SampleMoog

GENERAL

Sample Moog from IK multimedia is supposed to be a "Moog Synth Anthhology". It contains more than 4 GB of samples and 1700 patches which were done in cooparation with Moog Music and Sonic Reality. Included Instruments are : Minimoog Model D, Moog Modular 3C, Moog Modular 15, Moog Modular 55, Memorymoog, Multimoog, Prodigy, Source, Polymoog, Concertmate MG-1, Taurus 1, Vocoder, Etherwave Theremin, Minimoog Voyager, Little Phatty. Maybe the most complete sample collection ever. SampleMoog is based on the SampleTank engine and contains two different synth engines (resampling and new STRETCH-engine). STRETCh means Sampletank Time REsynthesis TeCHnology.

USER INTERFACE

The user interface is known from Sampletank but the GUI has the typical Moog style like Minimoog switches and rotary knobs. The interface is very easy to use, the only bad thing is the small text in both GUI and browser. Patches are organized by Instrument. A possibility to search for categories would be nice. Only the Multis are sorted after categories.

SOUND

This is the most important point for me and in one word the sound is fantastic. I owned a Minimoog Model D for some months so i know how it sounds. In my opinion this sounds better than dedicated Moog softsynths like the Arturia stuff or Minimonsta. For shure it does not have the sound creation possibilities of the full synth but the sheer number of patches lets you forget about that. There are hundreds of really useful leads, many (also hundreds) interesting and nice pads and of course basses and FX. Some nice pads are based on monophonic synths like the Minimoog because the engine allows to play them polyphonic. You can turn some bass sounds into nice leads by changing the pitch 1 or 2 octaves higher.
As a conclusion i can say that all typical Moog leads, basses, pads, polysynth, brass, and FX patches are contained. Not contained are Arped or sequenced patches but the the basic patches for an external sequencer are there..

FEATURES
The features of the engine more or less correspond to the Sampletank 2.5 engine. It's 16 part multitimral and split and/or layer zones could be set. The keyboard can be easily transposed.
Play modes for each element are are Mono, Poly and Legato 1 or 2. Rotary knobs for Portamento time, Main volume and Pan are present in every patch. Two rows for controls are there, the lower for FX (like EQ, compressor, Gain, Delay, Reverb, flanger, phaser, chorus...) and the upper which can be switched between controls for "range, macro, synth, filter, ENV1 (Amp), ENV2 (Filter), LFO1, LFO2 and VEL (Velocity)". Some features :
RANGE = transpose, velocity amount
MACRO = cutoff, resonance, keytrack
SYNTH = switch for RESAMP (resampling enngine) and STRETCH (STRETCH engine), pitch, fine tune, bender, pan
A) RESAMP = Pitch, Fine, Bender, Pan
B) STRETCH = pitch, fine, Bender, Pan, Harm pres, Hrmncs (Harmonics)
FILTER = type (LPF, BPF, HPF), slope (8, 12, 24 dB/oct), Freq (Cutoff), Res (resonance)
ENV1 = Amp envelope: attack, hold, decay, sustain, release, level
ENV2 ) Filter envelope: attack, hold, decay, sustain, release, filter (env amount), pitch
LFO1 = Wave, rate, depth, delay, level, pitch, filter, switches:BPM sync + free run
LFO2 = Wave, rate, depth, level, pitch, filter, pan, switch: BPM sync
VEL = veloocity modulation:Curve, amp, filter, pitch, res, lfo1depth, env2sus

PRESETS

1700 presets, sorted by instrument. Like i said in sound almost all kind of Moog leads, basses, pads polysynths, brasses and FX are contained. Some multis are contained, sorted by category. Bad thing is that the single presets are not sorted by category. The quality of the presets is so good that i give a 10. The most important thing is that most of the patches are really usable which could not be said about many other softsynths. No Arp or sequencer sounds contained, for that i use VAZ Modular or Sylenth1. Which Moog synth had an arpeggiator anyway ?? I think it was only the Source. From some synths the basic waveforms are contained for programming your own patches.

DOCUMENTATION

The documentation is quite good, t explains al features of the synth and is easy to understand.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Just think about buying all the original synths in this package. I guess you must sell your house or atb least your new Mercedes for this. You can use the samples in the full version of Sampletank.
Based on the quality and the sheer number of patches i would say that the price is not too high for this even if it's not "a steal".

STABILITY

I run it on a PC with a Core2Quad QX6600, Windows Vista and Ableton Live 7.0.10. The Standalone version and the VSt work 100% stable and is very CPU friendly.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Haven't dealt much with them, so i'll give an average rating.

CONCLUSION

I would recommend this synth to anyone who is interested in authentoc Moog sounds without spending thousands of euros for the real synths. It'a a kind of library for Moog sounds.Read Review