A Great Collection...

As a project studio owner on a limited budget, I am always looking for the most bang for the buck. The Total Studio 2 bundle from IK is simply a great buy. If you record a lot of guitars, the Amplitube / Ampeg plugs are nearly worth the price of admission alone. Not to mention you get some great sound libraries with SampleTron, SampleMoog, Sonik Synth, Sample Tank, and Miroslav Philharmonik. And did I forget the mention the reverbs are really, really good, too!

If you are a songwriting / composer type of guy like myself, you will find this bundle super fun to use. The Miroslav library is extensive, with enough samples to keep you busy searching for the right patch, from staccato solo instruments to detailed choir syllables (do, re, mi, etc.) And the Sample Tank engine is useful keeping it all together.

Regarding the reverbs, I dig the presets offered in each. As within all the programs, the abilities to tweak and manipulate sounds are extensive. The effects available in the virtual instrument engines are very useful, and I especially like the "lo-fi" effect on the SampleTron, when I want that lo-fi strings sound.

If you're a guitar player, the X-Gear option is really cool at allowing you to tailor your sound by using different effects, heads & cabs through one format. Use a Hendrix fuzz box, playing through a classic Fender-type head, into an Ampeg cab, or just mess it all up in any kind of way by running them in stereo, mixing & matching all sorts of crazy combinations.

The only issue I've had with this software is when I loaded one of the sound libraries, I got an error at one point. Of course, this could have been a computer glitch on my part, so I don't fault IK with this small issue, unless it's a disk problem. And be fore-warned, Amplitube and some of the virtual libraries are quite the CPU-hogs. Don't expect to run two or more at a time without increased buffer sizes or added RAM.

Overall, I feel this is a "best buy" type of bundle. I'm also running a lot of Waves & Digidesign plug-ins, and I find the IK plug-ins to be close in quality. It's tough to beat the Waves plugs, but the IK plug-ins come close, as they have their own sonic character. I continue to use IK's products on a regular basis, and will continue to do so.