Kontakt 1.1 Shipping for Both Mac and PC

(Click for a close-up)

Kontakt 1.1 brings Native Instruments' software sampler to the Mac and adds several enhancements to the existing PC version. Featuring an Kontakt featureset on both platforms, KONTAKT 1.1 can now read HALion, EXS, and SDII files in addition to the Gigasampler, AKAI, Sound Font, and BATTERY formats that were present since its initial release. Kontakt 1.1 adds SSE2 support on the PC side, while Mac Altivec accelerations are deeply integrated into the core sampling engine.

All registered Kontakt PC users will be able to download the Mac version for free within a few days. KONTAKT 1.1 now ships on a hybrid Mac and PC CD.

Native Instruments also announced that Direct From Disk technology will soon be available for Kontakt. A free update for registered users, the Direct From Disk extension will enable Kontakt to play samples directly from the hard drive. Sample size will no longer be limited by the amount of physical RAM - an instrument can be as large as available hard drive space. All instruments utilizing this technology will load many times faster than RAM-based instruments.

The Direct From Disk file extension will only be available as a free download to registered users in November 2002.

The recommended retail price for Kontakt is $399 / 399 Euro.