Arturia Spark 2 - Will Never Be M1

[Xbucket]

for me it runs, but I had to install it from the single installer, not the Arturia app. and it first said installation failed but loading and playing in Ableton works under rosetta. hope the will work on this for m1.

[Bodhisan]

for me it runs, but I had to install it from the single installer, not the Arturia app. and it first said installation failed but loading and playing in Ableton works under rosetta. hope the will work on this for m1.

I was able to install it from the Arturia app, singularly, and use it under rosetta in Logic, but I still ran into the same problem pre-M1 wherein when returning to a project, sometimes the drum kit would change back to the initial one, which was always such a drag. However, I must have some weird combination of third-party plugins that causes crackling and crickling and smackling noises when I try to use rosetta, so I can't take advantage of rosetta, thus, no Spark 2 - along with a host of others I really like but are replaceable.

[dwringer]

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.

Hopefully so. Spark used to come with the V-collection and originally required an elicenser. When that requirement was dropped for the next version of the v-collection, Spark was removed from the collection. For a while it didn't work without the dongle, but then at some point it started to be able to authorize itself online. The other day I fired it up, since I've used it almost exclusively since I bought it, and it told me I needed my eLicenser again. So perhaps they're pivoting toward making everyone upgrade to whatever they come out with next.

[aMUSEd]

It's never asked me for an licenser (which is also on the way out anyway)

[sveinbjorn]

I think we can be pretty sure Arturia will release a drum machine this year. It would be a silly decision not to

(They did not)

[sveinbjorn]

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

Works on mine, probably just as an AU, the OS tskes care of emulation, so I don’t have to run Ableton in Roseta (that’d be a dealbreaker).

It acts up if I run more than one instance of spark in the set. Which isn’t new. Otherwise its fine. I usually freeze the track if I want to add a second Spark channel.

[sveinbjorn]

The only downside to spark is the sequencer, even Roland’s x0x plugins have all the drum tracks on the same page.
Other than that, it’s pretty amazing.
It’s the beat drum machine for quickly dialing in a vintage sound. It doesn’t have the most kits, but they’re all pretty essential. The fact that they all share the same layout makes sound browsing a breeze.
Only XO comes close, but its concept gets tiresome, the similar drum kits it generates are never quite there and its too simple so its hard dialing in the sound. Spark’s kits are tight, so that’s no issue.

Spark’s depth is great. It looks really simple, and then going further down isn’t confusing. Compare to Geist2, which has an incredibly confusing interface, and is still not modular, so what you can actually do at the end of the day turns out to be quite underwhelming.

Another great aspect are the preset drum patterns, great starters for most sounds. Then you drag the midi clip into Ableton, and you’re off.

I’d love a drum machine with Spark’s presets, simple UI and depth. Never found anything that came close

[Echoes in the Attic]

Yeah indent understand why they gave up on spark. It was a good software interface and they had all that hardware made. Strange.

[briefcasemanx]

It doesn't make any sense why they don't just do some updates and release it with V Collection. Get rid of some bugs and compatibility and you have a nice addition to the suite.

Or update it to a new version (with a product new name, some new features, heavy discount for Spark owners because it's really just a rebrand, and forget about compatibility with the old hardware that no one cares about).

It's a great drum machine! They made a great drum machine and are wasting it!

[db3]

Surely a Spark 3 is on their roadmap?

Arturia have come a long way since Spark 2 was released 9 years ago....I'm sure a v3 would be great.

[fisherKing]

spark 2 was the buggiest software ever (for me), a nightmare to work with. abandoned it years ago. spark 3? cool if they did that and got it right...

[machinesworking]

IMO, we as end users are always overlooking the obvious reason for a plugins deprecation. That being the developer who spent the most time on it no longer works for Arturia (or whatever company deprecates a decent product). So code gets stuck with massive amounts of technical debt, and the person who wouldn't be essentially backwards engineering it to fix it on modern computers etc. doesn't work at the company that owns the code. The person behind Spark probably no longer works for Arturia, just like the person behind Loom II no longer works for AIr, and Brian the guy behind Absynth no longer works for NI.

[rod_zero]

Spark was a good idea but it tired to do all the things at the same time: emulation, sampler, sequencer, and HW integration. It feel unfocused, i would like something more focused on emulation with a HW controller X0X style

[machinesworking]

Spark was a good idea but it tired to do all the things at the same time: emulation, sampler, sequencer, and HW integration. It feel unfocused, i would like something more focused on emulation with a HW controller X0X style

Honestly my favorite thing about it was how simple it was compared to Maschine or the MPC software. It was/is super quick to make drum parts and drag the MIDI to the DAW, and Arturia never seemed to think it was going to replace your DAW.

Personally I would appreciate a drum machine plugin with a controller that was designed specifically to work in a DAW with the idea of eventually putting the MIDI into the DAW not as an afterthought. Essentially something like a combination of what they did with BeatStep Pro and Spark.

[SHall1000]

I have a SparkLE controller which has been unused for years. I wonder if it could be used as a general midi controller, perhaps with another drum plug-in.