It's the ultimate noob question.
I've seen two cultures where newbies come onto forums and ask questions: programming and music production. In both, it appears, if you want a question answered, you have to do the following:
1. Demonstrate that you've already learned how to do obvious things
If what you want to do is something other people will think is trivial, like "how do I make a sound with this VST" or "how to I load this VST in Sequencer X" (people still ask stuff like this), then you won't get an answer.
2. Demonstrate that you've put significant effort into solving the problem
If you haven't tried on your own then why should anyone else try for you? Some people don't know what VST to use. If they said, "I tried V-station and I didn't like the editing, or I tried Sylenth but it's a bit too complicated for me because I'm a beginner", then they probably deserve consideration.
3. Demonstrate that you're not a prick
If someone is a nice person, and asks politely, they should get a polite answer. There's obvious ways to do this on forums.
Now, back to "what software do you use?" I read an interview with Tiesto in CM recently: it was probably the worst music tech interview I've ever read. That's absolutely no disrespect to the guy who wrote it - we all know how these things work. He was obviously struggling to get anything.
Everyone's keen on bashing Tiesto: I've never had a reason to until now. He was such a complete dick in that interview: he absolutely refused to discuss any techincal details of anything. When asked about synths he gave the usual, "Oh it doesn't matter what synth you use..." stock answer.
Rick Smith from Underworld did this in an interview I read years ago - it really frustrated me at the time because I love Underworld! Now, I know it doesn't matter what synth you use...ooops.
Anyway, there will be a load of idiots in the world who "want to sound like Tiesto" and want to know what synths he has. The "it doesn't matter what synth you use" answer is there to deflect the low level idiots who have never even used a synth: it's an encouragement to
make some damn music first and then worry about all that stuff afterwards.
But, what happens when you
have made some music? Recommendations are useful.
I'll tell you something: I, and a lot of other producers, quite like knowing what synths people are favouring. It's just information to build in when we consider a new purchase. For example, I was looking into Sylenth quite heavily, then I happened across an
Airbase tutorial where he mentioned that he's really into it. Sylenth really suits his sound: it's good for sounds in that direction as well as lots of other things.
Similarly, I bought Quantum Leap RA after I interviewed Inon Zur and he mentioned it; ditto Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra with Richard Jacques. Other things, I've researched and bought on my own.
So, if you're a producer and you get interviewed, what should you do?
As Airbase continually shows, there's absolutely no need to hide all your "secrets" - all of the popular things are
already caned to death by everyone under the sun; you're not protecting anything. However, while it's your right to keep some things private, that doesn't give you any justification to deflect all your readers as idiots. Not everyone who reads music tech magazines is a noob: especially CM, which has improved
wholesale over the last few years to the point where a lot of the content is extremely valid for professionals.
The next time someone polite, who is making an honest effort to learn, asks you what synths you use, why don't you tell them?
