The first beginner tutorial video I watched used Vengeance samples. I acquired Vengeance, so I could follow along. The second tutorial used Omnisphere. And so forth. From then on I obsessively started collecting vsts.

It actually took me a while to realize that Ableton Live has almost everything I needed to, at least, begin.

I have finally whittled my huge collection to only 3: Omnisphere, Hypersonic 2 and Falcon. It is strange to me that I like Falcon because I have zero interest in sound design. Omnisphere gives me more usable presets, though. Hypersonic 2 adequately serves my purpose.
I am now making tunes.

 

Last edited: Dec 3, 2023

Problem is that people want to skip everything and release a track on day 1, than they go for exactly that, how to sound like something and guy just explain them how to replicate what he did there on most platonic level. So it's constant shortcut chase until they end up spending fortune trying to patch their initial mistake, instead of learning how to do something and go through learning paces, one would rather buy another plugin and search for magic preset shortcut, some folks even end up with bunch of hardware thinking that is the silver bullet. Than you have someone in untreated room with mediocre listening experience and small fortune in expensive toys, plugins and over spec'd computer, opening threads to see which nth iteration of tool he can't even properly hear or use is the best and etc, wondering what he should buy next to get close to sounding as someone who can actually hear what he is doing and can apply his knowledge using any tool that he have on disposal.

I'm amazed every day when amateur project studios with fortune in gear pop up in my news feeds and guy invested 0 bucks in treatment, have cheapest monitoring chain and speakers just placed somewhere between 3/4 big screens, some ultra over spec'd RGB gaming computer, his chair is more expensive than his whole listening chain including audio interface, monitors and room.

 

no one said it was an easy road, there's temptation round every corner to slack off and there's always another dazzling
plugin promising to do everything from shine the edges to explode your sound to the bounds of infinity. But really it comes down
to a good composition, well recorded (or sampled, or sequenced if thats your thing) and a balanced mix, and thats down to the best plugin we've got, the one between your ears...

I feel your pain, i have more gb of samples and vst and programs, than i do of recordings and finished projects, my lifes goal is to flip those numbers around....

 

A music producer need someone that installs and updates his studio, if not you are half handed. Is good to know the tools, and this requires time to learn, and compare. Then finally find your workflow, with pacience.

 

Good to hear.

In general what makes it or breaks it is managing to grasp the most basic song structure, and that can be achieve with practice, persistence, focus and a cheap iphone app.

All the rest can be learned in a fraction of the time.

Anything else imho is just waste of your life im afraid. But most of us need to go all the way around to realize that same simple fact. Some do it sooner, some do it later

 

Last edited: Dec 7, 2023

This is really it. When listening to amateur demos, the main issue for almost every track is the song structure is really poor. (My own stuff too.)

Sometimes the producer can't figure out how to develop an idea so will throw in a new entirely different one, then do it again. So you end up listening to what sounds like three different songs in three minutes. Other times the track can't hold the listener's attention, it just wanders pointlessly. Or maybe the producer likes a sound so uses it again and again, until it becomes overkill and annoying.

All the plugins in the world, all the hardware processing, all the hardware synths - none of that is going to fix structural issues. But everyone spends so much time (me too again) reading about plugins, downloading them, trying them out, and learning them when that time would be better spent on actually working on the craft.

Having wasted so much time and money on plugins and gear, if I was to start over, I'd just stick with stock ableton, serum, and a valhalla reverb and keep on making tracks just with that until I learned the art of making a coherent song. Everything else is a distraction.

It's a cliche, but the most valuable piece of gear in the studio is you. That's what you want to upgrade - develop knowledge, develop taste. When you've come to a roadblock in your track and aren't sure how to progress it, you immediately can think of ten different things you could try. That's what you learn through your own experience, watching tutorials, and studying professional tracks. You've got to put in the time. That's work and it's not really as fun as trying out new plugins.

 

Good apreciation, please sister site, stop uploading some amazing new stuff everyday!!!

 

I think you all need more discipline

 

I was going to make music too but ended up just collecting vsts. This time i just downloaded every single one of them and iam almost done categorizing them on a streamdeck xl. When thats done , i have no excuses left.

This project has taken me 3 months already

 

Only 3-months? I've been at it since 2011 with no end in sight. LOL

 

I’m still firing with the addiction of plug-ins. That’s why you see a lots new developers making new plug-ins very often. They know most of the people believe that are the plug-ins that make you sound professional. Maybe a little bit off topic. That’s why many people are professional teaching how to produce music in YouTube, but you never listen their music.

 

There is absolutely no point in hoarding VST beyond getting some basic stuff (1-2 instances for each existing type of plugin) before you get your education. You can learn by yourself, sure, but one really needs to know how to listen. Until that - it's just like collecting some stuff you never actually loved just for the sake of collecting. 12yo behaviour

Cheers

 

Yeah, I left history enabled on You Tube and than algorithm started recommending me plethora of those, seems like people who spent more than 2 years making music are now tutors for the folks who want to become producers in 2 weeks, just get their course, sample pack, whatever and release music tomorrow. Yawn...

Instagram is even worst, bunch of unknowns shilling plugins and some production hacks, thinking they got bigger chances to get signed if they have following...

 

Last edited: Dec 6, 2023

I was there too. Then I stopped collecting to focus on composing, finishing and producing my own songs. Released almost a hundred in the last ten years. Big mistake - the world is full of shit already: too much noise, data overload, signs, sounds, too much of everything - better go back to collect and test plugins (it was funnier, much funnier). I just need a bigger hard disk. Now, I am a happy addict. Fuck the wannabe artist/producer inside of me: plugin overload - that is my goal!!

 

Don't forget MIDI Wizard and Drum Monkey, that's all you need. /s

OK, hear me out... I find it hypocritical that one disparages "VST collecting" as a whole, because they can't handle more than 1-3 plugins, but feel perfectly fine in rejecting sound design while using Omnisphere. If that were true for everyone, the contestants of the KvR OneSynthChallenge would not exist.

Especially choosing such overwhelmingly advanced plugins when you have no interest in actually taking advantage. Why? Takes too much time or effort? Personally, the mindset that everyone should just churn out low effort tunes with regularity, strictly using popular "do it all for you" plugins where you got a sound in just a few clicks, is unhealthy. It implies that you make music for others (and fame) and not yourself (or for your own growth). Only a lucky view even get significant listeners, so it's a disservice to yourself if you're merely trying to impress a barren audience. I would much rather collect VST plugins, as it doesn't stop me from making tunes, it enriches me, surprises me, inspires me and challenges me. In fact, many people who partake in the OneSynthChallenge, end up more productive and well-rounded as composers/producers.

In the chiptune world, BattleOfTheBits serves a similar purpose, where participants are encouraged to make music according to specific themes on specific (retro) hardware. And some of them reach virtuoso-composer-level with that level of practice and discipline. And I can't help but doubt someone who relies on Omnisphere tutorials would be talented enough to do well with such limited tools, plain square waves, etc.

I do agree, some people with a "warehouse full of synths" might find themselves less interested in the actual composition and sound design process, and more preoccupied with building their collection further, organizing it, dusting it off, etc. But it's wrong to assume that this is the majority, or that having a large amount of plugins is inherently wrong. I'm glad I have a very wide palette of instruments available to me. I can make a song with one different plugin each day, and never get bored, with guaranteed interesting results. I would feel my music to be quite sterile if all my projects just used Omnisphere, Nexus and Falcon.

 

Last edited: Dec 6, 2023

Yeah.

 

I have been doing this on and off for 15 years but now ill do this properly and the plugins i collected 15 years ago are useless :D

 

Whatever works for one, strict minimalism or hoarding are extremes, there's middle ground just between them, just use whatever you need to not feel limited, but still productive, being limited for sake of minimalism is lost cause or having too many options where you can't even focus on anything.

At one point one should sit down with his tools and give them proper whirl, getting more familiar with them, something you know how to use becomes weapon of choice. There's interesting thread on GS where Serban Ghenea's assistant really goes in good length about whole that issue, while others are more interested to hear what particular plugins they use, they use plugins they know the best and rely on them, spend time experimenting and trying stuff out, putting many hours and effort in solving problems with them, while having same kind of setup for years, same speakers, same plugins, but still they demo plugins and try stuff out, but when is time to go after something, they bring their weapons out and get the job done.

How many times instead of just using damn tool on the go, one end up demo-ing every single tool on the spot, than lose the drive and focus. Not every chance is plugin demo-ing chance, not every project is for experimenting with everything, but in same way, not every project is do it the same way like before, it takes quite a lot of discipline to really overcome going into extremes.

How to learn tools if I don't use them, probably someone is thinking, that's the thing, that's why you need time and dedication, that's why this all take years and than you realize you don't know anything still, it's not game, it's constant development. If you don't use tool to solve problem, than how would you know... if you start demo-ing tools to solve problem, you are going to get stuck on that... it's hard, especially if you are wearing all the hats, it will take years for you to develop in all areas.

One synth challenge is great thing really, making music in front of people too, that's even better, even less time for messing around, than you realize how much skill you really have and how valuable is to actually know the stuff you rely on.

One should try everything, we all go through phases, from minimalism to hoarding and everything in between, it's good to hit restart on everything when you got too comfortable and bored with it, one should try everything, being productive, than try to really be detailed and put much more effort into something, all that is good, change is good sometimes, having good habits and go to tools too. One should find balance.

Some habits are worth keeping, some are worth challenging, it's personal journey, sometimes little frustration gives great result, sometimes having fun, sometimes experimenting, sometimes using trusty thing, whatever is needed in that moment of journey, sometimes not making music is best thing one can do and than back to it with fresh ears and passion.

If you are into trying plugins and experimenting, than you should do that, world doesn't need your music, but you need your peace of mind, do whatever you feel like doing, but still be real with yourself, if you are compensating and trying to solve some problem making more problems, than you have problem and try to overcome it. If the sole reason you are hoarding different instruments is your lack of synth programming skills, maybe patch that. If your reason for getting fortune in mixing plugins is trying to compensate for having mediocre listening experience or skills, maybe try to solve that before investing into anything else.

Just try to be real with yourself, challenge your excuses sometimes, especially those "If I only had this... I would...", there a way, if you think proper studio is stopping you from actually using your knowledge and ears, book few hours in some studio and eliminate that from equation, go tweak real LA2A, sit in front of wall of sound speakers, just challenge that excuse you have. Maybe you will realize that you indeed need better room to work in, better speakers, better tools, just don't compensate without actually testing your convictions.

if someone in similar position like yours can make it work for him, than it's possible, use that as inspiration. Also, not everyone does everything, so don't be that hard on yourself, don't feel bad if you fail matching something someone did with help of whole team and in much better conditions, better connection and everything, don't be too hard on yourself comparing yourself to something like that.

Find that balance between euphoria and depression, have fun on the way, put little sweat from time to time, be real to yourself, if you put low effort and lot of fun, you can't expect wonders, but you can't expect wonders if you put the time, but you need to put years more, take step back sometimes and realize what you have accomplished and what you still lack, be happy with your accomplishment and don't be too sad with your shortcomings.

it's good day today and you are doing something amazing with your time, love is sacrifice, but it feels divine.

 

I came here with the sole purpose of illegally downloading software. I inadvertently ended up making music, much to my chagrin.

 

Everyone is an expert and nobody is an expert.
It comes down to what the composer/producer envisions as the end product.
Just because someone has a grammy award means nothing. The person who gives the result intended is the expert - at that point in time ONLY.
Ask people in the know if you intend to do it yourself.
On here, one of the smartest people I know both technically and knowledgeably with mixing, plugins and 'how-to's" on here is @No Avenger

He's a moderator and like all of us, also has a life and a job. So prepare your questions because he's a good guy and will answer them, and also correct any misconceptions honestly without BIAS. The latter is why he is the right person to ask.