antler

@Michael A.D. when it's convenient, would you be able to upload a recording of the vocal? I don't have SILK so I can't try it out, but I'd be interested in hearing the phantom vocal.

Nice tune Wookiee I like how there's one theme that restates itself throughout, but the gradual build up of the piece overall both builds energy and doesn't let the theme get old. For me, I found the instrumentation to be both bubbly/fun, and yet somehow pensive at the same time. Well done!

It does have a signature though; signed by NXTGN Music Technology GmbH

Does anyone get the Windows Defender SmartScreen popup when trying to run the installer?

I got excited until I saw the $149 bit Slightly ironic, given that the reason stated for introducing minimum-spend was to combat voucher swapping/sharing. Tra-la-la...

It's a good idea, but I would have thought that this would be like trying to get the individual whole ingredients back out, given a baked cake. Even acoustic sims don't really sound acoustic, and they're working from a clean DI.

Anyone have any opinions on the Shadow Hills compressor? I've read that it's good, but I've already got O8A, FabFilter Pro-C, and the Overloud compressors. I've seen a few of your compressor reviews @Zo; any thoughts?

Let it go, let it go Can't hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Turn away and slam the door...

Anyone know what's actually in it?

Does it have anything to do with The Neverending Story?

I'm not buying anything either; I have enough from other plugin companies. I get it: business is business, and every company's trying to make money somehow, but for me I feel a sense of cash-grab/deception/disingenuousness from them. They used to have $29 sales (which I bought into); since their subscription rollout, I've seen the same sales, but for $49. When their ADA flanger first came out, it was priced north of $300; it has since been brought down to a more reasonable price, especially so with their sales, so fair enough I guess. They try to push their subscriptions as the best deal ever: plugins worth five-figures (I forget exactly how much) for <$100 a month. I guess that is a good deal, but you have nothing once you stop; there are services that let you rent-to-own. And it's not a consumer service like Spotify; these are tools for projects that you create and may rely on. Opinions of others will probably differ, and I may be in the minority. That said, this is the reason why I will probably (but not necessarily) look elsewhere if I'm looking for new plugins.

Amazing how one guy's flippancy towards instrument tuning has inspired a whole following to believe things about the frequency of the universe, enjoyed only by those with heighted senses.

I hope not; trying to fit into some of my older clothes is far too much effort Reminds me of the film Equilibrium On a more related note (pun unintended), I didn't realise that something like the tonoscope existed. Kinda interesting/cool to see the sand move around according to the note being played. Sort of reminds me of when I studied computer image processing: we passed images through an FFT during convolution to blur images, and they ended up looking like those patterns. I suppose it's the same thing - images are just 2D signals, whereas audio is a 1D signal.

Did the whole 432Hz thing start because someone genuinely believed it was better, or was it a joke that lots of people took too seriously?

I know we've all said this by now, but I don't get the subscription thing. It's marketed as a 'benevolent' way of letting everyone have access to all plugins at a manageable price, but there are services like Splice where people can rent-to-own. Or maybe they've hiked up their prices so much now that nobody in their right mind would pay full price for them, even through rent-to-own.

There should be a ProChannel version of this!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Nice tune! I like the transitions between the quieter parts, and sections where there is definitely a tension (fitting for the magical/frightening creatures you mentioned), going through to sections (with the clarinet) that bring a sense of wonder. Well done! I've not actually downloaded it, but this might fit the bill (though it says it requires full Kontakt 5): https://cinesamples.com/product/sony-room-tone

At that price, I think Dreamware is the right description for me. Side note, I do wish they'd run their site (especially their login/sign up pages) off https

If you have Melodyne, it might be a good idea to deactivate that. Also, maybe any iLok plugins that are authorised to your computer (rather than a dongle)?

Just noting something that might not be obvious: despite its name, Addiction is a subtractive synth

Thanks for listening Tom, and the kind words. Having bought Insolidus in a sale earlier this year, I thought it sounded amazing and was looking for a way to make it a standout part in a project. I subtly played about with the tempo in this project quite a lot, and decided to use a 'fairly big' rallentando just before the choir. At first I didn't have any percussion, but felt that something was missing; it was pretty much a happy accident of trying multiple things. I also had an idea from a SoundIron scoring video that I just so happened to watch, where the composer was describing how he used a sub-rumbling thump to give particular emphasis on certain parts of his track. Having a cinematic thump/whack library, I decided to also give this a go while rolling of the high end, and found that it went really quite well with the drums when used sparingly. I was considering whether I need a new reverb. I already have Overloud's Breverb and Rematrix, though confess that I haven't fully learnt to tweak all parameters. Some of the big-name reverbs do sound really good, but I've so far been trying to stay off iLok plugins (personal choice). Maybe I should try learning to tweak the reverbs I already have before jumping on to something else; this year's Black Friday/Christmas sales have already made me poor. Also, given what I've heard about Arturia's free reverb (haven't downloaded yet), maybe they'll release 3 reverbs that I'll actually use that are really good and reasonably priced.

Thanks Zinc. Glad you enjoyed listening I was trying to show the contrast of something as 'small' as a wish/dream and the 'hugeness' of something happening because of it... that and also because things always seem 'bigger' if you build up a crescendo to it. The idea to occasionally go to solo instruments came partly because I've had some solo instruments for a while that I wanted to let shine, but didn't know in what context to do so; partly because it's difficult to go even 'bigger' while at pretty much full orchestra, so the exact opposite of going solo has IMO almost the same awe-inspiring effect.

Thanks @David Sprouse, @amiller, @congalocke, @Douglas Kirby for both listening and the kind words. I was going for something positive, hopeful, and epic: in the way that in some movies, something as 'small' as a wish in someone's mind might lead to something powerfully positive in some way.

Thanks Bjorn. Glad you liked it. There is a theme that I ended up using four times (i.e. how the song starts), and I was a little worried that it might stick out as a little bit too repetitive; seems like I was maybe a little over-cautious though as it hasn't been mentioned. But now that you mention a recurring theme, I have heard examples before of a theme that gets reused, but not repeated per se. Can't think of one off the top of my head though. 'Magic' brownies? ?