# A very, very basic question



## clarkus (May 8, 2014)

And I'm sure this is in the manual somewhere - sorry! I expect anyone here can answer this in 10 seconds flat.

When I drag an nki. file into Kontakt, I can play it from my MIDi keyboard. Great.

I can also scroll from that (loaded) sample to other (unloaded) samples, if there are others in the collection.The Spitfire instrument collections, for example, seem to be chained together in this way, so that you can access the next file without manually dragging the files off and on.

With other samples though - let's all them "one-offs" - I need to play the sample, then toggle to another I drag into the window. Or I might have several instruments open in Kontakt, and want to access first one, then another. 

When I drag a new nki. file into the Kontakt window, however, the first sample continues to play.

What is the protocol for turning OFF instrument one, and playing instrument two?

And how does one banish sample one entirely? I find even if I click on the "X" and the sample visually disappears, I am still hearing it triggered by my keyboard.

Many thanks.


----------



## TGV (May 8, 2014)

I'm not sure what you mean, but if you add another nki to the Kontakt window, it will play from the next available MIDI channel. So if you control it from your keyboard, you can load 16 different patches (a sample is usually taken to mean a recording of one single sound; an nki can contain tens of thousands of samples). If you want to replace the active patch, drop the new nki on top of it.


----------



## clarkus (May 8, 2014)

Ah! I think "Drop on top of it" is the prompt I needed. Thanks. Will try that.


----------



## The Darris (May 8, 2014)

Clarkus,

I am not sure which approach to Kontakt you are using (Stand-alone or Hosted by DAW via plugin) but I have multiple videos showing how to use it within Cubase 7 that can be applied to most DAWs in the same manner. 

*How Kontakt Works (Basic Functions): http://youtu.be/f6NEHGCL_wg*

*Creating Multiple Stereo Outputs in Kontakt 5: http://youtu.be/-JSmN9o12Fk*

*Using the Multi-Stereo Outs in K5: http://youtu.be/efasXetMHxQ*

Keep in mind, I use Kontakt in Cubase 7 so some of the steps will vary from DAW to DAW but the idea and concepts are the same. You can search my channel for some live composition videos that utilizes Kontakt as well as other tutorials such as template creation and more complex features of Kontakt such as Time Machine Pro. As always, you can send me a message if you have any questions and I will do my best to help you out. Take care.

Best,

Chris


----------



## Ozymandias (May 8, 2014)

clarkus @ Thu May 08 said:


> Ah! I think "Drop on top of it" is the prompt I needed. Thanks. Will try that.



If you have Quick-Load set up, you can also replace instruments by clicking on the small triangle to the left of the instrument name.


----------



## clarkus (May 8, 2014)

Thanks, Chris ! !


----------



## clarkus (May 8, 2014)

Hi, Chris - So I watched your video Kontakt: How it Works. Some great pointers on how to minimize the RAM footprint. I do have some questions, very basic ones & excuse my being such a neophyte! 

- I have only opened Kontakt as a plug-in within Logic. I don't actually ( I admit it) know what it would mean to open it in Standalone mode or why one would. If it has advantages, I'd like to know what they are.

- Harking back to a previous question, I find I can make an instance of a Kontakt instrument disappear from the Kontakt screen by clicking on the small "X" in the upper right, as you do in the video. However, the instruments I had in place continue to be heard when I play my MIDI controller (seems a bit counterintuitive, but anyway ...) You mentioned a triangle next to the instrument name but I see several "triangles" & none seem to actually turn the instrument on & off. My Question: When you have several instruments in place in the Kontakt window, how do you turn them on and off.

- Finally, I do find that unless I turn the volume down (this, at least, I know how to do) each instrument I add is triggered by my MIDI controller. Am I headed for a day when I need a more sophisticated MIDI controller than I have in my M-Audio Keystation 61? Or can I get what I would like done with more understanding of the Kontakt player? I would like to be able to assign samples to keys on the keyboard so that my multiple samples don't play in unison. I'd essentially like to be able to set up samples of my choice as a "drum kit" on the keyboard.


----------



## mk282 (May 9, 2014)

You have Mute and Solo buttons on each instrument. Use them.


Seems like each instrument you add is set to Omni mode, so it responds to all MIDI channels. Go to Options->Handling->MIDI channel assignment for loaded patches > set to "1st free" instead of "omni".


----------

