I got badly burned buying SampleTank. I didn't find out that it isn't a real sampler until after I had installed it. It's almost worthless for the work I do.

Yes, it was stupid not to check it out better before paying for it, but IK has ignored my request for a procedure to transfer the license to somebody else. Any advice about how to recover some of the money I lost would be much appreciated.

Uhm use it for the sounds in your own music? Seriously software is real tricky, and I'm sorry you didn't get what you were expecting, but the fault here is entirely with you (as you seem to recognize). Transferring of liscences, and or returning software is usually a big no-no, and you should have looked into what you were buying. Sorry, but on the bright side you've probably gotten some very usable sounds.

Saying you got "burned" by something else is a bit harsh. It is you who made the mistake, not Sampletank. It's always good to research the products you buy before you buy it. They even have a free downloadable trial version which many companies don't.

Anyway, it's a great sounding software sample player with loads of cool DSP inside so you might as well give it a chance. If it helps you out any, I could give you a special price on some ST format sound content.

Another thing to do since you are here on KVR is to ask others their opinions on products before you buy. That's one of the benefits of a great forum like this.

Ok, hindsight and all that...

When you bought Sampletank you had to have some idea of the things it did. For a moment forget that it isn't very programmable. No offense but were you expecting it to be something like Kontakt?

It would bum me out too however, as Funkybot has pointed out, you still have a bunch of good sounding samples. Unless you really wanted to mess with samples there may be a way of getting more mileage out of the engine.

Check out the effects. I know it sounds lame initially but I use Sonic Synth which comes with ST lite - same engine, less outs, less multitimbral slots. There are 4 effects slots. Beyond the typical chorus, distortion, flange, echo there are more powerful variations and a pretty good amount of control over these settings. There are also more exotic effects like filtered and bpm versions of chorus to filter, AM, FM effects and the ability to use 3 along with a very good EQ/Compressor.

Between these effects and the 4 predefined per patch controls you can still do some serious damage to sound before you use external effects. And since each channel can have it's own effects and patch control configuration it's not completely horrible.

I understand how frustrating it would be to buy something only to find out it's not what you expected and it's wrong that IK has ignored you although you'll probably hear all kinds of opinions on reselling licenses. From previous threads the common reply is you can't transfer the license.

Before throwing in the towel give it some time and try some of the effects to mess up those sounds. The filters are sweet in Sampletank and seriously, those effects can open up a whole new dimension if you haven't already given them a shot.

I love Kontakt, it's great for what it is but if you are stuck with this at least try to get something out of it. You never know.

Good luck,
Bruce

Slightly OT but regarding the transfer of a license, don't some companies allow this with a small charge to the "new" owner? I'm pretty sure I've seen this mentioned somewhere when this question cropped up.

I think in some cases license transfer is possible, but ST falls into the gray area of soundware as well, and as Spectrum and Squids have pointed out in the past, soundware is not transferrable.


Willgrant, the best option for you would probably be to hang on to ST, since the sounds are extremely usable, and since the module is expandable, you might be able to buy some eRoms of your liking. I don't have the ST native sounds, but I do have the full engine (from ST DJ) and Sonic Synth, and Sonic Synth is definitely THE workhorse of my humble studio.

Ian B wrote:

Slightly OT but regarding the transfer of a license, don't some companies allow this with a small charge to the "new" owner? I'm pretty sure I've seen this mentioned somewhere when this question cropped up.

I've sold 3 pieces of software on Ebay after consulting the companies involved.

Gigastudio had some forms you could fill out to transfer the licence.

Both Logic Audio and SoundDiver just required me to send a letter to Emagic.

Easy as pie. Don't know about others.

vbfischer wrote:

Ian B wrote: Slightly OT but regarding the transfer of a license, don't some companies allow this with a small charge to the "new" owner? I'm pretty sure I've seen this mentioned somewhere when this question cropped up. I've sold 3 pieces of software on Ebay after consulting the companies involved. Gigastudio had some forms you could fill out to transfer the licence. Both Logic Audio and SoundDiver just required me to send a letter to Emagic. Easy as pie. Don't know about others.

You can do it with Logic because there's hardware dongle involved which must be present to run the software. For all IK knows one could still have Sample Tank and the sound content on their harddrive at the time of transfer.


Daniel

Ian,

a lot of software has license transfer. There are some companies that don't. That's why I'd advise anyone making a purchase that is major to them to check first.

It's different with sound content however. Many sample based Vstis aren't allowed to be transered or even used on different computers.

x_bruce wrote:

Ian, a lot of software has license transfer. There are some companies that don't. That's why I'd advise anyone making a purchase that is major to them to check first.

That's sound advice but it's a pity there's no hard and fast rule covering this sort of thing, both seller and buyer would benefit by knowing exactly where they stood. I suppose it's easy enough for either party to find out first but it would be nice to know the selling/buying was ok.

you should get your money back , and they should rename the thing "RomplerTank" .

familyman, have you ever used the Sampletank engine? I agree it's somewhat misleading but I doubt it was intentional. As for sound development it's far better than people think. But it might be best for them to have it on their boxes that this is a optimized sample playback device. And I agree it would be good of them to return the money although I know of people that used to buy software, get it coppied and return it. That's how the more restrictive policies were introduced.

If you go to the site it's pretty obvious what Sampletank does. If you look at the interface it's very obvious. None of which solves Will Grant's problem.

Ian, the only reason I do so much homework is because I've purchased some software without checking and ending up regretting it and in a couple of cases not being able to run it and not being able to return it.

Will is unhappy and admits some blame is on himself. Customer service is still responsible for resolving the issue even if it's to say "sorry, we can't do anything." Most of us would be angry about getting something we didn't expect, not wanting it and not getting information on whether the situation could be rectified. Obviously I don't know him but we've all probably been in his shoes.

Here we go again...


Cheerio,Marco

edit: i rest my case. Had a closer look at the last two posts and saw there luckily isn't a major flame brewing

willgrant@pacific.net wrote:

I got badly burned buying SampleTank. I didn't find out that it isn't a real sampler until after I had installed it. It's almost worthless for the work I do.

Hi there,

Considering that CDXtract Web Site Here will be able (planned ) to convert to the native Sampletank format, you can at least use your ST as an AKAI/EXS/ROLAND (...) sample player. This gives you a lot of power and every AKAI CD you can buy will always be compatible with any other sampler...

Think about it.

On the other hand, CDXtract will cost you a fraction of something like Kontakt/HALion or EXS... and that's perhaps not the right choice if you absolutely need a real sampler.

familyman wrote:

you should get your money back , and they should rename the thing "RomplerTank" .

Well, it does have samples in it, and lots of them.



Daniel

why didn't you try the demo ?

you would have realized its not a tweaker thang

realmarco wrote:

why didn't you try the demo ? you would have realized its not a tweaker thang

I can't imagine why someone would even buy something before they even knew what it really was. It seems rather foolish. They must have a lot of cash to burn.



Daniel

SampleTank + FX = new sounds. ST -> render to wave-> Slice in pHATmaticPro or Slice in Fruity or Slice in Recycle. Try TobyBear's great Madshifta or BorderLiner.

There are more than a few ways to experiment with sounds.

If you want an excellent sampler at a good price try Speedsoft's VSampler. It's flexible and runs as a Standalone, DX or VST.

Try the demo. Read reviews. Ask here and then complain.

Gordon

Hey! Wha' d'ya mean there's no Talent preset?

Just a note for future purchases, on top of doing more research. Alot of software allows you to install and use a few days before you have to register. It seems like this was the case with Sampletank but I can't remember now so I could be wrong here but you could have tried it before you registered it, found out it wasn't for you and sold it on ebay so the buyer could register it with Sampletank. On the flipside, I can't imagine anyone making music not finding the program worthwhile. Since you've already bought it why not try to look into it deeper and see what is on offer. It's a rather amazing piece of software from what I've seen. And really it isn't the manufacturer's fault in any way, I mean they have a sampletank free you can try out for God's sake, with even the slightest bit of effort. Well, better luck next time.

willgrant@pacific.net wrote:

IK has ignored my request for a procedure to transfer the license to somebody else. Any advice about how to recover some of the money I lost would be much appreciated.

Just sell it to someone else! im sure someone on this board needs ST.
I promise we wont tell IK

The way it works pornstar is you can run the engine and if you don't authorize it works with four notes of polyphony. At least that's the restriction mine had.

Seems there's more than one VSTi that works like that but damned if I can remember.

The guy was looking for something like Kontakt and made a mistake, we all make mistakes. My mom used to tell me I was a mistake all the time.

nøn ¬ dct wrote:

willgrant@pacific.net wrote: I got badly burned buying SampleTank. I didn't find out that it isn't a real sampler until after I had installed it. It's almost worthless for the work I do. Hi there, Considering that CDXtract Web Site Here will be able (planned ) to convert to the native Sampletank format, you can at least use your ST as an AKAI/EXS/ROLAND (...) sample player. This gives you a lot of power and every AKAI CD you can buy will always be compatible with any other sampler... Think about it. On the other hand, CDXtract will cost you a fraction of something like Kontakt/HALion or EXS... and that's perhaps not the right choice if you absolutely need a real sampler.

Ummm... Actually Sampletank comes with an Akai converter which is supposedly very reliable on the range of akai converters on the market right now.

And kevvv pointed out in a seperate thread that VSampler 3 is coming out soon so this is a cheap program you can get alongside Sampletank... oh and the Ds-404 is about $15

mr. tunes wrote:

nøn ¬ dct wrote: willgrant@pacific.net wrote: I got badly burned buying SampleTank. I didn't find out that it isn't a real sampler until after I had installed it. It's almost worthless for the work I do. Hi there, Considering that CDXtract Web Site Here will be able (planned ) to convert to the native Sampletank format, you can at least use your ST as an AKAI/EXS/ROLAND (...) sample player. This gives you a lot of power and every AKAI CD you can buy will always be compatible with any other sampler... Think about it. On the other hand, CDXtract will cost you a fraction of something like Kontakt/HALion or EXS... and that's perhaps not the right choice if you absolutely need a real sampler. Ummm... Actually Sampletank comes with an Akai converter which is supposedly very reliable on the range of akai converters on the market right now. And kevvv pointed out in a seperate thread that VSampler 3 is coming out soon so this is a cheap program you can get alongside Sampletank... oh and the Ds-404 is about $15

Hum, ok, sorry... I thought the AKAI convertor in ST was only offered to "ST XXL" users (Willgrant don't said what version he bought anyway).

Cheers.

Humor alert: although possibly offensive to Sampletank it made me chuckle reading the thread title:

Burned By Sampletank

then the brain kicked in...

Fired upon by Machine II
Annoyed by Absynth
Eaten by Beast
Losing Kontakt
Battery goes out

probably not funny, just in a mood...