If you're watching the second season of The Last of Us, HBO's epic video game adaptation, you'll have heard the ronroco in its hauntingly atmospheric theme song.
This obscure Andean instrument, played by composer Gustavo Santaolalla, is the star of Spitfire Audio's latest plugin: Ronroco by Gustavo Santaolalla.
The ronroco is a mandolin-like instrument with 10 strings arranged in five double courses, the middle pair tuned an octave apart to create a distinctively resonant tone.
As well as The Last of Us, Santaolalla has used the ronroco in scores for a number of Hollywood films, including Brokeback Mountain and The Motorcycle Diaries.
Spitfire Audio's new instrument samples the composer's own ronroco, handmade by master luthier Chiquito Rodriguez, meticulously capturing Santaolalla's unique and emotive playing style and signature E minor tuning.
Equipped with multiple articulations, including slides, slurs, twiddles, tremolos and vibrato, the instrument incorporates adjustable strum speed and authentic fret and string noise for added realism.
The plugin features three performance modes (Note, Chord and Sequencer) that can be used to perform and program realistic chords, strums, arpeggios, and lead lines.
Its auto-chord voicing feature automatically maps chords with reference to traditional tunings and realistic finger placements, recreating how the chords would sound if performed by a ronroco player.
The plugin is also equipped with a 32-step sequencer with per-step articulation, and an effects section that includes two types of reverb and a delay with modern, tape and ping-pong options.
Ronroco by Gustavo Santaolalla is priced at £139/$169/€149, but an introductory discount of 20% is available until 8 May.
