Dear All,

Thank you so much for your gifts of sound samples for What if? that you left under our holiday tree (on our Soundcloud). We received a number of amazing and diverse submissions, which can now be put to musical and creative use by us and other community members!

We’ll be choosing our three favourites soon, but we wanted to give you all feedback on your wonderful sounds, and offer suggestions on how to remix them, true to Beat_s’ comment on our Soundcloud: “so, what use do them samples have if we don use em?”

Jan Longerich sent us “Reversed Kontrabass.” This is a wonderful sound for use as a drone, a harmonic underpinning, or in general some sort of unifying device in a remix or piece. It could also be chopped up and manipulated to be used in chunks.

Marko Ciciliani’s “4WhatIf” is a digital synthesized sound sample which offers variety and a “cuteness” factor: it reminds us of a very minimal and industrial take on something like the classic “Popcorn”! This would be a great sample around which to structure a full-fledged piece.

We are in love with Gloria Guns’ “Birds in the rain,” a raw field recording just over 40 seconds long that can add a wonderful sense of nostalgia to a remix or piece.

TC Elliott’s “Resonance” is a melodic electric guitar wail and lives up to its name. We could see this one copied several times and layered to create an interesting (and resonant) canon.

A mysterious contributor named “RandomDude3000” contributed not one but four sound samples. Thank you, Secret Santa! The FM8 Chord Violins track would make a fantastic underpinning for a digital passacaglia.

Nick Parton sent us three samples, and we’re choosing the wine glass note here because this tone would make an excellent percussive accent in many a track. It has the advantage of sounding a lot like modeling synths while being sourced from a physical object.

Andy Getch sent us a multitude of interesting sound samples, among them  two variations of a C note sounding on a quartz crystal bowl. These are wonderful sound companions to Nick Parton’s wine note. There’s a wonderful buzzing in the second sample that comes right after the bowl is struck.

Philipp Boss (“BOSSI”) contributed the sample “F#1 0005 Ambient,” a beautifully cosmic track that invites listeners all on its own to its song. We’d love to hear it layered with complementary sounds.

Beat_s has a unique take in his sound samples: a processed “Flugzeug” which means “Airplane” in German and loops of kids’ shouting. But what we liked most is his remix of soundsamples he found in the call for entries. Thank you for exploring!

Although Ken Ficara also provided us with two longer drone tracks, here we’re putting the spotlight on his contribution of a funky percussive track, “Treated Microphone Percussion.” A very fun sound, this one is great for getting the imagination going and combining with diverse elements.

Sarah Sherlock sent us “Cello Bowed Cymbals,” a sample that offers an interesting opportunity for sampling, slowing down, and other audio manipulations. Sarah herself added some effects that make the sounds reverberate and bring out some of the harmonics.

Stay tuned for our New Year’s post by Barbara. Thank you all so much for being a part of our community and for your contributions. Now, all of you will have a chance to download, remix, and reupload these sounds. The more, the merrier.

Have fun!