You might be wondering if upgrading to Kontakt 7 is a good idea for MIDI Guitar 2 users? Is it better than 5 or 6? What does the new factory library sound like? And what about the Orchestral Tools section?
I’d like to hear of your previous experiences with Kontakt too. Which instruments work, which doesn’t - and why?
“Sorry, but…no!”
This implies you have an opinion, or experience using this combination,. What are they ?
It is all in the video?
So, you have never tried this combination yourself, never done research on possible other opinions ?
Sorry, ishould have just said that i think a subject title stating this is your review of buying and using Kontakt 7 … would be more helpful to the chronically confused student of this rather exotic technology 
i must be more addled than usual (medications ?) to have not realized your post was from … you !
I have great respect for your technical abilities, and your musicianship, and hope one day to be able to purchase MG.
Is there a way I can delete the first two of my replies ?
thanks, bill
If you don’t have time to watch the whole video (which is long), have a look at: 42:06 Conclusions - Buy or not to buy?
@BillWoo
Don’t worry, this kind of inattention happens to everyone, the main thing is to realise it and then find the answers to the questions you have. 
As a MG and Kontakt6 user, I can’t afford to upgrade to version 7 (other priorities) and thanks to this video, I have no regrets about not doing so.
The main thing summarized in this video is the problem of the management of the MPE which will become in the very near future an indispensable functionality, although the example of the limiter placed after the reverb is also a monumental error.
Many other examples support the limitations of this new version of Kontakt.
@LoFiLeiF
I don’t know Kontakt well enough, using it in a very simplistic way, but do all these mistakes come from the products proposed by the developers and validated by Native Instruments, or from Kontakt itself: for example, can the MPE functions be developed and used in Kontakt, or does the Kontakt platform not have the function to allow the use of MPE ?
Thanks, Harold, i should have realised the post was from the author of MG2, and watched the video before posting ! i am having some loss of concentration now due to a new medication.
The choice of what external sound libraries or DAW to use with MG2 is a question i am interested in … budget is a limit, i’ll never be able to afford a breath-controller. my sonic interests are more towards “Asian” sounds and plucked/picked instruments … koto, samisen, oud, santur … a few bowed instruments like sarangi … percussion: tabla, gamelan,
What non-breath controller (beyond the obvious like expression pedals) can be used with those types of sounds is of interest
cheers, bill
Hi @Herold
The reason for including the AURAS part was to demonstrate that KONTAKT at least was possible to use with an MPE preset instrument made for ROLI Seaboard. That means (at least) sending pressure (AT/expression) and pitch bend together with individual notes on different channels (2-11 (in this case)), and including some sort of CC74 functionality. So, with some setting up, it would seem to be possible to use a least some sort of partial MPE function with KONTAKT today already. 
I would say that any problems that I am pointing to in this video, is more of a result from the clash between instrument developing with what was once thought of as the ONE relevant controller to suit (keyboard) to a market being flooded with new types of controllers with novel ways of using different functions for different expressions. I mentioned elsewhere that the Audio Modeling SWAM instruments seems way better prepared for instance, coming with at least 21 MIDI presets for specific controllers on purchase. Breath controller, DM48, Digibrass, EMEO, EVI, GeoShred, LinnStrument, MPE, NuEVI, NuRad, Aerophone, Seaboard, Sylphyo, Touché, Travel Sax, Windcontroller and more. That is a sign of dedication to the user perspective, is it not?
Hey @BillWoo
My use of a breathcontroller is to expand on the expression capabilities already bestowed upon me from using MIDI Guitar 2. It allows for dynamic swells for any wind instruments (reeds or flutes). But fact is that you certainly don’t need a breath controller to make these instruments work for you. Use Aftertouch for expression wherever it is needed and you are good. If you are interested in Asian sounds you have the Native Instrument Spotlight Collection: East Asia. It contains 38 melodic and percussive instruments from China, Japan and Korea. It suffers from most of the issues discussed in the video, but if you are not necessarily interested in bends, perhaps it isn’t a problem at all. As with all of these libraries, they sound pretty nice right out of the box, any problems you might get into is when you want to start customizing them and shaping their performance to your particular preferences. Other notable options are:
But my experience tell me you are going to run into similar problems as mentioned above with all these. But if you are interested in trying anyway, here is a video on how to use MIDI Guitar 2 AfterTouch (AT) instead of a breathcontroller:
Playing SWAM Instruments with MIDI Guitar 2 WITHOUT breath controller - YouTube
It’s the same for me at the moment, maybe it will change if I manage to find a lot of contracts, but in my field I don’t really believe in it… 
But a breath controller is really a plus especially for wind instruments.
I use traditional instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy, sitar, eastern strings, tabla, oud, duduk (without breath controller 
), but I am also very interested in the research and creation of sound materials for various atmospheres linked to the accompaniment of literary and poetic readings. A universe without limits for the imagination if not for the budget.
Thank you so much for this gracious, thoughtful, reply ! i will study the links carefully.
A question on your Carvin electric guitar: does it have an unusually wide neck, or is that perception a result of my impaired vision and/or the video recording software ?
In your music i keep hearing Miles Davis in “Sketches of Spain” and “Kind of Blue” , that’s a compliment
cheers, bill
“I am also very interested in the research and creation of sound materials for various atmospheres linked to the accompaniment of literary and poetic readings”
Hi, Harold, I have been writing poetry since I age 11 (58 years ago). began seriously writing short-stories and novels after age 55, when i left my strange second career in programming (Cricket, IDD, Adobe) behind and retired to Thailand.
For me, poetry is about both sound and structure, as well as images, metaphors, etc. Until cancer distorted my tongue and larynx, i performed live, often. Now my career in karaoke is kaput I grew up in an intensely literary family with a mother who was a published poet and who had studied,Latin, Greek, Persian. and had an encyclopedic knowledge of word mythologies, and religions.
In the last decade I have become a serious student of ancient trade routes and how …
well, I better stop here before this message is declared off-topic ")
i appreciate your thoughtful responses ! purchase of MG2 is on the wait-list of things i really look forward to, after some current health issues are dealt with.
cheers, bill
I think it might be that it is a 20 inch radius fretboard. It does feet wide too, and I love to go between that and the (tiny?) Parker, which I think has a 12 inch radius. It makes me reset, and start fresh each time.
And thanks for noticing, Bill! 
Both" Kind of Blue" and “Sketches of Spain” has been a huge inspiration to me.
Hello LoFiLeiF, thanks for this excellent video about MG2 in combination with Kontakt 7. All my impressions of the little shortcomings, like the pitch bend issues and lacking “expression” possibilities are now confirmed.
Have you done some similar tests using Halion 6 or 7, or can you roughly share you experience, if you made any?
Hi @Dutti67
Sorry, but I have not used Halion at all. So I can’t help you there. I am moving more and more towards the Physically Modeled instruments with MPE capabilities myself, for maximum expression, and I am becoming less inclined to open samplers/romples since they haven’t really kept up with the new standard. I use UVI’s Falcon a lot (since it has some MPE capabilities) but it isn’t perfect either. It is so much up to the instrument developers effort and willingness to be scripting for more types of controllers than keyboards. I am pretty sure it will happen eventually, that all new instruments will have a polyphonic pitch bend range of 48 and be able to take in polyphonic aftertouch for instance, but we are not there right now unfortunately. I know Halion had its own way of dealing with expression data, but I haven’t seen any example of anyone using it yet that would prompt me to investigate deeper. So any findings you come up with, be sure to report here for us all to take part of. It is probably the best way to go about it, to make it a joint venture to sort and report the good from the not-so-good.