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| Hello I’m David Kerzner. I’ve been a sound designer in the music industry since the early nineties and I am very excited to be talking
to you about something so new and fresh in the world of sound. I am speaking of a revolutionary new product called SampleTank® 2. While SampleTank® 1 provided a diverse resource for fast "plug and play" multisamples with effects in software, SampleTank® 2, takes the "sample workstation" to a whole new level! It is by far much more than a simple upgrade to the original. In fact, I've never seen such a significant combination of useful musical features all in one package before in software or hardware. This is a premiere product that is really made to appeal to every musician. |
A Multitude of new features |
| To begin introducing how the massive amount of new features in SampleTank® 2 dramatically affect what a musician, composer or
producer can do creatively I would like to point out some important highlights that give the user major bang for the buck! These are things that upon
first glance you might not know. For instance, SampleTank® has always been known for having more built-in DSP effects than any other sample playback
plug-in. But, now with SampleTank® 2 this aspect has become an incredibly unique and powerful part of virtual instrument evolution! Did you know that SampleTank® 2 has the full components of the award winning AmpliTube™ guitar amp and stomp and fx modeling inside? I cannot express in just words how cool it is to be able to take guitar samples (not to mention organs, basses or any other sound) and run them through such a variety of tools like modeled guitar pre-amps, tube tone controls, selectable cabinet sizes with mic positioning, spring reverbs and a variety of distortions and overdrives. The possibilities of production within the sound module of SampleTank® 2 are now incredibly enhanced with features like this. I can take this one clean guitar sound for instance (listen) (pict. 1) and put it through a guitar amp chain and make it sound like this (listen) (pict. 2) or change the pre-amp to get a touch of crunch like this (listen) (pict. 3) or change the cabinet size and have this (listen) (pict. 4 and 5): and that is not to mention what I can do if I start using the multitude of stomp and rack type effects in ST2! Did you know that SampleTank® 2 has the full components of the critically acclaimed T-Racks tube mastering DSP inside? Again, in my years of programming sample-based workstations with samples and effects, I have never before seen anything so musically useful as having master quality tube compressors, limiters and parametric equalizers inside a sound module for total recall. The idea of a "patch" coming up sounding like it was mixed by an expert mastering engineer while you are composing is incredibly inspiring! Listen to this drum sound with no effects (pict. 6). Now listen to those same samples (pict. 7 and 8) in SampleTank 2 running through the T-Racks® Compressor, Limiter and Parameteric EQ! While some soundware has processing done at the sample level, I think it is far more useful and flexible to be able to still access the dry sound but with unlimited patches and editing of processed versions taking up virtually no extra space on your hard drive. These kind of effects inside make all the difference for musical inspiration. You just don't find this kind of quality and character of DSP in sound modules or keyboard workstations that even cost ten times as much! SampleTank® 2 has over 30 high quality effects that can be fully edited and saved with the patch for instant recall. Fully controllable new effects include 10 stage phasers, a Bit Crusher for the ultimate in lofi, Overdrive , MultiFilters and a generous offering of BPM sync delays, tremolo, slicers and chorus, flanger, reverbs and more all assignable with 5 effects per channel! Now that is production power! (Sample 1) (Sample 2) (Sample 3) The ultimate sample experience Multisamples with more realism and ability to play loops and phrases like instruments! Besides providing high quality traditional sample playback where sounds are transposed by the speeding up and slowing down of the sample (which in some cases can produce that "chipmunk" effect in samplers), SampleTank® 2 offers two other valuable sample playback modes. Quite simply put, the PS/TS mode is similar to what you can do with remixing programs where you have independent control of the pitch and tempo. The third mode is called STRETCH™ (SampleTank REsynthesis TeCHnology) and this is similar in some ways to what formant preserving tools do in terms of having independent control of the harmonics, tempo and pitch. What these three engines mean to the creative musician or producer is very significant This is the first time the best tools for playable multisamples, loops and phrases have been presented inside one software plug-in! Here are some examples of amazing things you can do with the drastically different new technology you can access in SampleTank® 2. If you take a vocal bank made of few samples and you play a note higher or lower this is the sound you obtain from any sample-based plug-in (listen) (pict. 9). But activating STRETCH™ gives this vocal bank an incredibly natural sound for transposition and bending notes like this (listen) (pict. 10). With STRETCH™ the sound is able to deliver a much more realistic performance. This is an amazing tool to have in a sampler workstation! I can also take a single melodic phrase like this (listen) (pict. 11) and with just about any other popular sampler if I wanted to play that phrase at a different pitch it would sound like this (listen) and of course if I played a chord it would be totally out of sync tempo-wise like this (listen). In SampleTank® 2 I can take that same single phrase and play chords with it in perfect tempo sync (listen) (pict.12). I can even slow it down or speed it up (listen). I can also take that phrase and in real time change it's melody with the pitch bender like this (listen). Imagine what you could do with STRETCH™ and your vocals! Here is a piece of music made with the vocals being only from 2 single phrases in STRETCH™ but harmonized and melodically modified on the fly to create many musical variations! (listen). Do you like to work with loops? SampleTank® 2 not only gives you a lot of flexibility to fit your loop into any tempo without affecting the pitch in PS/TS mode, but it also has a handy feature called "Loop Sync". Since you can read SampleTank®, Akai® and SampleCell® libraries as well as import AIFF, WAV and SDII files right from the module, an unlimited amount of loops can be played in sync together regardless of what BPM they were originally. A simple "Loop Sync" button does this for you automatically (put the BPM calculators away, this takes care of the math for you!). Here is a layer of 3 different beats that are in completely different tempos and of course would be a mess (listen) (pict. 13). Now, one click on the "loop sync" button and it sound like this (listen) (pict. 14 and 15). Not only are all of the loops in sync with each other but they will follow the tempo of your sequencer! Unlimited world of sounds SampleTank® 2 is the "go to" piece. The "workhorse". The "swiss army knife" of sound module plug-ins. It’s a “sample workstation” with an incredible musical power to inspire and a rare ability to seriously rock! While there are undoubtedly many great specialized plug-ins out there, this is the one that does the most from an "instant gratification on a musical level" standpoint. Plus, while very few samplers come with a wide variety of high quality sound content in the box, SampleTank® 2 XL has a stunning 2,000+ patch list and over 4.8 gigs of fresh material on 8 full discs! All of this for an incredibly affordable price too which makes it in reach for every musician. Finally a full range of playable pianos, guitars, basses, drums, orchestral, ethnic and keyboard instruments as well as unlimited sound shaping of new timbres suitable for every style of music is here! |
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| When you are composing , the speed at which you can pull up instantly gratifying sounds can be extremely important! But, equally important is the flexibility for shaping those sounds to your own style of production. SampleTank® 2 is one of the only products that offers both in one package. It is rare that a software plug-in gives you all of the elements of complete song composition right out of the box. But, with easy to use synth parameters plus over 30 DSP effects that are all now able to be customized and saved as additional patches, the sound making capabilities of this product are endless! It can literally be used for any style of music from classical to house to hip hop to rock to avant garde, country, jazz, R&B and pretty much anything else (listen)! |
| Make a vocal phrase sing and add extreme realism to your performance! |
| Another great feature added to SampleTank 2 that the previous version 1 didn't have was portamento/mono legato mode for lead lines.
This is often called "glide" and is commonly used with fat analog synth leads for styles ranging from R&B, Hip Hop, Dance and Classic
Rock. Portamento gives a liquid motion to the sound. Here is a synth lead line without portamento (listen):
and now with SampleTank® 2's portamento in mono legato mode (listen) (pict. 16). Portamento is a great feature to have for analog synth sounds. Imagine what portamento can do when combined with STRETCH! This is where SampleTank 2 goes further into new territories of realism. For instance, when a solo vocalist does a line there is very likely some smooth glide to the notes in real life. By using STRETCH combined with portamento we are able to make that glide sound which otherwise in most every other sampler it would be an unusable effect. Here is an example of how bad a solo vocal sample can sound using portamento without having STRETCH™ (listen). Now, by putting that same sample in the STRETCH mode that only SampleTank 2 can offer it can sound like this (listen). |
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| More sonically power than a traditional sampler |
| So, for realism in gliding and pitch bending notes STRETCH™ is one of those features that you just don't want to miss out on. That could be
reason alone to have a power tool like SampleTank® 2 in one's arsenal regardless of any other cool sampler or synth plug-ins one might have. That
is because it is different than everything else and that can make the difference in your musical productions. The flexibility of such tools as this are enormous. For example, it suits the needs for both realism as well as unreal explorations where you could be starting with real instruments but then mangle the sound in real time to become something totally new and interesting. The best part is that it is instant and easy to use for anyone. No thick manual reading is required as everything is accessible from one screen! Luckily every parameter in SampleTank 2 can be controlled and automated with midi control too! So for instance , you can assign a knob, modwheel, foot controller, breath controller, aftertouch etc. to the harmonics knob of stretch and in real time we can change the harmonic structure of a sound to morph a vocal into a synth lead line like this (listen). That WAS the same vocal line I was using in the previous demonstration! But we can also take that same vocal sample and turn it into a space aged Digeridoo with endless expression like this (listen). |
| Perhaps the best part about Stretch™ is that you never know what the result of using it will be! While it is designed mainly for solo instruments and phrases where it can detect the pitch and do a fast analysis and resynthesis of the sound, it can be just as rewarding hearing what STRETCH will do with evolving pads. Here is a pad taken from Sonic Synth but with me controlling the real time parameters of Stretch and the filter at the same time (listen) (pict. 17). As you can see the timbral variety of instruments is significantly enhanced by these features. It is possible to create sounds that have never been heard before using these tools and that’s exciting! | Click to enlarge the picts |
| Do you like to just sit in front of the keyboard and trip out on the exploration of sound? It is a lot of fun to do and SampleTank® 2 excels
at this because having the combination of wide timbral manipulation in real time running through chorus, delays, distortion reverbs and other fx yields
mind numbing results. SampleTank® 2 gives you a massive amount of sound material and the production tools to achieve top quality album production
right out of the one package with nothing else needed but a computer, sequencer and a midi controller to compose with. Because it is compatible with
every popular format you can take your pick of Mac or PC, Protools®, Sonar®, Cubase®, Logic®, Digital Performer® and many other
open platforms sequencer/recording software! I could go on and on for a long time about what else it can do but at some point you might want to throw your arms up and say “Ok, I have to have this!”. Half the fun is discovering for yourself what it can do. I know that it is the kind of piece you really value when you are in the heart of music composition and production. It’s very exciting to have so many useful features integrated into one sample workstation package designed for every musician. Hope you enjoyed the tour! See you again soon! Dave Kerzner has contributed samples and programming for some of the most acclaimed hardware workstations, expansion boards and sound libraries in addition to custom programming for some of the world’s top recording and performing artists. |