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Dealing with Patches (Creating, Choosing, Managing...)
How do you all deal with patches, either your own or factory presets?
(Much of the same can be asked about samples and loops...)
Based on some other threads, it does sound that we all have a lot of synths with a lot of patches, whether we do the sound design or rely on others’ work. But iOS doesn’t make it very easy to deal with those.
If you create your own stuff, how do you go about that? Do you stick to a single synth that you’ve truly mastered? Do you begin with the character you want the sound to have or do you play with knobs until you hit something you like?
And if you use presets (nothing wrong with that, IMHO), how do you test them? For instance, do you play it live or do you use the same MIDI loop with all of them?
Then, how do you organize all of these things? Do you have AudioShare folders dedicated to “demos” for all those sounds? Do you rename them?
Part of my interest is academic, actually. But it’s also an issue in my own use of iOS apps, which is why it’d be so neat to have some kind of system to deal with patches.
Any insight you can share would be useful.
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Alex
Comments
When I'm creating a song (these days, all but surely in Gadget), I just fumble around testing different presets, and as soon as I find one that sounds good, I go "yeah, that works," and I lay something down with it. As I keep working within the song, I may go back and tweak the preset, I may end up doing some major surgery on it, or I may even end up switching it out altogether if I don't think it's working as well as I did when I first picked it.
As far as organization, I never bother. I keep track of nothing. New song, time to fumble around again. I have a pretty good memory, so sometimes I sorta know where to start looking, but as often as not it's pure serendipity that determines which preset I go with.
Managing user patches in iOS is a constant struggle for me. I have hundreds of AUM parallel effects processing patches and no means of categorising or sorting them. My Samplr patches are also hard to keep track of. Generally I save a lot of stuff, but it is so difficult to remember and return to a lot of the patches/setups because each app is different and there is no universal foolproof procedure for saving and recreating stuff. AUM is close because I can at least make per channel in app notes re settings etc... but there is still far too much faff involved. Even in AUM saved patches don't always load as expected.
There is definitely room for improvement on iOS for improved patch saving. I like the tag system in the Poseidon app as it allows you to easily filter presets based upon several real world criteria. It would be very nice to have a way to create a tag system on a more systemwide level where you could select presets from a number of apps rather than being limited to a single app. Now that Apple has purchased the Workflow app, perhaps they'll build more functionality to facilitate automation of this sort of system level multi app organization rather than continue to be boxed in by each app being a sand boxed island unto itself.
All too often I'm left to rely upon consistent naming schemes using prefixes and numbers. At least with some apps like AudioShare and Beathawk there is a folder system but I definitely prefer a tag system as it can be used to organize and retrieve items based upon multiple factors whereas folders are basically one dimensional.
I make sure I save my custom patches on the user banks and make sure iCloud is enabled so they get backed up. If there's a choice to back them up to drop box then I do that too. I really wish there was a standard for all devs to follow for patch backing up. I would say use AudioShare or Dropbox. I think Dropbox would make more sense as its online .
We are replicant brothers in action (apart from my memory being shot, which is a bit of a drawback).
That sure explains a lot. The replicant part.
Deckard: You're reading a magazine. You come across a full-page nude photo of a girl.
Rachael: Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?
Not really a drawback as far as songcrafting. At least, that's my two cents. Long as you manage to get yerself out of the way and let the song become what it wants to, more likely than not you end up with something worth listening to.
Creating patches for most synths I find easy, but there are the odd few that turn my brain to mush (looking at you Model 15
).
Saving patches is just down to how well it's implemented in each app. Some are pretty decent. Some are decent for single sounds or folders of sounds, but not both. Some are designed by the devil, use iTunes or both! The apps with decent save mechanics, I'm more likely to make sounds for.
Making, saving and storing loops, is again pretty much dependent on how well the app is designed. iOS as a whole though is not helpful with storage and movement of files between system and multiple apps. Yes it's in the sandbox nature of iOS, but very little thought has been given to the creative person who generally will use and manipulate lots of files. iOS is designed primarily as a consumption device with little thought given to the needs of long term storage. Even device backup is not really well represented by iOS in my opinion.
Logistics aside, I make lots of material on my iPad. Be it sounds for synths, snippets of recorded sounds, loops or full stems. I will address a few of my thoughts on each of these:
Synths Presets:
I try to make these in bulk sessions. I make them usually as I have specific desires for my sounds that are not always fulfilled by the apps own presets.
Where some prefer to craft sounds within a song, I prefer making sounds on their own. The benefit of this is more love is poured into each sound - they can exist as their own thing! The downside, is that when used in a mix, sounds often need some further tweaking or even major surgery with an EQ scalpel
Thing is to find your own way with each app. Find the apps that you enjoy to program your own sounds on, and they will become much more to you than just cheap (relatively) pieces of code.
One thing to be aware of when creating presets in some apps, is what they will be played on. Some apps have very expressive on screen keyboards (or other input devices) that do not directly translate to what you will get from a standard midi'd hardware keybeds.
Loops and Stems:
The rest of the problems are mostly iOS related and probably been moaned about on here a hundred times or more 
Storage and movement of these is a pain on iOS. One good thing is we are finally convincing devs that not everyone has constant access to a laptop and hence we are finally seeing iTunes export being given the finger it deserves. If you're a dev that still gives us just iTunes export, go f*** yourself
Making loops or stems is just a matter of finding one or more of the hundreds of fantastic cheap as chips apps on iOS to create and manipulate to your hearts desire. iOS truly has a lot of creative apps out there and I believe we have only just seen the tip of the iceberg. On a personal note, I would like to see devs move away from many people's shouts for 'computer like' experiences and more towards the esoteric apps that truly shine on a touch device. I don't think we've even begun to imagine how we will be able to bend sound by touch yet. X-Y pads? Get a grip
One thing I will mention here, is that iOS and touch screen music making has been very beneficial to myself and my own limitations of age and illness. I would however like to see Apple to work on ease of use further. I would love better and easier communication between iOS devices and external storage mediums. I've forever longed for a multiple iPad setup and I do see things like Link and certain hardware accommodating that more. Some way to go though in these hopefully early days of iOS music making - to the future (raises glass)
I go through each preset and amend its name with a 01 or 02 word tag that I know.
I use that as the control for future preset banks/patches.
It takes time more than anything and patience.
Thanks for the insight, @Fruitbat1919!
Will refrain from going through all of it (will need to go back to teaching in a minute). Sounds like you’ve given this a fair amount of thought.
And there might be an opportunity, here, for some devs to create some kind of solution to the problems we face (and a way to enhance our work). Apple itself could/should help. Though media consumption dominates iOS, there’s a lot of potential for this kind of elaborate work.
@JohnnyGoodyear said:
i agree with this philosophy