Native Instruments announced today some new pricing for Kore and related products. The existing Kore product (hardware with software) is now cheaper, you can get just the software without the hardware for a lot less, and you can now buy a whole bunch of Koresound packs bundled together at once. I’ll break it down for you:

• You don’t own Kore, and you want the hardware and software. Kore 2 is now US$449 / EUR399 with the controller, down from $499 / EUR449.
• You don’t own Kore, and you want just the software. The “Kore 2 Software Edition” does everything the software does, but leaves out the controller if you don’t want it. Result: it costs about half as much, at US$229 / EUR199.
• You own Kore 1, and you want to upgrade to Kore 2 sans controller. That’s now US$119/EUR99 to migrate from Kore 1 to Kore 2 Software Edition — keeping in mind, Kore 2 Software Edition will still support your existing Kore controller / audio interface if you prefer that.
• You want more Koresounds. Now you don’t have to piece together the sound bundles you want a la carte. The new Kore Electronic Experience bundles together seven of the Kore soundpacks into one bundle, priced at US$229 / EUR199. And of course this is on top of what ships with Kore 2 in the other editions. Note that if you just want the sounds and not the custom sound editing and hosting capabilities of the full Kore software, this pack is all you need — it ships with the free Kore Player.

Ready to inject some more sonic goodness into Kore, Kontakt, and Reaktor? You’ve got nothing if not some choices.

The terrific Rekkerd.org has a couple of reviews, covering two of the more powerful add-ons released of late.

KONTAKT

From May, Ronnie covered Soniccouture’s Scriptorium, a collection of powerful scripts for the script engine in Kontakt 3:

Review: Soniccouture Scriptorium [Rekkerd.org]

Some of his favorite gems: helpful sample instruments, faux analog drift, melody generators, and digital glitching and randomization (similar to what Peter Dines did in a video tutorial here).

KORE

Perhaps of still greater interest to readers here, Ronnie offers a frank look at NI’s new Deep Transformations soundpack for Kore, with a nice sound sample of a modified beat loop. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s the Kore pack we’ve been most excited by – even if we long for still more sonic mangling via Reaktor – but let’s see what Ronnie says:

Deep Transformations can do things I haven’t heard in any other plug-in before, and I’ve seen many. I’d say it’s perfectly suitable for anyone who is looking for something more than a simple effect.

Review: Native Instruments Deep Transformations [Rekkerd.org]

Previously on kore@noisepages: New Soundpacks: Multi Effects, FM8 Synth Sounds

REAKTOR:

Musicrow, the boutique maker of Reaktor ensembles, have another massive pack of stuff with some 38 ensembles. Included in the pack:

• Full-blown synths, from the virtual analog subtractive to sample loop synthesis and an Oberheim emulations (and one with a big cobra on it, which is pretty badass)
• Various instruments, including a piano-synth hybrid and a virtual Theremin
• Effects, including filters, a tape delay, plate reverb, tube compressor, and some tasty-looking delays
• Granular goodies, with a delay and effects/synth unit

We’ll have a short review here of what’s in there. I’ll have to finish my own grain delay before I take a look at theirs!

US$159 / EUR119, but if you have the first version, an upgrade is just $25/€20.

Golden Ensembles II Product Page

The the two soundpacks I’ve been most excited about became available today. FM8 Transient Attacks is a new set of 200 synth sounds for FM8 and Kore’s morphing powers, and Deep Transformations is a multi-effects sound shaper. I’ve been looking forward to Deep Transformations in particular, as it takes the soundpack series in a new direction – not only to instrument presets, but with an eye toward making Kore an effects workstation.

You knew there would be an 808 — photo (CC) Charlie Evatt. But there are some other, rarer goodies in there, too.

If you haven’t been following the Kore Soundpacks, NI has steadily been releasing soundware packages for Kore. The sounds themselves are built on the sound engines in Kore — that is, the guts of the instruments you get in Komplete, like Massive, Battery, Kontakt, and Reaktor. (And that’s another reason to dig deeper into those instruments — more on that in a moment, Kontakt users.) On the Kore side of the soundpacks, the packs add variations on those sound, built in the Kore environment using internal effects and modulators from Kore itself.

The latest addition, the US$59 Kontakt Retro Machines, gets extra credit for including lots of juicy retro gear. NI tells us that included in the samples are the:

• Crumar Orchestrator and Roady
• Korg Minikorg
• Linndrum
• Moog Minimoog and Memorymoog
• Oberheim DMX
• an RMI 368 Electra
• CR78, TR-808 and 909
• Sequentials Drumtraks
• String Melody II
• Yamaha CP-11 and Roland EP-10/20 vintage electronic pianos

So, there’s actually some different stuff in there, in addition to the expected staples. The Yamaha and Roland pieces are pretty rare-sampled electronic pianos.

What about Komplete users?

Kontakt and Komplete users may be wondering which soundpack to get — especially if you got Kore 2 and haven’t yet spent your “free soundpack” offer.