# Kontakt 5 or Kontakt 6?



## Kuusniemi (Jun 24, 2020)

I'm starting to develop my first commercial library for Kontakt and am pondering whether to create it for Kontakt 5 or Kontakt 6. Scriptwise I am planning to keep everything as light and uncomplicated as possible but the new effects in Kontakt 6 are tempting me. Any pros / cons in either choice?


----------



## d.healey (Jun 24, 2020)

Always use the oldest version of Kontakt that you can. Kontakt isn't forwards compatible so people with versions of Kontakt older than the one you use won't be able to run your library.


----------



## telecode101 (Jun 24, 2020)

..


----------



## dzilizzi (Jun 24, 2020)

d.healey said:


> Always use the oldest version of Kontakt that you can. Kontakt isn't forwards compatible so people with versions of Kontakt older than the one you use won't be able to run your library.


This - unless you want to make it player compatible. But that costs money. There are a lot of people here who are still on 5. I think there was a poll....






KONTAKT Census - What is the latest version of (full) KONTAKT you have purchased/installed?


Just wondering where everyone is as far as KONTAKT versions for sample libraries I'm developing. Might be useful for a lot of other developers as well.




vi-control.net





Well, maybe less than I thought or they aren't answering the poll....


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 24, 2020)

If you really want to use those great quality new FX in 6, use 6. For me personally, they are so much better than the old ones (algoverb, delay, modulation FX) it makes no sense to develop for K5 anymore - IF you want those higher quality FX in your library it's a no contest.


----------



## Jaap (Jun 24, 2020)

What Mario said to be honest.

If you really like the new goodies in K6, then go with that. Why settle for yourself with making a library where you can't really include what you like.
I also did it with my latest 2 Kontakt libraries and yes you loose some potential customers who are on K5, but on the other hand I noticed that a lot of my own customers have moved to K6 and a lot more have updated to K6 in the recent summer sale.


----------



## Polkasound (Jun 25, 2020)

My libraries don't require high-quality FX, so I still develop in 5 for the benefit of the few who do not have 6.


----------



## Selfinflicted (Jun 25, 2020)

It might sound silly, but the GUI improvements in K6 are fantastic. I would think developers would have more flexibility in what they can put on pages under K6 vs K5. It certainly seems that way with a number of K6 libraries that are out now (look at Staylight, for example). Especially with greater use of X/Y pads and MPE devices. It also plays into faster workflow, which is a huge plus.


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 25, 2020)

Just FYI, the bigger performance view maximum size (1000x750) is not new in K6, it was added in K5.6.0 some years ago.


----------



## gsilbers (Jun 25, 2020)

its a tough choice. 

more poeple are in kontakt 5 ( can use k6 if its k5) vs those cool new fx like the delay and reverb. 
they make everything sound too good.


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 25, 2020)

Not sure why you might think that more people are in K5. K6 had an excellent update adoption rate so far.


----------



## Selfinflicted (Jun 25, 2020)

EvilDragon said:


> Just FYI, the bigger performance view maximum size (1000x750) is not new in K6, it was added in K5.6.0 some years ago.



Ah - probably wasn't aware of it until encountering libraries that utilized it. (Wondering if old templates clung to the old GUI as well).


----------



## dzilizzi (Jun 25, 2020)

EvilDragon said:


> Not sure why you might think that more people are in K5. K6 had an excellent update adoption rate so far.


I think a lot of people were like me and waited for the annual 50% off sale. But we've had 2 now and there are a number of libraries that are 6 only out there. And Mario would definitely know! 

I'm thinking if the new stuff would be useful to your library, go with 6. If it doesn't matter, stick with 5.


----------



## Kuusniemi (Jun 25, 2020)

Lots of good thoughts here and a lot for me to mull over. Not sure yet will I need the new effects or not. Personally I've found Kontakt 6 to be more to my liking, but I do know that a lot of people have not updated yet.

I will have to see what I will qctually want to have in the instrument make my decisions after that.


----------



## Pablocrespo (Jun 25, 2020)

EvilDragon said:


> Not sure why you might think that more people are in K5. K6 had an excellent update adoption rate so far.



In a more mundane question, I have upgraded to K6, would it be good for performance if I migrated all my kontakt instances of my VEP template from K5 to K6. Is there something to be gained?


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 25, 2020)

Probably not too much. In fact, an empty K6 instance takes a bit more RAM than an empty K5 instance (due to new stuff added). CPU-wise it's all the same as far as I can tell.


----------



## Pablocrespo (Jun 25, 2020)

EvilDragon said:


> Probably not too much. In fact, an empty K6 instance takes a bit more RAM than an empty K5 instance (due to new stuff added). CPU-wise it's all the same as far as I can tell.


Thank you!


----------



## lychee (Jun 26, 2020)

I don't understand why you insist on having him develop his plugin under K6.
It makes more sense to develop a plugin under Kontakt 5 rather than Kontakt 6, because a plugin developed under K5 will normally be K6 compatible, while it will not work the other way around.
If I wanted to sell a program, I would make sure to reach as many people as possible.


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2020)

If he wants to use K6 features like new and better effects, then that's all there's to it. It's not that we're insisting, it's that there's no other way then.


----------



## lychee (Jun 26, 2020)

So I think the real question to ask would be, are the effects of Kontakt 5 so disappointing that they would affect the quality of the library?


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 26, 2020)

Not all of them, but the delay and reverbs are MUCH improved in K6. Also the modulation effects (because K6 has the Mod Pack added). Like literally night and day difference. Yes of course it would affect the sound quality - they are simply that much better effects.


----------



## gsilbers (Jun 26, 2020)

EvilDragon said:


> Not sure why you might think that more people are in K5. K6 had an excellent update adoption rate so far.



its about who you can sell to.


K6 owners can use K5 instruments...

K5 owners cannot use K6 instruments...


therefore...


more K5 instrument users...

in regards to total amount of users that can use k5 instruments...


And.. as an example (since i dont know exactly how many users on each) 


if there is 5000 poeple that have kontakt 5... and 5000 poeple that have kontakt 6...


there is 5000 poeple that could buy a kontakt 6 library

but there will be 10,000 people that could buy a kontakt 5 library..


----------



## gsilbers (Jun 26, 2020)

Kuusniemi said:


> Lots of good thoughts here and a lot for me to mull over. Not sure yet will I need the new effects or not. Personally I've found Kontakt 6 to be more to my liking, but I do know that a lot of people have not updated yet.
> 
> I will have to see what I will qctually want to have in the instrument make my decisions after that.




another thing to keep in mind that in the film composing world with a lot of composers using large templates... 

the last thing they want to so is upgrade to a new version of kontakt, OS, or DAW if everything is finally working fine. and will upgrade much later if they really have to. 
at least thats the case in LA with busy composers dealing with ongoing projects.


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 27, 2020)

Those composers are not the majority of the whole Kontakt userbase, in fact they're a small fraction of it.

Yeah there's a lot of composers on this forum, but that accounts for a small single digit percentage of Kontakt users.


----------



## lychee (Jun 27, 2020)

gsilbers said:


> its about who you can sell to.
> 
> 
> K6 owners can use K5 instruments...
> ...



I have the same point of view.

Even if there are more users of K6, it would be smarter to create your library under K5 to include all users and not a part of them.

I am for example a user of K5, I would not like to be forgotten.


----------



## EvilDragon (Jun 27, 2020)

Considering you can have K6 installed side by side with K5, I find that a pretty weak argument.


----------

