Justin Macleod was one of the many winners in a community give away we ran in December of 2016. He sent me this message for the community a few months ago, but it was temporarily lost when we were experiencing issues with the site that ultimately led to us switching servers. Justin wanted to give back to the broader community. So, here’s the message and some free sounds for all of you!
Just over a year ago, I stumbled across the Sound Design Exchange when the grand prise giveaway was in full swing and, much to my surprise, on Christmas day, received an email telling me I’d won something. “What could it be?” I wondered. “Dehumanizer perhaps? Or maybe an ASoundeffect library!”
With mounting excitement, I read further down and discovered I’d won a plugin I’d never heard of from a company I’d never heard of. Intrigued, I started doing research while waiting for the plugin to arrive and discovered I’d won Adaptiverb by Zynaptiq.
I have to say, in all honesty, my initial reaction was mixed. Obviously I was thrilled to have won anything, and on Christmas Day too, but I’d be less than truthful if I omitted the fact that I did wonder more than once if I really needed yet another reverb. Looking at examples of what it could do by people online using the software, I was underwhelmed.
Then I received the plugin, and read the manual. Within half an hour of starting to use it I was thoroughly converted. Adaptiverb is much much more than “just another reverb.” Perhaps I was looking in the wrong places for demos, because they didn’t do the plugin’s potential justice at all.
The only problem I have with Adaptiverb now is resisting the temptation to use it on everything. It’s a push-button drone factory, a constant, unfailing source of inspiration. It transformed my workflow and is one of the best plugins I own (and I own far too many). It makes doing a lot of complex and creative things very easy.
Just as discovering Adaptiverb transformed my sound design, discovering the Sound Design exchange was really good for me as well. It’s a really friendly community and it’s great to learn from so many knowledgeable people.
As soon as I’d got my Adaptiverb pilot’s license, I decided that I wanted to give something back to the community that had given me a free gem. I asked Shaun If I could post some free sounds here and he kindly agreed. I finally found a platform to host them on and here they are, sounds created largely by Adaptiverb. The drones all were and those that weren’t use Wormhole by Zynaptiq instead; another plugin I find I can’t do without, and that I probably wouldn’t have heard of if I hadn’t won Adaptiverb.
I hope people find them useful and thanks again to Zynaptiq and Designing Sound. I strongly encourage anyone looking for a new plugin to check out anything that Zynaptiq does. Their production values and innovations are excellent!
Editor’s note: Designing Sound Exchange has been disabled for the time being, as it became a major source of site instability.