Anyone using Kontakt 4 (or Komplete)?

[narcossintese]

I´m looking for a VSTi replacement for Propellerheads Reason (general sampler library, synths and some beats) and noticed that the huge Komplete is selling now for 560 bucks, while Kontakt 4 alone is 400 bucks. Anyone knows if the general library of Kontakt instruments is good? I´m sure they are not THE BEST, as they can´t compete with the specific dedicated products (like one just for strings, other just for piano, etc), but are they good and usable or screams CHEAP all over the place?

 

[Max Morton]

I own Kontakt 4 - it's not cheap all over the place, I'd even say there are lots of cool sample libraries, but most of basses, drums and guitars do suck. there are some sweet orchestral, keyboard, chord and orchestral sounds. I did not like the synth section at all.

 

[narcossintese]

I own Kontakt 4 - it's not cheap all over the place, I'd even say there are lots of cool sample libraries, but most of basses, drums and guitars do suck. there are some sweet orchestral, keyboard, chord and orchestral sounds. I did not like the synth section at all.

Well, the bass, drums and guitars I still track the real instruments anyway. I´m looking for a broad and general library like Reason, something for situations like "oh, we need some strings, a pad, a bit of choir and a flute on the end of this song, what the hell are we gonna do". It seems that you approve it. The price difference between Kontakt and Komplete (that includes Kontakt) is very small considering what you get extra, and there are tons of synths there (massive, reaktor, absynth, etc) so it shall cover that ground.

Thanks for the input, I'll probably get it. I´m tired of runnin Reason via ReWire and keep routing MIDI tracks between programs. US dollar is pretty low here so I´ll grab the opportunity.

 

[Ben Johnson]

Komplete is a MUCH better deal.

 

[Jind]

Depends on what you are looking for - if you need just a good all purpose sample library that will cover the basics of orchestral scoring (with Kontakt 4 NI added a pretty good selection of solo strings to go along with the what they already had from Vienna Symphonic Orchestra). It will also cover most general band type instruments such as drums, bass, some guitar, piano (electric is now covered as well as acoustic with some additions from the NI Elektrik Piano library), and most classes of brass instruments. Also added with Kontakt 4 was a set of choir samples covering soprano, alto, tenor and bass choir - mostly with vowel type sounds plus some "mn" type ones as well and a new "vintage" category with some good Mellotron samples.

Where getting Komplete would help is in the synth section of things. While the factory Kontakt library does have a pretty good sampling of pads, bass, lead, sequencer, and percussion, getting Komplete would just open up a whole new world of synths for you. Reaktor is pretty awesome, plus you get Massive, Absynth, as well as Battery and a whole slew of new stuff to be founf in the upcoming Komplete 7 release where they have added a tone of new instruments. If you can wait for the new Komplete 7 it has a massive 24 different products in it. I'm tempted to finally get Komplete even though I already have several of the products as separate purchases.

I tend to reach for Kontakt quite frequently, but I'm also a bit of a VSTi junkie so I have a bunch of other stuff to reach from as well. Aside from Kontakt I also have a few other large sample libraries that cover most needs in Dimension, SampleTank, Sonik Synth 2, Alchemy, GPO, Miroslav Philharmonik, and Rapture plus other many quite a few other synths.