Synthesizer Sounds and Presets – More Patches For Your Synths
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This week’s synthesizer Sounds & Presets visits one of my favourite music sites on the internet, a free library of great sounds and some great patches from France!
There’s no shame in using presets! There, I said it. Don’t let people tell you otherwise. Some of the greatest songs of all time use presets. Just ask Prince. Or Jean Michel Jarre. They both delivered love letters to the Roland D-50 with ‘Lovesexy’ and ‘Revolutions’ respectively. Both albums unashamedly used copious amounts of factory presets.
And this week I bring you some doozies! Nothing here will break the bank and there’s something for everyone here. Looking for patches for your favourite instruments? We have you covered.
Reverb Machine
I’ve been a fan of Reverb Machine for a very long time. The website is the work of Dan Carr. Dan is a supremely accomplished and talented musician. He’s also a very friendly and generous guy. And his work at Reverb Machine is second to none.
The website is a brilliant blend of tutorials and an ever-increasing library of sound banks for a wide variety of synths. Many of these sounds are used in his tutorials. Others are just wonderful standalone packs full of really great sounds.
Dan’s sounds cater for a lot of Arturia’s V Collection synths, as well as other popular soft synths from Cherry Audio and TAL. There’s also content for Logic, Fruity Loops, Ableton Live and raw samples for you to use as you see fit.
Some of my favourites are the LinnDrum Alternate samples, ‘Vice’, and the Roland R8 sample pack, ‘DrumVerse R8’. There are also some great patches for Cherry Audio’s brilliant ‘Memorymode‘. But whilst you’re there, check out the Articles section and marvel at the music theory and composition breakdowns. Superb stuff!
- Browse and buy Reverb Machine Sound Banks
- More from Reverb Machine
PresetPatch.com
PresetPatch.com is one of those rare sites that offers a treasure trove of free stuff that is actually useful! There’s a myriad excellent synthesizer sounds and presets available here. What is even better is that many of the patches can be directly sent to your synth via a SysEx tool built right into the page! It couldn’t be much easier!
And, like Reverb Machine, it’s not just synth patches here. You can filter by hardware and software synths. There’s even a section for guitar plugins! Drum machines get a look in too. There are even articles on sound design, synth voice modelling, technical info and more!
There’s a dedicated ‘Famous Songs’ section where patches and other files are categorised by artist. A wide range of genres and styles are covered, from Rush to New Order, Simple Minds to Stevie Wonder.
There is also other content, such as MIDI song files and links to commercial sound banks if ‘free’ isn’t your thing! PresetPatch.com is the sort of site that you can get lost in so fill your boots, my friends!
- Visit PresetPatch.com
- More from PresetPatch.com
Pulsophonic Sound Design
I first discovered Pulsophonic Sound Design when their banks for Kodamo’s brilliant EssenceFM and MASK1 synths were featured on the manufacturers’ website. I initially thought they were just an enthusiastic user sharing some patches with the community.
But upon checking out their site, I soon found out that there’s much more to them than their Kodamo patches! Originally an organist, Pulsophonic is also a professor of music in the French national education system and classically trained to boot!
All of this experience is brought to bear on a prolific range of patches and presets for a wide variety of synths. As well as the Kodamo fare, there’s content for both hardware and software synths. This includes vintage classics and rarities, such as the Elka Synthex and Ensoniq ESQ-1.
But modern synths get some love too, such as Arturia’s MiniFreak and Sequential’s Prophet 5/10 Rev.4 which have some great banks available. Banks are priced incredibly favourably and start as low as €7.50! There is some incredible work going on here.
- Buy sound banks from Pulsophonic Sound Design
- More from Pulsophonic
Note: This article contains promotional links that help us fund our site. Don’t worry: the price for you always stays the same! If you buy something through these links, we will receive a small commission.
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