Arturia recently released Spark update version 1.5. For those of you that have become Spark heads, this new Arturia Spark update 1.5 may have a few desired goodies for you. The new features include Choke groups, Tune, layering and Oberheim SEM V filter. Also, included are 28 new kits to add to your library. I’ve not gotten a the chance to dig into the Arturia Spark but these additions seem pretty cool.

The Arturia Spark update to version 1.5 can be obtained at Arturia’s website.

Upon its June 2011 release, SPARK Creative Drum Machine revolutionized hands-on beat-making by cleverly combining analogue synthesis, physical modelling, and samples with the intuitive workflow of a hardware drum machine, as well as offering in-depth control over the sounds of the 30 classic analogue and digital drum machines it so successfully captured; now, with the introduction of Version 1.5, Arturia has taken the art of creative rhythm programming and performance to a whole new level with a dazzling array of new performance-orientated features and a truly heavyweight library totalling 118 kits/1,800 instruments!

New to Version 1.5 is the Tune feature, allowing users to easily compose melodies on the MIDI controller’s hardware drum pads and sequencer step buttons; the sample engine now enables Choke groups, so users can creatively specify samples that will cut each other off when triggered — perfect for emulating a hi-hat ‘choke’, for example (whereby triggering an open-hat sample first, followed immediately by a closed-hat sample will authentically cut off the open-hat prematurely), and also offers creative modes for layering samples (circular, random, stack, threshold); finally, the flexible FX Pad now includes the famed Oberheim SEM V filter featured in Arturia’s acclaimed Oberheim SEM V soft synth namesake, bringing unique warmth and depth to those still-sought-after synth sweeps.

Last, but by no means least, Version 1.5 sees SPARK Creative Drum Machine’s library considerably expanded to include no less than 28 new kits exploring the current span of electronic and urban music stylings — from euphoric EDM synths to almighty analogue dubstep kits, as well as the latest in alternative hip-hop, Arturia has teamed up with the world’s most in-demand sound designers to bring professional perfection to any production.

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