Product: Native Instruments Kontakt 2
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
07/18/2006
at
12:25pm
by
QSOURCE
Reviewer Background
:
Kontakt 2.1.1 in ProTools 2.1 (and standalone) on Mac OSX.
All music types (symphonic, neo-romantic, trance dance, folk/pop, arranging for other composers/songwriters).
Ease of Use
:
8
It's easy enough to use. However, it's also incredibly complex.
Copy protection is not too bad. It does require being on the Internet for the easiest use.
I recently received the Kontakt 2 tutorial DVD (included with my Komplete Care 2006) and it has helped me get into other aspects of Kontakt, plus alerting me to sub-optimal setups (for CPU use, etc.).
Kontakt 2 provides a flexible container for samples. It offers lots of effects, filters, etc. It is multi-timbral and allows the user to save multis.
KSP (Kontakt's scripting language) is one of the breakthroughs in NI's technology. It is indispensible in the included VSL legato instruments, add-on libraries (notably Kirk Hunter) and so on.
Sounds/Sound Quality
:
9
The included sound set is decent. If you're like me, you'll be downloading and purchasing other samples, too, to add to the versatility of the sample set.
Overall Rating
:
9
It's solid (I don't recall any crashes) and only a CPU hog with poor setups (e.g., too many instrument effects or huge sample sets). I occasionally have to play with changing a sample set from DFD (Direct From Disk) to Sampler (RAM) mode in order to get the best performance -- including lowest latency.
Overall, I'm very happy with Kontakt 2.
I'm also licensed for MOTU's MachFive and IK Media's SampleTank. I'm not as impressed with either of these offerings as I am with Kontakt 2.
