Starship Krupa Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Kinda surprised this hasn't been posted already; I looked back a few pages and couldn't find it. https://blackoctopus-sound.com/product/sampletank-max-4-v2-2/ Larry will be amused to see that there are 2 prices. For the full license, it's $49.99, but you can crossgrade it from any other IK Multimedia product for only $199.99. 😄 3 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrate Audio Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 nice. not bad deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT music Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Big, cheap and bad... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioschmaudio Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 6 minutes ago, JT music said: Big, cheap and bad... It's bad? Why is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 There are a number of reasons why you’d stay clear, mostly activation and GUI related, but the base sounds are actually not bad at all, and the MAX bundle gets you a lot of added libraries that are pretty good, particularly for that price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Actually, let me rephrase that. its a crazy price. WHAT’S INSIDE SAMPLETANK 4 MAX V2 Alan Parsons Imperial Grand Alien Harbours Alternate Keys American Acoustic Art Deco Piano Beat Machines Billy Cobham Drums Bionic Drums Brandenburg Piano Cinematic Percussion Circuit Damage Clavitube Electric Grand C70P Electric Piano Bass Elektronika – Chillout Elektronika – Deep House Elektronika – Drum’n’Bass Elektronika – Hardcore Elektronika – Indie Dance Elektronika – Minimal Elektronika – Techno Elektronika – Trance Extraterrestrial Saxophone Fractured Piano Future Synths Hitmaker – EDM Hitmaker – Reggaeton Hitmaker – Synthwave Hitmaker – Trap Hugh Padgham Drums L.A. Confidential London Grooves Malletension Malletopia Miroslav Philharmonik 2 Nanotube Neil Peart Drums NRG Orchestral Percussion Power Up Ring of Doom Salsa Percussion Loops SampleTron 2 Shipwreck Piano Spaceport ’77 Stage 73 Mark V Swarm Syntronik 2 99 Syntronik 2 Blau Syntronik 2 Bully Syntronik 2 CATO Syntronik 2 DCO-X Syntronik 2 Galaxy Syntronik 2 GS-V Syntronik 2 Harpy 260 Syntronik 2 J-60 Syntronik 2 J-8 Syntronik 2 KW-8000 Syntronik 2 M-12 Syntronik 2 M-Poly Syntronik 2 Megawave Syntronik 2 Memory-V Syntronik 2 Minimod Syntronik 2 Modulum Syntronik 2 Noir Syntronik 2 Obie One Syntronik 2 OSC-V Syntronik 2 OXa Syntronik 2 Polymorph Syntronik 2 Pro-V Syntronik 2 Pro-VS Syntronik 2 SAM Syntronik 2 SH-V Syntronik 2 Sorcerer Syntronik 2 String Box Syntronik 2 Syner-V Syntronik 2 Synth-X Syntronik 2 T-03 Syntronik 2 Triptych Syntronik 2 V-80 Syntronik 2 VCF3 Terry Bozzio Drums The Code Volume 1 The Code Volume 2 The Grid The Resonator Vector Vision Wurly Model 120 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattMusic Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 (edited) Insane price indeed, I already got Sampletank 4 Max through a Group Buy, but thinking of actually getting this just for The Resonator, Syntronik 2 Max & the few new libraries, bonus being I could then use this to upgrade to a future Total Studio including Pianoverse through a Maxgrade, which apparently I can't now, my ST4 Max being acquired through a Group Buy... Some great instruments in there, the piano & the acoustic guitars are pretty good, lol ST5 Max will be a full terabyte Edited March 17 by MattMusic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSistine Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 (edited) Regrettably this deal is too late for me 😞 (I purchased lately 2 things I was interested in and have the Syntronik stuff since a long time). But I also have a new problem: I could activate Miroslav Philharmonik CE (even offline on my other pc), but in SampleTank 4 CS it is shown "not activated", strange! But as someone said above, it's those weird IK installation and authorization thing! EDIT: Suddenly it is authorized also in ST4! I don't know why, but it's okay now. 😅 Edited March 17 by CSistine 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 Unquestionably there are better orchestral collections out there, and probably better acoustic pianos, but for the rest....it's an incredible collection of instruments to have access to. I haven't installed any of the acoustic pianos, from Art Deco to Shipwreck, because I already have Meldway Grand in Sound Factory. Similarly, I haven't installed all of the drum stuff. But you only have to want a handful of the instruments in the bundle to make it worth the price. Other than the orchestral libes, the plums for me are SampleTron and Syntronik. Here's my review/comment from VI Control.... Quote I got it 6 months ago when it was on sale for $70. With Jam Points applied, it came out to...$49. For me it was the proverbial acephalic purchase, because I've been getting by with freeware orchestral instruments and SONIVOX. So even the Miroslav Philharmonik stuff was a step up. I figure I can learn more about articulations and so forth using this, and if I want to advance to better libraries, I can do so. So if someone's needs for orchestral instruments are just things like background string pads in pop songs, or they're just getting started, there's value there. I don't think I need to drop hundreds of dollars just to be able to lay in some strings under my baroque pop tune. Yes, I agree, if you already have a nice collection of sampled instruments, there's probably not going to be much new here for you in that vein. I suspect that for a lot of VI members, that's the case. Something to consider, though, is that Sampletank MAX isn't just one instrument (Sampletank and its collection of instruments), it's also a bundle of a number of their other products that use the Sampletank engine. For instance: Syntronik covers a wide variety of vintage synths, with some rather obscure ones in addition to the well-known Jupiters and Junos. Modulars, I think there's some Fairlight in there, IIRC, so if you need those specific vintage synth sounds, it's great. I've already gotten one song out of patch browsing Syntronik. Sampletron is a blast! In addition to all of the Moody Blues/Genesis/Strawberry Fields Mellotron sounds you'd expect, it includes an extensive Optigan library. That's a big treat for people like me who've always been curious about that instrument. Something I've not seen anywhere else is that it includes the weirdo sound effects tapes that other Mellotron libraries leave out. For people who already have extensive higher-quality sampled orchestral and piano and other acoustic instruments, one way to look at this might be not from the perspective of all the stuff it duplicates, but rather look at the things it comes with that you don't already have. Would you pay $50 for Syntronik 2? Many people have paid more. $50 for a comprehensive Mellotron, with Chamberlin and Optigan and the cute lo-fi SFX along with it? Those alone made it worth it for me. I told a friend of mine about the deal and he bought it mostly because he's a big fan of Neil Peart and wanted the Neil Peart Drums instrument. You get not only the sound of his kit, but a bunch of MIDI beats and loops. Their installer allows you to install only the components you want, even down to individual Syntronik instruments, so your drive isn't burdened with 300G of samples you don't need. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundwise Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 7 hours ago, audioschmaudio said: It's bad? Why is that? It's not bad bad, IMO. But if you compare size (disk space + memory footprint) vs instrument options and/or sound quality, you may start questioning the rationale behind acquiring this tank of samples. In that regard, ST3 was much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Fowler Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 8 hours ago, audioschmaudio said: It's bad? Why is that? Like Fleer said, there's a *ton* of content, and some of it is good...even very good. But very little of it (at least in terms of acoustic instruments) matches the level of dedicated libraries. The biggest problem is that actually *using* SampleTank is such a pain in the ***** that I just can't be bothered to fight with the tiny, user-unfriendly GUI. I really like some of the synth libraries, but working with SampleTank takes all the fun out of it for me. If some talented chap/chapess was starting from scratch, strapped for cash, and sufficiently motivated, I'm sure they could make amazing sounding tracks with ST4! But they might lose the will to live before they pulled it off. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 28 minutes ago, Craig Fowler said: I just can't be bothered to fight with the tiny, user-unfriendly GUI. I don't know about its friendliness as far as sampling or working with samples; I can only speak for my use of it as a ROMpler. I've not found it to be any worse than Kontakt Player for that, yet considerably better than Zampler or Halion. "Tiny" UI? On my system each of its UI views scales as big as I could want, larger even (it can be resized to fill the entire screen, and all elements scale with it). Here's what it looks like, although the forum will shrink it somewhat: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrate Audio Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 I guess it all depends what you do. I use it a lot in what i do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 As for the GUI, my problem with it is not that it’s too small, but that it’s not attractive, alluring, sexy or what have you. It doesn’t draw me in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 13 minutes ago, Fleer said: As for the GUI, my problem with it is not that it’s too small, but that it’s not attractive, alluring, sexy or what have you. It doesn’t draw me in. It's no looker for sure, but the contrast issue is the biggest problem for me. That and the IK response to the many users asking for this to be improved or adjustable...it's not our UI it's your monitors.... You mean those monitors that seem to display every other software UI just fine IK? Ok then....... They could make it free now and it still wouldn't be worth it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrate Audio Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, paulo said: It's no looker for sure, but the contrast issue is the biggest problem for me. That and the IK response to the many users asking for this to be improved or adjustable...it's not our UI it's your monitors.... You mean those monitors that seem to display every other software UI just fine IK? Ok then....... They could make it free now and it still wouldn't be worth it. yup. agree. it could be better if they implemented some sort of change in GUI theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, Fleer said: As for the GUI, my problem with it is not that it’s too small, but that it’s not attractive, alluring, sexy or what have you. It doesn’t draw me in. It's the browser that's terrible. As for activation that is not an issue. Many of the sounds are a replacement as a GM module. Smaller libraries that will load easy from a HDD, not named Syntronik. Library structure is not as great as Kontakt. Basically if you wanted to separate it among 3 drives there's a risk moving them and not work. Most likely you would have to reinstall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrate Audio Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 (edited) FWIW.. I run in off external drive. No issues at all. Just make sure you keep the expected folder naming structure. I don't want to sound like an IKM sales rep. But where it's handy for me is it allows me to work on ideas from just one interface. I do more traditional folk, rock music. So having access to al those sampled instruments with some rudimentary t-racks effects interface is handy for me. I don't do much sound design or experimental stuff. Just a lot of arranging and rudimentary orchestration. I recently get into using it for its multi functionality and that sort of opened up some new possibilities. When I start working on a new track, its usually one of the first things I load up. Edited March 17 by Nitrate Audio 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted March 18 Author Share Posted March 18 This discussion as to whether SampleTank 4 MAX v. 2 is worth dropping $49 on got me to fire it up and run through some of those Sampletron sounds I hadn't tried yet, the oddball ones like Optigan SFX. There's a huge collection of delightfully lo-fi rhythm loops lurking in those old Mellotron tapes. I guess the idea was that these loops could also function as a rhythm machine for people performing solo. I tend to think of the 'tron as a prog rock machine, but I suspect that it may have been originally conceived as a way for someone to play live as a one-person band. So if yer into lo-fi loops, it's a great collection. And again, there are lo-fi loop libraries that go for the price of the entire package. Yeah, I forgot about the collection of MixBox FX that it has built in. I'm not an IK sales rep either, just a happy SampleTank 4 MAX user. 😄 When I got this product 6 months ago, multiple installer packages were broken; I wound up having to manually download some of the Mac versions and convert them. They've since fixed most of these issues. That is one area where SampleTank and associated products still have room for improvement: installation and authorization. But I find it worth a bit of slog given the results. BTW, when you install it, make SURE that you select only the products that you want to install, one at a time. Otherwise, if you choose to install the main product it will install EVERYTHING. Between the downloaded files and the installed ones, your drive could wind up full. I made this mistake and had to abort the installation once I saw what was happening. Cleaning up after that was a pain. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal S Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 19 hours ago, paulo said: t's no looker for sure, but the contrast issue is the biggest problem for me. That and the IK response to the many users asking for this to be improved or adjustable...it's not our UI it's your monitors.... You mean those monitors that seem to display every other software UI just fine IK? Ok then....... Dark grey text on a black background is difficult to read if you are on a laptop with the brightness turned down a bit to protect your eyes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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