No true multi's with KK, No light guide with Kontakt

I posted earlier this month about having notes stick while trying to run a multi using Komplete Kontrol.

I'm running Logic Pro X 10.1.0 and OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 - All NI programs updated through Service Center regularly.

Here is the outcome of my persistent testing and situations that have an answer I have not found yet or are improvements that should be made:
If I am wrong in any of the instances please guide me in the right direction.

I hope this post helps out others and answers questions. If I am wrong in any case, I'm sure I will be corrected and that will help others as well!

Light Guide:
If you want to take advantage of light guide on your S series you have to be running Komplete Kontrol. I found no other way of enabling it for Kontakt. Big frown.
If you drill down to edit view on Komplete Kontrol you'll see that it is really just a wrapper for your instruments in Komplete.
Kontakt shows up in the right pane looking just as is would running on it's own. Light guide is only enabled because you are running Komplete Kontrol as a wrapper.

Multi Instruments in Komplete Kontrol:
Not working - at least not well.
There are a lot of posts asking if only one instrument can be loaded in KK at a time. For it to work well... yes. That means sacrificing system resources since one would have to run an instance of KK for each instrument in a sequencer. All this just to use the browse and Light Guide functions of Komplete Kontrol. Both of which are great amount the other features.

You can, however, set up multis in Kontakt using Komplete Kontrol if you bypass the built in browser and switch to your keyboard/mouse and use edit view.
Light guide works* but the multis do not work properly. In every instance of the battery of tests I've done, after 2 instruments the notes start sticking. I've found this most common in longer sustaining instruments such as choirs, strings, pads etc. Notes from MIDI patterns from any of the other programs like Session Guitarist, Session Strings, Session Horns etc are likely to "stick" and light guide does not tell you which note(s) is sticking. You have to run your fingers over the keys to shut them off.
Multi's are glitchy and simply do not run well in KK even though it's simply a wrapper for the Kontakt you have loaded.
I can't even figure out how to load a Kontakt multi file in KK. I assume it can not BUT you can save it as a multi in KK and load it into Kontakt!

*When setting up/running a multi you need to have the header highlighted (orange frame) of the instrument you wish to see the light guide on just like in Kontakt.

Here's the weird part... notes only seem to "stick" when hitting the record button. They don't stick when rehearsing a part.

Here's how I see it...
The browsing function is great if you're only using Komplete Kontrol for ONE instrument in your sequencer.
Light Guide function is great if you're only running ONE instrument in Komplete Kontrol.

Possible fixes or improvements?
Fully enable Light Guide for Kontakt as well as other "single" instruments from Komplete.
Fully enable Multi's in Komplete Kontrol.

It seems the programming is mostly there already but not complete in either case.

The work around I use right now that is not exactly efficient:
Use Komplete Kontrol to set up and record the multi's. This gives me Light Guide which is awesome!
Save the Multi.
Load the multi into Kontakt.
Transfer the MIDI sequences from the Komplete Kontrol recordings to the Kontakt Multi in your sequencer.
Delete the Komplete Kontrol and all applicable sequences there in.
Repeat if needed.

Whew!
Now, someone please tell me I'm wrong and how to correct each issue!

Native Instruments rocks!

 

at the moment the 'Light Guide' only works with Komplete Kontrol or Maschine.

at the moment, only single Instruments can be loaded into Komplete Kontrol.

what you want are 'Feature Requests' and other people have already asked for them.

sowari

 

If the wishlist thread would be a sticky, he wouldn't have overseen it

 

I really can't see why this cannot be done. The other major NI products have feature suggestion stickys

 

Absynth, Kontakt and Reaktor even have Feature Suggestions sub-forums. I guess it has political reasons, because the other products are top sellers and Kontrol-S is pretty new and was hyped in the music press. The wishlist OTOH shows, that it was overhyped without updates. Or did you read in any review about any weakness or missing features?

I guess it's some kind of vicious circle ... the keyboards need a major update to become a top seller, but I fear, NI doesn't want to invest too much further development, until it is foreseeable, that the Kontrol-S has a chance on the market, now that competitive products enter the market.

I hope they will succeed, because Akai doesn't have the best reputation regarding quality and customer support and Nektar is a pretty small company, where the long term success is also not guaranteed.

Early adopters need to be patient. Sony needed half a year to implement 3D support into the Playstation 4, though it was originally advertized to be a startup feature. And you can count on it, Sony has a larger development department than NI

 

fyi, the 'wish list' is now a sticky.

i agree there should be sub forums like the other NI products. by guess is that they have not go round to creating them.

sowari

 

Thanks Sowari

 

Nice!

In the beginning sub forums make no sense, but time has come to think about it

Btw, while talking about sub forums ... could you recommend to NI a sub forum "3rd Party Content" for the Absynth forum? Those advertising threads for commercial sound packs are annoying sometimes.