Timeless Presets

[DSPaudio]

File under audio esoterica,

I'm curious what your favorite synth & sampler presets are? Are there any timeless sounds included by manufacturers that you can't live without?

First ones to come to my mind:

VL1 - Waterphone
Alpha Juno 2 / Hoover
Clavinet? does this count?
JP8000 - Supersaw

I'm asking because I'm interested in doing analysis of popular sounds to look for shared attributes which can be used to automatically generate timeless presets.

[chrisso]

I think they all go out of fashion sooner or later unfortunately.

[Dirty Halo]

Piano - Pretty timeless, that one


-Andrews

[DSPaudio]

And yet, recurring fashionable sounds from the CZ-101, Alpha Juno 2 and 303 share characteristics when you analyze them. I'm interested in profiling what makes a good sound or effect. Think of it as meta-modeling.

There is an intentional irony to the threads title, however some presets survive time and re-appear in new contexts suggesting there is innately more value to that sound within the context of human auditory perception.

Space age phrenology.

[rachel]

Voice Ahhh! from the Kawai K1
Rhodes on the DX7


rachel

[OurDarkness]

Originally Posted by DSPaudio

I'm interested in profiling what makes a good sound or effect. Think of it as meta-modeling.

Anthonny,

since you are in DSPaudio you might know that there is a book called CSound: Perspectives in Software Synthesis, Sound Design, Signal Processing and Programming. In one of each chapters, the term "Acoustic Viability" comes up - it's a term I use a lot. What it basically means is that "good" sounds are *generally" speaking the ones that emulate (to some extent of course) the behavior of acoustic instruments. This of course comes to direct antithesis with what John Cage said about the fact that "any sounds can be acceptes for the simple reason that they are sounds" but I am sure you were referring to the first category.

Preset-wise and even more importantly timbre-wise, you will find that many sounds became victims of their own success. The TB-303 comes to mind here with *that* acid sound, maybe the JP-8000 with the super-saw (responsible for thousands of trance patches) and perhaps even the Minimoog. Especially for the TB-303, I think it's almost cliche to listen to *that* sound again. But of course, this is only my opinion.

Regards.
Yannis

[pr0gr4m]

Soundtrack - D-50 - and every other synth since
Shakuhachi - I have no idea what it's from. Maybe it was a sample and not a patch. It's that fluty sound from Enigma's first album and countless others.
MiniMoog - Not the one from an actual moog though. Seems like every synth on the planet tries to come up with their own version of the minimoog bass sound. Does that count?

EDIT: DOH! OurDarkness already mentioned the Mini.

OH...I just thought of ones that were for a time on many different synths...Helicopter and Jet. When I was first getting into synths, if one didn't have a helicopter/chopper sound or a jet fly-by I thought it was crap and I would compare them to determine which synth was better. I've still never used either of those sounds in anything.

[Arpnutt]

Fretless bass sound in the Korg M1. I used that for everything.

[rhythmtech]

korg m1 piano. add a filter and its instant 90's techno.

[DSPaudio]

Reflecting on these as successful primitives is really interesting. Thanks for all the preset recommendations so far. This list will keep me busy.

[Silver Sonya]

Timeless presets.

- c

[Mr. Varaldo]

I haven't updated in a while, but I keep a page on that topic at my site:

Famous Sounds

many of them are actual presets from synths, many others are "produced" sounds...

My all-time favorite is "Staccato Heaven" from the Roland D-50.

-

[thehuman]

Originally Posted by Silver Sonya

Timeless presets.

- c

That's exactly what I was thinking.

How about Lately Bass, from the TX81z?

[Popbott]

Orchestra hit from the Korg O1W-FD, used countless times!

[Popbott]

"Soundtrack" preset from the Roland JX-8P, classic!!!

[Karloff70]

Solid Bass - DX 4-op
M1 organ
.....at one time many moons ago Casio organ

[*iIIiCit*]

Hi!

Korg Legacy Collection: "AWAKENING SIGN"

thx!

[Milesy303]

No mention of the Access Virus? The Virus B was big to late 90s trance! Listen to anything by Ferry Corsten and the likes.

[rasp]

CommerseSV on the Access Virus C.