Hi,
I currently have SampleTank 2XL as my main workstation vsti and have found it to be quite general midi sounding and am considering selling it and getting something else.
I've been looking around and have come across Vir2's VI ONE.
How does this compare in realism to Sampletank 2XL?
Sampletank 2XL vs VI ONE
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2805 posts since 22 Mar, 2006 from cornwall
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- KVRist
- 291 posts since 23 Nov, 2008 from Greater Boston
I have both and I think they both tank behind Hypersonic 2. I got VI.One on sale at guitar center for $99, and I believe paying a penny more for it is a rip-off. Most samples in it are not looped, so they will stop playing when they end, thus hurting playability (especially for orchestral sounds). It has a nice selection of ethnic instruments and clean guitars, but I very rarely use it for anything else. Oh, and VI.One's license agreement prohibits license transfer or reselling.
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Reverend Rhythm Reverend Rhythm https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6041
- KVRAF
- 2856 posts since 21 Feb, 2003 from Woodstock, GA USA
My opinion would be to go with something that has a wide variety of sounds. Kontakt is great. Wusikstation is another option. But with both you'll need to go find sounds you like.
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Reverend Rhythm Reverend Rhythm https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6041
- KVRAF
- 2856 posts since 21 Feb, 2003 from Woodstock, GA USA
Okay, let me give an example: Bass - for Wusikstation you can get the Manytone bass sets. For Kontakt there is the Scarbee stuff.
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- KVRAF
- 6254 posts since 25 Mar, 2004
I also have them both, but I'm a little more generous in my evaluation of VI.ONE.
I also got it from GC for $99 (I think you still can, or for not much more IIRC).
I have not run into the looping problem that yevster talks about. But I will say that it does have a ton of content, and to my ear, much of that content is very good, indeed. Some of my favorite pads are in VI.ONE, which is interesting, because you wouldn't think that static samples would be any match for the pads produced by real-time synthesis.
Also, to my ear, the basses and guitars are very good. As is the beat content.
There is an attempt to make this a good all-arounder which I think it does fairly well. If you get it at around the $100 price point, that makes it an even better value IMHO.
My only problem with VI.ONE is the Kontakt format. While I appreciate Kontakt and the things it can do, I think the interface is a clumsy one that often gets in the way of creativity. I much prefer the ease of Sampletank's 'dial it in and go' package. Plus, it is extremely easy to add and tweak any of 30+ different effects (both send and global) in Sampletank. And creating new multis is a snap.
If you have Kontakt 3 (I do), and you really like to get in there, you can probably do some amazing things with VI.ONE. For myself, I just don't have the time or desire. Sure there's a million routing possibilities in Kontakt, but I just don't have the time to figure out which one is the best.
Cheers
-B
I also got it from GC for $99 (I think you still can, or for not much more IIRC).
I have not run into the looping problem that yevster talks about. But I will say that it does have a ton of content, and to my ear, much of that content is very good, indeed. Some of my favorite pads are in VI.ONE, which is interesting, because you wouldn't think that static samples would be any match for the pads produced by real-time synthesis.
Also, to my ear, the basses and guitars are very good. As is the beat content.
There is an attempt to make this a good all-arounder which I think it does fairly well. If you get it at around the $100 price point, that makes it an even better value IMHO.
My only problem with VI.ONE is the Kontakt format. While I appreciate Kontakt and the things it can do, I think the interface is a clumsy one that often gets in the way of creativity. I much prefer the ease of Sampletank's 'dial it in and go' package. Plus, it is extremely easy to add and tweak any of 30+ different effects (both send and global) in Sampletank. And creating new multis is a snap.
If you have Kontakt 3 (I do), and you really like to get in there, you can probably do some amazing things with VI.ONE. For myself, I just don't have the time or desire. Sure there's a million routing possibilities in Kontakt, but I just don't have the time to figure out which one is the best.
Cheers
-B
Berfab
So many plugins, so little time...
So many plugins, so little time...
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- Banned
- 80 posts since 16 Jan, 2006
dickiefunk wrote:Hi,
I currently have SampleTank 2XL as my main workstation vsti and have found it to be quite general midi sounding and am considering selling it and getting something else.
I've been looking around and have come across Vir2's VI ONE.
How does this compare in realism to Sampletank 2XL?
I'm gonna have to say that it smokes sample tank pretty easily. Sample tank, as well as sonik synth, don't have the highest quality of sounds across the board. They remind me very much of my Alesis Quadra-Synth I owned years ago....they have a lot of sounds, but very few that make you go "WOW". They really need to scrap the sample set and do a whole new instrument. The
VI.One has excellent electric and acoustic guitars, some really nice electronic pianos and some good orchestration use patches. I haven't really had a chance to go into depth with it's synth/pads yet as I have other VA synths that cover that pretty well. I have used/owned quite a few of the "workstation" type synths and I'm going to list them from best to worst. I would say that the bass patches are a little lacking in variety. The drum loops are actually pretty good and the overall quality is very high. I was thinking of buying this when it was $400, but for $100 it's the best deal going. SOS rated it pretty good, at or near the level of East West Colossus.
1. Vi.one
2. Plugsound Pro
3. Sonik Synth 2
4. Hypersonic 2
5. Sample Tank 2
6. Sonik synth 1 (this was not very good)
Custom Built MacPro (SpiderMac) Intel Q9450-OC 3.5ghz, 8GB RAM, 1.5TB Hard Drive, Dual 24" LCD Monitors, Focusrite Saffire Audio Interface, Axiom 61 Controller, Roland Fantom G7 Workstation.
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- KVRist
- 142 posts since 25 Oct, 2004
Is anyone using VI One in Windows 7 64bit? Was gifted a new laptop and so Im moving my daw over to it- just in time- my old P4 desktop daw motherboard died!
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- KVRAF
- 4278 posts since 14 Nov, 2008 from UK
Get Kontakt 4 and just buy the instruments you want for it - if you want realism,dickiefunk wrote:Hi,
I currently have SampleTank 2XL as my main workstation vsti and have found it to be quite general midi sounding and am considering selling it and getting something else.
I've been looking around and have come across Vir2's VI ONE.
How does this compare in realism to Sampletank 2XL?
Also Wusikstation is a great, cheap addition with sounds you won't generally find anywhere else!
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- KVRist
- 142 posts since 25 Oct, 2004
For the soundtrack producer of the movie "8-Mile" Sampletank 2 sounded like a big paycheck
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- KVRist
- 195 posts since 3 Apr, 2011 from Tokyo
I have VI.One, Xpansion Tank 2(SampleTank 2 XT + Multi-Sampled Instrument Collections), Dimension Pro, M1 and Kontakt 4 and among those VI.One and Kontakt sound best to my ears. But sadly, Vir2 and NI are incomparably inferior to IK in terms of email tech support so I'm kind of having mixed feelings. 
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- KVRist
- 250 posts since 8 May, 2010 from US-Washington
In regard to the acoustic stuff on the VIone, there is a whole lot of repitition. There would be like one guitar that's repeated like five time, with slightly different settings. So In reality, the selection of acoustic stuff is not that plentiful. There's more synthetic stuff but I never really got into it as there are a lotnof other synths that cover that category that are more flexible.
Out of the synths discussed on this thread, I would still pick Hypersonic 2 if I only could have one- at least at about the $100 price point. With IK you just search all day in an awful browser for sounds that are uninspiring and dated - IMHO, occasionally finding a gem. I got rid of it long ago, went back recently with the free sample tank promo, then remembered all I didn't like about it and again got rid of it.
Out of the synths discussed on this thread, I would still pick Hypersonic 2 if I only could have one- at least at about the $100 price point. With IK you just search all day in an awful browser for sounds that are uninspiring and dated - IMHO, occasionally finding a gem. I got rid of it long ago, went back recently with the free sample tank promo, then remembered all I didn't like about it and again got rid of it.
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- KVRAF
- 3441 posts since 15 Mar, 2003
I have Sampletank, Independence Pro, Kontakt and VIone.
I rarely use VIone.
Except for drums and percussion, I don't think it sounds very good.
However, from the various opinions on this thread you can see that it is fairly subjective.
There are demo tunes for VIone floating around somewhere.
I don't remember where I got them from.
I rarely use VIone.
Except for drums and percussion, I don't think it sounds very good.
However, from the various opinions on this thread you can see that it is fairly subjective.
There are demo tunes for VIone floating around somewhere.
I don't remember where I got them from.
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- KVRAF
- 1749 posts since 30 Jul, 2007
I am actually quite impressed by Cakewalk's Dimension Pro. I am also a Sampletank 2 XL fan, but I feel as though the quality is a bit nicer in Dimension, but Sampletank is really easy and nice to layer and add FX.
Dimension Pro also comes with a nice collection from Garritan Personal Orchestra.
I understand your reference to Sampletank sounding GM like, but that can all change if you learn to really use the modulation features, but that could be more tweaking than you want compared to just getting something like Kontakt.
I never heard of VI.One.
Wusikstation as someone else mentioned... IMO it is a convoluted/bloated piece of crap quality wise. It has some nice synth patches, but the acoustic stuff is very, very poor. The GUI and interface though is brilliant and wonderful. I still own it for the GUI and electronic'ish sounds...
Dimension Pro also comes with a nice collection from Garritan Personal Orchestra.
I understand your reference to Sampletank sounding GM like, but that can all change if you learn to really use the modulation features, but that could be more tweaking than you want compared to just getting something like Kontakt.
I never heard of VI.One.Wusikstation as someone else mentioned... IMO it is a convoluted/bloated piece of crap quality wise. It has some nice synth patches, but the acoustic stuff is very, very poor. The GUI and interface though is brilliant and wonderful. I still own it for the GUI and electronic'ish sounds...
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- KVRist
- 142 posts since 25 Oct, 2004
