Akoustik Piano and Sonar Issue

Weird. I still have the problem when I use the AK sounds in Kontakt 3.

 

This may help some people who really want to use Akoustik Piano on Vista and are having the issue (though it is a lame $300 solution). I couldn't use Akoustic Piano with Reaper and Live since the issue was in both. I finally got Cubase Studio 5 and it now works (and sounds) great. Maybe that is why it is taking so long to fix since maybe Cubase is reading VSTs slightly different than other VST compliant DAWs which makes it difficult to fix?

 

Hey I just got the Komplete 5 about a week ago and finally loaded up Akoustic Piano... worked fine until it POP, the audio stopped working and all there is DC. I've been playing with the stand alone version but it doesn't seem pop but when I load it as a VST it pops. to Come on NI... please fix this.

specs:

4GB
2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Vista Home 64-bit

Kontakt 3, Electric Piano, B4 ... everything else works flawlessly.

 

in XP too...

Sorry to complicate matters, but I'm getting similar results in Win XP Pro, using a Mackie 1620 firewire interface. The sound frequently stops; going into the Mackie control panel usually restarts it (sometimes I have to make a change to the buffer size). Happens either in Standalone mode, or in Samplitude. No other programs are doing this.

And then today I heard the loud pop that people are describing. Every time I pressed a piano key, the level meters were almost pegged with what seemed like a pure DC surge, lasting maybe 1 second. Enough to blow out speakers, I'm sure (my ears will recover...). I had to shut down AP.

Perhaps it's the 64 bit CPU architecture that's causing the problem, rather than the OS? I'm using a new quad core Intel processor...

 

There is a potential workaround for this problem using REAPER:
http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php?p=308779&postcount=6

Perhaps the approach of disabling the MIDI "all notes off on stop/play" can be applied to other DAWs?

 

Both NI and Cakewalk have been working on a fix for this. They think they found the issue, but they can't be sure until they do more testing. Please be patient.

ew

 

Patience is a virtue. 2 years waiting with a non-working product is pretty poor support. I'm surprised users haven't been bashing doors down asking for their money back. And who is "they?" Can you give us a link / reference? I imagine this problem has been "outsourced."

 

If any of you are in the Kontakt public beta, try loading AP into it and see if you have any problems. If so, please report them.

ew

 

Sonar has given me many problems. Please try out Ableton Live 8. All of my native instruments products work in Vista 64 bit sp 1. Audio Kontrol 1, kore 2 work for me. All of this using Live.

 

With all due respect, this post is not helpful. Should we ditch our DAW that we have used for years to go with something we are completely unfamiliar with, just to get ONE of our plugins working?

This isn't a forum on what is better, Ableton or Sonar. Its a thread that has been running for 2 years, asking, begging Native Instruments to do their due diligence and fix what is an obvious problem. If Native Instruments stuff doesn't work on Sonar, then they need to make sure potential buyers know that. Either way the onus is on them to do the right thing. Either fix what they have, or inform Sonar users of their developers shortcomings.

 

It happens to me in Ableton Live and Reaper.

Earlier in this thread, another user also reported it happening to them in Ableton Live.

Its clearly not a Sonar specific issue.

 

I was about to purchase AP - but just read this entire thread. Seriously? This is still not fixed after all this time? Guess I'll pass on AP and go with TruePianos or something else. The included demo of TruePianos (Amber only) in Sonar 8 sounds very good to my ears and it is rock solid. How does AP compare (if it worked)?

Reminds me of the overdrive issue in B4 II - the original B4 had a great sounding overdrive. B4 II added many great new features but the overdrive changed to "snap-crackle-pop" horrible digital sounding. Users complained in the forum for ages without any help from NI.

Guess I'll vote with my wallet by not buying AP.

 

wow how insane this has still not been fixed. I just came here to check and see if anyone else was having the same problem and I see this goes back a LONG time. I am on FL Studio by the way but having the same exact problem as many people with this. Now I understand why people complain about NI. Before I never saw any problems with them.

 

Still having same problem

Wow, I have been having this problem for a long time, almost a year actually, and have not thought about posting it here, and now I see people have been having the same problem for 3 years? Hooooly s***! Do any of the NI devs know how annoying it is to start working on a project, load up a piano, record a new part, and play it back, just to find that within a minute or so the whole plugin stops responding? I mean it's just ridiculous.... *sigh*

 

NI Why do you say that this is Vista compatible when it is not?

 

3 years. Obviously nobody cares. Or wants to sell more products. I suspect that this attitude will eventually put them out of business. Even though I have NI AP (and liked it on XP), I had to recommend Truepianos to my multimedia department. They also sound great, but mainly were good on after sales support. NI (and Arturia) have an awful reputation with after sales and this is their forum! Uni's can't invest in that style of business.

 

Same issue using Mackie Tracktion 3

See the long list of others here with same issue as I. I just filled in a ticket with Native to report same problem using Tracktion 3 DAW.

Akoustik VST works for first playback. Stop the playback and hear a loud pop from the speakers. Try to restart playback and another pop from speakers but no other audio. Yet Akoustik is seeing the MIDI input (light flashes on its front panel.) Only fix is to delete Akoustik from this mix and then add it back... then works for one playback and same issue occurs yet again, etc.

I swapped Akoustik VST for the Kompakt VST to playback that MIDI track in order to see if it was Tracktion (before I saw this thread.) Kompakt VST operates just fine for playing back this MIDI track. Start & stop all day long without an issue with Kompakt, so definitely related to the Akoustik VST implementation.

 

It seems that NI Tech Support have finally after 3 years found that there really IS a problem with Akoustik Piano:

"It does not seem to be related to the Akoustik Piano engine (which is based on Kontakt 2) it seems to related to the Akoustik Piano content, as the problem also appears to be there when loading Akoustik Piano patches into Kontakt 3 when having Kontakt 3 plugged into Sonar."

 

For the record, this problem also occurs when the Akoustik VST is loaded into Cubase 4.5.2 running on Vista x86 (I have also opened a support ticket).

I recently had my first encounter with NI's US support staff regarding this issue, and they did not appear to be very knowledgeable...nor are they at all friendly. When I explained my problem (the same as detailed in this thread, except for Cubase 4.5.2), I was met with indifference and told that he had "never heard" of a problem like this. Then, when pushed, he said that it was a known issue and recommended that I return the software to my place of purchase. What's up with that?

So, I mentioned that this thread (which he couldn't even find at first!), suggested that the Kompakt VST could be used, and I asked how much it cost. Before I even finished my sentence he cold transferred me to sales. My sentence was literally interrupted by the hold music. This was pretty rude, I thought, and discouraging, but I held on and spoke to the sales guy. He took my name, number and email address but, given the exceptionally rude treatment that I have received so far, I doubt that I'll hear anything back from him.

Can someone else, along with rb1ader, unequivocally confirm that the Kompakt (not Kontakt) VST actually works in conjunction with the the Acoustik Piano samples on Vista x86? Also, assuming that it does, my recent research indicates that NI has discontinued this, so where might one legally obtain the Kompakt VST?

Thanks in advance,
G

 

Kompakt vs. Kontakt & Akoustik

Hi PhotoG,

I'm fairly certain that Kompakt cannot load Akoustik... what I meant in my posting was that I could replace Akoustik VST itself in Tracktion 3 with Kompakt. Kompakt has its own sample collection, but I do not believe it is capable of loading samples outside of its own content. Hence the name 'Kompakt'... small, self contained, but if you want to load samples from various sources, the you have to go to Kontakt.

I'll try to confirm this to be the case through experimentation.

Thanks!