Rating: **** 4/5 Stars
The Lost Reveries sound library from FrozenPlain runs on the free Mirage plug‑in instrument and supports both VST2 and AU formats, but not AAX (VST3 is expected soon), on macOS/Windows. Mirage allows up to three samples to be layered, each with its own filter, EQ, LFO and MIDI control options as well as independent ADSR envelope shapers for both the level and the filters within each of the three sections. The three sample waveforms are also displayed and their start points may be adjusted. A master effects section comprises various types of distortion, filtering, modulation, delay and reverb as well as control over stereo width.
The sounds offered here are specifically of the ambient drone variety and were created by Hilyard, an artist well known in the genre and with some 25 album releases to his name. The 32 synthesized sounds at the core of the instrument are described as ambient ‘oscillators’, which may then be combined and processed within Mirage’s three‑layer engine. The sounds for these ‘oscillators’ were created using both processed real sounds and synthesized voicings. There are 80 presets included, though swapping out sounds or tweaking parameters to create your own variations is straightforward.
Hilyard’s ambient‑tone ‘oscillators’ are presented as four distinct groupings categorised as Low, Mid, Air and Vocal, which provides an idea of where each sound sits in the audio spectrum. The Lows are all deep and rumbly but with a useful sense of movement and complexity. The Vocal section doesn’t offer photorealistic vocal sounds but rather ambient vowels and hums. In the Air section you’ll find noise‑like sounds that still incorporate a tonal element, while in the Mid section there’s a choice of mellow synthetic sounds with varying characters. There are no really bright sounds — the resulting drones are clearly designed to play a supporting role.
If you are looking for a sound to accompany a spaceship crossing the void or a drone flight over the Grand Canyon, you’ll find something here...
Most of the presets have slowish attacks and a gently varying character created as the three layers loop independently, which makes them ideal as backdrops to other sounds and melodies. Emotionally, the sounds span uplifting to mildly ominous and in addition to their obvious applications in ambient music, they also lend themselves well to cinematic soundtrack compositions. The majority of the sounds are pitched so that the end result is musically playable, with single notes or very sparse chords seeming to work best. If you are looking for a sound to accompany a spaceship crossing the void or a drone flight over the Grand Canyon, you’ll find something here that provides the necessary soundscape with just a single note. Lost Reveries is also well suited to relaxation music or for use as a background to spoken word therapy sessions. Best of all is that the Mirage engine makes it very easy to customise your own sounds, and also allows you to browse other Mirage libraries you might own directly from the same Mirage interface.
$59
$59