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I'm saving up for a Native Istruments Program, but I don't know which one to get.

Can anyone help me decide? I want one that I can make drum loops, but also ambient soundscapes, and noise effects.

:idea:

Or, do I even need one at all, and could I make similarly cool sounds without a Native Instruments program?

:? hock: :?:
I'm kind of hesitating, because if I get one, I'll be betraying my lo-fi roots. I've already started to use more hifi stuff, and I'm a little scared that I might start to only rely on hifi software...

Any comments and suggestions are always appreciated

PS : hope you like all the smileys

I use Kontakt religiously. It features in the majority of my tracks and its so easy to use. a Midi triggered sampler which you can load and manipulate any audio files with.

mmhm, i'm use fruityloops at image-line and buzz at jekola - nice creative "tools" ...and the simple version contains all yours ask ...i do not need a "native instrument" :lol: ...otherwise try out reaktor - welcome to the modular :wink: ...cu

tro

ps: i like u emo's :twisted: ...

Reaktor is by Native Instruments, am I not wrong?

both kontak and reaktor are great..but really freaking expenisve. you can get cheaper and just as good..if not better stuff from other places. really both of those are known because most of the mags that do reviews are from europe and england..so they obviously big up their own people's stuff.

FLstudio is pretty darn good. i'd try that. its very easy to use and you'll get to making stuff pretty quick with it. where as the others' you have..pan this..and click on that..and turn this..and add this to that..JUST TO GET STARTED.

but the answer is no you don't need a native instrument device to do the things you want. but they seem to own everything so pretty much anything you purchase will be from them anyway.

let us know what you end up getting.

My tip: Absynth, if you want to travel deep into soundscape territory.
Reaktor is cool too, it has lots of interesting synthsizers on board. Very good allrounder.

Expensive?, that's relative. What is all this fun worth to you? Good plugin synths tend to cost money. There is a lot of cheap and free stuff around though to experiment with. Most of the time they sound thin and lack personality.

Go listen to some NI demo's and dl their trials.

Kontakt and reaktor are ultimate cool!!!! must haves! FL is kinda fun too but i love ni stuff

LS
really both of those are known because most of the mags that do reviews are from europe and england..so they obviously big up their own people's stuff

Wait a sec. You overestimate chauvinism of europeans. There is a pile of very good software and sequencers coming from e.g. Germany. It IS good stuff, not just because magazines write good reviews.
Generally speaking: magazines should rave less about all new stuff coming out, whereever it's released.

reaktor always scored high in my respect-list...

especially the "ultra-pro" version where out can go really lo-fi and build your own "basic" modules and compile them on the fly. that's pretty amazing stuff from a developer / sound-tweaker point of view

that said, if you're not a sound-pro (and know a LOT about synthesis and DSP), or if you don't want to tweak your own stuff, I think reaktor is overkill. if so, get something simpler but still powerful (like absynth for example).

again, that said, there's SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much free stuff out there, why bother to get something which is not free?

- bram

Bram, that's exactly what I've been thinking, but according to ERH, the stuff you make with Native Instruments' software has an otherwise unnatainable "personality"...

I'm still not sure because I have been trying do decide between a NI product, or some new hardware for recording, maybe a drum set too.

I think I should post a poll.

I absolutely agree with HerbertBoland - for soundscapes Absynth is unbeatable especially for mixing samples with synthesised sounds to morph out totally new sounds. You may be able to pick up a cheap version of Absynth 3 now the version 4 is out - 4 is better but I had tremendous fun with 3 for 2 years and still use it more than the upgrade. HOWEVER, you say you wish to make drum loops and Absynth is not great at this. Reaktor has any number of beat creation ensembles in the amazing Reaktor User Library where you can download free user created ensembles which are often pro quality. As of today there are 2,460 free downloads available.
HB is also right about trying NI stuff - Reaktor, Absynth, and most other NI software are available as trial versions from NI.
HB is dead on again with the Euro/USA stuff - NI has a presence in LA and is an International company. I recommend you have a look at NI home page - go to the NI wants you link and then use the link to "the king" which has reviews of Reaktor many of which are from USA.
Finally, real instruments will always be the bedrock of music for me but HF's great work at freesound shows a definite interest in SOUND and its manipulation. Answer? You need both - I really can spend your hard earned, man! Like HB says what is this stuff really worth? If I buy a new instrument -guitar or whatever, it always gives me a boost in creativity - you just want to play. It is the same with software.
Whatever you decide I am sure you will make great sounds and what you don't get now you can get later. Good luck man!

HF: have a look at http://www.kvraudio.com/ and don't get intimidated by the wall of info that is coming at you.
Browse their forums and try to figure out what the posters really like. You can find most of the trial and free plug-in downloads there as well. I don't know more comprehensive sources on the net.
I second ERH with regard to real instruments, don't neglect them. They never sound plastic or artificial, you can (ab)use them in any way you like, they are often very cheap second hand, you can even learn to play them like a pro...

Nobody mentioned battery?

If you really need to buy NI software, man... i love battery...

Tho it always had some bugs, check for that before buying it but... i think it's great.

It's, of course, a drum machine that works with samples,don't go for it if u want synthetic sound processing but, you can do pretty much everything with battery.

I load any sound and turn it into a whole drumkit of all kind of strange sounds.

Battery haves loads of tools for that, from selecting the part of the sound u want, envelopes, distortions, compression, change of pitch, reverse, blabla...

You can work in pretty unortodox ways with it.

I actually almost never really worked with it as a typical drum machine at all, i use it more like a sampler, sound editor, that retains it's rythmic functions.

Worth a look, or a hear.

But, anyway, waht kind of sounds do u actually create ? show us something.

Also, check all the free software before buying anything, of course.

Ciao.

battery is great and a must have as well!

as for my european comment. i didn't mean it to sound like i was dissing native at all matter of factly i own a lot of their stuff.

but for the record

where are you folks from again?

Hey,

I just wanna say that, I've tried alot of softsynths out in the past.. and aside from something as modular as Reaktor, I've never found a softsynth with as much flexibility as Image-Line's Sytrus. It never ceases to impress me. It's probably the best FM synth I've ever used and not even half as expensive as most of the Native Intruments synths. One of my favorite things about it is that, like Absynth, sytrus lets you analyze and load up a waveform to use the harmonics as an oscillator and also lets you custom draw in the harmonics for the waveform. Sometimes I'll sample some great sounding analog synths and I'll just save one cycle of the waveform in my collection for use in sytrus' oscillator section, or not just synths.. lol ive made some patches using sampled waveforms of female vocals.. sounds like a complex sine wave..

And the awesome envelopes for almost everything it has to offer, One of my favortie things about it is definately the amazing LFO's which can be modulated by their own envelope.. i've never seen anything like it, you just have to try this synth out. Here's a quote from the manual:

Fully Customizable Articulation - Mapping diagrams, LFO and envelopes in Sytrus extend far beyond simple ADSR volume envelope support. Each diagram and envelope state can consist of unlimited number of curve segments, with control of pitch, volume, panning, velocity mapping, and unison settings, etc. This allows for more complex patch structures, including even programming whole drum and synth loops into a single patch/voice.

Low Frequency Oscillator (OSC)
This unit allows you to vary the controlled property with an LFO. The LFO can also be modulated by its own envelope. The secondary blue curve visible behind the envelope is a preview of the LFO "in action" with the applied envelope, shape speed and settings.

It forgot to mention that aside from pitch, volume, panning, velocity mapping and unsion, it also has another articulation section for "input modulation influence". man I love to make some real abstract LFO's, set a sustain section and use it on the input modulation influence of one oscillator so when i modulate it with another oscillator you can somewhat mimmick the unstable quality of oldschool analog synths. It's just an amazing synth.. I have yet to find one that I like using better than this one. Perhaps once I learn how to patch in Reaktor or SynthMaker a little better but until then its Sytrus all the way.

There's so much great music stuff for GNU/Linux these days that there's really no reason to pay for any software at all, including OS.

That depends on what you want. If you start from scratch and have no reference, maybe that is a good starting point. I would never trade my LogicPro for a free product. LP is a very mature and reliable product and that is exactly what I expect from software that I use a lot. To newbies in computer music I always advise to use something that has a large user base, like Sonar or Cubase, so you can get help at every corner. But I admit that I use Audacity a lot, but I prefer Sony Soundforge any day of the week. I find Audacity very awkward to use, although you can get things done with it. Maybe it's a killer in a few years time.

larsl
There's so much great music stuff for GNU/Linux these days that there's really no reason to pay for any software at all, including OS.

I'll stay out of the debate though.

FruityLoops