Decent Sampler 1.40.1 imports Kontakt instruments and samples your hardware synths, still free

Decent Samples has released version 1.40.1 of Decent Sampler, its free sample player, adding Kontakt instrument import and an automatic hardware sampler (Bedroom Producers Blog). The plugin stays free (Decent Samples).

What does Kontakt import do?

Drop an unprotected Kontakt 2 to 8 .nki file on the window, or use the import command under Developer Tools, and Decent Sampler converts it into a .dsbundle with its samples, keyboard mapping, round robins, envelopes and keyswitches (Bedroom Producers Blog). Two limits matter: copy-protected libraries cannot be imported, and Kontakt scripts are not carried over, so scripted performance features are lost (Decent Samples).

How does the Auto Sampler work?

Connect a synth over MIDI, route its audio into your interface, then pick notes, velocity layers and recording length. The Auto Sampler plays and records each note, trims silence, finds sustain loops, records alternate takes for round robins, flags clipped or silent takes for re-recording, and balances levels while keeping the differences between velocity layers (Bedroom Producers Blog). It runs only in the Mac and Windows standalone app, not inside a DAW, on Linux or on iOS (Bedroom Producers Blog).

The update also adds delay and hold stages for envelopes, interface scaling, a dark theme and better EXS imports (Bedroom Producers Blog).

Where does it run?

Windows 10 and later (VST, VST3, AAX, standalone), Mac on Intel and Apple Silicon (VST, VST3, AU, AAX, standalone), Linux x64 and ARM64 (VST, VST3, standalone) and iOS (AUv3 and standalone) (Decent Samples).

What we think

The Kontakt import is less about leaving Kontakt than about unlocking old folders. Most producers have years of free and homemade .nki patches that only open in Kontakt; the simple, unscripted ones are exactly what converts well here, and on Linux they now open at all. Anything built around scripts, which covers most big commercial libraries, still needs Kontakt, and protected libraries are out by design. Treat the converter as a triage tool, and test a converted patch against the original before you delete anything.

The Auto Sampler is the bigger deal. Multisampling a hardware synth by hand is tedious enough that most people never do it, and in our view a free option changes who bothers. Free, with clip detection and round robins, it lowers the bar to preserving a borrowed or ageing synth to "one evening and a MIDI cable". The standalone-only restriction is a fair trade for a free tool. Our advice: sample anything you might sell or lose, now.