It's been almost two years since the release of the last Komplete and the somewhat disappointing Kontakt 7. Needless to say, the new version of Native Instruments' bundle is eagerly awaited, especially as it comes with the eighth iteration of the famous sampler.
Always more imposing, always more exhaustive, Komplete returns for the fifteenth time since its creation over twenty years ago. A lot has happened in those two decades, and while early versions of the collection occupied just a few GB, it now takes 1.1 TB of hard drive space to accommodate the gargantuan Komplete Collector’s Edition 15 we’re testing here.
Let’s face it, for this test, we won’t be dwelling on Kontakt 8, nor on the excellent Guitar Rig 7 or Ozone 11. While there’s nothing going on on the effects side beyond those we’ve just named, we won’t detail the myriad new Maschine Expansions and Play instruments that have been added either, to concentrate on the major additions of this new release, and whether it’s worth it for a first-timer as well as for a user of previous versions wondering whether the upgrade is worth it.
Strings attached
Little baby among the six-stringers, Session Ukulele also uses the same principles and functionalities, bringing a color that has been missing until now to the guitar section of the bundle that is really starting to be complete.
Native has also taken advantage of these two years to complete the bass section of its offer: Session Bassist: Icon Bass and Session Bassist — Upright join Session Bassist: Prime Bass and the good old Rickenbacker Bass, the only survivor from the Scarbee catalog that was once ubiquitous in Komplete. Both are highly convincing, whether for ready-to-use loops or note-to-note playing. In any case, check out some examples from all of these:
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Ebony and Ivory
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The soundbank called Ireland is dedicated to the sounds of Irish folk music. I found it a little stiff to use beyond the ready-made tracks on which it’s based. The sampling and scripting of the instruments are nothing exceptional, and I even noticed a few looping problems when trying to stretch the tempos of the loops. In comparison, Impact Soundworks, Indiginus, Insanity Samples and Embertone offer fiddle violins and flutes that are far more detailed than what you get here. After all, it’s all a question of quantity/quality/price, with Ireland making it possible to get your hands on a coherent set of sounds for those seeking, on occasion, a quick Celtic color.
On the windy side
More interestingly, Action Woodwinds complements Action Strings 2 and Action Strikes to spoon-feed woodwinds in a Hollywood register. Produced by Sonuscore, a specialist in this field, the instrument follows the winning recipe of its predecessors and, despite a prefabricated nature that guarantees a certain realism, offers a fair amount of flexibility and customization. For both the high and low ensemble, you can combine different articulations to build your own phrases and constrain them to a particular scale while benefiting from several velocity levels. And, as you’d expect, there are a number of themes and phrases common to Action Strings 2, so all that’s really missing now is an Action Brass to produce convincing mashups.
It’s an interesting idea, and its authors were keen to produce an instrument that’s both highly configurable and versatile in its own register. It’s equipped with a phrase builder for each of the five brass sections, plus an automatic Divisi system and a total of 210 articulations to build your patterns. The fact remains that, unlike the Action series, which is based on ensemble recordings, Valves Pro starts from instruments sampled in isolation. While it can’t be said that the sampling or scripting has been poorly done, we’re not at the level of excellence of an Acousticsample V-Wind either, so the assemblies sometimes have a little MIDI feel to them that will pass muster in the background of an arrangement but will be less fitting if they end up too far to the front of the mix in a more stripped-down context.
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But still
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The most notable instrument from my point of view is Vocal Colors. It focuses on the production of doctored vocals, whether for rhythmics or textures. Featuring a double-layer architecture, a particle engine reminiscent of granular synthesis, a nice effects section and an arpeggiator, the instrument not only allows you to do interesting things in the electronic register but can venture far beyond, especially as you can import your own samples into it since version 1.5. It is a really welcome addition to Komplete, compared to the simpler Glaze and the more orchestral Choir Omnia. All that’s missing now are realistic solo voices, and our Komplete will be complete in the voice department…
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We’ll end this round-up of new products with two instruments. Low End Modular takes the concept of Low End Strings and applies it to sounds from modular synths to create basses that are as abysmal as they are animated. There’s not much to say about them except that we’d probably have preferred Native to offer a large instrument dedicated to bass, all sources combined, to play the pleasure of hybridization as the Output Substance does.
Last but not least, Scene: Safron inaugurates a new series of inexpensive instruments geared towards sound design and image sound. A double-layered architecture, with macros and effects that you interact with using an XY pad, it’s undoubtedly effective and always interesting, even if it’s as easy as the Play Series. It’s clear that Native can recycle its sample catalog at will and make more of the old with the new. To be continued.
As mentioned in the introduction, we won’t go into detail here about the new additions to the Play Series, such as the new Maschine Expansion, not that all this isn’t interesting, but that it’s necessary to circumscribe this test of a bundle that’s always too enormous to be embraced in its entirety, unless you take one hell of a step back.
Waiting for Komplete 16
And when we take a step back, we have to admit that, whatever we may think of Native Instruments, the publisher still remains, by far, the one offering the most accomplished bundle on the market. Whether we look at the effects side, where Native, and its subsidiaries Plugin Alliance and Izotope hit the nail on the head, or at the instrument side, it goes without saying that Komplete lives up to its name. It allows us to tackle all styles of music with tools that are, on the whole, highly relevant. What does it lack? Solo vocals, more guitars (resonator, gypsy, etc.), a real tack/honky tonk piano, a double bass to go with the Cremona Quartet, Jazz/Pop/Rock-oriented backing vocals?
Undoubtedly, just as we’d like to see some of the older instruments updated, whether for sound reasons (the strings, brass and woodwinds of the Symphony series were not recorded by the same companies in the same places, resulting in a lack of homogeneity, and it has to be said that even with the Valves Pro, the brass instruments on offer are far from the best on the market) or for functional reasons. In particular, we’d like the virtual drums and drum machines to draw inspiration from many of the features seen on Toontrack or XLN Audio. We’d also like the publisher to revisit its old titles, as it has a bit of a tendency to constantly produce something new, even if it means duplicating efforts: many of the drums released in the Play Series would have easily found their place as additional banks for Drumlab, for example.
There’s always room for improvement, perfection being out of this world, but there’s undoubtedly more in Kontakt 8 than we expected, based on the rather uninspiring Kontakt 7 update. While the publisher seems to have lost interest in the fabulous Reaktor to concentrate on its flagship sampler, Kontakt still has its outdated aspects, particularly in terms of Responsive Design. And while version 8 makes a little progress, there’s still plenty to do, such as on the functional side too, where the new sequencing tools are still far from exceptional. That said, it now remains to talk buying advice.
Which Komplete for whom?
Let’s be clear: unless you only make electronic music and are satisfied with synths only, Kontakt remains the first virtual instrument to have in your VST/AU/AAX repertoire, for the simple reason that it is by far the virtual sampler with the richest ecosystem on the market. And because it’s sold for 400 euros on its own, opting for a basic Komplete, if you don’t have one, is the obvious move because for an extra 200 euros (roughly 225 USD), you get your hands on many interesting instruments and effects, including the famous Reaktor, which is a world unto itself.
We won’t dwell too much on the Komplete Select offerings because they lack the famous Kontakt, hence their low price. All we’ll mention is Native’s interesting decision to finally offer three versions of the bundle: one for electronic musicians, one for hip-hop musicians, and one for musicians who make band-oriented music (understand pop/rock/jazz/funk etc.). And it’s a logic we’d love to see deployed in the more expensive versions of the bundle, because depending on your profile, you’re often more interested in this product than that one, and there are very few people who use all the products in a Komplete Collector Edition.
While we’re on the subject, let’s have a look at the Ultimate and Collector versions. Let’s face it, even at much higher prices than the basic Komplete, these editions continue to enjoy an excellent quantity/quality/price ratio. For all that, the extra cost will really have to be thought through according to your ambitions and what’s available on the market: a musician who makes orchestral music, for example, would probably be better off settling for the basic Komplete, and then spending his money with Spitfire or Orchestra Tools, for example, whose banks are of higher quality than those offered by Native.
Despite their undeniable qualities, the basses, drums and guitars won’t be up to the standard of what you’ll find at Toontrack, Impact Soundworks or Orange Tree Samples in many cases either. In short, you’ll really have to think on a case-by-case basis for the most expensive editions.
For those who already have the bundle and are wondering about upgrading, it’s once again a case-by-case affair. Knowing that apart from Kontakt 8, which will inevitably become necessary over time for reasons of compatibility (Native will see to that) and an Ozone 11 that may also attract more than a few, and of course, the excellent Guitar Rig 7, we can’t really say that this edition offers game-changing instruments (as did the Cremona Quartet, Symphony Series, Massive, Piano Noire, Abbey Roads drums or Session Guitarist in their day). Native continues to refine its offering and that’s great, but apart from Action Woodwinds and Vocal Colors, there’s nothing that greatly expands the playing field here in any significant way.
So, it will be up to each individual depending on their needs, budgets and what they already have as third-party banks.
