Confusion regarding Komplete 15 standard, if I already own Komplete 14 ultimate collectors edition

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Answers

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    Hey guys! I've been reading over this as I've also considered updating from K14 Std to K15 Std, even though I have a K14U license that I got by upgrading from K14 Std to K14U. My account offers an upgrade price of $200 from K14 std to K15 std, and based on what I've read here, I can keep the instruments I already bought with K14U (Damage, Mysteria, Action Strings, etc), so that's a relief!

    My concern is this: Will Kontakt 8 ("Std") distinguish which instrument is licensed to K15 Std vs K15U, requiring those be used with Kontakt 7 that came with that bundle? I'm thinking it wouldn't matter but wanted your takes and all of your collective experience on this.

    Man, thank you for posting these Q&A's very helpful, appreciate it!

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  • BIF
    BIF Member Posts: 998 Guru

    Well, I went and bought the upgrade to K15 CE today, and it actually offered me multiple options. Apparently, I have multiple unimpinged versions of Komplete from the past. I picked the one to get me to K15CE, and chose the cheapest option. It was exactly what I expected, so I paid for it. 6 days to go!

    I'm looking forward to checking out Kontakt 8

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert
    edited September 18

    I have not tested it, and I cannot as I have many Base Products not alresdy used for Upgrade/Update…. But IMHO, one Base Product may be used just for one Update/Upgrade path. It cannot branche to Upgrade/Update tree.

    So, IMHO one may do

    K12S→K13→K14U

    but cannot do

    K12S→K13→K14U

    |→K15

    but if wanting K15 and K14U alongside, one may do

    K12S→K13→K14U

    K?S→K15 or just buy K15 full

    Definitely it is no problem use multiple upgrade/update paths alongside. For example, I have

    ….→…..->K13U CE

    ….→…..→K14U

    and it works fine together

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    @Kubrak I imagine then you hadn't had any issues with K13U-CE Kontakt instrument compatibility when crossgrading to K14U, so that's encouraging.

    Cheers!

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert

    @Durwood

    I was not crossgrading, I was upgrading from K10U Full (or like) to K12U CE and update to K13U CE.

    And two years later I made upgrade from K10 Full (or like) to K14U.

    So, I have two full licences as Base Products for two individual upgrade paths.

    IMHO it would not possible to use K14U Update from K10U. IMHO NI would not accept it as my K10U has been already used for another upgrade path. But I may be wrong, maybe it is possible "branch" licence upgrade/update path.

    I would not, personally, try if it is possible…. It would have been way cheaper for me to buy just K14U Update and not needing another Base Product….

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    @Kubrak Ahhh, I think I'm understanding this more clearly, and I looked up the difference between update and upgrade, put 2 and 2 together with your explanation is awesome my friend, and greatly appreciate the info.

    I got Select with an NI midi S49 keyboard, so I upgraded to Std, then upgraded to Ult, which is why I have the separate path tree then I guess.

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert
    edited September 19

    @Durwood

    You have:

    KSel (Base Product)→K Std (Upg from Select) →K Ult (Upg from Komplete)

    In case you would buy and use e.g. K15 Upg. from Select, you need one more KSel livence. So that you have:

    KSel_1 (Base Product_1)→K Std (Upg from Select) →K Ult (Upg from Komplete)

    KSel_2 (Base Product_2)→K15 Std (Upg from Select)

    IMHO, it is not possible:

    KSel (Base Product)→K Std (Upg from Select) →K Ult (Upg from Komplete)

    |———->K15 Std (Upg from Select)

    or

    KSel (Base Product)→K Std (Upg from Select) →K Ult (Upg from Komplete)

    …………………………………….|———->K15 Std (Update from Komplete)

    But I may be wrong. I have not tested, that it is not possible. But I strongly doubt it would be possible because if branching licence tree would be allowed one could generate easily multiple licences very cheaply.

    K Ultimate (Base Product)- > K U CE_1 (Upg from KU)

    |———— > K U CE_2 (Upg from KU)

    |———— > K U CE_3 (Upg from KU)

    |———— > K U CE_4 (Upg from KU)

    .

    .

    |———— > K U CE_999 (Upg from KU)

    Studio/school would save fortune on licences this way…

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    Going back to this below then, the options in my account… both suggestions are updates instead of upgrades. And hypothetically, if I take the update option to update K15 std ($200) and I wanted to "upgrade" to K15U at a later time, I'd still end up paying the additional cost for that on top of what I paid to update K15 std. I just don't feel like I need K15U this time around (despite Schema temptation), and am mainly interested in Kontakt 8, which is included with K15 Std. I just didn't want it to affect my being able to use my instruments that came with 14U if I did the K14 std to K15 std this time around. But perhaps it would be more costly to Upgrade from K14U to K16U and beyond if I ever decided to go that route again.

    image.png

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert

    My experience is that NI system is often confused and offers strange things.

    Maybe it will work if you buy K15 Update from Komplete. I doubt it, but you may try. If it does not work you may ask to get refund as it is not your fault you bought wrong licence if NI web has recomended it to you.

    Or K15 will work, but K14U stops working….

    Better to ask NI Support beforehand. Anyway, is not better wait for Summer Sale? You could buy K15U Update for the price you pay now for K15 Update that may work or not….

    Instead, if interested mainly in Kontakt 8, why not buy just Kontakt Upgrade? And sell it when you will buy K15U in Summer Sale.

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    @Kubrak Yes, and the decision on these can be quite stressful, especially when there aren't any previews or walk throughs yet. Actually, that was my thought as well, waiting for the Summer sale. The Kontakt upgrade is a consideration also, if the cost isn't too outrageous. Is there a reliable marketplace for NI software resell, or is pretty much just the KVR marketplace for all of that?

    Against my better judgement, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the K15 Std update and will just see what happens come Monday. I'll probably get the instruction/license email in the morning. And correct, I'd imagine they'd refund me if something goes wrong since the Std update was offered on the site. Either way, I'll head back here and let you know what happens.. or what breaks lol.

    -Cheers!

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert

    @Durwood

    OK, tell us the result, if it works, or not. Maybe that NI licence management SW has some kind of "quirk" or my understanding, how things should work is wrong. And it will work.

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    @Kubrak Alright, so I got lost in the new software for a few days, wanted to make sure I had enough time to try breaking something. :) So far, so good though. I got new instruments that I didn't already have (Nacht, Bazzazian, etc), and can still use my K14U instruments in Kontakt 8 (Ashlight, Damage, etc). So my mix of K15 Std with K14U is cohesive, thus relieved. Hopefully a market correction isn't in order at some point.

    The software itself, Kontakt 8 is a little broken out of the gate, but I'm pretty sure they're getting a ton of heat about those glitches and will fix it. It's been fun rediscovering libraries all over again with the new chords and phrases tools. I imagine (hope at least) more sets will be added in future updates, because this is my favorite new K8 feature.

    So far, the update has not disappointed minus several Kontakt software bugs. I can still use K7 if I really wanted to though while they get these fixed. Safe to say that the offer I got from NI is legit after all.

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,067 Expert

    Strange, that it works, but OK. I was wrong.

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    @Kubrak Well, it could be situational based on my account, maybe it was a loophole that wasn't considered and will be 'fixed'. Maybe they reassessed the value of the bundles. I know they did change one instrument leading up to release day because Scene Saffron was undoubtedly on the Standard list (in the bundle comparison), but moved to the Ultimate by Monday. I didn't screenshot it before so technically can't prove it, butttttt, it's cool. :)

    Also getting Izotope software bundled in was pretty sweet too not gonna lie. And the $25 voucher (that comes with a legal handbook of disclaimers, but still…), was some nice added value. You gave me some insight that I didn't honestly have any knowledge about, so thank you my friend. At the end of the day I was still taking a gamble because this isn't a subject that NI probably wants to advertise, so it all seems (maybe meant to seem) convoluted. If something gets taken away from my account, I'll be right back here to let the community know.

    Peace!

  • Durwood
    Durwood Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    FYI, Scene Saffron is once again included with 15 Standard, so maybe others noticed that after all and good on NI to get it added back! 😎

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