what happened to Kontakt????

Odd. Still available on NI's own web site.

There's a general encouragement to get you under their umbrella by pushing Komplete in your face. The pricing has always favoured that.

I agree they're pushing komplete - and the fact that kontakt is missing from retailers makes me think they are moving toward only offering kontakt 5 as an upgrade and no longer for full first time purchase, so that first time users have to purchase komplete instead.

I went to find a link so I could recommed it to someone on the forum.  that's when I noticed it was missing.  komplete is out of their price range (and mine!).
 
that bothers me, there's a price point gap now.  Elements is very low end, Komplete is high end - where's the middle ground?
 
it also bothers me that if I wanted to upgrade K4 that I HAVE to go through NI. 

Komplete is like the Happy Meal in the soft synth world,but I really only use Kontakt and a little Battery and Guitar Rig...

I don't use any of the synths at all and most of the sample material - apart from the Scarbee stuff - is filler - not killer....

The Happy Meal pricing is the way they are forcing us to go,but after a couple of bites you feel bloated :)

It's odd as more and more companies seem to be taking the opposite approach and selling their software as a bunch of optional modules (Expanded and Amplitube come to mind.) NI themselves do so with all the modules which require Guitar Rig.

One of the rumors which circulates about Logic X is that you'd buy the basic application and additional modules as needed through the app store. This seems to make sense to me, and I'd certainly appreciate the possibility to customize my purchase. 

As for NI, I can't figure out whether they really know what they're doing recently - almost seems as if they're desperately struggling for income w/o much of a plan.

July is usually the time to buy/upgrade. They sell of their stuff in preparation for the new version(s) - September 1st.

Looking at the full price of both of these, Komplete is $150 more...seems like a better deal

Glyn Barnes


I have beed debating if its worth getting the Komplete crossgrade from Kontakt 4. The offer expires before the end of the year.

It would cost $280 over the inevitable (but postponable) upgrade to Kontakt 5. The truth is there is lots of stuff I would not mind having but nothing compelling me to buy.  I have Guitar Rig 4 essentials and some of the Kontakt instruments. I have most of the others covered with third party stuff.

Reaktor is the product that could make it worth while for me but I am not really sure.  I think I will pass (probably)

I'm in the same boat.  I had already decided I was not spending the $ on K5 and Komplete8 looks great and all, but there's so much stuff in it that I'd be paying for that I wouldn't use.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2434709

Rain


Something will have to give at some point. They can't just constantly discontinue stuff and reorganize their products to keep the cash coming in, forcing customers into buying products they don't want just to be able to upgrade. 

It's inconceivable that Kontakt would be discontinued.  It's as close to an "industry standard" as you can get in the world of music software.
 
This may be an experiment by NI.  If it fails, they'll probably go back to the old ways. 
 
I recall when Komplete (regular, not ultimate) was about a thousand bucks and Kontatk was $400.  At the time, $400 didn't seem exhorbitant for Kontatk because it was the going price and it was what it was.  Now we've gotten used to Komplete (regular, not ultimate) to be $500 new.  But compared to the prices of maybe three years ago, it's a bargain.
 
You do get a lot for your money (yeah, whether you need/want it or not).  Still, it seems a reasonable price to me, and there's really no need to buy into every upgrade cycle.  One thing that NI does (that I like but that seems foolish) is to allow you to skip a version without paying a premium on the next upgrade price.  I would have priced the 7 to 8 upgrade at maybe $100 to $150, the upgrade from 6 to 8 at $200 to $250, and so forth.  So, there's no penalty at all for deciding to opt out of an annual upgrade.  My plan is to skip at least every other annual upgrade as long as they keep this policy in place.

dmbaer

Rain


Something will have to give at some point. They can't just constantly discontinue stuff and reorganize their products to keep the cash coming in, forcing customers into buying products they don't want just to be able to upgrade. 

I recall when Komplete (regular, not ultimate) was about a thousand bucks and Kontatk was $400.  At the time, $400 didn't seem exhorbitant for Kontatk because it was the going price and it was what it was.  Now we've gotten used to Komplete (regular, not ultimate) to be $500 new.  But compared to the prices of maybe three years ago, it's a bargain.

Unless all you want to do is crossgrade a 3rd party library to Kontakt Full, which is only $280 (MSRP via NI) compared to .... oh that's right, you can't crossgrade a 3rd party library to Komplete.  If they remove the ability to crossgrade to Kontakt directly through NI, that would be a big kick in the b@llz for consumers. You'd be forced to buy Komplete full at $500 or whatever instead of Kontakt crossgrade at $250 or whatever... in other words: less people interested in Kontakt.

You do get a lot for your money (yeah, whether you need/want it or not).  Still, it seems a reasonable price to me, and there's really no need to buy into every upgrade cycle.  One thing that NI does (that I like but that seems foolish) is to allow you to skip a version without paying a premium on the next upgrade price.  I would have priced the 7 to 8 upgrade at maybe $100 to $150, the upgrade from 6 to 8 at $200 to $250, and so forth.  So, there's no penalty at all for deciding to opt out of an annual upgrade.  My plan is to skip at least every other annual upgrade as long as they keep this policy in place.

When you say "you do get a lot for your money"... in my head I hear "you do get a lot of crap for your money".
 
The upgrade to Komplete 8 is $200 via online retail, and maybe cheaper in some places. The upgrade to Kontakt 5 is $120 MSRP. I'd rather take that $80 and buy something useful with it rather than an upgrade to FM8 or GR4 which I will never ever ever ever ever use. I need that $80 for other things, like drumheads, guitar strings, and cat litter. Or the latest sample library from OTS, AcousticSamples etc. Does everybody just have an extra $80-$100 lying around that they really just don't care about??? Is that what NI thinks??? Makes no sense... They will kill their market if their not careful. Then again, they've been on somewhat of a path to self-destruction for a few years now.... To big for their britches, yet not big enough to know what they don't know.

Well, Kontakt may be more affordable than it was, but then again, software prices in general went down.

Maybe my perspective is flawed, and I know it's not the way it works for everyone, but it's the way I look at things. If I pay $400 or $500 for a sequencer which comes with tons of plug-ins (all of which are pretty good and useable nowadays), loops and GB content, paying $300 for a sampler, no matter how good it is, seems disproportionate. But that's just me - I'm not doing any huge orchestral work or nothing like that. I guess for some, its worth the price.

Here's a list of things I'd prefer that $80 to go toward before anything in Komplete not named Kontakt (in no particular order), many of which just so happen to be in the $80-$100 price range: 

 1.) U-he Diva 
 2.) Madrona Labs Aalto 
 3.) IK Black compressor 
 4.) IK White compressor 
 5.) Amplitube 3 models that came out recently 
 6.) Extra license for S-Gear for my ever growing herd of home computers 
 7.) Upgrade X1 to Expanded + PC modules (yes, it's on the list) 
 8.) Upgrade WIVI brass&woodwind to get some esoteric instruments I'm missing  (much more than $100)
 9.) Vir2 World Impact (much more than $100)
 10.) Upgrade my cell phone 
 11.) Pizza and beer 
 12.) Hookers and blow 
 etc.

Kroneborge

keith


When you say "you do get a lot for your money"... in my head I hear "you do get a lot of crap for your money".

NI really doesn't put out any crap.   Granted there may be some stuff you don't need, but none of it is crap.
 

It is if you don't need it. I don't need 10 DVDs, I need one. Can I sell the stuff I don't need? Nope. So why do I have to buy it? Doesn't make sense. I want X, but I can't buy X, I have to buy freakin' A-Z. Nonsense.
 
What if you went somewhere to order a pizza, and you pull up to the counter and say:  "I want a basic $12 cheese pizza", and the guy says: "we don't have a $12 pizza, but for $18 you can have a cheese pizza plus an order of french fries, a bucket of buffalo wings, a tub of soda pop, and a bag of chips"? I'd respectfully suggest to the proprietor that he/she is probably losing a lot of business by not offering the $12 pizza option when a good portion of customers walking in only want the $12 pizza.  
 
Their products aren't crap, but I don't need them... or the things I do need/want I already have, so I have no use for paying for the things I already have... like the scarbee basses and keys from years back, the newer NI drums, the session strings, and maybe some other bits of content. All good, but already payed for. What's wrong with individual products?
 
Other than that: GR = not as good as Amplitube or S-Gear, FM8 not as good and/or not any better than countless synths I already own, NI comps = not as good as IK comps and/or other comps from Voxengo, etc. IMO, of course.

Also,

"12.) Hookers and blow "

How are hoookers and blow #12???   Where are your priorities???   

I can get hookers and blow anytime.... U-he's latest monster is on sale only until Dec 31st. Hookers and blow are gonnahafta wait.

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kontakt-5/?page=2529

Kontakt 5 now half price on the NI site till Nov 28. $199.50.

Lots of other offers too......