KVR Audio

Garven · Post by **Garven** » Wed Feb 27, 2019 5:49 pm

Hi folks.

I used to be very into MIDI and home recording with multitrack cassette, etc. as a hobby, back in the 80's but got away from it. I'm getting back into it now and looking to invest a few dollars in some software.
I'm comfortable with audio software since I do a lot of digitizing vinyl records and audio restoration so I have a decent array of VSTs, editors such as Adobe Audition and iZotope RX, and also have Reaper for a DAW. I play electric and acoustic guitar and have an interface (Steinberg UR44) for recording. I also have an old Korg M1 I may press back into duty as a MIDI controller, or possibly sell and invest in a new controller keyboard.
What I don't have and want to get is a good set of samples, instruments, loops, patterns, etc. These are mainly for rhythm section, piano, pads, etc. It's only for hobby purposes, nothing professional or live.
I find myself trying to decide which of the following to choose: Reason 10, Sampletank 4 or Kontakt 6. Reason and Kontakt are roughly the same price whereas Sampletank 4 Max is about $100 cheaper until March 5.
I've been leaning towards Reason since its 30-day trial gives me access to the complete set of sounds, loops, patterns, etc. whereas the free versions of Sampletank and Kontakt don't really give me an idea of everything they include (yes, I've checked out the lists of instruments available for download for them).
I'm wondering if I should just pull the trigger on buying Reason since it seems to have everything I need and some interesting possibilities to add as refills (the piano bass and drums refill for example). Or, would I be better off grabbing Sampletank and using it with Reaper. It seems to come with some loops and patterns plus there are lots around the net for free or reasonably priced. Kontakt seems a bit more elusive but some of the comments I've read around the net seem to indicate it sounds better than Sampletank.
Anyway, just looking for your thoughts. Thanks.

dandezebra · Post by **dandezebra** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 3:58 am

I do not know much about Reason.

Many third party libraries for Kontakt are unmatched. You could wait a few months and pick up Komplete 12 during summer sale for ~50% off if they keep their sale pattern the same. The rabbit hole is deep though. Ha!

I have ST3 and don't use it much besides for playing some older sounds. Waiting on ST4 but, for some reason, I'm not too optimistic. I love me some Kontakt though.

riley4reason · Post by **riley4reason** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:11 am

Stick with Kontakt, I bought ST4 Monday and I’m still trying to get it installed. Native instruments installer is far superior.

Distorted Horizon · Post by **Distorted Horizon** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:17 am

Buy second hand R10 from the kvr market place. Seen them going for 150€.
After you've seeked through the possibilities it offers, you have saved enough cash for Kontakt.

Stay away from sampletank.

Deep Purple · Post by **Deep Purple** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:19 am

Reason is very useful if you want to take a modular approach and work with CV, and it has a much broader array of tools than Kontakt or Sampletank. In fact, it's a full-blown DAW, where the other two are not.

As for Kontakt and Sampletank, they seem to hit the same demographic, but I would go with Kontakt rather than Sampletank as it's pretty much become the industry standard sampler.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 5:26 am

Distorted Horizon wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:17 am Buy second hand R10 from the kvr market place. Seen them going for 150€.
After you've seeked through the possibilities it offers, you have saved enough cash for Kontakt.

Stay away from sampletank.

+1

Distorted Horizon · Post by **Distorted Horizon** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:41 am

Distorted Horizon wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:17 am Stay away from sampletank.

The industry standard for "spend more time with fighting the software rather than actually using it"

riley4reason · Post by **riley4reason** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:38 pm

IKmultimedia make some great products. But sampletank is Not one of them

Deep Purple · Post by **Deep Purple** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:53 pm

I would definitely agree with everyone who says avoid Sampletank

XorXisT · Post by **XorXisT** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:10 pm

If you want instruments, go Kontakt.

If you need vocal pitch correction & vocoder (among other features) + instruments + fx, go Reason.

IMO you don't need & want IK. Their free stuff is already expensive imho.

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:07 pm

this would be a simple decision for me. sample tank.

riley4reason · Post by **riley4reason** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:29 pm

If SampleTank 4 were free, it would cost you 1/4 of a terabyte for storage because the don't let you download it again after 180 days, you have to buy a download token. It would cost you all the inspiration you had for creativity because the installation process is so tedious it's not worth the best sounds in the world. There are no real details on how to install in the installation manual. I bought this thinking they had modern installers like Native Instruments, so it's my mistake for not digging in deeper. Nowhere in their marketing do they say to block out a week of your life for tedious installation and bug reporting.

Deep Purple · Post by **Deep Purple** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:35 pm

That whole thing with paying to download their products again after 180 days is just insane. It certainly makes me not want to buy any of their products - if I buy something I want to buy it once, not keep paying to download it again if I buy a new laptop.

Dasheesh · Post by **Dasheesh** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:51 pm

ugh. i didn't realize you had to pay to redownload. i guess that's how they keep it cheaper. my thought process is, if everyone else is using kontakt sounds, i'm going to go use sample tank sounds. they were cheaper anyway.

zzz00m · Post by **zzz00m** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:05 pm

It's $10 to open up all your IK downloads for another 180 days. That's cheaper than cloud storage, or a new external hard drive.

Trying to decide: Reason, Sampletank or Kontakt