what's the best sampler for my needs?

[neverfall]

Whenever I hear "sampler" the first word that comes to mind is KONTAKT.

I don't use it as much as I used to, but it would cover all your needs and more.

[Bernard Quatermass]

well so is Kontakt the best sampler out there? Wouldn't NN-XT be good enough to load samples and map out keys for specific samples?

I think that NN-XT is a fine sampler. My only problem is that I wish that the filter key tracking had a wider range, but it's really just a minor quibble with an otherwise capable sampler. Like I said earlier, for me the big selling point is being able to compress sample libraries down to half size, by converting them into ReFills. Saves a LOT of space on my laptop.

[JamieSkeen]

kontakt is great at "real" instruments and I use Wusikstation for synths, pads and such.

[Benedict]

Seeing you have Reason then I would say NN-XT is your best bet.

It is a capable and easy to use instrument with the added bonus of the rest of Reason added on.

Why pay more money to get something that you already have?

I like both NN-XT and Shortcircuit but Shortcircuit is a sound designers tool whereas NN-XT is much easier and has quite a lot of librabies available.

Don't prolong your own misery and get back to making music.

[bluepride]

Kontakt is really hard to use, and freighted down with tons of stuff you don't really need.

If you haven't yet, make sure to look at Image-Line "DirectWave". It's cheap, and it is fantastic. It's one of only a few *complete* software samplers, in that it does sample editing, sample drag-and-drop, and can actually RECORD samples too. (Think of it - a soft-sampler that actually SAMPLE... wow..)

Once you try DirectWave, you will find that it's really hard to go back to something like Kontakt, which (despite its huge pricetag) is one of the most limited "softsamplers" of them all.

[3ptguitarist]

how is the sound quality engine of all these programs (kontakt, NN-XT, Directwave)? Is there evena difference? Or does it just depend on the sample sounds from sample CD's or presets?

[Benedict]

Generally all samplers sound fine these days some get a bit yukky at extreme transposition but from what you were saying I doubt that you intend to transpose an orchestral sample 5 octaves anyway.

I think it's easiest to think of them as being all about the same and just focussing on choosing the one you relate to best.

I still think that seeing you already own NN-XT then go with that as it quite a decent machine with the bonus of synths and samplers and fx tossed in.

[3ptguitarist]

Generally all samplers sound fine these days some get a bit yukky at extreme transposition but from what you were saying I doubt that you intend to transpose an orchestral sample 5 octaves anyway.

I think it's easiest to think of them as being all about the same and just focussing on choosing the one you relate to best.

I still think that seeing you already own NN-XT then go with that as it quite a decent machine with the bonus of synths and samplers and fx tossed in.

well I don't own Reason yet, but want to. I'd just hate to make a wrong decision, finding out that kontakt was better for all my synths and samples or whatever. I may just stick with Reason for now and check out Kontakt later if I ever need it.