The History of Soundplant
Soundplant is a revolutionary new technology that allows you to create your own sound and music virtually in the comfort of your own home. Soundplant does not require any special equipment. It works by transforming analog audio signals into digital data that can be played with specialized sound modules on personal computers. Soundplant comes with a collection of more than 150 pre-programmed sounds including live musicians and recording artists. Soundplant was developed by a string instrument technician and sound designer who left his job as an audiologist to pursue his passion and earn his doctoral degree in electronic music technology at university.
Soundplant's creators are currently working on a version 4.0, which will allow users to transfer their files directly from their hard drives to Soundplant's servers. The uploading process will be made incredibly easy with a new feature called "short effect streaming", or SES for short. SES will allow one to upload a file with one short effects (like an acoustic bass line for instance), and load it onto a server, where it can be played without any downloads. In the mean time, Soundplant users can continue to upload their audio files to their hard drives, though audio files uploaded to the server will have higher quality sound effects and the ability to trigger more complex sounds via new modules such as the Multi-FX processor.
Soundplant's most interesting module, the Multi-FX, is being used by musicians and engineers as a powerful multi FX processor. The Multi-FX was designed to take ordinary midi keyboard sounds and combine them into complex percussive sounds that are beyond what a typical midi keyboard can produce. A typical midi keyboard is able to trigger certain midi instrument sounds like a kick drum, snare, hi hat, cymbals, etc... But cannot produce any wah or lead guitar effects. The Multi-FX was engineered to allow any user to connect it to any other multi-effects processor, and even connect it to a virtual rack based soundboard similar to what you would find in popular live venues. The Multi-FX is also a great way to add other hardware like a rack-mount soundboard or cabinet.
