I have to admit that I had bought Native Instruments Kore about a year ago and with all the best intentions never managed to install the Kore controller or the software. It's a good thing because my music computer died and I have since set up an upgraded monster PC. Also - there is now an all new Kore 2 which appears to be light years ahead of the initial product that was launched.

About a week ago I decided to upgrade to Kore 2 and finally install the software and controller. I bought the upgrade online along with the upgrade to Native Instruments Komplete 5.

I was a bit confused by what I needed to do as I had the older version of the controller and I never installed the software. I was hoping I could get away with installing the upgrade and simply using the version 1 driver. Unfortunately it had a problem during installation and would not let me finish the install. I had to go back and install Kore 1.

After doing that I did the updates, installed the driver and then installed Kore 2 a second time. But for some reason the Kore 1 controller did not seem to work properly. After plugging it in and having the driver process fail the controller would fade out and go black. I figured the USB was not sending it enough power. A day later I bought a powered USB hub and that too seemed to do the same thing. HOwever this time I attempted to install the driver again along with the latest version updates and the Kore controller mysteriously came to life.

I have to admit if this were not Native Instruments I would have abandoned something as difficult as this was, but I hung in there and it has been worth it!

Kore 2 launches as either a stand alone application or as a VST Plugin. I have tried both and they work exactly as expected.

I have not yet installed Komplete 5 as I wanted to see what the Kore 2 experience was like without the actual applications. On the version 2 of Kore it now has audio and synth engines built in so you can buy Kore sounds (Kore Soundpacks) and use them without buying the full applications such as Kontact and Reaktor. Hmmm... I am not so sure if I like that. That means anyone can get those killer Reaktor sounds - simply by buying Kore 2... Oh well... so much for exclusivity.. But I guess that makes Kore 2 a much more desirable product as it affordably allows anyone to experience those killer Native Instruments sounds at a lower point of entry than ever. So from a consumer standpoint Kore 2 is very appealing.

How does it sound? Terrific! It's awesome! It's a blast to play with! Now granted I have only scratched the surface and ran through a bunch of presets but let me tell you this is the future! Having all my presets available to tweak from one VST plugin is intense! And the abilities of Kore 2 at mangling sounds is breath taking! Not to mention the arpeggiator capabilities and such. THis Kore 2 is a huge leap forward from Kore ! It's a must have!

Now, the only reason I gave it a 9 out of 10 instead of a 10 is that the installation process was such a hassle and less than intuitive. They need to work on improving the instructions.

I'll come back and report more as I go along, but so far just with the internal stock sounds and the free Kore Soundpack they give us (coupon comes in the Kore 2 box to get a free soundpack!) I am blown away. I got the massive expansion pack. This one seemed to offer the most new presets. The other soundpacks were "best of" sound[packs and looked as if they had the same sounds as I have with the applications and previous sample packs I already have (Electronic Instruments etc.) This is very confusing. I suggest they explain a little better what you get when you get these best of soundpacks. The word on the web is they are the same as you get with the apps except each one has a few new variations... hmmm... not sure if it is worth buying them if that is the case...

In any event - if you are not yet familiar with Kore 2 I highly suggest you read up on it and consider buying it! The controller is cool (although apparently it does not send midi - hmmmm no knobs for midi activities??? That's too bad) and the VST plugin and sounds are awesome! Get it if you can!

I give Kore 2 a 9 out of 10 Beat Mode rating! Very goooood indeed!