A collection of ambient and related tracks.

Ambient

One Synth Challenge #174: InfernalSynth by sjoerdvankreel

All entries that I made for "One Synth Challenge" from first to last.

One Synth Challenge Entries

New remastered version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/r3bF0SlIa2g

Submitted for Songwriting Competition 043 - "Spring Blossom" in March 2021.

I wanted to create a feeling of nature awakening after a long and cold winter. It is kinda reminiscent of what we all experienced in the last year. The spring looks promising and aims to bring a resolution to our troubles, but we still feel the taste of stress we went through.

Instruments and techniques used:

- Overall, I tried to create a lo-fi feel of early 80's home studio.
- Cherry Audio "Polymode" used for a bass drone that developes with stacked octaves and fiths.
- SampleScience "Cinematic Piano", the name stands for itself. It plays the main role in the first part of the track. It is drowned in Eventides's "Blackhole" reverb that transforms everything into etherial pad.
- "CA2600" plays the piano chords as arpeggio, fed into Audio Thing "Outer Space" tape echo that creates a rhythmic texture.
- u-He "Repro-1" used for the portamento synth lead. It is also fed into reverb.
- Field recordings of a spring forest, fed into Wavesfactory "Cassette" to simulate a budget recorder.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infravolt

Back To Life

NEW REMASTERED VERSION ON YT: https://youtu.be/UT6oPRi3NBU

Submitted for One Synth Challenge #145 in March 2021 featuring "Kairatune" by Futucraft.

A fun little synth for sure. It has serious limitations in some aspects, but it also has features that sometimes an expensive commercial software could have. An individual control for oscillator's fundamental and it's harmonics is a sort of genius. Sometimes it is so hard to control the bass frequencies when using unison feature on the other synths, but not in this case. The sound engine itself is quite good. With the series of modulated filters and a little bit of drive you can create pretty interesting timbres. The FX section is quite handy, there is something special about effects on a free synths (remember Synth1). 

There could be some minor improvements that would extend the possible sounds. More LFO shapes for example, I think it is not so hard to implement. There is, however, an interesting opportunity with such limited instruments to create some new sounds and develop new techniques that you wouldn't try within your comfort zone. 

Composed, arranged, mixed and mastered in FL Studio 20

8 instances of "Kairatune" used to create a track. All sounds from "init" patch.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infravolt

In Transition

In Transition (OSC#145)

YouTube: https://youtu.be/HRJEPQKbXkM

Originally submitted for One Synth Challenge #147 in May 2021 featuring "Any synth" by Full Bucket.

The goal was to create a track using one of Full Bucket's virtual synthesizers.

Chosen synth - Tricent

After working on another project I found that this synth can produce some really great tones while looking very simple and very limited in some ways. It is may be the best sounding Full Bucket synth in terms of vintage character. Without any external processing it sounds like a late 70's/early 80's sci-fi movie soundtrack, so the stylistic choice for my composition was made instantly. It was a pleasure to spend another weekend with this instrument. 

Composed, arranged, mixed and mastered in FL Studio 20

8 instances of "Tricent" used to create a track. All sounds from "init" patch.

Thread, related to this round: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=564633

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infravolt

Visitors

Visitors (OSC#147)

This track made for the One Synth Challenge #174 using only sounds from the VSTi Infernal. Only DAW and free 3rd party FX used.

DAW: Reaper
Track Details:
7 * Infernal
7 * ReaEQ
5 * Oril River
2 * LFX-1310
2 * Bass Professor
1 * STFU
1 * Pecheneg Tremolo
Master Details:
TDR VOS SlickEQ
Voxengo MSED
LoudMax 64
Metering:
SPAN
Youlean Loudness Meter
Stats:
LUFS: 16.5
DR: 12

Ambient Inferno - OSC #174 - Infernal

My entry for KVR OSC #174

Jay suggested a minor key at 90bpm.  In fact I haven't knowingly used a major chord at all!

11 Instances of Infernal Synth - all designed from scratch.
DAW: Reaper
Dead Duck: Filter, Compressor, Limiter, Delay, TiltEQ
OrilRiver Reverb
Reaper: ReaEQ, ReaXComp
Limiter No6, Khs Gain.  SPAN, YouLean Loudness Meter.

A Minor Deviation

This is my submission for this month's One Synth Challenge (OSC #174). I have used 7 instances of Infernal Synth VST to produce this track. Details of the plugins used are given in KVR Forum's OSC thread.

Stardust Serenade

YouTube version has better streaming quality: https://youtu.be/bLeZQ7Nh1Qg

"Since Humanity has gone into space we have discovered hundreds of new worlds. Most of them are lifeless wastelands of dust, ice, volcanic lava and all sorts of things. There were no signs of life in the universe, even the simplest one, not to mention any kind of "organized civilizations"...
And now we stumble upon this strange desolated world full of ancient ruins. God only knows what we would find here..."

Submission for One Synth Challenge #174 featuring "Infernal Synth" by sjoerdvankreel.

This synth reminds me a bit of 90's rackmount synths with a small display and several buttons to edit the sound. Those instruments were pretty feature packed, but their interfaces were usually described as "operating system from hell". I think I could guess why this synth is called "Infernal".

Unfortunately, my CPU isn't capable enough to handle at least two or three instances of this synth, so I decided to make a one instance entry this time. 

I made different sounds for all four oscillators with filters and shapers. Than I used audio routing mixer to bring sounds in and out through-out the track. This synth has a potential to become fully multitimbral (but sending audio to individual output is not possible with VST3 I guess).

1 instance of "Infernal synth" used to create a track.

Contest thread: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=599859

***Additionally, you can find download links on my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/infravolt. The links for this track will be available for public till the end of September. After that, they will be available only for patrons.***

What Lurks On Planet X?

What Lurks On Planet X? (OSC#174)

This was made using version 5.0.4 of Bitwig Studio.

It uses 14 instances of InfernalSynth, 8 of which are contained in Bitwig's Drum machine for percussive use. 

Bitwig FX: Arpeggiator, EQ+ x2, Reverb, Delay-1, Delay-2, EQ-2, EQ-5 x2
3rd Party FX: Spaceship Delay, Surge XT Effects (Delay)

Tested with headphones and speakers. Enjoy!

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hanukkah_candles_2015_(60).JPG

Korg Supporter - Flaming Musings (OSC #174 InfernalSynth)

Submission for One Synth Challenge 192 - "Thorn".
One Synth Challenge archive: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/2025/osc-193-thorn?authuser=0

More music:

Ashes Of Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CSN9S2Vq7U
Spicestorm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZWzKNYczA 
Hope Remains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90XBo9-Mqyg
Dystopia Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrO-ymAqCAc
Danger Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb0av_71N38

As always, a track that I made in the last days. The drums, choirs, distorted rhythm tracks and some of the SFX are made from scratch, the rest is a slightly modified stock presets. This synth reminds me a bit of old Massive (but with much better looking graphics) in terms of functionality and signal path. The glitch sequencer and arpeggiator are really handy to create interesting patterns. The effects section is pretty cool, especially the distortion module, an ultimate spice of the synth that I used (if not to say "abused") all the time. It can range from subtle saturation to a face melting tones. Also, this synth is great for making electronic drums and cymbals (though I would prefer to select the noise in the oscillator to be able to stack three noise sources in the single patch). This synth would definitely fit my setup.

31 instances used to create a track.

Vasabi

VVasabi (OSC#193)

Check out YouTube version: https://youtu.be/CiEgYpJuoZQ

Submission for One Synth Challenge #194 - "Monolit".
One Synth Challenge archive: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/2025/osc-194-monolit

More music:

VVasabi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WHc3NVnn4s
Spicestorm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZWzKNYczA 
Hope Remains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90XBo9-Mqyg
Dystopia Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrO-ymAqCAc
Danger Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb0av_71N38

This time I focused on rough analog tones and glitchy sound effects this synth is really capable of. Sometimes limited instruments like this can bring new ideas more effectively than a feature packed commercial product. It makes you want to tweak it rather than constantly switching through hundreds of presets. Though, I had to multitrack it sometimes to get thicker sounds and polyphonic patches, but since OSC188 I'm not afraid of that.

The idea of the song came after watching a new T*** movie trailer.

48 instances used to create a track.

Trailblazer

Trailblazer (OSC#194)

Submission for One Synth Challenge #195 - "Ragnarok 2".
One Synth Challenge archive: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/2025/osc-195-ragnarok-2

A new enhanced edition of this song is out on my YouTube channel. A slightly revisited mix and a few sounds added. Plus I recorded my bass guitar for it: https://youtu.be/141BdyqeZP0

More music:

Mercenaries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc6QpwOlc0c&pp=0gcJCbAJAYcqIYzv
All Gunz Blazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojxE-rMtfOI
VVasabi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WHc3NVnn4s
Trailblazer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiEgYpJuoZQ
Ashes Of Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CSN9S2Vq7U&pp=0gcJCbAJAYcqIYzv

I've been brought back to my video game soundtrack drafts lately. This song focuses on an atmosphere of a lush alien world that was turned into a battlefield. Although I'm happy with the usual Simmons style drums I made with this synth, there is a strange behaviour that occurs when two that uses noise instances playing simultaneously, some kind of weird phasing/flanging effect. I tried to minimize it as much as possible, but I can still hear it. The synth itself has good tone shaping capabilities and it's CPU efficient just like all Full Bucket instruments. I really like the sound of an overdrive and chorus effects, the much needed sauce for a virtual analog.

34 instances used to create a track.

Jungle Assault (OSC#195)

Submission for One Synth Challenge #196 - "Primer 2".
One Synth Challenge archive: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/2025/osc-196-primer-2?authuser=0

More music:

Jungle Assault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=141BdyqeZP0
VVasabi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WHc3NVnn4s
Hope Remains: https://youtu.be/90XBo9-Mqyg
Sabotage Mission: https://youtu.be/laUdrWRmTzA
The Dungeon: https://youtu.be/LkhNily5ZTg

I created this song in the last few days, it was a busy month. The synth itself is a decent one, could be someone's first synth as it's designed to learn. The controls are pretty basic and the FX section lacks some crucial parameters (like low/high filtering for reverb/delay). The synth has its own character though. It's reminiscent of 90's virtual analog synths with that characterful phase restart effect when unison mode is turned on. I could even make some cool rave sounds with it.

Run & Gun

Run & Gun (OSC#196)

Submission for One Synth Challenge #197 - "ODIN 2".
One Synth Challenge archive: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/2025/osc-197-odin-2?authuser=0

My first mixtape of original darksynth music is out! Check that out if you like music that brings a dystopian atmosphere.
https://youtu.be/YwRD0TQrQrs

My submission:

27 instances used to create a track.

This is my new slow rolling darksynth song with doom/power metal influences as I think this sound fits the synth really well. I've been working with ODIN 2 few years ago. The synth has really good layout and selection of modules and I especially like it's feature of multi stage saturation/distortion that you get from filters and amp section. You can create a really thick analog style sounds with it. I also like the new UI and new features. 

Here Comes The Atlas

VCA-089 - Here Comes The Atlas (OSC#197)

YouTube: https://youtu.be/VGX7zIS0soY

Originally submitted to Songwriting Competition 031 - "Take a Break" in March 2020.

One of the first ambient tracks i've ever made back in 2020. It is intended to be a retro-synth inspired piece to relax and dream to.

Instruments:

U-He "Repro-1" - bass drone.
U-He "Repro-5" - synth keys and arpeggio (sounds like mallets in high registers).
Full Bucket "FB-3100" - modulated strings.
discoDSP "OB-Xd" - synth pad with bandpass filter.

Thread, related to this contest: https://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=319&sid=6a6178057447e22f82bb114ece0dabc4

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infravolt

Carried Away

NEW REMASTERED VERSION ON YT: https://youtu.be/vRcEqO4eOHA

Submitted for One Synth Challenge #144 in February 2021 featuring "Rand" by Sampleson.

This is my little electro-ambient sketch. All the sound are generated via the big button and than tweaked to taste. It was kinda interesting to create a track using purely random sounds. The instrument itself sounds pretty good for free VST, but unfortunately it has some strange issues with the engine itself. You can hear crackling noise on some sounds. Also, there is no way to make this plugin sound in mono without the external processing. Applying a stereo with control plugins does the job, but makes it sound a little phasy, like a subtle chorus.

After all, I think that "Rand" could be used to learn synthesis, and sometimes it generates very interesting sound effects, but while the sound issues are present and it's feature set is kinda rudimentary in some places (no attenuation for LFO's and envelopes for example) it feels more like a toy than a useful tool.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/infravolt

Fear the Unknown

To the Unknown! (OSC#144)

This is my second account. The main account is in the links...

I upload my freshest works here because I reached upload limit on main account. I also keep posting on YouTube, so it's better to subscribe there. Don't forget to check out Patreon and support if you like the music...