Native Instruments releases "Discovery Series: Middle East" and updates Kontakt to v5.8.1

Native Instruments has released Discovery Series: Middle East, a new addition to the line of Kontakt instruments that explores global musical cultures, and updated Kontakt and the free Kontakt Player to v5.8.1.

Discovery Series: Middle East includes 25 characteristic percussion, melodic, and string instruments, all captured in precise detail. With readily accessible sounds and scales plus customizable phrases and patterns, it enables composers to easily create traditional soundscapes or add unique textures to contemporary tracks.

Discovery Series: Middle East features a broad array of distinctive instruments drawn from Arabic, Turkish, and Persian traditions. The 14 percussion instruments range from goblet and frame drums to miniature kettle drums and finger cymbals. The melodic section comprises nine wind, zither, fiddle, and lute-like instruments, including an oud, ney, zurna, kemençe, kanun, tanbur, and three sizes of saz instruments. Discovery Series: Middle East also includes a string group of violins, viola, and cello recorded by a renowned ensemble from Istanbul.

The Discovery Series: Middle East interface makes it simple to find instruments and customize sounds. When working with melodic instruments, users can select editable phrases and choose from a variety of authentic scales. To build unique beats with percussion instruments, users can start with customizable patterns then fine-tune groove, feel, and dynamic intensity. Users can easily edit patterns and phrases within the interface or drag them to the host digital audio workstation as MIDI files for more in-depth customization. Instruments are available individually and as part of ensembles that include stylistically complementary sounds. With the ensembles, users can blend sounds via familiar mixing controls then polish with EQ, width, and compression.

Discovery Series: Middle East performance features are fully integrated into the Komplete Kontrol S-Series keyboards. Users can see presets at a glance and preview sounds from the Native Browser. In addition, they can instantly access instrument parameters from control knobs. The Light Guide enables users to easily find notes in their selected scale and locate keys they can employ for ornamentation.

Pricing and availability

Discovery Series: Middle East runs in Kontakt 5 and the free Kontakt 5 Player and is available now at the NI Online Shop for $99 / 99 € / ¥12,800 / £89 / AU$149.

Changes in Kontakt v5.8.1:

• Improved:
  • Wet & Dry sliders on many effects (e.g., Reverbs and Delays) would cause loud artefacts when used; control signal smoothing is now a lot more robust with artefacts greatly reduced.
  • KSP: "Array out of bounds" warnings now include additional info (name and size of the array and index of attempted access).
• Fixed:
  • Some older Kontakt Player libraries (like East West RA) would stay in Demo mode even when properly authenticated.
  • Group MIDI input channel settings are now recalled correctly after saving and reloading an NKI.
  • Kontakt would crash when trying to set the Sample Subdirectory on the Save As dialog.
  • In some cases (e.g. with Top Shelf Drums by 3 Sigma Audio), the instrument GUI would be corrupt when using multiple instances of the same NKI.
  • Kontakt would crash when trying to multi-select groups with Shift+Click.
  • Kontakt would crash when assigning automation to controls the name of which included special characters.
• OS Requirements:
  • This version requires macOS 10.11 or higher or Windows 7 or higher.