Komplete 4 arrives at the Lab

[Tweak]

Read the Komplete (sic) review:

http://www.tweakheadz.com/review_of_komplete_4.htm

So far so good. The products, and there are a lot of them, all install nicely under OSX 10.4.8 (PPC) . Yet nothing is ever perfect of course. Many big updates here. The FM7 is now upgraded to FM8; Absynth goes to V4; Battery from 2 to 3; Reaktor from 4 to 5; and B4 is now at version II.

For those who had not already upgraded to Kontakt2, Komplete 4 does that for you. Gone now are Kompakt and Intakt.

The Akoustik Piano is now added the the Komplete Collection as is the Elektrik Piano. I upgraded from Komplete 2, so the price and timing was right. The cost in minimal for those who owned Komplete 2 or 3. It costs just a little more than getting the Akoustik Piano for those previous users.

If you a new to the Komplete set here is the price.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--3745/item--NINKOMPLETE2

For me the standout of the upgrade is the Akoustik Piano. It's a lovely collection, and the interface has just the right controls to get these pianos to work well in a mix. They sound gorgeous by themselves. You can make them sound wide and dynamic if you want.

The next best, (speaking only for myself) is the FM8, which is much more useful and interesting, thanks to the addition of the arpeggiator, much better preset control with the "Kore-style" browser built in, and interesting morphing and real-time control. The FM8 now has effects, which gives more sonic possibilities. The interface is now white and gray, rather than DX style green. In fact, in FM7 one actually felt like they were programming a yamaha synth. That is gone now, but the functionality remains.

Close behind in the realm of great value is Battery 3, which is a mind blower. NI chose some great samples, all carefully assembled into some large kits. If you have not heard the demos of Battery 3, you should go listen to them at NI's site. 100 drum kits, 23,000 samples. 12 GB library.

Reaktor 5 is next, which has one feature I really like--its stable on my system. Some of the new ensembles are fantastic. There is one sound generator called Skrewell, which is one of the most fun FX synths I have ever used. RandomStepShifter als gets high marks for glitching up drum samples in unusual ways. Ditto for Vectory. There are many more. Reaktor 5 keeps the edge on sonic exploration.

Least stable of the group on my computer is Absynth 4, which has many great sounds. It runs just fine selecting presets and playing them, but the editing functions seem to crash absynth and whatever host it is used from.

The thing that stands out the most, for me, for the whole Komplete 4 package, is how inventive the sounds are. There is great, great stuff here. NI's programmers are defining the cutting edge for electronica. You get plenty of high qaulity sounds for any composition plus a huge assortment of vastly experimental sounds that may help you define a niche for your music. There is stuff here that simply has not been heard before.

Thanks to the kore-like browser in many of the instruments, sounds are easier to find than ever. By Kore-like, I mean that the browser for many instruments works exactly thew way Kore's database works. The idea behind Kore is to merge all these individual databases into one monster-sized master database. Does it succeed? Read on.

The plugins are marketed as "Kore Ready" and as i said, many have kore browsers built in. However, Kore itself is not quite Komplete 4 ready yet. While Kore has presets for Battery 2, it has none for 3; while it can execute FM7 perfectly, with a ton of presets, it does not see FM8 presets. Ditto for the new Absynth.

I am hoping NI improves the interaction between Komplete 4 and Kore. I am confident they will, its just a matter of the timing of updates. Ah, its never a perfect world as I said.

All the same, its a huge, fantastic package. If you are coming from Komplete 2, its a no brainer. If you don't, i know of no faster way to get a software studio up to speed with a variety of good sounding instruments.

[scadh]

A long and excellent review of Komplete 4.

I couldn't be more jealous.

Provided that my wife's commission check for closing on the sale of a house next week is on time, I intend to order two of the Komplete components (Kontakt and Akoustik Piano) within the next couple weeks. And since and a couple more (Battery 3 and B4 II) are on my short list of products I'd like to own eventually, I would love to take the plunge and get Komplete. It's a phenomenal value, but I'm just not going to be able to afford the whole thing at once.

[jsepeta]

i purchased komplete kare 2006 in may then lost my job, so didn't even open the package until komplete 4 was announced, along with the discontinuation of the komplete kare system for upgrades. darn. anyway, i registered right away after reading the news -- was disappointed the box had no discs in it. but NI thanked me for my registration and promised to send me the DVD's for Komplete 4 upgrades when they're available. they also sent a code for a $100+ discount off anything purchased at the NI store. was thinking about waiting to get Kore until it's more komplete (haha) because owners of Kore and Komplete can get a free MASSIVE synth. i listened to the demos and it's insane.

also my G4 has a tiny little boot drive and i need to figure out where all my plugins and samples went after I rebuilt it -- was not shutting down right -- and with the rebuild i had updated my mac to osx 10.48, which made it incompatible with the firewire1814 that arrived a couple of weeks ago -- darn. lost my job AGAIN last friday so am hoping to get something in the next month or so or else i won't be able to afford Squat from the NI store.

in other good news, finally finished rewiring Stun Studios for midi and audio. will post pix early next week. still trying to figure out where to put all the spare cables and parts and my 1/2U synths that aren't installed in racks. can't get much for them on ebay, and i figure one of these days i'll run them through my effects rack and sample some of the sounds, freshly mangled.

[Auximenies]

I just want to drool a little while!

I enjoy the demo's except they make me want things and wanting things I can't afford is really annoying!

Aaaah well one day!

As a side note Thanks Tweak for keeping everyone up to date with well written reviews that aren't trying to force us to buy a product!

-Dave

[Beau]

I'd love to have this. But I think my checkbook and credit cards got hidden from me somehow over the weekend. LOL ....

Definitely out of my budget anyway.

--Beau

[jsepeta]

Finally got Komplete 4 installed, with all the updates, on the new rebuilt pc I've been working on this week. 8 dvds took a very long time to load. but then i was having trouble getting this pc to connect to the network (had to download updates and authenticate with MS, NI, etc) so i added it to a new workgroup and changed the cpu's name in the process. well this BROKE the Komplete 4 authentication, so tomorrow I'll uninstall and reinstall, that is unless NI can somehow fix the authentication for me without that hassle. so the moral of the story is get your pc's name right and workgroup/domain too before installing NI Komplete 4.

[jsepeta]

talked to NI on the phone today as automated webtools weren't resolving my issue. turns out i had used my Komplete Kare 2006 SN that came in the box instead of the Komplete 4 SN that they sent as a label on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. did a repair install, downloaded more updates, and am finally able to test out Akoustik Piano, FM8 and all the rest. Will probably do a write-up in a couple of weeks once I've had time for them to sink in. VERY excited about using these tools after poking around with Kontakt, Battery, and Absynth. Still have not located all the Reaktor ENS files I'd downloaded. Maybe they're on my Mac.

[shal1234]

as a noob, i'm a bit scared to get Komplete 4 cause it's so huge, but it will probably pay off in the long run. that being said, should i try to upgrade my dell to run Komplete (DELL XPS 400, with 1gig RAM, 200gig harddrive, and a pentium D 2.8ghz processor), or should i be more concerned with getting a "creation station" or something to ensure my computer is powerful enough?

[shal1234]

I just read Tweak's review of Stylus RMX and i like what i hear. I might have to reconsider the Komplete 4 package. i want to create orchestra music with a hiphoppy feel, ovbiously with more than just orchestra sounds but i think i might be able to get what i need without all the other stuff in Komplete 4. maybe RMX, Ederol Orchesral or GPA, and something else for Chiors maybe. but i could be wrong.

sorry for posting my personal issue in you post Tweak. i guess i should have posted this in a new topic