NI KOMPLETE 5 - The way to go?

[larslarssen]

Hello guys,

I work professionaly with music and my current setup (for composing) consists pretty much of

Logic 8
Stylux RMX
V Station
Trilogy
250gb of fairly good EXS samples gathered over the years

I really feel like I need an energy boost in terms of new sounds and I've been looking at NI's KOMPLETE 5.
What I feel that I'm missing in particular are pads, synths and good keys sounds (piano, organs etc).
I got a decent setup of the sounds mentioned above, but they've all been used and used and nothing blows my mind anymore.

Therefore, if someone could tip me on wether KOMPLETE 5 is the way to go or is there is another bundle (or separate software plugins) that rocks, I'd be grateful.

Thx in advance

[Digital Network]

I just received my Komplete 5 and I just tested Reaktor 5 => Amazing plugin !!!

[Teo Macero]

I've been working with NI Komplete 3 for over 2 years now at home. If you're a student you can get the EDU Version. Saves ya big pesos. I did that and split with a buddy (you get 2 licenses), so absolutely worth every cent!

Got 5 installed at work last month

both cases I'm running it through Pro Tools 7.4 and everything works fine.

Definitely the way to go.

[Stiff]

I generally like NI's sounds, the main problem is stability. I personally haven't had that much issues, but a lot of other people have. Kontakt 3 have shown some odd behavior at times which really bugs me because I really want to love that plug-in.

I have used the Piano's and the B4 quite a bit and they all have been stable for me.

[d1rtynyc]

Komplete seems like the best thing for what you're asking about, but you may want to take a look at the Arturia V collection too. No pianos or organs there though.

[lowkey]

i think its definately been worth it for me, although there are a few of the plugins i never use. But its got several plugins there for every style of music.

[DarkPlasma]

Originally Posted by larslarssen

What I feel that I'm missing in particular are pads, synths and good keys sounds (piano, organs etc).

Considering you having lots of software as is, i would recommend to get a Virus TI for the pads and synth sounds. For keys, you can get a nice sample collection of the old vintage keyboards, and use CDXtract to convert it to .nki so you can run it in Kontakt thumbsup.

To be honest, I tried the elektrik piano and didnt like the sound, it just sounded too plug-in-ish and plastik. All NI stuff sounds like that to me. Reaktor is good for really weird effects to put your audio through, and Kontakt is an amazing soft sampler.

[Sirocco]

I am currently selling a FULL RETAIL SEALED & NEW copy of Komplete 5 that is straight from NI. Not the academic or crossgrade versions, this is the real deal.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gears...ox-sealed.html

Save 200 dollars from where all other places are selling this versions from

[Teo Macero]

the academic version is exactly the same as the "real deal" retail version. All you have to do is show proof of enrollment or employment at an academic institution and it'll save you over €1000.

[Sirocco]

Originally Posted by Teo Macero

the academic version is exactly the same as the "real deal" retail version. All you have to do is show proof of enrollment or employment at an academic institution and it'll save you over €1000.

1)Less resale value
2)Can only legally sell to students
3)The box is marked as ACAD

[macleodgrant]

i like the Komplete bundle, it's good for creating some very unique sounds and adding interesting elements to a mix. i love absynth for crazy sounds and akoustic piano for the clean stuff and kontakt for the samples but there really is so much more in this package and you have to invest a lot of time to figure it out

[hyde105]

I just took their Komplete your DAW offer about 3 weeks ago, and I'm really satisfied with Komplete 5! No glitches at all, not even with authorizing and updating. I wished I would have done this a lot earlier.

[larslarssen]

Thanks a lot for many great replies people

When it comes to the recommendation of getting the Virus, I was hoping to be able to keep things "software", especially for portability reasons.
The Virus is definitely something I've had my eyes on, but I travel a bit for work and therefore I feel plugins are the way to go...for now.

I just saw that until July 31st, NI has a 30% discount offer on KOMPLETE 5 as long as you own a qualifying DAW (which seems to be almost all the DAW's). Guess that makes it even more attractive

[KarmaPolice]

Komplete 5 is really great! I love the sound of the new stuff
that came with K5 like the new drum kits in Battery 3 and the Kontakt 3 samples.
Reaktor is amazing. There are so many great ensembles from the user library. And
you get so much more like Guitar Rig, etc...

Right now it´s running without problems on my intel mac. But the first intel mac
versions were buggy as hell. Keep in mind that NI seems to need a lot of time
to get their stuff working on new systems. Support has always been ok for me.
Check out the demos.

[bamboo]

I just bought Komplete + Kore 2 package with Novation V-Station and Bass Station thrown in from Nova Music. They bundle stuff and it comes out to reasonable deals. I have just started to buy my software because I got serious with it again and it was only fair to the developers, and that was one of the purchases I made. I'm very happy with it.

I haven't even dug into the anything other than the thousands of presets being used KORE2 alone much less digging deep into reaktor etc.

I'll recommend that package to anyone. If you look you can find the Kore2 + Komplete for about $999 as a package, or with Nova they will usually throw about an extra $150 worth of goodies in the bundle. Some times I've seen it with hardware like a Midair 25, but I chose the extra Novation softsynths.

You can also do the crossgrade and like $699, but if you're spending the money go with Kore as well.

Originally Posted by larslarssen

Hello guys,

I work professionaly with music and my current setup (for composing) consists pretty much of

Logic 8
Stylux RMX
V Station
Trilogy
250gb of fairly good EXS samples gathered over the years

I really feel like I need an energy boost in terms of new sounds and I've been looking at NI's KOMPLETE 5.
What I feel that I'm missing in particular are pads, synths and good keys sounds (piano, organs etc).
I got a decent setup of the sounds mentioned above, but they've all been used and used and nothing blows my mind anymore.

Therefore, if someone could tip me on wether KOMPLETE 5 is the way to go or is there is another bundle (or separate software plugins) that rocks, I'd be grateful.

Thx in advance

[bamboo]

Native Instruments NI Komplete 5 w/ KORE 2 & SoftSynths - eBay (item 270247659170 end time Jun-28-08 08:39:06 PDT)

This is what I bought, and they are a legit dealer, you can buy off their website and not ebay.

No paypal though.

Originally Posted by bamboo

I just bought Komplete + Kore 2 package with Novation V-Station and Bass Station thrown in from Nova Music. They bundle stuff and it comes out to reasonable deals. I have just started to buy my software because I got serious with it again and it was only fair to the developers, and that was one of the purchases I made. I'm very happy with it.

I haven't even dug into the anything other than the thousands of presets being used KORE2 alone much less digging deep into reaktor etc.

I'll recommend that package to anyone. If you look you can find the Kore2 + Komplete for about $999 as a package, or with Nova they will usually throw about an extra $150 worth of goodies in the bundle. Some times I've seen it with hardware like a Midair 25, but I chose the extra Novation softsynths.

You can also do the crossgrade and like $699, but if you're spending the money go with Kore as well.

[larslarssen]

Well - got a new Mac Pro and I'm installing KOMPLETE 5 as we speak. Let's hope it was the right pack of synths to get Got a good feeling.

Only notable thing is that even during the installation process I've had two curious things happen:

1) The installer creates a boatload of folders in the root of my Mac HD. Very annoying for me, being a neat freak. If anyone can gimme a tip on wether or not it's safe to move these folders into one main folder, let me know.

2) Battery comes on 2 DVD's and is part of my "full install". After it's done with DVD 1 it asks for DVD 2, but when I insert it I get tha message that "this dvd can only be installed by using dvd 1".

Let's just hope it all works when the installer is done

---------------
UPDATE:

Wow, the installation process could be way smoother. The Battery libraries just wont install so now I have to copy em manually.
Easy Install puts folders in both my Applications folder and duplicates in my Macintosh HD.
Authorization didnt work until i searched forums for 30 minutes and found out there is a new version of the authorizer. The autoupdate in the old authorizer does not find the new version and it's not very easy to locate any info on it either.

Oh well, but for all the stuff I've got working so far I must say I'm tremendously satisfied

[vixapphire]

Originally Posted by Teo Macero

the academic version is exactly the same as the "real deal" retail version. All you have to do is show proof of enrollment or employment at an academic institution and it'll save you over €1000.

wow; stateside that'd mean they're paying people to install it!

[vixapphire]

mos def. the kore hardware adds a lot to the NI experience. the kore2 software is really cool; turns the entire komplete suite into a morphological abomination.

plus, they did not cheap out on the hardware quality; the knobs on the kore box are super nice!

[jonesboy]

Yup, I did the Komplete 5 + Kore 2 bundle a few months ago and am floored every time I start building patches with the NI tools. I've had a couple of crashes, but generally dig them.

Bonus: all the NI tools work as stand-alone software too, not just plug-ins. This gives you the ability to just noodle and bang out patches without the overhead of setting up in your DAW / sequencer / etc. - very cool. Kore seems to add a whole new dimension to things, but I must admit that I haven't explored it in-depth yet. I'm still getting to know Absynth, Massive and FM8; I know for certain that I'll lock myself in my studio for a few months when I crack open Reaktor again (the *very first thing* I did with Komplete 5 was to build my dream delay unit in Reaktor - love it to DEATH) and I've got a feeling that Kore will be nearly as deep when it comes to designing for live sets.

I have to admit that I'm still getting way more use out of GURU than Battery, and that I don't see this changing. The bundle is a ridiculous deal though, and I'm happy as hell with it.

FWIW,

-Matt

[pyvnd]

Originally Posted by Teo Macero

the academic version is exactly the same as the "real deal" retail version. All you have to do is show proof of enrollment or employment at an academic institution and it'll save you over €1000.

you can't upgrade the edu version.

speaking of, i have a feeling version 6 will drop soon.

btw, akoustik piano is not all that.

[macleodgrant]

Originally Posted by pyvnd

you can't upgrade the edu version.

speaking of, i have a feeling version 6 will drop soon.

btw, akoustik piano is not all that.

i like it actually. wll it's the best sampled piano i have. considering the package you get for the price it's a pretty good deal

[pyvnd]

Originally Posted by macleodgrant

i like it actually. wll it's the best sampled piano i have. considering the package you get for the price it's a pretty good deal

It's the only one I have too.

[feyshay]

NI Komplete 5 is well-worth it.
Essentials from NI, as far as I see it, include Kontakt 3, Massive, FM8, Absynth 4 and maybe Reaktor 5 (if you really want to spend some time).
Other than that, I would not see myself using much beyond that. You could do better with BFD 2 (over battery), Ivory (over Akoustic Piano), etc. However, consider those additions totally free, since once you buy the 5 I have listed individually, you may as well buy Komplete and get the rest free.

[Fishy1500]

I've been interested in picking up a good set of softsynths to explore a bit and the Komplete 5 + Kore 2 package looks like a good candidate. However, I can't seem to understand what exactly Kore 2 does... How does it tie in with the softsynths in Komplete?

Sorry it may have been a silly question, but I don't have much experience with softsynths. I've been using hardware synths and hardware processors for a while now, and the only plugins I'm using are like waves processors.

[Stevil]

i scored an NFR of Komplete 4. overall it's a nice package, not impressed with the piano, the rhodes emulation is ok, the FM8 & Absynth are great & would fill your need for pads & synth sounds. The Hammond emulation is good. i know some people love the drum machine software but i'm not all that impressed with it (of course i'm not a big fan of 'drum machines' to begin with).

[crufty]

the whole concept behind kore is threefold:

One, the software (which is now free) is a way to organize & search all presets in all softsynths. Doing so is still a major PIA as there really is no standard for what constitutes a preset, even though Kore 2 has an auto-preset add it's not perfect.

Two, the software acts as a live-oriented host for said softsynths, much like mainstage in logic pro. With mainstage included in Logic, the live oriented host looses its appeal a bit. A couple of years ago it was nifty because you could setup fx chains along with au/vst layers--so its not just synth preset xyz, but multiple layers of different softsynths xyz+verb + distortion etc etc.

Three, the hardware acts as a consistent interface to all the presets organized in kore. So by using kore hw/sw, you could swap between preset and preset, and if you have everything mapped correctly, just use the kore hw piece to fiddle and twiddle. You wouldn't need to look at the computer because kore displays what parameters you are fiddling with on the kore unit itself, as well as patch name etc.

there are a few issues with Kore. One, it's a cpu hog. Two, it crashes with some non NI softsynths / fx. Kore recognizes NI stuff best--naturally. three, it's a bit redundant. The kore hw isn't midi compliant, so you can't really use it to control anything but the kore software, and sometimes the automation in the kore doesn't get recorded. Most daw's have some kind of library feature so you can store your preset chains that way -- w/out overhead. kore's search capability was innovative but again, daw's are catching up/or caught up in that area.

Overall, the use for kore as I see it--attaching komplete vXYZ on a headless mac mini/pc w/kore attached and treating the mini as a rompler. Haven't done this myself, but if I was in need of a rompler that's what I'd do. I'm not sure if automation could be passed along the midi out but...*shrug*

[Fishy1500]

Thanks for the info on Kore 2 Crufty!

Overall, what do you guys think about the softsynths in Komplete 5? Very usable? Sounds comparable to hardware synths?