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IK Total Studio Max


Larry Shelby

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16 hours ago, kitekrazy1 said:

What products have they killed off?  Maybe old ST2 libraries.

11 hours ago, megated said:

MixBox, Syntronik and SampleTron

1 hour ago, kitekrazy1 said:

They still sell them. Some are complete and do not any tinkering.

(1) I checked the other day by searching the IK Store for Syntronik.  I just checked again.  The site says 0 [zero] for Syntronik Products.  (2) The other day I also checked the IK Forum and Syntronik came up as being discontinued--but if you already own it, you can still use it. (3) I just checked on line (several places). Audio Plugin Deals has an article "Still Using Syntronik 2 in 2025 (Discontinued)? These Are the Synths Worth Loading Up and As Well As Alternative Synths"

It might be true (I don't know) that some third-party vendors have them for sale, but so far as I have seen. IK does not have them listed for sale.  

Edited by User 905133
fixed typos
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SampleTank 4 MAX  v2  provides the Syntronik libraries within SampleTank but doesn’t provide licenses for standalone Syntronik.  So, it seems that the standalone apps are discontinued in favor of SampleTank (which makes sense … less code to maintain in the long term).
 

I do like MixBox.  It overlaps with T-RackS in functionality on Windows/macOS but on iOS/iPadOS, discontinuing it leaves a void.

Edited by ALC
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the discontinuation of syntronik 2 was very odd as it wasn't that old of a product. released in 2022 i think.  the  discontinuation of mixbox was odd as it seems they were positioning it as one of their most well regarded and well reviewed products. it makes me think there were bugs in them that IKM didn't want to invest more into fixing them or updating to newer versions of the products. makes me wonder whether SampleTank and/or Modo Bass and Modo Drum will be next.  IKM are a very big and very smart company and understand this business well. it all makes me think they may be slowly   positioning themselves out of the software market and moving into just hardware. the truth is, software is a very over crowded market. 

Edited by Nitrate Audio
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6 hours ago, ALC said:

So, it seems that the standalone apps are discontinued in favor of SampleTank (which makes sense … less code to maintain in the long term).

This was exactly my thought at the time when I heard they were discontinuing Syntronik and it would make perfect sense. Even from an installation perspective it could simplify things and that's often where they seem to struggle the most.

Just speculation at this stage for me though, as I've never seen anything from IK to indicate this, but I wouldn't be surprised.

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The ST file structure is a mess compared to Kontakt.  I decided to delete Syntronik but it wont remove the sounds if they are on a different drive.  I do a separate folder for sample based IK stuff.  They don't really have an uninstaller for ST sounds that I know of.

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On 7/16/2025 at 1:49 PM, Larry Shelby said:

Yep...for those who didn't get the included content they just added it to your account

Thanks @better5150 for the code.   I went ahead and bit at $80.

I went back to the old thread, and it looks like the problem was the that signature collections for Tonex were not included.    I just finished downloading, and they show up for me, so it looks like they fixed the issue.

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On 7/17/2025 at 9:49 AM, ALC said:

SampleTank 4 MAX  v2  provides the Syntronik libraries within SampleTank but doesn’t provide licenses for standalone Syntronik.  So, it seems that the standalone apps are discontinued in favor of SampleTank (which makes sense … less code to maintain in the long term).

Huh? So they kept the name SampleTank 4 MAX v2 but it no longer comes with standalone SampleTron and Syntronik?

I bought SampleTank 4 MAX v2 a while back and it came with the whole shebang, standalone Syntronik 2, SampleTron 2, and Miroslav Philharmonik 2. If you look at my review(s) and installation tutorial(s) I find the Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2 sounds to be the most useful in the SampleTank 4 MAX bundle.

IK are so weird that I'd believe it, but how can they keep calling it the same name and even version number?

And why on EARTH would they discontinue Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2 but keep Miroslav Philharmonik 2? Philharmonik 2 isn't worthless, but the libraries are getting really long in the tooth (like 25 years long in the tooth) and the standalone's UI would have looked dated 10 years ago. 15 years ago even. Way worse than Addictive Drums 2, which was looking pretty hokey before its recent makeover. An entire fashion trend in UI design (the brushed aluminum spaceship control panel) came and went since Philharmonik 2 was released.

SampleTron 2 and Syntronik 2 on the other hand....Syntronik 2 had new instruments for it come out more recently than 2 years ago I think. Good ones, too. SampleTron 2's soundset doesn't exactly get updated, it's a frozen in time library of deliberately lo fi sounds, but it got some free new patches and an engine update within the past year. The standalone UI's for both of them aren't too dated, they're similar to SampleTank 4, with certain features either present or absent between them. The big difference is that unlike SampleTank 4, neither Syntronik 2 nor SampleTron 2 is guaranteed to crash after you've auditioned 20 or so patches.

Since auditioning patches is something I do a LOT of in humongous ROMplers, if I'm sure that the sound I want is in SampleTron or Syntronik, I'll use those UI's instead.

Other than that, the sounds do seem to work just as well in SampleTank, maybe even better because you can drill down more deeply into the engine and mess with envelopes and filters and so forth if you like.

Trying to figure out what's up with IK is probably pointless, I just snag what I want when it goes to deep discount or glitch and don't worry about whether anything about pricing or packaging makes "sense."

Anyone who ends up with SampleTank 4 MAX or hasn't yet installed all of it, be sure to check out my installation guide in the Tutorials forum. I had the bundle for almost a year before I figured out that I had neglected to install a number of rather nice sounds and had multiple space-wasting duplicates from having installed lesser versions of SampleTank and Syntronik.

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8 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Huh? So they kept the name SampleTank 4 MAX v2 but it no longer comes with standalone SampleTron and Syntronik?

I bought SampleTank 4 MAX v2 a while back and it came with the whole shebang, standalone Syntronik 2, SampleTron 2, and Miroslav Philharmonik 2. If you look at my review(s) and installation tutorial(s) I find the Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2 sounds to be the most useful in the SampleTank 4 MAX bundle.

IK are so weird that I'd believe it, but how can they keep calling it the same name and even version number?

And why on EARTH would they discontinue Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2 but keep Miroslav Philharmonik 2? Philharmonik 2 isn't worthless, but the libraries are getting really long in the tooth (like 25 years long in the tooth) and the standalone's UI would have looked dated 10 years ago. 15 years ago even. Way worse than Addictive Drums 2, which was looking pretty hokey before its recent makeover. An entire fashion trend in UI design (the brushed aluminum spaceship control panel) came and went since Philharmonik 2 was released.

SampleTron 2 and Syntronik 2 on the other hand....Syntronik 2 had new instruments for it come out more recently than 2 years ago I think. Good ones, too. SampleTron 2's soundset doesn't exactly get updated, it's a frozen in time library of deliberately lo fi sounds, but it got some free new patches and an engine update within the past year. The standalone UI's for both of them aren't too dated, they're similar to SampleTank 4, with certain features either present or absent between them. The big difference is that unlike SampleTank 4, neither Syntronik 2 nor SampleTron 2 is guaranteed to crash after you've auditioned 20 or so patches.

Since auditioning patches is something I do a LOT of in humongous ROMplers, if I'm sure that the sound I want is in SampleTron or Syntronik, I'll use those UI's instead.

Other than that, the sounds do seem to work just as well in SampleTank, maybe even better because you can drill down more deeply into the engine and mess with envelopes and filters and so forth if you like.

Trying to figure out what's up with IK is probably pointless, I just snag what I want when it goes to deep discount or glitch and don't worry about whether anything about pricing or packaging makes "sense."

Anyone who ends up with SampleTank 4 MAX or hasn't yet installed all of it, be sure to check out my installation guide in the Tutorials forum. I had the bundle for almost a year before I figured out that I had neglected to install a number of rather nice sounds and had multiple space-wasting duplicates from having installed lesser versions of SampleTank and Syntronik.

I endorse this post. I agree with almost all of it. 

Something very strange is up with IKM. I just makes no sense they killed newer products and kept Miroslav. 

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1 hour ago, Nitrate Audio said:

Something very strange is up with IKM. I just makes no sense they killed newer products and kept Miroslav. 

Last week, I wrote to IK to ask if 12 items I don't have licenses for (because they came out after my IK purchases) were included in the new Total Studio MAXGrade Offer (Alien Harbours, Beat Machines, Bionic Drums, Circuit Damage,  Extraterrestrial Saxophone, Ring of Doom, Salsa Percussion Loops, Swarm, Syntronik 2 Synth-X, The Code Volume 1, The Code Volume 2, Vector Vision.

As concerns Syntronik 2, I would suggest that instead of speculating (or assuming they had no reason, or it was arbitrary), people can ask IK. 

Edited by User 905133
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I have to admit - I went scorched earth on Syntronik 2 and got rid of all my Syntronik 2 stuff..... 

Having Synth Anthology 4, Arturia V-Collection 10 and Sample Tank 4 Max (Sans Syntronik 2) seemed a bit redundant.  Also, there is quite a bit of sonic overlap, even within Syntronik 2 itself). 

Also, by ditching Syntronik 2, I also gained back quite a bit of drive space.

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14 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Huh? So they kept the name SampleTank 4 MAX v2 but it no longer comes with standalone SampleTron and Syntronik?

After looking more closely at the website, it’s just SampleTank 4 MAX included in TS5.  I assumed that since v2 was the last version released that’s what they would include, but apparently, I (and Perplexity) was wrong.  Mea culpa.

I’m glad I got those products from before and will continue to be able to use them, but it’s a bummer that those products have been dropped.

Nevertheless, for $80, I purchased the TS5 MAXgrade, for Pianoverse, T-RackS 6 MAX, and TONEX Signature Collections.

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On 7/22/2025 at 11:47 PM, ALC said:

it’s a bummer that those products have been dropped

Well, for anyone who wants them, ST4 MAX v2 can be purchased at Plugin Boutique for $29.99.

Strike that, the only place I see that still sells it is Sweetwater, and it's $49.99. The PB one seems to be the later version that doesn't include Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2.

Going forward, I just hope they keep selling the soundsets. My SampleTank 4 MAX bundle would see way less use if it hadn't come with Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2.

I don't know if I'd call Syntronik 2 "essential," but there are some very good, useful sounds in it. I liked it even better once I installed the newer packages. Alien Harbours and that stuff. Doubtless, there are other emulations and sample collections of vintage synths that sound better, but they're also significantly more expensive than the SampleTank 4 MAX package. Well, at $29.99, there are a LOT of virtual instruments that are significantly more expensive....

SampleTron 2 blew me away with how comprehensive the collection of samples is. Not just the Mellotron and Chamberlin tape sets, but plenty other, lesser known analog samplers like the Optigan, and not just instrument sounds, but also the funky weird sound FX and loops. They're all lo-fi to start with, so it doesn't matter if IK recorded them back when technology was holding the size of samples back.

The amount of disk space my ST4 libraries takes up is 520GB. Substantially less than the 800GB they claim in the ad copy. I think they got the larger number by adding up the size of all 3 tiers of SampleTank 4 while not accounting for duplicates. Since SampleTank 4 MAX v2 includes everything from the lower tiers, they're really fudging it. Not that value actually comes from how much space the samples take up. Still, the package is/was a good enough bargain that they didn't need to lie about it.

On 7/22/2025 at 7:32 PM, User 905133 said:

I would suggest that instead of speculating (or assuming they had no reason, or it was arbitrary), people can ask IK. 

But guessing and armchair quarterbacking is so much more fun! It's probably done for the reasons stated earlier: those soundsets work as well or better when played using the ST4 engine, there hasn't been a time for years that SampleTank 4 MAX v2 hasn't been available for less than the individual products.

When ST5 comes out, my hope is that the Syntronik and SampleTron sounds will be included. Kind of a drag if it means that there will be no more Syntronik-branded sound packages, but I guess there can still be some branded SampleTank.

The continued proud existence of Philharmonik 2 will just have to go into the "forget it Jake, it's IK Multimedia" bin.

Edited by Starship Krupa
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On 7/23/2025 at 8:52 AM, Starship Krupa said:

Well, for anyone who wants them, ST4 MAX v2 can be purchased at Plugin Boutique for $29.99.

It turns out that it's ST4 MAX, not V2, at PB.  But I did find ST4 MAX v2 at Sweetwater and B&H for $49.99, well worth the extra $20.

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