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Ghostwriter

GHOSTWRITER

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GHOSTWRITER

OVERVIEW

  • The professional composer’s single most powerful tool for creating horror and suspense on demand
  • A massive 60 GB collection of 800 instruments and presets including Guitars, Basses, Drums, Keyboards, Vocal and other instruments
  • Created by progressive rock legend Steven Wilson and award-winning sounds producer Doug Rogers
  • Includes many "live" presets that can be adjusted by the user in the software
  • All the building blocks you need to rapidly bring your most ambitious sonic ideas to life
  • Now included in OPUS with individual downloads, custom keyswitches, and dozens of MIDI Tools and Mixer Effects

FROM THE MASTERS OF

SOUND DESIGN

One of the most eclectic and prolific artists in the history of progressive rock, Steven Wilson has teamed up with award-winning producer Doug Rogers to deliver you the complete toolkit for creating dramatic and terrifying soundscapes. You’ll find no shortage of Steven’s most innovative sounds which will inspire film composers, songwriters, and any musicians interested in creating an intense cinematic experience for listeners. Steven Wilson and Doug Rogers have designed a rich palette of samples immediately ready for your use. All you need to do is open Ghostwriter and acquaint yourself with this massive library of carefully crafted sounds and then you can easily take it from there.

Crows

A beautifully sinister collection of sonic colors.

Keyboard Magazine

TWIST, LAYER,
DEFORM

Window

The broad range of post-processing effects built into this instrument give you ample opportunity to shape each sound to your liking. Ghostwriter gives you an excellent starting point, but you’ll also have access to an incredible suite of Mixer Effects in OPUS you need to turn every sound into something that’s instantly recognizable as your own.

Even if you prefer designing your own sounds for every project, Ghostwriter presents a wealth of opportunities for creative layering, deforming, and inspiration to keep you on track while you build them. Once you’re done mangling, you’ll have a result that’s distinctly different from the sample you started with.

Guitars

5/5 – The sound quality is outstanding. If you own suitable speakers, you’ll be nothing short of amazed.

Keys.de

Guitars

GUITARS

Looking to create dark, atmospheric, ethereal effects that no synth or pedal can reproduce? Ghostwriter’s extensive collection of 576 guitars offers enough recordings and effect chains to liquify, crystallize, and decimate any sound you can think of. Choose from Dirty, EBow, LoFi li and more, and begin mangling and stretching to your heart’s content.

Bass

BASSES

Large, distorted and edgy, you’ll find Ghostwriter’s 120 basses are everything you need to bring that punchy low end to any track. These instruments provide an excellent reason to dive into the Mixer Effects in OPUS and push this collection's dirt to the limit.

Guitars

DRUMS

Distorted, mic’d, re-amplified, and compressed into oblivion, the 65 drums of Ghostwriter defy any semblance of a conventional kit. You can make them pump, groan, and scream should you choose, or even sit in the background and gently move things along.

Keys

KEYS

The perfect way to create an ambient bed to build your music on. You’ll discover countless ways to warp, stretch, and elongate these 59 keyboards into infinity and design an entirely new realm in the process.

Vocals

VOCALS

Going far beyond the traditional choir sound, these 23 vocal instruments are subtle and easy to morph into slowly moving pad textures. When you need an ethereal base to construct your chords and want to be sure they have a soft and organic tone, you’ll find they consistently give you the tools to get the job done.

Misc

MISC

Featuring 33 morphing clusters, pads, and bells, this section contains the sounds that are either too cool or bizarre to categorize. Take a listen to see what other sonic worlds are available to you.

Room

A beautiful stage of instruments that are as terrifying as they are lovely, while still being sonically rich and expressive.

Ask Audio

Masks

WHAT WILL YOU

CREATE?

Regardless of how many virtual instruments you already have to bring your own cinematic soundscapes to life, it’s difficult to beat the pure versatility and unrestrained grit Ghostwriter so expertly offers. No matter what tools you’re currently using, this instrument will bolster even the greatest composer’s arsenal.

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More Info

VIDEOS

    MANUAL

      STEVEN WILSON

      Steven Wilson photoSteven Wilson (photo)

      One of the most eclectic and prolific artists in rock music, Steven Wilson has been writing, recording, and producing music continuously since the early nineties. Album releases and touring as leader of his band Porcupine Tree, and more recently as a solo artist, saw him gain a reputation for his songwriting, experimentation, and sonic excellence, resulting in many invitations to work with other artists. Among many things he has produced several albums for Grammy Award-winning Swedish metal band Opeth and he sung on UK drum and bass band Pendulum's UK number one album "Immersion".

      He started a solo career in 2009, and his most recent solo album "The Raven that Refused to Sing" was recorded at EASTWEST Studios with legendary recording engineer Alan Parsons at the helm. Wilson has become known for his 5.1 surround sound mixes, starting with his own projects, but more recently for remixing the catalogues of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Roxy Music, XTC, and Yes, among others. His surround sound mixes have been Grammy nominated on four occasions, and he has twice won "Album of the Year" at the Surround Music Awards. Wilson is seen by many as the predominant progressive rock musician in the world today, and in 2012 he won "Guiding Light" at the "Progressive Music Awards" 2012, following this in 2013 with another win for best album for "The Raven that Refused to Sing".

      Steven Wilson's Tape Machine

      The multi-track tape machine his father built him in the 80's.

      DOUG ROGERS

      Doug Rogers PhotoDoug Rogers (photo)

      With over 30 years experience in the audio industry, producer DOUG ROGERS is the recipient of many industry awards including "Recording Engineer of the Year". "The Art of Digital Music" named him one of "56 Visionary Artists & Insiders" in the book of the same name.

      In 1988 he founded EASTWEST, the most critically acclaimed virtual (software) instrument developer in the world. Since then, EASTWEST has been the recipient of over 70 international industry awards. Rogers uncompromising approach to quality, and innovative ideas has enabled EASTWEST to lead the industry for more than 27 years.

      Rogers productions include ProDrummer 1 (co-produced with Mark 'Spike' Stent), ProDrummer 2 (co-produced with Joe Chiccarelli), Ghostwriter (co-produced with Steven Wilson), Hollywood Strings, Hollywood Brass and Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds (co-produced with Nick Phoenix and Thomas Bergersen), Hollywood Orchestral Percussion (co-produced with Nick Phoenix), The Dark Side (co-produced with David Fridmann), Fab Four (with Beatle's engineer Ken Scott), Quantum Leap Pianos (co-produced with Nick Phoenix), Symphonic Choirs (co-produced with Nick Phoenix), Symphonic Orchestra (co-produced with Nick Phoenix).

      REVIEWS

      Creating authentic modern, interesting cinematic textures in this genre is hard work, as it takes a real knowledge of tone and effects to sound masterful. Given Wilson's experience and credits, I felt there was a lot of skill and integrity sitting next to me as I begin exploring the various textures. When you need dark and otherworldly, Ghostwriter is a beautifully sinister collection of sonic colors. (Full article)

      — KEYBOARD MAGAZINE

      Ghostwriter isn’t really a ghostwriter, but it is a fabulous and inspiring range of contemporary but slightly unconventional instruments that any serious media composer or more experimental music producer could benefit from. (Full article)

      — SOUND ON SOUND

      Designed with film, television and game soundtrack work in mind, Steven Wilson's Ghostwriter occupies a niche that's different from the typical all-in-one library. However, the edgy and distorted sounds in this collection would also provide a great resource for musicians working in rock, fusion, and funk. What is most remarkable is the attention to the big picture as well as details. These sounds were meant to go together, and in doing so, they provide a go-to progressive songwriter kit with little need to look outside the library. (Full article)

      — ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN

      Dirty, warped and fuzzy. My God, those basses are fat. When I heard the Spector Bass Deep Grunge and Obliterator Bass Fuzz Monster I almost fell off my chair, so nasty, so deep. Like the bass, the guitars also have a unique character. The grunts and rattling are a delight. Everything has a dirty edge, a certain vivacity that'll make you hear the musician behind the samples. This also applies to the drums. Of course, Ghostwriter contains processed drum sounds, with huge rumble and other tasteful effects but the drydrum set with a wonderful dynamic sound contains the necessary imperfections making it sound like a real drummer.

      Conclusion: For producers of film music, Ghostwriter can be a huge source of inspiration. And musicians with a preference for the more obscure can indulge themselves with this library. Writers of nice, airy songs, however, will see their good mood disappear like snow in the sun after fifteen minutes on the Evil Piano. The dark side of Ghostwriter will not appeal to everyone. I think the sheer depth and uniqueness of the sounds surpass what is currently on offer when it comes to virtual instruments. Ghostwriter sounds great and very distinctive. (Full article)

      — INTERFACE

      Producer, solo artist and Porcupine Tree main man Steven Wilson has teamed up with EastWest producer and industry veteran Doug Rogers to produce this 63GB instrumental (plus a few vocals) library for the multitimbral Play engine (included), available on a pile of DVDs or a pocket USB 3 hard drive.

      Comprising over 800 multisampled instrument patches, Ghostwriter is aimed at the "cinematic" composer, be they working in movies, games, TV or music. It's intended to be a source of high-quality 'alternative' bread and butter sounds, so we're talking guitars, basses, drums, keys, etc, rather than crazy synths and electronic tones.

      The vibe throughout is epic, organic and big; Wilson has true insight into the tasteful use of ambience and distortion, and both are used extensively – and quite brilliantly – in most of the recordings and patches.

      The latest version of the Play engine helps here, with its vast roster of convolution reverbs and a superb new amp simulation effect with 80 presets – not to mention the SSL channel strip and EP-1 Delay.

      Guitars are by far the best represented category, taking in a staggering array of acoustics and electrics with plenty of keyswitched articulations to aid in creating realistic performances.

      The diversity of patches in the Bass section belies the fact that only three instruments were used to make them all.

      Of the drums, the Mono Amp Kits are the grimy highlight, while the Keys folder is full of splendidly twisted and gutsy pianos, clavs, celestas and more. And although we wouldn't call it a headline, the folder of male and female 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' is sure to be useful for those panoramic movie moments.

      Ghostwriter delivers a beautiful collection of instrumentation in an excellent interface. It's not really one for the dance music producer seeking fuel for their latest banger, but if deep, fascinating sounds, capturing all the energy and soul of the electric and acoustic instruments from which they were elicited, appeal, then this is a must-hear. (Full article)

      — COMPUTER MUSIC

      Successful producer and musician Steven Wilson has created this library together with Doug Rogers in the East West Studios. Our review will reveal if Ghostwriter keeps its promise and let you create music, film, game and television compositions at the highest level.

      Short test. What can you expect? In East West Studios in sunny California, Madonna, Elton John, Johnny Cash and other global stars have recorded many super hits. This is also where producer and solo artist Steven Wilson and studio owner Doug Rogers produced the sample library tested here today. It comes with a variety of different sounds, with a focus on sound for music, film, game or TV compositions. The 60-gigabyte library includes 8 DVDs with 800 multi-sampled instruments. Each instrument comes with several presets.

      To install you need an iLok, which is not included. In the Sample Browser, you can choose between bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, vocals, and other sounds; for my taste there could be more vocals.

      Each category has several sub-sections that are easy to navigate. In my opinion, the content of this library allows you to handle complete productions. There are many different instruments, including modulated chimes and similar options, to give your sound design a special touch. The editing options are also abundant.

      PLAY 6 includes an impressive array of professional audio processing tools: The SSL/EW FX Global Suite, a $99 value, is now included for free to all PLAY 6 users. This collection of authentic SSL tools includes a filter, EQ, compressor, gate/expander, transient shaper and stereo bus compressor. EastWest has also included 726 new reverb impulses for the EastWest Convolution Reverb.

      In the mixer section you can mix the sounds, and find common functions such as pan, mute and solo. The player is available for the plug-in interfaces VST, AU, AAX; if necessary, it can also operate as a standalone software. Via the routing settings it can easily be integrated into your DAW. Each channel can be assigned a separate MIDI or audio channel. Thanks to the MIDI Learn function you can assign each regulator a control element.

      The software is not included. During the installation of the library you can download the 32 - or 64-bit version for Windows or Mac via a link.

      Effects: The software includes various options for sound design. New on board are the amp simulator with 80 presets, the tape delay Echoplex EP-1 and a convolution reverb with 726 impulse responses of different rooms. As a special feature, there is a Channel Strip by Solid State Logic. This includes filters, EQ, compressor and noise gate / expander. In addition, you can find a Transient Shaper and the popular EastWest bus compressor.

      The 80 presets on the amp simulator consist of different amps and boxes that were recorded with known microphones such as the Shure SM57 or the EV RE-20. The 726 presets of the convolution reverb are admirable. They sound good with the sounds of the library and there is enough choice for every taste.

      The sound: The sounds are generally in the genres of action, crime, thriller and horror. There is a lot on offer for both game and film music design. It is perfect for those who like to use gloomy atmospheres in their productions. The sounds are intense and you’ll easily manage to turn your listeners’ blood cold. You’re not going to find sounds to design a score for a chocolate bar ad.

      The bass sounds nasty and convincing. The clean and distorted guitar sounds create a mystical atmosphere. The guitars are my favorites in this library, and you will have rarely heard such quality. Despite the clear sentiment, the sounds are very diverse with lots of different facets. Even longer compositions will stay exciting.

      Those who like it a little harder will have a lot of fun with the amp effect. The 80 presets offer plenty of variety. The well-tuned drum sounds bring additional excitement and action. The convolution reverb and tape delay provide the necessary depth.

      Conclusion: Anyone looking for dark to shrill and intense sounds cannot go wrong with EastWest Ghostwriter. The Library can accompany or handle even entire compositions. The sample player is clearly laid out and you quickly get to the desired result. The sounds are well-produced and coordinated. You can tell that Steven Wilson and Doug Rogers put in a lot of effort to make sure everything sounds rich and intimate.

      You won’t find happy, funny sounds but fans of the genres horror, thriller and crime will get their money’s worth. The included instruments complement each other perfectly. Thanks to the many editing options and effects along with the presets, it’s fun to compose with the sounds and experiment.

      Overall, we give EastWest Ghostwriter four and a half out of five points, a very good rating. For productions in the genres mentioned before, this is a highly recommended product.

      — DELAMAR.de

      A beautiful stage of instruments that are as terrifying as they are lovely, while still being sonically rich and expressive. The bass guitar patches are straight up bad ass. And the guitars are otherworldly and highly experimental, without being silly. (Full article)

      — ASK Audio Magazine

      5/5 - The sound quality is outstanding. If you own suitable speakers, you’ll be nothing short of amazed.

      — KEYS

      SYSTEM
      REQUIREMENTS

      Below are the minimum and recommended hardware and software specifications for using Opus on Windows and MacOS systems.

      MINIMUM SYSTEM

      • CPU: Quad-core (four cores), running at 2.7 GHz (or above)
      • RAM: 16 GB
      • OS: macOS 10.13 (or later); Windows 10 with ASIO sound drivers
      • Drive: HDD (7200 rpm, non-energy saving)

      RECOMMENDED SYSTEM

      • CPU: Octa-core (eight cores), running at 2.7 GHz (or above)
      • RAM: 32 GB or more
      • OS: macOS 10.13 (or later); Windows 10 with ASIO sound drivers
      • Drive: SSD (SATA or PCIe)

      The chart below outlines the MacOS and Windows 64-bit operating systems and sequencers that are officially supported and fully tested with the latest version of Opus. Please note that while most Sequencers / DAWs are VST 2, VST 3, AU and AAX plug-in format compatible, only those listed in the chart below are officially supported.

      Product Version MacOS (10.13+) Windows 10
      EW Play 6 Stand-Alone 6.0+ YES YES
      EW Opus Stand-Alone 1.0+ YES YES
      Ableton Live 10.0+ YES YES
      Apple Logic Pro 10.0+ YES -
      Apple Garageband 10.3+ YES -
      Avid Pro Tools 2018.1+ YES YES
      Bitwig Studio 3.0+ YES YES
      Cockos Reaper 6.0+ YES YES
      Image-Line FL Studio 20+ YES YES
      Motu Digital Performer 9.0+ YES YES
      Steinberg Cubase(1) 9.0+ YES YES
      Steinberg Nuendo(1) 8.0+ YES YES
      Presonus Studio One 4.0+ YES YES
      VSL Vienna Ensemble Pro 6.0+ YES YES
      Acoustica Mixcraft 10.5+ - YES
      Notation Software(2) Version    
      Avid Sibelius 2018.1+ YES YES
      MakeMusic Finale 25.0+ YES YES
      Steinberg Dorico 3.0+ YES YES
      • (1) VST3 usage is recommended
      • (2) Sibelius / Finale / Dorico notation programs work with Opus, but do not support the full feature set of some Opus/Play Libraries, such as those that use WordBuilder. Please contact support for details.

      Ghostwriter

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      • Includes perpetual license to Ghostwriter
      • Includes EastWest Instruments
      • Includes EastWest Opus Player, 46 Mixer Effects and MIDI Tools

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      WHAT'S

      INCLUDED?

      • Produced by STEVEN WILSON and DOUG ROGERS
      • Includes over 800 Multi-Sampled Instruments and Presets (60 GB)
      • Includes Basses, Drums, Guitars, Keyboards, Misc, and Vocals
      • Designed for Music, Film, Games, and TV Composers
      • Includes many "live" presets that can be adjusted by the user in the software
      • Musicians: Steven Wilson, Marco Minnemann, and Laurence Juber
      • Recorded in the world famous EASTWEST studios
      • Includes PLAY 6 64-bit software on both MAC and PC
      • The software includes many new advanced sound shaping tools, a new EastWest AMP Simulator with 80 Amp Presets, Ohm Force's Ohmicide Multi-band Distortion software, classic Echoplex EP-1 Delay, Solid State Logic EQ & Dynamics Channel, consisting of: Filter, EQ, Compressor and Noise Gate/Expander, Solid State Logic Transient Shaper, the legendary Solid State Logic Stereo Compressor, and EastWest Expanded Convolution Reverb with 726 Additional Reverb Presets.