There are eight Sound Variations per patch, showcasing the diversity available from the raw samples, and you can even morph between them with a slider. The interface is nicely done, with a Sound knob to radically EQ the oscillator, four filter types, reverb/echo, arpeggiator and more. Those who buy Kontakt 5 get a code to download the pack, which contains patches sampled from 16 vintage hardware synths, from the obvious (Minimoog and Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter) to the unexpected (Crumar Roady electric piano and String Melody II string machine). The only new sample content this time round is the Retro Machines Mk2 library, which is also available on its own for $79 as a Kontakt Player instrument.

On the upside, previous projects work fine with the new library, so you can delete your old one to save some space once you know it's all working OK. Kontakt 5 doesn't work with earlier library versions. With nine dual-layer DVDs to install, this not only takes ages (and makes Komplete 8 Ultimate's hard drive-based installation seem highly attractive) but also leaves you with a legacy sample-set eating disk space. To maintain compatibility with old DAW sessions, users have been encouraged to install from scratch the new library and retain the old library as well. One thing that continues to frustrate Kontakt users is the process of upgrading the sample library when a new full version is released.

Add output library to kontakt 5