Komplete 13: New sounds, new guitar tones and absolutely everything else
Native Instruments has announced Komplete 13 bringing together everything that’s appeared since version 12 plus a handful of previously unseen sources of sound and a brand new version of Guitar Rig.
Komplete 13
It’s already an extraordinary collection of instruments, sounds and effects but Komplete 13 brings it up to 122 instruments and effects and 73 expansions filling 1.1TB of space. Version 12 was released 2 years ago and already included the Kontakt version 6 and Massive X which came along a bit later. Since then there have been a few additions like the excellent Super 8 synthesizer, Raum reverb and Crush pack plugins.
In terms of what’s actually brand new for version 13 the big news is Guitar Rig version 6. They say it’s “Revamped” with a “bold new look” (although it doesn’t look that different to me) new effects and new machine learning technology to model state-of-the-art hardware. Sounds exciting! And actually it looks pretty great too.
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For new instruments, we have Cremona Quartet which brings together four ultra-rare string instruments from the world’s most renowned luthiers, painstakingly sampled at their home in Cremona, Italy.
Otherwise, Komplete 13 absorbs all the most recent releases such as Pharlight, Arkhis and Cloud Supply, libraries like Mysteria and effects such as Lo-Fi Glow. So while there’s plenty to get your teeth into most of it was already released.
As before we have 5 versions to choose from starting with Start which is free, going to Select, then Standard and up to Ultimate and then Ultimate Collector’s Edition.
- Start – worth checking out – free
- Select – 12 instruments, 4 effects, 5 expansions – £89 upgrade, £169 full version.
- Standard – 52 instruments, 16 effects, 24 expansions – £169 upgrade, £499 full version.
- Ultimate – 92 instruments, 26 effects, 39 expansions – £339 upgrade, £999 full version.
- Ultimate Collectors Edition – 96 instruments, 26 effects, 73 expansions – £419 upgrade, £1,349 full version.
The upgrade pricing always tends to elicit a sharp intake of breath as you try to calculate whether you are getting value for money for the extras on offer since the last version you shelled out for. It doesn’t matter which version you have the upgrade is the same and that often means you might put off upgrading a few years and wait until it feels more worth it. But it’s good to remember that it is an extraordinary bundle at an amazing price if you add it all up. You just have to balance the price of keeping up against which items you’d actually use. All versions will be available on the 1st of October.
NI Komplete 13
There’s been some movement in Native Instruments as a company with a change in leadership and rumours of difficulties. Let’s hope that 13 is their lucky number.
More information
- NI Komplete 13: NI
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