Komplete Kontrol "Keyboard button" why now?

[L J Blackler]

Hello there, I really hope that the solution to my issue is, to you, an obvious one. My apologies for the length of this post but it includes the steps I took to help diagnose the problem.
Right, Komplete Kontrol.
Before you roll your eyes and click away, I understand that Pro Tools is not supported, but I would really appreciate a moment of your time as this might be quite unrelated to the DAW...

My shiny new S88 Mk2 has been working wonderfully for the few weeks I've had it.
After opening up KK stand alone, closing it and loading my DAW on my PC I could insert it as a plug-in on a track and whichever instrument I chose, e.g. Studio Drummer, the keyboard screens would change to it automatically and would return to MIDI mode when I would close the KK window. Good. If I had another track with another instance with a different instrument e.g. The Gentleman, I could click from one track's plug-in to the other and as the KK window would change, so would the screens on the keyboard. Good.
A few days ago, suddenly while working mid session, the screens on the S88 no longer changed. Closing the KK window did not make the keyboard revert to MIDI mode and clicking between the instances on different tracks did not affect the screens either. Bad.
My first reaction was to open Native Access and see if there was an update to KK, there was. So I SAVED the session closed the DAW and updated KK. I opened KK stand alone, closed it and loaded the session again. When it opened, the keyboard screens changed to the last instrument I was on, tho no instance of KK plug-in was selected or open. Bad, and clicking between plug-ins did not automatically change the keyboard screens as the KK windows swapped, I now had to click the Keyboard icon top middle right of KK to make the S88 change to that instance.
I then looked to see if there was an update of Pro Tools, there was. I closed everything, updated everything, reinstalled KK, opened stand alone, closed it and opened the session. (I even followed advice given about removing the FB360 folder)

Same thing, the S88 was 'remembering' the last instrument it was on before closing, and was unaffected by clicking between instances of the plug-ins in the DAW. Only clicking the Keyboard icon top middle right in KK would change the screens on the S88, or the instance button and choosing from the list. The S88 does go to the correct empty-ish screen when you instigate a new instance on a new track and it changes when you select an instrument, but that becomes the new focus and won't change accordingly to other instances without clicking the Keyboard icon top middle right or the instance button and then selecting. Now when I load any session the S88 behaves like this.

Does anyone know why? Did I change something accidentally? Is there perhaps some option in KK that can make the keyboard's focus stay while you alter parameters of a different instance? (that would be a nice feature if it was optional)

Just for added info that might help: Remembering that the problem started mid session, when I then updated Pro Tools, trashed and re-entered my preferences I noticed that if I had "Plug-in Controls Default to Auto-Enabled" checked then the plug-in had an automation 'option' of "NIKB00" that didn't seem to do anything, and every time I loaded a new plug-in instance it would go up sequentially "NIKB01" etc. I only mention this because the interesting thing is, even if you delete ALL instances of KK plug-ins in the session and then create a NEW instance, it would continue it's sequence "NIKB02" , "NIKB03". Weird, but maybe unrelated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Any thoughts would be so appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Laurence

[massivekerry]

KK has been getting worse with every release. Especially on Pro Tools. I had to stop using the software, as it takes 8x longer to load an instance than it does one of Kontakt.

[Flyingrockstudios]

Is the last selected track for MIDI thru checked in preferences? I’m not in front of my studio computer right now, but I have the NI S88 keyboard and KK and I recall that I needed to check something like this option so each time I selected an instrument or MIDI track the MIDI keyboard would automatically switch to play the different instruments.

[L J Blackler]

Flyingrockstudios, thank you SO much for your reply.
I have looked as hard as I can at all the preferences and cannot find anything similar to what you described.
I experimented with changing the default thru instrument from 'none' to 'predefined' and the few different Komplete Kontrol options, but no.

Would you be able let me know when you might be at your machine to take a quick look at your preferences and see if you can give the name of the check box?

Thanks in advance, you rock Flyingrock! ...

[Flyingrockstudios]

So I have read through your posts multiple times, and I think I understand that you were experiencing some sort of automatic track focus, where the keyboard would switch to the Komplete Kontrol plug-in instance and edit contro as you just selected the track. But I thought you were just trying to get the keyboard to control/play the instrument audio as you select from track to track, which I think you already have working.

So it is strange since automatic track focus/switching as you described is not supported in Pro Tools, so I am not sure how it was switching before, as it's not supposed to be able to do this. Pro Tools does not support advanced integration (another thing Avid is behind on compared to their competitors).

From the NI manual:

Automatic Switching in a Host:
When using KOMPLETE KONTROL as a plug-in in a host with advanced integration, the keyboard automatically switches between controlling the KOMPLETE KONTROL software and MIDI mode, depending on the content of the selected track.

BUT this is only supported in hosts that have advanced integration, which Pro Tools does not.

I mentioned the PT preference for MIDI, Default Thru Instrument, "first selected MIDI track", which you likely already have selected as well. This will at least allow you to play the current instrument on the selected track. Little consolation, I know.

So maybe some incomplete setup routine/preference or something allowed this to happen, you never know. Maybe this advanced integration is hidden somewhere in PT, and Avid just hasn't enabled it yet, and in some way your system temporarily allowed this in a freak of nature. I don't know how else to explain it. If you do figure it out, maybe you should apply for a job with Neyrinck!

[L J Blackler]

Thanks for your time my friend.

If I do figure out how this was possible for about 2 weeks, I'll let the community know.