IK Multimedia SampleTank 2 XL

Ive been making music for about 8 years now. I make anything from Heavy Metal in my band to
electronic/techno myself on my computer with my M-Audio Ozone midi keyboard, cubase or logic and
sample tank as my sampler. Sample tank can sample my own sounds and it also comes with 4.5 GB of
samples ranging from pianos, synths, guitar to loops. You can also use effects on all samples. I usually us
my midi keyboard to the computer and i connect monitors to the keyboard but when i use my DM-5 drum
module i use my MOTU fast lane midi interface with my computer.

Sample Tank is great!! It comes with 4.5 GB if sample ready to use which are excellent samples too. From
acoustic drums to ethnic instruments you have it all. on top of that you can import more samples and even
create your own. For the price it's great, i compared sample tank to HALion and Mach 5 but neither of them
had nearly a good library as sample tank does and you can do in sample tank what you can do in the other
programs too.

computer : Pentium IV 2.8 mhz 1 gig ram ASUS P4P800 DLX ... SOUND CARD M-AUDIO FIREWIRE 410 ...
sONAR 2.0 DAW ... AND YESTERDAY ''''''''SAMPLESTANK'''''

MY MUSIC IS SOUP TO NUTS OR WHATEVER THE UNIVERSE PUTS PAST MY MINDS EYE CLAIRE AUDIENTLY

Well guess its 'easy to use' enough. And of course did the hoop jumping of all the 'REGISTERING'
I installed it and then realized this is a plug-in not a stand alone... so i wondered where my icon was. This is my first attemp at plug ins. What did i know. Well in Canada i paid $505 plust 15% tax.
I get it home and I was just so happy cause i read the GOOD reviews on IK's site. I mean come on. endorsed by Rick Wakeman himself... that was good enough for me. THEN THE NIGHMARE STARTED.... OH YES KIDS..... A NIGHTMARE... (read on)

Well... i downloaded disk after disk after disk. and got sicker and sicker and sicker inside. You know 'that moment' when you know you got TAKEN? Here's what i experienced (now keep in mind i saved for months for this 'thing'. After i finally got the AUTHORIZATION CODE i fired it up and this is what happened. It wouldnt play in more than 4 notes polyphony.. and the more i played chords the more it sounded like a duo-phonic trying to decide which notes to play... then.... MIDI STUCK NOTES GALORE...ever patch got a stuck note. Some patches wouldnt even play... or start to play then fade then a POP SOUND..... then S I L E N C E !! Then aliasing sounds everywhere... uneven tempering....id call up a patch and a window kept popping up saying PERFORMING PRE ANALYSIS...... what the $#@! is that? Many patches went into pre analysis and never went out of it. Lots of the patches have 'breathing' aliasing.... i just about died.... THIS WAS A WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNING SOFT SYNTH SAMPLER.And when i played some chords over and over it went into a kinda RANDOM note generator..... (feeling even more sick now) I had downloaded DEMOS of Moog Modular V and CS80V and they played full polyphony JUST FINE. and also other 'demos' of NATIVE INTRUMENTS STUFF...

Now... lets see SOUNDS. Well the orchestral stuff wasnt too too bad.... some real nice smooth rosin on the bow stuff etc.
GUITARS.... OMG..... HELP ME, IM PAYING FOR THIS CRAP?
DRUMS .... GOOD....
Loops of ethnic stuff etc.... very nice pleased
Synth? omg.... SHAMEFUL SIMPLY SHAMEFUL.. i WAS HOPING this is where it would shine... what GARBAGE !!

vOCALS .. some nice synthy smooth oohs and ahhs but nothing earth shattering... useable indeed

organs...... NO THANKS.. GIMME native instruments
percussion is rather well done
piano's 'useable'
woodwinds PASSABLE
brass is very uninspiring
synth leads..... gimme a break sounds like a cheap kiddy toys.

SO FAR IM JUST SICK TO MY STOMACHE.. i really had high high hopes..... i knew i shoulda listened to my instincts and got 'the other guys'' I traded in a proteus keyboard and a brand new feedback destoyer and 145 dollars on top of this for 8 disks of mediocre disapointment. I couldnt sleep all night. Now i guess im STUCK with a NON returnable peice of crap. I may just mail it back to IK Multimedia and they can resell it to some other sucker. I asked the stores i bought it from to get a copy from IK so i could demo it first.... but they said the company wouldnt send one. Now i know why.
They dont want you to know and just take the word from the ENDORSERS.
If they 'really' endorsed them or not I dont know. its just print.
BEWARE YOU HARD EARNED DOLLARS KIDS.... go the OTHER ROUTE... 'ANY' OTHER ROUTE. iM on a small disabilty and i saved a long time and got burned..... CAVEAT EMPTOR !! NEVER AGAIN 'IK' NEVER AGAIN ! eNJOY MY MONEY.......

I'm a musician/producer, playing bass, Chapman Stick? and various keyboards.

I bought SampleTank2 XL and downloaded the lateste upgrade (Version 2.02r)

I use the plugin with ProTools V 5.3 (MACOS 9.2 - G4 computer - 750 MB RAM) on a full ProTools HD 192 system.

The music I make might be categorized as perverted hip-hopized french "chanson".

I uste Quested VS2205 active monitors with a Quested active subwoofer.

The interface is VERY scattered. Too many things that don't work!

The copy protection scheme is a pain in the neck. Specially when you try to register with a french computer keyboard. You run into mucho trouble if you type info in. The only way to register is copying and pasting. It's cumbersome.

Yes, yes, the manual says there's midi automation but since basic functions don't work, I'm not gonna dig into this.

The sounds are quite OK when they play.

The manual is terrible.

The sounds are quite OK when they play. You can tweak them until your system crashes (after a few minutes).

It is NOT worth the price tag!

This not a professional product. It interferes with the creative process. I cannot work with it. I will forget it and not even try to resell it. I have enough compassion for my human fellows to spare them such annoyance.

This thing is crashing al the time.

I wish it worked!