sounds is the DJ Skrillex. By using presets, he shaped one thing: dubstep. For his songs Skrillex used a virtual synthesizer from NI. "In a way, we inspired him with a few presets. But he also inspired a whole generation of producers and also significantly defined a sound, even though he used presets," says Galic.

The electronic sound influenced by presets in combination with rock and pop elements made electronic music suitable for stadiums in the USA. Skrillex has received eight Grammys in the past few years. "You don't have to develop your own instruments to make great music," says Galic. "You have to choose a few instruments and learn to master them." This also applies to electronic musical instruments.

A combination of music and technology

30 years ago you still needed a lot of technical understanding to be able to work with a synthesizer. "In the eighties there were instruments like the Yamaha DX7, which were so awful to use that it just lived through the presets and produced very distinctive sounds because that was what people were working with," says Galic. Many people would therefore associate the metallic sound of the DX7 with the music of the eighties.

The example shows how closely the work of an artist is linked to the development of music technology. Without the current computers and software, Skrillex would not have its typical sound either. That is why those who create presets have a lot of influence on the recognizability of the electronic musical instruments they have equipped - and sometimes also on the sounds of a musical era. Today, real sound researchers work in the background, "who are looking for something that has never been heard before," says Galic.

Democratization of music

In any case, technology makes it easier today to produce music that at least technically sounds better than it did three years ago. Many musicians have switched to using their electronic imitations instead of real instruments. Even film scores for Hollywood productions are sometimes created on the computer.

However, technological development also has its pitfalls. The live experience with an artist who makes music with a computer is not very thrilling. It is not without reason that such musicians are decried as pushing buttons. Mate Galic believes that the development of hardware for software musical instruments will therefore gain in importance again. "Be it now things that can be touched or things in the virtual world," says Galic, because in his opinion it will not be long before music is created in virtual spaces on virtual musical instruments. Something like this would offer completely new possibilities for the live presentation - and completely new difficulties.

Translated from German into English:
www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/presets-so-praegen-digitale-vorhaben-die-musik-a-1114112.html

 

Of course, everything has (at least) two sides.
For some, the constant use of presets and sample libraries is a democratization of music.
The others say that it leads to the fact that the musicians have less and less actual skill and in the end rather computer skills decide what emerges as a result.
Music today is in many cases more a "constructed" thing. Therefore the music business is determined more by technicians (music designers) than by artists (musicians). In the end, therefore, these music construction guys can be relatively easily replaced by computers and AI.
Artists, on the other hand, are much harder to replace than designers.

But who cares. People buy what they like. Wether created by a musician, a designer or by an AI

0 and 0 almost. But am using virtual instruments and presets whats quite the same

 

I currently banned all 3rd party samples to my backup drive and rather create my own samples, that way I know each sampler 100%

 

Do things like Addictive Drums count?
If so, than seven. Used all of them at one point or another, usually 2 per project.
Tried synthesizing drums from scratch, but layering samples gives more natural result faster.
Other than drums, I have no samples.

Edit: I forgot Ting, which I used once to date, a few Ujam things I haven't gotten to use yet and that Algonaut Atlas also have a sample pack with it. So that makes 12, 8 of them I used.

 

Last edited: Aug 27, 2021

How many: how much i can get with minimal effort
How many do you use: they get used here there

 

year 2000 all those cracked dx great memories.

 

1) Not too many.

2) I keep what I use.

3) I love doing my own samples. Just like I've always been doing since the 90s. You know, that way you kinda create your own sound and sound a bit more original.

 

I have a bunch of them, I haven't used them all but I always use something new, eventually I end up deleting what I don't like. I do the same thing with plugins. Having too much isn't that much of a problem if you have the patience and determination to have fun checking on each and every bit of the stuff that you downloaded, keeping what you like and simply deleting what you don't like. It can turn into a mess or purely hoarding, that's why sometimes keeping it simple might be the best option to some.