well seeing as the review is video, i'll add some dairy notes here so google gets some text to follow also.
THE SPARK HARDWARE CONTROLLERThe controller unit seems very well made considering the price which of course includes the software and the content. I expected something a bit lighter and more plasticky but it is solid and well made, having a one piece solid metal-sheet top panel and weighing in at around 5-6 lbs in weight.
The controller has a 9v DC p/s connector - for use if your USB connection fails to supply sufficient power - and this socket is accompanied by an on/off switch as well as traditional MIDI in & out, so you get a free MIDI interfce for the money basically & the unit comes with a second dedicated MIDI program specifically for configuring it for controlling other hardware & s/w.
Interestingly it turns out that the on/off switch doesn't only function if using a 9v DC supply, but also works to power the unit up/down when powered by USB alone, allowing you to power up/down the unit without having to disconnect the USB lead.
The software, sounds, and first useInitial messing shows that while some of the 'immitations' aren't very accurate (808/909), the included sounds overall are good, with lots of variety, from impressions of old drum boxes to acoustic drums and synth sounds.
The Spark software has it's own internal sequencer, from which you can drag/drop patterns to your DAW sequencer tracks, but I've also briefly messed with running it in Logic as a plugin instrument, and so far i've managed to get it to write midi from it's pads to the Logic sequencer and playback that midi ok. It also clocks to the DAW sequencer pretty easily, but sadly, so far it seems you can't run SPARK as a master clock, controlling your DAW sequencer (pretty sure it cant).
Software install & some issues/problems
More experimenting is required, but install of the software was quite problematic tbh, due partly to a not very well written manual (possibly it's been translated from French, the nationality of the Arturia company).
You get a DVD installer in the package, I ran it, and THEN updated from Arturia's website, only to find that the update included the entire content all over again, making the update around 850mb download (compressed).
So really there's no point installing the DVD and then updating; you might as well just download the latest version and install that cos everything get's overwritten anyways.
The current version at time of writing this, is 1.5, and this installer has a missing sample in one of the kits which causes the whole SPARK system to go silent when you try and load that one kit. You load the kit with the missing sample and it fails to load, but after that it doesn't want to make a sound anymore even if you load a different kit, and you have to reboot the s/w.
The missing sample is a tom or crash, it should be inside a folder called something like 'tom 2', but when you check, there is only a folder called 'tom 1', This is easily fixed however by simply going to the path location listed in the error pop-up, finding the kit folder, locating the tom folder, copying it, pasting it and re-naming it as 'tom 2', and then it all works fine again.
In fact generally it seemed a bit flakey after i did the s/w update - and i hadn;t yet updated the hardware controller firmware which was also popping up flags saying it was out of date.
So i simply removed all SPARK components, re-installed from the update copy (1.5), then updated the firmware... then fixed the missing tom-sample problem... and since then it's never crashed so far and works 100% (so far)
I was a bit amazed Arturia didnt catch this missing sample issue cos anyone installing the update and trying to load all the kits would see this happen.
Can the controller trigger and write notes for other drum software?Yes!, but I need to learn more about this - i have had the SPARK controller pads playing Logic's Ultrabeat drumbox, you just have to transpose the Ultrabeat track cos the Spark by default doesnt seem to chuck out the notes stating with a kickdrum on C1 in the traditional GM midi style. No doubt I can change that, but I need to learn more.
Multiple (but limited) installs of the software IS permissableOh yes btw, I had asked Arturia about using the SPARK for doing sessions in other studios. I assumed the SPARK s/w would be dependant on the controller unit being present to run, but no, it is also a stand alone s/w app.
Initially Arturia UK said you could only install the SPARK s/w on a single computer, and thus one couldn't take it to a studio, install the s/w and do your session.
But then yesterday they said they had checked this with head office, and actually the head office said you can install the s/w on 3 machines, meaning you can have it on your home studio computer, your writing partner's computer for example and another studio machine! Very generous. Well at the least you CAN install the SPARK s/w on several of your own (or others) machines, something wich is usually forbidden, so that's quite generous.
ok, back with more soon
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