Purchase advise for IWavestation, SampleTank and iGrand. Are the high prices worth it in 2018?

wigglelights

Right, Cubasis can drive ST from 8 midi tracks, but ST only has a single stereo output. The trick is to have your midi tracks with No Instrument, only midi out assigned. Then load ST onto an audio track and all the instruments will be heard. As Nick said, once you’re happy with the midi, you can then solo each midi track and record the results. A bit of a hoop to jump through I know.

I’ll throw in, as others have, for looking at bs16i - there are so many free sound fonts out there! I do like ST, but the sound font route may get you a little more on the ala cart path without spending a ton.....

@nick said:
Hi, a few infos for you that may help your decision:

• you can preview all of the sounds from the FULL VERSION and the ALL SOUNDS from within the free version, so that should give you an idea what you get and if those sounds are worth it for you.
• you can send midi to 8 different instruments, but you would have to record them one by one if you want them recorded individually
• I would not buy any of it at full price, I find even the sale prices a bit over priced (considering the fact that they run ads for their other apps on start up, and the reduced quality of some of their instruments)

@chandroji said:
Dear friends!
Thank you for all your contributions which I have read with great interest and pleasure. Meanwhile I have also read older threads on the topic in the forum archive and other websites, very interesting.

I will definitely buy iWavestation because it is compatible to Gadget. I think the app will give me the one or the other icing on my cake of music.

The iWavestation also seems to be an exciting field of experimentation for new sounds. I hope I will have the time to take a closer look at the app. I don't know yet if I can wait for a sale, maybe I'll buy it tomorrow. I'll see...

As far as SampleTank is concerned, opinions seem to differ a bit. I think I understand both sides. I can already see the pros and cons.

Many sound examples on YouTube inspire me. For an iPad app, many of the sounds sound first class to my ears. I would love to use some of the instruments in my music. There are many sounds I like.

However, what still keeps me from buying are two things.

1.
I find the amount of IAPs opaque. I just can't estimate which expansions I really need. All IAPs are relatively expensive.

21,99 the update from STcs to ST
54,99 the All Sounds Pack costs
54,99 the Pro Sound Pack costs
21,99 the American Acoustic Guitar Pack costs

It looks as if I have to pay about 140,-€ for a basic and useful setup.

A lot of money without knowing if I can use the app efficiently. And that brings me to the second point that makes me think.

2.
After all I understood about SampleTank so far, this is a multi-timbral app which can play a maximum of 8 sounds at the same time.

But I still don't understand if I can actually create 8 midi tracks in Cubasis which can control 8 different sounds in SampleTank.

And is it even possible to record the 8 audio signals separately in Cubasis for further processing?

After all I could read so far, it seems to be only possible to record all 8 instruments as one single audio stream in Cubasis, which makes a reasonable mixing difficult or even impossible.

I don't need SampleTank to play live but only for recording. It is important that I can use not only one ST sound in a project but up to 8 instruments. I want eight midi tracks!

I have installed SampleTank CS but unfortunately I have not been able to control 8 ST instruments with Cubasis yet.

It seems to become complicated to work efficiently with SampleTank and Cubasis. Or am I missing something?

If my fears should come true I can't imagine an expenditure of 140€ and more. As much as I like the good sounding sample selection .

Unfortunately I haven't found any meaningful tutorials that show what can be done with Cubasis and SampleTank or not. Neither on YouTube nor in blogs or forums.

I would be very happy if the SampleTank fans could enlighten me.

Last not least...
Many many thanks to all of you who helped me in this topic so far. I hope I haven't asked too stupid questions yet.

I am very happy that this forum exists. I think regarding IOS music this is one of the best places on the internet!

Have a great day, evening or night!
Many greetings to all!

chandroji

@Audiojunkie said:
@chandroji If you are interested in guitars, there is a cheaper (and possibly better) way to go. Do a youtube search for guitarism, iFretless Guitar, and bs-16i.

Bs-16i, is the best soundfont player on iOS. It is extremely flexible, it is an AU, and there are hundreds of free and commercial guitars available to purchase that have multiple layers and articulations and such. While Sampletank is nice (especially that everything it offers is all contained in one place), I think there are better guitars available. Consider doing a search for the "Ultimate Guitar Kit 2" soundfont. It is a free, dry soundfont. If you run it through BS-16i and then run an ampsim after it, you can make that soundfont alone be everything you want it to be, and it will sound better than any of the presampled Sampletank guitars, because it can become exactly what you are wanting, rather than being tied to a set guitar sample. ....AND it's cheaper!

@AnimalHeadSpirit said:
I use beathawk way more often for stock sounds , including guitar ...also Bs-16i with free and commercial .sf2 libraries.

@rs2000 said:

I'm mostly using my own SF2 pianos and e-pianos in bs-16i and Audio Evolution.

@wigglelights said:
I’ll throw in, as others have, for looking at bs16i - there are so many free sound fonts out there! I do like ST, but the sound font route may get you a little more on the ala cart path without spending a ton.....

Thanks a lot for your suggestions!

I had completely overlooked this bs-16i app so far. Thank you for recommending this great alternative.

For only 8,99€ I didn't have to think about it, I just bought it!

My first impression, great!
The build in sounds are quite nice. Also nice that you can layer and split. Enough free presetbanke are available and the best is that the app is AU.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to integrate new sounds and where to get them.

Also these are good suggestions! 👍

@W23 said:
Wavestation is worth full price but, it goes on sale about 4 times a year, seemingly, and it drops by half. Go ahead and get it now, if you feel that you must but, don't be surprised if Korg announced some new promotion in the next 30-60 days

@MusicMan4Christ said:
I always bought the packs when on sale. Don’t have to get them all at once unless you can afford it. I’d get the All Sound Packs first cause it adds a boatload if sounds. Then get the others. In this pack you get tons of Bass, Guitar and other good stuff. Highly recommend it.

@richardyot said:
For IK Multimedia and Korg apps it's always worth waiting for a sale, they come along pretty frequently.

@R_2 said:
I think iwavestation (including the iap exp cards) is worth its full price, but still advice to wait for the regular Korg 50% sale (app and iap cards).

@nick said:

• I would not buy any of it at full price, I find even the sale prices a bit over priced (considering the fact that they run ads for their other apps on start up, and the reduced quality of some of their instruments

Thanks a lot to remind me not to waste my hard earned money.
I think I have quite nice instruments already on my iPad to make music.
G.A.S. is a bad and costly habit!

All your posting I highly appreciate!

lukesleepwalker

The hardest part of bs16i is loading the sound fonts. There must be a trick to saving the SF2 files because some work fine and others just don't.

LinearLineman

Hi Nick, how do you preview the sounds offered in ST packs as you suggest?

chandroji

@AnimalHeadSpirit said
PPG Infinity is another excellent wavetable synth you might want to look into, while you're waiting on the next Korg sale. It's perhaps even more powerful than iWavestation from a sound design standpoint.

I purchased this synth when it arrived in the AppStore. Infinite sounds amazing!
But I’m afraid, will I ever been able to program this monster? This synth is so different from all my other synths so I think I will have to spend a lot of time to understand how Infinite works

This place(and soundtestroom) turned me into an app junkie

I’m totally with you! Forums like this an YouTube are dangerous places for my money pocket. When I see Doug or a HaQ AttaQ Episode...

As for Korg Gadget -- I'm with you all the way on that one. Out of all 300+ music apps I own, I've been the most productive with it ...

I’m really like Gadget, I use it far more than Cubasis in the moment. I only miss the AU Integration and more than 16 Bars. I like long evolving soundscapes...

Best of luck with whatever you choose ...I'm looking forward to the next Korg sale myself, so I can pick up the DeeMax maximizer and finally have 100% complete gadget collection. Picked up everything else when it was 50% off, best money I've spent on iOS.

Thanks again for your feedback @AnimalHeadSpirit
I really appreciate it. Thanks for your time you spend to help me by my decisions

chandroji

@AnimalHeadSpirit said
PPG Infinity is another excellent wavetable synth you might want to look into, while you're waiting on the next Korg sale. It's perhaps even more powerful than iWavestation from a sound design standpoint.

I purchased this synth when it arrived in the AppStore. Infinite sounds amazing!
But I’m afraid, will I ever been able to program this monster? This synth is so different from all my other synths so I think I will have to spend a lot of time to understand how Infinite works

This place(and soundtestroom) turned me into an app junkie

I’m totally with you! Forums like this an YouTube are dangerous places for my money pocket. When I see Doug or a HaQ AttaQ Episode...

As for Korg Gadget -- I'm with you all the way on that one. Out of all 300+ music apps I own, I've been the most productive with it ...

I’m really like Gadget, I use it far more than Cubasis in the moment. I only miss the AU Integration and more than 16 Bars. I like long evolving soundscapes...

Best of luck with whatever you choose ...I'm looking forward to the next Korg sale myself, so I can pick up the DeeMax maximizer and finally have 100% complete gadget collection. Picked up everything else when it was 50% off, best money I've spent on iOS.

Thanks again for your feedback @AnimalHeadSpirit
I really appreciate it. Thanks for your time you spend to help me!

Many greetings from Berlin!

nick

@LinearLineman said:
Hi Nick, how do you preview the sounds offered in ST packs as you suggest?

When you tap one of the patterns on the right—twice so that it is playing—then you can select any of the greyed out instruments and get a preview with that pattern