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Kontakt Full library deals to look out for?

jngnz

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jngnz

jngnz

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So after successfully dodging buying Kontakt Full for years so I wouldn't buy a million libraries (and SSDs), I had to cave because someone on KVR was selling Kontakt 7 for ridiculously cheap.

With easter coming up and already looking at summer deals or even BF, what deals for Kontakt libraries do I need to look out for? What are some of your favourite libraries? Must-haves? Secret weapons? I've seen the Sampletekk and Alex Pfeffer deals, but there's probably a ton of similar stuff I'm unaware of.

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Larry Shelby

Larry Shelby

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1 minute ago, jngnz said:

So after successfully dodging buying Kontakt Full for years so I wouldn't buy a million libraries (and SSDs), I had to cave because someone on KVR was selling Kontakt 7 for ridiculously cheap.

With easter coming up and already looking at summer deals or even BF, what deals for Kontakt libraries do I need to look out for? What are some of your favourite libraries? Must-haves? Secret weapons? I've seen the Sampletekk and Alex Pfeffer deals, but there's probably a ton of similar stuff I'm unaware of.

I'm a big fan of the Keepforest and Sound Yeti Libraries...and there are a ton of good free Libraries for Kontakt fulll

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husker

husker

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9 minutes ago, jngnz said:

So after successfully dodging buying Kontakt Full for years so I wouldn't buy a million libraries (and SSDs), I had to cave because someone on KVR was selling Kontakt 7 for ridiculously cheap.

With easter coming up and already looking at summer deals or even BF, what deals for Kontakt libraries do I need to look out for? What are some of your favourite libraries? Must-haves? Secret weapons? I've seen the Sampletekk and Alex Pfeffer deals, but there's probably a ton of similar stuff I'm unaware of.

I love the Ethera series.  Quite a bit of value there. 

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abacab

abacab

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Indigunus sells a lot of good sampled string instrument libraries (guitars, fiddles, banjos, mandolins, etc.) for Kontakt.

They are always virtually on sale because they require "Full Kontakt", so they are sold for less without the Kontakt Player licensing. https://www.indiginus.com/

For example, the Renegade Acoustic is $69. https://www.indiginus.com/renegade-acoustic-guitar

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antler

antler

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3 hours ago, jngnz said:

what deals for Kontakt libraries do I need to look out for? What are some of your favourite libraries? Must-haves? Secret weapons?

What type of music do you make, or what type of instruments do you like?

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jngnz

jngnz

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3 hours ago, antler said:

What type of music do you make, or what type of instruments do you like?

This is not about me, but about people's favourites. I can pick out what I like, and so can everyone else. We might all get surprised this way.

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

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Ben Osterhouuse's Sospiro Strings and Cello Textures are great and incredible bargains when on sale.  I've worked with Orange Tree Samples and am friends with the developer,  but absolutely best in class guitar and bass libraries (I was a huge fan before working with the developer) .  I only own one Wurli library from Skybox Audio, but it's excellent. Sound Dust makes quirky, odd libraries that are absolutely perfect,  IMO.  NI's Noire Piano is my all time favorite.  E-instruments upright piano is one I regularly use and their W Wurli is very good. SoundIron has a bunch of really nice libraries and even their cheap ones are decent; a really reliably high quality KONTAKT developer.  Everything I've bought from Xperimenta Project is excellent. 

I'm on my phone now, going from memory,  I'll probably add more later, when I'm in front of my computer. I'm a huge user of KONTAKT sample libraries. 

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

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Okay, I'm on my computer now and can provide a deeper list of developers I'd recommend. 

SonicCouture. All top notch. but  pricey. I only buy when there's a sale. I have maybe a dozen of their libraries and all of them are excellent. Pick up all of their freebies.  

Embertone. Their 1955 Steinway D Lite goes on sale for cheap. I think as cheap as $5  or $10 USD. I love the lite version and never upgraded because I'm super happy with the lite library. 

Cinematique Instruments. This dev is excellent at sound design libraries. Pick up their many freebies, including their Klang line freebies, to get a taste of what they do. I'll include a link to the correct section because their Klang site is a usability nightmare, but their libraries are not.  https://klang.cologne/klangX_shop.php

Production Voices. I own several of this dev's piano libraries and I really like them a lot. I'd recommend downloading the FREE Death Piano for KONTAKT to get started. It is full of reverses and odd treatments of a grand piano and I love it.  
https://www.productionvoices.com/death-piano-le/

Xperimeta Project. Everything I have from this developer is superb. I think the first library I picked up from them was a vibraphone library and I use it a lot. Download their FREE Preparato Piano, it's a prepared piano that is incredibly good and has a bunch of really good patches to the point it's surprising that they give this away free. 
https://www.xperimentaproject.com/preparato-piano-free/

Waverunner. This developer has some very different libraries.  I own their cello, viola and a few others. None of them are my go to libraries for their categories, but they're different and I find some inspiring. 

Heavyocity. If you haven't already picked up their FREE Foundations series, I'd strongly recommend doing so. A top notch developer.

Orange Tree Samples.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I've worked with them and I'm friends with the developer, so you can write me off as biased. I worked on brainstorming sessions for the Evolution line, so it basically is my ultimate guitar and bass libraries. But I'm far too hypercritical of sample libraries and brutally honest that I would let my personal relationship bias me. I've advised more than two dozen sample library and plugin developers and mostly avoid mentioning any of them because I realize that once I state my relationship, most people will discount my opinions.  So, upfront, I totally understand anyone writing my opinion off, I'm not offended. But I'm hypercritical and even made agreements with devs that I would be able to retain my right to share critical personal opinions about their products when working with them; I don't shill for anyone. Mostly, I avoid sharing opinions on developers I've worked with, but OTS is on another level. I was a fan before I worked with them. I know a bunch of their competitor developers personally and the consensus is that OTS -- the founder, Greg Schlaepfer really --  is innovative, brilliant and has long led the way in the guitar and bass sample library space. Their guitar and bass libraries offer a level of realism/detail and controllability that is unparalleled (I'd say the closest second is  a developer out of China that makes their own plugins, Ample Sounds). You can start using them without a learning curve for playing in real-time, but once you spend some time getting to learn how to get different articulations out of it and once you learn the strumming engine, it's amazing, it will blow your mind. There's still nothing like it. I have a long background of working with CTOs, engineers and scientists in the tech, analysis and chemical industries, and the innovation of the Evolution series of guitars is truly extraordinary and reminds me of some of the really innovative technologies I've witnessed. But here's the thing, like stuff like mobile phones -- and industry I used to be in -- where research  found that more than 90% of users of these products don't even scratch the surface and only understand around 5% of a phone's functionality. You can start playing the libraries without any knowledge, but if you spend time learning the Evolution libraries, it's amazing what you can acheive on a MIDI keyboard and everything you learn in one Evolution guitar library can be used in the other libraries. It's when you dive in, spend some time and start using it, you see why this library gets used in final productions on pop hits, movies, TV and trailers. I've talked to many other devs who make guitar libraries, and a number of them have acknowledged that they have attempted to reverse engineer OTS' Evolution (Andrew Aversa at Impact Soundworks once told me -- I have it in written correspondence, so I'm not concerned about stating that publicly -- that Evolution was the inspiration for his own Shreddage line, but his line is much more limited).  Sound on Sound called the OTS' E -- the most coveted and iconic Rhodes electric piano in history used in a bunch of iconic recordings -- the ultimate Rhodes sample library (or something like that, I'm paraphrasing from memory) and I would agree. But it's not cheap. Their piano is very good. But their guitars and basses are the best there are, IMO. 


Westwood -- Pick up their FREE felt piano. It's very nice. 

ON MY WATCH LIST: 
Sonixenima - This dev has two cello libraries that sound fantastic to my ears (they're both on the dry side). But they have a bunch of freebies that are really small,  so they're not very usable, but they do give you a good idea of what the dev is all about. 

One developer I would strongly advise AGAINST using is Fluffy Audio. I've been using sample libraries since the 90s -- actually 80s if you count hardware sample based synths -- and own several Fluffy Audio libraries. While the developer makes decent libraries, there's nothing that other competitors don't do as well or better. But where Fluffy Audio was an absolute shocking an unprofessional nightmare unlike anything I've experienced with another developer was when I spent nearly one year making the same customer support request without a response. I took to Facebook to write a polite but stern message saying I liked their libraries but their support is non-existent and the developer immediately deleted my post and blocked me. I made a thread at this forum and VI Control sharing my experience and the dev made a series of personal attacks calling me a liar, asserting that I'm insane -- stuff I never dreamed of (what business person does that to their customers?), I don't know the guy beyond buying his libraries. But after the incident, a contractor who has worked with him told me that the dev's behavior with me was not a surprise to him, that he has "issues" the contractor was aware of.  Whatever, the case, I would strongly recommend avoiding them at all costs. In addition, the developer claimed publicly that he was going to be making an update to his library I owned regarding the support requests  I made (that his string libraries would be able to play polyphonically, without legato) -- he never did.  
 

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husker

husker

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21 hours ago, jngnz said:

So after successfully dodging buying Kontakt Full for years so I wouldn't buy a million libraries (and SSDs), I had to cave because someone on KVR was selling Kontakt 7 for ridiculously cheap.

With easter coming up and already looking at summer deals or even BF, what deals for Kontakt libraries do I need to look out for? What are some of your favourite libraries? Must-haves? Secret weapons? I've seen the Sampletekk and Alex Pfeffer deals, but there's probably a ton of similar stuff I'm unaware of.

Congratulations BTW.  Kontakt is one of the most used VSTs on the planet -  its certainly my most used.  Quite honestly, as an application is really stinks, but it really does open up a brand new world.

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Fleer

Fleer

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4 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

Okay, I'm on my computer now and can provide a deeper list of developers I'd recommend. 

SonicCouture. All top notch. but  pricey. I only buy when there's a sale. I have maybe a dozen of their libraries and all of them are excellent. Pick up all of their freebies.  

Embertone. Their 1955 Steinway D Lite goes on sale for cheap. I think as cheap as $5 USD. I love the lite version and never upgraded because I'm super happy with the lite library. 

Cinematique Instruments. This dev is excellent at sound design libraries. Pick up their many freebies, including their Klang line freebies, to get a taste of what they do. I'll include a link to the correct section because their Klang site is a usability nightmare, but their libraries are not.  https://klang.cologne/klangX_shop.php

Production Voices. I own several of this dev's piano libraries and I really like them a lot. I'd recommend downloading the FREE Death Piano for KONTAKT to get started. It is full of reverses and odd treatments of a grand piano and I love it.  
https://www.productionvoices.com/death-piano-le/

Xperimeta Project. Everything I have from this developer is superb. I think the first library I picked up from them was a vibraphone library and I use it a lot. Download their FREE Preparato Piano, it's a prepared piano that is incredibly good and has a bunch of really good patches to the point it's surprising that they give this away free. 
https://www.xperimentaproject.com/preparato-piano-free/

Waverunner. This developer has some very different libraries.  I own their cello, viola and a few others. None of them are my go to libraries for their categories, but they're different and I find some inspiring. 

Heavyocity. If you haven't already picked up their FREE Foundations series, I'd strongly recommend doing so. A top notch developer.

Orange Tree Samples.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I've worked with them and I'm friends with the developer, so you can write me off as biased. I worked on brainstorming sessions for the Evolution line, so it basically is my ultimate guitar and bass libraries. But I'm far too hypercritical of sample libraries and brutally honest that I would let my personal relationship bias me. I've advised more than two dozen sample library and plugin developers and mostly avoid mentioning any of them because I realize that once I state my relationship, most people will discount my opinions.  So, upfront, I totally understand anyone writing my opinion off, I'm not offended. But I'm hypercritical and even made agreements with devs that I would be able to retain my right to share critical personal opinions about their products when working with them. Mostly, I avoid sharing opinions on developers I've worked with, but OTS is on another level. I was a fan before I worked with them. I know a bunch of their competitor developers personally and the consensus is that OTS -- the founder, Greg Schlaepfer really --  is innovative, brilliant and has long led the way in the guitar and bass sample library space. Their guitar and bass libraries offer a level of realism/detail and controllability that is unparalleled (I'd say the closest second is  a developer out of China that makes their own plugins, Ample Sounds). You can start using them without a learning curve for playing in real-time, but once you spend some time getting to learn how to get different articulations out of it, once you learn the strumming engine, it's amazing. There's still nothing like it. I have a long background of working with CTOs, engineers and scientists in the tech, analysis and chemical industries and the innovation of the Evolution series line of guitars is truly extraordinary and reminds me of some of the really innovative technologies I've witnessed. But here's the thing, like stuff like mobile phones -- and industry I used to be in -- more than 90% of users of these products don't even scratch the surface. You can start playing the libraries without any knowledge, but if you spend time learning the Evolution libraries, it's amazing what you can acheive on a MIDI keyboard and everything you learn in one Evolution guitar library can be used in the other libraries. But it's when you dive in, spend some time and start using it, you see why this library gets used in final productions on pop hits, movies, TV and trailers. I've talked to other devs who make guitar libraries, and a number of them have acknowledged that they have attempted to reverse engineer OTS' Evolution (Andrew Aversa at Impact Soundworks once told me -- I have it in written correspondence, so I'm not concerned about stating that publicly -- that Evolution was the inspiration for his own Shreddage line, but his line is much more limited).  Sound on Sound called the OTS' E -- the most coveted and iconic Rhodes electric piano in history used in a bunch of iconic recordings -- the ultimate Rhodes sample library (or something like that, I'm paraphrasing from memory) and I would agree. But it's not cheap. Their piano is very good. But their guitars and basses are the best there are, IMO. 


Westwood -- Pick up their FREE felt piano. It's very nice. 

ON MY WATCH LIST: 
Sonixenima - This dev has two cello libraries that sound fantastic to my ears (they're both on the dry side). But they have a bunch of freebies that are really small,  so they're not very usable, but they do give you a good idea of what the dev is all about. 

One developer I would strongly advise using is Fluffy Audio. I've been using sample libraries since the 90s -- actually 80s if you count hardware sample based synths -- and own several Fluffy Audio libraries. While the developer makes decent libraries, there's nothing that other competitors don't do as well or better. But where Fluffy Audio was an absolute shocking an unprofessional nightmare like anything I've experienced with another developer was when I spent nearly one year making the same customer support request without a response. I took to Facebook to write a polite but stern message saying I liked their libraries but their support is non-existent and the developer immediately deleted my post and blocked me. I made a thread at this forum and VI Control sharing my experience and the dev made a series of personal attacks calling me a liar, asserting that I'm insane -- stuff I never dreamed of (what business person does that to their customers?), I don't know the guy beyond buying his libraries. But after the incident, a contractor who has worked with him told me that the dev's behavior with me was not a surprise to him, that he has "issues" the contractor was aware of.  Whatever, the case, I would strongly recommend avoiding them at all costs. In addition, the developer claimed publicly that he was going to be making an update to his library I owned regarding the support requests  I made (that his string libraries would be able to play polyphonically, without legato) -- he never did.  
 

He’s an Italian Italian from Italy. 
(Heck, I looooooooooove Italy)

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

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2 hours ago, jngnz said:

What's really in there that’s special apart from Noire?

I love KOMPLETE.  My favorite instruments and effects are Noire, Abbey Road 60s Drums,  the 3 NI pianos (2 grands and an upright), the Cuban, Western Africa. Middle East and Indian Spotlight multiple instrument libraries, The Giant, Una Corda,  Studio Drummer, Massive and Massive X, Guitar Rig and some of the effects included, especially the transient designer.  Lofi Glow is kind of cool too.  Session Strings and Session Horns aren't killer libraries,  but I still find myself using the former a lot and used it on a number of songs. 

The organ and electric piano libraries are bland and dated. I wish they would replace those with better libraries of the same instruments. 

This is the first song I tried doing around 21 years after I stopped playing music after a repetitive stress injury resulting in lifelong tendonitis made it impossible to play a full song without pain and I used the KONTAKT factory library Wurli, Abbey Road Drums, Session Strings (and another KONTAKT string library I picked up for $29 USD),the guitars and bass are from Orange Tree Samples. Although this was before they came out with the Vintage Violin Hofner bass, so I probably should update it (plus I'm certain I can do a better job on the drums by now, this was my first time attempting to play and I was in pain by the end of the song). Everything was a first take, so while my timing was once superb many years ago, pre-injury, it was especially shaky on this, but all things considered, I am pretty happy with how it came out. 
 

This cover features the same two string libraries, the Noire piano and the B3 included with KOMPLETE. I used the Skybox Hammers and Waves 145B (Wurli) library. The guitar and bass are all Orange Tree Samples Evolution libraries.  I believe the Vibes were either Orange Tree Samples or Xperimenta Project. I used Superior Drummer 2.0 for the drums but easily could have used one of the libraries included with KOMPLETE. 

 

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jesse g

jesse g

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I have't touch all of the instruments I got when I purchased KU13.  I have received some free ones, over time, but the instruments tht came with KU13 are more than what I need.  I need to go ahead and purchase the full version of Kontakt 7.

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