SampleTank

Many years ago I had given up on the idea of using VST Soft Synths for creating any type of decent sounding music. Back then everything sounded tinny and weak and it just didn't live up to my expectations. I ended up buying and using all hardware based sound modules.

A couple of years back I heard the Yamaha Motif ES and ended up selling all of my hardware sound modules on eBay just to buy that keyboard. That was definitely the best keyboard purchase I have ever made.

Recently I've been working in a gaming studio (as a programmer) and the audio guys turned me onto a lot of the latest software modules - kontact, Reason, a lot of the sample libraries, and tons of VST effects. Boy these software modules have come a long way over the years and I quickly became convinced to beef up my instrument arsenal with a couple of these...

It turns out that I own an older copy of T-RackS so I decided to go with IK Multimedia's crossgrade option to get a current copy of SampleTank 2.5. Boy what a great purchase that was.

I tend to gravitate towards orchestral sounds, with some synths, basic acoustic and electric pianos, and drums etc. On all of the lines, SampleTank does not disappoint. The sounds coming directly out of the module rival the richness and fullness of the stock Motif ES sounds and I am finding myself turning to the SampleTank library more, and more, and more.

It is definitely worth the money. The sound library you get with the product is more than enough to make the purchase worth it. A couple of negative points:

1) The sample Miroslov sounds that come with the unit (they just give you some to tease you) always crash my computer. I don't experience this with any other samples in the library.

2) Now I kind of wish that SampleTank imported a few more file formats, although given the availability of Wav and AIFF samples etc. I don't think I'll really ever run out of available sound libraries.

3) The sheer number of sounds available makes it hard to pick which ones to use. This really isn't a negative. I probably just need to make a list or spreadsheet or something that are my favorites.

Now to the positives:

1) Unbelievably rich sounds with the ability to layer them. Total thumbs up!
2) Great value for the money.
3) Has been performing very well in my sequences (Sonar 6) with the exceptions of a couple of samples (seem to be the Miroslav ones).
4) Excellent array of libraries available to fill your sounds up to your heart's content.
5) The thing just sounds utterly fantastic.

All in all I would really recommend this software to anyone willing to get into a sample player that's rich, full, and easy to work with.Read Review