VST Newbie - Any opinions on Native Instrument products?

S

Stuvenator

New member
I am a new member here and chances are I have already broken some of the forum rules. To be honest I'm fairly new to forums as well. Anyway, I've been recording for 10 years or so now and am self taught. I am looking for a solution to get more realistic sounding drums and have more access to different instrument samples for more depth to my music.

I have been looking at KOMPLETE 10 Full Version and want to know if anyone has any experience with this product? This product includes things like Guitar Rig 5 Pro and Studio Drummer. I hope to get a cleaner bass sound through Guitar Rig 5 Pro and realistic sounding drums from these products.

Thanks in advance!
 
NI have been around a long time and have good reputation as a (synth) software developer. I've used a few of their products in the past and they were very well done. Like SGG suggested, give the trials a spin and find out for yourself.

The reason I choose other products for guitar and drum sound is, honestly, the other products are a bit more robust and I think sound better. if you also want some top notch synth VSTs, then I think Komplete is a good package. If not, you could get away with Amplitube and Superior Drummer for as much (or less if you catch a good sale, Sweetwater sometimes has these products heavily discounted) than the Komplete will cost.
 
Thanks guys for the input!

I have been looking at Superior Drummer for a while now I'm just trying to work around prices. I just looked at that Sweetwater website and those prices are so good. Unfortunately the New Zealand dollar isn't as good as it could be at the moment, but even still that's a really good price. There is just so much in that Komplete package and with the special too, I will need to calculate some costs and watch more reviews.

It's good to hear from people with more experience than me, thanks again!
 
Stuvenator said:
Thanks guys for the input!

I have been looking at Superior Drummer for a while now I'm just trying to work around prices. I just looked at that Sweetwater website and those prices are so good. Unfortunately the New Zealand dollar isn't as good as it could be at the moment, but even still that's a really good price. There is just so much in that Komplete package and with the special too, I will need to calculate some costs and watch more reviews.

It's good to hear from people with more experience than me, thanks again!
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For the price ($400) the Komplete full bundle is a very nice deal. It will do what you want, it just may not be quite as polished as some other standalone products out there. Do the trial and see how you like it. :)
 
I recently crossgraded from the full version of Kontakt (which I no longer want to be without) to Komplete Ultimate10. Something to realize about instruments in this package, especially Kontakt and Reaktor, is that they are also stronly-supported and flexible platforms for third-party samples, instruments and soundware. I haven't explored Studio Drummer yet but, by virtue of packages available for Kontakt, I have percussion packages by Steve Gadd, Bill Bruford, etc.; also cinematic, orchestral, ethnic, found-instrument, electronic, artist and tuned-percussion instruments and libraries, single-shot or phrased. Kontakt itself has the ability to construct your own drum/percussion kits from any samples or loops you want to use. When you investigate the depth, breath, and capabilities of the NI instruments you realize that they are mind-boggling. NI is not alone in providing deep-editing and capabilities to quality instruments, but they are experienced and they definitely don't ignore their customers or the after-market. I don't think that Komplete will ultimately limit your percussion needs---I'd wager that the exact opposite would be true.

This doesn't even get into the synths provided like Massive (aptly named), Absynth, and FM8 that consistently get good reviews and are ranked well in user polls, and top-flight virtual instruments and orchestral/band libraries, and the processing plugins. I'm sold on NI stuff. I think SampleTank/IK (which I have) is moving up, but, for my needs, Komplete is the stuff. I also love AIRtech stuff (could completely go desert island with the AEIP+), UVI (nice sound and performance libraries), Artuia (exceptional synth emulations/implementations), instruments by Cakewalk, IZotope, WAVES, etc., and a lot of vendors I haven't mentioned for VI's. I use what I like, so I'm not exclusive to NI but I think Komplete (esp. Ultimate) is the most comprehensive and flexible platform available, and at a reasonable (I would actually say bargain) price to boot.*

That being said, I do have BFD, EZDrummer, SSD, Strike, among others, and I enjoy using them and exploring them. For me, it comes down to a work-flow v. inspiration v. exploration v. mood thing.

I love this 21st century---a great time to be alive.

Paj
8^)

* My path to Komplete Ultimate 10 was: Initial purchase of Komplete Element on a daily sale for $19; email upgrade offer from NI for the full version Kontact5 for $79; on-sale crossgrade from Kontakt5 to Komplete Ultimate 10 for $399. So, due to NI's consideration for previously registered purchasers, I was able to get Ultimate for $500 (half-price). That's Less than $7 per instrument, library or plugin.
 
Good to hear from someone who's got Komplete 10 Ultimate! I was just on the side of going the other path and getting Superior Drummer 2.0 and using something else for my other instruments, but after reading what you've said I need to rethink. The thing I can't steer away from is how many things are included in the pack - it just makes it so tempting. But then I think how many of those will I actually use, but then again I won't know until I have access to them xD
 
July-15 to June-16 was my "year for software"---I bought a lot of stuff, mostly taking advantage of sales and special offers. Having friends in the business of servicing equipment certainly pointed me more towards software over hardware. Considering the capabilities of so many of the virtual instruments and plugins available, I probably could have spent 1/10th of what I did and been quite satisfied but now it's hard for me to imagine that I'll ever be bored (not that that was ever really a concern). I used to be amazed at the internal capabilities of my old Yamaha SPX-90 but the virtual stuff now available is completely bedazzling. Any financial outlay is completely overshadowed by the temporal costs for exploration of the products but most packages quickly yield usable results---and, fortunately, the whole process fascinating and productive.

Some more thoughts about Komplete:

(1) Lots of HD space needed for full install

(2) Could use more choir/vocal instruments/libraries (but this is a rapidly evolving market)

(3) Should come with a subscription to Groove3 for organized, in-depth, video tutorial references, even though there is quite a bit available on YouTube (another advantage of NI products)

(4) If you have uncontrollable G.A.S., stay away from KontaktHub, Sampleism, SoundIron, Sonokinetics, Samplephonics, etc., etc. if you have control of your G.A.S., still stay away from the aforementioned sites. Drooling is not a sign of self-control---and you haven't even yet entered into the heavy Massive and Reaktor sites.

(5) I think that I'm going to get off this irritating, autocorrecting iPad (which, ironically, incorrectly autocorrects the word autocorrect), and boot up the desktop and play around some more with Komplete.

Paj
8^8
 
Stuvenator said:
Good to hear from someone who's got Komplete 10 Ultimate! I was just on the side of going the other path and getting Superior Drummer 2.0 and using something else for my other instruments, but after reading what you've said I need to rethink. The thing I can't steer away from is how many things are included in the pack - it just makes it so tempting. But then I think how many of those will I actually use, but then again I won't know until I have access to them xD
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I have EZdrummer, with a number of expansions (which I understand SuperiorDrummer can use). I use it and like it and the consensus that I get from other users is that SuperiorDrummer is (wait for it) superior. I'm sorry that I can't give you insights into a SuperiorDrummer v. StudioDrummer comparison. One advantage of the standalone/plugin packages like EZD, SSD, BFD, AD, might be easier to deal with latency issues relating back to system requirements. Some YouTube searches should help you with the right choices.

Paj
8^)
 
As far as "percussion" goes, I didn't even mention Battery4, for which I'm currently viewing an online tutorial series and exploring. The expected features for a drum sampler, deep and easy editing and performance features, with another scad of kits and samples. I haven't even got to Polyplex, DrumLab, or the Maschine Drum selection. Combine these with Studio Drummer and the six Abbey Road Drum Libraries, the "ethnic", cinematic and found percussion libraries, and it's apparent that percussion is a major and important component of Komplete Ultimate. Again, just an amazing bargain---absolutely no buyer's remorse on my part.

Paj
8^)
 
Ive had Komplete Ultimate for a few years now...I dont use much software but Kontakt still gets regular use, its worth the price of Komplete by itself. When it comes to drums I havent heard anything that touches the Abbey Road series and third party libraries from Hollow Sun, Pink noise, and Tronsonic are excellent and very affordable

The rest is a bit overwhelming (I dont really need five bass libraries, I have a bass) but if you havent got much it covers a lot
 
If you have InfinitePlayer for Kontakt, eSoundz is having a sale on some exceptional libraries for it. The Konstruction Komplete (hip hop, edm, house, etc) package is not displayed on the homepage and is offered at a better price in their newsletter.

Paj
8^)
 
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