Gustavo Santaolalla, a composer known for scoring the likes of The Last of Us and Brokeback Mountain, has teamed up with Spitfire Audio to release a first of its kind library based on the ronroco.

Santaolalla has used the ronroco, a double-stringed Andean instrument, as his signature voice for decades. Spitfire has captured its hair-raising sound by recording Santaolalla’s own ronroco in his LA studio, with his personal E-minor tuning and articulation choices too.

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Santaolalla’s ronroco can be heard within the scores of films such as Babel, The Motorcycle Diaries, and over both The Last Of Us games and its accompanying TV series. His use of the instrument makes for highly-emotional, and instantly recognisable soundscapes. As Spitfire Audio explains, the ronroco’s character stems from its five courses of double strings, with its middle course tuned to an octave, which creates “rich resonance and notable sustain”.

With the new Spitfire Audio library, composers and producers can experiment with multiple articulations, intuitive performance modes (Sequencer, Chord & Note), and built-in FX – these are programmed by Mike Georgiades, the developer behind Spitfire’s MG Soft Acoustic Guitar and MG Soft Nylon Guitar libraries. It also hosts a custom 32-step sequencer, with articulation per step, and a simple MIDI drag-and-drop to DAW feature.

Find out more and hear it in action below:

“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,” comments 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.”

Ronroco by Gustavo Santaolalla will be available for £139 ($169/€149) from 24 April. An introductory discount of 20 percent is available until 8 May. Find out more via Spitfire Audio.

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