Thinking about getting Kontakt. Never had a soft sampler before.

[Whoopysnorp]

I recently found some old MIDI compositions I had done back when I had more pretentions of composing avant-garde music, and it reminded me that hey, I'm not too bad at it. I had been using whatever free Soundfonts I could find on the web, but now I think it's time I invest in a software sampler with a high-quality sample set. Kontakt 2 with its 15 GB of included samples sounds pretty good to me. I've checked out the demo tracks on Native's site, and they sound pretty darn nice to me. Who here has used Kontakt, and what do you think?

Also, I did all of this stuff in Finale, which is a great score editor but whose MIDI implementation is a bit cumbersome. Since it doesn't take VSTs, is there any way to make it control the sounds in Kontakt, or am I going to have to convert those compositions to MIDI files and load them into a MIDI sequencer?

[dolivas]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

I recently found some old MIDI compositions I had done back when I had more pretentions of composing avant-garde music, and it reminded me that hey, I'm not too bad at it. I had been using whatever free Soundfonts I could find on the web, but now I think it's time I invest in a software sampler with a high-quality sample set. Kontakt 2 with its 15 GB of included samples sounds pretty good to me. I've checked out the demo tracks on Native's site, and they sound pretty darn nice to me. Who here has used Kontakt, and what do you think?

Also, I did all of this stuff in Finale, which is a great score editor but whose MIDI implementation is a bit cumbersome. Since it doesn't take VSTs, is there any way to make it control the sounds in Kontakt, or am I going to have to convert those compositions to MIDI files and load them into a MIDI sequencer?

I have Kontakt although it is good for what it does, literally support near any sample format out there. There are some minor quirks like certain sound sample sets missing information that other sets would show i.e. waveforms for some reason. However, the ability to use internal fx on single samples, zones etc. makes it a good tool for sound sculpting. Sometimes it seems too menu oriented that it overwhelms you a bit but me personally I use it as my second sampler next to Live's Simpler which is way simpler and less complex...

I imagine if Finale has some kind of Rewire support you can theoretically send a midi-out to Rewire host and have the midi out sent to a Kontakt vst.

[Whoopysnorp]

Cool, cool. Can anybody explain Rewire to me? I've never quite gotten what it is or how it works.

[dolivas]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

Cool, cool. Can anybody explain Rewire to me? I've never quite gotten what it is or how it works.

Rewire would be a protocol that allows one program to speak with another. It's like a virtual patchbay. If you're using Reason for example and have Ableton Live opened up you can visually see Reason's mixer output's or Subtractor outputs listed under input channels. Most Rewire programs have to have one host (the program receiving all the input channels) and slaves which can be various programs that route their outputs to the host. I'm not sure if Finale is a slave but you can double-check it could be and if thats the case you can route some midi outs from it to any midi in on a Rewire host like Ableton, Cakewalk, Cubase.

[Whoopysnorp]

So I'm assuming there's an application you have to install to use Rewire. Is it just called Rewire? Is it free or do you have to buy it?

[dolivas]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

So I'm assuming there's an application you have to install to use Rewire. Is it just called Rewire? Is it free or do you have to buy it?

Rewire support should already be built into the program. Propellerheads started the whole thing it's a protocol you can find in programs that support it here's a list:
http://www.propellerheads.se/technol...cts&nc=4350213

It's free as long as your program supported it in the first place.

[dagosto]

I would say just sav the MIDI files and bring them into a sequencer. If you save them as a type 1 file it will keep all the parts on separate MIDI channels. You could use a program like Reaper which is $40 for no-commercial use:

http://reaper.fm/index.php

East West Colossus is another one to consider. 32GB of samples included with this one. Twice the price of course.

[Whoopysnorp]

Originally Posted by dagosto

I would say just sav the MIDI files and bring them into a sequencer. If you save them as a type 1 file it will keep all the parts on separate MIDI channels. You could use a program like Reaper which is $40 for no-commercial use:

http://reaper.fm/index.php

East West Colossus is another one to consider. 32GB of samples included with this one. Twice the price of course.

I use N-Track Studio, which is priced about the same way. It has MIDI support but no piano roll editor. I haven't tried importing a MIDI file into it yet...I'm hoping it handles odd rhythms like septuplets and so forth. If it does, that should work fine.

[dolivas]

Originally Posted by dagosto

I would say just sav the MIDI files and bring them into a sequencer. If you save them as a type 1 file it will keep all the parts on separate MIDI channels. You could use a program like Reaper which is $40 for no-commercial use:

http://reaper.fm/index.php

East West Colossus is another one to consider. 32GB of samples included with this one. Twice the price of course.

Reaper is Rewire compatible too which makes it even cooler just for that reason.

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by Whoopysnorp

I use N-Track Studio, which is priced about the same way. It has MIDI support but no piano roll editor. I haven't tried importing a MIDI file into it yet...I'm hoping it handles odd rhythms like septuplets and so forth. If it does, that should work fine.

It should handle septuplets just fine. It may not look right in score view but MIDI is MIDI. It doesn't see septupelets anyway, its just a note that lasts x number of MIDI ticks.