Kontakt4 (Or Other Vst Sampler) With Renoise

Hello,

I’d like to know if there is any point using a sampler like Kontakt along with renoise (except for the large library provided) as renoise already has a built-in sampler ? Does it have some functionnalities that can’t be done in renoise ? I’ve heard so many positive comments about kontakt4, but i’m not really sure if it’s really worth buying for a renoise user, so any answer would help a lot. Thanks.

Yes, there is a point. For me, Renoise’s greatest attraction is it’s tracker style sequencing, not it’s sampler. Sampling functions in renoise are great usability-wise (top-notch), but not very great in depth of features. Try out a host of samplers before deciding, a free one might give you so much to play with you never get around to buying kontact.

I use Kontakt for a lot of drumkit programming, especially for the multi-layer control. It’s not a necessity, but once you get into it you appreciate the depth of possibilities.

Imho before getting in depth with things such Kontakt you could learn “everything” about renoise first.

I personally use Kontakt as my main sampler: Renoise built-in sampler has far less features than Kontakt (scripting, multilayering, grouping, release trails, polyphony, and so on). It really depends on which are your musical aims, but in general at the moment if you use huge sample libraries, Kontakt is far superior to Renoise. Still, using the two in combination is great

does Kontakt actually let you ‘sample’?

no you have to record elsewhere and then import. I usually top and tail in wavelab before import. But the audio editor in Kontakt is pretty good too

btw renoise is a sampler-

They’re really two very different tools for working with samples in two very different ways.

I use both. I wouldn’t expect to build pristine-sounding grand piano mega-instruments in Renoise, and I wouldn’t expect to get the sonic manipulation ease and power of pattern effect commands in Kontakt. Kontakt is great for creating instruments that through layering, keyswitching, and scripting can be performed in very nuanced and musical ways. Renoise is great because it has a limited palette of sonic tools, but the use of them is so closely bound to the sequencing that you’re inspired to make musical choices you would never make otherwise. (Because in Renoise they take 2 seconds, where in any other tool it would be 2 minutes to 2 hours)

Horses for courses.

They didn’t get to versions 2.6 snd 4 of each of these tools without there being a good point to their existence.

i use both.

i stick to renoise for all my pre-programmed realtime sample slicing needs and, dirtier sounds. i use kontakt 4 to do synths and more clean sounding arrangements.

i think the two work very well in tandem but, i think i would be more lost without the renoise sampler than without kontakt. but i just like the idea of my whole track being inside a single .MOD file :)

With the new major improvements to the sample and instrument editor in Renoise it’s starting to look more and more like you can scrap a 3rd party sampler. But maybe not quite yet :)

Many of the previous posts are currently moot since the release of Renoise 2.7 Beta as XRNI is now at 2.0 with major features on par with kontakt… most of which sample layering/keygroups/velocity groups.

IMO the benefits to using XRNI and not Kontact or any other softsampler:

  1. Save all samples in one file with your song
  2. give your money to renoise instead of renoise and NI (save $)
  3. Less processor / memory overhead
  4. you can actually SAMPLE with renoise… try doing that with kontakt.
  5. .flac files are lossless and take up less room than the WAVS dependent to your kontakt files.
  6. FAR larger workspace w/i renoise to map samples to the keyboard
  7. FAR better GUI w/o all the clutter found in kontakt

Renoise still has some ways to go in terms of the usability especially when it comes to mapping multiple samples to keygroups and velocity groups and editing their boundries as groups… but by the time 2.7 goes gold it will fully defeat kontakt’s purpose as far as I’m concerned. The beta has already prompted me to put my Akai Z-8 up on ebay :)

Processor is debatable but you’re actually likely to use a lot more memory (RAM) with Renoise as it has no hard disk streaming, which you will find on a lot of the large, mainstream samplers, so the opposite is in fact the case.

in general, if you use samplers for do-it-yourself sampling and advanced sample manipulation, then Renoise 2.7 is more indicated than Kontakt and it is probably the best available tool on the market.

if you use samplers with massive sample libraries, then Kontakt is way better.