14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has reportedly bought Redmatica, an Italian startup which develops and sells music-creation tools that enhance audio samplers like the EXS24 in Apple’s Logic Pro.
A document obtained by Italy-based Fanpage from AGCOM, a local regulator, reportedly confirms the acquisition, but the two companies are said to be actively discussing still. Apparently, the deal hasn’t been signed yet.
Redmatica’s revenue has been so reduced lately, that hardly anyone would believe Apple had its eye on this company.
They have only a handful of employees, and 9to5mac is being told this might be more of an “acqui-hire,” rather than a full-fledged purchase of the company’s IP.
“We are also hearing that a deal between Apple and the music company has yet-to-close or be announced within Apple, so we would rule this as unconfirmed for now,” reports Jordan Kahn. MacStories corroborates this theory, pointing out that said documents don’t indicate a closed deal.
As far as Redmatica’s solutions are concerned, their flagship offerings are drag-and-drop management of sampler instruments, and support for AU plug-ins directly in the synthesis signal chain.
The company’s GBSamplerManager is a Mac application for managing, creating and editing instruments for the Sampler Instrument in GarageBand for iPad and iPhone.
Musicians can transfer their GB songs from the iPad or iPhone using iTunes, then drag the songs to GBSM to manage their Sampler instruments. Finished works can then be exported back to iTunes.
GBSamplerManager also includes a basic editor for one-sample instruments. Aspiring musicians can leverage the real estate of a large Mac screen adding loops, setting crossfades, changing the envelope, and fine tuning their samples with just a few commands.
Apple seldom confirms such acquisitions, so don’t expect Tim Cook to make this one official at WWDC. Unless, of course, they’re preparing to launch new music creation tools. It’s not impossible.