Hi All,

I'm still relatively new and I was wondering what are some the biggest software programs/packages/libraries? I'm also thinking about how much external storage I might invest in, so this could help influence my decision. Also there could be some great undiscovered ones for me...

Some of the Biggest Collections I know are:

Superior Drummer Microphones and Bleed Packs (100GBish maybe)
Spitfire Albion One (50GBish)
Keyscape (80 GBish)
Omnisphere (90GBish)

I'm not sure how Waves Komplete works, whether you have to install the old versions and update so I have no idea what the total size would be??

 

If you want to become truly obsessively compulsive like me, you will fill a 6TB drive. Then hardly use it.

 

Native Insturments Komplete is 320GB.
Strezov Afflatus 112GB
Strezov Jade Ethnic 109GB

 

- Superior Drummer 3 will run you at the very least 1TB with all the SDX's, never mind EZX expansions, (doubt you'll need ''em).
- NI Komplete 13 will run you 850GB minimum and more with everything that's available. Adding Kontakt Libraries are limitless!
- BBC Symphony Orchestra about 628GB (captured by Spitfire)
- IK Multimedia Total Studio Max about 180GB
- Waves Complete is tiny comparatively to these, 10GB maybe, depending on what you chose.

Plan for at least 4TB (two is better IMHO) to get you started. Then comes the decision of SSD, HDD, M.2... backups... Sample Libraries... it's a deep rabbit hole lol...

 

Thanks everyone Some new recommendations there

I'd like to look into getting Komplete.... I'm confused where you got 850 GB from?? Also, do you know when installing it, do you have to go back versions or can I start at Komplete 11?

 

Oh, it's actually only 790GB! Guess they dropped some stuff or whatever?

Select "buy now" tab on the NI site for Komplete Ultimate 13 Collector edition and halfway down on the left you'll see the space requirements for each version. I own the Komplete 8 Ultimate box-set on discs which was only 125GB or so.

I'm not an expert on NI man, lots has changed over the years with that company and I don't use it much anymore. I'm sure it's still pretty badass but my needs changed and other things worked better for me. I'm sure others will chime in for proper advice there, plus there's lots of NI threads here if you look!

Remember, some would say less is more (others, more is more lol) find what works for you and don't get too hung up on having ridiculous amounts of stuff to sift through. Keep it tight and productive!

 

Last edited: Jan 27, 2021

"Waves Komplete"… yeah right… as long as it THE BIGGEST, who cares who made it… another useless thread…

 

Komplete 13 (standard) is 280GB, 13 Ultimate Collectors edition is ~1.2TB.

If you get Komplete, there's no need to install previous versions. Same thing with upgrades, except you get old versions from where you started at.

For instance, my upgrade path was Komplete 5 > 8 > 10 > 13, so I still get Reaktor 5 and 6 instead of just 6 (the latest) for legacy projects.

Also, when budgeting storage size consider that most libraries allow you to place the samples where ever, but the plugins and support libraries (and docs and whatnot) will normally go to your system drive. So for me K13 is ~10GB on the system drive and the rest (200GB or so) on a dedicated SDD.

One thing to consider as well is that fast storage makes browsing for patches so much faster and non-irritating, but there's no need to go overboard. A basic SSD will do fine here.

My rule of thumb is that figure out how much you assume what you need now and then double it. So for (assuming no other libraries) K13 standard a 512GB SSD is fine, but for Ultimate a 2TB one and so on.

Hope this helps!

 

Seeing that this is a thread about someone speccing out storage for libraries it's hardly useless, unlike your comment

 

Thank you both @phumb-reh & @blackmoon ... There's some very helpful feedback there...

I just invested in one of those external multiple drive enclosures and as you say, it's helpful to try figure out what you want/need and build from there with some contingency... As ya'll know... SSD Storage isn't cheap (Roughly 100 dollars/Euro per TB I guess)... so use it wisely!

I'm testing NI Komplete Ultimate 12 to have a sift through installation process... I probably wouldn't use half of it but there's some golden stuff too... so I assume you can pick and choose... I only discovered Kontakt libraries yesterday too!

I also need to figure out if I'll use RAID

 

Yeah, you can pick the plugins and libraries that you want. There's no need for a bulk install.

RAID is not needed (and that's another discussion). Just keep backups (which RAID is not!), externals are perfect for this and for your own projects there's cloud backup (another thing).

In my opinion QLC SSD drives are perfect for sample libraries. Like Crucial BX drives and so on. There's very little to be gained moving those to faster SSDs or NVMes. I'm using an el-cheapo Kingston 512GB for aforementioned Komplete13 install (ofc I'm using it for other stuff as well) and the difference between my home setup and a faster one at the studio is not really noticeable (or then maybe I'm just old and slow).

Do ask though if you need more.

 

@phumb-reh thanks for the advice there re: RAID & Hard drives. Just one thing, I installed Komplete 12 Ultimate Collector’s Edition v1.02, think it was around 3GB... Random thing but ages ago I made an account for Native Access and I'm signed in, it also says lot's of stuff is downloaded when it's not! I assume that update was some key software and now I have to hunt for individual sample (Kontakt) libraries to download separately? I'm guessing Native Access is there for if you want to make a legit purchase?

 

If you've got downloaded libraries you can point to them in Native Access instead of downloading them. No biggie, done that several times.

 

@jimmyjohn

No worries, remember too that HDD are much easier to recover if they fail over SSD.

 

mine is hans zimmer piano and production grand 2 platinum. my go to for steinway/cinematic and pop/c7.. best mic'd and neve'd production ready libs i ever download imho.. other i can't even, be like smh TBH, just sayin..

 

How about that (Kontakt?) drums library over a 100GB that commercially I think comes with an external drive?

 

So you are literally just wanting recommendations for the biggest things?

Block caps, I see!
I think @5teezo was right.
But here are two more to weigh you down that weren't mentioned:
Broadway Big Band Library 107.43GB
Orchestral Tools Glory days - Big Band Horns 81.39GB

I have 13TB, all daisy changed on FW800 (you can link up to 64 devices!) and a couple of 1TB SSD for really juicy libraries.