KVR Audio

Kiiryu · Post by **Kiiryu** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:47 pm

It seems like a lot of Kontakt libraries have this oddly fake sound. For example strings will sound like they've been made with chorus and layering. Or I'll see things like Electric guitar libraries where something as simple as single plucked string sounds nowhere near like plugging a guitar into an interface and just playing a string, let alone powerchords.

It just seems like in general a good dry sound is very rare, to the point where it feels like some companies are kind of cheating a bit and not really recording what they say they're recording. I just don't see how certain instruments could be recorded in such a way that they sound as fake as they do, when recording a sample or two with a cheap mic seems to get better results sometimes.

Spin Boyz · Post by **Spin Boyz** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:00 pm

Which kontakt libs? My Orange Tree guitars sound like a real guitar to me when I bypass the fx’s.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:11 pm

cant say ive noticed that in any of the ones ive purchased.
older ones sometimes had only certain notes per octave and used time stretching for the others, giving a strange effect on some of the more stretched ones, but that's a while back now.

Kiiryu · Post by **Kiiryu** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:22 pm

Spin Boyz wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:00 pm Which kontakt libs? My Orange Tree guitars sound like a real guitar to me when I bypass the fx’s.

Can't say I recall which it was. I think I tried two different ones before just saying screw it and making a soundfont for powerchords on my own.

For other instruments I only really started noticing bad ones once I had seen enough good ones. For guitar, it's the only instrument I play myself so I was probably a lot more critical right out of the gate.

Spin Boyz · Post by **Spin Boyz** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:28 pm

I understand. I would probably be the same way. I have an epiphone sg that I need to play more often.

DSmolken · Post by **DSmolken** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:34 pm

Certainly. I've done just that and I'm very proud of it - release something which is not at all recording of what the description says. Bear Sax originally claimed to be a giant flute made from the thighbone of a Siberian bear. I went to great lengths, drilling holes in a tiny duck bone and coloring it with beef grease to photograph it for the original GUI.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:41 pm

DSmolken wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:34 pm Certainly. I've done just that and I'm very proud of it - release something which is not at all recording of what the description says. Bear Sax originally claimed to be a giant flute made from the thighbone of a Siberian bear. I went to great lengths, drilling holes in a tiny duck bone and coloring it with beef grease to photograph it for the original GUI.

i knew it sounded more bird than bear

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:02 pm

DSmolken wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:34 pm Certainly. I've done just that and I'm very proud of it - release something which is not at all recording of what the description says. Bear Sax originally claimed to be a giant flute made from the thighbone of a Siberian bear. I went to great lengths, drilling holes in a tiny duck bone and coloring it with beef grease to photograph it for the original GUI.

You are obviously trying to duck the issue here. Are you a cheater or what?

If so, I want the money I never gave you back in my hot little hands so I can buy somebody eleses fake library.

CrystalWizard · Post by **CrystalWizard** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:11 pm

DSmolken wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:34 pm Certainly. I've done just that and I'm very proud of it - release something which is not at all recording of what the description says. Bear Sax originally claimed to be a giant flute made from the thighbone of a Siberian bear. I went to great lengths, drilling holes in a tiny duck bone and coloring it with beef grease to photograph it for the original GUI.

I knew something funny was going on.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:12 pm

As to the OP, in a word, no.
It seems within the realm of possibilities there are FX enabled out of the box on those.

CrystalWizard · Post by **CrystalWizard** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:36 pm

Not my excellent soniccoutre, hollow sun, orange tree, or NI stuff.
I don’t have that many kontakt libraries.

As suggested it could be effects which you can turn off.

Kiiryu · Post by **Kiiryu** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:52 pm

jancivil wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:12 pm

As to the OP, in a word, no.
It seems within the realm of possibilities there are FX enabled out of the box on those.

Nah, it's not stuff you can disable, like mic choices or reverb, chorus. (There are also libraries without dry recordings, but I don't think that the issue, as long as they sound good.)

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:56 pm

Well, my Kontakt libraries folder is at 333.81 GB, my use is rather extensive and I've never experienced what it seems like you're saying. But I have to say I'm not real sure of what that was now.

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 2:48 pm

It could be some developers who sampled a physical model of a guitar and made it sound good using Kontakt build-in effects. It's not ethical if it's not explicitly said that it's the process being used.

It could also be excessive use of denoising and EQuing the samples to make them sound as clean as possible. You can easily kill a sound doing that.

Desire Inspires · Post by **Desire Inspires** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:43 pm

No, I have not encountered anything like this.

Instruments just souls different in real life than any recording does. It’s a matter of physics.

Do you think expensive Kontakt libraries often cheat?