KVR Audio

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:33 pm

loachm wrote:
KKeene wrote:And that's part of the problem. For most uses, it's too much. It's like using a sledgehammer to open a peanut.
...sorry to join the club, but this is not true - Kontakt can be as simple as any other "lightweight" sampler. Load a sample, play - tweak the volume, panning, add a filter, add a modulator to the cut off - how can this be too much?

Add to that the fact that you can reduce the size of the instrument to JUST the main, closed view with nothing open. It makes Kontakt smaller in screen space than most synths. It makes it about the size of the sfz player.

Plus, with scripting, you don't even NEED to open up the instrument to access the insides. It can all be right there.

As small or as large as you want it, and the things you don't want aren't in the way at all, nor do they take up any extra resources.

Brent

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:37 pm

Just for fun, here's a very quick test demo with the Chris Hein picked bass. It's one of the default patches, no effects in either Kontakt or the host, nothing. Just me playing it after a few minutes of acquainting myself with just ONE of the features. It's in real time with NO editing after playing, and only uses two fingers. It's quick, it's dirty, it's not perfect. But it was fun!

http://www.brentrandallmusic.com/chpicked1.mp3

EDIT: Hmmm, when converting to mp3 it cut off the first note. Oh well, it doesn't affect much.

Brent

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:20 pm

Hi,

Other examples that highlight the, frankly, revolutionary impact that the Kontakt scripting engine has had on sampled instrument realtime expressiveness and playability are the sublime Bela D libraries Anthology: Celtic Wind and Anthology: Spiritual Wind. Not to forget Soniccouture's amazing Hang Drum...

/Joey

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:37 am

Oh, most definitely. I'm interested in hearing about other libraries that highlight what makes Kontakt so special. So anyone who has other suggestions, let us know!

Brent

Logic108 · Post by **Logic108** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:45 am

That's a good idea. Personally I find the old East West stuff not that good but really like Mixosaurus, Scarbee, and all of soniccouture libraries. Also add to this list the Bösendorfer piano and of course the Bella D media libraries.
kontakt has some really great sample libraries and it will get better.

Cyrosis · Post by **Cyrosis** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:21 am

Seems like the Garritan solo strings always get forgotten!

http://www.garritan.com/cello.html

One of the biggest innovations the scripting has brought us IMHO.

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:58 am

Hi koolkeys,
not directly Kontakt related (though it's my weapon of choice, too, of course) but bass related instead:
Did you already try Helian 1st Bass (http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=show&id=1933 ) on your samples ? Can sound mighty close to a real SVT 8x10, especially if you don't go apesh*t with the distortion but keep it (almost) clean.

I just love it on Scarbee and Pure E-Basses, the only alternative (including GR3 and many other ampsims) to Helian for me is AM Suite which also sounds absolutely convincing but is not free (though definitely worth the price imho if you need it for more tasks than only bass amplification).
Both Helian and AM can be subtle if you want, and still give you that solid but tight low end.
Cheers,
susiwong

Some day I'll get around to try SVX, I'm afraid I could like it just as well.

loachm · Post by **loachm** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:05 pm

...don't forget this one...

http://www.prominy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18

www.prominy.com

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:18 pm

You're right, the Prominy demos are out of this world.
Can't help but wonder however how they will sound in the hands of a normal human being ?
Their demo programmer must be a mad genius, not only is every little detail exactly like it had been played on a real guitar, it's rather beautiful music too if you're into that style.
Ymmv,
susiwong

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:30 pm

Thanks for the suggestion Susi! I'll try it out. I have a couple of bass guitar processors, but they are all light versions. So the more options, the better!

I have yet to get many of the libraries mentioned, but must say that if you just look at these libraries mentioned alone, it would be hard to argue against Kontakt. It really goes to show the true power and flexibility. I know I keep saying that, and yes it's a bit of me being a fanboy. But still.

I would love to pick up the Prominy guitars, just as I would love the Chris Hein guitars. But since I've been trying to learn REAL e-guitar lately a bit more, I have held off on any electric guitar libraries. It will just make me lazy and not want to learn! But they all do sound amazing.

Also, Garritan Stradivari is one of my next Kontakt purchases, or at least for the future sometime. I got to try it first hand one time, and it does indeed rock!

So many libraries, so little money.

Brent

Cyrosis · Post by **Cyrosis** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:59 pm

koolkeys wrote:Also, Garritan Stradivari is one of my next Kontakt purchases, or at least for the future sometime. I got to try it first hand one time, and it does indeed rock!

You might be a bit disappointed to hear that Garritan has discontinued their solo strings line. This is for a reason of course, which is Garritan Orchestral Strings V2 is on the horizon, and will include his current solo strings, along with others. GOS2 should be an amazing product, but I am still a bit sad that I wont be able to just buy the solo strings since I don't do many full symphonic pieces.

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:00 pm

Cyrosis wrote:Seems like the Garritan solo strings always get forgotten!

http://www.garritan.com/cello.html

One of the biggest innovations the scripting has brought us IMHO.

My memory is good, but short.

Yes, couldn't agree more about the Gofriller - it's arguably one of the most sensuous VI:s yet. Wish I had more time to practise...

The downside (if it's a downside?) of realtime playability is, of course, that one has to spend much more time learning and practising the instrument to get the best out of it, as opposed to triggering canned performances.

/Joey

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:02 pm

Cyrosis wrote:
koolkeys wrote:Also, Garritan Stradivari is one of my next Kontakt purchases, or at least for the future sometime. I got to try it first hand one time, and it does indeed rock!
You might be a bit disappointed to hear that Garritan has discontinued their solo strings line. This is for a reason of course, which is Garritan Orchestral Strings V2 is on the horizon, and will include his current solo strings, along with others. GOS2 should be an amazing product, but I am still a bit sad that I wont be able to just buy the solo strings since I don't do many full symphonic pieces.

I didn't know that. However, if it's true, then no doubt retailers will be blowing these out at some point. So maybe we'll be able to get it cheap?

Brent

Cyrosis · Post by **Cyrosis** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:13 pm

koolkeys wrote:
Cyrosis wrote:
koolkeys wrote:Also, Garritan Stradivari is one of my next Kontakt purchases, or at least for the future sometime. I got to try it first hand one time, and it does indeed rock!
You might be a bit disappointed to hear that Garritan has discontinued their solo strings line. This is for a reason of course, which is Garritan Orchestral Strings V2 is on the horizon, and will include his current solo strings, along with others. GOS2 should be an amazing product, but I am still a bit sad that I wont be able to just buy the solo strings since I don't do many full symphonic pieces.
I didn't know that. However, if it's true, then no doubt retailers will be blowing these out at some point. So maybe we'll be able to get it cheap?

Brent

Its indeed true, Gary himself mentioned it in the forum, and the links to the products have been removed from the main page (I got the link through the support page).

You might be right though, we may see them go cheap; that huge sale he had not long ago makes a bit more sense now, I picked up the cello for a little over $100 to finish off the duet.

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:36 pm

Hi Brent,
Basically it's obvious there is not much competition for Kontakt atm, especially considering the advanced scripting and quality (3rd party) content.
If only it were made by a company more interested in bugfixing and OS support ...
Unbelievable the NI sampling instruments still crash in XP64 when you simply want to change any parameter in the settings dialog, plug as well as standalone. When you change that same parameter manually in the registry it works, so it's just a relatively simple issue of GUI and registry access - most freeware devs would take pride in fixing crap like that overnight, none of my (countless) other plugs has issues in XP64.
On the dark side however they support any new f*rt of the horse bringing us the apple...

But still I don't see alternatives, sadly.
On a brighter note however, if you can get a s/h copy of Pure E-Basses 1 in EXS (24bit) format, by all means buy it. No scripting, but just very very good vintage style P- and J basses, and should be quite cheap.
They import perfectly in K2/3, I've converted them to monolith nki format and they are a joy to use.
No need to talk about Scarbee probably, those guys really rock. If only they'd finally get round to make a decent picked Rickenbacker and P-Bass with roundwounds !

Cheers,
susiwong

THIS is why Kontakt rocks- Chris Hein and Scarbee