Based in Germany, music-knowhow recently published an informative and thoughtful article on SampleTron 2. "Just sit back and feel good, I thought as I played IK Multimedia's SampleTron 2 for the first time."

The reviewer, Jürgen Drogies is a veteran musician and author specialized in synthesizers, music electronics and computers. He loves IK's new virtual sampling instrument and provides some cool sound samples in the full article. Please see the link below for that.

Highlights from the review:

"As is often the case in the world of sound, mistakes ensure that something sounds better than the unadulterated original. This includes the "warmth" of tube devices, the tape saturation with analog tape, and with the Mellotron also the wow and flutter. But the whole construction of this analog forefather of all samplers shapes the sound.

"Even if it's managed without digital technology, I can call a Mellotron a "sampler". The sound samples were recorded on tape strips of 8 seconds that were played at the touch of a button. When the tape reached the end, a spring pulled it back to the beginning in a flash. Almost a separate tape recorder for every note!

The sounds have an unmistakable character, they just sound good and authentic.
Die Sounds haben einen unverwechselbaren Charakter, klingen einfach gut und authentisch.

More than just a sampled Melotron

"Invented in the mid-50s, built from the mid-60s - of course, there was more than one version of the instrument. With most types, each tape was recorded with 3 tracks. You could switch between 3 sounds mechanically, or play 2 adjacent tracks at the same time. SampleTron 2 offers all of these possibilities, even in an expanded form.

"I refer to IK Multimedia SampleTron 2 as an instrument here - strictly speaking, however, it contains a number of instruments! The original instruments were recorded and edited using the sound engine from IK Multimedia's SampleTank 4.

"But because digital sounds were also used, the tape modeling technology was added. That's why you can even load your sampled sounds into SampleTron 2 and play them back with the sound of the tape era.

Conclusion

"With SampleTron 2, IK Multimedia has again brought an interesting virtual instrument set to the market. The sounds have an unmistakable character, they just sound good and authentic.

"With the help of the effects and synthesis functions, they can also be extremely edited and "tweaked" to new sounds. IK Multimedia SampleTron 2 is easy to use, clearly structured and looks attractive. Plus, the interface is scalable!"

IK Multimedia SampleTron 2 in brief

• 8 GB virtual instrument collection.
• More than 400 tracks from Mellotrons, Chamberlins, Optigans and others
• Each preset has 3 tracks
• "Non-Tron" instruments from digital samplers in addition
• The full scope of SampleTank included
• Load function for your own samples for processing with DSP tape modeling
• Great rack effects
• Can be used internally with SampleTank 4
• Plug-in and standalone application
• Mac and Windows, formats AAX, VST 2. VST 3, Audio Units

Learn more on SampleTron 2

Read the full music-knowhow article HERE