Play > Kontakt 3 compared

[noldar12]

Honestly, you initially specifically asked for a list, and a list was provided. Your reply to receiving that list struck me as not being helpful. Had you started the thread by asking what the major advantages of SO Play were, and simply left it at that, IMHO, responses might have been better. There really has been a lot of near constant grumbling over the past several months, with the same "it is overpriced, not worth it, etc., etc., etc.," being repeated over and over. That may have contributed to the responses you received.

FYI, my initial response to this thread timed out, and would have otherwise posted before your most recent post. It was as follows, and possibly reflects frustration with the above ongoing issue:

Another option would be to wait to purchase SO Play until after others have started to report their thoughts about it in the forum. Granted, waiting will cost more.

Many of us are looking forward to not having to deal with NI, even if the transition turns out to be a bit bumpy at first.

For those who are pleased with NI, there may indeed be no compelling reason to upgrade immediately, and EW has made it clear that spending money on the upgrade is entirely optional.

[topaz]

Hi

indeed I did but not a specs list.

I was more after a list of what major things users thought that play was going to offer them
over Kontakt 3.

Originally Posted by noldar12

Honestly, you initially specifically asked for a list, and a list was provided. Your reply to receiving that list struck me as not being helpful. Had you started the thread by asking what the major advantages of SO Play were, and simply left it at that, IMHO, responses might have been better. There really has been a lot of near constant grumbling over the past several months, with the same "it is overpriced, not worth it, etc., etc., etc.," being repeated over and over. That may have contributed to the responses you received.

FYI, my initial response to this thread timed out, and would have otherwise posted before your most recent post. It was as follows, and possibly reflects frustration with the above ongoing issue:

Another option would be to wait to purchase SO Play until after others have started to report their thoughts about it in the forum. Granted, waiting will cost more.

Many of us are looking forward to not having to deal with NI, even if the transition turns out to be a bit bumpy at first.

For those who are pleased with NI, there may indeed be no compelling reason to upgrade immediately, and EW has made it clear that spending money on the upgrade is entirely optional.

[raywong]

I am one of those who doesn't really know what the advantage are...
Kontakt has been great because it never crashed and it holds up to 64 instruments in one standalone instance.
I don't really need to have 64bit support because I will never load more than 4GB template on each computer. You can't play the whole orchestra with one single computer.
I use all far mic position samples, no additional reverb. I think it sound ok without it.
I don't really need a huge graphic interface, I have 6 displays, and already running out of screen space. Each Kontakt(64 instruments) takes up one display.

I have a feeling I will stick with Kontakt for a while, but the only way to find out is to try it myself, that's why I ordered 2 copy of Play.

[Jonathan Kranz]

Hi Topaz,

One thing not listed, that we feel quite strongly about, is that Play is our own creation, created specificlally for our libraries. Our products in Play each feature a custom user interface, with controls and features that we create for each library... take the QL Pianos for instance, we have features that are built in to the interface, such as lid position and mic mixing, that some of the other libraries do not, and the Orchestra for instance has custom scripts created specifically for it, as well as a 'master' reverb and individual mic outputs, all on the interface. Essentially the big advantage here is that since this is our own creation, we can always update and add features that we feel the user's will take advantage of, rather than having to rely on a third party to update their software for us (take the non-Intel compatibility issue with Kompakt for instance). I think this is a pretty strong argument for the advantage right there, on top of the other features already listed by the other posts.

-Jonathan

[topaz]

Thank you for a nice sensible reply.

I am a hopeless upgrade geek and usually upgrade without even blinking

I did not feel this way when I saw play, even if the NI player had of worked on intel I still would of loaded the samples into K3 for the very reasons you mention.

another part of me feels slightly miffed at having to buy an engine to something that really should of come with a working player as it is sold as a VI.

I also don't feel that chuffed about being put on such a short deadline to upgrade without even trying the product first.

thats why I hoped for some tips as to what is so MAJOR about Play over K3.

Originally Posted by raywong

I am one of those who doesn't really know what the advantage are...
Kontakt has been great because it never crashed and it holds up to 64 instruments in one standalone instance.
I don't really need to have 64bit support because I will never load more than 4GB template on each computer. You can't play the whole orchestra with one single computer.
I use all far mic position samples, no additional reverb. I think it sound ok without it.

I have a feeling I will stick with Kontakt for a while, but I guess the only way to find out is to try it myself, that's why I order 2 copy of Play.

[Jonathan Kranz]

Originally Posted by topaz

another part of me feels slightly miffed at having to buy an engine to something that really should of come with a working player as it is sold as a VI.

This has been discussed ad nauseam... and discussed again ad nauseam... and discussed yet again. I don't want to drag it through the dirt yet again... NI discontinued Kompakt/Intakt prior to Intel Macs, hence we are where we are, Play is our solution to that issue. On systems that it was designed for it is working just fine, if the user is on the Intel Mac than Kontakt is a requirement, or the user can upgrade to Play.

Originally Posted by topaz

I also don't feel that chuffed about being put on such a short deadline to upgrade without even trying the product first.

thats why I hoped for some tips as to what is so MAJOR about Play over K3.

Upgrades will still be available after June 30, we just have a pre-order special going on right now, which is what the June 30th deadline is in reference to. You can hold off and wait til release to upgrade if you would rather do that.

At the end of the day both of these players play back the samples. The differences have been listed, and we feel very strongly about the advantages and future possibilities that Play offers our users.

-Jonathan

[Doug Rogers]

Originally Posted by topaz

another part of me feels slightly miffed at having to buy an engine to something that really should of come with a working player as it is sold as a VI.

That's not correct, the Kompakt player supplied worked for both Mac and PC users for the first 3 years of release, then Apple changed direction without any warning, NI decided not to upgrade Kompakt to Apple's new system, and the alternative they presented us with was inferior in our opinion, so we made the hard and expensive decision to develop our own player so this would never happen again. Once we made that decision all Mac Intel users were informed they would have to use Kontakt to use our products until we released PLAY versions.

This upgrade is entirely up to you, if you don't see value in it, you should stick with Kontakt and the libraries you have been using, but please don't distort the record, because these issues are always thoroughly considered, and decisions made that we believe benefit the company and most importantly our users.

With regards to the upgrade deadline, we are considering an extension to July 15 as we've had so many requests, plus we have just received a lot of new registrations from NI. After that, the upgrade prices, that we believe reflect the proper value of the upgrades, will apply.

Honestly, this upgrade price is equivalent to dinner for 2 in an average restaurant, the complaints are beyond ridiculous considering our investment, both money and time, and especially considering it's entirely optional.

- DR

[topaz]

I don't think I am alone with these feelings, I am just one of your customers who doesn't feel raved about the upgrade price/deadline and not sure about rushing in to the upgrade.

actually Doug $157 would be a pretty decent 4 course meal for 3 in the UK

Originally Posted by Doug Rogers

That's not correct, the Kompakt player supplied worked for both Mac and PC users for the first 3 years of release, then Apple changed direction without any warning, NI decided not to upgrade Kompakt to Apple's new system, and the alternative they presented us with was inferior in our opinion, so we made the hard and expensive decision to develop our own player so this would never happen again. Once we made that decision all Mac Intel users were informed they would have to use Kontakt to use our products until we released PLAY versions.

This upgrade is entirely up to you, if you don't see value in it, you should stick with Kontakt and the libraries you have been using, but please don't distort the record, because these issues are always thoroughly considered, and decisions made that we believe benefit the company and most importantly our users.

With regards to the upgrade deadline, we are considering an extension to July 15 as we've had so many requests, plus we have just received a lot of new registrations from NI. After that, the upgrade prices, that we believe reflect the proper value of the upgrades, will apply.

Honestly, this upgrade price is equivalent to dinner for 2 in an average restaurant, the complaints are beyond ridiculous considering our investment, both money and time, and especially considering it's entirely optional.

- DR

[Doug Rogers]

Originally Posted by topaz

I don't think I am alone with these feelings, I am just one of your customers who doesn't feel raved about the upgrade price/deadline and not sure about rushing in to the upgrade.

The amount of users that have upgraded already suggest otherwise. Fortunately, apart from a few that are very vocal on this forum, the great majority of our users really appreciate the products and service they get from us.

Cheers,

- DR

[JamesIII]

Originally Posted by Doug Rogers

Fortunately, apart from a few that are very vocal on this forum, the great majority of our users really appreciate the products and service they get from us.

Cheers,

- DR

As one of the majority, I second what Doug said. I don't think I've even had to wait a whole day to get a response from tech support, etc. The customer service is, hands down, one of the best in this industry. It's been over a week and I still haven't received a response from Native Instruments with an authorization issue; which, by the way, will be a thing of the past when using the PLAY engine as the dongle IS your authorization. Unfortunately, we are in a "bit torrent" world where quite a few folks want something for nothing. I feel that the current upgrade path is more than generous as I'm sure the vast majority of users would agree. Thank you for your time.

James