n00b Kontakt question

[LuIzA]

I just got Kontakt, so I don't know much about it yet, I'm wondering: do I have to use one Kontakt for each instrument in my DAW or can I load all or more than one instrument in one Kontakt and route the midi and outputs accordingly? if so, how do you do that?

[Kanthos]

There's two parts to this. Firstly, you need to get data into Kontakt on a number of MIDI channels by using a number of MIDI tracks, all with your Kontakt instance as their output and all using a different MIDI channel. Within Kontakt, you can set the source MIDI channel for each instrument you've dragged out from the browser into your instrument panel; make sure they match the MIDI tracks and you're good to go.

At this point, Kontakt's probably sending everything to the first stereo output. You'll want to make sure you're using an instance of Kontakt that has multiple outputs too (Kontakt comes with 2, 8, and 16-output versions). With a version of Kontakt with more outputs loaded, you can assign each instrument to the output of your choice.

The only thing I don't know how to do for sure in Sonar is how to get the audio from all the Kontakt outputs into unique audio tracks (or, alternately, just to use instrument tracks that route to Kontakt on a specific MIDI channel and receive audio from a particular stereo output from Kontakt), but it could be something as simple as changing the input for an audio track.

[Speeeven]

I use Kontakt with Sonar 7. There are two ways to go about this: the easy way, and the hard way.

Hard Way: Set up a blank audio channel and blank midi channel. Load Kontakt into the Audio track, and then link up the midi track. The first midi channel will correspond to the first instrument in Kontakt, and so on like that. Be warned: Using this method sucks sometimes because Sonar does this weird thing where it wipes your settings for all your Kontakt plugins. Fail.

Easy Way: I only figured this one out last week, and I'm so happy I did. Start a new project, delete all the default audio and midi tracks. Go to "Insert" and then pick Kontakt from "Soft Synths". It will load a folder, a synth track, and the MIDI track, which will already be linked to Kontakt. It's a one-step process to get going. From there, you can put in new MIDI tracks as you like, corresponding to their slots in the Kontakt player. The great thing about this method is that it automatically saves all your custom settings in the Kontakt player so when you load the project, you're ready to go right away.

So to directly answer your question, each instrument in Kontakt matches up to the corresponding MIDI channel. If you want to have 8 instruments in Kontakt, you'll just need MIDI channels 1-8

If you want to start adding effects and filters, you'll need a new Kontakt player for each track with an effect.

[Kanthos]

Just fired up Sonar to try it. When you add the plugin to the project, you can have Sonar create the audio tracks you need, one for each output.

[dannthr]

There are a small number of Kontakt based instruments to which you will only want one instance of Kontakt per, specifically the sample-modeling instruments.

[LuIzA]

yeah, I know how to route the outputs in Sonar, my problem is to route each MIDI track from Sonar to the right instrument within Kontakt, and in Kontakt, how to route each instrument to one of the 8 or 16 outputs that isn't the first stereo pair.

[Kanthos]

Take a look at this

I'm assuming you know how to change the MIDI channel of a MIDI track in Sonar and how to direct a MIDI track to a specific plugin. So, within Kontakt, when you drag instruments from the browser into the rack, you'll see dropdowns for each instrument to select the output audio channel and input MIDI channel. I've circled them in the dialog. Choose the channel from Port A that matches the MIDI track you want to use for that instrument (Kontakt allows for four separate MIDI input *devices*; there's no reason not to use Port A though, which'll be what Sonar is sending MIDI on).

As an example, say you're trying to set up an orchestral template. You might have Violins on channel 1, Violas on channel 2, cellos on channel 3, etc. Drag out the violins, violas, and cellos in Kontakt, set their MIDI channels to 1, 2, and 3 respectively, and set up 3 MIDI tracks, one each on channel 1, 2, and 3, and all of them routed to Kontakt.

As for outputs, the output selector is circled in the same place as the MIDI selector. You might also want to have the output section visible; I circled the button to do that as well. You'll want to set up the outputs to your liking first, then you'll probably have to save and reload your project so that Kontakt reloads, and then you can map your outputs as you like.

Note that you can also send each Aux output to one of the outputs. Normally, I don't bother with effects in Kontakt at all, but in my live setup, I am using a few instances of the convolution reverb. I use an orchestra made up of 13 instruments - 4 strings, 4 brass, 4 winds, and tympani. I use four stereo outputs for those, one per section, and each has a corresponding Aux channel with a convolution reverb loaded, so that I can set the level of reverb separately for each individual instrument but instead of using a separate reverb for each string instrument, for example, I just use one, and route the Aux channel for the String Reverb back to the String Output, so that if I want to adjust the volume on my strings overall, I just have to adjust the volume of that one output and it affects both the dry and wet sounds.

[LuIzA]

wow, thanks!

I have yet to try this though. I'm in the middle of a job with a tight deadline, so I'll stick to my current workflow for now.