Kontakt is

Native Instruments Native Instruments is a German company that develops, manufactures, and supplies music software and hardware for music production, sound design, performance, and DJing. The company's corporate headquarters and main development facilities are lo ...

' flagship software sampler and one of the leading software sampling applications on the market.

Overview

Kontakt

First introduced in 2002, Kontakt combines sampler functionality with elements of synthesis and effects. Kontakt works as either a stand-alone application or as a plug-in on both Mac and Windows platforms. The

software sampler A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings (or " samples") of real instrument sounds (e.g., a piano, violin, trumpet, or other synthesizer), excerpts from recorded songs (e.g., a five-second bass guitar ...

is one of the leading applications of its type in the market.

Kontakt Player

Kontakt Player is a free, feature-limited version of Kontakt that functions as a virtual instrument for sample libraries, often with a specialized

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

with graphics and controls specific to that library, without the expense and extensive editing capabilities of the full version of Kontakt. Native Instruments manufactures numerous virtual instruments that utilize the Kontakt Player.

3rd Party Libraries

Many third-party manufacturers program software sample libraries, and Kontakt features the Kontakt Script Processor (KSP) and Creator Tools to help users of the software and sample library developers create their own instruments that utilize the Kontakt sampling and synthesis engine. By utilizing KSP, sample library developers can create instruments that can be played and controlled via Kontakt. Third-party sample manufacturers normally bundle their libraries with a customized version of a sample player optimized for that library.

References

{{music-software-stub Native Instruments Samplers (musical instrument) Software synthesizers