Exciting Major updates ahead! For Project Sam

[BananaSkins]

https://projectsam.com/exciting-updates-ahead/

[Despondo]

Looks like they may be abandoning Kontakt and creating their own plugin like Spitfire and Orchestral Tools did?

[BananaSkins]

Looks like they may be abandoning Kontakt and creating their own plugin like Spitfire and Orchestral Tools did?

Yes looks that way…

[slic]

I think everyone will abandon Kontakt unless they seriously update it, still no resizable GUI in 2021....

[joeyluck]

I think everyone will abandon Kontakt unless they seriously update it, still no resizable GUI in 2021....

That would be nice. The pricing for Kontakt sucks for the user and the library creator. Either the user needs to fork out the money to buy the full version of Kontakt (even if they don't plan to use it to create libraries themselves) or the designer has to pay the large fees up front to make their library compatible with Kontakt Player.

I commend ProjectSAM for making their free orchestra compatible with Kontakt Player. Many designers don't even want to pay the fees to make their commercial libraries compatible with Kontakt Player.

Aside from designers building their own samplers, there are many options out there like UJAM's GE, which might also help designers to move away from Kontakt and avoid all of the upfront costs to make a good experience for all customers.

[DaveyG]

I think everyone will abandon Kontakt unless they seriously update it, still no resizable GUI in 2021....

That would be nice. The pricing for Kontakt sucks for the user and the library creator. Either the user needs to fork out the money to buy the full version of Kontakt (even if they don't plan to use it to create libraries themselves) or the designer has to pay the large fees up front to make their library compatible with Kontakt Player.

I commend ProjectSAM for making their free orchestra compatible with Kontakt Player. Many designers don't even want to pay the fees to make their commercial libraries compatible with Kontakt Player.

Aside from designers building their own samplers, there are many options out there like UJAM's GE, which might also help designers to move away from Kontakt and avoid all of the upfront costs to make a good experience for all customers.

Kontakt 7 is imminent. No idea what it will bring though.

[esselfortium]

That would be nice. The pricing for Kontakt sucks for the user and the library creator. Either the user needs to fork out the money to buy the full version of Kontakt (even if they don't plan to use it to create libraries themselves) or the designer has to pay the large fees up front to make their library compatible with Kontakt Player.

It costs $125 during sales, hardly excessive for what you get.

Developers abandoning Kontakt is terrible for users because we lose the ability to customize the instruments we use, and become solely dependent on the developer to fix bugs or add features. Kontakt gives you a ton of power that locked-down engines never will.

[joeyluck]

That would be nice. The pricing for Kontakt sucks for the user and the library creator. Either the user needs to fork out the money to buy the full version of Kontakt (even if they don't plan to use it to create libraries themselves) or the designer has to pay the large fees up front to make their library compatible with Kontakt Player.

It costs $125 during sales, hardly excessive for what you get.

Developers abandoning Kontakt is terrible for users because we lose the ability to customize the instruments we use, and become solely dependent on the developer to fix bugs or add features. Kontakt gives you a ton of power that locked-down engines never will.

Yeah I saw the crossgrade is currently on sale through the end of the month. And that's the sale price. I already have most of the content that's included with Kontakt, which I don't think is very good (those are the libraries I uninstalled). I just don't think NI makes very good libraries for Kontakt themselves (at least not the ones they include with Kontakt). And I'm not interested in Komplete at all.

I'd be happy with a "Kontakt pro player" that removed demo mode from non-Kontakt Player compatible libraries. I'd pay maybe $25-$50 for that. For the most part, I just want to use Kontakt for good libraries. I haven't felt the need to edit much any further. So even for $125, I still can't justify it. I just continue to buy Kontakt Player compatible libraries...

[esselfortium]

You know how it is with audio software. The sale price is the real price.

Buying Kontakt isn't for the factory library content, it's for the engine. If even $125 is too much, there's nothing more I can say to convince you. I can't imagine going without the full-Kontakt instruments I own, or the ability to edit them. If $25 is really what you see as a realistic price for pro audio software, I don't know what to tell you.

[joeyluck]

You know how it is with audio software. The sale price is the real price.

Buying Kontakt isn't for the factory library content, it's for the engine. If even $125 is too much, there's nothing more I can say to convince you. I can't imagine going without the full-Kontakt instruments I own, or the ability to edit them. If $25 is really what you see as a realistic price for it, I don't know what to tell you.

Yeah I'm not trying to diminish Kontakt full version. I just think there are certainly different use cases for consumers of libraries. So I'm not saying that I think Kontakt the sampler is worth $25-$50. I'm just saying what I'd be willing to pay for the privilege to use non-Kontakt Player compatible libraries.

The last time there was a sale on Kontakt, The Orchestra Complete 2 was just released. So I used my money to upgrade that from TOC1 and have content I wanted and could use (since it's Kontakt Player compatible).

I don't think NI makes it easy for anybody. The $1000 upfront encoding fee they require for designers and the pre-purchase they need to make of 100 serials is awful. RS gets it right with the RE licensing. UJAM gets it right with GE licensing (such as for VSTs as well). No upfront costs. So yeah, I guess I still kind of have a grudge against the idea of paying for the liberty to use Kontakt libraries of designers that understandably didn't want to pay the crazy Kontakt fees. Instead, it's passed on to the customers. If I buy Kontakt, NI wins! Lol

[EDIT] So it appears to be $1000 encoding fee. And 100 serial minimum order.
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/s ... s/pricing/

YOUR PRODUCT 1 - THE INDIE SYNTH:
Order details:
Order quantity: 100 serials
Retail price (MSRP): $/€49
Free NFR promotional serials: 20

Fee outline:
Individual license price: $/€4.41
Total serial licenses price: $/€441
One-off encoding fee: $/€1,000
Total: $/€1,441

[esselfortium]

I, too, love to needlessly exclude myself from a huge percentage of the sample library market out of misplaced spite.

edit: I would much rather just pay upfront than have to give up 50% of my sales for eternity making the same instrument as a GE rack extension. But enough people own the full version of Kontakt that I don't even need to make that choice.

edit 2: Actually, come to think of it, aren't you already rewarding NI's model by only buying libraries from developers who support it with licensing fees?

[joeyluck]

I, too, love to needlessly exclude myself from a huge percentage of the sample library market out of misplaced spite.

Yeah...

Well if something I really want comes along I might be enticed. But there isn't currently anything that requires the full Kontakt version that I want to buy right now. I have some libraries I got for free or paid very little for, such as the Sonuscore charity purhases. So it would be good to use those for more than 15 min at a time. But for now, I just write with something else, switch to that library in demo mode, and then bounce the audio in place.

[esselfortium]

Looks like ProjectSAM is sticking with Kontakt for their library updates:

[Mistro17]

Another good thing about Kontakt is the ability to create your own instruments from anything and do some deep customized things across your keyboard. Perhaps a lot of people forget Kontakt is a super sampler. Once I needed to get some sound effects into a song and was able to create my own instrument in minutes once I had the sounds I wanted. And for $125 it's more than worth it.

I love ProjectSam too

[Despondo]

Looks like ProjectSAM is sticking with Kontakt for their library updates:

Good to know. Thanks.