Somerville Sounds releases Antiquarian Echoes, a FREE ambient guitar instrument for macOS and Windows.
Antiquarian Echoes is the latest addition to the Somerville Sounds Prototype lineup. If you aren’t familiar with the Prototype series, it is a small collection of free plugins, including The Meyer Choir, Rubber Bridge Plucks, and Antiquarian Echoes.
Unlike paid products from Somerville Sounds, these plugins run independently without needing Kontakt or Kontakt Player.
Jon Meyer, the man behind Somerville Sounds, previously released Antiquarian Echo around four years ago. The original release featured one guitar echo, and the new Antiquarian Echoes includes four.
The old and new plugins have in common that they come from the same Antiquarian parts caster guitar.
The developer ran the guitar through pedals and outboard gear to sample ambient and atmospheric sounds. The result, Antiquarian Echoes, is a collection of guitar pads and evolving textures.
The four available echoes are Stratus (from the original release), Cumulus, Nimbus, and Cirrus. Each echo has a distinct character you can tweak further using the controls on the GUI’s main tab.
The main tab hosts controls for the Cutoff, Resonance, Attack, and Release.
Without doing any work at all, Antiquarian Echoes offers an impressive assortment of pads through the four echo types, as well as various presets. The sounds range from lush and dreamy to dark and ominous.
I’m a sucker for lush pads; Jon Meyer pretty much had me at hello with this plugin, but I love how transformative a few slight adjustments can be.
In the walkthrough video, the developer states that he didn’t think about the attacks much while crafting these sounds; it was all about the atmosphere.
One of my favourite things about Antiquarian Echoes is that you can adjust the attack. It allows you to play well-articulated melodies while maintaining the evolving tail behind; it sounds fantastic.
Adjusting the release is just as powerful; I’m a big fan of the reverse piano sound when used tastefully, and by adjusting the release, you can create something very similar and just as emotive.
Talking of emotive sounds, don’t forget to grab a free copy of Flame Sound Firestarter SFX!
Antiquarian Echoes is available in AU, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS (11 upwards) and Windows (7 upwards).
Download: Antiquarian Echoes (FREE)
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