KVR Audio

bermudagold · Post by **bermudagold** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:02 am

EvilDragon wrote: Thu Jan 29, 2026 8:09 pm Actually, Steven H. is the principal developer, he used to work for 8Dio/worked on Soundpaint. After quitting, he started working on Koda, and Mike Greene/Realitone jumped at a later point as an investor only - not as owner.

now I'm wondering if this is related to Soundpaint sudden pivot from "rts" back to pcm, after all the revolutionary hype about "rts"...did Steven take some patents with him when he left?

dune_rave · Post by **dune_rave** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 5:43 am

EvilDragon wrote: Thu Jan 29, 2026 8:09 pm Actually, Steven H. is the principal developer, he used to work for 8Dio/worked on Soundpaint. After quitting, he started working on Koda, and Mike Greene/Realitone jumped at a later point as an investor only - not as owner.

Ah, then that's why I've seen Realibanjo for a while in the video : )

Starbright · Post by **Starbright** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:05 am

This Sampler is freakin' genious, actually as a musician and producer I have to say this is the first kontaktrival/sampler with a good and intuitive UI!

Tiles · Post by **Tiles** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:20 am

Haven't watched the video. Does it load Kontakt libraries? If not then that was it most probably already with it, unfortunately.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:31 am

It doesn't.

Tiles · Post by **Tiles** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:39 am

Thanks

mi-os · Post by **mi-os** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 10:20 am

Another sampler/sample player seems a bit risky at this point. It takes many years to establish a new platform. I don't see me to commit to another system on top of what i already have and start buying libraries all over again. A new sampler wouldn't make much of a difference for most users anyway. Basically, they all just play samples. Better GUIs are always welcome, but don't outweigh the costs of switching platforms.

tq · Post by tq » Fri Jan 30, 2026 12:20 pm

Uhm, you may have missed the news about NI filing insolvency, and the insecurity this produces for Kontakt developers and users. I guess this is an *ideal* moment to come up with a modern alternative, even if it's a coincidence. Naturally, it all depends on their business model, but they seem to have a couple of developers that are already working on porting their libraries to Koda (in the video, you can see stuff from Bunker Samples, Soniccouture, Realitone). I could imagine that they would just charge a nominal fee for the transition - but that's speculation at this point.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 12:31 pm

mi-os wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 10:20 am Another sampler/sample player seems a bit risky at this point. It takes many years to establish a new platform. I don't see me to commit to another system on top of what i already have and start buying libraries all over again. A new sampler wouldn't make much of a difference for most users anyway. Basically, they all just play samples. Better GUIs are always welcome, but don't outweigh the costs of switching platforms.

What seems risky to me, is putting all one’s eggs in the same basket, by buying only one sample system—think Kontakt.

mi-os · Post by **mi-os** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 12:49 pm

I never bought from Bunker Samples, Soniccouture, Realitone because i'm not their target audience. But if a company i've bought libraries switches platform, i'll never buy anything from them again. I may not like the new platform for whatever reasons and i don't like if someone else makes such decisions for me. Too unpredictable. A product has to stay on the platform it was in when i bought it, because that was part of my decision to buy it.

To me, the most used platform is the least risky. But maybe let's talk about this in 10 years again. With the advent of AI tools on the consumer market the situation could be very different in a few years anyway.

agharta · Post by **agharta** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:03 pm

mi-os wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 10:20 am Another sampler/sample player seems a bit risky at this point. It takes many years to establish a new platform. I don't see me to commit to another system on top of what i already have and start buying libraries all over again. A new sampler wouldn't make much of a difference for most users anyway. Basically, they all just play samples. Better GUIs are always welcome, but don't outweigh the costs of switching platforms.

Kontakt has already been dropped by most or even all of the larger sample library developers.
They have developed in-house sample players.
So if you are using a lot of large sample libraries from multiple vendors, you are already used to having to use multiple plugins to play them.

Kontakt hasn't aged well, so the medium sized sample library developers that don't have the resources or interest to develop their own player can benefit from a new modern platform.
I think this is a win for the community.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:22 pm

agharta wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:03 pmKontakt has already been dropped by most or even all of the larger sample library developers.

Not most, and certainly not all, but some.

agharta · Post by **agharta** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:25 pm

EvilDragon wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:22 pm
agharta wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:03 pmKontakt has already been dropped by most or even all of the larger sample library developers.
Not most, and certainly not all, but some.

Which of the larger ones are still mainly developing for Kontakt?
I should have made it clear that I was referring to the mega developers.
Still plenty of mid tier developers that are large and still using Kontakt.
But quite a few of them are already showing interest in KODA.

mi-os · Post by **mi-os** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:49 pm

There is the case of Light & Sound. They have a chamber strings and a piano library. They ditched Kontakt and developed their own player, Incirios. To me, it looks like a strategic failure and sunk cost.

Clever companies at least still sell and support Kontakt versions. Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, Cinesamples to varying degrees. Their own players aren't great success stories, imo.

agharta · Post by **agharta** » Fri Jan 30, 2026 2:01 pm

mi-os wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 1:49 pm Clever companies at least still sell and support Kontakt versions. Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, Cinesamples to varying degrees. Their own players aren't great success stories, imo.

They have to keep supporting their Kontakt libraries as the cost and time taken to port them is significant.
In many cases they will never be ported, at least while Kontakt is still functioning.

KODA Sampler - coming KONTAKT alternative?