NI Apps Redundant?

I was wondering if any RGC/Cakewalk users have had an opportunity to really look at Absynth, Kontakt and Reaktor. I own Dim Pro (love it), z3ta+ (love it) and probably waiting for a special offer on Rapture before those dollars are history.

NI currently has an offer on Absynth and Kontakt 2 (Komplete 3 as well for that matter), but I'm wondering if those products would actually offer much more than I already have. Hope it's not improper to post this here, but anyone been able to compare?

TIA for any guidance.

Edit: PS currently using SONAR 5 PE and P5.

Reaktor is the most expensive synth I own and NEVER use. I didn't bother upgrading to ver. 5 because 3 and 4 just didn't really work into my way of using synths. I have, and use FM7 and I like it for what it does. I've never dug into it and learned it deeply, but I can pull in a preset and tweak a few settings and get a decent sound with fairly low CPU usage.

I saw that deal that they offered, and in spite of my experience with Reaktor, I went ahead and picked up Absynth 3. A while back I had a chance to check out a demo of version 2 (I think) and I loved the sounds but it was always a little bit pricey, so when I saw it for $149 I had to grab it. I've only had it for a short time, but I'm glad I grabbed it. For the types of sounds it gets, it's fairly light on the CPU, time will tell on the stability and ease of use.

Even then, I think Absynth is very much a love/hate synth... there'll be people who really dig it and people who can't stand it... just like Reaktor. I think I'm probably in the minority for Reaktor, but it seemed to me that even though it gives you all of this amazing modular flexibility, it always stamps it's own sound on everything... like it's covering it with a Reaktor blanket or something. Between that and the instability, I think I only ended up using it for one or two things, and rarely even open it to check it out anymore.

ORIGINAL: mumpcake

In case anyone is interested, they are having an NI-versary sale. Details on their website, also audiomidi.com selling a few of their products at a big discount (FM7 $99, Guitar Combos $79 [for bundle of all three], Absynth $149).

Great deals but...I really wanted a big discount on K2. While they do throw in the DVD tutorials into the £150 odd pounds cross grade price, I expected a bigger discount. I think it's only £10 off to crossgrade from other NI products to K2 compared to before the NI versary deals. If it was 50% off I may very well have snapped it up.

Designing your own filters out of the components might not be your idea of fun, or it might be. That's up to you. :)

The depth is what makes it a tweakers paradise. And yes if you stay at it hard it does offer the most unusual sound possibilities. Like Tassman it is hard to get going quick . It just forces you to construct your sounds as if you had a degree in audio engineering.

I like the simplicity of Rapture, you can't compare the two. It's not possible. but the end result is what were all after.