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Kontakt 6.6.0 - RC 2 VST3!

Alchemedia

Decomposer
From Native Instruments 7/2/21

As the sub-header gave away, we are happy to share with you the long awaited VST3 target!
Additionally, a great UX improvement for cases where users have missing content has been implemented: you can now specify a base path for your non-Player Content but also choose if you want to store referenced paths relative to the base path. You can set these in the updated Loading tab (fka Import/Load) of Kontakt Options.

And although VST3 is the main purpose of this release, we couldn't have a release without a couple of cool new KSP features and improvements. To name one, you can now route the EVENT_PARs to various destinations!

Finally, we are sure that a lot of our builders will appreciate the new Creator Tools update as it enables file system access via Lua. That means that one can now automate any process via Lua scripts, without leaving the Creator Tools environment! We are certain that you will be super creative in finding ways to optimize your workflows.

Changelogs​

Kontakt v6.6.0 - RC 2 (2021-07-02)​

  • FIXED In some cases projects would still not recall parameters with Kontakt VST3 in Cubase
  • FIXED Multiple outputs did not work correctly in some DAWs (Studio One) with Kontakt VST3
  • FIXED Automation names would incorrectly display abbreviated long names in Maschine with Kontakt VST3
  • FIXED Loading Surround Panner in Main Effects would crash Kontakt
  • IMPROVED KSP UI Level Meters now have dedicated constants for group, insert and main buses - NI_LEVEL_METER_GROUP, NI_LEVEL_METER_INSERT, NI_LEVEL_METER_MAIN
 
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can I ask you what's with the VST3 format, what does it improve?
Here's is Steinberg's official propaganda:


I've read in several places that whether VST3 is more or less stable than VST2 can depend on both the plugin itself and, for any given plugin, can vary from one DAW to another. I've also read that several of the new features in VST3 are things that developers had already figured out how to do in VST2 using workarounds. A conspicuous example is sidechain inputs.

EDIT: This discussion is also helpful:

 
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One of the big draws of VST3 is that plugins can be taken offline when they're not actively processing audio. Dunno if/how Kontakt will implement this, but looking at Play, for example, the difference between the VST2 and VST3 versions in a project with many instances of the plugin is night and day in terms of the idle CPU load.
 
That is only really usable for effect plugins. Kontakt (and most other instrument plugins, really) already shuts down processing when no voices are playing even in VST2, as far as I can tell (unless scripts aren't doing something continuous in the back end, but this is usually tiny tiny stuff).
 
That is only really usable for effect plugins. Kontakt (and most other instrument plugins, really) already shuts down processing when no voices are playing even in VST2, as far as I can tell (unless scripts aren't doing something continuous in the back end, but this is usually tiny tiny stuff).

Weird that there's such a difference between VST2 and VST3 with Play for me -- maybe there are other factors involved in Play's case that have nothing to do with the offline/online distinction.
 
I really hope this VST3 rework fixes Kontakt's issues with interpreting VST microtonal/detuning messages.
 
VST3 is over a decade old and Steinberg no longer allows new VST2 developers to register for a license. VST3 is available under a free software license. Under the hood VST3 has little in common with VST2 - so I've heard.
 
The only main advantage for me with VST3 is the fact that long reverb tails are not ringing out “infinitely” when playback is stopped. Although, this is not a VST3 exclusive feature, many devs don’t implement this in their VST2 versions.
Another example would be a cymbal roll / swell, that rings out even on transport stop.
this doesn’t happen with VST3is.
 
I really hope this VST3 rework fixes Kontakt's issues with interpreting VST microtonal/detuning messages.

It won't fix it automatically, that's something that needs to be implemented separately.

The only main advantage for me with VST3 is the fact that long reverb tails are not ringing out “infinitely” when playback is stopped. Although, this is not a VST3 exclusive feature, many devs don’t implement this in their VST2 versions.

This is pretty much host dependent behavior, from what I can tell.
 
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