Quote Originally Posted by danielmarshall
Don't be afraid to use presets. They're really useful in fleshing out a skeleton for your track before refining the patch to suite your exact need. If you limit yourself to resynthesizing every patch every time you'll find that you forget where you were going with the idea for the track. I sometimes also like to just chuck any old random patch into a tune and mash the keyboard to experiment. It's usually not exactly what I want, but it gives me ideas if I'm stuck for inspiration.
thats ok if you find a preset that fits the bill, i often know the sound i'm after... just knowing the ins & outs of getting it, I have played with soft synths before, and i do like the fact that there is often endless presets, which is handie if it inspires a track, or helps to pad out a part which is lacking.
I know once i get into the whole thing i'll be ok, but whilst i don't get progress with my sounds, i don't get excited by switching on a synth lol.

Like you say about resynthesizing, you can lose track on where your going with an idea, but if you don't have a suitable preset, or able to program the sound you like, then it's still stalemate.

I've had a quick look at the online book that was recommended, and it look's an ideal basis for me to work from... think i will try the soft synth idea, see what comes from that, more presets than my hardware i guess lol

Cheers