[Sonik Synth 2 Serial Number 114
Oludare Padilla
Everthing you need to know about, or do with, Sonik Synth 2 is done from this window. Highlighted is one of the excellent acoustic drum kits; note the handy little 'library' graphic to the right of the display.
Initially at least, editability was not a high priority, and the basic samples were not upgradeable by the user (the XL version offered basic Akai sample library import, though), but the system wasn't exactly closed. The engine itself became a vehicle for other IKM and third-party sound sets. For example, American sample-library wizards Sonic Reality released a collection dubbed Sonic Synth back in 2002. This all-new set of samples and patches came with a playback version of Sampletank.
The Sampletank family graphically mimics hardware synths, right down to the large 'display' that dominates its operating window. Half of Sonik Synth 2 's window is taken up by the 'Combi' display, which lists the plug-in's 16 multitimbral or layerable parts, in two switchable banks of eight. There is a confusing mixing of the words 'instrument', 'voice' and 'part preset' in the manual and software, but all effectively refer to a 'patch' as most of us would use the term: a multisample and its attendant synthesis and effect settings, saved under a unique name. Each of Sonik Synth 2 's 16 parts can have one of these Instruments assigned to it, and is equipped with a set of basic mixing and other controls: mute, solo, pan and level are pretty standard fare, and the display also indicates how much memory the currently selected Instrument requires. Additionally, the user can alter the MIDI channel (parts are layered by assigning them to the same MIDI channel), polyphony and stereo output pair. This multitimbral Combi can be saved by the user, and the healthy collection of themed presets supplied is worth exploring.
SS2 has nearly 6000 individual Instrument patches. IK Multimedia's solution to the potentially tricky problem of selecting patches from such a large collection is the browser window, to the right of the Combi display. When the software is first installed, and if you've copied all the factory material to the relevant place on your hard drive, the display lists 10 folders; click on the white arrow to the left of each folder name, and you'll be greeted by sub-folders. Click another, and you'll see a list of patches. Most patches also have an arrow next to them, and clicking on this produces yet another sub-list. In this case, the list shows saved variants, including user edits, on the selected patch.
The main folders are titled Synths, Keyboards (electric and acoustic pianos, Mellotron and organ), Guitar + Bass, Drums + Percussion, Orchestral Textures, Vocal Textures, SFX and Elements A and B. As an example, the Synths folder subdivides into Motion Synths, Synth Pads, Synth Bass, Synth Leads and Misc Synths. Few of the categories are strict, with interesting ready-sampled layers and massed sounds appearing in most categories. Raw waveforms, with no effects and little editing, are supplied in the Elements folders, to assist in building your own patches.
Manually navigating folders and sub-folders is not a drag, in spite of the huge number of patches available, but if you've an idea of what you're looking for, try the keyword search function. Hits are speedily displayed in the browser window, and it's easy to toggle back to the full list.
Users can save edited Instruments, but you can't start from scratch: user edits are always based on factory material, though when working with Elements presets, you have plenty of space for creativity. Note that even if you don't take advantage of the option to save Combis and Instruments, any changes you make to SS2 will be saved from the host software in the song in which the plug-in is being used.
Phew! Non-synthesizing electric keyboards are also represented, courtesy of Wurlitzer, Rhodes, Hohner and Yamaha electric piano and Clavinet sets. Various organs appear in the general sound set, too, and a Mellotron 400 was comprehensively sampled, as was a rare disk-based Vako Orchestron. The patch list suggests that related tape and disk-based machines, such as the Chamberlin, Novatron and Mattel Optigan, were also part of the sessions. Drum machines have not been left out of the picture, and classic Roland examples are part of the SS2 sound picture: TR808, TR909, TR606, CR78 and SR120.
There are two LFOs, each offering a choice of waveform, plus control over speed, depth and how much LFO is applied to level, pitch and/or filter cutoff frequency. LFO1 has a useful delay control, for gradually bringing in the modulation effect, and a 'free run' option which syncs the start of modulation to a key press or merely lets it run freely. Initially, it may also appear not to function, but don't worry: it's hard-wired to the modulation wheel, so there's no LFO effect till the wheel is moved. LFO2 has one extra destination: pan. If I miss anything here, it's the option to sync LFOs to tempo, which appears to be missing from the basic Sampletank engine.
The two envelope generators are also largely similar: Env1 is routed to level only, whilst Env2 can be routed to filter cutoff frequency and/or pitch. Otherwise, they feature a fairly standard AHDSR curve. Usefully, all the curve controls are calibrated in milliseconds and seconds (except for 'sustain', whose level is calibrated in dB). The maximum time any element in the curve can last is 30 seconds, which is great for the development of evolving patches, especially in layers. I did rather miss an option for an 'infinite' release, though, which is something I often use when creating purely abstract sounds.
The resonant filter is a simple affair, yet rather effective. Low-pass, band-pass and high-pass types are selectable, and slopes of 6dB, 12dB and 24dB are available. Cutoff frequency and resonance controls are also provided, and that's it! It's a fairly robust filter, capable of cone-flapping or tweeter-friendly resonance. A lot of the depth of Sonik Synth 2 is as much down to its filter as it is to the quality of the raw samples and the fidelity of the playback engine.
The same tactics are being followed for the new synth plug-in: Sonik Synth 2 Free can be downloaded for Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP, along with about 20 voices. More will downloadable in future, making this a great 'try before you buy' option. Most functionality remains the same, though saving is disabled; that said, any panel tweaks the user makes can be saved within the host song, and all parameters can be controlled via MIDI. What are you waiting for?
The second synth engine, labelled PS/TS (for pitch-shift/time-stretch) is best suited to allowing sampled loops to be played back at different pitches without affecting their length and different tempos without affecting their pitch. There's no way for you to import loops into the plug-in, but there is a range of looped material included with the software; I'm not entirely sure this is DVD space and sample-editing time well spent, but many users may welcome this extra material. The percussion loops are a varied selection, and a certain number of textural loops are useful in abstract sound design.
Effects become an integral part of Sonik Synth 2 voices: every patch has its own set of effects, which are edited through a dedicated set of knobs, with up to eight provided for each effect. The signal path is (alas) fixed, with audio moving from the top of the selector list down. You're free to choose whichever effects you like for the four empty slots, though, so anything apart from parallel processing will be achievable.
Some might have a small whinge about there being no global send/return effects within Sonik Synth, but in any case, it can't be used as a stand-alone instrument, so any processing that you feel would help a mix to gel could be applied via your host application's mixer and effects.
One on-screen item seems to promise more from the Combi: a button labelled Zone at the bottom of the display implied to me some way of creating key splits for layered voices. This isn't the case, since key splitting of layered voices doesn't yet exist in the Sampletank universe (though it is planned for an imminent update). Enabling the Zone button just shows the key ranges of individual samples in the multisample used by the currently selected voice. This may not seem all that useful, initially, but highlighting a single sample or keygroup in this way allows synth parameter tweaks to be applied to just that sample. This would be great, perhaps, for customising the individual drum samples in some of SS2 's drum kit voices (though voices can't be routed out of the Instrument individually). More creatively, different keygroups in a multisample could be given drastically different LFO or filter settings, or respond to velocity in different ways.
It's at Combi level that individual Instruments are routed to one of the 'individual out' pairs. There are currently eight pairs, although this will soon be expanded to 16. An option in SS2 's preferences determines how many of these outs the host software sees: the host automatically creates enough mixer channels for whatever choice you've made. The exception here is Pro Tools, though a fix is apparently on the way.
In my tests, Sonar 4 on the PC and Cubase SX on both platforms accepted SS2 's ability to use up to eight stereo audio output pairs flawlessly: when creating an instance of the plug-in, the correct number of audio ins is created for the relevant mixers. Playing the plug-in multitimbrally was simply a matter of creating MIDI tracks and assigning the right Sonik Synth parts. There was a problem with Pro Tools LE, though: it can play Sonik Synth 2 multitimbrally, but does not handle its multiple audio streams. This problem is currently being addressed.
I went almost immediately to the Instruments contained in the two Elements folders, because I wanted to hear raw samples from the fabulous collection of synths contained in SS2. I was not disappointed, though inevitably it was when layering Instruments using two or more Combi parts that things really got going for me. It was at this level that I found that there weren't as many keygroups per multisample as one might like, but you're rarely aware of this audibly: it becomes more apparent because of that Zone button! I also thought some samples rather obviously short, though this was seldom conspicuous in the context of a patch or song playback. Such efficiency means that the user has access to a lot more material in their 8GB than might otherwise be the case.
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