Dissappointed in Total Workstation Bundle 2 Purchase

[Mikelo]

How about finishing SampleTank 2 first????

I only have one bug with sampletank which is the hanging notes if i bounce offline, and i can live with it. So i have no immediate problem with ST2.

These are the problems I have:

1. Hanging midi notes
2. Pops and clicks on VST playback
3. Sound changes and degrades. ie I've been using the Xpansion Tank Symphony strings 2 and sometimes while playing back in Reaper, the actual sound degrades! Seriously, it's like someones switched off the effects while playing.
4. The volume sometimes increases and decreases by itself, as if being automated.
5. Sometimes I have a warning in Italian and I have to re enter the authorization codes.

I love the sound of Sampletank but it's totally hampering my present track I'm working on, yet even though I have several different vst options, the strings for instance cannot be replace as the strings from sampletank are perfect for the track. If that makes sense.

I just want someone from IK Multimedia to address these problems.
This is the bottom line,
Its no good looking and hoping for Sampletank 3 until they fix 2.
There's no excuse, they (IK Multimedia) currently have a group buy going on, which they seem to have every other week.
So that means they are selling by the bucket loads.
That's including Sampletank 2 NOT 3.
Which means Sampletank 2 is more than alive and kicking.
So that also means more unhappy customers.
IK Multimedia, make those updates please.
If it's good enough to sell,then it's good enough to fix!

[xamido]

Which is the reason why i believe (my personal opinion) that your problem will not be fixed on sampletank 2. I'm under impression that the code is pretty old and finalized already, to code bug fixes for ST is not financially rewarding for IK. So the best possibility for a bug fix is only viable through a new version, yet i really hope that IK guys can proove me wrong.

[Mikelo]

Which is the reason why i believe (my personal opinion) that your problem will not be fixed on sampletank 2. I'm under impression that the code is pretty old and finalized already, to code bug fixes for ST is not financially rewarding for IK. So the best possibility for a bug fix is only viable through a new version, yet i really hope that IK guys can proove me wrong.

Which means then, IK Multimedia should cease all Sampletank 2 sales then, including group buys with them in.
If they are currently selling, then the development and enhancement of Sampletank 2 should continue. Period.

[jsheem]

I've pretty much have gone through most of the stuff. I'm just not impressed or like what I bought bottom line. Your not going to like everything. IMO the sounds are a bit outdated. I'm going to test Divea. Also, I might invest in Halionsonic or Divea. We'll see, thanks for the suggestions.

[ObiWonder]

have they actually finished building that special studio where apparently sounds for ST3 were supposed to be recorded?

Yes and we have an IK employee working on SampleTank 3 and its library daily. We are furthering our development on SampleTank 3, when we are closer to release we will let you guys know more details.

@Mikelo Please contact our support on your issues to make sure they are addressed in the next update to SampleTank 3 or to straighten out any issues we can with your current install.

[bronxsound]

^ Thanks for that

[flugel45]

have they actually finished building that special studio where apparently sounds for ST3 were supposed to be recorded?

Yes and we have an IK employee working on SampleTank 3 and its library daily. ....

One employee. What a shocker. No wonder it's taking years.

And meanwhile, if you walk through the cobwebs and tumbleweeds to that large new wing down the hall, you'll see half a dozen iOS programmers buzzing around, churning out and maintaining their hot-hot-hot mobile app$...

(Sigh).

[Mikelo]

have they actually finished building that special studio where apparently sounds for ST3 were supposed to be recorded?

Yes and we have an IK employee working on SampleTank 3 and its library daily. We are furthering our development on SampleTank 3, when we are closer to release we will let you guys know more details.

@Mikelo Please contact our support on your issues to make sure they are addressed in the next update to SampleTank 3 or to straighten out any issues we can with your current install.

I've emailed several times in the past and never got a reply.
The midi hanging issue seems to be quite wide spread among other users, surly this is a problem the IK must fix? Among others....

[jsheem]

Just tried the diva demo and didn't like it. With 8 GB of ram on my laptop win 7 64 bit, I was suprised at the high cpu usage. Tone2's synths sounded better and was less cpu intensive. Nexxus also ran well on my laptop-light on cpu. Thx

[musicdoc]

I remember those hanging notes in ST2 when I still new to the VSTi thing and trying to get everything to work. That was like ten years ago and I figured it was me just doing something wrong at the time. Brings back memories. Still not fixed huh.

I remember also being shocked at how much better Hypersonic sounded with just a 1 gig sound set. Today's HalionSonic is a good replacement for ST2. Well programmed bread and butter sounds, great tweak ability, pretty good synth section. It ain't no omnisphere but it gets the job done.

Top complaints for ST stuff:

1. Global drum effects - can't put reverb down just for one instrument like bass drum. True - you can use a multi channel workaround but that's time intensive and a pain.

2. Poor programming of sounds. Not much in the way of controllers, mod wheel usage, creative controllers.

3. Horrible interface where the scroll button on the mouse doesn't work. May be wrong here.

4. Buggy. Crashes with particular sounds. Sometimes when loading from different ST instrument series. This is consistent for me over like 4 different computers. I pull this plug in out every few years thinking maybe I'm missing something. Then erase.

In short, much better alternatives available now IMHO.


PS: ONE employee? Really? serious?

[JPQ]

Surely there's a demo of this
If you laid down that cash without testing, well no sympathy TBH.

Sorry that happened to you! Maybe look into Native Instruments Komplete. That should cover most or all of what you may require and is excellent quality - top shelf gear.

Good Luck!!

Even with this we cannot play good sounding crescendos for example i tired but failed fix orchestral patches for this. and total workstation 2 still have many sounds what i think going use mainly miroslav philharmonik and sonissynth.
ps. but this is still clearlhy better stuff.

[shadoe42]

One of the problems is one man's perfect sound is another man's wasted noise.
I did not buy it in a bundle but I do own all of the Total Workstation products. Some see heavy use, some see lighter use. But a lot of these sounds fit into my particular preferred style of composing.

Sample tank and the others take some time to get to know. But then so do all pieces of software.

Now with that being said i do think the SampleTank engine could use a complete interface overhaul. The patch browser especially. I would love to see an Absynth style patch browser. The current one is a bit on the cludgy side.

I would like to see it start with the categories/instrument type. Then allow a drill down to more specific patches with all the patches being taggable or categorizeable by the user.

Not had much problem with sticking midi notes. But in both sonar and FL I have had the issue with multiple VSTs not just ST.

Sorry they aren't working out for the OP but I would add another voice to the take some time and dig into it a bit before tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

[Xenobt]

If you're looking for ultra-modern, wavetable-type, auto-beat-synced, endlessly-evolving, one-note-wonders, (DAMN that's a lotta hypens!) TW2 may not be your best bet.

Like other folks have mentioned here, many of the sounds in ST and Sonik Synth are best for pop/rock band-type arrangements. And work well together with other VI's in that context.

But a lot of it may come down to your experience and history. As a looong time engineer and sound designer, I'm used to using a $3000 mic, $1500 preamp and $2000 compressor to track vocals and instruments, THEN getting started on making it sound like a record! Same with my $2000 Prophet/Korg/Moog. It took lots of programming and effects to make those now lusted after boards sound good. And SampleMoog is a bit that way too.

Many libraries do all that eq, compression and effects stuff for you. Nice, if that's what you like, (or more importantly NEED), but TW2 really does do well with a little engineering TLC to be at its best.

I like sculpting things, but as an engineer/composer, I may be in the minority when it comes to rolling up my sleeves and taking something from okay to oh god as a matter of course!

KVR/eSoundz: Xenobt

[ObiWonder]

Exactly. These sounds are made to be dropped in a mix and being able to easily mold them into what you would like it to be. Oh and there is 1 employee overseeing our Development team and sound creation team, sorry for not being clear. We are working on the next version of SampleTank and have been. Lots of features and sounds in our current SampleTank iOS are from SampleTank 3. He has read the forums, seen peoples wants, needs and expectations and is an amazing and very talented musician himself. We are working on it daily.

P.S. - PM me any IK Ticket number if you ever need additional help. We are here to help.

[Brian @ IK Multimedia]

Brian, as you are here, is there any chance of solving some of my problems? Will there be anymore updates for current users?
Thanks.

There most likely won't be any further updates prior to SampleTank 3.