IK Multimedia MAX

It’s been four and a half years since the
arrival of the last full version update to Italian
software/hardware powerhouse IK Multimedia’s
SampleTank (VST/AU/AAX/Standalone) sample
playback synth. Described in our review of
version 3 as “big and beautiful, if not particularly
bold” (8/10,
210), this 16-part multitimbral
workstation aims to put an enormous and
comprehensive library of lovingly recorded
drums, basses, keys, guitars, synths, strings,
brass, ethnic instrumentation, FX and anything
else you can think of at your ingertips, quickly
and easily, but with plenty of sound-shaping,
processing and customisation options.
Hey, good looking
SampleTank 3 introduced a completely new –
and much improved – interface and engine, Live
Sets (for quick switching between ‘songs’) and
more, and increased the size of the sample
library from 8GB to 33GB, amounting to over
4000 instruments. As well as the new features
that will be the focus of this review, SampleTank
4 MAX smokes those numbers, weighing in at an
insane 260GB, with 120,000 samples fuelling
over 8000 multisampled instruments (see In
the ’Tank) and 7500 loops, plus 4000-odd MIDI
patterns. Two lesser versions – SampleTank 4
and SampleTank 4 SE – reduce the igures
IK Multimedia
SampleTank 4
MAX
€600
Sized up by a factor of seven, and redrawn to be easier on the eye and
brain, this venerable ROMpler is looking and sounding better than ever
“SampleTank 4 makes
an immediate good
impression with its
redesigned, resizable,
Retina-compatible GUI”
NEW GUI
The Edit Panel now
has interactive
graphical elements
MACROS
Click to reveal eight
Macros, preassigned
for every preset
PART SELECTOR
Switch between the
16 Instruments with
this menu
DRUM PADS
Switch the virtual
keyboard for a row
of pads
LAYER EDITOR
Set up key and
velocity ranges for
each Instrument
MIXER
Apply effects and adjust
volumes, pans and sends
EFFECTS RACK
A lunchbox-style
rack for viewing
multiple FX
PLAYER PANEL
The Arpeggiator,
Strummer and
Phraser live here
LIVE MODE
Set up set lists and songs
for instant Multi switching
MODULATION MATRIX
32 freely assignable slots
with modifiers
PART CONTROLS
Adjust various
parameters for the
selected Instrument
considerably, for €180 and €360 respectively.
See the IK website for a content comparison.
Getting this gargantuan library installed is
quite a chore if you opt for the download rather
than the USB drive version. The sample folders
for each instrument type have to be manually
downloaded as 97 separate installers, although
you can download multiple iles at once. Having
inally nabbed them, you then have to run each
one individually – 16 of them just to install the
new acoustic pianos, for example. It’s by far the
most tedious, long-winded library installation
routine we’ve ever seen – second only to that of
IK’s 23-ile Syntronik, in fact – and it really is time
the company put some of that hard-earned cash
into the development of a proper download/
installation manager.
Fortunately, once that’s all done, SampleTank
4 makes an immediate good impression with its
completely redesigned, resizable, Retina/HiDPI-
compatible GUI. The whole thing looks fabulous,
92 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2019
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