People wanting a quick fix: discuss

John_C

John_C

formerly Skeksis268
Dec 30, 2008
3,455
1
36
Coventry, UK
www.myspace.com
We see a lot of people coming here asking for settings and pre-sets........what is it about people that makes them want to have a quick fix, so quick in fact that they don't have to do any learning or even turn on their brains for a few seconds?

I'm not wanting to start a massive rant thread, it'd be more interesting to discuss why we're seeing an increase in this behaviour both in our chosen field and in other areas of life
 
Because like everything else, the majority of people want a quick and easy solution to everything, getting the maximum benefit from minimal effort.

Why diet and exercise if you can just take a pill to help you lose weight? Why learn how to play an instrument when you can just program it in now or have someone record you note by note and then assemble later?

Why learn how to set up a mic, remove unwanted and unneeded frequencies while boosting sweet areas on a guitar sound to make it awesome when you can just have a preset to do all of that for you?

Its a shame really but its really no different than the how most people seem to want to do things in their life.

Fuck ... you don't even have to READ anymore ... audio books took care of that and most people will just go see "the movie" if their is one

As for why on this forum ... I at least attribute that to something positive. Its because word of mouth has brought this forum and a lot of the people who frequent it to a shit load of people who otherwise would not be here or even (ever) heard of it.
 
skeksis268 said:
We see a lot of people coming here asking for settings and pre-sets........what is it about people that makes them want to have a quick fix, so quick in fact that they don't have to do any learning or even turn on their brains for a few seconds?

I'm not wanting to start a massive rant thread, it'd be more interesting to discuss why we're seeing an increase in this behaviour both in our chosen field and in other areas of life
Click to expand...

We (as in Western culture) are an increasingly instant gratification society. It gets worse with each generation. Everyone is screaming 'I WANT IT NOW' like a spoiled child that needs a spanking.

A meal used to take an hour to prepare, now it takes 15 minutes and you slurp down the plastic chemical induced slop just as quick.

We are a work force made up of consultants, analysts and sales people. We no longer know how to make anything, how to grow and produce anything.

Of course there are some movements towards changing this, and some parts of the world seem to have got it right, but those are my feelings on it.
 
While I'm not a preset fan in the assumed sense of this thread, they can be a good (though abreviated) way to learn. Normally if I get, say, a snare drum compressor setting going that I really like (for a particular project), I'll save it as a preset so I can have a starting point next time. Of course the next time will undoubtedly call for a different setting, but my preset might make for a good launch pad. Or not.

There are some that think presets are magical shortcuts and that by collecting and implementing them they can attain a decent mix, and I'm sure that thats what this thread is about, but presets can also be learning tools to see how other people approach things. 10 different AE's might have 10 different means to a similar end, and it can be fun to "compare notes", so to speak, and "trading presets" can be a good way to do so, even if you end up scratching your head wondering how such a preset worked so well in someone else's mix.

Just for god's sake don't just blindly (deafly?) throw someone's preset on there expecting it to work for YOU.
 
I've got to admit, when I first used the XT, I went on the net trying out the presets only to quickly learn that theres much more to it. In my case it was mainly due to peer pressure. One guy in the band would say, listen to this..get that preset and the guitars are done! :lol: After a few months I quickly lost faith in the POD and bought my first tube amp and now I love the way you can spend ages testing different tones, changing settings etc. I guess for me, I just grew the fuck up and quickly learned that there is no such thing as the perfect preset.
Ironically now things take 10 times longer but at least I understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I wouldn't have it any other way, even if my band keeps saying why is it taking so long?? :lol: I can understand that when you start out, you think presets are gold, but if you stick at it I think you soon realise. I dont think I ever bumped and ancient thread asking for prestez though, at least I can take peace of mind from that :)
 
Presets are useful in synths. To learn from and sometimes to use because it could be exactly what you want. I admit I'm lazy when it comes to cooking. Do you blame me? It takes an hour to make a meal and ten mins to eat it. Fuck that. I just go to whole foods and buy it cooked. ;)
 
They ask because it makes sense. The same way people want to learn physics and math formulas to solve their problems. Not everyone want to spend a lifetime of research to discover the theory of relativity by themselves. Some people think these guys are taking shortcuts, trying to cheat, not working hard enough. I don´t.
 
Though there are those of us that actually enjoy the learning process, the reasoning for this behavior is because most people want instant gratification - the difference is that we all know that's not possible with stuff like this, unless you pay a tried and tested professional who's already undertaken the learning process.

A few things to think about as far as other facets of life are concerned - look at the internet. The internet has made it possible for you to have any information at your fingertips, purchase anything you want from your couch, have any software you want if you have no conscience, and even order a pizza - al at your leisure, whenever you want it. We've made things so easy that most take the easy road. And, to be clear - everyone takes the easy road. Do you repair your vehicle yourself, or change your vehicles oil? Do you install a new roof on your house, or pay someone to do it?

There's also the fact that some people value time, and time learning or working at something could be percieved as time lost by these types of individuals. Then of course... there is the person who's just plain lazy.
 
enditol said:
We (as in Western culture) are an increasingly instant gratification society. It gets worse with each generation. Everyone is screaming 'I WANT IT NOW' like a spoiled child that needs a spanking.

A meal used to take an hour to prepare, now it takes 15 minutes and you slurp down the plastic chemical induced slop just as quick.

We are a work force made up of consultants, analysts and sales people. We no longer know how to make anything, how to grow and produce anything.

Of course there are some movements towards changing this, and some parts of the world seem to have got it right, but those are my feelings on it.
Click to expand...

Bullshit.

People used to live until they were 20, IF THAT. Then science found some knowledge. Now people live to be much much longer.

People used to have to drag along barges across the canals in England, if there was no horse available. They'd have to climb through chimmneys to clean them out. They'd have to risk death to discover whether a mine could be hazardous or not.

It's called progress.

We don't have to do that shit anymore. We can get on with the finer things in life.

Also; a meal still takes an hour to prepare.. if you want quality food. But back in the old days, it took fifteen minutes to bite a rats head off... and 14 of those minutes were you just plucking up the courage to do the deed.

We are a workforce of people who have learnt to control and manipulate the world around us to get what we want. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

And cut the Western Culture bullshit. That sort of self hatred really gets you nowhere.
 
Skinny Viking said:
the thread isn't JUST about presets
Click to expand...

Fair point. If you want to look at it in general, I think it's just the progression of life. Everything in life nowadays is super fast, communication, cooking, transport, life in general just gets faster and faster and thats just the natural progression of things I guess. I dont think its really down to laziness either though.
While people do want quick fixes, everything to be done now, I can't really see the alternative. Can you imagine waiting to hear from someone using a telegram? Life is gonna get faster with technology, and people will continue to be less patient

EDIT: As Drew said, it's just progress
 
drew_drummer said:
Bullshit.

People used to live until they were 20, IF THAT. Then science found some knowledge. Now people live to be much much longer.

People used to have to drag along barges across the canals in England, if there was no horse available. They'd have to climb through chimmneys to clean them out. They'd have to risk death to discover whether a mine could be hazardous or not.

It's called progress.

We don't have to do that shit anymore. We can get on with the finer things in life.

Also; a meal still takes an hour to prepare.. if you want quality food. But back in the old days, it took fifteen minutes to bite a rats head off... and 14 of those minutes were you just plucking up the courage to do the deed.

We are a workforce of people who have learnt to control and manipulate the world around us to get what we want. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

And cut the Western Culture bullshit. That sort of self hatred really gets you nowhere.
Click to expand...

Lol ok buddy...progress is great in a lot of regards, but as I said I believe the younger generations are really getting spoiled by instant gratification and over-access to technology to a big extent.

You think we really control and manipulate the world? That's pretty arrogant. Too bad we can't control and manipulate ourselves from destroying it...

I'd just like to see some more production and manufacturing come back from the cheap and labour lawless countries. And maybe a culture that gave more credence to ideas like local community, family, you know all that bullshit...but i'm just full of it. I do think we have a lot of things right but certainly a lot of fucked up things as well.

Anyway it's all just discussion so try not to be another asshole on the internet. :heh:
 
I think recent earthquakes, tsunami's etc would say that we certainly dont control the world, but we do exploit the fuck out of it and rape it for energy! IMO, our current energy systems are a step backwards, but at least that will be changing, and the good thing is that future generations wont take energy for granted. I think that is a step in the right direction at least
 
Why WOULDN'T you want a quick fix though? Why make shit more complicated than it needs to be? Easy shit rules. Sometimes you gotta do things that aren't easy, but why is it a crime for wanting to do it with the least amount of effort?

Asking for presets, isn't really wanting to do it the easy way, it's the lazy way. I think there's a difference between lazy and easy. And besides presets don't really make things easier they just fuck you over in the long run and there's where we separate the slobs from the hosses.

I love easy shit, if you think I'm taking shit for granted, well fuck you. I bust ass when it's necessary if it's not I don't.
 
drew_drummer said:
We don't have to do that shit anymore. We can get on with the finer things in life.

Also; a meal still takes an hour to prepare.. if you want quality food.

We are a workforce of people who have learnt to control and manipulate the world around us to get what we want. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

And cut the Western Culture bullshit. That sort of self hatred really gets you nowhere.
Click to expand...

Self hatred gets you nowhere, but self-questioning and admitting fault, even when it's at the core of your being, can get you along way. Just because it's the culture we've grown up in doesn't mean we have to stick by it, agree with it or even accept it at all!

Yes we now have time to get on with the finer things in life. Sortof. Actually people just sit in front of the TV and eat readymeals.


Also, don't use the industrial revolution as a comparison point. The reason people where dying so young was entirely due to urbanisation, capitalism and new technology. Go back to 1800 in the UK and life expectancies weren't anywhere near as bad
 
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