All Samplemodeling Virtual Instruments are fully compatible with the latest version of Kontakt 8 (either Full or Player).
Samplemodeling Virtual Instruments provide unprecedented realism and expressiveness, but require an up-to-date CPU. A modern PC or Mac with at least 1.6 GHz is required.
A good quality audio hardware with suitable low latency drivers (ASIO for the PC) is required. Recommended buffer sizes may range from 128 (low-latency, hight CPU load) to 512 samples (higher latency, but less CPU load).
A master keyboard with some configurable MIDI controllers, pitchwheel, modwheel, and an expression pedal (or breath controller) is required for real time playing. Virtually any type of windcontroller can also be used to play this instrument. If real time playing is not contemplated (you will miss some great fun though), using a sequencer may obviate the need for several physical MIDI controllers, by manually drawing controller data to the MIDI tracks while maintaining full control of the instrument’s expressiveness.
Samplemodeling Virtual Instruments have been thoroughly tested on most common sequencers, like Cubase, Ableton Live, Digital Performer, Logic, Sonar, Studio One and Protools. Excellent audio demos - some are available with corresponding MIDI files - are downloadable from the Downloads page.
Owners of "Solo & Ensemble Strings” (any version) or "Solo, Chamber & Ensemble Strings” v. 2.0.2 should perform a free update to v. 2.0.2b. Please refer to the Install & update page.
If you are still using the older versions of our brass (below v. 3), you can upgrade your solo brass instruments to v. 3 for only 30,- EUR each by purchasing v. 3 with a discount code. Please refer to the Install & update page.
We sell our products by download only. Please visit the product pages, where you can find detailed information about each product. Click on the "BUY" button on the respective product page to complete your purchase on FastSpring, our online shop provider. For further information see below.
After completing the online transaction (see below), you will receive (usually within a few minutes) an email containing the license key and necessary links. Following these links you can, depending on the product, either download the product files (usually as ZIP archives), or get further instructions how to install the instruments hosted on Native Instruments server. It´s essential that, while purchasing, you type your e-mail address without errors. Misspelled addresses will not work!
The online transaction is perfectly safe. Should you, for any reasons, be unable to download the files, you would get your money back. This, however, never happened so far - see below.
FastSpring - our shop and transaction provider - runs many servers all over the world, so the links are always working. Should you or your internet provider have temporary problems, see below.
The links you receive via e-mail, are valid for 1 month. During this period the download can be carried out several times if necessary.
Please note that Solo Strings and Brass Bundle are hosted on Native Instruments servers and remain available via Native Access utility.
Whether downloaded from our shop or installed via Native Access – we strongly recommend making a backup copy of the product files.
No, by clicking on 'Buy,' you will securely proceed to the transaction page. The final purchase will not be carried out until you enter all the required information and agree to the Terms and Conditions.
Yes. After ordering a product and completing the payment (see above) the purchaser receives an e-mail containing the download links, sent by our transaction provider FastSpring. It´s entirely up to you when and where you download the instrument(s) – it can be done later (within 1 month) from any other computer.
However, please do not forget to copy the content of the received e-mails and keep them in a safe place, since they contain also the license numbers, absolutely necessary for the product activation.
Our instruments are designed and programmed on an existing, advanced platform, licensed by Native Instruments, a company based in Berlin. Kontakt – either in the full version or as the free, read-only Kontakt Player – is the host for our software and acts as a stand-alone application, or as a plug-in in all possible standards. For that reason Native Instruments provides also the copy protection technology, registration data base for our customers, and the second level technical support for the Kontakt Player software.
Our prices are calculated at the lowest limit. They are equal for everybody – we do not have any special prices for certain users. However, if you constitute a group of users and are interested in a Group Buy, please get in touch with us for further details.
There is no trial or demo version. This is due to several technical reasons, including copy protection mechanisms.
However, we did our best to show the instruments in a lot of demonstrations - many of them done by the customers shortly after buying the instrument(s) (see our demo page). Moreover, the downloadable example MIDI files (see the Download page) shows in every detail how some of the demo tracks are programmed. This transparent approach proved to be perfectly suitable, providing more than sufficient information for potential buyers.
After entering a wrong or misspelled email address the system will be unable to send you the purchased content or to communicate with you. This, however, does not represent a real problem. Please contact FastSpring and ask them to correct the email address.
Once the payment is accepted, it is usually a matter of minutes till you get the e-mail. In very rare cases the payment might be subject to some further routine checks, required for example by your own credit card provider. This may lead to a delay of several hours.
Please note that the initial price displayed on the order page may include the VAT. Whether you finally have to pay the VAT or not, depends on the country of your residence and your fiscal status. Corporate European customers may apply their VAT-ID, for example. The final price to be payed will be displayed on the payment page, before you click on "Buy now" button. Please note that more and more countries and states require the VAT payment. For more information please contact FastSpring, our transaction provider (see our Contact page for details), or your local fiscal authority.
Yes. The purchaser may choose from a wide range of languages. Some languages are accessible directly from our BUY page. The others can be chosen in the right upper corner of the first transaction page at FastSpring.
FastSpring is our shop and transaction provider, selling our products and managing various payment systems. It is based in Santa Barbara, California.
If you did not backup your data, or the backup is no longer available, send us an e-mail providing the serial number(s) of the lost instrument(s). We will create new, personal product links for you. Please note that this service requires additional work and server space, so it can be only offered for some, albeit small, fee. To avoid the charge, we strongly recommend to immediately backup the downloaded files.
Please note that the products Brass Bundle and Solo Strings are hosted on Native Instruments server and remain available via their Native Access utility.
Still, we recommend to backup the installed files as well.
After registering (authorizing) the product, your license key (serial number) is managed by Native Instruments in their data base. You can view it either via the Native Access (their installation utility) or via your personal account at Native Instruments site. For more details see “I lost my serial number!” in the section 2 “If you already purchased or installed an instrument”.
Native Access (former “Service Center”) is a utility which the Kontakt installer installs on your system. It remarkably facilitates the management of the authorizations, downloads and updates of all Kontakt-, Kontakt-based, and other Native Instruments applications.
Kontakt is a player software necessary to make our instruments work. There are two versions available:
- Free Kontakt Player version, downloadable via the Native Access untility.
- Kontakt – the full version. If you own the right version already, you do not need to install the free player.
There is no difference between both versions as far as the functionality of our instruments is concerned.
If you are using the free Kontakt Player and are interested in the full version, you can easily upgrade – see Native Instrument site for details.
Even if some of our instruments may work on earlier Kontakt versions like v.5 or v. 6, we recommend using always the most recent one. This will also ensure the best compatibility with the most recent operating systems. You may refer to the User Manual or Installation Guide of the instrument(s) of your interest for more details.
Yes. According to the license agreement you are allowed to install the software on two systems, if both belong to the same user.
Moving to another computer is possible without problems - provided that it belongs to the same user and uses exactly the same Native Instruments Native Access account. For further details please refer to the question "Can I move the software to a new computer", in Part 2 of "If you already purchased or installed an instrument", under "Administration, downloads, installation".
The files have approximately the following sizes (both PC and Mac; all the files are ZIP archives):
The Trumpet: 280 MB
French Horn & Tuba: 280 MB
The Trombone: 720 MB
Solo, Chamber and Ensemble Strings: 5,2 GB
Solo Strings: 5 GB
Samplemodeling Brass: 1.3 GB
Unlike conventional sample libraries which needs gigabytes of pre-recorded samples with fixed articulations, our instruments need much less space on the disk, since it is our technology which makes the samples "alive" and creates various articulations.
The instrument size on the disc, after installation (without the Kontakt software) will be approximately the same size as the downloaded product files indicated above.
Offline activation is no longer supported by Native Instruments. You need at least a temporary Internet connection for the activation procedure. Once the authorization/activation process is completed, you do not need to remain online. For further details please contact Native Instruments support.
The operating system on which our Kontakt-based instruments are running is entirely dictated by the Kontakt/Kontakt Player version. To find out whether it is compatible with your Windows or Mac OS version, please refer to the Kontakt documentation. Which is the right Kontakt version for our instruments can be found in the User Manual or Installation Guide.
Wind and breath controllers are very suitable for our software. To optimize the results, we added the Wind and Breath Controller Mode. Our customers confirm very good responsiveness and very intuitive control of the instruments. Which wind controller is the best is the matter of personal preferences. Mostly used are the WX-series of Yamaha and AKAI's EWI.
Updates or Upgrades are announced on our website or in our Newsletter. You will find there also the explanation how to get them. The latest version of the Brass Bundle and Solo Strings products is accessible through Native Access.
We strongly recommend to backup the downloaded content anyway, and keep it in a safe place - exactly as if it were a “boxed” product. Should, for some reasons, your files get lost, please check the following:
if you purchased the product not longer than 1 month ago, you can still use your download links you received right after the purchase; multiple downloads are possible;
if you purchased the option “Extended Download”, the links are valid even 2 years.
If the above does not apply to you, please contact us via the contact page.
Note: Brass Bundle and Solo Strings are installed via Native Access – no local installers are necessary.
The Serial Number (or “license key”) is your unique, personal key activating the downloaded instruments. Fortunately, you cannot “lose” it - it is stored safely on Native Instruments server, in your personal account. Open Native Access, click on “Installed products”, then on the product name (e.g. “Solo & Ensemble Strings”). This will open a window with further information – among others the serial number. In case you have no access to Native Access (system crash etc.), all the serial numbers, and all necessary individual information to your products can be found on your personal account at Native Instruments.
Yes. There is no difference if you copy the library content from the zip file you have just purchased, or the library content from your “old” computer, or use Native Access (Brass Bundle and Solo Strings only). Just follow these steps:
- make sure that you have the right Kontakt version (and Native Access) installed on your new computer. You can download the free Kontakt Player version from the Native Instruments site (see Installation Guide for details), or using Native Access;
- locate the library folder(s) on your “old” computer (for example: “The Trumpet 3”, or “Solo & Ensemble Strings”). To easily locate the right folder, open your Kontakt software, find the library in the Kontakt browser and click on the small triangle icon near “Instruments”. This will open a menu. Click on “Open containing folder”. This way you will see exactly where your library is located.
- apply further installation steps as described in the Installation Guide (as if it were a new instrument)
This (extremely rare) case may happen if your internet provider or your email client rejects the e-mail as spam. Please contact FastSpring (https://fastspring.com/consumer-support/) and report the problem.
The proper invoice is always attached as a pdf file to the email containing the download links. This email is sent after verification of your payment (usually within a few minutes). For more details - see above ("After purchase, I did not get any e-mails from FastSpring")
As explained in the documentation, and on our web page, the dynamics of our instruments are controlled by so-called Continuous Controllers (CC) which are, according to the MIDI standard, either CC11 (Expression), or CC2 (Expression on Wind- or Breath-Controller), or CC7 (Volume). Use of an expression CC is absolutely essential to play our instruments. For that reason the instrument displays an error message reminding the user that he has not yet connected a CC11 source. Trying to play without expression control is like trying to play a real wind instrument without blowing into it, or not bowing a string instrument, or driving a car without the gas pedal.
Simply stated, it will not work!
As soon as you send CC11 (or 2, if set as BC/Wind Controller mode) to the instrument, the message will disappear and the instrument will be ready to play. Though not recommended, any other CC can be mapped to expression using the remapping menu.
The recommended buffer size is 256 or 512 samples. Due to particular buffer handling in the Kontakt software, buffer size larger than 512 may lead to unwanted side effects.
See “Buffer Size” above. Some hosts (like Logic) may use different buffer size settings for real time playing and bouncing/mixing/freezing. Make sure that the buffer size is set to 256 or 512 samples also for mixing/bouncing if you experience problems described above.
Our instrument engine allows more than one instrument to be loaded in a single Kontakt instance. However, this is not recommended for two reasons: the instruments may interfere with each other what may lead to strange distortions of the sound; moreover, using separate Kontakt instances leads to a better system performance (more instruments can be played).
The structure and the location of the library files must not be changed, otherwise the samples, mutes, reverb-IRs or other content cannot be loaded, and the instrument won´t work.
If you moved the library to another location, use the Native Access utility to define the new library path.
The structure and the location of the library files must not be changed, otherwise the samples, mutes, reverb-IRs or other content cannot be loaded, and the instrument won´t work.
If you moved the library to another location, use the Native Access utility to define the new library path.
Our instruments can be resold once by the original owner. Samplemodeling does not charge a license transfer fee. Updates and upgrades will still be available to the new owner. However, we have some rules in place to help protect all parties involved:
Please note that our software has been carefully developed and tested in many different environments. After all, it´s successfully working on thousands of systems. If it does not properly work on yours, please make sure that you:
– thoroughly read the Documentation
– followed the installation instructions exactly as described in the Documentation
– did not make any changes in the file structure of the software (like, for example, moving some files to another drive).
– provided the essential MIDI CCs as explained in the Manual.
If you experience any Kontakt-related problems (including software activation issues), please contact the Native Instruments technical support, providing the problem description and details about your system.
Should your question be very detailed and specific, related to our technology and our unique features, we willingly help as well. Please contact us using the Contact us page.
© 2007/2023 Samplemodeling TM
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