The biggest bundle in computer music history gets upgraded, but is 13 lucky for you? And how the heck can we review it in four pages?

We went to the Grand Canyon once, many years ago now. We basically stood gawping at it for 30 minutes, although were not really gazing at its wondrous awe, nor struggling with taking in the sheer majesty and beauty, not even falling to our knees in sheer desperation at how tiny we were (and indeed are) in the grand scheme of universal existence. No, we were more worried about how we would describe the damn place to our parents when we called them later that day. Which is a bit like how we feel about describing Komplete 13 to you…

We could go on about the largest Collector’s Edition – the one, of course, that we opted to review – having 96 instruments (including 25 orchestral and cinematic titles, 17 synths, 39 sampled collections and 12 percussion tools), 26 effects, 73 expansions, and 115,000 sounds over its 1.1TB girth. We could do that as we love stats, and suspect that you do too. Instead, we’ll just shelve the stats until the boxout (right) and just open with the obvious statement of saying that Komplete 13 is big. Ruddy big. The biggest thing we’ve reviewed, and with the longest name…

The (in)Komplete history

We’d normally tell you about a product’s history  right about now, but as with all things Komplete, that’s a biggie too. This review is really designed to save you some time when dealing with the enormity that is Komplete 13 so we’ll be brief. Komplete started life out as Native Instruments’ ‘best of’ in 2003 with nine products (classic titles like Absynth, B4, Kontakt, FM7 and Pro-53) and has been updated every one or two years since and, dollar for dollar, has been increasing in value ever since (that first pack cost around $1500 and the price has remained pretty static, even though the size has grown exponentially).

“We could go on, as we love stats, but we’ll simply say Komplete is big. Ruddy big…”

It split into two versions (Ultimate and Standard) around v8 in 2011 and then into three (including Select) with the arrival of Komplete Kontrol in 2016 at v11. This is all you need to know right now, as it’s time to look at 13 and all the new bits, which we will explore by category, and try (‘mother, that Grand Canyon sure is big’) to detail some of the girth of the rest of the bundle, along the way.