Spectra

What it does

A free ambient pack for SoundBox, AudioModern’s sampler, built by Chris Bryant under the name Signs of Life. It holds 30 fully unlocked presets covering drones, soundscapes and effects, most of them with long tails, and the names run to cargo holds, caverns, alien signals and space locusts. It is downloaded from the AudioModern site rather than bought inside the app, which means registering an email address to get the file.

In the demo

Jade shows the download and the import through User Sounds, notes the SoundBox update that added round robin modes and dotted and triplet note lengths, then plays every preset in turn from a keyboard. She points out that most use only three of the four layers, leaving room to add a sound from another pack, and closes by running Quadrosphere over the presets to automate movement.

Worth knowing

These are atmospheres and effects rather than playable instruments, and the long tails overlap if you play quickly. SoundBox is free to download, but its editing pages unlock only once one of AudioModern’s own in-app packs is bought.