Do You Use Presets As Is? Tweak Them? Create Your Own?

Inquiring minds want to know...

My take is sometimes a preset gives you a good starting point without lots of brain pain.

However software synths are quite easy to tweak, well most of mine are, and they are just begging to be tweaked, which makes me think it would be insulting to the creators not to tweak.

Of course the Modular synths Softube Modular, Arturia's Modular, ARP 2600 etc are there to build your own.

Consequently my answer is.

Do You Use Presets As Is? Yes as a starting point.
Do You Tweak Them? Yes every time, even if it is just to change a filter or FX to help it sit in the mix.
Do You Create Your Own? Yes with some of my synths.

I use presets as a starting point also.
I create my own when I'm working on a multi song project with similar instrumentation to keep consistency between the tracks.  

Same as Joe.
 
I also use a few plugins that have so few controls presets make almost no sense, like Waves RVox or Cakewalk CA2A.

Plug ins = Not the factory pre sets.   Just open the default and set it up,  then Save it.    
VST= Yes but a lot of them I then edit and save.    
 
So I do use pre sets but they are all my own creations at this point now. I will name them after the song or Gender they were used in so I know what the style they are, especially drums.  
 
I even have the TTS-1 all customized into a couple of "bands" , like a folk, country,blues. 

When I am learning about a vst for the first few times,  I will try different presets to get a better understanding of its capabilities.    Then I figure out a go to preset and tweek it.   I haven't found the need to create my own - one and done so to speak. 

I'm pretty much like everyone else.
Sometimes I use a preset as is.
Most of the time I have to tweak them.
If the above two doesn't work them I make my own.

I normally have a bunch of presets as a starting point and then tweak if I need to.  I also then create a preset from the new settings ready for the next time. 

im erratic. sometimes I will start with a preset and customize it to preference, other times I wont use a preset at all.

Pre-sets are always a great starting point to see what a vst can do.  From there on, tweaking is a avenue to travel.  Some pre-sets stand  on their own while some need embellishment.  Either way, I look forward to a vst having pre-sets to get an idea what the creator had in mind and even suggested uses.

I answered this in the other thread but I'd like to toss out a recommendation.
 
The Pro Channel presets for Gibson acoustic guitars can be amazing. Right now I'm working with a guy that has what could be described as a Gibson museum. At any time we have 20-30 vintage acoustics at hand. If I get stuck on the EQ or want to quickly audition different sounds, they are the bomb.
 
When you are recording 7 or 8 different guitars per day, using the same set of microphones, EQ is real important for capturing their unique character. The Pro Channel EQ is my favourite for these old guitars and the Gibson presets are my go to starting point.

All of the above

Inveterate preset tweaker here. That said, I'll happily and unashamedly use a preset exactly as it is if it happens to work perfectly well for the purpose exactly as it is. That's hardly ever the case, but when it is, I have absolutely no issue with using a preset as it is. I'm a musician first and foremost, and I'm not precious about being a sound designer as well; I can do that up to a point, but I suspect the people who make their livings doing deep sound design are better at it than I am, just as I'm probably a better player than many of them since that's my main focus in life. So I'm happy to focus on the parts I do best and tweak where needed. Of course composition and sound design are tightly intertwined at this point, at least for me, so almost invariably some special sauce is needed. Also, I'll sometimes use a preset as it is but mangle it into something very different with FX - maybe also using a preset or a tweaked one... but I see the value and creativity in what I do as being far more about combining elements into a new thing, than needind to start from scratch for purist reasons, though that should not be construed as a judgment about someone else for whom that does seem essential. 
 
I'm also a big fan of randomization and/or morph functions, just clicking away until something grabs my ear and then tweaking from there as opposed to from a preset. Again, what may seem lazy to someone else seems to me to be a creative act - applying my specific ears and tastes to turn something random into music. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it... 

Hi. As most of the others, I sometimes start from a preset and tweak from there.
But mostly I have made presets that suits my different singing styles, certain guitar tones, a particular drum kit etc. They usually only need minor tweaks.
I also will use a preset if it fits. I will then save it under another name / preset for later reference.
All the best.