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Chater-La « The standard for a reason! »
Published on 09/07/11 at 03:11I run this on a Macbook Pro i7 core with 8 gbs ram in Logic 9, Ableton 8 and as a standalone. The manual is quite big as this plugin is quite a powerhouse. I would say it is clear enough but it is a pretty intense read. I have to admit I probably only use %50 of the capabilities of this plugin. The setup is fairly simple once you have a general understanding of where everything is located. If you have the built in libraries, getting started is as easy as clicking on the Library, choosing the sound and setting the midi channel to align with your control surface/keyboard. Most of the functions are easy enough to find. Essentially you have a plug in interface with a lot of different Menus that will change the screen. There are quite a few background operations that are not as easy to find however. These are most certainly not faults or 'turn offs," it just reminds you that this is a very complicated and powerful piece of software
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
I had some issues with one of the earlier updates (4.0.something) with some latency issues, but they seem to have gone away shortly after with the help of another update. After that, I have had zero issues with this plugin. It has never lost any of my presets (which is very important because one "preset" can be a lot of instruments and settings) nor has is caused any crashes or glitches. I give this a 10 out of 10 performance wise. I use to be primarily an EMU sampler user but with todays advancements in software, you can't beat the usability and ease of control that is offered and now all my hardware samplers are gone (except my Emax, I love that sound). I have been using Kontakt for 2 years now but only about a year with Kontakt 4
OVERALL OPINION
What I like most about this plugin is the the "memory Allocation" feature. Everything I run on my computer is still in 32 bit mode which means programs have a general limit of 4gb or ram. When I work in Ableton and Logic, I notice my ram filling up quickly when using multi sampled instruments. The memory allocation lets you bypass the Ram limitation in your Host and use an alternate pathway that allows you to designate up to 4gb of separate ram to Kontakt while still in your host. This is huge and makes up for OSX not being fully up to 64 bit. Other things I want to mention is Kontakt can get some really low latency while still running tons of sounds. I love that the most as I perform using Ableton which seems to me to always have a little latency no matter how low I go with the buffer. For synths, it's not a big deal but for Keys (piano, rhodes, etc....) any latency will through off my timing. Now for performance I run Kontakt as a stand alone and can reap all the benefits of that low latency. I paid around $400 for Kontakt 3 and another $120 for the update to 4. It's pricy but worth it as it blows away most of my hardware samplers in all aspects. Sound quality is very good. I use Scarbee Keys patches and I am always getting compliments on my key sounds. I have used EXS 24 in Logic 9 and my Emax mainly before getting this. I would definitely recommend this to folks and would buy it again if needed.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
I had some issues with one of the earlier updates (4.0.something) with some latency issues, but they seem to have gone away shortly after with the help of another update. After that, I have had zero issues with this plugin. It has never lost any of my presets (which is very important because one "preset" can be a lot of instruments and settings) nor has is caused any crashes or glitches. I give this a 10 out of 10 performance wise. I use to be primarily an EMU sampler user but with todays advancements in software, you can't beat the usability and ease of control that is offered and now all my hardware samplers are gone (except my Emax, I love that sound). I have been using Kontakt for 2 years now but only about a year with Kontakt 4
OVERALL OPINION
What I like most about this plugin is the the "memory Allocation" feature. Everything I run on my computer is still in 32 bit mode which means programs have a general limit of 4gb or ram. When I work in Ableton and Logic, I notice my ram filling up quickly when using multi sampled instruments. The memory allocation lets you bypass the Ram limitation in your Host and use an alternate pathway that allows you to designate up to 4gb of separate ram to Kontakt while still in your host. This is huge and makes up for OSX not being fully up to 64 bit. Other things I want to mention is Kontakt can get some really low latency while still running tons of sounds. I love that the most as I perform using Ableton which seems to me to always have a little latency no matter how low I go with the buffer. For synths, it's not a big deal but for Keys (piano, rhodes, etc....) any latency will through off my timing. Now for performance I run Kontakt as a stand alone and can reap all the benefits of that low latency. I paid around $400 for Kontakt 3 and another $120 for the update to 4. It's pricy but worth it as it blows away most of my hardware samplers in all aspects. Sound quality is very good. I use Scarbee Keys patches and I am always getting compliments on my key sounds. I have used EXS 24 in Logic 9 and my Emax mainly before getting this. I would definitely recommend this to folks and would buy it again if needed.