Microsoft Co-founder Sells Company He Started To "Help Him In His Own Songwriting"

Sonoma Wire Works, makers of RiffWorks recording software and the FourTrack and InstantDrummer iPhone Apps, has acquired the entire Submersible Music product line, including the DrumCore and KitCore software and drum content.

Yes, I didn’t know either one of those companies or products either. But I do know Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and founder of investment firm Vulcan Capital, who apparently started Submersible to “help him in his own songwriting” (release).

Submersible started as a project within Vulcan and was initially meant to be a search engine designed to manage an extensive collection of loop libraries.

The company eventually went on to develop its flagship product DrumCore, which is essentially a combination of a database/browser for musical content, a library of drum content from ‘world-class’ drummers like Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) and Sly Dunbar (Bob Marley), and software tools for audio content generation and export.

But the main caveat is that the company was started by Allen, of course. The man lost a cool $5.5 billion the past year according to Forbes, about one third of his net worth as estimated in 2008, so maybe he’s simply offloading some of his assets to make up for it. No word on if the Submersible software ever actually helped him become a better songwriter, unfortunately, but we’re digging for more information.

And yes, that really is Paul Allen in that picture (credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)