Free Kontakt Libraries

[Abigail Tyrie]

Weare constantly working on new libraries and try not to waste time. But our main mission is to give you the instruments you really need. We would be grateful for any feedback or suggestion!. Feel free to write to us, we really need your opinion.

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To get your free copy of the Kontakt Factory Selection library, simply add Komplete Start to your Native Instruments account. The free Komplete Start bundle contains Kontakt Player, Kontakt Factory Selection, Play Series Selection, and other music production software goodies.

Kontakt Play Selection is another free Kontakt library from Native Instruments. It is based on a selection of presets from three different libraries: Analog Dreams, Ethereal Earth, and Hybrid Keys. Kontakt Play Selection contains 10 presets from each library.

As we already mentioned, the easiest way to get Kontakt Play Selection is to add the Komplete Start bundle to your Native Instruments account. You can then use the Native Access license manager to download and install the library.

The third free Kontakt library by Native Instruments is called Kinetic Treats. It is based on a collection of toy samples. The sampled source sounds were used to create more complex patches with the help of some clever processing powered by the Kontakt engine.

Kinetic Treats comes with three instrument patches: Electric Train Set, Record Player Music Box, and Xylo Polyphones. It is included in the Komplete Start bundle along with Kontakt Player, Kontakt Factory Selection, and Kontakt Play Selection.

Our favorite is the Foundations Piano, based on a Kawai grand piano. Heavyocity combined the grand piano samples with a sound design layer called a creative texture. The result is a lush, cinematic piano that will add an epic mood to any piece of music.

The 88E is a free experimental piano library for Kontakt Player. It is based on an idea by Mattias Krantz, who tuned every piano note to E and then used a giant cover to press all piano keys at the same time (playing the same note).

Impact Soundworks used a similar concept for The 88E library but with a more flexible approach. This virtual piano can play other notes, too, and comes with various adjustments. You can customize the envelope, transpose the keys, apply pitch bending, change the microphone position, and more.

The library was free for a while, but a recent update introduced Kontakt Player compatibility. This means that you can simply install it and use it with the free Kontakt Player plugin without any workflow restrictions.

You can quickly fine-tune the volume envelope, the filter, the sample reverse, and the built-in effects. The user can also choose whether the dynamics are controlled by the modulation wheel or note velocity.

Soniccouture is offering a selection of free Kontakt libraries in the Free Stuff section of their website. After signing up for a free Soniccouture account, new users will receive the serial numbers required for library activation in Native Access.

At the moment, Sonniccouture is offering six free Kontakt libraries: Choir Horns, RMI Rocksichord, Thunder Drum, Music Boxes, Tube Drum, and Tape Choir. Each library comes with a customized interface for fine-tuning and manipulating the sampled sounds.

The Kontakt interface features a twelve-channel virtual mixer with a selection of audio effects. Also, the user can adjust the individual kit piece tunings, sustain, volume envelopes, MIDI mappings, and several other performance controls.

Every once in a while, you need to spice up a song with an unusual sound or an obscure instrument. Hurdy Gurdy by Sonokinetic is exactly that, a free Kontakt library that provides a unique sonic texture.

Diamond Jazz Trio is a free Kontakt library that consists of a piano, alto saxophone, and double bass. It is a stripped-down version of the Diamond Jazz Orchestra library which features an entire orchestra.

The included instruments work well together, especially the piano and the double bass. They were originally intended for use in an orchestral context, but they sound just as well in jazz, rock, or even a pop setting.

The library also includes two alto saxophone patches. First is an experimental patch with a loopable sustain and a crescendo triggered upon key release. The second features four reverb types and nice legato transitions.

Arcane by Embertone is both a game and a sound library. Fully compatible with Kontakt Player, Arcane will require you to play a puzzle game before accessing its sounds. There are five instruments to unlock, and one bonus instrument is offered as a prize after all the puzzles have been solved. This bonus instrument is a beautiful alto vocal legato patch that is well worth unlocking.

The piano focuses on delicate and nuanced performances. It offers twelve velocity layers per sampled note, allowing realistic, expressive performances. The authors also sampled the hammer and pedal noise, adding to the realism of the performance.

The crossgrade method reportedly works with the Arcane library by Embertone. Multiple users have reported that they could access the Kontakt crossgrade offer as soon as Arcane was added to their Native Instruments account.

That said, the crossgrade should work, in theory, when you register and activate any of the third-party libraries listed on this page. To check if your Native Instrument account qualifies for the Kontakt crossgrade offer, visit the Kontakt 6 pricing page and verify the price.

Thank you SO MUCH for this! I was getting sick of seeing so many amazing free instruments released but only for full Kontakt.

On a side note, I browse mostly only your website weekly, could you update us the moment the next sale (or any other special deal) hits for this? :D

Also, is there a price required to upgrade for future Kontakt versions? If so then would it be wise to purchase V6 this year?

Hello Leigh,

Let me answer your 2nd question first. Basically, you start with the essentials first, and build from there. I still think the Komplete package is a great starting point, because you not only get the full Kontakt, but a lot of libraries and plugins. I still use plenty of the ones in the Komplete package.

Another option is the East West subscription, which will give you access to a great number of libraries and plugins, for a monthly payment. That way you avoid the big spending at the beginning, and you can always change in the future.

Thanks @Mikael and @jlx_music appreciate responses, I have experience in mixing house type music but some of this soundtrack music seems so dense with elements everywhere. Its like I am starting from scratch again.

Anyone know how I can get Logic to save Kontakt libraries so I don't have to reupload them everytime I open them in a different computer? It's very time consuming to keep having to load all the Kontakt instruments when I open a project that I had saved on my iMac, and now want to work on with my macbook.

anyone have any resources for a very basic crash course in kontakt? i have the most basic questions like where / how do save things? how do i recall them ? can i make a blank template to launch on start up?

Have you got the keyboard tab open in Kontakt? it shows you the layout. The red keyed section is to change the pitch of the loaded sample up or down a semitone, the blue keyed section shows you where your samples have been loaded - think it just loads them in alphabetic order, each sample loaded a semitone up along the keyboard

I recently started to use Kontakt libraries, but the sound disappears after a while, and I have to go back to the Kontakt plugin and click on the sound patch to re-enable it. While playing the track I can see that the sound meter goes up top about -48 db instead of -6 after , so it appears that there is sound but much too low.

Ex: if I'm using Hybrid Keys -> Atmospheric, I can heard the sound properly when I record the track, then I can play it and it's fine, but after a while the sound disappears , I get no sound when I play the track back (-48 db), I have to go back to the Kontakt plugin screen , click on Hybrid Keys -> Atmospheric then the sound is back to (-6 db) for a while, then disappears again.

It's an issue with Kontakt and the way Cakewalk zeros out certain CC controllers. I don't recall the exact fix, but it's been discussed here before. And I'm sure someone will come along with the answer soon! Or you can search the forum...

Kontakt, the sampling instrument from Native Instruments, is arguably the most used sampling platform on the market with hundreds of 3rd party sample libraries available. There is a free version that has limited functionality and the full version which sells for $399. The full version also comes with their entry-level bundle, Komplete 13, currently selling at $599.

I have assembled a list below of my current favorite Kontakt instruments. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to play everything available on the market, and there are many I hope to try in the future that are not on this list. But what is here I can strongly vouch for. I base these recommendations on 12 criteria:

It seems appropriate to start with Native Instruments, the developer of Kontakt. The Komplete bundles come with a fairly large selection of instruments, all of which are well-designed and capable of great sounds.

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