KVR Audio

Varillon · Post by **Varillon** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:52 am

I've been using FL Studio for a couple months, and I'm starting to see how confusing the plugin industry is. I listened to samples from Kontakt and 8Dio compatible plugins and several stand-alone. I can hear subtle differences in quality, but this is all too new for me to make any kind of educated judgements.

I want to eventually have an entire orchestra at my fingertips, a plugin for each instrument for complete control. I listen to most genres, so there will be dabbling with each of them.

I'm trying to avoid picking the wrong "plugin path," as I've called it lately. Because of cost, I wouldn't pick 2 plugins, 1 that is compatible with Kontakt and the other with 8Dio, this early. I'd rather stick to one or the other, or avoid both if stand-alone plugins is the way to go.

It looks like there are semi-equivalent effects plugins no matter which direction you take, so my questions are geared more toward instruments.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Feel free to correct my misinterpretations as well. I gotta learn somehow.

RichieWitch · Post by **RichieWitch** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 4:16 pm

I think you'll find that most people consider Kontakt the industry standard for this sort of thing, but most people end up buying it for the plugin and replacing most of the libraries with better 3rd-party instruments. I know I certainly did.

If you are actually looking for "orchestral" instruments however, I would also suggest UVI Workstation. The Workstation plugin is free for download and their orchestral library sounds excellent, much better than Kontakt's in my opinion, and priced at $199. I think it's even on sale right now on the UVI website for 20% off.

Varillon · Post by **Varillon** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 7:36 pm

RichieWitch, I haven't seen UVI before today. Every site seems to point toward Kontakt and Omnisphere. But you really hit the nail on the head. UVI Orchestral Suite looks and sounds perfect for my needs. They have some other software that looks appealing, too. Thank you so much!

RichieWitch · Post by **RichieWitch** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 7:54 pm

Glad I could help!

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:50 pm

You have to know Kontakt is the "engine" where samples from the instruments are loaded to create the "virtual instrument",

if you get Kontakt it comes with lots of samples for lots of instruments, not great but very usable.

There are two versions of Kontakt: the player (free) and the full version, the first just allows you to use any sampled instrument in it from Native Instruments and some third parties, there are some third party libraries that requiere full kontakt.

So you can consider getting the orchestral library you want without getting kontakt, for example Symphobia by Project sam is a good one.

Native instruments also has an Orchestral series of instruments.

There are other companies, for example EWQL which has a subscription service that gives you access to a lot of instruments for a monthly fee.

Varillon · Post by **Varillon** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 10:07 pm

Thanks, Rod. I wondered if the subscription services were popular. Haven't heard of Symphobia, so I'll take a listen.

Edit: Yes, I realized that Kontakt is a platform where other plugins are loaded. A nested plugin.

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:04 pm

Kontakt player free will give you a good idea of what it can do. The advantage going the Kontakt route is that you will have many many options to choose from plus a huge load of free libraries. Be sure not to buy full price wait for a 50% off discount or upgrade via Drummica a free drum samples librairy for Kontakt. So with the UVI deal you will get what you need right away with like suggested probably better sound than included ones in Kontakt but...there are lots of free banks for Kontakt that might get you there as well depending what you need. And in the long run Kontakt has more to offer IMO. I do own some UVI and I like them so in the even longer run both is also a great option !

Varillon · Post by **Varillon** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 2:15 am

Boone777 wrote:snip...I do own some UVI and I like them so in the even longer run both is also a great option !

Do you find that there are situations where owning several plugins of the same type or instrument makes that big of a difference? I've noticed a lot of people owning all the big names eventually, which seems like overkill to a newb like me.

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 4:14 pm

Varillon wrote:
Boone777 wrote:snip...I do own some UVI and I like them so in the even longer run both is also a great option !
Do you find that there are situations where owning several plugins of the same type or instrument makes that big of a difference? I've noticed a lot of people owning all the big names eventually, which seems like overkill to a newb like me.

yes it is, but some people like to have everything.

Varillon · Post by **Varillon** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:33 pm

rod_zero wrote:yes it is, but some people like to have everything.

Haha At least if this turns into an addiction, this place will make an excellent support group.

RichieWitch · Post by **RichieWitch** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:27 am

Boone777 wrote:Kontakt player free will give you a good idea of what it can do. The advantage going the Kontakt route is that you will have many many options to choose from plus a huge load of free libraries. Be sure not to buy full price wait for a 50% off discount or upgrade via Drummica a free drum samples librairy for Kontakt. So with the UVI deal you will get what you need right away with like suggested probably better sound than included ones in Kontakt but...there are lots of free banks for Kontakt that might get you there as well depending what you need. And in the long run Kontakt has more to offer IMO. I do own some UVI and I like them so in the even longer run both is also a great option !

I agree with Boone777--it's a good idea to get both when you can get a good price. I love some of the great bizarro sorts of libraries (like Altered States or Soundiron's Tape) and my favorite virtual piano is a Kontakt instrument (Sampletekk's "the Big One").

I like UVI for their vintage synth romplers and their inexpensive exotic instrument sets. And of course, the Orchestral Suite.

Really, both plugins are great to have.

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:52 am

Varillon wrote:
Boone777 wrote:snip...I do own some UVI and I like them so in the even longer run both is also a great option !
Do you find that there are situations where owning several plugins of the same type or instrument makes that big of a difference? I've noticed a lot of people owning all the big names eventually, which seems like overkill to a newb like me.

I take my time and carefully select my plugins so that they dont overlap. I dont spend that much on plugins I wait for deals and made a list of what I need and once in a while I pick great deals like the last cassetto group buy for exemple at 15$. There a lots of 10-25$ instrument deals for Kontakt that IMO will give the most value in sound quantity and sounds great. UVI has allowed me to get synthsation mello and piano D all of this for like 40$. I'm not an Ilok fan but it was possible for me to get a chunk of my needs covered for a low price through the market place with UVI.
It took me a couple of years to fill my plugin folder basically took my beer money to buy plugins minus the hangover plus years of fun twisting knobs!
So it's about your needs, and patience if you want to buy wisely I used a bunch a freebies knowing what I'm going to replace them with when the sales come. I don't know what to buy anymore I spent 1k last black friday, money I've put aside during the year and it was so well planned and spent it took all the fun I had collecting I don't need nothing anymore!

I collect freebies for fun and to put into my students folder when they start mixing.

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 1:04 am

If you have not done it yet I suggest you buy the latest Computer Music magazine you'll get like 100 plugins for 6$ downloadable through the vault. That will satisfy your gas for a while and youll get lots of good stuff to play with and to compare with paid plugins and see if you really need something.

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 1:30 am

Overlap will happen though if you buy bundles for exemple when I updated Kontakt to Komplete there was a ton of stuff like delays or guitar amp simulation that I had already covered but all the other cool stuff coming with it I can definetly use.
Also check those threads out:

https://www.kvraudio.com/kvr-developer-challenge/2016/

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=390110&p=6827376&hi ... p#p6827376

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9780&p=6828893&hili ... p#p6828893

It's completely ridiculous what we have for free these days for music. I'd go as far to say you can buy absolutely nothing these days and make more than decent music.

I also generate income from my passion so it justifies some extra investment some people go nuts and buy everything even if its just for fooling around but seriously I find it a much more constructive hobby than many other stupid stuff people can buy. A lot of those plugins have resell value also.

And when you see people buying loads of stuff keep in mind there are a lot of producers and composers here who will get paid for the work done with the huge expensive libraries they buy.

Varillon · Post by **Varillon** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 2:32 am

I had already seen the dev challenge. I think that's an awesome way to get new software tailored for the community.

At the moment UVI is holding my interest, but I have plenty of videos to watch before I settle on anything. And it appears there are no sales for the Orchestral Suite or Komplete 11, so I don't have to be in any hurry.

So glad I found this place. A couple other sites were dying or really unfriendly.

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