About GForce
With an emphasis on vintage synthesizer modeling, GForce Software is a collection of small, independent developers united by a love of music and sound, development of interesting and valid products, a commitment to support, and with the aim of offering unrivaled sonic quality within the virtual instrument arena.All of our virtual instruments have been individually engineered, without relying upon core code libraries, giving each its own unique characteristics and sound. Our instruments take the spirit and sound of its hardware counterpart and add features to the original specification so that the user-experience is enhanced within the software environment.
GForce Software Ltd was formed in 2000 by Chris Macleod and Dave Spiers, both of whom had a wealth of previous experience in the Music Industry across a number of disciplines, and were seeking to create an umbrella under with they could realise products they themselves wanted or needed.
The first product was the M-Tron, an emulation of the classic hardware tape playback instrument, the Mellotron®. This was at a time when the sounds of the hardware original were terminally unhip and although this was initially made only for friends and fellow musicians, once word of its existence got out, the phone started ringing with requests to make it available commercially.
This was followed by the Oddity, again an emulation of a vintage instrument, but created in league with Ohm Force and utilising state-of-the-art component modeling technology to achieve the most realistic analogue synthesizer emulation possible. The Oddity continues to be a huge success and together with long-term work colleague and fellow GForce associate, Jon Hodgson, the virtual OSCar synthesiser was subsequently developed.
The impOSCar was recognised as a milestone in virtual synthesis development. The filters, in particular, have been praised by the intelligentia and on the strength of audio demos alone, they were subsequently licensed to fellow plug-in supremos, Spectrasonics. As a result, Stylus RMX now contains a variant of the impOSCar filters.
After the impOSCar, having watched the plug-in world make several contentious attempts at emulating the iconic Minimoog®, the decision was taken to give this instrument the GForce left-field treatment and together with Ohm Force the Minimonsta:Melohman was conceived as a radical alternative to what had gone before.
The Minimonsta (to use its abbreviated form) takes the notion of software instruments as static, non performance tools and turns it on its head. With patch morphing, triggered by the user-defined Melohman Octave, the musician can creative truly dynamic performances, as unique as he or she wishes. This feature, coupled with the instruments’ stunning sound quality, dispels the myth that (a) all emulations are the same (b) plug-in instruments are non performance tools and (c) it is possible to create unique products which, while containing more than a passing nod to the past, still have their eyes firmly fixed on the future.
Moving into 2007, the Virtual String Machine continues this left-field and retro philosophy as those who have both heard the instrument and witnessed the Easter Egg will attest.
Of course, it comes as no surprise to those who know us that we relish the slightly odd-ball and esoteric. The simple fact is that with software almost anything is possible so why adhere to the norm?
Put bluntly, while software synthesis is as fresh and exciting as the early days of hardware synthesis - before the suits shoehorned the industry into a certain mindset - we have an obligation to try and be different and remain true to ourselves. After all, the pioneers who brought us the tools that truly inspire us even today each walked the less trodden path. For us to play safe would be a betrayal of that spirit of adventure and risk depriving the free-thinkers of unique and inspiring tools.
The GForce Team
About GForce
GForce Personnel- GMedia Music
- Chris Macleod
- Dave Spiers
- Ohm Force
- Jon Hodgson
- Art Gillespie
- Ian Legge