Anyone using Kontakt from Native Instruments?

[Denis Haineault]

Been thinking about getting it but was curious of what people here thought of it.

They have other pieces of software but I'm mainly interested in the sampling portion.

Likes? Dislikes?

 

[Kenn Michael]

Industry standard. Jump in.

What kind of sampling are you looking to do? It pretty much does everything you need, but it's always good to know what you would be using it to do. Depending on that, I could suggest other tools.

 

[Denis Haineault]

Thanks Kenn.

Simply put, I want to create my own music, film scores, etc... I'm not a professional, nor am I planning to work in the industry. I'd be using what's available -- i.e. I'd use the tool and bundled sound libraries and/or buy supplemental libraries, and I likely won't dabble into creating my own samples...at least that's not the main goal.

I'm not very familiar with Pro Tools (or audio software in general), but I know it does sampling as well. Would they both do the job equally well? Is it pretty much a matter of personal preference?

 

[Kenn Michael]

ProTools has a sampler plugin made especially for it called 'Structure' It comes with a decent library and between it and ProTools, you should be covered. It is an extra cost however and the full version doesn't come with ProTools unless you buy a special bundle.

I do all my composing work in Logic and use Kontakt as my workhorse sampler. It comes with a fantastic library which covers everything from full orchestras to synths to studio instruments. It runs in any host (ie, ProTools, Logic, Cubase/Nuendo, etc...) and is the industry standard - meaning most sample libraries being sold today have a Kontakt version available.

While Structure for ProTools is great and has great sounds, I would personally go for Kontakt and it's included sound library. Running Kontakt inside of ProTools will give you tons of power to grow into.

 

[David W. Jones]

Kontakt is also able to convert and import samples from many other sample libraries,
which gives you access to a vast collection of sounds.

 

[Denis Haineault]

That's the information I was looking for, thank you.

One more thing. I was under the impression that kontakt was a standalone application. Is it more of a plugin where you MUST have a host application, or is it in fact a standalone and you have the option to host it externally?

--EDIT
Never mind, their Web site has the answer.