Starwards IV. Ambient preset.

Fun video and impressive preset, especially in light of the fact that (1) there was nary a Plex delay, and (2) only 70-74% CPU usage. It seems there's nothing this box can't do.
 
Cosmic and brilliantly stellar! Have versions 1 and 2 of this one and love em. Really well done...again! :D
 
Fun video and impressive preset, especially in light of the fact that (1) there was nary a Plex delay, and (2) only 70-74% CPU usage. It seems there's nothing this box can't do.
Yeah, it's amazing to know we have a palette that can help us realise whatever crazy combination of effects and tones we can imagine. Thanks.
oy, stay in yer lane, Kingman!

just kidding, sounds rather magnificent! :)
Haha! The master whom I'm always inspired by. Thanks, Simeon! 🙏🏻
Cosmic and brilliantly stellar! Have versions 1 and 2 of this one and love em. Really well done...again! :D
Thanks!
Beautiful stuff
🙏🏻
very nice atmospheric sound 👍
thanks
Thank you.
Beautiful tones. Gandalf would be proud 🧙‍♂️
🪄 Cheers.
 
Aw yeah.

One thing I want to figure out how to do is more cool stuff with reverse delay. I think I have 1 scene in 1 preset that uses it.

It's definitely interesting to see how others lay out their ambient presets - I feel like mine are pretty straight forward!
 
I’d like to see a “The making of Starwards IV” video, to learn how to think in terms of the various blocks and their interactions. I know I can turn blocks on and off to hear their individual contribution but I’d be missing the mental process and insight that would be great to hear as a narrative of the video.

I said it before, I think this preset should be in the factory presets and I think Fractal should have a library of such videos demonstrating the building of deep, dark, magic presets. It’s to the benefit of the community and the company as it would help others see why these are the modelers to have.

PS - back to turning blocks off/on, it’d be cool if we had a “solo” capability for each block that’d bump up its level in the mix, or reduce the level of other blocks without actually changing the overall mix, to help diagnose/understand how they contribute, kind of like how a car mechanic can use a stethoscope to pinpoint engine noises when it’s running. I’m not sure how that would be implemented though.
 
Last edited:
i think you may be making more of this "interaction" idea than there actually is. once you get past the amp and cab and you're dealing with time based effects, then they really just sum together. they don't "interact". not in a way that fundamentally changes the sound of one or more of the blocks. speaking for myself (and i make a lot of these kind of presets), it comes down to experience and a good understanding of how each block sounds and what it can do. i have two approaches that i use - 1) imagine a sound in my head and then make it. 2) throw stuff randomly into a preset to see what happens and then sculpt to make it useable. i use method 1 most of the time. it's not a dark art and there's no magic involved. honestly, try method 2 and see what happens. just dive in. also spend some time with each block investigating the types within it and playing around with the parameters to see what they do. if you have a good core sound with your amp and cab, then you can't really go wrong. download other people's presets, bypass all the effects and turn them on one at a time to see what they're doing. the "mental process" is using your ears and creativity to reach the goal of a nice sounding preset.
maybe burgs could chime in here with his perspective as well.
 
Last edited:
i have two approaches 1) imagine 2) random
I'll say what the kids say: "same".

The one thing I'd add to the above is that the pursuit of happy accidents can result in a 3rd course: allowing inspiration to override preconception.

If you hear something great while working, boldly change course (or make a snapshot and come back to it!)

Underneath it all though, you need to spend time with the fundamentals, so, for example, you can say to yourself, "'Technique X' might sound great here!" The same familiarity will help you to proceed with purpose when, for example, when someone says, "Make the sound of the intergalactic emperor of ducks" you know where to begin. (Pitch shift down with feedback, bitcrusher, bandpass filter(s?), more distortion, long dark echoes? space verb) ;-)
 
Back
Top Bottom