Review: Ghosts of Autumn by Atom Hub

by AMM

25 patches with 8 layers of each for deep control over the textures
Natural ambience and tonal elements combine to create uniquely unsettling soundscapes
Built-in Effects to create even more variety
Built-in User folder to store and organize custom configurations

Whimsical UI makes controlling the various effects and layers a bit time consuming
Balance issues between different presets

Time and space become distorted in this release. Caught in an other-wordly plane between summer and winter, Ghosts of Autumn is a mesmerizing and captivating sonic journey.

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Review: Ghosts of Autumn by Atom Hub

Ghosts of Autumn sells for €24.99 from by Atom Hub

Thoughts

Ghosts of Autumn combines natural ambience, synth and sound design elements to create unsettling dreamscapes. This library features 25 preset patches (in the folder called Basic). Each patch contains 8 layers (4 natural and 4 tonal) and you have the ability to tweak the amount of each of the different individual elements with a designated knob for each layer in the UI. Natural sounds include rain, wind, breaking branches, rocks, birds, frogs, dogs, footsteps, and many more. These field recordings perform as (approximately) minute-long loops and provide the backdrop to combine with the tonal elements and generate uniquely unsettling soundscapes. The tonal elements within the presets include synth pads, samples of or sound design derived from metal bowls, plucked strings, bowed strings and bamboo flute.

My favorite presets are Autumn Dreams Meadows, Cursed Rainy Town, Dried Under the Stones, Hidden in the Tree Crowns and Tribe of the River Monks.

Depending on whether you are after more tonal sounds or more ambient, using the knobs to adjust the level of different layers helps bring out a melody, or create a wash of natural sounds with a bit of agitation subtly running underneath. The presets themselves range in mood, covering the spectrum from dreamy and listless to anxious to completely unnerving, which makes this library highly versatile in a variety of situations.

In addition to the 25 presets, there is a folder called Derived which contains 50 additional patches. These are, as the name suggests, derived from the presets, and give you even combinations to explore, and a starting place to create more customized configurations.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/woc2u1n8ikbthif/Screenshot%202017-12-03%2022.36.56.png?dl=0

The UI is interesting to look at and features a whimsical leaf design and a central portal window to a different landscape for each patch you load. The most fun aspect for me with this design is that it feels a bit like being in a video game: instead of normal looking knobs, I have to spin acorns and leaves. The effects buttons are arranged in a somewhat haphazard manner with text strewn in all directions. Apparently, the knobs are supposed to glow yellow as you turn to the right (increasing the volume) but this is something that is very hard for me to see against the brown until I have it turned all the way up.

Some controls are not labeled at all, although thankfully if you hover over it a label appears at bottom of the Kontakt window so you can keep track of what you are doing.

Built-in effects include EQ, Attack, Release, Filter, Stereo, Flanger, Phaser, Delay, Reverb and Limiter. The library was designed with the intention that you spend time to explore and tweak settings and includes a user folder so you can save your settings to recall later.

One issue with this library is with balance. I found that some of the presets have levels a bit too high and can clip within the Kontakt instance. The ones I found most likely to have this problem are Life-giving Spring, Living Rocks By the Pond and Magical Sunset. Turn down the volume within Kontakt or use the built in limiter to avoid clipping when using these patches. In addition, in some patches if you press too many keys at once with high velocity, you will cause clipping due to the number of elements in all of the layers that are triggered to start again with a key press.

Overall I found this library very intriguing. The presets are great straight out of the gate, and there is a lot of room for in depth customization. It is easy to lose yourself in this space between times.