Many of the special effects you hear in The Phantom Menace (especially during the pod race and sub scenes) were generated using technology developed by Symbolic Sound Corporation in Champaign Illinois. The Kyma Sound Design Workstation became part of Ben Burtt's arsenal of sound production tools when he first started work on the project. According to the interview in Mix Magazine (June, 1999), Burtt's sound design tools for this project consisted of a Synclavier, a Kyma Sound Design workstation, and an old favorite: 1/4 inch analog tape. Discussion(Descriptions, reviews, discussion):
Burtt and his colleague, computer-whiz Matt Wood, created a "sound library," a virtual world of sonic elements that would make up the universe of The Phantom Menace. Kyma is a graphical language for manipulating sounds; it's not just a synthesizer or effects box that does just one set of sounds. So it allowed for Burtt and Wood to create their own unique algorithms for manipulating live voices and synthesizing the sounds made by imaginary devices, ambiences, and creatures that have — quite literally — never been heard before.