Komplete Suite VST Guide: Your Key to Professional Sound

Source of images: www.native-instruments.com

Komplete is the world’s leading production suite, designed for artists, musicians, and sound designers, including a bundle of some of the best instruments, effects, and expansions developed by Native Instruments and other partner companies. Native Instruments is a German company dedicated to the development of software and hardware for music production, sound design, live performance, and DJing. The headquarters is located in the city of Berlin, and they have some more offices in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Shenzhen.

But, what is it that makes this toolkit one of the most used worldwide? How did they come to develop such a complete tool? Let’s see

KOMPLETE 14 FEATURES

Exploring The New Features Of The Komplete Suite VST

As we said, since 2003 here, many elements were added version after version to the Komplete suite, up to version 14. Throughout these 19 years, the German brand has been increasing its catalog more and more, with new instruments, more effects, more libraries, and sound expansions. This amount of available resources pushed NI to diversify the suite into several packages aimed at different kinds of musicians and producers. Thus, in this version 14, we can find the Collector’s Edition, which includes all of Native Instruments own products in its catalog, as well as some third-party titles that are included for the first time in the total Ni package, courtesy of Soundwide. And what do we mean by everything in the catalog? Well, it means 19 synthesizers, 27 orchestral and cinematographic instruments, 46 sample-based libraries, 15 drums and percussion instruments, 32 effects, 103 expansions for Maschine and Massive X, and Kontakt 7 that is like the cornerstone of the that NI supports all its contents.

MASSIVE X SYNTHESIZER

In addition to the Collector’s Edition, Komplete 14 is offered in 3 other versions that vary in price as their content decreases. So the Ultimate Pack includes 140 instruments and effects, and 62 expansions. The Standard package includes 87 instruments and effects plus 39 expansions, and finally, the Select package reduces its content much more to become the entry option for beginners, musicians, and fans who do not need more than a few sounds and instruments to function.

Among the new features, we can highlight, as we said, the inclusion of some Soundwide group products, such as the bx_Oberhausen synthesizers, a polyphonic emulation of the mythical SEM, and Knif Audio Knifonium, an instrument with a marked analog character and an infinity of controls waiting of the bravest sound designers.

Among the effects, we can find the bx_Console Focusrite SC, the bx_Console N, and the bx_Limiter True Peak, three recognized excellent processors with a more traditional character.

bx_Crispytuner delves into the territory of vocal correction and tuning, and Unfiltered Audio LO-FI-AF focuses on audio morphing and degradation. Undoubtedly, the entry of iZotope Ozone Standard, a great set of mastering tools, to the package is one of the greatest successes and one of the few things that Komplete could be missing. It can also be found in the Ultimate and Standard versions.

DRUM LAB

As for the new Kontakt update, the player for all Native Instruments libraries, we can include a new high-resolution browser, internal audio improvements, two new effects, and a completely renewed library of almost 40 GB. The Collector’s Edition adds a total of 20 libraries of all kinds to Kontakt: the Choir Omnia, a 40-voice choir; Action Strings 2, which offers more than 30 GB of orchestral strings and musical patterns to create sequences in seconds; and Piano Colors that would be like the dream of a sound designer who loves to play with pianos. In addition, we could highlight Ashlight, another instrument from the granular series for Kontakt, or Session Guitarist Picked Nylon, a classical guitar that sounds very, very good.

Playbox, East Asia, Empire Breaks, Soul Sessions, Ignition Keys, Deft Line, and several more complete a collection of new libraries that cover practically any genre or need.

Brief History Of Komplete Suite VST

Native Instruments was founded in 1996 by Stephan Schmitt, a musician and hardware engineer, who previously made consoles. Schmitt left his work and developed his vision of what computer-based musical instruments could be like, which led him to create, together with programmer Volker Hinz, a virtual modular synthesizer called Generator, presented at the 96 Musikmesse.

This synth represented the basis of subsequent developments by the company, and in its second version released three years after its initial presentation, it became what we know today as Reaktor, which retains the modular spirit of Generator.

After the successful release of Generator, the company hired Bernd Roggendorf (later one of the founders of Ableton) and Daniel Haver, who later became CEO of Native Instruments.

In the year 2000 the company surprised again, first with the Pro-5, the first emulation of a vintage hardware synth, in this case, the Prophet 5 by Sequential Circuits, and then with the B4, an emulation of the well-known Hammond B4 and which caught the attention of many musicians and producers, including names like Stevie Wonder, who fell in love with the organ at NAMM the same year.

In 2001 NI presented another important product: the FM7, a synth created by emulating Yamaha’s legendary DX7 (the first electronic instrument based on FM synthesis) and which was not only capable of incredibly emulating the sound of the original but also allowed to load its patches. FM7 had a fairly positive reception. Between 2001 and 2002 jewels such as Absynth, Kontakt and Battery appear, in addition to the arrival of Traktor and later Traktor Final Scratch, which was developed in collaboration with Stanton and represented the beginning of the implementation of track control through vinyl.

In 2003, the Komplete package made its first appearance, including the release of Vokator, a vocoder based on spectral processing, with a similar engine to its brother Spektral Delay (released in 2000).

In the following years, developments continued unstoppable, with new versions of existing applications, as well as the arrival of important products such as the Guitar Rig modular effects suite (2004), the Massive wavetable synth (2006), and the now-defunct Kore, where NI proposed an interesting host oriented to work with plugins, accompanied by a dedicated hardware controller.

In 2006 Native Instruments is restructured into three divisions: Instruments, DJ, and guitar.

Around the same time as Kore, Audio Kontrol 1 also arrived, the first audio interface manufactured by the company. Kore’s concept and efforts were directed to Maschine, a software-hardware drum machine launched in 2009 and considered today as one of the most popular products of the company, responsible in addition to promoting the creation of controllers dedicated to software, thus arriving at the Traktor Kontrol line that we have today.

Over time, many of the company’s products have been discontinued and then released in the form of libraries for Kontakt, the player app for all these libraries. The brand never stopped creating new synthesizers and effects, in addition to continuing to develop its products, such as the Guitar Rig to which they have added even more processors. With all this work they have formed a fairly extensive and complete catalog that meets in Komplete, which is already in version 14, launched on the market in 2022.

Integrating The Komplete Suite Into Your Existing Production Workflow

As we can see, we are talking about possibly the largest production tool suite of all time. It can be said that it is impossible to explore or use all these features in one life. The large number of instruments, effects, samples, libraries, and tools available in Komplete provides infinite possibilities when it comes to getting to work, and without a doubt, it is a tool that could change the day-to-day basis from a producer in the blink of an eye. Quality tools for all stages of the recording process. From scratch to final mastering, anything is possible with Komplete.

How to Install Komplete Suite On Your Computer? Costs Explained

To install the Komplete Suite on your computer, you must first enter the Native Instruments website and register as a user. You will find there the huge manufacturer’s catalog, and in the Komplete section, you will see all the packages available: Komplete 14 Select, the most beginner-friendly of the line, costs today 199 dollars. This is followed by the Standard at $599, the Ultimate at $1,199, and the Collectors Edition at $1,799. To install any of them you must register first, make the purchase, and finally follow the instructions that the company sends you by email in great detail.

To take into account, as it is still a novelty in the market, a large part of the Komplete 14 products are not yet available for Apple Silicon and VST3, but according to information on their website, most of the pending versions will arrive before the end of 2022.

Final Thoughts

When Native Instruments was created in 1996, there was no such thing as a production suite. The idea of such a large library and collection of tools was the fuel that propelled the brand forward until the first Komplete was released, and from then on, accompanied by the success achieved, they never stopped improving and taking the concept to further places. As we have seen with other manufacturers, this brand pushed and accompanied the virtualization of the music production industry and thus transformed the way of making music.

so Komplete Suite VST is undoubtedly the most complete and recognized production suite on the planet, used every day by musicians and producers of all levels.

Source of images: www.native-instruments.com