Hey this was my bad, i forgot K5 came with komplete 8 onwards.

So what i am asking is, do you think it's a waste of money to buy komplete 8 upgrade from NI now for $199

i.e should i just wait till K9?

Or a 50% sale?

If you were me would you be happy with K4 and just be patient?

Ok here's the scenario.. TBH kontakt is the only Ni thing i am really interested in, cause so many 3rd party libraries use it. I tried in vain to find good choir and strings libraries for example on exs24, and they just don't exist.

Finally, FINALLY got myself a string library in the recent best service 2 for 1, i bought ethno world and voice and got the peter sidezlack total collection for free! (advanced strings 2 and orchestral essentials)

I can't believe how good these sound for such "outdated" libraries, i think they have brilliantly stood the test of time.

But komplete player is quite limited in it's EDITING, so i wanted the full komplete to load everything into, and i thought i may as well, since i get a nice soprano choir with k5 also.

but the crossgrade at NI is 249 for JUST kontakt 5, yet i scored komplete 7 including shipping for just $235!

So now i only have kontakt 4

1) is there a huge difference between K4 and K5
2) Will K4 still run most commercial libraries
3) if you were me would you take the komplete 8 199 update or wait

thanks!

Oh and should i even bother to install the kontakt 7 factory library when the discs arrive, or just wait till i get into kontakt 5?

I guess after making that drum sampler thread i just realised i got another one with battery 3

Recent rumors point to a Komplete8 price reduction in the next week or so,I'd wait to see if NI reduces the upgrade prices.
Kontakt 5 has better filters,improved time stretching & capabilities that some of the better Kontakt boutique releases now require.
I suspect more developers will be requiring K5 as we move forward.
K4 is very good and you can get lots of work done with it.
I went from Komplete7 to K8U and it was the best upgrade I ever did in the Komplete line,I've had K5,6,7 & now K8U,it's awesome!

Besides all of the extra content most of which I really like,the USB drive installation is worth the price of admission,for me it was quick ,clean and incredibly easy!
I'm surprised other vendors with big libraries haven't also gone this route.

ok thanks kgdrum.. yeah i will wait for an upgrade discount as they often do do that.

cheers.

But maybe if i just hang on and go straight to K9 ultimate i'll get all the new reverbs and softube plugins etc

True but it might be a while,who knows and you might get an incredible upgrade deal on K8U.

I got mine for $399,if you could get this for $299(speculating) or even less,it would be a great deal.
With the success of K8U,NI might feel they can charge a bit more now for K9U,even as an upgrade.
They've added lots of new content recently maybe they might raise the initial price since they see now that users went for the Ultimate line.
I think NI has figured out that their marketing became very predictable so IMO they're trying to change the patterns so users can't predict what they're doing next or predict when.
Last edited by kgdrum on Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:45 pm; edited 1 time in total

Very few libraries out there at the moment requiring K5. Biggest change for me is the way that K5 can handle group fx and the fact that the SSL fx simulation is built in. The only library that I know of that requires this at the moment is the Studio Drummer from Native instruments, which comes with Komplete 8. I'm sure there's others out there and someone will chime in, but its quite rare at the moment.

Play with what you've got and just wait for the next killer deal. I hear no sonic difference between the two.

K4 base library is virtually the same as K5. The base libraries kind of irk me because they'll use most of the same samples, maybe adding a few new sounds or redo a few sounds(not samples), but you have to keep both on your HD so that your paths don't get wrecked. So if you have K3, K4, K5 you have libraries with 95% same exact sample content taking up space.

I think the next cycle for their sales is the Summer Sale.

yeah I would wait. I had K4 for a long time and it is great. I don't see too many libraries requiring K5 yet, so unless there is a specific one you want, I would wait for a sale.

K5 does come with some upgrades, my favorite is the new filters which sound great. However, if you only use presets these may be of limited use to you. Check out a review to see all the new features.

Also I bet once you start playing with some of the other included content, you will change your mind about only being interested in Kontakt. All of the synths included are amazing, and Reaktor is simply mind blowing. Don't forget that you can go to the NI website and find tons of user made Reaktor effects and instruments. Its a mixed bag but some of them are awesome, and all are free.

One nice thing is that K7 has some discontinued stuff, which I missed out on because i skipped it and went from k6-->8. You lucky dog.

Enjoy, Komplete will keep you busy.

OK here's a few libraries, I'm sure there are more.



All new NI libs

Damage

Tronto,VCO & DCO

Project Alpha

LASS 2

Neo Soul Keys 3X

Project SAM Orchestral Essentials, and probably Lumina

Cinematic Guitars 2

Prominy V-Metal

Scarbee Funk Guitar

Soniccouture ep73

Sonokinetic Vivace

FTSamples Timpani

ImpactSoundworks Shreddage II



Last edited by kgdrum on Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

oh, basically all the stuff i'm interested in

"Basically any new Kontakt Player-powered library will be K5, because you can't license KP for K4 anymore."
Quote from Andrew Aversa from Impact Soundworks,the developer of Shreddage 2.


IMO anyone that thinks no libraries require K5 aren't using or buying many of the newer 3rd party libraries.

Thanks KGDrum,

I'm in the same state than Theo, so waiting only a couple of weeks to see if the rumors are true seems very fair.

Also to Theo : I purchased some libraires like Realivox who require K5, BUT .... are compatible with the free K5 player. So maybe you should install the player, then check if devs of libs you're interested in have bought a licence from NI to use the free player

LtZ

U mean the ladies? Will check out the demo sounds as i need a good choir, but need male too of course.
Last edited by TheoM on Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:22 am; edited 1 time in total

Hey forgot to say i already have K5 PLAYER installed for ethno world and peter sidezlack orchestra, and it works great, the reason i wanted the full kontakt was for more shaping and control over these particulalr libraries, but they definitely work in K4 so that's good.

But can K4 FULL and K5 PLAYER co exist on same machine?

Absolutey! No problem even using K4 full & K5 full at the same time,for example some OrangeTree Sample libraries have problems in K5 presently, so K4 is actually recommended for Mac users until NI corrects the issue.
Many users utilize both K4 & K5 all of the time.
Realize only libraries that have the emblem that say "Kontakt Powered " work in the players,or some term like that.
Most developers are quite clear if their libraries require Kontakt full and which version in the stated requirements.
Many great libraries require Kontakt full whether it's 4 or 5.
fwiw to most users even to my own drum damaged ears K5 actually sounds better than K4,I don't think it's an illusion,K4 is great & you can get lots done with it but you're eventually going to want to get K5 or K6 if it's updated for Komplete9.
Time and Software developers keep moving forward the tools are improved and this keeps the revenue stream flowing.