Sound Creations, Inc.

THE GOOD Ol' DAYS?

I do some travelling with various concert events and projects and during some of those long airport layovers it gives you time to reminisce.  One memory in particular comes to mind when thinking about the days when you had to carry so much gear with you in order to do a concert, especially keyboardist.

Try checking a Rhodes 73 suitcase on board a flight these days, talk about a nightmare. Thankfully better days are here. Nothing against the Rhodes, it is a fabulous instrument but if you are on the go you have a lot more lighter weight options...enter SampleTank for iOS.

The introduction of the iPad has bright a revolution of sorts for musicians.  To think you can have an entire music production studio that lives in something that weighs less than the latest best seller is truly mind blowing.  The great thing is we are just in the beginning stages of what is possible.

ENTER SAMPLETANK iOS

IK Multimedia is no stranger to software instruments.  They are responsible for bringing electronic musicians one of the first software based multi-timbral synthesizers.  The original SampleTank broke new ground for musicians who wanted the power of a hardware synth workstation realized in software.

You would use this as either a stand alone application or inside your existing computer audio workstation such as Cakewalk Sonar, Cubase, Logic, etc..  Now you can have the same power on, get this your iPhone or iPad.

SampleTank for iOS originated as an iPhone App and just recently released as a Universal application that takes advantage of the additional resources of the iPad. You have access to an entire sound library consisting of 16 different instrument categories (acoustic, electronic, sound effects, percussion, strings, woodwinds, brass, etc.).

THE SOUNDS THE THING

Weighing in at over 700 MB the download contains all of the additional expansion packs which you can unlock through "in app" purchasing. The app includes a small sampling of sounds in each category giving you an idea of what packs you might want to purchase later.

The SampleTank iOS library draws from IK's vault of sounds that have made their way into many of their products over the years. These include some orchestral sounds from their Philharmonik virtual instrument which is based on the acclaimed Miroslav Philharmonik library. I actually use Philharmonik in many of my productions and when auditioning SampleTank iOS recognized some of the strings and woodwinds from that collection.

One of the main attractions for me is having an alternative piano sound source to help cover those times when the one provided by the venue is lacking or to have something I could use to augment an existing sound source to fatten and sweeten things up a bit.  I would have liked to have seen at least one other acoustic grand piano patch to compliment the nice bright “rock” piano ( which is included). In order to get my wish I have to go the in app purchase route to fill that space. I optionally could use the on board EQ to modify the existing patch to create a more subtle warmer sound.

The electric pianos included give a little more insight into what might be expected in the expansion packs. The Rhodes especially has a nice tone with a balance of sweetness and bit when you need it. Also an electric grand is there along side the venerable DX type piano.

The sound quality overall is excellent and the sounds respond to key velocity allowing you to have some dynamic expression.  There is a setting to modify the apps velocity curve that I would definitely recommend working with.  Doing so will yield the best results matching your playing style with the particular keyboard controller you have at hand.

IT'S GOT GROOVE

SampleTank iOS also includes a number of "grooves" you can incorporate into your presets.  The grooves consist of not only drum patterns but also various styles and "riffs" you might hear a guitar or keyboard player use in a song.  These give you quick access to some interesting song starter and backing ideas. The acoustic and electric guitars take advantage of this in particular.  

The included grooves compliment the sounds well as you can call up some strumming, picking and other patterns to help create a convincing guitar backing part. This also holds true for the other instrument patches as well.  The groove library extend the creative possibilities for SampleTank iOS.

THE MORE THE MERRIER

The onscreen keyboard is stacked to give you access to the fullest onscreen range possible. You can adjust the overall size of the keyboard in the settings. You can also switch the keyboard view to display "drum pads".  This replaces the black and white keys with a more drum oriented layout with illustrations of the corresponding drum and percussion instrument displayed on its assigned pad.

You also have a very cool “scale” based keyboard that allows you to select various scales (major, minor, harmonic minor, blues, etc.). The keyboard is locked to the corresponding pitches so you can just jam away and always be in the zone of the selected scale, nice.

You have a considerable amount of flexibility with SampleTank iOS.  Each preset allows you to have up to four (A-D) sound slots that give you the ability to split and layer sounds. You can then save the result as a custom user preset.

What is possible here is that you can have let's say drums on part A, bass on part B, keys on part C and possibly a pad or other keyboard sound on part D for the most performance impact. "Grooves" mentioned above can also be assigned to certain key ranges to trigger the associated patterns for each sound, drum and bass patterns for instance.

HAVE IT YOUR WAY

SampleTank iOS also gives you some control to alter the included sounds to tailor them to your specific arrangement. You have things like envelope control, insert effects such as compression, reverb, delay and EQ to adjust the overall tone of the patch. Having these extra controls is very productive in getting the sound you want and to help the sounds you select fit in with other instruments you are playing with.

A PLAYER'S APP

Not only is this particular app focused on providing musicians with a sound source they can use live, the latest 1.1 universal update to SampleTank iOS introduces a great 4-Track recorder to help capture your ideas on the go.

You of course can also transfer these recordings into an outboard audio console capturing direct to CD or connecting it to your host computer to capture the audio.

GOT MIDI?

I currently use a Studiologic SL-880 weighted controller and the app responded very well dynamically.  Again it is important to use the velocity scaling setting to find your particular controller's sweet spot.

SampleTank iOS is "Core MIDI" compatible so you can connect it to the outside world  through many available MIDI interfaces designed for the iPhone and iPad.

IK has a companion product to fill this void, iRIG MIDI. This device plugs into the dock connector of the iPhone/iPad to give the user full MIDI in, out and thru capabilities. One of the other great features of iRIG MIDI is that you can plug it into a power source and it will serve to charge your connected iDevice, very nice. I will have a separate feature on the iRIG MIDI coming soon.

This provides you with the ultimate in portability as you can just plug and play with minimal accessories which is the whole point of looking into this sort of application in the first place. They were on back order at the time of this review so hopeful I can get one soon to do a followup review.

That being the case I turned to the Alesis iO dock which allowed me to try SampleTank iOS without the iRig MIDI. Since the App is Core MIDI capable that did not present a problem.

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

The sound is always the main thing no matter what features are included in an app. I can say with SampleTank iOS it is of the best quality. To squeeze this much sound into an iPad app is amazing.

Connecting through the iO Dock as well as playing through the iPad's earphone jack both yielded great results. The 1.1 universal update brings a lot of compatibility options to the audio settings to ensure compatibility with whatever audio setup you might be dealing with.

IN THE TANK?

In my experience up to this point I think that IK has started in the right direction.  The introductory sounds provided initially give you just a taste for what is possible.  In order to experience the full palette of sounds you have to opt for the in app purchase the "expansion" packs which range in price.

If you factor in the purchase of the iRig MIDI interface then things can add up quickly to the total cost of ownership. One thing I would have liked to see is to make the initial size of the app a little lighter and then add the expansions you want to install.  Sometimes with space as a premium especially those using 16 gig wifi versions of the iPad/iPhone you appreciate all the extra space you can get.

With the introduction of version 1.1 making the App universal you can now take advantage of the larger iPad screen and the other enhancements that take a great app and make it even better. So is SampleTank iOS for you.  It is if you want a dedicated sound engine that can bring you the performance compatible to what you would see in an outboard hardware module.  It brings lots of possibilities to the table and the sound quality is exceptional.  Having spent some time with the initial version and now having played with the 1.1 universal update they have a real winner.

It is good to see them consider their customer's feedback and stay open to providing the best price, value and performance for the user. What are you waiting for?  You can try the free version right now to get an introduction. SampleTank is available now in the App Store for $19.99.  For more information visit IK Multimedia