I would have to say I am underwhelmed by the Kontakt factory library. But there is a lot you can add on.

For basses the Scarbee and Orange Tree stuff takes some beating. You can find some good, inexpensive bass guitars from Lyrical Distortion.

For Banjo - Bolder sounds is the only way to go!

Pads - at least pick up the free stuff from Hollow Sun,

Which Rhodes sounds in Kontakt are you talking about? The ones in Vintage Keys? I actually prefer a free Reaktor Ensemble I found called Vintage Piano. Don't overlook Reaktor, it's the most powerful thing from NI. And you also get access to the Reaktor User library, which contains thousands of wonderful instruments and effects, some of them are delightfully unique. You can get the free Reaktor player if you don't have Komplete. 

konradh


Thanks, guys.  Looking now.

Hey, dumb question:  I had the free Kontakt 5 player before.  When I open Kontakt now and see the content, how do I know if I am in the free or full player?

Konrad, if you look at this image: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.cinesamples.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/HWW_KONTAKT.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cinesamples.com/2010/07/hollywoodwinds-now-with-kontakt-player/&h=205&w=636&sz=66&tbnid=nTRRt0Ea8Zx9BM:&tbnh=40&tbnw=123&zoom=1&usg=__24_kldAxjtTx7XleYNU2s_9wJ7Y=&docid=MekKyztZIJ0h5M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qioqUf26LsXw0QGC8oEI&ved=0CEYQ9QEwBw&dur=42
 
(sheesh sorry about that long link!)
 
You'll see a little wrench in the top left if your "full version" is working properly. No wrench on the free version. It also will not time out while editing sounds etc. Hope this helps.
 
-Danny

Ilya Efimov just released a 5-string bass guitar library. It's (IMHO) the best e-bass library out there: http://www.ilyaefimov.com.roducts/modern-bass.html

Their other libraries are also unbeatable..

Thanks, Danny and Loptec.  All is good now.

I suggest a topic like this is better posted in the Software section of the forum where there are other related topics.

personally I wouldn't bother buying into anything NI from now... no doubt they well "mess" around with the format of NKI etc.. so you have to re-buy old libraries or something along them lines.. all the stuff in komplete 8 was no doubt recycled from their sound packs.

they did the same with Kore at short notice , so compatibility links to new versions of their software.. the patching side isn't guaranteed.

nice of them to be economical with the truth regarding the "b4" update.. not showing the "sticker type graphic" to say it was included in komplete 7.. then not caring about users folking out for something they didn't need.

NI ... "not interested".. and the way they are carrying on I bet more will feel the same in time.

other vendors who don't **** over their customers exist..  Why would I want to give money to such a company any more ?

I actually hope something other than Kontakt becomes more than industry standard.

Fog seems to have some information I don't have about NI.  I will say, however, that I have not found NI to be very helpful or user-oriented, especially compared to extremely helpful companies like Vir 2, Vienna Sumphonic (VSL), and Bolder Sounds.  (EastWest is also on the unhelpful list.)

konradh


•  Most pads are either too weird or have attacks that are too slow, either condition making them hard to use as filler in simple ballads. 

Hey konrad! the cool thing about kontakt is most of the factory pads have envelope modifiers so you can shorten up that attack time.  you can also open the editing screens to take off any lfos or filters that are adding the weirdness...