SS2 or wait for Studiophonik

[Ian F]

Im not really that interested in synth sounds (apart from strange evolving pads) Im looking for more natural instrument sounds.

Is Sonic Synth 2 predominantly synth based if so will Studiophonik have the same bias.

So the question is for a nice bunch of non synthy sounds is it SS2 now or wait for studiophonik, Id like both but neither funds or disk space are infinite.

[Kim Lajoie]

I suggest you check out Sonik Synth 2. Of course it has tons of synth stuff, but it's also got strengths outside synthetic sounds. Sonik Synth 2's main non-synth strengths are:

Vocal textures
Orchestral textures
Pianos, Organs, EPs and other keyboard instruments
Electric, Acoustic, and Bass guitars
Acoustic drum kits
Electronic and hybrid drum kits

And by strength, I really mean strength. Each of those categories is around the size and quality of a whole dedicated library. For example, there is over 700MB of acoustic drum kits. Over 700MB of acoustic pianos. Almost 900MB of guitars. The quality of these is all top-shelf too.

Studiophonik will be a lot more specialised. It's going to be focussed on band-style instruments (such as guitars, drums, keyboards, horns, etc). The sound quality will be through the roof... but it's going to be a little bit of a wait. Studiophonik is going to be something special, and Sonic Reality are taking their time to make sure they do it right.

Consider getting Sonik Synth 2 now, so you can start making music with it right away!There's always going to be something newer and better coming just over the horizon. You could spend your whole life waiting for the next big thing. Meanwhile the rest of us are using our gear to make music! Ultimately - that's what it's all about, that's why we're here - because we love making music.

-Kim.

[krank]

I have to admit I find it a bit tiring that almost every post from the people in charge here is some sort of sales talk.

SS2 is *great* for synths and keyboards.

But it *sucks* for natural, sampled instruments like horns, brass and winds.

Haven't checked out the drum sounds - but I don't think the ROMpler format lends itself well to drums, unless you really like playing beats on a keyboard.

[advaya]

I hope that SS2 is much better than SS1 or SampleTank XL... I found most of the instruments to be rather underwhelming...

But if SS2 includes the guitar patches from their SR guitar capsule, it's almost worth the price right there!

[Kim Lajoie]

I have to admit I find it a bit tiring that almost every post from the people in charge here is some sort of sales talk.

Well, this is the Sonic Reality and eSoundz forum. We want you to use our gear, so of course we're going to talk about the strengths and advantages of the gear. I try not to be too pushy, but I genuinely like SR and IK gear. I was using it before I started working here. I'm a film composer, and I've been composing for over ten years, so I'm hardly one of those salespeople who don't actually use the products they're selling. I use Sonik Synth 2 almost every day. I know it pretty well.

SS2 is *great* for synths and keyboards.

But it *sucks* for natural, sampled instruments like horns, brass and winds.

Did you see horns, brass, and winds in my list of SS2 strengths? SS2 has horns, brass, and winds, and they're ok (certainly not crap!), but I didn't mention them because they're not outstanding. If only horns, brass, and woodwinds are important to you, then maybe SS2 is not the right instrument for you. No secrets there.

But I do stand by my previous post. The pianos, organs, EPs and other keyboard instruments, as well as electric, acoustic, and bass guitars are excellent (as well as all the other instruments I mentioned in my previous post). Seriously, they are excellent.

Advaya, Sonik Synth 2 is a huge leap up from the original Sonic Synth and SampleTank1. Huge. And yes, Sonik Synth 2 has similar guitars to the SR Guitar Capsule. Same quality. They're not the exact same presets of course, so if you have both you won't have two copies of some instruments. The other instruments that I mentioned are also Capsule-quality or better.

Haven't checked out the drum sounds - but I don't think the ROMpler format lends itself well to drums, unless you really like playing beats on a keyboard.

That's probably personal preference more than anything else. I like using the drums in SS2, and I also like playing beats on the keyboard. Different people do it in different ways. Some crazy people don't even use drums! Whatever gets you there.

-Kim.

[Mr. Tunes]

Im not really that interested in synth sounds (apart from strange evolving pads) Im looking for more natural instrument sounds.

Is Sonic Synth 2 predominantly synth based if so will Studiophonik have the same bias.

So the question is for a nice bunch of non synthy sounds is it SS2 now or wait for studiophonik, Id like both but neither funds or disk space are infinite.

what kind of music do you like to make?

Studiophonik will offer you those fundemental band instruments like Kim pointed out. but Sonik Synth2 has all the essentials in there already so I wouldnt wait cause we dont know when it's coming out. Studiophonik is for the production nut who wants to nail those sounds to a T. it really depends on what kind music you are making. SR makes different strokes for different folks(like miroslav vs. studiophonik), but Sonik Synth2 is actually something for everyone

there are a ton of great natural sounds in sonik synth 2. i believe it is the most essential instrument of the 2000's - honestly! the first sonic synth could've won that award too but it didnt have 5,000 sounds and the engine was limited. but from my point of view i didnt know of anything better for 300 bucks

I wouldnt be put off by the fact that it emphasizes synths. it just happens to be an area that SR went over the top with. i'm still getting through all the patches and i've had this since January(and i should add that i've used it just about every day since that month). they didnt have to do all those synth samples, they actually wanted to which is cool. keep in mind that before all these plugins SR was famous for sampling realistic instruments like drums, strings, ethnic and vintage keys. i think that the sampletank2 environment opened doors for them to explore more synth sampling since there was now a real engine for the user to take the synth sound further. in sampletank 1 you couldnt do much with synth samples, just things like basic filter sweeps, so ST2 took it all to a new level.

[Mr. Tunes]

I have to admit I find it a bit tiring that almost every post from the people in charge here is some sort of sales talk.

SS2 is *great* for synths and keyboards.

But it *sucks* for natural, sampled instruments like horns, brass and winds.

Haven't checked out the drum sounds - but I don't think the ROMpler format lends itself well to drums, unless you really like playing beats on a keyboard.

well, actually you get a lot of sales talks in here from people like myself and other die-hards cause we actually love the products. isnt it weird that in the year 2005 someone actually loves a music product? i never thought the day would come. but those sales pitches you hear are because the people in this forum absolutely love the stuff and want others to enjoy it too. i feel bad for all my friends who struggle at music production with dinky sounds while i'm rocking away every night. "i pity tha foo" says Mr. T!

when you say it sucks for natural instruments you just listed two categories of naturals: brass and winds. that's pathetic to evaluate such a large category of instruments on two sections out of the library. what about the strings, ethnic, vocal, trons, etc? if you havent checked out the drum sounds i dont know how much you have used the instrument in general. it seems like you got to browse a few patches at a store and made up your mind so quickly. the drum section is fuggin massive

i personally believe that drums dont lend themselves to being isolated in wave format cause then you have to load them into a sampler, thus making them what a rompler drum patch is. and yeah if you're playing a GM drum map on the keyboard it might not sound so hot(the "no-soul johnson") but the I-map is great on the keyboard.

[Mallory]

What surprised me about SS2 was how only 2.5gig of the 8gigs of samples are actually the synth samples. To me it seems like a general purpose workstation with an emphasis on synths

But then consider Sampletank 2XL has only 200megs of synth samples and you can see the difference.

My only disappointment with SS2 is the apparent concentration on analog synths. I would have liked more chiffy digital sounds but maybe I'm just unfashionable

[Squids]

Sonik Synth 2 is an over-achiever. In retrospect I think we could have maybe made several products out of it. Its strengths are not brass and winds but then we have Miroslav Philharmonik for that. You can get some good pop brass out of Sonik Synth 2 though although for a good pop horn section Studiophonik will be a bit more realistic. I agree with what Kim and Mr. Tunes said about the acoustic/electric instrument strengths. To be honest, I think we went overboard on how good the pianos, guitars and drums needed to be. But, we like to offer good value what can I say? Plus, it makes it a more powerful combi synth and multi-timbral self contained workstation of sounds to compose with.

Getting back to the original question. Get Sonik Synth 2 or Studiophonik? You may prefer to get Philharmonik and Studiophonik if acoustic instruments are your main goal. If you own SampleTank 2L or XL though then you qualify for crossgrades to each and the money you save on these two practically covers the cost of the Sonik Synth 2 discounted crossgrade. The VFM on it is so high that you COULD buy SS2 even without any desire for its synth sounds and still be happy. I think the same way the other way around. Some could argue that it is worth even JUST for the synth sounds. It was designed to please people who are looking for both or either.

[Squids]

What surprised me about SS2 was how only 2.5gig of the 8gigs of samples are actually the synth samples. To me it seems like a general purpose workstation with an emphasis on synths

But then consider Sampletank 2XL has only 200megs of synth samples and you can see the difference.

My only disappointment with SS2 is the apparent concentration on analog synths. I would have liked more chiffy digital sounds but maybe I'm just unfashionable

Actually, the way to look at Sonik Synth 2's synth sounds is to see beyond just the thousands of presets and what there is more or less of. If you are after digital sounds there are plenty there and practically unlimited amounts that can be made with combis. Afterall there are 1,700 elements alone besides the digital synth section. Those can be combined and layered, processed etc to creat all kinds of chiff to digital madness types of sounds. In a future update we are going to go ballistic on combis ourselves to show just how far this product can go. But, in the meantime people are doing it themselves (check out the combi thread in this forum) and getting great results. Sonik Synth 2 is really a great product. But, it is even greater in what potential it has to make new patches. I look at it half as plenty of instant ready to go stuff and half or even more than half as a collection of material to shape with (an analogy would be to say "half like the presets of a hardware workstation" and "half like the internal raw rom of a keyboard workstation".)

[zai]

You know, after using ST2 and SS2, I must say that it's my go-to instruments now. Thanks Squids for putting together the Group Buy last month, don't know if I would ever give it a try without that!

I love to layer together elements...what a fun way to creat new and interesting sounds.

No one plug-in will satifisy all our needs...e.g., brass and horns...what do you expect? If someone does put together a library that has everything, I wonder how much it will cost!?

I'm eagerly waiting for Studiophonik and Mirsolav...these 2 will cover more territories than I could ever imagin. Now I only need to know how to play them! I'll have to spend some time to play around with it.

I hate to program sounds...especially when I have no idea of what I'm doing.... But ST2 and SS2 has given me so much pleasure right now.... Can't wait for ST2.1 as well...which will allow me to use it as "stand-alone"...don't need my DAW...great for playing live!

Anyway, this IS a forum for IK/Sonic Reality/eSoundz...people who loves their products will only hang around here answering questions and say good things about these softwares! *wink* *wink*

Zai

[dougsyo]

No one plug-in will satifisy all our needs...e.g., brass and horns...what do you expect? If someone does put together a library that has everything, I wonder how much it will cost!?

Well, between SS1 (group buy), the various Eve, Wusik & Rhino soundsets, Dimension (main reason I bought P5V2) and GPO I've got over $700 so far. SS2 upgrade will be the end of this month, another $200.

If that's not enough, then I can go for ST2XL, Philharmonik & Studiophonik. And once I see what NI's going to do with Kompakt now that Kontakt 2.0 is out, I may revisit that (had it, liked it, ran out of disk space, sold it, recently got more disk space).

And I won't even talk about the new Tassman4 acquisition. I've started selling some of my VA's off.

Doug

[Squids]

Of course, positive and negative opinions about our products can be shared openly here. But, naturally, those that are affiliated are going to concentrate on positive things and we usually back it up with some substance as well as remain objective, honest, straight forward and helpful. I think most people appreciate that. We'll sometimes get a little bit sales-hype oriented and since it is our company forum I think it is to be expected. I even make fun of myself for doing it sometimes but we do need the support in order to be able to continue doing what we love to do so I think it is a minor thing to put up with considering that you also get our time and help. If you compare to other companies, how many other places besides KVR do you get to talk to the owners of the company on a regular basis? Not many. So, these forums are for both the company and the user's benefit (not to mention KVR's... and the hosts that these plug-ins work in or the samplers that these sounds work in...). Sounds like a good thing to me! npi

[Rellik]

I find it really strange that Sonic Synth 2's strengths, as described by forum members here, are almost exactly the same as SampleTank 2XL's strengths (besides SS2's synths). Keyboards, Electric Acoustic and Bass guitars, Acoustic Drumkits, orchestral textures, etc.

Maybe the new SampleTank 2.1 soundset will help to differentiate them a little bit? Nobody outside of IK really knows anything about it at this point, but I would assume that it will bring SampleTank 2XL to another level - after all, why else would they go to the trouble?

But now I'm getting really confused - with Sonic Synth 2, StudioPhonik, and Philharmonik, what is the rationale behind SampleTank 2 itself? It won't even be able to load Philharmonik/StudioPhonik(assumedly) sounds - it doesn't loud outside samplesets - so it's not exactly a hub, except for pricing-wise.

So now I don't really know what to expect from the update. What I'm really hoping for are just improvements in quality and quantity of what's already there - everything! Jack of all trades, master of none - why does it have to be master of none? I mean, maybe it can really excel, more than it does now, without interfering with the plans for SS2/the Phoniks. So I'm looking forward to hearing more...

[Caleb]

I think in some respects I should have waited for Studiophonik and Philharmonik for my setup. But I don't really feel like SS2 is a dud for me.

I still really like some of the sounds and I know that there's so much more to it if I go to the effort to create a combi of my own.

It's true that I have elements like WusikStation for this kind of sound design and that really is my "Go To" instrument when I want to do this sort of thing.

But in the long run, I feel that I would have to struggle to feel disappointed with SS2. It still has elements in it that I really like. I love some of the keyboards in it including the marvellous "The One" piano patch which I use alot of.

In short - it's great and I'll still get a good deal of use out of it even if it may not have been tailor-made for me.

Caleb