The Great Kontakt 5 & IKM ST3 Debate

[elwoodblues91]

Though ultimately,I am very pleased with my AIR Expansion Bundle software(for the most part) and that it was a $300 well spent....still,the Structure Sample Library is just piss poor and not worth adding to or using at all.
That I can live with....but deciding whether or not to eventually by both the Kontakt 5 sampler and/or the IK Multimedia Sample Tank 3...is a very harrowing and daunting prospect...to say the least.

For the absolute best in sample engines and extensive library add-ons,Kontakt 5 is the undisputed choice,but as I've found out,time & time again...if you make a mistake..anywhere in the installation process,you will pay for it dearly and in the case of the new Kontakt 5 Player(the free version),this is exactly what happened.

Initially,for the most part...the installation went well and with considerable ease,I might add.However...once I opened up the K5 GUI in Presonus S1...for the life of me,I could not manage to get any of the instrument presets to load in the sampler(& I do have prior experience with this with my old NI K6 bundle).
What I had always done in the past,was while in the library tab(along the upper left hand corner of the module,I clicked on the gear icon and opened up the folder were the instrument folder is and once that folder was opened,one can just drag and drop the presets,into the main window...but to no avail...this time.

I then uninstalled the program...re-installed it and when I launched both the Stand Alone mode and my DAW mode,the sampler immediately began trying to load the library and it crashed and thereby freezing up my DAW,to the point where I had to restart my computer,just to close the application.
I then deleted everything,ran a registry cleaner and then re-installed it and the same issue remained.After which I then even deleted my compressed files,re-downloaded everything and repeated the whole process from scratch and still,the problem persisted.
If that was not bad enough,the only Kontakt 5 Player-specific video tutorial there is from NI,is only for Macintosh systems.I then spent 30 minutes on the phone waiting to speak to someone from NI tech support and when I did,I was told that there is no support for the free version of Kontakt..neither by phone or e-mail.  
What is interesting about this,is that the crash-log error message states that it should be reported to Native Instruments,so in effect,NI is in violation of their own company policy. What's even worse than all this,is that I lost my K6 bundle and requested a download from NI,but since I forgot my old log-in info,they basically told me I was sh*t out of luck and that the old K6 bundle is not available for download anyway.

As for IK Multimedia and their new Sample Tank 3 product..well...it's vastly improved in a lot of respects,as well as being very easy to install and use(& certainly superior to that of Structure) and even the customer service is respectable.
Though the ST3 sampler does not quite measure up to that of Kontakt 5 in all areas,ST3 does however...possess it's own strengths and features that Kontakt 5 does not have and honestly,the classic-hardware workstation layout and functionality of ST3,is wonderfully nostalgic,straight forward,powerful in it's own right and is CPU friendly as well.

The deal breaker for most with ST3,is it clearly does not have the expansion capabilities of Kontakt 5....but then,some of the 3rd party plug-ins for K5, have their own unique set of problems included.

So...in conclusion,I would still like to persist in trying to sort out Kontakt 5 Player if at all possible,because why not...it's free?As for investing in the paid version....well...I can't risk getting stuck with what may be a completely useless product and the subsequent loss of $400.  

[elwoodblues91]

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[MarioD]

Thom, when having problems like this log into the NI Kontakt forums.  David Das and Dark Star are experts in Kontakt.  They are very helpful and very nice people.

After DLing any software I immediately burn it to a disc.  That way I always have a backup.  I also save both the DL and the working program, as well as my entire system, backed up on a couple of external HDs.

When installing a large complicated program like Kontakt or ST3 make sure your computer is virus free then just prior to installation turn off anything that is running in the background.  Things like anti-virus and anti-spyware  can mess up an install.  Needless to say read then reread the installation instructions.  I would have been in deep doggie doo a couple of times as each program has its own unique install procedure.

As far as what to get is your option.  I am passing on ST3 because I have a ton of Kontakt third party and other VSTis that cover everything that is it.  I do have a few ST2 programs that I would like incorporate into the new GUI but will not because of the cost.

If you get Kontakt 5 do not upgrade to the latest version.  There are some problems with some DAWs that they are working on.

Every version of Kontakt player that I have seen it was written that the player gets no support from Kontakt.  You can get user support from the forums though.

Good luck

[elwoodblues91]

Mario,

Thank you for the tips.I decided to just go for the full version of ST3 and forget about Kontakt and well...Native Instruments altogether.You see...unlike NI...IKM supports their free products as well and they really go out of their way to help people and their response time is excellent!Of course though...since you have the earlier version,you must be aware of this.

ST3's bread and butter sounds are much more realistic than I had initially thought & the more I researched,the more this became evident to me and in fact,there are no real discernible differences between ST3 & Kontakt 4...with most instruments(not sure about K5)...except of course,the unbelievably infinite expansion possibilities(but I have neither the wallet or the HD space for it) and I certainly don't need dozens and even hundreds of other library add-ons.

IKM's installation process is unique..which threw me for a loop at first,but ultimately simpler...much more simple than Kontakt and almost as effortless as Alchemy!I just completed the installation process of the instrument libraries and need to confirm that all of the library content is there..but so far so good.

[elwoodblues91]

Mario,

This is really embarrassing for me to admit,but I just spent the last 10 hours trying to set the correct disc path inside ST3 and I can't..thus I have no sounds whatsoever,that I can load into ST3.

I contacted IK Multimedia and this is what I had written to them a few moments ago......

"I must admit that I am mentally disabled when it comes to file paths and associations...as I am terrible at comprehending them....because each VST program that I've dealt with,is drastically different.
With Reason...because it's all integrated,adding a library to this DAW,is as simple as choosing from file folder Reason's file list window and your are ready to go.

Alchemy's installation is a complete no-brainer,as you just run the installer,leave all of the locations to their default settings,open up your DAW,open an instance of Alchemy and it scans all of the libraries & bang,it's ready to go.

AIR Music Tech's software was tough to configure,but their tech support guy helped me understand the installation and walked me through it via remote PC access and I even videotaped the session,to have as a reference.

Acoustica Mixcraft's VST installation video tutorial was very simple to understand and I was able to install all of my freeware VST's and other software,with no problem.

ST3 is just kicking my butt,as I've spent the last 10 hours trying to figure out why I continually get load errors,so I uninstalled everything and started over.

Here's my situation currently; I am using Windows 8.1 64 bit and running Presonus S1 1.6.5(64 bit) and I have ran every installer for all 8 sound content parts(using the Administrater)...but my disc path in my ST3 in my DAW reads; C:/Users/elwoodblues1969/Documents/IK Multimedia and according to IKM's Getting Started video,there is supposed to be the words SampleTank 3 included..but I can't find the right disc path.

Perhaps when I receive my set of discs in the mail,I can just bypass all this trouble I had with the download version of ST3(since I had to transfer all of the downloads from one PC to another,due to the download links not showing up on your website on one of my computers).

Perhaps Monday though...I might have this sorted out via Sweetwater's tech support,as I can have a tech guy explore my PC via remote access to pinpoint what I am doing wrong.

ST3's whole set up process is very confusing and overwhelming for me,so if Sweetwater can't help,I don't know what I will do then."
elwoodblues1969
 

Since you have ST2,I was wondering what your thoughts would be,about how to sort this out.Then again though,I do not know how different ST2 is from ST3??

[MarioD]

Thom, it has been over 7-8 years since I installed ST2.  I don't remember any problems but since I am old and have a severe case of CRS I may have!

BUT you are not the only one with this problem!  There are a number of reports of the same thing happening regardless of the DAW, thus it must be a ST3 problem.  Google/Bing "sampletank 3 installation problems", no quotes, and you may find help.

A possibility is you got a bad DL, been there done that!

[elwoodblues91]

Mario,

As it turned out,I decided to just type in "Sample Tank Installation" in Google and I pinpointed the instruction I needed from within IKM's forum and the solution was wonderfully simple! I knew that I was overlooking a simple,yet critical element in the installation process and I finally discovered it.

There are 8 parts to the instrument library,each with their own installer.When opening up the part 1 of the content library,I needed to create a folder,where then all subsequent folders would be directed to and once I did that,installation was wonderfully simple!

When I opened up the ST3 module in my DAW,it immediately loaded everything and rather quickly and I couldn't be happier!

[MarioD]

Thom there is an update to ST3. I think it is called 3.03 but I'm not sure.  If you already have then sorry for the redundancy but if not you probably should get it.

PS - I'm glad all is OK 

[elwoodblues91]

Thom there is an update to ST3. I think it is called 3.03 but I'm not sure.  If you already have then sorry for the redundancy but if not you probably should get it.

PS - I'm glad all is OK 

Thanks...but one of the first things I noticed,was the updates,as they got top billing in the download section,as they were right in my face.