Why Komplete 15 is Native Instruments’ most creative sound library everAd feature with Native Instruments
There are no small updates to Native Instruments‘ Komplete. Each new iteration of the essential music production library brings ever more breadth and depth to an already sprawling collection. With the release of Komplete 15, however, you might have noticed a certain theme.
Rapid-fire ideation and in-depth sound sculpting now hold centre court. There are new additions for busy composers with the Session series and Action orchestral instruments getting new members, there’s innovative looping and songwriting tools for producers, but there are also some daring oddities like Conflux that exponentially widen Komplete’s scope for sound designers.
All of these goodies slot into a new version of Kontakt that’s been refreshed with a streamlined UI and a suite of powerful features for music-making.
“At its core, Kontakt is three things,” says Tim Adnitt, Native Instrument’s VP of products and sound design. “It’s an instrument player, a sampler and an instrument-building platform. For Kontakt 8, we wanted to zone in on what creativity means in the context of each of these.”
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What does ‘zoning in on creativity’ look like in practice? Really, it’s all about kickstarting the music-making process and keeping up the momentum till you play that final note. One way it achieves this is through some nifty tricks with MIDI.
‘Tools’ takes incoming MIDI notes and transforms them to generate musical ideas. There are currently two flavours to choose from: Chords and Phrases. As the name implies, Chords comes with over 130 ready-to-go harmonic progressions – each sequence features seven chords and these are played by pressing a single root note on your keyboard. If you’re unhappy with a chord then a single click can generate a new one, or you can manually play in your own version to quickly customise sequences.
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‘Phrases’ applies a similar concept to melody generation. There are almost two hundred melodic lines to spark ideas, and with the ability to assign each pattern a custom starting point, to invert notes for different voicings, and to drag sequences out as MIDI regions for further manipulation, there’s a lot of nuance in how Phrases can be used.
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“Awesome!” is how producer and songwriter Khris Riddick-Tynes describes the new Kontakt features. Despite winning a Grammy and working with some of the biggest names in music, Riddick-Tynes, like many successful artists, has no formal training in music theory. This makes Tools even more relevant to his process. “I came up in the ‘learn by ear’ camp,” he says. “So, having a plethora of chords and phrases at my fingertips that feel authentic speeds my workflow up like crazy.”
This is no accident. As Native Instrument’s senior product manager, Ilay Bal Arslan, points out, Tools is purpose built to be accessible across a wide range of skill levels.
“If you’re just starting out, they’re a great way to explore chord progressions and experiment with melodies, helping you discover new ideas and learn as you go. For seasoned pros, the Tools offer deep customization, letting you fine-tune harmonic ideas and customize phrases to match your vision.”
Probably the best place to see all this in action is on the new Alicia’s Electric Keys instrument, which samples the artist’s original CP-70 electric piano in exquisite detail.

“Alicia Keys is one of the most iconic artists of our time,” remarks Arslan. “The rich and distinct sound of the CP-70 has been one of the cornerstones of her music, both in the studio and in live performances.” Working alongside the artist and multiple Grammy-winning engineer, Ann Mincielli, Arslan says the process of bringing this instrument to the Komplete library was “an incredibly inspiring experience.”
Crucially, Tools works across all 1,500+ Kontakt Player instruments that make up Komplete 15, and combining the ideas they generate with the preset patterns found in other instruments, such as the Session series, makes building up a full arrangement fast and frictionless.
These two initial offerings, Chords and Phrases, offer foundational ways to transform MIDI performances, but Adnitt also makes clear that this is just the start. “Now that Tools exist as an object in Kontakt, the possibilities are endless,” he enthuses. “The Tools SDK means that builders can dream up their own completely unique idea-generation Tools to sit alongside Chords and Phrases.”
When it comes to the new sample-based features, we have Leap. Drawing on Kontakt’s origins as a creative sampler, Leap takes that legacy and updates it for modern music creation. “We wanted to reimagine the Kontakt sampling experience,” states Eric Müller, who spearheaded the new feature as Leap’s Lead Product Designer. “Kontakt’s flexibility is one of its greatest strengths, but, let’s be honest, it can sometimes feel overwhelming when you just want to quickly experiment with loops or manipulate samples without diving into the depths of instrument building. With Leap, we set out to simplify this process by creating a focused environment tailored specifically for sampling and loop-based workflows.”
Each ‘Leap Kit’ is made up of tempo-synced loops and one-shot samples that can be triggered using the white keys of your keyboard. You can dynamically modify these samples as you play, with stutter effects, pitch shifts, reverse and speed controls all mapped to the black keys. This allows for intuitive, on-the-fly songwriting that feels more like a jam than hard work.

There are 12 ready made kits that come with the new Komplete 15, but users can also bring their own audio to the party. “Leap acts as a playground for all sample content,” says Müller. “Whether it’s from Maschine Expansions, Kontakt libraries, or your own personal collections. It enables users to quickly import, manipulate, and save their own sounds and kits”

If sound design or scoring for screen is your primary interest, then Komplete 15 also offers new levels of hands-on sonic sculpting. For the first time, the company has combined a sample instrument with the power of wavetable synthesis – the result is Conflux, a versatile hybrid that excels at evolving sci-fi textures.
“It merges the best of both worlds,” says Konstantin Hess, the company’s Associate Director of Instruments & Sounds. “The authenticity and richness of recorded samples with the flexibility and creativity of synthesis. Blending between these two sound sources opens up exciting new creative possibilities, enabling the design of unique and powerful sounds that were previously hard to achieve.”

Komplete has always been an essential resource for producers, but, for Riddick-Tynes’ money, the new version of Guitar Rig is his standout. “I’ve been on a mission to push the boundaries of guitar sounds,” he says. “What I love about Guitar Rig is its flexibility; it’s not just about traditional guitar tones. I’ve been able to create unique soundscapes by layering effects, manipulating tones, and even blending in unconventional sounds.”
On the instrumental scoring side, there’s Kithara. Nominally, this is a string instrument built on balalaika, dulcimers, mandolins and other plucked or bowed instruments – but the real magic lies in Kithara’s innovative approach to sound envelopes. Each stage — attack, sustain, release — can be assigned a different sample, and this by itself can produce amazingly rich and complex textures.
The inspiration, says Kithara’s Lead Product Designer, Francesco Sabatini, came partially from the seminal soundtrack to The Last of Us which was defined by composer Gustavo Santaolalla’s sparse and emotive guitar lines. “We always wanted Kithara to be an instrument capable of evoking deep emotional moments through the vibrancy and rich musical colours of plucked instruments. Having four different layers empowers creators to achieve unconventional results by selecting different sources for the beginning, sustain, and ending phases of a sound.”
Beyond the instrument’s four layers, there are also deeper controls available for each individual sample and granular engine that can extend the instrument into the realm of sound design.

The ability to, in Adnitt’s words, take samples and “trigger them, twist them, bend them, and ultimately make them into something that is unique” has long been core to Native Instruments vision. But he also makes clear that the company’s new emphasis on workflow and idea generation took shape communally; through regular dialogues with producers, songwriters, and composers of all different styles and career stages. “Two things come up again and again,” Adnitt recalls of those discussions. “The challenge of the blank page, and the challenge of sounding unique – especially when working with samples.”
Taken together, the new features found in Kontakt 8, and the instruments added to Komplete 15, blast past those challenges and into new territory. As Riddick-Tynes puts it: “Having access to comprehensive creative tools and instruments like Komplete 15 is incredibly important. It not only enhances my creative process but provides a wide range of sounds and capabilities that can inspire new ideas and directions in my music.”
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The key to Komplete 15 is that it’s not only relevant to professionals like Riddick-Tynes. With new pricing tiers and innovative features like Tools and Leap, it has the lowest barrier of entry in the series’ history, and this, in turn, lets ever more people experience the joys of music-making.
“These new features can act as a bridge,” Hess comments thoughtfully. “They enable artists of all experience levels to start their creative journey. By removing barriers, we’re not just helping people make music—we’re unlocking the potential for countless untold creative voices to emerge. Great art often comes from unexpected places and perspectives, and by empowering more people to embark on their musical journey, we’re expanding the range of ideas and creativity.”
Get 50% off full versions of Komplete 15 Standard, Ultimate, and Collectors’ Edition or 20% on upgrades from previous versions
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