SampleTank 3 and sound content

[JediMutant]

I am rebuilding my Mac and my Windows systems, reinstalling everything from scratch. I originally had Total Studio 2 MAX and upgraded to Total Studio 3 MAX at launch. I notice that I no longer have access to SampleTank 3 (the app or the sound libraries).

Is this expected? What about the sound content? I had read that the ST3 content is different than the ST4 content so I would expect to still have access to those libraries.

On a side note, when installing sound content, there are 4 ST4 files. Does the SampleTank 4 MAX file contain everything from the SampleTank 4, SampleTank 4 CS, and SampleTank 4 SE libraries? I am just confirming whether I can ignore these extra downloads?

(Same question for other products like Miroslav 2 sound file versus the Miroslav 2 CE sound file.)

Thanks.

[DarkStar]

Hello JediMutant and welcome to the forum.

A1: I would think that you will need to download ST3 and install it by running the installer (it is not included in the IK Product Manager). Then Authorize it using the Authorization Manager.

A2: Same goes for the ST3 sounds library. Remember to keep it separate from the ST4 sounds library.

A3 Once the ST3 library is installed you can add its path to ST4's Preference Settings / Sound Content.

A4 The ST4 MAX library includes the sounds from ST4, ST4 SE and ST4 CS so you can ignore those. And MP2 included MP2 CE.

----------------------
I think that some of the add-in libraries in ST4 MAX are for ST4 and others are for ST3. Another user recently asked which were which but I do not think that he has a definitive answer - you may need to check with Support.

[JediMutant]

Thanks for the helpful info.

[samplemaniac]

Except Sampletank 4 Max doesn't include Sampletank 4 CS instruments.
They are all new instruments...about 50 sounds!!!

[DarkStar]

Thank you for that information. I was mistaken (and have been for years).

That is certainly a surprise.

There are PDF of the instrument lists over here:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st4/index.php?p=info#soundlist

[JediMutant]

These lists are extremely helpful. Thanks.

[DarkStar]

I'm curious. After you have installed the ST4 MAX sounds, what files to you see in the IKPM Downloads folder for the ST4 MAX library? Can you list them here?

Do some of them include a reference to "SSE" or "CS")?

[samplemaniac]

I'm curious. After you have installed the ST4 MAX sounds, what files to you see in the IKPM Downloads folder for the ST4 MAX library? Can you list them here?

Do some of them include a reference to "SSE" or "CS")?

I'm sorry but I only have ST4 Standard not Max version!
And all my sound downloads are expired so I can't list them!
But I don't remember any reference like SSE or CS.

[DarkStar]

^^^
My question was for JediMutant

[JediMutant]

Sorry for the delayed response. I had already installed CE, as well, so I can't say for sure what the ST4 Max install included on its own. I might be wiping this install, though, because I encountered issues trying to move the sounds library to an external SSD. When I get around to this, I will keep your question in mind and grab some screenshots.

(The install process is one area where I hope to see improvements in the future.)

[huli50]

A2: Same goes for the ST3 sounds library. Remember to keep it separate from the ST4 sounds library.

Something you said here makes me second guess what I'm doing now that I have a lot of sound content to install. I've previously installed ST4 content and housed them in one single directory on my network. I've also installed the basic ST3 SE sound content in a separate ST3 SE directory on my network. Now that I have some older sound libraries that I think are from ST3 ages (i.e. Beats, Elektronika), can I install those into my ST3 SE directory? How do I tell which sounds are ST3 vs ST4? You mentioned keeping ST3 sounds separate from ST4 sounds, what happens if I pick the ST4 sample directory by accident?

FYI, I happen to install Syntronik sounds and Miroslav sounds in their own directories for file management purposes, and just added all these sample file paths to the ST4 preferences.

[DarkStar]

A1 Having two different folders for ST4 and ST3 SE is fine.

A2: if you want to use the ST3 program or plug-in then all the "ST3-based" sounds need to be in a single folder. This would include Syntronik and MP2 and the old SampleTank 3 add-on libraries.

A3: I am pretty sure that Beats and Elektroika are ST3-based, so you should be able to install them into the ST3 SE library.

A4: You will probably need to Register their Serial Numbers in the IKPM, but Authorize them using the older Authorization Manager

A5: To check you could open the download file and look at the file type extension for the Instruments. It will be either .st3i or .st4i. Or ask Technical Support for a full definitive list and installation method.

A6: If they end up in the "wrong" folder, then you may see them listed in the SampleTank browser but they probably will not load.

A7: AS I understand it you can add multiple paths (e.g. for Syntronik and MP2) to ST4's Sound Content list. But you could not access those libraries in ST3; for that you would need to merge them into the ST3 SE library.

A8: You could also add the ST3 SE library path to ST4's Sound Content list so you could use those ST3 SE sounds (and Beats and Elektronika) in ST4 too
HTH

[huli50]

Awesome, Thanks, DarkStar!

I didn't think about looking at the file extensions to find out if they are ST3 or ST4 sound files, so that will make it easy. I only use ST4 and not ST3, so I guess a single sample directory for ST3 sounds, MP, and Syntronik is not critical. So far so good. Seems I've been able to load all my current sounds from ST3, ST4, MP, and Syntronik within ST4 even though they exist in four different folders, so all is well. Looks like I have some sound file installation to do this weekend.

[DarkStar]

Good oh

Let us know how many different paths you use in ST4's Sound Content list. And what they are.

[huli50]

Not saying this is the ideal way to organize samples, but I use four different paths all on a Network Storage:
...\SampleTank\03.0 Samples\_Samples (these are .st4i Sampltetank instruments)
---\SampleTank\03.0 Samples\_SampleTank3_SE_SoundContent (these are .st3i Sampletank instruments)
...\Syntronik\Samples\_Syntronik_Samples (these are all Syntronik synth instruments)
...\Miroslav Philharmonik\01 Samples\_MiroSamples (these are for Miroslav CE and Orchestral Percussion)

The only apps I use to access sounds are SampleTank 4 and Miroslav, either standalone or as a plug-in inside of Reaper. ST4 was able to find new content easy by adding all four paths in the Settings window and rescanning all. I did notice that after I installed all the Syntronik sound libraries, that it redirected the Miroslav sample path within the Miroslav application to where I installed all the Syntronik stuff. So when I launched Miroslav, it couldn't find any samples.

Easy fix for me. Just had to correct the path in Miroslav standalone after I installed all the Syntronik sounds. Of course, if I installed all ST3, Syntronik, and Miroslav sound libraries in a single path, I wouldn't have that issue as they would share the same path.

I don't use ST3 or Syntronik apps, so maybe this folder structure works for my workflow, but maybe not others. I like it because it gives me a logical place to put the backup sound libraries (the zip files) that I can access just in case. Curious how others store their sound libraries.