Highlights
“This library offers a wide range of creative possibilities. It’s a versatile toolkit with high-quality samples, powerful filters and effects for deep sound design, and excellent convolution IRs. The BYOS option is especially useful for crafting distinctive custom patches.”
I love using Materia Prima to import my samples and shape them within its engine to create unique sounds for my projects.
“…this library provides great starting points for when you lack inspiration. Just fire up any of the patches and go from there. It is great for this kind of workflow; instead of first thinking about what to write, fire up the library and let the sounds guide you. It is very good for that. Lots of patches made me want to write to them.”
Sound Design Engine Overview
Source Panel
- 3 sound layers
- Amp & pitch envelopes
- Low, high or band pass filters with resonance, velocity, and envelope control
FX Panels
- 4 distortion effects
- 3 modulation effects
- Delay with 5 modes
- 4 reverb types with access to over 700 impulse responses
VIEW IR LIST
Pulse Panels
- Pre-FX LFOs for Gain, Pitch, and Pan
- Pre-FX Step Sequencer
- Post-FX Filter with Resonance and 2 LFOs
- Post-FX filter with Resonance and Step Sequencer
Output Panel
- Tape Saturation
- Stereo Modeler
- Transient Designer
- Compressor
- Equalizer
Options Panel
- Aftertouch Vibrato (monophonic)
- Pitch Bend Range
- “BYOS” edition with sample drag & drop
Main Panel
FX : Distortion Panel
FX : Modulation Panel
FX : Time / Space Panel
Convolution Browser
Pulse Engine : Mods
Pulse Engine : Filters
Output Panel
Options Panel
BYOS (Sample Drag & Drop) Edition
Library Presets Demos
Get a quick sample of all the instruments and multis.
Effects Suite
16 mix‑ready processors covering distortion, modulation, delay, reverb, and final polish.
- Tube Pedal
Smooth, musical overdrive inspired by a classic green pedal. - Lo‑Fi
Bit‑depth & sample‑rate reduction with noise and color controls for instant grit and character. - Classic Amp
British‑style drive for creamy leads. - Modern Amp
High‑gain aggression with rhythm and lead channels.
- Phaser
Enhances the signal by introducing dynamic tonal movement and intricate spectral shaping. - Flanger
Adds rich, modulated textures with 3 modes: Standard, Thru‑Zero, and Scan. - Chorus
Introduces subtle timing and pitch variations, giving the impression of multiple sources playing simultaneously. Synth, Ensemble, Dimension, and Universal modes.
- Time (Delay)
Advanced delay engine with five modes/models: Modern, Analog, Tape, Vintage, and Diffusion - Plate
Classic plate tone. - Room & Hall
Spacious room & hall algorithms with damping, diffusion, modulation. - Convolution
Access to over 700 impulse responses of real spaces, plates, cabs, and revered digital units.
VIEW IR LIST
- Tape Saturation
High‑quality oversampled drive with warmth and HF roll‑off controls. - Stereo Modeler
Width, pan, and pseudo‑stereo for mono sources. - Transient Master
Envelope‑based transient shaping. - Compressor
SSL‑style bus compression. - EQ
4‑band SSL G-series style equalizer.
Pulse Engine
Tempo‑synced motion without the headache
Independently modulate Gain, Pan, and Pitch. Use the step sequencer to generate rhythms. Additional pre and post‑FX filters, each with a step sequencer + two extra pre‑FX LFOs provide extensive options for complex rhythmic design.
- DAW sync or selectable speed (Hz)
- LFO presets
- Create complex LFO patterns with multiple wave shapes
“BYOS” Edition
Bring Your Own Samples
Each “BYOS” voice layer features:
- Sample drag and drop
- MIR support
(music information retrieval with auto root note detection) or manual root note selection - One-shot or looped file support
- Manual selection of voice key range
Includes a selection of 266 waveforms:
- 4 basic synth waveforms
- 118 single cycle waveforms
- 46 one shot samples from Materia Prima
- 98 looped samples from Materia Prima
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s both! A sample library full of presets for inspiration and an synth engine for deeper exploration.
Synth flow chart
No, Materia Prima requires the FULL version of Kontakt. It will not work with the FREE Kontakt Player. The FREE Kontakt Player will only load and play Materia Prima for 15 minutes in DEMO mode.
Yes, in the “BYOS” Edition you can drag & drop your own sample into each of the 3 layers.
Also included is a selection of samples from the library as well as some simple synth and single cycles waveforms to get you started creating your own sounds!
Yes, but with a slight catch. The looped waveforms are truncated at the end of each loop especially for Materia Prima (in order to reduce file size and increase performance). You can still use them anywhere in anyway you like (just don’t resell them), but how your DAW of software treats the loops may vary. In addition, the simple waveforms are single cycle waveforms that have been extended to either 8 or 16 cycles purely for display purposes with Materia Prima (to help with how Kontakt renders the waveforms).
Materia Prima supports Kontakt 6.7.1 and above (tested up to version 8.1.0).
No unfortunately, not in a way that is useful. Even though you could drag and drop ANY wav file into the interface, it isn’t built to handle wavetable files – just regular audio files like .wav, .aif or .ncw files.
When we tested this, we found Kontakt had issues with wavetables and single cycle waveforms being simply too short for Kontakt to accurately assign a pitch using the MIR (Music Information Retrieval) system. The visual display in Kontakt is a bit glitchy as well. As a result, the included “Basic” and “Simple” waveforms are our special versions on single cycle waveforms that have been extended to a proper pitch and length that display well in the interface.
No, not within the Materia Prima interface.
If you are familiar with the internal Kontakt interface, you can drag your own file into the Convolution plugin, but the name of the IR file will not be updated in the Materia Prima interface and you will need to save your instrument including samples to retain the IR in your patch.
Materia Prima is not officially NKS-certified, but it includes several features commonly associated with NKS workflows.
Included
- Preset audio previews (we include .preview folders and audio samples of each preset)
- Custom Library Browser images
- Step-by-step instructions for adding Materia Prima as a Kontakt User Library
Once added as a User Library, presets can be browsed and previewed directly within Kontakt’s Library Browser (version 7+), or on your Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol keyboard with the screen and controls on the keyboard along with using the Komplete Kontrol software. This may also work on other NKS compatibly hardware, but we can not confirm that as we haven’t been able to test it.
Not included
- Official NKS certification
- Komplete Kontrol hardware mappings or light-guide support (controls CAN be manually mapped in MIDI mode though)
Why?
NKS certification involves licensing and ongoing costs that aren’t practical for a small independent developer. Instead, our focus is on delivering deep Kontakt integration, sound quality, and creative flexibility.
EU and UK regulations require VAT to be applied to digital products based on your country. The displayed price is before VAT, which is calculated automatically at checkout.
We are also required to collect sales tax for order in the state of Tennessee.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Read before purchase. No refunds for downloadable software.
- Materia Prima requires the full version of Native Instruments software sampler, Kontakt. It is not compatible with the free version of Kontakt Player.*
- Versions of Kontakt 6.7.1 and above are supported (tested up to version 8.1.0).
- All major DAWs supported.
- Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra or higher. Windows 10 or higher. 32-bit systems are not supported.
- 8GB RAM minimum.
- At least 3 GB of free drive space.
*Materia Prima requires the FULL version of Kontakt. It will not work with the FREE Kontakt Player. The FREE Kontakt Player will only load and play Materia Prima for 15 minutes in DEMO mode. Price shown is before taxes (if applicable for your location).