What’s good fam! You know what time it is.
Friday, time for some Big Fish!
And this is one I’ve been waiting for since January!
This is their new urban workstation kontakt player library called Rig
It’s supposed to provide a full collection if sounds and instruments that are useful for urban, pop, rap, rnb, dance or any other type of urban styled music.
let’s check it out
So what is Rig? Sounds like a guitar library!
When you first hear the name you may think it’s a dedicated guitar library, but it’s not.
It’s a workstation, similar to keyboard workstations it comes with various sounds in all types of categories so that it aims to be a one stop shop for music production.
This instrument aims to be THE toolkit for modern music producers. Now I know what you’re thinking…anything that aims at a specific genre usually becomes more of a quirky add on than a main source tool, but this is not the case here.
Instead of giving you a bunch of weird noises and cliche hits, you get the type of instruments that you would actually use.
Keys, bass, guitars, strings, hits, drums, loops, synths, ethnic, etc. It really does cover all the bases.
Quick Specs
- content: 26gb (takes up 15gb of space since it uses Kontakt’s lossless compression)
- format: kontakt 4 and kontakt player 4
- price: $199.95 ($149.95 was the pre-order price)
- How does it sound?
This is all we care about of course when you get right down to it. Especially if it claims to be THE workstation for modern music production…pretty big claims huh?
Well, this library has a great sound, the acoustic guitars have fret/release noise that is adjustable to add more realism. The electric keys and pianos are nice, has a really good grand piano in here.
I like the electric guitar chords which let you switch between major and minor chords, as well as the section of experimental guitars that have that instant “I gotta use this” sound to them.
The brass sections are dope and full, and the strings are surprisingly useful, not too “orchestral” like many string libraries. These have an organic quality about them that allows them to fit into the track without being too big to sound right in context.
There are also tons and tons of drums, but I also dig the drum loops, you can play each chop like a drum kit or rearrange and add fx to the loops. There’s a section of instrument loops that allow you to play the chops in them as well, very useful, especially the bass as I feel it makes up for the lack of depth in the electric/acoustic bass section. I also love the organs in here, the modwheel adjust the rotary speed and it just sounds really good.
The recordings are clean and just plain useful.
Also the interface is dope! You can quickly add fx, change the arps, envelopes, and even micro tuning directly from the interface. It’s laid out very clean and easy to use, though I think some of the screen could do with a different text color than white, especially in the micro-tuning areas and such. Sometimes it’s hard to see the white text on the white/blue gradient background.
But over all it’s a very useful interface and allows you to really tweak your sounds with the envelopes and step fx.
So what’s the bottom line?
Like I said, most of the time a “hip hop” targeted library usually becomes more of an “fx and seasoning” library (think emu mophatt) But this one is just a great collection of common sounds that many modern producers would use. You got your keys, your drums, your bass, your synths, your horns, strings, etc.
I felt the bass area was lacking a bit, especially the electric basses, and the vocals are pretty much hit and miss. Some of them are so corny you would never use them, and the one’s that are usable will probably be used over and over by different folks, but it’s cool to have, especially if you’re working on film/tv placements and you need some of those vocal snippets.
One thing I love about this library it loads FAST I mean it’s almost instant thanks to the optimization of the programming and the Kontakt engine. Great job here, really allows it to fall into that “workstation” category, as you can quickly browse through and audition a bunch of sounds.
One thing I will suggest, you may want to turn the default volume down when loading the instruments, I found some of the to be a little “hot” since they have the limiter turned on, that mixed with having the instrument at 0db can lead to distortion really quick, especially in the instruments that have chorus and other fx applied to them.
I give this library 4.5 out of 5 subs, it’s a really great library with plenty of useful sounds that will make any modern music producer happy, especially since they load almost instantly.
As I said, I found the electric bass lacking, and for an urban library bass is important. However, the fretless and upright bass is nice, as are the tons of synth basses.
Maybe they can do an update later and infuse it with some more presets in various categories, mainly the real instruments like horns, bass, pianos, ethnic, etc. I know I’ll be making my own presets as well because the engine just encourages experimentation and there’s so much you can do with the fx and modulations.
When I first saw them introduce this at NAMM in January, I couldn’t wait until it dropped. Now that it’s out, I think they did a really great job at providing the tools many producers look for, in an easy to use, quick loading package.
Definitely checkout the demos and videos over at Big Fish: http://www.bigfishaudio.com/detail.html?1689
leave me a comment and let me know what you think
the sounds are pretty nice
@TeeBlack, no doubt fam, definitely useful.
Great review as always SaintJoe! I hate I missed on the contest. I’ll have to get it on the next one. A lot has been going on and haven’t had time to even think about music.
Hope you’re well.
Peace!
@Mannas, thanks for stopping by man, great to hear from you as always, hope all is well man!
Dammit i never win nothing man all the good i do for people figure i atleast win something in life cant even win a dollar on a scratch off but anyway i might have to cop this joint right in my price range and the sounds sounding pretty good. What ya fav vst u got Joe?
@Gary Bichell, ahahahahaha lol, no doubt fam. I don’t have a favorite, too many good ones out here. But Kontakt is probably at the top, just because there are so many libraries for it.
WOOOOWWW!
I’m so happy.
Thank you very much SaintJoe!!!!
I wanted to try this software, so I really appreciate, I’ll use it for sure!
Peace to all the members on the site!
TENOR
@Tenor, congrats man, I’m happy for ya! Enjoy it!!
That looks like a nice package for the price. Personally I’ve got what this covers wrapped up with other software, but if you don’t have a lot already this looks like a great choice. $150-$200 is that zone where you expect to start getting more of a pro quality to stuff, and I think a Kontakt instrument like this blows away the Sonivox stuff for example(Sonivox’s samples are quality tho). A newcomer could get this,Reaper,dl Kore player free,get a couple freeware drum plugs and go in for a little over $200.
@Metatron72, yeah man, it’s really a good dive into virtual instruments man. Like you said many may have it covered depending on what they got, but to have it all in one neat package, especially with how you can tweak it, is nice. I like the direction and idea of this man, and how fast it loads makes it fun to just go to work.
i got my in the in the mail Tues. so, i’ll have time this weekend to really get into it, but for my quick run i like the synth, wish there was more brass .
@poszeone, yeah man I agree, could use more in the “real” bass area but it’s still cool.
Who’s the winner ?
@Nick, was announced in the video at the end.
all that for 150.00 unbelivable only from big fish audio
@Tony, yeah, nice one for sure
Dope Product Review Saint Joe. This Looks Real Interesting.
@jamil, thanks for checking it out fam!
I do like your reviews! Thx a lot.
I don’t like random games 😉 I’m always angry against the machine 😀
It doesn’t matter anyway, I don’t own Kontakt 😉
Many thanks again, SaintJoe!
@Arthur60, lol, I hear ya! But this works with the free kontakt player, you don’t need the full version to use it!
@saintjoe, Great! Then when will I win a “Free Kontakt Player”, I’m pretty sure I won’t ever win (BG) (LOL) (KIDDING) (What else?).
Please keep on your reviews and good sense of humor!
Cheers.
@Arthur60, kontakt player is free, just download it from native instruments website lol
Zup Saint Joe. I’m a big fan of yours for keepin the software music community informed on a regular basis.
But about this Big Fish Audio Rig. One thing that has always bothered me about some Kontact libraries is how the drums are provided. Instead of providing drum kit instruments (not talking about the drum loops), it looked like sounds were just single drum kit elements. So there’s no way for someone to use these sounds and sequence a beat from kontakt unless they export the sounds and build there own drum kits, right. You can’t drag audio out of Kontakt and into a sequencer.
I guess what I’m asking is how would you make use of one-shot drum instruments in this library (e.g. kicks.nki, snare.nki) when trying to make a track? It’s like you need to export or something.
@John, Word thanks for the support. Yeah, I feel you, you could either use multiple midi channels and have different sounds on each channel, or your could do it one by one with each sound. The drum loops are the closest you will get to playable kits.
Good job as usual Brotha Saintjoe.
I also pre-ordered this and got it in on Wed 6,2011.
I found that you can never have to many good sounds and
new stuff just add’s to your inspiration.
That’s a good one to tell the lady (the Rib), it gives me an excuse to keep buying gear….Lol.
My only gripe is not being able to put those sounds directly in a Daw or use with other players, or
import your own wave’s (especially your own vocal phrases straight or with FX ) Aiff, Rex whatever into Kontakt.
Other than that,it’s all good, if needed, there’s always a work around for everything.
Again, good job and thanks Brotha Saintjoe.
Peace & blessings.
@Reggmail, no doubt fam, I feel ya bro! It’s def a nice lil collection.
so, i saw somewhere that the guys at BFA said something about updates in the future so, maybe they are seeing what people are saying and asking for and we will get that in a update ….that would be nice.
@poszeone, that would be awesome for sure.
whats up man been busy with school last year and I graduate this is a cool sounding library
@Mehdo, sup bro, good to hear from ya, congrats on the graduation.
Good stuff bro. Hey I was about to buy this from the Big Fish Audio website but the price shows up as $199 instead of $149. I emailed Big Fish about that just waiting to hear back or is there some other web site that sells this software at the $149 price?
@Madbull Studios, if you notice in my review I listed it at 149 with reg price at 199, the presale/preorder price was 149 and they left it at 149 for a little bit on release day. 199 is the price.
I guess I was late on that one. Still a good library. I’ll just have to cough up the extra $50. Thanks bro.
@Madbull Studios, updated the details to reflect the preorder pricing, even though I had both prices I think it’s more clear now 🙂
Nice set to have.
I just went through the whole Rig VST and overall I feel it’s good to have in your arsenal.
I agree with Bra Saintjoe on some vocal stuff is lacking especially the Autotune stuff, it’s only a few AutoTune phrases anyway.
The Guitars especially the distorted stuff wasn’t working for me, I will use Shreddage X for that.
The Roads and Brass horn sections was the highlight for me, lots of nice stuff in those categories and very usable IMO.
Not enough Organ, Guitars, vocals, some drums loops are usable but they just seems very blase to me.
It’s was worth the $149.00 price that I got it for, I think that I would have probably paused for something more direct to my needs of I had to pay $200.00 for it.
Just my opinion, hope that helps someone.
Peace & blessings.
@Reggmail, agreed you can definitely get dedicated libraries for the different sections, but as a whole, it’s a nice collection of sound, especially for people who don’t have a bunch of other libraries or just prefer to keep it simple.
Really????4.5 subs?? I was able to sit down with it for a couple hours and see what it can do..Ok its cool but 4.5subs cool ?NOPE!! i mean you can get the Komplete Elements for $59 and a few soundpacks for the price of this!! At best id say 3 subs..Sorry but thats my Honest opinion…
@roxmooth,it’s all good, opinions are just that, opinions, this is mine, to compare this to komplete elements is totally off base though lol, not even in the same category. This is a specific library made for a specific purpose, in that regard, it hits the mark, I could do without the vocals though lol.
Excellent review, I like to work fast and efficient and this program seems like something I will most def experiment with.
@Hkeyz, no doubt fam, thanks for checking it.
When you say “lacking” in electric bass, do you mean quality wise or number and variety wise?
@highmarcs, I mean both actually, not enough basses in the bass folder though there are a bit more under synth/bass. And the general quality/sound just wasn’t on point in my opinion, especially for an urban workstation, bass is important.
Brother highmarcs, just in case you don’t get an answer.
IMO, I would say that the quality of sounds are good.
I would have liked a better selection of sounds or the ability to edit the sounds.
Out of five general bass sounds, you have 3 Elect 1 fretless and 1 upright with (MW)controlling, you also have 57 Basses under Synths and 26 Bass key sounds under Slice Loops.
Hope that helps.
Peace & blessings.
@Reggmail, pretty much summed it up bro, thanks!
Hey SJ,
I bought the Rig the other day man.Dope. Just wanted to find out if this qualifies me for a Kontakt 4 crossgrade
Regards
Tiko
@Tiko, I believe any “player” library will qualify, but you may want to check and be sure.
Rig will be on sale at Guitar Center Cost $199 on sale for ( $99 ) from July 1st – to July 4th 2011 in the catalogue.
It will also qualify you for a discount on Native Instruments Kontakt Any 3rd party library shipped with KONTAKT PLAYER Reg $399 for $139
You can’t beat that deal, but you must act on this one fast, I think it’s only until 6/30/2011 the end of this month.
http://www.native-instruments.com/#/…kt-4/?page=973
Powerful sampler flagship with an immense 43 GB sound library, containing over 1,000 instruments.
Special Offer: 50% OFF until end of June 2011!
Crossgrade for users of KONTAKT PLAYER (only versions included in 3rd party libraries – AND NOT the free version!) & KEYBOARD COLLECTION.
http://www.native-instruments.com/in…4&redirected=1
Hope this helps
Peace & blessings.
@Reggmail, NICE!
@saintjoe, No problem Fam, anytime, glad to be of help.
Yoo St. Joe! I’m looking at Rig to be a workstation and workhorse for me when I want to create quickly and efficiently. Here’s my only issue, if I’m working in a DAW with Rig plugged in, I don’t want to open several instances of Rig, one for every patch I’m using (drums bass strings etc). That’ll eat my CPU like crazy! Is it possible to just have one instance of rig open and just route channels of it with different patches to different tracks? Like the Proteus VX?
@Quest, yes you can, it uses the kontakt player engine. However, you don’t really waste any resources opening a new patch on each track, kontakt itself doesn’t take up much space. It will really be no different than loading multiple patches in one instance. But yes, you can do that.
Hi Saint Joe, i use this software, and i have a question, Is possible put a “HIt Orchestra” sample in one shot mode?
@iLogic Chop, you could do it by turning the hold/release all the way up, or messing with the sustain and turning it all the way up.