NI Komplete 8

[murgatroid]

I'm on K6. 9 will be a worthwhile upgrade for me finally.

I've been gassing to buy some other synth but all the stuff I check out seems to be the same as what I could get out of any one of the Komplete synths. :idk:

Off the top of my head, instruments:

U He - Diva
Izotope - Iris
Ohm Force - Symptohm

others-
FXpansion - Synth Squad
Sylynth 1,
Disco DSP - Discovery
Arturia - Moog Modular, Jupiter 8 etc.

The main missing pieces in Komplete are full featured granular synths, (Reaktor offers fun ensembles but nothing like Symtohm, Granite etc.), and analog modeling synths like Synth Squad Moog Modular and Diva. You get some decent samples of analog synths in Kontakt, but no VA synth like the above mentioned.

That Iris reminds me (and kind of sounds like) Metasynth.

I dunno, maybe I got the blues, but everything sounds the same as far as listening to demos and some utoob vids. Plus I'm not into EDM type sounds on the whole and I also hear a lot of that stuff in demos as well.

However, I been seesawing on Hollow Suns stuff. I keep going to the website with the intention to buy but always bail out... lol

[Machinesworking]

Iris gets compared to metasynth a lot.

The main differences are pretty big though. Metasynth has far more sound shaping features but doesn't offer itself as a plug in or have reWire capabilities.
I use it as an audio designer etc. Iris on the other hand is a plug in and mainly offers frames for holding audio that you manipulate with tools that show you the spectrograph of the sounds and you can surgically cut audio out of the sound etc. With Metasynth you don't a get a spectrograph of the sound, you start without any audibe sound in the Image Filter and bring the sound back in. Big advantage in Metasynth is that this method let's you pan left and right etc. Plus Metasynth has Synths that you control everything with via the canvas...

[Stevejaz]

Really? Really. Really?

Komplete is not complete!!

Well to be fair it's far more complete than Suite.
Not to knock our forum overlords.

Hope a genuine question from an aging beginner is ok
Thing is I just ordered a retina MBP with 256gig HD and 16gig Ram. Thought power was worth more to me than $600 more for double the size hard drive. Musically I mostly play guitar and really only use Live in session view as an ideas toy, using Reason rather than Arrange view. I have Live8 Suite (Boxed)and Reason 6.5 but no plug ins or RE's.
The Ultimate sounded too good to be true and alas it was. A mass of stuff I could run from a usb plug in HD. Just a few questions;
1) Is it possible to transfer the ultimate package to another external hard drive which WILL make it usable from that HD
2)Is it realistic to install bits and bobs as I want them, deleating them when I have finnished.
One of the main things that caught my eye was the string arranger thingy but I think that's only on the ultimate HD set.
3) I gues this is the biggest question too. Is Komplete a good proposition for someone starting with the basic Live8 Suite or is it better to just get one thing at a time and learn how to get the most out of it.
The idea of it being a huge mass of stuff that most people find 5% usefull seems to be a common theme in this thread.
And by the way thankyou to the person who pointed out that you could not run 'Ultimate' from the hard drive.

[Machinesworking]

1) Is it possible to transfer the ultimate package to another external hard drive which WILL make it usable from that HD
Yes

2)Is it realistic to install bits and bobs as I want them, deleating them when I have finnished.
One of the main things that caught my eye was the string arranger thingy but I think that's only on the ultimate HD set.
Yeah but the first idea is better, install all the content on an external HD and only save the content you use in a song to your SSD HD.

3) I gues this is the biggest question too. Is Komplete a good proposition for someone starting with the basic Live8 Suite or is it better to just get one thing at a time and learn how to get the most out of it.
That's up to you but have you really gotten what you could out of Suite? There are all kinds of string libraries out there, buying Komplete for the strings isn't a great idea.

The idea of it being a huge mass of stuff that most people find 5% usefull seems to be a common theme in this thread.
Yeah, I use everything sometimes though. The only things in regular Suite I don't use that often are FM8 and Battery, and I use them sometimes.
That said I write music with an electronic sound, if you're looking for more "organic" sounds, NI aren't near the best for that.

[UltimateOutsider]

1) Is it possible to transfer the ultimate package to another external hard drive which WILL make it usable from that HD
2)Is it realistic to install bits and bobs as I want them, deleating them when I have finnished.
One of the main things that caught my eye was the string arranger thingy but I think that's only on the ultimate HD set.
3) I gues this is the biggest question too. Is Komplete a good proposition for someone starting with the basic Live8 Suite or is it better to just get one thing at a time and learn how to get the most out of it.
The idea of it being a huge mass of stuff that most people find 5% usefull seems to be a common theme in this thread.

1. Yes, you choose a location at install time. If you go the external route, eSata is best. (Not a Mac person, do Macs have eSata or something equivalent?)
2. Not sure about this; always went whole hog when installing.
3. I think the answer is yes, with the caveat that it can take months and months to fully come to grips with Komplete even if you're well versed in this stuff. And I'm not even talking Komplete Ultimate. You'll have a handful of solid, highly programmable synths, a slew of effects in Guitar Rig, plus a sample player (Kontakt) with a respectable library (and lots of 3rd party support), and Reaktor, which gives you tools to build your own synth, sampler, or musical tool. Ultimate then dumps an avalanche of samples and instruments on your head. A lot of Komplete owners probably don't use most of what's there- but I'm not sure there's anything wrong with that. It's like a buffet- you don't eat everything you see in the buffet line, but you sure as hell load up on the stuff you know you like.

Noting Machinesworking's post that just went up while I was typing this, I'm definitely guilty of not using Suite to its full potential. If I had it to do over again, I'd have been fine with just standard Live + Komplete. I don't think I used a Suite instrument on a single track. The Ableton instruments are fine, too... there was just some overlap with Komplete as far as my work goes.

[Machinesworking]

Noting Machinesworking's post that just went up while I was typing this, I'm definitely guilty of not using Suite to its full potential. If I had it to do over again, I'd have been fine with just standard Live + Komplete. I don't think I used a Suite instrument on a single track. The Ableton instruments are fine, too... there was just some overlap with Komplete as far as my work goes.

I got Suite in a great deal on Live 8 here, essentially paid $125 to upgrade to 8 and Suite. I own all of the AAS plug ins Suite is built around, and work in Digital Performer as well as Live. So I rarely grab embedded plug ins to use. Limitations are good though, and on that line I should make it a point to write something only in Live using Suite.

[TheDreamisReaL]

I purchased K8U and overall it's decent package I just wasn't impressed overall with the sound quality, Kontakt ability to expand with 3rd party sound libraries is one of its strong points but I think NI needs a major overhaul of it synth and core sound line.....I ended up getting the Spectrasonics bundle, Nexus 2 bundle and I plan on upgrading to Live 9 Suite + Push .....Native Instruments provides a lot of quantity but there are other VI's where quality is better and Ableton suite is really good

[J0n35y]

I purchased K8U and overall it's decent package I just wasn't impressed overall with the sound quality, Kontakt ability to expand with 3rd party sound libraries is one of its strong points but I think NI needs a major overhaul of it synth and core sound line.....I ended up getting the Spectrasonics bundle, Nexus 2 bundle and I plan on upgrading to Live 9 Suite + Push .....Native Instruments provides a lot of quantity but there are other VI's where quality is better and Ableton suite is really good

Kind of my concern regarding "quality". I have cash burning a hole in my pocket right now and have been deciding between Komplete (either 8 now or waiting for 9) and Omnisphere. I could even afford Omnisphere and another synth (Diva/Imposcar2/etc). Ive only had the chance to youtube preview Omnisphere but some of the examples online blew me away. Komplete is a safe/sensible option but despite the content I always wonder if I'd actually use most of the stuff included. I already have Massive (with Maschine) and Operator with Live.

[TheDreamisReaL]

I purchased K8U and overall it's decent package I just wasn't impressed overall with the sound quality, Kontakt ability to expand with 3rd party sound libraries is one of its strong points but I think NI needs a major overhaul of it synth and core sound line.....I ended up getting the Spectrasonics bundle, Nexus 2 bundle and I plan on upgrading to Live 9 Suite + Push .....Native Instruments provides a lot of quantity but there are other VI's where quality is better and Ableton suite is really good

Kind of my concern regarding "quality". I have cash burning a hole in my pocket right now and have been deciding between Komplete (either 8 now or waiting for 9) and Omnisphere. I could even afford Omnisphere and another synth (Diva/Imposcar2/etc). Ive only had the chance to youtube preview Omnisphere but some of the examples online blew me away. Komplete is a safe/sensible option but despite the content I always wonder if I'd actually use most of the stuff included. I already have Massive (with Maschine) and Operator with Live.[/

There is no comparison for Omnisphere it's in a league of its own, sound quality and effects are top notch, Komplete offers more diversity but my concern is always quality over anything else. Omnisphere is by far my favorite and I haven't heard anything in Komplete that's even close....Komplete just wasn't for me sound wise

[jestermgee]

Well I purchased Komplete 8 Ultimate from NI 1 week before it went on sale for the FULL cost of $1099 plus I had to pay $162 import tax which I wasn't expecting. Needless to say I felt very dissapointed to find out it was on sale and even though I was happy enough to pay the full price but was really kicking myself over that extra money.

I decided to write to NI appealing to help out a struggling artist. 4 days went by and no reply but I didn't have high hopes anyway, just thought it was worth a shot. This morning I get this:

thank you for contacting Native Instruments!

As you have purchased Komplete 8 Ultimate directly through our webshop and
received and registered it with in 14 days prior to our sales special special, we
could indeed make an exception.

I just took care of refunding the difference of 400$ to your credit card, you
should also receive a credit memo about this.

We wish you lots of fun and inspiration with your new product.

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Best regards from Berlin,

Ralf, Native Instruments Order Support


WOW...

I have watched people bash themfor this and that and say they are just a money focused company but for them to refund me $400 where they could have ignored me says a LOT. I was very happy with Ableton when they took the time to personally write to me with my queries and now NI have taken care of me. Just goes to show you should always give it a go even if masses of people say its a waste of time. Might buy another synth

[Machinesworking]

@jestermgee,
I don't know if you're in the USA or not, but if you buy directly from NI here when there's no sale you're already paying about $200 more than you would at any of the big online stores. The downside is NI wouldn't have been able to adjust the price for you, and it's up in the air whether a discount online store would have.

NI have been decent in the past. They had this really kind of ridiculous but interesting product for Komplete called Komplete Care. Basically you got all upgrades released that year, which led to some bad publicity for them when necessary OS upgrades failed to materialize in that timeline. NI extended the 'coverage' and gave us all a copy of newly released Massive, gave all of us free upgrades to the next full version. What that ended up doing was giving you an extra license to Massive, which could be sold.

The beef with NI is mainly in their discontinuing products that people were attached to, I know I felt pretty burned when Kore was shelved. Most companies do it, NI just do it a little more than most. They made promises on their forums that Kore was the last major abandoned product, we'll see how that pans out. None of that takes away from the actual products though, good stuff.

Plus Omnisphere is essentially a Rompler with synth features attached. From what I understand last time I checked the audio sample library wasn't able to be user created. So it's patch library is it's main selling point. It's not any wonder people would think it sounds better. NI have a lot of good patches, and for back history's sake, Kore was their "Universal Sound Library" , but it required too much development time to keep up with, wasn't selling that well, and Maschine was.

[jestermgee]

No i'm in Australia and yes it did cost me slightly more to ship it over due to import tax but most local prices were about $100 more here anyway PLUS the cost was USD and the Xchange rate lowered the initial purchase by almost another $100 anyway.

I also own Omnisphere and have very impressed with the quality of that. They do a LOT of fine care though and Eric is very focused on that side of things and involved in almost every aspect of the products they sell.

I bought K8U for the fact I had already used K6 (didn't own it, just used it on a few jobs) and I had more and more projects that required more sounds I was quickly using up from Suite and Omnisphere (mainly strings and pianos) but I also really wanted some decent proven synths (Massive and FM8) that I could muck around with. Plus, K8U was fully 64bit compatible and now that Live8 64bit is working well for me I decided to jump in.

I was just pleasantly surprised with their assistance since I have not had much/anything to do with them in the past and they seem to get quite a bashing from many users but I guess I would be pissed too if they just pulled the plug on a product I bought.