So, for example: grab a one-bar drum loop from your sample library and drag it into Kontakt, use the Beat Slicer function to chop up the loop and map each hit to an individual key. Within Kontakt’s wave editor there’s now a tab called Zone Envelopes, where you can ‘paint’ an envelope on any sample, for any parameter. These scripts are fully programmable once you get your head around NI’s scripting language. A Kontakt script can take the form of anything from simple MIDI mangling, to arpeggiators, step sequencers and full-blown guitar emulation. Kontakt also changes its skin like a chameleon thanks to its powerful Script Engine. So, for instance, the World instruments, when loaded, have a tuning table accessible from a tab on the front of the patch, while other samples like the 808 drums sounds, have an integrated step sequencer. This customisable view turns every sample patch into its own instrument, allowing the most important elements of any patch to be arranged onto the plug-in’s skin. Divided into six sections (Band, Orchestral, Synth, Urban Beats, Vintage and World) the library encompasses a broad range of high quality sounds that are opened in the Performance View. Version 3’s 33GB sound library is impressive.

Let’s quickly cover a few of the coolest new advancements. It’s truly an amazing beast and, thanks to the new version 3 release, it’s even better. If you want Kontakt to slice loops a la Recycle, it’ll do that too… and granular sampling. It ships with a comprehensive suite of built-in effects and is equipped with powerful modulation options. It’s not simply a sample playback engine, it’s a thoroughbred sound designer. Kontakt 3 is Native Instruments’ flagship sampler.

Native instruments kontakt upgrade