The soft-synth market is awash with virtual versions of classic analogue synthesizers, with several Moog emulations to be found amongst them. Whilst many people agree that such emulations do the job pretty well, they nevertheless find themselves the target of often quite virulent criticism in purist circles. In the face of such stern opinion, IK Multimedia (in co-operation with Moog Music and Sonic Reality) introduce further fuel to the fire in the form of SampleMoog, a virtual instrument supplied with a 4GB sample library representing 16 different models of Moog synthesizer dating from 1970 to 2006. The hardware incarnations of this hefty collection of instruments could easily fill an entire room, so it's just as well that ones and zeros have no mass and take up no space! While the idea of 'ROMpler' instruments offering sampled Moogs is not new, such sounds tend to form just a small part of larger synth anthologies, putting SampleMoog in a currently unique position as the only dedicated Moog 'ROMpler'. Since I currently use a variety of virtual analogue synths, including Arturia's Moog Modular V, and having owned two Minimoogs, a Memorymoog and a Moog Source, and had frequent use of Taurus MkI bass pedals, I was keen to compare my experiences with these to SampleMoog, and to discover whether samples of Robert Moog's venerable synths could convey the character of the original instruments.

SampleMoog is contained within a specially designed custom player based on IK Multimedia's SampleTank 2 engine. This is comparatively well-endowed for a playback host, offering numerous editing parameters for envelopes, filters, a synth engine and LFOs, and boasting a wide range of effects. For an instrument like SampleMoog to have any mileage beyond that of a preset synth, such facilities are essential, especially for the more creative user.

SampleMoog employs a single-window graphical interface, from which all its features are accessible. This 256-voice polyphonic player is generally very intuitive to use; anyone with a modicum of experience with synthesizers should find there are few occasions when they have to refer to the manual. The 16-Part multitimbral structure will be a familiar concept to most — just highlight a Part, browse for a preset, double-click to load into the selected Part, and off you go — easy. Each Part can also be muted or soloed, with additional per-Part settings for volume, pan, maximum polyphony and output. SampleMoog provides 16 stereo outputs, allowing any Part to be processed using your DAW's plug-ins, if desired. Multi-Part setups are known as Combis, and any you create can be saved for later recall. Multiple Parts can, of course, be layered using a single MIDI channel, producing complex composite textures; a variety of preset Combis demonstrate such layered and key-split setups.

Sound selection and organisation take place in the upper, dark-red area of the interface. This red area is itself divided into two sections. The left half is the 16-Part Mixer into which presets are loaded, and from where Combis are loaded and saved. The right half serves as the preset browser, with options to save, rename and delete presets, set preferences and search for presets by keyword. Here, the various Moog instruments are categorised by name, appearing in bold type; clicking the solid red triangle next to an instrument name reveals a menu containing its 'parent' preset sounds. Many of these presets also have outlined triangles; click on these triangles and a further submenu shows 'child' variations based on the parent sound. While we're on the subject of the Mixer/Browser pane, the extremely small font used in the Mixer/Combi area and the dark, low-contrast red colour scheme make for rather difficult viewing. A much higher-contrast display would reduce eye strain considerably.

Loading and playing the presets may be enough...