KVR Audio

damayor · Post by **damayor** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 11:45 pm

Okay so before we begin, I have Halion 6. I learned it I live it and I love it. I have omnisphere so not be looking for suggestions of other synths. It's just sampletank 4 I am interested in. I know I can do all in Halion 6. More when I need, but i come from hardware workstations and I always had a motif fantom and a m3 from the big three at the same time, so I'm a workstation junky. I looked at Vir V.I One but I want to shedding not in kontakt form as it's a big clunky. Those two I guess are the big three as I tried expand and those sounds were not that great just okay, kinda like buying a Casio work station and I have the Triton and Korg m1 and the Roland's jv and expansions.

Now, my issue is as I was almost about to buy I went to the pdf file on their site and it seems the massive library of sounds is majority made up up of sampletank 3 and 2 sounds just repacked regurgitated and shipped out. I never was a fan of sample tank 2 sounds. However, sample tank 3 was good not great (except their pianos) but I hated the interface. So, am I getting sample tank 2 and 3 with a better interface it did they use new samples and just used the same presets? That's my question and decision if I'm but it or not.

mdstudio · Post by **mdstudio** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 12:05 am

Not sure about Standard and SE, but in MAX there are new sounds as well as the content from ST 3 and 2. You can go here

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st4/ -> Sounds -> "Click here to see the list of included instruments." -> "Sampletank 4 New Instruments".

As for the new UI, I think you can (and should) get the free SampleTank 4 Custom Shop first to see if you like it.

rlared · Post by **rlared** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 12:47 am

It's mostly a new UI and some new features. If you already have and like Halion 6 then I don't see the point of getting ST4.

On the other hand, if you can catch a great deal on Total Studio 2 Max then I'd say go for it (although installation is a HUGE pain). I caught the insane sale they did a while back on Total Studio 2 Max and no regrets. . . then you get the Philharmonik, Syntronik, T-Racks, MODO Bass, etc.

lessera · Post by **lessera** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 12:47 am

The interface of ST4 is much better than ST3. I personally think that the included instruments in the ST4 (max) library are quite an improvement over ST3 (subjective opinion of course). The pianos, guitars and basses are surprisingly good (usable).

I never really warmed up to ST3's interface, or quality of samples. Contrarily, I often call up ST4 when I need some acoustic instruments in my projects. For whatever that's worth...

My biggest concern would be your fondness for Halion 6. ST4 is quite a different beast. The depth of ST4 might seem a bit limiting to you by comparison. (It's simplicity might be a welcomed change though

)

Hope that helps a little.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 12:50 am

I've used all four of what was mentioned in the first post...
Really suggest you don't waste your time or money on IK or that Vir2.
You're pretty much covered with what you've got. So maybe give us a clue as to what you think you're missing with those two?

Guaranteed you'll get pages here of better suggestions...

damayor · Post by **damayor** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 1:34 am

BBFG# wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 12:50 am I've used all four of what was mentioned in the first post...
Really suggest you don't waste your time or money on IK or that Vir2.
You're pretty much covered with what you've got. So maybe give us a clue as to what you think you're missing with those two?

Guaranteed you'll get pages here of better suggestions...

I don't think I'm missing anything, but as I said I like workstations where everything is in one interface multi timbre. I am used to having different hardware workstations and I want that work flow again. Halion 6 reminds me of Yamaha motif and Korg Kronos had a baby. I was thinking adding Sampletank might give me the fantom feel with different samples and presets. I already have diva, zebra, dune 3, pigments, hive 2, Ana 2, synth master, omnisphere, kontakt with loads of good libraries synths and acoustic, avenger and many more I don't wanna name all but those are the ones I use most. I am looking for my second workstation my white whale.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:27 am

Then anything more would prove to be more of a distraction.
And I consider Omni to be more of an "evolution" from and replacement of the Roland line.

Seriously, you're covered.

glokraw · Post by **glokraw** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:06 am

As mentioned, use the free version of ST4, and see if the interface, effects, arp, strummer etc are to your liking. There is a custom shop for sounds, and a big sale or bundle is never too far off.

A big plus is that Syntronik sounds integrate seemlessly (always wanted an SY-99 plugin !) So try it's free version at the same time.

Old IK sounds with the newest effects,
will sound better than remembered.
Cheers

damayor · Post by **damayor** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:33 am

I tried Sampletank the full thing tonight my buddy has it didn't even know. The pianos are awesome have down beat Halion sonic. Just about everything else I didn't really like. Alot of unusable sounds. I think what bothers me was the volume. Went from normalize to ear piercing loud. The GUI is much better I enjoy that got the most part. I wish the strings had more ensemble cinematic strings. Almost the strings were a after thought. Is there any way to get just the pianos of sample tank?

Iva · Post by **Iva** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:37 am

pianos? do yourself a favour. go and buy pianoteq.

auron · Post by **auron** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:50 am

I have Halion 6 as well , so if you have the usb licenser you can try it for 30 days (afaik) and does sampletank 4 also have a trial period with the complete library or is it restricted? I am particularly interested in choral sounds and strings.

Iva · Post by **Iva** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:56 am

I had both. sold sample tank. it was very CPU intensive. libraries overlapped alot with Hal 6, no synth engines. strings and pianos were better than in Hal 6 in my opinion, but it used too much disk space.

mike@manike · Post by **mike@manike** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:15 am

I have both.

They're two different beast with Halion being a sampler - having wavetable synthesis etc.

But if you're just looking at the sounds I think Sampletank 4 has something to offer as you can get it pretty cheap in the deals. It has some serious downfalls - unable to route individual drums to different outputs etc.

Not really a fan of the included sounds in Halion. The two pianos are good - with one of them.. Eagle I think using the same samples as the Kontakt Maverick piano.

IMO sampletank excels in its keys. Some good organs, rhodes and nice bright C7 piano.

Bippo · Post by **Bippo** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:16 am

Buy hardware.
I've got yamaha's modx, it's 10x better than halionn/sampletank/omni.
All the presets are excellent and those vstis sound very pale and weak in comparison.
In modx you've got lcd touch screen where you can assign all different sounds, I use it with the midi out plugin in fl studio and I've got everything I need.

mike@manike · Post by **mike@manike** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:20 am

Bippo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:16 am Buy hardware.
I've got yamaha's modx, it's 10x better than halionn/sampletank/omni.

This isn't good advice - referring to it as hardware is misleading. A computer running sampletank is as much hardware as a Yamaha modx is. The yamaha is just a computer running software with a keyboard attached.

Halion 6 vs Sampletank 4