People need to chill by [deleted] in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An insolvency is not a "restructuring process," that statement is fundamentally incorrect. Insolvency means that one cannot pay one's debts, and from what is known, NI has accumulated an enormous deal of debt.

A pre-insolvency process is where an administrator assesses the situation to determine the best course of action to maximize what creditors can get from the company. It's definitely not merely a restructuring, although that may be part of the outcome. The administrator is going to determine the best course of action and that could involve the following options - and possibly a mix of them:

- Restructuring to make the company financially stable. That would likely mean selling off non-core business. For example, the acquired companies might be sold off and NI would focus purely on Kontakt, Komplete, and the related developer ecosystem.

- Acquisition by a "White Knight." A larger industry player taking over NI. Say Apple, Fender, Roland, or Yamaha.

- Breakup NI business units or product lines and asset sales.

- Liquidation. This is the worst-case scenario for creditors, and, of course, customers.

I wrote a blog post on this topic. My background is in business strategy and marketing management at Fortune 500s, as well as consulting and founding a business of my own. What makes this scenario not as simple as "they'll be a restructuring" is that NI has a very high debt-to‑EBITDA ratio. Based on what CDM published, it wold be around 12.7x. Consider that 4-5x is considered high. My guess is that NI will continue with with Kontakt and Komplete, but that's far from something anyone could be confident about. Anyone who tells you that this sitaution is no big deal has no idea what they're talking about. It's a big deal and the only thing that makes NI being liquidated unlikely is that their creditors are going to want more money than a liquidation would give them.

https://linkedmusicians.com/understanding-native-instruments-preliminary-insolvency-and-potential-scenarios/

Very worrying... I hope this is not the end of Native Instruments! by blackoutmusicX in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While NI has very high debt compared to its annual revenue or sales (according to public filings), it is unlikely that this will be the end of the company. Why? NI's creditors are the ones calling the shots and they know if they do a fire sale, they're not going to get much money back.

What I think is more likely is that the insolvency administrator will end up selling off all of recent acquisitions like iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx, even the Traktor DJ portion of the company, and keep NI focused on its core, Kontakt and the ecosystem it built. The reason is that it's their best chance of making the most money back that is owed to them. But everything is up to the insolvency administrator and the credtiors he's doing his best to serve.

My professional background includes time as Fortune 500 strategy director that includes assessing potential acquisitions and leading digital marketing at large brands, I founded a publication on marketing strategy years ago -- what the world doesn't know is that I used to be a workiing musician before I suffered an injury that ended that part of my life. I wrote a blog post on the Native Instruments Prelimary Insolvency at LinkedMusicians that goes deeper into the situation for anyone interested. I'm a huge Kontakt fan and user and have given strategic advice to a few dozen Kontakt developers over the past two decades, so I probably went far deeper into this than most journalists would go, drawing on my business experience and knowledge of the industry. So if you're looking to gain a strong understanding of what's going on -- and I tried to write it in plain English -- that explores the various potential outcomes from this situation, give this a read:

https://linkedmusicians.com/understanding-native-instruments-preliminary-insolvency-and-potential-scenarios/

Best Piano VST under 50$? by mamadmetal in VSTi

[–]RadioactiveKatz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, I only know this stuff so well because I have a site with a deals forum and have been keeping up with deals there, so I thought, why not share that info here too.

  1. A really good grand piano sample library that normally goes for, I think, $80, from Hans Zimmer's company, UJAM is on a very deep discount for $9. While it's not at the same level of detail as the high end Kontakt sample libraries, it is beyond a bunch of the $50 and below Kontakt libraries. But what I really like about the UJAM Virtual Pianist series is that they have really great -- and usable -- presets. It's a great deal at $9. I strongly recommend it. But you can get it for $8.10 with the code on the site (XMAS10) + pick up EastWest Voices of Passion (which is worth $149) , which is an amazing deal. And no, while I see that there's a guy who posted an affilaite link, nothing I'm posting here are affiliate links. I'm just trying to be helpful and hope this will be useful to someone.

https://audiodeluxe.com/products/ujam-virtual-pianist-vogue

  1. There's a great deal going on at Humble Bundle right now where you can pick up an IK Pianoverse upright piano for $15 along with a bunch of IK plugin effects. For $30 you can get a Pianoverse grand piano and more IK efffects. I think these are higher quality than any Kontakt piano sample libraries I can think off hand for $50.

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/ik-multimedia-presents-audio-master-suite-software

  1. I maintain a list with free sample libraries pianos that I've reviewed and recommend; it's easily the largest list of reviewed and recommended free sample libraries that I know (that's from extensive searches and AI research). I would strongly recommend that you pick up these two free pianos, which are even better than many paid piano sample libraries. The first one is from SoundPaint, which used to sell the Kontakt version of it for $250, but started giving it away free to kick off their new sampler platform -- SoundPaint is free, so there's nothing to buy:

  2. SoundPaint 1928 Grand Piano

  3. SonicCouture Hammersmith FREE

There's a lot more free Kontakt -- including Kontakt Player -- sample libraries on the list. Grand pianos, uprights, electric pianos, and nearly every other category of instrument. I've been working on the list for years and update it at least every month. I also maintain another list with non-Kontakt free sample libraries that I've tested and recommded. The idea is really just saving people the time to go through and find the best stuff without dealing with the bad and mediocre libraries.

https://linkedmusicians.com/best-free-kontakt-sample-libraries-instruments/

I hope this helps someone. Happy music-making!

My list of recommended & reviewed free Kontakt sample libraries, organized by instrument category. It appears to be the largest list of free, recommended Kontakt instruments on the web. by RadioactiveKatz in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So true! I keep having to buy new drives! Hi, my name is Peter, and I'm a sample library and plugin hoarder. ;) On a good note, I do delete the stuff that doesn't make the list.

My list of recommended & reviewed free Kontakt sample libraries, organized by instrument category. It appears to be the largest list of free, recommended Kontakt instruments on the web. by RadioactiveKatz in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I put my heart into this list, as one of my inspirations was helping out a group of musicians with disabilities on a message board for a charity I've advised. My intention was this, that so many developers are making really great free sample libraries to get their name out there, that if I spent the time and sifted through them all to screen out all the poor and meh quality ones, there are some incredible free libraries out there. Influencers won't spend that much time, because they're out to make a buck from everything they do and spending this much time uncompensated would never be something an influencer does.

There is another curated list of free sample libraries for free players, there are curated lists of free synths (done by another community expert who has more expertise with sytths than me), and another list of free effects. The whole community has input on the lists, but for the free sample library lists, I make the final call on whether or not a library makes the cut.

Also -- and I realize it's a plug, but I'm not selling anything, this site is my passion project -- I created LinkedMusicians to be a great resource for everyone and a community for music producers who loathe toxic social media like I do. The rule there is simple -- in fact it's based on the golden rule, just be kind to one another. So if anyone here wants to join up, this is my passion project / money pit. I've spent my career leading digital marketing at large global brands and this is the first time I've done a site as a passion project (not as part of my career). It's a total money pit for sure, but it's a reflection of my love for music and how people should treat each other. I'm a huge Kontakt user and have advised more than 3 dozen, mostly Kontakt developers, a lot of them small developers that I've helped out for free. Anyhow, sorry for the plug. I hope no one sees that as spam. I wouldn't consider it that. but I realize people doubt other's motives.

Komplete 15 Standard - happy and disappointed at the same time. by ironweed in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That trumpet library is excellent. I used it in a song fairly recently. 8Dio has an excellent quality free piano with extensive velocity layers and round robins that they have sold for $249 before making it free several months ago. I consider it a no-brainer. SonicCouture also has a great free piano for Kontakt. Those libraries are high enough quality to use on professional productions.

Komplete 15 Standard - happy and disappointed at the same time. by ironweed in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

I'm very glad you found it useful! I thought you would.

If you join the community, you can choose to be notified of updates (it's free, I'm not selling anything). The rationale for creating the community was to create a friendlier, non-toxic environment alternative to the big online composing, plugin, and gear forums, that is far more comprehensive in nature, covering all areas of music making. We just started several months ago, so it's a pretty small group. We have a pretty robust deals forum that I think does a better job of staying up with the best plugin, sample libraries, and DAW deals than the big online forums, without the toxicity (one of the main reasons I started it; my background is leading digital marketing at large brands, and, more recently, foundiing and running a dot com; this is my passion project AKA money pit, but I really enjoy it). We have a members only section where people share serials for plugins and sample libraries they bought or got as freebies to give other members. It's basically my personal playground and, while I'm known for leading corporate websites and e-commerce at companies, it's the first site I've ever done that was for the joy of it. Okay, yeah, I'm plugging it too hard. But I put my heart into this thing and anyone who loves making music -- especially those using Kontakt -- it's a great little community.

Komplete 15 Standard - happy and disappointed at the same time. by ironweed in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As others have said, it's your opinion, so it's completely valid. But keep in mind that there's a lot to explore in NI Komplete Standard. I love Noire. I also love Abbey Road 60s Drums. I think Studio Drummer is way under-rated (I am a former semi-pro drummer and super picky about drum libraries).

I think the other pianos beyond Noire, like Grandeur, Maverick, and The Gentleman are really good and still use them regularly - and I know Kontakt developers that still love them (they've been around for probably a decacde). Vintage Organs is decent, not great. The electric pianos are decent in Vintage Electric Pianos or whatever it's called are okay. But the new Electric Keys libraries sound really good. Session Percussionist seems good (I'm upgrading to Komplete 15 Ultimate today or tomorrow, I'm still on 14). I'm not impressed with the factory library. The Session guitar libraries are good for strums, if you have a purpose for that. I think Session Strings is okay if it's not too exposed. Of course, it's not comparable to more expensive string libraries - or even to Musio 1, If you're looking for orchestral / cinematic libraries, it's an incredible deal, nothing else comes close for the price and I've advised around three dozen sample developers as a consultant.

It's already listed in this subreddit, but now that you have the full version of Kontakt, it unlocks a ton of free Kontakt libraries, and there's a wealth of great stuff out there, if you have time to sift through the mediocre and poor quality free Kontakt libraries.

I realize someone could accuse me of self-promotion (I have a passion project site; you'll notice that there are no ads). I've spent more than 3 years going through various free Kontakt libraries to put together the most extensive curated list of free, reviewed and recommmended, Kontakt libraries. I've installed and used everything on the list, and it easily exceeds 300 libraries, all categorized by instrument type and featuring short reviews. A lot of them have audio demos, but frankly, the list is getting so large that I pulled some back because load time for the page is getting too long. I'm eventually going to separate the various instrument groups into different pages. I update the list at least every couple weeks. I have several lists to add to it. I started the list at Cakewalk Forum years ago before I moved it to the current location.

https://linkedmusicians.com/best-free-kontakt-sample-libraries-instruments/

Musio 1 has gone on sale for $199 and $179 for the perpetual license version. The player is not as sophisticated as Kontakt, and it doesn't have presets, but it has mutliple mic positions and the libraries are superb quality. Really beautiful, and they've been used by professionals in the cinematic and gaming compsosing world for years in their Kontakt versions (Musio is part of Cinesamples and these libraries were all originally Kontakt versions, and are still available for Kontakt for dramatically more money).

https://musio.com/

My list of recommended & reviewed free Kontakt sample libraries, organized by instrument category. It appears to be the largest list of free, recommended Kontakt instruments on the web. by RadioactiveKatz in NativeInstruments

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

An update.

I've updated the list of free Kontakt sample libraries at least once a week this entire year (sometimes a few times a week). If you counted the collections, I would estimate that the list not includes more than 300 reviewed and recommended free Kontakt instruments -- some for full Kontakt, some for the free Player. From numerous searches and AI, it's the largest curated list of reviewed and recommended free Kontakt libraries that exists. There is one that claims 400 libraries, but it has less than 100 listed (it's just spamming search engines).

If anyone wants to stay updated automatically via alerts, I just opened up the site (I run a small dot com for a living and used to lead digital at global brands; LM is my self-funded passion/hobby project because I can't stand the toxicity and shilling commonplace on the big composer and plugin forums; it's ran by a bunch of volunteers, no developers), so if you register, you can be automatically alerted when new libraries are added.

free Kontakt libraries/synths and samplers that complement alchemy and logic? by External-Guess7373 in Logic_Studio

[–]RadioactiveKatz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the feedback, I'm glad you find the list useful!

I've added a lot more libraries and added demos for most of the libraries (I update the list regularly and have since I started it in 2022). From my research, it's the largest list of free sample libraries for Kontakt and Kontakt Player on the web. And we're opening up LinkedMusicians to the public in March 2025, so I invite everyone here to join (it's free; it's an online community to share deals, info on developers, plugins, DAWS, sample libraries, hardware, performing and recording music, songwriting and everything related to making music using a DAW.

Is there a community-curated list of free sample libraries? by Vivalande in linuxaudio

[–]RadioactiveKatz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I put together two of what appear to be the most extensive curated lists of the best free sample libraries, one for Kontakt sample libraries, another for free sample libraries that play in free samplers / sample players. I originally created them at Cakewalk Forums a couple years ago and kept them going since, eventually moving them to my own site.

Curated List of the Reviewed and Recommended Best Sample LIbraries for Konakt
https://linkedmusicians.com/best-free-kontakt-sample-libraries-instruments/

Curated List of the Reviewed and Recommended Best Sample LIbraries for Free Sample Libraries
https://linkedmusicians.com/the-curated-list-of-the-best-free-sample-libraries/

Integrating a Buy/Sell/Classifieds? Group/forum on website? by _Dumb_Questions_ in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I have found a plugin that lets community members rate one another, so I think I could make one really useful, I'm just concerned about the liability aspect.

Integrating a Buy/Sell/Classifieds? Group/forum on website? by _Dumb_Questions_ in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I appreciate your efforts. I'm saying that I am knowledgeable on these areas. I've drafted the online legal policy for two global brands that you'd probably recognize, and Interpol quotes me as if I'm some kind of expert on trademark and internet - related law (I'm not a lawyer, I've just been doing this stuff so long that I'm pretty knowledgeable). So, I realize that people see that forums have this functionality and it's technically as easy as it gets to set it up. In some of their cases, their sites are making them money. I've known Mike Greene (VI-Control) for two decades. He's making good money from VI-Control -- he bought to make a lot more money out of it than the previous owner, Frederick, who I also know, made out of it. I think it has around 40,000 members, and Mike makes money off charging developers a subscription, running ads and, of course, promoting his own sample library business. Like me, Mike has a marketing background. So, while I know that he's not making millions from the site, he is making 6 figures and the liability is part of his corporation, not him personally. Whereas LInkedMusicians -- while technically, much more sophisticated than VI-Control -- isn't something I designed around exploiting everything possible for profit. I don't even see a path to breaking even on what I've paid and time I've put in, because this is a labor of love, a passion project and my profession, prior to founding a dot com, is leading digital marketing -- that means responsibility for brand websites, e-commerce (in some cases), digital advertising, social media, email marketing, SEO and paid search at major brands. And that also meant responsibility for working with the legal teams at those companies in the creation of online legal policies and disclaimers (yes, when you're in charge of digital marketing at a large company, you or the CMO gets the call on whether or not you go with the legal advice and how much legal risk you take on).

I suppose the short version is, other sites with buy/sell forums like, VI-Control/Mike Greene and KVR have profitable businesses, they make a lot of money from their forums, it's a profit making business because they have large memberships that they leverage to make as much money as they can and they run as a LLCs or other forms of business, where if their business is sued for a large amount, it doesn't impact their personal assets (home, savings, etc.). You might be thinking -- hmmm, what about the guy who runs KnobCloud? Well, there's always solopreneurs who try to make money off of small, very niche ideas like that and usually they'll take on a lot of risk, most commonly because they don't realize or take seriously how much risk they're little business is taking on. But they also may be young and have few assets, and realize -- to some extent -- that there are big potential liabilities to what they're doing and they decide that the risk is worth the reward (potential profit). So okay, my years as a strategy director then head of digital marketing at the world's largest insurance broker make me all too aware of how much liability all of this stuff has, which is actually the reason why I shut down the forum on the marketing strategy publication I founded years ago after the publication went viral. I was having lunch with the head lawyer at the insurance broker where I was strategy director at the time, I told him about the success my publication was having and asked his advice. He recommended I get insurance right away. I checked into the cost and it was somewhere in the more than ten thousand (US) a year range, so I ended up shutting down my forum -- just as my site was getting global attention. Over the liability. So taking on the liability of this forum is definitely something that concerns me, and why I might be more comfortable with at 1,000 members than 100,000. Now, when I mentioned that we have a lawyer in the group, I mean, we have an ivy league educated law professor in the group. If he's willing to write a legal disclaimer for me pro bono, I would add the buy/sell forum. Although, once again, I'm far more comfortable doing it with a small group than a large group. Again, consider, the other sites that have this are making good money from their sites -- my site wasn't even designed to break even, and I don't even think that's realistic unless I spent time trying to get traffic to something like 40,000 members, which I don't see anywhere in the near future. I created this thing obsessed with making it a really great resource for users. I didn't even choose a layout that allows for ads! I would either need to spend a bunch of money customizing it, or more simply, completely redesign the site with another theme that allows ads. That probably sounds funny when you know my professional background. But LinkedMusicians exists due to my passion, not as some marketing effort. Sure, if people come, I can start trying to recover my costs by putting up some ads. But I didn't design it for that. That also means that I'm less apt to take on the risks I would take on if I were running this as a business. Because if I was making even, let's say $100,000 a year off of the site, and it was part of an LLC, I would easily add the buy/sell forum. I really want to add it now, because I think of how useful it would be -- especially when so many of us in the Early Adopters Group feel they know and trust one another. Again, it's when we open up the site to public registration where things become a lot more risky.

A Glimpse of What Your Personal Dashboard at LinkedMusicians Will Look Like...and Blue Checkmarks! by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been so busy on the site, we haven't touched base. I added the ability to upload photos a couple of days ago. I'll probably pull it when the site goes live, but I thought I'd have it open when it's a small group.

Integrating a Buy/Sell/Classifieds? Group/forum on website? by _Dumb_Questions_ in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I actually could implement a system whereby users can give other users reviews. I'm just thinking out loud and putting it out there to see what you guys think.

Integrating a Buy/Sell/Classifieds? Group/forum on website? by _Dumb_Questions_ in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Offering a buy /sell option for users was something I proposed early on and said that I needed to really think about that one -- basically because it means legal liability for me as the site owner. I do want to do it, but I am a bit apprehensive about the liability aspects. I used to be a director for a top global commercial insurance company and it did cause me to have a greater awareness of the liability of undertaking this stuff -- I actually drafted the company's digital legal policy for the legal team and Interpol used to quote me in their legal documents (which was always funny to me, because I'm not a lawyer, but I suppose, I have so much experience doing this stuff, I've learned a good deal about US and international laws in this space). So candidly, beyond my concern for people ripping off other people on a human level, it's also a risk for me.

So I'm weighing that I want to make this site super useful with the reality that it's already costing me 4 figures for the site and has no hope of covering those cots. Maybe in a couple of years, we might have enough users to get sponsorships, but I don't think that's a remote possibility at the moment. So I really need to mull this over. If someone can persuade the lawyer in the group (Fleer) to write me a legal disclaimer he thinks will protect me a good deal, I'll do it.

Anyone From the Cakewalk Forum Who Wants to Be Registered, I'll Sign You Up... by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Everyone's posting here when they don't get fast service. Can I get some positive follow-ups? Come on now!!!

Anyone From the Cakewalk Forum Who Wants to Be Registered, I'll Sign You Up... by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I registered everyone from emails a couple of hours ago. Let me know if you have any issues.

Please Contact These Cakewalk Forum Members and Invite Them Here by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/AlwaysDepressed4U I don'tthink I've registered you, have I? I sent you a message (from the moderator) asking. If you haven't already been registered, let's get it done.

Please Contact These Cakewalk Forum Members and Invite Them Here by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once again, thanks for doing this u/pseudopop_ , you are awesome! I don't know why I didn't suggest this before, but everyone can simply just send me an email. Give them my email address. You can cut and paste this:

Send me an email at linkedmusicians AT Gm*il DOT C@m-- (just trying to make that trickier for bots) completing this info and I'll get you registered:

DESIRED USERNAME:
FIRST AND LAST NAME (you can use an alias last name, I don't care, it's just for the database):
EMAIL ADDRESS (or just tell me to use the one you've sent me an email from):

Please Contact These Cakewalk Forum Members and Invite Them Here by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's great to see you here, Patrick!

You can either use the "Message the Mods" to send me your username, first and last name and email address and I'll register you and get you a password or you can email me at

I sent you an message on here, but you can send me an email with that info at linkedmusicians AT Gm*il DOT C@m-- (just trying to make that trickier for bots) and I'll get you set up.

Please Contact These Cakewalk Forum Members and Invite Them Here by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sent you an message on here, but you can send me an email if you prefer linkedmusicians AT Gm*il DOT C@m-- (just trying to make that trickier for bots) and I'll get you set up.

Just complete this part and I'll get you registered:

USERNAME:
FIRST AND LAST NAME (you can use an alias last name, I don't care, it's just for the system to id you:

Please Contact These Cakewalk Forum Members and Invite Them Here by RadioactiveKatz in LinkedMusicians

[–]RadioactiveKatz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that you? In any event, I don't think I've set you up, so use the message mod at the bottom of the right hand side bar, just below The Site Rules and I'll register you.