Suggestions for new plugins

I like Komplete and Kontakt a lot, but it could even have more plugins.

1. A plugin for acoustic-nylon-guitar that can modulate, vary or enhance the sound
2. A very good piano-plugin for solo-performance or small orchestration (e.g. trio)
3. A very good Wurlitzer-plugin (with 88 keys)
4. A plugin for voice only
5. A filter plugin with midi-learn
6. More Midi-Groove-files for Studio-Drummer esp. fills and breaks without too many nerving toms
7. Percussion-drum-sets similar to SD with Midi-Groove-files etc.
8. A pad synth that is not too pushy, that is more subtle and fits better in a mix (eg. Absnyth or FM8 need a lot of cut with eq, but maybe that´s the way it must be, I am not sure?)

 

3. The Mouth does it already.
4. Scarbee A-200 does it already.
5. Driver does it already.
8. There are TONS of pads in Absynth, FM8 and Massive (not to mention Reaktor) it's not even funny.

 

Ok. I see, The Mouth is for voice - very interesting for weird things, but I mean a voice plugin that first and foremost contains special reverb, delay, chorus, eq, compressor and limiter, too ! A-200 is not bad, indeed, maybe I am not 100% content because of the fact I can not use all 88 keys, I am used to play all keys. I have added "88 keys" in my first message now !

Driver has no Midi-Learn and that´s a 100% true fact. I bought Driver because NI had confirmed that DRIVER would have this Feature. But since it is not a stand alone plugin, it has not a midi learn function. With Midi-learn u can assign a Midi-Controller message in a very simple and fast way in order to be able to use hardware to send controller messages. Almost every NI instruments has this feature. U can make Automation in your daw with DRIVER and make some Controller things, but that´s something completely different. And I have to thank NI, because I have got my money back ! and they confirmed that they had told me me by mistake that Driver has a Midi-Learn-function.

Well, you are right there are a lot of synths, but either they are too fat or too pushy or too weird, I mean, pretty hard to make them fit in a mix, you have a lot of work with eq. But that´s just my opinion. They could be more subtle.
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Evil Dragon, what do you mean by writing "it´s not even funny". Do you think that the synths sound gloomy ? That´s what I think, too, for the most part. Lots of them are good for creating apocalyptic mood or playing a funeral march or sound for a horror or scfi movie.

 

Alright, NI has a slew of compressors, EQs and reverbs done by Softube which all sound great and work really good with vocals. And they're available in Komplete Ultimate, too.

You can edit the NKI yourself, extend the zones so they stretch over all 88 keys. Done within a minute in Kontakt's Mapping Editor.

Your DAW should have a MIDI learn function, use that.

EQ is one of basic mixing tools - and of course you're supposed to use it to make things more consistent in the mix. That doesn't mean pads in NI's synths are bad. Quite the contrary, I'd say.

You can also make your own patches with any of NI's synths, so you can make them as subtle as you want. I mean, Massive might be called "massive", but it can do subtle very well.

 

extending the keys of A-200 is a very good piece of advice, I will try that. Thank you. Well, my daw has Automation (latch-mode), but no midi-learn. The best midi-learn function is the one with the right mouse click - quick and easy. I would not say the NI-synths are bad, either. I see, it´s maybe a normal matter that you have to eq pad sounds a lot; I prefer simple and quick work-flows, and I agree that eq is important as for mixing. Massive is my fav NI-Synth - I like its lead and synth-bass sounds. I will try to create subtle pad sounds.

 

I'm using Reaper, which can MIDI learn any automatable plugin parameter. So the plugin doesn't have to have MIDI learn at all (and in fact, I'd rather deal with one consistent type of MIDI learn provided by my DAW rather than learning various MIDI learn methods which different plugins can employ... but that's just me personally )

 

A-200

I have to thank you again, now the A-200 has 88 keys ! Great ! and it was so easy, but you have to know it. I expanded Kontakt only with drum and Percussion samples and I love the convolution reverb esp. digital reverbs, they are great. I could not find them in Reflektor. Are the Convolution reverbs of Kontakt available as a seperate plugin or do they exist in another plugin, too ? Would love to have them in Battery.
Either I have done something or I just can not find... I look for the wav-files (one shots) of battery 3, but there are no ? That´s strange, because Battery 4 has a Folder called one shots with wav files. But my Battery 3 runs without any Problems, any idea where I could find wav files of Battery 3 ? It´s not in my Battery 3 factory library ! Any idea ?

 

As far as I know only some IRs from Kontakt are available in Reflektor, otherwise they are not available anywhere else.

SOME IRs are not packed to the .nkx monolith so you can use them in Battery as well, just go to the factory presets folder and you should see some IRs being freely available, along with their .nkp presets.


About your issue with Battery unfortunately I cannot help, since I'm not using Battery at all

 

Thanks. There is only one thing I do not like about Kontakt. In Options you will find under handling - Midi channel assignment for loaded patches, you can choose omni or 1st free. But when I press the next arrow button to select the next Instrument the midi chanel changes, I do not want the midi chanel to change and I do not want to have omni !
And you do not use Battery ? ! I didn´t expect that, but why not.
My favorite plugin of Komplete is KONTAKT and number 2 is Battery, but that´s just my opinion

 

That's a bug, it's been noted by NI.

 

ED makes very good points, as usual

1/4. The FX in Komplete are do-it-yourselves. They come with a lot of presets (most of them don't work well for me) but you've got to make your own chains. GR5 has very good FX for acoustic nylon and vocals if you know how to put them together, you can add other NI plugs after or before GR5.

2. For piano the NY grand is my go-to, Berlin grand is second. NY is powerful and bright, Berlin is warm and mellow.

3. I don't think the Wurly was made with 88 keys?

7: very good idea. record them in AR, sounds so much better then SD

8: preset pads are never ready-made for a mix. pads are made on their own because their spectrum in a track depends on the track.
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I think releasing the IR's from Kontakt would be a great idea, I don't use the reverb IR's in Kontakt because I prefer to use the same reverb IR's for all instruments in a mix and not everything comes out of Kontakt

 

I have some output gear (TC electronics, Roland etc.) that I prefer for reverb, but especially KONTAKT´s digital reverbs work great for me, they are Lexicon-like. If you play a lot of classical piano or even jazz, the piano plugins definitely won´t please you, no subtle nuances can be played - you must be able to play a range from PPPP to FFFF (very loud), but as I said the NI-Plugins are good for modern music production, and the Upright is just great.
You can extend the key range of A-200 in the mapping Editor of Kontakt very quick and easy, then you ll have a 88 keys Wurli. I know that an original Wurlitzer does not have 88 keys, but a plugin could have 88.

And one more thing that could be improved in KONTAKT:
In wave Editor - sync/slice - one can select Use timemachine pro or use beatmachine. I do not know how I can make a selection for more than just one zone. I would like to be able to make selection for the zones I have selected in Mapping Editor (yellow Color). It is strange it works without any problem when you make pan settings. I am not sure if this is a bug, too.

Pleas give examples for how to make presets for Nylon guitar in GR, just some suggestions. For me it´s even hard to find suitable factory presets for e-Guitar, maybe they are not so good for a Fender strat, maybe GR is more for humbucker Guitars. GR is a very interesting Plugin and Reflektor ist great, but most of the presets are too weird, maybe I am too old-fashioned But very Little presets are very good for me, too.

 

Many of the IR files in Kontakt are taken from Lexicon, that explains the quality of the convolution

I am a classical piano player. I've got a Doepfer LMK connected to my computer and the NY Grand and Berlin Grand are good enough for me. 10 velocity levels is quite alright, especially with the automated LP filters per key. For the real whispering soft and thunderous loud the Old Lady and the Emperor from Sampletekk/Michiel Post have cooler samples but they're not programmed as well.
What software pianos do you prefer?

Start with parametric EQ, turn up the sweet spots a bit, add a splitter, put different chorus/flangers left and right, add quad delay and then studio reverb or reflektor at the end?

 

Piano

At the Moment I exercise 2nd movement of Chopin´s f-minor concerto, and playing it with a NI piano will make it sound terrible, I can not even play it more than 10 seconds with a NI piano, because these pianos "kill" my mood or excitement to play this piece, as I said they sound too hard, too loud, with exorbitant brillancy, without the nuances you need for a classical piece.
I think one of the best plugins - regarding the price - are Synthogy Ivory piano plugins.
But I also like Best Service Vintage D, it´s just the opposite to NI. Sound has no brillancy, dull, but with very good nuances - you just need a good reverb, I prefer TC Electronics M 2000 (Preset 32 Large Room) and that´s it; but Vintage D is only good for solo performance or max. for a Trio.
One of the best pianos I have ever heard in a synth was the one (Grand) in Yamaha´s S90.

Thanks. I will try that with GR. Want to sound like Paco de Lucia (just kidding)

 

For anything classical I found out that sampled pianos don't really work well. You need continuous velocity response, not abrupt velocity layers. This is why I use Pianoteq 4 Pro for that task.

 

You are right, that´s why I play a real piano when possible. Never heard of Pianoteq. There is Pianoteq 4 Stage and Standard (more expensive). Is Stage ok ? What does it sound like - Steinway ? It´s strange that a lot more people seem to have Galaxy Vintage D, there is a ranking and some comments. Add: Oh I ve found some tutorials on YouTube, sounds very very interesting, you may even have the sound of a Pleyel ?
Add: I have just checked Trial Version. Well, D4 is nice, K1 I am not sure, BUT the Bluethner is fantastic. I think stage is ok when you do not want to make your own Settings or presets. That´s just my first Impression.

 

All Pianoteq versions sound the same, they are different by the amount of editing options. I have the Pro version, in which I can adjust various physical parameters for each key individually.

Stage is great entry in the Pianoteq world, also when you just want to play, not tweak. There are a LOT of different models available (some paid, some free).

You even get harpsichords.

 

Pianoteq

I have the Trial Version of Pianoteq now, and I was playing, testing and playing.
Well, I like the D4 (Steinway) and the Bluethner, but although there are a lot more presets than in Galaxy Vintage D, I would not say Proteq is a better choice. The variations of presets or sound is mostly done with the help of the eq - that´s not good for piano imho, a good classical or jazzy piano should sound well without eq, of course if you wanna create something very special or weird an eq is ok.
The reverbs sound as bad as in Vintage D. I played Chopin´s Nocturne Op 37,1 and I prefered the performance with Vintage D, of course it´s a matter of taste. The worst things about Vintage D are the pad/wrap sounds - one do not need that in a piano plugin anyway and there are too little presets.
Finally I´d say both plugins are interesting, for those who want to create presets of their own and have a plugin with more different presets will go better with pianoteq, but you will get a similar result with Vintage D with an eq.
Both plugins are way better than NI pianos (New York, Berlin and Vienna), but that´s not hard to top.
The sad thing in general is that obviously no plugin can replace a real piano or grand, but that are too high expectations, but this sad fact already starts with hardware (masterkeyboard or digital piano).

And as for pad synth sounds or general synth sound my new fav is REAKTOR, I gave Reaktor too little attention. By changing or tweaking parameters I get very satisfying results now. At least I use two NI synths now REAKTOR and MASSIVE, so the money for KOMPLETE was worth being spent
My ranking now is
1st place KONTAKT, 2nd pl REAKTOR and 3rd pl BATTERY 3 4th Transient Master 5th REFLEKTOR 6th Upright Piano 7th A-200 8th Massive 9th Guitar Rig 10th Studio Drummer
Plugins I do not use at all: FM8, Absynth, The Finger, Retro Machines, NI Concert Grands, Scarbee Mark I and Clavinet/Pianet.
The reasons I do not use them are different, either I do not need or like them or I have better plugins or hardware; e.g. I always liked Yamaha e-pianos best, it has not changed for years now.

 

The variations in the presets are hardly done with only EQ. Hammer hardness changes, dynamics changes, soundboard Q and impendance changes, string length changes... there are a lot of changes.

Reverb can load any custom IR you want, so I don't agree with it sounding "bad". I love the cinematic sound I can get by using the "Taj Mahal" preset, for example. It's a decent reverb.

 

Piano plugin

well, Hammer Settings and more "noise" is also in Vintage D. Dynamic Change is nice, but not realistic - can you change dynamic range in a real piano ? Of course, the sound of a real piano can also be improved , but not within seconds. I know, you can do even changes for a single key or note in pianoteq, that´s cool, if you like saving your own presets. And the most significant change you hear with your ears is mostly made by eq, I ve checked that many times yesterday. If you like cinametic sound, then you probably need a piano also for modern productions. I need a piano for classical or jazz peformance first and foremost, that means that a piano must sound good solo. No plugin is good enough, but one must accept that.
Actually, I only need one good piano sound, not more than one - like a real piano !
I am glad, you ´have recommended pianoteq, and I am also glad that it pleases you, maybe I will buy me the stage Version sometime, but I am not in a hurry, Vintage D is not too bad, either, and I ve even saved some settings by my own. I also like Vintage D, because I have no problems with CPU or RAM. I never use the reverbs, concerning CPU and RAM I have no information about Pianoteq.
I would like to check KONTAKT´s "digital reverbs" (Lexicon-like) for a piano take sometime, but I am not sure if it´s possible, because it could be too long and wav file maybe too big ? HOw big may a wav file be to be placed in mapping editor of KONTAKT ?
I m just going to check it...