"Abandoned Machinery I" - 80 Minutes of Dark Ambient Music (Generative Modular Synthesizer)
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
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You stumble across a giant metal doorway that grinds open with a heaving clang. Inside you enter an abandoned bunker filled with machinery. It must be at least 2000 years old. The sound of your footsteps disappears into this cavernous darkness, dimly illuminated by strips of warm red lighting. A heavy smell of old roots and crisp ozone in the air. There's a faint sound of ambient activity, like the power could still be turned back on at any moment, but you can't place the direction it's coming from. In the distance, a strange metallic sound...
"Abandoned Machinery I", a fully-generative Dark Ambient synthesizer patch. Perfect to use as background music or soundtracks for tabletop RPGs, Warhammer & Battletech campaigns, D&D, other board game nights or simply for working or sleeping.
Patch Notes:
"Abandoned Machinery" follows the goal of a "less is more" generative soundscape based around two digital synth voices by Mutable Instruments.
It was originally intended to be a more complex patch (you can see the red 1-to-5 mult stars near the bottom of the synth that were planned for later use). However, early on I reached a point I was very happy with and let the sound drift through my music studio for almost 90 minutes while I recorded.
There are two primary sound sources: Mutable Instruments Elements & Rings. A Marbles module is controlling Elements and Rings with semi-random Turing Machine-style gates and voltages.
Reverb, delay, and long damping times are obviously huge parts of this patch. The Elements module is nearly maxed out on its "Space" setting, providing its own unique reverb. There's also a master reverb on the track that comes from the Allen & Heath Zed-10FX mixer.
Rings runs straight into Beads for additional spatial effects like reverbs and echos. Elements runs into Tallin for a bit of additional warmth and mild saturation and grit.
Some very interesting modulations from Mutable Tides are wired into both sound sources for every-changing effects on their timbres.
There's no further processing in the box - this recording is presented just as I heard it on the day I made the patch.
--- PRIMARY GEAR ---
Eurorack Modules:
- Mutable Instruments Marbles (Semi-Random Sequencing of Pitches & Gates)
- Mutable Instruments Elements (Primary Soundsource 1)
- Mutable Instruments Rings (Primary Soundsource 2)
- Mutable Instruments Tides (Modulates the timbres)
- Mutable Instruments Beads (Adds spatial effects on Rings)
- Xaoc Devices Tallin (Amplifier stage adding warmth and grit to Elements)
- Intellijel Mixup (Stereo mixer)
- Intellijel 1U Headphone Out (sends the modular synth into my audio interface)
Mixer: Allen & Heath Zed-10FX
Audio Interface: MOTU M4
Camera: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6k Pro
Lens: Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 Art
NICU is a music project dedicated to my baby daughter Luna, who fought very hard to get here but is now thriving :)
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#ambient #ambientmusic #ambience
![46. ARRAKIS - Neutron / Modular [Dark Ambient Synth Music]](/img/n.gif)
This is fantastic! Thank you for all the meticulous details and for sharing the story with us.... the overall lighting is just perfect
@@Hessencemusic im so happy you enjoyed it, your words make me excited to get back to making music as soon as i can :) hope you are well
NICU, this is gorgeous work. And massive thanks for not just all the deets you spent the time writing up, but also the story too!
Such a pleasure to listen to.
I think I'm going to go grab a Peter Watts book. Some existential dread scifi is just the right companion. ❤
it's almost embarrassing how nice it feels to read this :) thank you so very much my friend. I'm planning to get back to my synths soon, and comments like these remind me why it's so important to do so. Got some big stuff planned, just working towards the right moment. Hope you are well :)
Chilling
This dark ambiant number is pretty good .
thanks my friend I hope it brought some moody chill vibes to your day or evening 😁
This is so captivating, you've absolutely nailed the vibe
words like yours are what make me want to keep sharing. It's nice enough by myself but whenever someone else enjoys the sound, my satisfaction goes up 100%. Can't wait to share some new stuff - 2024 is the year. Stop in anytime and listen or chat :)
I would be so happy if any tabletop gaming groups used this track as background music or atmosphere for their campaign. I keep thinking how good it would be for an abandoned bunker or mysterious high-tech area. So, if anyone does that - please let me know in the comments :)
Uhhhhhh can I use it as a backing track for my twitch streams when I paint? This is what imagine Warhammer 40k literally sounds like
@@dingwootloungeroom6984 it would be an honor, this comment nearly brought a tear to my eye :3
@@NICUofficial oh man thank you, this is just perfect for any Warhammer 40k content even have this going while reading or painting or even playing. It just fits in so well. My only problem with it haha its too short :P
@@dingwootloungeroom6984 I will make the next one longer for you 😁
I totally would like to do that. Where can i find a download? I'm running a d&d campaign and this would easily fit a lost dwarvenforge or some kind of mysterious caverns...
This stuff is why I got into modular. And it's my goal to gather modules to do exactly that. But I've got still some money to spend
LOVE this. So rich and immersive. Think I’ll end up on your channel all day at work today. 🖤🔥
this is so encouraging, thank you :D now I'm feeling extra-inspired to get my next video out in the next few days!
also anyone who likes modular should check out your channel too
Well done! I need to read up on your set up. Very I inspiring.
thank you and happy to talk about it any time! so nice to hear from you :)
thanks for listening to my music and hope to have some more out soon. Drop by anytime, you are most welcome here!
This sounds like video game ambience. Pretty cool stuff, congrats!
Thank you, that makes my day because I love vgm music! I was just listening to old Everquest music earlier this morning and chilling
Just listened to this while reading "Gideon The Ninth" by Tamsyn Muir. This goes really well with science-fantasy, really worked well with the mood of the story - especially since the characters were doing something in an abandoned underground facility. I love the tension, the sonic texturing, and the spine-tingling creepiness of this piece. Bravo. As an aside, it has alsomgiven me some excellent ideas for something I have started building in VCV Rack, but it is going to take me a long time to figure out how to do create what I am wanting. I just hope my PC is up to the task. Thank you for sharing this piece of Generative Ambient.
You've made me so happy this morning by letting me know all this!! Absolutely thrilling to hear that you got some good reading in with my music nearby - how many hundreds of hours I've passed doing the same thing to other people's ambient! woohooo
@@NICUofficial Oh I will definitely be back for more. Really hoping there will be an "Abandoned Machinery II", but I will check out all your other work.
@@Frustratia is it crazy to say that I also "hope" there will be an Abandoned Machinery II someday soon? to me, so much of this feels like a conversation I'm having with my synth, I am only in control of my half and the machine takes the other half wherever it wants :D
@@NICUofficial that's the wonder of generative patching. We just set the rules and the synth does the rest. Whether it's software or hardware, it's fun to build something and see where it leads.
This is surprisingly awesome! Well done putting the patch together!
Thank you! I was surprised how much I enjoyed this relatively simple patch as well - it reminded me that less is often more. Really appreciate you being here to listen!
awesome !
The first track of your music I discovered; I think it`s genius, directly arranging inner spaces into the halls of ones one consciousness; may I ask you: how do you record? Didn`t find a cue in your remarks. thx in advance, greetings from germany
Thank you so much, that's way too nice for someone who just likes fiddling with wires and knobs :*)
How do you mean about recording? I'd say it was a combo of modular synth & effects being set up, then allowed to play on their own. Tech-wise it was fairly simple after the modular synth was set up, I think it just went out into a mixing board, then into my computer's audio interface and then Ableton!
@@NICUofficial ah, ok. Caution: WoT - in short: wanted to know if you as a professional also do the recording daw-free.
Since - as I said - I'm wondering whether I can manage to make exactly this kind of music with my own Eurorack, I was wondering whether I can get away from all the PC clicking completely, even when recording. I did some research, there are options of course, but I wanted to know what you use as an experienced user. Because I'm more interested in “getting away from the screen”. Pre-setting and patching and slightly changing the parameters while playing or until the subtleties are right is exactly the minimal sensory experience that I can combine well with the experience of listening. In other words, I like the slowness with which you can control the Eurorack; while you're experimenting, the music is already there. Playing the piano involves so much physical effort that you have to rehearse a lot of movement - so much so that a lot of the time at the piano is simply spent repeating until the music comes out. Well, at least that's how I see it if I were to buy a rack.
I also used live ambient music from my Eurorack for pen and paper RPGs. Works pretty good when you prepare patches with different moods for the scenes.
that's so awesome Sonic, and are you saying you have like actual modular synths live-patched in the room during your sessions? Or rather that you use UA-cam videos in the background while you play?? So interesting either way, thanks for being here
@@NICUofficial I play remote with some high school friends using roll20 for dices and maps, teamspeak for communication and watch2gether for background music.
For my Call of Cthulhu campaign I created a UA-cam live stream to directly stream the audio output of my modular: Initially I created some calm ambient music mixed with Jazz and Charleston samples. My patch evolved to dark ambient noise and finally to a modular feedback mayhem in the grand finale where the characters moved through an ancient portal to face the elder entity turning them to insane and burned out meat-bags. The next adventure took place in a sanatorium where they where the inmates, lol.
It is easy to create an ambient soundtrack with the modular, but it is ridiculously high effort to setup and pre-patch the thing to play it live while being the GM.
@@sonicspecter Haha, yeah that sounds really tough but just for fun imagine a combined DM / modular virtuoso who could immediately patch sonic ideas to reflect the story as it happened :o
far beyond my own current capabilities but damn I would watch a Twitch stream like that!!
@@sonicspecter ah that sounds freakin epic, bet your players remember it forever!!!
LOVE IT
no i love you :)
Wow amazing Soundscape. Love it. I just bought my first eurorack, and searching for any inspiration i can get. Hope you find someone who is interrested on your work, it remembers me on a game like "Silent Hill"
I'm so grateful for your comment, Sebastian! Thank you for listening! I also watched SO many modular videos before getting started.., I still watch many, and I can still remember the first videos I saw of the Mother-32! They are responsible for starting my modular addiction over 5 years and now I'm glad to hear there's another addict out there :D
To be in the same sentence as Silent Hill, one of the best soundtracks in the history of time, is an honor far higher than I feel I deserve, but I promise I'll try to earn it by getting better
@@NICUofficial i bought the polygogo and MI plaits as my oszollators, maths, strymon starlab, doepfer a-140-2; a-147-2; a-121-2; a-174-4, Behringer110 (vco-vcf-vca), Behringer four play and a Behringer 110mixer. I'm thinking about to get the Moskwa II or ornament and crime as next. And i still need a step devider. I'm a bit struggeling with my clock, i'm using ableton and the arturia keystep. I can play synced sequenzes, but i also need a synced clock for example to reset lfo. There are so many questions in my head. But i just started a month ago, i just opened the door😅 thank you for your answer.
looks so simple yet it isn't pure....sound
aww that's so nice, hope it made your day a little better!
Great patch
Bravo
thank you Doug, I enjoy the sounds this one gives off too!
Ooohhh 😮
Yo thanks for listening!! 😲
Thats a very cool ambient soundtrack, hope you dont mind if I use it for one of my led light installations (non commercial ofc)
Hi Sergei, this is super-exciting to me and thank you for asking. I'll absolutely give my permission for you to use it with your art - as long as there's credit given and interested people have a way to find their way to more of NICU's music.
On a personal note, will you be able to share any video of your installation paired with the music? I would absolutely love to see it! And, I don't have much reach (yet) but I'll definitely share it on my social media if you send it to me!
@@NICUofficial Its just an idea so far, but I want to show a bit creepy futuristic AI generated images from projector and use some background music and lightning effects and though that music for such project should also be made by machine. this particulary track has perfect mood - not relaxing and not too horror - will definately share news regarding that.
@@sergeimisenkov4049 that sounds so awesome and I really hope I can be a part of it!! You should do it! I would be so proud to be involved :) Stay in touch ok!!
ua-cam.com/video/_WhSto3Y9WI/v-deo.html
my first draft :)
ua-cam.com/video/_WhSto3Y9WI/v-deo.html