# Template



## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

finally got Kontakt 2 after years of using only Logic's EXS24. I will be mostly running it as a standalone going into Logic, which I am already able to do successfully with Soundflower.

I would like however to set up a multi template with 16 blank instruments so that I can set up their output and midi channel assignments and then just add instruments to it when I need them, without it changing these assignments. The manual does not seem to tell me how to do this. 

Is this possible in Kontakt 2?


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## Dan Selby (Sep 6, 2007)

Hi Jay,

Hmm. I don't think you can, at least directly. I'm pretty sure instruments are saved with their midi channel and output routing (I have got Kontakt open at the moment so I'm not sure). However, a good and powerful way to do what you want would be to open 16 empty banks. You assign the midi channel and output to the bank and you're set. You then just drag and drop any instrument you want into slot 1 of any bank you want. Banks are really powerful and flexible too - drag a bunch of different articulations into, say, the first 8 slots of a bank and you can use program changes, keyswitches or different midi channels (whichever is your preference) to switch between them.

HTH

Dan


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## Thonex (Sep 6, 2007)

[edit -- I was just beat by 2 minutes]

If you just create 16 new (blank -dummy) instruments and just assign their midi channels and outputs as you want.... then you can then drag-drop your "real" patches from the browser onto the name of the "dummy" patches and they will assume the same midi channel and outputs.

I've never done this as a template, but you can replace patches with others and they retain the outputs... so I'm guessing this should work.

Let me know.

Cheers,

T


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

Thonex @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> [edit -- I was just beat by 2 minutes]
> 
> If you just create 16 new (blank -dummy) instruments and just assign their midi channels and outputs as you want.... then you can then drag-drop your "real" patches from the browser onto the name of the "dummy" patches and they will assume the same midi channel and outputs.
> 
> ...



Thanks Thonex.


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## dannthr (Sep 6, 2007)

Yeah, that's the thing you have to watch out for, K2 doesn't auto assign midi channels to banks, just patches. So no matter what order you add the banks, it'll auto assign the channels by patch order. Creating dummy patches in your banks is the best way to save all of the I/O info, audio and midi alike.

This is how I have a 41 piece orchestral template.


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

dannthr @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> Yeah, that's the thing you have to watch out for, K2 doesn't auto assign midi channels to banks, just patches. So no matter what order you add the banks, it'll auto assign the channels by patch order. Creating dummy patches in your banks is the best way to save all of the I/O info, audio and midi alike.
> 
> This is how I have a 41 piece orchestral template.



OK I set it up. Now I drag and drop a instrument into a dummy slot and it does not seem to remember the output assignment.


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

I talked to N.I. tech support and output assignments are saved with .nki files so if I drag a new instrument into a template slot it is going to change the output assignment unless I go into each and every .nki and assign an output and re-save it.

This was not the answer I was hoping for but such is life.


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## Dan Selby (Sep 6, 2007)

Hi Jay,

Yes, that's what I thought... but as I said, you can use banks to do what you want.

Dan


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

Dan Selby @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> Hi Jay,
> 
> Yes, that's what I thought... but as I said, you can use banks to do what you want.
> 
> Dan



Dan I have gone through the manual and while it says you can create banks within a multi but it does not tell you HOW.

I dragged my first in instrument into the default multi and I see 01-16, which I assume is a bank. So after I drag a few more in and assign the outputs how do I "save as bank?"


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## Dan Selby (Sep 6, 2007)

Jay,

Just from the Load/Save dropdown menu: "new instrument bank"

You can load up empty banks, just like instruments - they look pretty similar, just a different colour, but when you open one up you'll see there are 128 slots that you can drop instruments into. A bank is really a container for holding up to 128 (or just 1 if that's all you need) instruments that you can drag about freely between the slots. The bank has it's own global settings for ouputs and midi channels that overide the ones that are saved with the individuals instruments. Instruments, once dropped in a slot of a bank, can be opened and edited in full just as if the instrument were not in a bank.

Hope that helps.

Dan


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

Dan Selby @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> Jay,
> 
> Just from the Load/Save dropdown menu: "new instrument bank"
> 
> ...



I see. But maybe I am not being clear here. In this bank I want to load 16 Empty instruments, each assigned to a Soundflower output and a midi channel.

i tried dragging in a Kontakt_ default.nki to 001 and then again to 002 but as soon as I change the midi channel assignment to one it changes it on both of them.


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## Dan Selby (Sep 6, 2007)

Hi Jay,

No, you're misunderstanding me. My idea is that you load 16 empty *banks* and then set up the midi channel and output for each bank how you want it. You then save this as a multi and/or as part of your template. You would then just need to drop an instrument into the first slot of any bank you choose and the instrument will be routed to the midi channel and output of the bank .

Make sense?


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

Dan Selby @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> Hi Jay,
> 
> No, you're misunderstanding me. My idea is that you load 16 empty *banks* and then set up the midi channel and output for each bank how you want it. You then save this as a multi and/or as part of your template. You would then just need to drop an instrument into the first slot of any bank you choose and the instrument will be routed to the midi channel and output of the bank .
> 
> Make sense?



Thanks for taking tghe time with me Dan.

Your explanation makes perfect sense, and worked perfectly. N.I.'s implementation of this what should be a straight ahead bit of setup makes no sense IMHO but maybe I will come to see the wisdom of it after I have worked with it longer.


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## John DeBorde (Sep 6, 2007)

Ashermusic @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> Dan Selby @ Thu Sep 06 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Jay,
> ...



hi Jay,

Might I suggest you stop thinking the way you know and begin thinking the "Kontakt Way"? (John ducks to avoid Jay's computer flying by his head.....)

8-P

PS: Don't you love it when a manufacturer tells you about a cool feature, but doesn't explain how to use it? Now that's a manual!


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## Dan Selby (Sep 6, 2007)

No problem, Jay - glad you're back on track. Once you get your head around how Kontakt2 works and the hierarchy (multis, banks, instruments, groups etc) it is very powerful and flexible - banks are really fantastic, actually... but as is often the case with these things, if you've come from using a different tool it can actually make it a bit slower because you are fighting against your frame of reference for how it "should" work.

Cheers,

Dan


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## Ashermusic (Sep 6, 2007)

Dan Selby @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> No problem, Jay - glad you're back on track. Once you get your head around how Kontakt2 works and the hierarchy (multis, banks, instruments, groups etc) it is very powerful and flexible - banks are really fantastic, actually... but as is often the case with these things, if you've come from using a different tool it can actually make it a bit slower because you are fighting against your frame of reference for how it "should" work.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dan



Correct Dan ( and John). When you approach new software it is hard but necessary to try not to think the way the other software has taught you to think but take it on its own terms.


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## JohnnyMarks (Sep 6, 2007)

Jay, 

N.I. is a little stingy with informatin in that manual. I found the tutorial DVD (from N.I.) a worthwhile expenditure.


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## Fernando Warez (Sep 6, 2007)

Dan Selby @ Thu Sep 06 said:


> No problem, Jay - glad you're back on track. Once you get your head around how Kontakt2 works and the hierarchy (multis, banks, instruments, groups etc) it is very powerful and flexible - banks are really fantastic, actually... but as is often the case with these things, if you've come from using a different tool it can actually make it a bit slower because you are fighting against your frame of reference for how it "should" work.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dan



Have you encountered any problem with the controllers not updating as you move from one instrument to the other inside instruments bank? That's the downside of using banks
so i was wondering if you had any problem with this.


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## kotori (Sep 7, 2007)

Fernando Warez @ Fri Sep 07 said:


> The problem I'm having with banks is that controllers like volumes won't update when moving from on articulation to an other and is a problem i would like to resolve as i find it important to be able to fade out on instruments like strings to achieve a more realistic result for example.



It would probably be possible to write a multi script which fixes this. It's just that nobody has done it yet.



> I also had some issue with velocity as well, like i would stop at bar 4 and go back to bar 2 an find the velocity completely screwed up like way to low. The only work around for this is to carefully choose work you stop etc...


I have never heard of anything like it. Are you sure it's the velocity and not something else which is screwed up? Sounds like a sequencer issue.


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## dannthr (Sep 7, 2007)

Do you mean Volume?

I like adjusting volume as an overall mixing element patch by patch and I have to deactivate the volume settings in my sequencer so it doesn't automatically adjust it to default 127 (ouch, my frikkin' ears).

I also like that controller information doesn't carry between patches.


Great Dans think alike, what can I say?

Also, Multis do save output assignments. I always have to readjust my output when I'm using someone else's multis because I always use 3/4 stereo outputs when most people save at 1/2.

If that's what you mean by outputs.

Otherwise, you can create sends for each bank and have that going to a different output--again, I'm pretty sure that's savable in the multi.


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## Fernando Warez (Sep 7, 2007)

> kotori @ Fri Sep 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Fernando Warez @ Fri Sep 07 said:
> ...



You may be right. I remember having an error message when i installed my sequence but didn't bother to find the proble as this was on my net Pc where i try things etc..


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