Vember Audio has released the software sampler instrument Shortcircuit as freeware.
Developer Claes Johanson explains why Shortcircuit is now freeware:
The core of the problem is that I have too little time, motivation and financial dependency on it to develop it much further. I don’t really need it myself either, the drum racks in Live7 suits most of my sampler usage brilliantly, and if I need to use a special feature in SC2 it’s still there whether it’s called alpha or not.
The only real reason for me to work on it is not to disappoint the existing users, and I’m afraid that’s not enough. A product like this needs a lot of love (and time), not only to finish it but to properly maintain and improve it.
Claes share more details in a forum post.
Shortcircuit was not intended to be a mere sample library playback engine, but rather to be a musical instrument in its own right.
Version 1.1.1 of Shortcircuit has some great features, including:
- A streamlined GUI for fast editing at the sample-zone level, in context sample preview and extensive drag & drop support
- Sample/instrument import of wav (8/16/24/32 bit, mono/stereo at any sample rate), AKAI, NI Battery, SF2, Recycle 1 & 2.
- Sampler engine: High quality sinc interpolation, oversampling, max polyphony of 256 voices, multiple outputs, 2 filters/voice with a host of filter algorithms, 3 step LFOs/voice, 2 AHDSR envelopes/voices, powerful modulation system, etc.
Shortcircuit 2 is also available, but since it’s only in alpha stage (v0.5) it will probably be less stable (it doesn’t look like it will be developed any further, so if it doesn’t work properly for you just move on…)
Visit Vember Audio for more information, and links to download Shortcircuit 1 and 2.
