# Kontakt 6 question



## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

Hi,
I've tried to research this but couldnt find any quick answers on google. What difference does it make if you buy a lib from NI store versus off the production company's website. I've seen on OT that Ark 1 for example now sell one version for SINE and one for Kontakt. Is this true for many libraries? Does it matter which one you get? This is all abit confusing to me


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## Cheezus (Nov 14, 2020)

Orchestral Tools is a special case in that they used to make Kontakt libraries but then developed their own sampler. Some of their libraries are available on both but all new libraries from them only work through SINE Player. With most other companies it doesn't matter where you buy the library it'll work the same in Kontakt.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

Cheezus said:


> Orchestral Tools is a special case in that they used to make Kontakt libraries but then developed their own sampler. Some of their libraries are available on both but all new libraries from them only work through SINE Player. With most other companies it doesn't matter where you buy the library it'll work the same in Kontakt.



Alright thanks for clearing that up


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

You will find that Spitfire Audio has also developed their own sample player, so their newer libraries are no longer available for Kontakt, whereas all their older stuff is either Kontakt Player (which also runs perfectly fine in full Kontakt) or Kontakt only.


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## dzilizzi (Nov 14, 2020)

Before buying a Sine instrument or Spitfire instrument, try the Sine Layers or Spitfire Labs for free to see if the players work with your systems. Sine is not compatible with ProTools, which could be a problem if that is your only DAW. The Sine & Spitfire player versions do not work in Kontakt. This can be good or bad, as the players may not work well for you. 

NI sales may not be available on the developer's websites also. They started having these special sales a couple years ago. Great for us, but are only available on NI.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

doctoremmet said:


> You will find that Spitfire Audio has also developed their own sample player, so their newer libraries are no longer available for Kontakt, whereas all their older stuff is either Kontakt Player (which also runs perfectly fine in full Kontakt) or Kontakt only.



So whats the case for kontakt full vs player now given that with major releases they either have their own samplers or they work with kontakt player. I havent started collecting tiny niche libs yet so i wonder what advantages kontakt offer for a beginner.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> Before buying a Sine instrument or Spitfire instrument, try the Sine Layers or Spitfire Labs for free to see if the players work with your systems. Sine is not compatible with ProTools, which could be a problem if that is your only DAW. The Sine & Spitfire player versions do not work in Kontakt. This can be good or bad, as the players may not work well for you.
> 
> NI sales may not be available on the developer's websites also. They started having these special sales a couple years ago. Great for us, but are only available on NI.



I use both of those and they work fine with my daw FL Studio  Thanks for partly answering my latest question. If NI have separate sales i guess you have more of a chance of getting a bargain on different libs


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## dzilizzi (Nov 14, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> So whats the case for kontakt full vs player now given that with major releases they either have their own samplers or they work with kontakt player. I havent started collecting tiny niche libs yet so i wonder what advantages kontakt offer for a beginner.


small developer niche libraries


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## dzilizzi (Nov 14, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> I use both of those and they work fine with my daw FL Studio  Thanks for partly answering my latest question. If NI have separate sales i guess you have more of a chance of getting a bargain on different libs


Also, for OT, if they haven't yet released the Sine version and you buy the Kontakt version, when they do release the Sine version, you get it for free. I currently have a bunch of Sine libraries for this reason. I still manly use the Kontakt version because it is just easier for me and because I mainly use ProTools. 

So far, Spitfire has not ported any of their libraries over to their player. Their player allows for multiple mic positions as the big seller. From what I understand, Kontakt has some limits on the number of mic positions in one instrument. So for something like the Embertone Walker piano, you actually have to load multiple instruments to get all the mic positions.


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> So whats the case for kontakt full vs player now given that with major releases they either have their own samplers or they work with kontakt player. I havent started collecting tiny niche libs yet so i wonder what advantages kontakt offer for a beginner.


Most larger libraries from the professional developers are not available for Kontakt Player. Sample developers have to pay license fees to Native Instruments in order to make their samples “Player” ready. In some cases they do, in other cases they don’t as they (in my eyes rightfully) can expect that pros will have full Kontakt.

Owning Kontakt 6 is somewhat of a prerequisite for composers, because a lot of orchestral sample libraries (and loads of others as well, e.g. in the sound design realm) are simply only available for the full version. This same logic also applies to a lot of cheap or free libraries for Kontakt. As the developers do not earn anything directly from those, they are less likely to be willing to pay license fees for use of the Kontakt Player. This makes sense if you ponder it for a while, although it sometimes seems to drive beginners crazy (which I totally get btw).


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

So a general advice: if you do not have full Kontakt, you will benefit enormously by getting it. There are documented ways in which you can grab it on sale for less than $150. It’ll open up a huge world of opportunities


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> so i wonder what advantages kontakt offer for a beginner.


TL;DR: Kontakt free libraries and access to most pro libraries

Most of us remember how we went from buying a lot of cheap less usefull stuff to eventually caving in and buying our first pro libraries. Looking back it would have been way cheaper and more effective to have started with the “proper tools” right away...


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## dzilizzi (Nov 14, 2020)

You will have to wait until June when the crossgrade version goes on sale. Pretty much any player library will get you the crossgrade price, which is usually about $125 if you are U.S. (more if you have to pay VAT)


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

Also: if you haven’t already -> @dzilizzi ’s advice to grab Spitfire LABS is excellent! I’d definitely check those samples out. Totally free and gorgeous.

And ProjectSam have a very nice set of orchestral samples for free and they have ported it to Kontakt PLAYER! So those would be accessible immediately, without spending a penny.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

doctoremmet said:


> Most larger libraries from the professional developers are not available for Kontakt Player. Sample developers have to pay license fees to Native Instruments in order to make their samples “Player” ready. In some cases they do, in other cases they don’t as they (in my eyes rightfully) can expect that pros will have full Kontakt.
> 
> Owning Kontakt 6 is somewhat of a prerequisite for composers, because a lot of orchestral sample libraries (and loads of others as well, e.g. in the sound design realm) are simply only available for the full version. This same logic also applies to a lot of cheap or free libraries for Kontakt. As the developers do not earn anything directly from those, they are less likely to be willing to pay license fees for use of the Kontakt Player. This makes sense if you ponder it for a while, although it sometimes seems to drive beginners crazy (which I totally get btw).


I shouldnt have said most major because in reality it might be more "most newbie all inclusive libs" that i've looked at like the Arks, Nucleus, Damage 2 and stuff like that. Thanks for clearing that up, in my head im thinking that for those libs that have a market beyond those who i expect to already have full kontakt it makes sense to consider player and those are generally the ones i mentioned that you will notice first as a newbie. Now i might be wrong about that, but anyway, thanks for straightening that out for me


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> thanks for straightening that out for me


Our pleasure. Remember to always check whether or not a lib is Player compatible or not, as long as you do not have Kontakt yet


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## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

doctoremmet said:


> Also: if you haven’t already -> @dzilizzi ’s advice to grab Spitfire LABS is excellent! I’d definitely check those samples out. Totally free and gorgeous.
> 
> And ProjectSam have a very nice set of orchestral samples for free and they have ported it to Kontakt PLAYER! So those would be accessible immediately, without spending a penny.


Thanks for the tip!
I've scoured the web for free plugins and use BBCSO, Layers, ProjectSam, Labs and all that and i love using them all so i've decided to start building up a decent setup for myself and the general advice seems to be to start with full kontakt and i just wanted to make sure i understood why  Other than that considering Nucleus and damage 2 which should land me at around 6-700 $ if BF is kind to me.


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

You won’t regret getting Kontakt6. Mainly: it opens up a lot of options. Nucleus and Damage2 sound GOOD!


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## daan1412 (Nov 14, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> You will have to wait until June when the crossgrade version goes on sale. Pretty much any player library will get you the crossgrade price, which is usually about $125 if you are U.S. (more if you have to pay VAT)


Oh, so it's unlikely to get further discount on crossgrade during BF? Because that's what I was waiting for.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 14, 2020)

daan1412 said:


> Oh, so it's unlikely to get further discount on crossgrade during BF? Because that's what I was waiting for.


I've heard rumors of this also happening in december last year on different forums.


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> I've heard rumors of this also happening in december last year on different forums.


Check @TigerTheFrog ’s 2019 Black Friday thread for historical patterns


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## doctoremmet (Nov 14, 2020)

__





Tiger The Frog's Alphabetical List of November 2019 Sales


This post shows documents the details of Black Friday sales I could find in 2019. I'm sure I missed some. I did this out of the hope that you will use it to discover and support small developers. As musicians, we owe all developers our gratitude, but as you can see below, there are a...




vi-control.net


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## dzilizzi (Nov 14, 2020)

Usually, no. Only discounts on full products during BF, unless they do something different. The sale on upgrades and crossgrades is usually in June. And it is unlikely the new stuff will be on sale for less than any intro prices.


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## Nate Johnson (Nov 15, 2020)

+1 for buying the full version of Kontakt (at any price). I had avoided it for way too long and when I finally bought it, a whole new world of libraries opened up for me. Now I can buy all kinds of them without even stopping to think about 'will it work on my version of Kontakt?'


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## SlHarder (Nov 15, 2020)

I found several 2019 posts that mentioned 50% off Kontakt " thru Dec 9, 2019". I'm crossgrade eligible so I'm hoping for a repeat sale this year.









50% (Up To) On Native Instruments Hardware & Software Products (Thanksgiving XXL Sale)


Save for a limited time 50% OFF on Native Instruments full versions, updates, upgrades & benefit from special hardware deals up to 50% OFF.




www.plugin.deals


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## dzilizzi (Nov 15, 2020)

SlHarder said:


> I found several 2019 posts that mentioned 50% off Kontakt " thru Dec 9, 2019". I'm crossgrade eligible so I'm hoping for a repeat sale this year.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I didn't pay attention too much last year. The one thing I've learned in the last couple years is that regular sales are no longer "regular". There are too many developers out there now, and everyone is grabbing money where they can. It is great for us buyers who have some extra money. Not so great for those who have to plan purchases.


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## mussnig (Nov 15, 2020)

One thing to consider is that there are some libraries which you cannot resell if you buy them directly from the company who makes them, but you can resell if you buy them from Native Instruments. On the other hand, afaik, if you buy Spitfire libraries from Native Instruments (for example, during the summer there was a special sale on NI's website) those libraries won't show up on your Spitfire Account and I'm not sure if you would get updates at the same time as those who bought directly from Spitfire.


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