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Multiple Instruments in Kontakt


MisterGreen

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I can't tell if this is a Sonar or Kontakt issue. I have 8 instruments in Kontakt. Each one has its own stereo output. But when I go to an audio track and select the input, I see the Left, Right, and Stereo outputs for only the first 5 instruments. After that, it makes the instrument outputs mono. Am I doing something wrong?

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

@MisterGreenI'm not a regular user of multis in Kontakt, but your question inspired me to experiment a bit.

In Cakewalk, try inserting the Kontakt VST soft synth as shown in the graphic. This will initially result in the Cakewalk mixer with a Kontakt stereo master, followed by the 4 stereo aux channels, followed by the rest of the channels as "unassigned" from Kontakt.

The next step is dependent entirely on how you re-configure the Kontakt outputs.

I would recommend reading the Kontakt 6 manual, section 16, "The outputs section",  to reconfigure the Kontakt instruments to the available unassigned stereo channels as needed. You may need to experiment with this, but I finally got 8 instruments in Kontakt routing to the first 8 stereo channel strips in Cakewalk. It's probably a good idea to save this config as a template if you succeed. It all seems a bit convoluted. Good luck!

Cakewalk insert Kontakt multi.PNG

Edited by abacab
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The part that I don't yet understand is why the channel assignment names in Cakewalk don't appear to match up with those in the Kontakt GUI, although the instruments are assigned to the first 8 stereo pairs on either one.

For example, in Cakewalk the names of the first 8 stereo pairs are still in order of the initial insert instance of Kontakt with the master stereo pair, followed by the 4 aux pairs, and then 3 of the unassigned pairs 1, 3, and 5.

But for the re-assigned outputs in the Kontakt GUI the instruments are now on 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, and 15/16. With the Aux channels at the end, and unused.

Apparently the channels in Cakewalk will not get updated when you make changes in Kontakt, but the signals end up in the same order on the first 8 pairs. So bottom line the sounds appear in the right order in the Cakewalk mixer. This is either weird, or possibly I have no idea what I'm doing, LOL! But it works!

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4 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

Once you've added your Kontakt instruments, select the following from the Output section:

image.thumb.png.701e0f59724dd7b7234f98ac9f887462.png

This will create separate audio outputs for each of the instruments loaded.

 

@msmcleodThanks! I might have done that, and that's what finally got it working last night... 

I think it may have been the shot of Jameson that got me over the hump! ?

 

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And a tip...

You can save your Kontakt multis within Kontakt, and recall them later in another project. They are portable and will follow the plug-in.

If you save your Cakewalk multi setup as a project template, you can also recall that later. Save some work!

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Okay, so I just tried it and I'm getting the same results as before. I inserted Kontakt using the settings you shared above, then created 8 instruments in Kontakt, ran the batch function in the output section so each instrument has its own output channel in Kontakt. In Sonar, if I pick one of the newly created tracks and view the input drop down, I see Left, Right and Stereo choices for only the first 5 instruments.

 

Image 1.png

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The weird part is that everything sounds fine and looks to be working correctly. However, if I look at the track where instrument #8's audio is coming out, its input is "aux 2/aux 3: Stereo" rather than as it's shown in the Kontakt mixer (Trombone 15/16).

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11 minutes ago, MisterGreen said:

The weird part is that everything sounds fine and looks to be working correctly. However, if I look at the track where instrument #8's audio is coming out, its input is "aux 2/aux 3: Stereo" rather than as it's shown in the Kontakt mixer (Trombone 15/16).

That seems to be what I got as well. The track assignments in Cakewalk don't match the newly reassigned outputs in Kontakt. But the right sounds come out. I see that the channels in Cakewalk stay as they are, and the ones in Kontakt get switched as far as the channel names. So in absolute order of 1-16 they are correct.

I opened up the same test multi in Studio One to compare with, and see the same thing in the default channel order over there. It's apparently the way the plug-in communicates the internal channels to the host when it is inserted. Then when you update them within the plug-in, the host stays the same.

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Okay. Version 5 had different configurations that had different output arrangements. After you’ve set up the multi, I’d save the multi as some has mentioned doing, then close the instance of Kontakt, then reopen it. Sometimes, some tasks in Kontakt have to be closed/reopened to take affect. Saving the multi you’ve set up allows you to easily reload it as a failsafe. 

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For Kontakt, what I tend to do is add a single per-output track for the first instrument, then:

1. Add another instrument in Kontakt
2. Run the outputs batch script to add the outputs
3. Use "Append Instrument Track" for each of the instruments.

You can do this for each time you add a new instrument.

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