TC WORKS SPARK XL V2.5
Stereo Editor For Mac OS X And OS 9
Reviews : Software: ALL
TC's Mac-only stereo editing package has undergone another major upgrade, incorporating full OS X support and a greatly improved user interface.
Paul White
Ever since its launch, TC's Spark stereo editing program has been something of a flawed diamond, but to give the company their due, they've listened to the opinions of users and put in a lot of development work, which seems to have paid off in the new version 2.5. While some software companies are content simply to fine-tune their products, the audio heart of Spark has already undergone major surgery, and the new version also features several fundamental changes to aspects of the user interface, designed to make using the program faster and more intuitive. On top of that, Spark is no
w Mac OS X compatible (which is more than can be said for virtually all the third-party VST plug-ins you might want to use with it at the moment), it supports dual-processor Macs and has proper dual-monitor support. No Windows version is planned, apparently because the Windows market is already well catered for in stereo editing packages, and Mac OS versions older than 9.2 are not supported. The OS X version currently lacks the OS 9 version's sampler support and Akai import function, as these were dependent upon OS 9's SCSI and CD-ROM drivers. Driver support includes ASIO and Direct I/O (in OS 9 only), which means I was able to test the system on my old beige G3 using a Digidesign Audiomedia III card.
TC Works Spark XL v2.5 £499
pros
Vastly improved user interface.
Fast and stable, on OS 9.2 or OS X.
Useful Spark plug-ins plus the excellent XL denoising and de-clicking.
Native Bundle VST plug-ins included, albeit in XL version and on OS 9 only.
Free Sonic Destructor.
cons
Projects are still saved as three files, not one.
Free Sonic Destructor.
summary
The operation of Spark has been streamlined and many new features added, making it both powerful and easy to use. It is now a very serious stereo editor, but with lots of additional 'toolkit' features thrown in.
Spark's off-line processing has been given a significant speed boost and the handling of CD audio, MP3 and QuickTime audio has been streamlined, adding more drag-and-drop features (QuickTime is used by Spark for importing audio directly from CD, though I tend to use Toast Audio Extractor for my own CD audio importing).
Spark & Its FX Machine
Spark is, in essence, a 24-bit, 96kHz-capable stereo editing package which has lots of useful 'toolkit' functions built into it: those seeking a detailed overview of the program should consult earlier SOS reviews of version 1.5 (March 2000, www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar00/articles/tcspark.htm) and 2.0 (July 2001, www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul01/articles/tcspark.asp). Recordings may be made in AIFF, SDII or WAV formats and audio files may additionally be imported and exported as both MP3 and Apple QuickTime. One key feature of the program is that Sound Designer regions are supported both for import and export (WAV and SDII audio formats only).
Perhaps the most notable of Spark's toolkit functions is the FX Machine, a version of which is also available as the stand-alone Spark FX Machine SE VST plug-in bundle. The FX Machine is a matrix into which VST plug-ins may be loaded in multiples and then connected in a number of series, parallel or series/parallel combinations to create multi-effects combination that would be impossible using the plug-in architecture of a typical sequencer. Not only can this effects 'macro' (as I like to call it) be used within Spark, it may also be saved for use within other VST or MAS-compatible applications, Carbonization extends to the whole Spark family of applications, which comprises Spark XL 2.5, Spark 2.5, Spark LE 2.5, and Spark FX Machine SE. The included Spark plug-ins are fully OS X compatible; however, as mentioned in the main text, few third-party plug-ins are at this time.
where it appears as a single plug-in. This ability to wrap one or more VST plug-ins for use in a MAS environment will be of particular interest to Digital Performer users, as this sequencer does not offer direct support for VST plug-ins. Because of the CPU demands of plug-ins, there will always be a limit to how many it is practical to combine within a macro, but Spark sets its limit at 99 rows and 99 columns, which is orders of magnitude more than anyone will ever need or have the computing power to support.
The Carboniferous Era
The Spark installer disc includes both Spark and Spark XL in Carbonized versions which can run under OS X and OS 9.2. Mac OS versions earlier than 9.2 are not supported. The authorisation process includes the entering of a serial number (no more challenge and response headaches), which is what dictates whether you can load Spark or Spark XL. The user licence includes the right to use two copies of Spark on two different machines, which laptop owners will welcome.
The whole FX Machine environment is very graphical and intuitive, with level meters appearing along the sides of the boxes that represent effects locations. Phase inversions are also graphically flagged and there's now a Mono button that is useful for checking mono compatibility. It's also possible to rescale the matrix mid-session if you run out of space or want to insert plug-ins in front of the ones you've already loaded. Individual plug-ins may be bypassed and virtual cables can be used to span matrix locations in which no effect is inserted. Other than these admittedly worthwhile improvements, there are few fundamental changes to the FX Machine in the new version, and there is still no means of panning individual feeds into the output section other than using a third-party panner plug-in, which I feel is rather limiting when you want to set up interesting stereo effects.
Spark also includes very-high-quality MP3 encoding (with a choice of compression settings) based on the original Fraunhofer algorithm, and provides a batch converter for the automated conversion of multiple files. Real-time and off-line sample-rate conversion is possible (the off-line conversion is really very good) and there's the facility to insert up to two plug-ins in series with the audio signal being
recorded for real-time processing.
Test Spec
TC Works Spark XL v2.5.
Beige 266MHz Apple Mac G3 with 192MB RAM, running Mac OS 9.2. Tested with: Digidesign Audiomedia III soundcard.
Also Featuring...
Spark comes complete with a suite of useful plug-ins, which are all OS X compatible. Spark's own VST plug-ins comprise the excellent Denoise and Declick noise-reduction tools (Spark XL only) along with Band-pass Filter, Cut Filter, Delay, Expander, Fuzz Sat, Grainalizer, One-band EQ, Resonant Filter, Reverb, Three-band EQ and Touch Wah plus the Max-it and Max-it Master limiters and CL and CL Master compressors. Both Spark and Spark XL also include the Spark Modular Synthesizer, a set of building blocks that allows you to put together a simple but very nice-sounding monosynth complete with analogue-style sequencer. There are also two very useful metering plug-ins, the Metergraph and Sonograph. Most of the bundled plug-ins adhere to the VST standard, but the Spark Modular Synthesizer, Metergraph, Sonograph, and the Denoise and Declick plug-ins supplied with Spark XL can't be used in other applications except via the Spark FX Machine.
XL -- Extra Large?
Spark XL is similar to the basic Spark program except that it includes support for Digidesign's Pro Tools TDM hardware and plug-ins (OS 9 only), and also comes with a pair of very serious audio restoration plug-ins for denoising and declicking. These were covered in more detail in our review of Spark XL 2.0, but the denoising is so good that it warrants a brief recap here. The system employed is the now familiar one where the audio is split into hundreds of frequency bands and then each band is processed with its own expander. A noise fingerprint of the audio track is required to set the thresholds of these expanders, but this needs only be half a second or so of noise from before the track starts. Once Denoiser has learned the noise spectrum (which is simply done by selecting the noise, pressing Learn and then playing the noise) there are very few user controls,
the main ones governing the amount of noise reduction and the offset (bias) of the automatically set threshold. Providing the noise spectrum doesn't change too radically during the course of the song, the amount of noise reduction achievable before side-effects become evident is impressive. Declick is equally simple to use and is designed mainly to reduce the severity of digital clicks or vinyl scratches, but it is also surprisingly effective against vinyl crackle, even though not specifically designed for this application.
Buyers of the XL version of Spark also get a full TC Works Native Bundle including Native Reverb, Native EQ Works, Native DeX (a dynamics processor including soft saturation and a de-esser) and Native L (limiter). Note, however, that Native Bundle is OS 9-only at the moment and still requires challenge and response authorisation, unlike Spark itself, which now uses a simpler serial-number based system.
Also available are the cut-down Spark LE and Spark LE Plus, which offer most of the main Spark features with a few notable exceptions. The most obvious omission is the FX Machine, which is replaced by a simple effects chain offering up to four plug-in slots in series. Also missing in action are a number of the bundled plug-ins along with the Cut editor, Direct I/O support, and some off-line processing and metering functions, while the cheaper non-Plus version lacks MP3 encoding and doesn't entitle you to technical support. You can also buy Spark FX Machine SE as a stand-alone product consisting of just the FX Machine and the 20 bundled Spark plug-ins.
Using Spark
The editor and the FX Machine windows comprise the main operating interface for Spark, with a separate loop editor window similar to that found in Digidesign's Sound Designer II (but with rather more features) for fine-tuning transitions between regions. Most of the time, work is done in the main window, which combines a wave editor with overview, a file browser section (with extensive drag and drop support) and a playlist. Any one section can be active at a time and the areas are resizeable. The two cursors have now been renamed and given more logical functions: the red Playback cursor shows the current play position while the green Edit cursor remains at the start position until you move it elsewhere by clicking in the waveform window. Double-clicking between the cursors highlights the selection, which may then be The processes include a parametric band-pass filter, the Bitter bit-reduction algorithm, aliasing, a digital clipper, a vinyl crackle emulator, an analogue-style fuzz unit, noise generation, vinyl rumble simulation and a rather vicious compressor called the Squeezer. If the cumulative effect of these isn't enough, there's also a random function for selecting combinations you may not have thought of. The Germans seem to love this kind of thing, but to me it just makes everything sound broken! I'm sure it will be immensely popular in some circles.
converted into a region by using the Command+R key combination. Region start and end points may be adjusted by dragging in the main waveform window, but the facility to do this in the overview window has been removed as it was too easy to change region boundaries accidentally. Selection start and end points may be adjusted prior to conversion to a region by Shift-dragging the selection boundaries, while region lengths and start points may also be locked separately if required. There's a command to initiate instant audio playback from anywhere in the waveform window by holding down the Command key and then clicking at the desired position -- a feature ideally suited to fast navigation through an audio file. Markers may also be added, on the fly if necessary.
Sonic Destructor
As well as the bundled plug-ins, TC are also offering an extra free plug-in called Sonic Destructor which users can download as an incentive to register their copy of Spark. As the name implies, this is designed to simulate just about every imaginable distortion-based audio artifact and apply it to your music. Sonic Destructor contains eight sections into which effects can be loaded. Four parameter knobs at the bottom of the windows dynamically change function according to which plug-in is loaded and selected, where the rightmost control is always output gain. Clicking on any button around the 'pie chart' interface brings up a menu of sonic turmoil inducers, any one of which which can then be loaded into that slot. Clicking on the slice acts as a bypass, so when the slice is coloured, the effect is armed and dangerous. A movable hand-shaped start pointer shows where the signal path starts, after which is passes through each loaded effect in turn.
One of the major frustrations of earlier versions of Spark was the scrub function. It worked well enough until you stopped scrubbing, at which point the song would go directly back into play. A major use of scrubbing is to locate a specific edit point, so if the song goes back into play as soon as you let go of the mouse button, the whole exercise is pretty pointless as you've lost the position you just used scrub to find. Finally, some sanity has been introduced to this area, as well as to the cursor handling, which until now had me wanting to gnaw off my own legs! In prior versions, when you hit Stop, the song pointer would jump back to the cursor position where you originally started playing, but when you're editing, it's common to want to hit Stop on the fly to mark an edit 'out' point, so it's logical for the cursor to remain at the point where you hit Stop. Version 2.5 has solved this by changing the function of the red and green cursors so that the green cursor always marks the play start point and the red cursor marks the stop point.
Aside from making and processing precise selections within your audio file, there are also times you need to make more fundamental changes, so Spark includes a pencil tool for drawing out clicks and other very short-term artifacts at waveform level. The problem with using drawing tools is that the end result may often still be audible, so Spark now includes a smoothing filter (activated by pressing Command before releasing the mouse button) to minimise this eventuality. There's also an eraser tool for silencing sections of audio, which can also be achieved by selecting a region and then choosing Silence from the edit menu.
Spark is generous in its catering for fade types, and regions may be faded in or out via the Process menu where a fade editor window allows the fade shape to be adjusted. Other edit functions include gain changing, normalisation, sample-rate conversion (this provides three different-quality algorithms, the best of which is slower but technically very good indeed), time-stretching and pitch-shifting. I would never advocate using time or pitch manipulation for serious mastering work as the side-effects will always compromise the audio to some extent, but as Spark can also be used as a sample editor, this capability is very welcome.
Of course it is still possible to make mistakes, which is why Spark includes the capacity for unlimited undos. What's more, unlimited undos are even more unlimited in version 2.5
because they are now organised into what TC Works call 'Clients'. All this means is that the File View, Playlist, Master View and Wave Editor have their own undo histories, so errors made in each can be unravelled without affecting the other sections, and the Command+Z undo function undoes the last action that was performed in whichever window is active at the time undo is used. As unlimited undo requires unlimited hard drive space, there is the provision to set a finite number of undo stages in the Preferences section, the initial default setting being 10. It's is also important to note that Spark avoids making any permanent changes to an audio file until you save it; until you do, everything is non-destructive.
In situations where you need to compile one song out of several sections, it is important to have a reliable means of auditioning and fine-tuning the edit points. Spark uses the familiar playlist approach for compiling the various sections, after which the Cut editor is used to make any necessary adjustments. Because an edited section might be as short as a single beat, the Cut editor can play through two consecutive edits rather than just a single edit, and the waveform either side of the edit is displayed in the top half of the window, overlaid with any crossfade curves that may have been applied. It is possible to play through the edit once or to loop around it (with adjustable pre- and post-roll), and as with Sound Designer II, there are coarse and fine nudge keys that can be set to any time value by the user. The gains of the different sections may be adjusted directly from the Cut editor window and the crossfade/overlap/gap type and duration can also be set. Useful transitions may be saved as presets for future use. This section of the program is essentially the same as it was in earlier versions, so see previous reviews for more detail.
The Playlist menu has been expanded to include Import Playlist, Export Playlist, Open Cut Editor and Burn CD options. You could do all these things before, but often you needed to know a key command; now, pretty much everything you need can also be found in the menus. Similarly, all the view options now have menu entries as well as key commands.
Jam Tomorrow
Where a song has been compiled from various regions using the Playlist, the complete playlist may be exported as a new audio file, and where an album has been compiled in the playlist, it can be burnt to CD using Roxio's Toast or Jam software. In the case of Jam, Spark creates an image file of the whole CD first, complete with regions, and then automatically opens Jam (you need to tell Spark w
here to find Jam the first time you use it). Track IDs are placed as per the regions in the Playlist, but be aware that index points (which few CD players seem to recognise) are also placed wherever there's a marker. Given that markers are often placed for navigation purposes while editing, rather than specifically for generating these rarely used index points, it would be nice to have some simple way to strip out markers from the playlist or ignore them.
To save regions in a Sound Designer II file so they can be accessed from a separate program (for example, if you wanted to import the regions directly into Jam without having to save a disk image first), it's only necessary to save the changes to the audio file once the regions have been created.
During the course of this review, I assembled an album and burnt a CD using the 'Jam link' built into Spark. When Jam opens, you see a standard playlist with all the regions displayed as tracks, where you can insert ISRC codes, change gap spacings, adjust gain and so on. Of course you can do the gaps and gain changes in Spark too, but it's nice to know you can make some last-minute changes. I also tried compiling a song from sections, and found the task very similar to working in Sound Designer II, which has always seemed fast and intuitive to me.
Final Thoughts
What estate agents say about houses is also very true of editing packages: the important features are location, location and location! Earlier versions of Spark were hampered by arcane cursor modes and special features that seemed purpose-designed to make locating edit points more difficult, but I'm pleased to report that this update changes all that. Now creating and editing regions is very easy, the loop editor is perhaps the best of its kind, and the improvements to the menu system mean that you no longer have to remember so many key commands before you can get started with the system. Waveform smoothing has been added to the drawing tool, which is a great step forward, and of course there's the luxury of all those 'Client'-specific undos.
Having OS X support might not seem a big deal at the moment, but it will soon become mandatory, and because the hard work has been done already, Spark's developers don't have to stop working on future improvements for months on end while they rewrite the program for OS X, something that may hamper TC's less prudent competitors. It's unfortunate that the included Native Bundle isn't yet OS X compliant, but at least all the Spark plug-ins are. There are no obvious performance differences running under OS X, and the developers claim even greater stability than under OS 9.2.
The new version reinforces Spark's status as one of the most versatile programs around. It is a top-of-the-league stereo editor, it is very fast (even on my 266MHz G3) and the XL version comes with exceptionally good audio restoration software, but then the FX Machine also leads you off into the realms of multi-effect creation, something not usually associated with mastering. It can double as a sample editor, MP3 encoder, batch converter and audio CD burner (in conjunction with Toast or Jam), but don't let its jack-of-all-trades facade lead you into thinking Spark can't possibly be master of them all. Furthermore, the simple interface, based around just two main windows, ensures that if you only want to use one aspect of the program, the others won't get in the way. After all its growing pains, I think Spark has finally come of age, and is a serious contender for the 'best Mac stereo editor' crown. 
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Sound On Sound : Est. 1985