Studio Max installation questions

[tokenboomer]

Hello,

I purchased studio Max today. I'm a bit confused about some of the download procedures. To begin with I'll tell you that I already have Sample Tank 4 Max, Amplitube 5, Modo Bass, and the basic T Racks plugin. I was quickly able to update Amplitube 5 to Max and add all of the plugins I was missing from T Racks. So that's done.

Syntronic 2 is a bit confusing. It seems to use the Sample Tank 4 engine and if I go into Sampletank 4 and look at the library tab, I see the various components of Syntronic 2 listed but they have download arrows. I can also download the product from “IK Product Manager”. My concern here is that all of my samples for SampleTank are on an external SSD drive and that’s where I want any additional SampleTank content to be stored.

There's also the question of the additional content that seems to come with the current offering of SampleTank 4 Max. Most of these appear to be variations on piano sounds (electromagnetic libraries). These are not currently listed in any form in library tab or on my products page in “IK Product Manager”. I'm assuming that I will have to get these by initiating a SampleTank 4 download in IK Product Manager. I’m a little leery of this, because this process did not work well when I initially purchased SampleTank. There were a lot of missing samples. Ultimately I had to get thumb drive from IK Multimedia to get it installed correctly.

Am I correct in assuming that SampleTron 2, is a stand-alone product that works outside of SampleTank 4? Is it sample or modeling based? The reason I ask is because sample based instruments take a lot more storage space than modeling-based instruments. So, if it is sample-based, I would prefer to have those samples stored on the same external SSD that has my SampleTank samples.

I know these are a lot of questions but I’d rather ask them than spend a lot of time undoing mistakes.


Thanks.

[DarkStar]

Syntronik 2 is a separate software product and sounds library. So you can install it separately. But you can also add the Syn2 library path to the Sounds Content paths in ST4's preference settings and you can then use the Syn2 sounds within ST4 (you get the ST4 GUI not the Syn2 one there).

Install and Authorize the Syn2 software using the IKPM. Create a folder on your SSD (e.g. X:/IK Multimedia/Syntronik 2) alongside your SampleTank 4 library folder. Run the stand-alone Syn2 program and set the sound content path to that folder. Then, using the IKPM again, install the Syn2 sounds - the install should pick up the folder you defined in the Preference Settings. If in doubt, in the IKPM, select "More options" and "Install to" then the desired destination folder.

Those additional ST4 libraries should also be installable from the [Sounds] tab of IKPM. Again the installer should pick up the correct ST4 library folder.

SampleTron 2 is sample-based (as is Syn2). Proceed as for Syn2, using another library folder (so now there are three: SampleTank 4, Syntronik 2 and SampleTron 2).

[tokenboomer]

Thanks. Excellent instructions!

[bluebird69]

Hi there.
Since I'm also a newcomer to IK and just now bought the Total Studio 3.5 Max, I thought I could ask some things regarding installation in this thread too, instead of creating a new one.

1. In the manager I noticed there's a tab for sounds or software under some libraries.
For instance "Syntronik 2 V-80 Instruments Updater".
I installed all libraries yesterday, so should I install and run all these instrument updaters as well or did they get the latest upate automatically when I installed?

2. I installed the Sample Tank 4 Max library (185Gb) from the "sounds" tab, but left Sample Tank 4 and SE libraries without installation, because I thought everything's included in the Max library. Maybe that's wrong? Should I install everything that says Sample Tank in the manager or will I end up with lots of duplicates and wasting disk space?

3. Under the "Software" tab, for some applications there are presets available under a dedicated tab. Were those installed along with the software or should I download those separately too?

Thanks for any help. I'm just trying to understand how everything works and to not miss out on any of all the nice things that this package contains!

[DarkStar]

A1: IK Multimedia has said that those Sounds Updates are provided for users who had downloaded the main library some time ago (of course, that means you have to remember when you installed it ). And that when a Sounds Update is released it is incorporated into the main downloads.

On that basis, you only need the main library downloads.

In the past, I have downloaded the updates from my User Area / My Products ... section, and compared the Dates Modified of the files with those of the same files in my installed library.

A2: That should be OK. As far as I know, ST4 MAX includes all the ST4 SE and ST4 CS sounds.

A3: Those presets are probably extras, so download and install them. Which ones?

[bluebird69]

Hi Darkstar and thanks for the help.
I've probably installed all the apps needed then.

The presets I was thinking of was for the T-racks plugins.
I loaded the plugins without installing those and thought that they had quite few presets, so I'm guessing you're right and I should install those.

[tokenboomer]

Install and Authorize the Syn2 software using the IKPM. Create a folder on your SSD (e.g. X:/IK Multimedia/Syntronik 2) alongside your SampleTank 4 library folder. Run the stand-alone Syn2 program and set the sound content path to that folder. Then, using the IKPM again, install the Syn2 sounds - the install should pick up the folder you defined in the Preference Settings. If in doubt, in the IKPM, select "More options" and "Install to" then the desired destination folder.

Hi DarkStar,

I followed these instructions, set the path to the freshly-created folder on my external SSD. I even deleted the other paths so there was only one option available and it still installed the Syn2 sounds on to my internal SSD, nearly filling it up in the process. The weird thing is Syn2 appears to be accessing the created folder because the sounds are there but they also appear to be on my internal SSD. Not sure where. The reason I say this is because the amount of storage available on my internal SSD has dropped by an amount equivalent to the download size.

I'm on a 2020 intel iMac running Monterey.

tokenboomer



Greg

[DarkStar]

I think that what you are seeing is that IKPM downloaded the library files to its default downloads folder (on your internal SSD) and then installed the files into the desired destination. That would explain the space available on (in?) your internal SSD going down and the software accessing the library on your other disk (SSD?)

In IKPM, click the cog-wheel icon to see the downloads folder used.

[iIf that is the case,[/i]
-- back-up the complete installed library to an archive disk,
-- delete all the downloaded library files in IKPM's "downloads" folder,
-- change IKPM's "downloads" folder to somwhere more convenient.

[iIf that is not the case,[/i]
Please report that to Technical Support as a bug.. My understanding is that the sounds installers run by the IKPM pick up the destination folder set in the software's preference Settings.

But not to worry, you can move the complete installed Syn2 library from your internal SSD to the other one.
-- find the folder on your internal SSD that contains, among other things the "Instruments" and "Samples" folder, here (on Windows, it is F:\Libraries\IK Multimedia\Syntronik 2,
-- copy the contents of that folder to the desired destination,
-- rename that source folder, so that Syn2 cannot find it, e.g. F:\Libraries\IK Multimedia\Syntronik 2 source,
-- run the stand-alone Syn2 program, double-check that the desired destination folder is the only one in the Preference Settings
-- check that the sounds load and play OK.

If you are happy that all is well:
-- back-up the complete installed library to an archive disk,
-- on your internal SSD, delete that renamed source folder and all its contents,
-- delete all the downloaded library files in IKPM's "downloads" folder.