# Kontakt 5.7 released



## EvilDragon (Sep 19, 2017)

*KONTAKT 5.7 - 2017-09-19*
This update adds three new guitar amp models and two additional distortion effects. KONTAKT 5.7 also adds enhancements for instrument builders – including two for UI-authoring – and fixes some bugs.

*ADDED* There are now three new guitar amplifier models available: AC Box, Hot Solo and Van 51
*ADDED* There are now two new distortion effects available: Cat and DStortion
*ADDED* KSP UI widgets can now be explicitly placed on one of three layers on the z axis ($CONTROL_PAR_Z_LAYER)
*ADDED* The KSP waveform UI widget can now be styled (color and transparency of its separate components)
*ADDED* Effect parameters that are represented as buttons or dropdown menus are now available through KSP
*ADDED* Every KSP runtime warning now includes the line number of its source
*CHANGED* The Add Library button has now been renamed to Manage Library
*FIXED* KSP: num_elements() now works with ui_xy arrays
*FIXED* CPU profiling mode is now reliable
*FIXED* Text selection in Expert tab is now visible
*FIXED* Nested dropdown menus would stop working under certain circumstances
*FIXED* In certain cases, Kontakt would take longer than usual to close if Usage Data tracking was enabled
*FIXED* Kontakt would crash when longer samples were used with the Tone Machine
*FIXED* Certain NKIs with many automation assignments would cause the system to noticeably slow down
*FIXED* KSP switches would sometimes not show the correct sprite frame when in hover state
*FIXED* Certain DAWs would freeze when attempting to duplicate a track with Kontakt
*FIXED* In certain cases, Kontakt would crash when loading an NKI when another NKI was in Edit view
*FIXED* Kontakt would crash when attempting to declare PGS keys in multiscripts
*KNOWN ISSUE* Additional languages documentation is not up to date (English application reference and KSP reference were updated to version 5.7)


The z-order stuff is particularly useful (and about a decade overdue - just like reporting line numbers for script warnings) for developers. Yay!


----------



## andreasOL (Sep 19, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> ...
> 
> The z-order stuff is particularly useful (and about a decade overdue - just like reporting line numbers for script warnings) for developers. Yay!



Yep!!!


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 19, 2017)

I just wish they made it so that higher-order z-layers block interaction with lower-order layers. As it is right now, you can have a button in normal layer, and label on top, and clicking on the label would still activate the button. This makes making popup windows using labels as background impossible, since the label would still allow the mouse clicks to go through it...

I hope this might come as an additional mode later on, Kontakt devs have been acquainted with requests from some devs, including yours truly.


----------



## Rob Elliott (Sep 19, 2017)

Thanks for the heads up EvilDragon.


----------



## polypx (Sep 19, 2017)

Great stuff! 
Btw, how do you make a nested dropdown menu in KSP?


----------



## devonmyles (Sep 19, 2017)

Excellent. Thanks for the heads up.


----------



## szcz (Sep 19, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> *ADDED* Effect parameters that are represented as buttons or dropdown menus are now available through KSP




This looks interesting, so we can have tube and transistor distortion without taking two effect slots?
It is available exclusively through native access again, no FTP?


----------



## szcz (Sep 19, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> As it is right now, you can have a button in normal layer, and label on top, and clicking on the label would still activate the button.


Can you use a non-functional button as a background layer?


----------



## rrichard63 (Sep 19, 2017)

Any mention of whether the installation/re-installation problems with 5.6.8 have been addressed?


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 19, 2017)

polypx said:


> Btw, how do you make a nested dropdown menu in KSP?



You don't. Or you use a loooot of buttons, but this then needs a click to enter the nested menu, which is not cool...



szcz said:


> Can you use a non-functional button as a background layer?



You can, but the problem is that ui_menu always overrides the button, so if you have the button overlaid over some ui_menus, you could still activate the menu by clicking somewhere in the non-functional button, which is not good.



szcz said:


> This looks interesting, so we can have tube and transistor distortion without taking two effect slots?
> It is available exclusively through native access again, no FTP?



Yes and yes. All future NI product updates will only be delivered via NA.


----------



## szcz (Sep 19, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> You can, but the problem is that ui_menu always overrides the button, so if you have the button overlaid over some ui_menus, you could still activate the menu by clicking somewhere in the non-functional button, which is not good.



I see. So the new layering function only works at visibility level, as you can click through ui_objects. It's not very helpful then. I'll need to see it at play. Thanks for info.


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 19, 2017)

It's useful for different things. You can, for example, put labels onto ui_waveform or ui_xy whereas you couldn't do that before. But I'm hopeful at a later date we'll be able to block interaction between layers, too. Let's wait and see.


----------



## szcz (Sep 19, 2017)

Yes, I imagine that labels being "click transparent" open some possibilities, like applying shading/texture layers over existing controllers.


----------



## geronimo (Sep 20, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> *ADDED* Effect parameters that are represented as buttons or dropdown menus are now available through KSP



Sorry but I don't understand this news of the update; in truth, I understand "perhaps", but would you have an example ?


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 20, 2017)

Effects like Distortion, Saturation, have a dropdown menu to select additional modes. Also, some effects have buttons like Mono, Bright, HQ, Link. Previously you couldn't change these modes via script. Now you can.


----------



## P.N. (Sep 20, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> You can, for example, put labels onto ui_waveform or ui_xy whereas you couldn't do that before .



Couldn't we put custom images on ui_xy before this update? I'm pretty sure they were already customizable.
Great news for the ui_waveform, though.


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 20, 2017)

We could but those would be just 6-frame buttons. Now you can do more elaborate animations with labels on top of cursors, for example.


----------



## Stiltzkin (Sep 20, 2017)

Nice list. Shame still no equal power loops though


----------



## geronimo (Sep 20, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> Effects like Distortion, Saturation, have a dropdown menu to select additional modes. Also, some effects have buttons like Mono, Bright, HQ, Link. Previously you couldn't change these modes via script. Now you can.


Many thanks, Mario: I understand better after looking at the previous and the new KSP manual . Native really encoded everything in this area, it's nice.

Another thing: I'm also lost with the new notion brought by "$ CONTROL_PAR_Z_LAYER": does it only concern commands with personal images ?
The dimension Z concerns the placement before and behind, like 2D ?


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 20, 2017)

You can use the Z-layer thing even with regular controls, they don't haave to be skinned. But yes, it's the behind/front thing like in Photoshop etc.


----------



## geronimo (Sep 20, 2017)

I assume that this "CONTROL_PAR_Z_LAYER" takes precedence over the declaration order.
Because before, we managed with the order of declaration.

Is it a visibility question for the concerned elements and controls when they are layered ?
Sorry to insist but it's not easy when you don't speak English but despite my reading of the few lines of the manual, I am no more advanced . 

"$CONTROL_PAR_Z_LAYER
_sets the Z layer position of the control. Controls can be placed in one of three layers, within these layers they are then positioned by type, and then by declaration order. 


0: Default layer. All controls are assigned to this layer by default
-1: Back layer. Controls in this layer are placed below the default layer
1: Front layer. Controls in this layer are placed on top of the default and back layer_s."


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 20, 2017)

Declaration order is still valid, _within each z-layer_! Old rules still apply, this just builds on top of that.

So, in z-layer 0 (the current state of things, pre-K5.7), you cannot put a label above a button. You can put a label above a button by placing the label onto z-layer 1. But if you have a button that is also in z-layer 1, it will again come on top of the button.


----------



## Voider (Sep 20, 2017)

Is anyone using the inlcuded SFX?


----------



## nosfoe (Sep 21, 2017)

> *ADDED* Every KSP runtime warning now includes the line number of its source



FINALLY!!! always wondered why that wasn't built in from the start...


----------



## EvgenyEmelyanov (Sep 21, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> *KONTAKT 5.7 - 2017-09-19*
> 
> *ADDED* Effect parameters that are represented as buttons or dropdown menus are now available through KSP



It's not an effect button but can we finally reverse the groups through KSP code?


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 21, 2017)

No. At least not without already known workarounds.


----------



## derstefmitf (Sep 22, 2017)

Does anyone know if we sill can get the installer for 5.6.8? It seems that since NI made the jump to Native Access that they do not offer legacy products here: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/update-manager/
I would like to try the new version, but I need to be able to downgrade afterwards and I do not think that I still have the old installer.


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 22, 2017)

Nope. Save executables and plugin files to another folder before the update, then you can rollback if you really need to.


----------



## polypx (Sep 22, 2017)

I still see the list of old installers here:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/update-manager/?q=kontakt&t=updates


----------



## EvilDragon (Sep 22, 2017)

But only up to version 5.6.6. There's no 5.6.8 there (and any version past 5.6.6 will NOT be there - only accessible via NA).


----------



## Tod (Sep 24, 2017)

Hey Mario, where are they putting the dll files for 5.7. I've searched all over my computer and can't find them.


----------



## Tod (Sep 24, 2017)

Never mind, I think I found them. I've got all my earlier dll files stored away in there own folders, totally separate from any other VST folders, thinking they were safe.

At any rate, the installer found my 5.6 dlls and replaced them. I'm not exactly happy about that, they didn't even update the modified date, hows a person to know.


----------



## Tacet (Oct 4, 2017)

Beginner question, if I may.

Has the crossgrade to KONTAKT 5 from KONTAKT-based third-party products for $249.00 always been available?

Also, is it likely that NI will offer some special discount for KONTAKT 5 and/or KOMPLETE for Black Wednesday?


----------



## EvilDragon (Oct 4, 2017)

1) Yes. 2) Nobody knows, you can only guess.


----------



## Symfoniq (Oct 5, 2017)

Tacet said:


> Beginner question, if I may.
> 
> Has the crossgrade to KONTAKT 5 from KONTAKT-based third-party products for $249.00 always been available?
> 
> Also, is it likely that NI will offer some special discount for KONTAKT 5 and/or KOMPLETE for Black Wednesday?



Yes and yes. Due to all the Kontakt Player libraries I owned, I qualified for the $249.00 crossgrade, but actually paid $124.50 due to a sale that Native Instruments was running. It was over the summer, though. No idea about Black Friday.


----------



## CT (Oct 6, 2017)

Just as a heads up, today Kontakt has crashed on me every single time I ask Adagietto to "learn" the modwheel as the dynamics controller. I'm not absolutely sure this has anything to do with the update, but the timing does make sense as I've never encountered it before. I don't use the modwheel for dynamics anymore, but a breath controller, which is "learned" fine, so it isn't a crippling issue, but it's a bit odd in how specific it is and could definitely cause a headache for people if it isn't limited to me.

I haven't had any other issues with the update.


----------



## SoundYeti (Oct 9, 2017)

andreasOL said:


> Yep!!!


Thanks for the Info EvilDragon.


----------



## Henning (Oct 11, 2017)

Ok, bit the bullet today and installed NA to get a library authorized and for good measure updated Kontakt to 5.7. All on my Win8 slave and it worked without a glitch (knocks on wood).


----------



## Richard Wilkinson (Oct 11, 2017)

Is anyone using the new version with Logic? I upgraded this morning and Logic is crashing all over the bloody shop, citing Kontakt as the issue...


----------



## robh (Oct 11, 2017)

wilx said:


> Is anyone using the new version with Logic? I upgraded this morning and Logic is crashing all over the bloody shop, citing Kontakt as the issue...


Yes. I'm definitely not experiencing what you are describing.
Have you tried trashing the preference files? Either Native Instruments or Logic?

Rob


----------



## Richard Wilkinson (Oct 11, 2017)

robh said:


> Yes. I'm definitely not experiencing what you are describing.
> Have you tried trashing the preference files? Either Native Instruments or Logic?
> 
> Rob



Weirdly the issue seems to have calmed down now. One separate thing I'm noticing is a huge spike in CPU usage when I open the Kontakt plugin window. Wondering whether that's always been the case and I'm only seeing it now, or whether it's a bug.


----------



## ScoringFilm (Oct 17, 2017)

I have noticed significantly faster loading times over recent versions; no other new issues here.


----------



## wbacer (Oct 18, 2017)

I just recently downloaded and installed the latest Berlin Woodwinds update.
OT indicated that the update was done correctly but the old 2.1 folder is now housed within the BWW 2.2 folder.
Kontakt is still pointing to the 2.1 folder and not to the BWW 2.2 folder so I don't see the update in Kontakt 5.7
OT suggested to remove and re-add BWW in Kontakt but Mario indicated, in a Native Instrument's post, that this was not possible with 5.7 and that an installer for Kontakt 5.6.8 was no longer available.
Mario also indicated that you can still force a reinstall of the library by removing relevant entries from the registry/removing relevant plist files. I'm on a Mac and I'm not sure how to do that.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## wbacer (Oct 19, 2017)

FYI, I found a workaround.
I just moved the BWW folder to another HD then within Kontakt relocated the path.
I didn’t need to remove and re-add BWW in Kontakt after all.


----------

