Thursday 24 April: Composer Gustavo Santaolalla’s journey has been extraordinary. His mastery of this underappreciated Andean instrument has been applied to the scores of iconic films (Babel, The Motorcycle Diaries, Brokeback Mountain) and paradigm-shifting soundtracks (The Last of Us), bringing the ronroco and its nuanced versatility into the global spotlight. Santaolalla has a common goal whether he’s composing for film, TV, or games: to connect with the viewer or player on a deep emotional level via his instrument. 

Now Spitfire Audio is letting composers and producers find that same connection by bringing Santaolalla’s meditative, innovative approach to the ronroco to an inspiring VST, with exceptional programming that lets you authentically explore every nuance of the instrument. Ronroco by Gustavo Santaolalla will be available for £139/$169/€149 from 24 April 2025 at www.spitfireaudio.com. An introductory discount of 20% is available until 8 May 2025.

Product Features: the authentic sound of the ronroco at your fingertips

The ronroco’s character stems from its five courses of double strings, with its middle course tuned to an octave, creating rich resonance and notable sustain. Every note was recorded by Santaolalla himself in his LA studio, on his favorite instrument, handmade by master luthier Chiquito Rodriguez. Ronroco samples the true feel of the maestro, using his signature E-minor tuning, his techniques, and his personal playing style. Unlike generic world instrument libraries, Ronroco offers unparalleled authenticity, deep nuance, and intuitive playability, instantly evoking the emotive atmosphere of Santaolalla's iconic scores. 

This sound, while deeply familiar to many ears, is a striking departure from other guitars and charangos, with a distinct character that is an inspiring addition to any arrangement. Ronroco features multiple articulations, intuitive performance modes (Sequencer, Chord & Note), and built-in FX, all expertly programmed by Mike Georgiades, the developer behind Spitfire’s highly successful MG Soft Acoustic Guitar and MG Soft Nylon Guitar libraries. Ronroco meticulously captures Santaollala’s touch, the slides, twiddles, and vibrato, the individual fret-hand squeaks and shifts that imbue his compositions with emotion, for a powerfully authentic sound not available elsewhere.

Key Features

     
Ronroco GUI - Perform & Sequencer Modes 

• Perform realistic chords, strums, arpeggios, lead lines and more
• Auto chord-voicing true to traditional tuning or pitch-order
• Multiple articulations: slides, twiddles, vibrato, tremolos
• Custom 32-step sequencer, with articulation per step, and MIDI drag-and-drop to DAW
• Octave string simulation for authentic ronroco sound
• Fret/string noise triggered by pedal or manually
• Built-in FX: convolution reverb, algorithmic reverb, modern/tape/ping pong delays

“Gustavo opened up the world’s ears to the creative possibilities of the ronroco thanks to his sensitive, luminous playing and intuitive yet complex compositions,” says Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson. “We want to offer these creative possibilities to more musicians, composers, and producers who love what they’ve heard in Gustavo’s score and want to incorporate that same feeling into their own projects. The instrument has inspired Gustavo and we are certain its virtual counterpart will inspire countless artists in new ways.”

About Gustavo Santaolalla: A composer’s journey from the Andes to The Last of Us

Over decades, Santaolalla honed a unique vision for his instrument—and for music in general. Forged in the Buenos Aires rock scene, Santaolalla became fascinated with the Andean ukelele-sized relative of the guitar and higher-pitched charango. He recorded an entire album inspired by the ronroco, expanding its expressive potential. Some tracks from this album caught the ear of a Hollywood director, which led to one choice placement after another and eventually to full scores, as well as Oscars, Golden Globes, and GRAMMYs. 

Santaolalla remains true to the ronroco’s roots in the Andes, yet he never lets the roncoco rest in tradition. This exploratory approach echoes throughout the moving cues and themes Santaolalla composed for The Last of Us, the post-apocalyptic action game that became a massive hit in 2013. Santaolalla’s breakthrough game score conveyed deep feeling with spare arrangements, demonstrating the instrument’s full expressive range. When HBO decided to turn the game into a series, the ronroco’s sound was so crucial to the game’s emotional impact that the showrunners had no question who would write the score. Santaollala composed the soundtrack for the wildly popular show, which just launched its second season.

About Spitfire Audio

Spitfire Audio is the leading creator of sounds and sample libraries for music makers, uniting pioneering artists with pioneering sounds and music technology. 

Partnering with outstanding affiliates including the world’s most exceptional composers and musicians, celebrated recording studios, Abbey Road and AIR Studios, and the renowned BBC Symphony Orchestra, has cemented Spitfire Audio’s global reputation as the premier sound library company.

Wednesday 19th February: The archive of the groundbreaking BBC Radiophonic Workshop will be made available for the first time for use by musical artists and producers, passing on legacy that helped invent electronic music and sampling.

In collaboration with Spitfire Audio and BBC Studios, an unprecedented package of samples will be released from the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which created sounds and music for shows  from Doctor Who to Tomorrow’s World - giving the TARDIS an engine and the Daleks a voice.

For 40 years, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was the place to go for the sound of the impossible – the unruly engine behind the music and effects of Doctor Who, the Goon Show, Blake’s 7, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Living Planet and countless other productions from the BBC. It was a place of other worlds, and of other sounds. From scraping pianos and hitting lampshades to manipulating tape loops with milk bottles, the Workshop's unconventional methods produced a distinctive sonic signature that continues to inspire artists.

Its work paved the way for much of the popular music of the 21st century and has been cited as an influence by everyone from Brian Eno to Orbital to Hans Zimmer. The sample library will now be available to musicians and producers, preserving an important musical heritage for generations to come.

Composer, sound designer and Radiophonic Workshop archivist Mark Ayres said: “As a kid born in the 1960s, I realised there was a department at the BBC that was purely for making bonkers noises. It blew my mind!”

With exclusive access to the Workshop's archives, tools, and hardware at the legendary Maida Vale Studios, and guidance from Radiophonic Workshop archivist Mark Ayres and other Workshop members, Spitfire Audio has captured the essence of this sonic playground. The library features sounds from the original tapes, as well as new recordings and experiments by Workshop members and associates, including Mark Ayres, Kieron Pepper, Bob Earland, Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb, Glynis Jones and Peter Howell.

Mark Ayres said: “I'm the youngest member of the core Radiophonic Workshop – and I'm 64! We're not going to be around forever. It was really important to leave a creative tool, inspired by our work, for other people to use going forward. I hope we've made an instrument that will inspire future generations.

“This instrument is all formed from the work, processes and equipment that the Workshop created and used. You know, sampling now really looks like sampling then, but with a few more twiddles. I've been saying for years that Workshop composers such as Delia Derbyshire and John Baker were really samplists.”

One of its biggest customers was schools programming, where graphs and diagrams came alive in experimental audio – a rich source of inspiration for artists such as Boards of Canada. A new generation was hearing the wonders of an electronic sound that was experimental, but also relatable – built on the manipulation of real sounds. 

Mark Ayres said: “So it was BBC schools, radio and television, it was Blue Peter, it was Doctor Who. And then, if you were allowed to stay up late and watch a documentary such as a World About Us, that would probably have a Radiophonic Workshop soundtrack. You really couldn't get away from it.”

Reanimating this legacy, the machines, performances and archive sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are now available in the first sample-library VST (Virtual Studio Technology) to capture the Workshop’s essence – with unprecedented access to its home of 40 years: London’s Maida Vale studios.

Harry Wilson, Spitfire Audio’s Head of Recording, said: "We're not just looking back at what the members were doing way back when. We're projecting a strand of their work into the future and saying: if the Workshop was engaged with a similar process now, what would it sound like?"

While the Workshop was a physical place where the artists got their hands and ears dirty, the archive materials will be available in Spitfire Audio’’s Solar engine. Musicians will be able to use modern techniques of bending, stretching and morphing to create something new, as well as having access to a variety of microphones, the EMT turntable and Rogers loudspeakers made especially for the BBC, including the Maida Vale plate and spring reverbs, modular synthesizers, tape machines, EMS Vocoder, Echo chamber, Roland Vocoder SVC-350 and Eventide H-3000. The package is divided into Archive Content, Found Sounds, Junk Percussion, Tape Loops, Synths and a Miscellany.

Dominic Walker, Global Business Director for BBC Studios said: “We are thrilled to be collaborating once again with Spitfire Audio in bringing the legendary sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to a new generation of musicians and composers with this valuable online library”.

Key Features

• Authentic sounds from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop archives.
• Deeply sampled one-shots, loops, and multi-samples.
• New recordings and experiments by Workshop members and associates.
• Spitfire Audio’s powerful SOLAR engine with gate sequencer and vast effects suite.
• Wide range of sounds, including archival content, found sounds, junk percussion, tape loops, and vintage synthesisers.
• 13 different signal chains used for sound capture.

Spitfire Audio BBC Radiophonic Workshop VST

The Spitfire Audio BBC Radiophonic Workshop VST will be available for £149/€179/$199 from 19 February 2025 at www.spitfireaudio.com. An introductory price of £119/€143/$159 is available until 6 March 2025.

Spitfire Audio and the BBC Studios

This release is Spitfire Audio’s latest collaboration in a successful series that includes BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional, BBC Symphony Orchestra Piano, and BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover, an industry standard, universal starting point for composers and music creators of every level. This all-in-one sample library features strings, brass, woodwind and percussion performed by the world-renowned BBC Symphony Orchestra, captured at London’s famous Maida Vale Studios.

The BBC Studios Brands & Licensing division is the driving force in extending BBC Studios IP through innovative brand extensions, fostering deep fan engagement worldwide. Partnering our iconic brands - including Doctor Who and Bluey - with the world’s biggest brands, partners and publishers, ignites the imagination of fans and creates memorable brand-fame moments. Our diverse portfolio spans consumer products, live entertainment, gaming and publishing, while BBC Studios Social drives digital presence with over 6.5 billion social video views in 2023, offering advertising and branded content opportunities. Supported by award-winning teams, we focus on finding visionary opportunities to enhance global brand impact, digital growth and the business models of the future.

Every brilliant music-maker starts somewhere. Spitfire Audio, the gold standard for sound and sample libraries for composers, introduces LABS+, a wide-ranging collection of samples and sounds to inspire the next generation of creators. LABS+ matches the energy of its audience of wildly creative music-makers while delivering the same top-tier production quality that has earned Spitfire Audio respect from the world’s leading composers.

Renowned for its uncompromising approach to recording and sound creation, Spitfire Audio has spent 17 years developing a reputation among professional composers as the leader in sampled virtual instruments. Offering the most forward-thinking sample library, and created in collaboration with the best modern musicians and producers in the most iconic studio spaces.

With the launch of LABS+, Spitfire Audio grants creators access to many of the same core recordings used in Hollywood scores and hit records at an affordable price. In a market saturated with low quality sounds, LABS+ offers exceptional, highly-curated content—saving creators the time they might spend scrolling through seas of bad samples on other platforms.

Following three months of community feedback-driven development, LABS+ officially launches out of beta with over 200,000 early adopters and over 3 million pack downloads.

“Not everyone can be so lucky to record at Abbey Road or AIR Studios, but that shouldn’t keep them from making music that sounds fantastic. We created LABS+ to democratize the music creation process and give emerging talent around the world access to this incredible and unique sound palette,” says Spitfire founder and CPO Paul Thomson. “LABS+ meets the needs of the modern music-making world, combining accessibility, diversity, and quality of sound to make creation more inclusive and fun than ever.”

LABS+ charges a low monthly fee that helps pay royalties to musicians, artists, and studios—continuing Spitfire Audio’s support of the talent in the industry. The company has distributed over £25 million in royalties to the music community to date.

Initially emerging from the streets of South Africa and now occupying stages around the world, Amapiano — “the pianos” in the Zulu language — has hooked listeners worldwide with its rolling basslines and log drum rhythms. Launching out of beta, LABS+ proudly unveils a new collection of Amapiano sounds performed by the very artists shaping the future of the genre. In collaboration with Shannen SP—a London-based curator and DJ with deep ties to the Amapiano scene—Spitfire Audio brought together three powerhouse artists: Major League DJz, Jay Music, and MDU aka TRP. Working together in Johannesburg, the four captured the instrumentation that defines the genre, like synths, and unmistakable log drum. 

“More people are experimenting with music today,” says Thomson. “Where our core Spitfire Audio sample packs are designed for professional composers, LABS+ is our way of catering to the growing community of up-and-coming creators—delivering fun, easy-to-use samples while maintaining our dedication to the highest quality of recording and sonic excellence.” 

About Spitfire Audio

Spitfire Audio is the leading creator of sounds and sample libraries for music makers, uniting pioneering artists with pioneering sounds and music technology. 

Partnering with outstanding affiliates including the world’s most exceptional composers and musicians, celebrated recording studios, Abbey Road and AIR Studios, and the renowned BBC Symphony Orchestra, has cemented Spitfire Audio’s global reputation as the premier sound library company.