Is IKMM 25 Anniversary worth it, if you have Komplete UCE 13 and...

[MegaPixel]

In short it's all in the title...

I don't play a guitar, so I'm not interested in amplitude and the only things that catches my eye are:

1. MixBox
2. Sample Tank 4 (got the free one installed, not very impressive)
3. SampleTron 2 (has a few nice classic sounds, but then they seem to be all on the same theme)
4. Syntronik (which seems to be a bad version of UVIs Vintage Vault 3 or Synth Anthology 3)

MixBox seems like it has some nice effects processors, sampletron 2 has maybe 20 to 30 good presets at best (most certainly not worth 299, but it would be free). So the big question is Sample Tank 4 and then using all remaining free choices on expansions for that or if the cross grade to ST4 max is an option is that worth it? Or does NI's Komplete UCE 13 combined with Falcon, Serum, Phaseplant, Pigments 3, Analogue Lab V, Diva, Zebra (+HZ), Hive2, Dune3 etc cover most if not all of it?

What are your thoughts?

[Polomo123]

Sample Tank 4 simple no
I have it and regret it every time
for example some Pianos got a loop back problem at the end
Some of the Miroslav are annoying because of the panning
there is no MPE no microscaling and many minor problems

Falcon is 10 time better, and Kontakt fully loaded is also better.

With Komplete comes Guitar Rig with a similar content (More Guitar based but in it's core similar

Mixbox
Amp (9)
Channel Strip (4)
Delay (3)
Distortion (5)
Dynamics (8)
EQ (4)
Filter (10)
Modulation (17)
Reverb (9)
Saturation (3)

Guitar Rig
Amp (21)
Channel Strip
Delay (7)
Distortion (15)
Dynamics (15)
EQ (5)
Filter (11)
Modulation (12)
Reverb (12)
Saturation
with Zebra Zebirfy and with Serum Serum FX.
So really no need for Mixbox.

[MegaPixel]

simple no

Thanks for your input...

Saved my wallet from doing something stupid...

[progtronic]

Yeah...

If you're not interested in AmpliTube, T-Racks or any of the sample based bundles of stuff (Sample Tank/Tron/Miroslav/Syntronik)... you can safely skip this deal.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

In short it's all in the title...

I don't play a guitar, so I'm not interested in amplitude and the only things that catches my eye are:

1. MixBox
2. Sample Tank 4 (got the free one installed, not very impressive)
3. SampleTron 2 (has a few nice classic sounds, but then they seem to be all on the same theme)
4. Syntronik (which seems to be a bad version of UVIs Vintage Vault 3 or Synth Anthology 3)

SampleTron is ok (I still prefer M-Tron, but alternatives are nice). Mixbox was disappointing to be frank. Sampletank 4 is not my cup of tea at all (i.e. bad). And I could care less about Syntronik.

To me, the IK highlights are:

MODO Bass
Tape Collection (CPU intensive)
Leslie Collection
Hammond B-3X
Sunset Sound Studio Verb
Amplitube 5 can be good, the X-gear pedals are nice (but you're not interested in this)

...so yeah, if I were you, I'd skip the Group Buy. There's no benefit in having quantity over quality IMO. Get something else.

[Stirner]

There's benefit in having quantity over quality IMO. Get something else.

+1
I participated in their group buy once and regretted it. Nothing really bad there, but also nothing outstanding.

[Tj Shredder]

I am astonished how little useful products IK has. You don‘t even get close to 25. Unfortunately I bought Arc before the group buy, but in a sale… Some qualifying hardware could be worth it…
In the end you fill up your disk with stuff you don‘t use… And you pay full price for the one product you wanted. They had some crazy deals in the past which were more interesting…
But now we have an idea about their revenue in the last 3 months…

[MegaPixel]

In the end you fill up your disk with stuff you don‘t use… And you pay full price for the one product you wanted. They had some crazy deals in the past which were more interesting…

I'm with you on this, I think the following would complete me:

- Either (Arturia Mellotron V or M-Tron Pro)
- 2 or 3 picks from meldaproduction (shame their GUIs are from the 1980s but from what I've got from them so far, it's been pretty good and used often)
- And I do have my eye on UVI's Synth Anthology 3 & Vintage Vault 3 (but they come in way too pricey for my likes, well 1 does anyway...)

So I double think & then re-think & change my mind & re-think again
- M-Tron Pro or Arturia's one
- And then focus on building & buying presets for what I got.

I don't think my HD or my Wallet can take much more of this...
I've turned into a VST junkie...

[BenfordLaw]

I am astonished how little useful products IK has. You don‘t even get close to 25. Unfortunately I bought Arc before the group buy, but in a sale… Some qualifying hardware could be worth it…
In the end you fill up your disk with stuff you don‘t use… And you pay full price for the one product you wanted. They had some crazy deals in the past which were more interesting…
But now we have an idea about their revenue in the last 3 months…

I totally agree. I only noticed the group buy last night and thought "That sounds amazing - 25 products for the price of one", so I looked at everything they have available, thought to myself "If I buy Sampletank 4 for £199 I could get this and that and so on", and then realised that I don't really want 99% of what they have to offer. I own Sampletank 2.5, Sonik Synth and the original Miroslav Philharmonik, and I used to love making new sounds by layering in Sampletank 2.5. I didn't like the new look of Sampletank 3, nor the way that IK refused to release a free version of it at the beginning, so that people like me could use our Sampletank 2.5 samples in it, and they lied and made excuses (here on this forum) as to why it was 'impossible' to release a free version of Sampletank 3. Then lo and behold, about a year later (I can't remember exactly how long, but it was a long time) they released a free version of Sampletank 3.
As you say - they have few useful products. Syntronik is of no interest whatsoever to me - I would much rather have one REAL synth, i.e. not sample based, than gigabytes of feeble samples of a synth, but no actual synth to edit and get new presets for. Sampletank 4 looks like a jack of all trades and a master of none to me (but I don't own it, so I'm only going by video demoes and what owners have said about it), and the prices of their Sampletank Instruments is ridiculous.

"In the end you fill up your disk with stuff you don‘t use… And you pay full price for the one product you wanted."
That sums up the group buy for me. So much stuff that will clog up my hard drive and I will never use.

[Scotty]

I've got Komplete Ultimate 12 CE and some Spitfire add ons. There are plenty of reasons to participate in IK's promotion in my opinion even if you aren't into Amplitube. The Hammond and Leslie emulations are the best out there, SamplteTron 2 is very useful, there are at least 10 T-Racks processors that I choose over the Universal Audio plugins and Brainworx offerings that I paid a chunck of change to buy. I would use more of them if not for familiarity. For any of the products that you might be tempted to look at, do a search for a review you can trust. Most often is it Sound on Sound Magazine for me. There is a general IK "tone" that some in the vocal minority foster on KVR that borders on intellectual dishonestly. IK is always competitive and in some cases at or the near the top of the heap.

Arc is at version 3, Amplitube is at version 5, T-Racks is at version 5. Sampletron is at version 2. I have plugins that have had only small updates and some will never see a version 2. Sampletank 4 occupies a unique place but I have a generally positive view. Having a version 4 iteration indicates a long term commitment to the platform even if it can and is overshadowed by huge sample libraries. I still find use for it. Not every sample needs 8 velocity layers to work in a mix and the effect routing and search engine make it quite enjoyable

This gives me reason to find a place for their software on my machines.

Here is SOS take on T-Racks 5
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ik ... acks-5-max

Here is SOS take on Modo Bass
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ik ... -modo-bass

Here is Sound Bytes Magazine's take on the Hammond B3
https://soundbytesmag.net/review-hammon ... ultimedia/

My take for what it is worth is the company and their products are solid. I've never had any issue with authorizations. I get incentivized with great deals like this one and we have IK presence on the forums which has been helpful to many of us.

Buying software just to have it is unwise. If you actually have a need for some of this software you could do well by taking a look at this promotion. I've never seen a better value (25 for 1) and I've been at this for a while.

[dellboy]

To get into the group buy I purchased a UNO Synth from an authorized dealer in the UK.

Out of the freebies I have downloaded so far I like the Hammond B-3X, which to my ears is a very good modelled organ. Modo Bass is also modelled and sounds like a real bass guitar. Modo drums seems to be a hybrid modelled set with samples as well. I was expecting it do analogue style drums but they do not seem to be there, which is a shame, but for standard type drums its pretty decent.

T-Racks 5 was worth the price of admission for me, along with Mix Box which is a great FX unit. Sunset Reverb is very nice, and I love the tape delays. As for all the sampled stuff like Sampletank 4, and Sampletron etc, I have downloaded and installed them to a seperate partition, but do not expect to use them much, if ever, but, hey, they are there if ever I need them, so no big deal.

Not forgetting that with the Uno Synth you get a very good synth editor which acts much like a VST. On top of all this I still have 12 slots left to download.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase. So,all, in all, just about the best hardware/software deal I have ever bought.

[DaveClark]

Hi all,

The OP asked about NI Komplete plus some other things compared to that which is available from IKM's 25-for-1 Group Buy. Based on the list of stuff provided by the OP, I would say that the IKM Group Buy is probably not worth it for his use (I assume "he"). However, for my own music production of mostly rock and country, the IKM Group Buy is preferable to Komplete 5 and 9 which for me personally were greater than 90% bloatware over the years.

One poster commented that Syntronik was based on samples. That is somewhat misleading because it's an incomplete description. If one uses the SampleTank 4 interface, then this criticism is more applicable because the synths have been sampled. An instrument editor is available, but it's limited and more difficult to relate to the underlying synth for each type of synth. In the Syntronik interface, however, it's possible to have full access to each underlying synth. These synths are limited and mostly dated, so I'm sure that even then, many who use more modern synths would feel quite restrained and inconvenienced. But I personally have little use for synths like the ones the OP listed, finding them overly complex.

I find Mixbox interesting, not because the individual processors are so capable, but because of the chains that are represented in the presets, of which there are hundreds. I've learned a lot just from looking at those. These presets came from SampleTank 4 and Amplitube where sound designers spent lots of time developing variations for instruments and guitar. They represent a lot of experience. People often ask, "What goes before what?" Well, Mixbox has some answers. And then there is the obvious: A user can just click on a preset and up comes an entire chain, not just a compressor or whatever.

I also liked some of the mastering stuff like the Lurssen Mastering Console. This is good for all genres. It also represents years of experience. It's no substitute for pro mastering, but it's probably good enough for YouTube and SoundCloud. Pro mastering requires trained ears, and software won't provide that. I use MasterMatch for spectral matching in preference to other tools, and for individual instruments, not for its intended use. Yes, that's right, I abuse it. I like it a lot.

The answer to the OP's question depends upon what he wants to do, just as it always does.

[MegaPixel]

I've opted to purchase UVI's Vintage Vault 3 & UVI's Synth Anthology 3 instead, from someone on the forum (waiting for licence transfer now). For me, it's def' more my kind of thing.

The only things that really interested me form IKMedia was the melotron and MixBox...

I will wait till Black Friday / Cyber monday to see if M-TRON PRO - COMPLETE is on a better offer, if not will go for just M-TRON Pro.

I have mixbox mostly covered (I think) with stuff from Plugin Alliance, Fabfilter, Izotope, Meldaproduction etc...

Then I'm stopping all purchases till next summer / black friday 2022, time to dig deep into what I got and get creative.