# Kontakt/Cubase suddenly temporarily losing midi input



## decredis (Apr 4, 2021)

Ok; this has been happening for a few weeks, unpredictably in the middle of Cubase sessions. One or more Kontakt track instruments will suddenly stop playing the midi (whether from the piano-roll midi-editor or live from my midi keyboard). The keyboard within the Kontakt gui still works, but nothing else produces any response.

After a minute or so, the instrument usually starts working again.

Alternatively, simply duplicating the track in Cubase produces a duplicate that works while leaving the original still not working until it resolves itself.

I don't know whether this is a Cubase problem or a Kontakt problem, or something else, but I've not changed anything in either of them as far as I'm aware, prior to the problem starting.

Cubase is v10.0.60, Kontakt is v6.4.2, OS is Windows 10.0.19041

Any thoughts would be gratefully received


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## moozzymooz (Apr 20, 2021)

Might not be related, but I also had a similar issue just now while demoing Cubase 11 - I had a project running with about a dozen or so kontakt instruments loaded (spread over 3 instances of kontakt). Ran fine, saved fine. When I loaded up the project later though, for about a minute no sound would be produced. 

It appears the MIDI messages are "sending" as I can see the meters jumping for them, but neither the recorded MIDI nor any input from my MIDI keyboard will make a sound. If I pull up Kontakt while this is happening, none of the meters show any audio coming out - so I'm not sure what could be causing this. When it starts working again, it's rather sudden and it doesn't seem to be in response to any particular thing I do.


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## decredis (Apr 20, 2021)

Sounds similar, doesn't it? Did you try any of the things I mentioned (eg, duplicating the malfunctioning track produces a track that does work immediately; and clicking on the on-screen kontakt keyboard produces sound even while the track isn't working for midi input)?

Then again, if yours is happening only when first loading the project, that's not so similar to my issue... it's not just that samples haven't been loaded yet in your case is it?


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## moozzymooz (Apr 20, 2021)

decredis said:


> Sounds similar, doesn't it? Did you try any of the things I mentioned (eg, duplicating the malfunctioning track produces a track that does work immediately; and clicking on the on-screen kontakt keyboard produces sound even while the track isn't working for midi input)?
> 
> Then again, if yours is happening only when first loading the project, that's not so similar to my issue... it's not just that samples haven't been loaded yet in your case is it?


Nope - I checked Kontakt and it shows all samples loaded up and there is ram being used. I play the project and there will just be no sound - until suddenly almost like a switch audio just immediately starts playing. I made sure to double check any MIDI CC channels thinking maybe I forgot to set some expression/modulation points in but that wasn't the case either.

The on-screen keyboard didn't produce sound either, however when I tried to reload a patch suddenly ALL instances of Kontakt began outputting audio...even the instances I hadn't edited yet? Very strange.


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## decredis (Apr 20, 2021)

moozzymooz said:


> Nope - I checked Kontakt and it shows all samples loaded up and there is ram being used. I play the project and there will just be no sound - until suddenly almost like a switch audio just immediately starts playing. I made sure to double check any MIDI CC channels thinking maybe I forgot to set some expression/modulation points in but that wasn't the case either.
> 
> The on-screen keyboard didn't produce sound either, however when I tried to reload a patch suddenly ALL instances of Kontakt began outputting audio...even the instances I hadn't edited yet? Very strange.


Ah curious, sounds like it's not an identical issue to mine, even if it's related; because with mine it always works to use the on-screen keyboard, just not the piano-roll playback or live midi-input... also mine happens mid-session and not on all kontakt instances at once.


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## Robert_G (Apr 20, 2021)

decredis said:


> Ok; this has been happening for a few weeks, unpredictably in the middle of Cubase sessions. One or more Kontakt track instruments will suddenly stop playing the midi (whether from the piano-roll midi-editor or live from my midi keyboard). The keyboard within the Kontakt gui still works, but nothing else produces any response.
> 
> After a minute or so, the instrument usually starts working again.
> 
> ...


What instruments are causing the problem?
Also be sure to upgrade Kontakt. The entire 6.4.x series is a joke plagued with issues.


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## decredis (Apr 21, 2021)

Robert_G said:


> What instruments are causing the problem?
> Also be sure to upgrade Kontakt. The entire 6.4.x series is a joke plagued with issues.


For some reason the project I'm currently working on isn't having the issue; so I'm going to have to check back on the one that was; but some were Rinascimento instruments certainly, but other unrelated instruments were also having the same issue. 

Oh, for some reason I didn't realise I didn't have Kontakt up to date! Thanks for pointing that out; I will see if that changes anything.


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## moozzymooz (Apr 21, 2021)

Probably should have included this before, but I have Kontakt Player 6.5.2 and running this on a trial version of Cubase 11 Elements (considering switching to Cubase as my main "orchestral DAW" over Ableton). 


decredis said:


> Ah curious, sounds like it's not an identical issue to mine, even if it's related; because with mine it always works to use the on-screen keyboard, just not the piano-roll playback or live midi-input... also mine happens mid-session and not on all kontakt instances at once.


Yeah it doesn't seem to be identical, but perhaps related. It's very strange, I've done some more testing and it truly does seem to be "random". There's no specific CC data it's responding to (as best as I can tell) and when I let the project sit idle for several minutes before trying to play it does seem to work. That would imply maybe it's just Kontakt loading, but it's strange that every instance and every instrument shows as being fully loaded without any actual playback for several minutes?


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## labornvain (Apr 21, 2021)

decredis said:


> Ah curious, sounds like it's not an identical issue to mine, even if it's related; because with mine it always works to use the on-screen keyboard, just not the piano-roll playback or live midi-input... also mine happens mid-session and not on all kontakt instances at once.


Yeah, what you're describing is a well documented bug in Cubase that dates back to at least Ver. 7. Everything works except when you hit play. Then the midi part just seems to not be connect3ed the the VI.

The OP's issue seems different. 

Not to derail the thread, but I finally found what so far seems to be a more reliable fix than duplicating tracks. That is to, using Direct Routing, unassign the track from whatever bus it's routed to (set it to no output), then reassign it. Has brought it back for me every time so far.


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## decredis (Apr 22, 2021)

labornvain said:


> Yeah, what you're describing is a well documented bug in Cubase that dates back to at least Ver. 7. Everything works except when you hit play. Then the midi part just seems to not be connect3ed the the VI.
> 
> The OP's issue seems different.
> 
> Not to derail the thread, but I finally found what so far seems to be a more reliable fix than duplicating tracks. That is to, using Direct Routing, unassign the track from whatever bus it's routed to (set it to no output), then reassign it. Has brought it back for me every time so far.


Hi, many thanks for this. So the problem is Cubase, not Kontakt, or an interaction between the two? Can you point me to where the bug is documented? And is there any info on what determines when the bug occurs, because some projects I have it never happening, some it happens all the time.

(Incidentally, the project I most recently had it happening on is a few rinascimento tracks and one soniccouture sheng, all kontakt; and updating kontakt 6 to latest didn't make a difference.)

EDIT: Oh did I misunderstand? Not sure if you're saying my bug is well documented, or the other bug


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## decredis (Apr 22, 2021)

By the way, hitting play as such (ie as in on the transport) has nothing to do with it in my case. I can load the project up, and start just playing keys on my midi controller keyboard on one track, it works fine, then switch through some other tracks and come back to the first track and it no longer works; then wait a minute or so and eventually it comes back. Then cycle through the tracks playing a bit on each then a different track loses it.


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## labornvain (Apr 22, 2021)

decredis said:


> Hi, many thanks for this. So the problem is Cubase, not Kontakt, or an interaction between the two? Can you point me to where the bug is documented? And is there any info on what determines when the bug occurs, because some projects I have it never happening, some it happens all the time.
> 
> (Incidentally, the project I most recently had it happening on is a few rinascimento tracks and one soniccouture sheng, all kontakt; and updating kontakt 6 to latest didn't make a difference.)
> 
> EDIT: Oh did I misunderstand? Not sure if you're saying my bug is well documented, or the other bug



Yeah, it sounds like you have a different issue. Or either the bug that many of us have been experiencing for years is getting worse.


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## heisenberg (Jun 4, 2021)

Yeah, I am using Nuendo 10.2.20 on PC and I have been loosing my MIDI connection in Kontakt for a number of weeks. Can't place the extact date but let's say a few weeks. I upgraded to the most current version of Kontakt on a whim when it all began (Imagine. Silly me). I backed down to a 6.4.x version of Kontakt and of course everything Kontakt related in my current VEPro based template vanished.

I am now back to 6.5.3 of Kontakt. Any recommendations on a stable but relatively current version of Kontakt? I have a couple of newer Kontakt libs that require, I believe a 6.5.x version of Kontakt.

BTW, to the point above about it possibly being Cubendo, the version of Nuendo that I am on has been around for some time. I wouldn't necessarily pin the problem on Steinberg. The issue cropped up as a consequence of a newer release of Kontakt.


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## decredis (Jun 4, 2021)

It turned out... simple solution although it doesn't tell us what actually went wrong... that deleting all cubase preferences files (including those from previous versions of cubase) etc resolved the problem. (Also, re-locating library files to the main OS drive appeared to solve the problem, but that wasn't a sustainable solution as I don't have room.)


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