# Do I need Native Instruments Kontakt or the Factory library? Or seperate VST patches?



## nagual (Apr 13, 2020)

I already apologize if my question is stupid.
I am using Ableton and I need orchestral and cinematic VSTs. I see every one on youtube using this Kontakt thing. 
In order to use its VSTs do ineed to buy the Native Instruments Kontakt software or do I just need its Factory libraries or both? Or is it possible to buy separate patches of VSTs?
Also the website doesnt say if they are designed for 32 or 64 bits? should I just assume that they are all 64 bits compatible?
guide me plz, I am super confused.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Apr 13, 2020)

Free Kontakt Player - This you can download this for free from Native Instruments. If the developer pays a fee to NI, their instruments will play in the Kontakt Player. 

Full Kontakt - This you have to buy. With this you can play all Kontakt instruments, including hundreds of free ones. 

Komplete - This is a software package that includes Kontakt. 

They are 64 bits compatible. 

You can get going by downloading the free Komplete Start library 









KOMPLETE START


Step into music production with KOMPLETE START – a curated selection of studio-quality instruments, effects, utilities, loops, and samples for the low price of nothing at all. Play over 2,000 customizable sounds – drums and percussion, bass, acoustic instruments, synths, pads and atmospheres...




www.native-instruments.com


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## nagual (Apr 13, 2020)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Free Kontakt Player - This you can download this for free from Native Instruments. If the developer pays a fee to NI, their instruments will play in the Kontakt Player.
> 
> Full Kontakt - This you have to buy. With this you can play all Kontakt instruments, including hundreds of free ones.
> 
> ...



I didt understand the point of free Kontakt player. Is it for sound developers to develop VSTs?

So the big library of VSTs for usage exists in Full Kontakt?

Can I use this one that you suggested in Ableton?


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## Reid Rosefelt (Apr 13, 2020)

nagual said:


> I didt understand the point of free Kontakt player. Is it for sound developers to develop VSTs?
> 
> So the big library of VSTs for usage exists in Full Kontakt?
> 
> Can I use this one that you suggested in Ableton?



You can play lots of instruments in the Free Player. But few free ones. Arcane from Embertone and The Free Orchestra from ProjectSAM are free and play in the player as do many of the instruments in KOMPLETE START.

Yes, most Kontakt instruments require full kontakt.

You can totally use kontakt and Komplete Start in Ableton and in every DAW I know of.


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## nagual (Apr 13, 2020)

TigerTheFrog said:


> You can play lots of instruments in the Free Player. But few free ones. Arcane from Embertone and The Free Orchestra from ProjectSAM are free and play in the player as do many of the instruments in KOMPLETE START.
> 
> Yes, most Kontakt instruments require full kontakt.
> 
> You can totally use kontakt and Komplete Start in Ableton and in every DAW I know of.


Just to be sure, Komplete Kontakt is the one thats called Kontakt 6 right? cuz I'm thinking of maybe buying it in the near future. but all I can find are different versions like Kontak 5 or 5 point something and 6.
I downloaded ProjectSam library butit doesnt work in ableton. It had nl file types and ableton didnt recognize them as VSts.


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## Tim_Wells (Apr 13, 2020)

You're on the right track, nagual. Using some kind of Kontakt library is most likely the way to go. If you've got the money to spring for the full Kontakt, then I doubt you would ever regret buying it. There are a ton of great libraries. 

Others may be able to suggest some good free libraries. The factory library that comes with Kontakt (full) would be enough to get you started.


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## Tim_Wells (Apr 13, 2020)

The free libraries from ProjectSam require the free Kontakt Player.


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## ShidoStrife (Apr 13, 2020)

Kontakt Factory Library is included when you buy Kontakt. You can't buy it separately.

Kontakt Player (free) comes with Kontakt Factory Selection, which is a small subset of the full library.


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## Geomir (Apr 13, 2020)

Some of the best orchestral libraries, actually most of them, do NOT require the paid version of Full Kontakt. Vienna Symphonic Library, EastWest Symphonic and Hollywood Orchestra, Steinberg Iconica, all of Cinesamples Orchestral Libraries, Chris Hein Libraries, Orchestral Tools Libraries, Spitfire's BBCSO, Studio series, Symphonic series and Albion series, Projectsam's Symphobia series, the newer Nucleus Core from Audio Imperia, just to name some of the best examples, play in the free Kontakt Player or even in their own Samplers / Players (included for free with their libraries).

The paid version of Kontakt 6 comes with about 40 GB of content that does NOT offer orchestral sounds as good as the ones mentioned above, and for me it doesn't worth it if you are mainly interested for orchestral cinematic sounds. And it's getting more "funny" the fact that even the flagship orchestral cinematic library of Native Instruments (the makers of full Kontakt and Kontakt Player) is made to run for the free Kontakt Player!

But as many other people mentioned here, by buying the full version of Kontakt you will be able to access some free or very low priced libraries of nice quality.

Also some very good choir and percussion libraries require the full version of Kontakt to run. So it's nice to have, if your budget allows it, but I wouldn't start from there!


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