SS2 has nearly 6000 individual Instrument patches. Sonik Synth 2's rear panel: very attractive (the fan is even animated), but serves no operational purpose! This multitimbral Combi can be saved by the user, and the healthy collection of themed presets supplied is worth exploring. Additionally, the user can alter the MIDI channel (parts are layered by assigning them to the same MIDI channel), polyphony and stereo output pair. Each of Sonik Synth 2 's 16 parts can have one of these Instruments assigned to it, and is equipped with a set of basic mixing and other controls: mute, solo, pan and level are pretty standard fare, and the display also indicates how much memory the currently selected Instrument requires.
There is a confusing mixing of the words 'instrument', 'voice' and 'part preset' in the manual and software, but all effectively refer to a 'patch' as most of us would use the term: a multisample and its attendant synthesis and effect settings, saved under a unique name. Half of Sonik Synth 2 's window is taken up by the 'Combi' display, which lists the plug-in's 16 multitimbral or layerable parts, in two switchable banks of eight. The Sampletank family graphically mimics hardware synths, right down to the large 'display' that dominates its operating window. Practically any modern sequencing environment will accommodate one or more of these standards.
The plug-in runs on both Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000, and supports all major standards: VST, DXi, RTAS and AU - the installer CD is cross-platform, and the user has three authorisations. It even implements Sampletank 2 's three 'synth engines', of which more soon. The engine, however, is exactly the same, excepting that SS2 does not offer sample import: the system is closed when it comes to its basic sound set.īriefly, then, Sonik Synth 2 is a 16-part multitimbral playback synth module with a large sample ROM, eight stereo 'audio out' pairs, a decent effects complement, and plenty of editability. All the basic elements are there, though the virtual 'display' has been utilised slightly differently and the editing knob scheme has also been modified. Sure, the basic layout is very much like the parent product, but subtle graphic tweaks have been made, the most obvious being the colour scheme - gone is ST orange. Whereas the original Sonic Synth just looked like Sampletank, the new product has its own look and feel, beyond swapping a 'c' for a 'k' in its name. Sonic Synth was covered in November 2002:Īnd finally, Sampletank 2 had its outing in February 2004: The first Sampletank review was in August 2001: You can track the evolution of Sampletank and Sonic/Sonik Synth yourself by tracking down the SOS reviews. In all, 8GB of samples is provided, on two DVDs (the cross-platform installer has its own CD-ROM). But a healthy selection of bread-and-butter sounds is also provided, also all new and created by Sonic Reality. The focus of this first release is classic synths: a veritable museum of instruments has been sampled during the creation of this set.
The first result of this closer relationship is Sonik Synth 2, one of an impending series of specialised sample and patch sets created by SR that are played back by a modified version of the latest Sampletank engine. You might call it a 'strategic alliance' if you were writing their press release. This all-new set of samples and patches came with a playback version of Sampletank.įast-forward to now, and not only has Sampletank morphed into an even more serious instrument - version 2 offers improved effects, many more editing options, comprehensive user sample import and some funky loop-manipulation options - but we discover that Sonic Reality's relationship with IKM has grown rather more close. For example, American sample-library wizards Sonic Reality released a collection dubbed Sonic Synth back in 2002.
The engine itself became a vehicle for other IKM and third-party sound sets. Initially at least, editability was not a high priority, and the basic samples were not upgradeable by the user (the XL version offered basic Akai sample library import, though), but the system wasn't exactly closed.
As a result, IK's software has won an enthusiastic customer base. When IK Multimedia's Sampletank hit our computers a few years ago, its novel aim was to function as a plug-in alternative to the standard multitimbral sound module. Few other plug-ins provided such a broad-based sample collection, organised to give users the basic sounds necessary for day-to-day sequencing work. The latest instrument plug-in from IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality packages eight Gigabytes of samples, mostly from a huge range of classic synths, in IK's Sampletank front end. Highlighted is one of the excellent acoustic drum kits note the handy little 'library' graphic to the right of the display. Everthing you need to know about, or do with, Sonik Synth 2 is done from this window.