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the big synths ... the little time
Hi my many friends.
Like many of you, i've gotten most of the 'big' synths. I'm finding myself stretched thin time-wise. Wondering who is in my boat? Do you go about running from one synth to the next? Do you write a tune solely in one app? Do you try and specialize and ignore all the others?
Feels like decision time for me. I've let the manic phase go and now the panic phase has set in. Feels like I need to get down to business and I'm trying to decide how best to do that. Commiserate?
Comments
Synths are overrated. If you really want to actually accomplish something (i.e., simply finish an entire production), the most important thing is a frictionless, consistent, stable, efficient working environment where all necessary functionality (sounds, composition, arrangement, effects etc.) is readily available and works
And when you've found that environment, you stick to it, learn all its ins and outs so that you can maximize your efficiency.
Music production is essentially the same as accounting, surfing, or any other kind of job: the more practice and the more efficiency, the better the outcome
Been there many times. My process at the moment is to:
The idea is to consolidate the time I take to find and use material. Consolidate the time I’m spending learning features in apps.
Limit my utility apps to only those I really need. We all tend to collect a high range of apps that help us do things, but the over abundance of choice is stifling, so some will have to go.
Limit my beat making, beat chopping, loop making, midi creating apps to only those that I use often. As above all the choices are not always an advantage. It’s tough, but some have to go.
After all the above is done, I’m going to go through my samples and steadily cut down some of it to make finding stuff easier. I have lots of vocal samples from certain apps that I know I will never use, so a sample trimming is in order.
Making a good aground set of starting templates. This should help me in obvious ways, but is just time consuming to begin with.
Figure out how best to back everything up and organise from the beginning.
The hard part - I then need to stick with these options and only add any more if a real need is found. Also I should be buying less.
Forgot to add:
Cut down the amount of sound sources / synths used. Learn to program and use them as I used to with my hardware synths.
Moog Model D, IceGear Laplace, Ruismaker Classic and BM3 Sampler do everything I need
And herein the congregation murmured, "AMEN".
I tend to dive into new apps, explore them, and then write new tracks with them. The excitement of the new shiny. We've been through a few months of a really good phase for new apps which probably accounts for my not getting much done - but when it's quieter release-wise I tend to revisit the old favourites and knuckle down with some proper work.
Thanks you all for your comments. For me, I have never had this many choices. Never was able to afford hardware, except for one do all rompler type synth. Now, I'm tripping over my options. I love it but as @Fruitbat1919 says it can be stifling.
In a way, I guess it's a good thing that AUv3 midi isn't implemented in NS2 yet as i'd be tempted to throw everything in that app and just prolong my lack of getting anything done. I guess for me, the thing to do is just stick to NS2 and not use anything else. The synth in there seems to be a herculean thing.
In a way I know what I need to do and what needs to be done but all of this wonderful stuff (on ios) just cries out to me to be played with. But, my time is finite, like all of us, and that reality needs to sink in.
I’m with you. I’m hoping there’s a solution that doesn’t involve giving up on exploring uncharted sound machines, but instead, planning ahead to make the results of exploration time more useful.
My current strategy (still don’t know if I’ll pull it off - don’t have enough time for music these days) is to think about my time exploring synths by taking cues from producers who dedicate a big part of their weekly music making time to organizing/maintaining their sample library. (Eg:
)
One simple approach would be to aim to come up with samples we will use whenever we dedicate time to exploring a synth. (That way even when I don’t know a synth inside out, I can aim to get usable material from a noodling session. Heck, with good judgment and a mic, people can get useful samples out of instruments they don’t know how to play. I find this short talk about that topic inspiring: https://www.afrodjmac.com/podcast/2018/11/10/85-finding-your-sound-a-short-talk-at-loop )
I’m thinking (hoping?) a similar goal can be achieved without taking the shortcut of replacing synths with the samples I might get out of them: For myself, I need to invest time into planning ahead to make the results of sound design time more useful and easily accessible during music making time.
I do like NS2s preset selector idea, but in reality it does really work as it would need all AU devs to support this idea
Taking the actual device out of the equation would be lovely for preset users, but I don’t think iOS is at that stage yet
I like the idea of limiting one’s choices. That way, you develop a sound of your own and don’t just make everything wildly different.
As someone who’s just come into iOS music making I gorged on Black Friday til I almost puked! Then there was the slight guilt of having done that, then the realisation I had it all to learn!! I’m a trumpet player looking to write my own tunes to solo over. Limiting myself to one synth to learn it, and synthesis in general. Use GB and NS2 with various effects to record into. Given myself a deadline of 6 months to get some finished tunes on Bandcamp. See you!
Good luck! Look forward to hearing your completed tunes.
I had the same feeling as OP, but found that if I split up my music making into various tasks (roughly: noodling, sketching, composing, recording & adding details, mixing, mastering) it really helped me focus on things. This means I am more interested in a few good flexible tools today than I was a couple of years ago, when I basically accumulated "everything" and ended up being confused on where to turn, or where to start.
As much as I like noodling about in a new synth, which quite often generates embryos/fragments of ideas/riffs, I am thinking no particular sound/preset should be more important than a good/decent tune structure, to make a tune interesting (for me to listen to, which is my main goal). When I have gotten the structure right I ideally can export midi/wav to wherever I'd like to take it further to a full tune, but perhaps with instruments that are intended to be swapped out for "the real thing". Gadget/Cubasis/Auria stock instruments are often really handy for representing where I'd like it to go, but the actual sounds are quite likely to be swapped out for my fave synths/instruments later.
Also it helped me quite a bit to cut down on the amount of synths I keep around (by wiping my iPad and re-installing as I go) by picking what I consider to be the best-of-breed when it comes to the various types of synths. This, to me, means I can be more focused on what synths I learn, and what to adjust (in all actuality I'm more of a synth preset player than I am a well-skilled synth programmer), but keeping only 2-3 subtractive synths (right, I know that's more than 1, but some are sooo good), 1 FM, 1 granular etc makes the overall sound between songs somewhat more likely to not differ too wildly from song to song (as I still, in an old-fashioned way, think of 8-12 songs as an "album").
whilst, i get that you put the winky face after that last sentence.. I would have to strongly disagree.. of course, you definitely DON’T want the working environment to get in yr way and everything you say about ‘frictionless’ is correct ( but possibly ambitiously idealistic unless we all have an individual developer building personalised software for us )
.. then perhaps there is some crossover.
but music isn’t accountancy .. unless you mean ‘creative accountancy’
music comes from other places.. enthusiasms for other peoples music, mathematical theories being tried out on a whim, desire to transcend the shitty earthly world, desire to see some lithe legged ladies leaping, the urge to better or diametrically oppose your own last creation, the urge to better or diametrically oppose someone elses creation, making something catchy to attach some proto-agitprop lyrics to - so the slogan spreads to a wider audience, desire to capture a fleeting improvised moment or mood on to tape, disastrously ambitious progressive convoluted constructs from samples of the worst music known to man to somehow mitigate that ‘other’ musics existence, etc etc
and as such.. it needs a mood, a feeling, a question or a burning desire to hear something not heard yet..
i don’t believe people should be making music ‘just because they can’ , or at least if they are then maybe they should think twice before they foist it on the world..
a lot of music i have heard sounds like it is coming from exactly this attitude.. thats not strictly a thing of today... though, of course, technology means much more of ‘that kind of thing’
but I would like to see a little bit more of the ‘ think before you speak ‘ kind of attitude..
I want to hear music that is made as if the audience already had access to all the other amazing AND totally duff music ever made , oh wait! they already do!!
No excuse then, is there, really?
Sure, now you buy Ableton learn a comprehensive music system and then actually start to make music. Welcome to phase 2!
Yes, about a year ago I thought “I’ve got most of what I need, I really need to learn use what I have got rather than buying new stuff”. So my purchasing has been much more controlled this year - but I’m not sure I’ve been that productive in terms of new songs.
Buy a DAW that suits your work flow and personality and get really good at using it. Buy less, be focused and produce more. You don’t need a ton of apps to be able produce.
I use one groovebox app per track. Keep it simple. Electribe Wave has given me lots of fun and music and I’ll probably use that until something more efficient comes along. You may think this is not “serious” production. I assure you I have been making music for many years and know exactly what I’m doing.
I think if I had the chops (IF) I could make a serious production with anything. I admire your discipline.
I very much enjoy a new synth. I try to make some presets to explore what any unique parameter or feature does.
Make presets as I go, not thinking so much what exactly I'll use them for, simply...that's a cool sound.
That's a lot better for me personally than listening to the factory presets. Not that they tend to be bad necessarily, but they 1) aren't what I hear in MY little head 2) aren't named things that I'll remember.
Once I have those, I get to the more directly productive side of things, like @SevenSystems suggests. There, i.e. faced with a new song in my head, I tend to find the right sounds among my presets like 75% of the time, perhaps with a tiny bit of tweaking.
My thought process is like: I need a ...chorusy bass with fast decay. My presets are often named things that let me find those real easily...like Bass-betsy w/ da badonkadonk, Bass-Catfish Cathy...ya know...so I can easily find the right one.
I'll spend months on just one synth. It's gotta get to the point where I can use it without thinking and in the case of something like PPG Infinite, that takes a long fukin time!
a wise approach is to focus less on productivity and more on pleasure and fun unless you are in fact making a living off your music (assume a lot of us here are not) theres no point in getting down on yourself for not making enough tracks or patches etc. enjoy it.
i personally buy lots of apps because a) i enjoy new processes b) each synth i buy provides a different set of limitations to make me creative in different ways c) i love supporting our developers and d) im very curious to see where this platform can go.
if this here hobby became a job id not be doing it. ive done commercial music and i play live semi frequently but i do it on my own watch when im comfortable doing it and i got to that point by not thinking too much about it and not getting annoyed at myself for not being productive enough. let it flow, it will come.
This is the curse of so many (but not all) of us! Distracted by too many apps, all of which you “gotta have” because they all sound amazeballs and cost peanuts. And then you’re like the stunned rabbit in the headlights “er where do I start?”. I am as guilty as anyone here (curse that damn Black Friday!)
Maybe spend 45 mins with each and pick the one (maybe two) that makes most sense and sounds best to you. Delete the others (extreme times=extreme measures) and start making music. Your motivation to create will determine the rest. Reinstall other synths later on once you’ve proven you can make music
I would even suggest don’t try and learn to program the synths if you can’t already - that’s a rabbit hole that will eat up your time and there are so many good patches that can just be tweaked. You can learn that later once you’ve made some music!
Good luck (to us all)!
"a wise approach is to focus less on productivity and more on pleasure and fun unless you are in fact making a living off your music (assume a lot of us here are not) theres no point in getting down on yourself for not making enough tracks or patches etc. enjoy it."
This is absolutely great advice. Thanks for that @sysexual .
I think I would be fine with 7 apps: Cubasis, iSymphonic, Beathawk, RC275, SynthmasterPlayer, IFretless Bass and Brass.
Of course, I am not a Synth or a Tariff Man. But if I did need another synth there are an awful lot to choose from! If I added Thor or SM1 I would be over the top (for me!). TBH I am now using the pianos and bass from Kawai's MP11se, but that is just a bonus and all ios would still work fine for me.
And one more... Kleverb!
Oh, and delete Instagram too
😂😂
Yo what's your ig
It is possible that the same sonic territory is being covered many times over, and the nuances are not as important as hopeful buyers might hope. What is left to buy? Unique sounding instruments, or nothing.
as a nearly full time procrastinator (with a busy life) i hear you guys. the tweaking and learning can become overwhelming.
i seem to work in cycles.. so i’ll be in either a learning wave (theory, practice, engineering), that is about regular 1h daily discipline. Or in the shorter making break phase, a time limit sprint to create, i.e. a long all consuming weekend.. At that point. It’s ok if it’s shite, because shite is better than nothing. And i’m having fun, so who cares.
one cool strategy is to do a 3h challenge when one first opens a new app. i.e. finish a full tune and say done... it’s amazing how fast one can progress, if it’s ok to make mistakes and learn from them. artists finish work.
@Fruitbat1919 : Auria Pro, I get it. The Fab Filter . But what does Cubasis do for you that NS2 doesn’t ?