structure - how good is it compared to kontakt?

[peter99]

I have worked with kontakt for years and I like it but it was and still is very buggy on my system - I dont have problems with any other plugin than kontakt - so I'm thinking about moving to structure

how stable is it?
pete

[25ghosts]

Those were my thoughts as well. However, after demoing Structure I sat there with a real bad taste in my mouth.

1) The browser is worse than PT's browser and simply totally misplaced in todays standards
2) The compatibility is simply put - not thought thru' - Cant open K3 libs. And the quality of the import is bad at best. At least playing my favorite string lib with K2 sounds VERY different from Structure having imported the .NKI in there.

3) K3 imports samplecell instr. better than structure.
4) It does integrate nicely in PT - drag and drop from the playlist etc. but why would I drop audio into an RTAS sampler and play it there instead of just playing it in the arrange window.
5) I have HUGE libs from EXS, AKAI, GIA and Native Instruments etc... The way Structure deals with them is a catastrophe.
6) Looking at the thing makes my eyes hurt after a little while. The interface has NOTHING to do with Human Design Guidelines
7) It has many great and unique features that IMO makes it a good alternative - but you cannot rely on it as your only sampler.
8) It has great midi learnability


In general - K3 (which on a Harpertown 8 Core is pretty dang stable) IMO is the better choice. It has by far the greatest compatibility features and imports nicely. The browser is cool and the possibility of Quickload is great. I can load 10 instruments via that into K3 while the structure user will still be browsing for his 1st instrument patch..

Structure was launched with a comment that looked something like this "Revolutionize the Sampler World" -

Well in my opinion the only revolutionary about it was the Yellow interface which no one, I know, even like.


Before I'd buy structure I'd even give Mach 5 a try...


A sampler is only as good as it's Sample Lib

[T-Low]

I dont use K3 ( still on Logic / EXS synced to ProTools) and i would love to do the Midi stuff in PT also.
After a few hours with Structure free , i have to agree with 25Ghosts .
The browser is frustrating and i get lot of errors with EXS files ... sad but true

[Evil Jack]

I've no experience of K3, but lots with K2. I was forced to change to Structure because of the constant beachballing during PT autosaves (a known problem!!!)

I would mostly agree with 25 Ghosts comments - just adding the following:

1) The browser and the performance of the GUI is even worse than he suggested.
Slow, sluggish, and fiddly - It is simply not acceptable in todays market - and this goes for the other AIR VIs too.....

2)Lots of issues with Kontakt conversions - mostly strange polyphony problems in my experience.

3)No Giga import?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

On a positive note Structure does allow multiple virtual midi ports, whereas with Kontakt you are limited to 16 midi channels per instance.

[peter99]

Holy [bleep]..!! Sounds like still no good soft Sampler on PT...

[sunburst79]

A sampler is only as good as it's Sample Lib

That should probably be written in stone somewhere.