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Hi there! I’m Chris, aka. BØLT. I’ve been recording sounds of all kinds since I was 11 years old and my passion all things audio has only gotten stronger since then.
Over the past couple of years I’ve been making waves in the music producer community with the dozens of sample libraries I created that have been downloaded over 10,000 times around the globe. Now expanding my focus towards sound design for linear and interactive media, I’m channeling nearly 20 years of recording experience into creating SFX libraries ranging from source to designed that will help you elevate your projects.
My playable libraries have become known for featuring an exhaustive array of sampler, DAW, and hardware patch formats alongside a very affordable price tag; Making these sounds accessible to large group of creatives.
Besides field recording and designing sounds, I also mix and master music professionally.
Every now and then an opportunity comes along that you just cannot pass up. The chance of going on a recording trip to Zimbabwe alongside someone who knows the area and many locals was exactly that.
I traveled to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in August of 2023. As the dry season and the coldest time of year was still in full swing, the land is dry, and animals travel long distances to reach watering holes and rivers to drink. With the trees dried out and few insects in sight, the soundscape across the steppes is eerily quiet day and night, save for the large number of helicopters flying tourists around during the day.
Not only was it an utterly inspiring experience just taking in the beauty of nature and the warm spirits of the people I have met, it was also an exercise in navigating the challenges of anthropogenic noise becoming more prevalent around the globe. With this time of year being the height of tourism season, capturing the sounds of nature meant having to find pockets of silence to avoid the sounds of helicopters, safari trucks, and trains carrying coal.
By resorting to drop rigs, overnight recording, and getting up before sunrise to record, I captured a wide range of birds, mammals, and ambiences that will let you recreate the soundscapes of this vivid nation in your projects. Of course, I also had to capture the incredible majestic power of Victoria Falls’ namesake waterfalls, both in stereo and Ambisonic format.
A portion of the sales proceeds for this library will be donated to local conservation efforts including Painted Dog Rescue, African Wildlife Foundation, as well as CARE‘s efforts in providing food and nutrition security, climate resilient livelihoods, economic development, education, and water.
Read my Article about the Trip here!
When my wife and I were taking a little vacation in the woods of Hardwick, Vermont, I was awestruck by just the utter absence of any anthropogenic noise around us. Whenever there was a car coming through, you’d hear it from miles away, and, with it being late November, there were no bird calls for the majority of the time.
In a small patch of forest near Nichols Pond lies a network of creeks and water runoffs that are ideal for capturing undisturbed, serene sounds of water flowing. Stable temperatures meant that there was very consistent snow melt and the flow of the water stayed steady throughout many hours of recording.
As a result, this single-purpose library contains long-form recordings of these creeks that will excel wherever the sounds of water flowing are desired with not even the slightest hint of looping. With the exception of two babbling brooks captured in stereo during a hike, all recordings are 10 minutes long and captured in AmbiX (Ambisonic B-Format) for the greatest possible flexibility when it comes to placing them in a virtual environment.
These recordings are free of edits and include stereo versions for dragging and dropping without the need for Ambisonic decoding. As a special treat, three long-form recordings are also accompanied by a Geofón track that captures the vibrations caused by the water in the nearby soil.
Recording Specs: 24 Bit / 96 kHz AmbiX & Stereo. 48 kHz Mono Geofón Recordings
Channel Formats: AmbiX (Ambisonic B-Format), Stereo, Mono
File Format: WAV
Size: 4.6 GB Stereo & Geofón, 8.3 GB AmbiX, 12.8 GB total
Gear used: RØDE NT-SF1 Ambisonic Mic, LOM Geofón, LOM Uši Pro, Zoom F6, Zoom F3
Processing: Level adjustment, Fade Ins/Outs, AmbiX to Stereo Conversion (perspective-optimized)
For many people, rain is high on their list favorite sounds to relax, study, or sleep to. For how soothing and common of a sound it is, it happens to be one of the most difficult to record – that is, if you want to still be able to use your gear afterwards.
In early spring of 2023, a little rain recording experiment on the fire escape leading to my somewhat sheltered backyard revealed that little to no city noise would actually make it onto the recording. Surprised by how clean these recordings came out, and by how wet of a summer we’ve been having this year, I proceeded to record in the backyard of my apartment almost every time it rained.
Over a period of 6 months, I recorded hundreds of gigabytes of rain and ultimately narrowed it down to the 3 hours contained in this library. If you are looking for rain recordings that are clean and work well for layering while still clearly anchoring your soundscape in suburban spaces, this is the library for you! Also included are two long thunderstorms that can be heard moving into the distance.
These recordings contain no distinct car sounds, people, or sirens, and have been minimally processed to make them flexible for use in films, games, and video productions.
As an added bonus, this library contains immersive, Ambisonic (AmbiX) recordings of rain captured from the inside of a tin shed. To convert these recordings to binaural or surround formats I recommend downloaded the free SoundField by RØDE plug-in.
Total number of Files: 19
Total Duration: 3hrs 2min 33sec
Metadata: UCS file naming, SoundMiner, Soundly, BWF
Recording Specs: 24 Bit / 96 kHz
Channel Formats: Stereo, AmbiX (Ambisonics B-Format)
File Format: WAV
Size: 7.3 GB
Gear used: LOM Uši Pro Mics, RØDE NT-SF1 Ambisonic Mic, Zoom F3, Zoom F6, Zoom H1n
Processing: Level adjustment, Crossfades, Low-Shelf Filtering where necessary.
The all-time classic ARP 2600 was a synthesizer that was an immediate hit with musicians and sound designers when it was released in 1971. Most famously, it’s the very synth that Ben Burtt used to give R2D2 his unmistakeable voice.
Semi-modular in nature and with many handy features like voltage modifiers, lag control, ring modulation, a comprehensive noise generator, sample & hold, and 3 independent oscillators, it comes equipped with more features than you’ll find in many of today’s analog synthesizers.
Thanks to the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation and the non-profit studio The Record Co. I was able to access an original, mint condition ARP 2600 that is beautifully maintained and lock myself in a studio with it to capture nearly 7 hours worth of raw sound design material.
Putting the 2600’s immense sound design potential to use, I created this library to help you give robots a voice, create otherworldly ambiances, score computers with the obligatory “bleep bloops”, and craft larger than life weapons with a distinct retro SciFi flair. I also captured the physical, mechanical sounds of patching cords and moving faders on the synth using a pair of LOM Uši Pro. These sounds are included in a dedicated subfolder.
The resulting sounds range from droid chatter at various root pitches, impacts, drones, noise, and lots of other sonic source that begs to be pitch-shifted and mangled. In fact, the ARP 2600’s pristine analog circuitry and my high-end recording chain capturing it at 192 kHz means that most of the final material features high-frequency content ranging up to nearly 90 kHz!
This means that you can pitch-shift most of these sounds down by up to 2 octaves and uncover new harmonic content along the way. By recording at 32 Bit with the ultra low-noise Zoom F6 and Rheingold Music cables, these recordings are extremely clean and hold up well to intense processing.
While highly abstract in nature, these sounds are a great basis for building:
Metadata: UCS file naming, SoundMiner, Soundly, BWF
Recording Specs: 24 Bit / 192 kHz for the majority of files. 96 kHz for files with less ultrasonic content, Stereo and Mono recordings.
File Format: WAV
Gear used: Genuine ARP 2600 Model 3620 (1974), LOM Uśi Pro Mics, Zoom F6, Rheingold Music Cables, Radial Pro D2 DI Box
Processing: Level adjustment, crossfades, spectral noise reduction for recordings using built-in spring reverb.
ARP’s SOLUS synthesizer is a portable powerhouse synth that can produce some seriously beefy sounds that feel right at home in today’s music. Released in 1980, SOLUS was developed as a portable performance synthesizer, hence being constructed as a flight case, featuring a hardwired power cord poking out of the front panel and panel-mounted I/O. Featuring two oscillators with sync functionality, ring modulation, and a classic ARP filter, this synth boasts plenty of sonic potential.
SØLUS features super beefy basses, searing leads, sturdy synths, and so much more. All ready to be used in your favorite DAW. As always, this synth was meticulously multi-sampled to preserve its original tonality while keeping noise to the absolute minimum.
While ARP SOLUS is a synth often standing in the shadows of its legendary siblings ODYSSEY and 2600, it truly is an instrument worthy of Alan R. Pearlman‘s legacy. When it comes to cutting through a mix, it’s one tough synth to beat.
As always, this synth was sampled using pristine converters, DI, and Rheingold cables to bring the instrument’s full sonic potential to your productions. Since ARP SOLUS only accepts a limited range of CV input (somehow you can’t feasibly play below C2 via regular CV), every single one of the included samples had to be hand-played and edited on top of being meticulously looped by hand for seamless infinite sustain.
When traveling to Berlin to take some much needed time off, I immediately know that I wanted to capture some of the ambiences of the city; Not just to create a library from them, but also to let me dwell on the trip for a little longer by immersing myself in these recordings once back home. From the balcony of an AirBnb in Berlin-Wedding, I captured several long-form ambiences (ranging from 5 to 30+ minutes) during different times of day. The location of the apartment allowed me to capture the sounds of the city in a very cohesive and uninterrupted way without having people walking or driving directly in front of the recorder.
You’ll hear gentle traffic sounds, the S-Bahn 41 and 42 arriving and departing regularly in the distance, occasional ambulance pass-bys, church bells, birds, and, in some cases, even the thumping bass from a nearby wedding venue.
Also included are recordings captured at train and subway stations, animal vocalizations captured at the two zoos, and some very calming suburban ambience.
So, this pack happened sort of on a whim. Armed with a new field recorder and eager to test its capabilities I recorded some sounds my bike makes. I quickly found that these little samples had a lot of potential and immediately started manipulating, layering, and mangling them into a fully fledged drum kit. This kit covers everything from seat-smacks turned 808s, spoke flicks turned snare drums, and freewheel hubs turned hi-hats.
So here it is, “SPØKES”, a super off-the wall drum kit that is 100% original, 100% bike sounds, yet 100% musical at the same time. This kit was a blast to make and I hope you’ll be having just as much fun using it in your productions.
Important: These are not the kind of bicycle sound effects you’d want if you’re looking add believable sound to a bike onscreen. This is a set of samples specifically targeted at music makers and as source for more experimental sound design.
The charming & quirky digital sound of the OP-Z is now coming to the most popular DAWs and samplers. All 62 patches from my previous OP-Z patch dump MPC Expansions have been converted one-by-one into industry standard SoundFont files and other formats that are supported by a wide variety of samplers and DAWs.
I’ve been going through the samples of the original expansions one by one, cleaning them up and finding the perfect loop points so that all of them (save for some percussive patches) now offer infinite sustain. All samples are completely free of noise, recorded at 24bit / 44.1 kHz and stored as simple WAV files which makes them easily usable outside of the pre-mapped patches.
Compatible samplers include: exs24, Ableton Sampler, NN-XT, NN-19, Bitwig Studio, UVI Falcon, Sforzando, Halion Sonic.
The ARP Odyssey is nothing short of a legendary synthesizer. Released in 1972 as a direct answer to the famous MiniMoog, the Odyssey became one of ARP’s most beloved synths and has been used on too many hit records to count. Stevie Wonder, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Devo, Abba… The list of famous Odyssey users reads like a top ten list of the most influential artists in the history of recorded music. The Odyssey is, in essence, a minimalist take on the ARP 2600 – simplified into a straightforward and immensely capable performance synth that is as sonically powerful as it is accessible. Its dual oscillators with sync functionality, FM, ring modulation, white/pink noise generator and dual EGs allow it to produce a great variety of sounds that are as universally useful as they are distinctly ARP.
The year 2022 marks the Odyssey’s 50th anniversary, an event I knew I had to celebrate with you! To celebrate this legend’s birthday, I created a library of tastefully gnarly basses, searing leads, versatile synths, and a whole load of plucks for you to bring into your productions.
In 2015, equally legendary instrument manufacturer KORG took it upon themselves to release a faithful replica of the classic duophonic Odyssey that encompasses the character of all three Odyssey revisions ARP produced. This is achieved by allowing the player to switch between the three different filter circuits used in the MKI, MKII, and MKIII respectively. The added analog “drive” circuitry of the KORG Odyssey adds a tasteful amount of saturation which I heavily exploited to make the sounds of this sample library extra juicy. This instrument was captured using high-end converters and cables to create ØDYSSEUS.
As a minimalist monophonic synthesizer from the 70s, the ARP AXXE is as straightforward as it gets: Single oscillator, one envelope generator, a simple low-pass filter, white noise generator, pwm… However, it still manages to achieve that delightfully gnarly ARP sound that’s so unique to everything this little New England-based synth manufacturer put together.
This pack of carefully multi-sampled AXXE patches is a tribute to this simple synth’s greatness and contains tons of musical and useful sounds that are just as relevant today as they were back when this little synth hit store shelves. From solid basses to quirky plucks, from noise crashes to surprisingly competent synth drums – this pack is sure to inspire you.
No corners were cut during the sampling process and every single patch was recorded one semitone at a time for consistent timbre and maximum authenticity. Additionally, each note was tuned individually to make sure this pack can work along all your other instruments and samples.
Recorded with Rheingold music cables and high-end Antelope Audio converters, these samples are pristine and endlessly tweakable. To make sure that this pack is useful for everyone, I’m offering you these patches in a whole load of different formats so that you can bring them into your favorite sampler. Even hardware workstations are accounted for with a full MPC Expansion and files for various KORG machines.
The ARP OMNI is not just a synth, it’s more of a predecessor to modern day performance keyboards with its 3 distinct sound engines: Strings, Synth, and Bass. It’s string engine utilizes a divide-down tone generator that technically gives it unlimited polyphony. Its classic string sounds will be instantly recognizable to any fans of Joy Division, The Cars, or Kraftwerk. One might even say that the OMNI’s string engine played a big part in establishing the sound of New Wave. A “hollow” waveform mode gives the strings a more synth-like touch. In either mode, OMNI’s strings are lush and beautiful sounding, especially when combined with a long reverb or even a phaser (for that classic Jean Michel Jarre string sound).
The string section features Bass, Cello, Viola, and Violin registers.
Its synth is a simple single-oscillator design with a single envelope generator, a warm sounding ARP low-pass filter, and single LFO. This synth is capable of some quirky and musical sounds and serves as a great complement to the String and Bass engines. It doesn’t boast all that much low-end and its strength really sits in the middle register.
The bass engine is somewhat of a hidden gem as it pulls off a surprisingly convincing electric bass that’s both punchy and warm sounding and mixes well with the built-in synth. Sitting in the mix, this bass provides some serious low-end without being overly in-your-face. Both the 16′ and 8′ octaves can be mixed for an extra chunky octaver-style effect.
To get the cleanest possible tone out of this pristine ARP OMNI, I recorded it using a DIYRE FE2 DI Box with CineMag transformer, high-end Rheingold Music cables, and Antelope Audio converters. The instrument’s self noise has been reduced using subtle AI-assisted spectral de-noising to make sure these sounds will still sound very clean when being heavily processed. To allow for ideal sustain behavior, the string samples are looped within at least 3 full waveform cycles.
My first sample pack ever to stretch the boundaries of time and space. Extracted from obscure records discovered in a parallel universe while experimenting with a DIY particle accelerator. 100% royalty free in this universe and my biggest pack to date with a whopping 200 loops!
All joking aside, this pack contains 100% royalty free drum breaks that have been carefully handcrafted to sound like they’ve always been out there, just waiting to be sampled. Using sophisticated processing and pulling from over a decade worth of experience in programming uncannily realistic sounding drum grooves, these breaks are the result of years spent studying what made those memorable grooves from the 60s, 70s, and 80s so catchy.
This pack covers a wide range of genres and distinct drum sounds that can stand on their own and compliment each other.
A number of loops even stem from the days when I still ran a little studio in Germany. Every now and then I would sneak behind whatever drum kit was in the studio at the moment and record some grooves. Turns out that these recordings came in very handy!
These loops are meant to be chopped, layered, mangled, and processed into anything you can think of – no clearance necessary.
223 loops / 370 mb in total. All files come as 44.1 kHz / 24 bit WAV and are labeled with their tempo.
The DX7 is a synth of near unmatched significance to music history as it essentially defined the sound of music in the 1980s. Being the first affordable digital FM (frequency modulation) synthesizer, it quickly found its way into the arsenals of everyone from hobbyists to superstars alike. The immense potential of FM synthesis stems from its complex algorithms defining how different oscillators can interact, while being very light on computing resources. These made it possible to recreate lots of different acoustic instruments somewhat convincingly but also to create sonic tapestries and sound effects that had been unheard of at the time. Pair this with velocity sensitivity and 16 voice polyphony and you can see that the DX7 made for one seriously capable performance synth.
Throughout its life, the DX7 had several VOICE ROM cartridges released for it which gave users access to new sounds both from Yamaha and third-party sources. For this library, I sampled the VOICE ROM 3 cartridge which contains 64 recreations of band and orchestral instruments. As always, these samples have been sampled meticulously using high-end converters, several samples per octave, and multiple velocity layers where appropriate.
Few companies have shaped the role of drum machines in music quite as significantly as Roland. In the 1980s, they created a set of machines that have since become legendary and are still being used today, be it in hardware form or (most commonly) as samples. The TR-707 is just as recognizable as its siblings, the 808 and 909, and features a set of digitally sampled sounds that’ll be instantly familiar to anyone hearing them. Sonically, it sits somewhere between a LinnDrum and TR-909 with two punchy kicks, two relatively low-pitched snares with snappy transients, a 909 hi-hat and cymbals, a capable clap, nice “woody” toms, and a classic low-pitched cowbell and rim.
With digital memory at a premium at its release, its digital samples were stored in resolutions of 8-bit for drums and percussion, and 6-bit for cymbals. This is no doubt one of the factors contributing to this machine’s crispy sound that is remarkably clear given the limitations of digital audio at the time. A trick that Roland employed to avoid low bitrate dithering artifacts during sample decay was using analog envelope generators that attenuate the individual sounds after the 707’s D/A converters. This is why the 707’s sounds decay much more gracefully than those of some of its digital contemporaries.
With its ability to send and receive MIDI, sync external hardware, and output sounds on dedicated outputs, this drum machine had all the necessary features in place to make it mainstay in many artists’ studios. As such, it can be heard on countless records either providing all drums or often times specifically lending a song its punchy kick and snare.
Of course, I’m aware that there are many 707 sample packs already out there. What makes this pack stand out however is the sheer amount of sample varieties and the clarity of the raw samples. Having recorded a pristine 707 using Rheingold Music cables, a DIYRE Fe2 DI with CineMag transformer, and high-end Antelope Audio converters at 24-Bit / 96 kHz ensures that the raw samples are the cleanest available anywhere.
To create 707+, these samples have then been processed in numerous ways, exploring the full potential of the machine’s 15 sounds. I recorded them to 1/2″ tape using my restored Tascam 58 reel-to-reel multitrack tape machine at 15ips, 18ips, and 12ips to infuse the samples with analog warmth. I then captured these same recordings at different speeds to create the kind of clean re-pitching only tape machines can achieve.
Next, I recorded the sounds onto cassette tape using a 1965 mono tape recorder originally intended for voice memo and PA use. Needless to say, the resulting samples are super grungy yet retain a lot of punch. I captured them at different input gain levels to achieve varying amounts of distortion and saturation.
To further go down the LoFi rabbit hole, I captured the raw samples using a teenage engineering po-33 K.O! sampler that uses really punchy 8-bit A/D & D/A converters and re-pitched them yet again for that ultimate LoRes grit.
Ultimately, I didn’t want to put out this pack without putting a uniquely personal spin on these samples. That’s why I pooled together all of the above mentioned sounds and utilized some sophisticated processing and layering techniques to create a contemporary drum kit with bucketloads of punch. This kit is suitable for anything from trap to lo-fi and is unlike anything you’d expect to come out of the TR-707.
Every good laid-back groove needs a bass track that sits just right and makes your head bob.
LOW ‘n’ SLOW does exactly that.
10 original loops in 3-4 keys each and 59 one shot samples including delicious plucks, thumps, slides, and hammer-ons carefully crafted to make your beats bounce. Everything was played on a handmade FLEXX BASSES “Peter” bass with old school flat wound strings through a pristine recording chain for that authentic R’n’B sound. The loops are constructed to be infinitely choppable and stretchable so you can use them to craft your own original bass lines.
And, last but not least, the entire pack is of course ROYALTY FREE so you can use these loops and samples for any of your projects!
With A Sound Effect, Asbjoern has created a web site where our international community can browse, learn, and share the vast fruits of our labors. Together we are accelerating the very real potential power of sound design as a recognized art form.
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We found the site very easy to navigate, purchasing and downloads were effortless and the effects themselves are awesome! Asbjoern has done us all a great service.
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