Komplete 12 - worth it?

BTW, to anyone that’s interested, the Battery 3 disc images are here. I couldn’t get the installer to work, but the full Battery 3 libraries are on the disc images. If you follow the instructions from what I linked to earlier, you can convert those libraries to Battery 4. Lots of great kits! (I own multiple Battery 3 licenses, but if you are just converting the old libraries to Battery 4, you don’t have to register Battery 3 in Native Access, so it looks like any Battery 4 owner could do this).

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resurrecting this thread a bit, but does anyone know if Komplete 12 will offer significant performance increases or better cpu management? I am tempted due to the Massive update but aside from that the only thing that I would really enjoy is if some of the applications were updated for performance.

I haven’t noticed a change for better or worse. I just did a fresh wipe and install of Mojave over the weekend and haven’t tested much yet but 12 was working well in High Sierra before that. In my limited tinkering everything is up and working at least.

So it’s been a month or so since I upgraded to Komplete 12 and I’m really glad I did.

I haven’t been able to dig in as deep as I want yet as I have been studying for a licensing exam I need to take for work at the end of this month, but man, Reaktor alone is nearly worth the price of the upgrade. I really love Rounds in particular, so many of the presets nail the Boards of Canada vibe (which is the holy grail for me). Form is also really nice.

I’ve always been more into drum machines and samplers than synths, and I’m actually thinking that the synths in Komplete may be more than enough for me. I’m contemplating selling my Roland SE-02, just to simplify my setup further.

By the way, what’s the cheapest they do the upgrade to Komplete Ultimate when they hold sales?

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From now on I would wait to Native Instruments Summer of Sound promotion you should have informations in the End of May

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Cool. I’ll have plenty to hold me until May. :wink:

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I have a question about the sample packs that come with Komplete.

With so many samples, does anyone have any tips for the best way to organize them? Do you use Battery to sort through them or do you link to the folders in your DAW? Just curious if anyone has a good workflow.

Do you mean the Maschine expansions (eg True School etc)?

EDIT: I’ve tried many different ways to organise my sample libraries…many different attempts to slice them into different categories…I’ve tried it by “One-Shots”, “Loops”, “Samples” …then “Rhythm”, “Melody”, “Harmony”, “FX”…then “Kick”, “Snare”, “Flute”, “Piano” etcetc…

In the end I’ve found it best for me to keep the samples clustered by the “sample pack” they are bundled into. So the way I do it now, I have a sample library that has vendor folders (Native Instruments, MVP Loops, etc etc) and then within those I’ll have the respective packs as a whole in folders, eg “Sample Libraries/Native Instruments/Quennsbridge Finest/“

I do have separate folders for app-specific sample libraries, eg all Kontakt libraries are in my “Kontakt” folder, BFD3 kits are in a “BFD3” folder etc etc.

Not an exact answer to your question, but hopefully there’s something here for you regardless :slight_smile:

EDIT2: I access my sample libraries directly in the software I use. Eg in Ableton Live, I have a Shortcut to my sample library in the browser (ie it’s set as one location). Alternatively, when I’m using something like Impact XT in Studio One, I will just have a Finder window (MacOS) open in parallel to the VST and just drag and drop from there (I also have my sample library folder linked in the shortcuts to the left in Finder).

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Komplete Kontrol is probably your answer. It’s basically a plug-in wrapper you open in your DAW that lets you browse through all things NKS related. That includes all the sample libraries. It works very nicely with Logic too by the way and is included with Komplete rather than just with a hardware purchase (I think…).

I use it all the time without my KK49 being plugged in.

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Thanks! I didn’t even occur to me that Komplete Kontrol would have the packs as well. I’ve used KK a bit, but only for instruments.

To be honest, I’ve mostly ignored the packs to date, but I’m contemplating upgrading from Komplete 12 to Ultimate when the sale starts, and I was thinking I should really explore this content more. I think part of the problem is that the only times I’ve really checked out this content is in Battery and it’s browser leaves a lot to be desired compared to the Logic Loop browser.

@hausland Thanks! I’ve sort of got things set up like that myself and I was just wondering what others are doing and if there is a better way.

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Yeah komplete kontrol is great. I use it with my kk keyboard, but I’ve used it in the past with a different keyboard as well to good effect.
But to the OP, the browser on the keyboard makes the price of admission worth it IMO. Great way to scan through the sounds.
The funny thing is I’ve been using patches from synths that I never would’ve thought to use when I just browse by sound, definitely some good surprises.

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Oh man, I’m so glad I asked this question. This is sweet! I was thinking I’d have to sequence the samples from KK, but in Logic you can drag them out and drop them out on to tracks, straight into drum machine designer to build kits, or into sampler for further processing. Plus, I love that you can mark your favorites. Thanks again!

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If you like/use software take a look at the Unfiltered Audio stuff

Yeah it’s pretty awesome. Didn’t realise you could drag straight into Logic though. Wonder if that works with Live too…

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I was sucked into buying Komplete 8 on special way back… I was a reaktor user and thought… can’t hurt… but i was simultaneously over & underwhelmed after laboriously installing and testing everything, i never really used any of it, so regardless of SuperSizeMe business morals, i feel like the mega-bundle strategy is not good for consumers - you end up with HDDs full of crap and option overload so I agree with your strategy - buy what you need

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I also got a cheapish upgrade, so I got it but I still didn’t install everything. That is an option, and things like horns or other odd stuff like that I never downloaded.
Everything else is pretty sweet.

I must say I’m really enjoying Komplete 12, though I did manage to get it at a heavy discount thanks to @AdamJay ‘s heads up in the Deals Thread.

To me, Kontakt, Massive X, Reaktor 6, and FM8 alone are worth the price of admission. Then there’s The Grandeur, Maverick, Giant, and Una Corda piano libraries which are all beautiful and distinct enough to justify their parallel existence on my hard drive. Then Monark, Prism etc are great as well (I especially like Monark as a Moog replica). And finally there’s Battery 4 (which is still good), Absynth 5 (which is still good)…

In general, NI’s synths and sample libraries sound very good…quite “produced” for the lack of a better word, but I’m quite liking the gloss.

Finally I also like the quality of integration with Komplete Kontrol etc.

Things I don’t like:

I do not at all care about the included sample packs (formerly Maschine expansions) even the least bit. I also don’t care much for some of the included Kontakt libraries (Session Guitarists, Action Strings, Horns) - not because they aren’t of good quality but simply because I don’t usually use horns in my productions, guitar I prefer to play myself, and re Action Strings I have one of the Orchestral Tools string libraries and a Spitfire library which I both love and so that base I have covered.

Lastly, I wish Komplete 12 would include the Alicia’s Keys library, that piano sounds gorgeous and quite unique…I’ll probably get that separate during one of the 50% off on pianos sales :slight_smile:

I also think Komplete is great! worth the price? for sure. Especially in sales. Overwhelming? probably, but even if you use just a small percentage of the stuff it‘s still worth it.
Imo all their stuff sounds great! I can‘t find anything wrong about the sounds they offer.
GUIs are not the best, especially with their older and synths and kontakt, they scream for an update.
The synths are really deep and great for sound design if you put in the time to learn them. It‘s not only about presets. But with komplete kontrol and their keyboards browsing through presets is quite fun and you most likely always find some sounds that fit into your track.
Their sample libraries sound great as well and are simple to use. Even the factory content of kontakt has some great sounds

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Yea, I’m not that into most of the expansions. It’s a bummer they don’t let you just choose 4 or 5 for each tier, since no one is producing trap, and trance, and house, and boom bap. But I suppose that’s how they make their money.

I do support that they migrated them away from Maschine and turned all the kits into Battery Kits (plus some bonus battery kits for older expansions) and also include Monark, Massive, and Prism patches.)
This new form of expansion is certainly more expansive. And as someone who doesn’t use Maschine, I can still get some value out of them. They’re particularly great in Komplete Kontrol VST, as you can browse the loops, samples, and presets instantly.
Some of the Battery Kits are just single shots of synths and are a good bit of fun.

I’m also excited to see where the Kontakt Play series goes. These may look simplistic but these are really quality instruments that get great results, the newer ones, particularly, as they have more under the hood. I got REAL good deals on Modular Icons and Lofi Glow, which won’t be in any Komplete bundles until K13 (and then I’ll just sell those licenses if and when I update). These have very fun, interactive sequencers, macros, and great FX. Easy to be inspired with these and either get a track going or find something that you can mold that finishes off a track nicely.

No need to wait, you can usually find someone selling a license (especially around the sales as they’ve updated to a higher Komplete tier and are offloading duplicate licenses) on KVR.
$50 is the going rate for Alicia’s Keys right now.

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I just upgraded to Ultimate. I really wanted all of the other Abbey Road kits, and there are plenty of other things in there that I’m interested in as well.

I used to be one of the people that didn’t get enough use out of Komplete, but these days I use it quite a bit it. That Scarbee Rickenbacker (muted one) is sick.

Barry Beats does some fun stuff with the Kontakt libraries.

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