Native Instruments has released Kore Player, a free software instrument that adds full "ready-to-play" capabilities to the recently established line of Kore Soundpack libraries, of which four new ones have just been released (see below). Based on the innovative Kore 2 host system, the Kore Player enables musicians and producers to efficiently access and play any Kore Soundpack material in their host sequencer and as a standalone instrument.

Kore Player

Kore Player is based on the same six integrated sound engines as Kore 2, combining the sonic capabilities of Absynth, FM8, Guitar Rig, Kontakt, Massive and Reaktor within a straightforward and easy-to-use interface. By offering Kore-style preset browsing, with intuitive sound categorization based on musical attributes, Kore Player makes it easy to utilize the full potential of the Kore Soundpack collections, and find the right sound fast for any musical application and purpose.

Kore Player is now available as a free download for Windows and Mac OS X on the NI website, and includes a compact "get-started" Kore Sound library with instantly usable sounds.

New Kore Soundpacks

Native Instruments has also announced the release of four additional high-quality libraries within the recently established Kore Soundpack line. The new sound packs offer a wide selection of inspiring, production-ready sound material for various musical applications and styles, ranging from state-of-the-art synthesizer sounds to highly authentic horns and versatile acoustic drums, all specifically optimized for use in Kore 2 and in the free Kore Player.

Complementing the four Kore Soundpacks already available, the new libraries include:

• Massive Expansion Vol. 1: contains 200 production-ready leads, basses and pad sounds based on the powerful Massive wavetable engine.
• Best of Absynth: with 200 soundscapes, pads and keyboard sounds from the library of Native Instruments' semi-modular synthesizer.
• Pop Drums: featuring studio-grade acoustic drum kits specifically engineered for pop productions, and equipped with an extensive collection of MIDI grooves.
• Kontakt Sax & Brass: a library of highly sophisticated trumpet, saxophone and trombone instruments, recorded by renowned sampling specialist Chris Hein and designed for Jazz, Funk, and R'n'B styles.

The new Kore Soundpacks are now available for download purchase on the NI website for a price of $59 / €49, with Pop Drums being priced at $79 / €69.

Kore v2.0.2

This update provides:

• Compatibility to all Kore Soundpacks, as well as an optional Kore Soundpack column within the Browser.
• Several bugfixes, also within the Integrated Engines, in order to improve stability and performance.

Important: The update adds Kontakt 3 to the list of Integrated Engines and uses it for all Kontakt-based sounds: If you own Kontakt 2, but did not update to Kontakt 3, sounds installed with Kore 2 will not open the user interface of Kontakt 2 anymore. All sounds you created yourself remain untouched.