PavlovsCat

Let's keep this civil. When you post your opinion on the forum -- or in social media -- you're putting it out there for discussion and for others to comment. When you shared your dislike of Native Access, I thought I'd share the reasons I find it very useful. That's all. I only want to address something you wrote in response to my post, and then let's move on: "...your insinuation to updates is irritating, because we all know that libraries rarely have updates!" I didn't insinuate that sample libraries are frequently updated. Most sample libraries are NOT frequently updated. My point is simply that it's a hassle to keep track of updates from dozens of developers when you own a lot of Kontakt libraries, because when you have Kontakt libraries with sophisticated scripting, they sometimes have updates, especially following a Kontakt update. That means having to watch for emails with news of updates from dozens of developers and that, IMO, is too much work. I'd prefer the monitoring and installation of updates to be centralized, even automated, instead of having to watch developer emails for one informing me of an update. I own far more than 200 Kontakt libraries -- and especially for libraries with sophisticated Kontakt scripts, there are updates from time to time for bug fixes, to better optimize for a new Kontakt release, and sometimes, an update that adds new functionality available in the latest Kontakt release (which is the case with OTS libraries). In the past 3 months, just through Native Access, there have easily been dozens of updates for the Kontakt Player sample libraries I own. If I wasn't using Native Accesss for those updates, my only option would have been monitoring developer emails or periodically checking the websites of every developer who makes a sample library I own, downloading and installing the updates -- and NA did a lot of those updates from its interface, saving me time. IMO, NA saved me from annoying tasks that suck up time that are comparatively a hassle and a poor use of my time. I'd greatly prefer having software that automates the monitoring of sample libraries and installation of updates and wish that was available for all of my libraries. Also, I too have Kontakt and Native Access installed on two machines. Again, this is just my perspective and opinion. You can completely disagree and that's perfectly fine. ✌️

I used to share that perspective, but after accumulating so many Kontakt Player libraries, I greatly prefer Player libraries. It's far easier to maintain a large collection of sample libraries with Native Access -- it's not even close in comparing it to managing a collection of 100+ libraries manually (I've been a Kontakt user since the early days). You'd need to watch emails for updates from all of those developers...it's simply incredibly inefficient, a complete mess and requires immensely more time and energy to manage. On a related note, the convenience of clicking on a banner as opposed to searching for a file seems inconsequential on paper, but I'm sure NI's user experience lead figured out it that most users will be more inclined to choose a Player library with a banner due to the difference. I actually wish that wasn't the case and that the user could choose to have their favorite libraries appear as a banner, but NI uses this as an incentive to drive developers to use their Player.

Has there been a day that's passed where Bapu hasn't exclaimed, "installed!" I'd be concerned if everything was okay if we stopped seeing it. Keep installing, Bapu! (At least, for as long as you can afford it!)

I bought this when they first released it and use it all the time. It's not perfect, but it is very good.

So far this free sample library sharing community looks like only one person sharing several of his Kontakt libraries, but you've got to start somewhere. If his libraries are decent, it's worth visiting just for that. I didn't have a chance to download and try anything out and there are no audio demos, so, if anyone else has a chance to try the libraries out, please share your thoughts. https://www.blackgoldaudio.co.uk/sampld

I was thinking of picking up Speldosa. I take it that's your recommendation, @Kreveta Puket?

Yeah, I do want to clarify and earlier post in another thread I can't change where I posted the WUP for Abbey Road Chambers was over $70 USD. I didn't realize that Waves automatically checked boxes for some of my other plugins that were below the fold that I didn't notice. The actual cost is $15 USD to update that, which I'd pay in a heartbeat if Waves could make it more efficient. (While I don't like WUP, I love the Abbey Road series enough that I'm willing to pay for WUP to keep the plugins working or get more efficient versions). I've heard UADCapitol Chambers is similarly excellent but isn't such a resource hog. I think my version is 11 or 12. I read they made a later version more efficient for the Mac but couldn’t find anything about better optimization for Windows. If anyone sees this knows that they have optimized it, please let me know.

The list looks pretty solid. I knew a lot of stuff on their list to be good choices. I spend way too much time on this stuff! I recognized everything.

It runs in the FREE Kontakt Player. You just download the Player along with the library.

Don't get bummed out. It's only a 35MB library. The demo didn't sound very good to my ears. This developer is probably just using free samples he got online like he did with his piano library. He primarily makes libraries of synth patches, not acoustic instruments. I know there are a lot of string freebies on my two lists / threads that sound much better than that library, like Sterzov Afflatus violin library that runs in the free Kontakt Player. https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/afflatus-freebie.html

I see people writing here that the hobbyist market is a niche market. That's simply dead wrong. There's not a lot of quality secondary research studies in this industry, because it's not a huge industry. But I can tell you from working with a lot of developers that the hobbyist market is a significant portion of the total market, especially for sample library developers. Most often, the majority of their customers are hobbyists, and semi professionals. It doesn't take a lot for someone, even without research experience, to discern that the vast majority of people discussing these products in forums and social media are hobbyists and those aspiring to be professionals. Go to VI Control (okay, even better, don't) and easily 90+% of its users are hobbyists or people who earn less than 20% of their income from music. Every developer in this industry that I know either makes a very sizeable portion of their revenue from the hobbyist / education / aspiring pro / semi pro market or the majority of their revenue from those segments. The growth that's occurred in this market in the past decade is largely driven by the non-pro market, such as the home studio hobbyists, independent musicians, aspiring pros (which, of course, is not classified as professionals) and the educational market. Another clue for people who think hobbyists are a niche, larger brands in this industry aren't shelling out 6 figures to influencers on Youtbe to reach the hobbyist market for fun because it's a niche market. They're spending on influencers because hobbyists are spending a lot of money and they turn to influencers on purchase decisions (sadly, IMO). When we say it's a small industry, keep in mind that it's estimated at over $7 billion USD globally, and the DAW market, by one researcher's findings is growing at a CAGR of more than 6%. Granted, the prevalence of multimedia use by corporations is a factor, but I don't expect that, for most audio software companies like Waves, that the amateur market is considered a niche -- not by a long shot. Waves has long spent A LOT of money on influencers to reach hobbyists and given a heck of a lot of NFRs to pros in order to influence hobbyists and independent musicians with a dream of making it.

I realize that Waves is a small company (around $16 million a year) but they engage in a number of unethical marketing/promotional practices that violate US FTC regulations for marketing. That has always been front and center what bothered me about them beyond WUP. To be more specific, it violates FTC regulations to keep an item on sale more than XX many weeks per year. I forget the exact number, but I believe the threshold is something like a third of the year or more. The FTC deems that deceptive pricing practices. To the average person, they would say that it's illegal, but technically, that's not the way advertising/pricing/marketing legislation works in the US, it's handled by the FTC which issues the penalities. If companies refuse to accept the penalities, then the cases shift to the courts. But the reality is, the FTC is understaffed and lots of sleazy marketers engage in practices without paying the penalities. Now add to this that Waves hasn't historically been great about doing clear disclosures about WUP (though they have improved in recent years). Because it's a non-standard practice in the industry, you can be sure that many customers will make a purchase without understanding what they're getting into. I can tell you from decades working in tech with hardware and software companies that MANY customers make purchases without realizing things much more apparent than Waves Update Plan. Ask Kontakt developers that sell non-Player libraries how often they've had a new customer tell them that they didn't realize that they needed the full paid version of Kontakt to use the sample library they just purchased (it's even a long time ploy used by unscrupulous folks).

This is probably the lowest price that I can recall for the platinum bundle. It's very low. As far as WUP, I think if you understand how it works prior to purchase, as you do, and you're okay with potentially spending $240 US or whatever it is in the future for yearly updates, or buying the bundle again when it's on sale, it's a good buy. As I mentioned earlier, I like Waves Abbey Road series enough that they're worth it for me. In the case of Abbey Road Chambers, I'd absolutely pay for WUP if they improved its efficiency on Windows (that specific plugin is well known to be a resource hog, and while I love its sound, it's latency makes it unusable in real time and I find its sound so inspiringly good, that I'd pay for WUP if they fix that; however, my research indicates they haven't done so). Although I wouldn't do that for any Waves plugins beyond the Abbey Road series.

I just added a bunch of excellent free Kontakt sample libraries to the original post including pianos, organs, drums, chimes, and a toy piano. A number of these libraries are Kontakt Player libraries, so if you don't own the full version of Kontakt, you don't need to spend anything to use them, they work in NI's free player. As always, this is a curated list. I've downloaded, installed, played and found every sample library on the list worth recommending. If you want to share your own recommended libraries and think they should be included on the list, please post them below! We'd all love to check them out.

Like every freebie this developer has released, it sounds really good. This is easily going on my list of recommended free sample libraries. For anyone who hasn't been following them, they've released several other freebies, all of which work in the free Kontakt Player-- so you don't need to own the full version. I especially think their electric piano library is really nice and like it better than some paid electric piano libraries I've bought.

You did ask a group of plugin and sample addicts for advice. Of course, we love this stuff! We all pretty much share the same GAS tendencies. It doesn't matter your race, nationality, ethnicity, religion...we.all share a common gear addiction. I do maintain a thread list of free Kontakt libraries you can always check out when you're feeling GAS. Maintaining it helps me manage my GAS and avoid overspending.

The forum having issues still wasn't enough to stop cclarry or satya, they persevered.

Okay, I got it (not for me, for my kids). Everything on the page was in Czech, so I have no idea if there's an English version of the game -- but hey, they can expand their horizons!

I listened to that on my cell phone yesterday -- a terrible way to check out audio, of course (plus, my family was watching a sports game at the time!). But this morning, I listened to it on my headphones and I absolutely love it. I own a bunch of felt piano libraries, but none of them sound like this, and I love the sound. Great job. I am really looking forward to this release.

@Luc Recently, after you and I posted in a different thread and conversed a little, I clicked on the link your sig file to your YouTube channel and watched a couple of your videos (and gave them likes!). I especially enjoyed your video about why you decided to do YouTube videos after turning 50 and couldn't help but want to cheer you on. I found your style was helpful, warm and friendly. You're a good speaker, good on camera and most importantly -- and this is something you can't teach -- you're likable. Keep it up. Whether or not everyone is a fan of this synth, I think we can agree that we like you and hope you succeed. - Peter

It's a shame that you're so hyper offended by a perceived offense against a company and the slightest criticism of its practices that you'll use it to self justify trolling a fellow forum member. Oh well. Moving on.

That's a great deal.

AAS is a very customer friendly company and their plugins have always been trouble free for me. They've given away so many freebies over the years (I'm thinking about how they've given away a couple of free packs of your choice every year, I think it's either around Black Friday or the winter holidays), that I feel a sense of gratitude towards the brand.

Writing an inflammatory comment directed at me with a rant that mislabels my post a "Waves bashing event" is ridiculous and completely unfounded. It's trolling. Reread what I wrote. My only sentence critical of Waves praised the Abbey Road plugin line: "I don't like WUP or Waves promotional practices, but I do love the Abbey Road series plugins. " I then mentioned that there are two recent threads for WUP resales that would be a better place for the original question (those threads are focused on exactly what he's looking for), and offered a helpful tip that, as the owner of 3 dozen Waves plugins, I recently found the price of buying a new ARC license would cost $29.99, significantly less than the WUP for that plugin (approximately $73) That advice was intended to save El Diablo money. My post offered a helpful tip and wasn't an attack on a fellow forum member. Your post bashed another forum member, completely oblivious to the irony of your bashing a community member while feigning outrage over people criticizing a business these people have bought from and find some of their business practices problematic. IMO, it's one thing when people criticize a business they have issues with, it's quite another thing to single out and bash another person on the forum.

There are a couple of current threads for third party WUP sales that would be a good place to ask that question. In any event, here's a tip. I don't like WUP or Waves promotional practices, but I do love the Abbey Road series plugins. However, Abbey Road Chambers is a complete CPU resource hog, which is no secret. I would get a new version of that if it resolved the latency issues. It's something like $73 US for a year of WUP for Abbey Road Chambers, while purchasing a new license is $29.99 US. Even with 25% off WUP, it's significantly less cost to purchase a new license with Waves constantly on sales pricing. The only time WUP would make a financial sense over new licenses would be if I WUPed every Waves plugin I own -- which is probably a few dozen-- and hit the annual WUP cost ceiling of $240 US. However, most of my Waves plugins run fine, so Im only interested in an update to this one resource hog plugin if Waves improved its efficiency.