Sound designer and producer Francis Preve has shared Scapes – a free collection of synthesized environmental soundscapes for Ableton Live.

Preve’s Scapes are recreations of natural, acoustic environments – like a Rainy City Walk or a Summer Brook – made entirely with synthesized sounds.

Because they are synthesized, the various elements within each of the soundscape can be mixed and rearranged. And each of the Scapes are shared with a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) to encourage use and remixing. 

Here are audio demos of the Scapes:

Here’s what Preve has to say about the origin of the project:

After recreating presets and sounds for my classes for 20 years, I got the hang of being able to hear something and figure it out. Naturally, I was like, “Hey, what if I treat walking down the street as a preset?”

And I started listening. And listening.

I treated crickets and crows and brooks and high heels like they were all presets and started thinking about how to make them.

For two years.

Here’s a video that shows the Ableton project for Rainy City Walk:

More background about the project is available on Preve’s site.

Pricing and Availability

Preve has shared the Scapes as free downloads, with a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Image: Adrianna Calvo