# Need Help Organizing Kontakt



## ryevick (Jan 29, 2020)

Hello everyone!

I have the full version of Kontakt 6. I have a few questions that I'll just list below. I'm new to the full version of Kontakt as well, so there may be obvious features to do things I'm asking about, I just don't know about them yet. Still learning.

1. I know you can do quick load for libraries that are not showing up in the library tab through loading folders but if there is a way to create and add the needed files so all of my libraries show up in that library tab with their wallpapers or a custom wallpaper? I'd much rather go that route than via quick loading.

2. I'm a bit of an organization nut and I would love to be able to (after all the libraries are loadable via the library tab), organize/group my library tab. I know you can do this via folders from a video I watched but it isn't really what I'm wanting to do. What I want is to customize my library tab so that I can click on a banner/wallpaper labeled "Strings", "Percussion", "Bass", "Synths", etc... and when I do that it drops down or opens a list below it, still in the library tab, that shows all of the libraries that I have placed within it. Click that same "Strings" banner again... and the libraries retract back into it, making the library tab very tidy and easy to navigate to what you want quickly. If I can successfully do this there would only be a handful of wallpapers showing when Kontakt is opened. Hopefully that made sense. If there is software to create "listable" libraries or do some of the work I'm referring to please let me know.

3. I have heard that version 6 removed some of the abilities Kontakt had to create and organize. Can I install an early version of Kontakt on the same machine as version 6 is on, strictly just to do mods and edits for the newer version to use. Libraries would be listed/added and played only on version 6.


Thanks for any help you can provide!


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## EvilDragon (Jan 29, 2020)

1. Libraries tab is only intended for authorized, encoded Kontakt Player libraries. It's not intended for users to tamper with (although some have tried to and made some tools for it, which first appeared on warez sites - so tread with caution).

2. Not possible.

3. Kontakt 6 only removed 3rd party sampler format import, nothing else. Database which was removed in initial K6 release was brought back very soon.


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## charlieclouser (Jan 29, 2020)

If you are an organization fiend like me, just use QuickLoad and skip the Libraries tab with their pretty colored headers entirely. QuickLoad can contain .nki files from both Kontakt Player libraries that show up in the libraries tab as well as "full Kontakt" libraries that don't. So that's the place to create a unified collection of the .nki files, sorted into folders and arranged just how you like.

On Mac, the QuickLoad database is just a set of folders with aliases that point to the original files, and these can be moved around and rearranged either from the QuickLoad window or directly in the MacOS Finder. So go nuts. I finally saw the light and went through my entire 16tb of Kontakt stuff and put the ones I want to use into QuickLoad, all arranged nice and tidy. It's great. A couple of caveats:

- You cannot rename the aliases in the QuickLoad folders to have a different name than the original .nki file they point to. I understand why this is, but for me it's a bit of a drag. This means that I must rename the original .nki files to conform to my preferred naming scheme BEFORE dragging them into QuickLoad.

- If you download an update to any Kontakt library that gives you new .nki files, you must drag them into QuickLoad, after renaming them if that's what you do. So there is a bit of housekeeping when a library update arrives.

- I like to use the little arrows next to the Instrument name in the main Kontakt UI to scroll to previous+next patch, but this scrolls to the previous+next Instrument in the source folder, NOT in the QuickLoad. So if you've just put three patches out of 100 into QuickLoad, the arrows will scroll between that list of 100, not the three you wanted. However, you can use this to your advantage: If you have a folder with 100 .nki files and you don't want to drag all of them into QuickLoad, just put the first one there, and after you load that from QuickLoad use the arrows to scroll the full list of 100 in the source folder. So you can use a single .nki in QuickLoad as a sort of shortcut to the first .nki in a longer list.

Other than that, I can't think of any other downsides to using QuickLoad.... yet. I'm sure that eventually it will screw up on me, like aliases no longer pointing to their source folder after I rename or move something, but for the moment it's pretty great.

And yes you can have both Kontakt v5 and v6 side by side on the same computer - I do this and it works fine. I only use v6 for libraries that explicitly require it. Two things to watch out for:

- If you save an .nki from v6, it can NOT be opened in v5 ever again. That process converts it permanently to a v6 file, and if you don't have a backup you are committed. Sample files are not affected. If you want, you can duplicate the Instruments folder inside a library folder, rename them "Instruments v5" and "Instruments v6" and proceed from there, optionally appending "v5" and "v6" to the end of the filename for each .nki file. I just append "v6" to the end of the filename for those Instruments which require v6 and leave it at that. I just make sure that I never save an .nki file from v6 unless it has "v6" in the name already - but be careful cause you can't go back!

- v5 and v6 maintain separate QuickLoad databases, so if you want the same list of files to appear in QuickLoad in both versions, you'll have to sync the folders. Again, v6 .nki files will appear in the QuickLoad window in v5 but will not load. v5 files will load in v6 however. Just be careful about what and when you save from v6!


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## Monkey Man (Jan 29, 2020)

Thank you, Charlie!

I still don't have Kontakt yet, but have wondered about this stuff for years, being an organisation-nut myself.


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## ryevick (Feb 5, 2020)

I've been super busy this last week. Thanks for the replies and helpful info!


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