Are there any sound sources for KONTAKT that you would recommend?
I've finally started using KONTAKT in earnest recently, but I don't know what sound sources I should install.
I don't care if the sound sources are free or paid, so I'd like to hear your recommendations and any interesting experimental ones and etc.

Thank you in advance!

 

Question might be too broad as there are thousands of paid and free libraries. What kind of music do you make?

 

The Best Kontakt Libraries to Enrich Your Music
By Tyler Connaghan - March 16, 2023
https://emastered.com/blog/kontakt-libraries

 

I think NI's play series might be a good starting point for a beginner. There are plenty of different libraries and different genres to explore. Get inspired and go from there.

 

All of them

 

It all depends what you want to do!

Roughly the Kontakt Factory library is good for a lot of bread and butter tools. Nothing standout perhaps, but always handy to have. If you want to have more bread and butter sounds then the very 90's E-Mu Proteus Rack is fantastic.

For a bit of paranoid ambience you can't go wrong with Straylight/Ashlight + the Distorted Reality Akai conversion.

Drumwise, well there's just too much out there, but for a certain type of breakbeat/boom bap/downtempo Drumlab is still excellent, and I like Empire Breaks quite a lot as well. For a more abstract take Soniccouture's MoonKits and Konkrete are a great source of weird bangs, gongs, and clicks. Session Percussionist is handy (and programmable) tool for adding some quick perc.

I don't play the piano, or even keyboards, that well so I'm not gonna vouch for realism but I do find Noire and The Maverick getting a lot of play over here.

Then there's the weird ones like Soniccouture Omnichord, never used one but I love it just for the sheer cheesiness in strum mode. 8Dio Misfit Trumpet is a blast, literally, it's great to mix in quiet to double horn parts.

 

Trailers FX movies, cinema, and games etc. - Sonuscore, Heavyocity, Musical Sampling, PulseSetter, Zero-G, Audiofier, Cinematic Tools, Keepforest, Sample Logic, Sound Yeti, Cineamtique Instruments, Sick Noise Instruments, Have Audio, Sonora Cinematic, Wavelet Audio, Vir2 Instuments, Rigid Audio, SoundIron, Boom Library, Audio Imperia, Silence+Others, Artisty Audio, Have Audio, WrongTools, Big Fish Audio, Cinematic Alpha, Cinematic Studio, SampleTraxx, Strezov Sampling, Output - Gravity

Orchestral - ProjectSAM, Impact Soundworks, Strezov Sampling, Spitfire Audio, Orchestral Tools,
Best orchestral in my opionon is Sonuscore - The Orchestra Complete 3, Spitfire Audio - Albion One, Orchestral Tools - Metrapolis Ark

Great pads, atmospheric, ambient - Heavyocity, Spitifre Audio, Rigid Audio, Audio Imperia, Big Fish Audio, Output - Exhale,
Native Instruments - Pharlight

Unique Sounds/Horror Etc- SoundIron, Impact Soundworks, Insanity Samples, Triple Spire Audio, Triumph Audio, Have Audio,
FluffyAudio, Ergo Kukke, Native Instruments - Mysteria, Native Instruments - Thrill

Hard Rock Guitars - Impact Soundworks - Shreddage series , Six String Audio - Ultimate Rock Guitar

Acoustic and other guitars - Orange Tree Samples, PastToFutureReverbs, Native Instruments - Session Guitarist Electric Sunburst, Native Instruments - Electric Mint Guitar, Native Instruments - Session Guitarist Acoustic Sunburst, Native Instruments - Picked Nylon, Native Instruments - Picked Acoustic, 8Dio - Songwriting Guitar

Various Instruments - 8Dio, Strezov Sampling, Audio Ollie, Native Instruments, Fracture Sounds, Sonoxima, Sonic Couture,
Westwood Instruments, Kirk Hunter Studios, Have Audio, Sonuscore, Ivy Audio, SoundIron

Music by genre and construction kits - Big Fish Audio, Loop Masters, BigWerks, SampleTraxx

Drums/Percussion - GetGood Drums, Heavyocity - Damage, Kirk Hunter Studios, Output - Gravity, Wave Alachemy - Triaz, Cinesamples - Drums Of War, Native Instruments

Strings - 8Dio, Embertone, Spitfire Audio, Output - Analog Strings, Native Instruments - Symphony Series Strings Ensemble, Audiobro, Musical Sampling, Black Octopus Sounds, Slate+Ash

Brass and winds - Output - Analog Brass and Winds, Embertone, Sonuscore, e-instruments, Spitfire Audio, Kirk Hunter Studios,
Native Instruments - Vavles Pro, Native Instruments - Symphony Series Woodwind Ensemble, Vir2 Instruments - MOJO 2: Horn Section, Orchestral Tools - Berlin Woodwinds, Spitfire Audio - Symphonic Woodwinds


Synth - Karyani Sounds, Spitfire Audio - eDNA, Audiothing TX 101, Audiofier - SEQui2R EX & Synth,
Audiomodern - Modularps 1 & 2 + Paths 1 & 2 and Sync series, Output - Signal, Native Instruments - Analog Dreams
Native Instruments - Utopia,

Keys - Native Instruments - Alicias Keys, Native Instruments - Ignition Keys, Native Instuments - 40s Very Own Keys,

Pianos - Native Instruments - Noir, Native Instuments - Claire, Native Instuments - The Gentlemen, Native Instruments - The Grandeur, Native Instruments - The Maverick, Heavyocity - Foundations Piano, SoundDust, Karyani Sounds - Vapor Keys, Spitfire Audio - Hans Zimmer,

Choir/vocal - Strezov Sampling, Output Exhale, Sonuscore, Spitfire Audio, Heavyocity - Mosaic Voices, 8Dio - Insolidus Choir, Heavyocity - Vocalise 3, Native Instruments - Choir Omnia, SoundIron, Audio Imperia, Vir2 Instruments - Aeris Hybrid Choir, Westwood, ProjectSAM,
Musical Sampling, Cinesamples choir bundle

Bass - Output - Substance, Native Instruments Scarbee Rickenbacker bass, Orange Tree Samples

World/Ethnic - Strezov Sampling - Jade Ethnic Orchestra, Strezov Sampling - Balkan Ethnic Orchestra, Best Service - Ethno World 6


Have fun

 

Last edited: Feb 8, 2025

^ No Mixwave drums?

 

Those are good too, I forgot about that one that may be one of the best. I don't download many drum libraries anymore I feel that's the easist part of composition for me. Having Toontrack EZ and Superier it's really not necessary for Kontakt. I only download impacts and cinematic percussion for Kontakt.

 

sample logic (ALL OF THEM)

 

Slate + Ash (slateandash.com) has created several beautiful experimental instruments for Kontakt. They are expensive but you can find them searching torrent trackers.

 

Pretty much impossible to know what to recommend not knowing what kind of audio you're producing.

 

It might be good to think about what to NOT look for.
One thing for me is sampled synths, as there are too many good synths out there with refined / evolved controls.
I ignore those Kontakt libraries ... even when they claim analog mojo.

I feel the same about many percussive instruments in Kontakt, such as drums, which I feel are better handled in a dedicated plugin.
For bass: even though I like IKM MODO bass & Spectrasonics Trilion, I did have one Kontakt bass that sounded very good to me... different that what I'd found so far using the others. It had a certain gutsy sound..
But i had issues with Kontakt (HATE the interface) and for a while avoided it.

Anyway the point is there may be certain libraries ...even for a digital synth where the emulation is exact like DSP56300 OsTirus... that have a neat sound due to the recording techniques and/ or the included processing.
In that sense nothing should be out of consideration, but it's probably better to focus on those recommended acoustic ones first.

 

Damn , But you tried hard

 

Tried to help the OP and anyone else as much as possible. The "Best" kontakt libraries are subjective. I may like something that you would never use vice versa, maybe you think the GUI sucks and its too busy for you etc.

Take for instance I like the Kirk Hunter sound, but I don't the GUI at all, and that completely turns me off on those libraries.

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2025

Thank you so much for all the posts.
I will reply little by little, so please be patient.

I'm currently thinking about making avant-garde music and experimental music.

 

If avant-garde music and experimental music is what you want to compose then I suggest you should consider dabbling with KONTAKT Synth Libraries and Hybrid Libraries with limiting the usage of pure Orchestral, Guitar or Percussion libraries only for flavours.

Most of the KONTAKT developers put out libraries which sample an instrument best to the original as possible but some developers like Heavyocity, Sample Logic, Slate + Ash, Audiofier, Keepforest, Output etc and few from Native Instruments besides few small developers puts out some nifty gems with some of them featuring multiple engine layers and sample import to play with new sounds.

 

Does avant garde have enough notes? That's kind of an important thing around here.

 

Sorry to reply to your question with a question,
What is "avant-garde notes"?

 

Only the Head of Music Theory Studies in the Music Department of AudioSex can tackle such a question.

@Incontro, enlighten us with your insight.