Best value virtual instrument bundle? (particularly guitar/drums)

[therestisnoise]

Hello,

There's plenty of fantastic free virtual instruments out there but I'm at a point now where I want to 'level up' and get a more comprehensive and versatile virtual instrument arsenal. Am quite open to spend a bit but am interested in what the opinions are in terms of best bang for your buck.

All round pop/rock stuff is what I'm after, but in particular a decent drum and electric guitar library (I am a keyboardist and can't play guitar or drums unfortunately!). Am very tempted by NI Komplete 14 Standard (the Electric Mint guitar looks very good - need to investigate drums more) but am wondering how much use I'd have for all the various plugins included. When I roughly price up purchasing a decent drum library and decent guitar library, i'm well on my way to half the price of Komplete Standard (if not more) so am wondering whether to just go full hog? Thought appreciated.

Cheers.

[BBFG#]

Myriad of opinions from various members will follow...

Mine is currently this -
I've accumulated about a half dozen drum plugins and a hefty amount of folder filled samples for a few "samplers" and TBH, can't say I'm 100% happy with any of them. (Far from it in fact.)
But since it seems you might be looking more for already made grooves, maybe XLN Addictive Drums 2 would do you fine. I know I most often start with that and almost as often leave it to the final mix. (But do often add second and/or third tracks from it or another drum plugin.)
These can be accumulated fairly cheap through 2nd hand deals and regular 50% off sales.

Guitars, again I have bought, sold and dumped many of the popular titles and pretty much use Musiclab Real run through Blue Cat Axiom 90% of the time. With the remaining 10% geared to AAS Strum & VS3 String Studio. And sometimes there are presets in my synth programs that do the job the best as well.
But note that Musiclab and Blue Cat sell NFR licenses. So AAS may be your best start and again can be bought for a good price in 2nd hand deals.

I've come to avoid anything by Native Instruments or IK Multimedia though since the old adage of "the cheap comes out the most expensive" with them applies far too often and I've had to cut my losses to be free from those bank drains...
(And often infuriating policy/support practices).

YMMV

[mixyguy2]

Hello,

There's plenty of fantastic free virtual instruments out there but I'm at a point now where I want to 'level up' and get a more comprehensive and versatile virtual instrument arsenal.

What is it about the freebies that you aren't satisfied with? Which have you used?

Am very tempted by NI Komplete 14 Standard

If all you're after is drums and guitar, I can't imagine why.

There are numerous options, and opinions are like......you know. Orange Tree are highly regarded and rightfully so for guitars IMO. EZDrummer and it's big brother Superior Drummer are similarly for drums.

[therestisnoise]

Myriad of opinions from various members will follow...

Mine is currently this -
I've accumulated about a half dozen drum plugins and a hefty amount of folder filled samples for a few "samplers" and TBH, can't say I'm 100% happy with any of them. (Far from it in fact.)
But since it seems you might be looking more for already made grooves, maybe XLN Addictive Drums 2 would do you fine. I know I most often start with that and almost as often leave it to the final mix. (But do often add second and/or third tracks from it or another drum plugin.)
These can be accumulated fairly cheap through 2nd hand deals and regular 50% off sales.

Guitars, again I have bought, sold and dumped many of the popular titles and pretty much use Musiclab Real run through Blue Cat Axiom 90% of the time. With the remaining 10% geared to AAS Strum & VS3 String Studio. And sometimes there are presets in my synth programs that do the job the best as well.
But note that Musiclab and Blue Cat sell NFR licenses. So AAS may be your best start and again can be bought for a good price in 2nd hand deals.

I've come to avoid anything by Native Instruments or IK Multimedia though since the old adage of "the cheap comes out the most expensive" with them applies far too often and I've had to cut my losses to be free from those bank drains...
(And often infuriating policy/support practices).

YMMV

Thanks for this. Will check out the plugins you mention. As I say in my original post, I'm more attracted to the value for money in terms of variety and amount of instruments that is offered by bundled. Kontakt just strikes me as the best by this criteria at least, but interesting what you say in your last paragraph about your experience with NI. Will take into account.

Re. loops - I'm not interested in using loops exclusively, rather I find a decent variety (of styles) and amount of loops useful for quick mockups/getting started and I may substantially alter/rearrange the patterns later.

Hello,

There's plenty of fantastic free virtual instruments out there but I'm at a point now where I want to 'level up' and get a more comprehensive and versatile virtual instrument arsenal.

What is it about the freebies that you aren't satisfied with? Which have you used?

Am very tempted by NI Komplete 14 Standard

If all you're after is drums and guitar, I can't imagine why.

There are numerous options, and opinions are like......you know. Orange Tree are highly regarded and rightfully so for guitars IMO. EZDrummer and it's big brother Superior Drummer are similarly for drums.

Re free instruments - MT PowerDrummer and SSD Free. They work very well but am feeling limited by variety of loops and some of the composing tools that seem to be on offer by paid packages.

I'm not only "after drums and guitar". As I say in my original post, pop/rock in general but to have a broad arsenal of libraries is ultimately the goal (as presumably it is for lots of composers). Yes, there is a particular priority in guitar and drums but as I also say in my original post, I could purchase a guitar and drum library and be well on my way to at least half what Kontakt Standard goes for. So am wondering to just save up and put it in to a substantial library.

Appreciate the input from you both.

[jeffn1]

Komplete 14 standard sounds like a decent option. My only advice is not to pay full price.

Look into people reselling Komplete 13 (here on the k-v-r buy/sell forum).

Or if you have time, wait until they discount it. It is a much better deal at that time.

Jeff

[_leras]

Komplete is a great addition to a DAW.

Guitar Rig is excellent, and there are lots of drum options - plus all the synths and then sound packs.

Worth it if you ask me. If you can wait for the sales they sometimes do a good discount. Or as Jeff said if you can get a legit copy of and earlier version you'll also be good.

Even as far back as Komplete 9 should have Guitar Rig 5 and may be available very cheap.

[trusampler]

Orange Tree Samples Guitars are really good. ( Strawberry ) is an excellent library/instrument.
I personally wouldn't buy guitar rig,but rather I'd go straight to some of the best dev's for guitar sims > Neural DSP really good, imo better sounding tones than the NI stuff, and IK toneX stuff. That's just my opinion, good luck with your choices.

[BBFG#]

Orange Tree Samples Guitars are really good. ( Strawberry ) is an excellent library/instrument.
I personally wouldn't buy guitar rig,but rather I'd go straight to some of the best dev's for guitar sims > Neural DSP really good, imo better sounding tones than the NI stuff, and IK toneX stuff. That's just my opinion, good luck with your choices.

OTS is a perfect example of a Kontakt library you buy to add to NI instead of using NI libraries. It gets to be a regular thing of chasing a better "insert instrument" rabbit hole of cost.

[mixyguy2]

I'm not only "after drums and guitar". As I say in my original post, pop/rock in general but to have a broad arsenal of libraries is ultimately the goal (as presumably it is for lots of composers).

ah OK, well you said "in particular a decent drum and electric guitar library," so wasn't sure how much more important the other stuff was relative to that.

I could purchase a guitar and drum library and be well on my way to at least half what Kontakt Standard goes for. So am wondering to just save up and put it in to a substantial library.

You could, but you don't have to. You could get good guitars and drums for far less than that.

I think this gets down really to two things:

1. If you would be happy with something simply good or are determined to get the best or close to it. No right or wrong answer there...it's well and fine to want the best possible, but IMO diff's between instruments is often exaggerated, so there's no need to try and get "the best," which is all subjective anyway. But again you can get very respectable drums and guitars for free, and Lord knows a ton of great synths, pianos, effects (I could go on) as well. So picking and choosing things vs getting everyone in one big Kontakt or Komplete purchase wouldn't necessarily cost as much or more in the end, and quite possibly a lot less.

2. How much of that "all around" stuff you really want. Kontakt and Komplete packages have their appeal absolutely. You get a ton of stuff. But to me, getting that is like getting one of those all-inclusive vacation deals where all the food and drink are included. Again, has its appeal. You pay once, you're done, you have everything you need and no need to pick and choose. But for as much money or maybe even less, you could have had better, and only got what you really want vs extra stuff, some of which you may never use. And while most of the things in Kontakt/Komplete are at least good, and some things really good, you may find after a time that this or that isn't good enough and you want better, esp when you hear some instrument from another company that clearly is better than the NI version you have. But because you paid so much for their package, you feel somewhat inclined to use it so your money wasn't wasted.

And that's all a lot of maybe's which may not be at all for you, just something to consider and IMO. I have Kontakt, but only because I got an excellent deal on it and because there's so much stuff I want to use that I need Kontakt for...unfortunately, because I hate the damn thing and the way the company handles their products. And I do have a lot of stuff that is better than the version of it that Kontakt has.

PS side note: Guitar Rig is not a guitar; it's guitar effects, amps, etc.

[therestisnoise]

Folks, thanks all for your opinions. I am very grateful for your input. I am such a terrible impulse purchaser so this is all good in prompting pause for thought and guiding me to more research.

Komplete 14 standard sounds like a decent option. My only advice is not to pay full price.

Look into people reselling Komplete 13 (here on the k-v-r buy/sell forum).

Or if you have time, wait until they discount it. It is a much better deal at that time.

Jeff

Thanks for this. Am a little wary of parting with this much cash with strangers but i'll have to keep an eye on that forum and go from there. Presumably if I purchase a legit licence 2nd hand, I can still upgrade to 14 later if I wanted to? Perhaps that could be more cost effective if I get a good deal on a 2nd hand K 13 licence. Re. sales, do you know when NI tend to do them? Hopefully Black Friday!

@mixyguy2 - lots of good points here and all things for me to factor in.

Thanks again, all!

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[jeffn1]

There are a lot of articles and even videos about getting the best discounts on Komplete and Kontakt. Here is just one (which I have not read), but do a Google search and you'll find more:https://www.musicmanta.com/views/the-ch ... nstruments

[therestisnoise]

So here's a cautionary tale on holding off from significant purchases until you've thoroughly researched... I purchased Cubase Artist a couple of years ago but have since switched DAWs (Reaper) and Reaper didn't scan some of Steinberg's VSTs included with Cubase, namely Groove Agent SE. After some cursory Google searches, I assumed this was a deliberate limitation by Steinberg to get you to purchase full Groove Agent. Anyway, I decided to just double check this avenue yesterday and it turns out you absolutely can get Groove Agent SE to be scanned by other DAWs, you just have to select the package in Steinberg Download Assistant rather than rely on the default 'bundled' install. So, I now have a decent drum library! And this further adds to the suggestion to hold off/avoid Komplete package before exploring all options.

@JockMcRonan - thanks for the tips. Totally get what you mean about libraries that would be unused. As I say, it's just this feeling that Komplete would would cover a lot of ground because you never know what you may need until you need it!

@jeffn1 - sorry, a little lazy of me when I could just Google myself but often I find personal insight cuts through a lot of SEO links from a search. That link is useful though, cheers.

[jeffn1]

No prob, I was sort of surprised how much information there is on the web how to navigate NIs pricing to get the best deal.

[mixyguy2]

A lot of plugins, esp those by major companies and on pricier items, have sales at various times, Black Friday the most common, so I would always look for a sale first, and extra esp for large libraries or bundles like Kontakt, VIs, etc.