Sample Tank 4 announced by IK Multimedia -- 250 GB (200 new)

[Mark Schmieder]

https://sonicstate.com/news/2018/12/13/ik-multimedia-introduces-sampletank-4/

 

Sticker shock set in immediately. The loyalty discount is flat for all users, regardless of what they own, and isn't much to start with. Even the SE version is a bit costly, unless somehow this new version just slaughters the competition (doubtful; the hyperbole surrounding the still-recent V3 was quite overblown).

 

Looks like they're taking a page from iZotope's book regarding pricing schemes and lack of loyalty incentive in the face of real competition.

 

Who knows though: maybe the new multi-mic concert grand will be worth it for a lot of people.

[drawback]

Any word on an iOS version/update?

[nursers]

Love how Sonicstate calls that news and just cuts and pastes the press release

[piano39]

I wonder if it is backward compatible to Sampletank 2 sounds.

 

By the way- Sampletank is the reason that I quit softsynths. I have tons of money invested in Sampletank 2 disks. This was my go to softsynth. These are all unusable, unless I upgrade to Sampletank 3 or 4.

[Mark Schmieder]

It is probably irrelevant if it is backward compatible as all of the Sampletank 2 sounds ship with it, converted already. I think that includes the add-ons such as SampleMoog. But IKM has probably made more detailed statement about this already.

 

I do not remember having to convert much of my legacy library material for ST3. If I did though, there was a converter function that was about as simple as drag-and-drop.

 

I do hope they have sped up the engine. With ST3, any time you add a new library, it starts from scratch in re-scanning everything, which can take almost an hour! Miroslav then has to do the same thing, rather than sharing the scans that ST3 already did. Weird.

[johnchop]

ST3's factory library is a pretty mixed bag for me, but there are some gems in there.

 

It would mean spending the equivalent of a couple specialty sample libraries for what looks to be a more potent platform.

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

It's crazy how there's no list of the sounds, much less a comparison of what's in each of the three editions, along with whether the previous paid-for expansions are now included in any of these versions.

[Geoff Grace]

MODO Bass and Syntronik have elevated my expectations of IK Multimedia's virtual instruments, and yet I'm having a hard time getting excited about this new version of Sample Tank because the old versions never wowed me.

 

I'll keep an open mind, though, because the company's trajectory has been so good lately.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Guven Ilter]

Maybe a bit OT, but does anybody have any experience using the MODO bass?

[johnchop]

Maybe a bit OT, but does anybody have any experience using the MODO bass?

 

No more experience than trying the demo, which was fine.

[Mark Schmieder]

It's OT and there's another topic for it. Those of us who bought it tend to use it as our only bass mockup source. Don't know the story for those trying to use it live, in terms of performance (CPU, memory, etc.). If you can find the by-now VERY old thread, it's worth a look -- detailed reviews, and I included several personal presets there as well.

[Mark Schmieder]

The product page has finally been updated:

 

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st4/index.php?p=info#sounds

 

There are 48 audio samples by Jordan Rudess that cover the full range.

 

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/include/st4/soundlist/ST4_MAX_new_sounds_master_instruments_20190117_export.pdf

 

The list of what is new to SampleTank 4 MAX, also notes sample sizes, which can be useful for comparing to dedicated libraries.

 

I'm torn due to the price, the one-shoe-fits-all loyalty discount, and the unlikely possibility that there's much in it for those of us who already have top-end libraries for most of the chromatic percussion instruments as well as pianos and e-pianos. The Yamaha C-7 does seem nicely done.

[Mark Schmieder]

I went ahead and took the chance on MAX (I didn't do that with AmpliTube or T-RackS as I had already bought everything piecemeal that was available and there was no discount for owning everything already).

 

I wish you could apply more JamPoints than 30%, but mine will expire soon and though I have way more than I'm ever likely to use, I decided it was worth $140 for me for the upgrade as the Latin Percussion in particular seems deeper in many cases than my current library sources. and as those are part of my day-to-day, they are top priorities just like piano is.

[RandyFF]

Yes, IK Multimedia is really putting out alot of product! Will be interesting to hear the reviews with all these new samples available, esp since many were not that impressed with ST3.

 

How are you using the Latin Percussion?

[Mark Schmieder]

I use latin percussion in almost everything I write that isn't classical. If I'm using programmed drums vs. live drums, I often prefer to do conga and bongo fills vs. tom fills, for example, and anyway I use a lot of polyrhythm here and there for energy contrast between sections.

 

Although I recently bought high-end bongos and congas from Gon Bops, made here in California. So I may phase out the library stuff, except it'll always come in handy during late night mock-ups.

 

Believe it or not, there are exactly zero good bongo libraries at the moment. For congas, the best is what's in Flying Hand Percussion from HandHeld Sound, which isn't single hit based but rather reacts to how long you hold your hand in position, overlap of strikes, etc. Truly amazing, but they didn't do bongos for some reason (just a bongo cajon, which is more like a cajon). I have to use EZX Latin Percussion pack for bongos for now, but it's not that great.

 

Brasilian percussion is also notoriously difficult to come by, in libraries or in person, but I did recently finally find a source for some Contemporanea percussion items (the best Brasilian band), so I may finally start moving away from libraries for tamborim, pandeiro, repenique, caixa, etc. as well. SampleTank 4 MAX is more comprehensive than anything else out there at the moment, in terms of one-stop source. Several vendors (Sonokinetic, Wavesfactory, Muletone, a couple of others) have some nice subsets.

[RandyFF]

@ Mark,

Cool, sounds like you're a bass/guitar/keyboardist and percussionist. Comes in handy if you're a composer as well!

 

You have the chops for the brazilian percussion as well?

 

I go often to hippie hill on the weekends and Conservatory of Flowers on a sunny day during the week. I bring a set of congas, mostly for others to play. I love playing them, but my hands get really tired after ten minutes, I don't have the flexibility in my writst/hands to maintain a flat hand for very long.

 

There are many good afro cuban style players that show up, not as many djembes as in the past. Unfortunately, esp at hippie hill, the beat often gets dumbed down with no clear leaders and too many people, though with my keys and amp, and my buddy on the bass, it can be fun as well. The conservatory of flowers, which I consider more of a guitar circle, is better in that respect. I've evolved from mostly liking/playing djembes to mostly liking/playing congas- they have a rounder sound with more melody in them.

 

If you're ever around and interested, I bring my keyboard and a QSC K10 out. I always call my guitar guy before going out, excellent rythym guitar player, and it's a fun jam to be playing outdoors. You'd be more than welcome to sit in on the keyboard. I also bring another amp for an acoustic guitar that I bring for others to play, so that's another possiblity. We also have a bass player who's quite good, and he's open to sharing the bass duties, even double bass.

 

I guess if you have the chops to play the stuff live, you'd know how to notate it for using samples. I suppose by notating these rhythyms it'd give you an even better sense of rhythym.

 

I suppose this is way OT, but the thread was going into slumberland at this point.

[Mark Schmieder]

There are some other African-derived tall-percussion items that are sort of in between the conga and djembe sound, so you might look into those to see if they're more to your liking. Too many to list, and I don't always understand what distinguishes them as unique other than origin.

 

I don't think it's OT to talk about this stuff, because IK for whatever reason have made a conscious decision to have latin percussion be a HUGE component of the enlarged sound library of ST4 MAX (not sure how much of it is in the lesser editions or will be available for separate purchase).

 

Possibly they realized they have to set themselves apart in this competitive age, and also they may have seen this as a way to tap into a regional market that hasn't been covered very well yet by other vendors. Native Instruments tackle the South American market specifically by focusing on EDM based hybrid genres, which of course are quite big there, but that doesn't mean there aren't still a lot of musicians using more traditional sounds.

[Theo Verelst]

Hmm, I listened to the first 7 demo songs and a couple of the Jordan R videos, and must say, even though I've used some of their products a little bit, and this is a lot of stuff, I don't miss this kind of musical product in my setup in any way at all.

 

It only, for me, goes to prove digital sucks, is broken in some essential ways, and if not worked on turns in mostly sh*t that I really don't need to listen to. Even though it's a nice promise to have all those instruments on one's computer.

 

T.

[KorgyPorky]

Any word on an iOS version/update?

 

Sampletank indeed leads the ios sampler market..

They would be wiseto push this to ios too..

[miden]

I have ST3 (also use the VST3 version) and tbh, I cannot see the value in paying the upgrade...not a lot more to it than ST3 afaics

[RABid]

Have a bunch of Sampletank libraries. Realized that I was not using any of them. Something about the sound that bothers me.

[Mark Schmieder]

Miden, did you download the rather large PDF that lists what is new? That was what convinced me. As one example, the bongos have more than twice as many articulations as any other existing bongo source out there today. And this is true of most of the percussion.

[BRW]

The thing that has bugged me the most about Sampletank is the still archaic GUI. The sounds improved on ST3 a lot, and it's a nice bread-and-butter ROMpler inside your DAW, but yeah it has always lacked that "wow factor".

 

Maybe a bit OT, but does anybody have any experience using the MODO bass?

 

I use it all the time (in studio work). If you play it like a bass player would (it's a skill set), and use some of the different play-style options for variation, it can sound very authentic.

 

In mixes, I've found it can be very, well, "bass-heavy" so I need some EQ to drop some of the lowest end off.

[Mark Schmieder]

MODO Bass is awesome. It's just about my only mock-up tool for late night bass work anymore, and it has set the bar a bit higher for when I get around to replacing with live bass tracks as well.

 

My understanding is that when ST4 actually gets released, the GUI will be a significant overhaul from ST3, which is hard on my eyes and looks garish and fuzzy.

[Mighty Motif Max]

[video:youtube]

 

Wasn't sure whether or not to post this in the NAMM thread as it was announced last year, but demoed at NAMM.

[Mark Schmieder]

IK announced on GS that they expect to post the full instrument lists for each of the three editions, very soon (presumably before the 21 FEB deadline for the pre-order discount).

[Mark Schmieder]

I am almost done installing all of the sound packs, except the Woodwinds fail even after downloading them again (and yet the library and file structure looks fine). I've been too busy to alert IK to the problem (on macOS at least, and it's a DMG file so it isn't an issue of the archiving tool).

 

As I don't want to go through the lengthy SampleTank library scan twice, I haven't opened up the app yet to try anything out, but just wanted to alert people that there are a lot more new sounds here than most of us thought. IK have been too busy to write up all that they did!

 

As a "for instance", there are several physically modeled patches for trumpet, South American flutes, strings, and lead guitar. So they must have expanded the core engine to include additional synthesis techniques.

 

The older packs are still in ST3 format, but the newer ones use ST4 format. They install really quickly, but the DMG itself takes a while to expand. The older ones are still super-slow to install.

 

The Yamaha C7 piano ha several mic positions available, and it looks like they can be blended at will.

[Mark Schmieder]

I just went ahead and manually copied the woodwind samples. Should be enough, as the structural files and instrument presets were part of the main installers.

 

The same problem came up with the Miroslav CE and SampleTank 3 free content, so I'll now do the same with those.

 

I could have just copied these from my SampleTank 3 installation area, but I figure those may not have all the latest updates.

 

The full edition of Miroslav and its add-ons, as well as the converted older ST2 libs like SampleMoog and SampleTron, will have to be copied from my ST3 area. But first I'll check the ST4 user manual to see if they have to be re-imported (or converted).

[Mark Schmieder]

It's too confusing to figure out where to put the SampleTank 3 Free material, as there's already some of it in the basic ST4 installation, but the instrument presets that overlap between those two installers might have specific conflicting information about the samples/etc.

 

For me, the Miroslav CE material is also redundant, but I do try to get the full installation of anything working anyway, to avoid potential problems if something is assumed to be present and in a certain place.

 

Maybe they'll fix the seven broken installers soon (two for ST4 Woodwinds, 3 for Miroslav CE, and two for ST3 Free).

 

I guess now is as good a time as any to launch ST4 and see how long it takes to load and register its libraries, as well as whether it triggers any conversions for the stuff that is in ST3 format.

 

I ordered the MAX version even though I had most of the extra content, as it wasn't much more at the loyalty discount and due to having so many jam points that would expire anyway. I'm still not sure what non-MAX buyers get, but I can say that MAX buyers do NOT get the full edition of Miroslav.

[Mark Schmieder]

Building the database goes WAY faster now -- what a relief! As soon as I copy the full Miroslav to the ST4 directory and restart ST4, I'll find out whether re-scans are much faster and whether they only scan new material or start from scratch each time as with ST3.