New instrument release - "West Africa"

Hi everyone,

We have just released the new "West Africa" for Kontakt 4 and Kontakt Player.

http://www.native-instruments.com/westafrica

If you have any questions, please post them here!

Cheers,
Keir.

 

Sounds very nice and raw. Been waiting for something like this. Like that it has grooves and patterns too.

 

Just to clarify - this thread is exclusively for questions regarding the new instrument, off-topic comments will be deleted.

 

Looks amazing! This is exactly the type of thing I have been waiting for. With all these new releases though, I hope NI will have time to fix some of the bugs in its older software.

 

The Drum Pattern programming and swing modification look like ingenious Kontakt Scripts.

Can the scripts that do this be used in other instruments? I know they are probably locked and uneditable, but can they be loaded into other Kontakt presets?

 

iv just tried to activate this offline and its not working , anyone else with this problem , what can i do

 

Hi,

In principle, yes. The scripts themselves are not locked, so you're free to elaborate on them.

Keep in mind though that this is not a simple 16/12 step sequencer. The sequencer grid acts more like a visual represantation of the rhythm and feeds all kinds of performance parameters, which relate to this particular musical concept (e.g. in each metric grouping for each instrument, the elemantary pulse can be shifted forward or backwards in time).

Also, since we're not dealing with pre-programmed loops but a large amount of single samples, the sequencer was specifically designed for this Kontakt instrument.

But this certainly should not hold you off from experimenting…

cheers,
nicki

 

Thanks for the quick response and for not locking the script.

 

I understand that it is available for download from NI...
Is this going to be available on DVD in stores any time soon?

 

Heya, no plans for this at the moment.

 

Why is only available in NI online store ? some users like me is impossible buy stuff here. i think NI lost at least few customers in this way. i know is not cheap make dvds.etc stuff.

 

Trouble Activating

Hey guys i have installed the west african drums and updated my service centre but i have no idea where the serial number is to activate the produce ? any help ?
---
yes i agree i would of much prefered the dvd and the serial number straight up!

 

You should have received the serial number in a mail, have you checked your spam folder?

best,
nicki

 

Ok so now i have received the serial number after asking for it and that finally sent it by email. The next issue i have is that it is registered but when i go to click on an instrument it states ' the patch could not be loaded', 'unknown error'? what hte hell is going on ?

 

Have you upgraded to the latest Kontakt/Kontakt Player version (4.2.3)?

best,
nicki

 

doing that now will let oyu know how i go cheers!

 

Very Good

Sounds Great!

I like the Rhythm Grid: - infectious.
Plus being able to trigger the variations with notes, and play over the top too: - intuitive.

Next, how about a 'Latin' drum pack?
Also, a 'jazz' kit (with both sticks & brushes) would be welcome too.

 

Playing with it now. I have a couple of questions:

1) Is there any way to get it to run at some fraction or multiple of a song's tempo? For instance, running it at 120bpm I'd like the "background taps" and the pre-done fills, rolls, flams etc to run at a more relaxed tempo. Since they're all based on 16th notes, they can be fast for a relaxed setting. If I could either get it to run at 1/2 the tempo, or to base all the taps and figures on 8th notes instead of 16ths, that would sure help.

2) Is there any way to program off the grid? Say, three against four? Or maybe set one row of an ensemble to 12-base while the rest are 16-based? I suppose that could be played in manually on the "solo" instrument (or another instance of any instrument), but it would be interesting to be able to use that in the grid.

Overall, a very interesting approach and use of kontakt's scripting. Nice combination of pattern playing well-integrated with the ability to add parts and solo on the fly. The "feel" parameter seems to work very musically as well.

 

Hi,

You could either disable "Sync" in the instrument and choose your own tempo, or disable Kontakt's External Sync functionality (found in Kontakt's Master Controls) and set again your own tempo there. Other than that, there is no tempo multiplier in the instrument itself.

As you've written, you could simply use two instruments in the same multi.

But try this: start off in 16th note mode and set Swing to maximum. Program one track using straight 16th notes.

Next, program a different track only using the first, second and fourth 16th note.

Then, apply a groove to only that track by shifting the second note ahead, and the fourth note back: the result are triplets (remember the groove is independent for each player).

Hope this helps,
nicki

 

Hi Nicki

Re: The sequencer part of West Africa.
(Which is great - nice to be able to get a groove going without having to load K4 in to a DAW)

Is it possible to have 2 bar patterns?

Also, when using the 'Drum Computer' Script with other instruments.
The drum computer seems to have 16 steps (or 32).
Is there a way to change the number of steps: for example: to 12 steps?

Or to put it another way.
It would be great to have a more generic version of the drum sequencers from West Africa, which also have the option of 2 bars.

Thanks