ST4 MAX Upgrade Installation when ST3 is already installed?

[Nathan Shane]

Greetings my fellow SampleTank users. I’ve searched the forums for an answer to my question but many of the answers I’ve found seem to lack the clarity my mind seeks. With that being said, here are my questions/comments:

Also, I already own and have ST3, Syntronik, plus additional IK ST3 Instruments installed on an external SSD in its own folder. All of this works without any issues.

Q. Does ST4 MAX Upgrade already include “all” the sampled instruments from ST3, Syntronik and other IK Instruments? Therefore, I could just do a clean install of ST4 to its own SSD/Folder location and then I can delete all the ST3 content?

Q. Or...when I install ST4 MAX Upgrade, the best way to install it is to select the ST3 SSD/Folder location that already exists?

From what I’ve read here in the forums, others seem to be saying that ST4 MAX Upgrade and ST3 are in reality, actually two complimentary products.There may be some overlapping of sampled instruments you have previously purchased, but if you really want the ultimate instrument collection, then that is achieved by owning and having both ST3 and ST4 MAX installed.

For example, as far as instrument overlaps between ST3 and ST4 MAX and other IK Instruments, I previously purchased the Neil Peart and Terry Bozzio Drum Kits...but both of these kits are included in ST4 MAX Upgrade. That’s just one simple example.

So...tell me which installation method is the absolute best:

1) Install ST4 MAX Upgrade to it’s own SSD and Folder location?

2) Install ST4 MAX Upgrade to the already installed ST3 SSD and ST3 Folder location?

Thanks for any insight and sorry if installation issue questions keep being repeated.

-NS

[hydemusic]

I have the same question as well! Already owning 99% of IK Multimedia from way back till now, ST4 MAX has filled up my 2TB hard drive.
Are both libraries being duplicated? ie: ST2, Syntronic, Mirsolav, etc?
Thanks,
BobN

[DarkStar]

Lists of the instruments in ST4, ST4 SE and ST4 MAX and a comparison list can be downloaded from here:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st4/index.php?p=versions
Scroll down to "instruments included"

I reckon that you should install the ST4 content, then set ST4 to point to the ST4 Sounds Library AND your existing ST3 (and Syntronik and MP2 and Imported etc) Sounds Library.

[hydemusic]

Hey Darkstar...good to see you're still around!
Yes I did look at the list which is quite massive... Luckily I had the wisdom to purchase the flash drive which makes the install fast. I could not imagine downloading 230 GB of content successfully Later I'm going to look to see if ST4 on the flash drive has the current update....I suspect it's not.
Bobn

[bill4510]

I bought The sampletank 4 MAX upgrade. Looking through my st4 downloads.
I see specific Sampletank 3 folders.So I am not going to install the ST3 sound content
into my ST4 folder.I am also not going to install other stuff I will not use(MPCE2 EDMstuff ECT...)
Does anyone see any problems with this install method?
The ST4 Plugin does not replace the ST 3 plugin correct?

[Peter_IK]

I bought The sampletank 4 MAX upgrade. Looking through my st4 downloads.
I see specific Sampletank 3 folders.So I am not going to install the ST3 sound content
into my ST4 folder.I am also not going to install other stuff I will not use(MPCE2 EDMstuff ECT...)
Does anyone see any problems with this install method?
The ST4 Plugin does not replace the ST 3 plugin correct?

When I installed SampleTank4 MAX I already had SampleTank 3 MAX installed so I downloaded and installed only the SampleTank 4 library installers then pointed ST4 to my SampleTank 3 library location and it was fine.

[Nathan Shane]

Okay, I went ahead and performed the ST4 MAX Upgrade before anyone had commented yet. Here’s that story:

1) So you’ll know...I purchased the ST4 MAX “USB” Upgrade version. I did this for the simple reason that I wanted to save time and NOT HAVE TO download all the sample content. Trust me, purchasing the USB thumb drive version is the way go.

2) Now...the ST4 MAX “USB” Upgrade version thumb drive has the following folders/files:
Folder: Installer macOS
Folder: Installer Windows
Folder: Sound Content
Folder: Sound Content/Sub Folders: “SampleTank 3” and “SampleTank 4”
Sub Folder: SampleTank 3: “Install” SampleTank 3 Sound Content + SampleTank 3 Sound Content
Sub Folder: SampleTank 4: “Install SampleTank 4 Sound Content + SampleTank 4 Sound Content

3) Depending upon your OS, you will select either the Installer macOS or Installer Windows Installation folder. Inside each of these folder are the files for Application installation and VST.dll installation...note, none of the sound content is installed at this time. And the default installation location is on your C: Drive. Since this installation installs ONLY the application and VST.dll files, I went ahead and allowed it to install to its factory default location on my C: Drive.

4) Now it’s time to install the Sound Content. NOTE: since I already had ST3 (plus additional IK sample instruments) installed and working, when ST4 MAX Upgrade asked me where I wanted to install the Sound Content, I decided to just select the “SampleTank 3” folder that I’ve been using for several years now. Installation took place without any errors.

5) Next I started the ST4 Stand-alone app. Upon starting, ST4 automatically started scanning the “SampleTank 3” folder to add all the installed instruments. When the instrument scanning process finished, ST4 MAX was ready to use.

6) Now, when I started to explore the app, I started seeing several Instruments that were greyed-out but had an icon of an arrow pointing downwards. I guessed rightly that the downward arrows were indicating that I needed to download the sample content. When you click on one of these downward arrows, your web browser will automatically start and you’ll be navigated to a drop-down menu on the IK Multimedia website that has every ST4 MAX Instrument listed for download.

7) I did not want to start downloading huge instrument files, so I thought to myself, hey, I wonder what files were in the “SampleTank 3” folder located on the ST4 MAX USB thumb drive. Upon opening the folder and a couple other sub-folders, I saw the instrument content that I had seen grayed-out.

8) Therefore...I decided to install the content located in the “SampleTank 3” sub-folder located on the ST4 MAX USB thumb drive.

NOTE: Just to clarify, “ALL” sound content that was installed, which was both the SampleTank 4 and SampleTank 3 content located on the ST4 MAX USB thumb drive, was all installed to the original SampleTank 3 folder that was created when I originally installed ST3 a few years ago.

FINAL NOTE: I’m not sure how an installation would work for those that are downloading the individual files from IK’s website, but I suppose if you already own ST3 and other IK Instruments you’ve purchased, just select the original SampleTank 3 folder when doing the installation.

Sorry for the lengthy post but hopefully it will help others with similar issues.

-NS

[bill4510]

Thanks Peter, Thanks NS.
Check your download location to make sure the folder folders are there.
I down loaded a couple zip folders.Firefox said down load complete.
but I could not find the folder in the download location.
Had to download again.

[hydemusic]

I have the same question as well! Already owning 99% of IK Multimedia from way back till now, ST4 MAX has filled up my 2TB hard drive.
Are both libraries being duplicated? ie: ST2, Syntronic, Mirsolav, etc?

1. I'm so GLAD I purchased the FLASH DRIVE! I could not imagine downloading and downloading and downloading...LOL! It was DEFINITELY worth the wait to be shipped and the flash drive already contained the updated 4.0.2 version.

2. I have two (2) Windows computers - one desktop and one laptop. The desktop already had my other IK programs mentioned above. It was on the laptop which had only ST3 and not my other IK apps installed.

3.Only the light versions of ST2, Mirosolav, Syntronic are installed. If you want the full versions, the content needs to installed as well as the full .exe app.

3. Lucky I saved my previous full install multiple zip files on my desktop so I was able to copy them. Approx 60GB Miroslav 2, 60GB Syntronic and others. Copied, moved and installed them on the laptop. Had them point to the SampleTank 3 folder and walla! All the files are there as they should be.

4. Just be sure when you open ST4 MAX, you have them refreshed .

Thanks for all the hints to do this. I'm sure when ST5 Super MAX is released, I'll forgot how the hell I did all this LOL!
Bobn

[bill4510]

What do you mean by have them refreshed?

[hydemusic]

What do you mean by have them refreshed?

Sorry I meant rescan the SampleTank 3 folder on your drive
bobn

[bill4510]

OK thanks

[Peter_IK]

However it is important that people do not misread and understand that it is not recommended that you install the new SampleTank 4 content into your SampleTank 3 library location.

[hydemusic]

However it is important that people do not misread and understand that it is not recommended that you install the new SampleTank 4 content into your SampleTank 3 library location.

[b]You'll be sorry if do LOL !!!!

[Nathan Shane]

However it is important that people do not misread and understand that it is not recommended that you install the new SampleTank 4 content into your SampleTank 3 library location.

If it is not recommended to install ST4 content into an existing ST3 content/library location, then the installation documentation that came with the ST4 MAX USB Upgrade is misleading or just wrong. And just to be clear, no where in the installation instructions does the text specifically say to "Install here or there" or "Do not install here or there." But the two graphic images (for Mac OS X and Windows) which are displayed with Step 6 of the installation show a destination path leading to the SampleTank 3 folder. It was these images that gave me the impression I needed to install into the ST3 Folder already on my SSD. Everything appears to be working as expected and all the sample content libraries (ST2, ST3 SE, ST3, Syntronik, IK Individual Instrument Purchases and finally ST4 MAX Upgrade all appear within ST4 when I run the app.

If there is a specific reason why we should not install ST4 MAX USB Upgrade into an existing ST3 Folder, then what is that reason? I keep a backup of "all" sample instrument installs on an external 4TB External HDD. I do this specifically so I can always revert back sample library folders to their previous state. So if there may be ST4 issues down the road, I'd rather revert back now and redo the ST4 installation.