I am planning to buy Miroslav philharmonik soon and am wondering if spending the extra $50 on IK total workstation XL to get sampletank, tron, synth.... is worth it?

I have read many posts here on sampletank and it seems like most people don't like/use it after they get another bread-and-butter collection (Kontakt, Independence, EW Goliath/Colossus...) or fill in with specialized libraries. The good comments I have read about the sampletank-family is that it can be good for scratch-padding a composition and then replacing instruments later once the overall composition is in place. Or that it is good when starting to build an instrument collection.

I currently have EIC2 which came with Live-suite in addition to a nice collection of VAs, drums and some specialized sample libraries. I wasn't planning on getting sampletank, and do not really need a new bread-n-butter collection, but for $50 extra it got me thinking. I don't want to clutter my computer/plugins, but if it can be useful then $50 is not a lot of money.

Hello, I have the Miroslav philharmonik CE which I think is great - I think you can download a demo version of it to try it out.
I'm really pleased with Miroslav philharmonik CE- I have not used the other products you mention so cannot comment.
Cheers,
Steve

For $50, total workstation is completely worth it. There are some very nice sounds in there.

Very true, the bang for buck ratio is a no brainer! I had ce for a while then eventually bought total workstation. Now I just use sampletank for orchestral sounds.

Hi, I'm interested in Chello sounds - Would Sampletank give me a really real sounding Chello?
Cheers,
Steve

+1000000

did i miss something? is there total workstation XL for a hundred bucks? or did the OP miss the IK sale (Philarmonik for 50 bucks @ audiodeluxe)?

I missed the fact that IK is running a sale right now
I was basing this on prices here in Japan for boxed software. total workstation box here is 18500yen (~$200) and miroslav box is 13500yen ($145).

The sale price makes this thread a bit moot. I think I will just get the discount $50 miroslav download and save my money.

but thanks for the comments everyone

I own SonikSynth2 since 1 year. The sounds are great, the conept too, but the SampleTank engine is buggy and has a lot of glitches which will not be fixed by IK soon.

I recommned to save up some money and buy NI Komplete which is very good. When you own Live, upgrade to Live9 Suite when its out. The sample library will have a lot of good classic soundsets. I'm using the Beta right now and it works fine.

cheers
T

EDIT: i downloading the orchestral collection packs for live ) right now, which will be included in the Live 9 Suite. For everyone who uses Live 8 / Suite i really can recommend to keep the money and wait until March 5 to buy the upgrade.
Last edited by wehkah on Tue Feb 19, 2013 6:17 am; edited 1 time in total

Yes, the engine... We are eagerly waiting for a version 3 of sampletank ... Sometime in the extremely distant future. Maybe next year or so...

32bit only and requires admin privileges to run.

About the samples, they are single velocity ones AFAIK (not up to todays standards) but with the correctly chosen on board effects (which came from amplitube) they sound great.

Hey paulbreeze, there are velocity switched instruments in ST and related VIs, they usually are noted with a "D". As in 2D is two velocity layered, etc. up through 4D for some pianos and guitars.

And for $50 getting more Trons, Moogs and vintage keys than you can shake a joystick at is a great deal! I use my IK stuff all the time for TV spots and songs, and rarely replace them.

I'd say go for it!

KVR/eSoundz: Xenobt

Good to know. Yes, for this price they are really a no brainer, no question. But still, they are 32bit only and require admin privileges.

You don't hear from the thousands using it while not posting on internet forums. They are good bread and butter sounds and there are plenty of folks who think they'll replace the sounds and then don't. Try out the free version and listen to what your ears and gut tell you, not the "anonymous alleged majority" on the internet. Also, the 64-bit version is in the works, with more sounds - a fantastic collection - though there are also thousands using the current version in a certain 32-bit DAW that is quite popular almost everywhere BUT here, and thousands more using it bridged in their 64-bit DAW happily with many-layered sounds and many tracks full of SampleTank without their system breaking a sweat.

We are waiting for it...

Oh, and Peter. Don't get me wrong. I like those sampletank based products. Have them all...