Plogue Art et Technologie are a particularly smart pair of chaps from Montreal who are very close to our hearts at Sibelius. David and Seb’s audio engine powers the support for VST and AU instruments and effects in Sibelius 5, and they’re also the brains behind the new ARIA sample player at the heart of Garritan’s Authorized Steinway virtual instrument, the forthcoming update to Garritan Personal Orchestra, and, I’ll wager, many more excellent virtual instruments in the future.
At the NAMM Show in Anaheim, they have just announced something which makes my heart leap: a new product that emulates seven of the most iconic custom sound chips of the first home console and computer revolution in the 1980s, including the king of all 8-bit sound producing silicon, the SID chip from the Commodore 64. I’ve already written (more than once) about my great love of the music of this era, and to know that my favourite audio developers have been working on faithful emulations of these historic bits of hardware… I’ve got a big smile on my face.
Anyway, I’m babbling. Read all about Plogue Chipsounds at Peter Kirn’s excellent blog, Create Digital Music.