I've read a few comments recently about Kontakts poor audio engine and it's cold digital sound, among other grievances. As far as I know it is the industry standard and can't understand how it achieved this status if it's so bad. I use it exclusively over other similar products like Sample Tank, Halion, UVI or Mach 5. So if it's not the best, then what are other people using, considering Kontakt has the support of the largest range of developers on the market.

 

It's probably disliked mainly by people who don't know how to use it...

 

Who says it is disliked? I have never heard anyone say that. IF anything, it is usually said to be the best and a favourite of most. Unlike something like EW Play.

 

Provide proof it is disliked, OP.

 

One thing people don't like is how tiny the interface and the font is and how it still doesn't have a scalable GUI

 

Press Windows Key & Numpad +

 

speaking of quality, it sounds generally worse (flat, less close to the original sampled sound) than other competitors, maybe because of its old engine.

 

In the "sampler" and "DFD" modes: if you change the HQI (high quality interpolation) from "standard" to "perfect" Kontakt can even sound like a Kurzweil or equivalent.
But it demands nearly 100% CPU with 50 notes polyphony...
(Of course this only makes a difference if the sample is shifted in pitch!)

 

Last edited: May 26, 2019

NI developed the sample techniques but they never did anything about the poor sound engine. If you just compare Kontakt with i.e. UVI Falcon you'll know what mean. Just load the same samples into both machines and convince yourself! NI was the first on the market with a scripting machine. And I must commit that these possibilities are exhausted. That's absolutely true! But I'm begging these guys already for ages to update their audio engine and make it less compressed and harsh. And I am surely not the only one who's complaining! I really do not understand why this so hard to adapt? For instance listen to the poorly native reverb and chorus. Man you'll start crying at the first note.....Do the test yourself. Load several patches from different libraries... they all sound the same topped with the native Kontakt sauce Harsh, digital and over compressed. And above all do not forget that Kontakt has been cracked and all the other deep samplers are NOT! So the majority uses Kontakt as their reference!! I only use the UVI Falcon and Steinberg Halion 6 samplers. And they are damned good! And yes.. you must pay for them. That's my humble opinion guys.

 

I won't spend any money on software I am not allowed to test (UVI). Even tho Halion is available as try before buy version, it seams less people use it.

Do you like the Halion GUI ?

 

i actually ask Native once while still in version 5, why the gui have to be so f****** small they said:
"tiz iz a veri veri difcult to program a rezizble..yez yes VERI VERI difcult"

they didnt write that way, but it sounded like that..amateurlike

they apperently still havent worked it out lol


i complained same to UVI falcon, and it didnt take long before it was possible

 

any examples \?

 

Kontakt sounds like the samples you put in it. No worse or better.

It's a perfect reproduction VST machine. It can't be better or worse than that. If you want something different, buy a hardware sampler. They go for little money these days. Or use TAL-Sampler for different flavours of in-the-box vintage sound.

 

Any developer looking to park tanks on Kontakt's lawn is going to have to offer substantial library compatibility with Kontakt. It's not just the VSTi at stake, it's the investment in samples and instruments.

 

Halion 6 has a very nice GUI, but when you time stretch a single one shot it still dos not sound professional. If you the key s of notes that are more then a 3-4 keys from the root sample you will here obvious artifacts. Don't get me Wrong, I would rather be using Halion 6, but the time stretching algorithm is the main factor of a sampler for myself. I have yet to find a software sampler that has better time stretching capabilities then NI Kontakt.

 

Nice avatar!

 

@notsoloud Kontakt is what it is. As with every VST there are those who love it and those who hate it. Could it be better? Yes. But the same can be said for every other VST. It does not matter what NI does to improve it. Users will continue to ask for more, and more. Then, the same users that asked for more, will complain about NI constantly updating. Moreover, some of the people talking about "cold digital sound" have not even heard anything else besides cold digital sounding VSTs and can't differentiate between the sound of a VST sampler and that of a hardware sampler. All that crap about it sounds warm, it sounds vintage is nothing but BS. Sometimes we want that "cold sound", don't we? In the 80's we hated hiss, wow and flutter. Now we have plugins designed to introduce that into a track. We even have engineers using eq patterns from the 40's because, according to them, they sound amazing. Really? Give me a fucking break! The same goes for complains about a VST's GUI. Are we making music with our eyes or with our ears?
Bottom line is this, your average music listener, those who buy your music, wont be able to tell if you made a song with Kontakt or with Falcon or with a Neve or with a Peavy mixing console. In fact, 99% of those who called themselves recording engineers don't know it either...and neither do I.

Should pay is a better term because you can have Halion 6 for free to try it for as long as you like until...you decide to buy it...but only if you have the $349 it costs.

 

Last edited: May 26, 2019

I thought most people praised it. I'm using it almost in every project

 

I'v e read it on AS several times as well @notsoloud . But I don't give anything about it. People always like to complain about soundquality/- engine because it's not really measurable. Same story as for sound quality of daws.

What I do think is, the UI should have a little refresh. Not to say a general reconstruction.

If you, only one simple example, would like to select a library from the tiny browser on a laptop or tablet, that's really fun. Normally (in Windows conformity, and most likely it's the same for Apple) if you klick into the scrollbar it has to move exactly one page up/down. Not this one and these misbehaviours just aren't acceptable for a professional piece of software.

 

im forced to like it only because of the availability of content you can 'easily' obtain for it