TAL – Sampler | HONEST Review (2022)
TAL – Sampler is a simple, powerful and highly intuitive VST sampler plugin with a unique, vintage re-sampling option that we are yet to find in any other VST plugin. This plugin doesn’t emulate a specific hardware sampler, but it’s almost as if it’s emulating the very experience of vintage sampling itself.
Who this plugin is for: Producers or sound engineers looking for fast, effective sampling techniques based on old-school sampling philosophy within a fully featured interface.
Who this plugin is not for: Producers or sound engineers looking for a plugin that allows for large, highly detailed sound banks with intricate velocity programming or other complex functions.
Specs: Windows: Windows XP or higher (64 bit) OSX: OSX 10.7 or higher (64 bit). AAX: Pro Tools 10.3.6 or higher | 4 sample layers | 3 LFO’s | Reverb, EQ, Delay effects
Sound Quality
Features
Price
$60.00
TAL – Sampler / An Overview
If you’re a fan of vintage VST plugins and synth emulations, you may have already come across TAL Software. TAL are renowned for their wildly accurate emulation plugins of popular vintage synthesizers and effects, such as the U-No-LX and BassLine-101. I’ve also been a huge fan of their freeware over the years, for example my personal favourite: TAL-Noisemaker (which ranks as our no. 8 best free plugin of all time).
TAL Sampler, their analog-modelled virtual sampler, was recently updated, and we realised a full review of this incredible plugin was long overdue.
In my opinion, the name TAL-Sampler undersells this product somewhat, as this is far more than a basic sampler plugin. Granted, it uses a sampler engine as the sound source, but this plugin is capable of much, much more than most commercial VST/AU samplers.
Upon first opening the plugin, you are met with a rusty, retro design. Like most TAL products, the interface is an immediate throwback to classic hardware synthesizers. A cool feature of this plugin is the “change color scheme” option, which is a fun, albeit slightly distracting feature.
Within the first 5 minutes of using TAL-Sampler, you get the impression that it is designed to be fast paced and incredibly intuitive for both beginners and advanced producers. The engine features a powerful modulation matrix, a fantastic-sounding self-oscillating 24/12/6 dB low pass filter and various effect parameters for EQ, delay and reverb.
It’s worth noting that some of the features are fairly modest. For example, the plugin engine has four independent layers, and while this isn’t a lot, this doesn’t really feel limiting due to the vintage, no-nonsense nature of the plugin.
Sampling the sampler?
The most interesting and unique feature of TAL-Sampler is the Resampler section of the engine.
If you cast your mind back to the 80’s / 90’s era of resampling, producers used hardware such as wavetable synthesizers to store and edit their own samples. Without getting too technical, each of these individual pieces of hardware had different ways of processing sounds, which mainly came down to the various DAC chips these samplers used. What TAL have done, ratherly brilliantly, is created a plugin that emulates the digital analog converters (DAC’s) themselves. This results in an accurate representation of the sonic distinctions and characteristics that each of these DAC chip used. Each of these DAC chips can then be tweaked using parameters such as sample rate, jitter, reduce input volume, hiss and more. This is a remarkable feature that I can’t say I’ve seen in any other plugin.
If you’re more focused on modern electronic production, this may not be that exciting to you. But for lovers of vintage styles of production and sound design, this is an incredibly unique, valuable feature.
The icing on the cake…
There are a few other elements of this plugin that can’t go unmentioned. Firstly, the effects module along the bottom of the plugin is extremely easy to use and sounds great. It only offers the fundamental parameters of EQ and reverb (delay is a little more comprehensive), but is more than enough to experiment with your samples.
The factory presets for TAL – Sampler are fantastic and provide a wide range of classic 80s, 90s and modern sounds to choose from. TAL also links to a huge collection of presets by Hollowsun, which is based on libraries of Akai sample instruments. This is an absolutely essential download and contains some incredibly iconic sounds.
For a VST sampler, this plugin has a surprising amount of hidden gems such as a vintage real-time time stretcher. It’s not a realistic time stretch and will warp the sounds in a fashion reminiscent of classic samplers, so it perfectly fits the theme of back-to-basics sound manipulation.
The Verdict
TAL – Sampler is a tantalizing, beautifully designed sampler plugin that genuinely stands out from the crowd. While I wouldn’t recommend this to every producer out there, it’s perfect for producers and musician looking to emulate vintage sound technology in the most accurate way possible.
TAL – Sampler is currently $60. There is a free demo available, which produces a rising white noise sound every minute.
For more information and demos, view this product at TAL-Software.com.
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