Introduction

Mountain tops, spaceports, ancient caves, and deep breathing.

Tremor includes 49 Phase Plant presets.

Ambient music as a concept has had a long, slow attack, and there's no sign of the release phase yet.

Long before modern electronic music production, before even the early synthesis and sampling experiments of Musique Concrète, there was Erik Satie's Musique d'Ameublement, or “furniture music”, designed to enhance, support, but not overwhelm, the natural sound and music already in the air at a particular location or occasion – a dinner or a party or a workplace. John Cage refined, or possibly parodised, the idea in his famous composition of silence, 4′33″, allowing the ambient sounds to stand on their own.

Intended to be heard, but perhaps not exactly listened to, ambient music, like its close relative minimalism, employs repetition and cell-based development over time. Artists such as Brian Eno helped through the 70s and beyond to develop and explore the synthesizer's unique aptitude for such compositions, and today with sounds like those included in this bank, you can combine organic sounds with textured drones, living layers of sparkling digital chaos, and warm soft analog-style loveliness in your own soundscapes to synergize with any environment. Make music for spaceports, or for the supermarket. Compose for a frosty winter's morning, or a night at the arcade. Just make it long, slow, and wonderful.

Author

About the author

With nearly two dozen studio releases under his belt, numerous EPs and singles, and appearances on multiple compilations, Arovane (Uwe Zahn) can fairly be called a veteran sound designer. Working in styles from Hip Hop to Glitch to Breakbeat, through IDM to Ambient, the emotional power of Zahn's work is the constant – the glue. He has compared the process of composition and sound design to building a vocabulary in a new invented language, every detail containing weight and meaning. Often referenced alongside Boards of Canada and Autechre, Arovane’s sound is characterised by melancholic melodies, advanced textures, and complex polyrhythms.

Arovane