So, it seems like an inevitable development that we eventually got the FX rack of Syntronik and Sample Tank broken out and packaged into its own product. Sample Tank 4 incorporated the new look, and we got a few more modules in the bargain. That didn’t improve the sound, obviously, but it added a lot of fun, and actually made the FX easier to use. The effects rack now used a UI modelled on 500-series hardware modules. A few new FX modules were added, but the big improvement was visual. Sample Tank 3 offered a diverse collection of FX modules (56 of them, I believe) that could be inserted in any order according to taste. MixBox feels like a natural evolution of IKM FX chain capabilities that originated with Sample Tank and became refined with Syntronik.

MixBox has an introductory price of $199 USD, but owners of any number of IKM products qualify for a crossgrade price of $149, or about two bucks and ten cents per effect, which is a pretty attractive proposition. Authorization (up to ten authorizations!) is done via IKM’s new Product Manager, which also can be used to acquire a fourteen-day demo version. The MixBox plug-in is available in formats compatible will all current mainstream DAWs (Win 7 or later, macOS 10.10 or later). Plus, while many of the MixBox modules are simple, they are of good quality, and in some cases outstanding quality. Up to eight MixBox modules can be loaded to create all manner of effect chain varieties.

Instead they get loaded into a virtual rack which itself is a conventional plug-in (as well as a standalone program – more on that later). The 70 modules are not conventional plug-ins. MixBox from IK Multimedia (IKM hereafter) is a collection of 70 FX modules than run the gamut from dynamics to distortion to amps to modulation to reverb to … well, much more.

Mixbox presets