Table of Contents
1. Disclaimer ................................................................................................................ 10
2. Welcome to KONTAKT ............................................................................................... 11
2.1. What is KONTAKT? ......................................................................................... 11
2.2. The Documentation ......................................................................................... 11
2.2.1. About this Application Reference ............................................................ 11
2.2.2. Other Documentation ............................................................................. 11
2.2.3. Document Conventions .......................................................................... 11
3. Setup ....................................................................................................................... 13
3.1. Stand-alone Operation .................................................................................... 13
3.1.1. Low Memory Warning on Start-Up ......................................................... 13
3.1.2. Audio Configuration .............................................................................. 14
3.1.3. Latency Optimization ............................................................................ 14
3.1.4. MIDI Configuration ................................................................................ 15
3.2. Plug-in Operation ........................................................................................... 16
3.2.1. Changing Outputs in Pro Tools .............................................................. 16
3.2.2. Changing Outputs in Logic 8 ................................................................. 16
4. User Interface Elements ............................................................................................ 17
4.1. Info Pane ....................................................................................................... 17
4.2. Knobs ............................................................................................................ 17
4.3. Buttons .......................................................................................................... 18
4.4. Drop-Down Menus .......................................................................................... 18
4.5. Scroll Bars ..................................................................................................... 19
4.6. Value Fields ................................................................................................... 19
4.7. Saving and Loading Presets ............................................................................ 20
4.8. MIDI Learn ..................................................................................................... 20
4.8.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers .................................................................... 20
4.8.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments ................................................. 21
5. KONTAKT: The Big Picture ........................................................................................ 22
5.1. Core Building Blocks ....................................................................................... 22
5.2. Tools .............................................................................................................. 23
6. The KONTAKT Window ............................................................................................. 25
6.1. Stand-alone Menu .......................................................................................... 26
6.2. The Main Control Panel .................................................................................. 26
6.2.1. Files Menu ........................................................................................... 26
6.2.2. Workspace Menu ................................................................................. 32
6.2.3. Minimized View .................................................................................... 33
6.2.4. System Performance Meters ................................................................. 33
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6.3. Options Dialog ................................................................................................ 34
6.3.1. Interface Tab ........................................................................................ 34
6.3.2. Engine Tab ........................................................................................... 35
6.3.3. Handling Tab ........................................................................................ 36
6.3.4. Usage Data .......................................................................................... 38
6.3.5. Load / Import Tab ................................................................................. 39
6.3.6. Libraries Tab ........................................................................................ 40
6.3.7. Memory Tab ......................................................................................... 41
7. The Rack Multi Instrument Mode ............................................................................... 44
7.1. Multi Instrument Header .................................................................................. 44
7.2. Instrument Header .......................................................................................... 45
7.3. Purge Menu ................................................................................................... 47
7.4. Instrument Header (Minimized) ........................................................................ 48
7.5. Performance View .......................................................................................... 48
8. The Rack Instrument Edit Mode ................................................................................. 50
8.1. Instrument Options Dialog ............................................................................... 54
8.1.1. Instrument Tab ..................................................................................... 54
8.1.2. Voices Handling Tab ............................................................................. 55
8.1.3. DFD Tab .............................................................................................. 56
8.1.4. Controller Tab ....................................................................................... 57
8.1.5. Snapshot Tab ....................................................................................... 58
8.1.6. Infos Tab .............................................................................................. 58
9. Loading and Creating Instruments ............................................................................. 60
10. Using Snapshots .................................................................................................... 64
10.1. Saving a User Snapshot ................................................................................ 64
10.2. Loading a Snapshot from the Snapshot Menu ................................................ 65
10.3. Loading Snapshots from the File System ........................................................ 67
10.4. Deleting a User Snapshot .............................................................................. 68
11. Loading and Creating Instrument Banks ................................................................... 69
12. The On-Screen Keyboard ........................................................................................ 71
13. The Master Editor ................................................................................................... 72
14. The Browser ........................................................................................................... 74
14.1. Libraries Tab ................................................................................................ 74
14.1.1. Loading and saving Instruments and Multis .......................................... 75
14.1.2. Function Menu ................................................................................... 75
14.1.3. Add Library Button .............................................................................. 76
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14.1.4. Library Activation via KONTAKT .......................................................... 76
14.2. Files Tab ...................................................................................................... 76
14.2.1. Upper (Container) Pane ...................................................................... 77
14.2.2. Middle (Objects) Pane ........................................................................ 78
14.2.3. Instrument Navigator Pane .................................................................. 79
14.2.4. Audition Strip ...................................................................................... 80
14.2.5. Refresh and Eject Buttons ................................................................... 81
14.2.6. The View Menu .................................................................................. 81
14.3. Expert Tab .................................................................................................... 82
14.4. Automation Tab ............................................................................................ 85
14.4.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers (alternative way) ......................................... 87
14.4.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments ............................................... 87
15. The Quick-Load Catalog .......................................................................................... 89
15.1. Building a Catalog ......................................................................................... 89
15.2. Loading Objects from the Catalog .................................................................. 91
16. The Outputs Section ............................................................................................... 92
16.1. Panel Controls .............................................................................................. 92
16.2. Working with Output Channels ....................................................................... 93
16.3. Working with Aux Channels ........................................................................... 94
16.4. Outputs in Host Mode ................................................................................... 94
17. The Group Editor .................................................................................................... 96
17.1. Control Header ............................................................................................. 97
17.1.1. Edit All Groups ................................................................................... 97
17.1.2. Group Selector ................................................................................... 97
17.1.3. Edit .................................................................................................... 97
17.1.4. Group Solo ......................................................................................... 99
17.1.5. Select by MIDI .................................................................................... 99
17.2. Group List .................................................................................................... 99
17.3. Voice Groups ............................................................................................... 100
17.4. Group Start Options ..................................................................................... 101
18. The Mapping Editor ................................................................................................ 103
18.1. Mapping Samples Manually .......................................................................... 104
18.2. Mapping Samples Automatically ................................................................... 105
18.3. Managing Zones .......................................................................................... 106
18.3.1. Editing Parameters in the Status Bar ................................................... 107
18.3.2. Editing Parameters Graphically ........................................................... 107
18.3.3. Editing Parameters via MIDI ............................................................... 108
18.4. Control Strip ................................................................................................ 108
18.5. Edit Menu .................................................................................................... 110
18.6. Batch Tools ................................................................................................. 112
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19. The Wave Editor .................................................................................................... 114
19.1. Tool Bar ...................................................................................................... 115
19.2. Status Bar ................................................................................................... 118
19.3. Waveform View ........................................................................................... 119
19.4. Grid Panel ................................................................................................... 120
19.4.1. Fix Mode ........................................................................................... 121
19.4.2. Auto Mode ........................................................................................ 123
19.4.3. Editing Slices Manually ...................................................................... 124
19.5. Sample Loop Tab ......................................................................................... 124
19.6. Sync / Slice Tab ........................................................................................... 127
19.6.1. Using the Beat Machine ..................................................................... 128
19.6.2. Using the Time Machine ..................................................................... 129
19.6.3. Mapping Slices Manually .................................................................... 129
19.6.4. Mapping Slices Automatically ............................................................. 130
19.7. Zone Envelopes .......................................................................................... 132
19.7.1. Assigning and Selecting Envelopes .................................................... 132
19.7.2. Adjusting Assignment Parameters ...................................................... 133
19.7.3. Editing Envelopes .............................................................................. 134
19.7.4. Utility Functions ................................................................................. 135
19.8. Sample Editor .............................................................................................. 136
19.8.1. Edit Operations ................................................................................. 138
19.8.2. Transform Operations ........................................................................ 138
20. The Script Editor .................................................................................................... 139
20.1. Loading a Script .......................................................................................... 140
20.2. Saving Script Settings .................................................................................. 140
20.3. Editing and Saving a Script ........................................................................... 140
21. The Source Module ................................................................................................ 142
21.1. Sampler ...................................................................................................... 142
21.2. DFD ............................................................................................................ 143
21.3. Wavetable ................................................................................................... 144
21.4. Tone Machine .............................................................................................. 145
21.5. Time Machine .............................................................................................. 147
21.6. Time Machine II ........................................................................................... 147
21.7. Time Machine Pro ........................................................................................ 148
21.8. Beat Machine .............................................................................................. 148
21.9. S1200 Machine ........................................................................................... 150
21.10. MP60 Machine .......................................................................................... 150
22. The Amplifier Module ............................................................................................. 151
23. Signal Processors in KONTAKT .............................................................................. 153
23.1. Group Insert Effects ..................................................................................... 154
23.2. Bus Insert Effects ......................................................................................... 155
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23.3. Instrument Insert Effects ............................................................................... 156
23.4. Instrument Send Effects ............................................................................... 156
23.5. Adding Modules ........................................................................................... 157
23.6. Deleting Modules ......................................................................................... 157
23.7. Editing Module Parameters .......................................................................... 157
23.8. Common Parameters ................................................................................... 157
23.9. Signal Processors in the Outputs Section ...................................................... 158
23.9.1. Output Channel Inserts ...................................................................... 158
23.9.2. Aux Channels .................................................................................... 159
24. Effects ................................................................................................................... 160
24.1. AET Filter .................................................................................................... 160
24.1.1. About Authentic Expression Technology .............................................. 160
24.1.2. Creating a Velocity Morph .................................................................. 161
24.1.3. Creating an Articulation Morph ........................................................... 163
24.1.4. Create AET Morph Layer Dialog ......................................................... 164
24.1.5. Morph Map Editor .............................................................................. 165
24.1.6. AET Filter Module Controls ................................................................ 166
24.2. Transient Master .......................................................................................... 167
24.3. Feedback Compressor ................................................................................. 167
24.4. Solid Bus Comp ........................................................................................... 168
24.5. Compressor ................................................................................................ 169
24.6. Limiter ......................................................................................................... 170
24.7. Tape Saturator ............................................................................................. 171
24.8. Distortion .................................................................................................... 171
24.9. Lo-Fi ........................................................................................................... 172
24.10. Saturation .................................................................................................. 172
24.11. Cabinet ..................................................................................................... 172
24.12. Skreamer .................................................................................................. 173
24.13. Twang ....................................................................................................... 173
24.14. Jump ......................................................................................................... 174
24.15. Van51 ....................................................................................................... 174
24.16. ACBox ...................................................................................................... 175
24.17. HotSolo ..................................................................................................... 176
24.18. Cat ............................................................................................................ 176
24.19. DStortion ................................................................................................... 177
24.20. Cry Wah .................................................................................................... 177
24.21. Rotator ...................................................................................................... 178
24.22. Surround Panner ....................................................................................... 178
24.22.1. Explanation of channel abbreviations: ............................................... 180
24.22.2. Controls .......................................................................................... 182
24.22.3. Surround Panner Automation ........................................................... 182
24.22.4. Host/MIDI Automation ...................................................................... 182
24.22.5. Internal Modulation .......................................................................... 182
24.23. Stereo Modeller ......................................................................................... 183
24.24. Inverter ..................................................................................................... 184
24.25. Send Levels .............................................................................................. 184
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24.26. Legacy Delay ............................................................................................. 185
24.27. Replika Delay ............................................................................................ 185
24.28. Chorus ...................................................................................................... 187
24.29. Flanger ..................................................................................................... 187
24.30. Phaser ...................................................................................................... 188
24.31. Convolution ............................................................................................... 189
24.32. Reverb ...................................................................................................... 190
24.33. Plate Reverb ............................................................................................. 191
24.34. Legacy Reverb .......................................................................................... 192
24.35. Gainer ....................................................................................................... 192
25. Filters .................................................................................................................... 194
25.1. Lowpass Filters ........................................................................................... 195
25.1.1. SV LP1 ............................................................................................. 195
25.1.2. SV LP2 ............................................................................................. 195
25.1.3. SV LP4 ............................................................................................. 196
25.1.4. Ladder LP1 ....................................................................................... 196
25.1.5. Ladder LP2 ....................................................................................... 196
25.1.6. Ladder LP3 ....................................................................................... 197
25.1.7. Ladder LP4 ....................................................................................... 197
25.1.8. AR LP2 ............................................................................................. 197
25.1.9. AR LP4 ............................................................................................. 198
25.1.10. AR LP2/4 ........................................................................................ 198
25.1.11. Daft ................................................................................................. 198
25.1.12. PRO-53 ........................................................................................... 198
25.1.13. Legacy LP1 ..................................................................................... 199
25.1.14. Legacy LP2 ..................................................................................... 199
25.1.15. Legacy LP4 ..................................................................................... 199
25.1.16. Legacy LP6 ..................................................................................... 199
25.1.17. Legacy Ladder ................................................................................. 200
25.2. Highpass Filters ........................................................................................... 200
25.2.1. SV HP1 ............................................................................................. 200
25.2.2. SV HP2 ............................................................................................. 200
25.2.3. SV HP4 ............................................................................................. 201
25.2.4. Ladder HP1 ....................................................................................... 201
25.2.5. Ladder HP2 ....................................................................................... 201
25.2.6. Ladder HP3 ....................................................................................... 202
25.2.7. Ladder HP4 ....................................................................................... 202
25.2.8. AR HP2 ............................................................................................ 202
25.2.9. AR HP4 ............................................................................................ 203
25.2.10. AR HP2/4 ........................................................................................ 203
25.2.11. Daft HP ........................................................................................... 203
25.2.12. Legacy HP1 .................................................................................... 203
25.2.13. Legacy HP2 .................................................................................... 204
25.2.14. Legacy HP4 .................................................................................... 204
25.3. Bandpass .................................................................................................... 204
25.3.1. SV BP2 ............................................................................................. 204
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25.3.2. SV BP4 ............................................................................................. 205
25.3.3. Ladder BP2 ....................................................................................... 205
25.3.4. Ladder BP4 ....................................................................................... 205
25.3.5. AR BP2 ............................................................................................. 206
25.3.6. AR BP4 ............................................................................................. 206
25.3.7. AR BP2/4 .......................................................................................... 206
25.3.8. Legacy BP2 ...................................................................................... 206
25.3.9. Legacy BP4 ...................................................................................... 207
25.4. Peak/Notch ................................................................................................. 207
25.4.1. SV Notch .......................................................................................... 207
25.4.2. Ladder Peak ...................................................................................... 207
25.4.3. Ladder Notch .................................................................................... 208
25.4.4. Legacy BR4 ...................................................................................... 208
25.5. Multi ............................................................................................................ 208
25.5.1. SV Par. LP/HP ................................................................................... 208
25.5.2. SV Par. BP/BP .................................................................................. 209
25.5.3. SV Ser. LP/HP ................................................................................... 209
25.5.4. 3x2 Versatile ..................................................................................... 209
25.5.5. Simple LP/HP .................................................................................... 211
25.6. Effect Filters ................................................................................................ 211
25.6.1. Formant I .......................................................................................... 211
25.6.2. Formant II ......................................................................................... 212
25.6.3. Phaser .............................................................................................. 212
25.6.4. Vowel A ............................................................................................ 212
25.6.5. Vowel B ............................................................................................ 213
25.7. EQs ............................................................................................................ 213
25.7.1. Solid G-EQ ........................................................................................ 214
26. Modulation in KONTAKT ........................................................................................ 215
26.1. Modulation Sources ..................................................................................... 215
26.2. Modulation Destinations ............................................................................... 216
26.3. Creating Modulation Assignments ................................................................. 216
26.4. Deleting Modulation Assignments ................................................................. 217
26.5. Assignment Controls .................................................................................... 218
27. Modulation Sources ............................................................................................... 221
27.1. Envelopes ................................................................................................... 221
27.1.1. AHDSR Envelope Controls ................................................................. 221
27.1.2. DBD Envelope Controls ..................................................................... 222
27.1.3. Flexible Envelopes ............................................................................ 222
27.2. LFOs .......................................................................................................... 224
27.2.1. LFO Controls ..................................................................................... 225
27.2.2. Multi Digital LFO ................................................................................ 226
27.3. Other Modulators ......................................................................................... 226
27.3.1. 32-Step Modulator ............................................................................. 226
27.3.2. Envelope Follower ............................................................................. 227
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27.3.3. Glide ................................................................................................. 227
27.4. External Sources ......................................................................................... 228
28. Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................................................................... 230
28.1. Global Keys ................................................................................................. 230
28.2. Browser ...................................................................................................... 230
28.3. Instrument Edit Mode ................................................................................... 230
28.4. Group Editor ................................................................................................ 231
28.5. Mapping Editor ............................................................................................ 231
28.6. Wave Editor ................................................................................................. 231
29. File Formats .......................................................................................................... 232
9
Disclaimer
1. DISCLAIMER
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document is
subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication
may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior
written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Native Instruments.
“Native Instruments”, “NI” and associated logos are (registered) trademarks of Native Instruments
GmbH.
Mac, macOS, GarageBand, Logic, iTunes and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and use of them does not imply
any affiliation with or endorsement by them.
Document authored by: Adam Hanley, Hannah Lockwood, Jan Morgenstern, et al.
Software version: 6.0.2 (09/2018)
Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but in
making this a better product.
10
Welcome to KONTAKT
2. WELCOME TO KONTAKT
We at Native Instruments would like to thank you for purchasing KONTAKT — it’s because of customers like you that we can continue developing ground-breaking music software. We hope that
this application reference will provide you with all the information you need to make use of KONTAKT’s features to their full capacity.
2.1. What is KONTAKT?
KONTAKT is one of the leading sampling solutions in the audio industry. It allows you to play back
and process audio samples — but that does not even begin to convey the full range of its capabilities. With KONTAKT, you can create sophisticated sample-based virtual instruments, process their
audio signals with powerful DSP structures, build complex performance setups with extensive
modulation routings, and gain access to a huge number of third-party sample libraries.
2.2. The Documentation
A range of documentation resources has been prepared, covering all aspects of KONTAKT.
2.2.1. About this Application Reference
This Application Reference is the most important documentation resource. It provides thorough
descriptions of all the user interface elements, options, tools, editors, and sound processing modules of KONTAKT. You can use it as both a reference manual and as a thorough guide to working
with the application.
2.2.2. Other Documentation
Further documentation relating to KONTAKT 6 can be viewed or downloaded from the KONTAKT
website. When using the stand-alone version of KONTAKT, you can access the documents via the
Help menu at the top of the application window (Windows) or your desktop (Mac). In addition to
this guide, KONTAKT comes with the following resources:
• The KSP Reference Manual documents the built-in scripting language, which allows instrument creators to embed scripts that can dynamically alter MIDI data and playback parameters
in their patches. As such, it is targeted towards advanced users.
• The Creator Tools Reference Manual documents the suite of tools developed to support the
instrument creation process within KONTAKT. Here you will find scripting and binding references for the Debugger and the Instrument Editor.
2.2.3. Document Conventions
Document Conventions SW only
This document uses particular formatting to point out special facts and to warn you of potential issues. The icons introducing the following notes let you see what kind of information can be expected:
11
The speech bubble icon indicates a useful tip that may help you to solve a task more
efficiently.
The exclamation mark icon highlights important information that is essential for the
given context.
The warning icon warns you of serious issues and potential risks that require your
full attention.
Furthermore, the following formatting is used:
Welcome to KONTAKT
• Paths to locations on your hard disk or other storage devices are printed in italics.
• Important names and concepts are printed in bold.
• Square brackets are used to reference keys on a computer’s keyboard, e.g., Press [Shift] +
[Enter].
12
Setup
3. SETUP
Once the installation process has finished, you should find the KONTAKT 6 installation directory
on your hard drive. It contains the KONTAKT 6 application and the documentation resources as
described in the previous chapter.
Before you start KONTAKT for the first time, it is worth explaining that there are two fundamentally
different modes of operation. You have the choice of running KONTAKT as a “stand-alone” application, in which it will behave like any other program on your computer. Alternatively, you can use
it as a virtual instrument plug-in within your sequencer or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) application. The most important difference between these modes concerns the way in which KONTAKT
handles MIDI and audio streams. In stand-alone operation, KONTAKT will address your MIDI and
audio hardware directly, which requires you to specify some details about your hardware and drivers. When using KONTAKT as a plug-in, these details will be taken care of by the sequencer host
application. The following sections will explain both modes in more detail.
3.1. Stand-alone Operation
When you launch the KONTAKT 6 application in the installation directory, KONTAKT will start as a
stand-alone program that provides its own application menu. In this mode, KONTAKT will receive
MIDI data from one or more ports of a MIDI interface and send audio signals directly to your audio
interface. This can be very useful if you don’t need the additional functionality of a full-blown sequencer environment, for instance when you’re using KONTAKT as a live performance instrument
or as a sampling host on a stand-alone computer. Also, when you are creating or editing complex
sample libraries yourself, using the stand- alone version is often easier than opening KONTAKT in
a DAW or sequencer.
When you start KONTAKT in stand-alone mode for the first time, both audio and MIDI will need to
be configured. In order to make KONTAKT receive MIDI notes from your keyboard and play sound
in response, you will first have to tell it which hardware it should use. This is done via the Options
dialog, which should appear automatically upon the first start.
Options button
You can also open this dialog at any time by clicking on the Options button at the top of the main
window. This is the central place for configuring all aspects of KONTAKT’s user interface and its
sample playback engine. In this chapter, we’ll describe only the Audio and MIDI tabs at the bottom; detailed explanations of the other options can be found in the section Options Dialog.
3.1.1. Low Memory Warning on Start-Up
Sometimes a memory warning is displayed when running several stand-alone instances of KONTAKT simultaneously. This “low memory” warning dialog appears when KONTAKT is running with
no admin privileges or if a second instance of KONTAKT is started and is requesting RAM which
the first instance has already reserved.
Hence, running several stand-alone instances of KONTAKT simultaneously is not recommended.
13
Setup
3.1.2. Audio Configuration
In the Audio tab of the Options dialog, you can specify which audio device KONTAKT should use
for playback and adjust global playback parameters.
The dialog provides the following options:
Audio tab of the Options dialog
• Driver: With this drop-down menu, you can select which of your operating system’s device
driver architectures KONTAKT should use. Most professional audio devices provide ASIO, CoreAudio (Mac) or WASAPI (Windows) drivers.
• Device: This menu lists all connected audio interfaces that match the driver architecture chosen above. Use this to select the audio interface that you would like to use for playback.
• Sample rate: This drop-down menu allows you to set the global playback sample rate at which
KONTAKT will operate. Common values are 44100 Hz for music and 48000 Hz for film production. Note that this does not have anything to do with the sampling rate at which your samples
have been recorded — if the playback rate does not match a sample’s recording rate, KONTAKT will handle all necessary conversion steps transparently for you.
• Latency: The size of the audio playback buffer in samples. Small values will shorten the delay
between pressing a key and hearing the resulting sound (this is called “latency”), but may
cause drop-outs and stuttering when playing a lot of voices at the same time. Conversely, setting this to a higher value will make playback more reliable at the cost of more latency. Note
that this control is not always available, as sometimes the latency is handled by your hardware
drivers.
3.1.3. Latency Optimization
The load that typical digital audio calculations generate on your processor is often not constant
and predictable; parameter changes, additional voices or other processes can all cause momentary peaks in the load, which can result in drop-outs or other audio artifacts if not properly compensated for. That is why audio programs don’t send the audio signals they generate directly to the
hardware, but write them to a short buffer in memory instead, which is what is then sent to the actual hardware. This concept allows the program to bridge short irregularities in the stream calculation and thus be more resistant to processing peaks.
14
Setup
Of course, this “safety net” comes at a price — the buffering causes a delay, known as latency,
between the triggering of a note and the actual sound. This delay gets longer with increasing buffer sizes. Hence, it is vital to tune the buffer size in order to find a good compromise between latency and playback reliability. The optimal value depends on such diverse factors as your CPU,
memory and hard disk access times, your audio hardware and drivers, and your operating system
environment.
In order to find the optimal buffer size for your system, we recommend that you begin by setting
the Latency slider described in the previous section to a healthy middle value between 384 and
512 samples, and then gradually decrease the value during your normal work.
Latency Slider
When you begin to notice drop-outs, increase the buffer again by a small amount.
Generally, it is a good idea to have as few other applications running in the background as possible when working with audio software. Also, if you unable to get below a certain buffer size without
drop-outs, consult the documentation of your audio hardware to find out whether you can access it
via an alternate driver architecture, as some architectures allow more efficient low-level access to
the hardware than others.
3.1.4. MIDI Configuration
The MIDI tab of the Options dialog provides a list of all MIDI inputs and outputs that have been
found on your system. These are ports of physical MIDI interfaces connected to your computer,
but also any virtual MIDI ports that may be provided by drivers or other applications to facilitate
inter-application MIDI usage.
MIDI tab of the Options dialog
In order to make KONTAKT respond to MIDI data from the outside, you have to enable one or
more ports that appear in the inputs list of the MIDI tab. Make sure the Inputs button is highlighted
and identify the port(s) that you intend to use for MIDI input in the list. If the Status field on the
right side of an entry reads Off, click that value and assign one of the MIDI port identifiers (A-D).
15
Setup
This enables the respective port, which will later be identified by the selected letter throughout the
user interface.
3.2. Plug-in Operation
The plug-in version of KONTAKT allows you to use it as a virtual instrument inside your sequencer
or DAW. That way, you can run multiple instances of KONTAKT side-by-side along with your other
sound generators and effect plug-ins, trigger them with the data of MIDI tracks from within your
sequencer, and directly feed their audio output into the signal flow of your virtual mixer.
Depending on your operating system and choices upon installation, KONTAKT provides VST, Audio Units (AU), and AAX plug-in formats.
Refer to the documentation of your sequencer to find out which of these formats is the right one in
your case; if you have enabled the appropriate format at installation time, KONTAKT 6 should appear in the plug-in selection list inside your sequencer. If it does not, re-run the installer and make
sure the appropriate plug-in is marked for installation.
Note that AAX plug-ins are supported in DigiDesign hosts only. For other hosts,
check the documentation for which plug-in version to use.
The way in which virtual instrument plug-ins are integrated into the workflow very much depends
on your sequencer; consult its documentation to find out how to instantiate and work with the
KONTAKT plug-in.
3.2.1. Changing Outputs in Pro Tools
1. After changing the output configuration in Pro Tools, you need to close the session running.
2. Unplug KONTAKT. Quit Pro Tools.
3. Restart Pro Tools.
4. Plug in a new instance of KONTAKT. Reopen your session.
When setting the new output configuration for KONTAKT make sure to select this configuration as
default setting.
3.2.2. Changing Outputs in Logic 8
Make sure KONTAKT’s output configuration matches the channel setup chosen in Logic 8. Otherwise signals might be routed to the wrong Aux channel.
16
User Interface Elements
4. USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS
During your work with KONTAKT, you will discover that most elements that let you interact with the
program are being used consistently throughout the whole interface. The handling of these common elements is always the same, only the context in which they appear will vary. This chapter will
explain the basic types of elements that you will encounter, and what you can do with them. Before
we begin, though, there is a helpful function you should know about before all others, since it will
reliably serve as a reference whenever you’re not sure what a specific knob, menu or other interface element does: the Info Pane.
4.1. Info Pane
The Info Pane is an area located at the bottom of your KONTAKT window, just above the bottommost status bar.
To display the Info Pane:
1. Open the Workspace menu in the KONTAKT header.
2. Click on the Info option.
3. This toggles the visibility of the Info Pane.
The Info Pane, showing a description of the Options button in the Main Control Panel
On its right side, the Info Pane will display a short help text about whatever control your mouse is
currently hovering over. If you don’t know what a knob, button, menu entry, or in fact any other
user interface element does, just hover your mouse over it while the Info Pane is visible and a description of the control will appear there.
Setting the Language of the Info Pane
The Info Pane help is available in five languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. In addition, some other parts of the interface, such as the stand-alone menus, have also
been localized. You can set your preferred language via the new Language drop-down list in the
Interface tab in the Options dialog. You need to restart KONTAKT after selecting a new language.
If you select the language follows the language selection of your operating system.
4.2. Knobs
Knobs are the most frequently used interface element for adjusting numeric parameters.
Bipolar knobs like this one have their zero (and default) setting in the middle of their scale.
They’re designed to resemble real rotary controls that you can find on mixing consoles and other
equipment.
17
User Interface Elements
• To change a knob value, click it and drag your mouse upwards to move the knob clockwise, or
downwards to move it counter-clockwise.
• Some knobs can be adjusted more finely if you hold down the [Shift] key on your keyboard
while moving the knob.
• You can reset a knob to its default value by clicking on it while holding the [Ctrl] key if you are
on a Windows operating system, or the [Cmd] key if you are on Mac OS X.
• Many time-related parameters throughout the KONTAKT environment can be synchronized to
your song tempo. Clicking on the unit that’s being displayed in the respective control’s numeric
readout will open a drop-down menu, which contains a number of note values; selecting one of
these, then dialing in the number of notes that you’d like to be spanned by one cycle, will synchronize the parameter to the current tempo. If you want to switch the parameter back to unsynchronized operation, just open the menu again and select its <default> entry.
• To create a new modulation assignment, which uses a modulation signal source to change a
parameter over time, right-click the respective knob and choose a modulation source from the
drop-down menu that appears. How KONTAKT’s modulation system and the assignment of
modulation sources work will be explained in detail in section Modulation in KONTAKT.
• Right-clicking on a knob can also allow you to set it to MIDI-Learn mode for quick assignment
of a MIDI controller to the selected knob.
4.3. Buttons
Buttons appear wherever a parameter can be switched on and off. Each click on a button toggles it
between those two states. The current state of a button is being indicated by its background color;
if a parameter is enabled, its button will be highlighted.
Active toggle buttons are highlighted.
4.4. Drop-Down Menus
These menus allow you to choose from a list of values. They look similar to buttons, but with a
small down arrow icon on their right side. Click them to open the menu; it will stay open until you
have either selected a new value or clicked somewhere else in the KONTAKT window, which
leaves the previous value unchanged. Some menus have further sub-menus; these will be indica-
18
User Interface Elements
ted with a small right arrow next to their name. Moving the selection bar to one of these items will
open the respective sub-menu.
The drop-down menu of the Source Module mode.
4.5. Scroll Bars
Scroll bars appear at the bottom or right border of panes whose contents take up too much space
to be displayed in their entirety. Clicking on the position indicator bar and dragging it will scroll the
viewport across the content, while clicking on the empty space of a scrollbar will jump to the respective position. Some contents can also be zoomed in and out; this is indicated by “+” and “-”
buttons at one end of their scrollbar. Click “+” to zoom in, or “-” to zoom out. Some places in KONTAKT, namely the Mapping Editor and the Wave Editor, provide an alternative way of zooming that
you might find more convenient; you can read all about this method, dubbed “rubber-band zooming”, in the chapters of the respective editors.
Horizontal and vertical scroll bars in the Wave Editor.
4.6. Value Fields
Some fields contain editable — usually numeric — values without an additional control. These frequently appear in places that don’t provide enough space for knobs or other controls, such as rows
of tables that can shrink or grow. There are various ways to edit their value:
• Click the field and drag your mouse upwards to increase the value, or downwards to decrease
the value.
• When you hover your mouse pointer over the field, small up and down arrows will appear on its
right side. Click these to increase or decrease the value one step at a time.
• Double-click the field and enter a new value with the keyboard.
19
User Interface Elements
Value field
4.7. Saving and Loading Presets
Whenever you have created a setting that you’re really happy with in any part of KONTAKT, you
might want to save it for later use in another context. The KONTAKT environment is split up into
modules, and most of these offer a preset drop-down menu that allows you to manage presets for
the respective module. Loading a preset in a module won’t affect the other modules in your Instrument — this modular approach lets you freely combine different presets into your own Instruments.
Presets are saved in files (file extension: .nkp) which reside in a series of sub-folders within a “presets” folder. KONTAKT creates two of these preset folders on your system: one contains the factory presets, and is located in a directory which is not writable by normal users; the other one resides within your home directory and will be used to store your own presets. KONTAKT will create
this user presets folder when you first start it up.
On Windows, the factory and user preset folders will be created in:
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 6\presets
• C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Native Instruments\Kontakt 6\presets
On Mac OS X, you can find the factory and user preset folders in:
• Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Kontakt 6/presets
• Macintosh HD/Users/[username]/Documents/Native Instruments/Kontakt 6/presets
KONTAKT comes with a large number of ready-made presets for most of its modules. These are
good starting points for your own settings, so it’s worth browsing the Factory preset list of a module when you have a specific task in mind and don’t know where to begin.
As mentioned, preset management in KONTAKT takes place within each module’s preset dropdown menu. You can access this by clicking on the drop-down menu labeled Pre or Preset that is
located on the left side of each module. It contains all preset files that were found in the respective
preset folders on your hard disk, with further subdirectories (if any) appearing as sub-menus. The
Save Preset entry at the bottom of the menu will open a dialog, which asks you for a filename.
Enter a descriptive name and click Save — from now on, your settings will be available within the
User submenu of the presets drop-down menu. This will not work, however, if you change the path
in the save dialog, so it is recommended that you always save your presets to the default path.
4.8. MIDI Learn
KONTAKT features a MIDI Learn function for all sliders and knobs. Once you have assigned one
of KONTAKT’s controls to a knob or fader on your MIDI controller device, you can conveniently
access the corresponding parameter in KONTAKT via MIDI as well as from the interface.
4.8.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers
To assign any of KONTAKT’s sliders or knobs to a certain MIDI controller:
20
User Interface Elements
1. Right-click the knob or slider you want to assign a MIDI controller to.
2. Select Learn MIDI CC# Automation.
3. Turn the knob or move the slider on your MIDI hardware controller.
The control should pick up the movement instantly.
You can add additional MIDI controllers (CC#s) to the same KONTAKT knob. You can also assign
multiple knobs or sliders to the same MIDI controller.
If you cannot assign MIDI controllers this way, see section Automation Tab, for an
alternative assignment method.
4.8.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments
To remove an assignment made to a specific controller:
1. In KONTAKT, right-click the knob or slider.
2. Select Remove MIDI Automation: CC#.
The MIDI controller assignment will be removed.
21
KONTAKT: The Big Picture
5. KONTAKT: THE BIG PICTURE
KONTAKT is an extremely powerful, complex, and capable instrument. Before getting into specifics, let’s take a step back first and describe KONTAKT in general terms.
The structure of most samplers, hardware or software, is similar to that of a synthesizer: at its
source, some kind of sound generator outputs unprocessed signals in response to incoming MIDI
notes; these signals are then processed in a variety of ways and sent to the output. The difference
is that the sound generator of a typical synthesizer creates its source waveforms entirely by electrical or mathematical means, often being limited to a range of well-defined waveforms, whereas a
sampler can use any kind of previously recorded audio data — sampled acoustic instruments,
sound effects, vocals, and (of course) any classic waveform known from synthesizers as well.
KONTAKT’s overall structure is not any different in this regard, albeit it is far more sophisticated
than a lot of conventional samplers. For instance, KONTAKT does not force any particular signal
flow structure upon your Instruments — it has an entirely modular approach to sound processing
and parameter modulation. Anything is possible, from triggering simple one-shot samples to building sophisticated virtual instruments that faithfully reproduce all aspects of their acoustic counterparts and respond intelligently to your performance.
However, this power comes at a price; while you’ll be able to load and play your first KONTAKT
Instruments right away, it will take some more practice to become a master at creating your own
Instruments. We hope this manual will help you achieve this; also, whenever you’re stuck, remember you can get helpful hints from the Info Pane described in section Info Pane.
Building Blocks
The full functional range of KONTAKT’s sampling environment is split up into smaller sections,
which allows you to concentrate on the task currently at hand without getting distracted by other
details. This functional division is also reflected on the user interface; most elements that belong to
a specific kind of task are kept within a separate pane, tab, or dialog window.
In this section, we’ll further distinguish two general types of building blocks: the core blocks, which
are hierarchically organized and make up KONTAKT’s chain of turning MIDI data into sound, and
the tools, which allow you to perform a wide range of peripheral management, configuration, and
monitoring tasks.
5.1. Core Building Blocks
Let’s follow KONTAKT’s path of turning simple audio files into readily playable instrumental setups,
starting from the smallest element and then working our way upwards:
• A Sample is a simple audio file on your hard disk. Samples may occasionally carry additional
metadata, but in their purest form, they don’t provide anything other than a recorded audio signal. An example of a Sample would be the digital recording of a single piano note. Samples
can appear in various formats, such as WAV, AIFF, or REX.
• A Zone is KONTAKT’s way of putting a Sample into a playable context. Think of a Zone as a
wrapper around a single Sample; in addition to the Sample itself, the Zone contains information
about which MIDI data will make KONTAKT trigger this Sample, at what pitch the sample was
recorded, and a few other details. An example of a Zone would be the aforementioned piano
22
KONTAKT: The Big Picture
Sample, with the attached information that it should be played without any transposition whenever KONTAKT receives an F3 note with a velocity value between 64 and 95. As Zones don’t
contain much additional data, they only exist within a larger context and can’t be saved and
loaded separately.
• A Group is a container that allows you to combine a number of Zones. As every Zone belongs
to a Group (and only one), each Instrument will contain at least one Group; usually, you’ll add
several more Groups in order to combine your Zones by means of distinctive aspects — the
aspects you choose are entirely up to you, but there are some common approaches. All Zones
that belong to a specific Group will share a number of common parameters and signal flow
modules; for instance, their Samples will be played by the same sound Source Module. Consequently, if you want some of your Zones played by a Source Module with different settings,
you’ll need to separate them into their own Group first. In the course of this manual, modules
that pertain to a Group are being referred to as “Group-level modules”. A typical example of a
Group would be “all Zones in my Instrument that should be played at mezzoforte level”. Groups
can be saved and loaded separately as files with an .nkg extension.
• An Instrument is the entity you’ll encounter most frequently when you’re working with readymade KONTAKT libraries. As its name suggests, it’s the virtual equivalent of an acoustic instrument — when being played, it produces a specific range of sounds, possibly at different timbres, dynamics, and articulations. Technically, a KONTAKT Instrument is a wrapper for a number of Groups, whose output signals will be mixed and pass a common signal chain; the modules in this chain are said to reside on the “Instrument level”. A typical example of an Instrument would be “a piano”. Instruments can be saved and loaded separately; native KONTAKT
Instrument files have an .nki extension.
• An Instrument Bank is the only optional element of KONTAKT’s core hierarchy; in other
words, you don’t have to use this feature if you don’t want to. Instrument Banks allow you to
combine up to 128 Instruments into a container that responds to a single MIDI input channel;
you can then switch the active Instrument by sending MIDI program change messages on this
channel. This allows you to create General MIDI-compatible sound sets, or combine Instruments that contain various articulations of the same acoustic instrument into one slot. A typical
example of an Instrument Bank would be a number of violin Instruments that contain legato,
detaché, staccato, and pizzicato Samples, respectively, with the different articulations and playing techniques being switchable via program change messages. Instrument Banks can be
saved and loaded separately as files with an .nkb extension.
• Finally, a Multi lets you freely combine up to 64 Instruments into a production setup. The Multi
is the topmost element of KONTAKT’s core hierarchy. Each Instrument in a Multi responds to a
specific MIDI channel and will send its output signal to a specific Output Channel, where the
signals from all Instruments will be mixed and passed on to a physical output of your audio interface or, alternatively, to your host program. A typical example of a Multi would be “a jazz trio
ensemble”. Multis can be loaded and saved as files with an .nkm extension.
5.2. Tools
In addition to its core architecture, KONTAKT offers some tools that will simplify your everyday
work:
• The Browser is located on the left side of your KONTAKT window and can optionally be hidden to save screen space; it provides a convenient way to organize and access all KONTAKTrelevant files on your system, such as Instruments, Multis, or Banks. The Browser pane also
23
KONTAKT: The Big Picture
offers a number of additional utility functions; these will be described in detail in section The
Browser.
• The Rack occupies the largest amount of space in your KONTAKT window; it operates in one
of two different modes. In Multi Instrument mode, the Rack will provide an overview of all Instruments that are currently in your Multi, along with some general parameters. Clicking on the
wrench icon on the left side of an Instrument Header will switch the Rack into Instrument Edit
mode, which provides a flexible and adjustable view of the contained module panels, editors,
and modulation tables of this Instrument.
• The Outputs section is a mixer-style environment in which you can adjust output levels, assign Output Channels to physical outputs, and use signal processing modules that operate on
the output signals of all Instruments in your Multi.
• The virtual On-Screen Keyboard, the Master Editor, the Info Pane and the Options dialog
provide various utility functions and are being explained in detail within their respective sections
of this manual.
24
6. THE KONTAKT WINDOW
Let’s have a look at KONTAKT’s main window during a typical session:
The KONTAKT Window
KONTAKT in action
The user of this session has currently set up a number of Instruments in a way that allows him to
play them via different MIDI channels. Let’s have a look at the visible main elements of the user
interface:
• At the top of the user interface, the Main Control Panel provides options that toggle the display of various optional interface parts, such as the Browser; it also includes the file drop-down
menu and access to the global functions and options, as well as some status meters.
• The Browser (left side of the user interface) provides functions for managing your collection of
KONTAKT-relevant files. In the screenshot, it’s currently switched to the Libraries tab, which
contains easy access to your KONTAKT libraries.
• The Rack, which takes up the largest part of the user interface, is currently in Multi Instrument
mode (Multi Rack); below its own header, it displays a number of Instrument Headers; these
represent all Instruments in the current Multi.
• Within the Multi Rack, the Instrument Headers are shown at normal viewing size; they contain
the Instrument’s name and various parameters, such as MIDI input channel, output level, panning position, and tuning.
• The Outputs section displays a channel strip for each configured Output Channel, plus four
Aux Channels.
25
The KONTAKT Window
• The Info Pane, which displays some details of the currently selected Instrument file below the
Browser, and a brief explanation of the control at the mouse position below the Rack.
• The Status Bar, where messages from running Scripts and, at startup, the Database loading
progress will appear.
Each of these sections is explained in detail within its own section of this manual.
6.1. Stand-alone Menu
In addition to the contents of the main window, the stand-alone version of KONTAKT provides a
system drop-down menu labeled Help. It’s located at the top of the desktop on Mac OS X, or at
the top of the KONTAKT window on Windows. The Help menu lets you launch Native Instruments’
NATIVE ACCESS application, access the additional PDF documents that are part of the KONTAKT installation and explain special topics, and point your web browser to the KONTAKT website.
6.2. The Main Control Panel
The Main Control Panel is the topmost row of elements in your KONTAKT window.
The Main Control Panel
Here you can enable and disable the main parts of the user interface, access various global menus, open the Options dialog, and view statistics about KONTAKT’s overall resource usage.
6.2.1. Files Menu
The Files Menu
This drop-down menu is the first element in the Main Control Panel; it is marked with a disk icon.
The Files menu contains the following functions:
New instrument: Adds a new Instrument to your Multi.
26
The KONTAKT Window
Whenever you create a new Instrument, KONTAKT will use a default Instrument file
as a template, which is usually empty. Overwriting this file with your own version allows you to define your own default settings. For instance, you might want new Instruments to contain a Send Levels module in their Instrument Insert Effects chain
from the get-go; just create a new Instrument, insert the module into its chain, and
choose the “Save as default instrument” command from the Save menu while the instrument is open for editing.
New instrument bank: Adds an empty Instrument Bank to your Multi. Instrument Banks are described in detail in section Loading and Creating Instrument Banks.
Load…: Opens a file selector dialog, asking you to locate and load any object that KONTAKT can
handle, whether it’s an Instrument (file extension: .nki), a Multi (.nkm), or an Instrument Bank
(.nkb).
Load recent…: This sub-menu contains an up-to-date list of files that you recently opened in
KONTAKT. Selecting one will load it.
New instrument from list: This submenu provides access to the contents of your Quick-Load catalog of Instruments as a hierarchical menu structure. Select an entry in order to add the respective
Instrument to your Multi. The Quick-Load catalog is explained in section The Quick-Load Catalog.
New instrument bank from list: Provides access to the contents of your Quick-Load catalog of
Instrument Banks.
Save as…: This function allows you to save any Instrument in your Multi to an .nki file for later reuse. When you move the mouse to this entry, a sub-menu will open, which contains a list of all
Instruments in your current Multi. Selecting one of them will open a Save dialog that lets you
choose a location and change the name of the Instrument. Note that the file name — without
the .nki extension — will be used as the Instrument name that’s being displayed in the Instrument
Header.
The Save Instrument dialog as it appears in Windows 10
Below the file selector, the dialog lets you choose how KONTAKT should handle the Samples that
are being referenced by the Instrument. When you have added these Samples to your Instrument
27
The KONTAKT Window
during your current session, they’re still in their original location, and the Zones in your Instrument
reference them via their full paths; the various options in the save dialog allow you to fine-tune this
behavior before your Instrument is written to disk:
While an Instrument is currently loaded in KONTAKT, never move its referenced
Samples to a different location manually. There’s no guarantee that KONTAKT will
keep all referenced Samples entirely in memory, so trying to save the Instrument
with Samples afterwards can result in corrupted Sample data in such a scenario.
• Patch Only will keep the Samples in their original locations and leaves the file references in
their current state. This creates very small files, as only the Instrument parameters will be
saved. Be aware, though, that this method can keep the relation between the Instrument and
its Samples in a rather fragile state; as soon as you move the Samples to a different location or
delete them, KONTAKT won’t be able to find them the next time you attempt to load the respective Instrument. In such cases, a “Samples Missing” dialog will appear, asking you in which
places KONTAKT should search for the Samples. The “Samples Missing” dialog and its options
are explained in section Loading and Creating Instruments.
• If you enable the Absolute Sample Paths checkbox below the Patch Only option, the Sample
files will be referenced by the Instrument with their absolute paths; this has the benefit that
KONTAKT will still be able to find them when you move the Instrument file to a different location. However, if you know that the Samples already reside in a folder that will always be
moved and backed up along with the destination folder of your Instrument, you can keep the
saved file reference relative to the Instrument location by disabling the Absolute Sample Paths
option.
• Patch + Samples will save the .nki file and copy the contained Samples to a new location,
changing the file references within the Instrument to the copies in the process. If you leave the
Sample Sub-Folder option below set to its Use Default value, KONTAKT will save the Sample
files to a “Samples” folder inside the destination location of your Instrument file; this folder will
be created if it doesn’t exist yet. That way, the Samples will be kept close to the Instrument,
which helps you keeping track of them when doing backups or moving directories. You can also
specify a different Sample location, though; for example, you might want to use a common
“Samples” folder that resides in the directory of your project.
• Monolith will combine the Instrument and its referenced Samples into a single, large file. This
is the safest option to choose in terms of keeping Sample references intact, as the Samples
cannot accidentally get separated from the Instrument later. This is also a good way to create
Instruments that should be distributed to other users of KONTAKT.
Should you choose to save the referenced Samples along with your Instrument data by selecting
either Patch + Samples or Monolith, you further have the choice to save them in a compressed
format by checking the box below the sub-folder field. In this case, KONTAKT will write the Samples using a proprietary, lossless audio codec that typically yields compression rates between 30%
and 50%. This will not only improve access performance when streaming the Instrument from disk,
but will also reduce its memory footprint, as KONTAKT will decompress the Samples on-the-fly
from memory with very little CPU overhead. The downside of using compressed Samples, however, is that you cannot use external wave editors to access them directly anymore.
28
The KONTAKT Window
It’s important to keep track of the ways the Sample and Instrument files on your hard disk relate to
each other; this protects you from unpleasant surprises when you move files around, delete them,
or recover KONTAKT data from a backup.
When you are using KONTAKT as a plug-in inside your host program and save your
session, all Multi and Instrument data will be included in this session file. Sample references will be saved in an absolute fashion, so you might get a “Samples Missing”
dialog when you open the session again after you have moved your Samples. If the
Samples reside below KONTAKT’s library path (which you can specify manually on
the Load / Import tab of the Options dialog), though, the references will be saved
relatively to this folder; this makes it possible to share session files with KONTAKT
instances across platforms. Hence, it’s a good idea to always keep your KONTAKT
libraries somewhere below the folder that you’ve specified as your library folder.
Save multi as…: This saves your current multi to an .nkm file on your hard disk. While the resulting Multi file will contain all Instrument data, KONTAKT will still need to take care of the Samples
that are referenced by the Instruments. Thus, the save dialog offers the same Sample management options as described in the Save as… paragraph above. Saving a multi will also save the
output routing options.
Save as default instrument: This command is only viewable when you are editing an instrument.
It saves the selected Instrument as your default one so whenever you create a new Instrument,
either via the New Instrument command of the Files menu, or by dragging Samples from the
Browser into the Rack, KONTAKT will use this Instrument as a template.
Save as default multi: This command will save your current Multi as a default template that KONTAKT will load at startup or when you choose the Reset Multi command.
Reset multi: This will restore the default Multi that’s loaded at start-up, removing all Instruments
from your current Multi in the process.
Batch re-save: As explained in the paragraph about the Save function, KONTAKT Instruments
that include references to external Sample files can cause problems if either the Instrument or the
Sample files are being moved to a different location. In such cases, you will be presented with a
“Samples Missing” dialog that asks you in which places KONTAKT should look for the missing files
(see Loading and Creating Instruments). While it’s not a big problem to let KONTAKT locate the
Samples of one or two Instruments via this dialog, and then re-save them afterwards in order to
make the changes permanent, the described effect will be worsened by an order of magnitude if it
occurs with a whole library. This can happen if you move the library folder or its contained subfolders around, and makes it very tiresome to access the library, as every attempt of loading an
Instrument will be answered with a “Samples Missing” dialog.
To fix the problem manually, you would have to load each Instrument, locate the missing Sample
files via the “Samples Missing” dialog, and re-save the Instrument to its original location within the
library folder. For large libraries, this is unfeasible. The Batch Re-save function automates this
process; when you select it, a selection dialog will appear, asking you to choose a folder. After
clicking Choose, all Instrument, Multi, and Bank files in this folder and its sub-folders will automatically be scanned for unresolved Sample references; if any are found, the “Samples Missing” dialog
29
The KONTAKT Window
will appear once, allowing you to specify which places should be searched to resolve the references.
As the Batch Re-save process will overwrite the Instrument, Multi, and Bank files
within your selected folder, it’s recommended to make a backup of this folder before
you execute the command.
Once KONTAKT has successfully located the Samples, the affected Instrument, Multi or Bank files
will be re-saved with corrected references, so afterwards, you’ll have a consistent library again.
Collect samples/Batch compress: If you are working with a library of nkis that are referencing
samples in multiple locations, or you wish to compress (or even de-compress) the samples of a
library, this function allows you to compile samples, instruments, banks and multis into a single location.
The Batch Compress dialog
When you select this option, a dialog box will appear. Here you must select a source folder (where
your nki, nkb and nkm files are currently located) and a destination to which you wish to have
these files compiled and copied to.
There are two different folder creation strategies:
One exception: When batch-compressing a source/library folder, if there is an Instrument in the library folder that references a sample outside the source/library folder
(and its subfolders), a "Collected Samples" subfolder will be generated in the destination folder and this sample will be saved there.
30
The KONTAKT Window
• Mirror source folder structure in the destination location: This mode keeps the folder
structure of the source folder when generating the destination folder structure, so there are no
explicit "Instruments" and "Collected Samples" subfolders in the destination folder when using
this mode.
• Collect Samples and create new destination folder structure: In this mode the folder substructure of the target folder will be different from the source folder’s structure: Instrument files
will be saved in an "Instruments" subfolder, while all samples are saved in "Collected Samples". This prevents having to resave the same sample more than once (if it was referenced by
more than one Instrument in the source folder for instance).
Whichever strategy you choose, samples and Instruments in the source folder
will neither be deleted nor updated. Impulse Response samples and wallpapers
of the source Instruments will be resaved as well, but without compression.
• For converting uncompressed samples to lossless compressed .ncw-files select Lossless
compressed NCW.
• For converting compressed .ncw-files back to an uncompressed format select Uncompressed
WAV / AIF.
Note that Batch Compress does not work for copy-protected libraries.
Global purge: The purge mechanism in KONTAKT keeps track of which samples in an instance
have been actually triggered in a session, and gives you the option of removing all other samples
from the Instrument. This way, you can reduce the number of samples that are being kept in memory to the subset that you have actually used in your arrangement.
• Place your mouse over this entry in the Files menu to open a submenu with options for sam-
ple purging and loading.
The Global purge submenu
The Global purge submenu contains four entries:
• Reset markers: Whenever KONTAKT plays a sample in any of your Instruments, it will flag the
respective sample as being used. Using this function, you can delete all of these flags, thereby
resetting all data that KONTAKT has gathered about sample usage so far. After you have fin-
31
The KONTAKT Window
ished your work on a part, you should select this function once and then play your part; this
way, only the notes that have actually made it into the final part will be flagged as used. Afterwards, you can proceed by choosing the Update sample pool function described below.
• Update sample pool: This function removes all samples that are not currently flagged as being used from memory, and reloads any currently purged samples that have been triggered
since the last purge operation. In other words, it brings the sample pool in sync with the sample
usage flags it has gathered since the last purge operation.
• Purge all samples: Unloads all samples from RAM. This allows you to reverse the usual purge
process: you can play your arrangement in a “silent run”, and then load only the Samples that
are actually being used via the Update sample pool command afterwards.
• Reload all samples: Reloads all Samples, reverting any previous purge actions.
You can also purge samples per Instrument using the Purge menu in the Instrument
Header. See Purge Menu for more information.
6.2.2. Workspace Menu
The third element in the Main Control Panel is a menu that allows you to choose which key elements of the KONTAKT interface should be displayed.
The Workspace Menu
Here are the available options in the Workspace Menu:
• Browser: Click this option to show or hide the Browser at the left side of the KONTAKT window. You can read all about the Browser in section The Browser.
• Master: This option will show or hide a panel with a number of global parameters and common
utility functions. This feature is explained in The Master Editor.
• Info: This option toggles the visibility of the Info Pane, which will appear at the bottom of the
window. It displays information about the currently selected file (if the Browser is active) and
the user interface element at which your mouse is currently pointing.
• Outputs: This option will show or hide KONTAKT’s Outputs section, which is explained in detail
within section The Outputs Section.
• Keyboard: Shows or hides the virtual On-Screen Keyboard, which allows you to generate note
and controller events, and indicates where Zones and keyswitches of your currently selected
Instrument are placed. The On-Screen Keyboard is explained in section The On-Screen Key-
board.
• Quickload: Toggles the visibility of the Quick-Load menu, which is a user-defined browser for
quick access to your favorite KONTAKT related files. It is further described in section The
Quick-Load Catalog.
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The KONTAKT Window
6.2.3. Minimized View
• Click the Minimized View button to collapse the KONTAKT window.
Clicking on the rightmost button in the Main Control Panel will reduce your KONTAKT window to
the header of the currently selected Instrument and, if it provides one, its Performance View. This
makes for a convenient way to save screen space in scenarios where you’re using KONTAKT as a
sample player only.
A KONTAKT Instrument in Minimized view
Above the Instrument Header, a the Main Control Panel remains mostly unchanged, however the
contents of the Workspace Menu has been reduced to just the Keyboard and Quickload options.
• Click the Minimized View button again to return to the full KONTAKT workspace.
6.2.4. System Performance Meters
In the upper right section of the Main Control Panel, you’ll find a number of system meters that are
being continually updated during operation.
Voice count, memory, CPU, and disk meters
The value next to the notes icon indicates the total number of voices that are currently being
played (this is also known as the Voice Count).
Below, the total amount of allocated Sample memory is displayed; this figure will be much smaller
when you’re using DFD Instruments.
The values to the right show the current CPU and disk load as percentage values. These provide
immediate visual feedback on whether you’re close to maxing out your computer’s capabilities.
To the right of the CPU and Disk meters is an exclamation point (!). This is the Restart button and
can be used if KONTAKT is suffering from hanging voices (i.e. stuck notes) or persistent CPU
overloads. Clicking this button will reinitialize KONTAKT’s audio engine, including all the instruments that are currently loaded. Essentially this button is a soft reset, returning all values to their
starting positions, but without closing and reloading everything.
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6.3. Options Dialog
The Options dialog
The KONTAKT Window
Clicking on the gear icon in the Main Control Panel will open the Options dialog. This is where you
can configure KONTAKT’s global program preferences, such as interface behavior, audio engine
parameters, and import options. Preferences are divided into several categories, which you can
access with the tabs on the left side of the Options dialog.
6.3.1. Interface Tab
Interface tab of the Options dialog
This page contains options that change the look and behavior of KONTAKT’s user interface.
Reset Size: If KONTAKT’s interface becomes too large and you can no longer access the resizing
handle to the bottom right of KONTAKT’s window, you can use this button to reset KONTAKT’s
window size.
34
The KONTAKT Window
Show mapping and keyswitches on keyboard: If enabled, KONTAKT’s virtual On-Screen Key-
board will highlight keys that trigger zones or keyswitches in your currently selected Instrument
with different colors. By default, keys that trigger zones are colored blue and those that trigger keyswitches are colored red, however some libraries may deviate from this convention.
Auto-refresh browser: When enabled, the Browser will periodically check your file system for
changes and pick them up by itself, without requiring you to refresh it manually.
Info Pane Language: KONTAKT can display hints in the Info Pane help area in English, German,
French, Spanish or Japanese. You can select one of these languages from the Language dropdown list. If you select Automatic, KONTAKT will use your operating system’s language settings,
unless it is unsupported, in which case KONTAKT will use English.
Suppress drawing of unselected groups in mapping editor: When active, KONTAKT will not
display the zones of unselected groups in the Mapping Editor.
6.3.2. Engine Tab
Engine tab of the Options dialog
Default Volume for new instrument and volume reset: This value will be used as a default output volume for new and imported Instruments. Also, it’s the value to which the output volume slider
will snap when you [Ctrl]/[Cmd] + click it.
CPU overload protection: High voice counts can make the audio engine overload your CPU during operation; in such cases, the engine can choke and be rendered unusable until you restart it
manually via the Restart Engine button in the Engine sub-tab of the Expert tab in the Browser.
This scenario can be avoided with the overload protection mechanism, which allows KONTAKT to
kill voices when the CPU load gets critical. The Relaxed, Medium, and Strict settings affect how
cautious KONTAKT will be about this. Relaxed will not start killing voices until the CPU is very
close to overloading, and thus will give you the highest voice count while still providing some protection against overloading; if the CPU load is still too high, try one of the stricter settings.
Multiprocessor support: KONTAKT can make use of multiple CPUs or multi-core processors. To
switch multi-processor support on and off and to set the number of processors / cores you want to
use for KONTAKT, select the corresponding entry from the Multiprocessor support menu. Multiprocessor settings are saved independently for a) the stand-alone and b) all plug-in versions. On
35
The KONTAKT Window
multi-processor or multi-core systems, many factors influence the system’s behavior. When running KONTAKT as a plug-in, multi-processor mode can sometimes cause crackles and drop-outs.
Whether or not these noises occur during playback strongly depends on your individual software
and hardware setup. Therefore, the only option is to test which multi-processor setting works best
for you when using the KONTAKT plug-in. Note that multi-processor support is disabled for the
KONTAKT plug-in per default (off entry in the Multiprocessor Support menu).
For stand-alone usage, we generally recommend turning multi-processor support on. Use the
above setting in the Engine tab of the Options dialog to enable multi-processor support according
to the number of processors or cores installed.
Send MIDI to outside world: This drop-down menu allows you to choose which classes of MIDI
events will be sent to KONTAKT’s MIDI output ports. All menu entries will be toggled between on
(indicated with a small diamond next to the entry) and off state when you click them. The available
event classes are:
• GUI keyboard: MIDI events that are generated when you click on KONTAKT’s virtual OnScreen Keyboard.
• script generated CC’s: MIDI controller events that originate from running Scripts.
• script generated notes: Note-on and note-off events that originate from running Scripts.
• incoming CC’s: This will mirror incoming MIDI controller events at the MIDI output.
• incoming notes: Mirrors incoming MIDI note events at the MIDI output.
Offline Interpolation Quality: This option allows you to specify an interpolation quality setting for
offline bouncing and freezing that’s different from the one specified in the Source Modules of your
Instruments. For instance, you might want to keep your Source Modules set to standard in order
to save CPU resources during arrangement, but switch to perfect for bounces to get the best possible quality during mixdown. The default setting is likerealtime, which will use each Source Module’s HQI setting during offline operation.
6.3.3. Handling Tab
Handling tab of the Options dialog
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The KONTAKT Window
Use computer keyboard for MIDI playback: When enabled, you can use your computer key-
board to trigger MIDI notes for the currently selected Instrument. The QWERTZ/QWERTY row of
letters will play the middle octave.
Keyboard Velocity: Adjusts the velocity of notes that are triggered via your computer keyboard.
Solo Mode: This setting determines what KONTAKT will do when you attempt to activate the Solo
button on more than one Instrument. In Place will only allow one solo Instrument at any time, so
any other one will be muted; Latch will let you switch more than one Instrument into solo mode.
Browser: Double-click loads instrument: If enabled, you can add Instruments from the Browser
into the Rack by double-clicking on their names.
Browser: Show files before folders: This determines the order in which files and folders will be
listed in the lower pane of the Browser.
Default root-key for new zones: When you create Zones out of Samples that don’t have any embedded information about their pitch, the Zones will be generated with the root key specified here.
MIDI channel assignment for loaded patches: This drop-down menu lets you switch between
two different modes that affect in which way KONTAKT will assign MIDI channels to newly added
Instruments:
• Assign 1st Free is the default behavior and will assign the smallest possible MIDI port that
hasn’t been used yet (if available)
• Assign to Omni was the standard behavior of KONTAKT 1 and will always assign loaded Instruments to Omni (thus making them respond to all input ports).
• The additional Keep Channels from K1.x Patches toggle option lets you specify whether
KONTAKT should use the MIDI channel embedded in KONTAKT 1 patches (later versions
don’t save MIDI assignments in Instrument files anymore, only in Multi files).
Enable undo: Selecting this option enables the ability to undo actions. However, this can be quite
resource intensive, especially with larger instruments, which is why it is unselected by default.
External wave editor: This setting lets you specify your own preferred sample editor. When you
click the Ext. Editor button in the Wave Editor, KONTAKT will start the specified editor with the
current sample, and automatically pick up the changes when you save the Sample within that editor.
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6.3.4. Usage Data
The Usage Data tab of the Options dialog
The KONTAKT Window
KONTAKT collects anonymous data regarding your usage of the software in order to better inform
future updates. This helps the developers see which functions are used most or least often, and
how users tend to access certain functions. Sending this data to Native Instruments will help make
future versions of KONTAKT better, but the choice of whether or not you want to share this information with Native Instruments is yours.
• If you wish to opt out of the anonymous data tracking, select the No, I don’t want to contrib-
ute option.
• If you wish to help future KONTAKT updates, select Yes, enable using data tracking.
Data Being Tracked
The following data will be transmitted by Usage Data Tracking:
• System profile (operating system, audio drivers, and things like that)
• Current location (country and city)
• Data about your interaction with the software (e.g. actions you perform or audio interfaces you
connect)
Data Not Being Tracked
The following data will not be gathered by Usage Data Tracking:
• Personal data (Name, email address, payment details, serial numbers, etc.)
• User content (file names being referenced, samples, songs, tags, comments, mappings etc.)
• Any user activity outside of the NI application
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6.3.5. Load / Import Tab
Load / Import tab of the Options dialog
The KONTAKT Window
Show "Replace Multi" dialog: When enabled, KONTAKT will display a warning dialog window to
check if, when you load a multi, you are sure you want to discard the current multi. When disabled,
KONTAKT will not make this check and replace the current multi instantly.
Load samples in background: When enabled, KONTAKT can load post 4.1 instruments with
background loading. This feature is useful for instruments that use a large amount of samples and
take a long time to load fully. With background loading active, KONTAKT will display the instrument’s interface and become playable as soon as possible, though certain keys may not sound
immediately if the samples have yet to be loaded into memory.
Convert 3rd party samples to WAV when saving: If enabled, KONTAKT will always save REX
Samples used by third-party Instruments, in WAV format; otherwise, they will be saved in their native format.
Unwind automation IDs for additionally loaded patches: When enabled, KONTAKT will re-assign automation IDs of newly loaded Instruments if there’s already an Instrument in your Multi that
uses the same IDs. As an example, suppose you would like to add an Instrument twice to your
Multi, which uses automation IDs 0 through 9; if this option is enabled, KONTAKT will change the
assigned IDs of the second Instrument to 10-19 on load, provided that these IDs have not been
used by other Instruments in your Multi yet.
Force-load pre-2.0 patches in DFD mode: Since the DFD (Direct From Disk) mode was introduced with the KONTAKT 2.0 release, older libraries don’t make use of it; if this option is enabled,
KONTAKT 1.x Instruments will be loaded with their Source Modules set to DFD mode by default,
thus making larger libraries benefit from the significantly reduced memory footprint. Note, though,
that the DFD mode doesn’t provide all features of the Sampler mode; if your KONTAKT 1.x Instruments use any of these features, enabling this option might change their behavior.
Limit file names to 31 characters: When enabled, KONTAKT will restrict all file names to 31
characters during import runs. This can be helpful in certain cross-platform scenarios, as some
older file systems only support filenames up to this length.
Import keyswitched sources into separate instruments: If this option is enabled and KONTAKT
encounters any keyswitches when importing third-party REX files, it will split the patch in question
39
The KONTAKT Window
into several Instruments, each of which will contain the Groups that were assigned to a single key
in the source patch.
Write absolute paths instead of relative paths: When enabled, KONTAKT will use absolute
Sample references for Instruments that are being converted via the Import button in the File
Browser. Absolute paths ensure that Sample references will be kept intact when you move the Instrument file to a different location later. Note that this option only affects the operation of the Im-
port button; when you manually save Instruments or Multis, you’ll be specifically asked whether
absolute or relative paths shall be used.
Browser Import: Destination file format: When converting Sample data via the Import button in
the File Browser, KONTAKT will save Samples in the format specified here.
6.3.6. Libraries Tab
The Libraries tab of the Options dialog
The Libraries tab in the Options dialog allows you to define which of your libraries appear in the
Libraries tab of the Browser.
The main area contains a list of all libraries installed on your computer. By default, all installed libraries have an entry in the Libraries tab of the Browser.
• If you want to hide a library from the Libraries tab of the Browser without uninstalling it from
your computer, uncheck its entry in the list.
• If you want to show a hidden library in the Libraries tab of the Browser, check its entry in the
list.
See The Browser for more information on the Library Browser.
You can also open NATIVE ACCESS from the Libraries tab by clicking on the Launch Native Ac-
cess button. NATIVE ACCESS allows you to add a new library by entering its serial number or
install any available updates for existing libraries.
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6.3.7. Memory Tab
The Memory tab of the Options Dialog
The KONTAKT Window
On the Memory tab, you can optimize KONTAKT’s memory usage settings for your specific computer configuration.
Override Instrument’s preload size: If enabled, KONTAKT will ignore the preload buffer size
that’s embedded in Instrument files since KONTAKT 2, and use the specified buffer size instead.
We recommend leaving the preload buffer size on default value. Memory improvements might be
possible by moving the slider to the lowest setting possible without experiencing playback errors.
KONTAKT Memory Server Options (Mac OS X only)
Mac OS X cannot address more than 4 GB of RAM (up to 3.5 GB supported) per application. If
you are running KONTAKT on a 32-bit Mac, you are able to access more than 4 GB RAM with
KONTAKT Memory Server (KMS).
Using KMS is only recommended when working with very large numbers of samples
which require more physical memory than one KONTAKT instance can access. Do
not enable KONTAKT Memory Server if it is not absolutely necessary.
In order to use KMS on your computer, Mac OS X needs to be installed, and at least 4 GB of physical RAM must be available. Using KMS also requires administrator privileges, so make sure you
are logged in as an administrator. KONTAKT will detect the Mac OS X version and the amount of
RAM present on your computer automatically. Subsequently, it will display an option to enable advanced memory access.
41
The KONTAKT Window
The Memory tab on OS X
After activating KMS you need to restart KONTAKT for the changes to take effect.
KONTAKT will automatically set the size of accessible RAM to a value suitable for most cases.
You can find the amount of determined accessible RAM in the KMS Options dialog.
KONTAKT Memory Server is a separate application running in background. KONTAKT no longer
loads samples itself as long as the KMS option is enabled. All running KONTAKT instances share
the KONTAKT Memory Server and can access the samples loaded. The KONTAKT Memory Server will boot automatically as soon as you start a KONTAKT instance.
The KMS utility appears in the Mac OS X system bar, so you can monitor the amount of RAM used
by the server process. CPU and RAM requirements of KMS utility itself are negligible. Note that
there is no option to shut down the KMS utility in Manual mode.
Memory Server Modes
Memory tab with Memory Server mode options
• Automatic: In Automatic mode the KMS will keep all samples currently used by KONTAKT instances stored. If an Instrument is removed from KONTAKT’s rack, samples that are no longer
42
The KONTAKT Window
needed will be also removed from the Memory Server’s sample pool. The KMS will automatically shut down when all KONTAKT instances are closed.
• Manual: In Manual mode the KONTAKT Memory Server does not remove samples from the
server when an instrument is removed from KONTAKT’s rack or when all KONTAKT instances
are closed. All samples stay in the memory as long as it is running. This can be helpful, e.g.
when re-opening a project in your host sequencer which is using KONTAKT as plug-in and
when working with extensive templates of numerous instruments. Loading times are significantly shorter, since the samples are already stored in RAM and do not need to be loaded again.
The KMS Utility in the Mac OS X system menu bar
Managing the KONTAKT Memory Server
The KONTAKT Memory Server is managed via the KMS utility, which allows you to manually purge
unused samples if you want to free memory. If you are running out of memory when loading additional Instruments, the server will automatically start to purge samples that are not referenced by
any loaded Instrument.
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The Rack Multi Instrument Mode
7. THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE
The Rack is the place in which your mouse pointer will spend the most time when you’re working
with KONTAKT. It operates in one of two modes: the Multi Instrument mode lets you view and edit
your Multi and the performance views of the Instruments in it, while the Instrument Edit mode lets
you edit the inner workings of a single Instrument. Let’s take a closer look at the first one.
When you start KONTAKT, the Rack will be in Multi Instrument mode. In this mode, any Instrument
in your Multi will be shown as a horizontal Instrument Header, which contains the Instrument name
and some controls for general parameters. Your Multi can contain up to 64 Instruments, which will
be spread across 4 pages of up to 16 Instruments each.
7.1. Multi Instrument Header
At the top of the Rack section, you’ll notice a header that contains a name field and some buttons;
this header is always visible as long as the Rack is in Multi Instrument mode.
The Multi Instrument Header
The Rack header in Multi Instrument mode allows you to manage your Multi, switch between the
four Multi pages, toggle the visibility of the Multi-Script editor, show or hide Aux send controls, and
resize all Instrument Headers.
At its left side, a text field contains the name of your currently loaded Multi; if you have just started
KONTAKT, this will read New (default), as this is the default Multi file that will be loaded on startup. To change the name, just click it and enter a new one. The left and right arrow buttons will
replace your Multi with the previous or next one from the same directory, if there are any.
Next to the Multi name field are four page buttons which allow you to switch between the four Instrument pages.
Each Multi can contain up to 64 Instruments, arranged across four pages of 16 Instruments each
You can use these pages for keeping your Instruments in separate categories when your Multi is
very large, or you can just switch to the next page when the 16 available Instrument slots of your
current one are occupied.
Another option is to assign all Instruments on a page to channels of the same MIDI port; if you
have four ports at your disposal, this method lets you easily keep track of your MIDI assignments
in large Multis. Of course, nothing keeps you from assigning several Instruments to the same MIDI
channel — this is a quick way of creating layered sounds.
The Multi Workspace Buttons
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The Rack Multi Instrument Mode
Beside the Instrument Page buttons are three buttons that alter the workspace in some way, displaying or hiding certain controls, or minimizing all instruments at once.
• The KSP button next to the page buttons toggles the visibility of a global Script Editor pane;
here you can create, edit and manage Multi Scripts, which operate on a higher level than normal Instrument Scripts, but work the same otherwise. Multi scripts are explained in section The
Script Editor.
• The next button, labeled Aux, toggles the display of a row of Aux send controls that let you
control the signal level at which each Instrument is routed to the Aux Channels, which are explained in section Working with Aux Channels.
• The last button toggles all Instrument Headers in your multi between their minimized and maximized size. At their normal size, Instrument Headers contain more information, but also occupy
more screen space — if you’re not planning to adjust any Instrument parameters and would
like to see an overview of all Instruments on a page, just switch all Instrument Headers to their
minimized view.
7.2. Instrument Header
Whenever you create a new Instrument, it will appear in the Rack as an Instrument Header.
An Instrument Header at its normal display size
Each Instrument Header can be optionally reduced in size; the header shown here is set to its normal size. In this mode, it displays parameters that describe how the Instrument will work in the
context of the current Multi; also, it provides some controls that allow you to adjust parameters like
the Instrument’s output volume, its panning position, or its mute status. Here’s a run-down of the
controls:
• Edit button: This is the button with a wrench symbol on it. For locked instruments, this will be
replaced by a cog. If you click this button, the Rack will switch into Instrument Edit mode, and
you will be able to edit the Instrument on its core level. The same button in Instrument Edit
mode will return to the Multi Instrument view.
• Instrument Icon: Located below the Edit button. KONTAKT Instrument creators can choose
from a range of icons that indicate the general category of their creation. Some libraries will also use custom icons. Clicking this icon will toggle the Instrument’s Performance View on or off
(if the Instrument has one).
• Quick-Loadmenu: The dropdown menu to the left of the instrument name gives access to your
Quick-Load Browser.
• Instrument Name: This field contains the name of your Instrument. You can edit the name by
clicking on it and entering a new one. Note that the name displayed here will be identical to the
file name (without the .nki extension) when you load and save the Instrument.
• Previous / Next buttons: The left/right arrow button to the right of the instrument name will
exchange the Instrument with the previous or next one from the same directory, respectively.
The exchange will be done in place, so the new Instrument will occupy the same slot.
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The Rack Multi Instrument Mode
• Output Channel: This field displays the currently selected Output Channel that will receive the
output signal from this Instrument. Clicking on the channel name will open a drop-down menu
with all currently defined Output Channels; this way, you can assign the Instrument to a different channel.
• MIDI Channel: This field indicates the currently assigned MIDI input channel that the Instrument will respond to. Clicking on it will open a drop-down menu that allows you to select a new
MIDI channel for this Instrument. The Omni setting will make it respond to MIDI data on any
channel; below it, the available ports of your MIDI interface will appear as sub-menus, each
one containing the 16 channels of the respective ports. Note that the maximum number of distinct MIDI channels that you can use is 64 in the stand-alone version of KONTAKT, and 16
when using KONTAKT as a plug-in.
• Voices: This number indicates how many voices are currently being used by the Instrument.
• Max Voices: This is the maximum number of voices that the Instrument may use at any time.
You can change this value by clicking on it, then dragging your mouse up or down. If you notice
that the number of currently used voices rises to the Max Voices value during play and you
hear that voices are being cut off, try increasing this value.
• Purge: This button opens a drop-down menu that lets you execute the functions related to
KONTAKT’s purge mechanism on a per-instrument basis. The purge facility is explained in section Purge Menu.
• Memory: This value indicates how much system memory is currently being used by the Sample data of this Instrument.
• Solo button: When you click this button, all other Instruments in your Multi will be muted, so
that you can hear its output signal in isolation. How KONTAKT will handle multiple Solo selections depends on the setting of the Solo Mode option, which is explained in section Handling
Tab.
• Mute button: This will mute the current Instrument, thus temporarily removing its output signal
from the Output Channel.
• Tune: Moving this knob clockwise or anti-clockwise will change the pitch of this Instrument up
or down, respectively. The control covers a range of +/- 3 octaves and will move in semitone
steps unless you hold the [Shift] key while moving it, which lets you make finer adjustments.
• Pan: This slider adjusts the panorama position of the Instrument’s output signal.
• Level Meters: These LED-style bar graph meters indicate the current output levels across all
channels of this Instrument.
• Volume: This slider adjusts the output volume of this Instrument. You can choose whether the
default value of Volume sliders will be -6 dB or 0 dB in the Options dialog.
• Remove Instrument: Clicking on the “X” button in the upper right corner of an Instrument
Header will remove the respective Instrument from your Multi.
• Minimize View: When you click this button, this Instrument Header will be minimized in size.
This allows you to adjust the display sizes of headers individually.
• Aux: Clicking on this button will show and hide the row of Aux send sliders below this Instrument Header.
• PV: If the Instrument provides a Performance View panel, this button will toggle its visibility.
You can read all about the Performance View feature in section Performance View of this manual.
46
The Rack Multi Instrument Mode
7.3. Purge Menu
The purge mechanism in KONTAKT keeps track of which Samples in an Instrument have been actually triggered since the Instrument was loaded, and gives you the option of removing all other
Samples from the Instrument. This way, you can reduce the number of Samples that are being
kept in memory to the subset that you have actually used in your arrangement.
Consider this example: You’re working on a large orchestra piece and have just finished the cello
part. The cello Instrument in your Multi covers the note range between C1 and G4 in chromatic
steps, with five velocity Zones per note; in other words, it’s huge. Your cello part, on the other
hand, consists of alternating C2 and G1 quarter notes. Clearly, there’s a lot of memory waste going
on. Using the purge facility, you can play your part once — this will allow KONTAKT to gather
which Samples are actually being used — and then eliminate all unused Samples from the memory. Your Instrument will work as it did before, but notes or velocity ranges that didn’t occur during
the analyzing phase won’t play anymore. If you change your mind later, you can reload all Samples with one mouse click.
Using purge functions like this can cause problems with instruments that randomly
trigger samples, or use round robin options. Check the library specification before
you use these options.
A purge menu is available for each Instrument; this way, you can use the purge feature on Instruments whose parts are already finished, while keeping others that are still in active use loaded in
their entirety.
The Purge Menu
You can access the local purge menu of an Instrument at the right side of the Instrument Header.
Let’s take a look at each of the functions:
• reset markers: Whenever KONTAKT plays a Zone in your Instrument, it will flag the respective
Sample as being used. Using this function, you can delete all of these flags, thereby resetting
all data that KONTAKT has gathered about Sample usage so far. After you have finished your
work on a part, you should select this function once and then play your part; this way, only the
notes that have actually made it into the final part will be flagged as used. Afterwards, you can
proceed by choosing the Update Sample Pool function described below.
• update sample pool: This function removes all Samples that are not currently flagged as being used from memory, and reloads any currently purged Samples that have been triggered
since the last purge operation. In other words, it brings the sample pool in sync with the Sample usage flags it has gathered since the last purge operation.
47
The Rack Multi Instrument Mode
• purge all samples: Unloads all Samples from RAM. This allows you to reverse the usual
purge process: you can play your arrangement in a “silent run”, and then load only the Samples
that are actually being used via the Update Sample Pool command afterwards.
• reload all samples: Reloads all Samples, reverting any previous purge actions.
7.4. Instrument Header (Minimized)
If you want to save screen space, you can switch all (or a selection of individual) Instrument Headers to a minimized view, which contains only the most important parameters and controls.
An Instrument Header at its minimized display size
In this mode, the Instrument Header includes only the Edit button, the Instrument Name field, Solo
and Mute buttons, Output Volume and Pan sliders, Level Meters, and buttons for removing this
Instrument from your Multi and switching the header back to its normal size. For an explanation of
what each control does, refer to the previous section about the Instrument Header.
7.5. Performance View
Using KONTAKT’s internal scripting language, Instruments can provide custom control panels,
called Performance Views. The idea behind this feature is that it makes Instrument-specific settings available in a user-friendly way that doesn’t require the user to switch into Instrument Edit
mode. For example, a funky guitar Instrument might provide a Performance View that lets you
tweak its effects, like a wah-wah filter or a guitar amp simulation. The main advantage of this approach is that Performance Views appear below the Instrument Header in the Rack; you don’t
need to switch to Instrument Edit mode to locate the important sound and performance parameters. All Instruments included in the KONTAKT library provide Performance Views.
If an Instrument provides a Performance View, its custom panel will appear below the Instrument
Header in the rack.
48
The Rack Multi Instrument Mode
As you can see, this feature can be used to build highly customizable user interfaces; in this example, the Performance View has a custom control set and a row of tabs at the bottom, which let the
user switch between different control pages.
Note that Performance Views appear only below Instrument Headers at normal size,
not below minimized headers. Also, you can turn control panels of Scripts in your Instrument into Performance Views yourself; this process is explained in section Edit-
ing and Saving a Script of this manual.
49
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
8. THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE
Whenever you edit an Instrument, the Rack will switch into Instrument Edit mode. In this mode, all
other Instrument Headers will no longer be visible. You can still access them via the Instrument
Navigator pane of the Browse, which is explained in more detail in section Instrument Navigator
Pane. Instead, the whole Rack space will be dedicated to the editors, control panels, and modula-
tion tables of your selected Instrument.
• To edit an Instrument, click the wrench icon of its Instrument Header when the Rack is in
Multi Instrument mode.
At the top of the Rack pane, you’ll notice that switching to Instrument Edit mode has also changed
the header.
The Rack header in Instrument Edit mode
When in Instrument edit mode, the Rack header allows you to manage your Groups, Undo or Redo your most recent actions, save the Instrument, or switch the edit view to the previous or next
Instrument in your Multi
From left to right, here’s what these elements do:
• Exit button: Clicking on this button will “fold in” the Instrument and return to the Multi Instrument view.
• Displayed Group: This field indicates the name of the Group whose parameters are currently
being displayed by the Group level modules. When you click it, a drop-down menu that contains all Groups in your Instrument will appear. Choosing one of these Groups will select it for
display and editing.
• Edited Groups: This field indicates whether parameter adjustments on the Group level will affect just one or multiple Groups. If it reads Group, any parameter changes will only affect the
current Group; Multi indicates that multiple Groups are currently selected for editing, and All
warns you that all Groups of your Instrument are currently selected for editing.
• Edit All Groups button: This button toggles the selection of all Groups for editing. It does the
same as the Edit All Groups button in the upper left corner of the Group Editor.
• Undo button: When you click the circled arrow of this button, your last action will be undone.
As KONTAKT keeps a log of your actions, you can revert more than one action to return to a
specific point in your editing history. Clicking on the small down arrow icon at the right of this
button will open your edit history in a dialog window; selecting an action will take you back to
this point in your edit history. Note that the Undo and Redo facilities are only available when
you’re working in Instrument Edit mode. To enable the Undo function, open the Handling tab in
Global Options and select the Enableundo option.
• Redo button: If you reverted one or more actions via the Undo button and change your mind,
you can restore parts of your changes by clicking on the circled arrow of the Redo button. Note
that you have to do this right after using the Undo function; if you perform any other actions
after using Undo, your edit history cannot be restored. Just like the Undo button, the Redo
button will open a history list dialog when you click the small down arrow at its right side.
50
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
• Quick-Save: This button saves your Instrument in its current state; if you haven’t saved it before, a “Save” dialog will appear, otherwise KONTAKT will overwrite the last version right away.
Use this button generously when you’re in the middle of complex editing tasks; this way, you
can always revert to the last saved version if something goes wrong.
• Previous / Next Instrument buttons: Clicking on these buttons will switch the Instrument Edit
view to the previous or next Instrument in your Multi.
Below its own header, the Rack displays the Instrument Header of your edited Instrument (this is
identical to the one that’s being displayed in Multi Instrument mode), a row of buttons that will
show and hide editors for various aspects of your Instrument, and a flexible vertical view in which
you can access all editors, modulation and routing tables, control panels, and signal processing
chains of your Instrument. The four sections at the bottom of the Rack — labeled Buses, Insert
Effects, Send Effects, and Modulation — can be optionally hidden from view by clicking the button next to their titles. When you choose to show all details, the Instrument Edit view of a full-sized,
complex Instrument might look similar to this:
51
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
Instrument Edit rack, with all editors and panels open
If you find this a little intimidating, don’t worry; you don’t have to know every panel inside out before you can create useful Instruments or edit existing ones. Just conquer the interface one step at
a time and refer to this manual and the Info Pane whenever you’re not sure what a specific knob,
button or menu does; this way, you’ll get the hang of how to get the most out of KONTAKT sooner
than you might think.
52
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
Let’s take a look at what each panel does. All interface elements will be explained in detail within
the respective chapters of this manual.
• Instrument Header: This is the same header that is displayed when the Rack is in Multi Instrument mode. You can switch back to the Multi Instrument mode by clicking on the wrench icon.
• Editor Buttons: These buttons toggle the display of various editor panels in the Instrument Edit view. The Mapping Editor and Wave Editor buttons have an arrow icon on their right sides;
clicking on this when you’re running KONTAKT in stand-alone mode will open the respective
editor in a separate window. The leftmost button, labeled Instrument Options, is special and
will be explained below.
• Script Editor (visible if the Script Editor button is enabled): In this editor, you can load Scripts,
access their user interfaces, and edit their source code.
• Group Editor (visible if the Group Editor button is enabled): This is where you select, edit,
and manage the Groups in your Instrument.
• Mapping Editor (visible if the MappingEditor button is enabled): This editor lets you add
Samples to your Instrument, map them to the keyboard, assign them to velocity ranges, and
manage the Zones in your Instrument.
• Wave Editor (visible if the WaveEditor button is enabled): This is where you work on the Sample level to create loops, define Slice markers for rhythmic Samples, create Zone Envelopes,
and perform destructive audio editing operations.
• Source Module: This core module takes care of the Sample playback mode for the Group.
• Source Modulation Router: In this table, you can define modulation assignments, which
change parameters of the source module over time in a variety of different ways.
• Group InsertEffects: This chain consists of 8 slots, each of which can take up a signal processing module. Each Group has its own Insert Effects chain, which will operate polyphonically
(i.e. on the signal of each voice that originates in this Group separately).
• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the chain module above is enabled):
This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in the Group Insert Effects
chain.
• Amplifier Module: This module will shape the volume, pan, and phase of the source signals in
each Group.
• Modulation Router (visible if the ChannelRouting button on the Amplifier panel is enabled):
This matrix allows you to configure the signal handover between the Group and Instrument signal flow level.
• Instrument Bus Effects Chain: In this area you can apply different effect chains to up to 16
different buses. Buses can be used to apply effect chains to different collections of Groups. In
the same way a Group processes a collection of Zones, a Bus will process a collection of
Groups (however Bus level effects are not polyphonic and cannot have modulation assignments like Group level effects).
• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the chain module above is enabled):
This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in the Instrument Bus Effects
chain.
• Instrument Insert Effects chain: This chain could be considered the master effects of the instrument, affecting all signals that pass through the instrument’s main output.
53
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the chain module above is enabled):
This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in the Instrument Insert Effects
chain.
• Send Effects Slots: These slots take up signal processing modules which act as send effects;
they can be fed individually with signals from various points of the signal flow. They are routed
in parallel to each other and to the Insert Effects chain.
• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the Send Effects slots module above
is enabled): This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in one of the Send
Effects slots.
• Modulation Sources: This section contains a panel for each modulation source that you have
defined in the displayed Group.
8.1. Instrument Options Dialog
When you click on the leftmost button below the Instrument Header while editing an Instrument,
the Instrument Options dialog will appear. It allows you to adjust parameters that affect this Instrument’s playback behavior, MIDI response, and appearance in the Rack. The Instrument Op-
tions are divided into four categories; you can access these by clicking on the respective tabs on
the left side of the dialog window.
8.1.1. Instrument Tab
The Instrument tab of the Instrument Options
The Instrument tab of the Instrument Options dialog contains general options that affect the playing behavior of the respective Instrument.
• Key Switch default Key: If you have defined any keyswitches for your Instrument, this value
specifies the default switch that will be active right after the Instrument has been loaded.
• MIDI Transpose: This parameter allows you to apply a transposition offset to all incoming MIDI
notes. In contrast to the Tune knob in the Instrument Header, which alters the pitch of the sam-
ple playback, this value will change the MIDI notes only; for instance, a setting of 12 will have
the same effect as playing an octave higher.
• Key Range: The keyboard range to which this Instrument will respond. Setting this parameter
to different ranges across multiple Instruments is a quick way to create keyboard splits.
• Velocity Range: Limits the velocity range to which this Instrument will respond.
54
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
• Instrument Wallpaper: To give your Instruments a distinctive appearance in the Rack, you can
create your own skins. This parameter lets you choose an image file in TGA or PNG format
that will be used instead of the default panel background of the Instrument Header at its normal
size. The image needs to have a color depth of 16, 24, or 32 bits and should be 633 pixels
wide — larger widths will be cut off, smaller widths will be filled with black. We have included
some sample skins in the KONTAKT installation.
After you have added a skin to your Instrument, we recommend that you save it once with samples; this will put the skin image file into a “wallpaper” sub-folder inside the Instrument’s sample
folder.
• Resource Container: Now that KONTAKT libraries can link to many different types of files, the
Resource Container was designed as a tool for library developers to help them keep all of
these files in a convenient location. In this area you can Create a Resource Container, or attach an nki to an existing one via the browse button.
8.1.2. Voices Handling Tab
The Voices tab of the Instrument Options
Voice Stealing
This section contains options for setting how the instrument should react when it starts to exceed
its voice limit.
• Mode: This sets the default way in which KONTAKT will free up voices when the Instrument’s
maximum voice count has been reached. These options are explained in section Voice Groups.
• Fadeout Time: When KONTAKT has to recycle a voice, it won’t just cut it off abruptly, but apply
a short fade-out; this eliminates clicking noises. This parameter adjusts the length of the fadeout in milliseconds.
Time Machine Pro
In order to produce high quality time and pitch manipulation, the Time Machine Pro machine mode
uses more resources than the other machine modes. As such, the number of voices it can process
at any one time have their own limits, separate from the main Instrument voice limit. These limits
are set in this section.
55
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
• Standard Mode Voice Limit: Sets the voice limit for groups using the standard quality Time
Machine Pro mode.
• HQ Mode Voice Limit: Sets the voice limit for groups using the HQ Mode option in Time Machine Pro.
8.1.3. DFD Tab
The DFD tab of the Instrument Options dialog
In the DFD Tab you can access the options for Direct From Disk streaming. This allows KONTAKT
to read samples directly from the Hard Drive, and only load a small section of the sample in RAM,
reducing the overall RAM usage of the Instrument.
• DFD Preload Buffer Size: With this slider, you can adjust the size of each Sample portion that
will be buffered in memory for instant playback. This value applies only to Samples that belong
to Groups whose Source Module is operating in DFD mode. If any Group in DFD mode causes
drop-outs which disappear when you put the respective Source Module into Sampler mode,
you might want to try increasing this parameter.
• Background loading: The Background loading option Allow instant playback for samples
which are not loaded yet is available here. Enable this option to have KONTAKT play every
triggered note during Background Loading. Under certain special circumstances, playing notes
while loading samples in the background may cause ’flam’-like glitches or other unexpected audio artifacts as KONTAKT attempts to play a sample it has not yet loaded. Disable this option to
avoid such artifacts.
56
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
8.1.4. Controller Tab
The Controller tab of the Instrument Options dialog
This tab contains the options for how the instrument should react to certain standardized MIDI controller messages.
• MIDI Controller #64 (Sustain Pedal) acts as: You can choose how KONTAKT should interpret
and handle incoming MIDI controller #64 messages, which are usually being sent by sustain
pedals:
• Pedal + CC will keep the Instrument in its sustain phase as long as the sustain pedal is depressed, and also treats the message like a normal MIDI controller (which allows you to use
it as a modulation source).
• Sustain Pedal without Controller will keep the Instrument in its sustain phase as long as
the sustain pedal is depressed, but the message will not be available as a normal MIDI controller.
• Controller Only: KONTAKT won’t use sustain pedal messages for sustaining notes, but
you will be able to access them as MIDI controllers for your own purposes.
• Accept all notes off / all sounds off: When activated, KONTAKT will interpret and adhere to
incoming “all notes off” MIDI messages.
• Accept standard controllers for Volume and Pan: When activated, you can change the output volume and pan settings of an Instrument by sending MIDI CCs #7 and #10, respectively.
These are the standard controller numbers for volume and pan.
• MIDI Controller #7 (Volume) range: This drop-down menu lets you choose how the value
range of MIDI CC #7 controller messages will be mapped to the output volume slider if the previous option is enabled. The selected range endpoints correspond to the volume levels at MIDI
values 0 (minimum) and 127 (maximum), respectively. The default setting is negative infini-
ty .. 0dB, which mutes the Instrument at controller value 0 and puts it at unity gain at controller
value 127.
57
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
8.1.5. Snapshot Tab
The Snapshot tab of the Instrument Options
Snapshots are a way of saving any processing related information associated with an Instrument,
without the need to save the whole instrument.
For example, if you want to create an Instrument with some synthesizer samples, and then save a
version of that same Instrument with a low pass filter applied, you can save that filtered version as
a Snapshot.
In the Snapshot Tab you can view the locations of the Snapshot files associated with the Instrument.
• Snapshot Saving Location: This area will display the location on your computer where the
user Snapshots for this Instrument will be saved to and loaded from. Clicking on the Show button will open this folder in your operating systems file browser.
• Factory Snapshots: Some 3rd Party libraries will come with their own Snapshots, which cannot be overwritten. These Snapshots are stored in a separate location, which you will be able
to see here. You can toggle the availability of factory Snapshots by clicking the button to the
right of this section.
8.1.6. Infos Tab
The Infos tab of the Instrument Options
• Instrument Icon: KONTAKT allows you to assign icons to your Instruments; these will be displayed within normal-sized Instrument Headers in the Rack and provide visual hints about the
58
The Rack Instrument Edit Mode
Instrument category. The rightmost icon in the list, labeled new, is the default icon for newly
created Instruments. Note that KONTAKT will assign special icons to Instruments that were imported from third-party formats; these don’t appear in this list.
• Instrument Info: Use this text field to enter any information, credits, or production notes you’d
like to be attached to your Instrument.
• Author: When you have created an Instrument and want to distribute it, you can enter your
own or your company’s name here.
• Weblink: This field lets you provide a web location where people can find more information
about you and your KONTAKT creations.
If the Instrument is part of a 3rd Party Library, then it will display information about the library and
will not be editable.
59
Loading and Creating Instruments
9. LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENTS
In order to add a previously created Instrument to your Multi, either in KONTAKT format (.nki) or in
one of the supported third party formats, locate your Instrument file within the Browser first. You
can either
• Drag it into a blank space of the Rack to add it to the Multi.
• Drag it onto an Instrument that is already in the Rack to replace that Instrument with the new
one.
Alternatively, you can choose the Load command from the Files menu; a file selection dialog will
appear that lets you locate and select any Instrument, Multi, or Instrument Bank file on your system.
If you have enabled the Browser: Double click loads instrument option in the Op-
tions dialog, you can also load Instruments by double-clicking them in the Browser.
After the Instrument has been loaded successfully, it will appear in the Rack. If required, you can
now change its Output and MIDI channel assignments from the controls in the Instrument’s Header. Once these are correctly set, you should be able to play the Instrument via your MIDI keyboard
or the virtual On-Screen Keyboard.
If you would like to create an Instrument from scratch, you have several options:
• The New Instrument command in the Files menu will add an empty Instrument that’s based on
the default Instrument template (you can change this template by creating a default Instrument
of your choice and saving it via the Save as Default Instrument command in the Files menu).
• Alternatively, you can start out with a Sample or a set of Samples and let KONTAKT do the
work of combining them into an Instrument. Locate and select the Sample files that you want to
use in the Browser, then drag them into an empty space in the Rack; KONTAKT will create a
new Instrument (once again, based on the default Instrument template) and spread the Samples across the keyboard. If you do this with a WAV file that contains Slice markers or with a
REX file, KONTAKT will switch the new Instrument to Beat Machine mode, so that you can play
your Sample in sync to your song tempo right away.
Samples Missing Dialog
As explained in the Files menu section of the Main Control Panel chapter, KONTAKT uses different
ways to reference the Samples that are being used by an Instrument. When Instruments are being
saved in a monolith, the Sample data gets embedded in the file itself, and thus can’t be accidentally separated. In a lot of cases, though, you will encounter Instruments that reference external Sample files on your system via their respective paths and file names. It’s obvious that while this method creates small Instrument files and avoids unnecessary duplication of Sample data, it’s not as
bullet-proof as combining Instrument and Sample data into a monolith; whenever you move referenced Sample files to a different location, KONTAKT won’t be able to find them anymore in the
60
Loading and Creating Instruments
location that’s being specified within the respective Instrument files. Depending on whether KONTAKT used a relative path for referencing Samples, this can even happen when you move Instrument files while keeping their referenced Samples in their original locations.
Whenever you attempt to load an Instrument whose Samples cannot be found in their expected
location, KONTAKT will open a Content Missing dialog. This window offers various options that
help KONTAKT locate the missing files on your system. Once it has found them, you can then resave the Instrument with the corrected references in order to make the changes permanent.
The Content Missing dialog
In its upper half, the Content Missing dialog displays a list of all Sample files that were referenced
within the Instrument file, but couldn’t be found in the expected locations; these locations are
shown in the right column. Whenever you’re not sure which action might have caused the Content
Missing dialog to appear, study the locations displayed in the assumed at column carefully; you
might recognize a folder that you’ve moved to a different location at some point in the past.
In the lower half of the dialog, KONTAKT provides a number of commands that will either search
for the missing files automatically (left side), or allow you to specify the new location manually
(right side). If you’re not sure where the missing Samples could be located, choose one of the automatic options on the left side:
• Search Filesystem: This will search for the missing Samples on all file systems of your hard
disks. Depending on the size and speed of your hard disks, the scanning process might take a
considerable amount of time, but if the Sample files have not been renamed or deleted, they
will eventually be found.
• Search Database: This will search the Samples within KONTAKT’s own Database, then use
any found records to locate them on your hard disk. The idea behind this is that the Samples
might have been picked up by a Database re-build process after they have been moved; if this
is the case, their actual locations in your file system can be retrieved from the Database. This
option requires a correctly built Database that has been configured to include Sample data.
61
Loading and Creating Instruments
Note that by default, all these options search for the missing Samples by their file names only; in
some cases, two or more different Samples on your hard disk might share a common name. This
can cause KONTAKT to load the wrong Sample; if you notice this in your Instrument, don’t save it.
Instead, remove it from your Multi, load it again, and repeat the search process after you’ve enabled the Check for Duplicates option at the bottom of the “Samples Missing” dialog. This will
make KONTAKT examine any files with matching names more thoroughly, which will sort out duplicates, but take more time than searching without this option.
If you already know where the missing Samples are located on your system, there’s no need for
an automatic search. Instead, choose one of the options on the right side, which allow you to locate files manually:
• Browse for Folder: When you click this button, a folder selection dialog will appear. After
you’ve located and chosen a folder, KONTAKT will look for the missing Samples inside this
folder and all of its sub-folders.
• Browse for Files: This option will ask you to locate each missing file manually, one at a time,
via a file selection dialog. During this process, the name of the currently searched file will be
displayed in the title bar of the selection dialog window.
If the resolve all possible option is enabled, KONTAKT will look for all missing Samples in each
location that you specify via the Browse for Folder or Browse for Files option. If it’s disabled, you
will be asked to provide a location for each missing file separately.
Once you have selected the appropriate search action, KONTAKT will start the file scanning process. During this scan, the missing Sample list will shrink whenever a Sample has been successfully located. Once all Samples have been found, the dialog will disappear and the Instrument will be
loaded into your Rack. You should now make sure that it works correctly and then re-save it to its
original location with the Save as… command in the Files menu.
If you have moved a whole library, and the Samples Missing dialog appears each
time you attempt to load an Instrument from this library, you don’t need to click
through the Samples Missing dialog and re-save the Instrument each time; the
Batch Re-Save command in the Files menu allows you to locate the referenced
Samples of all Instruments below a folder at once and re-save all of them automatically. This command is explained in section Handling Tab of this manual.
If there are still missing Samples after the scanning process, the Content Missing dialog will reappear, which allows you to try another search option. If each attempt to locate the missing Samples
fails, they either don’t exist on your system anymore, or have been renamed. In such cases, you
can choose to either abort loading the Instrument by clicking the right button at the bottom of the
dialog, or load the Instrument without the missing Samples with the left button.
• Allow alternate file types: This option allows you to ignore the audio file extension and resolve missing samples with alternative file types with the same name. For example, if you had
an instrument which referenced uncompressed WAV files, but at some point you compressed
the files to NCW format, you can reference the NCW files in place of the WAV files.
• Keep search mode and selected folders for the current session: If you are opening multiple Instruments that could require searching for Samples in the same location, checking this
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Loading and Creating Instruments
option will tell KONTAKT to repeat the search mode for any newly opened Instrument while you
are still running the same session. Closing and reopening KONTAKT will reset this option.
63
Using Snapshots
10. USING SNAPSHOTS
Snapshots offer a way of saving variations of any KONTAKT Instrument for easy recall. Take, for
example, the NI Abbey Road Drummer products; each comes with a fully-featured mixer including
separate channels for each drum component, as well as built-in effects. With Snapshots, you can
create any number of mixes for the same Instrument, save them in the .nksn file format and re-use
them in your next project or share these Snapshots across your computers. You can even share
them with other users who own the same KONTAKT Library or have access to the same collection
of Instruments.
The KONTAKT Factory Library doesn’t come with Snapshots, so in order to demonstrate the full feature set, we’ll save a Snapshot first.
Access the Snapshot View via the camera icon in the Instrument Header, switch back to the familiar Info View with its Input / Output configuration options by clicking the i icon.
Access to the Snapshot View
10.1. Saving a User Snapshot
Let's start exploring Snapshots with saving your own. By loading a Factory Library Instrument and
adjusting some of its parameters, you will end up with a sound which is distinct enough for you to
want to keep it.
1. In the Libraries Tab, browse to the KONTAKT Factory Library / Vintage / Digital Machines
and load the 'Electric Grand.nki' Instrument. Play a few notes on your MIDI keyboard to get
familiar with the Electric Grand’s sound.
2. In the Instrument Tab in Master FX, activate the Rotator by clicking the switch to the left of
the corresponding label. Leave all parameters in the Rotator section in their default position.
3. In the Inst Controls section, turn the Bits knob to the 12 o'clock position. Play a few notes
again and notice the change in sound.
4. Now let’s save this new sound as a Snapshot for convenience.
5. Click the camera icon in the Instrument Header. This will switch the Header to the Snapshot
View.
6. Here, click the floppy disk icon to open the Snapshot Saving dialog.
64
Using Snapshots
7. Enter a Snapshot name (e.g. Triple Peaks) and click Save.
8. The Snapshot is saved and added to the Snapshot Menu
All User Snapshots are automatically stored in the default User Content folder. This is where the
KONTAKT Factory Library Snapshot you just created will be stored:
• On Mac OS X: Macintosh HD/Users/<User Name>/Documents/Native Instru-
ments/User Content/Kontakt Factory Library/Electric Grand/Triple
Peaks.nksn
• On Windows: C:\Users\<User Name>\My Documents\Native Instruments\User
Content\Kontakt Factory Library\Electric Grand\Triple Peaks.nksn
You can transfer any of your Snapshots to another computer by copying the respective Snapshot files.
Please make sure you include your Documents / My Documents folder in your regular data backups.
10.2. Loading a Snapshot from the Snapshot Menu
Let's get to know this feature by loading a Snapshot from the Instrument Header's new Snapshot
Menu. We assume here that you saved the Triple Peaks Snapshot as described in the Saving a
User Snapshot section.
Load a User Snapshot
1. In the Libraries Tab, browse to the KONTAKT Factory Library / Vintage / Digital Machines
and load the 'Electric Grand.nki' Instrument.
2. Click the camera icon to switch the Instrument Header to the Snapshot View. By default, no
Snapshot is loaded.
3. Open the drop-down menu and select the Triple Peaks Snapshot.
65
Using Snapshots
4. The Triple Peaks Snapshot is loaded.
Alternatively, when no Snapshot is loaded, click the Next Button after loading the
Electric Grand Instrument to achieve the same result.
Load a Factory Snapshot
Factory Snapshots are only available for KONTAKT PLAYER Libraries. So this section only applies
if you own at least KOMPLETE 9 or a KONTAKT PLAYER library released after KOMPLETE 9.
Please make sure to install all KOMPLETE Library updates offered in NATIVE ACCESS to gain access to Factory Snapshots
Some of the KOMPLETE Libraries seem minimalistic at first glance - THE GIANT, for example,
ships with only two Instruments ('The Giant .nki' and 'The Giant - Cinematic.nki'). The true sound
design potential can be tapped by tweaking the parameters available on the Instrument's user interface, though. Our sound designers created a number of Snapshots to showcase the variety of
sounds available from just this instrument.
Let's load a few Factory Snapshots and listen to the differences.
1. Load The Giant.nki from the Libraries Tab. The Giant will load with its default settings.
2. Click the camera icon in the Instrument Header to switch to the Snapshot View.
3. Click the drop-down menu at the bottom of the Instrument Header to expand the Snapshot
Menu.
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Using Snapshots
4. Select 'Intimate.'
5. Play a few notes on your keyboard and listen to the characteristics of the sound. The ‘Intima-
te’ Snapshot has an overall round tone, which appears to be standing close by, combined
with a very large Hall reverb.
6. Now click the left arrow next to the Snapshot name to quickly load the previous Snapshot in
the list, named 'Hard And Tough'. Notice that this Snapshot loads instantly, because all Samples related to the Instrument are already loaded.
7. Again, play a few notes on your keyboard. The ‘Hard And Tough’ Snapshot has a very bright
and hard sound, with very pronounced resonances.
8. Open the drop-down menu, select the ‘Lots Of Noise’ Snapshot and play a few notes. You
will notice noise from the piano's hammers after each note you play.
You’ve now listened to three very distinct variations of just one Instrument.
If you need to recall a specific sound for recurring use in the studio or for live playing, Snapshots
give you an easy way of doing just that.
10.3. Loading Snapshots from the File System
KONTAKT supports two ways of loading Snapshot files (.nksn):
• Dragging and dropping a Snapshot file from the Finder / Explorer onto the Rack
• Loading via double-click in Finder (Mac OS X) or Explorer (Windows)
This allows you to take your favorite Snapshots to the studio on a flash drive or send them attached to an e-mail and load them from your Desktop without altering the installation on the studio
computer.
Drag and Drop
In order to load a Snapshot from any disk, drag an .nksn file from its current location onto an empty area of the Rack. KONTAKT will load a new instance of the corresponding Instrument with that
Snapshot.
If you drag a Snapshot onto an active Instrument in the Rack instead, that Instrument will be replaced by the Instrument loaded from the Snapshot.
Snapshots you open are not automatically saved to the default location.
Please note, the Next/Previous buttons can only skip through Snapshots located in
the Factory Snapshots and the User Content folder.
Double-click
Double-clicking a Snapshot file in Finder (Mac OS X) or Windows Explorer inserts a new Instrument instance in KONTAKT.
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Using Snapshots
10.4. Deleting a User Snapshot
In order to keep things tidy in the Snapshot Menu, you can delete any Snapshots you saved when
you feel you don't need them anymore. Keep in mind that Snapshots are saved on a per-Instrument basis. So in order to delete a Snapshot in KONTAKT, you have to load it first.
Please note that you can only delete User Snapshots. All KOMPLETE Factory
Snapshots are read-only. In order to follow the steps described here, you have to
have saved a Snapshot first as detailed in the Saving a User Snapshot section.
To demonstrate how deletion of Snapshots works, we’ll delete the Triple Peaks Snapshot saved in
that section.
1. Load the Electric Grand.nki.
2. Click the Camera icon to access the Snapshot View.
3. Open the Triple Peaks Snapshot.
4. Click the trash bin icon in the Instrument Header.
5. Confirm deletion of the Snapshot in the dialog which pops up.
The Snapshot file is now erased from the folder on your hard disk as well as removed from
the Snapshot Menu.
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Loading and Creating Instrument Banks
11. LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENT BANKS
An Instrument Bank allows you to combine up to 128 KONTAKT Instruments into one slot of your
Rack. Only one of the Instruments in a Bank can be active at any time, and you can switch between them by sending MIDI program change messages. All Instruments in a Bank will share the
same MIDI channel, Output Channel, maximum note count value, output and pan settings, and
Aux send levels. You can adjust these settings in the Bank Header, which appears in the Rack and
resembles an Instrument Header in structure.
An Instrument Bank Header
Consider this example: An orchestral sampling library provides numerous articulations and playing
techniques for each instrument; these are split up into a number of KONTAKT Instrument files. For
instance, the “Solo Flute” folder might contain the four files “Flute sustain.nki”, “Flute staccato.nki”,
“Flute halftone trill.nki” and “Flute flutter tongue.nki”. Of course, you could just add these Instruments to your Rack and assign them to different MIDI channels; this is not efficient, though, at
least not if you’re planning to use only one Solo Flute in your arrangement (and thus won’t need
multiple articulations at the same time), since you’re wasting three MIDI channels and three of
your 64 available Instrument slots.
Instead, you could create a “Flute” bank and insert all articulations you’ll need into its slots; this
allows you to switch between these articulations by sending MIDI program change messages. This
work-flow is closer to the way you’d interact with a real flutist; in order to get him to adapt his playing style to your music, you need to add expression, dynamic and articulation marks, as well as
playing directions, to your sheet music.
Some notation programs allow you to specify how different articulation, expression,
dynamic, and playing direction marks in your score will be translated when you’re
playing it back via MIDI. Assigning these items to MIDI program changes that correspond to the respective Instruments in your bank allows you to create very sophisticated setups, which allow you to create realistic mock-ups from your scores instantly
without any further MIDI optimization. Refer to the manual of your notation program
to find out whether it supports this method.
Similarly, you can create MIDI program changes at specific places of your sequences in any MIDI
sequencer program.
• To add a new, empty Instrument Bank to your current Multi, choose New instrument bank
from the Files menu.
A new Bank Header will appear in the Rack.
The Bank Header controls are similar to that of an Instrument Header, but apply to all contained
Instruments. In its name field, the Bank Header will display the name of the currently active Instru-
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Loading and Creating Instrument Banks
ment. In order to add Instruments to this Bank, click the wrench icon at the left side of its header;
this will open a list of 128 Instrument slots.
To access and assign the Instruments of your Bank, open the slot list by clicking on the wrench
icon in the upper left corner of the Bank header.
The Instrument List View
Dragging an Instrument (.nki) file from the Browser into a slot of the Instrument Bank will load the
Instrument into this slot. The number in the slot field indicates the program change number that will
switch to this Instrument; in the example shown above, incoming notes on the Bank’s MIDI channel will trigger the Dirty Saw Lead Instrument in slot 001 (this is being indicated in the name field of
the Bank Header); sending a MIDI program change with a value of 2 will switch over to the Innocent Lead Instrument, which will then stay active until the Bank receives a new program change
message.
Alternatively, you can click on the Instrument names in the Bank to change the selected Instrument.
You can edit an Instrument inside a Bank by double-clicking on the respective slot; this will put
your Rack into Instrument Edit mode. Once you’re done with your modifications, be sure to return
to Multi Instrument mode by clicking the wrench icon in the upper left corner of the Rack, as clicking the “X” button in the upper right corner will remove the whole Bank from your Multi. Also, note
that the modified Instrument can only be saved within the Bank file; there’s no way to save it to a
separate Instrument file.
Instrument Banks and their contents will be loaded and saved along with your Multi, but you can
load and save them separately as well. KONTAKT Instrument Bank files are indicated with the extension .nkb. You can load these in the same way as you load Instruments; double-click them or
drag them from the Browser into an empty space of your Rack, or use the Load command in the
Files menu.
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The On-Screen Keyboard
12. THE ON-SCREEN KEYBOARD
KONTAKT can optionally display a virtual On-Screen Keyboard that you can “play” with your
mouse in case you don’t have a MIDI keyboard connected to your computer.
• To display the keyboard, select the Keyboard option in the Workspace menu.
• When you click a key, the keyboard will generate a corresponding note event that will be received by the currently selected Instrument. The note’s velocity will be relative to the where you
click on the key: clicking towards the top of the key will produce notes with a low velocity, clicking towards the bottom of the key will produce notes with a high velocity.
• Clicking and dragging the Pitch and Modwheels at its left side will generate pitch bend and
MIDI CC #1 data respectively.
• To the left of the wheels, a transposition control lets you shift the displayed key range up and
down.
Furthermore, the keyboard indicates used key ranges of your currently selected Instrument with
colors. KONTAKT’s color defaults are as follows:
• Playable keys, i.e. those that produce sound, are colored blue.
• Keyswitches, i.e. keys that somehow change the instrument’s behavior, are colored red.
In some libraries, however, these colors can change in order to indicate different things, e.g., keyboard splits, different instrument types. This feature provides a quick overview in which range your
Instrument can be played, and which keys will switch between the different articulations.
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The Master Editor
13. THE MASTER EDITOR
The Master Editor panel contains a number of global controls that affect the behavior of all Instruments in your Multi, as well as some common utility functions.
• To display the Master Editor panel, select the Master option in the Workspace menu.
From left to right, here’s a rundown of what you can find in the Master Editor panel:
• Master Vol: This control adjusts the volume of all Output and Aux Channels — and thus all au-
dio signals that leave KONTAKT — at once. Its default setting is 0.0 dB, which leaves the output levels unaffected.
• Master Tune: This knob allows you to change the master reference tuning from its default value of A4 = 440 Hz. This might be required in situations where KONTAKT will be combined with
the sound of orchestras, historical ensembles, or folk music, which frequently use slightly different reference tunings.
• Master Tempo: This field displays the current global tempo in beats per minute, as well as
sync options and song position controls.
• The tempo value (below the BPM label) affects the playback speed of sliced loops and all
time-related controls that can optionally be synchronized to the tempo, such as the Speed
control of LFOs. If you’re running KONTAKT in stand-alone mode, you can change the master tempo by clicking on the value and entering a new one, or by tapping a new tempo using
the Tap button.
• If running as a plug-in in your host program, KONTAKT will use and follow your song tempo
by default; you can switch this behavior off by deactivating the button labeled Ext, which allows you to specify the tempo manually.
• In stand-alone mode, the Ext button allows you to sync KONTAKT to an external MIDI
clock.
• The play and re-wind buttons below this control KONTAKT’s internal song position, which is
necessary for some instruments that require song position information, like a drum machine.
• Tap: This button offers a more intuitive way to adjust the Master Editor tempo. Just tap this
button rhythmically in quarter note values; KONTAKT will measure the time between taps
and adjust the tempo value accordingly. If you’re using KONTAKT as a plug-in in your host
program, this button only works if you’ve switched off the Extern Sync. parameter.
• Metronome: This panel provides a simple metronome that can be handy in various adjustment
or rehearsal situations both in the studio and in live environments. The metronome can be
switched on and off at any time by clicking on the metronome icon. The readout next to it allows you to adjust the volume of the metronome click. Note that in order for the metronome to
run, the master clock needs to be running.
• Reference Tone: This function provides a reference tone that allows you to tune other instru-
ments in accordance to KONTAKT’s current reference tuning.
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The Master Editor
• Activate the reference tone by clicking on the tuning fork icon.
• Change the pitch of the reference tone by clicking and dragging on the note readout to the
right of the tuning fork.
• The volume of the reference tone can be adjusted by clicking and dragging on the Vol read-
out.
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The Browser
14. THE BROWSER
The Browser allows you to organize and navigate any number of files that can be used in KONTAKT in a quick and efficient way. Among other things, you can use it to:
• Navigate through your file system to locate and load KONTAKT objects, such as Instruments or
Samples.
• Manage and browse the contents of KONTAKT’s Libraries
• Display a convenient overview of various aspects of the currently edited Instrument.
• Assign host and MIDI automation sources to Instrument parameters.
Wherever it makes sense, you can drag and drop items from the Browser into the Rack, so you
usually won’t need to drag anything from the desktop.
• To display The Browser, select the Browser option from the Workspace menu.
When it is active, the left side of the window consists of a section with 4 tabs, namely Libra-
ries, Files, Expert, and Automation.
14.1. Libraries Tab
The Library tab provides direct access to all KONTAKT libraries installed on your computer.
(1) Refresh: Reloads the list of libraries.
(2) Manage Libraries: Opens the Library tab in the Options dialog. There you can hide or show
libraries and open Native Access to install new libraries or manage existing installations. For more
information, refer to Libraries Tab.
(3) A-Z: When enabled, the Library tab sorts the libraries alphabetically. When disabled, the Library tab reverts to the previous custom sorting.
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The Browser
(4) Search field: Allows you to enter a search string in order to find particular libraries within the
Library tab. The 'x' button deletes the search string and resets the results list.
(5) Instrument Nav: This button shows or hides the Instrument Navigator pane at the bottom of
the Browser.
(6) Instruments: Shows all instruments included in the library.
(7) Function Menu: Opens a drop-down menu with additional library options.
14.1.1. Loading and saving Instruments and Multis
• To load an Instrument or a Multi, click the Instruments or Multis button and navigate through
the library structure like in the lower pane of the Files tab.
• When using KONTAKT PLAYER libraries, you can save your own Instruments and Multis to the
original library or to any custom location. When saving your own variations to the original location of your library, these Instruments and Multis will also appear in the Libraries tab.
14.1.2. Function Menu
The Function menu is located at the bottom right of the Library box
The Function menu provides access to important resources like Library readme files and manuals,
and maintenance tasks such as location of the library and removal of a library box.
The Function menu contains the following:
• Opencontainingfolder: opens the location of the library on your hard disk in your operating
systems file browser.
• Remove library: removes the library from the Library tab. Note that this does not delete or uninstall the library. If you want the library to appear in the Libraries tab again, you can do this via
the Libraries tab of the Options dialog (see Libraries Tab for more details)
• User Manual(s) (if available): if the library folder contains a user manual, it will be displayed
here. Clicking on this option will open the manual file.
• LicenseAgreement: contains a list of the licenses for the library.
• Readme (if available): if the library folder contains a readme text file, it will be displayed here.
clicking on this option will open the file.
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The Browser
14.1.3. Add Library Button
Clicking on the Add Library button will open NATIVE ACCESS with the Add a Serial window
open.
From here you can enter a serial number from a purchase of a Powered by KONTAKT library and
it will be added to your collection.
KONTAKT automatically detects if an installed library has been moved; the library box will display
options to either manually locate the library or remove the library box from the Libraries tab.
Adding a library is only possible with admin rights.
14.1.4. Library Activation via KONTAKT
Libraries are activated through NATIVE ACCESS, but it is possible to quickly open NATIVE ACCESS to activate a specific library from the KONTAKT Library Browser.
1. After installing a library, open KONTAKT.
2. Locate the library in the Libraries tab of the Browser.
3. Click on the Activate button on the respective library and a log-in screen will open.
4. NATIVE ACCESS will open and prompt you to enter a serial number for the library.
5. Enter a serial number and click Activate.
Your library will now be activated and ready to play.
14.2. Files Tab
This part of the Browser allows you to navigate your file system in a tree-based way, which will be
immediately familiar if you’re accustomed to your operating system’s file browsers and selectors. It
consists of two main panes and an audition toolbar at the bottom of the section. There is an optional third pane, the Instrument Navigator, which you can toggle via the InstrNav button just below the tabs. This pane is also available on the Libraries tab and will be explained in more detail
later.
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The Browser
The Files tab of the Browser pane provides a file system navigator
You can click the horizontal splitter bars that separate the panes and drag them up or down in order to change the height of the respective panes. This works in other Browser tabs as well.
14.2.1. Upper (Container) Pane
This pane shows all container objects on your computer in a tree structure. The term "container"
encompasses all items that contain other objects, such as volumes (like hard disks, CD-ROMs or
network places), folders and monolithic sampler files that serve as "virtual folders" (more on this
later). A "+" icon next to an object indicates that there are further objects contained within, which
are not currently being shown; you can display those by clicking on the "+". Conversely, clicking on
a "-" next to an object hides all of its contents from the tree view.
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The Browser
The upper pane of the File Browser displays a navigable tree structure of your file system.
14.2.2. Middle (Objects) Pane
Whenever a container object that you have selected in the upper pane contains items which can
be used in KONTAKT, these will show up in the middle pane. In contrast to the multi-dimensional
tree structure of the upper pane, this list is always flat and does not span multiple folders. In addition to relevant files, folders (if any) will also show up in this list and can be navigated to via double-clicking; the first item of the list will usually be the parent directory, indicated with an arrow
icon. This also means that you don’t necessarily need to use the upper pane for navigating
through folders; however, it’s usually faster and more convenient.
The middle pane of the File Browser, displaying a number of Samples, their file sizes, native tempos, and modification dates.
Information on the displayed items is spread across 4 columns; in addition to the file name, size
and modification date, there’s also a tempo column that indicates the native tempo of sliced loops.
You can change the width of these columns by clicking and dragging the separator bars between
their labels. Clicking on a column label will change the sort order of the list according to the respective value and clicking on the same label again will reverse the ordering direction.
Once you have found one or more items that you want to use in KONTAKT, there are several ways
to load them:
• Double-click a Multi file (.nkm) or drag it from the Browser into the Rack to load it; KONTAKT
will ask you whether you want to replace your current Multi or merge the one you’ve selected
with the existing Multi.
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The Browser
• Double-click an Instrument file (.nki) or drag it from the Browser onto a free space in the Rack
to add it to your current Multi. KONTAKT will assign a MIDI channel according to the MIDI
channel assignment for loaded patches setting in the Options dialog. This also works with
multiple Instruments.
• Drag an Instrument onto an existing Instrument Header in your Rack to make it replace the respective Instrument. KONTAKT will keep the MIDI channel setting of the previous Instrument.
• Double-click a Sample (i.e. an audio file) or drag it onto a free space in the Rack to create a
new Instrument (based on your default Instrument) that contains a Zone with this Sample
spread across the whole keyboard range. If you do this with multiple Samples, KONTAKT will
still only create one instrument, but with a corresponding number of adjacent Zones. Note that
this does not work with 8-bit Samples, as Groups created in this way will be set to DFD mode
by default, which does not support 8-bit data.
• Click and drag a Sample into the Mapping Editor of an existing Instrument to create a Zone and
place it on the key or key range you’re pointing at. While dragging, move the mouse pointer up
and down in the Mapping Editor to enlarge or shrink the target key range. This also works with
multiple Samples, in which case KONTAKT will create a number of adjacent Zones. If you want
to create multiple Zones above each other (thus combining a number of Samples into a velocity
switch that’s placed on a single key), move the mouse pointer all the way down to the keyboard.
The sort order of the Browser’s object pane determines in which order multiple Samples will be used in KONTAKT. For instance, if you’re planning to create a velocity
switch from a number of Samples, but realize after placement that the velocity assignment ended up being upside down, just reverse the list order in the Browser and
try it again.
There are two ways to select multiple items in the object pane: contiguous ranges of items in the
list can be selected by clicking the first item and then, while holding your [Shift] key, the last one in
the range. Non-adjacent items can be selected with [Ctrl]-click, or [Cmd]-click on Mac OS.
14.2.3. Instrument Navigator Pane
• To display the Instrument Navigator pane, click on the InstrNav button at the top of the
Browser.
The Instrument Navigator shows a list of all Instruments in your Rack, which is kept up-to-date at
all times. It has a lot in common with the Multi Instrument view of the Rack in that it’s divided into 4
pages of up to 16 Instruments each, and displays the Instrument names along with M (mute) and
S (solo) indicators. It provides a good way to keep the big picture when you’re editing an Instrument, when the Rack does not convey any information about Instruments other than the currently
edited one.
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The Browser
The Instrument Navigator is not strictly specific to the Files tab, but rather a utility
window that’s available in various tabs in the Browser. It’s explained here for sake of
consistency, and referenced briefly in sections about other places where it’s available.
The Instrument Navigator pane, displaying a number of loaded Instruments in the Multi.
The Instrument Navigator list will keep in sync with the page and Instrument selection in the Rack
and vice versa. To switch to one of the four Instrument pages, you can either use the page buttons
in the Rack header (if it’s in Multi Instrument mode), or click the page numbers at the top of the
Instrument Navigator list. Similarly, you can select an Instrument by clicking on either its header in
the Rack, or its entry in the Instrument Navigator pane. If an Instrument that you select is not currently visible in the Instrument Navigator list, it will automatically scroll to its list position.
Double-clicking an Instrument in the Instrument Navigator list will open it for editing in the Rack.
When you’re editing an Instrument, you can quickly switch to another Instrument by clicking on its
name in the Instrument Navigator list; this is a great way to compare settings between Instruments, as KONTAKT will try to anchor both Instruments’ editor views to the same vertical position.
14.2.4. Audition Strip
The Audition Strip allows you to listen to audio files prior to loading them. This feature works with
audio files and sliced loops that you select in the lower pane of the Browser. Note that when auditioning sliced loops, they will not be played in their native tempo (which is being displayed in the
Browser list), but in the current tempo of your host or, if you’re running KONTAKT in stand-alone
mode, the tempo that’s set in the Master Editor.
The Audition Strip is the bottom-most element of the File Browser and contains three controls.
The Audition Strip allows you to play any Sample that you select in the Browser.
Controls
• Volume slider: This slider adjusts the sample playback level.
• Play button: This button plays the selected sample once or, if a sample is currently being auditioned, stops the playback.
• Auto button: When enabled, KONTAKT will automatically play a sample once when you click
it.
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The Browser
14.2.5. Refresh and Eject Buttons
Just below the Browser tabs, you’ll see a series of function buttons and drop-down menus that are
specific to the currently visible tab. On the Files tab, this row starts on the left side with a Refresh
button, depicted by a circled arrow.
Browser refresh and eject button.
Whenever the File Browser has not yet picked up changes that recently occurred in your file system, such as newly installed or removed sample libraries, you can force an update of the file display by clicking this button.
The button next to the Refresh symbol allows you to eject your computer’s CD/DVD drive(s) from
within KONTAKT. Just select the drive in the upper pane and click this button to eject it.
14.2.6. The View Menu
This is a drop-down menu which contains options and functions that alter the way in which information will be shown in the File Browser panes.
The view menu of the File Browser contains options that determine which items will be shown.
The first two items in this menu, labeled Show Network Drives, and Show Removable Drives,
are toggle options; selecting them will switch them on, indicated with a small diamond next to their
label. With these, you can adjust whether the File Browser should include mounted network volumes, and removable drives.
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The Browser
Below the options, you’ll find multiple slots labeled Quick-jump and numbered 1 to 10. Quickjumps are location memories that you can use to conveniently access a number of frequently-visited places in your file system without the need to navigate there using the container pane each
time. The handling is simple: any location you navigate to in the File Browser gets immediately
saved to the currently selected Quick-jump entry. Once you switch to another Quick-jump location,
the previously selected one will keep its value. Switching back to it will bring you to the saved location, but watch out — if you navigate any further now, the Quick-jump memory will be changed accordingly. If you don’t want this, activate the Lock Current Quick-jump option at the bottom of the
View menu to freeze the saved location. Instead of using the pull-down menu each time, you can
also use [Ctrl] + [F1] through [Ctrl] + [F10] (Windows) or [Alt]-[F1] through [Alt]-[F10] (Mac) to access the respective Quick-jump locations via your keyboard.
14.3. Expert Tab
When you’re editing a complex Instrument with lots of Groups and Zones, it’s sometimes hard not
to get lost in the intricacies of KONTAKT’s editing facilities. The Browser’s Expert tab counteracts
this by providing a handy overview of various aspects of your currently edited Instrument. Similar
in nature to the Instrument Navigator pane, it shows a continually updated and searchable list of all
Groups and Zones in your Instrument. It allows you to quickly include and exclude Groups for editing, and provides a context sensitive parameter view that shows the values of the parameter you
touched last across all Groups.
Expert tab, displaying all Groups of the Gongs Instrument.
At the top, you’ll notice a tool bar with five buttons, the first four of which will switch the Expert view
into the respective display mode:
Groups
This view provides a list of all Groups in your Instrument. It will only work in Instrument Edit mode.
The leftmost column indicates whether a Group is marked for editing — it corresponds to the
checkboxes next to the Group names in the Group Editor — and can be clicked on to toggle the
edit status of the respective Group.
The Group selection only affects commands that can be found in the "Edit" menu of
the Group Editor, and is thus different from the editing checkbox, which is being
used for changing parameters across multiple Groups.
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The Browser
At the right side of the list, the Group IDs are displayed as a quick reference for KSP script editing.
Groups can be selected by clicking on their names; multiple selections work in the same way as
they do in the File Browser, i.e. [Shift]-clicking below or above a selected Group will select a range,
a [Ctrl]+click ([Cmd]+click on Mac OS X) will add Groups to the active selection; [Alt]+click will select all currently visible Groups for editing.
You can rename Groups by double-clicking on their name and entering a new one.
Right-clicking on a Group will open a context menu with various Group-related actions; this is identical to the Edit menu of the Group Editor.
The Group context menu
You can toggle a Quick-Search function by clicking on the button with the magnifying glass symbol
to the right side of the list header. This will show a text input box above the list; while it is visible,
the list will only show Groups whose names contain whatever you enter into this box.
You can hide (and, in consequence, deactivate) the Quick-Search feature by clicking the "X" button on the right side of the search bar.
Zones
This view displays a list of all Zones that are contained in your Instrument across all Groups. Otherwise, it works exactly like the Groups view, and includes the Quick-Search feature as well.
Double-clicking a Zone will open it in the Wave Editor.
Parameter
When you switch to this view and touch any knob, the Expert pane will show the values of the respective parameter across all Groups in your currently edited Instrument, or, if you’re not in Instrument Edit mode, across all Instruments in your Multi. This makes for a convenient way to compare
settings across Groups. You can also change parameter values directly within the list by clicking
on their value and moving the mouse vertically, just like you would do on the respective knob.
Expert tab, displaying the values of EQ frequency parameters across multiple Groups.
Of course, parameters will only appear next to Groups that actually contain the edited parameter
as well. For instance, if you’re adjusting the Grain parameter of the Source Module — which is
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The Browser
unique to the Time Machine mode — all Groups that are not currently in Time Machine mode, and
therefore don’t know this parameter, will be indicated with NA in the Value column.
Engine
This sub-tab displays an overview of various system resources, such as detailed memory and
CPU usage statistics. The information provided on this page is mainly intended for power users;
when you have a problem and get in contact with the Native Instruments support, they might ask
you for specific values from this page.
The Engine page provides an overview of the current status of KONTAKT’s audio engine.
The Restart Engine button allows you to force a reinitialization of KONTAKT’s audio engine in
case of CPU overruns.
If you’re using KONTAKT as a plug-in, there will be another button below labeled Offline (Bounce)
Mode. This is intended for hosts that don’t correctly advertise this mode to their plug-ins when
bouncing or freezing tracks. You can check if your host behaves correctly in this regard by observing the state of the button when bouncing or freezing; if it turns orange, KONTAKT receives the
bounce signal from the sequencer. If it doesn’t and you experience crackles or drop-outs, you can
activate this button manually before bouncing or freezing.
CPU Profiling Mode: Switch to CPU Profiling mode in order to identify which parts of your Instruments are currently consuming the largest share of processing power. Percentages are shown in
the instrument name as well as in the Source module in Edit mode and in the top parts of all effects in the effect chains.
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The Browser
Use the bottom part of the effect icons to switch to different effect slots for editing
while in CPU Profiling mode.
• Instrument name: observe the Rack to identify most consuming Instruments first, then switch
to Edit mode.
• Source module: switch to a different HQI setting if CPU usage is too high. If you are using
Time Machine Pro, consider downgrading to the lighter Time Machine engines.
• Group Inserts: Move memory-intensive effects without attached modulators to the Instrument
or Bus Inserts instead. Remember group effects are calculated per voice!
• Instrument Inserts / Bus Inserts / Sends: Move memory-intensive effects to the Outputs
section, inserts into the regular output channel, sends into the Aux channels.
Just like the File Browser, the Expert pane optionally provides an Instrument Navigator list. This
can be shown and hidden with the rightmost button of the Expert toolbar. For an in-depth explanation of what this pane does, please refer to section Instrument Navigator Pane.
14.4. Automation Tab
Whenever you need to control any parameter of an Instrument from outside KONTAKT, using for
instance your sequencer’s automation system or MIDI controller data generated by an external
fader box, you can easily pick and assign the appropriate automation source from the Automation
tab of the Browser.
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The Browser
The MIDI Automation page displays a list of assignable MIDI controllers at the top, and details of
the selected assignment at its bottom.
At the top of the Automation tab, two buttons allow you to switch between the list of automation
sources that are provided by your host and MIDI controllers. Assigning a source to a parameter
works the same way in both lists, so when this manual describes the process for working with MIDI
automation, the same concepts can be applied to the host automation workflow.
Assigning automation is simple: just select a source from the list and drag it onto a knob whose
parameter you want to automate.
If you want to assign a fader of a master keyboard or a MIDI controller box, but are not sure which
controller number is the right one, just move the fader when the MIDI automation list is visible KONTAKT will flash a red dot next to the respective list entry when it receives any MIDI controller
data, which allows you to quickly spot and assign the appropriate controller.
Multiple parameters can be assigned to the same automation source. This allows
you to control multiple aspects of your Instrument with a single controller, such as
increasing the brightness of an Instrument in combination with the loudness. Also
note that modulation wheels usually send MIDI Controller #1, while volume controls
send #7.
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The Browser
You can edit assignments and their parameters by selecting them in the list. If the selected item is
assigned to one or more parameters, these will show up in the list below. At the bottom of the
pane, you can adjust some parameters of the assignment that’s selected in the lower list:
From % / To %: By default, automation controllers are mapped in a way that makes them cover
the whole available range of the assigned parameter. By changing these parameters, you can alter
the scaling of the assignment so that the automation values are mapped to a limited range of the
assigned parameter. A positive side effect of this is that this section of the parameter’s range can
then be automated with finer resolution.
Soft Takeover: This function avoids sudden parameter jumps that can happen if received automation data is different from the current value of the assigned parameter. If you activate this button,
the assigned parameter will not be changed until an automation value is received that matches the
parameter’s current value. A typical example would be the assignment of an external fader to a
filter’s cutoff parameter; if the filter cutoff is currently set to 50% and you slowly move the fader
upwards, KONTAKT will softly pick it up as soon as it reaches its mid-point.
Remove: This button deletes the automation assignment that’s selected in the lower list.
14.4.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers (alternative way)
If you cannot assign MIDI controllers as described in section MIDI Learn, there is an alternative
way:
1. Make sure at least one instrument is loaded and set to the MIDI port and channel of your
hardware controller.
2. Click the Browser’s Automation tab.
3. Select the MIDI Automation sub tab.
4. Turn a knob or move a slider on your hardware controller.
5. You should see a flash next to the CC# that is used by your external controller; in addition,
the MIDI symbol in the instrument header should flash. If this does not work: Open the Op-
tions dialog. Select the MIDI tab.
6. Select Inputs. Check if your MIDI hardware is selected as input for the same port you have
assigned the instrument in question to.
7. If the MIDI input is setup correctly, drag and drop the MIDI CC# you wish to use onto the
control you wish to control.
MIDI controller reception in KONTAKT
14.4.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments
To remove an assignment made to a specific controller:
1. Click the Browser’s Automation tab.
2. Select the MIDI Automation sub tab.
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The Browser
3. Find the MIDI control whose assignment you wish to remove, either by searching, or by mov-
ing the control and seeing which number in the list is highlighted with the lightning bolt symbol.
4. Select the control in the list and click the Remove button.
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The Quick-Load Catalog
15. THE QUICK-LOAD CATALOG
In this chapter, we’re going to introduce another tool that can assist you in managing your Instruments, Banks, and Multis: the Quick-Load catalog. It’s somewhat similar to the File Browser in that
it provides access to a hierarchical directory structure. In contrast to it, though, you can freely define the Quick-Load catalog’s structure without having to pay attention to the included files’ actual
paths, library relationships, or formats. In other words, you can define a “virtual file system” that
exists in parallel to the actual file system on your hard disks, and use it to freely organize and index your files without actually copying or moving them to different locations.
The central facility where you manage and access your catalog is the Quick-Load Browser. It appears below the Rack when you right-click somewhere inside the empty space below the Instrument Headers (if you are a Mac OS X user, hold your [Ctrl] key down and left-click). You can resize
this pane by clicking and dragging the bar that separates it from the Rack. Another right-click inside the empty region of the Rack hides the browser again. Please note that as long as the QuickLoad Browser is visible, it will hide the On-Screen Keyboard.
The Quick-Load Browser, displaying an exemplary directory structure.
In appearance and handling, the Quick-Load Browser is similar to a multi-column directory browser that you might find familiar from your operating system. It displays multiple layers of a directory
tree in a horizontal arrangement of columns. When you click a subdirectory in one column, the column to the right of it will display that directory’s contents, with each additional column opening another sub-layer of the directory tree. That way, you can navigate through your directory structure
from left to right until you’ve found what you’ve been looking for.
At the top of the pane, you’ll find three buttons that switch between the catalogs of Multis, Banks
and Instruments, respectively. The contents of these catalogs are in no way related to each other,
so you can create independent directory structures for each of the three object types.
Upon first activation, the Quick-Load Browser’s list is still empty, as it doesn’t have any predefined
structure. In order to fill it with content, you can create directories and drag files from the Browser
or the file manager of your operating system into their content columns. This process is described
in detail in the following section. After that, we’ll explain how you can use the Quick-Load catalog
during your everyday work.
15.1. Building a Catalog
In order to organize any larger number of objects, you should begin by devising a directory structure that’s consistent with your approach to locating Instruments, Banks and Multis. The criteria
you choose for this is entirely up to you; for instance, you could categorize your objects by their
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The Quick-Load Catalog
instrument types, music genres or libraries. You could also combine these and sort your collection
by a coarse type category on the root level, then by the respective libraries on the levels below
that. Of course, it’s also possible to mix categories on the same level — since no actual files will
be touched when managing your collection via the Quick-Load Browser, you can easily put the
same object into more than one directory.
In case you’d like to keep your favorite Instruments in direct access at all times, you
can put these — in parallel to your normal categorization in the Quick-Load Browser
— into a “favorites” directory. As contents are always sorted alphabetically, though,
this directory will most likely appear amidst all others. To circumvent this, just prepend its name with a special character, such as an asterisk (*); that way, it will always appear at the top of the list.
Begin by right-clicking into the empty list inside the leftmost column and choose the command Add
New Folder from the context menu. A new directory entry will appear. Give it a meaningful name
and repeat these steps for every directory that you’d like to create on the root level. In order to
extend the directory structure with deeper levels, select one of the new entries and create more
subdirectories within the column next to it as described. That way, you can build a hierarchical directory structure step by step. Of course, you can also extend a Quick-Load catalog that has already been populated with content at any time. To rename a directory entry, double-click it or, alternatively, right-click and choose Rename Folder from the context menu. If you want to delete a
directory and all of its sub-contents from your catalog, right-click its entry and select the Delete
from Quick Load command from the menu. Of course, no actual files will be deleted in this process.
In order to fill your directories with content, just drag one or more files from the Browser into the
column of the directory in which you’d like to put them. It doesn’t matter if these originate from the
Files or Libraries tabs; you can even drag KONTAKT-relevant files directly from your operating
system’s file navigator into the Quick-Load Browser.
Dragging an object into the Quick-Load Browser
While you’re dragging your objects (with mouse button held down), you can still navigate through
the Quick-Load catalog in order to locate a specific directory. Just move your mouse pointer
across the directory entries that you’d like to switch to; the columns to the right of the current one
will adapt their contents accordingly.
In order to remove an object from a directory of the catalog, right-click its entry and choose Delete
from Quick Load from the context menu.
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The Quick-Load Catalog
15.2. Loading Objects from the Catalog
During your work with KONTAKT, the Quick-Load catalog is just a mouse click away at all times,
and you can use it at any time to quickly locate and load Instruments, Banks or entire Multis. For
this, you can use the Quick-Load Browser itself or, alternatively, one of the Quick-Load menus that
replicate the structure of your catalogs as hierarchical drop-down menus. We’ll describe both
methods in this section.
To open the Quick-Load Browser, right-click the empty space inside the Rack. First, use the type
switches at the top to select the kind of objects that you’d like to access. Following the instructions
in the previous section, you can now navigate the respective catalog, going from left to right, until
you’ve found an entry that you’d like to load. If the object is an Instrument or a Bank, you can add
it to your Multi either by double-clicking on it, by dragging it into the empty space inside the Rack,
or by right-clicking on its entry and choosing Load from the context menu. Alternatively, you can
replace an existing object in your Multi by dragging its replacement onto the respective header in
the Rack or choosing its position from the submenu Load Into Slot, which you can find in the context menu. Loading a Multi works in the same way, but in that case, you can only choose between
replacing or combining your current Multi with the new one.
An alternate method of accessing your catalogs is offered by way of the Quick-Load menus, which
you can find in different spots of the user interface, depending on whether you’d like to add a new
object to your Multi or replace an existing one. In the former case, click the button labeled Files in
the Main Control Panel and open the submenu New Instrument from List or New Instrument
Bank from List. It contains the entire structure of the respective catalog as a list of menu entries
and submenus, which you can traverse in the usual way.
Replacing an Instrument using the Quick-Load menu
The same menus appear when you click the small down arrows inside the name fields of the Instrument, Bank, and Rack headers. In that case, the respective Instrument, Bank, or the entire
Multi will be replaced with the object that you select from the menu.
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The Outputs Section
16. THE OUTPUTS SECTION
KONTAKT’sOutputs section provides a routing and mixing environment that is laid out in the way
of a traditional mixing console. The output signals from all Instruments in your Rack will first arrive
in this section, where they are then routed to the physical outputs of your audio interface or into
your host software. The Outputs section panel allows you to:
• Create, delete, rename, and configure Output Channels, which act as mono, stereo, or multichannel signal routing destinations for your Instruments.
• Rename and configure Aux Channels, which act as additional routing destinations for “signal
taps” at various locations across your Instruments and Instrument send effects.
• Change the output volumes of Output and Aux Channels.
• Add, remove, and edit signal processors on Output and Aux Channels.
• Monitor your output levels.
1. To show and hide the Outputs section, select the Output option in the Workspace menu.
2. result step (notvisible in output)
The Outputs panel will appear in the lower half of your Rack space.
The Outputs section, displaying a stereo Output Channel strip at the left, and the four Aux Channel
strips at the right.
16.1. Panel Controls
On the left side of the Outputs section, you can see one or more channel strips for the Output
Channels, followed by four Aux Channel strips. Output and Aux Channels have identical controls,
namely (from top to bottom):
• Channel name: This name will be used throughout KONTAKT whenever it refers to this channel. You can change it by clicking on the field and entering a new name.
• Channel Insert Slots (only visible if the Outputpanel is at full size): Signal processing modules
can be inserted into these slots to process the channel’s signal. Refer to section Section 23,
“Signal Processors in KONTAKT” [153] for more information on signal processing in KONTAKT.
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The Outputs Section
• Channel Fader and Level Meter: The vertical fader controls and displays the output gain of
this channel. Next to it is a bar graph meter that provides visual feedback on the signal level.
• Channel Configuration button: Clicking on this button will open a dialog window, in which you
can configure this channel’s name, the number of audio channels it carries, and its physical
output assignment.
1. To edit an effect on an output channel, click on its name and the controls will appear in the
top part of the Outputs section.
2. Click on the name again to close the effect panel.
In addition to the channel strips, the Outputs section has a tool bar at its top, which contains the
following functions:
• Add Channel: Clicking on the + button opens a dialog to create and configure new output
channels.
• Delete Channel: Clicking on the – button removes the currently selected channel from the
Outputs section (to select a channel, click its border).
• Presets/Batch Configuration: is a dropdown menu containing options for saving, resetting, or
reconfiguring the Outputs section.
• Maximize/Minimize Output Panel: The button to the far right of the Outputs section toggles
whether the insert slots will be shown. If deactivated, the height of the panel will be reduced in
order to save screen space.
16.2. Working with Output Channels
In KONTAKT, you can route the output signal of each Instrument in your Multi to any Output Channel that you have defined in the Outputs section. Each of these Output Channels can be configured to carry between 1 and 16 audio channels — new Output Channels are configured for stereo
signals by default, but you can change this setting in the channel’s configuration dialog. When you
create a channel, it’s recommended to name it in a descriptive way by clicking in the top-most text
field of its channel strip and entering a name. This way, you can easily locate it within the Output
drop-down menu of an Instrument.
Whenever you play a note, the respective Instrument’s output signal will arrive at the assigned
Output Channel and be sent, after it has passed the channel inserts (if any) and the volume fader,
to the physical output defined in the channel’s Configuration dialog. The bar-graph display next to
the channel fader will give you an idea of the signal level at the output. Note that the MasterVolume control located in the Master Editor will affect the levels of all Output and Aux Channels in
your Outputs section.
Your output configuration always needs to contain at least one channel, so you can’t delete a
channel if it’s the only one. New Instruments will always be assigned to the leftmost channel in the
Outputs section by default.
To change the number of audio channels that are carried by an Output Channel, or its physical
output assignments, click the button at the bottom of the channel strip.
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The Outputs Section
The Channel Configuration dialog
The Channel Configuration dialog that appears provides these elements:
• Channel name: This field replicates the field at the top of a channel strip. You can enter a new
name by clicking on it.
• Audiochannels: Adjusts the number of audio channels this channel will carry, up to a maximum of 16. To change the number, click the field and drag your mouse up or down.
• Output Map: This list displays all audio channels of this Output Channel along with their assigned physical destinations — which can be either tangible output jacks on your audio interface or “virtual” connections to your host, depending on whether you’re using KONTAKT in
stand-alone or host mode. To change a physical output assignment, click its name and choose
a new output from the drop-down menu.
• Previous / Next buttons: These buttons jump to the settings of the previous or next channel of
the Outputs section, allowing you to quickly adjust the output configuration for all channels at
once.
16.3. Working with Aux Channels
The four Aux Channels in KONTAKT are basically identical to Output Channels, but receive their
signal from other places. While each Instrument routes its output signal to exactly one Output
Channel, you can additionally send this signal to one or multiple Aux Channels at adjustable levels. This allows you to easily create sub-mixes. You can also use the Aux Channels as routing
destinations for all Send Effects that appear in your Instruments. This allows you to “tap” wet effect
signals in order to process them independently from the dry signals. How this kind of routing works
is explained in Signal Processors in KONTAKT.
Apart from this difference, Aux Channels work in exactly the same way as Output Channels; each
has its own channel strip in the Outputs section, can contain up to four insert signal processors,
and can be routed to specific physical outputs. In addition, the levels of all Aux Channels can be
adjusted globally with the Master Volume control located in the Master Editor.
16.4. Outputs in Host Mode
When using KONTAKT in stand-alone mode, the assignment of physical outputs within the Channel Configuration dialog is straightforward: the drop-down menu will contain all outputs (up to 32)
which are provided by the audio interface that you’ve selected in the Audio tab of the Options
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The Outputs Section
dialog. When using KONTAKT as a plug-in in audio hosts, things get a little more complicated, as
each host handles plug-ins with multiple outputs differently.
The maximum number of (mono) audio channels that you can assign in host mode is limited to 32
for the VST version of KONTAKT, and 16 for the AU and RTAS versions. The VST plug-in is special in that it comes in 3 different flavors with 8, 16 or 32 outputs. In AU and RTAS environments,
the host will determine the actual number of outputs. Refer to the documentation of your host program to learn how this is being handled in your case.
Note that KONTAKT has to advertise its number of outputs during instantiation, which means that
it can’t successfully change its output configuration on the fly during operation. In consequence,
when you try to change anything in the Outputs section, a window will pop up asking you to save
and reload your song in order to let the host accommodate to the changes. Before you do this, go
to the Presets/Batch Configuration menu and select the appropriate option from the Save cur-
rent output section state as default for sub-menu.
Another caveat relates to the fact that the output configuration of each KONTAKT instance will be
saved along with your song; this can result in the rather unfortunate case of several loaded KONTAKT instances with different output configurations. This can seriously confuse your host and lead
to unexpected behavior, so when you’re working with KONTAKT as a plug-in, we recommend that
you make all output configuration changes the default for that specific plug-in type.
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The Group Editor
17. THE GROUP EDITOR
Groups are perhaps the most prominent entity of a KONTAKT Instrument. In addition to providing
a way to combine and use a common signal path for any number of Zones in your Instrument,
Groups allow you to define conditions on which Zones will be played, adjust how the voice allocation for the contained Zones will be handled, and provide a selection mechanism that lets you
change parameters in unison across groups. What’s more, you can export and import Groups to
and from your hard disk, which is the most convenient way to copy parts of one Instrument to another.
Generally, when you create your own Instruments, you should find a consistent way to distribute
your Zones into Groups. This can be a common aspect of the Zones that serves as an attribute for
dividing them into categories; for instance, if you create a chromatically sampled Instrument with
four velocity layers, you could distribute the Zones on each layer across four Groups named “vel
0-31”, “vel 32-63”, “vel 64-95” and “vel 96-127”. This way, should you decide later that the highest
velocity layer needs some additional “sparkle” to cut through your mix, you can simply select the
respective Group for editing and add a EQ with a treble boost to its Group Insert Effects chain.
As another example, if you want to add release samples, you’ll need to move them into a separate
Group, as the required Release Trigger parameter always acts upon a whole Group.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of how the Group concept works, you’ll need a convenient way to
create, delete, access, name, and manage the Groups in your Instrument; this functionality is provided by the Group Editor.
• When you’re in Instrument Edit mode, click the button labeled GroupEditor at the top of the
Instrument Edit view
The Group Editor will appear in the Rack.
The Group Editor, opened on an Instrument which contains 3 Groups. Only the “Bass” Group is
currently selected both for display and for editing.
The Group Editor is divided into four sections:
• At its top, a control header provides several buttons and drop-down menus.
• The largest amount of space is taken up by the Groups list below, which will display all Groups
in your Instruments as a scrollable list.
• At the bottom of the editor, you’ll find a row of several parameters that pertain to the assignment of Voice Groups
• The Group Start Options button in the lower left corner will show or hide an additional set of
rows which contain the Group start conditions.
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The Group Editor
Let’s take a look at what each of these elements does.
17.1. Control Header
This row of buttons and drop-down menus at the top of the Group Editor provides common utility
functions for easy Group management. The following sections will explain each of these elements,
from left to right, in detail.
The header of the Group Editor contains a number of options and utility functions.
17.1.1. Edit All Groups
If this button is activated, all parameters that you adjust on the Group level from that point on will
affect all Groups in the currently edited Instrument. This button is just a convenient shortcut for
checking all edit boxes in the Group list; the same function is also available via a button located in
the Rack header when you’re in Instrument Edit mode.
As an example, suppose you have three Groups with a modulation assignment for each, which assigns an LFO to their pitch in order to create a vibrato effect. If you decide now that the vibrato
effect is a little too strong across all Groups, you don’t need to change the respective modulation
intensity in each Group. Just activate the Edit All Groups button and decrease the respective Intensity parameter in one of the Groups; the respective parameters in all other Groups will change
with it.
We recommend that you always switch this feature off right after you’ve used it. If you leave it on
and make any adjustments to Group parameters later without keeping it in mind, you’ll potentially
destroy carefully tweaked parameter settings in other Groups.
You can find more information on how to change parameters across Groups in section Group List
[99].
17.1.2. Group Selector
Next to the Edit All Groups button, you’ll notice a label that indicates the currently selected
Group, as well as the total number of Groups in your Instrument. Clicking on it opens a drop-down
menu that allows you to select another Group; clicking on the Group name that’s displayed in the
Rack header when you’re in Instrument Edit mode will do the same. In contrast to clicking on a
name in the Group list, however, this action won’t enable the selected Group for editing at the
same time, which makes it the preferred way of selecting Groups if you just want to check out their
contents without editing them.
17.1.3. Edit
This drop-down menu contains a number of utility functions, most of which act on all Groups that
are currently selected in the Group list. Note that this selection is different from enabling Groups
for editing; selected Groups will be indicated with a filled or hollow rectangle around their name in
the Group list, while Groups that are enabled for editing will be indicated with a checked box in
front of their name.
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The Group Editor
The Edit menu contains editing commands that operate on the currently selected Group(s).
The Edit menu is also available as a right-click context menu both inside the Group Editor and the
Groups tab of the Monitor.
Let’s take a look at each function in this menu:
• Set Edit flag for selected groups(s): This option checks the Edit Flag for all Groups that are
currently selected in the Groups List. This allows you to check multiple Groups for editing
quickly, without using the EditAllGroups option, which only allows an all or one mode of editing Groups.
• Delete selected group(s): Deletes any selected Groups. If any of the Groups still contain
Zones, they will be deleted as well; in such cases, you’ll be asked if you’re sure about this.
• Purge empty groups: Deletes all Groups that don’t contain any Zones.
• Copy selected group(s): Copies the selected Groups to the clipboard.
• Cut selected groups(s): Moves the selected Group and its Zones to the clipboard for later
use, removing the Group from the Group list in the process.
Using the cut, copy, and paste commands in the Group Editor, you can move and
copy Groups between Instruments. This even works across multiple KONTAKT instances and sessions.
• Duplicate groups(s): Creates identical copies of the selected Groups.
• Paste group(s) with samples: Inserts the contents of the Group clipboard into the Group list,
leaving their Zones and referenced Sample information intact. Note that if you copied the respective Group(s) beforehand, therefore creating duplicates by pasting them, the Zones will be
duplicated along with the Groups, so later changes to the Zone parameters in one Group won’t
affect the Zones of its copy.
• Paste group(s) w/o gamples: Inserts the contents of the Group clipboard into the Group list,
omitting any Zones in the process. This way, you’ll get empty Groups that replicate the settings
of a previously copied or cut Group.
• Export edited group: This function allows you to save the currently selected Group to an .nkg
file on your hard disk, which you can re-use in other Instruments. In contrast to other commands that act on all selected Groups, this one doesn’t handle multiple selections; only the currently displayed Group, which will be indicated in the Group list with a filled rectangle around its
name, will be saved. When you click this function, a pop-up dialog will ask you to specify a lo-
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The Group Editor
cation and name for the file. In addition, you can also choose between different ways of how
the referenced Samples in this Group should be handled:
• PatchOnly won’t save the Samples, but reference them at their original positions in the
Group file.
• Patch + Samples will save the Samples along with the Group file in a definable location
• Monolith will combine both Group data and its referenced Samples into one large file.
• Import Group: Load a Group in .nkg format and add it to your Instrument, along with all of its
contained Zones. This command also allows you to import BATTERY 3 Cells.
17.1.4. Group Solo
If this button is activated, all Groups except the currently selected one will be muted. This lets you
conveniently check out the contents of a Group when working with multiple Groups, whose Zones
may overlap.
17.1.5. Select by MIDI
If this button is enabled, you can select Groups by playing notes on your keyboard. When KONTAKT receives a MIDI note, it checks all Groups for Zones that match its note number and velocity,
and selects any Groups that contain such Zones in the Group list. This makes for a very intuitive
way to quickly switch between Groups; suppose you’re working on a drum set with every instrument being assigned to a separate Group. Instead of locating the bass drum Group within the
Group list and clicking on its name, you just play a bass drum note on your keyboard, and the corresponding Group will be automatically selected.
17.2. Group List
This pane displays a list of all Groups in your currently edited Instrument. If the number of Groups
won’t fit into the window, a scroll bar will appear on its right side. Here you can select Groups and
enable them for editing.
In order to select a Group for viewing, just click its name; it will be highlighted with a filled rectangle, and all currently visible controls on the Group level will now show the parameters of this
Group. Any command you select from the Edit menu of the Group Editor will now operate on this
Group only. Double-clicking an entry allows you to change its name.
While only one Group can be displayed at any time (which will always be indicated with a filled
rectangle in the Group list), you can select multiple Groups by holding the [Ctrl] key ([Cmd] on
OS X) while clicking on separate Groups to add them to your selection, or holding the [Shift] key
while clicking on a second entry to include all Groups between the first and the last one in your
selection. This selection affects only upon which Groups the commands in the Edit menus will act;
to find out how to change parameters across multiple Groups, read on.
You’ll notice a small check box next to each Group name in the Group list, which will always be
enabled on the list entry on which you clicked last.
The check box next to a Group name indicates whether this Group is selected for editing.
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The Group Editor
It indicates whether the parameters of the respective Group will be changed along when you do
any adjustments. In other words, when you enable the check boxes next to multiple Groups and
then move any controls of the currently displayed Group (such as the Volume or Pan knob of the
Amplifier Module), the parameters of the other Groups will be affected as well.
This transfer happens in an absolute fashion; settings in the other Groups will simply be replaced
with the new ones. This can easily result in unintentional changes to parameters in other Groups
than the currently visible one, so be sure to check whether other Groups are currently enabled for
editing before you do any adjustments on Group level modules. This is made easier by a text indicator in the Rack header: as long as you’re in Instrument edit mode, it will indicate how many and
which Groups are currently enabled for editing.
Note that the Expert tab in the Browser offers you alternate views for the functions described in
this section. These can greatly simplify managing Groups and changing parameters across
Groups; depending on your preference, you might want to use them instead of the Group list for
some operations. The Expert tab is described in detail in section Expert Tab.
17.3. Voice Groups
The concept of Voice Groups allows you to fine-tune the way in which KONTAKT allocates audio
voices to Groups. Please don’t confuse Voice Groups with Groups; in spite of the similar names,
they’re entirely different concepts. To understand Voice Groups, let’s begin with an example.
A typical sampler program of a drum set contains at least one sample of a closed hi-hat and one of
an opened hi-hat. As the ringing sound of an opened hi-hat will be immediately cut off when the
drummer closes it, we can conclude that these sounds never occur at the same time; therefore, we
could simulate this behavior by limiting the maximum voice count of the hi-hat to one. As each
played Sample will take one voice, and the last played Sample will have priority over any Samples
that were triggered before by default, playing the closed hi-hat Sample will cut a still ringing open
hi-hat Sample off.
How can we accomplish this? You can adjust the maximum number of voices to be used for an
Instrument in the Instrument Header, but this would restrict all other parts of the drum kit to one
voice as well. A more practical way would be to make use of the Voice Group concept: it allows
you to create a voice allocation setting and apply it to any number of Groups in your Instrument.
In contrast to Groups, you don’t have to create or manage Voice Groups; instead, 128 of them are
pre-defined in every Instrument. By default, Groups are not assigned to any Voice Group, which
means they will share the pool of voices as defined in the Instrument Header with all other Groups.
By assigning some of your Groups to one of the 128 Voice Groups and adjusting this Voice
Group’s parameters, you can define a new set of voice allocation rules for these Groups. For instance, you could solve the hi-hat problem by assigning the closed and open hi-hat Groups to
Voice Group 1, then set the voice count of this Voice Group to one. There are more parameters to
a Voice Group than its maximum voice count; these will be explained later.
The 128 Voice Groups can be assigned and edited in the strip below the Group list of the Group
Editor. Selecting a Voice Group from the drop-down menu at its left will assign all currently selected Groups to this Voice Group, and display its parameters in the fields to the right.
The row of parameters below the Group list allows you to assign and adjust Voice Groups.
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