What are some good plugins for creating ambient music?

[jancivil]

I wouldn't call Neil Diamond ambient.

Yes, he has a lot of tunes out there, but none of the 'hits'
would I associate with ambience. I saw a Diamond concert once,

Cheers

Yes, the presence of Neil Diamond within my list was simply a mistake. Here in France

[wagtunes]

Actually, Neil Diamond did an album in 1973 titled Jonathan Livingston Seagull that had some ambient like music on it.

Not that I would classify Neil Diamond as an ambient artist.

Just sayin.

[ghettosynth]

Actually, Neil Diamond did an album in 1973 titled Jonathan Livingston Seagull that had some ambient like music on it.

Not that I would classify Neil Diamond as an ambient artist.

Just sayin.

Right, that's what I was referring to when I used the phrase "his most ambient moments." It's instrumental in parts, it's definitely chill, but, I wouldn't really call it ambient.

[RamblinWreck]

Right out of the box with absolutely no tweaking.

Omnisphere
ABSynth 5
Wavemapper 2

But almost any synth with few exceptions can be used for ambient music. Get Valhalla reverbs and delays and use generously.

Seconding both parts of this. Omnisphere is amazing for unique sounds and effects that fit very naturally with ambient. Innerspace is an included effect that anyone taking this route absolutely needs to know their way around.

But reverbs and delays are more important than the actual synths. I've even made a cool ambient sound by playing one of Serum's "hard bass" presets a couple octaves up and drowning it in Valhalla Shimmer.

[lnikj]

But reverbs and delays are more important than the actual synths. I've even made a cool ambient sound by playing one of Serum's "hard bass" presets a couple octaves up and drowning it in Valhalla Shimmer.

OMG you’re in trouble now. Back to page 1 of the thread for you my son.

Only joking

[lnikj]

What about dolphin clicks and whale calls? We haven't done that one yet.

I have this on vinyl, it's always popular. No, it's not really ambient, it's downtempo house and/or techno depending on which track on the double EP that you're playing.

But, there we have it, I think? How you use the sound does matter for ambient. I wouldn't necessarily call pure dolphin click recordings ambient in every context, but it is probably always an environmental recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WkMEyXBEI

This video is not available. The anticipation was overwhelming me too

[ghettosynth]

What about dolphin clicks and whale calls? We haven't done that one yet.

I have this on vinyl, it's always popular. No, it's not really ambient, it's downtempo house and/or techno depending on which track on the double EP that you're playing.

But, there we have it, I think? How you use the sound does matter for ambient. I wouldn't necessarily call pure dolphin click recordings ambient in every context, but it is probably always an environmental recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WkMEyXBEI

This video is not available. The anticipation was overwhelming me too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHwEr8Z83A

[.jon]

I listed them because they are widely filed under Ambient (when it's not frankly under "New Age"), yes yes yes. Don't pretend that I was off-topic, please ! It would be a pure lie. I by the way repeat that the classification of "Ambient" and its pendent "New Age" are categories used as "fourre-tout" for many stores as soon as an album is close to that extremely vague classification given that there is no real definition of it.

The point is that they actually aren't widely filed under ambient, your list is mostly composed of jazzists, prog rockers, berlin school stallwarts, dance/electronica producers, traditional and world musicians and easy listening/new age types. And even if they were filed under ambient, it would be just a simple case of mislabeling artists who don't easily fit into any popular genre.

Now I'm not saying these, or basically any other artists listed as something else than ambient didn't have tracks that would fit in an ambient set- things aren't that black and white. However, there are tons of artists who see themselves as ambient artists, are filed under that genre and coincientally produce music that really could never be mistaken for anything else than actual ambient. Ambient does exist as a categorisation, it's not just a dump category for everything weird.

Anyway, my warmest thanks for your list- many completely new names to me and I've been exploring their wonderful music this evening something that is way more valuable than discussing genre semantics!

[SODDI]

I would also look at learning hammered dulcimer and/or electronically modified trump.

Those who know will know.

[.jon]

What about dolphin clicks and whale calls? We haven't done that one yet.

But we will do it now

Madrona Labs Aalto would be my recommended plugin for dolphin clicks and whale calls:

https://soundcloud.com/noiseconstruct/io_pfk1

It does an awful lot of other useful stuff for ambient (such as all kinds of birds! Don't forget the birdsong.), which is probably not suprising as it's one of the very best VSTis ever created.

[lnikj]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHwEr8Z83A

Is her 'dolphin' a metaphor, or is that just my mind?

[lnikj]

What about dolphin clicks and whale calls? We haven't done that one yet.

But we will do it now

Madrona Labs Aalto would be my recommended plugin for dolphin clicks and whale calls:

https://soundcloud.com/noiseconstruct/io_pfk1

It does an awful lot of other useful stuff for ambient (such as all kinds of birds! Don't forget the birdsong.), which is probably not suprising as it's one of the very best VSTis ever created.

That's really rather good

Yes, Aalto is great !

[ErikH]

I also love Aalto and consider it one of my best purchases ever.
I used to automatically open Chromaphone, but now it has been replaced by Aalto.

Having read what you do and knowing a little about who you are (thanks for that) I am not shure synths can give you everything you want. I mean: recording your own music played on the instruments you have mastered and then using effects and sampling them might bring more harmony to the whole.

For as far as synths are concerned: Aalto and Absynth, yes. Absynth is so vast that it takes a while to be able to go in the direction of the sound you want.
Another one would be Iris 2, but it does have a few bugs that will probably never be repaired. Not dramatic ones that make it unusable, but they are there.

Then thereare the effects. This could become a deep discussion.

BTW: Claude Debussy is often called an Impressionist, but he was often more a Symbolist. He began with Rosetti's Blessed Damozel, which is Pre-Raphaelite. Definitions can be ok for a catalogue, but in life, everything has a burr that goes beyond the limitations of the terminology.

[RamblinWreck]

But reverbs and delays are more important than the actual synths. I've even made a cool ambient sound by playing one of Serum's "hard bass" presets a couple octaves up and drowning it in Valhalla Shimmer.

OMG you’re in trouble now. Back to page 1 of the thread for you my son.

Only joking

Nooooo, don't make me read through it again!

I just read through it all; I had no idea that such relaxing music could be so contentious!

[ghettosynth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHwEr8Z83A

Is her 'dolphin' a metaphor, or is that just my mind?

It's from the late 90s, so, it's probably intentionally vague in that sense.