The Sound Board

Well well.

I've adored Gustavo since his exquisite The Motorcyle Diaries, but he's probably best known now for his (also exquisite) theme from The Last Of Us. He is of course synonymous with the Ronroco, and he's teamed up with Spitfire to try to get the spirit of the instrument into virtual form.

As you'll see from the walkthrough, that's not easy. Any guitar is tough to map to a keyboard, but the Ronroco has its own additional challenges on top of that, especially the octave strings. They've got auto and manual controls - feels to me like the kind of thing you have to get under your fingers to see how playable it is. But I'm glad to see that they have really thought about trying to replicate what it is about the Ronroco that makes it distinctive - 6.13 sounds very promising.

One specific I'm really pleased to hear is the tremolo playing. The soft dynamics in particular sound wonderful (as do those soft notes across the library as a whole), and something I associate with Gustavo. BUT - I hear a fade when released which is gonna be a problem. Felt like it needed an appropriate dynamic note / chord on release.

£139, £111 intro price.

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/ronroco-b ... antaolalla

Oooh... I do love the sound of the Ronroco. The other one I have is the Guareschi, which I find to be quite good, as well as inspiring. I reckon with the involvement of Santaolalla this has to be very good.

Luke wrote: ↑Apr 26, 2025 2:30 pm Oooh... I do love the sound of the Ronroco. The other one I have is the Guareschi, which I find to be quite good, as well as inspiring. I reckon with the involvement of Santaolalla this has to be very good.

I don´t have the Guareschi, but I hear that is very good.
Side note, I took classes with Guillermo Guareschi, the developer, he´s also a film music composer.

Pablo Crespo wrote: ↑Apr 26, 2025 5:28 pm

Luke wrote: ↑Apr 26, 2025 2:30 pm Oooh... I do love the sound of the Ronroco. The other one I have is the Guareschi, which I find to be quite good, as well as inspiring. I reckon with the involvement of Santaolalla this has to be very good.

I don´t have the Guareschi, but I hear that is very good.
Side note, I took classes with Guillermo Guareschi, the developer, he´s also a film music composer.

Very cool, Pablo!

Yes, that is cool, Pablo!

By the way, the Guareschi ronroco is currently on sale for $17.40 at Loot Audio. Here's the link:

https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kont ... co-kontakt

I’m sure Spitfire’s Santaolalla one is worth a look as well.

Best,

Geoff

Thanks!
I was very young and I learned a lot about the craft, but also about classical harmony, voice leading and orchestration. (I think I don’t remember anything of those things now that I am older)

Geoff Grace wrote: ↑Apr 26, 2025 6:30 pm Yes, that is cool, Pablo!

By the way, the Guareschi ronroco is currently on sale for $17.40 at Loot Audio. Here's the link:

https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kont ... co-kontakt

I’m sure Spitfire’s Santaolalla one is worth a look as well.

Best,

Geoff

Thanks! Bought

The Guareschi isn't at all bad (especially at that price), but I find it doesn't really capture the soft dynamics and idiosyncrasies of the instrument like Spitfire seem to have done. The arpeggios are fixed too.