Powerful Virtual Samplers?

[lalalandguy]

Does anyone have any good recommendations on a good Virtual Sampler?

[jmitchell1532]

Reason 4 is pretty killer. It has a few samplers, drum machines, loads of patches. But then again, Structure is pretty great once you get the hang of it.

[promixr]

Mach 5 is very powerful, stable in Pro Tools, and comes with a very nice soundset and is compatible with many popular sample formats.

http://www.motu.com/products/software/machfive/

http://imsproav.com/main/MOTU839128005501.html

Also Native Instruments Kontakt. I like Kontakt because many libraries have been written for it, that take advantage of Kontakt's very powerful features. It's extremely stable and plays nice with Pro Tools.

http://www.native-instruments.com/in...d=kontakt3&L=1

http://imsproav.com/main/NATIVE14378.html

I was not as impressed with Kontakt's built-in library as MachFive, but Kontakt is less money. There are plenty of good sounds out there for Kontakt, and Kontakt is compatible with many popular sample formats.

Of course Structure is a very viable option, I am very impressed with how fast sound designers are coming up with libraries for it:

http://airvirtualinstruments.blogspo...lete-list.html

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[raydsr]

I'd avoid Structure until they get more available sound libraries. I bought the A.I.R "virtual instrument box set" that includes Structure Full, Hybrid, Strike and Velvet. The only instrument that is currently worthy of attention is Velvet.

The most popular soft sampler is Kontakt 3. It has mountains of available libraries and it's engine makes Structure look like a toy. Some users on this forum have complained of issues with Kontakt in PT, but I've no problems with it.

I'm rooting from A.I.R and Structure. I think they could be great in the very near future. But they're not ready for prime-time yet and they are very over-priced.

[Socrates]

Originally Posted by raydsr

...I'm rooting from A.I.R and Structure. I think they could be great in the very near future. But they're not ready for prime-time yet and they are very over-priced.

Its weird. avid makes le8 such a great deal with what it includes, but then they have ridiculous prices for the add-ins. Keep dreaming, fellas. Ain't gonna happen...

[raydsr]

Originally Posted by Socrates

Its weird. avid makes le8 such a great deal with what it includes, but then they have ridiculous prices for the add-ins. Keep dreaming, fellas. Ain't gonna happen...

Yeah - I'm pretty new to using PT and I didn't do my homework before buying the A.I.R instruments. Now that I've used them for a little while and picked-up some other third-party instruments I realize how weak the A.I.R stuff is in comparison. Seriously disappointing for the price. I'm hoping they update the interfaces and enhance the audio quality in the near future and make sure to keep the updates free. That would make up for what they've released so far.

[Stiff]

Originally Posted by raydsr

I realize how weak the A.I.R stuff is in comparison.

To each their own I guess. I really like AIR, Hybrid is nice, Velvet is nice, Transfuser is a good idea...

[Stiff]

Originally Posted by lalalandguy

Does anyone have any good recommendations on a good Virtual Sampler?

Depends on your workflow. If you want THE sampler, feature-wise, it's Kontakt. There are a lot of complaining about how it works in PT but it's been solid for me for quite some time now. PC users seem to have a harder time than Mac users.

But maybe this is not at all what you want? Massive functionality can be very uninspiring to work with. Maybe you're looking for something more traditional beat oriented device? Or something else? What do you expect and want from it?

[chrisdee]

Structure is ok. I do miss having a function syncing loops to session tempo thow. Without having to use REX. IKMultimedia SampleTank has this handy function.

On the pluss side Structure has a ocean of functions that SampleTank doesnt have, but I rarely use Structure. Mostly use Xpand2 and Boom.

[Sofine]

Originally Posted by chrisdee

Structure is ok. I do miss having a function syncing loops to session tempo thow. Without having to use REX. IKMultimedia SampleTank has this handy function.

On the pluss side Structure has a ocean of functions that SampleTank doesnt have, but I rarely use Structure. Mostly use Xpand2 and Boom.

But can you import your own loops into Xpand2?