Native Instruments on Thursday announced the release of Kontakt 3.5, a new version of its software sampler for professional musicians. A free download for registered Kontakt 3 users, Kontakt 3.5 costs $449.
Kontakt is Native Instruments’ flagship audio sampler application. It includes a 33GB library of instruments, including six collections with a total of 1,000 instruments — orchestral, world, vintage, band, synth, and urban beats. You can edit, loop, slice, or tempo-sync samples, draw customized envelopes, and use 18 different effects including cabinet and amp emulations.
The new 3.5 version features the new “Kontakt Memory Server” which can make use of up to 32GB of RAM on Mac OS X 10.4 or later. True multiprocessor support is new to this release, along with direct MIDI learn for sound parameter controls, improved automapping, optimized Pro Tools compatibility for Mac OS X 10.5 and more.
System requirements call for Mac OS X 10.4 or later, G4/1.4GHz or faster, 1GB RAM.