Some Kontakt bargains

Don't forget to check out VSTbuzz, AudioPlugin.deals, BedroomProducersBlog, SampleLibraryReview, SampleCast, KVR, PluginBoutique, AudioDeluxe, SampleRadar, Reverb SYNC, etc, yadda-yadda-yadda.

Some things that may be flying under the radar:

SONiVOX's Anatomy, a human body Kontakt instrument, is on sale for $50 (50%). Categories are Man, Machine, Pads and Leads, Drum Kits, Body Percussion, Foley & FX, and Choirs. 856 instruments/presets, 200 of which are precussion/drum kits. This one has been under the radar for a while but it is well worth the full price and a bargain on sale. It's hard not to spend hours playing with this one:
SONiVOX / Anatomy - Audio Plug-ins Store - DontCrack

HomegrownSounds' Motion Group Buy has reached Level 2, providing otherwise unavailable Kosmology/Multiverse capabilities to the Motion library; Level 3 will incorporate the Airwaves instrument. Now there are five instruments/synth sharing the Motion library with extra goodies like cross-utility and cross-fertillization of Cassetto/Kosmology/Multiverse presets. Always bonus stuff with HGS group buys.
Motion for Kontakt 5.6 Group Buy | Homegrown Sounds

At KontaktHub, Sonic Faction's Archetype Bundle (8 Instruments/Synths, "Powered By Kontakt" library) has been reduced 50% (now ~$71). This also works with the free player.
Archetype - Kontakt Hub

Just got the email flyer for this one (previously purchased PERC+) and haven't had a chance to really check it out:
MODWHEEL, Sample Libraries, Virtual Instruments Kontakt New Zealand

Also got a flyer for this one and the demos sound good (love the brushes library):
Legacy Drums - 3 Drums Sample library for Kontakt - Wavesfactory

Working my way around those California Keys and Samplephonics bundles (50-60GB!). Outstanding values.

I am having fun with this one ($60 intro pricing):
http://indiginus.com/blue_street.html

Also, this one is fun. LoopsDeLaCreme's Vintage Chords simple and straight-forward and it gets usable retro and pop sounds/pads very quickly ($20 intro pricing). I had a lot of fun long before I opened up the manual:
http://www.loopsdelacreme.com/kontakt-libraries

Paj
8^)
 
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Rigid Audio is having a bundle sale with 85-95% off. Outer Space Bundle (Space, Space II, Ghost) for $6; Electronic Producer Bundle (Atomicron, Electro House, Lightyears, Tropical Breeze Vol. 1) for $10; Ultimate Pad Bundle (Padstations 1 & 2) for $6; and Ambiloop 1 & 2, $5 each. There are a number of packages that do what these do but the reverse is also true: these libraries do what a lot of other libraries do. They sound good and right now they're ridiculously cheap. The flyer says "August Sale" but I'm not sure when the offer expires. I purchased one of the bundles to get the only Rigid Audio Kontakt library that I didn't have (I hate when that happens but these prices are that low) and the bundle included a bonus Synferno loop library and an offer for a free Kontakt instrument for subscribing to their newsletter, which turns out to be two offered Kontakt instruments when you go to their newsletter subscription page (I couldn't tell you which ones since I'm already subscribed).
Rigid Audio Berlin | KONTAKT INSTRUMENTS | HOME

Loops de la Creme is having a 50% sale (use coupon code summer17). They have some neat percussion libraries and Vintage Chords is also a lot of fun.
Kontakt libraries — loops de la creme

Paj
8^)

8-25: . . . and on top of the freebies included with the purchase and for signing up for the newsletter, Rigid Audio sent me a link to load a "Thank You for Your Purchase" copy of Phreakdrum. They're pretty much giving away the store with this sale.
 
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Some of the features that have been appearing in those recent $100-$200 Kontakt instruments have been a part of Kosmology for quite a while. A Kosmology library actually includes four instruments/interfaces: Kosmology, Kosmology Lite, Multiverse, and Metropolis. A lot of flexibility, from simplicity to complexity, for each library. If you're in the market for Kosmology/Multiverse libraries, go directly to Home Grown Sounds for a $20-per-library sale that goes until the end of the month. Unusual, but definite savings over KVR and other commercial outlets. Also, other bargains: Check out Movement and the Homegrown Complete 2010 Sample Library, which includes nine Kontakt libraries.
Kontakt | Categories | Homegrown Sounds

There are a bunch of free and unusual Kontakt instruments available from SzcZ but they might not all download properly with the Edge browser; they do download just fine with Firefox.
szcz's audio adventures: Index

Paj
8^)
 
And again, don't forget to check out VSTbuzz, AudioPlugin.deals, BedroomProducersBlog, SampleLibraryReview.com, SampleCast, KVR, PluginBoutique, AudioDeluxe, SampleRadar, Reverb SYNC, etc, yadda-yadda-yadda. A special mention here for the Auddict wind instruments bundle being offered at VSTbuzz---goooood stuff.

Kontakt Hub has been having its October sale but, right now, three of its high-value Kontakt offerings have even become more attractive at 50% off: The Pentagon, Ethereal, and Reflections.

The Pentagon is no-brainer at £14. IMHO, the YouTube videos don't do justice to The Pentagon's sounds and their quality. In any event, you would be hard-pressed to find a Kontakt synth anywhere at any price with as many features and options. If you like presets (It comes with well over a thousand), or tweaking them, or creating them, or random generation, you will probably regret passing this one up---especially at this price.
The Pentagon | Kontakt Instruments | Kontakt Hub

Ethereal 5.6 (£14) is the latest incarnation of this library. The previous artsy interface has been replaced with a stark, more-featured, dual-layer interface with, for each layer, very basic envelope/level control, simple LFO control, and shared eq, reverb, formant and delay. Plain, simple, and somehow amazingly effective because of the good-sounding sample set it comes and how they're utilized. From what I gather, the patches use multisamples spread across the keyboard in regions. The samples have variations in them, especially those things in the background that come and go as the sample plays. Ethereal is aptly named and just great at generating ambient tracks.
Ethereal | Kontakt Instruments | Kontakt Hub

Reflection (£25) is a triple-layer Kontakt synth with a lot of features designed to quickly tweak and generate a wide variety of patches (it comes with over 400 categorized patches). It can even use your own samples, via the Kontakt interface, as sound sources for a layer. Good support, updates that added content, and well-designed to tweak or create patches.
Reflection | Kontakt Instruments | Kontakt Hub

. . . and, if you like preset pads with a minimum of tweaking, the on-sale Insussuro Bundle (~$100), or any one of its four components, might be to your liking. Three out of four libraries share a common interface style; one has a "Big Knob" style interface. The bundle clocks in at almost 24 GB.
Insusurro Sound Design for Kontakt

I am not in any way affiliated with Kontact Hub other than being a customer. I purchased all but one of these libraries from Kontakt Hub; the other was purchased from Sampleism, its sister site. I bring these libraries to your attention only as an unashamed Kontakt junkie because I have them, enjoy using them, and have found them to be worthwhile bargains.


Paj
8^)

Just got an email that offers Sonokinetic's Tutti Vox choir for 67% off (€100).
Tutti Vox - Sonokinetic - Sample libraries and Virtual Instruments
 
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I finally bought the last part of Auddict's United Strings of Europe the other day. Don't know how much longer the sale is going to last, so I went for the second violins, violas, and basses at last. They turned out to be even better than I thought from the limited demos available, and they do indeed mesh very well with the other string sections.

It looks like this time of year is going to be crazy for VST sales just like for sales of everything else. I've got my essential kit formed, so I don't 'have' to have anything more, though there are things I'd like.

I actually need to do some hardware upgrades. More memory so I don't get disk checked in Kontakt, which is bad since I don't have my instruments on an SSD, and I want to get a keyboard with aftertouch and a ton of sliders for manipulating microphone levels, i.e. in that Auddict orchestra, which keyboard would be the Swissonic 88. I'd have to internationally ship it, and not get to try it out first, which is a bit of a risk, but one of their reps there says it's a light touch keyboard which is what I like and what my current Keystation is.

Still I'm doing great with my current setup, got a nice big expression footpedal due in the mail, got a great kit of instruments, a lot to be thankful for. :)
 
Put aside some gig money so I'm waiting for the NI 88-key v2 upgrade and a sale on a Roland AE-10. I have my eye on the Auddict's USOE strings but they've had two bundles (solo brass, then solo woodwinds) on VSTbuzz at 80% off so, having enough strings at the moment to keep me busy, I'll bide my time. I will get them, though---really like Auddict.

Speaking of VSTbuzz, that €10 Synthophone deal is nice. It's a surprisingly versatile synth and one of my favorite (previous) buys. The "naked" Soundcloud files give you a good idea of the range of sounds this thing easily gets.
71% off "Synthophone" by Sampleso

I don't know much about the other deal (Quadra by Synth Magic) but if you like the Synth Magic MINI-Magic synths, be aware that there are three free versions on the Synth Magic website (Two downloads appear; one of the downloads contains two MINI-Magic versions). Albeit, with a reduced number of voices, but they're still MINI-Magics.
Synth Magic | FREE

Geared towards Urban, Trap, EDM, etc., ProducersChoice.com has their Everything Bundle on sale again for $177. It contains 12 Kontakt libraries plus 61 other sample/loop libraries---drums, percussion, construction kits, loops, hits. Certainly a lot of stuff if this is your style. N.B.: If you go to the ProducersChoice website, eventually a popup will offer you an addition 25% discount if you purchase in a specified number of minutes. This discount code will not reduce the price of the EV17 code-reduced Everything Bundle price (it will actually override and increase it).
The 'Everything' Bundle

Is anybody having any luck running Gothic Instruments libraries? I haven't been able to run a single member of the Dronar family without crashing Kontakt (5.7). My system meets or exceeds their published requirements.

I, like you, await the bargains-to-be at the end of the month.

Paj
8^)
 
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Those NI keyboards sure are nice with the lights to tell you what keyswitches are active. One of these days they may even get it to work with one of those teach yourself piano programs.

Just got an email advert letting me know Auddict's intro sale on the USE is over in 24 hours. Don't have any Gothic Instruments but I am very big on atmospheres so glad to know they're out there. Hmm. I see there is a free edition. Let's try it out.
 
There's definitely something funny here with Dronar's stuff. I couldn't unarc it with my default unarchiver 7zip. Downloaded WinRAR, and it unarchived, but crashed at the end.

They may be using a non-compatible archival program to zip up their files, that can seem to work but actually produce corrupt files when unarchived with a different program. That's my guess anyway.
 
. . . but crashed at the end . . .

Exactly what I'm getting. Thanks for the reply. I performed repeat downloads, used WinRAR (licensed and up-to-date), loaded into Kontakt and, at the very end of the loads, they crashed. Another problem to track down and solve. I have a substantial number of Kontakt libraries but, as I recall, only a very few ever crashed, even when I used them on a old 2GB 32-bit system (Synferno and Retcon come to mind).

Paj
8^)
 
In case no one else saw yet, Native Instruments is doing a 50% all upgrades/updates and instruments. So you can get Komplete 11 for $400 if you buy essentials and then the upgrade for 50% off. The deal is on until November 30th! Finally gonna pick it up!
 
I don't know where I'd be without Kontakt. I crossgraded to Kontakt from the DrumMic'a! library which is still free, and the drums are pretty nice too, and then used Kontakt to upgrade to Komplete. That was the cheapest route around 6 months back.

Today I'm watching the countdown for 8dio's Century Brass. I like what I've heard so far from the preview, when they release it in two hours I am going to listen some more to see if this is the brass section I've been waiting for.

SONAR is on sale cheap right now. I tried it out, they have trials. I like it almost as much as Presonus. Presonus' GUI for splitting keyboards and multiple instruments has really grown on me.

Thanksgiving is coming. I have a lot to thank God for. Life is good.
 
[MENTION=192509]inkline[/MENTION] I own Sonar Platinum or or whatever they call the highest tier. I absolutely love it and have never thought of changing for what its worth. I have never run into anything where I felt limited. A lot of the time I am able to find out how to do things intuitively rather than reading documentation which is pretty nice.

Hopefully I'll be getting Komplete soon too!
 
Spitfire is having one of their rare sales. I bought 'The Ton' bundle and got a discount for my already bought cello. The violin and cello go well together. Still trying to figure out if I should go for one of the big ones. I do think it likely they'll have a Christmas discount for wishlisted items in a month too so I might just put off the decision.

Soundmorph is 50% off today. 'The Dust' is one of their products.. I spent quite some time staring at the tutorial figuring out what it actually was. I don't think I need it but it's hard to resist the blinking lights. Being broke helps a fellow resist though, and the constant sales emails arriving in my inbox I sort through regularly. It's helping me organize my instrument and effects desires even further that's for sure.

My Swissonic 88 is I don't know where, it cleared customs 4 days ago and no tracking news since from the post office.
 
VST Buzz just posted a 100GB orchestral bundle (Aria Sounds) for 90% off ($100). No brass, but a number of nice additional libraries. Their pipe organ is a classic treat.
90% off "The Orchestral Bundle" by Aria Sounds

Strezov Sampling is offering a free duduk instrument from their Balkan Orchestra library (their free tycho is also available).
Strezov Sampling

If you're a fan of retro & classic synthetic strings, Kontakt Hub has units on sale from Hideaway Studios, Synth Magic, Rhythmic Robot, and Audiofier, among others. They also have Versillian, Light & Sound Samples, and Cinematique Instruments libraries on sale.
Kontakt Instruments | Kontakt Libraries | Kontakt Hub

A string synth bundle is also on sale from Pure Magnetiks for $29:
String Machines XL | Legendary String Synths– Puremagnetik

I'm keeping my eyes on the Twelve-Days sales at Sonokinetic, Time+Space, and Plugin Alliance.

So much stuff . . .

Paj
8^)
 
Yeah there's some nice stuff in the Ariasounds deal! There're the ethnic flutes, that organ, and the silk piano and hybridchord are quite fine too.
 
inkline: +1

Here's one---$39 (96.7% off):
Every Product in the Store - Samples From Mars

31 GB of downloads, 38 libraries with nki files (also other sampler formats). That's ~$1.03/library.

N.B.: For Kontakt users (full version):The nki files in these libraries display in the basic sample format in Kontakt (no vendor GUI). Those cute, little, minimalistic synth interfaces on the website are not what you will be using inside of Kontakt. To tweak any of the patches you will need to go to the spanner in Kontakt or an external plugin. That's the bad news. The good news is that the samples seem to be dry and unprocessed so that lends itself to processing. Mostly drum machines, some drums, some percussion, some synths; one-shots, kits, and pitched patches. There are multiple sampler formats and sound-file formats. I even came across a Structure (AIR Music Tech) folder. Having a turdload of these types of libraries, I don't know if many of these libraries pop out as outstanding or superior to anything I already have---although, I have made myself a mental note about the dryness of the samples. I have come across some ear-stoppers (mostly kicks, subs and toms). I'm still auditioning patches and haven't tried them in a mix. You really can't complain about the price. It would be interesting to hear from an Ableton user.

Paj
8^)
 
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Some Holiday Freebies:

Ancient Voices
They also have a number of other free Kontakt libraries on their website.

Sign up for their newsletter and a get the FREE CHRISTMAS PACK, a small cinematic Kontakt library:
KeepForest - Modern Sampling

Red Room Audio has a free debut offering:
Snaps Claps Slaps Stomps & Shouts | Red Room Audio

Don't forget the KVR monthly giveaway: Spitfire Audio's Orchestral Swarm
KVR: #KVRDeals E-mail List and Monthly Giveaway

Heavyocity has FREE PRODUCTION LOOPS
Free Archives - Heavyocity Media

loops De La Creme also has a free Christmas (percussion) sampler:
https://bandcamp.com/download?id=11...g=52b2269b25c10c6d55465e0e8d155fdf&type=album

Note that Rigid Audio is having a sale with 88-95% off on Kontakt bundles, and deep discounts on Synferno and the Hypernode pre-order:
http://rigid-audio.com/index.html

Kontakt Hub continues with a lot of sale offerings from Divergent Audio Group, Sampleso, SynthMagic, Hideaway Studios, CL-Projects, AudioThing, and more. Some really nice, innovative offerings.
https://www.kontakthub.com/current-deals. . . and, yes, the VSTbuzz Aria Bundle is a sweet deal. Didn't Gilda say ". . . not enough violins . . ."?
http://vstbuzz.com/deals/90-off-orchestral-bundle-aria-sounds/

https://audioplugin.deals/
If you are taking advantage of the latest AudioPlugin.deals offer of six Zero-G libraries note that the patches libraries display in Kontakt as simple samples (i.e., no vendor GUI). Any tweaking will have to be done via the Kontakt spanner/monkeywrench facilities or external plugins. That's not to say that these are simple samples. Most are long (many 30s or more), evolving, and well-looped, single shots and multisamples, well-recorded and good-sounding. There's over 18GB for Kontakt of organized, cinematic sound effects, ambiences, and underscore in this bundle---melodic lead and bass patches are not the primary designation. For those of you unfamiliar with Zero-G libraries of this type, there are often multiple sound-file formats (WAV, AIFF, and/or REX) and multiple sampler patches (Kontakt, Halion, EXS24, NN-XT), and documentation on how to structure your folders for sampler patches/instruments. The archive files usually extract all the necessary folders to a single library folder, and this would be the case for all of the offered libraries; the REQUIRED sample folder (usually WAV but sometimes AIFF/Apple Loops) and the Kontakt Instruments folder should be side-by-side, in the main library folder, for the Kontakt patches to work. Even so, Cyberstorm and Dark Skies may not be able to locate the samples for Kontakt patches, and you'll get that annoying "Missing Library" window. If you want to do what I do, you can proceed at your own risk and (learn to) do a Batch Resave. After Kontakt works its magic, on every patch in every subfolder of the selected library, you should not be bothered again by the "Missing Library" message for any patch in the the selected library---even if you subsequently move/relocate the library!

BTW, if you're only using these libraries with Kontakt on a PC, you can delete all of the other sampler folders and the Apple files/loops folders from these six libraries to save yourself over 18GB of disk space.

If you take advantage of the Rigid Audio sale and end up with Ambiloop, you may also encounter the "Missing Library" window. You can rectify it by adapting and using the seven steps above. Start with the [Instruments] folder inside the Ambiloop folder, never leave the Ambiloop folder, and highlight the Ambiloop folder in the Batch Resave browser window.

Good luck
Paj
8^)

P.S.: Belatedly, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (sorry, Donald)
 
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