When Spitfire Audio teams up with composers, it rarely means just another library. Tenebra, created with the prolific duo The Newton Brothers (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, X-Men ’97), comes across as a full toolkit for psychological terror and slow-burn suspense. It draws from the pair’s personal archive: vulnerable voices, hybrid winds, modular and analogue synths, and “found” objects and funnels everything through Spitfire Audio’s Solar engine for immediate playability and deep mangling. The Newtons describe Tenebra as a way to fill space intentionally, chasing a sonic identity where darkness often carries a glint of hope. The promise is simple: out-of-the-box dread that evolves into bespoke atmospheres the moment you touch a control.
Tenebra is a curated collection of dark textures and playable instruments hosted in Spitfire Audio’s Solar engine. The official spec highlights 182 unique sounds crafted from modular and analogue synths (e.g., ARP 2600, Moog Matriarch/DFAM, Oberheim, Eurorack), field recordings, morphed vocals and winds, including the Newtons’ infamous “Black Flute”. In addition to that, we get orchestral mutations sourced from large-scale sessions. Out of the box, you get 100+ sound sources expertly sculpted into 130+ presets by The Newton Brothers themselves and Spitfire’s team. Tenebra is designed to cover everything from slow-burning dread to jump scares.
Under the hood, Solar loads two layers (A/B) and lets you morph between them. A gate sequencer brings movement to pads and drones. Each bay has insert FX and aux sends (e.g., reverb & delay), with a master FX section for broad strokes. It’s all built to be immediate and malleable when you want to dig deeper. You can start a cue with a single note or chord and let yourself get inspired by the evolving nature of the sounds.
The Newtons’ own methodology, blending sources (voice + Black Flute, Theravox + voice), using pedals and Eurorack as processors rather than pure sound generators, and aiming for ambiguous timbres, maps neatly onto Solar’s dual-layer design.
Installation runs through the Spitfire Audio App. Solar is a dedicated plugin (AU/VST3/AAX), so look for Solar in your DAW rather than “Tenebra.” File size is roughly 11.35 GB.
Tenebra – Main GUI
USER INTERFACE
If you’ve used the Solar engine wth libraries like Mercury or Jupiter, you’ll feel at home quickly. Tenebra’s front page foregrounds musical controls and keeps the sound-design rabbit holes only a click away. Two sound bays (A/B) sit at the core: load any two sounds and seamlessly morph between them for evolving hybrid timbres. This immediately elevates Tenebra from preset browser to performance instrument; assign a mod wheel or fader to morph, and you can shape the emotional arc of a texture in one gesture. The Newtons even call out this approach “give motion without being obvious about it” as a reliable way to keep tension alive under dialogue.
As with many other Spitfire Audio libraries, there are a few pre-assigned faders and a big rotary knob that let you control some of the essential sound parameters, like expression (the sound level of a technique), Crossfade (where the balance sits between signals A and B), and basic FX. The big knob can be assigned to various parameters like high- and low-pass-filter frequency or the attack envelope.
Tenebra Per-Layer FX
Each bay provides per-layer FX (filters, envelopes, dynamics, distortion, modulation), plus aux sends to convolution or other ambience-based FX. On top, a master section handles glue and polish. When you need movement, the Gate Sequencer can fragment, pulse, or gently breathe a bed, independently for A and B. This way, one layer can stutter while the other swells slowly. Depth and smoothing controls keep rhythmic motion from feeling too programmed. The design encourages you to play the timeline rather than program it. Many presets already contain long, evolving decays and different behaviors across the keyboard, so you can create narrative turns simply by where and how you play.
Preset navigation is fast and practical. The browser filters by category (Drones, Strings, Synths, Pulses, etc.), and the factory preset collection from The Newton Brothers and SpitfireAudiomakes for excellent cue-starters you can then save variations of for recall across different projects.
Tenebra Preset Browser
SCORING WITH TENEBRA
Tenebra’s biggest virtue is how quickly it triggers visual imagination. Hold a minor triad on something like “Ghost Strings,” ride a controller to morph the layer balance, and you’ve got a psychological horror soundbed without any extra processing required. The Gate Sequencer turns a static drone into a brooding pulse with a few steps. Leave it gentle to imply unease under dialogue, or push it hard for trailer stutters that even cut through dense mixes.
The range of available categories allows users to complete cues without leaving the instrument: Synths provide surreal pads and growling pulses; Orchestral mutations cover risers, swells, glissandi, and bent FX; Humanity (voices & winds) supplies breath-based intimacy. Unconventional instruments & percussion handle hits, subs, and distant metal. These sources were curated from the Newtons’ own projects and often composited (voice + Black Flute; Theravox + voice), which is why so many presets feel like entirely new instruments rather than just “synth + sample.” The goal, in their words, is vulnerability, signature, and intentional space to make the audience lean in and ask: “What is that?”.
Tenebra Gate Sequencer
Tenebra also stacks unusually well. Designer libraries often clash with each other when layered. Here, presets tend to occupy complementary bands, making it surprisingly easy to pile several sounds without building up mud. In practice, with a few EQ trims and a shared reverb, you can craft a multi-layer soundbed quite quickly. And because the palette lives between organic and electronic, it weaves into orchestral arrangements convincingly. You can process a string line until it sounds produced but plausibly acoustic, then let Tenebra sit behind it for that sought-after ambiguity that the Newtons have made themselves a name for.
Tenebra Sound Source Browser
Pairing tip: Albion Solstice’s ritualistic folk timbres can add earthy contrast to Tenebra’s psychological sheen.
THE SOUND OF TENEBRA
Spitfire Audio built Tenebra on a simple idea: let the source recordings do the heavy lifting. The Newton Brothers’ sound sources, including bowed medieval citole, treated dulcimer and waterphone, modular processing, custom winds/voice composites, yield sounds that already sit in a film mix with intent. Even before you touch FX, most presets feel scored, not “sound-effect-y.” The low end has cinematic weight without fighting for fundamentals, mid textures carry tactile grain that speaks under dialogue, and highs avoid plasticky fizz. The stereo spread of most sounds is wide yet coherent, so the center never hollows out too much.
The eDNA-lineage presets are Tenebra’s show-stealers. They feel performable rather than static: you can hold a chord and the sound slowly opens, revealing little swells and details that keep long notes alive. A gentle ride on the A/B morph shifts the mood from wary to urgent without swapping patches, and a touch of pulse adds motion that stays out of the way of dialogue. Push them and they stack into broad, imposing layers. Pull back and they settle into a tense, breathy hush. That wide tonal range lets you score an entire scene’s arc while staying inside one coherent tone.
CONCLUSION
Tenebra lands exactly where it aims: a deliciously evil scoring toolkit that’s both instant and deep in features. For film and trailer composers, it’s a reliable cue-starter that doesn’t trap you in presets. For producers and sound designers, it’s a Solar playground with enough curated raw material to keep sessions fresh for months. The curation shows: few duds, lots of “that’s the track” moments, and the playback engine keeps complexity out of the way until you want it.
Not every context needs horror-leaning sound design, of course. If your work never strays into thriller/suspense, Tenebra’s palette can feel niche. But for anyone working in psychological drama, sci-fi tension, true crime, trailers, or games, it’s a high-value addition brought to you by masters of the form.
Verdict: a richly curated, modern horror toolkit that feels like an instrument, not a folder of files.
Pros
Cohesive, mix-ready sound palette
Great tonal variety
Expressive morphing and gating options
Sound layers stack cleanly
Strong, ready-to-use presets from The Newton Brothers
Cons
Horror-leaning palette can feel niche outside suspense
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INSIDE THE SOUND OF SUSPENSE W/ THE NEWTON BROTHERS
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When Spitfire Audio teams up with composers, it rarely means just another library. Tenebra, created with the prolific duo The Newton Brothers (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, X-Men ’97), comes across as a full toolkit for psychological terror and slow-burn suspense. It draws from the pair’s personal archive: vulnerable voices, hybrid winds, modular and analogue synths, and “found” objects and funnels everything through Spitfire Audio’s Solar engine for immediate playability and deep mangling. The Newtons describe Tenebra as a way to fill space intentionally, chasing a sonic identity where darkness often carries a glint of hope. The promise is simple: out-of-the-box dread that evolves into bespoke atmospheres the moment you touch a control.
Related reading: Spitfire Audio – Mercury Review for another Solar-based palette.
OVERVIEW
Tenebra is a curated collection of dark textures and playable instruments hosted in Spitfire Audio’s Solar engine. The official spec highlights 182 unique sounds crafted from modular and analogue synths (e.g., ARP 2600, Moog Matriarch/DFAM, Oberheim, Eurorack), field recordings, morphed vocals and winds, including the Newtons’ infamous “Black Flute”. In addition to that, we get orchestral mutations sourced from large-scale sessions. Out of the box, you get 100+ sound sources expertly sculpted into 130+ presets by The Newton Brothers themselves and Spitfire’s team. Tenebra is designed to cover everything from slow-burning dread to jump scares.
Under the hood, Solar loads two layers (A/B) and lets you morph between them. A gate sequencer brings movement to pads and drones. Each bay has insert FX and aux sends (e.g., reverb & delay), with a master FX section for broad strokes. It’s all built to be immediate and malleable when you want to dig deeper. You can start a cue with a single note or chord and let yourself get inspired by the evolving nature of the sounds.
The Newtons’ own methodology, blending sources (voice + Black Flute, Theravox + voice), using pedals and Eurorack as processors rather than pure sound generators, and aiming for ambiguous timbres, maps neatly onto Solar’s dual-layer design.
Installation runs through the Spitfire Audio App. Solar is a dedicated plugin (AU/VST3/AAX), so look for Solar in your DAW rather than “Tenebra.” File size is roughly 11.35 GB.
USER INTERFACE
If you’ve used the Solar engine wth libraries like Mercury or Jupiter, you’ll feel at home quickly. Tenebra’s front page foregrounds musical controls and keeps the sound-design rabbit holes only a click away. Two sound bays (A/B) sit at the core: load any two sounds and seamlessly morph between them for evolving hybrid timbres. This immediately elevates Tenebra from preset browser to performance instrument; assign a mod wheel or fader to morph, and you can shape the emotional arc of a texture in one gesture. The Newtons even call out this approach “give motion without being obvious about it” as a reliable way to keep tension alive under dialogue.
As with many other Spitfire Audio libraries, there are a few pre-assigned faders and a big rotary knob that let you control some of the essential sound parameters, like expression (the sound level of a technique), Crossfade (where the balance sits between signals A and B), and basic FX. The big knob can be assigned to various parameters like high- and low-pass-filter frequency or the attack envelope.
Each bay provides per-layer FX (filters, envelopes, dynamics, distortion, modulation), plus aux sends to convolution or other ambience-based FX. On top, a master section handles glue and polish. When you need movement, the Gate Sequencer can fragment, pulse, or gently breathe a bed, independently for A and B. This way, one layer can stutter while the other swells slowly. Depth and smoothing controls keep rhythmic motion from feeling too programmed. The design encourages you to play the timeline rather than program it. Many presets already contain long, evolving decays and different behaviors across the keyboard, so you can create narrative turns simply by where and how you play.
Preset navigation is fast and practical. The browser filters by category (Drones, Strings, Synths, Pulses, etc.), and the factory preset collection from The Newton Brothers and Spitfire Audio makes for excellent cue-starters you can then save variations of for recall across different projects.
SCORING WITH TENEBRA
Tenebra’s biggest virtue is how quickly it triggers visual imagination. Hold a minor triad on something like “Ghost Strings,” ride a controller to morph the layer balance, and you’ve got a psychological horror soundbed without any extra processing required. The Gate Sequencer turns a static drone into a brooding pulse with a few steps. Leave it gentle to imply unease under dialogue, or push it hard for trailer stutters that even cut through dense mixes.
The range of available categories allows users to complete cues without leaving the instrument: Synths provide surreal pads and growling pulses; Orchestral mutations cover risers, swells, glissandi, and bent FX; Humanity (voices & winds) supplies breath-based intimacy. Unconventional instruments & percussion handle hits, subs, and distant metal. These sources were curated from the Newtons’ own projects and often composited (voice + Black Flute; Theravox + voice), which is why so many presets feel like entirely new instruments rather than just “synth + sample.” The goal, in their words, is vulnerability, signature, and intentional space to make the audience lean in and ask: “What is that?”.
Tenebra also stacks unusually well. Designer libraries often clash with each other when layered. Here, presets tend to occupy complementary bands, making it surprisingly easy to pile several sounds without building up mud. In practice, with a few EQ trims and a shared reverb, you can craft a multi-layer soundbed quite quickly. And because the palette lives between organic and electronic, it weaves into orchestral arrangements convincingly. You can process a string line until it sounds produced but plausibly acoustic, then let Tenebra sit behind it for that sought-after ambiguity that the Newtons have made themselves a name for.
Pairing tip: Albion Solstice’s ritualistic folk timbres can add earthy contrast to Tenebra’s psychological sheen.
THE SOUND OF TENEBRA
Spitfire Audio built Tenebra on a simple idea: let the source recordings do the heavy lifting. The Newton Brothers’ sound sources, including bowed medieval citole, treated dulcimer and waterphone, modular processing, custom winds/voice composites, yield sounds that already sit in a film mix with intent. Even before you touch FX, most presets feel scored, not “sound-effect-y.” The low end has cinematic weight without fighting for fundamentals, mid textures carry tactile grain that speaks under dialogue, and highs avoid plasticky fizz. The stereo spread of most sounds is wide yet coherent, so the center never hollows out too much.
The eDNA-lineage presets are Tenebra’s show-stealers. They feel performable rather than static: you can hold a chord and the sound slowly opens, revealing little swells and details that keep long notes alive. A gentle ride on the A/B morph shifts the mood from wary to urgent without swapping patches, and a touch of pulse adds motion that stays out of the way of dialogue. Push them and they stack into broad, imposing layers. Pull back and they settle into a tense, breathy hush. That wide tonal range lets you score an entire scene’s arc while staying inside one coherent tone.
CONCLUSION
Tenebra lands exactly where it aims: a deliciously evil scoring toolkit that’s both instant and deep in features. For film and trailer composers, it’s a reliable cue-starter that doesn’t trap you in presets. For producers and sound designers, it’s a Solar playground with enough curated raw material to keep sessions fresh for months. The curation shows: few duds, lots of “that’s the track” moments, and the playback engine keeps complexity out of the way until you want it.
Not every context needs horror-leaning sound design, of course. If your work never strays into thriller/suspense, Tenebra’s palette can feel niche. But for anyone working in psychological drama, sci-fi tension, true crime, trailers, or games, it’s a high-value addition brought to you by masters of the form.
Verdict: a richly curated, modern horror toolkit that feels like an instrument, not a folder of files.
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
Tenebra by The Newton Brothers is available for £149 / €179 from Spitfire Audio’s online shop.
TENEBRA – VIDEO WALKTHROUGH
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