Soundscapes Vs Ambient Types

mvdmon
mvdmon Member Posts: 4 Member

I was curious to know what is the difference between soundscapes and Ambien types of presents. Just would like more information on each type .

Thank you for your knowledge

Best Answer

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,535 Expert
    edited May 2023 Answer ✓

    Are you talking what is the difference between presets with the TYPE TAG of Soundscape vs presets with the CHARACTER tag set as Ambient (assuming you left off the "t")?

    The difference is how the sound is originally classed.

    A "Soundscape" is something that is typically evolving and not generally melodic in nature, in many cases it can stand alone as a sound so it is more of a sound type.

    Ambient is more a character of a sound. You can have a pad that has an ambient feel, something that may be lite in sound or have an "airiness" to it. Similar with something like a Snare, you could have an "Ambient Snare" which just has a lot of reverb or echo making it seem as if in a large ambient space.

    So Ambient is a characteristic of a sound where Soundscape is a type of sound

Answers

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,535 Expert
    edited May 2023 Answer ✓

    Are you talking what is the difference between presets with the TYPE TAG of Soundscape vs presets with the CHARACTER tag set as Ambient (assuming you left off the "t")?

    The difference is how the sound is originally classed.

    A "Soundscape" is something that is typically evolving and not generally melodic in nature, in many cases it can stand alone as a sound so it is more of a sound type.

    Ambient is more a character of a sound. You can have a pad that has an ambient feel, something that may be lite in sound or have an "airiness" to it. Similar with something like a Snare, you could have an "Ambient Snare" which just has a lot of reverb or echo making it seem as if in a large ambient space.

    So Ambient is a characteristic of a sound where Soundscape is a type of sound

  • mvdmon
    mvdmon Member Posts: 4 Member

    Yes The Type Tag Ex(Komplete Kontrol- Ashlight) Thank you . That really helps me break it down more. I was looking more into both type and they are very similar to me as well . So i was trying to see the difference between the two


  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,535 Expert

    Hmmm, there is no type tag called “ambience” so that dev has added that in themselves and that is not suppose to be there, it’s a mistake. Should be a character not a type.

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,535 Expert

    I also see strike and sweep and swell, again these are not types so that dev has made mistakes and NI have failed to pick up on that.

  • Kymeia
    Kymeia Member Posts: 3,605 Expert
    edited May 2023

    It's so annoying when that happens (although actually 'Sweeps and swells' has always been a sub type of 'Synth Misc') but Ambient wasn't there as a Type or Character in the original spec.

    btw when did someone add 'Lead' to the character's list?

  • mvdmon
    mvdmon Member Posts: 4 Member

    Wow that makes sense. After going through some Vst's i found that the types change within each plug-in. So i guess its to the Dev's taste i assume

  • mvdmon
    mvdmon Member Posts: 4 Member

    I havent seen 'Lead' as a Character yey but might be something to look into

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,535 Expert

    (although actually 'Sweeps and swells' has always been a sub type of 'Synth Misc

    Use to be, it should be a Character now I believe and not a sub type.

    I see HEAPS of errors in that library. Pads and Keysx are not a Characters, Ambience, Bass Synth, Chord, Distortion, Electro, Impact, Modulation, Single Note, Strike, Sweeps & Swells are all NOT proper type tags either.

    That is a complete mess of tagging and if that is an official NKS library (which I am hoping it isn't) then NI are pretty terrible in their approval stage.

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,535 Expert

    No, there is a fixed set of tags for devs to use and only users make a mess usually. I have seen even NI make a mess of their own tagging, Massive X for instance came out with several incorrect tags so everyontr gets it wrong from time to time.

    I make NKS as do many, I ahve a few simple custom tags but always try and stick to the official tagging, as what one developer feels is a good idea makes a mess of everything. Only have to look at something like Omnisphere and see the mess of tags in there from 3rd party devs. It sucks when you search tags only to find this mind of mess:

    Pad, Pads, Synth Pad, Synth Pads....

    If a library is an officially released one, approved by NI then NI should also be checking the state of tags. That dev needs to fix their tagging TBH.

  • Kymeia
    Kymeia Member Posts: 3,605 Expert
    edited May 2023

    It would help is a) NI had not made it possible to add custom tags in KK because the user section is a mess (and even with the factory section their quality control isn't great and full of stupid tags like genre names under Characters for example) and b) If they do allow it at least make available a guide to the official tags - but we know that NI have become more and more anti the whole idea of empowering users to author their own content

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