The revamp of the UI means SampleTank's feature set is now contained within eight main windows Parts View, Instrument Browser, Edit Panel, Effects Rack, Player Panel, Layer Editor, Mixer and Live Mode. This is a virtual instrument that all but the most technophobic of computer-based musicians ought to be able to handle.
Users also get access to some content from earlier SampleTank releases with, again, different selections for each edition. The expanded content offers plenty of 'new for v4' samples including acoustic pianos, bass, brass, strings, guitars, acoustic and electric drums, percussion, synths, voices and woodwinds. Usefully, the IK website has a PDF document that details the content provided in each edition so you can see exactly what you will get. SampleTank 4 runs as both a stand-alone application (useful for live performance) and as a multi-format plug-in. For the SE and standard versions, those numbers are 30GB/2000 instruments and 100GB/6000 instruments respectively, reflecting their different prices.
For this review, I had access to the fully-loaded MAX version which offers 250GB of samples spread across some 8000 instruments. All use the new front-end but are supplied with different sizes of sound library. SampleTank 4 is now available in three editions SE, the 'standard' and MAX. However, while IK have delivered lots of new features and refinements to the user interface, they have also done a pretty good job of retaining SampleTank's 'easy-to-use' tag. Alongside the collection of samples, therefore, it provides a sample-based virtual instrument with 16-part multitimbral capabilities, support for multi-layer, multi-articulation, sampled instruments, and playback of audio and MIDI loops (patterns). Let's start by confirming that the underlying SampleTank concept remains firmly intact. So, what does v4 bring to tempt the music producer looking for that perfect sound source workhorse? What's In The Tank? IK Multimedia have now introduced SampleTank 4 with new features and new samples. That's not a criticism simply an observation because, for certain groups of potential users, that's exactly what they are looking for.
It perhaps lacked the glamour, cutting-edge quirkiness, or sample-editing depth of some more targeted, genre-specific virtual instruments, but the sounds span orchestral to EDM and it ticks the 'jack-of-all-trades' box very firmly. With its easy-to-use interface and broad, very useable sound palette, SampleTank 3.5 provided a workmanlike virtual instrument that would make a great starting point for those building a music production system. We last looked at SampleTank back in the SOS August 2015 issue. IK Multimedia's newly updated one-stop sample shop is bigger and better than ever. Parts View allows you to load up to 16 individual instruments into a single instance of SampleTank 4.
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