A glacial ensemble. Eight voices on one keyboard, five you play and three that play themselves, drifting into slow, wide beds. Scenes to recall a whole setting, clock sync, and drop a WAV on any voice to make it yours.
This page is the manual. It is kept up to date here, so there is nothing to re-download when something changes. Last updated 5 September 2026.
It is an instrument, not an effect
NIVREN makes its own sound. It goes on an instrument track, a software-instrument track or a synth track, whatever your host calls it. It does not go on an insert of a plain audio track.
The one that catches everyone first. On an audio track NIVREN's own meters move, but you hear nothing, because an audio track only passes audio that was recorded onto it or fed into its input. Put NIVREN on an instrument track and it comes through.
The fastest way to hear it
If it is still silent, the Every control tab has a short "I hear nothing" checklist near the top.
Two kinds of voice
SHARDS starts switched off, because it is the sharpest voice and is there when you want it. Turn its strip on to bring it in.
MIX and SHAPE, the two pages
The MIX / SHAPE toggle at the top switches the panel between two pages. MIX is the mixer you land on: one strip per voice. SHAPE is eight macros that move the whole ensemble at once, from how slowly it opens to the size of the space. Both are described in Every control.
Scenes
The SCENE name at the top left, with an arrow either side, recalls a whole setting at once, the mixer and every macro. Step through them with the arrows: Under the Ice Shelf, Weather Station Seven, Slow Calving, Blue Hour, Sonar Ghost and Whiteout. Scenes are the quickest way to find a starting point.
Playing it live
In the Standalone app and the browser version you can play from the computer keyboard: white keys on A to K, black keys on W E T Y U, and Z / X to shift octave. Drag any fader or dial, and double-click it to reset.
I hear nothing
Work down this list. It is nearly always one of the first three.
The header row
The name of the current scene, with a back and forward arrow either side. A scene recalls the whole panel at once, the mixer and every macro. Step through the set with the arrows.
Switches the panel between the MIX mixer and the SHAPE macro page. It only changes what you are looking at; both pages are always live.
Sends the self-playing beds out as MIDI notes, SONAR, HYDROPHONE and SNOW, so you can capture them as real notes. It is OFF by default. On macOS, point it at IAC Bus 1 and record it onto a MIDI track in Logic. Click it to pick a destination.
OMNI means every voice answers every MIDI channel, so one chord plays all the pitched voices. MULTI means each voice answers only its own channel, the pill under its name, so a DAW can drive the eight voices separately and remix them. See Where each voice sits below.
The timebase for the moving parts, like the sonar spacing. FREE runs loose. INT is an internal tempo, drag the box up or down to set it. EXT locks to the MIDI clock coming from your DAW, so the beds move in time with your session. Click to change source.
A voice strip, top to bottom
The little square at the top of the strip mutes or brings in that voice. On is lit orange. SHARDS starts off.
The tall slider sets the voice's level, shown in dB above the knobs. Drag it; double-click resets it.
Where that voice sits left to right, on its own, separate from the ensemble-wide FIELD macro.
How much of that voice goes into the shared reverberant space. Low keeps it dry and close, high pushes it far back into the room.
The MIDI channel that voice listens on in MULTI, from CH 1 to CH 8. It is ignored in OMNI.
The four macros under the mixer
The output weight of the whole ensemble. Think of it as the master level for everything at once.
Moves the whole ensemble in the stereo field. Centre by default, left or right as you turn it. It sits over the top of each voice's own PAN.
Tunes the whole ensemble up or down, in semitones, up to an octave either way. Small amounts pull the tuning off true for a colder, less settled feel.
How much of the reverberant space you hear across the whole ensemble. Low is close and dry, high is far away in a large room.
The SHAPE page
The eight macros on the SHAPE page move the whole ensemble at once.
How slowly each voice opens when it comes in.
How long the tail rings on after you release a note.
The brightness of the ice, from dark and woolly to bright and glassy.
The stereo width of the field, from narrow to wide.
How much movement and instability runs through the voices.
The size of the reverberant space, from a small room to a vast cave.
The sonar spacing when NIVREN is clocked, how far apart the pings fall.
How busy the hydrophone gets, from sparse crackle to a thick field.
Using your own sample
Drop a WAV onto any voice strip and that voice plays your file instead. On an ambient strip (SONAR, HYDROPHONE, SNOW FIELD) it loops your file into the bed. On a pitched strip it plays your file from the keyboard, tuned to the notes you hold.
How the ensemble is laid out
Eight voices across the mixer, in two kinds. The first five are pitched: you play them. The last three are ambient: they play themselves and drift underneath. Each has its own level, pan, send and channel, so the ensemble sits as one bed or splits into eight parts.
The five you play
The main pad, a wide sheet of tone. The voice most chords are built on.
A bright, vocal, glassy layer that sits above the sheet.
The low end, a slow sub that gives the ensemble its weight. Its SEND starts low so it stays close.
A bowed, metallic tone with a slow attack, for tension under a scene.
The sharpest, most brittle voice. It starts switched off; turn its strip on when you want an edge.
The three that play themselves
Slow sonar pings that fall on their own. Their spacing follows PULSE and the CLOCK.
Underwater crackle and clicks. DENSITY sets how busy it gets.
Wide gusts of noise, the wind under everything.
The trick that ties it together: the three beds run whether or not you touch the keyboard, so NIVREN is already a finished piece before you play a note. Play the pitched voices over the top, or turn the beds down and use it as a straight pad ensemble.
Recording the self-play as MIDI
The beds are real notes, not audio tricks. Turn OUT on, point it at a MIDI destination (on macOS, IAC Bus 1), and record SONAR, HYDROPHONE and SNOW onto MIDI tracks in your DAW to keep or edit what NIVREN played.
It is silent and asking for a key
That is normal. NIVREN stays silent until it is unlocked. On the first screen, paste the key from your Gumroad receipt and press UNLOCK NIVREN.
Where is my licence key?
In your Gumroad receipt email, and on your Gumroad library page. Bought on its own, NIVREN has one key. Bought in the Cinematic Soundscape Collection, each of the three instruments still arrives with its own separate key, so you unlock NIVREN with the NIVREN key.
Do I have to activate every format separately?
No. One activation covers the Audio Unit, the VST3, the AAX and the Standalone app on that machine.
Does it phone home? Do I need to stay online?
No, and no. It checks the licence once, when you first activate. After that the activation is written to a file on your own machine and it never contacts a server again. You can take the machine permanently offline and it keeps working.
On macOS the record lives at ~/Library/Tunary Instruments/NIVREN/license.json. The
installer never touches that file, so updating never costs you your activation.
My key was rejected
Send me the key you are using and the email address you bought with, and I will sort it at my end. james@tunary.io
The easy way
Download the installer from your Gumroad library and double-click it. It puts the Audio Unit, the VST3, the AAX and the Standalone app where every host looks for them, and you can untick any format on the Installation Type screen. macOS will ask for your password, which is normal for the shared Plug-Ins folder.
To choose formats, click "Customize" on the install screen. The picker hides behind that button and is easy to walk past.
Installing by hand
Use the folders at the top level of your disk, not the ones inside your home folder. In Finder press Shift Cmd G, paste the path, and drag the file in.
Tunary /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components//Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3//Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/The one that catches people. There is a similar folder inside your home folder that starts
with ~. Logic reads both, but some hosts only read the top-level one, so a plug-in put
in the home-folder version can simply never appear. When in doubt, use the top-level folders above.
The Standalone app
NIVREN also installs as a Standalone app you can open on its own, no DAW needed, which is the quickest way to play with it. The plug-in formats are Audio Unit, VST3 and AAX. The AAX for Pro Tools is Mac only, and it comes in the Mac installer rather than the zip, because it has to go into a folder the zip cannot write to.
Windows
On Windows, NIVREN is a VST3. Unzip it into
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ and rescan in your host.
Quit your host first
Fully quit your DAW with Cmd Q before installing, then reopen it. Hosts only look for new plug-ins when they start.
What it runs on
macOS 11 Big Sur and later, Universal, so native on both Apple Silicon and Intel. Signed and Apple notarised, so macOS opens it with no security warning. Windows 10 and later for the VST3.
Where does it show up in my DAW?
Under Tunary Instruments, not under the product name.
Not there at all in Logic? Logic Pro > Settings > Plug-in Manager, search for it. If it is unticked, tick it. If it failed validation, select it and click Reset & Rescan Selection. Usually it just means Logic was open while you installed.
Pro Tools
NIVREN is an instrument, so make a new Instrument track and add NIVREN on its insert, under Tunary Instruments. It is not for an audio track. The self-playing beds run with no MIDI needed. In Pro Tools NIVREN plays in OMNI, so a chord plays all the pitched voices; per-voice MULTI channel routing is an AU and VST3 feature.
Not there in Pro Tools? It only scans plug-ins when it launches, so quit it fully with Cmd Q and reopen. That is nearly always it.