I don’t normally do product reviews but since Komplete 9 by Native Instruments is so popular AND so expensive, I thought I’d do a brief overview of the product in general in case anybody is interested in picking it up. They’re currently having a 50% off sale so now may just be the time to dive in if you’re a music producer.
Komplete 9 is, as the title suggests, pretty complete. It’s a meat and potatoes package that covers just about everything you’ll need to make music in a number of musical genres. So let me go over the individual pieces briefly and my overall thoughts on each one.
I would have to say that the main instrument in Komplete 9 is Kontakt 5. This VST has it all covered from rock to pop to orchestral to, well, you name it. It’s absolutely massive. No pun intended. The sounds are all high quality. Are they the absolute best in the industry? In some cases yes, in others, not so much. But you’d be hard pressed to find anything that sounded bad. Sure, you could probably find some specialty instruments that sound better than the ones in Kontakt 5, but the cost for each of these would probably turn out to me more than the entire Komplete 9 package, which is about a grand. Bang for the buck? You really can’t beat it.
After Kontakt 5, you have your specialty instruments. Let’s start alphabetically with ABSynth 5. This is an interesting synthesizer architecturally as you can program sounds using subtractive synthesis, FM, AM or granular synthesis. The instrument is pretty much known for its soundscapes and complex structures. As for the sound, it’s very digital. In other words, if you’re looking for a fat analog sound, you’re not getting it from ABSynth 5. However, what it does, it does very well. It sounds a little sterile for my tastes but that’s pretty much the nature of digital synths since the beginning of time. But the sound quality is excellent. That can’t be denied.
Moving along alphabetically, there is Battery 4. This is their drum module. In short, it’s great for synth drums. It’s not so great if you’re looking for acoustic sounding drums. For those, you want to turn to Kontakt which has some excellent ones including 60s Drummer and Abbey Road Studios. Battery 4 drums sound great if you’re into dance and electronic music. And there are tons of sounds. Plus you can make custom kits and layer drums to make your own sounds. This is my meat and potatoes drum kit for most of my non acoustic and non rock music.
Next we have FM 8 which, as the name suggests, is an FM synth. No big surprises here. It programs and sounds like an FM synth. It’s strictly meat and potatoes. But don’t get me wrong, you can get some great sounds out of this thing. Oh, in case I failed to mention it, all the synths come with a boat load of presets so you never have to program a thing. Of course if you’re into that sort of thing, you can spend weeks doing just that. These synths are pretty deep and FM 8 is no exception.
Next we have Massive. What can I say about this amazing synth. It has 3 oscillators that use wavetables to make its sound. Two filters, 5 envelopes, LFO, tons of effects and a sound that has to be heard to be believed. It is without a doubt my favorite instrument in Komplete 9 for making synth sounds. My only complaint is that there aren’t as many factory presets as I would have liked. But if you have the patience to really dig into programming sounds, this beast will deliver the goods. It will cut through just about any mix. This one you will really have fun with.
Finally, we come to Reaktor. This is a beast. I don’t even know how to go about trying to describe it. Let me put it this way. With Reaktor, you can design your own synths. That’s right, you heard me. You can design your own synths. Let me make this very clear however. This is NOT easy stuff. And unless you have the time to really study synth architecture (I don’t) you’re probably only going to use Reaktor for the synths that already come with it.
But don’t worry…there are plenty of them. In fact, without ever creating one synth of your own, you can get lost in Reaktor. It is so deep it is like a black hole. I have never in my life seen anything like it. And the sounds that these synths produce are amazing. There are all kinds of synths too including beat boxes, arpeggiators, sequencers and your garden variety synth for making some very interesting sounds.
Here is my biggest complaint about Reaktor and I think it’s a valid one. Some of these synths are rather complex and not very intuitive. A comprehensive manual would have been nice for this product. The manual that comes with it is woefully lacking. So you might find yourself a little frustrated trying to figure out how to use some of the stuff in Reaktor. Okay, it’s not for the novice music creator. You better have a pretty solid knowledge of synths in general to even have a prayer of figuring these things out. I’ve been using synths since the late 70s and even I had some difficulty understanding some of the instruments. And so far I have only been able to create some very simple synths.
Then of course you have all the effects, including Guitar Rig. Let me tell you about that. If you have a decent guitar VST, this effects rack can do it all. It is complete with every cabinet, distortion, reverb, flange and whatever you want that you could possibly want to toss onto a guitar. Just make sure you turn your speakers down a bit first because this sucker can get loud as hell. Simply amazing sound out of it.
In short, I would be lost without this package, one that I, at one time, didn’t even consider getting. What a fool I was. If you’re into music production and need to cover a number of genres, get Komplete 9. I promise you, you won’t be sorry. There are no affiliate links below this review or anything like that. This isn’t one of those sales pitches disguised as a review. This is one man’s honest opinion about one of the best pieces of software he’s ever purchased, period. It’s a little pricey. But considering what comes in it, it’s worth every penny.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim