The Source Module

Tune: Changes the playback pitch within one octave up or down. As this is a traditional sampler mode, changes to your pitch will always affect your playback tempo as well; if you want to adjust these parameters independently of each other, switch to one of the Tone Machine or Time Machine modes. This control works in semitone steps when moved, but you can make finer adjustments by holding down the [Shift] key as you move the knob.

Reverse: Plays all Samples in the Group in reverse. Note that when this button is activated, playback will start at the End Marker of a Zone, so if there are a few seconds of silence at the end of a Zone, the sound will be delayed.

Tracking: When activated, the pitch of the Sample playback will be transposed along with the key position. If your Group contains Zones that are mapped across several keys and should be played tonally, Tracking needs to be activated, or else all keys of the Zone will play at the same pitch. If you want to keep the pitch of a Sample constant across multiple keys or provide a separate Zone for each key (as it’s the case with chromatically sampled Instruments), you can deactivate it.

MIDI: Sets the MIDI port and channel this Group will respond to. Use this only if you want different Groups respond to different MIDI channels, otherwise set the Instrument’s MIDI channel in the Instrument Header and leave this setting at its Default (Instrument) value.

Release Trigger: When activated, samples in this Group will be triggered when a MIDI note-off command is received (as opposed to responding to note-on commands as usual). This function provides the necessary means for creating release samples. With these, you can recreate the natural release sound of an instrument, such as the damper on a harpsichord or a reverb trail recorded in the instrument’s natural environment, when a key is being released. Note that if your release sample has a loop, there’s no way to tell Kontakt to stop playing it from the outside (after all, that’s what the note-off command was meant for in the first place), so you should make sure your Group has a volume envelope, or else it will keep playing indefinitely.

t(ms) (Time, only visible if Release Trigger is activated): If you set this to a value other than 0, Kontakt will count from that value backwards in millisecond intervals when it receives a note, then stop the timer and provide its current value as a modulation source when it receives the corresponding note-off value. This way, you can make your Instrument respond to note durations, for instance by reducing the volume of your release sample after longer notes in order to make it fit a Sample with a natural decay.

Monophonic (visible only if Release Trigger is activated): This button affects how release samples will respond to note repetitions. When it’s activated, playing a note repeatedly will cut off any previous release samples that are still sounding (if any), so that only one release sample will play at any time.

HQI (High Quality Interpolation): This drop-down menu allows you to choose from a list of 3 re-sampling algorithms of various quality. Only Samples that are played at a different note than their root key will need to be re-sampled. The Standard setting uses the algorithm of old Kontakt versions, which offers a reasonably good re-sampling quality while being light on the CPU. The High and Perfect settings select high-quality re-sampling algorithms, which eliminate virtually all audible artifacts (especially when transposing upwards), but need more CPU resources. Note that while the CPU demand of the Standard setting is constant, the High and Perfect settings will use more CPU resources the further they need to transpose a Sample from its root key; therefore, if you play a Sample two octaves above its original pitch, they will generate a higher CPU load than if you play it a semitone higher.

The maximum number of voices will most likely be lower compared to the Sampler module, as the latency and throughput of your hard disk will be a bottleneck for sampling performance. Therefore, you can optimize your overall voice count by putting only Groups and Instruments that access very large Samples into DFD mode, while keeping all others in Sampler mode.

Do not try to use DFD mode with Samples that reside on a CD-ROM. Copy them to hard disk first.

Although the DFD mode minimizes RAM usage in comparison to the Sampler mode, it still has a noticeable memory footprint, as it needs to pre-load the beginnings of all Samples into memory.

You can switch between DFD and Sampler mode at any time. However, when switching from DFD to Sampler, there may be a slight pause, as the entire Sample set needs to be loaded into RAM.

Tune:  Adjusts the playback pitch in the range of -36 to +36 semitones. Pressing Shift while turning the control allows for fine adjustments.

Tracking: When activated, the pitch follows the MIDI key position. When deactivated, the pitch won’t follow the keyboard. 

Release Trigger: When activated, the wavetable will be triggered when a MIDI note-off command is received.

t(ms) (Time, only visible if Release Trigger is activated): If you set this to a value other than 0, Kontakt will count from that value backwards in millisecond intervals when it receives a note, then stop the timer and provide its current value as a modulation source when it receives the corresponding note-off value. This way, you can make your Instrument respond to note durations, for instance by reducing the volume of your release sample after longer notes in order to make it fit a Sample with a natural decay.

Monophonic (visible only if Release Trigger is activated): This button affects how release samples will respond to note repetitions. When it’s activated, playing a note repeatedly will cut off any previous release samples that are still sounding (if any), so that only one release sample will play at any time.

Position: Morphs between the waveforms included in the loaded wavetable.

Quality: Selects one of four types of interpolation applied to the wavetable read-out (LoFi, Medium, High and Best). Higher settings result in improved levels of accuracy and lower levels of aliasing noise, however require more CPU power.

Form Type: Selects one of 14 types of wave shaping that can be applied to the oscillator's phase. This fundamentally changes the way the wavetable is read out, therefore bending and warping the resulting waveform.

Form: Adjusts the amount of wave shaping applied to the oscillator's phase. The type of wave shaping can be selected using the Form Type drop-down menu.

Phase: Adjusts the reset point the oscillator's phase. This determines the sound's start position in the waveform when a new note is triggered.

Ph Rand(Phase Randomness): Adjusts the amount of randomness applied to the reset point of the oscillator's phase. This creates random deviations of the sound's start position when a new note is triggered. When Phase Randomness is set to 100, the Phase control does not have an effect.

Inharmonic: Activates inharmonic mode, which allows you to stretch partials away from the harmonic series. When activated, the inharmonic control knob will appear.

Inharm: Adjusts the amount of detuning for the second wavetable oscillator. Only visible when Inharmonic mode is activated.

Tune: Changes the playback pitch within one octave up or down, without affecting the playback speed.

Smooth: In order to reduce artifacts during playback, Kontakt will crossfade grains into each other. This control adjusts the shape of these very short crossfades. Higher values will result in a smoother pitch shift, but rhythmic material may lose definition and “punch”. Lower values are prone to cause a buzzing sound, but will keep transients intact.

Speed: Changes the playback speed independently of the pitch. This value is displayed as a percentage of the original speed by default, so 200% doubles the playback speed, while 50% halves it. The control goes all the way down to 0%, which freezes the sound at its current playback position. The Speed parameter can also be synchronized to your host or Master Editor tempo; in this mode, your samples will be stretched to match the length of a note value. To do this, click the displayed unit of the Speed control and select a note value from the drop-down menu, then dial in a numerator for this value with the Speed knob. To switch back to unsynchronized mode, just choose the Default entry from the drop-down menu.

Formant: This control shifts the formant frequencies, which are the parts of your signal’s frequency content that decide its predominant timbral characteristics, independently of the pitch.

DC Filter: The Tone Machine algorithm can impose a DC bias upon your waveform in certain cases, which reduces headroom and can cause distortions. This button enables a filter that eliminates this bias and re-centers your waveform around its origin. It’s recommended that you leave this activated.

Legato: If this button is activated and you play multiple notes in a legato fashion, Kontakt will carry its current playback position over to each following note, rather than playing each Sample from the beginning.

Tracking: If this button is activated, the playback pitch will depend on the notes that you play. When deactivated, the pitch won’t follow the keyboard.

MIDI Channel: Sets the MIDI port and channel this Group will respond to. Change this only if you want different Groups respond to different MIDI channels, otherwise set the Instrument’s MIDI channel in the Instrument Header and leave this setting to its Default (Instrument) value.

Release Trigger: Allows samples in this Group to be triggered when a MIDI note-off command is received. This function and its additional parameters are covered by the description of the Sampler mode above.

t(ms) (Time, only visible if Release Trigger is activated): If you set this to a value other than 0, Kontakt will count from that value backwards in millisecond intervals when it receives a note, then stop the timer and provide its current value as a modulation source when it receives the corresponding note-off value. This way, you can make your Instrument respond to note durations, for instance by reducing the volume of your release sample after longer notes in order to make it fit a Sample with a natural decay.

Monophonic (visible only if Release Trigger is activated): This button affects how release samples will respond to note repetitions. When it’s activated, playing a note repeatedly will cut off any previous release samples that are still sounding (if any), so that only one release sample will play at any time.

High Quality: This button replaces the DC Filter button of the Tone Machine. When activated, the Time Machine will analyze the sample data in order to determine optimal grain boundaries for this material; disabling this will make the granular synthesizer work the same regardless of its source material. This especially affects playback quality at low speeds.

Grain: This control replaces the Formant control of the Tone Machine. It determines the grain size of the granular synthesizer. Since the grain size is not static in Hi Quality mode, this control has little effect when you have activated the button described above.

Transient Copy: When this button is activated, transients in your material — instantaneous level changes that occur in percussive sounds — will be preserved as accurately as possible. Therefore, this mode is recommended when you’re working with drum loops or other percussive material.

Transient (Transient Size): When the Transient Copy function is activated, this control adjusts the duration of transients that will be left untouched.

Grain: This drop-down menu allows you to choose from several grain sizes that are optimized for various types of source material. As the effects of various settings on your particular material is hard to predict, it’s usually worth trying several settings until you have found the one that sounds best.

Reverse: Time Machine Pro is the only time machine module that offers a real-time audio reverse function.

High Quality: Switches between "efficient" and "high quality" mode and displays advanced controls, which are described below.

Env Order (Envelope Order): Sets the order of the spectral envelope (formant) estimation. The default is set to 25% which works fine for most material. If the input audio is really high pitched the order should be lowered, cogently, if the input audio is low pitched the value should be raised.

Frm Shift (Formant Shift): Sets the spectral envelope’s shift factor. The default is set to zero which works fine for most material. This spectral shift is performed before the overall pitch shifting.

Keep Formants: Enabling this option allows for formant preserving pitch shifting.

MIDI Channel: Sets the MIDI port and channel this Group will respond to. Change this only if you want different Groups respond to different MIDI channels, otherwise set the Instrument’s MIDI channel in the Instrument Header and leave this parameter at its Default (Instrument) value.

Tune: Adjusts the pitch at which each Slice will be played back within one octave up or down.

Speed: Adjusts the speed at which the Slice pattern will be played back. When you’re using the Use Beat Machine button on the Sync / Slice tab of the Wave Editor to synchronize your sliced Samples, the readout of this control will display Zone, which means that the speed gets automatically synchronized to your host tempo. Read about this mechanism in section Using the Beat Machine. If you have activated the Beat Machine mode manually, the speed will be displayed as a percentage of the pattern’s original speed, and can be synchronized manually by clicking on the displayed unit, then choosing a note value from the drop-down menu.

Tracking: If this button is activated, the playback pitch will depend on the notes that you play. When deactivated, the pitch won’t follow the keyboard.

Slice Atk (Slice Attack): Since slicing can occur at spots in your Sample that can cause clicks when played back in isolation, Slices are being crossfaded into each other instead of just played back in succession. This control adjusts the attack time of the crossfade envelopes. As large values can weaken your transients, you should generally adjust this control to the lowest possible value that just avoids clicking.

Slice Rel (Slice Release): Adjusts the release time of the crossfade that occurs between Slices.

Release Trigger: Allows samples in this Group to be triggered when a MIDI note-off command is received. This function and its additional parameters are covered by the description of the Sampler mode at the beginning of this chapter.

t(ms) (Time, only visible if Release Trigger is activated): If you set this to a value other than 0, Kontakt will count from that value backwards in millisecond intervals when it receives a note, then stop the timer and provide its current value as a modulation source when it receives the corresponding note-off value. This way, you can make your Instrument respond to note durations, for instance by reducing the volume of your release sample after longer notes in order to make it fit a Sample with a natural decay.

Monophonic (visible only if Release Trigger is activated): This button affects how release samples will respond to note repetitions. When it’s activated, playing a note repeatedly will cut off any previous release samples that are still sounding (if any), so that only one release sample will play at any time.

Internal Trigger: This button is only included for backwards compatibility. Its function was used with slices that have been automatically mapped into Groups across the keyboard. As this function is replicated with Zones since the release of Kontakt 3, you need this button only if using Instruments that have been saved in previous Kontakt versions.