If you had to pick between Steinberg and Native Instruments who you think makes the better virtual instruments between the two? Whose better with the updates? Too bad about the bug issues with cubase 7, but I'm sure that will get that fixed.

No that it matters but how is Steinberg who is owned by Yamaha have only 19,000 followers while Native Instruments has 100,000 plus. I mean doesn't that show the level of interests is greater in NI's stuff. Maybe I'm looking at this wrong.

well kontakt seems like the standard format for sample libaries and some are encrypted. Softsynths like massive and fm8 seem way more mainstream. So it really depends and what vs. what. overall I'd go with NI, but if looking for something special they do have padshop and retrologue is also cheaper if looking for something simple.

They produce different equipment, Steinberg is "a DAW" company, while NI is better for samples and modular synhts (Reaktor)

But match-up could be like this I guess:

Absynth VS Padshop Pro
Massive VS Retrologue
Kompakt VS Halion

Just take a look on this site and compare how many NI products are lauded here compared to Steinberg - the balance is overwhelmingly in the favor of NI.

Undoubtely...

I had Cubase 5, and have Komplete. Based on the instruments that come stock with Cubase, NI wins hands down. Not even close really.

I wouldn't put too much value on those numbers, could be that NI is better at promos like "like NI and get something free" than Steinberg is.

The Steinberg instruments are perfectly fine.

Native Instruments probably has more followers because their products are available for almost all DAWs, whereas I'd not be surprised if most of Steinberg's VST users are Cubase users as well. (Steinberg's standalone plugin products do run on other DAWs... I just rarely see non-Cubase people using them.)

The thing is, with Native Instruments' broad support, there are more third parties producing commercial and free sound packs for them. Third party soundpacks probably exist for some of the Steinberg plugins, but I've never seen any.

And it is true that Steinberg doesn't have anywhere near the advertising budget Native Instruments does. I get NI ads everywhere I go on the web. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Steinberg banner or Flash ad?

Massive Vs Retrologue : So Wavetable Vs VA .....

Also, you probably meant Kontakt

To OP : Consider that Steingerg is quite new in the VSTI department, while NI have been there for ages. Makes a difference in the number of fans you'll find here, and probably in many other places.

Then, I love some NI stuff, but I have not tested the Steinberg ones enough to comment, or compare them, so just saying ( Except that I use Halion for ages and its really fast to work with )

LtZ

Wasn't Steinberg the original developer of the VST format?

I think they've been in the business longer than NI.

He he, no I meant Kompakt

But none of the standalone NI's synths are VA (not counting discontinued ones), so I was thinking mostly in terms of sounds, which synth can make the fattest, heaviest bass?

They do different things, and they each do them very well.

I own a ton of gear from all over, but from this point on, if I had to, I would do very nicely with ONLY Cubase 7 and Komplete 8U.

Cheers
-B

Yes, NI are the younger. My biggest problem with Steinberg (now Yamaha, so advertising budget larger than most) is that they discontinue so much of their stuff. Xphrase, D'Cota, Plex, Hypersonic... There's a growing list. NI are no saints either (Pro-53, Spektral delay, Kore), but at least they've been fairly reliable with the synths I chose (Absynth, FM7, Kontakt).

Personally, the really mad stuff is Reaktor - loving Razor and the oldies of Carbon1/2 still. Kontakt is the industry standard, having overtaken even EXS24 and certainly Halion, Sampletank and Giga. There's a degree of futureproofing with Reaktor and Kontakt, as one is the base for NI's esoteric new synth stuff and the other makes money for Ni through third party channels as well as their own development, Massive just happened to catch a trend at the right time to become established, and Guitar Rig is still the most interesting creative effects suite for really experimental guitar ( and synth) effects design.

Anyway, buy for now not for later. I still mean to try out halionsonic, and the new NI mastering stuff looks quite tasty. so much to choose from, there's no need to create a deathmatch! Right now, I'm looking hard at Chromaphone from AAS and at some Nexus expansions. so much good stuff......

Yes, you are looking at this wrong.

While Steinberg has very good (now) VSTi's, Native Instruments does not have anything close to Cubase or Nuendo. Steinberg invented VST, ASIO and probably other "firsts" in the music software area. Of course you could compare DP, Pro Tools, Sonar, Ableton Live and Logic in the same way to NI. Not really IMO the way to look at making your music. If you like the instruments NI makes, get them. If you like Steinberg instruments - get them also. If you like Steinberg's Daws - get them...etc.

Get them ALL!!!!! and make your music

As an aside, Nexus expansion packs are all $10 off this month, plus today (the 6th), if you use the coupon code "Northpole" you'll get another $10 off that.

I just had to tear myself away from their Shop because I don't use Nexus in any completed tracks but I love playing around with it and using it as a "scratch" instrument when tracking.