Recently gearspace published a thorough review of SampleTron 2, giving IK's new virtual instrument an overall score of 4.75 out of 5.

gearspace.com is one of the web's more popular pro audio destinations for engineers and producers. You'll find there a gear database of over 30,000 products and a steady stream of pro and user reviews coming in on new gear. There's also a forum for members to check out.

The gearspace review on SampleTron 2 explains a lot about all the instruments you get, the sound-shaping tools included and the technology behind the program before drawing some conclusions.

gearspace on the sound:

"As always, IK has delivered some excellent sounds and great flexibility. Of course some of the included "factory sounds" are of moderate fidelity, but that's the reality of sampled sound technology in the '50s, '60s and '70s.

"Sounds from the later models are better than the earliest sounds, and as mentioned before, there are over 100 new, hi-fidelity sounds included (though you can "trash" them as much as you wish!)."

My main problem evaluating SampleTron was finding that hours had passed by before I knew it, as I pulled up all kinds of instrument and FX combinations and got lost in the sounds!

Truly a fun and flexible sound machine!

The verdict from gearspace

"SampleTron 2 is a different approach to the Mellotron era of sample players than I had previously seen, with some innovative functions (tape snap, bias and erosion) and excellent sound processing capability. And it includes some wonderful historic sample player sounds.

"It can deliver anything from clean sounds with beautiful FX to extremely mangled sounds, and it covers a range of instruments beyond the Mellotron including some very rare devices like the Mattel Optigan, the Novatron and the Vako Orchestron.

"While missing a few possible tricks, it delivers an excellent range of sounds and is another great emulation of classic gear from IK Multimedia."

Stand out features

• Some great historic sounds from the Chamberlin, Mellotrons, Mattel Optigan and the 360 Systems Digital Keyboard.
• Excellent tape modeling DSP covers FX from subtle tape saturation to moderate wow & flutter to extreme tape snap and severe wear effects.
• Convenient FX rack with fine EQ and compressor, a vintage stereo tape delay, multi-modulation unit, and a vintage plate reverb – all excellent sounding gear.
• Runs as a standalone instrument as well as a plug-in.
• You can control any of over 60 parameters using MIDI automation.
• Zero-latency processing.
• Supports all sample rates up to 192 kHz.

gearspace score

• Sound quality: 5 out of 5
• Ease of use: 5 out of 5
• Features: 4 out of 5
• Bang for buck: 5 out of 5
• Overall: 4.75

Read the full gearspace review here
Learn more on SampleTron 2