Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Hello to everyone, this is my very first post. I am somewhat experienced with Pro Tools, having been a user since PT9.

Today for the first time I came across an issue that I spent nearly 6 hours trying to fix and have searched up and down for a solution. I use kontakt Player with drum sample libraries and route each drum to its own track using multi-outputs. Up until today I could route to 16 stereo channels. In the kontakt window this would show for example the kick drum as stereo out 1|2, the snare as 3|4 etc all that way up to 31|32. I could then route new stereo instrument tracks with a kontakt channel as an input.

When opening a session I discovered several of the drums weren’t playing so I checked the outputs and was only mysteriously only able to route 10 stereo outs and not 16. I have tried my usual routing method in both ableton 9 and Logic Pro x. It seems to work just fine on both of those DAWs. I have the very latest versions of both PT18 and Kontakt 5. Is there some sort of option in PT that allows me to recognize a 16X stereo plugin, much like logic, which allows loadable routing output options when selecting a plugin to load?

* I have already contacted Native Instruments about this issue and they suggested trying other DAWs, as that worked for me, I came here for further assistance!

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Shooting from the hip as I don't use Kontact for drums;
2 things come to mind.
#1-don't waste 2 outputs for a mono sound. IOW, kick, snare and hat can be done with 3 mono outputs where you currently use up 3 stereo outputs. Now I realize this might not free up when you look only at the number(I don't know how Kontact handles this), but for mono sounds(assuming they can be panned in the Kontact mixer/output assign setup); kick AND snare could be fed via Stereo Output 1 if you hard pan each sound(which I do a lot with Superior Drummer) and record those sounds to mono audio tracks.

#2- assign sounds that fit the number of available outputs, route those to audio tracks and print. Then re-assign the rest of the sounds and print those(yes, a PITA, but is a solution, though not the best:o)

Last 2 cents, if you are using outputs to split out ambience and room mics, consider not doing that and, instead, creating your own unique ambience/room sound with AUX tracks and reverb/ambience plugins of your choosing. One thing that tends to make your drums, my drums and everybody's drums(assuming we all used Kontact) sound the same is those room and ambience sounds. When I use VI drums, I kill the plugin room and ambience mics and create the space myself and that seemingly small change makes my overall drums sound very different from the other 1000 mixes that started with the same VI kit. Food for thought:-)

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

I have not used that many outputs, usually I only have 10-12 but I thought I remembered that you can create more output busses in Kontakt itself? I always use mono outs for superior drummer , etc (drum apps)

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Check the output.cfg file you're using - it may have been corrupted or changed somehow. A long time ago I created output.cfg files to do 8 stereo output pairs and another with 16 stereo output pairs from Kontakt 5. It took some messing about to get it to work right as supposedly there's a limit to the number of stereo outs the pairing of PT & Kontakt can handle. Following the instructions NI has isn't easy and is (or at least was) wrong in parts.

You can set your custom output.cfg file as a default when using Kontakt 5 in PT or you can change it at will. If you want send me an email (can't attach files to a PM) and I'll send you the two output.cfg files I created - maybe they'll help you out.

edit for additional:
Don't feel bad about the response you got from NI support as they are blissfully ignorant of how PT works. A long time ago I sent them a support request asking about using their plugins as AudioSuite plugs in PT and they had no idea what AudioSuite even was. They sent me instructions for using the plugins as regular inserts.

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Can you send your output.cfg files to [email protected] it would appreciated.
Hoping this helps with the routing problems.

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Files sent - let me know if you get them as I've been having issues with my isp's email.

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

You need to create the output channels inside kontakt and save it as the default configuration.

Click the + button, make them 2 channels (mono is buggy) and set the quantity to as many as you like. Personally I just maxed it out. Make sure to click save as default, this is the important part. When Pro Tools loads the plugin at startup, it will open up the number of outputs saved in the default configuration.

After doing this, any other configuration of outputs can exist inside each instance of kontakt as long as it fits within the number of outputs saved in the default configuration.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdTDtYPU8AI8vAM.jpg

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Mono is buggy how? Never had a problem with that.

Creating output.cfg files isn't as easy as said here or what's on the NI site, particularly for PT. If one uses the NI process it doesn't work like they say it will; seems like NI has no idea of how PT works. They once said you couldn't have more than 8 stereo outs when using Kontakt in PT but I made a 16 stereo output.cfg file that works. Any other daw didn't have the restriction according to NI at the time (and this was a couple of years ago).

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

Haven't received any output.cfg files. Please let me know if you send them again.
Thanks [email protected]

Re: Issue with Kontakt in Pro Tools 2018
 

They were sent as inline attachments in the email I sent you. Try sending me an email and I'll attach them to my reply. It shouldn't matter but are you on Windows or Mac for your email computer? I have an option for sending Windows friendly attachments from Mac Mail.