Slow Forms — Surge XT Edition · 75 Ambient Presets

Seventy-five sounds that take their time — now for Surge XT.

Slow Forms — Surge XT Edition brings the Slow Forms preset collection to Surge XT. Every patch is built on the thirty Slow Forms wavetables and EtherLoops' own pad and FX recordings: pads that breathe for minutes, drones that hold a room, plucks and leads with a voice of their own, basses that sit under slow music without shouting, and a set of effects for the transitions in between.

Every patch carries its wavetables inside the file. Copy one folder into Surge XT and everything loads — no extra folders, no missing files, nothing to relink. Every patch was checked in the Surge XT engine: loudness-matched, in tune with the chords you play, and with delays that always fade out.

What's inside

• 75 Surge XT patches (.fxp) in one category with 6 subfolders
• 20 Pads · 10 Drones · 10 Plucks · 10 Leads · 15 Basses · 10 SFX
• Slow Forms wavetables and EtherLoops samples embedded in every patch
• 4 named macros on every patch, plus a DELAY macro on every patch that uses delay
• README with install steps and playing tips · LICENSE

The sounds

Pads (20)

• Amber Hall — Warm 'Amber Swell' wavetable stack with a slow-blooming sampled pad underneath.
• Cathedral — Organ-like 'Cathedral Drone' table over a scanned grain layer of a sampled pad. Big hall.
• Dusk Weave — 'Dusk Collapse' and 'Restless Weave' detuned against each other - a pad that never sits still.
• Ember Glow — Dark, warm 'Settling Ember' through a ladder filter, with a sampled pad an octave below.
• Frost Glass — Glassy 'Frost Bloom' with 'Glass Ascent' an octave up and a slow table drift.
• Gathering — Deep, full 'Gathering Core' with a sampled pad body and a sine sub.
• Hollow Mist — Airy 'Hollow Rise' with a grain-scanned pad sample as mist.
• Late Light — 'Late Ignition' and 'Tail Flare' - bright partials moving against each other.
• Mirror Fold — 'Mirror Fold' with 'Twilight Fold' a fifth above - glassy harmonics.
• Night Grain — All-grain pad: two sampled pads turned into slow, wide clouds.
• Octave Veil — 'Octave Veil' across two octaves with wide unison.
• Paper Lantern — Soft, papery grain cloud with a thin 'Paper Pulse' edge.
• Reed Organ — Reedy 'Reed Flicker' with a sampled pad as air.
• Shard Cloud — Crystalline 'Shard Drift' with a busy, glittering grain cloud.
• Slow Sunrise — 'Slow Sunrise' opening over about eight seconds; the envelope sweeps the tables from dark to bright.
• Still Water — Calm 'Still Shimmer' with a soft looped pad underneath.
• Storm Front — Restless 'Storm Passage' with a looped pad layer and phaser.
• Tidal — 'Tidal Return' breathing on a slow LFO over a sub-octave sine body.
• Twin Breath — 'Twin Breath' breathing on the LFO with a soft looped pad layer.
• Vowel Choir — Vocal pad: 'Vowel Dissolve' and 'Waking Vowel' through the formant filter.

Drones (10)

• Ash Field — Dusty 'Ash Descent' with a looped pad layer. Hold a note.
• Deep Nave — Cathedral-scale drone: low 'Cathedral Drone' with a sampled pad an octave down. Hold a note.
• Ember Bed — Warm 'Settling Ember' bed with a sampled pad and a deep sine sub. Hold a note.
• Frozen Air — Icy 'Frost Bloom' with a sparkling grain cloud an octave up. Hold a note.
• Grain Ocean — All-grain drone: two sampled pads turned into slow, wide clouds.
• Hollow Earth — Hollow, resonant 'Hollow Rise' through the comb filter with a sampled pad. Hold a note.
• Still Orbit — Near-static 'Still Shimmer' and 'Tidal Return' with very slow movement. Hold a note.
• Storm Hum — Rumbling 'Storm Passage' two octaves down with a sampled pad layer and phaser.
• Twilight Choir — Choir-like 'Vowel Dissolve' through the formant filter with a sampled pad. Hold a note.
• Vanishing — Dark, sub-heavy 'Vanishing Root' with a grain layer an octave down. Hold a note.

Plucks (10)

• Dust Echo — Lo-fi pluck: 'Fractured Onset', downsampled, into long echoes.
• Ember Harp — Warm, harp-like pluck from 'Settling Ember' through a ladder filter.
• Frost Bell — Bell pluck: 'Frost Bloom' with 'Still Shimmer' an octave up and a long tail.
• Glass Drop — Bright, glassy pluck from 'Glass Ascent' with echoes.
• Grain Pick — Plucked grain: a 'Shard Drift' transient over a grain-scanned pad sample.
• Mirror Mallet — Mallet pluck from 'Mirror Fold' with a sine sub for weight.
• Paper Kalimba — Soft, kalimba-like 'Paper Pulse' with a sine body an octave down.
• Reed Tap — Short, woody tap from 'Reed Flicker'.
• Twilight Keys — Keys-style pluck with a longer decay: 'Twilight Fold' and 'Amber Swell'.
• Vowel Pop — Vocal pluck: 'Waking Vowel' through the formant filter.

Leads (10)

• Amber Saw — Warm detuned mono lead: 'Amber Swell' and 'Late Ignition'. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Dawn Theremin — Theremin-like pure 'Dawn Opening' with a slow glide. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Ember Whistle — Soft whistle from 'Sine Unfolding' with a long glide. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Glass Flute — Breathy mono flute from 'Glass Ascent' with a touch of noise air. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Mirror Sync — Sharp lead on 'Mirror Fold' with a sine sub layer; the envelope sweeps the table. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Reed Oboe — Nasal, reedy mono lead from 'Reed Flicker'. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Shard Poly — Polyphonic lead (6 voices) from 'Shard Drift' for chordal melodies. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Storm Driver — Gritty, driven lead from 'Storm Passage' through a ladder filter. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Twin Horn — Brassy mono lead: two 'Twin Breath' tables a fifth apart. Mod wheel = vibrato.
• Vowel Voice — Singing lead: 'Vowel Dissolve' through the formant filter. Mod wheel = vibrato.

Basses (15)

• Abyss Drone — Long, sustaining drone bass with a slow filter swell on 'Vanishing Root'. Mono legato.
• Ash Slide — Sliding, resonant bass from 'Ash Descent' with a long glide. Mono legato.
• Cathedral Low — Organ-type bass from 'Cathedral Drone' with a square sub. Mono legato.
• Ember Sub — Round, clean sub: low 'Sine Unfolding' plus a sine sub. Mono legato.
• Fold Pulse — Harmonic bass: 'Mirror Fold' with sine-fold distortion. Mono legato.
• Fractured — Glitchy bass: stepped random table jumps on 'Fractured Onset', downsampled. Mono legato.
• Gathering Reese — Reese-style five-voice 'Gathering Core' with phaser. Mono legato.
• Grain Sub — Textured sub with a quiet looped grit layer an octave down. Mono legato.
• Hollow Body — Hollow, woody bass from 'Hollow Rise' with a triangle sub. Mono legato.
• Obsidian Growl — Dark growl: detuned 'Storm Passage', ladder filter, snappy envelope. Mono legato.
• Octave Stab — Short, punchy octave stab from 'Octave Veil'. Mono legato.
• Paper Pluck — Plucky short bass from 'Paper Pulse'. Mono legato.
• Reed Bass — Reedy mid-bass that still reads on small speakers. Mono legato.
• Tidal Wobble — Slow wobble: LFO on the cutoff and table of 'Tidal Return'. Mono legato.
• Velvet — Soft, velvety bass: 'Amber Swell' and 'Twin Breath'. Mono legato.

SFX (10)

• Deep Space Sonar — Sonar ping: a 'Sine Unfolding' blip with long echoes and drifting debris grains.
• Falling Ash — Downlifter (about 6 s): 'Ash Descent' and grains falling two octaves.
• Glitch Stream — Glitchy data stream: 'Fractured Onset' jumping by stepped random, with downsampled grains.
• Impact Bloom — Impact: a sampled hit and a sine sub pitch-drop into a blooming hall. Play low.
• Metal Shimmer — Metallic shimmer hit through the comb filter with a ringing 'Shard Drift'.
• Particle Swarm — Particle cloud: two FX samples scanned by fast random jumps across wide unison.
• Radio Ghost — Detuned radio ghost: a looped FX sample with stepped random pitch flutter and crushed grains.
• Reverse Swell — Reverse-style swell: grains and 'Hollow Rise' with a slow attack that cuts off.
• Rising Tide — Riser (about 8 s): 'Tidal Return' and grains climbing two octaves as the filter opens and noise swells. Hold.
• Whisper Wind — Wind and whoosh: noise through a resonant filter swept by LFOs, with airy grains.

Macros

• Pads: Tone · Motion · Texture · Space
• Drones: Tone · Motion · Grain · Space
• Plucks: Tone · Decay · Shape · Space
• Leads: Tone · Vibrato · Grit · Space (the mod wheel adds vibrato)
• Basses: Tone · Env · Sub · Drive
• SFX: Tone · Pitch · Chaos · Space

Tone sweeps the filter from dark to bright. Space carries the whole reverb, so at 0 the patch is completely dry. DELAY (Macro 5) goes from no delay to long, always-fading repeats.

Format & compatibility

• Surge XT 1.3.4 or later — free, open-source synth
• Windows · macOS · Linux · any DAW that runs Surge XT (Bitwig, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic, Reaper, Cubase…) or the standalone app
• Install: copy the EtherLoops Slow Forms SX folder into Documents/Surge XT/Patches/ and restart Surge XT
• Download size: about 111 MB

Who it's for

Producers of ambient, psybient, downtempo, chillout and cinematic music who use Surge XT and want sounds with movement already built in: sounds you can hold, layer and leave running.

Sound sources

The wavetables come from Slow Forms, the EtherLoops wavetable pack. The sampled layers are EtherLoops' own pad and FX recordings. No third-party sample content is used. The same 75 sounds are also available for Vital as Slow Forms — Vital Edition.

License

Royalty-free for use in your music and productions, commercial or not, with no credit needed. The patches, wavetables and samples may not be shared, resold or included in other sound products. The full text is in LICENSE.txt. Surge XT is free software by the Surge Synth Team; EtherLoops is not affiliated with them.

Happy producing.

— EtherLoops