IK Multimedia Xpansion Tank 2 Group Buy

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Other note - I'm starting to save some of my own presets for that SampleArp pack that use only the internal SampleTank effects.

When I get up to about 25-30 "keepers", I'll upload them here to KVR.

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torgo wrote:When I get up to about 25-30 "keepers", I'll upload them here to KVR.
Sweet! Thank you 8)

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Thanks torgo, great idea. I'm curious...

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Well, since a few people are actually interested in tweaking SampleArp sounds, I'll start you off with a walkthrough on tweaking one patch right away.

(This will be old stuff for long time SampleTank users. I'm doing this for all the new folks we've added thanks to this group buy.)

This one uses a nifty trick that's great for basic leads - which is the main thing you'd do with an actual hardware Odyssey or Soloist/ProSoloist.

The effect I most frequently want to add to the Arp sound is a doubling-style chorus effect. The effect is that two voices play the same exact sound, doubling it. You then detune them very slightly with a fine tune control - one slightly above the desired pitch and the other slightly below it.

The chorus and multi-chorus effects built into SampleTank are the more standard delay-based variety instead. The delay unit creates an extra tone that oscillates above and below the original tone at the specified depth and frequency.

(Example: under the Prosoloist Flute parent sample, pull up the Prosoloist Flute Mini FX2 sound. It's a pretty good sounding patch, with some reverb and chorus added. That combination works great for many Arp sounds.

Click on the word "Chorus" in the effects rack to make sure the Chorus effect is selected. That will display the control knobs for the chorus effect on the left. They'll read "Depth", "Rate", and "Dry/Wet".

Set the Depth and Dry/Wet to max by clicking the knobs and dragging the mouse straight up. Then play around with the Rate knob. You'll hear crazy oscillations and warbles that make for some great sci-fi effects. Keep that one in mind for the next time you need an alien death-ray...)

The built-in chorus is nice, but it isn't quite what I'm usually after. I want the doubling style instead. It isn't quite as easy to pull off, but we can do it by creating our own multi.

Instead of the Mini FX2 version, load up the plain old Prosoloist Flute parent sample in instrument slot #1. Play a few notes to get a feel for what we're working with. It doesn't sound anything at all like a flute, but it has some nice potential for a synth lead. It just needs some help to get there.

Next, click on part #2 and load the same Prosoloist Flute sound in that slot as well.

By default, part #2 is set to MIDI channel #2. Click on the "2" for that row (under the "CH" heading) and drag the mouse straight down. It should now read "1", same as the one in part #1. (This is how you set the different slots to whatever MIDI channel you want. Click the current number and drag up or down to set it to whatever channel you like.)

So you now have the same exact sound playing twice. It will sound the same as before - just louder. To create the doubling chorus effect, we have to detune them.

In the middle area of the SampleTank interface, you'll see nine buttons that read "MACRO", "SYNTH", "FILTER", "ENV1", etc. Click on the "SYNTH" button. This will bring up four dials to the left.

The "FINE" dial is the fine tuning. By default, it's set to -6 for the Prosoloist Flute patch. We have two instances of this flute patch, and we want to give them different values. (We're "detuning" them = setting them so that one isn't tuned exactly the same as the other.)

Click the dial and drag up slowly until it reads (positive) 6. It doesn't have to be exact. If the mouse is giving you trouble, 5 or 7 will do just fine.

One of our sounds is now slightly above true pitch while the other is slightly below. When you play notes, you'll hear two slightly different pitches played simultaneously. If you set the fine tunings too far apart (like 50 and -50), you'll get two sounds that both seem way out of tune. But if you keep them close together, you'll get a nice chorus that really fattens up your tone.

This is a sweet effect that works especially well for a lot of Arp and Oberheim sounds. It's easier to do with outboard effects (like Martin Eastwood's Duet, which now comes with CM mag). But that's how you do it entirely within SampleTank.

The other Really Cool Thing about creating your chorus effect this way is that you can throw different effects on each half of the sound, process them together, or a little of both.

Let's start by adding a little processing to the whole thing. You'll see three buttons in that middle area of the SampleTank interface that read "PART", "SEND", and "MASTER". Click on "MASTER" so that it will be outlined in red.

There are five effects slots. Right now, all five read "NO EFF" and have a down arrow at the far right. In the top slot, click on that down arrow to see the list of available effects. Select the Reverb effect.

It's tough to spot on some monitors, but this will put a red box around the word "Reverb". That indicates that this is the currently selected effects slot, and its controls will be the ones you see in the knobs to the left. The "On" button will also have a red box around it, telling you the reverb effect is turned on. (It will ALWAYS say "On". The red box is what actually tells you whether it's on or off. You turn it on or off by clicking the On button. Red box = on. No red box = off.)

Go easy on the reverb for now. Set the dry/wet to something like 12-15%.

At this point, you should have a good synth lead sound. You could stop there and call it a day. Plus you also have four more master effects slots to play with later.

But just for giggles, let's abuse this thing. Click on the "PART" button. This lets you add separate effects for each of the two parts.

Click the name "Prosoloist Flute" in slot #1. You'll see EQ/COMP selected as the first of the five effects. That's set by default, and you can't change it. But you still have four slots to play with.

Click the down arrow for the second slot and select Preamp. For the third slot, select Cabinet. Between these two effects, you have your own mini-version of Amplitube. Pick whatever model pre-amp and cabinet you like...

Now click the name Prosoloist Flute in Part #2 of the mix window. Again you have four available effects slots.

Select Tone Control for the second slot and Rotary Speaker for the third. Set the controls however you like, but note the volume levels. (When you play a note, look at the levels next to the "Prosoloist Flute" names in the mix window.) You might want to keep the two parts at roughly equal volume levels. Or you might not - it's up to you.

So... hopefully you've now picked up how to layer/double sounds by loading them into the same channel in the mix window, how to detune your own automatic doubling effect to make a nice chorus, and how to use the master and part effects slots.

That's probably all you need to know to make some outstanding SampleArp patches. Have fun...

-torgo (esoundz: bhall1968)

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Yeah, that was fun. Perhaps you should write a book about Sampletank, Torgo. "Sampletank Practice Guide" 8)

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i just saw this IK group buy,

If we get to 1000, we all get 4 products free for price of 1.
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/Main.html?viextra/index.php

it's already on 799 with 22 days left

anyway else getting in on this?

Does it currently support Snow leopard? I'm seriouly considering this.

Josef Horhay
Mixing Engineer
www.acoosticzoo.com

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Yes, all IK instruments support Snow Leopard. Great value, go for it.

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acoosticzoo wrote:i just saw this IK group buy,

If we get to 1000, we all get 4 products free for price of 1.
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/Main.html?viextra/index.php (http://www.ikmultimedia.com/Main.html?viextra/index.php)

it's already on 799 with 22 days left

anyway else getting in on this?

Does it currently support Snow leopard? I'm seriously considering this.

Josef Horhay
Mixing Engineer
www.acoosticzoo.com (http://www.acoosticzoo.com)
Hi Josef,
I am in on the IK VI GB, and I hope you jump in as well. Now at 814 so 186 to 4x1! But I think you posted in the wrong thread -- the IK VI info is here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... &start=330
Lots of good information there - hope you join(ed)!
- B

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Thank you very much for this helpful info!!!

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