SonikTank 2 Bundle.

Sonik Synth™ 2 is the ultimate all-around SYNTH WORKSTATION
for composing and performing music in a wide variety of styles from R&B to Techno/Electronic to Classic Rock and more.

It is an instrument plug-in that works in all major platforms (Cubase, Logic, ProTools, Digital Performer, Sonar and others) on MacOS® X and Windows®.

Included with the plug-in is an 8 gigabyte sound library covering all kind of workstation sounds you'd expect from a hardware keyboard or sound module plus Sonik Synth 2 will also offer one of the most extensive collections of synth sounds ever assembled!

Not only will it have rich ethereal and atmospheric moving textures but also fat analog flavors of nearly every classic synthesizer brand ever made! Imagine having the characteristic waves from vintage Arps, Moogs, Obies, Prophets, Jupiters, mega modular synths and more called up by a built-in search engine with pictures of the instruments for reference!

From the sound of the very first electronic tones to the latest complex evolving pads, leads, basses, electronic drums and percussion, Sonik Synth™ 2 provides unprecedented sonic variety in one package!

Download a limited special edition Lite version of Sonik Synth™ 2 Free featuring analog synth sounds made to compliment the Sonik Synth 2 article in the May 2004 issue of Keyboard magazine.

The Ultimate Power Sound Setup

Sonik Synth™ 2 is based on the award winning SampleTank® engine and the two products together constitute the core of the most comprehensive sound module system ever made for complete compositional power.

Sonik Synth™ sound design takes supreme advantage of the SampleTank® format with it's top of the line analog modeled DSP effects and exclusive STRETCH™ technology for synth sounds like you've never heard before!

Together, Sonik Synth™ and SampleTank® make a killer sound arsenal in your studio: both can be used as their own plug-in within a sequencer environment for fast sound access or Sonik Synth™ 2 sounds can be read by SampleTank® to effiently run the maximum possible sounds from one elegant interface.

Sonik Synth™ 2's plethora of unique electronic instruments, workstation synths and classic synthesizers is also a perfect companion to the overall variety of natural sounds that come with SampleTank® 2 L or XL.

The sounds in the Sonik Synth 2 make up a full workstation of synth sounds covering the range of today's popular keyboards and sound modules with pianos, bass, drums, guitars, voices and more to a history of analog and digital synth textures like no other plug-in has offered before!

Sonik Synth 2 Sounds

Sonik Synth 2 includes over 8 gigabytes of material on 2 DVDs:

Motion Synths & Pads Rich, ethereal, moody and atmospheric synths, phat analog flavors, evolving picturesque soundscapes and evocative dreamy synth textures like no other synth has offered before.

Synth Bass & Leads From the classic sounds of vintage monophonic synths such as Arps™ and Moogs™ to wild trance leads, progressive portamento leads, deep basses that boom and much more!

Acoustic & Electric Pianos Some of the best quality acoustic and electric pianos, harpsichord and clavs ever assembled in one product. Featuring a stunning 152 meg Grand Piano, tack pianos and a variety of Rhodes™, Wurlies, RMI™, Pianet™ , Electric Grand and more.

Vintage Instruments The most comprehensive offering of vintage synth flavors ever! Including rare keyboards like Voyetra 8™, Serge Modular™, Steiner-Parker™, Gleeman™, Prophet 5™, Jupiters™, Ob SEM™, Arp™ 2500 & 2600, Modular Moog™ plus vintage guitars, bass and drums.

Acoustic/Electric Guitar & Bass Your Sonik Synth 2 workstation would not be complete without a great collection of steel and nylon string acoustics, electric guitars with built-in amp simulation, bass guitars all with a variety of different makes and playing styles ready to go right out of the box.

Acoustic Drums & Percussion From GM and I-Map™ acoustic drum kits with incredible playing realism to dynamic percussion maps featuring Latin percussion, mallets and orchestral percussion, African, Indian and more.

Electronic Drums & Percussion An unprecedented array of electronic and fx kits and percussion featuring signature beatboxes like 808™, 909™, CR78™, Simmons SDSV™ as well as wacked out vocoded percussion, synthetic drums, distorted harmonic resynthesized percussive madness and beyond!

Ethnic Instruments A variety of instruments from around the world are also included such as hammered dulcimers, exotic wind instruments like shakuhachi, duduk, recorders as well as Greek bazouki, mandolin and many others.

Brass & Winds From pop horn sections to rich orchestral brass and winds, Sonik Synth 2 offers a great selection of ensemble and solo brass and wind instruments.

Strings & Orchestral Textures  Rich orchestral soundscapes and dynamic layers, silky ensemble strings and expressive solo violins, violas, celli and contrabass.

Vocal Textures An impressive range of vocal pads and choirs featuring some of the worlds top singers. Breathy to hard oohs, aahs, hmms from pop to monk choirs to solo female operatic and more.

Special FX Ranging from vintage synths to the far edge of avant garde film soundtracks the special effects in Sonik Synth 2 are out of this world.

Elements A massive selection of partial sounds meant to be used as elements in more complex combination patches. Featuring raw synth waves of nearly every vintage synth, noise formats, wine glasses, distorted elements, vocal elements such as consonant attacks, groove elements and much more.

Combi Patches Like hardware keyboard workstations Sonik Synth 2 uses all of the single patches and elements combined together into MEGA patches called "Combis". Multiple layers of interactive sounds from huge piano and orchestra stacks to complex evolving motion pads to live performance patches and more.

Take Their Word For It

"Whereas many sample-based synths are very specifically targeted, SS2 is a very broad church indeed. The sound library covers everything from stock synth sounds to drums and percussion, through to abstract vocal textures…almost without exception, the patches are highly usable and offer pristine sound quality." - Computer Music

"SS2 is probably the best ‘all rounder (sample workstation) yet seen…a comprehensive one-stop sound source." - Computer Music

"Sonik Synth 2 would be a fine investment." - Computer Music

"Sonik Synth 2 still manages to supply solid, good-sounding examples of a dizzying number of classic synths, some of which most of us will have little chance encountering in the flesh." - Sound on Sound

"SS2 is a great value for the money, sounds excellent and integrates nicely with host software. Sound editing options are just right, and …I love the accessibility of so much audio material from so many classic synths." - Sound on Sound

"IK Multimedia's Sonik Synth 2 offers a 'can you top this?' 5,391 sounds (8GB). IK says it's a 'complete songwriting, arranging, and producing supertool'…actually that's a pretty good description." - Keyboard Magazine

"A soft-synth plugin that's the audible equivalent of Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers book." - Keyboard Magazine

"A synthesizer survival kit." - Keyboard Magazine

"Sonik Synth 2 is a full workstation synth plug-in for creating entire songs out of one box." - Mac Review

"9/10 Stars - If you need a versatile, all-in-one synth workstation suitable for all kinds of music, then Sonik Synth 2 is for you." - Music Tech Magazine

"I wanted to review SS2, because what I heard at NAMM was impressive - and I remain very impressed." - EQ Magazine

"Sonik Synth is great. I love it. I love the way it sounds. Also, it's very convenient to have so much at your disposal, especially someone like me, who travels so much. It's a great operating tool. I had my engineer play with it and he loves it too. The sounds are hot! I used Sonik Synth on the last 3 records I did. The sounds are definitely next level. They enhance my music. It's incredibly user friendly. I don't like to read manuals, or to troubleshoot and Sonik Synth enables me to avoid them. It's also looks great and that's a big part of my experience, If you has to stare at something for hours it has to look good and look fun and Sonik Synth has the look I like." - Rob Lewis, keyboardist and musical director, Christina Aguilera

"Sonik Synth sounds really good. In Digital Performer the program worked really well. Also, there are a lot of great sounds  and a variety of sounds to choose from. I was really impressed with the electric piano and synth sounds. You can make an entire demo with it because of the brass, drum, lead sounds, keyboards and strings. You don't need anything else.

What I like about the software is that it really works - that is the most important thing for a musician. It has the same interface as SampleTank, which I find very easy to use. I am excited by the fact on how easy that interface works. That is not my experience with a lot of music software companies. Sometimes I have to spend hours on the phone with tech support. That's not the case with Sonik Synth. It's very impressive" - George Laks, keyboardist Lenny Kravitz

"Sonik Synth 2 is great! The sounds are so authentic and the program is so simple to use. If I can't figure it out in 2 minutes, it goes on the shelf. With Sonik Synth2 the first I used it, I couldn't put it down for hours." - Tim Carmon, keyboardist Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney

"I love Sonik Synth2. I was surprised by how realistic the piano, the acoustic guitar, and the acoustic drums sounded. It was much more realistic than I expected. The upright piano is great and that's a difficult sound to find. The ARP2600 sounds were true and accurate. The synth controls were so intuitive. They had great depth. Having used SampleTank on the "Train" demos, it was such an easy transition to make because it had that same SampleTank interface; it's so quick to learn. They are both sooo quick to use, That's what makes them such great tools." - Brandon Bush, keyboardist, Train

Sonic Synth 2 Instrument Tour

The Arp 2500 was the modular beast predecessor to the popular Arp 2600. It had a very fat punchy sound. This is the synth that was seen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the intergalactic live jam session. It was also used by many artists in the 70's. The cool sequenced intro to "Baba O' Reiley" and the unique resonant filter effects in Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" were both the Arp 2500. We sampled waveforms and many cool sounds from the Arp 2500 pictured here and got amazing results that add to the diverse classic synth flavors of Sonik Synth 2!

The Arp Quadra was like having four synths in one (before there was midi). You had a lead, a polysynth, a string ensemble and a bass synth. It was used by such artists as Tony Banks of Genesis and Joe Zawinal of Weather Report. The lead sound in the song Abacab (ref. May '04, Keyboard article Ex. 3) is actually an Arp Quadra playing 5ths through an MXR Distortion + fuzz box. This is also one of the many sounds captured for instant recall in Sonik Synth 2.

This is a close up shot of the EMU modular synth. This rare beast was made before EMU became a pioneer in the sampling world with their Emulator series. It was one of the finest quality modular synths ever made with a very thick and clean original sound. We sampled many waveforms and unique tones and fx from this and many other modular synths for Sonik Synth 2

A lot of the flavor of these synths are captured inside Sonik Synth 2. Pictured from right to left: Yamaha CS80, Moog Taurus I & II, WMS VC Flanger & Phaser, Roland Phaser & Flanger, Oberheim SEM with 360 Systems OEM version, 14 panel Serge Modular with over 60 modules, Oberheim SEM with an additional SSM P5 filter, Chroma Expander, Small Emu Modular, EMS VCS3 plus other cool rackmount synths like a Studio Electronics MidiMoog, Roland Super Jupiter and a Voyetra 8. Imagine having all of that flavor inside one synth module plug-in! From progressive leads to full rich synth sounds, synth fx and more.

The Gleeman Pentaphonic was first discovered by Dave when Keyboard magazine had a contest to win the CLEAR version. That one was made of plexiglass but equally as rare was the black metal unit pictured here. The Gleeman had a unique beefy sound for a polyphonic synth at the time. We captured the sonic flavor of this and many other hard to find synths for Sonik Synth 2.

There's nothing like a good wall of synths to play with but the next best thing is something that everyone can access... virtual instrument plug-ins such as Sonik Synth 2! We've meticulously captured the kind of sounds you'd get from nearly every brand of classic analog synth to original instrument sounds that allow Sonik Synth 2 to perform the role of workstation synths too. Pictured here from left: Minimoog, Mellotron 400, EML Electrocomp 101, EMS VCS3 Cabinet Minimoog, Steiner Parker Synthacon, Arp 2500, Roland System 100, Moog Modular, Steiner Parker Modular, Custom Built Modular and various analog beatboxes.

The famous Minimoog was used on more records than any synth of it's time. From Stevie Wonder to George Duke to Rick Wakeman of Yes and so many classic albums where it was used for bass or leads, the Minimoog is considered to be a timeless classic! We captured many different flavors of the Minimoog in Sonik Synth 2. You can hear the Minimoog in the lead synth line played in Rush's Tom Sawyer as well as the main lead line in Asia's "Only Time Will Tell".

In case you love modular synths, there is no shortage of pictures here! From left there is a stack of EMU Modulars, Minimoog, Steiner Parker, Arp 2500, 12 panel Serge, Oberheim 4 voice, Custom Modular, Moog Taurus 1 plus a PiAi Gnome and a Dr. Rhythm on top (no whip cream or nuts please).

There were several different types of Moog Modulars with different series modules in them. We sampled both the 900 and 920 series oscillators from many systems including the same 55 system used by Keith Emerson. The Moog Modular pictured here is a 3C system which had unstable but fat sounding oscillators! They're stable now in Sonik Synth 2!

Another cool sounding rare synth was the OSCar which had a sound that was like a cross between a PPG and a Minimoog. We have plenty of flavors from both the OSCar and the PPG in Sonik Synth 2!

The Moog Polymoog used a similar organ technology that Arp used with their Solina/String Ensemble. It had a rich silky sound and was used on many records in the late 70's including Gary Numan's "Cars" and Genesis' "And Then There Were Three" album.

One of the benefits of Sonik Synth 2 is that we've captured the very different sound of the various revisions of PPGs (2.0, 2.2, 2.3) and of Prophet 5s (the rev 1 & 2 had a completely different sounding filter from the rev 3). Listen to the audio clip of Sonik Synth 2's P5 triangle wave pad that is similar to the sound used on "In the Air Tonight". Or, check out the audio clip of a Prophet 5 sound similar to Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" and the harmonica lead sound used on many Steely Dan and Donald Fagen records. Also pictured here is a rare PPG 2.0 (less than 10 in the world), Roland VP330 vocoder, Oberheim OBX, Arp Solina, Korg CX-3, a set of Mellotron tapes and a Vako Orchestron.

The Oberheim SEMS were one of the best sounding synths ever made. With it's unique discrete multi-mode filter, the SEM was great for mixing with other synths or using them together in a modular set up of 2, 4 or 8. For Sonik Synth 2 we have samples of both individual waveforms with various filter settings as well as the monster sound of 16 oscillators in unison! Also pictured here is a PPG Wave 2.2

Here is a shot of the Serge modular system, another rare but fascinating synth. We captured the unique sound of its New Timbrel Oscillators and more. These are the kind of synths that will most likely never be fully modeled for commercial reasons but it's nice to have some of it's sonic flavor inside a virtual instrument plug-in!

This is a famous synth out of the UK called the EMS VCS 3. We sampled both the counter-top and brief case model known as the Synthi AKS. This synth was used on many classic records such as The Who's "Who's Next" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". We sampled a variety of waves, noise and fx from this classic to be reanimated inside Sonik Synth 2. There is an audio clip of Sonik Synth 2 playing a live alternate version of the type of sequence part heard on "On the Run".

The Roland Jupiter 8 was a fantastic sounding synth. For Sonik Synth 2 we sampled many Jupiters and Juno synths including the Jupiter 4, 6 and 8, Super Jupiter rack, Juno 60 and Juno106.

This is a close up shot of the Steiner Parker modular, a rare unique sounding synth that we sampled extensively and is found within the elements of Sonik Synth 2's massive wave set. This synth was developed by Niles Steiner who invented the first wind controller for synthesizers, the Lyricon and the Akai Ewi.

The infamous Roland TR808! While we've heard this analog beatbox on more R&B, dance and electronic records than many brand drum kits, it is great to have these staple electronic drum sounds along with the TR909, TR606, CR78, SR120 and other analog beatboxes inside Sonik Synth 2 for instant use.

As cool as it may seem to have a pile of vintage gear around the studio, it is also an extra hassle of maintenance like routine contact cleaning, calibration and other activities many like to forget as we get nostalgic for them such as lugging them around to the shop. Of course you don't have to worry about any of that with virtual instrument plug-ins. Pictured here is a Prophet VS, Yamaha CP60, Roland D50, PPG 2.3, Arp Quadra, Korg Vocoder, R8, Oberheim Matrix 6, Arp Odyssey, Arp 2600, Yamaha CS80.

A nice variety of vintage keyboards, including classic electric pianos such as the Wurlitzer 200A and various Rhodes and Hohner electric pianos and clavinets were sampled for Sonik Synth 2. The Wurly EP can be heard on classic records such as Queen's "My Best Friend", Supertramp's "Logical Song" and many modern recordings such as Beck's "Where It's At".

About SampleTank 2.1 L:

More Power Than Any Other Sampler

Stunning Sounds to Get You Started

SampleTank® 2.1 beats any existing sound module for sound variety, quality and expandability. More than 700 native sounds (on a single DVD) are already available, and you can import unlimited sounds to take advantage of the exclusive synthesis engine. Import your own WAV, AIFF, SDII for loops and multisampled banks, plus read thousands of high-quality libraries in AKAI® and SampleCell® formats.

Full Control Over Synth-Sampler Engine

SampleTank® 2.1 allows full access to more than 50 synth-engine parameters, including filters, envelopes, LFO's, velocity, and the new switchable engines function, for unprecedented fine tuning and sound tweaking. The traditional “user” controls of SampleTank are still available for immediate tuning of dedicated instrument parameters. The new portamento feature provides exceptional monophonic performance.

16 Layerable Parts, Full Mix Control

The new Mix area provides complete, light-speed control over SampleTank®'s 16 multitimbral parts. Instant access to MIDI channel, Solo, Mute, Empty, Polyphony, Volume and Pan allows total control of up to 16-part mixing. The Mix Panel's instrument layering feature makes it easy to build amazing, 16-part layered sounds.

Enhanced Instrument Browsing, Sound Database

Enhanced instruments browsing allows lighting fast access to thousands of sounds. The new collapsible folders structure makes SampleTank® 2.1 the fastest sound browsing system ever made. Its integrated sound data base uses factory or user keywords for instant access to the perfect sounds.

Loop Sync Feature

This exclusive new feature allows you to sync any Loop to the sequencer tempo with a single click and sync various Loops together with extreme ease. Loops can be stretched using one of the 3 available synth engines: resampling, pitch-shift/time-stretch or STRETCH™, for everything from rich natural sounds to unique experimental sonic textures.

Zone Control for Super Accurate Single Sample Editing

The new Zone Control allows you to dedicate SampleTank® 2.1's overall features to edit a single sample with surgical precision. You can even STRETCH™ a single sample in a traditional resampled bank, and use Zone Control to edit samples with a simple key stroke.

32 DSP Effects to Choose From – Use up to 5 Effects Per Instrument

SampleTank® 2.1 is loaded with a huge arsenal of 32 award winning DSP effects – that's more effects than any other virtual instrument! New breath-taking effects include IK’s renowned Amp and Cabinet simulators, new analog Phaser, Parametric EQ, Compressor, Limiter and other effects for the richest, most realistic sounds imaginable. With an additional effects slot, SampleTank® 2.1 allows up to 5 effects to be inserted for each instrument, offering more sound design flexibility and creativity than any other sampler or sound module.

Convenient Preset and Module Save and Back Up Functions

Preset sounds can be saved as “child” sounds and modifications easily stored. Plus, Module Save stores the complete 16 part SampleTank® 2.1 module, for fast and easy recall of customized sounds. You can even back up your session with one click for the fastest file exchange available. SampleTank® 2.1 files can also be transparently swapped among different platforms using a sequencer or OS.

Full MIDI Integration: MIDI Controls and Program Change

Any of SampleTank®2's controls can now be associated to any MIDI source with just one click. You can control all features on the fly, including STRETCH™, for amazing live performances. Plus any standard MIDI program change can be associated to any of SampleTank® 2.1 sounds, for instant live recall or for building the ultimate General MIDI set.

256 Note Polyphony

Every SampleTank® 2.1 sound module can play up to 256 notes polyphony with per-instrument polyphony management.

Supports Every Platform and OS

SampleTank® 2.1 is the only sample-based sound workstation truly supporting all platforms in all operative systems, including Pro Tools®, VST, AU, DXi, and MAS in MacOS®9, MacOS®X and Windows® 2000/XP.

STRETCH

Complete sonic control takes you beyond traditional sampling with a revolutionary new synth engine called STRETCH ™ (Sampletank® Time REsynthesis TeCHnology). STRETCH™ provides full control over the tempo and tune of the samples, to give any music an incredibly rich, vibrant, and natural quality. STRETCH™ also expands sonic manipulation capabilities with full-control of an instrument's basic spectrum distribution to tailor tone and push sound design to the limits of imagination.

Many natural instruments loose their realism when played by a sampler. The false sounding glide and bending in many traditional samples have been eliminated by STRETCH™ which delivers a new standard of musical realism, making virtual instruments more natural sounding than ever imagined.