THE SHELL...
For all those creative individuals who make their own samples and yearn for a professionally scripted GUI with tip-top graphics but maybe lack the skills (or the time) for either, we have what I think might be the ideal solution for you.
Let me present 'The Shell' ...
As you can see from the panel. it's an exceptionally functional synth engine - an 'oscillator' (i.e. your sample(s)) with its own LFO and pitch envelope, a comprehensive multimode filter with six different filter types and, again, its own envelope and LFO, an output stage with amplitude and pan modulation from its dedicated LFO which all pass to a chain of effects featuring distortion, various modulation effects (comprising chorus or flanging or phaser), echo and a convolution reverb with custom spring, plate and hall impulses. It's a chunky synth with massive capabilities for treating and processing your own samples.
But the work's been done for you - you simply assign your samples and map them out in Kontakt's MAPPING EDITOR as normal then leave Kontakt's EDIT pages and tweak to your heart's content from the scripted panel. No assigning of filters or envelopes or LFOs or effects, etc. - just assign and map your samples and then have some fun with the panel.
Furthermore, we've included groups so that you can layer samples and what's more, you can create your own groups to stack up colossal layers of sound.
To get you started, we've included a few basic waveforms (sawtooth, square, 'iSaw', PWM and noise) and a handful of presets. With the power of The Shell's synth engine, it is surprising what's possible with just those waveforms alone.
The Shell comes with a comprehensive user guide to help you create your own sounds. For the more advanced user, there is more functionality.
The Shell is a unique Kontakt instrument designed for you to take YOUR samples to a new level of convenient tweak ability ... a bit like having your own scripter and graphic designer on tap for your own creations.
The Shell is available now for just £8

http://www.hollowsun.com/...ts/gui_shell/index.htm

This looks really neat. I will be getting this for sure. It may even prompt me to get the old Korg Poly 800 out the roof and sample it to provide some material.

How is it different from loading a sample into Dimension Pro?

Dim Pro is a sample player and Kontakt is a sampler.

mike_mccue


How is it different from loading a sample into Dimension Pro?

You can use Kontakt's graphical mapping editor to assign your samples rather than text edit an SFZ file. A big plus IMHO particularly if you are using multi samples and velocity layers. Of course once you have mapped your samples Dim Pro does already provide some filter and envelope controls on its interface.
 
If you have Kontakt this one is worth 8 quid in my book. As Steve says "you can tweak your sounds without having to delve into Kontakt’s sometimes arcane edit pages." Those with a lot of experience a building Kontakt instruments may find it superfluous but for me its just the job.

How is it different from loading a sample into Dimension Pro?

What distinguishes Kontakt from other sample players is its extensive scripting language. But that's also what turns off a lot of would-be sample creators, who find scripting obtuse. Scripts do get complex quickly, even if you're doing just basic stuff. Even as a programmer, large Kontakt scripts make my eyes cross. 


What Steven has done is to provide you with ready-made scripts to remove much of the drudgery so that you can focus on the more fun parts of Kontakt instrument creation. If you have full Kontakt but you've never tried to create your own instrument, give it a go - it's a lot of fun, and aside from the scripting, quite easy to do.

You know I wasn't going to bother with this  - I never seem to have the time for extensive "sound creation" experiments, so have become very much Mr. pre-set man with tweaks!
But for only 8 pounds I think I may just as well get this and start to learn to "twiddle" more effectively - and if I don't have the time (as I expect I won't) I'll have only spent 8 pounds anyway!!

I was trying to explain to another sample library producer recently that their products were too expensive, that's why they were not selling enough. I used the pricing model of Hollow Sun / Hideaway as my examples in trying to get them to understand - lower prices / sell more / make more money
They couldn't seem to grasp the point, that, like here, this is so cheap you don't really think twice regarding purchase - if this was say 20 pounds, I most certainly would think twice and in the end, probably would not buy - anymore than 20 and I simply wouldn't even consider it.
Perhaps I should send them this post 
Nigel

bitflipper

What Steven has done is to provide you with ready-made scripts to remove much of the drudgery so that you can focus on the more fun parts of Kontakt instrument creation. If you have full Kontakt but you've never tried to create your own instrument, give it a go - it's a lot of fun, and aside from the scripting, quite easy to do.

There's an additional aspect to this.  Much of what's available in Kontakt comes in the form of proprietary Kontakt format samples that you cannot use anywhere else ... heck, if they were all .sfz format, I'd grab some and move them over to Alchemy to do custom sound creation.  There is a large and ever growing collection of superb sample sets very reasonably priced (from Hollow Sun, Hideaway Studios and others) that you can acquire but only use in Kontakt.  The shell makes them easy to adapt these to your own ends.  This is such a simple idea that it's kind of amazing nobody thought of it sooner.  Very elegant solution ... but then from Hollow Sun that's no surprise.

Thanks for the explanations everyone.

Honestly, all I see is a filter bank.

Where does the scripting part come in to play with this "front end"?



best regards,
mike

What would be even better is if NI had some real competition so they'd be motivated to improve their script-editing tools. Or at least open it up to third-parties. Scripting in Kontakt is a throwback to the 1980's, with unhelpful error messages, lack of editing shortcuts, no automatic code-completion or parentheses-matching, and you need to have the script reference open on another screen while you work.

There is a nifty (and free) Kontakt script editor called KSP that's helpful but not integrated into Kontakt so you have to create the file and paste it into Kontakt for testing.