IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

[torgo]

Thanks bk! That's the second bad review we've seen of Dyno My Road, and it's also the first highly positive review of the 150 meg Granduation Day / Acoustic Grand patch.

(They're actually identical samples, which leaves users who own the original Piano Collection with a tough decision. It's a good sound, but it's kinda hard to burn a Group Buy choice on a single good new parent sample.)

[torgo]

My earlier question got lost in the jumble (happens easily on a 223 page thread).

Anyone who is into loops/grooves - do you feel the MIDI slice maps are important?

If you had to use TWO group buy choices to get the MIDI slice maps or use just one to get the same collection of loops without the MIDI maps, which would you choose, the MIDI maps or an extra Group Buy choice?

[Mattiiiii]

Yes, in all xpansion packs there are tuning, pop, click, splitpoint, volume, attack, decay and velocity problems. These packs were probably made in a hurry.

I hope we won't read that a lot about future Sonic Reality and IK Multimedia products.

Still, I joined this GB three times, find this deal incredible and hope to find a lot of good stuff in the packs.

[Scotty]

Thanks for the comments. My machine Intel Quad is optimized for audio but I am running a defrag on that drive now to see if it makes the difference. Regarding the previous poster who is on OS X. I am not surprised that that would be nimble but alas I am on a PC.

The various comments about ST performance are interesting.

My experience to date has been great, running on two and a half year old 2.4Ghz Dual Core laptop with 3GB of RAM (Windows 7). After seeing the comments, I decided to do some timings and got the following results:

Load ST standalone = 2 seconds
Load ST VST (in Reaper) = 2 seconds
Search (Djembe)= 1 second (almost instant, but it takes a moment to look from the screen back to the watch).
Search (B3)= 1 second (as above).

When loading projects with multiple plug-ins (usually Sampletank, 3 instances of Amplitube3 and Kontakt with Infinite Player Drum libraries), I find the slow one is Kontakt loading the drum samples.

This is all on my daily use laptop, which I use for a variety of purposes other than music, however, I am very selective about software I install (read OCD:) ) and am always careful to maintain a clean, well-performing system (okay,I am a nerd).

On a similar or better spec machine, I could only guess that the likely causes of slowdown would be either processes or services running on the machine that are hogging resources (software updaters, anti-virus and peripheral applications such as software for syncing mobile phones are common culprits), or, slow hard drives (including using external USB drives, which I have found makes load time intolerable for Kontakt libraries...I didn't bother trying this with SampleTank).

If the above can be ruled out as causes, then I guess IK Support might have some other suggestions. Hopefully the above timings help people to understand what they should be able to expect and anything too different would probably suggest a problem.

Cheers

[Scotty]

For me , I went with the midi slice samples, I pondered the same choice. I figured I could manually play with midi slices and spice up the loops a bit. That being said, I haven't operationalized my theory.


Hey what a great little midi vst that would be , a random midi rearranger for these chromatic type midi files.

I am hoping that eventually Sampletank 3 will have a audio window with a Dr.Rex style mangler built in. The loop content that we already own would have tremendous utility then.

My earlier question got lost in the jumble (happens easily on a 223 page thread).

Anyone who is into loops/grooves - do you feel the MIDI slice maps are important?

If you had to use TWO group buy choices to get the MIDI slice maps or use just one to get the same collection of loops without the MIDI maps, which would you choose, the MIDI maps or an extra Group Buy choice?

[youngwoerth]

@torgo: It won't make your decision easier, but I like all those three. The split points of Dyno could be a problem, but the sound itself is rather nice. But I won't buy the pack just for those. With Pack 1 you should have more than enough already...

[torgo]

Thanks, everyone. I'm nailing down the last selections today if I can.

I was originally planning to pass on the Electronic Drums and Hip Hop Instruments. But hearing the demos of the Hip Hop Instruments changed my mind on that one.

Now I'm starting to come around on the Electronic Drums too, so I'm working out how to fit it in.

Going with the ReTank version of Trip Hop would free up an extra choice, as it includes the loops from both the Trip Hop and Down Tempo XT packs. I might also skip the Dirty South Grooves set. The demos for that one really didn't impress me.

[youngwoerth]

I'm not too impressed by the Hip Hop Pack. At least by the specific "Hip-Hop-Instruments", that are just regular instruments in my eyes you can find in the other packs too. I don't feel them to add extra value to my "regular" packs. The first section with the deep basses and big synths is really cool and analogue sounding, but just this section is rather small. The overall quality is not that great as let's say in the Electronic Drums Pack you mentioned second - in there you'll find the big produced drums that should've been in the Hip Hop Pack.

I'm still wondering about the big ranges in quality - and about the fact that this point is hardly mentioned in the forum. It's a bit gambling feel - you win or loose with what you choose.

[Xenobt]

I'm still wondering about the big ranges in quality - and about the fact that this point is hardly mentioned in the forum. It's a bit gambling feel - you win or loose with what you choose.

Your point is well made, I wish I could get in and re-loop some of the instrument samples to get out the clicks and warbles, or that they all were fantom/triton/kontakt fidelity, but I find that sometimes that sounds I wouldn't pick in and of themselves could be just the thing your track needs.

Often, after sequencing a part, I'll do "midi roulette" and step through a whole library or bank and I'm often surprised by what I find works best in context.

I've heard some of the tracks soloed from Beatles albums that definitely wouldn't be called hi-fi by todays standards, but are magical in the mix... Just a thought!

[torgo]

I'm still wondering about the big ranges in quality - and about the fact that this point is hardly mentioned in the forum. It's a bit gambling feel - you win or loose with what you choose.

Unfortunately that has been the case - and the main reason why I'm asking so many questions before making the last choices. I've already picked a clunker or two myself.

(Reminder.... if anyone still has an esoundz bonus choice remaining, AVOID the "Rare Vintage Collection Vol 1" set. It's all repeats from the Acoustic Drums, Electric Guitar, and Vintage Keys sets.)



The other set I'm having last-second thoughts about adding is the Nashville Pop Grooves set. The demos and relatively small size (only 613 meg) originally turned me off.

But I didn't look closely enough at the sound list and assumed that all those guitars in the demo were part of the set (like with the Country Folk Rhythms set).

Apparently they are NOT part of it - just extra stuff thrown in for the demos. That helps a lot. The full 613 meg is dedicated to the drum loops, which actually sound pretty good in the demos.

So I might have to throw that one in and drop the Hip Hop Instruments or the Electronic Drums or go with the ReTank version of Trip Hop/Down Tempo after all.

[AtomOfScent]

^As far as quality goes (I got every multi-sample pack) I find Hip Hop Instruments to be one of the very best.

If I had to choose I would take it over the Electronic Drums. The majority of that set is acoustic drums (probably many of the same from Acoustic Drums) run through effects.

I've still got one choice left and am stuck between the Nashville Pop Grooves, Vintage Soul Grooves and Sixties Motown Grooves.

Any comments on the last two? I think I'm leaning towards the latter one because it has the most content. But as we all know, quantity doesn't always equal quality.

The biggest 'clunker' for me was SampleArp without a doubt. Maybe I need to play with it more, but I didn't find much inspiring in there. YMMV.

[youngwoerth]

Completely agree, SampleArp was my badest choice. Do you like SampleOB better?

Hip Hop is OK - what makes it your favourite?

I like Electronic Drums for the well produced versions and the immense variety (complete opposite of SampleArp, that really bores me).

Nashville is not that highly produced - but that could be your turn. Variety is OK, many similar loops though.

[AtomOfScent]

SampleOB seems to have more obvious programming errors and I don't remember being wowed by any of the sounds, but tagged a few that I found usable.

I liked the Hip Hop instruments because of the variety. I find the orchestral sounds work well in a mix and some of the sub bass patches fill a void in my sound library.

Vintage Keys was another one I like. Not a lot of sounds, but they tend to be larger, higher quality and with more character. I didn't find a whole lot to like, but there are a few patches I really love.

[torgo]

SampleArp is probably the top clunker for me too as far as the official IK list goes.

Those instruments are vintage bits that have been on many classic records - but there's usually a whole lot of processing/effects involved. The raw sounds from those instruments were frequently pretty thin, and this set captured their anorexia to the letter.

Kudos to SR for accuracy, but good heavens these sounds need help. Maybe we can create some better child patches with the effects and post them here on KVR to help improve the overall set.




I ended up scratching Dirty South Grooves from my list and getting the ReTank version of Trip Hop Beats instead of the XT Trip Hop and Down Tempo sets. That left me enough remaining selections to get all three of the Hip Hop Instruments, Electronic Drums, and Nashville Pop Grooves titles.

That worked out quite well. Now all that's left is the much anticipated wild card set from Squids. Maybe we should name it the "Godot" set...

[songshark]

quote]
Do you have a support ticket logged? If not, please do and also please send me the number if you have an existing or closed one that you feel wasn't satisfactory. Thanks!

THIS is something I love about IK Multimedia (and Peter). I think it's the only company of which I'm aware that actually SOLICITS support inquiries after they have your money. (And I can tell you from experience that they respond to them in a timely and competent fashion -- even in the midst of a 7000 client group buy!)

For me, customer support is an important element in determining which companies I want to support with my business. In this respect, I have found IK Multimedia to be truly exceptional.