Questions on Komplete Kontrol

Hi there,

I am looking out for a new keyboard controller and I am giving the KKS serious consideration. I would probably go for the S61 or S88. However, I have some questions I would really appreciate some answers to from existing users:

- I don't own Komplete, but I do own the full version of Kontakt with additional libraries - in fact I mostly use Kontakt. The thought of Komplete Select is appealing (piano, Monark, Massive especially) and I may get Komplete eventually... but I am unsure whether it is even worth considering without owning Komplete?

- I use Logic as my DAW (10.2). From some posts here KKS seems to be buggy with Logic. How bad is it really?

- My biggest concern: My DAW is a 2011 Macbook Pro (i7, 8GB, SSD). I get pretty good performance currently out of Logic and Kontakt. My orchestral template is > 60 tracks with the Kontakt VSL library and Albion 1. I can use this without bouncing! My understanding is that in order to use these keyboards I must use the KKS software to host my VIs, not the DAW directly. What performance overhead is this 'wrapper' going to add? Will it significantly reduce my track count before having to bounce?

Thanks in advance!

Wayne

 

Fourth question (my brain...):

- Will it work successfully via a powered USB 2 hub?

 

I don't know if it'll work over a powered usb hub, I have mine plugged in directly to my PC but the manual states that it doesn't work on non-powered hubs, leaving the assumption that it should be fine if is connected to a powered one.

I can't answer anything about logic as I use Cubase. But, if you go with the KKS in order to take full advantage of its functionality you will need to use Komplete Kontrol as your VSTi instead of loading instances of kontakt. Then from within Komplete Kontrol you load your kontakt library and you will see the light guide and can use the chord and arp functionality. Loading multiple instances of KK instead of kontakt seems to have the same performance impact in my PC.

Additionally, with some work you can add all those kontakt libraries as user presets within Komplete Kontrol browser, so you can search and recall them at will. I'm learning myself how to load 3rd party kontakt libraries (non-NKS libraries) so they show directly on the main browser (the same way they do with NKS instruments) but some programming seems to be needed .

Regardless, you can still save presets as I said earlier, not as refined as having them showing in the browser with their own icon but still useful if you keep things well organized and properly tagged.

All in all, if you are looking for great integration with kontakt libraries I think you'll love the KKS. I do mostly orchestral work and like you mostly use kontakt libraries, I never use any other non-kontakt komplete instruments like battery, etc. but I will start looking into those now that is so easy to browse in KK. Purchasing Komplete or K ultimate very much depends if you think you'll use its libraries, there's nothing stopping you from buying individual libraries but be careful, if you buy too many individual libraries you may end up paying more than buying the whole bundle together.

KKS is a great machine, and it should be getting better and better as more companies go NKS.

 

I have Logic 10.2 and to be honest I never had issues with my S61, just to get it setup for the first time was a bit tricky and not as described in the support pages, also my NI synth plugins use about 30% more cpu power compared when running outside the kontrol software, that's in my late 2012 imac. The keyboard should work if connected to an usb hub but I cant be sure about this, I say it should because I connect my S61 to my thunderbold display usb port which is connected to the imac via thunderbolt, no problems at all.

P.S: forgot your first question, I dont own Komplete either but I have many individual instruments from NI, having together all my instruments with a unified browser makes thing a lot easier for me, I personally tag all my presets and this is feature I would definitely miss without KK.

 

30% more CPU per plug-in in KKS than on its own. I was afraid of that.

Thans for the info so far. It would be good to get a definite answer on the powered USB hub question as I have to use one.

Wayne

 

I've not noitced any more cpu being used when using the KK wrapper, I dont know why someone would be experiencing the 30% jump. The KK wrapper isnt doing anything CPU intensive itself that I can think of. I do notice though that the new devices in Komplete (Polyplex, Rounds, some Reaktor patches) are absolutely CPU intensive processes.

 

if you have a powerful enough computer you wont notice, anyways I dont think there is a very accurate way to measure this, but that increase in cpu usage was what I saw in the activity monitor with different instances of FM8 and Razor, maybe kontakt is another story, I can't tell since I uninstalled the AU version from my mac.

Edit: just to clarify this, one instance of Razor within KK was 40% versus 30% in Reaktor 5. Now bear in mind that my maximum cpu load is 800% since it's got 4 cores with hyper-threading.

 

i've found that the KK wrapper actually doesn't increase CPU usage....it does however make switching between synths incredibly quick and efficient