Komplete 11!!!

[Babz]

I knew it had to be about ready to drop around August, but didn't know it would be August 1st!

Ultimate link:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... -ultimate/

[mikehalloran]

I figured it would be out soon because of all of the sale offers I received on Komplete 10 right up to yesterday. According to a couple of sites, K-11 starts shipping in September. That's still good.

I was hoping that Kontakt 5 would be available in the $199 Select version but Select only has the free (and very limited) Kontakt Player. Here's the comparison chart:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... -products/

I have been putting off buying Kontakt for years—MachFive3 runs a lot of old libraries but, as they get upgraded to Kontakt 5 compatability, that is no longer the case.

GuitarCenter.com and others are still offering Komplete 10 for $399. The upgrade to 11 is $199. It's an option, I suppose, but I might just hold out to see if someone has an introductory offer or coupon on Komplete 11 before I pull the trigger. I won't do it just to save $1, though.

[Michael Canavan]

Having Komplete Ultimate 10, the new stuff in 11 isn't enough for me, best thing to do IMO if you can with NI is to skip an upgrade and wait for a sale price. So waiting until Komplete Ultimate 12 goes on sale is the best bang for my buck. Plus Kontakt is by far the most used instrument for me and K6 still isn't out so....
Mikehalloran, they do offer an upgrade from a single instrument to Komplete, so figuring the cheapest single instrument to buy then getting the upgrade is an almost traditional way to get Komplete for folks.

[kgdrum]

Having Komplete Ultimate 10, the new stuff in 11 isn't enough for me, best thing to do IMO if you can with NI is to skip an upgrade and wait for a sale price. So waiting until Komplete Ultimate 12 goes on sale is the best bang for my buck. Plus Kontakt is by far the most used instrument for me and K6 still isn't out so....

+1

I also have Komplete 10U & see nothing that compels me to think about upgrading to K11U now,will either wait for the $199 sale in a few months or wait until Komplete 12 gets released.

[mhschmieder]

Symphony Essentials are extremely crippled compared to Symphony Series and barely worth the effort from what I can tell. Comparisons are shown here:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/s ... ssentials/

There's a lot of funny math on the main site, as I can't get any of the numbers they list for "new content" for Ultimate, no matter how creative I get in counting products as "multiples".

Here's the chart showing what Ultimate owners get based on their current version:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... whats-new/

Not much of value for $399. I already paid for the Replika XT upgrade separately. Most of the new products are ho-hum from my point of view.

I'll have to check my Kontakt version when I get home. I may decide that $99 for just the Kontakt update is worth it, until K12 Ultimate (if it ever happens -- they may go subscription soon).

The India product is probably a re-release of the old Kore product that I already own, and anyway, I'm happy with Sitar Nation from Impact Soundworks and have good sources for other Indian instruments elsewhere. Still, it's a pretty good product. But it's $99 on its own.

Action Strikes is a pretty good product that I find occasional use for in a background role when I don't want in-your-face drums or Hollywood bombast but need a strong undercurrent that is flexible vs. repetitive (you have a lot of power over variations in that product). Never tried my Action Strings, but maybe Emotive Strings would find some use. $299 on its own.

[mhschmieder]

Looks like Michael's link didn't update when he went to the comparison chart, as it takes you to the main page. Here's the direct link to the comparisons:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... 1/compare/

So, one option for K10U owners might be to go for K11 for $199 vs. K11U for $399. You'd get the Kontakt update, the India product, the guitar strummer, and the one-string upright piano, plus a couple of the silly electro products.

Not sure if that would cause licensing problems -- especially for those of us who paid for the upgrade from the free Replika delay plug-in to the new XT version (which is only included in K11U).

Note also that Emotive Strings is only part of K11U, and the $25 wouldn't make much of a hit against its $299 price (if one was interested in that product). So that is one product that would rationalize the K11U update price. Nothing else would.

[Babz]

I sat out Komplete 10, so this means something like 20 additional products for me going from K9U to K11U. Never expected that any of the Symphony series would be part of Komplete, so anything from that seems like a bonus for me. The Discovery India seems like one of the best Indian libraries I've ever seen. Then there's Reaktor 6, and whatever Form is all about. Also looking forward to seeing any Kontakt improvements, since I have been digging deep and doing a lot of creating my own Kontakt instruments for the last year or so, and there is much about the interface that could be improved. So in my case, I'm fairly stoked!

Babz

[mhschmieder]

Babz, for you, $399 is a worthwhile upgrade price going from K9U to K11U.

I'm mostly doing the "even" updates vs. the "odd" updates, so don't necessarily remember what was added in K9U vs. K10U but do recall that K9U didn't excite, whereas I use a LOT of the K10U products pretty regularly.

Even though the Symphony Essentials stuff is only 10% of the real products (I really didn't expect NI to bundle those Symphony Series products as-is in Komplete, so am not surprised), you'll get your money's worth just with the K10U material and the two or three K11U products that are of immediate use.

Yes, the India product is quite good. I just can't remember the status of my Kore product. This might not be the same, or might be expanded. I'll download the manual to compare, once home. One of the things I appreciate about the NI product (the old one, at least) is that it is authentic to the material vs. being added as flavours for soundtrack composers.

Specifically, there is deep documentation on tabla articulations and their context, and similar treatment of the other instruments, as well as a nice round-up of North Indian vs. South Indian Classical styles and the folk traditions as well. NI is taking an appropriate academic approach to their Discovery Series.

[mikehalloran]

The comparisons link is the bottom part of the products link if you scroll down far enough. No matter as long as it gets us there. Your link is better for those with product knowledge, certainly—thanks!

they do offer an upgrade from a single instrument to Komplete, so figuring the cheapest single instrument to buy then getting the upgrade is an almost traditional way to get Komplete for folks.

Ahhh... I love the Upgrade Game. Thanks for the tip!

[mhschmieder]

An important clarification before anyone wastes their hard-earned money on piecemeal upgrades:

Kontakt 5.6 will be free for Kontakt 5 owners; just not for Kontakt 4 and earlier.

It will show up in NI Service Center around mid-to-late September when it is released.

I think there might be a Guitar Rig update this time around, but I literally use that product for one thing and one thing only: the Talk Box effect. And quite rarely at that. So I barely pay attention to its updates.

[David Polich]

I already have a lot of Komplete instruments (last version I bought was Komplete 7) and have purchased several additional ones. I updated to Reaktor 6 this year and of course I'll be grabbing the Kontakt 5.6 upgrade as I own Kontakt 5.

I wouldn't mind having Emotive Strings and the Symphonic Brass (full versions). I'm kinda with
Mark Schmieder on these "new" electronic instruments...they're fun but I don't see them as must-haves.

I don't see any updates to Absynth, Massive, or FM8, and I have the latest versions of those
anyway.

So for me I once again don't feel a burning need to update to Komplete 11.

[Gravity Jim]

Using 10 and purchased Rounds. It doesn't work properly on my rig, NI reproduced the problem and then did nothing at all for way over a year. They still haven't fixed it, and would still ask me to wait,

I don't see anything here I don't already have or want, and Ive promised NI I won't buy anything until the fix Rounds, so... to be crude about it, NI can kiss my ass.

[Killahurts]

I just updated to 10 a few weeks ago! I waited until the upgrade from 9 was $100 (or was it $150?).

I'll probably do the same thing with 11.

[waxman]

Sitting this one out... K10U works great for me. I don't see using much of the new instruments either. It they had one killer must have I'd do it in a second. If I really need something special I send it off to Dave Polich. I get back pro tracks with the latest hot sounds and cool orchestration... half the time the sounds are not even released yet so I know it's original. lol

The demo's did little to sway me... The first 1 of 17 sounds like aliasing on a 8 bit sampler string patch. 3 sounds like every Taylor banging praise song that comes out of Australia.

But if NI has some new functionality that makes it work better with Komplete Kontrol that would be a different story.

[mhschmieder]

Apparently one of NI's updates from the past two years made "obsolete" stuff go zappo, and even removed such stuff from Service Center.

So, I am unable to confirm the relationship between Discovery: India and the older Kore product (which was Kontakt-compatible, and which I bought when it came out).

Interestingly, when I went to the overview of all of my licenses, my Waldorf and Arturia products show up as well! So I guess NI hires out their licensing infrastructure to those who want it. Both companies previously used eLicenser, which I can't wait to get rid of if VSL ever abandons it, now that my only remaining non-VSL licenses on that dongle are a couple of Waldorf holdouts and 32-bit Eiosis stuff.

Oh, one thing that people are complaining a lot about in Kontakt 5.6 is the switch from pastel coloured keys to two-pixel-deep primary and secondary colours at the back side of the keys a la Kontrol. I already know I will hate that as well as it is harder to see and to distinguish, especially being up against a dark background vs. contrasting with other highly distinguished pastel colours on neighbouring keys.