Generative Ambient for Composition (Patreon)

When it comes to ambient music, one of the most helpful “starting points” is to put something underneath that sets the mood and the tone for the piece you are trying to create. Whether it’s uptempo, downtempo, or somewhere in between, having a good base layer can be extremely helpful as a foundational element to build the rest of your track on. Lately I’ve been really into creating “generative” pieces that flow into your usual compositional process. But how do you create these types of layers? Is there something more than you can do outside of the usual laying down of a pad or a soundscape before you start adding further elements on top? Actually, there is quite a lot.

Embrace Minimalism

The first thing you should know about generative ambient for composition is that less is more. You don’t need to have 8 or 9 devices all sending sound to your output in the sake of making it “generative.” There is a power in using only one or two sound sources and allowing the modulations of the sources as well as the notes themselves to guide the generative piece to a more interesting and satisfying place that leaves it open to further exploration in the DAW. Before you even start, try and pick out just one or two synths or modules that you are going to focus on to create these layers.

Envelopes are Everything

Whether you’re making your generative ambient in VCV Rack, in Ableton, or in the Grid in Bitwig, (or somethwhere else!) the envelope is usually a great place to start. By using envelopes with various attack and decay times, you can sculpt your sound source to make something that sounds natural, organic, and unpredictable. For example: in Phase Plant you can have an unlimited amount of envelopes just by clicking on the modulations sources at the bottom and adding them one by one. You can even tell Phase Plant to have other sources “trigger” the envelope and thereby making your piece entirely generative with no possibility it’s going to repeat twice. There’s a really great video by Dash Glitch which goes over this technique and I highly encourage you to watch it, if you haven’t already. The important thing is that you start thinking this way and use it to your advantage wherever possible.

LFO is King!

The king of all modulation sources is the LFO and whether it’s a straight sine wave, a random sample & hold, or something in between, using LFOs to modulate your sound sources and/or spectral distortion (in Vital) is the key to getting your generative piece to have variation and feel like it’s always moving. Try using LFOs with various timings, whether it’s synced or not. One of my favorite tricks you can try is to use LFOs to control the speed of other LFOs! By doing this, you are creating further variety in the timing of how events are happening and it opens up different types of composition, such as long form ambient, delayed trigger events, and tons more.

Keep Experimenting

It’s important that you keep experimenting and trying new things, even if you feel stuck or like you’re not getting anywhere. There are always possibilities. If you’re not comfortable in VCV Rack or The Grid, my best advice would be to try this in Vital. There’s an older video on my channel called “Looping Envelopes” which the second half goes over this technique. You can trigger Vital’s LFOs and modulate their timing to create a never-ending array of sounds coming from either of the three oscillators or the sample engine! It’s extremely powerful, works well, and most importantly is a good solid free solution to make generative pieces like this. Place a good reverb at the end of your chain like Supermassive and you’re good to go!

Stay tuned for a Generative Ambient / VCV Rack / Ableton Live tutorial coming to the Ambient Tutorials tier later in the week!

Cheers,

-S1gns