IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

[2busdriver]

Registered just now as either number 6789 or 6790

[barbecutie]

IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

Now 8X1! Currently at 6792 users.

Group buy ends June 6th!

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/xtgroupbuy

and

http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4293

BBC

If you are purchasing from eSoundz - be sure to refer someone. You and your referral will earn ePointz which can be used to purchase downloadable items from esoundz.com and downloadablesoundz.com.

esoundz user: BarBeCutie or see epointz referral thread below for other users:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... ht=epointz

[madhatter_]

...I've got a folder on my HD now titled SampleTank 2 that contains some multis, but every time I try to load them, I get the "Instrument X not found" prompt for some instruments, but some load fine. Is there a certain place to put those ikmp. patches in the folder structure so they'll see all the multi parts?

Your multis are likely OK where they are... the missing instruments are ones that only come with the larger ST/XL sampleset. All of the versions of SampleTank come with the same set of multis as part of the software install, regardless of which version you have. With the XT version of SampleTank I would expect the multis to generate even more errors if some of them reference instruments that are in the L version of SampleTank.

It's kinda annoying but I guess it's easier for IKM to do it that way than it is to sort out which multis should or should not be installed.

[zedd]

It's kinda annoying but I guess it's easier for IKM to do it that way than it is to sort out which multis should or should not be installed.

The worst part is that every time you install SampleTank, it installs a new copy of these default COMBIs and moves all the COMBIs that you have (including any that you have created and which actually do work) into a backup folder one level down. Reinstall again, and they go one level deeper and you get another copy of the ST default COMBIs, and so on. I have had to deleted numerous copies of that folder over the years.

And then, there is some kind of permissions issue, so that when trying to bring the COMBIs that you do want to access back to the topmost level, it makes ANOTHER copy of the files rather than just moving them from the backup folder. It is quite annoying... right up there with the file naming system and the whole parent/child rigidity. ST3 should address all of this, I would hope.

I need to know if I can adjust the loop that sustains the sample itself.

I'm pretty sure that you can't.

Same with the ST2 effects I downloaded from the esoundz freesoundz area. I put the two folders in the main effects folder, but I don't see them in the pulldown list of effects on the GUI even after relisting.

You can't do that either. I'm not sure what you think you downloaded from the freesoundz area, but it was definitely not new FX which are supposed to show up in the main effects folder... those are fixed.

Maybe you downloaded some more COMBIs?

[torgo]

Thanks for the notes on Omnisynth 2, everyone.

I think I will go for the Hip Hop Instruments set. Still haven't decided which one to scratch off the list to make room. But with the original Piano Collection, Sonik Synth 2 and SampleTank 2.5 XL in hand, both Omnisynth 2 and Piano Collection 2 seem like ideal candidates.

[JoeDeF]

Thanks for the notes on Omnisynth 2, everyone.

I think I will go for the Hip Hop Instruments set. Still haven't decided which one to scratch off the list to make room. But with the original Piano Collection, Sonik Synth 2 and SampleTank 2.5 XL in hand, both Omnisynth 2 and Piano Collection 2 seem like ideal candidates.

I think that Hip Hop is an excellent choice. I was pretty skeptical about, but I'm really glad I chose it. It is so diverse that the name "Hip Hop" does it a disservice. It has a wide array of high quality sounds. While it doesn't have as many as Omnisynth (of course), what it has are of good quality and useable in many, many styles. In fact, if someone needed a wide array of sounds but didn't need to have *every* GM patch covered, I'd recommend Hip Hop instead as an all-arounder.

As for Hip Hop vs Piano Collection 2, while PC2 turned out to be a little nicer than I expected, it certainly can't compete with Ivory or any of the other huge stand-alone pianos, or even some of the bigger sample sets in other stand-alone products. When it comes to pianos, both real and virtual, bigger is better, and this collection offers a bunch of smaller pianos, instead of one piano (or one-tenth of, or one-hundredth of one piano ).

I know that you've already got a lot of sonic territory covered, torgo, as it sounds like you've got plenty of soundware and lots of knowledge to go along with it. I am writing to reassure you and/or anyone else trying to decide what to get that Hip Hop is an excellent choice (even if you don't like or do any hip hop music).

Joe

P.S. - nothing against Omnisynth or PC2; they both do have some nice sounds that I'll surely use....

[Xenobt]

Thanks Zedd and madhatter, that clears up two of three! Thanks for the heads up on the folder copy and the mystery multis...

Really disappointing that you can't loop your own samples cuz some click or warble a bit!, But it does have a great feature set for a ROMpler. I've been particularly impressed with Stretch on solo acoustic instruments, MUCH smoother and more realistic.

Also, there have been some posts about the ST tone quality vs other workstations. I think the difference in tone is that the SR libraries have a "recorded" sound, i.e. off a final master, with all the cool vintage gear in full effect. Where most other libraries use a close-mic/in-your-face approach. Both are good, but MIXING them is even better!

Try this: turn on eq/comp as one of your Part fx, and use these settings:
Low Gain +5.2db/mid freq 1.8khz/mid gain -7db/Hi Gain +3db/ Comp Off/Gain 0.0

Many of the samples are mono, so add something else to get them out there in stereo, (like the CS reverb, ambience or multitap chorus for example). Turn the wet/dry mix to 32%. Press the lock button on the lower left and step thru your libraries. See what you think, it seems to open things up some...

The final mystery is the 50 Multi-Effects/25 Bonus Multi-Effects folders from the esoundz freesoundz Sampletank 2 area. Can't figure out what they're supposed to do if the fx selection is locked at 33. Can you even load your own fx?

Here's the link:

http://www.esoundz.com/freesoundz.php

Thanks again for the input, DAMN it's the sixth! But almost 7000? Yow!

[madhatter_]

The final mystery is the 50 Multi-Effects/25 Bonus Multi-Effects folders from the esoundz freesoundz Sampletank 2 area. Can't figure out what they're supposed to do if the fx selection is locked at 33. Can you even load your own fx?

Well, we can clear up that final mystery for you...

You can't add any new effects to SampleTank other than what you find in the EFF section drop-downs. What you CAN do, however, is save and load your effects SETTINGS. They are stored as .stfx files.

What you downloaded from esoundz are fx settings. To use them, look for the Save Multi/Save/Load buttons in the lower-left corner of the GUI. Those buttons are for saving/loading .stfx files.

Page 33 of the ST 2.5 manual should give you the details you need.

[D-Fusion]

They are presets for effects instead of instruments.
So when you load them from the effect load button you get a preconfigured Effect setup

[UliH]

Guys, could someone (on a Mac) do me a quick favor and load up the Miroslav Choir patch (the last one the is stretched). Does it crash on you? It keeps crashing the player in both standalone in the AU in Logic for me- just that one patch. Not sure if I have something corrupt or not (then again- I did spend a few hours last night playing every sound in Cinematik).

Thanks

Yep, crashes (freezes at high CPU, to be precise), standalone or plugin. (Win XP)
Otherwise rock-solid.

Edit: Sampletank 2 XT Sounds, Miroslav, Choir, Female Looped, "Female Oh LP STCH".

Does anybody has the same problem or a solution for crashes/freezes as standalone and as VSt in Cubase 5? It seems to me, that the problem occurs when I change the samples too quickly.

[Scoops]

Peter-IK Multimedia

Help me out please

I've purchases the ST deal through the IK web site so I could use my jammin points. I did this yesterday
I still haven't received my serial #
I entered a service request, but didn't get a receipt from that either.
I tried calling tech support, but I got a message that says "mailbox full" and the phone system hangs up.


Thanks

[zedd]

The final mystery is the 50 Multi-Effects/25 Bonus Multi-Effects folders from the esoundz freesoundz Sampletank 2 area. Can't figure out what they're supposed to do if the fx selection is locked at 33. Can you even load your own fx?

Well, we can clear up that final mystery for you...

You can't add any new effects to SampleTank other than what you find in the EFF section drop-downs. What you CAN do, however, is save and load your effects SETTINGS. They are stored as .stfx files.

What you downloaded from esoundz are fx settings. To use them, look for the Save Multi/Save/Load buttons in the lower-left corner of the GUI. Those buttons are for saving/loading .stfx files.

What he said!

They don't always load and save properly, however. There was a time a few years ago when trying to load or save FX settings would just crash my DAW. But with ST2.5 this has seemed to work properly, most of the time. But I would double check anything that you save by trying to reload it so that you know for sure your settings were properly saved.

The last time I used it, last week, it didn't properly save my effects and skipped one of the effects for a very different sound. I hope that this finally works reliably with ST3, because this *could* be a very powerful feature.

[acousticglue]

Guys, could someone (on a Mac) do me a quick favor and load up the Miroslav Choir patch (the last one the is stretched). Does it crash on you? It keeps crashing the player in both standalone in the AU in Logic for me- just that one patch. Not sure if I have something corrupt or not (then again- I did spend a few hours last night playing every sound in Cinematik).

Thanks

Yep, crashes (freezes at high CPU, to be precise), standalone or plugin. (Win XP)
Otherwise rock-solid.

Edit: Sampletank 2 XT Sounds, Miroslav, Choir, Female Looped, "Female Oh LP STCH".

Does anybody has the same problem or a solution for crashes/freezes as standalone and as VSt in Cubase 5? It seems to me, that the problem occurs when I change the samples too quickly.

Yes, it does this in SAW Studio Lite on the vocal pack especially. To get around it at times I have to use special buffer settings for plugins that don't play nice all the time.

[torgo]

Thanks, JoeDeF!

Zedd and I were kinda in the same boat on our choices. Piano Collection 2 would have been my #1 choice, but I already have the original Piano Collection. There are only 3 new parent samples in PC2, and 2 of them are identical. So I'd be burning a choice just to get 2 new sounds and some extra child patches.

And with Omnisynth 2, it's not that it isn't a good set of sounds but that we already have Sonik Synth 2. I don't know if the samples are the same (if the Tubular Bells sound in O2 is exactly the same as the Tubular Bells sound from SS2) but SS2 does have all that stuff covered. So outside of having the sounds already prearranged for use as a GM set, there's not a whole lot the Omnisynth set has to offer that we don't already have.

The Hip Hop Instruments set, on the other hand, looks like it's a new set of sounds. (The demo sounded pretty cool too.) There may be a few repeats from Sonik Synth 2 (many of the sets do have a few samples that are also in SS2) but probably not many. So for owners of Sonik Synth and the original Piano Collection, it would be a better set to get than either PC2 or Omnisynth 2.

I'll probably scratch Omnisynth to add Hip Hop Instruments. The remaining sets (Electronic Drums and a few remaining loops/grooves) don't interest me enough, so I'll probably keep Piano Collection 2 on the list anyway.

Thanks again everyone!

[zedd]

The remaining sets (Electronic Drums and a few remaining loops/grooves) don't interest me enough...

I actually selected Electronic Drums as my final pick, and I am quite pleased with it. There is quite a bit of content, and some good sounds. Most of what I do does not call for much in this department, but every so often I need some percussive element that is more electronic, and I might also do some DUB mixes of stuff at some point. I'm quite happy to have this in my library to look through when I need to.

I'd say that of all the 24 packs I selected, the ones which thrilled me the least were the SampleOB Xpander and the Vocal Collection. Both of those had very little that I can imagine every using, and also very little that was different from what I had already. My favorite vocal presets I already had from a previous GB... or maybe from SS2.

But there are 22 packs that I am pretty thrilled about, and I'm still happy to have the additional 2, since each has at least one or two things that I may use. So this has been a really great GB from my perspective. I'm already starting to use these new sounds in songs and feeling grateful for all this stuff.

Looks like the next GB is for other ST powered instruments:
http://www.esoundz.com/news1.php?nbr=5969

Since I have all of them, already, I will be skipping that one.