IK Multimedia Virtual multi-instruments/bundles

Easy and hassle-free installation and setup. PERFORMANCE I use it in my second home with an old pentium 4 (2 ghz) with 1 gig ram under xp pro .... no problems whatsoever. OVERALL OPINION It can be used to compose orchestral classical music or cinema scores fast. It doesn't have the same quality (nor the price) as modern libraries, like those of eastwest and projectsam, but it can be used with an old or mobile and light setup (with a net book, for example)... The interface is simple... you don't need to wait long to load sounds. It's quite all right for a first draft, if you consider that when writing classical music, the final goal is to record with real musicians. To make yourself an idea, you can listen to some examples here: .....www.ikmultimedia.com/philharmonik/audiodemo/

IK Multimedia has always come out with stable programs, that was one of the reasons it was a no brainer for me to purchase this Total Workstation. I knew right up front what I was going to get from this company. This package comes with Sample Tank, Sonic Synth 2, Philharmonic, Sample Tron and Sample Moog. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Miroslav Philharmonic is absolutely amazing, I have used it before purchasing this and it was also one of the reasons that persuaded me to purchase the IK Multimedia Total Workstation XL. Sonik Synth 2 comes loaded with a great amount of synths that you can use right way, the presets are some of the best out and they don’t need much tweaking (if you don’t want to tweak). Now Sample Moog is suppose to be “moog like” but I was not a fan of it because to me nothing is like a real Moog except a real Moog. OVERALL OPINION There are over 5 thousand sounds with this Workstation, you will get some vintage sounds and even some up to date synths. It does come with some drums/percussion but I was not a fan of it because I felt like most of the drums felt really thin and not rich enough for my music. All of these plug-ins have been very stable on my PC. I have not had a crash or a freeze, some of them mainly the presets in Sonik Synth 2 can get a little heavy on your CPU at times especially if it is a preset that has a lot of effects on it. This workstation also comes with an extra 15 gigs of Xpansion Tank Instruments. My favorite parts of this package are Miroslav Philharmonic for the strings and Sonik Synth 2 for everything else. These two plug-ins alone are worth the whole price of this package from IK Multimedia.

IK Multimedia has released an orchestral synth called IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik Classik Edition. It's based off of the Miroslav Orchestral and Choir. The plugin itself is just like any other plugin in that it loads in your favorite DAW either stand-alone or using some sort of wrapper. The program itself is very easy to use, and there are some pretty nice orchestral pieces to choose from. I had no issues creating a very power metal-esque style of music. Think of something like Rhapsody of Fire, and you'll know what I'm referring to. The samples themselves sound fairly solid, and I'd rate them higher than the built-in Logic stuff that I normally use. That said, there are other programs out there that are better, in my opinion. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE IK Multimedia is pretty well known for being a good company when it comes to performance and stability. While I have experienced some crashes with other programs of theirs, this one seemed to be rock solid. There was no major lag when loading certain presets, and even when I started adding about six or so of these VSTs in the application, it didn't hiccup one bit. It doesn't take up a ton of RAM, and that's a good thing. In a world where RAM and performance mean everything, IK Multimedia delivered. I have never read the manual, so I can't comment on anything regarding how nicely their stuff is written, but I can say that this really doesn't need a manual. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for a fairly solid orchestral synth, this is a good choice. It doesn't cost too much, and it delivers in terms of overall product. There are some better applications out there, but they're a bit more expensive. One thing I always try to push is that you don't steal or pirate these plugins. These guys work very hard for their money, so it's not really fair to just download their product and not buy it. If you download it to test it out and like it, throw them some money.

Actually, for some reason I had to place the files in the correct area manually which was very confusing, but I eventually figured it out and I am by no means a computer tech. I have a macbook and besides the misplaced sound bank, no compatibility issues. Again, with the soundbank issue aside, this is a fairly easy plugin to use. The manual didn't help with the soundbank issue but did have some great history on the instruments. That was a nice touch. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I have a macbook with 2.2ghz, 4gb ram, and I use a Presonus Firebox/Firepod as my interface and Logic 8 as my DAW. So far, everything works great and sounds amazing! I would give this a 10 in performance. The sounds are immaculate and the ability to combine any patches from any of the built in instruments is so much fun. So far, no crashes or glitches, just good old fashioned samples. OVERALL OPINION I have been using the sampletron for about three weeks. What do I like most? Everything about this plugin rocks! The patches are amazing! I have never played or been in the same room while one of the sampled instruments has been played, but I have recognized the "real deals" on older recordings. With that said, I feel this program does an amazing job reproducing those sounds. There are choirs, flutes, violins, sample options (drum loops, horns, bass etc.). Like I mentioned earlier, you can combine patches from the different instruments to make awesome custom sounds. I had tried the M-audio Gforce Mellotron demo, but wasn't really amazed. The IK Multi though definitely wowed me. It can be hard to justify a couple hundred dollars for a program that just emulates a few instruments, but If you love the mellotron/chamberlain sound but can't afford the real deal (wicked rare and wicked expensive) than a few hundred bucks isn't that bad. I would definitely make the same choice again. This program will really spice up your tunes as well as makes a great performing instrument. The flute patches are so awesome and you can make some amazing textured pads with the combination features and a volume pedal and delay pedal. I always get compliments when i use this live.

Excellent feature set. The ability to control so many parameters for each instrument seems daunting at first, but the time I needed to change a guitar sounds from a hard pluck to a mellow one, I came to appreciate them being there. You can set up to 5 (tweakable) effects per instrument as well. SO what starts out as a simple clean guitar can become a funky wah guitar easily. You can also layer sounds to create some unique and interesting sounds. I was a bit disappointed that you must use a local drive to store the sounds. I did not have the 8 gigs of space required for the sounds on my local drive and it would not work correctly when I tried reading them off a network drive. I eventually bought a new local drive. Price paid: $150 Very easy to use out of the box, but like most modern programs, it is well worth the effort to dig in and find the power withn the advanced features. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Top notch. I have yet to find a sound that sounds 'cheap'. Everything feels like it's oozing quality. No complaints here OVERALL OPINION This is one of my goto instruments. It has just about every type of sound and the quality is so good it makes me sound good. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: NFX ( 8-, 2005)