From preset browsing to a musical arrangement
Horizon contains 100 psytrance presets for Phase Plant, spanning basses, leads, acid leads, sequences, ethno sounds, pads, percussion, stabs and zaps. In this production session, Black Marvin uses the bank to sketch a track and shows the decisions that turn a collection of sounds into musical parts.
The session is a work in progress, not a finished-track recipe. The synth material comes from Horizon, while kicks, other drum material and some processing come from separate tools. That distinction is useful: the bank supplies playable sounds, and the arrangement still comes from choosing how those sounds interact.
Give the bass and drums a workable foundation
Around 4:18, Black Marvin begins exploring Horizon's bass presets against a chosen kick. He adjusts the part and listens to the combination before moving further into the track. The goal during the session is a foundation that feels convincing enough to write over, while leaving room for later refinement.
This is a practical way to audition a bass preset: hear it against the rhythm it must support. The apparent weight and timing of a sound on its own will not tell you everything about how it behaves with a kick. The video illustrates that listening process without suggesting that a preset removes the need for balancing and arrangement.
Resample an evolving lead when you want a repeatable phrase
At about 27:37, Black Marvin explains that the lead being played does not cycle through exactly the same movement on every pass. That variation is intentional. His suggested workflow is to record several passes, choose the articulations that work, and then resequence the resulting audio with more precise control.
This offers two different creative choices. Leave Phase Plant running when you want a continuously changing performance. Render a passage when a particular movement is worth preserving. Once recorded, a phrase can be shortened, repeated or moved in the arrangement without relying on the synth producing the same variation again.
Resampling also allows the live synth instance to be reused or disabled when it is no longer needed for playback. That can reduce live processing, although CPU use depends on the patch and session. It is a workflow option, not a performance guarantee attached to the preset bank.
Use macro movement to develop a familiar idea
Around 44:13, the session returns to macro movement. Black Marvin then describes his preference for repeated sounds that morph over time: a recognisable idea can gain energy and tell a story without being replaced every few bars. This is a personal production approach demonstrated in the session, rather than a rule for every style of psytrance.
The arrangement continues to take shape as sounds are selected and placed. Around 1:19:06, he starts sketching an alternate drop. The lesson is to let the sounds suggest contrasting sections while keeping track of the role each part already occupies. An interesting preset may work better later in the track than on top of an already busy passage.
Separate the phrase from its space
The session discusses using delay and reverb outside Phase Plant even though the presets include internal effects. For a resampled lead, this lets the core phrase be edited first and its sense of space adjusted afterward. It also makes it easier to reconsider a delay when its tail takes up too much of the groove.
At 1:41:01, Black Marvin demonstrates a way to place a strong pad more subtly: low-pass filter the source before feeding it into a wide reverb, with sidechain treatment considered as part of the arrangement. Opening the filter then changes the energy sent into the reverb. The technique is about controlling the atmospheric layer, not assuming that every pad should use the same settings.
Choose the right Phase Plant starting point
Horizon takes a versatile approach to classic psytrance roles. Vertigo is a different finished preset bank with a stronger focus on granular experimentation. Molekules and Mycological instead provide granular source material for building patches. Choose between them according to whether you want a playable sound immediately or raw material to design from.
Horizon requires Phase Plant 2.3.1 or higher; the synthesizer, external drum libraries and external effects from the session are not included. The working demo lets you explore a selection of the presets in your own setup before choosing the full bank.
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