Illuminate (Ambient/Cinematic - Seismic Sunrise) and Illuminate2 (hybrid Orchestral/Electronic)

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StudioDave wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:22 pm Lovely work, awesome synth sounds. The crescendo is musically effective, ditto the changes in the bass near the end. Makes me think of how Ravel structured the end of his Bolero.

Anyway, I agree with hotmitts, I like it too.

Best,

dp
The bass and "string" synth patches are both from an ACE factory soundset, and would certainly work well in other contexts. The crescendo is really just a by-product of making the chords "denser" towards the end of the piece, so no mixing or studio trickery here. The bass changes at the end were a last minute idea I had during the mix finalisation.

This track sat around as a 4-minute WIP, gathering dust on my old computer for 4 or 5 months late last year. I couldn't figure out how to complete it. I moved the project over to my new machine in December, and it stayed there, untouched for another 5 months. In mid-May I loaded the project into my DAW, just to see whether it would be usable, and everything just fell into place.

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, Dave. Glad you enjoyed it :)

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Very well crafted ambient. Listening to it, I recalled the visuals of the monolith on the moon in 2001. The piece is quite austere and suggests the icy distances and depths of space. The composition is very focused, thoroughly exploring a few ideas in a satisfying way.

The mix is flawless. :tu:

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mystahr wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 3:57 pm
seismic1 wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:59 pm An arpeggiator walks into a bar. It was reverb night.
:clap:
:D

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htcnext2 wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 4:39 pm A piece of constantly evolving ambience with a sinister touch. Film music quality all in all. Nicely done - good work!
Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and comment, htcnext2. Glad you liked it :)

"Sinister" is a particularly interesting descriptor, given my unorthodox handwriting style :wink:

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experimental.crow wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:00 am deliberate and well crafted ...
the pads are ultra-lush , tenuously anchored by the minimal bass motif ...

:clap:
Thanks very much for listening and commenting, e.c. Glad you liked it :)

As I remember it, I spent 4 hours putting about 5 minutes of the the basic track together last summer - just the bass synth and the string pad. I returned to it last month and worked on the chords and the arp. I think the trickiest part was resisting the temptation to over-embellish.

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this reminded me of the beginning music from carpenter's "the thing" it had
the same eerie jaws is coming tension build up. supersaws arent only for trance.
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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Good work. I liked the soundscape and mood. Just like a soundtrack for some movie.

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frank1985 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:45 am
seismic1 wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 1:44 am
frank1985 wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 11:47 pm Amazing textural sound on that synth when it starts kicking up a gear. Your tracks always conjure up a great atmosphere
Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and for the lovely comments. Glad you liked sound terrific.it :)

The bass is ACE, as is the "string" synth throughout the track. Both of them are "factory" patches with no midification (as far as I can remember). The synth that comes in at approx. 5 minutes is a factory arpeggiated patch from ARP2600 V2, but after Aether has done its work, it's completely unrecognisable.
Regarding the arp.. is that hardware or are you using the arturia version? I’ve been deliberating the Arturia collection for a while. Seems to offer a lot more control than my sample Kontakt libs. Aether sounds amazing - think it might replace my pcm90 8) I absolutely hate bouncing through hardware these days, especially for longer ambient tracks.
Regarding ARP2600, this is the V2 version. I bought it almost 5 years ago, and got the V3 update about a year later, but V2 still runs in my 32-bit DAW, so it gets more use here.

I only acquired Aether at the end of 2017. Until then (and probably until the end of 2018) I was using B2 as my "ambient" reverb. I'm currently favouring Aether over B2, but they are both excellent reverbs. I'm looking forward to using them with Discover. I have a feeling that the flutes will sound terrific.

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Frantz wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 5:27 am
seismic1 wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:59 pm An arpeggiator walks into a bar. It was reverb night.
The barman says: "I'm sorry. We don't serve arpeggiators here."
The arpeggiator says: "No worries. I'm on a DRY setting."
C, Eb, G walk into the same bar.
The barman says: "We don't serve minors"

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seismic1 wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:10 am C, Eb, G walk into the same bar.
The barman says: "We don't serve minors"
Touché :clap:

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I love the long pauses !
I love the sounds !
Very cinematic !
11 minutes is crazy !

:-)

(( D ))

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ariston wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 7:31 am Finally got around to it... Very immersive, mind movie music. I have a love-hate relationship with the ambient genre. On the one hand, I find it's often an excuse for people with next to zero craftsmanship to make something musical by holding down a chord and adding tons of reverb to it. On the other hand, people who know what they're doing can craft something truly memorable within the (admittedly broad) confines of the genre. This is definitely in the latter category - the development is beautiful, the way optimistic tones slowly blossom in the darkness.
Thanks very much for the great comments, ariston :)

I set out to create a "minimal" piece here (3 synth parts), and as usual, it features a "build" towards the end, generated by adding harmonies to the ACE synth part. I'm currently working on an "orchestral" (bass/cello/choir) version of this which employs some recent Spitfire additions to my wardrobe. The overall outline of the track is the same, but the internal revamp seems to have instilled it with even more SciFi vibes than this version.
ariston wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 7:31 am Ahh, and Aether - the reverb that can turn Steinberg Neon into a CS 80. :wink:

Great job! :tu:
Just think of all the money I could have saved :o

Glad you enjoyed it :)

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jethrobull wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 8:04 am Beautiful! Really enjoyed this. Nice work Tim :tu:
Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and comment, jb. It's much appreciated. Glad you liked it :)

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Great track Tim!
Nice mix of interesting pads and the bass heartbeat pulse.

Well done! :)

Forget the thoughts of a future in comedy though. Perhaps Dad jokes... ;)
Bandcamp
Music with progressive intent.

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Frantz wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 1:28 am Very well crafted ambient. Listening to it, I recalled the visuals of the monolith on the moon in 2001. The piece is quite austere and suggests the icy distances and depths of space. The composition is very focused, thoroughly exploring a few ideas in a satisfying way.

The mix is flawless. :tu:
The moon monolith scene is one of my all time fave scenes in "modern" cinema. (Was it really 1968?). That film moved the goalposts.

"icy distances and depth" were certainly a result of combining Aether with the 2 synth patches that I fed into it. One of those satisfying "accidents".

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, Frantz. Glad it conjured some great imagery :)

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