Life running you ragged? Chill out with these ambient machines, five instruments and sound players designed to soothe your nervous system and bring some dopamine back into your barren brain.
Ambient Machines
Synths and Devices for Sonic Wellness
Stick around long enough and stuff comes back around. I remember the ‘90s ambient boom well. I started releasing ambient records at the time and did all-night chill-out rooms at raves. There was so much good music released then. Now we’re in the midst of another ambient wave, this time even bigger, with chill-out rooms making a comeback – but with a 2020’s twist. The focus now is less on cooling down from the dance floor than taking a break from life. Late-stage capitalism is doing us all dirty, so we need some 432Hz vibes to save us.
Along with a flood of ambient, new age and wellness releases on streaming, we’re also seeing instruments and devices with a distinctly ambient focus. Today let’s look at five of these ambient machines. They cover a broad range, from pure instrument to pure sound player. Along with the capability of creating soothing sounds, they can all play by themselves too, meaning you can use them to relax as well.
Ambient Machines: Roland Mood Pan
Let’s kick things off (mindfully) with Mood Pan from Roland, an electronic handpan that encapsulates everything I’m trying to cover in this piece. Mood Pan is a wellness-focused instrument shaped like an acoustic handpan, with nine divots in the surface for playing with your hands.
The instrument can generate 12 different sounds, from handpan and tongue drum to gamelan and singing bowl and even sitar and strings. You also get 12 scales to choose from, or you can create your own with the included smartphone app. Don’t do 440Hz? It’ll work in 432 too! It also has onboard speakers so you can play anywhere, plus an output to run it through a mixer or effects. It also works as a MIDI controller should you want to play other sounds with it.
On the pure ambient side, set Mood Pan to one of four background modes for live music or sound effects. You can even play along with these, or stream your own music through it via Bluetooth.
I’ve had the chance to play the Mood Pan a few times at Roland’s headquarters and it’s always an enjoyable experience.
Roland Mood Pan is available from our affiliate partners Thomann* and Sweetwater*.
Ambient Machines: KORG ONYU
Here’s an interesting one. KORG’s lozenge-like ONYU is not an instrument but an ambient sound device for the home. The name gives you a clue what it’s about. Written with the Japanese characters for sound and healing (音癒), it’s intended to fill your home or workspace with calming ambient sounds for relaxation, meditation, concentration and sleep. KORG promises a full 3D sound stage with ONYU thanks to its Acoustage surround sound technology, which can fill a space with only two speakers and give the impression of being immersed in sound.
ONYU comes in two models, the wooden ONYU-W and the all-white ONYU-M, which features the same sounds and Acoustage system but in a white, plastic enclosure.
ONYU is only available in Japan right now. Check out the KORG site (Japanese language but translation works well) for more information.
Ambient Machines: Elta Music Solar 42N
Elta Music’s Solar 42 synthesizer is billed as an ambient machine, making it perfect for today’s list. Some synths end up being used by ambient musicians because they’re good at pads or sound design, but chill vibes weren’t necessarily the goal of the manufacturer. That’s not the case with Solar 42. It was purpose-designed with soundscapes in mind and was inspired by science fiction film soundtracks, among other things.
The current version of the synth, Solar 42N, adds improvements over the older Solar 50, 42 and 42F versions, but the main idea if the same: you get two VCOs with waveform variations, six drone voices on a separate push-button keypad, two sample & hold generators, two LFOs and three square pulse generators, and a five-step sequencer as well as a dual analog 12dB Polivoks filter, effects via a unique cartridge system, and much more.
Work with the sequencer and modulation to create generative-style patches that seem to live and breathe. If you like drones, this is your dream machine.
Ambient Machines: Sonicware LIVEN Ambient Ø
Solar 42 is a beauty of a machine. But it’s also expensive. If you’re looking for an ambient-focused single piece of hardware that’s a little more affordable, Sonicware have you covered with LIVEN Ambient Ø.
Part of the LIVEN series of groovebox-like instruments, Ambient Ø is a soundscape synthesizer that employs Sonicware’s proprietary Blendwave Modulation Synthesis, a synth engine with six structures “designed to create undulating and fluctuating tones,” according to the company. From this, you get three layers for Drone, Pad and Atmos, as well as Noise, a sample-based engine with eight-second stereo loops, as well as a line-in for processing of external sounds. There’s also an effects section with nine types of reverb and six others, including delay and chorus, plus a sequencer
When you’re ready to take a break, fire up Relaxation Playback Mode, an ambient-focused song mode and listen back to your sequences through the onboard speakers.
Sonicware Ambient Ø is available from our affiliate partner Thomann*.
Ambient Machines: Instruo Pocket Scion
Pocket Scion from Eurorack outfit Instruo takes ambient music out of the studio and into the forest. Rather than forcing you to play music, or just triggering sounds itself, Pocket Scion is a portable standalone device that interfaces with plants and uses their bioelectricity to generate MIDI information, which then controls the four onboard generative synth engines. Connect the sensor clips to plants, trees and fungus and listen to the vegetation sing.
Pocket Scion does actually let you play too, with a touch plate on the front for interacting with the sound engines. You can even play with the plants at the same time. If you get tired of the Scion sounds, hook it up to your computer or hardware synth via TRS and USB MIDI and let the soil speak.
The secret life of plants, indeed.
Instruo Pocket Scion is available from our affiliate partner Thomann*.
More Information
- More about synthesizers
- Buy synthesizers at Thomann*
*Note: This article contains advertising links that help us pay for this site. Don’t worry: the price for you will always be the same! If you buy something through these links, we will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
The post Ambient Machines: 5 Synths and Devices for Soothing Sonic Wellness appeared first on gearnews.com.