Preset Deconstructions Are The Hot New Thing

I think I might be the only person doing this, which is another first, next to the weirdy BLEND and LRMIXes I offer.

Synthesiser enthusiasts flick throguh their presets to get a sense of the sonic space a synthesiser has, kind of like how an acoustic guitarist might try all the different ways of striking their instrument to see how it responds, to fretboard-tapping, or how easy it is to create singular harmonics from a string.. Presets are usually curated and selected by the synth’s sound design team to accurately represent the power of the technology, and most factory installed preset sets do exactly that.

As a self-confessed synthesiser-enthusiast, I have mixed feelings about presets - once I am used to a synth I very rarely pick a preset patch to work with; I’ll normally have a few ‘default’ patches to start from and will use one of those to base the sound on.

But initially I find the presets useful to give me an idea of someone’s idea of the potential sound palette available to us. And looking at how those presets are made (because they’re usually designed by folks who are more familiar with the workings of the synth and know how to exploit them to their sound-design advantage) can sometimes really help you understand how to use the synth.

So I’ve started a series of videos which show folks how to deconstruct and understand a preset from a few selected synths. There are A LOT of virtual synthesisers, both paid (expensive and cheap) and free so I’ll work through as many of them (the ones I own initially then I may have to work with demos/trials) before either the aliens land or the sun sprays us with powerful uncontrollable magnetic forces and wipes all digital storage.

The 2 most recent ones are for U-he’s amazing REPRO1 and REPRO5, which, if you’re a fan of analogue modelled/emulations I might suggest you take a look at; the oscillators have beef and the filters are delightfully musical.

Check it out on U-he’s website here