Komplete 9 ultimate cross grade or hardware

J

jagaloon

New member
Hey all,

Resisted temptation from NI's last sale on maschine studio. I was going to buy studio but after thinking it over, I decided to be smart, for once, and keep my mk2. Well wouldn't you know, my patience paid off and I picked up maschine 2 software upgrade last night and saw that they now offer komplete 9 and ultimate as a cross grade purchase.

Now lately I've been working more with my ultranova, making more patches and using those in my work which had been mostly techno, trance, electronica, basically all things electronic sounding with occasional organic instruments.

Lately I've become somewhat torn between my affinity for actual hardware instruments vs soft synths. I've taken an interest in doepfer's dark energy II, novation bass station II and a theremin mostly because it fascinates me. While I own Massive I just don't bother with it since my ultranova is so easy to use and I don't have to fiddle with the mouse.

So while I'm not rich but still enjoy this hobby I've been wondering if the komplete ultimate would be something well worth the 375 vs a new piece of hardware say dark energy II or a bass station II. I will admit it's the pricing that's piqued my interest as if it was 999 I'd have not even thought twice.

It could be that I'm not used to spending so much on "software" and when I bought maschine I at least had some physical hardware to back up my purchase.

So guys and gals, weigh in good bad or indifferent.
 
bandcoach said:
definitely worth the money
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Did you come from a hardware background, do you find the synth's included to be worth while? I realize you stated that it's "definitely worth the money" I'm just trying to see why, I wish they offered demo's rather than pay first then figure out if you like it or not.
 
software synths are considered industry standards
kontakt has a great 3rd party support for libraries

my own background is hardware in the 70's and software with hardware from the late 80's onwards and software from the mid 00's - I still use both when appropriate
 
bandcoach said:
software synths are considered industry standards
kontakt has a great 3rd party support for libraries

my own background is hardware in the 70's and software with hardware from the late 80's onwards and software from the mid 00's - I still use both when appropriate
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Thanks for the insight on your background. I think it may be boiling down to ego in my case, turning a want into a need. I don't make a living off of this hobby it's just for fun and I've yet to fully use all that has been included with Maschine, let alone v2.

I think the biggest issue is buying it and never fully using it all or worse using it here and there only to have it become obsolete shortly after.

Cursed Ni and their price structure, if only they had a plugin called "more free time"
 
yep - I use about 30% of Komplete on a regular basis, not to say I wouldn't use the rest if needed, but as I am mostly sketching these days, no need for heavy use of anything other some of the kontakt libraries

free time is the luxury that every wants, but when they have it never know what to do with it......
 
Komplete 9 ultimate comes with a lot of extra padding. Having said that, there are some usable sample based instruments like the Heavyocity. As far as synths go, there's very little difference. Razor doesn't come with many presets, you end up buying them or if you have the time, make your own. And Razor is really the only difference, that and Skanner XT which I never use. The crossgrade is mostly cinematic, Abby drums and dynamic post-prod effects like compressors. I use the heavyocity like Evolve but more as rhythmic textures, you cant tune them or arpeggiate like you can with Aeon. They just wet your appetite for Aeon which costs 400. Hope that helps.
 
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Kinh said:
Komplete 9 ultimate comes with a lot of extra padding. Having said that, there are some usable sample based instruments like the Heavyocity. As far as synths go, there's very little difference. Razor doesn't come with many presets, you end up buying them or if you have the time, make your own. And Razor is really the only difference, that and Skanner XT which I never use. The crossgrade is mostly cinematic, Abby drums and dynamic post-prod effects like compressors. I use the heavyocity like Evolve but more as rhythmic textures, you cant tune them or arpeggiate like you can with Aeon. They just wet your appetite for Aeon which costs 400. Hope that helps.
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Crap, in a brief moment of random inspiration I hastily went and purchased komplete 9 ultimate then just saw this reply in my inbox buried amongst some other emails.

I have that sinking feeling now that I just made a big mistake purchasing this and probably due to the sale rather than my needs. I've never had so much internal conflict with a hobby before till I started this one :)

I did not know about razor not having any presets and hat you have to buy them instead. Somehow that makes me feel like NI isn't completely upfront with what you REALLY get with this package.

Lately I've taken to attempt to make some house music but I've only found one piano that came with my mk2 sound library, hopefully with komplete I can find more that was worth the crossgrade price.

Trying to run before I can crawl I think.
 
razor is a preset for reaktor

plenty of great piano sounds in the kontakt libraries and the other synth libraries as well

as for the rest - ultimate is only a waste if you choose not to use parts of it for no reason other than you can't be assed to do so
 
Crap, in a brief moment of random inspiration I hastily went and purchased komplete 9 ultimate then just saw this reply in my inbox buried amongst some other emails.

I have that sinking feeling now that I just made a big mistake purchasing this and probably due to the sale rather than my needs. I've never had so much internal conflict with a hobby before till I started this one :)

I did not know about razor not having any presets and hat you have to buy them instead. Somehow that makes me feel like NI isn't completely upfront with what you REALLY get with this package.

Lately I've taken to attempt to make some house music but I've only found one piano that came with my mk2 sound library, hopefully with komplete I can find more that was worth the crossgrade price.

Trying to run before I can crawl I think.
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You didn't make a mistake. There's a lot in Ultimate you will use like the rhythmic element of Damage and the like and all the drummers. Action strings is great too. Doesn't really matter what your genre is. And Razor does come with patches, there's just not a lot of them. The main difference between the two is you get more variation of the same type of instrument, of basses, pianos, strings, eqs, compressors.
 
Kinh said:
You didn't make a mistake. There's a lot in Ultimate you will use like the rhythmic element of Damage and the like and all the drummers. Action strings is great too. Doesn't really matter what your genre is. And Razor does come with patches, there's just not a lot of them. The main difference between the two is you get more variation of the same type of instrument, of basses, pianos, strings, eqs, compressors.
Click to expand...

I have a tendency to over analyze purchases, especially when they are for fun, asking questions like, what will this do for me, what can I gain from it, will it be a good investment...

Rather than just allowing myself to be happy that I am able to afford komplete 9 because of the sale NI is having and I figured why not it might make putting together patterns a bit easier with maschine.

Admittedly I panicked after the purchase and immediately put pressure on myself to create something glorious and amazing with it, thinking that if I can't or don't then it was a waste and I should hang my hat up and stop trying. I continually forget that this takes time and I only have so many hours in a week to create, dabble and practice.

It's like graphic design, it took me years to get where I am with it but I do it full time for work so it comes a bit more naturally, with music and production it's a interest I've had since I was a kid but never had the means to get into it for fun or as a hobby.

Thank you for the input, I have a feeling once I get to try out all that it has to offer I would at the least found a few synths that I like that would have cost more had I not gotten the entire komplete 9 ultimate package.
 
I have a tendency to over analyze purchases, especially when they are for fun, asking questions like, what will this do for me, what can I gain from it, will it be a good investment...

Rather than just allowing myself to be happy that I am able to afford komplete 9 because of the sale NI is having and I figured why not it might make putting together patterns a bit easier with maschine.

Admittedly I panicked after the purchase and immediately put pressure on myself to create something glorious and amazing with it, thinking that if I can't or don't then it was a waste and I should hang my hat up and stop trying. I continually forget that this takes time and I only have so many hours in a week to create, dabble and practice.

It's like graphic design, it took me years to get where I am with it but I do it full time for work so it comes a bit more naturally, with music and production it's a interest I've had since I was a kid but never had the means to get into it for fun or as a hobby.

Thank you for the input, I have a feeling once I get to try out all that it has to offer I would at the least found a few synths that I like that would have cost more had I not gotten the entire komplete 9 ultimate package.
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Im exactly the same (I think we all are). Doing the research is half the fun. All these mid-year sales dont make it any easier to make the right choice. I found the biggest limitation with Komplete was the lack of usable poly synths, that and the fact that its best plugin Massive takes more time than expected to program grooves for specific projects (it works better separately as a sound-designer's tool, not producer's). I convinced myself Id never need to buy another synth after Komplete...not the case. If you use Protools I recommend Hybrid3 for polysynths, it covers everything and rivals Omnisphere without heavy cpu usage.
 
Wanted to give this thread a little bit of closure. I had the Komplete 9 ultimate crossgrade sitting on my desk for a few days after it arrived and finally decided to just go ahead and get to installing certain bits I wanted, mainly the synths and compressors. Absynth is a bit of a tricky synth but overall I love FM8. The only thing I have a difficult time with is using some of the FM8 functions within Maschine MK2 or the compressor's or other plugin's. It's a split between grabbing the mouse or finding the right knob. Other than that, for me personally having doubted it's "worth", to me it's provided me with an insurmountable amount creative inspiration!!!
 
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