Orange Tree Samples has released Strawberry and Steel Strings in NKS format!

Usually we prefer to have updates/upgrades for free, but due to the cost of licensing the Kontakt Player, we opted for the $20 USD upgrade fee. This price can, of course, be discounted further by redeeming your Orange Slices.
 
If you bought either of the libraries from October 1st onward, we've upgraded you free of charge.
 
Regarding what's new in the upgrades, we took the opportunity to make some improvements and additions:

Full Native Kontrol Standard integration

Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol keyboards and Maschine now offer integration with virtual instruments. That way the Evolution guitar library's effects and settings are readily available directly from these excellent hardware interfaces. The upgrade also incorporates the Komplete Kontrol's Light Guide technology to display the different key ranges and keyswitches.

Snapshot-based factory presets

The snapshot system in Kontakt 5 is designed specifically for handling presets, so we've upgraded the Evolution guitar engine to use those. It integrates really nicely with the Komplete software, Komplete Kontrol keyboards, and Maschine, too.

Oh, and while we were at it, we added a bunch of new factory presets.

Other miscellaneous improvements

The upgrade includes the very latest version of the Evolution guitar engine, which includes new reverb pedals, improved round-robin cycling for better multi-tracking, as well as a few minor bug fixes.

The improvements made in these two libraries will also be released as updates for Evolution Banshee and Evolution Stratosphere, so stay tuned for those.

I am not sure yet what advantage using the Komplete Kontrol software brings if you don't have the hardware but I will be upgrading, mainly for the other improvements but also to satisfy my curiosity about Komplete Kontrol.

bitflipper
Please keep the two-tier pricing if you can, Greg. I was under the impression that NI's licensing terms (I know you're bound by an NDA not to talk about it) discourages the practice. 

Same here. We know NI charges for Player status but AFAIK not for NKS status. So, a regular format, non-Player but including NKS, would make sense. This way, existing users would not have to pay for the update to cover Player-format expenses, but they would enjoy all other updates such as Snapshot and NKS, if they want to use their Kontrol keyboard.
I presume NI doesn't charge for the NKS-format in order to draw people to these fine keyboards, so it seems awkward if developers would.
Imagine all Kontrol keyboard users having to shell out another $20 for every library they wish to use within the NKS format. Imagine Arturia charging $20 for every synth in the V Collection.
The cost of using NKS in these Kontrol keyboards, already quite expensive, would double.
So please Greg, reconsider 

A bit more with regard to "snapshot" organisation in Komplete Kontrol; The Steel Strings Snapshots appear under "Acoustic Guitar" when "All Instruments" is selected, but I can't see any Strawberry snapshots if I filter "Clean E-Guitar" or "Distorted E-Guitar". Strawberry snapshots do appear when the filter is at the higher "Guitar" level. I wonder if this is by design or a limitation in the Komplete Kontrol classification system.
 
 
Something I don't like about the Komplete Kontrol software (unless I am missing something) is the browser gives you no indication of what VST or library will be selected, so when you browse for guitars you have no idea if items in the list are a Reaktor Ensemble, FM8, a Kontakt library or Massive patch. Of course you can limit your search to a specific synth or Kontakt library but surely the idea of this "global" browser is to make it easier to find the sounds across several different VSTi, knowing the synth involved would give some information about the character of the sound before loading it.

noynekker
So I'll have to pay a total of $40 to update both Steel Strings and Evolution Stratosphere (when it gets upgraded in the near future) ?  Hmmm . . .

Well, depend on if you want the new features. Unless you intend using Komplete Kontrol you may not consider the extra presets and tweaks worth it.

fleer
We know NI charges for Player status but AFAIK not for NKS status. So, a regular format, non-Player but including NKS, would make sense. This way, existing users would not have to pay for the update to cover Player-format expenses, but they would enjoy all other updates such as Snapshot and NKS, if they want to use their Kontrol keyboard.
I presume NI doesn't charge for the NKS-format in order to draw people to these fine keyboards, so it seems awkward if developers would.

 
I don't suppose we will ever know for sure but it could be that VSTi can use NKS but only regestered Kontakt libraries can. NI may consider that a way of bringing more independent developers into the fold.
 
I also wonder if third party hardware will emerge. Arturia for example has already implemented NKS on the V Collection but they make their own hardware controlers.  I hoping someone comes up with something with more than 61 keys and a synth type keyboard.
 

Native Instruments just released an 88-key version of the Komplete Kontrol keyboard. Right after I got the 61-key version, of course... :P
 
While there are certain elements you can make NKS-ready, for full integration it needs to be a Kontakt Player library. That way, for example, you can press the "browse" button on the keyboard, and the library will appear along with all of the different snapshot presets to navigate through. It's really convenient to be able to tweak effects and settings using the knobs while playing, or press the arrow buttons to advance through the different presets.
 
So the main reason for the upgrade price was due to licensing the Kontakt Player. Otherwise we prefer to keep updates free. Any discounts will apply to the upgrade price, though. For example, you could redeem your Orange Slices points... though those will save you a lot more on something with a larger price tag--it'd be a pity to redeem your 50% off discount to save $10. ;)

gregjazz

bapu
Greg will all your products be getting this make over?

Yes, continuing with the rest of the Evolution guitars (Banshee, Stratosphere, plus the nylon that's currently in beta). After than I'm planning on making a bass-specific version of the Evolution guitar engine as an update for the bass libraries.

And the Rosewood Grand, Greg?

Yes, the 88 note board is hammer action. Great for piano players, but I want a synth keyboard long enough I don't have to use a second keyboard for keyswitches.

gregjazz
Of course, what'd be really cool is a 128-key MIDI controller with synth action... ;)

+1 :)