Yeah, I think it makes way more sense to upgrade Komplete only every 2-3 years, because the upgrade price is the same for upgrading 1-~3 versions at a time (upgrade from K8-11 to 12 currently).
IMO you have to be doing quite a bit of symphonic work for the full Symphony Series to really make sense to get - and you might actually want to look at symphonic bundles from other sources, too, they all seem to have their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you have more money than you know what to do with, in which case just get it.
Yeah I'm waiting to see if the new Logic that was hinted at in the WWDC keynote will have anything interesting, symphonic-patch-wise. For now I'm mostly happy with the VSL subset that came with Kontakt 5 (and is therefore in Komplete as well).
Awesome, I'll have to take a look at those on their website. Thanks for so much effort put into your response. It'd be great if they just linked to the things and said "this is what you care about", but confusing me is a good sales strategy.
So there's no migration path from Select to Ultimate Collector's, but there's a migration path from Standard to Ultimate Collector's. Maybe I'll do Standard this year and Collector's next year.
I wouldn't bother with Ultimate Collector's unless you plan on getting semi-serious (or demi-serious, depending on your budget) about symphonic stuff. I did get full Symphony Series separately, during a sale, before they introduced Ultimate Collector's... so I do have a small bit of experience with it. It definitely is a step up from Essentials, and way more of a step up from the instruments included with Kontakt, but it's not exactly free.
Razor - there's just something about additive synthesis that I like
All the other drummer packages - again, only really relevant if you're short on good-sounding drums
Symphony Essentials - if you don't have symphonic instruments at all, this is a good start, but it's not nearly as flexible as the full set
Rise & Hit - pretty cool for building suspense/build-up sections
Action Strikes - easy to use cinematic percussion
All the truly sampled instruments sold me (pretty excited to hear the Precision and MM basses), as well as Damage and some of the creative-inspiring synthy things. I have no idea how I'll keep all this straight to even remember what I've tried out. I'm basically looking to legitimize some of the software indiscretions I haven't rectified from my youth. I would like the mallet and full symphony packages, but I'll see where this takes me.
Well, if you want to throw some overpriced-but-good hardware into the mix, any of the Komplete Kontrol MIDI controllers make it a lot of fun to just browse through and fuck with the thousands of presets. They also have a really nice level of integration where the various knobs and key lights and such adjust to show what functions are available.
They look pretty sweet and I did think about it, but a) they're not wireless and b) I don't really need a keyboard that can output real audio. Maybe someday.
I do have to say, I'm kind of blown away by how good the symphony samples sound so far.
if you want to throw some overpriced-but-good hardware
Ok, so it looks like they have hardware I can get for only a little bit more... why not go broke? Which one do I want? (lol wtf I'm going to end up with collector's at this rate...)
I can get:
Komplete Kontrol A25 for $0
Maschine Jam for $65
Maschine Micro for $100
Maschine for $400
Komplete Kontrol S49 for $400
I have the S88 Mk1 and I love it a lot. I haven't tried any of the others but of the things on the list I'd probably go with the A25 if only because it seems like a nice ultra-portable keyboard, although it looks like it doesn't have the key lights and to me that's the #1 reason to go with NI hardware.
Maschine Jam looks like a nice useful piece of hardware, although I'm not a huge fan of the touch-strip controllers personally.
Also, $0? How? Is that part of an upgrade bundle deal or something?
Ah, that makes some sort of sense, in a "the more you buy the more you save" mindset anyway.
I can't really speak to any of the devices other than the S-series, which I love. I guess the main question is, what do you want the additional hardware for? If you already have a keyboard controller you're happy with I don't think the A-series would be a significant improvement. Maschine adds functionality that isn't on a typical keyboard though.
what do you want the additional hardware for? If you already have a keyboard controller you're happy with I don't think the A-series would be a significant improvement.
Honestly, I was looking at studio control surfaces before I realized I can just get one of these cheap. I don't particularly want a new keyboard, although a small one would be nice. While I realize I might be better off getting a dedicated control surface specifically for that purpose, I figure I can't go too wrong with something more powerful for less money.
The more I think about it, the more the Jam makes sense (as much as I'd like something smaller and the drum pads are nice). Plus it looks like I might be able to dubstep it up more intuitively.
Just wanted to point out that if you install Komplete Kontrol, even if you don't have any of the NI hardware which you'd normally use it for, you can use it to browse all sounds and get instant audio previews of what they sound like - just have to install the preview bundle from NI's installer tool. Probably not all of the thousands of presets for all of the synths, but still.
Update: With the previews package set up and Kontrol having completed its scan, all you have to do is click on something and a preview will play.
Also, I just had it re-scan my K11U library and it found about 36,000 items, so maybe it does span all of the factory presets after all. I clicked on a few things at random and all of them had preview sounds...
Oh yeah, the Komplete Kontrol wrapper VST/AU is available without the hardware, which is handy. What I like about the hardware support is having on-keyboard browsing and the light guides that make key regions more obvious (for articulation switches and whatever), but even without compatible hardware Komplete Kontrol is a really nice thing to have.
Just to put a bow on this - because it's very confusing!! - Maschine hardware is not on sale, and it's being advertised and sold as "bundles" - however, it's the standard price of the hardware + discounted software. So you don't have to buy the "bundle" and it may be advantageous (license-wise) not to. The Mikro is $308 ($259 + $49 Select Upgrade). The Jam is $299 and comes with Select. Weird, right? Kontact Select alone is $199. So, if you want Select, you may as well pay $100 more for one of those products (if not the others, some which are cheaper).
For what it's worth, I returned $199 Select and got Maschine Jam for $299. Kept the Ultimate upgrade.
Another cheap MXL large diaphragm condenser (with shockmount too!) is even cheaper today. Get the MXL 990 for $60 instead of $100. Probably a good starting point for anybody who hasn't gotten their first mic like this yet, good for vocals, etc.
The 990 is a good starter mic, yeah! That's the first condenser I bought (also on a stupid deal of the day, back in 2005 right after I'd just moved to Seattle). The shockmount isn't all that effective although I guess it doesn't hurt.
I haven't used this, but it has a lot of testimonials.
It looks like a bunch of decent dictionaries with decent search tools. Not sure, but I think it might actually run on your computer so you don't have to be online to use it.
I haven't used this, but it has a lot of testimonials.
It looks like a bunch of decent dictionaries with decent search tools. Not sure, but I think it might actually run on your computer so you don't have to be online to use it.
If you could buy the software for $80, it may be worthwhile, but software as a service can piss right off in my book.
I haven't used this, but it has a lot of testimonials.
It looks like a bunch of decent dictionaries with decent search tools. Not sure, but I think it might actually run on your computer so you don't have to be online to use it.
If you could buy the software for $80, it may be worthwhile, but software as a service can piss right off in my book.
But what if it includes a dictionary AND a thesaurus?
and b) I don't really need a keyboard that can output real audio. 
