# Creating ensembles from solo instruments



## DimensionsTomorrow (Apr 19, 2021)

I notice from watching Spitfire videos that when creating ensembles, it seems that the most common way is to have multiple patches loaded up in a single instance of Kontakt.

Is there an advantage to doing it this way versus creating a track stack in Logic? My inclination would be to use a track stack as each instrument can be easily processed separately.

Also, really newb question but is there a setting in Kontakt to have each new patch added default to the same midi channel rather than a new midi channel?


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## Sunny Schramm (Apr 19, 2021)

DimensionsTomorrow said:


> I notice from watching Spitfire videos that when creating ensembles, it seems that the most common way is to have multiple patches loaded up in a single instance of Kontakt.
> 
> Is there an advantage to doing it this way versus creating a track stack in Logic? My inclination would be to use a track stack as each instrument can be easily processed separately.
> 
> Also, really newb question but is there a setting in Kontakt to have each new patch added default to the same midi channel rather than a new midi channel?


The only way I know is to set the global midi-setting to: "omni"






After that all loaded instruments can be played together:






Some solo-libraries like "Cinematic Studio Solo Strings" have a combined ensemble patch next to and from the solos.


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## DimensionsTomorrow (Apr 19, 2021)

Thanks @Sunny Schramm! That’s the setting I was missing. I was changing them manually each time. That’s a big help.

I still don’t have a good idea about how much processing power running multiple instances of Kontakt takes. If it’s not a big deal, I’m leaning towards building ensembles in Logic summing stacks, but I might be missing something. 🤔


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## mussnig (Apr 19, 2021)

DimensionsTomorrow said:


> Thanks @Sunny Schramm! That’s the setting I was missing. I was changing them manually each time. That’s a big help.
> 
> I still don’t have a good idea about how much processing power running multiple instances of Kontakt takes. If it’s not a big deal, I’m leaning towards building ensembles in Logic summing stacks, but I might be missing something. 🤔


If I remember correctly it used to be like this (and probably it still is like this): Running multiple patches in one instance of Kontakt uses less RAM than having all patches in their own instance of Kontakt (because every instance of Kontakt needs a certain amount of RAM - regardless if a patch is loaded or not). However, if every patch has it's own Kontakt instance and thus it's own track in your DAW (unless you are using a Rack in Ableton or something like that), it will have less impact on your CPU since your DAW will usually do a better job distributing the load to the CPU cores. Of course, this will also depend on your DAW and your system in general ...


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## DimensionsTomorrow (Apr 20, 2021)

Thanks @mussnig!


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## alir1296 (Apr 20, 2021)

DimensionsTomorrow said:


> as each instrument can be easily processed separately.


So you can actually have all the instruments loaded into a single instance of kontakt and then process them separately.
To do this, you need to first create multiple outputs inside of kontakt - (This video explains how to do that really nicely: ). 
Then, just one thing to understand about audio quickly (I'm sure you already know this anyway but I'll say it just in case), each output that you've created is a stereo output, meaning it has a left and a right audio channel. Therefore Stereo Output 1 (St1 Kontakt will most likely have called it), will be outputting to audio channels 1 and 2, (1 being left and 2 being right). Therefore St2 is going to be outputting to channels 3 and 4, 3 being left and 4 being right and so on. 
So what you then want to do when you have assigned each instrument to a different output, is on the track where you have the kontakt multi instrument, create sends to other tracks (any other track you like, doesn't need anything on it).
So audio channels 1 and 2 will go to, e.g track 1. Then audio channels 3 and 4 will go to track 2 etc. Then, all of your instruments in the kontakt multi rack should all be sending their audio outputs to those tracks which you've set the send up on, so you can then process them all separately. 
The advantage of doing this is it means its easy to adjust all the instruments together as they're all in the same instance of kontakt, and like mussnig said above, this also uses less RAM, which may be preferable depending on your setup. 
Hope this makes sense and helps!


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## DimensionsTomorrow (Apr 20, 2021)

alir1296 said:


> So you can actually have all the instruments loaded into a single instance of kontakt and then process them separately.
> To do this, you need to first create multiple outputs inside of kontakt - (This video explains how to do that really nicely: ).
> Then, just one thing to understand about audio quickly (I'm sure you already know this anyway but I'll say it just in case), each output that you've created is a stereo output, meaning it has a left and a right audio channel. Therefore Stereo Output 1 (St1 Kontakt will most likely have called it), will be outputting to audio channels 1 and 2, (1 being left and 2 being right). Therefore St2 is going to be outputting to channels 3 and 4, 3 being left and 4 being right and so on.
> So what you then want to do when you have assigned each instrument to a different output, is on the track where you have the kontakt multi instrument, create sends to other tracks (any other track you like, doesn't need anything on it).
> ...



Thanks very much! That is very helpful.
Since I only have 32GB of ram, I should probably build my ensembles in Kontakt it seems. I have set up a multi-out in Kontakt before, but not for a while, so this is a great refresher.

Right now I’m really gung-ho about saving/organizing all my instruments as patches in Logic, so what I’ll probably do is start saving Kontakt ensembles as patches in Logic as I build things that look like they will be useful for future projects.


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## Maarten (Apr 20, 2021)

Maybe you should also read, for more info.





Kontakt : Separate Instances or Multis


I'm looking for some advice on Kontakt. In big projects, is it better to run separate instances for the various instruments, or Assemble a few together in a multi, or does it not really make any difference to Ram Usage either way ? Also I'm getting a clicking sound some time when using kontakt...




vi-control.net





I have 32 GB in a MacMini 2018 (6-core i7). I never run into RAM-issues with Kontakt, but I seldom use more than 16 tracks so it depends on your use-case. I find the FX routing easier and more flexible with separate instances on each track. My 2 cents.


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## mussnig (Apr 20, 2021)

Maarten said:


> Maybe you should also read, for more info.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I have 16 GB and also use separate instances. It's easier to work with (at least for me) and my processor is grateful since it's not too strong. My larger projects usually have around 50 tracks and I could always handle the RAM load - Purge and SSDs are my friend. If only Spitfire would implement this to their Player ...


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## Tralen (Apr 20, 2021)

Splitting the CPU load into multiple Kontakt instances has saved me many times. I rarely have problems with RAM, so I use multiple instances by default.


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## DimensionsTomorrow (Apr 20, 2021)

Maarten said:


> Maybe you should also read, for more info.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks. I’ll read that next! I guess I’ll try both. Good to have options.

From a personal workflow perspective, I’m leaning toward having everything on separate tracks. I have an iMac Pro so the processor is pretty powerful. I wish I had gotten 64gb of RAM but it was a bit of a stretch just to get the base model (and I wasn’t working with orchestral libraries at the time).


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