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Komplete Kontrol and my workflow !!!!

MeloKeyz

Yes, I AM A HUGE Procrastinator!!
Dear VI Controllers,

I purchased kontrol s61 MK2 and I want to use it to control my DAW. Upgraded the keyboard to the latest firmware, installed kontrol software, and configured the necessary audio/midi and library settings. Now, I don't know how to add instruments and effects in KK. I want to add Metropolis Ark 1 library but it can't find it. I double checked MA1 folder path in the "Library" tab in "Preferences" and hit "Rescan", still it can't find it.

My second issue is the workflow. Now, in Cubase, I configured KK MK2 as a plugin, same as Kontakt. I guessed that I have to add KK always as an instrument track in order to control the VST instruments in all of my libraries. I can't make sure of this now because i haven't loaded any instruments in KK yet but my hunch is telling me that I will no longer add Kontakt as an instrument track. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Appreciate your response.
 
Is Arc NKS compatible? If it isn’t you don’t have all the nifty features that NKS compatibility brings.
You could always open it in Kontakt within Komplete Kontrol and assign controls.
And yes, you have to run an instance of Komplete Kontrol on every track in order to use the features within KK
 
ARK is NKS ready according to the NI website. Did you add the library to the Native Access app (serial number etc).? When done, run the komplete Kontrol app. It should find and add the ARK patches.

Start your DAW, run an instance of KK and ARK should be visible now.
 
Komplete Kontrol software is very kludgy, and sometimes it finds my NKS stuff and sometimes it does not. Currently, it is not finding Ark 3, for instance, but it is finding Arks 1 and 2—they are supported. (It's also not finding Berlin Strings, but I'm not sure if that library is supported.) Ark 2 is listed not just under Orchestral Tools but also under Native Instruments. Go figure! Then too sometimes instruments migrate to "User" for reasons I'm not clear about. It's likely something I did with saving patches, but since I never use the KK software, I'm not really sure what would have done it. But for the longest time, my Arks were located on the user side. In any case, I'm happy I didn't buy my S61 to use KK because it would be driving me batty. The only time I use KK is to make presets for the keyboard, assigning buttons, and whatnot. That part of KK, I've come to rather like, now that they allow you to fully assign things. (It took NI almost a year from the release of the mk 2, however to support user assignments on the keyboard and with the lights.)
 
Did you open it up in Komplete Kontrol Standalone first? You always need to open NKS instruments in KK Standalone before they will work in your DAW.

Of course, you can add Kontakt whenever you want. It just depends on what is best for you.
If an instrument doesn't have NKS, it won't necessarily have the light guides or parameters assigned to knobs. But I have found that many non-NKS libraries do have light guides/parameters when I load them up as instruments in Kontakt within KK.

But there are times when I want to create multis in Kontakt, or when it's just easier.
 
Is Arc NKS compatible? If it isn’t you don’t have all the nifty features that NKS compatibility brings.
You could always open it in Kontakt within Komplete Kontrol and assign controls.
And yes, you have to run an instance of Komplete Kontrol on every track in order to use the features within KK

Yes, it is supposed to be an NKS compatible.
 
ARK is NKS ready according to the NI website. Did you add the library to the Native Access app (serial number etc).? When done, run the komplete Kontrol app. It should find and add the ARK patches.

Start your DAW, run an instance of KK and ARK should be visible now.

Positive.
Activated the library in Native Access with a green tick saying successfully installed.
I don't know what I'm missing but I feel it's a lil stupid thing.
 
Did you open it up in Komplete Kontrol Standalone first? You always need to open NKS instruments in KK Standalone before they will work in your DAW.

Of course, you can add Kontakt whenever you want. It just depends on what is best for you.
If an instrument doesn't have NKS, it won't necessarily have the light guides or parameters assigned to knobs. But I have found that many non-NKS libraries do have light guides/parameters when I load them up as instruments in Kontakt within KK.

But there are times when I want to create multis in Kontakt, or when it's just easier.

Yes, sir I did. When I said I configured audio/midi settings in my original thread, it was in standalone mode, yes. The thing is that I did add Massive, Symphony series, Damage, and Kinetic Metal and they work as hell in KK. I started to believe that Komplete libraries are more NKS than 3rd party NKS lol.
 
There was an upgrade to MA1 to make it NKS compatible. If you, like me, had Ark 1 prior to it becoming NKS compatible there is an upgrade you need to download before KK will see it....

MA1 was out for quite some time before it was made NKS compliant.
 
There was an upgrade to MA1 to make it NKS compatible. If you, like me, had Ark 1 prior to it becoming NKS compatible there is an upgrade you need to download before KK will see it....

MA1 was out for quite some time before it was made NKS compliant.

Copy that sir.
Good news is, I purchased my MA 1/2 last month so I am pretty sure sir that they already are NKS.
 
Is Arc NKS compatible? If it isn’t you don’t have all the nifty features that NKS compatibility brings.
You could always open it in Kontakt within Komplete Kontrol and assign controls.
And yes, you have to run an instance of Komplete Kontrol on every track in order to use the features within KK

Could you please tell me what is the difference if I open my VST instruments inside KK directly vs VST instruments inside Kontakt which in turn be inside KK? ... Ya know, in technology, I have been avoiding complex nesting since my days in the IT industry lol.
 
Ya know, in technology, I have been avoiding complex nesting since my days in the IT industry lol.
Yep. I use KK from time to time (it's good for using eDNA Spitfire stuff) but I can't help thinking that if you were designing such a system with a blank sheet, you'd never put it together in the way that NI have been forced to in order the get the hardware features working.
 
but I can't help thinking that if you were designing such a system with a blank sheet, you'd never put it together in the way that NI have been forced to in order the get the hardware features working.

Sorry sir, I don't follow you. What do you mean? Newbie here :)
 
Sorry sir, I don't follow you. What do you mean? Newbie here :)
Ah, sorry. What I mean is that KK is a "wrapper" plugin and needs to be in order to communicate between the NI hardware and the various supported DAWs. It's the "nesting" thing you were referring to - if you were designing a hypothetical software/hardware integration from scratch without needing to support a huge cross platform hodge-podge of tech, you'd do it a different way.
 
Ah, sorry. What I mean is that KK is a "wrapper" plugin and needs to be in order to communicate between the NI hardware and the various supported DAWs. It's the "nesting" thing you were referring to - if you were designing a hypothetical software/hardware integration from scratch without needing to support a huge cross platform hodge-podge of tech, you'd do it a different way.

Exactly !!
But the most important thing is that vendors must learn from their mistakes. Some do learn from their mistakes, some don't learn and they keep providing services that lack certain integration for years. Take Microsoft as an example. They learned from their competitors how to provide us a unified GUI for managing group policies after 4 years, instead of the old scattered policies that you should organize manually.

I got used to this concept, is to wait for something and don't buy it for at least 3 years until it gets completed. For instance, I bought NI UCE and KK in 2020 and yet still not perfect lol.
 
OMG, Okay ... I told ya, I felt that it was a lil stupid thing that I was missing and I am very pissed off right now. lol

I simply clicked the user icon in KK software which is the user presets and I found my MA1. Very silly !!! hehe
 
Now, I am going to find out what's the benefit of nesting KK inside Kontakt to assign controls.
 
Now, I am going to find out what's the benefit of nesting KK inside Kontakt to assign controls.
Working in KK standalone, you can set up your own templates for not just Kontakt VIs, but Engine, Play, UVI Workstation/Falcon, Sine, etc, plus all regular VSTs. You can assign any cc message to any parameter knob--as many pages as you want. You can set up the light guides as you want and save that in the template too. Make sure you give the template a name before you start. When you load up an instrument later, you will need to select the correct template with the preset up and down arrows.
 
Working in KK standalone, you can set up your own templates for not just Kontakt VIs, but Engine, Play, UVI Workstation/Falcon, Sine, etc, plus all regular VSTs. You can assign any cc message to any parameter knob--as many pages as you want. You can set up the light guides as you want and save that in the template too. Make sure you give the template a name before you start. When you load up an instrument later, you will need to select the correct template with the preset up and down arrows.
If I like the way the instrument developer has done an NKS, I will map that into the template as much as I can. (I haven't figured out how to copy an NKS setting to a template, if it is even possible.) I also try to keep the number of templates relatively small since there is not a good way to navigate them except with the preset arrows.
 
Working in KK standalone, you can set up your own templates for not just Kontakt VIs, but Engine, Play, UVI Workstation/Falcon, Sine, etc, plus all regular VSTs. You can assign any cc message to any parameter knob--as many pages as you want. You can set up the light guides as you want and save that in the template too. Make sure you give the template a name before you start. When you load up an instrument later, you will need to select the correct template with the preset up and down arrows.


I haven't touched templates until now so I certainly can say that I don't understand you right now lol.
I am currently reading the KK and Kontakt manuals simultaneously to learn more about them. Yes, I can assign cc messages to knobs and buttons using the MIDI menu. KK manual is very easy to understand and I almost finished it. I am sure Kontakt will take more of my time to understand.
 
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