What is Native Instruments Kontakt?
Native Instruments Kontakt is a software sampler and digital audio workstation. Musicians, composers, producers, and sound designers use it to play, create, and edit audio samples and virtual instruments.
Software Sampler
At its core, Kontakt is an advanced software sampler. A sampler lets you record or load audio recordings called “samples” and play them back at different pitches using a MIDI keyboard or other MIDI controller. This allows you to create playable instruments from any recorded sound.
Kontakt comes with a vast library of built-in sounds and samples. It includes everything from acoustic and electric pianos, organs, drums and percussion, guitars and basses, orchestral instruments, choirs and vocals, vintage synths, and tons of exotic and electronic instruments and sound effects. You can also record or import your custom samples.
Virtual Instruments
What makes Kontakt unique is its ability to use those audio samples to create rich, expressive, deeply sampled virtual instruments that go far beyond simple sample playback. Sound designers and software developers can build advanced sample-based instruments like Kontakt or libraries.
Kontakt instruments often use multiple recordings (samples) of the same notes at different pitches, volumes, and articulations. For example, a sampled violin Kontakt instrument could have dozens of varying violin samples for every note, played both soft and loud, with vibrato and without, bowed and plucked, and so on. Kontakt can switch between those different samples in real-time as you play, based on what notes and how hard you play them, to recreate all the nuance and expressiveness of an actual violin performance.
Many Kontakt libraries expand on this with clever scripting and programming to make the instruments more playable and realistic. For example, modeling the behavior of a piano’s sustain pedal, adding real recorded legato transitions between notes for solo instruments, or using round-robin sample cycling so repeated notes have natural variations. Some even blur the line between sample library and virtual synth with deep sound design options.
Built-in Effects and Editing
Kontakt also includes a rack of built-in effects and audio editing tools. You get EQs, filters, compressors, delays, reverbs, modulation effects, amp and speaker sims, and more. The effects are available as inserts on each sample group and sent on the output.
The Wave Editor lets you trim samples, adjust start and end points, create loops, and do destructive audio edits directly within Kontakt. You can map samples across the keyboard and velocity ranges, set up round-robin and random triggering, and adjust each sample’s volume, pan, pitch, and envelope settings.
Kontakt Factory Library
Kontakt has a built-in factory library of over 1,000 instruments and more than 43 GB of samples. This includes essential bread-and-butter instruments like the gentleman upright piano, studio drummer kit, retro machines vintage synth collection, session strings pro, and vintage organs. Even without buying any third-party libraries, the Kontakt Factory Library is a highly versatile and inspiring collection suitable for many styles of music.
Third-Party Kontakt Libraries
Tons of third-party developers make their professional-grade sample libraries for Kontakt. These range from solo instruments to full orchestras, choirs, drum kits, analog synths, world instruments, and beyond. Many work only in the paid version of Kontakt. Some developers include a particular “Kontakt Player” version that runs specific libraries in the free Kontakt Player.
Some popular Kontakt library developers are Spitfire Audio, Orchestral Tools, 8Dio, EastWest, Heavyocity, Output, Soundiron, Orange Tree Samples, Wave Alchemy, and many more. Native Instruments also sells exclusive Kontakt libraries from partners like Alicia’s Keys, Session Horns Pro, Scarbee, and The Giant.
Versions of Kontakt
There are two main versions of Kontakt: the free Kontakt Player and the paid full version of Kontakt.
The free Kontakt Player includes the complete 43 GB Factory Library. It can also play any third-party Kontakt library that provides its copy of the Kontakt Player engine (some do, most commercial libraries don’t and require the full paid version). However, the free Player version lacks some features and editing options compared to the full version.
The full paid version of Kontakt opens up all of the editing and sound design capabilities. It can load and play any third-party Kontakt library, giving you complete access to all the advanced editing, effects, and instrument-building tools. It also comes with additional libraries that are unavailable in the Player version.
Using Kontakt
You can run Kontakt as a standalone app or as a plug-in inside a digital audio workstation (DAW) like Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio, etc. You can select your audio and MIDI input and output devices in standalone mode and quickly play and edit Kontakt instruments.
Most people use Kontakt as a plug-in in a DAW for music production. You can load it on an instrument track and play it with a MIDI controller or by programming MIDI notes in the DAW’s piano roll editor.
The Kontakt interface has a multi-rack view where you can mix and match multiple instruments and layers in a single instance. Each instrument appears in its panel with a graphic interface for editing specific parameters. You can also view the sample mapping editor, built-in effects, and other editing tools in separate tabs.
Why Kontakt is Popular
Kontakt has become the most popular software sampler and one of the leading virtual instrument platforms for a few key reasons:
The sheer breadth and depth of available sounds are staggering. The 43 GB Factory Library included is already incredibly diverse and helpful. However, third-party developers have released hundreds of Kontakt libraries covering nearly every conceivable instrument, ensemble, and sound. Whatever music you want to make, there are likely some excellent Kontakt libraries.
The level of detail, expressiveness, and realism in high-end Kontakt libraries is unmatched. Expert developers go to incredible lengths to capture the subtlety and nuance of acoustic instruments and model their natural behavior and response. With the correct libraries, it’s now possible to produce incredibly realistic instrumental performances entirely inside the computer.
At the same time, the possibilities for sound design are endless. Kontakt gives you many ways to creatively mix, match, layer, mangle, and resynthesis samples into new sounds. You can create unique hybrid instruments and cinematic textures. You can recreate classic synth and drum machine sounds or design new ones.
It’s also a very flexible and convenient way to work. Housing your main instruments in a single plug-in keeps your projects more organized and CPU-efficient than juggling dozens of tracks and plug-ins. The multi-timbral setup makes layering and combining sounds quick and intuitive. The close integration with Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol keyboards and Maschine groove production system extends Kontakt’s hands-on playability and workflow even further.
Final Thoughts
Kontakt isn’t just a simple sample player. It’s a powerful platform for creating, producing, and performing with incredibly detailed and expressive virtual instruments—for composition, songwriting, electronic music production, film and game scoring, and creative music-making. The stunning array of sounds available includes Factory Library and the many third-party Kontakt libraries, making Kontakt must-have tools for professional composers and producers.
