he upcoming Kontakt 3.5 update brings a lot of technological improvements including a revised sampling engine and DFD streaming technology, as well as 64-bit memory adressing under Mac OS X and Windows Vista 64 (full list of improvements here).

For this reason, the Kontakt team has decided to set up a public beta test. This means that, starting immediately, registered Kontakt 3 owners can download a fully functional 3.5 beta version, and submit eventual bug findings to the Kontakt team over a special "bug tracker" web page.

As a Kontakt user, your main motivation to join the public beta test should be to help make sure that version 3.5 is rock solid! This is a pre-release version and should be used with caution in performance-critical environments.

So, how does this work?

- You need to be a registered Kontakt 3 owner to join the public beta test (this includes KOMPLETE 3/4/5)
- You can sign up for the public beta at http://www.native-instruments.com/in...?id=publicbeta
- You will receive a dedicated password via email to access the "public beta bug tracker"

What is important to know about the public beta version?

- It will be unlocked with your existing serial number
- It requires (and overwrites) a previous Kontakt 3.0.x installation on the same computer
- It will expire on July 1st 2009 (the official 3.5 update will be made available before that date)

How can I report technical issues to the Kontakt developers?

- Please use the "bug tracker" to report any technical issues, and try to word your findings as concise as possible
- Please understand that the Kontakt team cannot respond to individual bug reports - but every report will be looked into by the developers
- Please only use the bug tracker to submit bugs, which means: technical issues where the software doesn't work properly as intented
- Please do not use the bug tracker to submit feature requests or similar suggestions - this stuff belongs into the "feature request forum" instead

What else should you know?

- In order not to confuse users of the regular Kontakt 3.0.x version, please do not post 3.5-related topics across the forum. There is a dedicated thread for all 3.5 public beta discussion here: http://www.native-instruments.com/fo...play.php?f=236

- There is no tech support given for the public beta version. Technical issues with this version are to be expected, and have to be solved in the development process.

On behalf of the Kontakt team, a big "thank you" in advance to everyone who joins this beta test and helps making Kontakt 3.5 the best version ever!

Regards, Thomas