The quality of the included content is excellent throughout and most of the sounds sit well in tracks without much further processing. Even without dragging in your own samples there's plenty to keep you occupied, but Arturia also offers expansion packs (some of which are free) specialising in different types of sounds (think vintage and dubstep) to keep things fresh. Plus, there are some very respectable sampled and modelled synths and effects onboard that increase the sonic scope nicely. The analogue and physical modelling engines sound authentic and offer up plenty of control over the important details of sounds including timbre, tone, envelopes and the tension of snares on a snare drum (for example). SparkLE ships with a decent array of sounds including samples of classic Linn and Roland Machines, acoustic kits and more besides. It's also worth noting that you can also use the software in standalone mode without having to use your DAW.

However, it's all detailed in the well-written manual. 'SparkLE ships with a decent array of sounds including samples of classic Linn and Roland Machines' The only pain is that the initial set-up takes a while on a Mac, involving cabling in Logic's environment and the set-up of the IAC driver in Audio MIDI Set-up. You can also drag and drop MIDI info (and export audio) from SparkLE into your DAW and send it to other MIDI instruments. This worked well and you can reassign the dials and pads to whatever MIDI functions you require using the MIDI Control Center application. To test the MIDI controller capabilities, we hooked up the SparkLE controller to Motu BPM via Logic in order to trigger BPM's sounds. Overall, a feeling of quality flows throughout the SparkLE and it's important considering its low price point. The buttons and eight square trigger pads are made of translucent rubber, feel good and are backlit just like the MPC studio and DSI Tempest. The dials are made of an inviting, soft touch plastic and feel as though they will stand up well to plenty of abuse. Made of tough textured white plastic with a metal bottom, the controller is well made and we actually prefer its compactness to the original. It's a shame they missed the shuffle (swing control) off the hardware but the swing itself feels great.

The neat looking USB powered sparkLE controller has been logically laid out and mirrored exactly by the SparkLE software. wav samples on a pad (with several trigger modes) but any sample chopping will have to be done in other software before importing. This is a significant advantage over the Akai MPC Studio, though SparkLE is designed to be more of a dedicated drum synth and thus doesn't offer the deep sample manipulating and chopping facilities the Akai has.

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