Can someone explain patches to me?

[Big 3rd]

I've been reading about patches lately and I have a feeling like I understand what they do, but I don't think I understand how they are installed.

So far, I know it's adding more sounds to an existing piece but how and what are the limitations?

Are you adding more sounds to your keyboard? If so, how are you doing it? I have the original motif. Is there a way to add the additional sounds that the ES have to my keyboard? What about sounds from other manufactures...like roland and korg? Because as of now, all I use my motif for is for sounds and controlling.

Just give me the entire rundown.

Please.

[beat you down]

Patch (synthesizer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glossary of electrical terms for the sound engineer

[Big 3rd]

Originally Posted by beat you down

Patch (synthesizer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glossary of electrical terms for the sound engineer

Damn dude, are you really trying to insult me or what?

[tomdarude]

you asked a question an the guy posted 2 links that "exactly" answer your question!

why is that insulting??

cheers tom

[beat you down]

just trying to help by answering your question.
the insult is all in your mind.

[Big 3rd]

I'm trying to understand how you add patches to an existing workstation without doing the obvious, buying expansion cards. On some websites, I see you can download patches....but how do you add them? Can I add any of these patches from any manufacture to my motif?...and how?

I'm trying to get more sounds. And if I can do so without spending some loot, cool.

[beat you down]

patches nowadays are just settings (pitch, adsr, eq, filtering, fx etc) using the waves (stacking them for example) that's already inthere.
it's not like you get new waves by downloading patches, so patches are nothing like expansion cards.
you can get them into your module through a midi cable for example.
you'll need module specific patches though.

[Tibbon]

Patches are short for patch cables. It's how you hook up a synth to get sounds out of it. For many synths any unbalanced cable will do. They carry CV/Gate information (by information I mean voltage).

On a motif, it's just a stored setting or memory location. Make a sound, hit the save button and BOOM you have a new patch. Nothing to it.

[ElMosca]

Originally Posted by Big 3rd

On some websites, I see you can download patches....but how do you add them? Can I add any of these patches from any manufacture to my motif?...and how?

Usually, patches are platform specific, so I really don't think that you'll have much success finding free patches, unless you search for your specific brand and model.

Also, remember that you get what you pay for. In my experience, free anything from the Internet is pretty hit and miss. The time you spend googling for "free patches" could be better spent learning how to make your own new sounds.

Best,
++aldo

[Tibbon]

You can transfer patches between your computer and the synth via sysex dumps.

If you aren't doing sysex dumps after/before every recording session, you might want to think about adding that into your workflow.