Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5 Kontrol Edition

With more that 250 high-quality presets for all genres and a sturdy pedal interface, the Native Instruments Guitar Rig Kontrol software lets you go big.

Overall User Ratings (based on 7 ratings)
  • Overall:
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    2.5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3 out of 5 stars
(7) (see rating details)
Submitted April 13, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com

"True Love for guitar geeks, old-school pros still skeptical."

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
For bedroom guitar geeks, this is the bombe. Performing professional guitarists (like me) are still wary of software-driven anything. The feature list is staggering. The interface is clean and easy. But without a good computer and technological savvy, this could be a nightmare.
Sound
The best, most realistic, natural feeling, responsive, nuanced, detailed and believable modeled sounds to date, similar to the quality of the original GP 100. Far better than PODs or the new Roland trash.
Features
Awesome feature set, assignable foot-switches, multiple effects, filters, loops etc. plus a useful collection of presets.
Ease of Use
Are far as software-driven stuff goes, the easiest I have seen.
Quality
pedal is sturdy... would prefer balanced outs and fire-wire, but it works and is relatively noise-free. Hardware seems reliable, but there is never any guarantee with software on any computer. Analog is still the most reliable for pros.
Value
For the effects and models, a solid ten. But remember, this software is only as good as your knowledge, skill, and your playback equipment. It is software, so you can't return it. The pedal is useless without the software. You will need a fast, strong computer (MAC) and plenty of memory to utilize this thing's potential.
Manufacturer Support
Slow, incomplete, and a snotty attitude.
The Wow Factor
If you have a good stereo PA system or great studio monitors, and you are not afraid of computers, this is an awesome package. If you want to use it live through regular guitar amps, are "old school" or just hate digital stuff, then this isn't for you.

Musical Background:

pro studio and touring

Musical Style:

any and all
35 of 41 people (85%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
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Submitted August 15, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com

"The best virtual amp software ever. Great buy!!!!!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
This thing is awesome. I havent even begun to discover all of the possibilities but its just great. the first time I heard it it sounded like god was comming throgh my ears!!! I spent so much time researching what I needed for this so thats why I left such a detailed review because its hard to find information all about it and it turned me off at first. Buy rig kontrol with guitar rig 3 its worth it. Built in soundcard and all the outputs makes everyhting so much easier. Good luck guys
Sound
It sounds freaking phenominal. The thing is you can get it to sound as good as you want it to because the only thing holding back your sound will be how great your studio monitors or headphones are. Im using only headphones so far. AKG K240 studios and they were 120 and sound great in guitar rig. When I can afford it I will buy some M audio monitors.
Features
Loaded with features. Any sound you want. Effects sound great. Everyhting is fully customizable.
Ease of Use
Easy so far. I havent tryd to recording aspect as a standin application im just using standalone for live in my room. I was woried that my computer wouldnt be good enough but its fine. I have a pentium IV 3.0 ghz processor. Its a dell optiplex gx280SMT. Buisness computer. Old model and I got it refurbished for 260. I also installed 3 gigs of ram but im sure you should just need about 2 gigs if you want good preformance. RAM is cheap and easy to install. Make sure you have a good amount of GB space on computer. You dont need any special drivers for just jamming out. If you want to record you will have to get a decent soundcard for midi to run out of your computer into studio monitors or headphones. I reccomend something like Echo Mia Midi. And you will have to get software guitar rig does not have recording software built in...just a tapedeck that records dry guitar. You can insert the effects in software that allows VTS plugins. I dont get any noticable latency when its on high quality mode or the other mode. I use high quality mode anyway and it runs fine on my comp. Also im using xp Service Pack 2
Quality
Great quality. Rig Kontrol is awesome. I reccomend if your getting this prduct than get it with the rig kontrol cause it has a built in sound card that sounds great. Also youll need studio monitors or headphones you cant just plug in crappy computer speakers. YEs it will run you about 500 for guitar rig and 120 for a decent pair of headphones and thats the set up I have now but its worth it. You can get studio monitors for about 200 for an ok pair. Having this is replacing my amp because digital sounds great!!!! I use the distortion so much becuase I play metal and I can find great tones. The effects sound so great and realastic. The wah pedal also sounds fantastic. Any sound you want in this software and rig kontrol. I was originally going to go with line 6 toneport ux2 but im so glad I didnt...that thing is a piece of garbage and gearbox is terrible. Dont waste your time spend the extra 360 you get so many more features, and it sounds so much better. You wont regreat it. So try it out guys its worth it.
Value
Its worth the money. It looks steep but its just as good as a tube amp if not better it just depends what kind of monitors or headphones your using. I dont use this for shows or anything just to jam with myself and eventually for recording. Dont waste your money on line 6 pod crap or amplitube. Guitar Rig has won so many awards and is used by professional artists.
Manufacturer Support
I havent used it so I will give them the benefit of the doubt
The Wow Factor
I wanted this the moment I read about it and saw some demos.

Musical Background:

Active Musician

Musical Style:

Metal
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Submitted March 9, 2010 by a customer from yahoo.com

"software was great but the pedal and NI customer service just kicked me over the deep edge"

Overall: 0.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
not satisfied as you can tell
Sound
the variety of sounds and quality is great for digital
Features
i can only rate this at a 5 for 50% because the pedal was junk right out of the box something wrong with the inputs had my sound tech check it out and between NI and himself they figured out the audio board was defective
Ease of Use
the sounds are easy to get and are great for digital! again 50% because the pedal was junk
Quality
software great! pedal should have never left the factory in china!!
Value
just because of the aggravation at NI
Manufacturer Support
terrible!! i bought this on 2-2-10 and have been fighting with native instruments ever since. they sent me a return fed-ex shipping tag and they promised me i would have it back for a road trip to the islands on 3-3-10 still haven't heard from them even after numerous phone calls and e-mails!!contacted Zzounds a few weeks ago and these people bent over backwards to try to light a fire under NI's butts and i praise Zzounds for everything they have done!! NI's customer service is the worst i have ever dealt with in the 45 or so yrs i have been playing!
The Wow Factor
looked nice and seemed well built

Musical Background:

active musician

Musical Style:

classic rock, blues and a little punk
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Submitted March 11, 2009

NI Guitar Rig 5 Kontrol Customer Review

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Sound
With the correct computer setup [consider a gaming type computer] this product works flawlessly. Sound can be run in high quality with 2ms latency on my current rig. Many different styles of sounds can be created in the rigs, from clean bluesy, to extreme metal, this will do it. Easy to install, hook up and working within 5 minutes after installing and updating the software. Tip: After the first initial connection of the Kontrol unit, wait for windows to install the driver before launching the standalone unit. Also before initially starting the standalone, go to the asio kontrol panel and set your latency, changing latencies within the standalone seems to make it crashout. My current computer for example: XP PRO SP3 32Bit AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950XT 256MB Seagate Barracuda 7200 250GB 7200 RPM SATAII
Features
The pedal is mostly made of aluminum but seems durable, of course only time will tell. Only wish the USB cable was longer, but that also can cause issues over 6 feet. Plenty of reading in the box, which is a rarity it seems these days with software.
Ease of Use
This is where most people will fail. If you don't understand first off what latency is, google will help. The default presets [there are a lot] sound good as they are, but I personally like a distinct sound with my guitar. Building rigs from scratch can be a long process but the end product can sound mindblowing. Be prepared to spend the most time working on customizing the rigs to fit into the sound your looking for.
Quality
Again, only time will tell how the pedal will perform. Seems solid, maybe they should make a road case for it. Other concern is the USB input on the pedal as far as it wearing out with use.
Value
Seriously, so many different sounds and effects, you would have to realistically buy tons of gear to get all the sounds this package has.
Manufacturer Support
haven't needed support but the upgrades to the software were readily available after registering the software.
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