# Bye bye Kontakt?



## arcy (Mar 14, 2019)

Hi guys, I recently saw the new Orchestral Tools Sampler. Spitfire recently released choirs, evolutions, HZ strings and LABS with their proprietary sampler too. 
What do you think about it?


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## Ben H (Mar 14, 2019)

I think your thread title is ridiculous


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 14, 2019)

Not anytime soon. The OT and SA players are proprietary, not designed for third party content. Also, both companies are still committed to releasing Kontakt products.

I think Kontakt's reign of terror will last a little longer.


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## arcy (Mar 14, 2019)

Ben H said:


> I think your thread title is ridiculous


I love you too...


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## Ben H (Mar 14, 2019)

arcy said:


> I love you too...



Oh, right. I didn't realise that you were only trolling for opinions that agree with your own.


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## iMovieShout (Mar 14, 2019)

So its all becoming very exciting. New GUIs abound from many established studios: Spitfire Audio, Orchestral Tools, Best Service, UVI. Who else?

But for me Kontakt is still king. Why? Because as far as I can tell no other GUI allows each instrument to output through separate channels, which for me is essential for my workflow.
The Spitfire GUI is good, but for most professionals it isn't good enough. It lacks the ability to route its Mics through separate channels, and takes up too much screen space, although its window is scalable - I would prefer the ability to have all controls in a single window pane - just as the Kontakt GUI almost does.


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## arcy (Mar 14, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Not anytime soon. The OT and SA players are (I guess) proprietary and limited to those company offerings. I think Kontakt will remain the default for some time yet.


Maybe proprietary samplers were build to fill the gap from what Kontakt can offer in terms of sampling technology and what those companies really need to improve.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 14, 2019)

arcy said:


> Maybe proprietary samplers were build to fill the gap from what Kontakt can offer in terms of sampling technology and what those companies really need to improve.


You're probably right, but I think the new players are primarily about wanting to monetise outside of the constraints of NI's tech and ecosystem. Or perceived ones anyway. Nothing wrong with that..we can't begrudge a business wanting to turn a profit.


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## thesteelydane (Mar 14, 2019)

I think Kontakt will be the sampler of choice for most small developers for a long time. The efficiency and possibilities it offers is just second to none.


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## arcy (Mar 14, 2019)

thesteelydane said:


> I think Kontakt will be the sampler of choice for most small developers for a long time. The efficiency and possibilities it offers is just second to none.


I think you are right, but if a developer wants to sell for Kontakt Player have to pay a generous fee to NI, otherwise buyers have to buy the full versions ok Kontakt.


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## CGR (Mar 14, 2019)

jpb007.uk said:


> But for me Kontakt is still king. Why? Because as far as I can tell no other GUI allows each instrument to output through separate channels, which for me is essential for my workflow.


Doesn't the UVI player allow this? (Not at my DAW at the moment)


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## Lode_Runner (Mar 14, 2019)

I trust Kontakt to still be around and working 3 or more operating system upgrades from now, therefore I trust my Kontakt sample libraries to still work for a long time into the future. I don't trust proprietry players to last as long - if a developer stops developing new libraries, they're likely to stop updating their players as well. It's half the reason I didn't buy into the Eric W Choir or the Hans Z Strings. I might be being too cautious about this though.


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## Daryl (Mar 14, 2019)

Kontakt is going nowhere. If anyone's propriety player was opened up and then knock Kontakt off its perch it would have been VSL.


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## thesteelydane (Mar 14, 2019)

arcy said:


> I think you are right, but if a developer wants to sell for Kontakt Player have to pay a generous fee to NI, otherwise buyers have to buy the full versions ok Kontakt.



Yes, but in my experience most people who are interested in what smaller developers make, all have the full version of Kontakt already. Sure, it's a smaller market, but it's big enough to make it worth it.


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## reutunes (Mar 14, 2019)

A flashy video can sell anything. I'm waiting to get my hands on it before I judge.


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## ChristopherT (Mar 14, 2019)

None of these "players" have anywhere near the depth under the hood as Kontakt.
A newer UI for Kontakt would be great, and probably being contemplated by NI as these new libraries come online (even though they are all crippled in comparison)
Kontakt is the ONLY player that is able to run many different libraries.
So - no goodbyes from me


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 14, 2019)

Another thing to consider: Spitfire (and presumably) OT are growing quickly, taking on new staff and offices. Staff have mortgages to pay, shareholders need a return... and suddenly relying solely on Kontakt looks like an extreme risk. It's tech 100% controlled by another (rival!) company.

NI have been moving Kontakt away from it's traditional role as a sampler for some time. If you're working in Komplete Kontrol, Kontakt appears in a sort of "headless" mode without the library browser etc. It's less of a sampler, more of an "engine" for most people.

And yep - for the "power user" Kontakt is still where it's at.


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## EvilDragon (Mar 14, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> NI have been moving Kontakt away from it's traditional role as a sampler for some time.



Not really. Well, Kontakt was always an "engine".



Alex Fraser said:


> If you're working in Komplete Kontrol, Kontakt appears in a sort of "headless" mode without the library browser etc.



Same thing happens with all other NI plugins like Reaktor, Massive, etc. You can always reach the edit mode, though.


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## arcy (Mar 14, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> and suddenly relying solely on Kontakt looks like an extreme risk. It's tech 100% controlled by another (rival!) company


This.


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## Akarin (Mar 14, 2019)

I need 3 things from a sampler:

- building multis with different midi channel inputs
- routing mics outputs to different audio channels
- purging (not an "after the fact purging" but a "purge all and load samples as I play them")

Anything that hasn't got these 3 features will be inferior as far as my workflow is concerned.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 14, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Not really. Well, Kontakt was always an "engine"..


I take that onboard - what I mean is the wider Kontakt userbase doesn't go under the hood or use it as a traditional sampler. Think outside the tech community and VI control.

NI has leveraged Kontakt to make all sorts of cool player stuff and I bet there's a whole bunch of users who don't really consider it a sampler in the traditional sense.

To clarify, I love Kontakt and wish for a Kontakt only world. But, you know, money talks etc.


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## shawnsingh (Mar 14, 2019)

Aside from money reasons - maybe thereare some unique audio processing ideas that OT / Spitfire wanted to play around with. Things that might perform really badly in ksp or require programming features that maybe kontakt doesn't provide? For the record I don't know anything about kontakt scripting, so maybe I'm underestimating what kontakt can do.

Some examples that I imagine would strain kontakt, if they're even possible at all:
- measuring the envelope/level of the sample over time, so you can reliably stitch together the right release sample at the right gain
- having data that estimates the detuning caused by vibrato, so that you could detune the beginning of a legato transition to match
- doing some kind of frequency dependent crossfade or some other magic to reduce phasing of different velocity layers
- implementing a search or rich GUI - like some of Output's instruments or like capsule, they seem to really weigh down on kontakt
- adding a layer of physical modeling to the sampled audio
- etc

Definitely kontakt has a strong place for indie developers and for instruments that don't need unique processing. But it makes sense if major sample libraries see improvements and innovations they could try, by making their own specialized software.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Mar 14, 2019)

poetd said:


> For those with more history in the game - How big an impact did "Play" have on EastWest?
> 
> I know their products are a fraction of what they once cost (Hollywood was over $1000 at release?) and now seem to be on almost permanent sale.
> 
> How much of that was down to "Play" or was the decline before that?



Well, I used the old NI "Kompakt" player that EW used prior to Play, it was basically a customized version of Kontakt. I am one of the apparent few who actually likes using Play, it has always worked great for me, never an issue; I never require a sampler anyways. The cool thing is, I can still use all those older libraries in the latest version of Kontakt (Symphonic Orchestra, RA, Stormdrum, etc). I also own and use Kontakt extensively, and enjoy it as well....although I really hate the new Native Access crap.


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## Akarin (Mar 14, 2019)

Wolfie2112 said:


> I also own and use Kontakt extensively, and enjoy it as well....although I really hate the new Native Access crap.



I'm probably the only one who likes Native Access. It makes backing up and moving licenses across computers really easy. All at one place.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 14, 2019)

Akarin said:


> I'm probably the only one who likes Native Access. It makes backing up and moving licenses across computers really easy. All at one place.


I really like it too. There's a lot of moving parts to a Komplete installation and Native Access makes a brave attempt to tie it all together. 

I just think it's fashionable to say you don't like it. Like one of those "accepted wisdoms" that gets paraded around the internet and repeated ad infinitum.


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## Akarin (Mar 14, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> I really like it too. There's a lot of moving parts to a Komplete installation and Native Access makes a brave attempt to tie it all together.
> 
> I just think it's fashionable to say you don't like it. Like one of those "accepted wisdoms" that gets paraded around the internet and repeated ad infinitum.



Ha yes! True. These dealings in absolute like "Play sucks" :-p


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## Land of Missing Parts (Mar 14, 2019)

The fact that around 90% of my libraries are in Kontakt really helps with organization, and with getting the libraries to work together in a project. Even then, it takes a ton of time.

Imagine you have a project with 25 instruments, each with different sampler interfaces. Sounds no fun at all.

I'm actually in the process of moving miscellaneous smaller libraries _into_ Kontakt so that can adapt them to my workflow. And so that they show up in quickload, so I can remember I even have them.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Mar 14, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> I really like it too. There's a lot of moving parts to a Komplete installation and Native Access makes a brave attempt to tie it all together.
> 
> I just think it's fashionable to say you don't like it. Like one of those "accepted wisdoms" that gets paraded around the internet and repeated ad infinitum.



I'm not saying for the sake of being fashionable. I just don't like having to re-download libraries every time I want to relocate them to a different drive, unlike the previous model where all I had to do was locate the library right from within Kontakt. I have not upgraded to the latest version, perhaps this was resolved?


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## Robert_G (Mar 14, 2019)

I love the Kontakt player. I do not like Native Instruments. If the Kontakt player didnt exist, NI wouldnt see a dime of my money.

Look at their facebook page. People with genuine concerns....get no response...while on the same post, people with positive comments usually get responded to.

Same even on their own forums...genuine concerns....totally ignored.

As a company, they have zero transparancy. I hate supporting a company with their level and lack of of customer service.

But as been stated already.....the Kontakt Player is the best there is and isnt going anywhere.


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 14, 2019)

Wolfie2112 said:


> I'm not saying for the sake of being fashionable. I just don't like having to re-download libraries every time I want to relocate them to a different drive, unlike the previous model where all I had to do was locate the library right from within Kontakt. I have not upgraded to the latest version, perhaps this was resolved?


Yeah, that was a problem for sure. With later updates, you can repair moved installations in NA.


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## Akarin (Mar 14, 2019)

Wolfie2112 said:


> I'm not saying for the sake of being fashionable. I just don't like having to re-download libraries every time I want to relocate them to a different drive, unlike the previous model where all I had to do was locate the library right from within Kontakt. I have not upgraded to the latest version, perhaps this was resolved?



It was.


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## jbuhler (Mar 14, 2019)

I look at the problems I’ve recently had with NI support and its ever increasing opacity and it makes me wonder if some developers are facing similar issues on their side of NI; that NI is not as transparent and helpful as they’d like; that NI’s business priorities are not theirs. And as someone mentioned above as long as they are dependent on Kontakt they are dependent on a company that is sometimes a competitor.


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## Quasar (Mar 14, 2019)

Whatever happens to disrupt NI's nefarious abuse of monopolistic power is what I'm in favor of and would like to see. I am completely done buying VIs unless:

1) They are entirely PACE/iLok free.
2) You can install & activate the product you paid for 100% offline.
3) You have local control over the activation process after purchase, as with a serial number or key file.

Everything else should be seen as the corporofascist oppression that it is and boycotted. Period.

I used to be okay with C/R, but after Native Instruments betrayed their customers who choose to maintain offline workstations, I no longer trust this protocol.


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## dzilizzi (Mar 14, 2019)

I love Kontakt for the most part. I don't think I use it as well as I could. But I disagree about it being the easiest. I moved my Play libraries around when I got new drives and have very little problem re-connecting them with the EW control center/installer thing. 

Of course that may be because I don't have 150 Play libraries. Sigh.


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## AR (Mar 14, 2019)

arcy said:


> Hi guys, I recently saw the new Orchestral Tools Sampler. Spitfire recently released choirs, evolutions, HZ strings and LABS with their proprietary sampler too.
> What do you think about it?


Don't be silly. Own sampler are like electric cars...just a stinky fart in a hurricane. 
None of these 2 sampler mentioned above gave me goosebumps. Marketing, hype, a period. We're going to sit it out and are happy again when that medieval timebeeing is overcome.


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## SoundChris (Mar 14, 2019)

If a library is made for Kontakt I go for it. If it is for another engine I most probably won´t buy it or even totally ignore it. No matter if it is Spitfire or Orchestral Tools - or Bestservice with their Engine. I just use Engine because there are a few libraries like FK II or ERA II which have no competition within the Kontakt Realm. Otherwise it would be a no go for me. I never had ANY problems using Kontakt. It was always reliable, quick, easy to control and stabile. That is why I always will choose the Kontakt product if there are 2 similar purchase options on a comparable level I would have to choose from. But that´s just how I handle it


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## jononotbono (Mar 14, 2019)

ChristopherT said:


> A newer UI for Kontakt would be great



Basically, having a resizable GUI is the main thing I want from Kontakt at this point. Kontakt is great!


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## jononotbono (Mar 14, 2019)

And... having Kontrol built into Kontakt is something I think would be excellent. But hey, this thread isn’t a wish list thread.


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## NYC Composer (Mar 14, 2019)

Did they fix the Time Machine/tempo ramp issue?


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## Paul Grymaud (Mar 14, 2019)

Man, I'd say "Buy buy Kontakt" !
This is a standard although there is place for other samplers (writing/reading)


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## steveo42 (Mar 14, 2019)

Akarin said:


> I'm probably the only one who likes Native Access. It makes backing up and moving licenses across computers really easy. All at one place.



I like it too.
Nice and easy.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Mar 14, 2019)

Gotta sell a lot of sample libraries for it to pay to develop your own sampler.


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## Robert_G (Mar 14, 2019)

steveo42 said:


> I like it too.
> Nice and easy.



Do you like it when it dowloads at 15Mbit per second (approx 5Gbyte per hour) which is 80 % of the time?

I don't.....especially considering my download speed from my provider is 300 Mbit per second.


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## thereus (Mar 14, 2019)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Gotta sell a lot of sample libraries for it to pay to develop your own sampler.



Even more to develop a good one.


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## NYC Composer (Mar 14, 2019)

Wait til Play Pro comes out!!


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## playz123 (Mar 14, 2019)

NYC Composer said:


> Wait til Play Pro comes out!!


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## arcy (Mar 14, 2019)

SoundChris said:


> If a library is made for Kontakt I go for it. If it is for another engine I most probably won´t buy it or even totally ignore it. No matter if it is Spitfire or Orchestral Tools - or Bestservice with their Engine. I just use Engine because there are a few libraries like FK II or ERA II which have no competition within the Kontakt Realm. Otherwise it would be a no go for me. I never had ANY problems using Kontakt. It was always reliable, quick, easy to control and stabile. That is why I always will choose the Kontakt product if there are 2 similar purchase options on a comparable level I would have to choose from. But that´s just how I handle it


I buy libraries for sound, not for the sampler.


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## SoundChris (Mar 14, 2019)

arcy said:


> I buy libraries for sound, not for the sampler.


I said that if there are at least 2 products that are on the same level (and at least in orchestral and other genres there are several options which have the same standard) then I go for Kontakt. I only use other samplers if I cant avoid it.


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## kitekrazy (Mar 14, 2019)

thereus said:


> Even more to develop a good one.


 Especially a sampler and not a rompler.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Mar 14, 2019)

thereus said:


> Even more to develop a good one.



In anything but the very short run, I'm not so sure!

More than one company has discovered that it's not so easy.


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## Raphioli (Mar 14, 2019)

Akarin said:


> I need 3 things from a sampler:
> 
> - building multis with different midi channel inputs
> - routing mics outputs to different audio channels
> ...



I'd also like a Time Machine equivalent feature as well as the ability to edit sample start points (loop points etc).
I've fixed minor bugs of samples on my own using it in Kontakt, because it didn't seem like the devs were going to fix it any time soon.


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## JC_ (Mar 14, 2019)

What is the license fee for a 3rd party library to use Kontakt player?


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## bigcat1969 (Mar 14, 2019)

It is a fee for every product you sell paid up front. Bigger batches of licenses purchased get a discount and I suspect so do devs who NI works with or likes. I don't know the exact numbers but somewhere between 20 and 40 bucks per is my guess.


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## Michel Simons (Mar 14, 2019)

Robert_G said:


> Do you like it when it dowloads at 15Mbit per second (approx 5Gbyte per hour) which is 80 % of the time?
> 
> I don't.....especially considering my download speed from my provider is 300 Mbit per second.



I would love to have that kinda speed (15 Mbps on average) when using the Spitfire Audio app.


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## EvilDragon (Mar 14, 2019)

NYC Composer said:


> Did they fix the Time Machine/tempo ramp issue?



There's nothing left to fix. Tempo implementation in Kontakt did have a couple of bugs but they were fixed back in 5.5.2 (IIRC), but that's about it. NI observed that some DAWs inherently have more problems than others with tempo ramps (Cubase being singled out as being up to 50% worse than Logic, Live, Reaper or Maschine).


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## NYC Composer (Mar 14, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> There's nothing left to fix, some DAWs inherently have more problems than others with this.


Is it ok on Reaper?


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## EvilDragon (Mar 14, 2019)

Sorry, I edited my post with a bit more info. Cubase is up to 50% worse than a few other DAWs NI tested back in the day. I don't own Cubase so cannot do 1:1 tests on my machine.


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## NYC Composer (Mar 15, 2019)

Ahhh. Might explain my problem on Cubase 6. 

I was sorta hoping that a newer version of Cubase would improve matters, but truthfully it’s rare that it bothers me as I rarely use ramps with TM. 

Thanks for responding.


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## EvilDragon (Mar 15, 2019)

No prob


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## steveo42 (Mar 15, 2019)

Robert_G said:


> Do you like it when it dowloads at 15Mbit per second (approx 5Gbyte per hour) which is 80 % of the time?
> 
> I don't.....especially considering my download speed from my provider is 300 Mbit per second.



I'm at 400Mbps and really haven't noticed any difference between NI vs other companies like ToonTrack or XLN etc. Sure when something new gets released servers tend to slow down, even Microsoft and IBM have that problem.

Generally I kick off something like this at night and in the morning it's done.

How often are you downloading data?


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## Robert_G (Mar 15, 2019)

steveo42 said:


> How often are you downloading data?



How often someone downloads is irrelevant. The year is 2019 and 15Mbits per second is not acceptable customer service.

And just as a comparison, i dowloaded from soundiron a few days ago at 280Mbits per second. Took a couple minutes to download a product


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## KMA (Mar 15, 2019)

jpb007.uk said:


> The Spitfire GUI is good, but for most professionals it isn't good enough. It lacks the ability to route its Mics through separate channels...



I hadn't thought about that.
That's definitely some functionality that I would miss.


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## Lindon (Mar 15, 2019)

thesteelydane said:


> I think Kontakt will be the sampler of choice for most small developers for a long time. The efficiency and possibilities it offers is just second to none.


..no thats def. no longer true...the solution is out there --- just not at Spitfire or Orchestral Tools...


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## Alex Fraser (Mar 15, 2019)

Robert_G said:


> How often someone downloads is irrelevant. The year is 2019 and 15Mbits per second is not acceptable customer service.
> 
> And just as a comparison, i dowloaded from soundiron a few days ago at 280Mbits per second. Took a couple minutes to download a product


Can't say I've ever had slow download issues with NI. It might not even be an NI issue, especially if they're using Amazon servers or similar to distribute files.


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## dcoscina (Mar 15, 2019)

I have never been too fond of Kontakt and its GUI to be honest and I'm super happy that OT and other developers are working on their own players much like VSL did years back. 

That said, and as many others have noted, NI Kontakt isn't going away anytime soon. Way too many developers still write their libraries for that software.


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## Zero&One (Mar 15, 2019)

AR said:


> Don't be silly. Own sampler are like electric cars...just a stinky fart in a hurricane.



This should have been slide 1 in Spitfires PowerPoint presentation to the board


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## lucianogiacomozzi (Mar 15, 2019)

Kontakt has a much bigger community than Spitfire or OT have - I can fix nearly all the issues I have with Kontakt myself - if not, I can find someone that has had, and fixed, the issue I'm having with a quick Google. That is what Kontakt is, it's the time it's been around, the problems and their fixes, the guides, the knowledge bases, the great people that just know it all inside out (EvilDragon and such). That to me makes it worth buying for.


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## steveo42 (Mar 15, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> Can't say I've ever had slow download issues with NI. It might not even be an NI issue, especially if they're using Amazon servers or similar to distribute files.



Same here, with the exception of when NI begins their usual summer sale. Not sure why download speed would be such a major criteria for acceptance, but if it is for some people, then maybe it's time to move to another product. It's that simple.
For me, I'd like to see a fully scalable interface.


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## Robert_G (Mar 15, 2019)

There are several (posts) complaints at the NI forums about Native Acesss dowload speeds over several time periods. Its a constant problem and youll also see that NI doesnt respond to any of them. Again....shows they dont care


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## Diablo IV (Mar 15, 2019)

Labs Spitfire free plugin performance wise is not good in Reaper Windows 10, it's a cpu hug (after a while) when you have to use several instances instead of having multi out as Kontakt. So nope... Kontakt ftw... even if they don't care...


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## bill5 (Apr 2, 2019)

Alex Fraser said:


> I really like it too. There's a lot of moving parts to a Komplete installation and Native Access makes a brave attempt to tie it all together.
> 
> I just think it's fashionable to say you don't like it. Like one of those "accepted wisdoms" that gets paraded around the internet and repeated ad infinitum.


Or it's hated by people who only use one computer because then it is nothing but a PITA. I esp hate how it insists on "updating" itself every time you run it and takes forever to do so (my experience at least).




Land of Missing Parts said:


> Imagine you have a project with 25 instruments, each with different sampler interfaces. Sounds no fun at all.


? That could just as easily be true with Kontakt plugins. Some plugins have multiple instruments, some don't. 

To each their own, it's great that fans of Kontakt feel like you're getting your money's worth, but I avoid it like the plague. Between the "Native Access" BS to that terrible UI (and don't even get me started on the countless different file extensions, wtfo) and really just the idea of putting this middle man in between the VSTi and my DAW...there is zero appeal to me. "Requires Kontakt" is to me like saying "requires a hot poker jammed in your eye."


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## Desire Inspires (Apr 2, 2019)

bill5 said:


> To each their own, it's great that fans of Kontakt feel like you're getting your money's worth, but I avoid it like the plague. Between the "Native Access" BS to that terrible UI (and don't even get me started on the countless different file extensions, wtfo) and really just the idea of putting this middle man in between the VSTi and my DAW...there is zero appeal to me. "Requires Kontakt" is to me like saying "requires a hot poker jammed in your eye."



Yeah, there are alternatives. Seek those out and make them work for you. No need to be tied down to one way of doing things.


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## gsilbers (Apr 2, 2019)

Not a bad idea and don't know why it took so long for these bigger companies.
i mean... it must cost a fortune to develop these orchestral sample libraries to later not only have to share a percent of sales on the encoding/NI licensing but also the small army of punks little kids trying their fastest to crack it as soon as it comes out. A sort of bragging rights for NI libraries. its like a template crak they have or something. and NI doesn't seem they care that much.

And its a sampler, we are just used to stories of PLAY sucking balls for a while there and other companies that had the 32 to 64 bit transition issues. But shouldn't be an issue nowadays to make a good sampler. 

But as a user, i would rather keep kontakt. we can still open kontakt 1 libraries. If these companies go under or decide not to support their old libraries then you are stuck with an older OS (mac is a bigger issue) or the DAW won't accept it anymore.


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## EvilDragon (Apr 2, 2019)

bill5 said:


> and don't even get me started on the countless different file extensions, wtfo



You only need to know two or three, maybe. NKI is the main one of course. Multis (NKMs) are growing out of fashion. Maybe NKA files if the library uses them, but it's all moving to snapshots (NKSF). Wow, what a big deal.



gsilbers said:


> but also the small army of punks little kids trying their fastest to crack it as soon as it comes out.



Note that Kontakt libraries don't "get cracked", they "get leaked" instead. Kontakt itself gets cracked, which bypasses the whole authorization mechanism. Semantics, maybe, but I feel it's important to understand the distinction.


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## Tanuj Tiku (Apr 3, 2019)

Kontakt just works - I rarely have any issues whatsoever. I think I started using it in 2005 or 2006. It really is a rock solid piece of software, because it disappears in the workflow. I don't feel I am interacting with a software, where I need to work with it. It's just there and does what its supposed to. Very powerful and efficient.

The only other one like Kontakt, is VSL. Same iron clad stability and performance.


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## Diablo IV (Apr 3, 2019)

ED, you're such a gentleman, and I see you everywhere, lol. It seems your emotional intelligence is beyond the roof! Whereas for me if someone barks... I don't bark back... I eat them alive! lol... Cheers mate you're awesome and this reply of yours... awesome... 



EvilDragon said:


> You only need to know two or three, maybe. NKI is the main one of course. Multis (NKMs) are growing out of fashion. Maybe NKA files if the library uses them, but it's all moving to snapshots (NKSF). Wow, what a big deal.
> 
> Note that Kontakt libraries don't "get cracked", they "get leaked" instead. Kontakt itself gets cracked, which bypasses the whole authorization mechanism. Semantics, maybe, but I feel it's important to understand the distinction.


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## lux (Apr 3, 2019)

I can't do without Kontakt. I'm so glad I purchased many libraries before they went their own player (well, partly it means that I'm old enough, so thats definitely less nice...), basically because I can really get into deep with finetuning patches, apply scripts, mapping the whole thing according to my own desires. 

One typical example is getting rid of unwanted layers. Some libraries include a few velocity (or crossfade) layers that create inconsistences in the performance. Often the highest velocity layers in orchestral winds and brass have issues (too high in volume, too bright sounding or just an unusable overall tone) so I tend to remap things getting rid of those layers. And it works marvels. 

This kind of in-depth editing is unavailable most of times with custom players.


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## Abdulrahman (Apr 3, 2019)

I have a qustion regarding OT sampler. Is it true that it will analyze the volume level of each articulation and try to balance it with the rest of the articulations within any library? This would be great to balance my template and it will save loads of time + more accurate and realistic results.


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## rudi (Apr 3, 2019)

I am a late comer to Kontakt but I've come to appreciate it for the following very personal reasons:

1) it runs smoothly and efficiently

2) the interface is workmanlike - for instance I found having to move betwen Play and Browse mode in the Play engine cumbersome 

3) it provides a stable environment that's been around for a while, both in terms of engine and libraries

4) I like the fact it is a standard... a bit like the VST protocol, you know it's going to work.

5) Likewise, I dislike having to load different players like Play, Halion, Spitfire Audio's own player, each with their own GUI and idiosyncracies...

6) Configurable outputs, even if the interface for doing so is not the best

7) Centralised library management... I recently relocated a Spitifire library, just went in NI Access and repointed it to the new location.

Is it perfect? No, some things are annoying like the size of the GUI and text, and niggly things like loading an instrument into an empty Kontakt instance and asking you if you want to replace the existing instrument...really NI? 

As others have said, it costs a lot to develop an efficient and powerful engine - and I trust Kontakt to be around for a long while. 

I do have a wish-list of improvements, like the aforementioned GUI inflexibility, matching release samples to the current note volume, and other general tweaks. Some of the ideas in OT look brilliant and address these points, but Kontakt compatibility remains very high on my list of priorities.

Kontakt is a bit like the QWERTY layout for keyboards, maybe not the most optimal, but so ubiquitous you don't have to think when changing keyboard. It's a bit like the MIDI, or XML of the sampling world.


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## berto (Apr 3, 2019)

I did not buy Kontakt for OT and Spitfire, as i own only 2 spitfire and zero OT libraries while i have tons of smaller devs libraries for the full Kontakt which i think contribute to more unique and interesting sounds 
so basing on that, Kontakt will last for very long in my corner

plus the LABS instruments always give me problems and need to repair them at boot and then i give up and don't use them... good and generous ideas but they are temperamental


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## shawnsingh (Apr 3, 2019)

Abdulrahman said:


> I have a qustion regarding OT sampler. Is it true that it will analyze the volume level of each articulation and try to balance it with the rest of the articulations within any library? This would be great to balance my template and it will save loads of time + more accurate and realistic results.



My understanding was that OT libraries are generally recorded such that the original "natural" volume levels are already baked into the samples. So in that way, levels would already be balanced across all articulations.

I guess there is some subtlety there, how the sampled velocity layers map to MIDI velocity ranges. Easy to imagine that there's inconsistencies across articulations there.

But at the end of the day, a library developer would probably do that kind of analysis as a preprocess while editing and preparing the samples - and so that would probably benefit the Kontakt version too?


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## bill5 (Apr 3, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> You only need to know two or three, maybe. NKI is the main one of course. Multis (NKMs) are growing out of fashion. Maybe NKA files if the library uses them, but it's all moving to snapshots (NKSF). Wow, what a big deal.


Someone named EvilDragon and bearing a very strong resemblance seems to disagree:
https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/list-of-kontakt-filetypes.162111/

 Kidding, mostly. I realize that's an old post. Maybe they're trending upward on that; I would certainly hope so. But as it stands it's still a freakin mess, esp if you have older VSTi's/libraries that use older file systems. IMO it's rife with poor software design - fortunately it's something I don't need to deal with. With the VSTi's I use, I don't have that hassle. Again, to each their own.


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## EvilDragon (Apr 3, 2019)

How is having granular patch formats for different levels of internal patch structure (multi->banks->instrument->group, then presets for FX or scripts) poor software design? Please explain, because what you said there makes no sense.

Are you saying you'd only ever want to be able to load multis, and that's that? Again, makes no sense.


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