KVR Audio

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Tue Dec 10, 2024 9:12 am

For a lot of reasons I'm annoyed by the development of Native Instruments (iZotope, PA) and think about leaving their ecosystem.

I have a lot of old Kontakt libraries from third parties which I really like and would miss (Rhythmic Robot, Hideaway Studio, SoundDust etc). I'd like to transfer these to a new sampler to have them at hand in the future.

Has someone of you guys managed such a transition?
What is your experience?
What are the pitfalls?
Which format you chose to migrate to?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Tue Dec 10, 2024 11:13 am

martinjuenke wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2024 9:12 am What are the pitfalls?

That you're probably not going to be able to replicate any of the coded functionality that makes most of these interesting in the first place.

Shabdahbriah · Post by **Shabdahbriah** » Tue Dec 10, 2024 11:31 am

That ^^^

funky lime · Post by **funky lime** » Tue Dec 10, 2024 3:20 pm

Yeah besides the obvious scripting stuff as already mentioned—many a Kontakt library is as much the scripting as it is the sample content—you also miss out on it being basically the most popular platform for developers releasing new sample libraries, if that matters to you (i.e. if you frequently use Kontakt as a rompler). Having tried several other companies' romplers (Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, EastWest, VSL Synchron, Soundpaint, Musio, UVI Workstation), I found them all lacking in at least one major way (if not more) compared to Kontakt. Synchron is probably the least frustrating of the bunch; Spitfire borders on egregious. But then again, none of these are proper "samplers" in the way that Kontakt is, except for maybe Soundpaint (but it is very limited in that regard).

Now if you're just doing your own sampling, that's probably a whole different story.

mixyguy2 · Post by **mixyguy2** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 2:15 am

martinjuenke wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2024 9:12 am For a lot of reasons I'm annoyed by the development of Native Instruments (iZotope, PA) and think about leaving their ecosystem.

I have a lot of old Kontakt libraries from third parties which I really like and would miss (Rhythmic Robot, Hideaway Studio, SoundDust etc). I'd like to transfer these to a new sampler to have them at hand in the future.

I can't imagine how that's even possible. I think you (all we Kontakt users) have a choice: get over it and keep using it or cut off your nose to spite your face.

But I think it's days are numbered as more and more companies come up with their own players, which I also hate because I hate the whole idea of "a plugin within a plugin" in the first place...and as you mentioned, many of them aren't even as good as Kontakt which is tragic...

trusampler · Post by **trusampler** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 4:01 am

It’s all just paint. Use whatever is going to inspire you. You may feel you’ll want those colors again one day. Kontakt is a staple here, and there’s nothing replacing its catalog at this point.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 4:43 am

Reverse demo. Uninstall it for a month and see how it goes. I did that and before I knew it was months later and I hadn't even missed it. And the amount of time it gave back to me by not having to deal with the "sad state" of company schadenfreude and Access trickery has been somewhat of a relief. But it is a shame that good libraries are stuck in it. Like tears in rain...

phatnik · Post by **phatnik** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 6:12 am

I tried Kontakt 8 and suddenly all instruments loaded super slowly - even after uninstalling it and using 7 again! I had tons of emails with NI about it, it seems like they are using AI to reply now, the answers were so nonsensical until a human took over. At the end he said that it is a known problem and they are working on an update.

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:05 am

phatnik wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 6:12 am I tried Kontakt 8 and suddenly all instruments loaded super slowly - even after uninstalling it and using 7 again! I had tons of emails with NI about it, it seems like they are using AI to reply now, the answers were so nonsensical until a human took over. At the end he said that it is a known problem and they are working on an update.

Yes, that's one of the many problems I have with this company as well.

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:06 am

phatnik wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 6:12 am I tried Kontakt 8 and suddenly all instruments loaded super slowly - even after uninstalling it and using 7 again! I had tons of emails with NI about it, it seems like they are using AI to reply now, the answers were so nonsensical until a human took over. At the end he said that it is a known problem and they are working on an update.

That's a good idea. I like your view and thinking.

Starbright · Post by **Starbright** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:32 am

It's possible. I think someone of the pianobook community did actually do something about this:

I have to say though that not everything can be converted in terms of interface and functionality sometimes

mabian · Post by **mabian** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:57 am

I'm also considering leaving Kontakt, I use it mostly as a rompler but the sheer amount of (good) libraries I have for it makes it difficult to let it apart. I'm considering

- Decent Sampler (free with possible premium library purchases, also native Linux)
- Soundpaint (free with optional premium library purchases)
- Musio (interesting, paid but with subscriptions and perpetual options)
- Tx16wx (freemium, now also native Linux) for when I want to build something custom

I also recently got Sampletank Max V2 and it's good but incredibly cumbersome.
Also, Melda SoundFactoryLE as a rompler has a lot of stuff, though not on par with the best premium Kontakt libraries.

The recent and final Kontakt 7 update seems to make it much faster to load, though, so it's less of a pain to use so... I could get the free Kontakt Player 8 when they iron out all the performance and stability issues and be good with it and the commercial libraries I have.

- Mario

martinjuenke · Post by **martinjuenke** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 3:17 pm

Starbright wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:32 am It's possible. I think someone of the pianobook community did actually do something about this:

I have to say though that not everything can be converted in terms of interface and functionality sometimes

That site seems to be dead.

Ah_Dziz · Post by **Ah_Dziz** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 3:41 pm

Kontakt and the VSL player are the only two sample platforms that I have used which can handle the type of in depth sample playback they do effectively without massive technical headaches. Unfortunately for the world NI appears to be run by a pack of drooling morons at the moment and they appear to be set on breaking what has been for years the best sample based platform for composers as well as developers of products. When they came out, years ago, and said they were going to stop authorizing not only their own old products but also a huge list of 3rd party products, it seemed like they were on their way out. They backed off of this to some extent. I haven't had any non NI sample libraries stop authorizing. Maybe someone decent will pick up the development over at NI in the future. Or maybe pick up Kontakt and run it as a separate product. At this point I'm not expecting much from them except keeping their existing products working.

bermudagold · Post by **bermudagold** » Wed Dec 11, 2024 4:34 pm

Starbright wrote: Wed Dec 11, 2024 7:32 am It's possible. I think someone of the pianobook community did actually do something about this:
I have to say though that not everything can be converted in terms of interface and functionality sometimes

Last I checked decent sampler has a long way to go in terms of full sampler functionality...or even the pcm implementation of halion and falcon...so we are a good ways out from that

Leaving KONTAKT behind, experiences?