NI Kontakt 5 Player and Abby Road Vintage Drums

[krizrox]

Just thought I'd run this by all the experts here. I got an email from NI about a new drum sample library - Vintage Abby Road drums. Thinking of buying it. But I have little experience with NI products. It looks like I would need (at very least) their Kontakt 5 player which is available for free from their website. Sadly, I can't tell if this program is Win XP compatible or not. The only reference they make is for Win 7. Does anyone have any familiarity with this product running on Win XP? Also going to use it on Samplitude ProX.

[Mr Arkadin]

I had Kontakt 4 Player running on my XP fine, and I now run the full Kontakt 5 and it runs fine too. The only issue is the speed/RAM size of my computer (limited by XP itself) so I sometimes get crackles on really big libraries. I will soon be going Windows 7 64-bit (with an XP partition just in case!).

However I found the Player more of a nuisance, as most libraries aren't available as a Player as they charge a lot for licences, so most libraries are for full Kontakt. I waited unil there was a deal on to buy, as the regular price is a bit steep.

[niceboy]

Just thought I'd run this by all the experts here. I got an email from NI about a new drum sample library - Vintage Abby Road drums. Thinking of buying it. But I have little experience with NI products. It looks like I would need (at very least) their Kontakt 5 player which is available for free from their website. Sadly, I can't tell if this program is Win XP compatible or not. The only reference they make is for Win 7. Does anyone have any familiarity with this product running on Win XP? Also going to use it on Samplitude ProX.

We have used NI produkts in Kore 2 for years, also live ,but two years ago we started to use Scope because we where told about the fantastic feedback possibilities in Scope ,
But we continued to use them because they where better than any other VST,
and they where updated to W7 before anyone else so you can use them in XP.
We might use them later also, but now we found Toontracks used live in RME,
going into Scope , but for sure use NI in XP it works.
Samplitude ProX I dont know ,but I think someone else here knows that,
Ask Dante ,he allways have an answere to people
Bear

[dawman]

I have Scabbey Roads and I wouldn;t suggest their drums to anyone personally.
Way too much mastering and compression which really makes it a "tame" kit IMHO.
I have a few 20 dollar Slate drum kits, and the JBonham/Zeppelin stuff through the SSB Modulator in Scope w/ a setting of 2-4 on the Overdrive effect in Scope smokes the NI stuff.
I do love Kontakt 5.0 and 3rd party apps, but their drum kits are for girly men.

Just my 2 cents

[siriusbliss]

I would recommend checking out Toontrack Superior 2 drums.

G

[dante]

Good one. I'm on the verge of getting the Rock Solid EZX kits for ToonTracks EZ drummer.

http://www.toontrack.com/tv.asp?channel ... s&item=213

ToonTracks is the go for drums.

[niceboy]

I would recommend checking out Toontrack Superior 2 drums.

G

We never used Drums from Ni but their Synths and Organs we used ,
and I still think their Synths are good, but now we have Scope Synths.
We have the Superior Drummer mostly because it gave us 4 installed versions
of Ez Drummer.
You can have two computer setup on one licence.
That will be 4 if you use two when recording,
because the Toontrack live is just exactly like real drums
with one channel for every microphone.
Thats fantastic for live like Toto use them they showed us.
We use them like that with Toontracks live setup,
using RME HDSPe MADI going into Scope.
In the same time playing on sequenser recording midi Toontrack.
The inside sequenser Toontrack can mixdown the singel mic and make groups.
We use only the sets thats in EZ drummer because the famous sets are there.
The new sets maybe can pretend are more fore Rock but thats because
people just dont know how to mix drums.
In Scope we do mix real drums and Toontracks are recorded real drums.
Superior Drummer can be used with Two licensies though so if you are a band,
you might want to test Superior Drummer or all the other sets,
but the inside Scope hardrock mixing of drums , you find nowhere else.
Ez Drummer is inside Superior Drummer and all the other Drumsets.
If analog you need three big truckloads of gear to do that
Thanks to all our friends in Nashville who recorded all the sets,
and doing it fantastic .
Ps: tell all drummers about this.
Its hot stuff
Bear

[Mr Arkadin]

Well if we're all recommending drums then I'll weigh in with BFD2. I don't use Kontakt for drums (except for old drum machine sounds like CR-78) - all my big kits are on BFD2, much better sound options than Kontakt in respect to percussion. There's a huge range of add-ons

[Eanna]

BFD2 here too

[braincell]

I have Abbey Roads because I bought Komplete 8 and it came with that. You will be required to buy the dongle if you don't already have it. I am not thrilled with Abbey Roads but other people like it. Some sample sets require the full Kontakt Player. The Kontakt player does not seem like a mature product to me even though it's old. The good thing about their sampler is that it is an industry standard and many sample sets are available for it even some great free ones such as these: http://www.soniccouture.com/en/free-stuff/. NI hasn't focused on improving it that much. It is still better than the STS series though. I wish a company would make sampling their primary software and not go off on all these different directions. Having said that, I don't regret buying Komplete 8 because it is so massive (I know I contradicted myself) and it's a good value. I discovered I love making sample sets with Battery which is something I would have never bought alone. It's fairly simple to use and it perfectly matches my Akai PadKontrol. The layout is exactly the same with the 32 square pads so you don't have to think about what key a sample is on and the pads light up when you touch them which looks cool. Akai must have designed this specifically with Battery in mind.

[krizrox]

Cool thanks everyone.

The reason why this interested me was because I am working with a composer/pianist who is writing and recording songs that have a old timey ragtime feel with a modern pop wrapper. I've been able to create the simplest of drum beats for him using the bundled players that came with Samplitude and Sonar. But they are very limited.

I don't have much in the way of virtual MIDI drum libraries. The players that came with Samplitude and Sonar were mostly ok for laying down simple beats (better than a click track). I don't need it often but when I do I tend to wish for something better than what came bundled, yet easy to throw on there and get something going quickly.

What would you recommend as a simple, easy to set up, drum sample player that has enough meat behind it in the way of sounds and styles?

[braincell]

Abbey Roads would be good for that because it comes with many midi loops and fills which you can transfer to your sequencer and edit. I just don't usually make music this way but I will probably use it in the future for something. Make sure you run the update utility!

[Bud Weiser]

... Kontakt 5 player ...
Sadly, I can't tell if this program is Win XP compatible or not.
The only reference they make is for Win 7.
Does anyone have any familiarity with this product running on Win XP?

I was investigating on NI Komplete 8 upgrade this afternoon because I run Komplete 7 on XP SP3 32Bit.
I´m mainly interested in NI Session Drummer coming w/ Komplete 8 upgrade.

So, I visited the NI user forum and did a search in the software installation department users talking about running latest products, being only compatible in Win 7 now, on Win XP machines.

The conclusion is,- NI doesn´t test anything on XP machines anymore and since some time and XP is definitely not supported.
They don´t answer any questions if you have problems w/ products being installed on XP machines.

Some users comment on issues w/ installers being coded for Win 7 and when executing on Win XP, others ran into probs because lack of RAM on Win XP.

It seems, the products being coded for Win7 are more RAM hungry and Kontakt Player 5 is coded for Win 7, being based on Kontakt 5 core engine.
Guitar Rig 5 appeared to be a CPU hog on Win XP, older processors and compared to Win7 and younger processors and it can be the same rules for Absynth 5 too.
Some had problems even w/ a Intel Q6600 and/or Q9950 quad core processor, but you never know if is their crappy systems or the software.

So, some can work w/ the last versions on Win XP, depending on what they do, others not.

Funny,- some reported they had more crashes/BSOD w/ the Win7 compatible products and on Win7 than they had w/ Komplete 7 on XP.

Well, there is no official statement from NI on this,- just because XP isn´t supported anymore ...

So it´s all your own risk.

For me, it´s s**t ´cause I planned to go 64Bit only when SCOPE 6 is released, works and more devices being optimized for XITE-1 and 64Bit systems, then set up a all new machine w/ Win7 SP1 or Win 8.

Surprisingly in the NI forum, all say don´t go Win 8 w/ NI Komplete 8 or related products.

Now for me, that means,- Win XP SP3 32Bit w/ SCOPE 5.1 and XITE-1, 32Bit VST host and 32Bit Reason 6.5 until there will be better times for all the apps and 64Bit OS.

Like Jimmy, I also have some cheap Steven Slate EX drums and some others for Battery 3 which work w/ XP 32Bit and most of the NI Komplete 7 stuff is fine w/ the RAM and XP OS,- as long it comes to the very large sample based projects I try to avoid always.
Rendering/ freezing tracks early enough helps and Kontakt 4 and it´s updates was good enough for me up to now anyway.

If you want to keep XP for the time being, buying a used copy of Kontakt 4 might be better than using Kontakt Player 5.

Bud

[hubird]

Great reporting

No one blames NI or other companies for this, or?
I'm not even cynical when I say it's a shame that the whole world has to suffer from this compatibility chaos between immature system versions.
So much sure money involved, so a market leading position.
If the railway companies in Holland don't reach the agreed service goals they risk financial penalties from government.
'They' should do that with a so centrally operating software company.

Apple screwed me with the total change to PCIe, and I won't forgive it you Steve, the same for the acoustic noise of the old G4, but regarding OS policy Apple is great I think.
I made a change now to a 2ndh. 8 core mac Pro, with a RME Raydat for the Adats to the Quiclsilver mac holding the cards.
Plus an UAD 1 and quad2, all included in the price, which was €1700,-, so I think I was lucky.
Installation of everything: flawless. But that could be normal these days, I don't know.

Internet, mail, router, it's all there already after giving my personal data.
Btw, the way you can add RAM or harddisks trough a simple click sleeve is not new but it's still gorgeous how it is now.

I just couldn't put my two data (P)ATA disks into the new mac, as SATA is required.
A firewire connection between both macs tho gave me in startup T-mode on the new mac direct access to both old disks, I was able to make a streight copy to the available system disk, so the ordered SATA disk will do also.
Is this only Apple, or is this standard today?

Not sure about what files still can be opened, as I first have to make the disk copies.
Dunno i.e. if I can open Cubase SX3 songs in Cubase Artist, 7 which I've bought for the new mac.
A processor switch is something, so I'm aiming low on the scale of probability
Most important is access to my sample cd library, which will always work.

drifted away from the topic, scuzie...

[braincell]

They will fix it soon and the NI updater is excellent. All new computers will come with Windows 8 if they are not Macs. I am sure they are working on it.

It is important to frequently image your C: drive! Windows has built in imaging software since Windows 7. I am so surprised that people don't use that and then they bitch when their system gets messed up. They are just a bunch of useless babies if you ask me.

[hubird]

I am so surprised that people don't use that and then they bitch when their system gets messed up. They are just a bunch of useless babies if you ask me.

no, they just expect an expensive thing to work as supposed to.

[braincell]

I just read some of the threads and it is working for some people under Windows 8. I will let you know in a couple of weeks.

[niceboy]

Cool thanks everyone.

The reason why this interested me was because I am working with a composer/pianist who is writing and recording songs that have a old timey ragtime feel with a modern pop wrapper. I've been able to create the simplest of drum beats for him using the bundled players that came with Samplitude and Sonar. But they are very limited.

I don't have much in the way of virtual MIDI drum libraries. The players that came with Samplitude and Sonar were mostly ok for laying down simple beats (better than a click track). I don't need it often but when I do I tend to wish for something better than what came bundled, yet easy to throw on there and get something going quickly.

What would you recommend as a simple, easy to set up, drum sample player that has enough meat behind it in the way of sounds and styles?

I dont understand the point.
I am a Composer Singer Organist ,Harpsichord ,Pianist ,Violinist and mastering enginere,
with many years research in advanced elektromagnetic signal processing.
I have an old piano from my mothers side that I used since I was born.
Its a Schneider from germany.
As well as Toontracks are recorded real drums .
Recorded by great engineres in Nashville .
I will fix my old Schneider later and make a Toontrack like program for piano.
That will be more like the sound from Ragtime Pianos.
Noone can convince me of any program or any technic without feedback,
that can make an old Schneider Ragtime Piano sound.
Has to be recorded with feedback technic though.
If there is some other drum or piano recording ways than using the Scope way,
I dont understand the point.
Using Daw in Scope is over.
We use Scope into RME HDSPe MADI back into Scope.
No Daw at all we want.
Bear

[astroman]

... The reason why this interested me was because I am working with a composer/pianist who is writing and recording songs that have a old timey ragtime feel with a modern pop wrapper. ...
What would you recommend as a simple, easy to set up, drum sample player that has enough meat behind it in the way of sounds and styles?

you could use Band-in-a-Box Realdrums for this - much simpler than the sequencer approach
it's pretty good on all that jazzy-country-old fashioned stuff
you setup the bars of the song with changes and the virtual drummer will do it's best to fake a real job
of course you could change the result later and apply a different style.

I have an older spare version that you could use to investigate the technique

cheers, Tom

[niceboy]

... The reason why this interested me was because I am working with a composer/pianist who is writing and recording songs that have a old timey ragtime feel with a modern pop wrapper. ...
What would you recommend as a simple, easy to set up, drum sample player that has enough meat behind it in the way of sounds and styles?

you could use Band-in-a-Box Realdrums for this - much simpler than the sequencer approach
it's pretty good on all that jazzy-country-old fashioned stuff
you setup the bars of the song with changes and the virtual drummer will do it's best to fake a real job
of course you could change the result later and apply a different style.

I have an older spare version that you could use to investigate the technique

cheers, Tom

That might be a good idea
Bear