“Version 8 puts Kontakt right up there front and centre as a performance tool and ideas generator”: Native Instruments Kontakt 8 review

What is it?

You might know Kontakt as the sampler shell that wraps around your Native Instrument or third-party libraries, and perhaps not really give it a second thought beyond that. Version 8, however, is demanding that you sit up and reappraise the software as it's become your new creative best friend.

It has extra tools, a new sample player/editor, and a new Conflux instrument, and is designed to smash writer's block and make putting new tunes together as easy as pressing a single key.

There are indeed a lot of additions in this latest version of Kontakt – it is perhaps the most dramatic update ever. Or at least that is what you might think when first loading it, because it looks very different… at first anyway. That said, should you wish, you can go back to the Classic Kontakt UI under the View menu, but actually we'd advise sticking with the new resizable UI – you won't regret it.

Performance and verdict

Kontakt 8 is firstly all about getting to the sound you want, fast, so it's really focused around the new browser. The main menu at the top has six choices, with the Instruments tab being the main one to list your libraries in the centre of the screen rather than down the left-hand side. Then you are straight into filtering by brand, sound type or character so can easily home in on what you need very quickly.

Should you wish, you can always click on a library and have its presets list down the right-hand side. Either way, these presets or the ones you filter down to are listed in a window on the right and you simply click on each to audition. It's fast, it's easy, it does exactly what it should do.

Next up – and you'll have to forgive us for not hanging around as there is a lot to cover – are the new tools. Again these are accessed from the main menu at the top and there are just two at the moment, Chords and Phrases. (We say 'at the moment' as there is clearly room for NI to add further tools as and when it pleases.)

Chords is a very straightforward tool to help you with chord progressions. Simply choose from one of around 130 chord progression presets – and again you get to hear each one by clicking on the preset name – and a set of seven chords will appear as circles at the top of the UI with each of these mapped to the white keys across several octaves (three or four) on your keyboard. Press a button, play a chord, simple!

Handily you can choose a lockable key or scale in a drop-down menu top left, and also edit a Strum option that simply increases the time between each note in a chord being played. A Human dial increases variations in timing and velocity or can knock the odd note out of a chord to make it sound more flawed and less perfect.

Other features, like creating your own chord in a circular slot or randomising each one, complete a very flexible and easy set of chord tools, but perhaps the best feature is the ability to simply drag the MIDI notes of your chords and progressions into your DAW to play any instrument you like, not just those within Kontakt.

The second Tool is Phrases and has a similar writer's block-smashing concept but delivers melodic phrases across the keys rather than chords. Each phrase is represented by a circle with a 'second hand' rotating clockwise as you play a phrase, with the notes indicated as circles within the circle.

The handy editing features here include a randomise option, lockable key and scale and again the ability to drag the MIDI to your DAW. But the cooler options – and those that make this feel a little less like cheating – are the Rotate and Invert dials that let you spin the Phrase wheel so that it plays the phrase differently, like at different starting points or backwards. It's a very easy way to change a phrase that, let's face it, someone else has done for you.

New sounds and sample playing

Conflux is the new instrument in Kontakt and is a hybrid wavetable instrument including some of those found in the original PPG. It has a surprising number of hands-on, real-time options and is a very decent addition to the Kontakt library, with around 200 presets of mostly atmospheric and otherworldly sounds. And you can do a lot with them with Conflux's modulation and effect options, making it pretty flexible overall.

As we're limited in space we'll skate over the new Combined feature which is a handy new way of combining sounds across libraries with an all-new panel to make solo'ing, muting etc easy. But the final big addition deserves more room and that is Leap. This is a 'sampler within a sampler' allowing you to play samples from the expansion packs that come with Kontakt 8 across as a kit, with up to 16 white keys playing the main samples all in key, and the associated black keys playing effects. It's basically a way to jam with these packs and come up with ideas very quickly, and there's a row of tweakable effects plus quantise options on hand too.

You can dig deeper with the samples and create your own kits using the new Loops and One-shots options in the main menu. These list all of those available samples from all expansion packs so you simply drag your chosen one onto a key and start creating your own Leap kit. There are deeper sample editing options here so you can set loop points, playback options and more. As good as Leap is, we can't see ourselves utilising it that much, doing much of what it offers in our main DAW, but if nothing else it's a great way of auditioning the 12 Leap expansions you get with Kontakt 8.

Verdict

Kontakt 8 is a very big update with some in-your-face options that drag it back in front of you if, like us, it is software you've been using but perhaps not properly utilising. We'll certainly be using the chord feature – especially the MIDI export side of it – as it's so easy to get to grips with. Conflux too has grabbed our attention and we'll definitely be revisiting that for some atmosphere and movement. The rest is there for ideas if you need them, but perhaps the best thing about Kontakt 8 is that most of its new features can be applied to your existing libraries so it might be time to dust off some of those old titles, revisit them and add some K8 action. You get an awful lot of content with Kontakt 8, and now a ton of things to do with it, so it's no longer just a shell for your sample libraries but a fully-fledged performance tool.

MusicRadar verdict: Version 8 takes Kontakt out of the shadows of your instrument collection and puts it right up there front and centre as a performance tool and ideas generator. It is pricey, though, so make sure you at least download the all-new free Kontakt Player which has some of the new features included.

Hands-on demos

Native Instruments

What’s new in Kontakt 8 | Native Instruments - YouTube

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Specifications

• Sampler and sample library player.
• Comes with 900 instruments including the new Conflux sound design tool.
• Hybrid Keys custom keyboard instrument.
• 12 Leap expansions.
• VST3, AU and AAX compatible.
• CONTACT: Native Instruments