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Post by M57 on Apr 16, 2023 17:53:44 GMT -6
First off, I have to say that the difference between the various Native Instruments products are ridiculously hard to parse. It's almost as if they're trying to be confusing. Kontakt Player, Full Kontact, Komplete Kontrol, Kontact 7. Anyway, enough ranting..
I've been using the 'Player' for a few 3rd party libraries like Shimmer Shake Strike and Spitfire Strings, and I stumbled across a free library. Loaded it and found that it wouldn't play without Full Contact, which I think is the same as Kontakt 7 (sorry, I'm still ranting).. Apparently I need to upgrade in order to use any libraries that aren't licensed through NI. So my main question is, what do I get with the upgrade? It's a lot of money and the only information I can find is that it lets you load 3rd party libraries and edit them. So it doesn't come with any additional (free) libraries?
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Kontakt
Apr 16, 2023 17:57:13 GMT -6
Post by drbill on Apr 16, 2023 17:57:13 GMT -6
It's all clearly laid out on their website - IF - you can find the page. There are tiers or levels of Kontakt, and the libraries that NI provides depend on the tier that you choose and buy. I'll see if I can easily find it.....otherwise you're on your own. LOL
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Post by drbill on Apr 16, 2023 18:05:59 GMT -6
Well...looked for awhile and couldn't' find it. This is the best I could do. Should give you a basic idea of what it comes with. Oh, and yes, Kontakt 7 is the "full" version. www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-7/library/For my money, Kontakt is right at the very top of offering value in the VSTi world. To me, it seems like a bargain - price wise. Beware though, once you start into the 3rd party libraries, they get extremely pricey. I probably have 20k + wrapped up in Kontakt libraries. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Apr 16, 2023 18:12:07 GMT -6
So you might have already figured this out, but in case not, I can maybe help break it down for you. Kontakt” is just the player. It’s the shell/engine that runs various VSTi’s. “Komplete” is the software VSTi bundle that includes tons of instruments.
There are several options/versions of both.
Most people I know, myself included, just buy some version of komplete. It’s kind of a waist to just buy the full Kontakt player, even versions that come with some libraries.
If you wait till Black Friday you can get some significant discounts, and in that case I think it’s worth it. And you’re right, it’s confusing.
Anyway, just my 2 cents. Hope it helps
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Post by M57 on Apr 16, 2023 18:21:24 GMT -6
So Full Kontakt is the same as Kontakt 7, which is an upgrade from the Player (which does have some free instruments), but it's not Komplete, so it comes with no instruments? ARRGGH!
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Kontakt
Apr 16, 2023 18:25:01 GMT -6
Post by M57 on Apr 16, 2023 18:25:01 GMT -6
Well...looked for awhile and couldn't' find it. This is the best I could do. Should give you a basic idea of what it comes with. Oh, and yes, Kontakt 7 is the "full" version. www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-7/library/For my money, Kontakt is right at the very top of offering value in the VSTi world. To me, it seems like a bargain - price wise. Beware though, once you start into the 3rd party libraries, they get extremely pricey. I probably have 20k + wrapped up in Kontakt libraries. Ok, this is helpful... So Kontakt 7 does come with some libraries. I don't need to purchase a bundle like Komplete 14 to get a decent introduction to the NI world. I was unable to find that page btw! |
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Post by nicksteinborn on Apr 16, 2023 18:39:35 GMT -6
So Full Kontakt is the same as Kontakt 7, which is an upgrade from the Player (which does have some free instruments), but it's not Komplete, so it comes with no instruments? ARRGGH! Komplete is a bundle of NI stuff. A bunch of Kontakt libraries/instruments as well as comps/eqs/synths/other plugins. NI makes some really great plugins and effects on top of Kontakt. You do not need Komplete to get Kontakt. Everything can be bought individually. Kontakt Player only works for certain libraries. A number of paid libraries seem to also pay for a license to work in Kontakt Player. If you're just looking to get into sample based virtual instruments, I would recommend checking out Decent Sampler(https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/) and Spitfire Labs. Spitfire offers a bunch of free instruments on their site for the Labs instrument and they're VERY good. Decent Sampler is a completely free sampler with some paid and free libraries available for it. Pianobook.co.uk has a ton of user-made instruments intended for Kontakt(full only), but a number are also available for Decent Sampler. |
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Post by drbill on Apr 16, 2023 18:41:34 GMT -6
So Full Kontakt is the same as Kontakt 7, which is an upgrade from the Player (which does have some free instruments), but it's not Komplete, so it comes with no instruments? ARRGGH! Komplete and Kontakt are two different things. Komplete contains multiple software VSTi instruments, synths, audio plugins, etc. Kontakt is a software SAMPLE PLAYBACK unit that is Kontained (see what I did there?  ) within Komplete. Komplete also comes with ADDITIONAL Kontakt libraries that do not come with Kontakt alone. |
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Kontakt
Apr 16, 2023 18:50:48 GMT -6
Post by M57 on Apr 16, 2023 18:50:48 GMT -6
So Full Kontakt is the same as Kontakt 7, which is an upgrade from the Player (which does have some free instruments), but it's not Komplete, so it comes with no instruments? ARRGGH! Komplete is a bundle of NI stuff. A bunch of Kontakt libraries/instruments as well as comps/eqs/synths/other plugins. NI makes some really great plugins and effects on top of Kontakt. You do not need Komplete to get Kontakt. Everything can be bought individually. Kontakt Player only works for certain libraries. A number of paid libraries seem to also pay for a license to work in Kontakt Player. If you're just looking to get into sample based virtual instruments, I would recommend checking out Decent Sampler(https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/) and Spitfire Labs. Spitfire offers a bunch of free instruments on their site for the Labs instrument and they're VERY good. Decent Sampler is a completely free sampler with some paid and free libraries available for it. Pianobook.co.uk has a ton of user-made instruments intended for Kontakt(full only), but a number are also available for Decent Sampler. I already have the player, and I already have the Spitfire Labs (Damn. Just checked.. I have a new computer and it looks like I'll have to reload that library). I'll check out Decent.. thanks. |
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Kontakt
Apr 17, 2023 4:51:02 GMT -6
Post by M57 on Apr 17, 2023 4:51:02 GMT -6
If I upgrade to or Kontakt 7 or Komplete, do I need to re-point Full Kontakt at Spitfire and Shimmmer, or can (or should) I still use the Player for those VIs? I.e. is there any difference in terms of the shell's functionality with respect to those particular VIs?
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Post by drbill on Apr 17, 2023 8:54:31 GMT -6
If I upgrade to or Kontakt 7 or Komplete, do I need to re-point Full Kontakt at Spitfire and Shimmmer, or can (or should) I still use the Player for those VIs? I.e. is there any difference in terms of the shell's functionality with respect to those particular VIs? I don't think you'd see any reason to use the "free player" version any longer. I think I have it somewhere, but I never use it. Just the main Kontakt version. When you load instruments into Kontakt - those who have authorized via NI's very trick Native Access download/authorization app will come up within the instrument itself on a side panel. Those who don't authorize via NI will be accessed via a hard drive browser system. Pretty simple once you do it a couple times. |
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Kontakt
Apr 17, 2023 9:55:28 GMT -6
Post by craigmorris74 on Apr 17, 2023 9:55:28 GMT -6
I bought Kontakt 7 recently. I was able to get Arcane by Emberton for free, and that qualified me for either crossgrade or upgrade pricing. I think I also bought during a big sale, which made the purchase pretty affordable.
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Post by the other mark williams on Apr 17, 2023 21:55:11 GMT -6
M57, While I'm with you that it's a little complicated, it's honestly not as complicated as you're making it sound. There's Kontakt Player, which is free, and there's Kontakt, which is not free. Kontakt is currently on version 7. Kontakt comes with a bunch of content included. (Maybe they should call Kontakt Player "Kontakt Lite" and Kontakt "Kontakt Pro"?) There are some third party libraries available that use Kontakt Player, but the developer has to pay a licensing fee for that, so a lot of third party developers' products only work with Kontakt. Still, there are some really good ones that use Kontakt Player. When I started getting my feet wet with NI, I started out using third party libraries I really liked that used Kontakt Player. I finally decided to spring for Kontakt during Black Friday last year - they do like a 50% sale. It has easily been worth it to me. Komplete is a collection of NI content (kontent?) in several tiers based on what all is included. The various tiers of Komplete are delineated on this page here. There is Select, Standard, Ultimate, and Collector's Edition. If you buy NI hardware, like one of their Komplete Kontrol series keyboards, or a Maschine drum pads unit, it comes with some level of Komplete. (Usually Komplete Select, but you can upgrade at time of purchase at a discount.) You can even buy hardware used and get the software included - just make sure the seller includes the license number with the hardware. That's pretty much it. See? Not too komplikated. Er, you know what I mean.
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Post by schmalzy on Apr 18, 2023 6:00:49 GMT -6
M57 , While I'm with you that it's a little complicated, it's honestly not as complicated as you're making it sound. There's Kontakt Player, which is free, and there's Kontakt, which is not free. Kontakt is currently on version 7. Kontakt comes with a bunch of content included. (Maybe they should call Kontakt Player "Kontakt Lite" and Kontakt "Kontakt Pro"?) There are some third party libraries available that use Kontakt Player, but the developer has to pay a licensing fee for that, so a lot of third party developers' products only work with Kontakt. Still, there are some really good ones that use Kontakt Player. When I started getting my feet wet with NI, I started out using third party libraries I really liked that used Kontakt Player. I finally decided to spring for Kontakt during Black Friday last year - they do like a 50% sale. It has easily been worth it to me. Komplete is a collection of NI content (kontent?) in several tiers based on what all is included. The various tiers of Komplete are delineated on this page here. There is Select, Standard, Ultimate, and Collector's Edition. If you buy NI hardware, like one of their Komplete Kontrol series keyboards, or a Maschine drum pads unit, it comes with some level of Komplete. (Usually Komplete Select, but you can upgrade at time of purchase at a discount.) You can even buy hardware used and get the software included - just make sure the seller includes the license number with the hardware. That's pretty much it. See? Not too komplikated. Er, you know what I mean. Was going to post basically the same thing as Mark's post. I wanted to include a bit about WHY so I'm typing up a bit below. It's not super complicated. Kontakt Player and Kontakt (the more feature-rich and less limited version of Kontakt Player) are the software you can use to play libraries created in Native Instrument's proprietary format. That format is super robust and well-documented. It's used by Native Instruments and - because of it's capability and flexibility - many 3rd-party developers are able to develop libraries for that format. It allows library developers to make the sounds and not have to also create their own instrument player to interface with the MIDI signals and organize/play the libraries. Kontakt (or Kontakt Player) is the instrument that loads the library and executes the playing of the sounds. If you want to access a 3rd-party library you'll load the Kontakt (or Kontakt Player) VSTi onto a track, select the library you want inside Kontakt, and it'll load a user interface and pile of sounds that can be played through Kontakt. Komplete is the umbrella name to their varying packages of libraries and plugins. All new and most older libraries (whether they're Native Instruments's own libraries or 3rd-party libraries) are loaded by adding a serial number into Native Access, Native Instruments's instrument manager. Add the serial number, it'll congratulate you for doing so, then you can flip to the next tab to click a button to download the library which Native Access will manage, organize, and drop into Kontakt's menu of available libraries. I bought Maschine (a Native Instruments product) which is essentially a hardware MIDI instrument that sends a complicated MIDI signal to access a deep software instrument. It came with some Maschine-specific stuff, Kontakt Player, and Komplete Select (the lowest-level set of libraries and plugins in the Komplete line). Also included was Massive (an awesome synth) and Reaktor (a synth instrument builder...long story but it's cool). There's a learning curve to figuring it out right away. When you get it figured out you'll be so thankful that Native Instruments makes the whole thing so easy. It's really a fantastically implemented framework. |
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Post by drumsound on Apr 18, 2023 7:50:02 GMT -6
M57 , While I'm with you that it's a little complicated, it's honestly not as complicated as you're making it sound. There's Kontakt Player, which is free, and there's Kontakt, which is not free. Kontakt is currently on version 7. Kontakt comes with a bunch of content included. (Maybe they should call Kontakt Player "Kontakt Lite" and Kontakt "Kontakt Pro"?) There are some third party libraries available that use Kontakt Player, but the developer has to pay a licensing fee for that, so a lot of third party developers' products only work with Kontakt. Still, there are some really good ones that use Kontakt Player. When I started getting my feet wet with NI, I started out using third party libraries I really liked that used Kontakt Player. I finally decided to spring for Kontakt during Black Friday last year - they do like a 50% sale. It has easily been worth it to me. Komplete is a collection of NI content (kontent?) in several tiers based on what all is included. The various tiers of Komplete are delineated on this page here. There is Select, Standard, Ultimate, and Collector's Edition. If you buy NI hardware, like one of their Komplete Kontrol series keyboards, or a Maschine drum pads unit, it comes with some level of Komplete. (Usually Komplete Select, but you can upgrade at time of purchase at a discount.) You can even buy hardware used and get the software included - just make sure the seller includes the license number with the hardware. That's pretty much it. See? Not too komplikated. Er, you know what I mean. This is literally the first time I've actually understood the ecosystem. Thanks Mark! |
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Post by the other mark williams on Apr 19, 2023 14:05:54 GMT -6
M57 , While I'm with you that it's a little complicated, it's honestly not as complicated as you're making it sound. There's Kontakt Player, which is free, and there's Kontakt, which is not free. Kontakt is currently on version 7. Kontakt comes with a bunch of content included. (Maybe they should call Kontakt Player "Kontakt Lite" and Kontakt "Kontakt Pro"?) There are some third party libraries available that use Kontakt Player, but the developer has to pay a licensing fee for that, so a lot of third party developers' products only work with Kontakt. Still, there are some really good ones that use Kontakt Player. When I started getting my feet wet with NI, I started out using third party libraries I really liked that used Kontakt Player. I finally decided to spring for Kontakt during Black Friday last year - they do like a 50% sale. It has easily been worth it to me. Komplete is a collection of NI content (kontent?) in several tiers based on what all is included. The various tiers of Komplete are delineated on this page here. There is Select, Standard, Ultimate, and Collector's Edition. If you buy NI hardware, like one of their Komplete Kontrol series keyboards, or a Maschine drum pads unit, it comes with some level of Komplete. (Usually Komplete Select, but you can upgrade at time of purchase at a discount.) You can even buy hardware used and get the software included - just make sure the seller includes the license number with the hardware. That's pretty much it. See? Not too komplikated. Er, you know what I mean. This is literally the first time I've actually understood the ecosystem. Thanks Mark! Happy to help, Tony! Clearly NI needs a better marketing department - I count both you and M57 as really smart guys. I do think some of NI's nomenclature ends up being a hindrance to new purchasers. All the "k" instead of "c" stuff (reminds me of the Monty Python skit where the guy can't pronounce a hard 'c', but for some reason, he can pronounce a 'k' sound...) is just kind of silly. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Apr 20, 2023 4:19:56 GMT -6
Talk about working the crowd and a walkabout, only missing the corgis! |
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