Question re: best setup of multiple Kontakt instances

[Realmpel]

First, I am not sure whether my thread calls for troubleshooting help, or usage tips/techniques for setting up and organizing a large template consisting of numerous Kontakt instances with multiple instruments within each one. My apologies if this belongs in the troubleshooting section. I also apologize if this has been addressed and I missed it. I have seen the NI pages that purport to explain this, and believe I have followed chapter 16 of the DP user guide, but am still unsure that I ended up in the right place.

I am working with the DP9 demo, hoping to switch to DP from my current DAW. I'm trying to set up my template of instruments, which when complete consists of 20 instances of Kontakt with 12 instruments in each instance.

My best understanding of the setup in DP is as follows. I'm hoping that folks can help me confirm that this is correct and/or give me some advice on how to streamline and organize the setup.

Step 1: Create an instrument track and 12 MIDI tracks using Project -> Instruments with Options, then add 1 instrument track assigned to Kontakt 5-1 (stereo) with 12 MIDI tracks. The instrument track and MIDI tracks appear in the tracks view and the mixing board.

Step 2: Open Kontakt from the tracks view. In Kontakt, open the outputs button and assign plug-in outs to each stereo channel (i.e. st.1 -> Plug-in 1-2, st.2 -> Plug-in 3/4) etc. all the way to st. 12.

Step 3: Also in Kontakt, change the output of each instrument to st.1 - st.12. Each instrument was automatically set to its own MIDI channel (A1,A2, etc.).

Step 4: Open the Mixing Board tab and create 12 Aux tracks. Assign each Aux track to an output corresponding to the instrument output in Kontakt (i.e. Kontakt 5-1-1-2 (stereo), Kontakt 5-1-3-4 (stereo).

Regarding Step 4, the first aux track I created starts with Kontakt 5-1-3-4; that is, it seems to have skipped 5-1-1-2 and I don't see a way to assign it to that. At the risk of asking for troubleshooting help, is this normal? In researching this issue I have seen some screenshots where the outputs start at 3-4 and some where they start at 1-2. Perhaps related, my first MIDI channel, which is assigned in Kontakt and the mixing board to Kontakt 5-1-1-2, points to the Kontakt instrument track. When I record enable MIDI track 1, I see the record meter move in MIDI 1 in the mixing board, and strangely a much lower meter movement in the instrument channel. the sound is also muffled on MIDI track 1.

Other than the MIDI track 1 issue, I am getting sound as expected. However, it seemed to take a lot of tracks to do it and thus I want to make sure I'm doing this in the most efficient and effective way. I ended up with 1 instrument track, 12 MIDI tracks, and 12 corresponding Aux tracks.

Is this correct? And if so, how have people found it effective to organize them? Do you arrange to have the MIDI track and its respective Aux track next to each other? If so, is there a way to automatically do that?

I was planning to folder my tracks by instrument (woodwinds, Brass, etc). If you do that, what do you do with the actual Kontakt instrument track(s)? Do you keep them together in the various windows? Folder them together?

This post is long and I hate myself for it! However, I promise to pay it forward if you can set me straight! I appreciate all the information I have learned from this forum thus far.

Thank you for your time.

[bayswater]

You've pretty much got it. On your question 4 about where outputs 1 and 2 went: have a look at the Bundles Window. You can see all the outputs the VIs publish there, and rename them to something more useful than Kontakt Out 1-2-1-15. You can then use these newly named output pairs in the Aux channels you are using to manage the audio from the VI outputs. You'll notice the Bundles window doesn't include the first output pair of any output pair from a VI. You have to use the name published by the VI directly. It is helpful to set up Bundles that help identify common VI setups and save them for subsequent loading and use.

I've make use of the apparent hole in DP by which the first output pair does not show up in Bundles. I only use output pairs 2-16 in the named routing, and let any new sounds I want to try out go to the first output pair. That first output pair is routed directly to my main monitors so I can quickly audition a new sound. It doesn't matter what the name is, so I don't need to know it, or change it. If I find something I like, I can move it to one of the other pairs that has a more meaningful name.

You might want to consider how many MIDI tracks you assign to a single instance. I don't know what the optimal mix of VI instances versus MIDI tracks per instance might be, but 12 per instance might be pushing things.

[musicman691]

For the first output of any mmulti-timbral vi I assign the output of the Instrument track it's on to an Aux or Audio track. Then make the rest of my assignments from there.

[frankf]

I have a bus, created in the the Bundles>buses pane to which I assign the out (1-2) of each VI track. I name the bus appropriately. The bus is available as input to an Aux track in all output lists. All my VIs reside in v-racks


Frank Ferrucci

[Realmpel]

Thanks very much for confirming and helping me refine my process. I might have gone a little crazy trying to find outputs 1 and 2.

Bayswater, regarding the optimal mix of VI per instance, that's a question I've been wrestling with for awhile. I did end up using eight instruments per instance instead of twelve, hopefully that strikes a good balance. DP seems to make it pretty easy to add and subtract from instances so I'll tweak it if I need to.

Also looks like it will be easy to move to V-racks once I get the hang of my workflow.

Thanks again.

[bayswater]

Be sure to try out adding a number of V-Racks, each with one instance of a VI. Then you can use the Chunks window to turn them on an off. When they are off, they use no CPU. When you turn them on, they're ready to use, as long as you set up the Bundles beforehand.

[Realmpel]

Thanks again bayswater. I finally got my instruments loaded, which equaled 28 instances of Kontakt with 8 instruments in each. I am now moving each instrument track and its respective Aux tracks into their own v-rack, so I'll end up with 28 V-racks. Is this the procedure you were suggesting?

I'm getting some pretty slow loading times (perhaps unsurprisingly) as I am enabling each instance of Kontakt before I move it over into the V-rack. Not sure whether that is necessary, as it sounds like I should be able to control that from the rack. I'm used to having all my tracks and instruments loaded and ready to go. This is probably unnecessary too, I'm sort of mimicking what I have seen others do with their setups in other DAWs.

[bayswater]

The use of multiple instances is to spread the load across processors. So if you have 8 dual virtual processors there is probably not much point in having more than 16 instances. Although it looks like you need more than 16 anyway.

As for the V-Racks, you don't have to put each instance in its own V-Rack. Put as many as you know you will always use in one V-Rack if you want to. So if you're basic setup will alway need 8 instances of Kontakt, put all 8 in one V-Rakc.

You can put other instances in other V-Racks so that they are easy to turn on and start using. So if you expect to be adding 2 instances at a time, put 2 in each V-Rack and turn them off in the Chunks window until you need them.

Another thing: You can always drag a Vrack out of the Chunks window into the Tracks Overview to put those instances in that V-Rack back into the main sequence. So there is lot's of flexibility in setup and use.