Native Instruments Kontakt 8 (Update from Kontakt 1-7)

• Factory Library: The Factory Library has been redesigned and features seven new collections of instruments, fresh sounds, effects, added functionality, and a HiDPI interface
• Library Browser: New Library Browser with advance filtering and tagging options
• Two Effects: New Psyche Delay and Ring Modulator effects
• HiDPI: KONTAKT is now HiDPI
• Improved Engine: Updated time stretching algorithm
• Updated Side Pane: The Database tab has been removed; its function replaced with the new Library Browser. The Expert tab has been renamed to Monitor tab

• Completely overhauled in KONTAKT 8 by Orchestral Tools, the comprehensive, integrated collection of sampled string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments in the Orchestral collection are all taken from OT’s flagship product range, The Berlin Series. Recorded with the finest musicians, in situ, on the same Teldex Scoring Stage in Berlin, these libraries are used by AAA-list film, media, and game composers.

Acoustic

• Flutes, dulcimers, recorders, bagpipes, fiddles, plus a brand-new hurdy-gurdy, and a range of gongs and percussion sounds with editable MIDI patterns. The Acoustic collection packs 60 meticulously recorded instruments that let you add layers of unique character to tracks. Cross borders and continents to tap into distinctive, authentic sounds from a huge range of locations, including Ireland, Turkey, Japan, Cuba, Armenia, and beyond.

Band

• Whether it’s rock, funk, jazz, or soul, you can find the authentic sounds you need in the Band collection with a range of acoustic and electric sounds – newly added guitars, plus basses, organs, horns, and e-pianos. The collection also has a range of drum kits with preset grooves that can be exported with MIDI drag and drop. Choose from different articulations and playing styles and dial in extra character with a range of controls, including vibrato and sustain.

Beats

• Find your flow and lay down rhythmic patterns fast – the Beats collection is totally overhauled for Factory Library 2. Choose from 288 pre-made Grooves across 90 kits, or free-play your own rhythms with a keyboard or pads. You can also use MIDI drag and drop to export the Groove patterns into your DAW for editing, and further customize your drum sounds with a range of studio-grade effects including chorus, flanger, reverb, and delay.

Choir

• The Choir collection delivers choral vocals that span the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass pitch ranges. New in KONTAKT 7 are a range of high-quality patches that include the vowels Aah, Eh, I, Ooh, Uh, and Mmm, as well as sustain, marcato, staccato, and staccatissimo articulations.

Synths

• All the pads, leads, arps, and basses you could ever need, including a freshly added Soundscapes category for evolving, cinematic textures. From the earliest vintage gear to sci-fi-ready FM and modular rigs, the Synths collection contains a huge range of electronic sounds, along with high-grade effects that let you dial in sweeping filters, echoing delays, roomy reverbs, and more.

Vintage

• A collection of 292 deep-sampled electronic instruments that deliver the rich, timeless warmth of analog synthesis, tube compression, and tape saturation. Draw from the sounds of some of the most priceless, sought-after synths, drum machines, and classic gear, ready to add the highest quality textures and timbres to any production in any genre.

Play Series

• KONTAKT 8 ships with three Play Series instruments: ANALOG DREAMS, ETHEREAL EARTH, and HYBRID KEYS. These libraries combine two morphable sound layers, many of which utilize KONTAKT’s wavetable synthesis engine, for exciting hybrid textures.
• KONTAKT Play Series instruments all feature eight carefully tailored controls, designed to control a number of complimentary parameters, allowing powerful performance and editing in a streamlined interface that automatically maps to NI hardware controllers.

Retro Machines

• 16 all-time classic synthesizers and keyboards in a simple and streamlined interface, complete with an arpeggiator and chord generator. Enjoy painstakingly captured, editable versions of iconic, timeless machines.

• KONTAKT powers a huge range of Native Instruments products. Its formidable sound engine and advanced scripting have built their reputation as a sampled instrument manufacturer.
• Whether it’s the dramatic sound of ACTION STRINGS 2, the unmistakable twang of SESSION GUITARIST – ELECTRIC VINTAGE, or the inspiring, randomized sound design of PLAYBOX, their instruments provide creative inspiration for musicians and composers around the world.
• And because we’ve developed these instruments right alongside their KOMPLETE KONTROL S-SERIES keyboards and MASCHINE hardware, their integration creates a unified playing experience.

Platform for 3rd Party Instruments

• KONTAKT enables the creation of thousands of sample-based instruments from hundreds of top builders – representing the cutting edge of sample instrument design, from the organic orchestral palettes of Landforms to the blockbuster sci-fi sounds of Symphobia 4.
• Many of these instruments are made for the free KONTAKT PLAYER, so you don't need the full version of KONTAKT to use them.

Hardware Integration

• KONTAKT instruments offer unprecedented levels of hardware integration and enhancement, for both their own and partner-developed instruments.
• For example, when used in conjunction with KOMPLETE KONTROL SERIES keyboards, they can fully harness the power of the Light Guide, allowing instant visual references for pattern-triggering, split key ranges, thousands of special articulations (such as muted brass notes or guitar slides), and step-sequencing.

Extended Functionality

• Many KONTAKT instruments, both their own and those of third-party developers, use Native Kontrol Standard (NKS) – Native Instruments’ extended plug-in format for all virtual instrument developers.
• NKS allows for intuitive and seamless interaction between plug-in instruments and KOMPLETE KONTROL and MASCHINE hardware, including tag-based preset browsing, instant audio previews, and pre-mapping of key controls to hardware – definitive integration designed by developers themselves.

• KONTAKT is the industry-standard sampled instrument platform, chosen by top instrument developers the world over.
• Its powerful feature set offers unmatched creativity for developers, with cutting-edge sampling tools and effects modules, modular architecture, and advanced scripting, allowing everything from recreations of real-world instruments to original standalone instruments, complete with features like built-in sequencing.
• KONTAKT 7 comes with a powerful wavetable sound engine, allowing all-new hybrid instruments that combine synthesis with sampling to create truly unique sonic textures.

Effects

• KONTAKT includes a huge selection of pro effects. Harnessing NI’s extensive DSP expertise, they allow any kind of sound shaping – from subtle sonic tailoring to elaborate effect chains.
• KONTAKT features 92 effect modules in all, including reverbs, delays, dynamics, distortions, guitar amps and cabinets, modulation, equalizers, bitcrushers, filters, and more.

Sample Playback

• KONTAKT enables fast, simple, real-time audio manipulation.
• Using NI’s own DSP tech, and that of partners – such as Zplane’s Elastique Pro – KONTAKT offers advanced, high-quality time-stretching and pitch-shifting, granular technology, emulations of vintage digital samplers, flexible looping and slicing, and more

Unbeatable Efficiency

• KONTAKT’s unbeatable performance enables complex and highly-realistic sampled instruments.
• Efficient, direct-from-disk audio streaming, smart memory management, and careful scheduling of background tasks means KONTAKT loads tens of thousands of samples in seconds and plays hundreds of voices simultaneously, for the ultimate in expressive sonic realism.

Routing

• KONTAKT features a flexible routing architecture that allows highly complex instrument configurations.
• With it, developers can emulate multi-mic studio recording setups, scoring professionals can work in the latest multi-channel audio formats, and sound designers are free to create elaborate effect chains, and even apply separate processing per voice.

Modulation

• KONTAKT has a comprehensive set of musical modulation modules, delivering anything from highly realistic vibrato to animated, otherworldly synth textures. This collection of envelopes, LFOs, and step sequencers can modulate almost any effects parameter or aspect of sample playback. Modulation can also be introduced from external signals such as incoming MIDI, for infinite possibilities.

Advanced Scripting

• KONTAKT’s advanced scripting language, KSP, powers countless pro instruments. It allows Euclidean sequencers, percussion instruments that reproduce minute drum skin variations, complex orchestral clusters, and more. It also allows powerful custom GUIs for instruments that look as good as they sound.

Creator Tools

• KONTAKT 8 ships with a standalone application suite – Creator Tools – to aid the instrument creation processes. It consists of three elements: A Debugger, for identifying and fixing problems in KONTAKT script; an Instrument Editor, which can load and run Lua scripts to automap samples, duplicate and batch rename groups, and copy settings from one part of an instrument to another; and a GUI Designer, which allows creators to assemble, customize, and reuse KONTAKT performance views and controls without the need to write code.