Sampletank 2 opinions please

[paulie]

For me its perfect (well almost). A wide range of Pianos, Strings and other bread 'n' butter stuff plus lots of synth presets & creative stuff, i havent even got into yet.

On the plus the samples do have FX applied and they tend to sit in a mix very well - immediately. If you use lots of sampletank stuff tho, using the presets and not changing the FX, the overall sound tends to be too laid back. It does have a "sound" of its own

I havent delved too much into the more advanced stuff, although have created my own sample sets which was really easy.

[juanito]

I'm an owner of a MOTIF Rack, and IMO, it blows the socks off Sampletank 2 in all areas. Can't say that I turn to ST for any particular sound category before the MOTIF. Having said that, ST does have its place in my studio.

To a degree, the Motif has some really nice sounds. Particularly with the Keys, Bass & drum Patches but if you were to bypass the on board effects and then make the comparison, then essentially what you got are ok sounds . . .

What's cool about ST2 is you can get that Motif Flavor by running insert efx through the signal chain.

I do think though The reason why the motif does rock is that it is THE KEYBOARD! for playing live. Hands Down. You won't get any disgreements from me on that.

- juanito

[jones-y]

I do think though The reason why the motif does rock is that it is THE KEYBOARD! for playing live. Hands Down. You won't get any disgreements from me on that.

- juanito

Hafta agree there. I started with a MOTIF 7, and its keyboard action absolutely spoiled me.

[Mighty_Hero]

I finally got to install my ST2 last night and I think it's fantastic.

[funkynuts]

I think sampletank is great at what it does ie. a desktop version of a jv2080 or proteus etc.

There are lots of outstanding sounds but also lots of real dogs but that doesn,t mean you won,t find a use for them.

I,ve found it very useful as a source of meat and potato style sounds and the ability to import akai cdroms is great.

[Meffy]

lots of real dogs but that doesn,t mean you won,t find a use for them.

Sometimes when you layer two dogs, interesting things can happen.





Hey, someone throw a bucket of cold water on those dogs! I meant samples that aren't as good as the rest. >_<

Meffy

[funkynuts]

lots of real dogs but that doesn,t mean you won,t find a use for them.

Sometimes when you layer two dogs, interesting things can happen

Meffy

Exactly!

Who needs 24 bit 96k
give me me a dictaphone ,a bucket and some sticks any day.

[FlounderEye]

I really like my Sampletank 2xl. The reviews of specific instruments and effects above has been pretty much accurate to my experience.

Any sound I need can be found, and generally, will be acceptable. I use it to supplement other stuff. I've found the rhythm loops (which can be set to match the BPM of the sequencer) to be as quick and handy as dragging in an actual acid-style loop.

[idobs]

I originally bought SampleTank because I thought T-Racks was fantastic, and figured I'd give their other products a shot.

I'm not dissappointed, it has a very good all-around library. I like the accoustic guitars a lot. Here's a warning, though: If you want "synth" sounds, don't get SampleTank (those sounds are really poor).


-Ido

[johnnytluxury]

I think sampletank is great at what it does ie. a desktop version of a jv2080 or proteus etc.

Huh? ITS A SAMPLER!!!!!! NOT A ROMPLER! Granted you could use it as a ROMpler, but thats like using a van to go to the races. That said, who uses preset sounds anyways? What, y'all have lost your creativity? Or maybe you just dont know how? Let it be known, as far a sampler goes, well its a good 'un. I've had a few hardware samplers in my life, and this is definately easier to use, quicker to access, and not too many bugs in the package overall.
Yeah there are those that complain about effects, but as my buddy the other day was complaining that his Waves IR-1 didnt have enough "space" to it, ppls taste in effects are much varied. Ppl need to realize this. Your fav bit-crusher aint my fav. T-racks aint my mastering program of choice, does that make me a bad guy? Not to mention who sits and listens to a track and can identify the types of reverb, delays, et c. in it? If you do, I DONT want to be part of your crew, I just wanna make music to my taste.
ST2 has some good sounds in its library, but once again, its a sampler, the idea is to put in x sound, twist it, mutilate it, do whatever, but dont make it just "be" x sound. Thats not to say x sound isnt acceptable as it is, but to put the product down because its sample libraries aint the way youd like em? Laughable. MAKE EM THE WAY YOU WANT EM! So in my opinion, ST2 is a great buy. I've used HALion 2, and as I mentioned before various Akais, Emus hardware. ST2's timestretch algorhythm is okay, it can get a bit "bubbly" at times, but most of that depends on the sounds youre stretching/compressing, not to mention you might just like the bubbly stretching sound on some samples, remember the big deal with time stretched voices 5 years back, and how "artificial" they sounded. Yet EVERY dance track that had vocals used it, hell it even made a certain genre of dance music (speed garage, folks?).
My only gripes would be better handling of samples, as I have some .wavs that ST2 crashes on when I try to import them, and a better MIDI controller system (LinnPlugs ECS works muuuuccchh more intuitively), and I would like to see it have a better interface for the built-in controls GUI. And the price is a bit high, in this day and age, even for what you get. Nonetheless, I'm givin it a chopice buy, as long as youre not some plain jane sample user, and actually TRY to get in the depth of your instrument. One love.

[JaseisMusic]

I think sampletank is great at what it does ie. a desktop version of a jv2080 or proteus etc.

Huh? ITS A SAMPLER!!!!!! NOT A ROMPLER! Granted you could use it as a ROMpler, but thats like using a van to go to the races. That said, who uses preset sounds anyways? What, y'all have lost your creativity? Or maybe you just dont know how? I am an ass

They don't include over 1,000 presets so you could make your own. It's not a VA synth. Who uses presets? most music makers. Most consider this a rompler/sound source type of gear.

[johnnytluxury]

Totally off base with that one, I you have to use a preset then fine use the preset, but for god sakes, its a freakin sampler, and to think that youre stuck in "preset land" is a totally tunnel brained. i dont know how you make music, and what impresses you, but my ideas come from thinking out of the box. presets are good, yes, but imagine what YOU could do with them presets? Add you own flavour, you own dimension. Imagine if Armand never incorporated time-stretching in his vocals, left them flat, or Timbo never stuttering his beats, or Kraftwork for using sampling period. Frankly i bore of XX sample Cd and its cool sounds, Im much more impressed at thpose guys coming up with their own sound, their own interpretation. Most consider samplers Romplers? nah dont think so, cheif, nobody i know does. Like i say, you can use it for a ROMpler, but thats only using it halfway, so how can you pass full judgement on the product if all youve done was open the box?

And by the way, i forgot to mention a few things Im also not happy about on ST2. The zoning capabilities suck, Give me Reasons NN-XT anyday for zoning chores. nuff said, back to the beats.

[JaseisMusic]

Great! so I take it you bought the engine only so you can make your own sounds

[johnnytluxury]

Well, it is a sampler. You might not remember, but back when the Fairlight was the only digital sampler of its kind, there was no such thing as sampler libraries.. Muscians had to IMPORT their sounds, so that they could do what they wanted with them. Unlike the Mellotron, which used pre-recorded analogue tape loops, the Fairlight opened up the genre for the originality and creativity of musicians. So, with that said, yes I bought ST2 SOLEY for its engine, because I can use anything for my sounds, I just need something to manipulate them.

[johnnytluxury]

Actually the more i read this post, the more I see the title being wrong. it should be called "SampleTank 2 Soundlibraries: Your Opinion". maybe I'm the dumb one here, but the idea of basing a sampler on its library, well its kinna weak. Ive said that before when analogue synths made a comeback in the mid 90's, because all these kids went and bought em for the presets. my boy had a JP-8000, and once he had used all the presets, he put it up for sale. What about all the knob twiddling? Nah, he said, too much complication. Same thing for a sampler. You wanna impress me? Give me a sampler that can do things other samplers cant. Dont give me an Akai clone, or an E-mu wanna-be. give me better liquid engines, more effects, ORIGINAL effects, and abilities that no one has thought of. You guys can go on and pay your $100+ for "cool" sample libraries, Ill just get my sounds the old fashioned way. ciao