IK Multimedia SampleTank 4 | HONEST Review (2020)
SampleTank 4 Max provides a seemingly endless, diverse palette of instruments and effects packaged in a fast, comprehensive engine. Despite the gigantic number of sounds included, it is immediately clear that a great amount of detail and perfectionism has gone into every instrument.
When it comes down to volume and versatility, SampleTank 4 leaves everything else in the dust.
Sound Quality
Features
Ease of Use
Specs: Compatibility: Windows or macOS | MAX version size: 250GB/8,000 sounds | Standalone or AAX, VST 3, AU | 16-part multitimbral | 16 individual stereo outputs | 70 effects | Includes Strummer, arpeggiator, Groove Workstation, Loop Manager (7,500 loops), Pattern Player (4,000 MIDI patterns) | For detailed spec list: IK Multimedia site
Way Back When
Back in the early 2000’s, the gap between music hardware and software technology was barely visible. MIDI programming was used ubiquitously, and many highly advanced software synthesizers and samplers were beginning to emerge. In 2001, the original SampleTank was released, and closed this gap rather brilliantly.
SampleTank was the first professional software sound module to combine a powerful synth/sampler engine and high quality multi-sampled sounds into a single plugin. This resulted in a software instrument that emulated the sonic scope and flexibility of large hardware workstations.
SampleTank was genuinely the first of it’s kind, but what can v4 bring to the table in the modern landscape of music software?
First Impressions
When SampleTank 3 was released in 2014, I remember thinking the 33GB download size and 4000 included sounds was extremely impressive. SampleTank 4 blows these numbers out of the water. The new, fully-featured Max version comes in at a monstrous 250GB in size with 8,000 sounds, and over 90,000 new samples in total.
I will say the download process of SampleTank 4 could definitely use some streamlining. The download includes around 100 individual installers, each of which needs to be installed one-by-one. The rest of the registration and installation process was very smooth, but some sort of download manager may have been useful here.
Upon opening the software, you are met with a sleek, sophisticated design with a noticeably more modern, polished appearance than previous versions.
The overall concept echos that of SampleTank 3. The default “parts” screen allows you to fill the 16 instrument slots and edit top-level attributes such as pan, transpose, MIDI channel etc. The Instrument Browser provides a similar engine for browsing sounds, which can be filtered by library, category and other new filters such as timbre, style etc. Much like SampleTank 3, the overall workflow is logical and straight-forward, but this revamped engine feels classier, and offers a more effortless, intuitive user experience.
IK Multimedia clearly understand that first impressions count. It is immediately obvious that a lot of thought has gone into perfecting the design of SampleTank 4 so as to appeal to both beginners and SampleTank fanatics. But this is all surface level stuff. Let’s load up some instruments and take a look at how this sampling workhorse actually sounds.
The Samples in the Tank
If I’m being completely honest, when I saw the sheer volume of sounds included in SampleTank 4 Max, I was a little apprehensive about the possible sound quality of each individual instrument. Like many things in life, a sharp increase in the quantity of something can often act as a detriment to it’s quality.
Thankfully, that is not the case here. The sound quality is phenomenal and each instrument gives an authentic playing experience. There is a huge amount of character and sonic variety in each sound, and exploring this huge library of instruments is an absolute joy. It goes without saying I can’t cover every sound (or even every category!) in this review, but I do want to mention some of the standout instruments I have found.
The range of acoustic piano sounds are absolutely beautiful, in particular the C7 “Grand Song Theme” and “Virtuoso”. The C7 Grand “Old Jazz Piano” is also spectacular with it’s soft attacks and smooth, mellow tone. The ability to quickly switch between such an eclectic range of acoustic pianos triggers a lot of creativity, and I had a ton of fun with these sounds.
The Ethnic category of sounds also took me by surprise due to the diversity of the included instruments. If you’re feeling a little adventurous, these sounds could easily translate to a range of modern genres, particularly the Bamboo Flute and Balophone Dark.
Other standout categories are the basses, synth pads and voices, each of which is overflowing with a range of unique, mesmerising instruments. But there are countless hidden gems in the SampleTank 4 library and you are given such a broad range of creative options. I’ve been experimenting with this software for days now and honestly there are still sections of sounds I’ve barely had time to look at. SampleTank 4 truly is a powerhouse of sonic creativity.
A Closer Look
For many producers, the untouched default sounds may be exactly what you’re looking for. However, the new edit panel adds a level of versatility that just didn’t exist in previous versions. This panel allows you to choose from 16 filters, adjust the oscillators, LFOs, amplitude envelopes and much more. But here’s where it get’s a little crazy. The edit panel actually allows you to finetune all these parameters for specific sonic elements of a chosen instrument. For example, if you load up a steel string acoustic guitar, you can individually edit filters, LFOs and various envelopes for the sustain, the releases triggers, the performance noises and several other elements of the guitar. This offers a staggering level of customization for your chosen instruments.
Due to the intuitive design of SampleTank 4, I can see even complete beginners to sound design adjusting and exploring these panels.
It is worth noting that while SampleTank 3 sounds do load in SampleTank 4, the edit panel is not available for these sounds.
The ease of use of the SampleTank mixer has definitely remained intact. The 16 instruments each have their own bus, and there are 4 FX-send buses which the sixteen channels can independently route to. A very welcome feature of the mixer is the ability to instantly load the effect slots within the mixer panel.
In the effects rack, 13 new effects have been added since SampleTank 3, bringing the total amount to 70. This panel allows you to add and tweak up to five effects for the currently selected instrument. The rack displays the effects side-by-side in a gorgeous, innovative design. As you’d expect from IK Multimedia, the effects sound sublime, which makes sense as they are derived from AmpliTube and T-RackS software.
Personal favourites: Tape Echo, Sat X and Plate Reverb
Bring your sounds to life
SampleTank 4 includes 4 new “player” options which only further expand the scope of sound and MIDI manipulation. These 4 options are: Arpeggiator, Strummer, Phraser and Loop Manager. The first three offer various MIDI playback editing tools with a library of presets for each player option.
Arpeggiator: This is an extremely enjoyable and creative feature similar to arpeggiators we’ve seen in other IK products such as Syntronik. This feature allows you to create up to 16-note rhythmic patterns with individual controls for velocity, note length, step length and swing.
Strummer: This rhythmic chord strumming tool allows you to set chords, position, direction, and more. As you’d expect, it’s particularly powerful when used with SampleTank 4’s guitar sounds.
Phraser: This option offers much more than a simple sequencer tool. The phraser allows you to browse over 4,000 MIDI patterns which can be mapped across a range of MIDI keys. You can also import your own MIDI files.
Loop Manager: This option boasts over 7,500 loops to play around with, providing parameters for pitch, tempo, grain and more.
SampleTank Editor (Beta)
In March, IK Multimedia released a few additional products for SampleTank 4, including 6 new sound libraries, a free version (SampleTank 4 CS) and Editor with sample import functionality.
I thought the Editor was worth mentioning as it is a feature IK fans have been requesting for a while. It is a brand new, innovative programming tool that can be used to create, edit and build SampleTank instruments and libraries.
For a Beta version, the instrument editing process is fairly streamlined and easy to understand. Samples can be quickly imported and auto-mapped based on either the specified ST filename format or a custom automap. You can then adjust zones, ranges, oscillators and synth settings for the imported samples. You can even add SampleTank effects to your created instrument within the Editor module. Instruments you’ve created can then be combined to create full ST libraries.
Granted, this program is definitely geared more towards advanced producers and engineers working with SampleTank. However down the line this could open the doorway to a much broader SampleTank community with user-created instruments and libraries.
SampleTank Editor (Beta) is available with any paid version of SampleTank.
The Verdict
To quickly touch on pricing, there are 3 paid versions of SampleTank 4 (listed below).
SampleTank 4 SE: The smallest version is currently €179.99 incl. VAT. This version includes over 30 GB of samples and 2,000 sounds.
SampleTank 4: This is a great mid-range version currently at €215.99 incl. VAT. This version includes over 100 GB of samples and 6,000 sounds.
SampleTank 4 MAX: This is the comprehensive version of SampleTank 4 currently priced at €359.99 incl. VAT. This version includes over 260 GB of samples and 8,000 sounds.
I’d say these are reasonable prices for the sheer amount of content included. This product definitely covers a lot of bases that would otherwise require countless plugins to achieve a similar result. However, if you’re not ready to take the plunge just yet, you can download SampleTank 4 Custom Shop: a free version that includes over 4 GB of samples and 50 sounds.
Overall, the amount of instruments in SampleTank 4 is an extraordinary feat, but it’s the sound quality and sampling detail that particularly took me by surprise. I would highly recommend this software to both beginners and advanced music producers. While previous versions may have been somewhat overwhelming for beginners, SampleTank 4 streamlines and simplifies the interface navigation, giving room for creativity to shine through.
For more information, specs, demos, media etc, check out this product on ikmultimedia.com.
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