Arturia Spark 2 - Will Never Be M1

[VariKusBrainZ]

Remember they don’t just do emulations of gear. Look at Pigments and Fragments. So no reason to assume they would release separate emulations. There’s already stiff competition in that area.

However, there are only a few really standout creative drum machines for them to vie against

[PAK]

Arturia do still have related products in this area.. EG Notice anything strange about those Keylab keyboards? How about that BeatStep thingy? So they now have a bunch of stuff which lacks appropriate Arturia software.. Sacré bleu! Somewhere in Grenoble someone weeps at this prospect. That's why drum software is likely, IMO..

Dedicated software/hardware? Much less likely. Hardware complicates things, before they even think about competitors like NI, Roland, Akai etc. Maybe that's why things have taken so long? But I'm not sure what (if anything) they'd do.

The Spark hardware arguably shot itself in the foot by going with 8 pads instead of 16. Some software decisions might've leaned in the wrong direction too (EG Recreating Mixer functionality instead of simple volume controls and leaving more to the DAW). Factors like Maschine having significantly more sound pack support might not have helped either, even if it's a somewhat different product, not to mention eventually getting the all-important multi-coloured pads. (rainbow emoji required)

[machinesworking]

Arturia do still have related products in this area.. EG Notice anything strange about those Keylab keyboards? How about that BeatStep thingy? So they now have a bunch of stuff which lacks appropriate Arturia software.. Sacré bleu! Somewhere in Grenoble someone weeps at this prospect. That's why drum software is likely, IMO..

Dedicated software/hardware? Much less likely. Hardware complicates things, before they even think about competitors like NI, Roland, Akai etc. Maybe that's why things have taken so long? But I'm not sure what (if anything) they'd do.

The Spark hardware arguably shot itself in the foot by going with 8 pads instead of 16. Some software decisions might've leaned in the wrong direction too (EG Recreating Mixer functionality instead of simple volume controls and leaving more to the DAW). Factors like Maschine having significantly more sound pack support might not have helped either, even if it's a somewhat different product, not to mention eventually getting the all-important multi-coloured pads. (rainbow emoji required)

SparkLE is pretty whacky in areas, as a controller it's eh? different to set up in a DAW.
Plus the software IMO "should" have been compatible with Beatstep Pro, but not really at all. That's where I see them maybe going is towards a drum module that works with their existing drum pads on their controller keyboards, and with Beatstep Pro.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I think it’s too bad spark isn’t getting maintained. It’s a pretty cool and fast inspiration drum sequencer I found. The modular synth thing was a bit much, maybe dedicated modules would be good for the drum synth sounds, but I liked the sequencer and their sample selection was great too. Hope they do some drum stuff again soon.

[Septic Underground]

3 Drum Machines You'll Actually Use

Wouldnt that be the bomb?

1. Roland R8(m) with all cards inside
2. Linndrum with all its quirks
3. MPC60 (mostly for the engine not for the bundled sounds)

[electro]

Roland TR-8s is the new Spark.

[VitaminD]

Yeah the next step would be to put a sound/sample engine in the Beatstep Pro. Make it standalone yet sync to counterpart plugins.

[fisherKing]

i had spark 2 on my mac around 2014 (i think). it never worked well, some weird GUI choices, but... fun when it worked. deleted it after a lot of rough moments and lost work.

am happy (now) with atlas 2, and not missing spark at all..

[WasteLand]

i still like Spark 2 a lot, it was my main drumcomputer with the big old CDM (controller), still have it, and still is on my desk.
used a lot, use less, not because it isn't a great drumcomputer, but had a while that i didn't use drums, now i am using them again, and use Noise Engineering RE's... or well...

and i start to use it again, as already, especially with the CDM, is fun and sounds great.

if there will be ever an update i hope the 2 old controllers, the newer one is also not available anymore, can still be used... if not i hope the VST2 version will play a long time (well it is windows that i use, so problably...).

but still; great to see, that it isn't a drumcomputer that is forgotten, why should it be forgotten? and it works, yes on windows, and for 'live' drum performance, also great (recording, automation with the, again, the controller, the combi is great).

[ztrauq]

I agree its a great plugin. I think its very crowded space and Arturia gave up. Don't blame them. So many other options to choose from.

What alternatives are there?

In terms of VSTs?

Rob Papen Punch 2 (https://www.robpapen.com/Punch2.html) comes to mind. Bunch of different drum synthesis models along with drag-and-drop sample pads. Not sure if it has the same physical modeling function, but mentions "string" synthesis.

For one that does most everything Spark 2 does and possibly more, there is always MDrummer (https://www.meldaproduction.com/MDrummer). Has pretty much everything you could want in synthesis, sampling, sequencing, patterns, pattern to song chainer, etc. The complexity is near limitless, as is the difficulty of comprehending its interface, which is obtuse even by Melda standards (and I'm saying that as someone who generally likes Melda plugins and finds their interfaces highly usable). I keep telling myself I could do amazing things with it, if I could ever find a way to stop bouncing off the interface...

I guess there is also FXpansion Geist 2, but I hesitate to link it because last I heard it is also effectively discontinued. Sugar Bytes DrumComputer technically has sampling, but it's much more focused on drum synthesis so is not as much an all-rounder as Spark 2.

If Punch 2 or MDrummer work for you they are probably the best bet for combined samples and synthesis. Otherwise, the best option would probably be to split between two "comprehensive" plugins - one that does synthesis and one that does drum samples. On the sampling side there are an absolute ton to choose from; on the synthesis side, the aforementioned DrumComputer is solid, and Sonic Charge Microtonic also has top-notch all-round synthesis.

[aMUSEd]

It's not really that crowded though - the best ones are almost all discontinued - Spark, Geist, Tremor, or in major need of updates like Battery. Punch and Drummer are both powerful I guess but also both over complicated and to me ugly interfaces (Rob Papen really needs to invest in a decent GUI designer - Melda is just being Melda). Microtonic is a joy but limited sonically. Triaz looks interesting but also too small in Kontakt apparently.

[Robmobius]

Maybe I’m the only one disappointed with this (though I understand pc users). Arturia has been on a good roll, but to give up on one of the better drum plugins is…mysterious.

They gave up on Spark years ago. It's a shame as it had a lot of potential.
Perhaps they have something else in the pipeline.

[machinesworking]

One thing that kills me about developers and drum machines, the sequencer is either a full blown DAW sequencer like Maschine and MPC, or it's a sketch pad at best like Atlas and XO. There's no in between, that's actually one area I like Spark for.

At one point sequencers in DAWs realized people might want to use the DAW for arranging and had something like key switches to fire patterns etc. MPC and Maschine do this, but it's needlessly complex.

[masterhiggins]

One thing that kills me about developers and drum machines, the sequencer is either a full blown DAW sequencer like Maschine and MPC, or it's a sketch pad at best like Atlas and XO. There's no in between, that's actually one area I like Spark for.

At one point sequencers in DAWs realized people might want to use the DAW for arranging and had something like key switches to fire patterns etc. MPC and Maschine do this, but it's needlessly complex.

Tremor and Geist were tremendous for that. I hate it when mismanagement results in great products being euthanized like that.

[hcv242]

Sorry if this question is obvious, but will spark 2 run on mac m1 using rosetta ?