Is the IK Multimedia Product Manager eating your disk space?

[@lexandliv]

Thanks for this! I like IK products but their install process, even with the Product Manager, is sort of a nightmare.

[@Finishyoursong]

I totally agree!

[@BobMcCarroll]

Me too!!!! I'd like to try one or two of their plugins but I've gone down that road before. Last time I tried I quickly found out that you can't just install one you have to install their whole catalog. If they haven't changed this install behavior yet I hope they do. Until then, I'm passing all of iKMM's plugins until they change their install scheme.

[@c.3636]

@@BobMcCarroll i just tried t demo 1 plug in...1 plug in man, and it installed 5 gb of everything they have.

[@hayward85]

Agreed, and their customer support is dreadful - just copy and paste a standard response without actually answering questions directly etc. Shame as the sounds are so great.

[@melomajestro9679]

Its terrible

[@cgsmithinnola]

This is my biggest issue with IK. That and often I too am missing samples and files after a download. Thank you so much for this video as I have a smaller C drive and this has been driving me insane!!

[@darindriscoll8582]

Informative video. I should have watched this video before spending a few days downloading all my purchased Sampletank 4 and the Syntronik 2 Group Buy content after everything was already installed! I will create an IK Product Manager Mirror folder and copy future IK downloads over to it and not waste any more time re-downloading. Huge time saver. Thanks again.

[@Finishyoursong]

Glad it was helpful!

[@trebhouser]

First of all, thank you for this video! Hey IKM!!! Pay more attention to the your customers and your products' ease of use instead of repackaging stuff for more sales and profits. It isn't hard to tell where your priorities lye. Nearly every time I go to use (certain instruments in) ST4, Syntronik, etc, it ends up being a nightmare! ALMOST EVERY TIME! And it makes no sense how these files are appropriated. So then I need to locate the library, file, instruments, etc, that should be there and AGAIN, rescan only to find that it still doesn't show up. I rarely use your products because it's just easier and much less frustrating to use NI, Arturia, UVI...you name it!! I payed way too much money for your products with these kinds of frustrations. Read this thread...if you dare

[@unknownmusicman]

I just picked up the Total Studio Max 3.5 suite on sale and I appreciate you taking the time to point this out. My machine doesn't have a lot of internal storage, so I'll most likely have to install individual products and then move the installation files to my NAS in order to proceed to the next product. Thanks!

[@philmarsh5593]

Just finished installing everything - I found that in the Product Manager you can set the path to store the zip files (so you can easily then set them to an external drive if you wish) - PM then DLs the zips to that location and then copies to wherever you set the location in Syntronik2 (2 separate location settings, basically). Does away with them being hidden in "documents" - some files and folders are still created there for other things but its a few megs only. What I wouldn't do is download any of the zips from the email links they send you - PM doesn't seem to recognise those and DLs them again if you use PM to install everything.

[@adityakmr1361]

hey would you be willing to help me out with my problems with the installation of this program since I too, took advantage of the group buy but the installation is driving me nuts and it's made my entire c drive full. Would appreciate a guiding hand :)

[@kadiummusic]

PM? DL? 🤔

[@Astronaut_FX]

Thanks a ton for this! I found the same bloat in my Documents folder.

[@philmarsh5593]

Very very useful. As was your walkthrough for Syntronik 2. There are few reviews of Syntronik 2 on YT, compared to other suites. I wonder why. From previous experience it does seem to install IK stuff involves us putting aside the time to do it, and housekeeping afterwards. The group buy however is making it hard to resist. Thanks for the content. As I'm a cubase user as well, count me as subscribed.

[@chaosme1ster]

Two days ago I figured out the same stuff, because while installing Syntronik 2 my startup SSD (1TB) suddenly only had 30 GB left. Moved the entire Product Manager folder to a spare nearly-empty HD, and now have 380 GB free space again. Silly system indeed...

[@djofortunato5799]

THanks for saving me some trouble on a question that was literally hemming & hawing away before I clicked & watched this.

[@simoncolvex]

Thanks, this is really good to know as I'm about to invest in Sample Tank

[@sevenfifteen]

This was the old way. The 180-day restriction or any other download limit doesn't exist anymore (as a registered user). The file locations still exist and are still filled up with the downloads, but you can now safely delete them, should you not have this much excessive space (for example, I'm on 2 TB total over 3 disks). The change was introduced a few months before your comment here (Nov 2023), so I thought it might interest you.

[@IronSteam1]

That's why, I use IK Multimedia Product Manager solely as a check list. I download everything directly from the My Products space inside my IK's account and I manage everything by myself. This includes managing "shared space files" when some products use the same files than others (some Syntronik, Syntronik 2 and ST4 sounds for example) and I even have sometimes to duplicate some folders in different places for the proper use of each software separately. The constraint is that I have to write down on a physical notebook where and how everything functions and there it is, I am free of doing what I want.

[@madness8556]

IK multimedia want us to be back in 2003 when dealing with their archaic download and installation procedures! They've certainly lost me that's for sure!

[@bungalowbill3409]

Instead of duplicating folders, try using shortcuts instead so you only use the storage space once but have the folder showing up in different locations...

[@geertschoonbeek1779]

Thank you very much, for explaining detailed and actually showing all paths. I'm in the process of re-installing (maybe upgrading) all IK Mm products, and this might just be very important to know, check and take care of. So thank you very much!

[@michaelggallagher]

What a helpful video, I also ran into this issue yesterday taking advantage of the group buy and this is probably why! I also seem to have no instruments in Syntronik 2 but all 25 synths are in Sampletank 4! They have the same content library locations too as far as I can tell. They were there at one point then mysteriously vanished!

[@JayTheLane]

IKs sample file and preset management is just utter garbage and outdated. I gave up on Syntronik ages ago.

[@CesarBenzoni]

Really helpful! The path on mac is quite similar

[@MrEssjayK]

Thank you for your explanations. I could now do this on my MacBook, moved the shared ik multimedia files to external disk, told the sampletank and Syntronik where the new location is (I advice screenshot of sampletank and Syntroniks originally folder paths in the plugin settings, and a full backup before doing it)

[@JS-BoK-pr2us]

What I did in my setup is I download and install everything. I also do a full system back up. That backup is checked and updated every two days over night. So if anything was to happen I would have the ability to restore some or part of the files I have from the system backup

[@MankyFrilla]

You know what? I have recently moved into the 'IK Multimedia' Sphere of stuff & the size of the content caused me great concern as - well you'll know yourself, one can be left in a quagmire of anti creative oracle as you worry about the deletion of a new companies files? I was about to embark on your very same question deletion but - I would not (as I didn't know) have kept the zip files so 'THANKYOU' my friend for slaying this dragon for the rest of us weary warriors of sound design and love of the quest to find that illusive chord progression. - 'Hazarr I say - Hazzar!' Twas a great video not boreing in any way and you have a good voice on the ear and you explained it all very very well indeed - 'Hazzar' - Subbed🤘💫💥🍀

[@MankyFrilla]

Sorry for typo's - spell check hasn't caught up with British humour as of yet. again Thankyou . . . .

[@realraven2000]

10:50 did it occur to you clicking on the Settings cogwheel? There is a setting there called "Downloads Folder", which points to the "IK Product Manager". Simply move the complete folder to a different drive, then point Product Manager to that. I will do that now. Interestingly I have the USB version of SampleTank Max and the download folder for ST4 is rather empty.

[@madness8556]

That download folder option under settings is useless! Even after setting it with a file path to my external hard drive, it still insisted on downloading the files to my system drive, filling up very quickly! Ik multimedia is still in 2003 when it comes to downloading and installing files.

[@delvenhamric1200]

IK Product Manager/Install isn't a user friendly process! I totally crashed my system during the install process. It filled up my boot drive and shout down. I removed all of the IK folder and tried again. While I was reinstalling everything, I found that my older products had expired. I refuse to pay again for MY products. I don't think that I will ever go through that mess again! 🤪

[@aemythjensen]

If you click on the gear icon at the top-right of the Product Manager app, and change the "Downloads Folder" directory to "W:\VST Downloads\IK Multimedia\Product Manager", and rename your "Product Manager Mirror" to just "Product Manager", you will be able to delete your "This PC > Documents > IK Multimedia > IK Product Manager" folder, because Product Manager will start using only the new location.

[@doublej1881]

Thanks for the video. The video and comments let me know it's not only me finding the IK install process a nightmare. Recently purchased the Studio bundle and attempted to download the sound files. The content is huge (which is to be expected) but the downloader doesn't even check to see whether there is enough space available before trying to install. After a couple of attempts and several hours of downloading, the downloads stopped without any explanation of what had gone on. I found that my C: drive had been completely filled. I then moved the files from the public/documents/IK Multimedia folder over onto another internal drive with heaps (1TB) of capacity. I then updated the Download Folder in the Product Manager settings. This had no impact and was seemingly ignored as the second attempt also failed. The sounds again downloaded the the C:..documents/IK Multimedia folder and again filled up my C: drive causing other software to fail. Firstly, checking for space prior to attempting an install of any content is programming 101. PC systems from the early 90's had this built in. Secondly, not having a simple and functional way to specify where the content should be downloaded to seems unbelievable to me. My view is that they need to put some time and money and allocate their best development team to improving the Product Manager and improving the installation process and UX. After all, this sets the tone for how the company and its products are viewed (from my perspective at least). I've contacted support re. specifying folder location, but did not receive a direct answer to my question. Instead they've recommended running an installer by a different means. Given the amount of flack that I'm seeing around the web on the state of the Product Manager, one can only hope that they start to pay some attention. However, I'm not holding my breath given that the video and comments are from a year ago. I'm now personally regretting buying the software at all because I think it is going to be a nightmare to see what I've downloaded and what I haven't. This is particularly of concern given the 180-day download window. It's so far been over a week since I spent hundreds of dollars on the software and I'm still not in a position to use most of it.

[@bungalowbill3409]

Just create a shortcut of the folder on your external drive and place it in the documents folder on your C: drive, this way IK Product Manager will see the folder on your C: drive but in reality all the content will be stored on your external drive....

[@AntonioOrrico]

was helpful thanks

[@ricardovilhena8454]

Very usefull video. I have the same problem. So, i can delete the content of documents folder after instalation. Another problem is the 180 day of use. I pay for the product, this shouldnt work this way. Thanks for the video. Best regards

[@lukasjusys]

Very well explained. Thank you. Good job.

[@kevinjackson7539]

Native Instruments seems to get it right

[@gabororoszi75]

IK Multimedia has removed the 180-day restriction in 2023. You can reload any of your instrument sound files at any time with version 1.0.10 of the IK Product Manager. There are no more fees or time restrictions for these downloads.

[@workingdb]

Thank you for your clear explanation sir!

[@MustacheVerra]

lol... you noticed that too? OK gonna watch the video now.

[@backspin6698]

Thank you mate. I just got 30 gb more space on the C: drive 😀👍

[@Finishyoursong]

Glad I could help

[@FC-xc3zy]

Thanks. You saved me a lot of frustration. Ik multimedia is plain irresponsible. They have used up a ton of space on my hard drive

[@استوديوالحاني]

Nice vid man i got the same nightmare One quick question can I install the libraries from the downloaded winRAR’s? THANKS

[@davethomasson6571]

You just saved me over 83gb on my mac drive.😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

[@pxpl5538]

Thanks for this. I was wondering why my TB hard drive on my laptop is full. Its a TB!! How is that possible. I found out that the IK products manger was taking up almost half of the space!! And just for dmgs (installers). I was about to just erase them but on your advice I will transfer them to another disk and erase them off my laptop.

[@Capt-Cran]

Curious ... are any other Sample Tank User having problems when using Sample Tank 4 Max in the GUI always taking a very time to load and clogging up your work flow? ...

[@rockstarscat]

I had this exact situation. iK doesn't clean up after it's self. I moved all the zipp files to another drive after I installed everything. If you dont have room delete them as you install them. I contacted them about this situation. I have everything iK makes installed.

[@realraven2000]

you can set the downloads folder in product manager to a different drive

[@cjayconrod]

Thank you for this! I bought Sampletank 4 Max and am in the process of downloading all the libraries. I've been wanting to keep the installation files on another hard drive so I'll never have to download them again (600GB!!). Now I know where to find them!

[@ronstein4]

Since you clipped them too a external hard drive does that mean you won’t have to pay for a new license in 180 days?

[@cjayconrod]

@@ronstein4 exactly. They charge a small fee to download the sounds after the 180 days. But you already have the license for them.

[@ronstein4]

Does that thumbs up mean yes . I hope.

[@ronstein4]

@@cjayconrod thank you so much

[@AZZA9012]

thanks a lot! 🙂 I'm thinking about buying it - I'm buying Total Studio 4 MAX - promo. Is this a good choice? I have Tonex Pedal - and it is advantageous to buy its programs with the rest, including Miroslav Philharmonik 2. I've read a lot about problems with installing IC applications. What you describe is super important. Thanks a lot!!!! Of course, they will click "Subscribe". All the best for Christmas and the New Year!!! 🙂

[@x-pe4324]

I have problems with Philharmoni. change the library. because I had little space. and now the library doesn't read me. and I give you the address where I have it located. But it's not working . It sends me a .vpa error. and ddl . and kernel, what can I do

[@PrimaudiaRecord]

Came here because im trying to get a feel for IK Multimedia, ive heard good things about their products but no so much with the installation. Do you know if they still install vst you didnt buy? I'm wanting one of two things from them but i have my reservations. Cool video, i may need that knowledge in future.

[@bungalowbill3409]

You know, you don't have to go through all that fuss... Now that you've cloned that download folder onto an external drive, just create a shortcut for that folder and drop it into your download folder to replace the one you cloned... Then IK Product Manager will interact with that shortcut but in reality be saving all that stuff to your external drive instead...

[@vecchiuz2143]

Hi i m quitting waves and Looking for something else, i ve found T racks Max for 99 €.. It looks pretty impressive.. Can you confirm me that this is a good Deal??

[@anthonyman8008]

I can barely run protools with sample tank, I have to deactivate everything to create multiple tracks!

[@Capt-Cran]

Studio One it's the same ... Sample Tank 4 Max is a mess ... so frustrated and want to use it in so many projects ... but attempts to access and operate it regularly is a disaster ... seriously ... I don't understand why they don't care and fix it ... I would NEVER recommend to others at this point .... Native Instruments is like a smooth runniing auto motor ... they have it right!!

[@migueldias2568]

I found that my samples were installed in my windows Drive on the difrrent folder C:\Users\Public\Documents\IK Multimedia and the samples were automatically installed aswell(they're already unziped). Should I keep this folder on my C Drive or can I cut and past to my external drive? we're talking about 436GB

[@SPEYERE]

Ur a lifesaver!

[@teddybeargram3]

So did you find all of your sounds somewhere else. Cause I just id the same but it seems like I dont have all the samples showing up.

[@williambastidas4842]

Muchas gracias

[@MreenalMams]

I've just purchased it.. Realizing full well that I don't have space on my ssd C drive.. i have plenty of space on my D Drive which is a HDD.. So do I change the location to D on Product Manager then only download..?

[@Finishyoursong]

You set the downloads folder in the Program Manager, then set the library location in Sampletank or Syntronik beofre you download. Then, it should all go where you say. Should.

[@MreenalMams]

@@Finishyoursong Firstly, thank you for taking out time to reply.. I did as you suggested and installed one single library or 1 gb on the D Drive.. However I did lose 1 gb of space from my C Drive as well (along with losing 1 gb on D Drive).. I checked the Users/Documents folder and that seems to have not been affected, but the Public/Documents folder has grown by exactly that.. What do I do with that..? Should I delete them.. or move them to the D Drive.. Also I had a couple libraries of Syntronik & 1 of Sample Tank from before which were installed in C Drive (back then I never knew that Drive space would ever be a problem).. they have run out of the 180 days period.. Should I move them too to the new folder on D Drive..? Sorry if I'm being a nuisance.. I'm pretty naive about these things.. And I didn't find anyone else talking about this on youtube..

[@realraven2000]

@@MreenalMams I would move the download stuff to another physical drive (but not D unles that's an SSD) - remember if you need to reinstall it needs to copy the data, which with a single mechanical drive means a lot of head movement. If you have a different physical drive you can read and write at full speed. Obviously your install location (where your DAW loads the sounds from) should preferably be an SSD for fast access. You can use a conventional drive for the downloads, as you will only access them once (when isntalling the sounds)

[@MreenalMams]

@@realraven2000 Thank you.. My comment was from 6 months ago, but to update.. after that I reached out to support and they were very helpful.. basically i moved the files to my D drive (HDD).. and searched on C drive for remnants.. Since then I have also got an external SDD (my first one) and gotten the Total studio.. so now I'm in the process of installing Sample Tank directly on there.. Later I may either reinstall Syntronik of just move them from the D.. Depends on how much space is left after Sampletank is done (its a lot of space occupied)

[@geebee44]

The 9$ re-download price is worth paying to me rather than keeping the files... Now, one could get a high capacity thumb drive and put everything on, but keeping them on the hard drive/ssd is not needed to me...

[@kidsonicofficial]

UPDATE: 2 Years on and it automatically downloads them to the Downloads folder.

[@billbradleymusic]

So the product manager lives on the c drive and there's no reason to keep them loaded there since they expire for anything but updates. All samples are to be saved!

[@Frontier2000AnoDomin]

I have pretty much all of heir products up to 2020. I haven´t really bought much since because their download and installation process is just a complete mess. They have tried to simplify things with their Product manager and it´s just become a complete disaster. Much better to let users just download the files, back them up to an external drive in case they are needed in the future,let people install manually to where ever they would like and type in a serial number. I´ve just wasted 2 hours trying to test out MODO DRUM. I think I´ll just go and spend my money on 4 EZX kits instead.

[@Capt-Cran]

ALL other VST software companies are much better than IKM IMHO ... it is beyond a disaster ... and the sad things is they know it and just want correct the user issues ...

[@madness8556]

Ik multimedia want us to think that we're still living in 2003 when it comes to their archaic download and installation procedures. They're very dodgy, not to mention incredibly arrogant!

[@DavidSmith-mj6zz]

I cannot help thinking that the evolution from 1990s sound modules to sample libraries continues to virtual instruments like Pianoteq, Modo Drums and SWAM. IK Multimedia could have a killer product but the download thing is a nightmare. Download managers seem to recognise specific drives which means backups are more difficult to sort out when you buy a download product. IK Multimedia wake up, you have a cracking product but wakey wakey things like Swam will put you out of business if the download thing ain't sorted. An entire download for SWAM is little more than 1Gb.

[@vittuma5674]

Hi! Maybe some of you faced simillar issue referring IK Multimedia products (their technical support 'team' does not respond ). After having installed and authorised Miroslav Philharmonic 2, I am not able to install "Philharmonic 2 sound content" in my new Mac OS Monterey. After opening it I'm getting the error. I am not able to install it. I tried in 2 Macs, I get the same issue. Have any of you experienced a similar problem? I really need my Philharmonic2 back ;(