SPITFIRE AUDIO Ambient Guitars

Distorted soundscapes for cinematic scoring

A collection of inspiring and modern cinematic guitar sounds, textures and loops — from ambient to apocalyptic — created and performed exclusively by renowned guitar innovator Leo Abrahams, and expertly sampled by Spitfire Audio. Designed for use in film, TV and game music and especially suited to dark, urbane, indie style scores, its early incarnation is already a directors’ and composers’ favourite. This intuitive and instantly playable toolkit will inspire any discerning media composer or producer looking for fresh sounds and atmospheric textures with an experimental edge.

Distorted soundscapes

Ambient Guitars is a collaboration between Spitfire Audio and renowned composer, producer and guitarist Leo Abrahams. Featuring amazing new material recorded in 2019 and an amalgamation of two true Spitfire classics; Enigma 1 & 2, it is now presented in our hugely versatile, dedicated eDNA Engine UI (except our Evolutions & Distorted samples). We give you over 600 sounds, including over 10GB of brand new recordings and additional curated presets. We’ve also updated this to the free Kontakt Player format, with full NKS support. From atmospheric pad sounds to dark, heavy distorted guitars, this library gives you everything you could possibly want from a guitar for media composition.

In 2013, the Spitfire team decamped to London’s legendary Pool Studios (host to artists from Nick Cave to Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys to Foals) to capture Leo’s cutting edge techniques, created largely on a Trussart guitar, as well as a 1960s Gibson 355 and a Danelectro Hornet, plugged into a rare and enviable collection of pedals and amps. Discover over 400 presets — weird and wonderful sounding guitars, reverberant pads, dark, distorted plucks, warped pedal FX and synths. The ‘Distorted’ collection of sounds (formerly known as Enigma 2) comprises 18 tight and punchy distorted electric guitar instruments distinct in sound and character, through three amps and a variety of pedals. Add layers of distortion and feedback to create walls of sound or devastatingly haunting, dark, distorted beauty.

These versatile, contemporary soundscapes are sometimes unrecognisable as guitars — from glistening passages to guitars warped beyond recognition, plus ultra-realistic fast action picking to add movement or percussive elements. The evolutions, presented in our sophisticated 16 x 16 Evo Grid with 4 different amps and signal paths to patch in and mix, allow you to add an element of the unexpected to your composition.

Due to its organic origins, Ambient Guitars brings honest emotion to your composition, and the analogue distortion gives you an authentic layer of grit and depth not achievable with digital distortion. These sounds will layer into your mix perfectly, adding a timeless edge to a huge range of settings — from inner city scenes to desolate, sweeping vistas — for film and game composers, or discerning electronic and pop producers alike.

Almost immediately after their release, our early guitar libraries made in collaboration with Leo Abrahams, Enigma and its sequel Enigma 2: The Rapture became go-to collections for creating cinematic soundscapes, inspiring music makers the world over. In light of their success, and inspired by our immediately playable LABS Peel Guitar — distorted, but chime-like and full of character — we welcomed Leo to Spitfire Studios in 2019 to create a whole new collection of textures — Amped Guitar Pads. Our latest edition also includes 160 brand new artist presets, created by the Spitfire Audio team.

Leo Abrahams – guitar innovator

Leo Abrahams is a trailblazing musician, composer, and producer who has recorded and toured with successful artists such as Imogen Heap, Roxy Music, Grace Jones, and Pulp. Leo has written and produced for artists including Wild Beasts, Florence & the Machine, Ghostpoet and most recently, Editors. His own records include The Unrest Cure, featuring Brian Eno, KT Tunstall and Ed Harcourt. He has composed scores for movies such as The Lovely Bones (with Eno) and Hunger (with David Holmes), and is credited as the guitarist on film scores such as '71, Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 8, Twilight, Green Zone, Molly’s Game & The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The overview panel

This is the main interface for melodic instruments. Its default view displays all available playing techniques, has a simple microphone mixer and includes the main feature controllers.

The evo grid

Based on the EMS VCS3 synth, this extraordinary and unique interface allows for instant gratification and customisation. With 1 or 2 clicks, you will be armed with something totally unique and inspiring. Scroll the Evo Grid to discover and activate Evos that are not visible. Pan and tweak each Evo for perfect blending. Punch in or out 3 useful modulators and effects. Mix your mic positions, all from the front panel.

eDNA engine

This interface houses our own sample-synthesiser engine. You can use it to combine two sounds and modulate between them with envelopes, filters and wobbles per sound, as well as a gate sequencer and a selection of go-to FX.