Kontakt Instruments

All our Kontakt instruments are legacy products. However, Kontakt has a strong backwards-compatibility record. They should run perfectly in a full, paid version of Kontakt 5 or later.

What is Kontakt?

Kontakt is a software sampler developed by Native Instruments. It is widely used by producers and composers - especially for those who are wanting to use realistic sounding instruments instead of just synths. It is available in all the major plugin formats. It is a paid product, but also has a free version called the Kontakt Player, which some libraries will fully work with. FrozenPlain libraries require the paid version. FrozenPlain is not linked to Native Instruments in any way, we just create libraries for their platform.

What is the difference between the full version of Kontakt and Kontakt Player (the free version)?

The full version of Kontakt is a premium product, costing around £300 (2018). It allows editing and creation of Kontakt patches. With this version, third party developers - like FrozenPlain - can create libraries and anyone with the full version too can load them up with no licence codes or online activation required. Libraries for the paid version of Kontakt are not added with the 'add library' button or with Native Access. Instead, the NKI files provided are dragged into Kontakt or are found using the file browser inside Kontakt. All FrozenPlain libraries require the paid version.

The free version of Kontakt is called the Kontakt Player. It is restricted in that libraries made by for the paid version can only be used for 20 minutes in 'demo' mode before becoming inactive and needing to be reloaded. Third party developers can enter a licence agreement with Native Instruments to make their libraries work in the Kontakt Player. This licence agreement is not free, and often means that libraries 'Powered by Kontakt Player' have to be more expensive. Libraries for the Kontakt player have licence codes are encoded into a closed format and activated with a provided code.

Why does my purchased Kontakt library say DEMO?

All FrozenPlain libraries require the paid version of Kontakt to work. If you are using Kontakt Player (also called the free version), our library will show as DEMO and will time out after 20 minutes of use.

How do I install my FrozenPlain Kontakt library?

There is no installation necessary for FrozenPlain Kontakt libraries. They just require being loaded into Kontakt. Firstly, extract the ZIP file to a place of your choosing. Then load up Kontakt as you would normally, either as a plugin in your DAW or as the standalone. Then there are few options to load the library into Kontakt for use:

Either drag the NKI file that you want into the Kontakt GUI (NKI files are found in folder you just extracted).

Or use the 'file browser' tab inside Kontakt to navigate to where you saved the library and double-click on the NKI file.

As an extra step, you can add libraries to the 'quick load' panel of Kontakt, allowing you to have many libraries ready to go in one place. At the top of the Kontakt GUI there is an icon for the Workspace Management menu, which is next to the cog icon. From this menu you can open the quick load panel which will appear at the bottom. Then you can drag NKI instruments to this place (using either method above) so they are added to the quick load space.

Can I use my Kontakt libraries inside Mirage?

No, for a library to work inside Mirage, it must be specifically created by our internal tools. However, we have manually 'recreated' some of our old Kontakt libraries in Mirage. If you own the Kontakt version you might be eligble for a crossgrade.