Review: Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind by Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz

Inspired by nature but created in synthesis, Whispers In The Wind by Subsonic Artz and Triple Spiral Audio is a bounty of gentle and organic sounds. Although it does on occasion branch out to weirder and more aggressive sounds, it is for the most part a quite beautiful collection of ambient sounds for both Repro-1 and Repro-5.

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Review: Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind by Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz

It seems everywhere you look the leading lights of synth programming are teaming up on joint releases and Whispers In The Wind features another collaboration between Jaap Visser (Triple Spiral Audio) and Fred Nongat (Subsonic Artz). This time two is better than one not only in the creators, but in the synths involved as it boasts 176 patches divided equally between Repro-1 and Repro-5. Both of these synths are made by u-he and emulate the Sequential Circuits Pro One and Prophet-5 respectively. Combine this with inspiration from the likes of Kraftwerk, Daft Punk and Pink Floyd and it is no surprise we are going back in time to the golden age of analogue synths. But Jaap and Fred are no strangers to the whims of the modern musician, so this nostalgia is tempered with a modern twist.

Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind sells for €34.66 from Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz

Thoughts

The two synths in questions differ quite a lot, not least as Repro-1 is monophonic and Repro-5 is polyphonic, so I will look at the soundsets for each in turn. Starting with Repro-1 we have both sedate and more urgent arps. Some are ‘cheating’ slightly and use the sequencer, but they are all very interesting and distinct. The basses range from quite ambient affairs to grinding and evolving lines that could form the basis for a whole cue or song. The Long Corridor is a lot of fun.

The Long Corridor Preset

Two fairly gnarly square oscillators an octave apart are mixed with a good dose of noise and fed through a slow attack filter envelope. The arp keeps it repeating on one note and all five effects slots are employed to really bring this to life with a shedload of wave shaping, delay and reverb. Just hanging on one note and then riding the modwheel opens up the filter to great effect, moving it from a brooding pulse to an aggressive rasp.

The FX tread a fine line between amazing sound design and plain amusing! It’s a jungle of noises from cosmic toads, to bird tweets and all the way to wild pitch shifts. They are incredible examples of programming skill, but your mileage may vary depending on the type of music you make.

The leads are nicely understated and urge you to create long sinuous melodies. This ambient feel is echoed in the pulses and pads. The former are quite pad-like and the latter quite pulse-like! The overall sonic being that both categories are organic, trippy sounds with subtle movement to them. Next are a handful of more percussive sounds that stay the right side of the line for this soundset and never get too punchy or too EDM.

The lion’s share of the sounds lie with the sequences. Repro-1 makes up for its lack of polyphony with a simple but effective sequencer engine and it is really well used in Whispers In The Wind. There is a hint of retro with a nice dusty feel to some of the sounds. The patterns are amongst the most interesting I have heard for Repro-1, going far beyond three note arps and steady pulses. Competative is a great example of this, so much so I will forgive the spelling mistake!

Competative Preset

A slightly gritty pluck skips along and then halfway through the pattern a two octave jump is programmed, which responds brilliantly to the delay. Riding the modwheel opens it up slightly creating the apparent effect of lengthening the note.

The Repro-5 side of Whispers In The Wind continues the gentle and organic approach and is arguably even more ambient. Certainly the atmospheres and pads evoke the feeling of epic wild places, be they frozen lakes or melancholic mist-shrouded forests. Icelandic Pad shows this off very well.

Icelandic Pad Preset

The tone is a synthetic string and brass ensemble that slowly blooms into a bold, ping-ponging climax, before very gradually fading back to undulating waves. It’s really quite mesmerising to play!

The pulses are a good mixture of energetic alarm types and muted atmospheric sounds. My preference was for the latter, as you find them less often in collections and they can be of real use in less full on cues where you still want some kind of subtle motion. They are never too dark or too aggressive, which again adds much to their flexibility.

The FX on the Repro-5 side are a bit less crazy then Repro-1 and are darker and more drone-like generally. There are just three bass sounds and only one drum sound, but they fit nicely with everything else. The rest of the pack is taken up by various keyboard, synth and lead sounds, depending on how the creators categorised them. To be honest, as with many preset packs these three sound types do tend to crossover a lot and I am never wholly sure where a lead ends and a synth begins! What I do know, however, is that they are all very inspirational to play. They share the same non-hyped sound and have tight attacks, long releases, delays and lengthy reverb tails which make them especially good for arpeggios and melodies where each notes blends into the next one. The Shall We preset exhibits superbly this gloriously cascading quality that retains enough transient on the attack to make each note still distinct.

Shall We Preset

Whispers In The Wind is a really great pack for anyone scoring natural history programmes that wants to move away from the more typical orchestral palette. Some of the atmospheres and pads will work well in trailer intros and for underscore. Ambient and downtempo producers will also have a field day with these sounds, as will anyone working on neo-classical hybrid music that often includes subtle amounts of synthesiser sounds.

Throughout both collections I was struck by how earthy the sounds are. A few might begin to veer off into more spacey sounds, but by and large the sonic signature here is evocative of nature and landscapes. In part this is because many sounds have echoes of familiar instruments in them, with clarinet-esque leads and flute-like pads for example, which grounds them on Planet Earth. Hats off to Triple Spiral Audio and Subsonic Artz for a wonderfully nuanced and considered collection.

Facts

Whispers In The Wind consists of 88 presets for Repro-1 and 88 presets for Repro-5. You will need a full copy of these synths from u-he to use this soundset. Please note that although this is joint release it is only available for purchase on the Triple Spiral Audio website.

Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind sells for €34.66 from Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz

Demos of Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind by Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz

Videos of Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind by Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz

Contributor Sam Burt reviews Repro-1/Repro-5 Whispers In The Wind by Triple Spiral Audio & Subsonic Artz
“Inspired by nature but created in synthesis, Whispers In The Wind by Subsonic Artz and Triple Spiral Audio is a bounty of gentle and organic sounds. Although it does on occasion branch out to weirder and more aggressive sounds, it is for the most part a quite beautiful collection of ambient sounds for both Repro-1 and Repro-5.”