Samplers / Sampling

We explore what's new in the latest version of Native Instruments' flagship sampler.

Recording a library of acoustic guitar samples highlighted the importance of repeatability, blind testing, small lasers and double‑sided sticky tape.

Native Instruments’ flagship soft sampler continues to improve with age. We look at what’s new in version 5.

In the final part of this short series, we investigate a more advanced use of scripting to create a simple step sequencer. • Read Part 1 • Read Part 2 • Read Part 3

It's over five years since Native Instruments released the original version of their flagship soft sampler, and its third incarnation takes the Kontakt concept even further, with a streamlined user interface, a new waveform editor and a massive sample library.

Native Instruments' Kontakt has become one of the most popular software samplers since its release in 2002, and the new version, with its many excellent new features, should keep it near the top of the heap.

NI have taken the technology behind Kontakt, and used it to build a sampler that's all about loops.

Although Native Instruments' Reaktor has offered sampling options for some time, it's taken the company a while to produce a dedicated software sampler: Kontakt. Can it make headway in what has become a crowded market?