Great price on Kontakt 6 full version

[Billy86]

I’ve been using the free Kontakt Player for years, which has limitations on running some of the instruments made for the NI sampler.  I could never pull the trigger on upgrading to the full version for $399. A little to steep.

But I just happened to visit the NI site and discovered a sale going on  that let me get the full Kontakt 6  for $125  because I had an instrument that qualified me for a cross grade price. The instrument was Realitone’s FingerPick.  Personally, I’ve never seen that low of a price available. So I pulled the trigger and upgraded. 

 Bottom line: if you’ve ever wanted to upgrade to the full version, and if you have a qualifying contact instrument, you may be able to get it for a great price. 

[Starise]

I've had K5 for a long time and so far I haven't seen a need to upgrade. Do you think we should? Why?

Thanks for sharing that great price BTW.

[Robert Bone]

FANTASTIC!  You made a great purchase.  There are some free libraries out there, and the ones that come with Kontakt are a good starting point.  Do a Google search for the following search terms, and you will see a bunch of links to free Kontakt libraries:  free Kontakt libraries

As far as paid libraries, Digital Sound Factory has a bunch of them - there is a DSF Proteus Pack that has HUNDREDS of really nice sounds from all of the various Proteus hardware synths that were produced - that is well worth its reasonable cost.

Here are some links to a bunch of free Kontakt libraries, to give you an idea of the kind of things out there:

https://www.flstudiomusic.com/2017/03/38-best-free-kontakt-libraries.html

https://www.standalone-music.com/2017/05/01/list-of-free-kontakt-libraries/

https://www.productionmusiclive.com/blogs/news/top-free-ni-kontakt-libraries-in-free-orchestra-guitars-pianos-vocal-world-instruments
 

Do not limit yourself to the above - just go look for free libs, and you will find a bunch of them - I have just shy of 200 of them.

2 other tips, I would offer:

1) When you load up multiple instruments into a single instance of Kontakt, make sure the 'Output Section' is made visible (up at the top of the Kontakt window there are options for what gets displayed).  Anyways, here is a good helpful practice: Click on Batch Functions, then on the option to clear the output section and create a separate stereo output for each loaded instrument.  THEN, what I do is to rename each output in the output section, to a more concise name than it gives them.  (it tries to stuff each output channel with a squished name of the associated instrument).  So, instead of leaving it as some long garbled instrument name for the grand piano instrument I loaded, I rename that output channel to simply say Piano, and same with the other output channels.  It just looks better that way.

2) I never load up more than 4-5 instruments into a single instance of Kontakt, because (at least at one point), otherwise after somewhere around 5 (might be 6) or more instruments in the Kontakt instance, when you are assigning the Outputs for the audio tracks for each instrument, the displayed list of Kontakt output channels starts to get garbled up.  Leaving the max number of instruments for a single Kontakt instance at 4-5, and that issue does not occur.

3) When you DO pick up additional libraries, unless they have paid Native Instruments a fee for it, those libraries will not display in the regular list of Kontakt libraries on the left side of the Kontakt instance.  You CAN switch the display to Files, rather than the default Libraries, but that gets annoying.  I found that I can add any of my free libraries or even the paid ones that still do not display like the ones that come with Kontakt - anyways, I can add whichever of my additional libraries I choose, to end up being accessed through the factory-supplied libraries in their default display list.  

What you do to make this happen: Scroll down the list of factory included libraries, until you get to the Kontakt Factory Library, then click on the little arrow to the right of the 'Instruments' tab that is right below the icon with Kontakt Factory Library - this will open a little drop-down menu.  Click on 'Open Containing Folder', and it opens up the folder where all of the Kontakt Factory Library instruments live.  Double-click to get into the Instruments folder, and you will see folders, such as: Band, Choir, Orchestral, etc., just like you would see if you opened up Instruments from the main Kontakt window for the factory library.  Then, add a new folder within that list of folders - I suggest calling it User Libs. 

Once that folder is created, you can copy/paste your free Kontakt libraries into that User Libs folder, and from that point on, you can  stay on the default display list of Kontakt libraries, and when you want to go to one of your additional libraries, just go to the Kontakt Factory Library, expand the Instruments tab, then navigate to that User Libs folder, and you will have access to any libraries you added to that folder.  Ta-Da.

I hope the above helps - congrats on picking up the full-fledged Kontakt.  WAHOO!

Bob Bone

[Robert Bone]

54 minutes ago, Starise said:

I've had K5 for a long time and so far I haven't seen a need to upgrade. Do you think we should? Why?

Thanks for sharing that great price BTW.

While I have owned most of the Komplete series, going back to Komplete 3, and am now running Komplete 8 Ultimate, with additional updates (but not the Ultimate versions), of Komplete 9 and Komplete 11.  I did not see much of a reason to keep paying the extra money for the Ultimate versions, and even the regular Komplete versions did not really offer any new instrument upgrades.

I DID review Kontakt 6, and bought that one specifically, as a stand alone product.

This is a quote from a KVR site post about what's new, with Kontakt 6 (their spelling below - not mine):

"Three new instruments, in the Play Series:  Sonically rich sample libraries (Analog Dreams, Ethereal Earth and Hybrid Keys) that combine powerful sound design with simple playability. Each offers eight intelligently mapped macro knobs giving you a wide-sweeping, intuitive range of control. They all showcase KONTAKT’s new wave table module, each offering two blendable sound sources and a unique take on a speciality style.

Five new Effects (including 3 Reverbs)

Wavetable Synthesis

Creator Tools:  A a standalone application designed to improve the workflows of library builders and instrument creators. It consists of two elements: A Debugger, for identifying and fixing problems in KONTAKT script, and an Instrument Editor, which can load and run Lua scripts to automap samples, duplicate and batch rename groups, and copy settings from one part of an instrument to another."

I made the decision to go ahead and grab Kontakt 6, and am quite happy with it.  They don't release whole version-level upgrades to Kontakt very often, so I deemed it worth grabbing.  That said - there is nothing wrong with Kontakt 5, either.

Bob Bone

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Robert Bone
Edited to add disclaimer on spelling errors in the KVR text I quoted

[David Owen]

Thanks for the tip!  I just got the NI Kontakt 6 full version thanks to you.  I had no idea that the sale was going on.  Great price!  Thanks again, Billy86 for the information!

 

[Simeon Amburgey]

1 hour ago, Starise said:

I've had K5 for a long time and so far I haven't seen a need to upgrade. Do you think we should? Why?

Thanks for sharing that great price BTW.

Recently I was wanting to try NOIRE and one of the requirements was Kontakt 6. It did work in the free Kontak 6 player but at this sale price I can now upgrade Kontakt 5 to K6   for $49 which opens the door for future compatibility with new libraries.

[Alan Tubbs]

Wants ni get their claws into you .... hard to resist deals for you wait.

[mettelus]

Does NI even have a support email? I had to chuckle since I have had products that qualify, but they never showed, and I won't chase anyone down to give them money. I have only been on the support page a few times, but never found any way to contact them. Not only does that cost NI, but every vendor that relies on them - I just see "FULL Kontakt" and forget I ever saw them.

[Billy86]

9 hours ago, Starise said:

I've had K5 for a long time and so far I haven't seen a need to upgrade. Do you think we should? Why?

Thanks for sharing that great price BTW.

I couldn’t tell you. I never had K5 full version. K6 will be my first. 

[Billy86]

7 hours ago, David Owen said:

Thanks for the tip!  I just got the NI Kontakt 6 full version thanks to you.  I had no idea that the sale was going on.  Great price!  Thanks again, Billy86 for the information!

 

Seems like a no brainer if you’ve never had the full version and wanted it. I just stumbled into it visiting the site on a whim. This is the second NI sale I lucked into. They don’t seem to be very much into announcing these things. I’m even on their email list for just this reason 

[Billy86]

4 hours ago, mettelus said:

Does NI even have a support email? I had to chuckle since I have had products that qualify, but they never showed, and I won't chase anyone down to give them money. I have only been on the support page a few times, but never found any way to contact them. Not only does that cost NI, but every vendor that relies on them - I just see "FULL Kontakt" and forget I ever saw them.

 So, when you log onto your account page and look at your products, the products aren’t there? I don’t know what third-party products qualify for a crossgrade  price, all I know is that one of mine did.   When I clicked on the higher price to put it into the cart, that was when it suggested I check my products for a potential class grade lower price. 

[Billy86]

8 hours ago, Robert Bone said:

FANTASTIC!  You made a great purchase.  There are some free libraries out there, and the ones that come with Kontakt are a good starting point.  Do a Google search for the following search terms, and you will see a bunch of links to free Kontakt libraries:  free Kontakt libraries

As far as paid libraries, Digital Sound Factory has a bunch of them - there is a DSF Proteus Pack that has HUNDREDS of really nice sounds from all of the various Proteus hardware synths that were produced - that is well worth its reasonable cost.

Here are some links to a bunch of free Kontakt libraries, to give you an idea of the kind of things out there:

https://www.flstudiomusic.com/2017/03/38-best-free-kontakt-libraries.html

https://www.standalone-music.com/2017/05/01/list-of-free-kontakt-libraries/

https://www.productionmusiclive.com/blogs/news/top-free-ni-kontakt-libraries-in-free-orchestra-guitars-pianos-vocal-world-instruments
 

Do not limit yourself to the above - just go look for free libs, and you will find a bunch of them - I have just shy of 200 of them.

2 other tips, I would offer:

1) When you load up multiple instruments into a single instance of Kontakt, make sure the 'Output Section' is made visible (up at the top of the Kontakt window there are options for what gets displayed).  Anyways, here is a good helpful practice: Click on Batch Functions, then on the option to clear the output section and create a separate stereo output for each loaded instrument.  THEN, what I do is to rename each output in the output section, to a more concise name than it gives them.  (it tries to stuff each output channel with a squished name of the associated instrument).  So, instead of leaving it as some long garbled instrument name for the grand piano instrument I loaded, I rename that output channel to simply say Piano, and same with the other output channels.  It just looks better that way.

2) I never load up more than 4-5 instruments into a single instance of Kontakt, because (at least at one point), otherwise after somewhere around 5 (might be 6) or more instruments in the Kontakt instance, when you are assigning the Outputs for the audio tracks for each instrument, the displayed list of Kontakt output channels starts to get garbled up.  Leaving the max number of instruments for a single Kontakt instance at 4-5, and that issue does not occur.

3) When you DO pick up additional libraries, unless they have paid Native Instruments a fee for it, those libraries will not display in the regular list of Kontakt libraries on the left side of the Kontakt instance.  You CAN switch the display to Files, rather than the default Libraries, but that gets annoying.  I found that I can add any of my free libraries or even the paid ones that still do not display like the ones that come with Kontakt - anyways, I can add whichever of my additional libraries I choose, to end up being accessed through the factory-supplied libraries in their default display list.  

What you do to make this happen: Scroll down the list of factory included libraries, until you get to the Kontakt Factory Library, then click on the little arrow to the right of the 'Instruments' tab that is right below the icon with Kontakt Factory Library - this will open a little drop-down menu.  Click on 'Open Containing Folder', and it opens up the folder where all of the Kontakt Factory Library instruments live.  Double-click to get into the Instruments folder, and you will see folders, such as: Band, Choir, Orchestral, etc., just like you would see if you opened up Instruments from the main Kontakt window for the factory library.  Then, add a new folder within that list of folders - I suggest calling it User Libs. 

Once that folder is created, you can copy/paste your free Kontakt libraries into that User Libs folder, and from that point on, you can  stay on the default display list of Kontakt libraries, and when you want to go to one of your additional libraries, just go to the Kontakt Factory Library, expand the Instruments tab, then navigate to that User Libs folder, and you will have access to any libraries you added to that folder.  Ta-Da.

I hope the above helps - congrats on picking up the full-fledged Kontakt.  WAHOO!

Bob Bone

Thanks! Great info!!

[Christian Jones]

Great info Bob, thanks. And that's a cool trck actually to stay in the libraries tab section w/ your non-nicnt libraries that I never thought of.

What I like to do w/ my non-nicnt libraries is just use the Quick Load function which you can bring up w/ one right mouse click and the Quick Load view will then momentarily replace the output section while it is up and it's a simple right click again to close that view and show the output section again. In the Quick Load view you can add folders, put your libraries in there and bring them up with one click. I'm going to check out those Free Library links Bob thanks

[Starise]

Yes, thanks guys for this info.  I  have an older version of Komplete Ultimate. I forget the version, I think it's version 8. Kontakt was included in that version. You need it to play any of the libraries. When I look back at my actual use of a bunch of those libs in Komplete I haven't used them as much as my 3rd party libraries. Moving up to the most recent version of Komplete is probably wasted on me. I think NI really sticks you on an initial purchase of Kontakt if bought separately.  Version 5 has been working great for me. We all know how all things software eventually end up though. I could probably continue to use 5 for a long time, but for 49.00 quid it's really a no brainer to upgrade it. A small no brainer at that!

Komplete is nice to have around and I won't say I never use it because I do on occasion. I think people who buy it are under the impression they won't ever need anything else because it has all the bases covered. That could be true for you, but most I know who have it are still buying other stuff.  Kontakt is really the one to have IMO. Then your options are open.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Starise

[Christian Jones]

Yeah, I have Komplete 10, and for me the best part of it all is Kontakt, Massive, the Grandeur, the Melotron and the Melodian. Actually, there's some really cool transistor organs in there too as well as a pretty awesome Tronichord. IMO you kinda have to mine through the libraries to find the cool sounds and then save them as presets so you don't have to dig through the library again, which is what I do and which I think a lot of people don't do. 

[mettelus]

On 6/4/2019 at 9:00 PM, Billy86 said:

 So, when you log onto your account page and look at your products, the products aren’t there? I don’t know what third-party products qualify for a crossgrade  price, all I know is that one of mine did.   When I clicked on the higher price to put it into the cart, that was when it suggested I check my products for a potential class grade lower price. 

I think that was the kicker to the whole thing. I rarely log into my account, and wrongly assumed that the  "My KOMPLETE Offers" was for everything (i.e., Kontakt as well), which it is not. My products all show in Native Access (my primary interaction with NI), and I checked my account again after your message (show there too), but all pricing deals are invisible until actually clicking on the Kontakt product. At that point is when the crossgrade offer showed up (even before adding to cart).

Then again, iZotope is on the opposite end of the spectrum... they show you deals for products you already own, and multiple versions of deals for the same product at different prices. Difference is their customer service is more than happy to update issues with your account and put another deal coupon in that list for you.

[Tezza]

I have Komplete Ultimate 10 and noticed that I can get an upgrade to Komplete Ultimate 12 at the moment for about $275.00, $240.00 with Ebay discount which is pretty amazing (Aus dollars) So I got it, don't know if NI are having sales or what. I got it from a local dealer through Ebay here in Australia. I get the full box with the hard drive of all the samples etc. I like that because I live in a regional area with awful internet.

If I bought just a hard drive here of the same size, it would cost as much as that so I don't know what is going on there. It is on it's way here and will arrive in a few days, just as I turn my computer on and ....nothing! friggin hell!

It means I have the 2 acoustic guitar instruments and the electric guitar instrument and a free upgrade to Massive X coming soon, plus a bunch of synths and cinematic instruments. Also comes with Kontakt 6, wish they had guitar rig 6 but still on 5, oh well. Also in addition to the pro series woodwind and strings etc they are doing limited sample sets of their orchestral gear with Komplete Ultimate 12.

By my calculations that should mean in the USA that you can get an upgrade from KU8-11 to KU12 for around $170.00.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Tezza

[S.L.I.P.]

13 hours ago, Starise said:

a no brainer to upgrade it

Exactly. This is what I was waiting for. You know they'll offer the price, you just need to wait them out.  Just ordered!

[Starise]

I looked at my version last night and it's version 10 Ultimate. Bought it on a sale. I like that  Komplete 12 comes with  Kontakt 6. Probably couldn't  buy separate sample libraries from reputable library companies and get similar things bought separately for the discounted price, no doubt if you want it this is the time to buy it. Great prices. Kontakt 6 has a few cool new additions in it as well.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Starise

[Billy86]

2 hours ago, Starise said:

I looked at my version last night and it's version 10 Ultimate. Bought it on a sale. I like that  Komplete 12 comes with  Kontakt 6. Probably couldn't  buy separate sample libraries from reputable library companies and get similar things bought separately for the discounted price, no doubt if you want it this is the time to buy it. Great prices. Kontakt 6 has a few cool new additions in it as well.

What?? I’m not seeing that with the K6 I just bought...