NKS User Library

I use it in NI Kore2 which has a preset import function so already have them all imported into that, unfortunately KK doesn't have such a thing so it's not really worth the effort.

 

I just noticed that saving a KK preset from an already (diy) mapped 3rd party instrument simply creates a snapshot for that Kontakt instrument. And seemingly without any db reference as deleting it in the finder also deletes it from the KK browser and the Kontakt instrument (works any way around). Has this always been the case? I mean this 'communication' between KK and Kontakt, I can't recall 'seeing' a KK preset as a snapshot in Kontakt outside of a KK context. I quite like that since it means newly created KK presets are also available outside of that closed environment.

And looking at these *.nksn files in a text editor (even though I know nothing about any of that!) clearly shows, that the knob mapping is the very first thing in the file in an almost humanly readable way before the patch's name appears as in the pre-KK snapshot file (where it's pretty much the first thing). Based on that shouldn't it be easy to extract just the mapping or is that look of the file as text deceiving?

 

Yeah this has been possible since the snapshot feature was added, pretty cool

 

The reason I stumbled across this is that I'm (once again) trying to figure out the best way to bring 3rd party Kontakt libraries into KK.

Things seem to have been slowly but constantly improving, but it's still a pita. And there's a couple of things I'm still not quite sure, how to approach them makes most sense. First of all, if the library is pre snapshot times with multiple *.nki files, I just stick to a default one and take it from there and if I really like a preset it's faster to rebuild it than assign everything. That being said do I understand correctly that I have to assign every (!) parameter I might ever want to assign to a rotary or even just automate in a DAW to a host automation parameter within Kontakt and save that as xyz.nki, possibly already in the order I would later want to map the controls in KK. Then I adjust / change / name etc the mapping in KK itself to my liking so I have one mapping to rule them all so to speak. But I must not make a mistake there, because I won't be able to change that mapping once it's become the starting point for all future presets (well, if I want a consistent layout that is). Or is this not necessary and I can change things in hindsight? I don't see a way to do that, but would LOVE to be proven wrong on this.

What I 'discovered' (well for me anyway) above kinda shows, that it really wouldn't be so hard to separate the mapping from the sound itself for NI and they pretty much have to have something up their sleeve to do so should they ever introduce mkii versions or more members to the hardware kontrollers with anything else but eight rotaries on them. Imagine they put out a mkii with (just hypothetically) 8 buttons underneath the rotaries and more info on the display with no way to update the user mappings, everybody with custom mappings would be baaaadly screwed. So it's either 8 rotaries until the end of time or they come up with something to make mappings batch editable. Anyway, things being what they are for now, am I correct in my approach outlined above?

 

Yeah you can't change stuff retrospectively if you've saved lots of presets with a particular template without going in and changing each one. tbh I've rather given up on KK for now - it's badly thought through and still a million miles away from NI's earlier Kore 2, which I still use mainly, which has much greater flexibility as well as patch import for many plugins (although it was still klunky with Kontakt - NI have not improved anything much there apart from snapshots). The best alternative for me is Bitwig's controller mapping system which adopts a similar approach to Kore in that you can more easily edit and rearrange user pages and also create templates either on a preset or device level, only in Bitwig the editing of device level templates is much better integrated.

 

Yes, well I had never invested much in Kore so when they killed it I just sold mine and never looked back. But that memory certainly doesn't serve as much motivation to invest in KK now. It's just that it's the only solution available on the market to map Kontakt and Reaktor to a controller independently of a DAW (somebody please enlighten me if I'm wrong). But NI's focus is clearly on selling presets and not on giving the user much control at all.

Funny you mention Bitwig, I love the new V2. But that split you mention between preset and device is again not of much use for Kontakt and Reaktor, at least not in a complementary sense. They just allow for two different workflows. The one 'based on' presets is pretty much the same as with KK: assign all host parameters, map the controllers to them for some master-start-preset and take it from there, base everything on that one with no way of going back and adjusting things. The big difference of course is you're stuck with Bitwig (well you can always save snapshots). Or is it possibly to just save a mapping on a preset level in Bitwig? Would be awesome for Kontakt instruments with multiple *.nki files, but I can't see how.

The second workflow on the device level is pretty cool though: You assign the controller 1-8 to the host automation parameters 0-7 and the 9-16 to 8-15 and so on in Kontakt on the plugin level and then whenever you want to control or automate a parameter you just drag it from the host automation list onto the Kontakt GUI and it's 'automatically' mapped in Bitwig and thus on your controller to say rotary no. 5 if you drag host automation parameter no. 4. In Reaktor it's a bit more cumbersome but basically works the same. That way you don't work with pre-existing mappings, but it's super easy to create them for the specific task in no time. Totally different work flow, but pretty efficient if one does not depend on the same layout all the time, the focus is more on important parameters for a specific task. Ironically the NI Kontrollers with their multiple banks of 8 rotaries would be perfect for this, although the whole controller script thing for Bitwig V2 is only just starting to happen and I don't what can be accessed (display for example) in MIDI mode. At the moment, the NI keyboards are pretty much useless in Bitwig V2.

Anyway, the big question really is as you say how time should sensibly be put into customizing KK mappings with the current state of the software.

 

For Reaktor (in Bitwig) you really have to map on a preset level per ensemble (or even snapshot), there's no other way. Not really tried this with Kontakt yet but obviously the same applies.

 

In a strict sense, yes. What I called the second workflow above can't really be called mapping per se, but I do find it useful to map Kontakt ad hoc really quickly by preassigning the remote controls in Bitwig to the host automation id's in Kontakt in banks of eight. Then it's as easy as dragging one of the preassigned automation id's to whatever you wish to control in Kontakt for it to be 'automatically mapped' to your controller according to the way it's been setup before. This works the same in Reaktor in principal, but reassigning automation id's is much more cumbersome (click edit, go to the connect tab, scroll down etc) than it is in Kontakt and thus kinda negates the whole workflow idea. Sorry if I was unclear about that.

 

Does anyone do a pack all vst and preset in this subject?

Thank you

 

Thanks for all the hard work guys. I've downloaded a few that I can use. Appreciate it.

On another note, I wonder if it is possible to control iOS synths connected via MIDI with NKS.

 

Hey Guys,

Ive tried to use jhorology's serum nks but for some reason it just won't show up on my KK library either in the factory or user library I have followed the steps as you have shown and run a rescan of the library and plug ins in KK standalone!

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

Are the dropbox links from Kymeia still available for others? I'm not able to access the links that were posted earlier in the thread.

 

Anyone working on or have access to Roland Cloud plugin nks templates?

 

Dropbox have messed everything up by removing public folders so I would have to go back and create new links for everything I've posted which is just stupid so I'm just going to have to create a new link to the whole folder and let people download what they want

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xv2anu4gbpeafb4/AAAAxp1-dwYisWqVGu6gA3H5a?dl=0

 

Thanks Kymeia - got them. Appreciate the quick update on that.

 

I'm trying to conjur a script to automate creating NKS formats. But being lazy these days, I'm looking for a text OCR script to use with Mac's Automator app. Anyone else testing Automator functionality?

 

Added a template for MPowerSynth

 

Made some thumbnails for most of the non official NKS plugins I am using in KK at the moment - the one for Polyana isn't showing properly though so if anyone can suggest a fix? I've tried various combinations with and without hyphens, the folder name has a .com which is stupid but that's how it appears in KK

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkiptxzkjnl3c6o/KK thumbnails.zip?dl=0

Included some example database files but tbh I use vender sorting so they are only really needed if you both with sorting by category or want them to have a custom background colour so I didn't do them for each thumbnail. Not vital imho

 

Added a Template for Tone 2 Nemesis

Same problem as PolyAna though with making a thumbnail show up in KK. I think the problem is both companies designate the company name with a .com which is a really stupid idea and it is messing up KK's ability to link the thumbnail with the plugin template.

Annoying because every other plugin now has nice thumbnails - just these 2 don't.

 

Fixed it - you can rename the plugin company name using the Edit command in KK - then remove the .com from the image thumbnails folder

Re-upped a new version of the thumbnails ZIP and the Poly-Ana and Nemesis nks files

Now I have every plugin in either the Factory or User browsers and with thumbnails