IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

[jazzrascal]

While I think that this sound set is an excellent value, brass and woodwind sounds are not very well represented. The relatively few of them that are present include some quite useable ones and some average ones, but if that is your main interest, you might be better served elsewhere (if you want to stay with IK, maybe Miroslav, or there are quality products from other manufacturers as well).

OTOH, for a very small amount of money, you can get those few brass and woodwind instruments plus a whole lot of other things, so I'm not going to tell you not to buy it. Since you're (I presume) a jazz musician like me, I'll mention that, although I don't use premade loops at all in composition or arranging, the jazz, funk, and motown loops are great for practicing feel. If you get the bass collection as well, you can make your own playalongs if you like, for instance....

Joe

Thanks, Joe, and yes, I'm a jazz musician and also do a lot of Brazilian music (I live in Brazil). If you have a minute and it's not too much trouble, maybe you could tell me what the brass options are in this package. I'm interested in trumpet, flugel, trombone, bass trombone, euphonium and tuba. I guess I'm hesitant to spend even this small amount of money for a zillion things I probably won't use if there isn't at least a reasonable representation of what I really would use.

[barbecutie]

IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

Now 8X1! Currently at 6096 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

[Examigan]

IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

Now 8X1! Currently at 6096 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

It's doing so well, they should extend the deadline again!

[JoeDeF]

Thanks, Joe, and yes, I'm a jazz musician and also do a lot of Brazilian music (I live in Brazil). If you have a minute and it's not too much trouble, maybe you could tell me what the brass options are in this package. I'm interested in trumpet, flugel, trombone, bass trombone, euphonium and tuba. I guess I'm hesitant to spend even this small amount of money for a zillion things I probably won't use if there isn't at least a reasonable representation of what I really would use.

I would say, if you want expressive brass with multiple articulations and dynamic levels, don't get this collection. Although a search through the titles shows quite a few "brass" sounds, many of them are either synth "brass" patches (not real brass samples), or are small patches with few samples or layers; similar to what you'd get in a General MIDI synth. The one patch I found truly useable was the "french horns," and I think that that is a "teaser" from the Miroslav collection. None of the offerings here are near the quality of, say Vienna Philharmonik or EWQL Gold or Platinum (and, of course, to be fair, neither is the price tag!). I think EWQL Gold is still on sale for 50% off until the end of the month; it's much more money even at 50% off, but it's also much, much, much more what you're looking for.

Off topic, we have a good Brazilian music community here in Pittsburgh. I work with a singer from Brazil here and there (Lily), and got to work with Kenia once (she lives here). Duduka Da Fonseca, Helio Alvez, Claudio Roditi, and Ivan Lins come to town fairly frequently. I probably listen to as much Brazilian music as jazz....

Joe

[zedd]

Squids - do the Squids Rare Instruments collections duplicate the samples in the Expansion Tank sets and Sonik Synth, or are they new and different collections?

No they're different. I am going to update sound lists and as much as possible here. That's what we're working on at the moment.

Looking forward to the updated sounds lists because I am distraught to discover that the following product has demos which use preset names that don't match presets in my ST library, even though I determined that I had this product....

Squids Rare Instruments Vol. 1 Electronic
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=1993& refcode=xpmoreKVR


available as an esoundz bonus for the St2 library group buy? If so, I am going to go in the group buy once more.. If not, I'll get this pack anyway with a 50% discount..

You're killing me Squids. I just listened to the demos of the rare electronic instruments. I have to have this pack!!!

I love that the patch name is listed for each sound that is being demoed.

I much prefer this type of demo than the mixed instruments demo, where you buy the product and have to go hunting for the sounds you liked in the demo (not talking about SR in particular but in general).

Someone posted what was believed to be the folder list of this product a few days ago and I determined that I had it all from the Rare and Vintage GB. But the names of presets in the audio demos do NOT match anything that I have. The only matching patch name I found was in my SampleTron library. So I'm confused.

[JoeDeF]

It's doing so well, they should extend the deadline again!

From the IK website (I added the bold), posted today:

The Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy has reached the final 8x1 goal. Now all participants can get 8 SampleTank libraries for the price of only 1 title: €39.99/$49.99. Only a few more days left to benefit from this cooperative group effort that has gained over 6,000 registrations, resulting to a mega Group Buy. Expires June 6th - but you will have 'til the 15th as usual grace period.

Not sure if that means what it sounds like it means....

Joe

[Fludlyt]

I would like to say a huge thank you to stoppestedet for the epointz!! Very unexpected

[torgo]

JazzRascal - unfortunately, the brass/woodwind categories are probably the weak points of the SampleTank family. There are horn/sax/other brass and reed instruments available. Just not all that many of them.

The set that comes with the XT player has a trombone patch, a solo trumpet, a patch of two trumpets, a sustained brass section, a French Horn ensemble, an alto sax, a solo flute, a solo alto flute and a solo oboe. These were taken from the Sampletank library plus the Miroslav library.

The Omnisynth 2 library also adds several brass and woodiwind sounds to the mix. I'll let you browse it for yourself... go to the IK site, select products, Expansion Tank 2, and click on the little "Multisamples" item in the horizontal row.

Scroll down to Omnisynth 2, select "Read More", and then select "show sounds list".


If it's brass/woodwinds you're looking for and really nothing else, you might want to look elsewhere.

[jazzrascal]

I would say, if you want expressive brass with multiple articulations and dynamic levels, don't get this collection. Although a search through the titles shows quite a few "brass" sounds, many of them are either synth "brass" patches (not real brass samples), or are small patches with few samples or layers; similar to what you'd get in a General MIDI synth. The one patch I found truly useable was the "french horns," and I think that that is a "teaser" from the Miroslav collection. None of the offerings here are near the quality of, say Vienna Philharmonik or EWQL Gold or Platinum (and, of course, to be fair, neither is the price tag!). I think EWQL Gold is still on sale for 50% off until the end of the month; it's much more money even at 50% off, but it's also much, much, much more what you're looking for.

Off topic, we have a good Brazilian music community here in Pittsburgh. I work with a singer from Brazil here and there (Lily), and got to work with Kenia once (she lives here). Duduka Da Fonseca, Helio Alvez, Claudio Roditi, and Ivan Lins come to town fairly frequently. I probably listen to as much Brazilian music as jazz....

Joe

Mojo horns has a package for $49...are you familiar with it? I've been reading up on it and it sounds great in terms of quality and expressiveness. I hope we're not getting too off-topic here and hijacking the thread, but I'm really trying to make up my mind about the group buy!

I knew Duduka when I lived in NYC, and I also know and have played with Claudio a couple of times...I totally LOVE Ivan Lins! Another thing I've been having trouble finding is good bossa/samba percussion samples.

[zedd]

Probably not Studiophonik either, for basically the same reason. Not many people would jump into another playback engine immediately after loading up on ST2 sounds.

Unless things have changed recently, Studiophonik will not be another playback engine. It will be a sound library for SampleTank, just like these Xpansion packs. It was originally intended to have its own GUI, but the direction changed a couple of years back. However... who knows? Maybe the direction has changed again... but I doubt it.

We'll find out soon though, since Squids' announced Studiophonik will be released this month.

[jazzrascal]

JazzRascal - unfortunately, the brass/woodwind categories are probably the weak points of the SampleTank family. There are horn/sax/other brass and reed instruments available. Just not all that many of them.

The set that comes with the XT player has a trombone patch, a solo trumpet, a patch of two trumpets, a sustained brass section, a French Horn ensemble, an alto sax, a solo flute, a solo alto flute and a solo oboe. These were taken from the Sampletank library plus the Miroslav library.

The Omnisynth 2 library also adds several brass and woodiwind sounds to the mix. I'll let you browse it for yourself... go to the IK site, select products, Expansion Tank 2, and click on the little "Multisamples" item in the horizontal row.

Scroll down to Omnisynth 2, select "Read More", and then select "show sounds list".


If it's brass/woodwinds you're looking for and really nothing else, you might want to look elsewhere.

Thanks, Torgo...I saw the list (thanks to your clear instructions!)...there is more brass there than I expected, but I'm wondering about the quality. Hate to be so picky, but I'm a brasshead.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Off topic, we have a good Brazilian music community here in Pittsburgh. I work with a singer from Brazil here and there (Lily), and got to work with Kenia once (she lives here). Duduka Da Fonseca, Helio Alvez, Claudio Roditi, and Ivan Lins come to town fairly frequently. I probably listen to as much Brazilian music as jazz....

Joe

Hey, I live over in Point Breeze (still Pittsburgh, just a section of it, for those unfamiliar who might even care). Since this Group Buy was such a deal, plus I think I read somewhere that the terms on yours had fine print reading something like "You must take your local IK rep around the local jazz and Brazilian scene" I think you have an obligation to fulfill

[Stephan326]

Are you guys gettin' clobbered by rain??

[midinut]

I have had SampleTank 2XL for several years and there are some great brass in the XL library. You might also want to look into using some of your epointz at the download site where you can download individual sounds. Just a thought.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Are you guys gettin' clobbered by rain??

Yes. Fun time! Power is still on and it seems to have slowed down now here.