Recording

Is there a way to record audio from Kontakt?

 

Yes, with a DAW or an audio recorder/editor like Audacity. That is if I understand your question.

 

Correct. The best/easiest way is to use Kontakt as a plug-in within a DAW (digital audio workstation) such as Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, Digital Performer, Bitwig, or any other (there are many). Kontakt supports VST and AU plug-in formats (i.e. any DAW that supports those plug-ins) plus Pro Tools of course.

 

Thanks.

I use Kontakt in standalone mode because I have no need for a VST host. (I shun the added complexity. I expect a piano to have exactly 88 controls (okay, 91), and that they all be at the piano, not over there on a PC screen. I'll accept dealing with record and stop pushbuttons in the PC software, but nothing more. This is a piano, not a jet airliner.)

When playing, I normally feed Kontakt's audio into my Presonus audio interface. But Audacity cannot "see" that.

I could instead feed Kontakt's audio into the PC's internal sound card. That gets duplicated into something called the PC Stereo Mix device. Audacity can see that and can record it.

But as I'm playing in that mode I can only hear the sound through the PC speakers, which rather suck. What's worse, the latency through that audio channel is quite bad. Latency is no issue for the recording, but it make playing nearly impossible.

So I opted to ...
1. Run Kontakt standalone, feeding sound through the Presonus box as usual. That's what I listen to. Sound quality is high and latency is very low, around 3 msec.
2. Run another instance of Kontakt, this time using the Minihost Modular VST host with Kontakt attached as a plugin. I can feed that VST host's sound into the PC sound device, and I can record that as described above. (I would just turn down the volume on the now-useless PC speakers.)

But all of this is a kludgy annoyance. I had assumed that there could and should be a cleaner solution.

 

If I could humbly suggest this, a DAW is not a "kludgy annoyance" -- it's a super-powerful studio in software.

Kontakt in standalone mode is, while full-featured in terms of its sampler features, intended for very simple usage -- playing an instrument. Kontakt in plug-in mode multiples its capabilities when arranging a full song.

You can certainly route audio in and out of a sound card or audio interface. Check the hardware's buffer settings to get it as low as possible so latency doesn't bother you. I would also suggest that you not do this via physical cabling of output-to-input, because this necessitates conversion to analog and then back to digital -- an entirely pointless shift.

Especially when you consider that this is handled for you if you're using it as a VST plug-in. Audio and MIDI are routed automatically, digitally, with no unnecessary conversions that could degrade fidelity.

If all this is absolutely not for you, there are probably PC utilities that can route audio from one program to another. I'm not a PC guy so I don't know exactly what they are. On the Mac, we have free extensions like Soundflower that can do this easily.

 

Thanks David.

Your proposed solution works well on a Mac. But not on a PC.

Yes, I can use an audio routing program for the PC. I have one: Voicemeeter. I can send Kontakt's output to that. And I can have Audacity read from that. But I'm stuck with the latency, and I can only listen through the PC speakers.

To get good latency, I have to use an external sound card (the Presonus) ... and Audacity cannot see that output (unless I route the Presonus analog output back into its analog input). Audacity can see that, but it suffers the digtai-to-analog-to-digital reconversion that you (and I) shun.

 

Why so opposed to using a DAW? It is MEANT to be used for recording. Audacity, while having some recording features, is really more of a waveform editor tool, with multitrack recording and plugin support bolted on afterwards.

There's the very small SAVIhost you could also use for hosting Kontakt as a plugin (it's really just a standalone plugin wrapper), and it has rudimentary recording features, as well as support for ASIO.

 

Tried that, ED. I was using Presonus Studio One. But it's much too complicated. What I want is one button for record, one button for stop, and another button for save wav file.

Studio One has a one-button record and a one-button stop. Easy.
But when I try to save, it tells me "Nothing to export. Please set Loop or Markers first."
What would I "loop" and why would I "mark"? It's not clear how or why.

I just want to save everything from when I pushed record until I pushed stop, just like any other recording device.

So, is there something else that fits? I've not yet found it.

 

Download Reaper, watch early beginners videos on Youtube and be happy

If interested I can post you some turorial links ... no fear ... it's no witchcraft You'll learn to record your piano in half an hour ... in CD quality or even better!

www.reaper.fm

The shareware is fully functional and if you like it, it only costs 60 bucks.

A DAW is a must for a musician nowadays, sorry.

 

Thanks Aymara. I'll give Reaper a try.
Note: A DAW is not a must for me. I play with the piano, not with knobs.

 

OK, tried Reaper.

For me, unfortunately, it's a big step in the wrong direction.
It's way more complicated than Studio One, which, in turn is more complicated than Minihost Modular. Too many knobs and buttons.

I only want the three controls I mentioned earlier: record, stop, and save.
I think I'll just go back to Minihost Modular and be done with it.

 

In Reaper spacebar is play and stop. Ctrl+Alt+R is rendering out the recording (to a variety of formats, if you want). And you can change these keyboard shortcuts if you want to. Nothing really complicated there.

 

It is a must, because you want recordings of your piano play, period. Other methods are complicated too, but a DAW lets you correct playing mistakes afterwards and if you like, you can record several instruments playing together, e.g. two pianos.

Throw away your technic aversion and let's get into it ... you won't regret it.

Reaper is a moloch, as we say in Germany. If you start it the first time you are overwhelmed, sure. But what you want to do, is very easy to learn. You will only need a few knobs to use, so again ... don't get shocked ... it's easier as you think!

Do me a favour and let's try ... as I promised ... we'll sort it out pretty fast. Let me explain the basic setup (keyboard and audio interface) first and afterwards you can watch these steps in a few videos.

First we need to configure your keyboard. Open the Options menu and choose Preferences. Here choose Audio/MIDI-Devices. In the upper half on the right choose your keyboard, make a right click on it and choose Enable Input.

Now we configure the audio output for your audio interface. Still in Preferences ... above MIDI Devices choose Device. On the right choose ASIO as the audio system. And in the ASIO Driver drop down field choose your audio interface. Make sure, that Enable Inputs is selected and your interface is selected below for input and output (left and right channel).

Now a last step is needed for the basic configuration. We need to tell Reaper, where it finds your Kontakt instruments. In the Preferences window on the left side go down to Plugins/VST and on the right side click the ADD button. Now choose the folder, which contains the Kontakt5.dll ... there are two, one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit. If you installed Reaper 64 bit choose the 64 Bit folder of Kontakt only.

That's it, now we can start recording. You see, it's a similar basic setup as you needed for Kontakt standalone.

To make it even more easy for you, let's review, what I explained in some videos:

Configuration of keyboard and audio interface:


Configuration of the VST path to Kontakt:


And this video shows, how you can play your Kontakt piano in Reaper (choose Kontakt instead of the Rhode piano):


Choose Kontakt (8 out), because we only play one instrument. In the following popup window "Build Routing Confirmation" select NO, because we only want to use one stereo track. Now in the Kontakt window choose your piano.

Once you got that far, report back and I'll show you, how to record your playing and finally export your recording as a WAV file, which you could burn as an Audio CD, if you like.

 

Thanks for the input, but it's not the direction for me:

"Throw away your technic aversion and let's get into it ... you won't regret it."​

I am not a technician, and I don't want to become one.

As I mentioned earlier, I really only want three buttons: record, play, save. Anything more is an annoyance.
To that end ... on another board someone suggested VST Host. I'll look into that. It seems to take a more minimalist approach. But it's still more than three buttons.
Someone else suggested a digital audio recorder. That may be the simplest approach of all.

 

Or, you could go back to previous century, with a real piano and a tapedeck.

 

That's exactly, what came to my mind.

I really can't believe it ... we present a solution with a golden spoon and our friend wants to buy a digital recorder.

If you believe, you can get an easier solution, than presented here, I fear, that is wishful thinking.

If you would be willing to give Reaper a chance, you will have your three button solution, because all what now seems to go beyond that, is a one time setup process.

Your Kontakt didn't configure itself, didn't it?

If you are not able or willing to follow such detailed instructions, you also won't be able to handle any other solution, sorry.

 

The very fact that the instructions need so much detail is what bugs me. Reaper (and most others) are filled with buttons and menus.
I prefer to spend time with my hands on the piano, not on a keyboard or mouse. That's why I want a one button record.

I don't want to mouse around to find what I need. I just want one button for recording.
Whatever the application screen might be, it should have just that button for recording. And another for stop.

Did I not already make that plain?

Perhaps there exists no application quite like that. I could tolerate a bit of extra fluff. But all the stuff that a DAW brings? Too much.

Anyway, I guess the nature of this board leans toward technicians, hence the preference for DAWs and their complexity.

I went to a piano forum where they instead lean toward the piano. The emphasis is on the 88 keys ... and my request for one-button-record was answered.

 

What Aymara laid out in step-by-step basis is a ONE-TIME setup. You're not required to do this each time you want to record.

 

My goal was to setup everything ONE TIME, so that the piano recording will be afterwards like recording with a tape drive, absolutely easy and comfortable.

But we're talking against the Walls of Jericho here.

 

I don't quite get why the tone of reply is blaming you for the percieved complxity of modern day DAWs.