I bought the Heil Sound PR-40 over two years ago and there has yet to be a project I haven’t used it on either. It is one of the most well rounded dynamic mics I have ever owned without question. The build is solid and has a heavy quality feel to it. The Heil Sound PR-40 comes in a small metal case with a mic clip and a cutout to fit the mic and clip inside the case. There are various accessories you can order for it also such as a shock mount or even a desktop boom stand. This is a radio announcers dream too because it is a very solid contender on vocals! Other large diaphragm dynamics that are comparable are the Shure SM-7 and the Electro Voice RE-20.

The first place I tried the PR-40 was on vocals in place of my usual Shure SM-7 with a loud rock singer. I usually use a dynamic in place of a condenser for louder sources and the PR-40 was a shoe in for that, but what really surprised me was the condenser like high end. Usually with dynamic microphones you lose some of the high end but the Heil had a very condenser like response. There was even one session where I had forgotten my Kel Audio HM7U and had to use the Heil PR-40 in its place for a few background tracks and it faired well in the track! Not exactly the same sound but closer than any other dynamic would have! For vocals it is a great mic to have in your locker.

Next up was recording drums. I used it in place of the Shure SM-7 again on kick and wow it wiped the floor with it! The low end that the Heil PR-40 picked up was sweeter on the PR-40! Not only did it sound better but it went lower and gave me a more woody, natural sound that really surprised me! I have yet to try it on a bass cab but because of the natural sounding low end I wouldn’t hesitate at all to mic up a cab with it instead of the SM-7 like I usually do. After a few more sessions it started to replace the SM-7 a lot, especially on kick drums. One other place I tried it was snare and it worked well but it is a rather large mic for snare and I prefer it on kick than snare so I’ll be sticking to my i5 for snare.

Last place I tried the Heil Sound PR-40 was on guitar amps and man it blew me away! I first tried it on a metal record on a Marshall 4×12 with a Peavey 5150. Again the low end chug that the guitarist liked was picked up well by the Heil Sound PR-40 and the high end of the guitar solos were just as present. It still blows me away, this mic is incredibly versatile and has amazing spl handling. From screaming vocals, kicks, snares and huge 4×12 guitar cabs its a perfect match. I even tried it on a small Crate Vintage Club 20 combo amp with a 10″ speaker. The amp has a strong mid presence that some mics can’t get past no matter how you position the mic but the Heil PR-40, when positioned correctly, made it sound a lot smoother than any other mic I have tried on it!

I was once told there is no such thing as a bad mic, only a bad mic for that situation. With the Heil Sound PR-40 it seems to be a great mic in ANY situation. There aren’t very many mics I think that of either but the Heil Sound PR-40 deserves it. In all the situations I used it in it performed flawlessly. It’s only been two years but me and my Heil will be together for years to come. It is now a staple in my mic locker.

Heil Sound PR 40

So when I first heard IK Multimedia was going to release an App for the Apple App Store I was kind of curious but kind of dismissed it at the same time. I mean most people think, including myself, til I tried it, that iPhone or iPod apps are just for fun. So I really didn’t get to excited over it but being the curious type I had to try it out. So I first check out their site and just read through everything on there as I usually do with any product I plan on adding to my arsenal. Well what I saw surprised me, there is not only 1 app but there are 8! Plus they offer a basic version for free and a Club version for half price of the other models, sweet!

In each version of Groove Maker there are a set of loops that compliment the style that the Groove Maker is modeled after. For instance, if you are into House you would download the Groove Maker House. If your into Hip-Hop then you would download Groove Maker Hip-Hop and so on for 8 different Groove Makers. Now you can easily get lost in this app for hours whether or not you have musical experience. I am not kidding when I say it is the easiest groove making software I have seen. I let my friend who has ZERO experience with making music or recording, much less on a iPod and withing minutes she had her own personal groove going on that she had created from scratch. It is very easy to get going and get started making professional sounding tracks.

In IK Multimedia’s Groove Maker there are all the basic things you would expect in a regular professional DAW. There is a master volume, as well as an additional track setting to adjust volume, pan, tap tempo control, a sequencer and a loop navigator to choose loops. Plus there are 8 pads that load the loops. Now I am still a bit confused at how there is so much but it is easy and natural to use each feature. To change the tempo you, well you tap the tempo you want. All the loops match perfectly to the tempo you tap in. Plus if you hold the Tempo button for a few seconds a fader appears and you can do more precise tempo changes. When you select the Track button a mute, solo, lock, volume and pan control comes up to whichever pad you had selected in the first place and you can easily change pads for quick and easy mixing. You can solo each pad to get a better idea of what is going on in the loop you can mute then in different ways to help sequence a song and create some patterns and if you lock a pad then it prevents your pad from changing when hitting the random buttons.

The main groove screen you see when opening any of IK Multimedia’s Groove Maker has 8 pads for 8 loops. On the right side of the screen you will see 4 different types of mix buttons. Each one changes all your loops and selects them at random depending on the loop button chosen. For instance there is a percussion button so the main loops loaded are percussion loops. So if you ever get beat block you never have to worry about getting ideas to get started! Plus with the lock feature you can keep selecting random loops and keeping the ones you like by locking the pad’s loop!

One of the best thought out things about Groove Maker is the loop selection, not only do you have the option of randomly selecting loops by category but you can scroll through each and every loop in each Groovemaker by hitting the Loops button. On the right the screen changes to a list of loops. When you select a loop area under the pads but above the Loops, Track, Play and Tempo shows the waveform of the loop chosen. Not to mention that most of the Groovemaker series comes with over 300 different loops matching the style of music! That is thousands of possibilities with just the loops included and they offer more songs for download when you register!

Now lets say you spent an hour making different grooves, I mean really digging into this wonderful app making intros, outros, breaks, builds and chorus’s! Now what? Well you can sequence it and put each groove in a order to sequence a full song! Oh I also forgot to mention you can also export the song in 44KHz/16bit Wav file! You can take your creations and distribute your songs, remixes or even take you ideas to your Computer to continue to add to them with Sonik Synth, Sampletron or add vocals for a quick and easy instrumental! This alone makes this app a must for up and comers that don’t have the best of the best behind them or have the money to hire professional producers and buy tons of studio gear. Today we are blessed to have the technology and companies like IK Multimedia creating tools for us to use to make professional music at ridiculous prices!

IK Multimedia Groove Maker

I have always loved Reason, so much so I have preferred it to any workstation keyboard out there. The mere fact that there are thousands of sounds from all over the world available for Reason in their Refill format is a really great thing – I mean anything and everything you could ever want is probably available in refill format. The downside to this is that there is also so much garbage to sift through. Some of the best refills have always come from Sonic Reality. Recently they started a group buy called Monster Reason Refill which is a huge bundle of the best refills out there. I am privileged enough to have these refills and would like to help other reason users on the fence or even reason users looking to expand their sound library immensely with some new refills.

When it comes to quality Sonic Reality is one of the first names in the business when it come to great sample libraries. The Sonic Refill Collection is Gold. Pure Gold. It alone puts many many many other workstation and sample libraries to shame. It has everything you could think of sound wise: Vintage drum machines, Synths, Basss (Both natural and Synth), Guitars, Rhodes, Pianos, REAL Drums, Strings, Brass – the list can go on and on. When it comes down to it I will say this, there is no shortage for great sounds. So much so that I still have not gone through every single Thor Patch, NNXT multi samples, Rex loops or even the Malmstrom patches but oh how wonderful the sounds are. I picked Reason with a controller instead of a workstation because of the great QUALITY of refills and the endless amounts of refills available. I now have over 15 gigs of Sonic Reality Refills and no one else can touch them when it comes to the quality they provide. I hate trying out refills, workstations, Synths or VSTis that have some great features or even a few great sounds but then the rest are just kind of “meh”.

Homer: Kids, how would you like to go… to Blockoland!
Bart & Lisa: Meh.
Homer: But the TV. gave the impression that–
Bart: We said “meh”.
Lisa: M-E-H. Meh.

When it comes time to compose, or write a song, melody, make a beat or whatever it is you do musically Reason and Sonic Reality Refills are something you want in your corner. You just play. You don’t have to stress about adding a compressor or eqing it to fit. You start with a solid, beautiful instrument that is perfect as is and yet with Reason you can transform it to something totally different. My personal favorite are the drums. I started as a drummer and always pride myself on my drum sounds or “tones” as I refer to them. I really feel a nice full drum sound is hard to achieve and Sonic Reality are some of the best at achieving it. From the Vintage & Monster Drum Refills to the free to members Ocean Way Kit 10 Refill they are solid. And then there are the keys, Oh my the keys. I get all flustered just thinking about choosing the perfect sound for keys. I mean The Meaty Grand, Nice Rhdz, and the A Grand Piano from the Pianos & Organs refills are some of my favorites but sometimes I get to clicking other presets and have the hardest time figuring out which sounds better. It is the best problem I have ever had! We’re barely scratching the surface for the Sonic Refill Collection but we still need to discuss the Ultra Refills too!

dope (dp) n.
1. Informal
a. A narcotic, especially an addictive narcotic.
b. Narcotics considered as a group.
c. An illicit drug, especially marijuana.
d. Sonic Reality Refills (I’m just saying…)

After much playing around I have started digging into some of the refills from the Ultra Series, or more specific the Ultra Hip-Hop, Electronic and Symphonic Refills. Dope. Plain and simple. They are so addictive! They are kind of generalized in a style but there are some awesome natural flute sounds in the Ultra Electronic Refill, an amazing Organ in the Ultra Hip-Hop and then there is the Ultra Symphonic. Doper. Yep. Didn’t think that word existed-and it didn’t…..til Sonic Reality made Ultra Symphonic! I can’t believe the amazing quality of the strings, pianos, and percussion in here. Amazing Timpanis, Choirs and again, by surprise some sweet Synths that are still fitting in with the rest of Ultra Symphonic Refill. When you take just those three, each of which by themselves can hold up against any other collection, VSTi or workstation, you have yet another combination that will keep you busy for a long time not wanting.

What I hate the most when it comes to Refills or workstations or any product I get, I hate it when I hit a brick wall or am not satisfied with my end product. Well I am glad to say that bad music done with this is because the user is at fault, not the sounds. Sonic Reality has brought amazing Refills to the world and you would be a fool to have Reason and not be using these!

Sonic Reality Sonic Refills Ultra Loaded

After the last review about the Monster Refill Group Buy I thought I should also review R.A.W. Universal Groove Kit since R.A.W. Miami is apart of the group buy now! I can not stress enough, if you haven’t jumped in on this group buy jump in! You will not find a better deal anywhere for the price! This is the perfect opportunity for anybody using reason to expand their sample library! R.A.W. Universal Groove Kit comes with over 2 gigs of loops! From Jazz, Funk and Rock to Pop, Hip Hop and Raggaeton! Best part of it is there are tons of instruments too! drums, guitars and bass to keys, horns and synths! It comes in three different formats the standard Wav, Rex and Apple Loops!

I use Reaper as my DAW of choice and it can read all three formats on both Mac or PC with ease. After running through a bunch of loops in the Media Explorer I had found a nice full sounding jazzy drum loop. I dragged it on to a track and started messing with the order of the loop. With Rex format loops they are already chopped to the transient so manipulating the loops or triggering one shot samples with Rex compatible samplers from these loops are a cinch! After about 30 seconds I had a basic loop and arrangement for a whole song based of of one loop. I moved parts of the snare hits around a bit to give a different feel to the chorus and verses as well as a intro and outro. All with in 30ish seconds. I have never had a easier time with drums. They sounded awesome and helped me create the basis for my song.

Next up was some actual chord progressions. Now this is where R.A.W. Universal Groove Kits shine. They are labeled so amazingly well! They start with the loops tempo, then the key and lastly the name of the loop. Great thing about Rex files are because they have been chopped accordingly before hand they translate really well with other tempos. Both slower or faster. Plus there is a wide range of instrumental loops here too. Over 300 loops of just guitars, both acoustic and electric, in every key imaginable! So up next I picked out a guitar loop with off beat staccato G chords layered with the drum loop. The song is starting to sound full but definitely needs some bass! I found a nice funkish bass line that fit the song well.

So now I got a basic song thing going but felt I needed to give it something to help fill it out. So I started looking for something synthy or even some kind of Rhodes. Clicked on the Keyboard Riffs folder and after 4 or 5 auditioned loops I found the perfect loop! Its a great rhodes loop that I put a little tremolo and compression and it fit perfectly, I can not believe how easy it is to get what you want when you want it! I have been working in the key of G so far and finding new instruments to add to your work is so easy because of the naming system they have! Plus all these sounds are easily molded to fit any mix!

After about 10 minutes I was able to put together a great song from loops! I never though I would see the day! Plus because they come in Rex format I was able to use ever single loop as single hit drum kits in my sampler! To put together this much in such a short amount of time was very surprising to say the least. Plus when it comes to how well they fit into a mix with other loops is just amazing. They are not overly processed and easily molded with EQ or Compression to fit. The whole R.A.W. series is amazing and drenched with quality!

R.A.W. Universal Groove Kit

If you haven’t heard of OceanWay Studios your really out of the loop. They are a world renown studio known for how well they record drums. Everybody from Eric Clapton to Kanye West have recorded there. Amazing studios. Their A and B rooms were designed by Bill Putnam himself! These are amazing sounding rooms with amazing sounding gear! Custom console, mics the whole nine yards! Well OceanWay Studios along with Sonic Reality have put together a drum collection that will make you drool! Not only in how well it sounds but also in the variety and flexibility in the sounds!

Usually I record drums and if I need to replace any mishaps or mess ups I sample the songs drums themselves and spot replace them. Never bothered with electric sets for a real drum sound. I have heard of some products out there promising amazingly real sounding drums. Never bought it so I never well bought them. Just sounded like a scam. Well when I was told that OceanWay Studios was going to release a drum sample collection it peaked my interest. When I found out about Sonic Reality working on it too I was impressed! I have the Sonic Refill Bundle for Reason and have been using it as my main sound bank ever since!

In this review I will be reviewing the DL version. So after doing some research this is what I gathered. Besides being recorded in a world class studio, having amazing engineers, and amazing gear, there are 5 kits with Dry, Medium and Ambient versions of each kit. Everything is 24 bit/48 Khz EXPANDABLE format. Meaning you can purchase additional DL kits or even upgrade to multichannel kits like in the bigger versions of Ocean Way Drums Silver and Gold Editions. The DL version comes with a redeemable Download Card for either 2 more DL stereo kits or 1 multichannel kit. It all comes packed in their Kontakt Player so it can be added to or used with other Kontakt collections. The player itself is really customizable and has a really flexible routing. After browsing through the site, reading how it was recorded and with what gear my mouth was watering! Next step, install and try it out!

Now after I installed it I was nervous to start messing with it. Like I had said I am a drummer and have never really been impressed much by these collections. After I opened up Reaper and loaded the OWD Kontakt Player I loaded up the Ocean Way Drums collection. I started with Kit 16, Dry and with the IMAP layout. This offers 2 ways to work with the way the samples are layed out. IMAP is a format that Sonic Foundry came up with for a logical way to layout the drum set over a set of keys. The other is made for the universally compatible General Midi (the multichannel kits also feature maps for Roland V-Drums). You can midi this in and play your kit without having to worry about assigning certain sounds and velocities to your set, it is already done for you!

Now my favorite part about this is the sound. Really when you hear it you’re kinda blown away. They don’t sound over compressed and EQ’d. They are natural as can be ready for you to shape into your own sound or use them as is for a natural drum sound. I love the toms in this. Usually toms and cymbals are the easiest way to tell whether something sounds realistic or not and Ocean Way Drums pass with flying colors! Nice deep and round tom sounds and smooth even cymbal sounds really blew me away! Best part is how they let you control the ambiance and mix and match so you can have a ambient snare with a tight dry kick or toms, and on top of that every drum was recorded with both snare on and off!!! The sounds possible here are unbelievable! The attention to detail is something I have never seen in any other drum collection before, you can tell they took their time in dialing in amazing sounds!

Well I finally did it. I admit that samples can replace an acoustic set and drummer. After years of notbelieving I feel both embarrassed and proud. Ocean Way Drums has convinced me that as someone who has always prided himself on their drum sound it is possible to get great drum sounds for your music entirely in the box. Ocean Way Drums has made a outstanding product that engineers, drummers, and musicians can appreciate. After messing with this and getting to know the sounds I feel spoiled that it is this easy to get amazing world class drums for this price!!!!

Ocean Way Drums

When I first heard of IK Multimedia’s ARC system I was really leery of it for the claims and what people like GIK Acoustics have taught us about acoustics. Well after I tried it I can’t say it doesn’t work! IK Multimedia’s ARC system is based on Audyssey MultEQ technology. To make it simple it takes a complex EQ to flatten out any problem frequencies in your room. It comes with a professional measurement microphone to help measure the problematic frequencies in the room.

When I first got my order in the mail I installed the software and set up the mic. The way it works is you take the mic and test different parts of your room. You want to measure as many positions as possible in your room. Particularly around the listening area. After you take the measurements you name your profile and select a speaker icon for it, which is really useful if you have more than one set of speakers. After you finish setting up a profile you open your DAW and insert the ARC VST or RTAS on the master bus and select profile. That is it. Really simple, quick and easy to set up.

Now in my room I have some bass traps set up in all for corners as well as 4 against each wall. Without them I will say that I have some serious ringing issues and with them it helps even it out. At first I loaded up a track I had been working on the day before and heard a slight difference in the bass response. It seemed tighter and clearer. I will admit I was surprised. After that I tried some classics, first with “Rich Girl” Hall & Oates. There wasn’t much low end here which is where most of my problems seemed to be but it did make the mids a bit clearer. For the second song I choose Jay-Z’s “Venus Vs. Mars” which has a lot more low end than “Rich Girl”. Again it tightened up the bass noticeably and made it clearer to listen to. Mids and highs were normal which surprised me a bit. I thought that it would still try and EQ them and make them sound weird but it sounded great.

It is really easy and straightforward in use. The manual does a excellent job of explaining any questions that may arise and also goes through step by step how to measure your room correctly. Some of the things I liked were how nice it looked. IK Multimedia has always done an awesome job with their GUI’s and make them intuitive to use, ARC is no exception. With two charts showing both left and right speaker readings with the before, after and the target EQ curves and selectable speaker icons it is a great looking and sounding plug in.

IK Multimedia’s ARC actually surprised me. It works if used correctly and can help out a bad sounding room and make it sound better than before. I will say this, it is not a replacement for acoustic treatment but used along with or even in situations where there is none and you can not set any up it can help make that situation better. It certainly helped make mine better!

IK Multimedia ARC

Well the deeper I dig the more I love IK Multimedia. They have wooed me many a times with their great T-Racks and Amplitube releases including Amplitube 2, 3, Fender, Metal and Ampeg SVX. Every time something new comes out I try it out but every time I keep going back to IK Multimedia. It seems like no matter what comes out IK still has the best sounding stuff hands down and at any price! Well recently I started jumping into some of their Workstation products including Sonik Synth 2 and more recently Miroslav Philharmonik. In all reality though Miroslav Philharmonik is famous in its own right. Miroslav Vitous (a Prague composer, bassist virtuoso, and a founding member of the group Weather Report) is the man responsible for the Miroslave Vitous Symphonic Orchestra and Choir sample collections. From these world renown collections, including extra recordings not released in the original collections, comes IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonik.

Now lets start with how and where it was recorded. Growing up I played Clarinet and then moved into Classical Guitar. All through elementary school, Jr. & Sr. High I played for any and every musical group I could. In school I played in the Orchestra, Jazz and after school I played in a few Rock bands. My Senior year 5 out of 8 classes were in music. I loved playing and learning music, but my favorite was when we got to travel. I have always had a fascination with sound and loved to hear how we sounded in different places. Gyms, cafeterias, malls, other schools auditoriums each one sounded great and had a sound uniquely their own. My favorite place to play was our auditorium because it had a nice wood background and floor along with brick sides along the stage and part of the audience section and a bright wall and the end of the auditorium. I always thought the strings and choirs sounded great there. Full and bright with just the right amount of reverb, that was til I went to Abravanel Hall where the Utah Symphony Orchestra play here in Salt Lake. If you haven’t heard of Abravanel Hall check it out, it has won many awards for its acoustics and architecture.

Well as this story goes I had a friend who played there with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. He invited me to come hear him one night and I went loving every minute of perfection there. Hearing an Orchestra live is amazing, even more so in an amazing concert hall. It is thick, full, more lively, real, in your face- yet all around you. Some of the best recordings ever recorded have been in concert or church halls for a reason, they sound spectacular! Well the same had been done with IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonik!

When Miroslav Vitous first started making the Miroslav Vitous Symphonic Orchestra and Choir Sample collections he was making them as a tool for himself, not as a product, but as a tool to help him compose using newer technology. These recordings are a reflection of the musical genius that is Miroslav Vitous. This collection was the first sample set that became widely accepted as the best of the best and quickly became a main stay all over the world especially in the entertainment industry. Some of the best movies soundtracks were done with IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonic. (After playing through it for a bit it starts to sound familiar, not in a bad way more of a light bulb in your head going off saying “Ahh this is how they do it!”) He started recording it in 1993 in the world famous Dvorák Symphony Hall in Prague. Because of the way it was recorded and layed out you get the sense of being there with real musicians layed out just like a real orchestra would! There is a familiarity in the sense of space, warm, full like it is in front of you yet all around you…just like in Abravanel Hall and that is not something that can be recreated with simple reverb and panning.

In IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonik you have this award winning and amazing collection of the best musicians, instruments and choirs at your fingertips in one of the worlds best concert halls. Okay, okay, now I’m getting all the DAW users out there saying “We get it, it sounds good, but how well will it work in my DAW? What about effects and layering?”. Well you need not worry about that! Like all of the IK Multimedia workstation series this is based on the SampleTank engine so if you have used it or any of the other workstations there will be a zero learning curve! 16 layer-able parts, each with 4 insert effects, 7 gigs of samples, 3 synth engines with traditional resampling, 20 world class effects including an amazing reverb from IK’s own Classik Studio Reverb and it comes in VST, RTAS and AU working on both Mac and PC platforms. From a feature stand point alone this is a amazing deal your getting! The biggest feature to me though is the great and simple layout. In larger sample collections, much like this one, it is really easy to get lost or not know where to find what your looking for, but not here! Everything is laid out so easily you can navigate through it in a breeze! Want violins, cellos or even odd percussion? They are all easy to find with well named patches, you can even load all of these into SampleTank if you want to stick with that!

Now where I was taken off guard was the quality of samples. I know I was just raving on it, and trust me it is justified, BUT the other instruments you don’t usually hear about included here are amazing! Now my favorite instrument to play has always been classical guitar and the classical guitar here is AMAZING! I mean, not just amazing for a workstation, I mean amazing as a classical guitar…my jaw dropped. Seriously, no joke I was speechless when I heard it. (Not entirely true. I was at first but then, if my recollection serves me correct, the only word uttered at first was “Really?” followed by “Seriously?” which was then followed by “Oh sh*t this rocks!”) The Classical Guitar 2 patch was mellow and full sounding with a certain depth like I was playing a real guitar! Some adjusting of my playing and programming and I might be using this instead of recording in my less than ideal space again! (Compared to Dvorák Symphony Hall that is.) Another sleeper here was the Steinway Concert Piano and the Cathedral Organ which are great, different than what your used to hearing (Again that Dvorák Symphony Hall in action!) in other sample libraries but still very nice. It would depend on the project and sound I wanted to go for in deciding between a few different pianos I have but this is at the top of the list!

Now of course the strings sections, brass, woodwind and choirs were amazing as expected! There is nothing normal or even mediocre about Miroslav Philharmonic. From where and the way it was recorded to how it is laid out, this is a very realistic, full and thick sounding collection that has yet to be surpassed at this or just about any price point. Its so realistic there are even a bunch of patches of musician noises that can be added which included page turning, talking, tuning and warm ups! All that along with amazing IK Multimedia effects like Classik Studio Reverb, EQ’s and Compression from T-Racks and Amplitube and of course the 16 layer-able parts, well you would be a fool to not look into IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonik if you are doing any kind of orchestral work!

IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik

We are so spoiled today with technology. We have amazing DAW’s, effects, and amazing sampling libraries from companies like IK Multimedia that help you do anything you can think of! Well I have been digging into Sampletron and to be honest I have never played anything like it before. I mean lofi sounding strings, choirs and flutes that sound so bad they sound amazingly good!

Before we had digital samplers, digital pianos, workstations and all the computer software there were the real instruments. If you wanted to write a song you had to have a real piano, choir and orchestras! Then there was analog recording, you could finally record sound! You could even play it back when ever you wanted! Add effects? Sure! You can even slow the tape down or speed it up for weird sounding effects! It was both a gift and a curse really looking back before digital people were going for clean and now that we have clean we want dirty. Ridiculous really but SampleTron is the best of both worlds bringing old technology to a new medium plus some extras! This isn’t just a re released VHS on DVD re released on Blue Ray then streamed online from your NetFlix account, not at all! This is what people have grown to love plus the SampleTank engine which makes for a amazing duo!

So again before digital there was analog right? Well before the Motif, Triton and Fantom there were Chamberlins and Mellotrons. They, much like today’s workstations, had a wide range (well at least for that day and age) of sounds recorded to tape reels on each key. When you pressed a key it played the tape of which ever samples were on the tape. They took sounds like strings, flutes, brass, choirs and made them sound beautiful with analog tape! At the time of their release people were very impressed by being able to play many sounds from one keyboard like instrument. Now because all these sounds were recorded and played on tape, and being how tape can wear out and be affected by things like temperature, humidity and even abuse these were very expensive and very fragile. Because of this these are very hard to find or fix and much harder to get one in working order! It is these types of vintage sampler/playback devices made famous by The Beatles, Yes, Genesis, Kanye West and Beck that have become known as “trons”

Now some of you are thinking “Why do I care about old sounds when I have the newest hottest keyboard/VSTi/Software out with tons of fresh sounds!”. Well these sounds are unique in that they sound amazing. Kinda like throwing on a old LP and playing the sounds you hear there.

[annoying TV personality voice] “But, but, but, but wait! There is more!” [annoying TV personality voice/]

In SampleTron you get the greatest sample library that you can’t really get in real life (Being that they are so hard to find in any type of order and parts are hard to find.) but you also get some extras that will really make people wish they had SampleTron instead of the real thing! With these tapes, once it was finished playing the sound stopped. That’s it, sorry I have to rewind and then you can hit the key again and it will sound again. Well much like in Miroslav Philharmonik you have the choice of going the looped route and have a infinite note or have it just like the old days and let the tape run its course. Now being that tape was the main medium used here there were at times noise issues like wow and flutter. Another great feature here in SampleTron is the ability to add or take away noise! Now being that this comes in the great SampleTank engine you also get great synth engines; Stretch, Pitch shift/Time stretch and resampling. All of which really come in handy with some of the Powerhouse and Rhythm Mate models being that instead of the usual strings and such these come with percussion and drum loops! You get amazing lofi sounding drums AND you can match them to any tempo you can stretch too! So for old timers and purists…be jealous, very jealous because we are just getting started.

In comes the beginning of the digital age. Remember? CD’s in the 80′s? What about 8 bit samplers in the early 80′s? Well in SampleTron you get the end and the beginning of a era. You have your basic tape based playback and then you have your Optigan, Talentmaker and Vako Orchestron which used analog optical discs. Even in the Powerhouse which used 8 track tapes for its sample playback medium, but in SampleTron you get 3 welcomed and fitting instruments. The 360 Systems Digital Tron, (An 8 bit digital sampler originally created to replace the analog based trons) Roland VP-330, (early Vocoder) and finally the Stylophone. (Simple electric organ.) Everything about this collection oozes retro lofi that people try and achieve by mangling today’s instruments. SampleTron is the best sounding and easiest way to go!

Most purists will hate the idea of their favorite Tron being sold as a sample library, but if they’re smart they will jump in on this. You can complain about it all you want but IK Multimedia has a reputation of taking great stuff that was and even is and making it something new fresh and make you instantly fall in love with it! SampleTron is no exception from IK Multimedia’s great line up! From the great loops to the amazing retro strings and flutes you will find a spot for SampleTron in your music!

IK Multimedia SampleTron

It’s no secret that I love IK Multimedia’s plug-ins. From the whole Amplitube series to T-Racks 3, they are a solid company worth the investment. Well I just recently decided to check out some of their virtual instruments and jumped in with Sonik Synth 2. Now for those that aren’t familiar with Sonik Synth 2, it is a virtual workstation that comes in AU, VSTi and RTAS formats for both Mac and PC with over 8 gigs of sounds. Pianos, Rhodes, Wurli’s, ARPs, Moogs, Jupiters, B3′s – You name it Sonik Synth 2 has it. It has 3 synth engines, 16 part multi timbral with layer-able sounds, 32 built in effects and 16 stereo outputs. From the feature list alone it seems like this is a must have workstation to have!

From the very beginning I was impressed with the layout. One thing IK Multimedia has always done right is make it very easy to use. Everything from the patch selection to effects are logically laid out. In the top half of Sonik Synth 2 you can select a patch, where it be to layer sounds together to make a combi or to just select a simple piano sound to jam out. In the bottom half you can edit each sound, add effects and edit those effects. Fairly simple and straight forward editing with volume, pan, filter and poly/mono/legato along with portamento time selection. Also you can have up to 5 effects per layer or channel. There is a wide range of great sounding effects including EQ, compression, reverb, rotary speaker, tremolo, chorus, delay and tons more. 32 in total, many of which come from their studio quality T-Racks 3 and Amplitube series which I reviewed earlier this year.

So I first started out by loading a Rhodes patch being that Rhodes have always been my favorite and I’m very picky with them. I was really taken by surprise the first time I tried out non synth sounds in Sonik Synth 2. After playing for a few minutes I started getting curious on how to edit sounds a bit and found it incredibly simple. I added Leslie to it, reverb, took away chorus add distortion and I had a whole new sound that still sounded incredible! Different but incredible non the less. Now I started getting curious. If it sounds this good with no synth sounds I can’t wait to get into the synths in it! So I started navigating through the synths and found myself going through the basses which are always the hardest to get right in my opinion. usually theses are the most overlooked and worst sounding in other libraries but not in this one! I kept scrolling through each of the bass sounds and couldn’t stop smiling, I was really impressed! Some of my favorite ones that stood out being Mr Nice Guy and Invaderz Bass, but all of them sounded great!

Up next were some leads and pads and Sonik Synth 2 has them in spades! Prophets, Jupiters, Moogs – All of them are here and all sound amazing! From subtle smooth sounding to hard sync styled pads and leads. One of my favorite things to do in Sonik Synth 2 is add slight overdrive and a short delay. Really makes leads sound huge, wide and helps them pop. When testing out new plug ins I like to try and recreate sounds from newer songs I like. So here I went for Drakes “Successful” and in under 5 minutes I found the V-tra Bright String Pad and put a low pass filter on it at 560 Hz and had the intro synth down pat! The synths here in Sonik Synth 2 are the best thing about it!

Finally I got to something I don’t usually use virtual workstations on, Drums. I am really picky on my drums and have my little collection of drums I use for all my drum sounds, but the 808s, 909s and the acoustic kits here are too good! After running through a few drum sequences with them I can replace a lot of my wav kits. Never thought I’d see the day I’d be using a VSTi for my drum sounds! I love having all in one solutions for sounds in Reaper because it doesn’t come with much at all in that department. Reaper along with Sonik Synth 2 is a solid workhorse for me and is now my main tool in production!

So in the end I am more than loving Sonik Synth 2! I was expecting some good synths and some so so everything else but what I got is world class everything. I didn’t even get to touch on everything in this review for times sake but the strings, guitars, basses, pianos, drums, synths and effects in this are top notch! For the price you can’t go wrong for bread and butter sounds – no wait, forget the price. You can’t go wrong with Sonik Synth 2 for bread a butter sounds for you DAW!

IK Multimedia Sonik Synth 2