From Dream to Tool

August 8, 2023

Blog by Troels Folmann

This my story about Rhythmic Aura, which was originally born out of a dream. I woke up, shifted in a way, seeing a sort of visual aura that surrounded music composition. The vision was faint and I remember sitting in stillness for some time. In silence, I formulated the meaning. And then.... It just hit me. I knew what I had to do. 

In was a particularly wet Napa Spring and Summer in 2011. While my partner, Tawnia Knox and I were dreaming and building 8Dio (That is a whole other story), My days and months, six to be exact were spent in a cozy room creating a library which was already named, Rhythmic Aura. It was based on the idea of having a quick way of creating instant inspiration for the Composer of TV and Film in particular. 

But the best way of gauging the quality of my sometimes insanity or an instrument is by putting it in the hands of honest friends. Give it to them with an open mind and ask them to have the same.

While building Rhythmic Aura, I sent it to one of my best and deepest long-time friends, Thomas Bergersen. One of the most talented composers of our time - and also someone who shaped generations of software instruments. We will also give each other feedback in over three different languages as to avoid any misinterpretation.  

A few weeks after sending a prototype to him Thomas sent me a music piece in return called: ‘Aura’.  

The piece begins with playing several layers of Rhythmic Aura together and then you can hear how Thomas is inspired and begins building upon it:

After Rhythmic Aura was released, I realized I had to do another volume of it. Rhythmic Aura was only made with acoustic instruments, so I decided to make the second one with synths only called Rhythmic Aura II. I was incredibly fortunate that the great Michal Cielecki wrote a demo that is still standing the test of time with it:

One reason that both Thomas and Michals’ tracks still work is because both the production quality and thematic quality are high; high production values tend to create more longevity in the music instead of some mundane flavor of the month.

Personally I think because its practical and fast, works instantly - doesn't require thinking and flexible enough to be unique every time one uses it. 

Little did I know that this dream would become a useful tool for music makers across all genres. In fact, many of the 8Dio products were spawn from dreams, from not overthinking and then spending hours, days, months that turn into years in production.