KORE Player Update
Native Instruments’ free KORE Player is now out and available from their Website. To get going with this, you’ll follow a link for your platform, Mac or PC, and fill out a short form. You’ll get an e-mail message with a time-limited download link and a registration number. Be warned however, the download is over 600MB, so you’ll need lot’s of bandwidth to even think about it. Oh, and by the way, your best bet is to attempt this in the early evening, Eastern Daylight Savings Time, while the Germans are asleep.
Once on your desktop, the install is easy. The installer puts everything in it’s designated place, and KORE can be opened as a standalone application or instantiated as an AU, VST, or RTAS plug-in. Even though the KORE Player is free, you’ll still have to register with Native Instruments using their Service Center application and the registration number provided with your download link.
The free player application comes with an assortment of 50 Kore sounds to get you started. This is an excellent collection of both useful "bread and butter’ sounds, like sample-based drum kits, as well as the more exotic types of electronic sounds NI synths are known for. These sounds are not left-overs, and you could do quite a bit of music making with just this starting collection. However, it’s actually kind of a teaser, since the real power comes with the additional Soundpacks. These are premium collections with 200 patches in each, that cover a broad range of styles, starting at 59.00. Unfortunately, the weak dollar will continue to put customers in the US at a disadvantage with this and any other European product.
All-in-all, the KORE player is a great way to expand your pallet and get some fresh sounds into your electronic music.
Postscript…. On March 13, 2008, NI announced a server upgrades to accommodate the increased traffic.
