Prelude

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prelude

This is the debut announcement of a conception that’s been in the works for years now (technically started roughly when Prismatic was also in its infancy). Prelude introduces & sets the theme for the new upcoming Muir album, which will feature an amazing array of vocalists infused with the evermore deepening Muir vibe. New sonics, sights, lyrics, poems, odysseys. “Like” the Muir facebook page or email subscribe to keep updated with the bits and pieces that will slowly fall into a complete album. Thanks for everybody who’s listened!



Wake the dream, breath the thought
Ride the Break-away road
Just don’t complete it

Set camp at the gravel-side trees
Look to the city, down one side
Look to the hills, up the other

Grin fully & knowingly now
You’ve found a space devoid
of a growing social despair
Locked into your blood

A place with tangible time
Slow, granite shifting thoughts
That stay clear & linger & glow
Like the breathing embers at your feet

Gaze the flame, perpetual flicker
A smoked lulled memory, full filling sedation
Grasp the overhead asterisms
And let the night fog fall

New Plugin — SkyVerb

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SkyVerb is a non-convolution, algorithmic reverb plugin that is modeled in part after the classic (well, classic in my case!) Reaktor Space Master ensemble. While it can replicate real world acoustic rooms well, its design is strong suited for musical production.  (SkyVerb User Manual)SkyVerb

Like RE OuzelTape Delay, SkyVerb was developed in Rack AFX via object oriented C++. While adequate at real world room emulation, SkyVerb’s real power lies in unworldly washes and diffusing smatters of sound design possibilities — it can obtain very musical results, sometimes quite unconventional. Demo sounds and download link below.

Download SkyVerb (Windows VST)

The following sounds were made using presets from the plugin on the chorus of an upcoming Muir song, The Hope Design (this might be the first time It’s been mentioned, hey!).

At the moment, SkyVerb is in a Windows VST format (.dll), and cannot be run on Mac OS. I’ll be working on a Mac VST & AU format soon that will also be available for download.

SkyVerb Signal Flow

The funny/amazing thing about reverb algorithms is that there is really no standard structure to the internal components—even more so than other standard effects like filters and distortion. Even the coveted Lexicon units back in the day were calibrated using a trial-and-error method until the engineers set the diffusion and gain coefficients just right (don’t touch that knob!!!). They would then hardwire those controls to those settings, leave them out of the consumer unit, and only supply a handful of controls to the end user. Below is SkyVerb’s signal flow (for those of you who enjoy bathing in DSP).

SkyVerb User Manual

Screen shot 2013-05-03 at 9.03.17 PMShoot me an email if you discover an issue or have suggestions for future releases, or even if you have a crazy idea for an audio plugin that might just dreamspark a whole lot of amazing music.

New Sample Packs & Sampler Instruments

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SamplePacksMany many hours have pasted in the studio and some amazing new music is slowly starting to reveal itself. Since it’s been a while since the last Muir update (more plugins coming soon by the way, and there’s going to be a whole lot of modular messy glitchy goodness with that) and since the music isn’t quite ready to be brought into the light, I’ve taken the liberty of consolidating and polishing up some of the sounds that were designed within the songs that are being worked on. I’ve put up some sample packs and sampler instruments for free. Below are download links and demo sounds of the packs and instruments. Even if have no clue what a sampler instrument is, you can still grab a sonic insight into what’s cookin’ up in the Muir kitchen. (Note: actual quality is superior to the streamed demo sounds)

 Download Tambourine Suite (Free) 6MB

 Download Speed Drums (Free) 4.9MB

 Download Bass Growl GirthMuff (Free) 786KB

 Download Bass Growl GirthMuff Wide (Free) 2.3MB

 Download Bass Growl SubGirth Muff (Free) 1.3MB

The sample packs come with 24bit, 44.1k, .WAV samples. The sampler instruments come with samples as well as an EXS24 (Logic Pro) file and a Kontakt file. If you don’t have these sampler instruments, don’t worry—learning how to load your own samples (or the ones I’ve provided for you) into your sampler is a HIGHLY rewarding technique to learn. I’d suggest starting with Youtube: http://bit.ly/141vNFy

Cheers! And don’t forget to send a message for requests, fixes, or if you’ve discovered the most intoxicatingly beautiful landscape sample.