One downside to the Time Machine Pro mode is that automation of pitch either doesn't work, or has been disabled intentionally. There are some examples on NI's Kontakt page that show off the possibilities here. This algorithm is pretty convincing for most audio material, allowing you to stretch a sample by as much as 600% or shrink by 50%. One of the few truly new features that Kontakt 5 brings to the table is the aforementioned Time Machine Pro sampling mode, which was reportedly developed for NI by the time-stretching specialists at zPlane. In a trend that will become evident in the course of this review, Native Instruments 'sampled' from their other products for many of Kontakt 5's enhancements-in this case those vintage sampler algorithms are borrowed straight from Maschine. There you'll find a smart new time-stretching mode called Time Machine Pro, as well as two vintage sampler modes that are reported to be modeled after the Akai S1200 and MPC60 samplers that were responsible for oh so many hip-hop anthems. The first change you're likely to see is the new set of options in the Sampler mode dropdown. It's only when you dig into the various editor panels that you start to notice some of the upgrades. Visually you would have a hard time distinguishing Kontakt 4 and Kontakt 5 in a side-by-side comparison, as there were no major changes to the interface this time around. So what's new with Kontakt 5? Are the changes worthy of the full point upgrade? With alternatives like MOTU's latest version of MachFive re-emerging from the shadows and raising some eyebrows with its overhauled UI and new features, there is some pressure growing for Native Instruments to innovate. This soft-sampler powerhouse has been an industry standard for nearly a decade, but some interesting competition has been cropping up lately. Native Instruments' latest super bundle Komplete is back with its eighth iteration and among the instruments getting a major-point upgrade is Kontakt, which jumps to version 5.

Native instruments kontakt 4