Best VST instrument for relaxation, Ambient, sounds

[wagtunes]

Okay, Ghetto made an excellent suggestion as to how to make this thread more useful and interesting and I'm actually going to do that because I've been doing "ambient/experimental" music for a long time. So I might have something to contribute.

But first, my list of my favorite ambient artists. LOL

In alphabetical order because it makes things easier.

Wendy (Walter) Carlos - The Queen of ambient
Suzanne Ciani - The Princess of ambient
Brian Eno - The King of ambient
Enya - One of the most underrated artists ever
Christopher Franke - Sadly, always in Edgar's shadow
Robert Fripp - This guy was so out there
Edgar Froese - The driving force behind TD
Philip Glass - Better than Cage in my opinion
Kraftwerk - These guys were at least a decade ahead of their time
Nine Inch Nails - One of the few "modern day" ambient bands I actually like
Mike Oldfield - Was to The Exorcist what John Carpenter was to Halloween
Klaus Schulze - Rounds out the TD trio
Tangerine Dream - My all time favorite ambient band
Vangelis - When he teamed with Jon Anderson it was magic
Yanni - Yeah, that's right. Yanni. LOL

You will notice that most of these acts were from a long time ago when music was music.

(Ducking for cover)

[ghettosynth]

Some people consider John Cage's 4'33 ambient music. Others, ambient noise. And then there are those who just consider it a big joke that he played on all the stupid gullible fanatics who will consider anything music if some big name artist says it is.

I'll refrain from commenting as to what camp I'm in. Either way, there will be somebody who will disagree.

I would not call that ambient music. It was an idea, not original, and not particularly interesting, IMNSHO. The thing that I find even sillier is when people put on concerts with the tune today LOL.

I'm not saying that I don't think that there is some importance to it in shaping definitions and expectations of music. I think that it was important, and although this might sound contradictory, I think that sometimes only "big name artists" can make those statements. People expect something else from them and are, consequently, willing to listen. People then are exposed to this strange idea, and because of who the performer is, it legitimizes the idea in the audience's mind.

But there are multiple examples of the silent music that predate 4'33" and some evidence that Cage was very likely aware of those efforts.

Where the idea had value, IMO, is in helping to elevate the idea of environmental sounds as music, or soundscape if you don't like calling that music. So, in some sense, I think that along with other artists like Satie, it laid the foundation for Eno's understanding.

There, now people have something else to argue about and yet another reason to tell me that I'm full of shit.

[wagtunes]

Some people consider John Cage's 4'33 ambient music. Others, ambient noise. And then there are those who just consider it a big joke that he played on all the stupid gullible fanatics who will consider anything music if some big name artist says it is.

I'll refrain from commenting as to what camp I'm in. Either way, there will be somebody who will disagree.

I would not call that ambient music. It was an idea, not original, and not particularly interesting, IMNSHO. The thing that I find even sillier is when people put on concerts with the tune today LOL.

I'm not saying that I don't think that there is some importance to it in shaping definitions and expectations of music. I think that it was important, and although this might sound contradictory, I think that sometimes only "big name artists" can make those statements. People expect something else from them and are, consequently, willing to listen. People then are exposed to this strange idea, and because of who the performer is, it legitimizes the idea in the audience's mind.

But there are multiple examples of the silent music that predate 4'33" and some evidence that Cage was very likely aware of those efforts.

Where the idea had value, IMO, is in helping to elevate the idea of environmental sounds as music, or soundscape if you don't like calling that music. So, in some sense, I think that along with other artists like Satie, it laid the foundation for Eno's understanding.

There, now people have something else to argue about and yet another reason to tell me that I'm full of shit.

Not at all. It's a valid observation. Like I said, I'm keeping my opinion of 4'33 out of this.

Anyway, working on my "How I Go About Doing An Ambient Piece" post, starting with my favorite group Tangerine Dream.

[ghettosynth]

I'm hoping he'll return to this thread and post some examples of what it is he's trying to accomplish. Until then, we're just imposing our own opinions of what makes "ambient music" which may have absolutely no relation to his concept of the same.

The OP said:

I'm hoping to make some relaxation music with ambient, pads, soundscape type musical noise, I wondered what the best VST instruments would be, what do people think ? Really looking for mellow sounds.
Hope that's not too vague/general, I'm just doing it for fun !

He didn't say anything about what type of ambient music he liked, he didn't need to. He asked about "what the best VST instruments would be for relaxation music with ambient, pads, soundscape type musical noise." which is a perfectly acceptable thing to ask.

Thanks Egbert ! When I started this thread I didn't have any music in mind to emulate, just wanted something capable of making relaxing and mellow sounds

Almost every synth ever made then.

...I'm a guitar player mostly and don't know a lot about Synths on the market, this thread had been really useful as I've said several times.

Take almost any sound in any synth. Push the attack slider up, way up, push the sustain up a bit, push the release up a bit. Instant pad.

A lot of guitar players create interesting pads with guitars and effects. Diffusion delay, granular effects, reverb, phasers used in non-cliche ways can all add motion and sustain.

Here's a low cost and specific recommendation for an effect that can really help you (or someone else) explore some ideas about reverb and delay and their relationship.



It's available as a plugin and you just use your mouse to create the delay lines. IIRC it's about $15.

I'm sure that I'm not telling you things that you don't already know. I just find that putting more specific discussion in a thread helps it go in more interesting directions than just a list of "recommendations."

People have posted far more interesting examples of Ambient music here than I was even aware of, as I said it's just for fun really and I'm very grateful for the recommendations. There's a lot of stuff to demo and I've been listening to the recommendations (and baulking at the prices in some cases haha)

Yes, but, it's not just about you. You are asking the community to help you, I am asking you to help the community in return by engaging more deeply in the conversation that you started. Even if you hadn't thought of the kind of music, a comment or two about the posted examples on whether or not that was interesting to you or what you liked or didn't like about it would help to elevate the conversation beyond "yet another list of everyone's favorite synth."

Welcome to KVR!

[egbert101]

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[egbert101]

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[wagtunes]

Okay, here goes. This is JUST how I go about this. There is no right or wrong here. Somebody else can do this completely differently.

Subject - Tangerine Dream

Reference Material - Stratosphere

Those not familiar with their work, you might want to listen to this. It's a little over a half hour.



Methodology

First thing's first. What did THEY use to get the sounds they made? What was the form of their songs, if any at all?

So to start with, I looked up their instrument list.

Here it is.

Edgar Froese – Moog synthesizer, Mellotron, guitars, 12-string guitar, grand piano, bass guitar, mouth organ

Peter Baumann – Moog synthesizer, Mellotron, Projekt Elektronik Rhythm Computer (modular synthesizer), Fender electric piano

Christopher Franke – Moog synthesizer, Birotron, organ, percussion, harpsichord

What I would use from my arsenal to come as close to the vibe as possible.

GForce M-Tron
Vir2 Acou6ticy
VIR2 Electri6ity
Synapse The Legend
Softube Modular
Pianoteq
XILS 4
Arturia ARP 2600
70s Style Drums Library
Various Sample Libraries including sampling things off Youtube
Valhalla Reverbs
Various Delays
Guitar Rig 5
Amplitube 4

Plus any synth that isn't primarily geared towards EDM. I stay away from anything that isn't basic saw or square based.

Composition

If you listen to Stratosphere, you'll notice most things are based around an ARP pattern and one chord with instruments coming in and fading out throughout the piece. So I try to keep a sense of movement and change while also keeping the overall theme the same throughout.

I know I have some TD style pieces somewhere on Soundcloud but have no idea where they are with close to 700 tracks posted. But I'm sure the general idea is obvious enough.

Probably doing this kind of stuff today would be considered cliche'd and boring by some, but I still enjoy listening to it and doing it myself. It's what I grew up with so it will always be special to me.

If you have any specific questions about something I didn't cover, I'll be happy to answer as the above is really just a very broad overview.

[egbert101]

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[wagtunes]

Okay, here goes. This is JUST how I go about this. There is no right or wrong here. Somebody else can do this completely differently.

Subject - Tangerine Dream

Reference Material - Stratosphere

Those not familiar with their work, you might want to listen to this. It's a little over a half hour.

Well, it's a nice album, problem is, it doesn't answer or relate to the OP's question. It is questionable that Stratosphere belongs into the category of Ambient music.
Sure Berlin School (transitional from their previous works), Progressive Rock, perhaps. Also, it's questionable that it's relaxation music or mellow. It's not contemporary either (40 years old) so doesn't relate to VSTs and contemporary sounds.

But other than that, a fine post.

No, it doesn't relate to the OP's question. Ghetto asked to contribute how we'd go about doing an ambient piece, what we'd use, etc. This is how I'd go about it for THIS particular style.

Would you like me to do Yanni next?

(And this is why I no longer bother contributing anything of "real substance" (read long) to this place)

[egbert101]

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[hotmitts]

Interesting post though, maybe prog-ambient, - not necessarily relaxing, but soundscape certainly. It develops nicely through various moods/sections. Nice mellotron bits .

[wagtunes]

No, it doesn't relate to the OP's question. Ghetto asked to contribute how we'd go about doing an ambient piece, what we'd use, etc. This is how I'd go about it for THIS particular style.

Would you like me to do Yanni next?

(And this is why I no longer bother contributing anything of "real substance" (read long) to this place)

But it's not ambient music... But you can both call it ambient music if you want.

News flash. TD is classified as an ambient band among other things. Just because YOU don't consider them ambient doesn't make it so.

Sheesh, how I hate this opinionated place.

[aMUSEd]

No, it doesn't relate to the OP's question. Ghetto asked to contribute how we'd go about doing an ambient piece, what we'd use, etc. This is how I'd go about it for THIS particular style.

Would you like me to do Yanni next?

(And this is why I no longer bother contributing anything of "real substance" (read long) to this place)

But it's not ambient music... But you can both call it ambient music if you want.

News flash. TD is classified as an ambient band among other things. Just because YOU don't consider them ambient doesn't make it so.

Sheesh, how I hate this opinionated place.

Yes but Stratosfear is not really ambient, some of their more abstract atmospheric pieces like Ricochet maybe come closer and that may be where they get that label but that doesn't mean it applies to everything they did.

[wagtunes]

No, it doesn't relate to the OP's question. Ghetto asked to contribute how we'd go about doing an ambient piece, what we'd use, etc. This is how I'd go about it for THIS particular style.

Would you like me to do Yanni next?

(And this is why I no longer bother contributing anything of "real substance" (read long) to this place)

But it's not ambient music... But you can both call it ambient music if you want.

News flash. TD is classified as an ambient band among other things. Just because YOU don't consider them ambient doesn't make it so.

Sheesh, how I hate this opinionated place.

Yes but Stratosphere is not really ambient, some of their more abstract atmospheric pieces like Ricochet maybe come closer and that may be where they get that label but that doesn't mean it applies to everything they did.

Oh please, Ricochet has a much harder sound, especially in track one about 4 to 6 minutes in than just about anything in Stratosphere.

We're grasping at straws here.

[egbert101]

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