IK Multimedia SampleTank VST PC

I'm a pro-bassist, & guitarist, with 25 years of playing experience. Currently, in a hard rock, modern rock cover band playing guitar. I've got a PC & a Mac running Ableton Live with a MOTU Traveler, listening on a pair of KRK V6 series 2 monitors. I produce backing tracks & personal compositions.

* Do you find the interface intuitive?

I didn't get that far.

* Did you have any problems installing the plug-in? Copy protection to deal with?

I tried to download the demo of this highly rated guitar amp simulator, only to realize that I had to already have, or PURCHASE, a $29 copy protection dongle in order to run THE DEMO?!!!

Who in the marketing department thought that this copy protection scheme was NOT going to turn people off?!

I sent them a heated email to their main corporate office in Italy, and they never responded. It seems that they just don't care about their POTENTIAL customers, so I would hate to see what they do to you once they have your money.

I don't care how fantastic a software product is if they have a SUPER, pain in the ass, method to demo it, I downloaded their main competitors' Guitar Rig 2 Demo and I didn't have to PAY TO USE IT. I'm currently enjoying the hell out of this fantastic product and as soon as their software only version comes out in mid November I will purchase it.

* How does it sound?

It sounds like a tree falling in the forest;}~

* Any tricks to make it better?

Yeah, fire the idiot that wants you to have, or BUY, a $29 copy protection dongle just to try the DEMO, sheesh what losers.

* What do you love about it?

I love how it doesn't allow me to open the DEMO unless I have, or BUY, a $29 copy protection dongle.

* What do you hate?

I hate how it doesn't allow me to open the DEMO unless I have, or BUY, a $29 copy protection dongle.

* What is your favorite feature?

How it just sits there on my desktop without it allowing me to open it because I don't have, or bought, a $29 copy protection dongle. Nice icon though.

Musician/ Engineer

ABSOLUTE PAIN. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. I REPEAT -NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. I am absolutely furios with this company and Guitar Center for selling it to me and not warning me about how much of a pain it is to install. You have to register the product online. Well, guess what? I happen to ve a serious musician, and I don't attach the internet to my recording compuer. Had to go upstairs like 10 times because I could not get this Bul*&$&t digital ID. I still do not have my digital ID. AFTER THE FACT, meaning after I installed the program I guess I was supposed to look out for a section that I needed to write this stupid number down. WHY ISNT THE SERIAL NUMBER NOT GOOD ENOUGH??????????

Not only that, from what I understand you only get 3 digital ID'S... So, basically, everytime I restore my computer I guess I'll need to rebuy the product I bought over again??? The problem is that these software loser engineer punks know that since we can't return software, they simply take advantage.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

Move on, and find something else.

Graz Perrelli

AMATEUR

IKMultimedia's SampleTank 2XL software (and I have download the website update) says that it imports SampleCell Banks as well as instruments. However, I need to point out a correction on this claim. It, in fact, imports groups of instruments that are in a bank but not the Bank itself. No bank setting is getting imported in my import. The samples were bought from established collections such as Peter Siedlaczek's and the legendary Miroslav Vitous etc. These gentlemen, in their infinite wisdom and brilliance, have created banks for the user with strings panned, tuned, and balanced dynamically with each other. This results in an amazing sounding instrument Bank. When one imports banks using the SoftSampleCell Bank Import option, the instruments within the bank are brought in but ALL the Bank Settings are lost.

I have been bothered by this, because the advertising on the package at stores and on the digidesign site for the cross-grade has been false advertising and misleading.

At the digidesign site it says:

"Featuring easy import of both SampleCell Instruments and Banks, SampleTank 2 XL enables you to easily bring SampleCell libraries into SampleTank 2 XL to take advantage of a host of new sonic possibilities. "

NOT TRUE.

Unless there is some mad big signpost I am missing, there is no way of importing the bank settings, so without them what is the point in claiming easy import? The import should be correctly called "Multiple Instrument Import" but certainly not Bank Import. This is misleading. If I had known this, I would not have been so naive as to purchase this software.

So readers, you can see, I paid for a cross-grade that doesn't work. I have now spent 2 1/2 weeks trying to install my new SampleTank 2 XL in OSX have lost income, time, and apparently it doesn't even work! If I am missing something here, I stand corrected. I paid $350 for a headache, and now my current work projects are going to be in jeopardy and I need to find a sampler that does in fact import what it says it does or I am screwed.

It was upsetting enough that pro-tools no longer supported SoftSampleCell - Digidesign stopping support for a product that just a year ago they was still being raved about and they were telling us all about its 192KHz support and 96 voices, and suddenly they drop it?!!! [ http://www.digidesign.com/news/hotnews/archive/softsamplecell31/index.cfm ]

And then to rub salt in the wound, we the users are offered a cross-grade to this IKmedias product as a viable alternative which doesn't even allow me to import a solitary bank I have been using for the last several years!! If this product isn't able to do what it says it can, then all the scores I have done are inaccessible, unplayable, and not forward compatible. Where is the incentive in that to upgrade?

On another note, regarding authorizations - no dongle or floppy here!!!! No, instead, the clever folks at IKMedai give us 3 attempted installations of a software that is bought and paid for before you have to BUY further installations....... What is that all about???? So in my case I am, in effect, leasing this software. Why isn't it called what it is?

I have had to install it once to try and convert SampleCell to SampleTank in OS9 - thank god I did it there in OS9. If I had waited until OSX I wouldn't even know my SampleCell bank settings anymore after this fiasco!!!!

I'll have to install it again in OSX if I ever get it working.......and worth my while to use it at all...

And that leaves me one further use off my "lease" to choose either for my G5 when I buy and switch to it, or for my laptop so that I can take the Pro-Tools session to Europe to record a film score and this isn't a session to be fooled around with on the account of having problematic uncooperative software.

So,can anyone tell me why I should stay with Sampletanks software, when I have to operate under all these problems with it? I think for the averag

Lets make this short and sweet!
To add to the comments about IK and there digital ID BullS%&$.
I purchased Sampletank XL 2 installed on my machine which i still had Win98 , went to the IK site and had all the same crap as the other comments in this thread has already stated! I got my authorization
code put it in thought i was all set! (WRONG) It seems XL2 wont work on Win98! Says it will on the box!! OK! Upgraded To WIN XP ,I reinstalled Sampletank and to my suprise there is a new Digital ID (Sh*$) Old authorization code wont work!! Go back to IK site to get a new code (only get three!!) I already burnt 2 and not even used the frickin program yet ( whats wrong with this picture) And they are firm on this!! My Point! It is no wonder people steal there software when they make so difficult for the people that buy there sh*#, I am thinking about when i maybe upgrade a harddrive,OS (I'm all done) Maybe I'll wait till its cracked and they can kiss my Digital ID .

Hobbyist musician, primarily a guitarist and composer of jazz-fusion and avant-garde (ok, its just wierd stuff with a fancy title) guitar oriented pieces.

Bought SampleTank XL for use with Logic 4.8.1 for the PC. Planned on using it for reinforcing my hardware modules.

Using a Delta66 with Omni I/O for sound. Running at 24bit/44.1khz - wish I had SCSI for 96khz.

IMPORTANT: SampleTank is NOT a software sampler! The name is a bit misleading, but it is really a software midi module with flexible sound loading (compatible with Akai S1000/3000 though).

SampleTank couldn't be easier to use, at least with Logic. The interface is set up like like any other hardware GM module. The "context sensitive" interface changes depending on the patch chosen so it very simple to manipulate. Don't know if anyone else has feature but it is very intuitive and responsive. Love the feature where if you click on a knob, the midi CC# and value appears beneath the knob.

Integration into Logic is also very simple - plug and play literally. You do have to know a little bit about Logic's environment to get maximum benefit. Flexibility to Logic's environmental objects is great, better than hardware.

Manual is clearly written and simple to understand. Detailed instructions for use with Cubase and Logic are included.

The organization of sounds is super intuitive and simple. Sound search capacity is simple.

All is not easy though.

IK Multimedia should have included better instrument maps for the drums, percussion, etc. A virtual keyboard would also be a handy to "test" patches - yes I use a real keyboard and have a Logic environment keyboard cabled in, but sometimes I get lazy and just want to press a keyboard right on the SampleTank interface!.

The last minor usability gripe is that "deep editing" or customization of SampleTank requires the editing of a .TXT configuration file. For most this isn't an issue, but if you want to remap a control# for automation, you have to open the config text file and do the editing there rather than on the interface.

Registration is a hassle, but no more a hassle than a Sonic Foundry product or others - email authorization codes are always a pain. It would have been better if IK Multimedia allowed a "grace" period before it had to be registered.

Perhaps I am too forgiving of sound modules in general but my philosophy is this: there are a few patches that you will end up using and most patches will be forgotten or junk.

That being said SampleTank exceeded my expectations. I actually found many patches which I find usable and quite musical.

As

Caveat Emptor: Like musical tastes - everyone will have their own opinion of sound patches, for example I dislike Roland drum sounds but like Alesis. Some will agree - others will think I'm insane.

Pianos - great 9 (no velocity envelope sensitivity or else 10).
Strings - great 10 (fabulous response to volume and filter CC's).
Guitars - ughh 3 (but I'm a guitarist).
Bass - solid 8 (much better than guitar).
Organs - funky good 8 (analog always sounds better but good samples).
Synth - ok 6 (leads are weak, pads are good, FX are good).
Ethnic - good 7
Drums - very good 8 (missing some GM patches and no velocity envelope sensitivity).
Brass - good 7
Woodwinds - good 7

I run a modest AMD Athlon 900 Thunderbird and I have absolutely no problem with max. 128 note polyphony with Logic. In real use though I rarely exceed 64 poly and according to Logic my CPU usage is only around 30 - 35%. Anything less than a P3-500 beware.

The VST plug in seems pretty stable in Logic. Not perfect though and does crash once in a while - not often and probably my fault with my experiments in automation and such.

I think SampleTank is a great software GM module. Particularly good for Laptop-centric musicians. Originally was planning to supplement my Yamaha modules but I find myself using SampleTank more and more. It is definitely worthy of what it is.

One very interesting side benefit of SampleTank v. hardware modules is that I use less than 1/2 recorded tracks for a composition, i.e. since SampleTank outputs directly to the master bus, I only need to record guitars and bass so my disk space and usage has gone down quite a bit.

Believe it or not, the negative review of SampleTank (below) influenced my decision to try it out - an honest review is worth a lot.

Definitely check out the samples and SampleTank free on IK Multimedia's website prior to purchasing.

I would also be happy to exchange some MP3's of my use of SampleTank if anyone is interested.

Notwithstanding the previous review, I found Sample Tank to be an excellent composer's tool. It's not a sampler, as some people are confused about, but rather a library of samples which one access through an easy interface when working in a sequencer. I use Digital Performer. Samples are only as likable as the subjective taste of the user. I was sold on the product when I listened to a demonstration of the orchestral samples. The guitars, basses are equally good. They are all great and usable.

I found this product to be quite easy to use. In fact, it is such a no brainer that the previous post has me thinking that person's problem may be more of a human one than anything software related.

Once installed, I'm just a couple of clicks away from a host of great samples. Of course, if you don't like the samples initially installed with Sample Tank, you can buy other samples libraries more suited to your taste. It's a very flexible tool. By far it's the easiest plug in I use.

The product is CPU intensive, so you'll need a powerful computer to take advantage of running more than a couple of tracks. I've been able to run 16 tracks at once no problem, and no crashes. I may be lucky, but then I haven't filled up my mac with games or other programs which might cause potential conflicts.

Sample Tank sounds great. A definite consideration if you're thinking about buying something like a Roland XV/JV module or a Proteus 2000/2500- which is a valid comparison. It's not a substitute for a hardware sampler, or a soft sampler. But when comparing it to romplers, the sound beats the competition hands down.

My hardware sampler is getting little use these days. Unless I'm doing my own sampling and editing sounds, I prefer recalling and triggering samples from Sample Tank than by any other method. I also have emagic's soft sampler (which I run in tandem with Logic), and to be honest, Sample Tank is just too easy not to use.

See my HC HALion review for my PC specs and system.

THe interface is about as efficient and user friendly as one could desire. You will NOT need a manual to navigate it, regradless of your level of expertise. A CHILD could load an instrument and put effects on it.

Now let's take a step back and talk about installation. What a God foresaken piece of $hit design. First and foremost, in order to install this plugin, you will need internet access. Seems the good folks at IK Multimedia aspire to be like Microsoft. Now think about this for a second, people: you go buy the product on a Sunday afternoon. You get it home and slap the CD in your machine. Oops, you need a "digital ID" to go with that serial number, sir. That's right, a serial number by itself won't suffice. Head over to IK's web site. .. shouldn't be too hard right?

WRONG. In order to "generate your digital ID" (now bear in mind we're talking about a god d@mn $170 plugin in here, NOT f'g AutoCad) you must register your product first. OK, fine. Shouldn't be too hrad, right?

WRONG. Filling out THIS registration form is like registering for the f'g draft. I'm not kidding you here. They want to know everything about you. This is NOT OK. This is downright *invasion of piracy* and should be illegal. When was the last time you had to register something YOU purchased in order to use it? OK, maybe a car you financed or a new home. Fine. But Jesus Christ we're talking about a god d@mn little plugin that plays musical instruments here! WTF? :long sigh:

OK, so you play the fu$#ing game so you can install the bloody little b@stard you just spent your wife's Christmas money on. Oops, you thought you could copy and paste your serial number from the installation screen? Hahaha. You fool. Of course you can't, retype that US Army grade nomenclature again. There you go. OK, you're finally done. Now your registered. GO retrieve your email so you can log in to IK's site. OK, cool you got it and you're all ready to generate a digital ID.

What's THIS? I can only generate 3 digital ID's and then I will need to purchase them thereafter?? WTF??? I think someone needs to dig up some dirt on this company and found out who the f$#@ is running it. I mean, IK makes Microsoft look like a troop of girl scouts. Yes, IK is very serious about protecting their product. Forget that it was cracked by pirates and distributed before it even got out of beta, that is not important right now. We're talking a degree of paranoia that can't even be charted, folks. You know what that ells me? That tells me IK pirates programs themSELVES (as many, many software companies do behind closed doors). Why else would they be so paranoid?

OK, back to business (you gotta admit you're loving this rant, though). You finally generate your digital ID. Go ahead and copy that bad boy and paste it into the install screen. Psych! Too bad you just closed the IK web site screen. Silly you. Time to log back in. Loo, this is IK Multimedia we're talking about, not Sonic Foundry, OK? Now minimize those screens and size them just right so you can read from the web page and type into the install screen.

OK! You;re finally done! Time to load up those gorgeous 3Gigz of sounds you've been hearing about! WOO-HOO!!

Loading, loading, loading, keep those samples loading... go get a cup of coffee. No, on second thought stay right there because you're going to be prompted for the next CD. Good enough. Install is complete. Let's test out those sounds!! :D

I'm going to cut to the chase. SampleTanks presets, all 3 gigs of them, suck. IK Multimedia is NOT skilled in sound design. They are a software development company. Like I have stated about Korg in my review of the Triton, IK is all hype. They don't give a $hit about the sounds. ALl they care about is the sell. Notice their propaganda in Keyboard magazine. All show and no go.

It's OK though because we bought it to sample anyways, right? Sure. But wait a second here.. where the f$%# is the import function? It's what?? It's anexternal program? You mean I have to convert Akai samples in an external IK utility program before I attempt to use them in my sequencer application?? YUP. And here's the REAL kicker.. once you;ve put them in the g@y SampleTank format, you aint going to be using them in anything else should they need arise, are you?

I'm out of line. I'm sorry. I'm not sticking to the review and I'm rambling.. please accept my apologies.

I finally got my program loaded and I'm ready to record. Wait, damn it no I'm not. WTF is this delay doing? It's out of control. It keeps drifting.. it's.. it's.. oh wait, now it's working since I added distortion. OK, I get it :head spinning:

The effects are OK. HOW good are they? Think Alesis nanosynth. Think Kurzweil K2000. 'nuff said

Yes, it's multitimbral, yes it has enough voices, yes the sound engine works as it should. Timing is fine. It's not clunky and it redraws quickly (unlike HALion).

To simpley chain ideas together and for fast access to a LOT fo mediocre sounds, SampleTank will do the job nicely for you. But for inspiration, and for instruments that really shine in your mix, you're going to need to chain the instruments to VST or DX effects to get them to do anything interesting. By themselves or with ST effects, they are pretty much lifeless.

Incidentally, I didn't bother importing anything. I threw the whole bloody mess back in its box and I'm now getting to sell it on EBay.. CHEAP. Email me if interested.

I got off on the wrong foot with this product as soon as I discovered the ABSURD installation process. When I found out samples couldn't be converted on the fly, as they are in HALion, I was even more peeved.

Again, this is a very mediocre product. It DOES do its job if you want bread and butter sounds of average to below average quality. As a scratch pad, it might be just what the doctor ordered because it's strength is accessibility.