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by Julian Schmauch | 4,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 4 Minutes
Ambient Starter Kit: Handpicked Deals for Your First DAW-less Jam

Ambient Starter Kit: Handpicked Deals for Your First DAW-less Jam  ·  Source: Arturia

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Endless, epic soundscapes fill the sonic universe. That’s what Ambient music promises. But how do you start? What do you need without breaking the bank? We’ve selected three offers as an Ambient starter kit from Thomann that, in combination, will get you everything you need. A synth from Arturia, a pedal from … and a mobile recorder, so you don’t even need a laptop.

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What even is Ambient?

Ambient music is almost as old as synthesizers in music. Harking back to the seventies with seminal works like Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports or the more soundscape-ey Discreet Music, Ambient has always kind of been there (just like Ambient itself). In the nineties, Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works and Autechre’s Incunabula showed just how complex and meandering Ambient music could be.

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Generally speaking, Ambient music is much more about slowly developing soundscapes, endless reverb tails, brooding drones that, in combination, scratch on the surface of muzak, and background noise enough to make you feel something. Tight rhythms, catchy melodies, and even vocals are rarely a part of an 11-minute Ambient jam. Synths play an important role in Ambient, just as much as reverbs and delays. Let’s take a look at our Ambient starter kit!

Arturia Microfreak – Even more powerful today

The Microfreak might seem a bit toy-ish at first glance, but it ticks a lot of boxes. Especially when it comes to being a never-ending Ambient machine that can create endless sequences, complex soundscapes, and more. This tiny synth can sound huge!

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Since its release, Arturia has steadily updated the little guy with new features and even more bizarre sound engines. Right now, you can get the little guy at almost 10 percent off at Thomann*.

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Arturia MicroFreak
Arturia MicroFreak
Customer rating:
(288)

Pigtronix Cosmosis: Maybe the perfect reverb for your Ambient starter kit?

The days of pedals being a thing only for guitarists and bass players are long gone. If musician Instagram is any indication, there are now drummers, vocalists, and synth jammers alike, who also use pedals. For synth players, it’s all about blurring and smearing there epic pads through modulation effects and reverb, copious amounts of reverb. Did we mention reverb?

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So if a pedal like the Cosmosis from Pigtronix even labels itself “ambient reverb”, and said pedal offers such a vast sonic palette, then this might be worth a look. Plus, the pedal is over ten percent off at Thomann* right now!

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Pigtronix Cosmosis
Pigtronix Cosmosis
Customer rating:
(8)

Record your DAWless jam with 1010music, Zoom, or Tascam

There is one thing missing from your Ambient Starter Kit: a device to record everything. Because, sure, you can get yourself an audio interface and a DAW to record everything in-the-box. But we all know how distracting this can be. All this setting up only to read just that one last email or reply to that one forum user who just didn’t what they were talking about. You know it, we know it. #

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So, get a mobile field recorder. You could start with these bundles from Thomann, either the popular Zoom H4n* or the Tascam DR-40X*. Both are heavily discounted at the moment, offer loads of inputs and a decent recording quality. If you multitrack recording with loads of options and routing possibilities is more your thing, then you might want to take a look at the 1010music bluebox. It’s 10 percent off at Thomann* right now it offers 12 (!) input channels and a whole lot more. Now, you have no more excuse not to jam with this Ambient starter kit.

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Zoom H4n Pro Black
Zoom H4n Pro Black
Customer rating:
(159)
Tascam DR-40X
Tascam DR-40X
Customer rating:
(122)
1010music bluebox
1010music bluebox
Customer rating:
(45)

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Ambient Starter Kit: Handpicked Deals for Your First DAW-less Jam

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One response to “Ambient Starter Kit: Handpicked Deals for Your First DAW-less Jam”

    Volcular Eno Complex says:
    0

    Volca Modular too. It has a stochastic mode that always seems to take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Nice little machine to add for ambient, but don’t lose the mini-patching cables up the crack on yo ass, mutha.

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