Kontakt 3.5: anybody tried it yet?

[davec1]

As you guys probably know, Kontakt 3.5 has been out for a couple of days now. Has anybody tried it yet or was in the open beta and wants to share their experience?

[jasonjbundy]

Yes, Kontakt 3.5 is excellent. Still THE best soft sampler on the market.

[glitchrock-buddha]

Yep. Works great.

[stutter]

works great here. Keep expecting to find some new bugs (since updates = bugs usually), but none so far. The development and beta was a long time, and it seems to have paid dividends

I love Kontakt

[inmazevo]

Working fine here.
I was looking forward to the update, but didn't participate in the beta (no time).
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the library view (which is what you get when you use a 3rd party, kontakt-based sample library) didn't just extend to 3rd party libraries... the other "Komplete" sample-based instruments are in there too... like Akoustic Piano.
MUCH easier than having several different instruments up.

It's a solid update, so far... and free.

- zevo

[john doe by choice]

Question, for people who have both Kontakt 3 and Sampler:

Is there anything that Sampler can do that Kontakt can't? I have K3, and keep wondering if I missing anything with sampler (although, K2 used to eat up resources, K3 doesn't as much, and K2 was my main influence in considering Sampler).

[glitchrock-buddha]

Question, for people who have both Kontakt 3 and Sampler:

Is there anything that Sampler can do that Kontakt can't? I have K3, and keep wondering if I missing anything with sampler (although, K2 used to eat up resources, K3 doesn't as much, and K2 was my main influence in considering Sampler).

The one thing that sampler has that kontakt doesn't is the FM/AM osc. And that can totally change a sample. Pretty much just good for FM synth type sound design. And there's also the fact that simpler patches can be converted to sampler and vice versa.

Not much else. However the interface of sampler I find nicer. Much less cluttered. But that's obviously because it's far less powerful. Kontakt has a ridiculous amount of features. There's settings and controls everywhere. Sampler is easy to get into, more basic but fun to use. If it just did timestretch/granular playback without having to sacrifice the modulation envelope (modulating loop start), it would be so much cooler for sound design.

[Machinesworking]

Question, for people who have both Kontakt 3 and Sampler:

Is there anything that Sampler can do that Kontakt can't? I have K3, and keep wondering if I missing anything with sampler (although, K2 used to eat up resources, K3 doesn't as much, and K2 was my main influence in considering Sampler).

The one thing that sampler has that kontakt doesn't is the FM/AM osc. And that can totally change a sample. Pretty much just good for FM synth type sound design. And there's also the fact that simpler patches can be converted to sampler and vice versa.

Not much else. However the interface of sampler I find nicer. Much less cluttered. But that's obviously because it's far less powerful. Kontakt has a ridiculous amount of features. There's settings and controls everywhere. Sampler is easy to get into, more basic but fun to use. If it just did timestretch/granular playback without having to sacrifice the modulation envelope (modulating loop start), it would be so much cooler for sound design.

The major bonus to Sampler is that the samples are saved in a Live Set, no need to open a save dialog every time, and unless something has changed, Kontakt along with most of NI's sample based software, is very dependent on your computers directory for it's sample locations, so if you move a Live set that you saved Kontakt samples in (which I do) to a new computer, or hard drive, or location on your computer, you are asked to locate the samples. Best part about this though is Kontakt has a much better browser for this than Live does. It even uses Spotlight in OSX.
This is a minor issue, but I do wish it had a resolution, or I guess I wish that AU/VST was able to let sampler instruments save to a host folder/look there first before freaking out etc.

[hereschenes]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the library view (which is what you get when you use a 3rd party, kontakt-based sample library) didn't just extend to 3rd party libraries... the other "Komplete" sample-based instruments are in there too... like Akoustic Piano.
MUCH easier than having several different instruments up.

+1. Much easier to browse samples now.

[jasonjbundy]

Sampler reminds me of the samplers from the 80's - functional and creative. However, Kontakt 3.5 is like the 4th dimensional physics when it comes to sampling. The scripts function alone on Kontakt is without equal and no other sampler comes close. It opens new doors to creativity.

[Ben_Binary]

Sampler reminds me of the samplers from the 80's - functional and creative. However, Kontakt 3.5 is like the 4th dimensional physics when it comes to sampling. The scripts function alone on Kontakt is without equal and no other sampler comes close. It opens new doors to creativity.

Any info about this scripting thing ?

[Android Bishop]

kontakt: power

Sampler: drag n drop my clips into it


Sampler wins

[jasonjbundy]

Sampler reminds me of the samplers from the 80's - functional and creative. However, Kontakt 3.5 is like the 4th dimensional physics when it comes to sampling. The scripts function alone on Kontakt is without equal and no other sampler comes close. It opens new doors to creativity.

Any info about this scripting thing ?

Yes it is a programming language inside of Kontakt (introduced in Kontakt 2) to make your samples do all kinds of nifty things - microtuning, step-sequencing, chord generation, harmonizing, etc. For more possibilities check this out:

http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/scriptorium.php

The scripting language can take a bit to get yer head around but worth it in the end.

Also, Kontakt does come with scripts as well as the recent (Kontakt 2 and later) libraries.

I believe Komplete 5 is still on sale for $399 - which is basically the price of Kontakt 3 before the sale. It will pretty much open ANY sample library except for Structure (which is a pathetic sampler anyways - so who cares). Kontakt rules!