NI Kontakt 8 and Komplete 15

[Guy Rowland]

Komplete 18 and Kontakt 8 are released on September 30. Kontakt 8 doesn't look like it is the ground-up rewrite I was looking for after the debacle of Kontakt 7, but it does appear to be substantially different and does host a new hybrid synth called Conflux - with Reaktor deprecated, I was wondering if we'd see this happen. There is a whole new interface illustrated above - instrument headers have vanished and there's a new navigator with these controls. There is also a new tools section and what sounds like a new sampler-within-a sampler called Leap.

The latest version of Kontakt introduces fresh additions designed to inspire. New Chords and Phrases Tools offer smart features to quickly spark ideas and can be paired with your favorite Kontakt instruments to unlock new creative possibilities. Meanwhile, Leap opens a world of looping and experimentation, and Conflux, a new hybrid instrument using enhanced wavetable features, allows you to modulate organic and synth-based sounds in real-time.

What's new in Komplete?

In some editions there is Kithara - "A cinematic collection of guitars and plucked string instruments transformed with creative performance techniques and lush sound design".

Here's a list of the new instruments:

Standard - £539 / £179 update
Conflux
Electric Keys: Diamond & Phoenix
Karriem Riggin Drums
Rudiments Drums
Scene: Saffron
Session Electric Sunburst
Session Percussionist
Trash
Vocal Synth 2
12 Leap Expansions

Ultimate - £1079 / £359 update
Action Woodwinds
Alicia's Electric Keys
Session Bass - Upright
Session Bass - Icon
Session Acoustic Sunbird Deluxe
Session Electric Sunburst Deluxe
Session Ukulele
Spotlight: Ireland
Vocal Colors
Schema Dark & Light

Collector's Edition - £1619 / £449 update
Valves Pro
Fables
Kithara

There's also new Play instruments and expansion packs.

Pre-orders also get Neutron 4.



https://www.native-instruments.com/en/s ... mplete-15/

[Guy Rowland]

To add - there was a lot of confusion of Reaktor 6's inclusion or otherwise in Komplete 15. It wasn't mentioned anywhere on the Komplete 15 and comparison pages, but on the Reaktor 6 page it said it was in Collector's Edition.

NI have now updated their comparison website, and Reaktor 6 is in all versions. So it lives a little longer.

[X-bassist]

Komplete 18 and Kontakt 8 are released on September 30. Kontakt 8 doesn't look like it is the ground-up rewrite I was looking for after the debacle of Kontakt 7, but it does appear to be substantially different and does host a new hybrid synth called Conflux - with Reaktor deprecated, I was wondering if we'd see this happen. There is a whole new interface illustrated above - instrument headers have vanished and there's a new navigator with these controls. There is also a new tools section and what sounds like a new sampler-within-a sampler called Leap.

The latest version of Kontakt introduces fresh additions designed to inspire. New Chords and Phrases Tools offer smart features to quickly spark ideas and can be paired with your favorite Kontakt instruments to unlock new creative possibilities. Meanwhile, Leap opens a world of looping and experimentation, and Conflux, a new hybrid instrument using enhanced wavetable features, allows you to modulate organic and synth-based sounds in real-time.

Holy Smokes, looks like a spaceship with a designer gone wild. Their interfaces use to be so reasonable. What happened?

I'm wondering when they are going to start making things more intuitive and maybe add a new feature... labels!!

Seems to me like they are making trouble with this sampler inside a sampler/ extra tools that still need development and stability testing kind of talk. I'd really like them to make it super stable first, but I guess that doesn't sell. K7 still doesn't work for me as Komplete replaces my K5 and 6 instances with empty K7 instances (so helpful!) every time it opens, so I've had to delete it. I won't even buy 8 until it works and I'm forced to. But between this and the new design with extra things to break that I don't need, I'm seriously considering switching to developers with their own engines. Even though I've held off on OT, Spitfire, and other engines, I'd rather not get jerked around every 2 years so they can sell something flashy.

I get the feeling the more they head toward bedroom pop producers the more real sample developers will find something else besides Kontakt. I'm not happy with what we have atm, but I think if one big developer gets far enough with it, like OT or SFA, geared toward composers, and they are willing to come up with an open version, then they could become the next NI/ Kontakt that starts to dominate that sector. And although film and media composers don't make up a huge crowd, the amount of people doing orchestral music on their own I believe will continue to increase. It could eventually be a market that could rival others, since the sound is so big and catchy, and the money spent to build your orchestra can get extensive. Even though I have a lot of gear- Studio/Live Sound/ Lighting/ Camera Packages - I have spent more the last 10 years on VI's and plugins, probably because the storage is a much simplier issue, even at 40TB. I hope that Kontakt solution will come. NI has been a silent ruler make changes for the sake of changes, and beta testing on their customers.

[Guy Rowland]

I'd really like them to make it super stable first, but I guess that doesn't sell. K7 still doesn't work for me as Komplete replaces my K5 and 6 instances with empty K7 instances (so helpful!) every time it opens, so I've had to delete it.

I don't quite understand what's going on there.... a few DAWs can auto-replace with a later version of Kontakt if the earlier version is missing. I've had an issue when the new version is unpopulated, but it turned out I'd not deleted all the old versions of the plugin.

As to stability / reliability / efficiency, K7 was awful. We have to wait and see if K8 has fixed any of this, Mario says NI have been making progress on the slow windows loading. I can imagine K7 being the Windows 8 of Kontakt, the one to forget.