Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

Download on the App Store

Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Why is ambient super popular (for iOS Producers)?

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Comments

  • @Svetlovska
    Interesting... thanks for the insight 👍

  • @Svetlovska said subscribed!
    <3

  • @Svetlovska said:
    For me, if it has no spoken or sung words, no recognisable drum patterns, and an excess of reverbs, I’ll be aiming for Dark Ambient. If it cries out for rhythms, sequences, patterns, vocal loops - it’ll be Witch House. These are my rules.

    ... and yet pretty much all the ‘ambient’ I listen to has some kind of rhythm / vague structure - go figure!

    It’s this need to label stuff, it always ends up breaking down.

    For example I can’t think of any other genre to label this track and yet if you listen to it you’ll hear it eventually develops a rhythm (albeit a subtle one):

    Maybe there is a sub sub sub genre label for it, I lose track :smiley:

    Need to go and google ‘witch house’...

  • edited January 2021

    @zeroG : good call, I had never come across connect.ohm before - now added to my Spotify faves, thank you. Though quite jolly, so in my ‘ambient’, not my ‘dark ambient’ section... :) btw, Judging from their artwork, perhaps another marker of ‘ambient’ is very cool shots of landscapes, buildings, trees... a tendency toward a visual austerity... ;)

    By way of thanks, sort of, here is the very first track I heard that alerted me to the existence of dark ambient, and still one of my favourites:

  • @Svetlovska - thanks, saved that. Will digest over a few listens to do it justice

    Sooo looks like I’m a fan of bubblegum ambient then :smiley: But there is one album I like that’s darkish, you’ve likely already come across it

    https://open.spotify.com/album/37uM7AfX8Zo0gKSLUNPHSj?si=coZMFqdDStSwU1UDt6LSFQ

  • Inside ambient there are so much subgenres and it is not easy to make good ambient.

    @Svetlovska Cryochamber is a good label promoting dark ambient drone compositions. One of my highlights here are the releases of mount shrine. sounds very easy to make but its not, haha 😂

    Anyone interested on their bandcamp there are many „best of ____“ yearly compilations for a dollar, or free I cannot recall atm. https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/

    EDIT: free ;)

  • edited January 2021

    @zeroG : oh, yeah. Big fan of most of the Atrium Carceri output. And, @david_2017 , agreed, I like Atrium Carceri’s Cryo Chamber label 24 hour livestream too, put it on the big telly and just let it run:

  • I think there are many reasons, but these come to mind to me:

    Barrier to entry.

    If you want to make Ambient music, iOS has tools that not only fit the genre well and pose few if any barriers to entry, but also make certain types of compositions better than other systems. Setting up your iPad with all the unique iOS tools such as audiobus and AUM and making a completely customised modular toolkit suits the gente extremely well.

    It’s also really easy to record an ambient jam and post it to YouTube as a live performance.

    The barrier to entry for recording a live rock band on an iPad is much higher so far fewer would attempt it (and desktop DAWs usually make this particular task far, far more convenient).

    Confirmation bias.

    If you go looking for ambient music made with iPad, you’re going to keep finding more. Search for certain things on YouTube for example and you will be suggested more and more of the same to keep you engaged.

    Inspiration

    If you are an iOS musician and see a video on YouTube of somebody making music using cool iOS apps, you might not only like what you’ve just experienced, but are immediately inspired and believe that you too could do that. So you become inspired and try to do something similar. And if you think it’s good enough to where, then you share it and the cycle continues.

    Knowing you are able (or will be able to learn) to do the same is a nice feeling. It’s not so easy to shred like Satriani (although to be honest I’d rather cut off my ears with a spoon than listen to Satriani shred!) but most of us on this forum can be inspired by our peers. And clearly are judging by the amount of people sharing their jams on YouTube.

  • edited September 2023

    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.
    very rare that i hear something like "wtf was that sound?"
    since shpongle at least. but that's not real ambient.

  • This thread is hilarious.
    Unfortunately, I like ambient.
    I make stuff with beats and then inevitably end up removing them and think 'Dammit, it's actually better now...'
    Anyway, I vote we start making fun of chiptune now instead.

  • edited September 2023

    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

  • I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

  • @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

  • @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    I love some good noise music, I’ve got a couple of noise tracks on the album I’m working on. Excited to hear what you come up with!

  • @HotStrange said:

    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sure, but there is an abundance of people on here. I mean that’s cool, whatever floats your boat. I guess it is just surprising the amount of people that do. The bot thing was obviously me being facetious. I don’t know I’m practically a hermit socially and out of touch anyway so I wouldn’t really know what people care for. This is really the only place online that I ever post or look at other than YouTube and now twitter or X I guess.

  • @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

  • @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    You mean you still have some of :em old fashioned metal bin lids wot ppl used to use lying around?

  • @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

  • @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

    No you aren't mate. I used to think Ambient was boring back in my early 20s, not understanding what the point of Ambient is. Once I understood it's meant to exist in the background and not draw attention to itself, that's when I grew to love it. :) And there are as many ways to produce it as there are people who produce it. Lol.

  • @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

    I think the number of ambient lovers among active members here is genuinely pretty high. As JM mentioned, and as I've said before, I think it's often more enjoyable to make it than to listen to it. Although it's often background music while listening, it can bring about a real state of flow and deep concentration while making it. It's also easy to make, relative to many other genres and the lack of beats, generally speaking, is a nice respite in a world full to the brim with stimulation. I don't think the ambient craze will be going away any time soon tbh

  • @Gavinski said:
    I think the number of ambient lovers among active members here is genuinely pretty high. As JM mentioned, and as I've said before, I think it's often more enjoyable to make it than to listen to it. Although it's often background music while listening, it can bring about a real state of flow and deep concentration while making it.

    This is so true! It does provide nice flow and deep concentration when producing it. :) And it's relaxing to produce since you don't have to do much, or at least you can take your time twiddling the knobs and sliders. It's also a genre where "mistakes" are actually "happy accidents".

    And oftentimes you can use lfos to automate a lot of the various ways to shape timbre.

    It's also easy to make, relative to many other genres and the lack of beats, generally speaking, is a nice respite in a world full to the brim with stimulation. I don't think the ambient craze will be going away any time soon tbh

    This! 👆 Getting a respite from the stimuli in today's world (not just musicwise, but in general, especially if one lives Downtown) is one of many reasons I enjoy Ambient.

  • @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

    No you aren't mate. I used to think Ambient was boring back in my early 20s, not understanding what the point of Ambient is. Once I understood it's meant to exist in the background and not draw attention to itself, that's when I grew to love it. :) And there are as many ways to produce it as there are people who produce it. Lol.

    @Gavinski said:

    @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

    I think the number of ambient lovers among active members here is genuinely pretty high. As JM mentioned, and as I've said before, I think it's often more enjoyable to make it than to listen to it. Although it's often background music while listening, it can bring about a real state of flow and deep concentration while making it. It's also easy to make, relative to many other genres and the lack of beats, generally speaking, is a nice respite in a world full to the brim with stimulation. I don't think the ambient craze will be going away any time soon tbh

    Well said.. Yea I guess the fact is there are just a lot of people here that like it and produce it. I am all for Ambient and whatever sonically pleases anyone trust me! I’ve definitely made plenty of stuff that would probably be considered in that vein for sure. I’ve made a lot of noise/ambient type stuff really. Just seemed like it gets mentioned a ton.

  • @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

    No you aren't mate. I used to think Ambient was boring back in my early 20s, not understanding what the point of Ambient is. Once I understood it's meant to exist in the background and not draw attention to itself, that's when I grew to love it. :) And there are as many ways to produce it as there are people who produce it. Lol.

    @Gavinski said:

    @emc87 said:

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    @Birdpie said:
    for me most ambient is exciting as supermarket music.

    I think that's the point of Ambient music to be honest. It's not meant to be exciting. It's meant to exist in the background, to be passively listened to whilst attending to other matters, but one can actively listen to Ambient if they so choose.

    Whenever I start listening to an Ambient piece in the Creations section, I often open another tab and continue to peruse the forum. Or I listen to Ambient when meditating, or high, or both.

    And it's definitely a lot more exciting to make Ambient than listen to it for sure. Your mileage may vary.


    @emc87 said:
    I have absolutely no problem with it and can respect it. But yeah… this is an old thread but I’m glad someone said it… that was something I’ve certainly noticed and kind of bugged me. Seems like every thread eventually someone mentions ambient music. Every app that comes out someone in just about every thread says “this would be great for ambient.” Like it’s just a bunch of bots pushing for the ambient genre to be more popular or sell someone’s ambient music or something, weird…

    Or maybe many of us like producing Ambient music? A lot of us like Ambient music because it can evoke many different emotions, just like any genre of music really. And as I said above to Birdpie, it's meant to be passively listened to, although one can actively listen if they so choose.

    Ambient music rarely ever generates more than a little spare pocket change (unless you're Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream), so there is no agenda being pushed by AI.


    @HotStrange said:
    Or people just like ambient music? Idk why that’s so hard for people to understand lol

    Sometimes people need the obvious spelled out in a succinct and concise manner. Best to be patient.


    @Svetlovska said:
    From a listening point of view, I may be starting down the slippery slope of noise music. It makes dark ambient sound cheery by comparison. As to making it? Well, we’ll see. I do have the technology…

    Mad insane piece of noise! Nice gritty textures. Irena I hope you can take over where @iOSTRAKON left off.

    That reminds me where is @iOSTRAKON these days? Definitely one of the noisiest producers in the Creations section. I bet he'd have some nice tips and tricks on how to get those jarring textures.

    Yea I’m pretty dense I guess

    I think the number of ambient lovers among active members here is genuinely pretty high. As JM mentioned, and as I've said before, I think it's often more enjoyable to make it than to listen to it. Although it's often background music while listening, it can bring about a real state of flow and deep concentration while making it. It's also easy to make, relative to many other genres and the lack of beats, generally speaking, is a nice respite in a world full to the brim with stimulation. I don't think the ambient craze will be going away any time soon tbh

    Well said.. Yea I guess the fact is there are just a lot of people here that like it and produce it. I am all for Ambient and whatever sonically pleases anyone trust me! I’ve definitely made plenty of stuff that would probably be considered in that vein for sure. I’ve made a lot of noise/ambient type stuff really. Just seemed like it gets mentioned a ton.

    True, it does get mentioned quite a fair bit. :) Moreso than other genres. I'm one of the key players that made Ambient huge around these parts since Summer 2022 I must admit, a few months before you joined. 😅

    (When you joined, I was in the middle of my Lofi era. 😂🤣 )

  • Another point towards ambient, drones, noise, etc is it’s fun to listen to and deconstruct. I love listening to something like Throbbing Gristle and trying to figure out how they made it. It almost feels like studying music and that’s awesome to me.

    Also ambient isn’t just Eno’s Music for Airports. There’s all different styles and a lot are more exciting than supermarket music lol.

    Lastly I think the workflow of AUM and the modular aspects of iOS is really great for experimental music which is likely why it gets mentioned a lot. The workflow just fits.

  • edited September 2023

    @jolico said:
    I would like to know why there are more psytrance producers than fans.

    weird, i would say same about ambient on AB forum, or about techno when watching dawless jams of people with HW groovevoxes and modular synths on Youtube :-))

    Didn’t saw soo much modern psytrance producers here ..

    On AB forum: 0
    On YT dawless jam community: 1

    In contrary, my experience with amount of producers in other genres:

    ambient: 1137775
    techno: 333399752822
    hiphop: almost every BM3 or MPC (both hw and sw) user

    on serious note (not sure if that is expected in this thread lol): google for "Boom Festival" or "Ozora Festival" ;) And those are just two, there is much more of them. For exampel in Izrael is psy probably most popular musical genre at all. In terms of producing - there is actually less producers in most of other genres because it is technically most difficult and challenging from most electronic music styles. It is really hard to make psy tune which would peple on festivalls really enjoy. (I know it, after 30 years of trying still failing :-)))

  • edited September 2023

    @jwmmakerofmusic said:

    No you aren't mate. I used to think Ambient was boring back in my early 20s, not understanding what the point of Ambient is. Once I understood it's meant to exist in the background and not draw attention to itself, that's when I grew to love it. :) And there are as many ways to produce it as there are people who produce it. Lol.

    I listen ambient (and chillout) all the time during day when i write code. It helps me concentrate, it puts me into interesting stage of mind where i am really deeply focused on code and inam MUCH more effective with it than without it.

    One of my most favourite ambient musicians is State Azure, really love his music, especialyl his hours long modular generative patches. Amazing sound universe.

    For me ambient is literally what name say - “ambience” .. it’s the sound of enviroment (not necessary natural - it may be completely synthetic) and it’s purpose is not to entertaim you (so it also can’t bore you), but it’s purpose is to induce some mind of mood/state of mind in you during other activities you are making.

  • @tahiche said:

    • You can do ambient in AUM. No one likes iOS DAWS.

    Lol this one is sufficient enough to explain everything :-D

  • edited September 2023

    its one of the genres you can do without any knowledge of music.
    bling, bling.

  • I disagree with the general assessment that you don’t need any musical knowledge to make ambient. That’s just silly and hard to believe there are this many musicians in this thread actually saying that. Sure you can get an app like Autopad, press play and make “ambient” but to do it well on the level of someone like Eno is NOT something you can just do without any musical knowledge.

    Seems pretty disrespectful to fellow musicians having fun and creating things. It’s not much different than all the 70 year olds in YouTube comments saying EDM is nothing but “pressing play on a keyboard”. A little disheartening to see these comments honestly. Gonna avidly avoid this thread.

  • you can have fun without doubt.
    and you can have results without having knowledge about music.
    that's all i said.

This discussion has been closed.