NI Summer of Sound 2024

[Guy Rowland]

The sale is live currently on Plugin Boutique only - https://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=16416 EDIT - now live on NI site too - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/c ... ound-2024/

Two things to note. First, all the Reaktor synths are very heavily discounted. This could be the last time before they are all retired, along with Reaktor itself. They announced a year or two back that there would be no more feature development on the platform - viewtopic.php?p=75541

The second thing is that this sale is bang on schedule. Doesn't look like the recent new subs offerings are affecting regular sales.

EDIT - one other thing to note is that there are some third party discounts from Output, SonicCoutre and Soundiron.

[wst3]

How is it possible that there is so little that interests me, on sale or not, update or not?

And how did they manage to screw up pricing so badly? Almost none of the upgrades appear to be available to me, even though I do have the required registered instruments?

NI is becoming less and less relevant...

[Guy Rowland]

How is it possible that there is so little that interests me, on sale or not, update or not?

And how did they manage to screw up pricing so badly? Almost none of the upgrades appear to be available to me, even though I do have the required registered instruments?

NI is becoming less and less relevant...

There's a few I like the look of. Valves Pro, Guitar Rig 7, Session Percussionist & Ukulele (their recent Session instruments have been excellent imo). But none are essential and I already picked up Fables so I'm in no rush - current plan is to wait for next year's sale when I'll likely get the K15 upgrade.

[wst3]

Valves Pro and the Irish Instrument bundle were the only two that caught my eye, and they too can wait until I need them. Or until NI decides exactly what their loyalty discount program is going to look like

[Linos]

Is there a bundle for the session series? I would like to get that, but without the bloat of the Komplete package. The Soniccouture Celeste is on my list to buy if there is a decent sale. Again, the rest of the bundle doesn't interest me, so I'll wait for a Soniccouture sale.

[Guy Rowland]

Is there a bundle for the session series?

I don't think so Linos. I can only see Schema, Lores & Fable plus Arkis & Sequis bundles.

One other thing to bear in mind as people contemplate buying strategies is that I think it's highly likely Kontakt 8 will launch with Komplete 15 this autumn. Or maybe it will have a shiny new non-numbered name:

Later this year, we’ll significantly expand what's possible in Kontakt, our flagship instrument platform. We're excited about the new sonic opportunities this will enable for both instrument builders and music producers. I can’t say much at this point, but there’ll be new ways to import and manipulate sounds, enhanced capabilities beyond just samples, and innovative methods to help you play instruments, not just control them.

https://community.native-instruments.co ... cer#latest

That sounds like they'll be adding more pure synthesis options to Kontakt, a la Falcon, among other things.

Which is all well and good, but Kontakt 7 is such a creaking mess that in 18 months they haven't been able to even find why it takes 20 seconds to launch on many blazing fast Windows machines, still less fix the problem. The thought of them piling yet more stuff makes me shudder, the whole thing feels like its a coding shanty town. I'm also nervous that the library side panel will be retired, leaving us with just that bloody awful full screen thing.

[GR Baumann]

It was admittedly a little painful, but I left NI behind a year ago, loosing a handful of much loved libraries, but thankfully not heavily invested. The rest of the bloat, I do not miss, not at all.

[Linos]

Too bad about the session bundle. Thanks for xonfirming ir Guy.

Another problem with Kontakt: there is no simple strategy to replace older versions with a new one. You have to manually save patches and multis in the old version, then replace with the new version and reload. It's a nightmare if you run large templates. That's why I am running instances of Kontakt 5, 6, and 7 in parallel in my template.

On top of that, Kontakt 7 feels like an attempt to have a store and advertising in what should be a professional tool. I much prefer Kontakt 6.

[Guy Rowland]

Another problem with Kontakt: there is no simple strategy to replace older versions with a new one.

Actually I think there IS a plan for that. Some hosts are now able to do this I believe - if, say, Kontakt 5 isn't installed but Kontakt 7 is, it will load with that. Hopefully someone here can post more on this, my knowledge is pretty sketchy.

[Linos]

Actually I think there IS a plan for that. Some hosts are now able to do this I believe - if, say, Kontakt 5 isn't installed but Kontakt 7 is, it will load with that. Hopefully someone here can post more on this, my knowledge is pretty sketchy.

You are right. It's possible in Cubase, Nuendo, Logic and Maschine:

https://support.native-instruments.com/ ... W-Projects

If Kontakt 5 stops working one day, I will give it a try. At the moment I don't feel like experimenting. And I am happy to stay with 5 and 6 anyway. I only have Kontakt 7 for newer libraries that won't run in v6.

[Lawrence]

Too bad about the session bundle. Thanks for xonfirming ir Guy.

Another problem with Kontakt: there is no simple strategy to replace older versions with a new one. You have to manually save patches and multis in the old version, then replace with the new version and reload. It's a nightmare if you run large templates. That's why I am running instances of Kontakt 5, 6, and 7 in parallel in my template.

On top of that, Kontakt 7 feels like an attempt to have a store and advertising in what should be a professional tool. I much prefer Kontakt 6.

I’m using templates less often, but for me it’s similar-a combination of K5 and K6. I haven’t got 7 yet and I don’t think I’ve bought anything that requires it, though a Komplete upgrade may be inevitable to get 7 and a few things I’m missing. I have Komplete 11 or 12 Ultimate, so I think my price is presently $199?

[Luciano Storti]

Actually I think there IS a plan for that. Some hosts are now able to do this I believe - if, say, Kontakt 5 isn't installed but Kontakt 7 is, it will load with that. Hopefully someone here can post more on this, my knowledge is pretty sketchy.

You are right. It's possible in Cubase, Nuendo, Logic and Maschine:

https://support.native-instruments.com/ ... W-Projects

If Kontakt 5 stops working one day, I will give it a try. At the moment I don't feel like experimenting. And I am happy to stay with 5 and 6 anyway. I only have Kontakt 7 for newer libraries that won't run in v6.

Thanks for posting the link. I like how vague NI is: the "newest" versions of each mentioned DAW. No version number given, no date on the article that I can see.

[Guy Rowland]

That sounds like they'll be adding more pure synthesis options to Kontakt, a la Falcon, among other things.

Which is all well and good, but Kontakt 7 is such a creaking mess that in 18 months they haven't been able to even find why it takes 20 seconds to launch on many blazing fast Windows machines, still less fix the problem. The thought of them piling yet more stuff makes me shudder, the whole thing feels like its a coding shanty town. I'm also nervous that the library side panel will be retired, leaving us with just that bloody awful full screen thing.

This really interests me. It's clear that the entire music-making platform will be Kontakt from here on (well, and Maschine). With Reaktor deprecated, look at all the synths that will be removed:

Blocks
Form
Kontour
Monark
Polyplex
Prism
Razor
Factory Library (gazillions in there)
Rounds
Skanner XT
Spark
Super 8
TRK-01

On top of that, the rest of the original big-hitters are likely to go to - Massive, FM8 (Absynth having already gone). And also effects like The Mouth, Molekular, The Finger.

That's a serious swipe. And yet Kontakt is this horrendous creaky old platform they can barely work on any more.

So for fun, a crystal ball pet theory - we'll see a totally new Kontakt - Kontakt X perhaps - rewritten from the ground up. They'll have been working on it for years, and hence the decision to wind down Reaktor a long time ago. It will have old Kontakt's sample power, plus synthesis, in a totally new form.

The big catch - compatibility. To a greater or lesser degree it won't be compatible with all the old libraries (who knows how far back). So it would need to run alongside K5/6/7. And long term, those incompatible libraries will become EOL.

This would make sense of a lot of NI's seemingly bizarre decision-making of late.

[Erik]

A Kontakt like Falcon.

I hope I can make some Reaktor synth for a long while.