Let me tell you a little story about a condition many of us producers know as Plug-In Hoarding. While I try my best to keep the VST folder tidy and filled with only the virtual instruments and effects that I truly love and use, sometimes things still manage to get a bit out of hand. Exhibit A...

Last week the fabulous Native Instruments held a 50% off sale on several of their fine Reaktor-powered synth instruments. I was intrigued. Having read excellent reviews of Razor, and the recommendation for Prism over at the helpful www.reaktortips.com blog, I knew I had to snap up at least one of these deals. After listening to audio demos for each and every offering, I hastily "checked out" with Prism and Spark before the sale ended Tuesday evening.

Enter Wednesday morning; I awake with a sinking feeling in my chest. Partly excited to put these great new instruments to use, but also concerned that I've somehow made a terrible mistake. I approach the laptop, and fire it up to check my Reaktor setup before downloading my new purchases. A sneaking suspicion forces me to review the library of instruments already loaded into my Reaktor library, and lo and behold...I find both Prism and Spark ALREADY INSTALLED.

Yes, folks, it turns out I already owned these (and several other rarely-used) instruments as part of the Komplete bundle. Shameful. So what do I do next? Call NI to return the order, and immediately start a new song with both Prism and Spark loaded up as my main synth channels. I plan to explore these versatile instruments - and others lost in my plug-in library - much further over time.

Finally, I should note that the field recording of the frogs was captured the previous week during my Santa Rosa trip using my trusty Tascam. Enjoy!


Key equipment/software used for production:

- Tascam DR-2d digital recorder
- Prism and Spark Reaktor ensembles
- Audio Damage Phosphor plug-in
- Petite Ondes iPad app
- Novation V-Station plug-in
- Native Instruments Maschine MKI
- ValhallaDSP ValhallaRoom plug-in

Key: C# Major
BPM: 67
Time Signature: 4/4