KVR Audio

chokehold · Post by **chokehold** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:45 pm

EvilDragon wrote:You can always crossgrade, from any version of Kontakt, to the most recent one.

Yeah, but don't you think it's a rip-off that users are FORCED to upgrade to the newest version - if they want to buy and use libraries that were available when a former version was still current?

It's not that (for example) the K4 libraries Evolve Mutations 1+2 would have been improved in any way with K5 features... you know, processed with the Solid Mix plugins or so.
Nah, they were just re-compiled to make K5 a requirement.

"Yah, sure, of course you can buy these flowers.
But you're going to need this vase with them, can't have the flowers without the vase.
Already got a vase? Bought it here last week?
Well, bad luck. Today's flowers won't fit last week's vase."

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:51 pm

Yes, that's a practice I don't agree with. That's why I'm backing up all the installers in time, before they get converted to the "newest and greatest".

paulbreeze · Post by **paulbreeze** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:56 pm

Yes, but there are ones, where you do not have older version and so cannot do anything. Ie. Soniccouture's wonderful EP73 Deconstructed. ;(

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:16 pm

I bought the upgrade before they put it on sale. At the time, the site said they had none in stock and it could take any amopunt of time to arrive. I shared this on the company forum. After the forum post, it shipped in less than a day.

I looked at the other offerings, and thought about getting a disk shipped with everything. A while ago, NI discontinued Kore, and the same could happen again. I was interested in better choir and string samples. I liked what arrived, but they weren't what I wanted. I asked in the NI forums, and I was told better samples were available elsewhere. It's sad, because I used to find really good products at this company.

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:29 am

To clarify, I was thinking of getting the hard disk, it has reached the point where the company distributes an entire hard disk because it has so many samples, it takes too long to load, and the best way to find what one wants is to buy the disk.

There was once a company which let you audition a single note of a sample set, and if you liked it, purchase the rest of the set and download it. It seems to me that is a better way. I don't know the current status on that, I've been on other tasks.

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:43 am

...sampletank. It may not have the samples you want, but at least it doesn't require installing a hard disk to find out.

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:55 am

That's IK Multimedia. They've been doing various audio things for a very long time. Its website isn't glitzy. It could be because it's another company like me. We've been around awhile.

blueman · Post by **blueman** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:28 am

DaveElson wrote:I suspect.
I just ordered the upgrade to 5, hard to resist the good price, and I *think* they seem to have this kind of sale every year? I upgraded to 4 similarly.
I'm okay with that though, I can live a year behind everyone else

+1

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:51 am

chokehold wrote:Yeah, but don't you think it's a rip-off that users are FORCED to upgrade to the newest version - if they want to buy and use libraries that were available when a former version was still current?"

What I do is keep a machine with the old version. So I have a Windows XP machine with addon libraries for an old version, and I don't transfer them all to the new machine. And a Windows 98 machine with Creamware and Yamaha on it from the 1990s. And it still works great )

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:16 am

Not that I turn Creamware on very often. It used to hook to a digital mixer, but I took that into a local after-school place that was starting a music program. A kid there took it without asking anyone and broke it, he was too emnbarrassed to tell anyone until after the police report. Now it's just hooked up to a Waldorf Q, and for wavetables, I've yet to hear anything approaching some of the sounds one of its designers, Wolfram Franke, made for it. He's got some new software he shares with some studios now, but he's not commercializing it.

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:25 am

A version of Wolfram's work appears in most vendor software these days, but non of it really compares to a Q. For three thousand, a second-hand Q+ is a much better investment, in my opinion. Great control surface too. Kore had four endless control rotaries, Waldorf Q has 58. The profit margin was too low on them, they had to stop making them.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:24 am

I'm all for K6. Er, well......depending.........

kb123 · Post by **kb123** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:21 am

chokehold wrote:
It's not that (for example) the K4 libraries Evolve Mutations 1+2 would have been improved in any way with K5 features... you know, processed with the Solid Mix plugins or so.
Nah, they were just re-compiled to make K5 a requirement.

With the discontinuation of Kore, and the move to make Maschine NI's central hub, NI changed the format of all of its instruments to be Maschine compatible rather than Kore compatible. This is why the format of the Kontakt Player libraries were changed retrospectively - to provide Maschine compatibility. So the intent was not to make the purchase of K5 a requirement, but rather to force out Kore as a central hub - I don't know anyone other than specific Maschine owners that views this as an improvement, for example tagging of instruments/patches has been significantly dumbed down to conform with Maschine.

HeavensOnEarth · Post by **HeavensOnEarth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:43 am

Is XMF or any other industry standard format available for metadata interchange?

paulbreeze · Post by **paulbreeze** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:01 am

kb123 wrote:NI changed the format of all of its instruments to be Maschine compatible rather than Kore compatible. This is why the format of the Kontakt Player libraries were changed retrospectively - to provide Maschine compatibility.

This is not about Kore/Maschine. This is about encryption and library formats. They have to change it, because K5 provides new features. But why re-encode libraries in a newer format, which does not require these features is beyond me. If not to force customers to buy newer version of kontakt...

For example there is Alicias Keys. When they released it, it was encrypted to K4 format. After release of K5 they re-encrypted it and made the K5 a requirement. But the samples/piano itself did not change. So this was clearly only to force the users to upgrade.

And then there is their policy, to encode new stuff always to their newest format. Even if the instrument does not require any features from the newer version.

Don't take me wrong. I love and use NI's products. This thread was only about whether it's a good idea to upgrade kontakt now or wait for the next version.

Is Kontakt 5 being discontinued?