IK Multimedia announces Grab a Synth giveaway, offering the Hitmaker: Synthwave for SampleTank as a free download through March 31st, 2021.
The Grab a Synth giveaway runs until March 31st and requires you to take part in a short survey. In return for your participation, you get a free copy of Hitmaker: Synthwave ($49.99 value) and 15% off the preorder price of the new UNO Synth Pro.
See also: Inphonik Releases FREE PCM2612 Retro Decimator UnitFirst things first, the short survey is indeed a short survey. All too often, offers that include a short survey leave me thinking, just take my money, and let’s end this. But it’s literally five questions about your synths and no typing.
Hitmaker: Synthwave is a collection of retro instruments, samples, and beats. On opening Synthwave, I was surprised to see that it offered 13 sound categories, considering I’ve paid more for less in the past. Although, most categories contain only a few instruments/presets.
It has the expected synth bass, lead, and pad sounds, along with some synth sweeps and plucks. Not as expected were the guitar, organ, brass, and woodwind categories. The remaining categories are made up of arpeggios, chromatic, drums, and sound FX.
For me, the drums, pads, basses, and sweeps are the best of the bunch. There are 10 Synthwave drum kits, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for this style. The sound quality is great, plus each kit has some MIDI grooves triggered by set keys.
There are also 10 synth pad presets, and a couple of them are really nice with some creative modulation. Between the four sound categories that I highlighted, you have the foundations of some awesome Synthwave tracks.
Looking at the categories that I didn’t praise, I wouldn’t say all is lost. Some of the arpeggios are great for adding texture, and I’m sure the rest may be of more use to others than they are to me. I just picked out the sounds I felt were most authentic and better suited to creating something unique.
Overall, if I paid $49.99 for Hitmaker: Synthwave, I’d have few complaints, so grabbing it for free is a no-brainer.
It’s not a deep dive into sound design; it’s a quick and easy library that could either help you start or finish a track. And, if you had to make a convincing Synthwave track using only this collection, you absolutely could.
There are no download issues to report, although you need to have (or download) Sample Tank 4 Custom Shop first.
More info: IK Multimedia (Hitmaker: Synthwave is FREE until March 31st, 2021)
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