Kompakt for Kontakt Owners?

[Quasar]

NI has a deal where Kontakt owners can purchase Kompakt for $99, and my question is: Do folks really do this? And if so, why?

I'm asking because Kompakt's included library seems to be more extensive, and has samples such as Uilleann pipes which- if they are really good- I'd very much like to have.

Is the Kompakt library really better? Is there anything else one can do with Kompakt that can't be done with Kontakt? I'd appreciate any insight from people who are familiar with or use both, or have taken advantage of this crossgrade.

Thanks.

[chriscaouette]

I don't know if this will help answer your questions, but I have EWQLSO Gold and also two Kontakt licenses. I do most of my work on a mac be will most likely expand with Kontakt on the Giga PC when VOTA2 comes out. Kontakt is cool that you can load 16 instruments into it, but there is now way to organize the order (unless I missed something) so I end up using the Kompakt player that came with EWQLSO and SD. It is also easier to read.
If you wish to do any editing of sounds definately get Kontakt. It is a fantastic program.
Chris

[Quasar]

Thanks Chris,

Yeah, I do have Kontakt, and agree it's fantastic. But my understanding is that while Kontakt is both a synth player and a sampler, Kompakt is just a player, so I was wondering if it's worth it to get the $99 crossgrade Kompakt for the sound library, or for any other reasons.

Otherwise, it seems that I'd be spending $ just to get the "little brother" or lite version of what I already own. True, some of the Kontakt screen text is pretty small, but it doesn't really bother me. I recently upgraded my PC monitor just to be able to see all the little lables, knobs, and buttons in the DAW world, and it's working pretty well.

What I really want is the Ullilean pipes, as well as other ethnic or "world" traditional folk instruments. If Kompakt is worth the crossgrade money just for the included sample library, then I'm inclined to go for it.

[Alan Lastufka]

If Kompakt is worth the crossgrade money just for the included sample library, then I'm inclined to go for it.
I had the Kompakt lib for a while - I bought Kompakt a while ago and then upgraded to Kontakt.

The lib is pretty good for $99 - it includes just about every instrument under the sun - I wouldn't expect for you to do VSL-quality mock-ups - or even Silver-quality mockups - but for $99 it would be a solid lib to fill in any missing holes you may have.

[Quasar]

Alan, I've prowled a bit around your site, (some stuff there is on my wish list, too!) and have read a bunch of your posts.

If you offer an assessment of a sonic sample or library, I just know that I can take it to the bank. Thanks for the input. :)

[Rich Pell]

I think the Kontakt Lib. is pretty bad. Theres "some" usable stuff But Ive found most of it kindof uninspiring. On the other hand ,for $99 the Kompakt Lib. is definately useable. Its a cross-section from really good libs. Like QLBrass.The NI folks took alot more care and taste with it. I though it was worth the $99. Rich

[Quasar]

I had pretty much the same impression of the included Kontakt library. I wouldn't say "bad" exactly, but GPO was my first library ever, and it's everything I could've asked for and more, and I was hoping that the Kontakt collection could round off GPO with non orchestral instruments of similar quality. In this I was disappointed. Still, I have no regrets whatsoever about getting Kontakt as a sampling engine. This is one extremely powerful editor, and it will probably be months, if not years, before I'm knowledgable enough to use all of its features.

I'm glad to hear the Kompakt library is better. Have you tried the ethnic samples, especially the pipes? If those are of usable quality, that would ice it for me. But hey, for $99, I think I'll just go for it.

Cheers,

[chriscaouette]

After writing me previous reply I started noticing way too many glitches in the streaming of Konpakt (5 instances but with only a few instruments loaded) using Cubase with a 256k buffer. Even with 2gigs of ram and the cpu only at 45% an occasional cpu spike would show and I know this is from a quick reorganiztion of the memory. I decided to reload my project with Kontakt (4 instances/same EWQLSO gold patches) and I only get one glitch during the initial playback and none if I switch to 384k buffer. I don't know why bt perhaps Kontakt is a little better on the CPU so I will be using this from now on.
Chris

[Cpt. Haydn]

You probably already know this, but there is a useful list that tells you where all the samples are from.

http://www.native-instruments.de/index.php?kompaktlibtable_us