…but they all require Kontakt 5 which means that I have to shell out at least $400 BEFORE I can even use OrangeTree stuff. So I wanted any ideas on alternatives to OrangeTree Electric guitar and iconic bass? I doubt there is anything out there any better. But perhaps I could save money on a $400 uber guitar vst vs OrangeTrees >$200 because then I wouldn’t have to get Kontakt 5. Please help!
A friend of mine over at Trax in Space uses a VST guitar plugin called Electri6ity, to great effect. You can hear some of his work with it on TiS his profile.
You can find more info about Electri6ity here. It’s priced at $399 USD.
thanks pretty good links! Let me ask the question in another way. Are there any Kontakt/Komplete users here who have anything positive to say about the product particularly how the effects stack up to Renoise’s as well as the overall sample/preset quality of the software. This is a big purchase decision for me any help is appreciated!
From what I hear, “Orange Tree Samples are completely unmatched.” As far as Kontakt goes: Its got some interesting tweaks, “a audio stretching/shrinking gizmo called time machine,” and various built in fx, filters, and a big huge library… 30 gigs?
The bad news is: The native Kontakt library has been used to death by now. You would be hard pressed to find something you can do in Kontakt, that you can not do in Renoise. Its just a question of, “are you going to use the verb on the vst, or drop a verb in your mix channel?” That is really simplifying it, I know, but seriously… That is just the way to slice it.
My big huge problem with Native Instruments has always been, “I really want to buy Reaktor, but its about $399. I really want to buy Kontakt and its like $399. I have no desire to own Komplete but its like $549.”
Basically NI says to you, “to make sense mathematically, you have to buy Komplete, if you do not buy Komplete, you are throwing away good savings.” So basically what has happened is: I don’t own Reaktor, I do not own Kontakt, and I do not own Komplete.
I do own Guitar Rig Pro 5 but I got it on promotion… A full version license for free. I’ve also got an absolutely ancient license to Traktor, that I never use, but wouldn’t sell. As far as audio interfaces go… Hmmm, an entirely different story altogether… I think NI is kicking butt there.
so i went ahead and took the plunge and got Orangetree which means I had to also get kontakt…
I emailed Native Instruments 2 days ago and have yet to receive a response. Pretty off putting, I would have gone with EastWest Quantum Leap based on NI’s service alone. But OrangeTree Sample’s service was well…extraordinary. And based on how well they treated me and supported me as well as the quality of their product I went ahead and shelled out the $400 for Komplete 8 which coincidentally costs basically the same as the standalone Kontakt 5… Might have been nice if I could have bypassed the Kontakt part, but overall I don’t regret it becaues of how awesome OrangeTree is.
thanks for the input guys
If it’s just for the guitar you could’ve just… bought a guitar for that amount of money 
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imho… just wait until you try a lot of the stuff that’s in Kontakt library already. Concert violins to keys to whatever instrument! Not to mention drums. And then you bought Komplete (9 I guess?) with it, too so you’ve got an amazing set of synths and effects. NI makes the best VSTs all-round I say. But I will have to start with Maschine probably.
I bought Komplete 8 standard because Komplete 9 Standard didn’t include Alicia’s Keys and Razor which were 2 that I wanted and Komplete 8 was $100 cheaper
Niiice
hi friends, now I’m looking to round out my purchases with a nice midi controller. Any suggestions? The more wheels and pedals the better. My budget is up to $400 but would prefer to stay in the $200 range thanks!
m-audio axiom 49 maybe?
Faders, knobs, buttons, drumpads, footswitch input and 49 keys. new $299,-
I’ve got an old axiom 25 on which the knobs are a bit rough to turn, I don’t know if that’s solved yet.
The faders on this one look a little small to be very functional but it adds to your want-list />
thanks for that!~
incase you can’t tell I don’t know much about these controllers. But in a few hours of research I found out that Polyphonic Aftertouch is a feature people like. So I looked it up and found QuNexus Smart Sensor Keyboard http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kmi/qunexus-smart-sensor-keyboard-controller what do you guys think?
Is it worth it to get Polyphonic Aftertouch on a Keyboard that doesn’t have a Modulation Wheel or footswitch input (apparently)?
thanks it costs $150
I would absolutely not recommend a controller like that.
You just bought kontakt and want to play expressively at a range bigger than 2 octaves. I know that tiny controller looks flashy but from my experiences those things are more ‘fun’ than practical.
(almost) all midi keyboards support velocity. Polyphonic aftertough can easily be substituted by assigning ‘the’ parameter to any controller (modwheel)
Umm… NO IT CAN NOT!!! The key here is in the word polyphonic! How do you get polyphonic parameter change (IE different for every note played) from one single controller??? You can’t! To an extent Channel Pressure (monophonic aftertouch) can be faked with something like a mod wheel, but it’s still not the same responsively as playing!
I don’t know how many of your new soft toys are likely to take advantage of polyphonic aftertouch either. A surprising amount don’t. Also, unless you are an accomplished keyboard player, I would put keys with a decent weight and feel (in fact even if you are a very accomplished keyboard/piano player) above polyphonic aftertouch.
Those Axioms are meant to be pretty good for the price. There was another similar one I was shown recently by a friend but can’t remember it’s name… If it comes back to me I’ll link you that too 
Hey guys!!! I just got my OrangeTreeSamples!!! OMGGGGOOSHHH. It’s so epic!!! I have a question though. How do I record my activity with the modulation wheel and pitch wheel when recording in Renoise? Thank you!!!
I’m sure you know that several boards like this have been unleashed upon the world. Mostly by ensoniq, as far as ‘regular people’ gear. That’s a dead company and was many years ago since they made anything honestly ensoniq. And mostly they did it for the nontraditional piano feel keyboard public (who didn’t care about key weight, anyway?). But maybe it is impossible at the prices people demand now?
Try reading the quote I was replying to.
What I was saying is you can not replace Polyphonic Aftertouch by using a single controller, eg a modwheel. This is simply impossible no matter how you want to look at it or how much you want to spend! A single controller is never going to send different values to multiple notes!!
ok, sorry. yeah. don’t know how i got ya backwards on that.