Brand new guy

Hello and welcome.

For someone new, Id highly recommend diving into the Manuals of the products which you are getting, some of which are downloadable and others are just online. You just drill down on the products page and you'll find manuals there for each product or they have another place where you can get manuals on their website.

The NI eco system takes quite a lot to get your head around with all the different file systems and different types of products. Take your time and its a good move to just see how you go with the freebies and get your feet wet that way. On the other hand they're just about to wind up on their summersale. Check that out and see what you think. There's good savings ATM but you dont want to buy in before you're ready either.

HTHs

+1 to everything said above by @Jojo123 and @PoorFellow .

I'll add this: A lot of more extensive external libraries will call for the "full version of Kontakt", or they will say "does not work with Kontakt Player".

The Kontakt Player is free and it offers "good" functionality. But for full functionality, the full version of Kontakt is worthy of your consideration. It is not expensive, but people often let the purchase price of it be the thing that stops them from buying some really great sound libraries.

You can get the full version of Kontakt with some purchases of Komplete, or by buying it outright. You need to check what's included before you buy. I don't know for sure, but you might want to double-check what came with your MK3 controller…it may have included the full version…but I think it probably only includes the player. You need to check this.

And finally, I'm not saying you must get the full version of Kontakt right away. Just be aware that NOT having it could temporarily limit your other choices.

Other tips:

• Native Access is the portal software that you will use to apply updates to your NI software and libraries. Always let NA update itself if it hits you with a prompt one day.
• "Minimum Requirements" should be considered "hard" requirements. If something says "requires Windows 10 or better", then it won't work on Windows XP. Asking in the forums might give you some ideas, but it will not result in NI coming out with a fix.
• Have patience. Patience with your computer, your operating system, your DAW software (whichever one you end up choosing), and MOST OF ALL, patience with YOURSELF. If you have questions or problems, come here and somebody will try to help you. But be patient and don't expect that we can solve or fix all problems immediately.
• Most of us are users like you. Even the Mods here are just fellow users. The people with screen names ending in "_NI" are Native Instruments employees. They will often dig in and try to help too, but at some point, they'll need to ask you to "open a ticket".
• If you ever need to "open a ticket", that means you'll have to engage with the chatbot on the support page, and eventually, the Chatbot will help you open a ticket. Once you open a ticket, you need to stay engaged. The support team will not call you on the phone, and there is no phone support, so working through the ticket is the way to resolve problems. Check regularly for messages from the support team, and respond as promptly as you can. If an NI person asks you a question or asks for a log file, screen prints, or other information, you need to turn that around and give them what they need within a few days, or else your ticket could get closed due to inactivity.

Stay patient, stay engaged, and you'll find this to be a great community, with a lot of people willing to help.

Welcome and good luck!