I had a few forum issues this week-end and my first post failed.
 
Anyway, I bought the Banjo VI for Kontakt from Bolder Sounds previously and just added Mandolin this week and they are phenomenal.
 
The Banjo package actually has multiple instruments for Kontakt: one is a standard MIDI-controlled VI; one is specifically made to add authentic banjo rolls to your tracks; one is for chords (not strumming); and one is for use with a MIDI-guitar, if that is your thing.  By creating two Kontakt instances--one for the standard rolls and one for my custom notes--I got really cool results.  I would use the rolls for most of the song but leave bars blank from time to time to add my own licks on the standard instrument (called Strings).  Since the Rolls instrument has a number of good variations and licks, this really worked well.  The standard instrument also has hammer on and off, slides, and bends to add realism.
 
I am just starting to work with the Mandolin but so far it is great.  It has a standard instrument and one specifically for chops (chord-comping).
 
I did not mean for this to sound like an ad: I just think these products are awesome and extremely reasonably priced.
 
You will need the FULL KONTAKT PLAYER--not the free player.
 
Peace. 

Totally agree!  

Great samples and not a bad price very reasonable.

Join us down on the software forum
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2827913
 Anyway these are great, highly recommended.

Well - all those thing are nice and payable, until you realize you have to pay the price of the full NI Kontakt version. For € 399 price tag it's out of reach for me at this moment (and I guess it will be for a long time at this difficult financial times), and the free player is not usable sadly.

JClosed, I totally understand.  I recently bit the bullet and upgraded to the full Kontakt player and it opened up a world of affordable (and sometimes free) samples.  (By the way, on NI's US site, Kontakt is $399 USD, not 399 Euros.  Still expensive, but a bit better at the current exchange rate. )

I guess the choice is pay for more expensive products that use the free player (or their own players), or pay one time for Kontakt and then have access to the lower-priced options.  People's situations and needs are different.

For me, I acutally did not need most of the bundled content that comes with Kontakt because I had other soft synths/VIs; however, I use some of the free content and many people on this forum swear by it.  You could make great records with nothing but the free Kontakt content if you had no other soft synths.

Anyway, some of the smaller companies (like Bolder Sounds and Noisefirm) are making great stuff if and when you decide to go with the full Kontakt.  And both of these companies offer great support.  Not sure how they afford it.

If you do make this choice at some point, feel free to send me a PM if you want me to share anything I learned along the way.  (I'm not that smart, but sometimes I learn a few things from my dumb mistakes!)

Kontakt is the sampler to get. Without it you cut yourself off from a great many great sounds. 

Cost is a consideration especially in these times. I still recommend it.  

Kontakt 5 is simply outstanding. One thing is NI has in the past had summer sales that often make Kontakt affordable. I would look for a sale this summer.

Thanks Konrad, will definitely check these out.

Thanks for the offer konradh. I certainly will contact you if I have any trouble with Kontakt. Kontakt 5 is on my wish-list for a while now, but it will take some time before I will have enough "spare" money to buy it. I am still financially recovering from buying Omnisphere at the beginning of this year (worth every cent in my opinion tough). Oh - well... So many nice things to buy and a chronic shortage of insane financial wealth to just do that... ;-).

Konrad, I might look at these myself. Is what you describe as Banjo VI equivalent to Bluegrass Banjo on the Bolder Sounds website?

Cheers

Garry Kiosk