SPECTRASONICS -- Cutting-Edge Virtual Instruments And Sample Libraries

(From Millimeter, The Sampler)

You can listen to industry buzz to find out what's hot, but that will take you only so far.

I became intrigued by SPECTRASONICS' product lines because in my capacity as a writer for MIX and MILLIMETER, I kept interviewing musicians who used SPECTRASONICS "virtual instruments," such as ATMOSPHERE and TRILOGY, and media producers who liked its diverse sample libraries, which include such popular titles as Liquid Grooves, Vocal Planet, Bass Legends (which features MARCUS MILLER, ABRAHAM LABORIEL, and JOHN PATITUCCI), Bizarre Guitars, Heart of Africa, and two volumes of HANS ZIMMER Guitars.

For the past several years, the company has been less interested in creating new libraries than in giving musicians and producers greater control over existing ones, and in creating its own virtual instruments.

GRROVE CONTROL, which was developed along with SPECTRASONICS' U.S. distributor, ILIO ENTERTAINMENT and debuted in 1999, gave users complete control over elements of tempo, pitch, pattern, and feel on certain SPECTRASONICS sample libraries. Then, three years ago, it introduced the first of its software-based virtual instruments.

The aforementioned ATMOSPHERE, for example, has a 3GB core library of more than 1,000 sound patches that can be mixed and matched into more than one million combinations. It's a native plug-in for DIGIDESIGN PRO TOOLS, MOTU DIGITAL PERFORMER, APPLE LOGIC, STEINBERG CUBASE and NUENDO.

Spectrasonics -- Cutting-Edge Virtual Instruments And Sample Libraries