The app bounces around a lot at $11.99 and $9.99 but this is the cheapest it has been. App info is currently processing and/or the app is not yet fully available for sale on the US App Store.
I picked it up. Personally, I prefer ThumbJam, but SampleTank seems to have some decent sounds. If you are looking for some good, realistic instruments, check out ThumJam first IMO. It has audiobus and midi, and the interface is also quite useful as a midi controller. I haven't checked out the IAP packs in SampleTank yet. My 2 cents
With everything unlocked (either via all the smaller IAPs or the big one that unlocks it all) it is a quite good rompler that encompasses a lot of different sounds. It's no workstation tho, the built in recorder is only a 4 track make-shorter-loops thing with no editing options. iK Multimedia started pushing out POPUP ADS even in their full versions apps a while ago. It will interrupt the audio and it will obviously interrupt your playing (you need to press the popup ads away). Lots and lots of people angry about this obviously, but IKs "market strategy" is really really aggressive and definitely questionable considering they also spam various other smaller developers forums, various blogs and other Internet forums/communities to hell and back, and just don't care. I'd say as long as they give you popup ads in your $60-and up software, look for other alternatives if you want a bread and butter rompler. Thumbjam together with all the free downloadable instruments within the app covers a lot of ground, and is just a great sampler/rompler/instrument/midi controller (with no splash screen ads or popup ads). Edit: Thumbjam is lacking when it comes to drums tho, but their other app Drumjam is more then making up for that (if we're talking acoustic percussions and drum kits). So those two apps over Sampletank any day..
Yes, thank you for your impressions ... I'll keep an eye out for a Thumbjam sale - I don't think the price on that one has moved in over a year.
I bought SampleTank when it first came out and was left disappointed. The pianos were fantastic and were definitely the high point for me. The e-pianos were decent. The rock organs were really disappointing. Hit a chord and get lots of beating/grunge. Rotary/Leslie was implemented very poorly where turning it off COMPLETELY changes the organ sound removing any hope of me using them. I was excited for the world sounds, but the sitar and tamboura have digital artifacts making them unusable for anything serious. I also did not find the strings that interesting. The voices are nice. The drums are another positive point. Several sets with lots of variety. Personally, I was not taken with the base version to ever get the IAPs. Since IK released iGrand, I really have no need for ST (all I used it for was one piano), but for some reason, still have it taking up its 1 GB of space. With releases like Galileo, iMini, etc., there are some really great options to cover some of what ST offers. I know many people use ST and really like it, so people have found it useful. I do think this current price is good and you will probably find some useful sounds. As for the pop-ups, they only occur on startup. It is not like you are playing and five minutes later an ad pops up. They really need an option to disable it. I know about their products and the pop-up is not going to make me suddenly check something out on the 25th time. Though I may be harsh on ST, I do have high recommendations for iGrand and iRig Keys. Fabulous! I should probably reinstall ThumbJam and see what it has to offer. I got it a long time ago but had removed it.
