2

Table of Contents
1. Disclaimer ................................................................................................................. 1

2. Welcome to KONTAKT ................................................................................................ 2

2.1. New Features ..................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1. KONTAKT 6.6.0 .......................................................................................... 3
2.1.2. KONTAKT 6.5.0 .......................................................................................... 3

3. Documentation .......................................................................................................... 4
3.1. Other Documentation .......................................................................................... 4
3.2. Document Conventions ....................................................................................... 5

4. Setup ........................................................................................................................ 6
4.1. Installation ......................................................................................................... 6
4.2. Operating Modes ................................................................................................ 6
4.3. Stand-alone Operation ......................................................................................... 7
4.3.1. Low Memory Warning on Start-Up ............................................................... 7
4.3.2. Audio Configuration .................................................................................... 7
4.3.3. Latency Optimization .................................................................................. 8
4.3.4. MIDI Configuration ..................................................................................... 9
4.4. Plug-in Operation ................................................................................................ 9
4.4.1. Changing Outputs in Pro Tools .................................................................. 10
4.4.2. Changing Outputs in Logic 8 ...................................................................... 10

5. KONTAKT: The Big Picture ......................................................................................... 11

5.1. Core Building Blocks .......................................................................................... 11
5.2. Tools ................................................................................................................ 12

6. User Interface Elements ............................................................................................ 14

6.1. Info Pane .......................................................................................................... 16
6.2. Saving and Loading Presets ............................................................................... 17

7. MIDI Learn ................................................................................................................ 19

7.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers ................................................................................. 19
7.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments .............................................................. 19

8. The KONTAKT Window .............................................................................................. 20

8.1. The Main Control Panel ..................................................................................... 21
8.1.1. Files Menu ............................................................................................... 21
8.1.2. Workspace Menu ..................................................................................... 27
8.1.3. Minimize View .......................................................................................... 28
8.1.4. System Performance Meters ..................................................................... 29
8.2. Options Dialog .................................................................................................. 30
8.2.1. Interface Tab ............................................................................................ 30
8.2.2. Engine Tab ............................................................................................... 31
8.2.3. Handling Tab ............................................................................................ 32
8.2.4. Usage Data .............................................................................................. 33
8.2.5. Loading Tab ............................................................................................. 34
8.2.6. Database Tab ........................................................................................... 35
8.2.7. Libraries Tab ............................................................................................ 36
8.2.8. Memory Tab ............................................................................................ 36
 3

8.3. Stand-alone Menu ............................................................................................. 39

9. The Rack Multi Instrument Mode ............................................................................... 40

9.1. Multi Instrument Header .................................................................................... 40
9.2. Instrument Header ............................................................................................ 41
9.3. Purge Menu ...................................................................................................... 43
9.4. Instrument Header (Minimized) .......................................................................... 44
9.5. Performance View ............................................................................................. 45

10. The Rack Instrument Edit Mode ............................................................................... 47

10.1. Instrument Options Dialog ............................................................................... 51
10.1.1. Instrument Tab ....................................................................................... 51
10.1.2. Voices Handling Tab ............................................................................... 52
10.1.3. DFD Tab ................................................................................................ 53
10.1.4. Controller Tab ........................................................................................ 53
10.1.5. Snapshot Tab ......................................................................................... 54
10.1.6. Infos Tab ............................................................................................... 55

11. Loading and Creating Instruments ........................................................................... 56

12. Using Snapshots ..................................................................................................... 59

12.1. Saving a User Snapshot ................................................................................... 59
12.2. Loading a Snapshot from the Snapshot Menu ................................................... 60
12.3. Loading Snapshots from the File System .......................................................... 62
12.4. Deleting a User Snapshot ................................................................................. 62

13. Loading and Creating Instrument Banks ................................................................... 64

14. The On-Screen Keyboard ......................................................................................... 66

15. The Master Editor ................................................................................................... 67

16. The Browser ........................................................................................................... 69

16.1. Libraries Tab ................................................................................................... 70
16.1.1. Loading and Saving Instruments and Multis ............................................. 70
16.1.2. Function Menu ....................................................................................... 70
16.1.3. Library Activation .................................................................................... 71
16.2. Files Tab ......................................................................................................... 71
16.2.1. Upper (Container) Pane ........................................................................... 72
16.2.2. Middle (Objects) Pane ............................................................................. 73
16.2.3. Instrument Navigator Pane ...................................................................... 74
16.2.4. Audition Strip ......................................................................................... 75
16.2.5. Refresh and Eject Buttons ....................................................................... 75
16.2.6. The View Menu ....................................................................................... 76
16.3. Database Tab .................................................................................................. 76
16.3.1. Database Overview ................................................................................. 77
16.3.2. Building the Database ............................................................................. 78
16.3.3. Searching by Attributes ........................................................................... 79
16.3.4. Searching by Keywords ........................................................................... 82
16.3.5. Configuring and Sorting the Results List ................................................... 83
16.3.6. Assigning Attributes ............................................................................... 84
16.4. Expert Tab ...................................................................................................... 86
16.5. Automation Tab .............................................................................................. 89
16.5.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers in the Browser ................................................ 90
 4

16.5.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments ................................................... 91

17. The Quick-Load Catalog .......................................................................................... 92

17.1. Building a Catalog ........................................................................................... 92
17.2. Loading Objects from the Catalog ..................................................................... 93

18. The Outputs Section ............................................................................................... 95

18.1. Channel Strips ................................................................................................ 95
18.2. Working with Output Channels ......................................................................... 96
18.3. Working with Aux Channels .............................................................................. 97
18.4. Outputs in Host Mode ...................................................................................... 97

19. The Group Editor ..................................................................................................... 99

19.1. Control Header .............................................................................................. 100
19.1.1. Edit All Groups ...................................................................................... 100
19.1.2. Group Selector ..................................................................................... 100
19.1.3. Edit ..................................................................................................... 100
19.1.4. Group Solo ........................................................................................... 102
19.1.5. Select by MIDI ...................................................................................... 102
19.2. Group List ..................................................................................................... 102
19.3. Voice Groups ................................................................................................ 103
19.4. Group Start Options ....................................................................................... 104
19.5. The Mapping Editor ....................................................................................... 105
19.5.1. Mapping Samples Manually ................................................................... 106
19.5.2. Mapping Samples Automatically ............................................................ 107
19.5.3. Managing Zones ................................................................................... 109
19.5.4. Control Strip ......................................................................................... 111
19.5.5. Edit Menu ............................................................................................ 112
19.5.6. Batch Tools .......................................................................................... 114

20. The Wave Editor .................................................................................................... 116

20.1. Tool Bar ........................................................................................................ 117
20.2. Status Bar .................................................................................................... 120
20.3. Waveform View ............................................................................................. 121
20.4. Grid Panel ..................................................................................................... 123
20.4.1. Fix Mode .............................................................................................. 124
20.4.2. Auto Mode ........................................................................................... 125
20.4.3. Editing Slices Manually ......................................................................... 126
20.5. Sample Loop Tab .......................................................................................... 127
20.6. Sync / Slice Tab ............................................................................................ 130
20.6.1. Using the Beat Machine ........................................................................ 130
20.6.2. Using the Time Machine ....................................................................... 131
20.6.3. Mapping Slices Manually ....................................................................... 131
20.6.4. Mapping Slices Automatically ................................................................ 133
20.7. Zone Envelopes ............................................................................................ 134
20.7.1. Assigning and Selecting Envelopes ........................................................ 134
20.7.2. Adjusting Assignment Parameters ......................................................... 135
20.7.3. Editing Envelopes ................................................................................. 136
20.7.4. Utility Functions ................................................................................... 137
20.8. Sample Editor ............................................................................................... 138
20.8.1. Edit Operations ..................................................................................... 140
20.8.2. Transform Operations ........................................................................... 140
 5

21. The Script Editor ................................................................................................... 142

21.1. Loading a Script ............................................................................................ 142
21.2. Saving Script Settings .................................................................................... 143
21.3. Editing and Saving a Script ............................................................................. 143

22. The Source Module ............................................................................................... 145

22.1. Sampler ........................................................................................................ 145
22.2. DFD ............................................................................................................. 146
22.3. Wavetable .................................................................................................... 147
22.4. Tone Machine ............................................................................................... 148
22.5. Time Machine ............................................................................................... 149
22.6. Time Machine II ............................................................................................ 150
22.7. Time Machine Pro ......................................................................................... 150
22.8. Beat Machine ................................................................................................ 151
22.9. S1200 Machine ............................................................................................. 152
22.10. MP60 Machine ............................................................................................ 153

23. The Amplifier Module ............................................................................................ 154

24. Signal Processors in KONTAKT .............................................................................. 156

24.1. Group Insert Effects ...................................................................................... 157
24.2. Bus Insert Effects .......................................................................................... 158
24.3. Instrument Insert Effects ............................................................................... 159
24.4. Instrument Send Effects ................................................................................ 159
24.5. Main Effects ................................................................................................. 160
24.6. Common Parameters .................................................................................... 160
24.7. Adding Modules ............................................................................................ 161
24.8. Deleting Modules .......................................................................................... 161
24.9. Editing Module Parameters ............................................................................ 161
24.10. Signal Processors in the Outputs Section ...................................................... 161
24.10.1. Output Channel Inserts ....................................................................... 161
24.10.2. Aux Channels ..................................................................................... 162

25. Effects ................................................................................................................. 163

25.1. AET Filter ...................................................................................................... 163
25.1.1. About Authentic Expression Technology ................................................. 163
25.1.2. Creating a Velocity Morph ..................................................................... 164
25.1.3. Creating an Articulation Morph .............................................................. 166
25.1.4. Create AET Morph Layer Dialog ............................................................. 167
25.1.5. Morph Map Editor ................................................................................. 168
25.1.6. AET Filter Module Controls .................................................................... 169
25.2. Transient Master ........................................................................................... 170
25.3. Feedback Compressor ................................................................................... 170
25.4. Solid Bus Comp ............................................................................................ 171
25.5. Compressor .................................................................................................. 172
25.6. Supercharger GT ........................................................................................... 173
25.7. Limiter .......................................................................................................... 175
25.8. Transparent Limiter ....................................................................................... 175
25.9. Tape Saturator .............................................................................................. 176
25.10. Distortion ................................................................................................... 176
25.11. Lo-Fi ........................................................................................................... 177
25.12. Saturator .................................................................................................... 177
25.13. Cabinet ....................................................................................................... 178
 6

25.14. Skreamer .................................................................................................... 178

25.15. Twang ........................................................................................................ 179
25.16. Jump ......................................................................................................... 179
25.17. Van51 ......................................................................................................... 180
25.18. ACBox ........................................................................................................ 180
25.19. HotSolo ...................................................................................................... 181
25.20. Cat ............................................................................................................. 182
25.21. DStortion .................................................................................................... 182
25.22. Cry Wah ...................................................................................................... 183
25.23. Rotator ....................................................................................................... 183
25.24. Surround Panner ......................................................................................... 184
25.24.1. Menus and Buttons ............................................................................. 185
25.24.2. Surround Panner Automation ............................................................... 188
25.24.3. Host/MIDI Automation ........................................................................ 189
25.24.4. Internal Modulation ............................................................................. 189
25.25. Stereo Modeller ........................................................................................... 190
25.26. Inverter ....................................................................................................... 190
25.27. Send Levels ................................................................................................ 190
25.28. Legacy Delay ............................................................................................... 191
25.29. Replika Delay .............................................................................................. 191
25.30. Reverb ........................................................................................................ 193
25.31. Plate Reverb ............................................................................................... 194
25.32. Legacy Reverb ............................................................................................ 194
25.33. Chorus ....................................................................................................... 195
25.34. Flanger ....................................................................................................... 196
25.35. Phaser ........................................................................................................ 196
25.36. Convolution ................................................................................................ 197
25.37. Gainer ........................................................................................................ 198
25.38. Choral ........................................................................................................ 199
25.39. Flair ............................................................................................................ 201
25.40. Phasis ........................................................................................................ 202

26. Filters ................................................................................................................... 205

26.1. Lowpass Filters ............................................................................................. 206
26.1.1. SV LP1 ................................................................................................. 206
26.1.2. SV LP2 ................................................................................................. 206
26.1.3. SV LP4 ................................................................................................. 207
26.1.4. Ladder LP1 ........................................................................................... 207
26.1.5. Ladder LP2 ........................................................................................... 207
26.1.6. Ladder LP3 ........................................................................................... 207
26.1.7. Ladder LP4 ........................................................................................... 208
26.1.8. AR LP2 ................................................................................................ 208
26.1.9. AR LP4 ................................................................................................ 208
26.1.10. AR LP2/4 ........................................................................................... 209
26.1.11. Daft ................................................................................................... 209
26.1.12. PRO-53 .............................................................................................. 209
26.1.13. Legacy LP1 ........................................................................................ 209
26.1.14. Legacy LP2 ........................................................................................ 210
26.1.15. Legacy LP4 ........................................................................................ 210
26.1.16. Legacy LP6 ........................................................................................ 210
26.1.17. Legacy Ladder .................................................................................... 210
26.2. Highpass Filters ............................................................................................ 210
26.2.1. SV HP1 ................................................................................................ 211
 7

26.2.2. SV HP2 ................................................................................................ 211

26.2.3. SV HP4 ................................................................................................ 211
26.2.4. Ladder HP1 .......................................................................................... 211
26.2.5. Ladder HP2 .......................................................................................... 212
26.2.6. Ladder HP3 .......................................................................................... 212
26.2.7. Ladder HP4 .......................................................................................... 212
26.2.8. AR HP2 ................................................................................................ 213
26.2.9. AR HP4 ................................................................................................ 213
26.2.10. AR HP2/4 ........................................................................................... 213
26.2.11. Daft HP .............................................................................................. 213
26.2.12. Legacy HP1 ........................................................................................ 214
26.2.13. Legacy HP2 ........................................................................................ 214
26.2.14. Legacy HP4 ........................................................................................ 214
26.3. Bandpass ..................................................................................................... 214
26.3.1. SV BP2 ................................................................................................ 215
26.3.2. SV BP4 ................................................................................................ 215
26.3.3. Ladder BP2 .......................................................................................... 215
26.3.4. Ladder BP4 .......................................................................................... 215
26.3.5. AR BP2 ................................................................................................ 216
26.3.6. AR BP4 ................................................................................................ 216
26.3.7. AR BP2/4 ............................................................................................. 216
26.3.8. Legacy BP2 .......................................................................................... 216
26.3.9. Legacy BP4 .......................................................................................... 217
26.4. Peak/Notch .................................................................................................. 217
26.4.1. SV Notch ............................................................................................. 217
26.4.2. Ladder Peak ......................................................................................... 217
26.4.3. Ladder Notch ....................................................................................... 218
26.4.4. Legacy BR4 .......................................................................................... 218
26.5. Multi ............................................................................................................ 218
26.5.1. SV Par. LP/HP ...................................................................................... 218
26.5.2. SV Par. BP/BP ...................................................................................... 219
26.5.3. SV Ser. LP/HP ...................................................................................... 219
26.5.4. 3x2 Versatile ........................................................................................ 219
26.5.5. Simple LP/HP ....................................................................................... 221
26.6. Effect Filters ................................................................................................. 221
26.6.1. Formant I ............................................................................................. 221
26.6.2. Formant II ............................................................................................ 221
26.6.3. Phaser ................................................................................................. 222
26.6.4. Vowel A ............................................................................................... 222
26.6.5. Vowel B ............................................................................................... 223
26.7. EQs .............................................................................................................. 223
26.7.1. Solid G-EQ ............................................................................................ 223

27. Modulation in KONTAKT ........................................................................................ 225

27.1. Modulation Sources ...................................................................................... 225
27.2. Modulation Destinations ................................................................................ 226
27.3. Creating Modulation Assignments .................................................................. 226
27.4. Deleting Modulation Assignments .................................................................. 227
27.5. Assignment Controls ..................................................................................... 228

28. Modulation Sources .............................................................................................. 231

28.1. Envelopes ..................................................................................................... 231
28.1.1. AHDSR Envelope Controls ..................................................................... 231
 8

28.1.2. DBD Envelope Controls ......................................................................... 232

28.1.3. Flexible Envelopes ................................................................................ 232
28.2. LFOs ............................................................................................................ 234
28.2.1. LFO Controls ........................................................................................ 235
28.2.2. Multi Digital LFO ................................................................................... 235
28.3. Other Modulators .......................................................................................... 236
28.3.1. 32-Step Modulator ................................................................................ 236
28.3.2. Envelope Follower ................................................................................. 237
28.3.3. Glide .................................................................................................... 237
28.4. External Sources ........................................................................................... 238

29. File Formats ......................................................................................................... 240

29.1. Audio File Formats ........................................................................................ 240
29.2. KONTAKT File Formats .................................................................................. 240

30. Keyboard Shortcuts .............................................................................................. 242

30.1. Global Keys .................................................................................................. 242
30.2. Browser ........................................................................................................ 242
30.3. Instrument Edit Mode .................................................................................... 242
30.4. Group Editor ................................................................................................. 242
30.5. Mapping Editor ............................................................................................. 243
30.6. Wave Editor .................................................................................................. 243
 DISCLAIMER 1

1. Disclaimer
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document
is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this
publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose,
without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Native
Instruments.
“Native Instruments”, “NI” and associated logos are (registered) trademarks of Native Instruments
GmbH.
Mac, macOS, GarageBand, Logic and iTunes are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in
the U.S. and other countries.
Windows and DirectSound are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and use of them does not imply
any affiliation with or endorsement by them.
Document authored by Adam Hanley, Jan Morgenstern, Nikolas Jeroma, Dinos Vallianatos, Mario
Krušelj, Elpiniki Pappa, Hannah Lockwood
Software version: 6.6.0 (7/2021)
Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but in
making this a better product.
 WELCOME TO KONTAKT 2

2. Welcome to KONTAKT
We would like to thank you for purchasing KONTAKT — it’s because of customers like you that we
can continue developing ground-breaking music software.
KONTAKT is one of the leading sampling solutions in the audio industry. It allows you to play back
and process audio samples — but that does not even begin to convey the full range of its
capabilities. With KONTAKT, you can create sophisticated sample-based virtual instruments,
process their audio signals with powerful DSP structures, build complex performance setups with
extensive modulation routings, and gain access to a huge number of third-party sample libraries.
We hope that this reference manual will provide you with all the information you need to make use
of KONTAKT’s features to their full capacity.
 WELCOME TO KONTAKT 3

2.1. New Features

The following features have been added or improved:

2.1.1. KONTAKT 6.6.0

• ADDED: KONTAKT now also provides a VST3 target.
• REMOVED: 32bit VST2 target is no longer provided.
• CHANGED: The Options Load/Import tab is updated and renamed to Loading.
• ADDED: It is now possible to set a user library path in the KONTAKT Options Loading tab. For
more information, see Loading Tab.

2.1.2. KONTAKT 6.5.0

• ADDED: KONTAKT is now Mac OS Big Sur compatible.
• CHANGED: Minimum supported macOS version is now 10.13.
• FIXED: UI Scaling issue on Cubase, Ableton and Studio One on Windows.
• FIXED: KONTAKT was not releasing memory correctly.
• FIXED: Manually typing BPM in the Wave Editor Grid section did not work.
• FIXED: Selecting groups with the arrow keys in the Group Editor did not work.
 DOCUMENTATION 4

3. Documentation
This User Manual is the most important documentation resource. It provides descriptions of all
the user interface elements, options, tools, editors, and sound processing modules of KONTAKT.
You can use it as both a reference manual and as a thorough guide to working with the
application. Additional documentation resources have been prepared, covering all other aspects of
KONTAKT.

3.1. Other Documentation

In addition to this guide, further documentation relating to KONTAKT and its related tools can be
viewed and downloaded here.
When using the stand-alone version of KONTAKT, you can access the documents via the Help
menu at the top of the application window (Windows) or your desktop (Mac). This includes the
following resources:

• The KSP Reference Manual documents the built-in scripting language, which allows
instrument creators to embed scripts that can dynamically alter MIDI data and playback
parameters in their patches. As such, it is targeted towards advanced users.
• The Creator Tools Reference Manual documents the suite of tools developed to support the
instrument creation process within KONTAKT. Here you will find scripting and binding
references for the Debugger and the Instrument Editor.
• The KONTAKT Factory Library Manual provides an overview of the different features and
controls available in each of the seven Factory Library Instrument collections.
• The KONTAKT Factory Library Scripts Manual provides an overview of the different features
and parameters available in the Script Editor of the Factory Library Instruments.
 DOCUMENTATION 5

3.2. Document Conventions

In this document the following formatting is used to highlight useful information:

Italics Indicates paths to locations on your hard disk or other storage devices
Bold Highlights important names, concepts, and software interface elements.
[Brackets] References keys on a computer’s keyboard
Single item instructions are represented by a bullet icon.
Results in procedures are represented by an arrow icon.

The following three icons represent different types of information:

The light bulb icon indicates a useful tip, suggestion, or interesting fact.

The information icon highlights important information that is essential for the given
context.

The warning icon alerts you of serious issues and potential risks that require your full
attention.
 SETUP 6

4. Setup
Before you can make music with KONTAKT, you must first register and install the necessary
software via Native Access, then setup your Libraries. Follow these instructions to get started.

4.1. Installation
Native Access is where you will install the software for KONTAKT and its related instruments. Your
Native ID account is used to sign in to Native Access and which is linked to your products.

Native Access
If you are new to Native Instruments, you will first need to download Native Access and make a
Native ID account.
1. Download and install Native Access here.
2. Open Native Access and create your Native ID.
3. Login to Native Access.
4. Click the Not installed tab.
5. Click INSTALL for KONTAKT and any available KONTAKT Libraries.

→ The software is installed automatically.

If the software is already installed, click the Available updates tab and check for new
updates before proceeding.

4.2. Operating Modes

Once the installation process has finished, you should find the KONTAKT 6 installation directory on
your hard drive. Before you start KONTAKT for the first time, it is worth explaining that there are
two fundamentally different modes of operation.
You have the choice of running KONTAKT as a “stand-alone” application, in which it will behave like
any other program on your computer. Alternatively, you can use it as a virtual instrument plug-in
within your sequencer or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) application. The most important
difference between these modes concerns the way in which KONTAKT handles MIDI and audio
streams. In stand-alone operation, KONTAKT will address your MIDI and audio hardware directly,
which requires you to specify some details about your hardware and drivers. When using
KONTAKT as a plug-in, these details will be taken care of by the sequencer host application. The
following sections will explain both modes in more detail.
 SETUP 7

4.3. Stand-alone Operation

When you launch the KONTAKT 6 application in the installation directory, KONTAKT will start as a
stand-alone program that provides its own application menu. In this mode, KONTAKT will receive
MIDI data from one or more ports of a MIDI interface and send audio signals directly to your audio
interface. This can be very useful if you don’t need the additional functionality of a full-blown
sequencer environment, for instance when you’re using KONTAKT as a live performance
instrument or as a sampling host on a stand-alone computer. Also, when you are creating or
editing complex sample libraries yourself, using the stand- alone version is often easier than
opening KONTAKT in a DAW or sequencer.
When you start KONTAKT in stand-alone mode for the first time, both audio and MIDI will need to
be configured. In order to make KONTAKT receive MIDI notes from your keyboard and play sound
in response, you will first have to tell it which hardware it should use. This is done via the Options
dialog, which should appear automatically upon the first start.

Options button

You can also open this dialog at any time by clicking on the Options button at the top of the main
window. This is the central place for configuring all aspects of KONTAKT’s user interface and its
sample playback engine. In this chapter, we’ll describe only the Audio and MIDI tabs at the bottom;
detailed explanations of the other options can be found in the section Options Dialog.

4.3.1. Low Memory Warning on Start-Up

Sometimes a memory warning is displayed when running several stand-alone instances of
KONTAKT simultaneously. This “low memory” warning dialog appears when KONTAKT is running
with no admin privileges or if a second instance of KONTAKT is started and is requesting RAM
which the first instance has already reserved.
Hence, running several stand-alone instances of KONTAKT simultaneously is not recommended.

4.3.2. Audio Configuration

In the Audio tab of the Options dialog, you can specify which audio device KONTAKT should use
for playback and adjust global playback parameters.
The dialog provides the following options:
 SETUP 8

Audio tab of the Options dialog

• Driver: With this drop-down menu, you can select which of your operating system’s device
driver architectures KONTAKT should use. Most professional audio devices provide ASIO,
CoreAudio (Mac) or WASAPI (Windows) drivers.
• Device: This menu lists all connected audio interfaces that match the driver architecture
chosen above. Use this to select the audio interface that you would like to use for playback.
• Sample rate: This drop-down menu allows you to set the global playback sample rate at which
KONTAKT will operate. Common values are 44100 Hz for music and 48000 Hz for film
production. Note that this does not have anything to do with the sampling rate at which your
samples have been recorded — if the playback rate does not match a sample’s recording rate,
KONTAKT will handle all necessary conversion steps transparently for you.
• Latency: The size of the audio playback buffer in samples. Small values will shorten the delay
between pressing a key and hearing the resulting sound (this is called “latency”), but may
cause drop-outs and stuttering when playing a lot of voices at the same time. Conversely,
setting this to a higher value will make playback more reliable at the cost of more latency. Note
that this control is not always available, as sometimes the latency is handled by your hardware
drivers.

4.3.3. Latency Optimization

The load that typical digital audio calculations generate on your processor is often not constant
and predictable; parameter changes, additional voices or other processes can all cause
momentary peaks in the load, which can result in drop-outs or other audio artifacts if not properly
compensated for. That is why audio programs don’t send the audio signals they generate directly
to the hardware, but write them to a short buffer in memory instead, which is what is then sent to
the actual hardware. This concept allows the program to bridge short irregularities in the stream
calculation and thus be more resistant to processing peaks.
Of course, this “safety net” comes at a price — the buffering causes a delay, known as latency,
between the triggering of a note and the actual sound. This delay gets longer with increasing
buffer sizes. Hence, it is vital to tune the buffer size in order to find a good compromise between
latency and playback reliability. The optimal value depends on such diverse factors as your CPU,
memory and hard disk access times, your audio hardware and drivers, and your operating system
environment.
In order to find the optimal buffer size for your system, we recommend that you begin by setting
the Latency slider described in the previous section to a healthy middle value between 384 and
512 samples, and then gradually decrease the value during your normal work.
 SETUP 9

Latency Slider

When you begin to notice drop-outs, increase the buffer again by a small amount.
Generally, it is a good idea to have as few other applications running in the background as possible
when working with audio software. Also, if you unable to get below a certain buffer size without
drop-outs, consult the documentation of your audio hardware to find out whether you can access
it via an alternate driver architecture, as some architectures allow more efficient low-level access
to the hardware than others.

4.3.4. MIDI Configuration

The MIDI tab of the Options dialog provides a list of all MIDI inputs and outputs that have been
found on your system. These are ports of physical MIDI interfaces connected to your computer,
but also any virtual MIDI ports that may be provided by drivers or other applications to facilitate
inter-application MIDI usage.

MIDI tab of the Options dialog

In order to make KONTAKT respond to MIDI data from the outside, you have to enable one or more
ports that appear in the inputs list of the MIDI tab. Make sure the Inputs button is highlighted and
identify the port(s) that you intend to use for MIDI input in the list. If the Status field on the right
side of an entry reads Off, click that value and assign one of the MIDI port identifiers (A-D). This
enables the respective port, which will later be identified by the selected letter throughout the user
interface.

4.4. Plug-in Operation

The plug-in version of KONTAKT allows you to use it as a virtual instrument inside your sequencer
or DAW. That way, you can run multiple instances of KONTAKT side-by-side along with your other
sound generators and effect plug-ins, trigger them with the data of MIDI tracks from within your
sequencer, and directly feed their audio output into the signal flow of your virtual mixer.
Depending on your operating system and choices upon installation, KONTAKT provides VST/VST3,
Audio Units (AU), and AAX plug-in formats.
 SETUP 10

Refer to the documentation of your sequencer to find out which of these formats is the right one in
your case; if you have enabled the appropriate format at installation time, KONTAKT 6 should
appear in the plug-in selection list inside your sequencer. If it does not, re-run the installer and
make sure the appropriate plug-in is marked for installation.

Note that AAX plug-ins are supported in DigiDesign hosts only. For other hosts, check
the documentation for which plug-in version to use.

The way in which virtual instrument plug-ins are integrated into the workflow very much depends
on your sequencer; consult its documentation to find out how to instantiate and work with the
KONTAKT plug-in.

4.4.1. Changing Outputs in Pro Tools

1. After changing the output configuration in Pro Tools, you need to close the session running.
2. Unplug KONTAKT. Quit Pro Tools.
3. Restart Pro Tools.
4. Plug in a new instance of KONTAKT. Reopen your session.
When setting the new output configuration for KONTAKT make sure to select this configuration as
default setting.

4.4.2. Changing Outputs in Logic 8

Make sure KONTAKT’s output configuration matches the channel setup chosen in Logic 8.
Otherwise signals might be routed to the wrong Aux channel.
 KONTAKT: THE BIG PICTURE 11

5. KONTAKT: The Big Picture

KONTAKT is an extremely powerful, complex, and capable instrument. Before getting into
specifics, let’s take a step back and first describe KONTAKT in general terms.
The structure of most samplers, hardware or software, is similar to that of a synthesizer: at its
source, some kind of sound generator outputs unprocessed signals in response to incoming MIDI
notes; these signals are then processed in a variety of ways and sent to the output. The difference
is that the sound generator of a typical synthesizer creates its source waveforms entirely by
electrical or mathematical means, often being limited to a range of well-defined waveforms,
whereas a sampler can use any kind of previously recorded audio data — sampled acoustic
instruments, sound effects, vocals, and (of course) any classic waveform known from
synthesizers as well.
KONTAKT’s overall structure is not any different in this regard, albeit it is far more sophisticated
than a lot of conventional samplers. For instance, KONTAKT does not force any particular signal
flow structure upon your Instruments — it has an entirely modular approach to sound processing
and parameter modulation. Anything is possible, from triggering simple one-shot samples to
building sophisticated virtual instruments that faithfully reproduce all aspects of their acoustic
counterparts and respond intelligently to your performance.
However, this power comes at a price; while you’ll be able to load and play your first KONTAKT
Instruments right away, it will take some more practice to become a master at creating your own
Instruments. We hope this manual will help you achieve this; also, whenever you’re stuck,
remember you can get helpful hints from the Info Pane, for more information see Info Pane.

Building Blocks
The full functional range of KONTAKT’s sampling environment is split up into smaller sections,
which allows you to concentrate on the task currently at hand without getting distracted by other
details. This functional division is also reflected on the user interface; most elements that belong
to a specific kind of task are kept within a separate pane, tab, or dialog window.
In this section, we’ll further distinguish two general types of building blocks: the core blocks, which
are hierarchically organized and make up KONTAKT’s chain of turning MIDI data into sound, and
the tools, which allow you to perform a wide range of peripheral management, configuration, and
monitoring tasks.

5.1. Core Building Blocks

Let’s follow KONTAKT’s path of turning simple audio files into readily playable instrumental setups,
starting from the smallest element and then working our way upwards:

• A Sample is a simple audio file on your hard disk. Samples may occasionally carry additional
metadata, but in their purest form, they don’t provide anything other than a recorded audio
signal. An example of a Sample would be the digital recording of a single piano note. Samples
can appear in various formats, such as WAV, AIFF, or REX.
 KONTAKT: THE BIG PICTURE 12

• A Zone is KONTAKT’s way of putting a Sample into a playable context. Think of a Zone as a
wrapper around a single Sample; in addition to the Sample itself, the Zone contains information
about which MIDI data will make KONTAKT trigger this Sample, at what pitch the sample was
recorded, and a few other details. An example of a Zone would be the aforementioned piano
Sample, with the attached information that it should be played without any transposition
whenever KONTAKT receives an F3 note with a velocity value between 64 and 95. As Zones
don’t contain much additional data, they only exist within a larger context and can’t be saved
and loaded separately.
• A Group is a container that allows you to combine a number of Zones. As every Zone belongs
to a Group (and only one), each Instrument will contain at least one Group; usually, you’ll add
several more Groups in order to combine your Zones by means of distinctive aspects — the
aspects you choose are entirely up to you, but there are some common approaches. All Zones
that belong to a specific Group will share a number of common parameters and signal flow
modules; for instance, their Samples will be played by the same sound Source Module.
Consequently, if you want some of your Zones played by a Source Module with different
settings, you’ll need to separate them into their own Group first. In the course of this manual,
modules that pertain to a Group are being referred to as “Group-level modules”. A typical
example of a Group would be “all Zones in my Instrument that should be played at mezzoforte
level”. Groups can be saved and loaded separately as files with an .nkg extension.
• An Instrument is the entity you’ll encounter most frequently when you’re working with ready-
made KONTAKT libraries. As its name suggests, it’s the virtual equivalent of an acoustic
instrument — when being played, it produces a specific range of sounds, possibly at different
timbres, dynamics, and articulations. Technically, a KONTAKT Instrument is a wrapper for a
number of Groups, whose output signals will be mixed and pass a common signal chain; the
modules in this chain are said to reside on the “Instrument level”. A typical example of an
Instrument would be “a piano”. Instruments can be saved and loaded separately; native
KONTAKT Instrument files have an .nki extension.
• An Instrument Bank is the only optional element of KONTAKT’s core hierarchy; in other words,
you don’t have to use this feature if you don’t want to. Instrument Banks allow you to combine
up to 128 Instruments into a container that responds to a single MIDI input channel; you can
then switch the active Instrument by sending MIDI program change messages on this channel.
This allows you to create General MIDI-compatible sound sets, or combine Instruments that
contain various articulations of the same acoustic instrument into one slot. A typical example
of an Instrument Bank would be a number of violin Instruments that contain legato, detaché,
staccato, and pizzicato Samples, respectively, with the different articulations and playing
techniques being switchable via program change messages. Instrument Banks can be saved
and loaded separately as files with an .nkb extension.
• Finally, a Multi lets you freely combine up to 64 Instruments into a production setup. The Multi
is the topmost element of KONTAKT’s core hierarchy. Each Instrument in a Multi responds to a
specific MIDI channel and will send its output signal to a specific Output Channel, where the
signals from all Instruments will be mixed and passed on to a physical output of your audio
interface or, alternatively, to your host program. A typical example of a Multi would be “a jazz
trio ensemble”. Multis can be loaded and saved as files with an .nkm extension.

5.2. Tools
In addition to its core architecture, KONTAKT offers some tools that will simplify your everyday
work:
 KONTAKT: THE BIG PICTURE 13

• The Browser is located on the left side of your KONTAKT window and can optionally be hidden
to save screen space; it provides a convenient way to organize and access all KONTAKT-
relevant files on your system, such as Instruments, Multis, or Banks. The Browser pane also
offers a number of additional utility functions. For more information, see The Browser.
• The Rack occupies the largest amount of space in your KONTAKT window; it operates in one
of two different modes. In Multi Instrument mode, the Rack will provide an overview of all
Instruments that are currently in your Multi, along with some general parameters. Clicking on
the wrench icon on the left side of an Instrument Header will switch the Rack into Instrument
Edit mode, which provides a flexible and adjustable view of the contained module panels,
editors, and modulation tables of this Instrument. For more information, see The Rack Multi
Instrument Mode.
• The Outputs section is a mixer-style environment in which you can adjust output levels, assign
Output Channels to physical outputs, and use signal processing modules that operate on the
output signals of all Instruments in your Multi. For more information, see The Outputs Section.
• The virtual On-Screen Keyboard, the Master Editor, the Info Pane and the Options dialog
provide various utility functions and are being explained in detail within their respective
sections of this manual. For more information, see The Main Control Panel.
 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS 14

6. User Interface Elements

User Interface Elements Kontakt Player
KONTAKT PLAYER has are a number of common interface elements that are used throughout the
product. Learn how.
There are a number of common interface elements that are used throughout KONTAKT. The
handling of these common elements is always the same, but the context in which they appear will
vary. The following overview highlights the main elements and explains how to interact with them
using a mouse.

Name Example Description Interactions

• Click + drag up/down to
change the control’s value.

Unipolar
Used to adjust • Hold [Shift] while adjusting
parameters in the range the knob for fine-tuning.
Knob with
of 0% to 100% from left to
Value Field
right.
• Hold [Ctrl] (Windows) or
[Cmd] (Mac OS X) + click to
reset the control to the
default value.
• Click + drag up/down to
change the control’s value.
Used to adjust
Bipolar parameters in the range • Hold [Shift] while adjusting
Knob with of -100% to +100% from the knob for fine-tuning.
Value Field left to right. The center • Hold [Ctrl] (Windows) or
position is 0%. [Cmd] (Mac OS X) + click to
reset the control to default
value.
• Click + drag left/right to
Used to adjust change the control’s value.
Unipolar parameters in the range • Hold [Ctrl] (Windows) or
Slider of 0% to 100% from left to [Cmd] (Mac OS X) + click to
right. reset the control to default
value.
Used to adjust
• Click + drag left/right to
parameters in the range
change the control’s value.
of -100% to +100% from
Bipolar • Hold [Ctrl] (Windows) or
left to right. The center
Slider [Cmd] (Mac OS X) + click to
position is 0%. The value
is displayed above the reset the control to default
slider control. value.

Used to adjust
• Click + drag up/down to
parameters in the range
Unipolar change the control’s value.
of 0% to 100% from
Slider and • Hold [Ctrl] (Windows) or
bottom to top. The meter
Meter [Cmd] (Mac OS X) + click to
displays the signal as
display reset the control to default
determined by its
respective slider. value.
 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS 15

Name Example Description Interactions

• Click on the arrow to open
or close the dropdown
Used to open a dropdown
Dropdown menu.
menu relating to the
Menu • Click on any of the available
respective control or
Arrow entries to select the option
setting.
and close the dropdown
menu.
• Click the arrow button to
Buttons with arrows open or close the dropdown
indicate a dropdown menu.
Dropdown menu. Click the button to • Click on a list entry to select
Menu open a menu that the option and close the
Button provides options relating dropdown menu.
to the respective section
or function.
• Selected a new value or
click elsewhere in the
window to close the menu.
Some menus have
additional sub-menus;
these will be indicated
Dropdown
Menu and
with a small right arrow • Move the selection bar to an
next to the name of the items to open the
Sub-
menu item. Moving the respective sub-menu.
menus
selection bar to one of
these items will open the
respective sub-menu.
• Click the time unit to open
the dropdown menu.
Sync Synchronizes time-related
Tempo parameters to the song • Click a note value to select
Menu tempo. it for the parameter.
• Select <default> to un-sync
the control.
A button represents a
parameter that can be
switched on and off. Each
click on a button toggles it
Function
between those two • Click the button to toggle
states. The current state between the control's active
Button
of a button is being and inactive state.
indicated by its
background color; if a
parameter is enabled, its
button will be highlighted.

Option Opens a menu or dialog • Click the button to open its

Button with additional options. menu.

Switches between two

Tab Button
options. Each click on a • Click a button to toggle
button toggles between between the two options.
those two states.
Banks Used to select one of four • Click the tab to select it and
Tabs pages of banks. display it in the Rack.
 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS 16

Name Example Description Interactions

Some controls contain
editable numeric fields • Double-click the field and
Value Field enter a new value with the
that allow you to manually
enter values. keyboard.

Hovering over a value field

can display small up/
down arrows on right side • Hover over a value to
of the value. Click the display the value arrows.
Value
arrows to increase or • Click the up or down arrows
Arrows
decrease the value to increase or decrease the
incrementally. Only value incrementally.
available for some
controls.

Search
Enter names or key words • Click in the Search field and
to help search libraries enter a key word. Press
Field
and databases. [Enter] to search.
• Click on the position
indicator bar + drag it to
Scroll through content scroll the viewport across
Scroll Bar using the horizontal and the contents.
vertical scroll bars. • Click on the empty space of
a scrollbar to jump to the
respective position.

Used to select and • Click a box to check the

Checkbox unselect various options option. The box fills to
and settings. indicate it is checked.

Close Used to clear a search • Click the button to clear the

Button (x field, or close a window or search field, or close the
icon) module window or module.

6.1. Info Pane

The Info Pane displays a short help text for whichever control the mouse is currently hovering
over. The Info Pane area is located at the bottom of the KONTAKT window. It can be used to
quickly understand the function of a particular knob, button, menu entry, or any other user
interface element. Hover a mouse over a control while the Info Pane is visible and a description of
the control will be displayed.
To display the Info Pane:
1. Open the Workspace menu in the KONTAKT header.
 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS 17

2. Click on the Info option.

→ The Info Pane is activated and displays in the window.

Setting the Language of the Info Pane

The Info Pane help is available in five languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.
Language preferences are set via the Language drop-down list in the Interface tab of the Options
dialog. Restart KONTAKT after selecting a new language. If you select Automatic the language
follows the language selection of your operating system.

6.2. Saving and Loading Presets

Whenever you have created a setting that you’re really happy with in any part of KONTAKT, you
might want to save it for later use in another context. The KONTAKT environment is split up into
modules, and most of these offer a preset drop-down menu that allows you to manage presets for
the respective module. Loading a preset in a module won’t affect the other modules in your
Instrument — this modular approach lets you freely combine different presets into your own
Instruments.
Presets are saved in files (file extension: .nkp) which reside in a series of sub-folders within a
“presets” folder. KONTAKT creates two of these preset folders on your system: one contains the
factory presets, and is located in a directory which is not writable by normal users; the other one
resides within your home directory and will be used to store your own presets. KONTAKT will
create this user presets folder when you first start it up.
Factory and user preset folders will be created in the following folders:

Windows
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 6\presets
Factory
Windows
C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Native Instruments\Kontakt 6\presets
User
Mac OS X
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Kontakt 6/presets
Factory
Mac OS X
Macintosh HD/Users/[username]/Documents/Native Instruments/Kontakt 6/presets
Users
 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS 18

KONTAKT comes with a large number of ready-made presets for most of its modules. These are
good starting points for your own settings, so it’s worth browsing the Factory preset list of a
module when you have a specific task in mind and don’t know where to begin.
As mentioned, preset management in KONTAKT takes place within each module’s preset drop-
down menu. You can access this by clicking on the drop-down menu labeled Pre or Preset that is
located on the left side of each module. It contains all preset files that were found in the respective
preset folders on your hard disk, with further subdirectories (if any) appearing as sub-menus. The
Save Preset entry at the bottom of the menu will open a dialog, which asks you for a filename.
Enter a descriptive name and click Save — from now on, your settings will be available within the
User submenu of the presets drop-down menu. This will not work, however, if you change the path
in the save dialog, so it is recommended that you always save your presets to the default path.
 MIDI LEARN 19

7. MIDI Learn
KONTAKT features a MIDI Learn function for all sliders and knobs. This allows you to assign
parameters to a MIDI device and access them via MIDI, as well as the interface.

7.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers

To assign any of KONTAKT’s sliders or knobs to a MIDI controller:
1. Right-click the knob or slider you want to assign.
2. Select Learn MIDI CC# Automation.
3. Turn the knob or move the slider on the MIDI device.

→ The control detects the movement instantly and the parameter is assigned to the MIDI
controller.
Multiple MIDI controllers (CC#s) can be added to the same KONTAKT knob. You can also assign
multiple knobs or sliders to the same MIDI controller.

If you cannot assign MIDI controllers using this method, see the Automation Tab for
an alternative assignment method.

7.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments

To remove a MIDI controller assignment:
1. Right-click the knob or slider from which you will remove MIDI assignments.
2. Select Remove MIDI Automation: CC#.

→ The MIDI controller assignment is removed.

 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 20

8. The KONTAKT Window

KONTAKT's main window can be configured in a variety of ways to best suit your needs and
preferred workflows. The main elements of the user interface include:

KONTAKT in action

1. Browser: Provides functions for managing your collection of KONTAKT-relevant files. In the
screenshot, it’s currently switched to the Libraries tab, which contains easy access to your
KONTAKT libraries. For more information, see The Browser.
2. Main Control Panel: Provides options that toggle the display of various optional interface
parts, such as the Browser; it also includes the file drop-down menu and access to the global
functions and options, as well as some status meters. For more information, see The Main
Control Panel.
3. Master Editor: Contains global controls that affect the behavior of all Instruments in your
Multi, as well as some common utility functions. For more information, see The Master Editor.
4. Rack: Displays all Instrument Headers in the current Multi. The Rack area is where one or
more Instruments are loaded into the Multi. For more information, see The Rack Multi
Instrument Mode.
5. Instrument Header Contains the Instrument’s name and various parameters, such as MIDI
input channel, output level, panning position, and tuning. For more information, see Instrument
Header.
6. Outputs Section: Displays a channel strip for each configured Output Channel, plus four Aux
Channels. For more information, see The Outputs Section.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 21

7. On-Screen Keyboard: Displays a virtual On-Screen Keyboard that you can use to play
instruments with your mouse, and visualize key ranges. For more information, see The On-
Screen Keyboard.
8. Info Pane: Displays details of the selected Instrument file below the Browser, and a brief
explanation of the control at the mouse position below the Rack. For more information, see
Info Pane.

8.1. The Main Control Panel

The Main Control Panel is the topmost row of elements in the KONTAKT window. Here you can
select which parts of the user interface will be displayed, access various global menus, open the
Options dialog, and view statistics about KONTAKT's overall resource usage.
The Main Control Panel contains the following key features:

The Main Control Panel

1. Files Menu: Opens the Files menu, which provides options that relate to saving, loading, and
creating new instruments and banks. For more information, see Files Menu.
2. Options Menu: Opens the Options dialog, where various settings for the behavior of the synth
engine are determined. For more information, see Options Dialog.
3. Workspace Menu: Determines if key elements of the interface will be displayed. This menu
allows you to customize the KONTAKT workspace to display the tools that you need. For more
information, see Workspace Menu.
4. Minimize View: Reduces your KONTAKT window to the header of the selected Instrument, and
its Performance View (if available). This helps to save screen space and set focus on one
Instrument. For more information, see Minimize View.
5. System Performance Meters: Displays a number of system meters that are continuously
updated during operation. For more information, see System Performance Meters.

8.1.1. Files Menu

This drop-down menu is the first element in the Main Control Panel; it is marked with a disk icon.
The Files menu contains the following functions:
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 22

The Files Menu

• New instrument: Adds a new Instrument to your Multi. Whenever you create a new Instrument,
KONTAKT will use a default Instrument file as a template, which is usually empty. Overwriting
this file with your own version allows you to define your own default settings. For instance, you
might want new Instruments to contain a Send Levels module in their Instrument Insert Effects
chain from the get-go. To set this up, create a new Instrument, insert the module into its chain,
and select Save as default instrument from the Save menu while the Instrument is open for
editing.
• New instrument bank: Adds an empty Instrument Bank to your Multi. Instrument Banks are
described in detail in section Loading and Creating Instrument Banks.
• Load…: Opens a file selector dialog, asking you to locate and load any object that KONTAKT
can handle, whether it’s an Instrument (file extension: .nki), a Multi (.nkm), or an Instrument
Bank (.nkb).
• Load recent…: Contains an up-to-date list of files that have recently been opened in KONTAKT.
Select a file from this sub-menu to load it.
• New instrument from list: Provides access to the contents of your Quick-Load catalog of
Instruments as a hierarchical menu structure. Select an entry from this sub-menu to add the
respective Instrument to your Multi. For more information, see The Quick-Load Catalog.
• New instrument bank from list: Provides access to the contents of your Quick-Load catalog of
Instrument Banks.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 23

• Save as…: Allows you to save any Instrument in your Multi to an .nki file for later reuse. When
you select this entry, a sub-menu will open that contains a list of all Instruments in your current
Multi. Selecting one of them opens a Save dialog that allows you to choose a location and
change the name of the Instrument. Note that the file name, without the .nki extension, will be
used as the Instrument name that is displayed in the Instrument Header.

The Save Instrument dialog as it appears in Windows 10

Below the file selector, the dialog lets you choose how KONTAKT should handle the Samples
that are being referenced by the Instrument. When you have added these Samples to your
Instrument during your current session, they’re still in their original location, and the Zones in
your Instrument reference them via their full paths; the various options in the save dialog allow
you to fine-tune this behavior before your Instrument is written to disk:
• Patch Only keeps the Samples in their original locations and leaves the file references in
their current state. This creates very small files, as only the Instrument parameters are
saved. Note, this can leave the relation between the Instrument and its Samples in a fragile
state. If the Samples are moved to different location or deleted, KONTAKT will not be able to
find them the next time you attempt to load the respective Instrument. In such cases, a
Samples Missing dialog will appear, asking where KONTAKT should search for the Samples.
The Samples Missing dialog and its options are explained in section Loading and Creating
Instruments.
• If you enable the Absolute Sample Paths checkbox below the Patch Only option, the
Sample files will be referenced by the Instrument with their absolute paths; this has the
benefit that KONTAKT will still be able to find them when you move the Instrument file to a
different location. However, if you know that the Samples already reside in a folder that will
always be moved and backed up along with the destination folder of your Instrument, you
can keep the saved file reference relative to the Instrument location by disabling the
Absolute Sample Paths option.
• Patch + Samples will save the .nki file and copy the contained Samples to a new location,
changing the file references within the Instrument to the copies in the process. If you leave
the Sample Sub-Folder option below set to its Use Default value, KONTAKT will save the
Sample files to a Samples folder inside the destination location of your Instrument file; this
folder will be created if it doesn’t exist yet. That way, the Samples will be kept close to the
Instrument, which helps you keeping track of them when doing backups or moving
directories. You can also specify a different Sample location, though; for example, you
might want to use a common Samples folder that resides in the directory of your project.
• Monolith will combine the Instrument and its referenced Samples into a single, large file.
This is the safest option to choose in terms of keeping Sample references intact, as the
Samples cannot accidentally get separated from the Instrument later. This is also a good
way to create Instruments that should be distributed to other users of KONTAKT.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 24

Should you choose to save the referenced Samples along with your Instrument data by
selecting either Patch + Samples or Monolith, you further have the choice to save them in a
Below the file selector, the dialog lets you choose how KONTAKT should handle the
compressed format by checking the box below the sub-folder field. In this case, KONTAKT will
write the Samples using a proprietary, lossless audio codec that typically yields compression
rates between 30% and 50%. This will not only improve access performance when streaming
the Instrument from disk, but will also reduce its memory footprint, as KONTAKT will
decompress the Samples on-the-fly from memory with very little CPU overhead. The downside
of using compressed Samples, however, is that you cannot use external wave editors to access
them directly anymore.
It’s important to keep track of the ways the Sample and Instrument files on your hard disk
relate to each other; this protects you from unpleasant surprises when you move files around,
delete them, or recover KONTAKT data from a backup.

When you are using KONTAKT as a plug-in inside your host program and save
your session, all Multi and Instrument data will be included in this session file.
Sample references will be saved in an absolute fashion, so you may get a Samples
Missing dialog when you open the session after you have moved your Samples. In
the Loading tab of the Options dialog, you can specify a base path for your Non-
Player content, and also choose if you want to store referenced paths relative to
the base path. When a host project is saved with this option selected, Non-Player
content will be able to resolve without the Missing Content dialog, if the libraries
are located on the computer’s path as defined in the base path field. This makes it
easy to share session files with KONTAKT instances across platforms. For more
information, see Loading Tab.

• Save multi as…: This saves your current multi to an .nkm file on your hard disk. While the
resulting Multi file will contain all Instrument data, KONTAKT will still need to take care of the
Samples that are referenced by the Instruments. Thus, the save dialog offers the same Sample
management options as described in the Save as… paragraph above. Saving a multi will also
save the output routing options.
• Save as default instrument: This command is only viewable when you are editing an
instrument. It saves the selected Instrument as your default one so whenever you create a new
Instrument, either via the New Instrument command of the Files menu, or by dragging
Samples from the Browser into the Rack, KONTAKT will use this Instrument as a template.
• Save as default multi: This command will save your current Multi as a default template that
KONTAKT will load at startup or when you choose the Reset Multi command.
• Reset multi: This will restore the default Multi that’s loaded at start-up, removing all
Instruments from your current Multi in the process.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 25

• Batch re-save: As explained in the paragraph about the Save function, KONTAKT Instruments
that include references to external Sample files can cause problems if either the Instrument or
the Sample files are being moved to a different location. In such cases, you will be presented
with a Samples Missing dialog that asks you in which places KONTAKT should look for the
missing files (see Loading and Creating Instruments). While it’s not a big problem to let
KONTAKT locate the Samples of one or two Instruments via this dialog, and then re-save them
afterwards in order to make the changes permanent, the described effect will be worsened by
an order of magnitude if it occurs with a whole library. This can happen if you move the library
folder or its contained sub-folders around, and makes it very tiresome to access the library, as
every attempt of loading an Instrument will be answered with a Samples Missing dialog.
To fix the problem manually, you would have to load each Instrument, locate the missing
Sample files via the Samples Missing dialog, and re-save the Instrument to its original location
within the library folder. For large libraries, this is unfeasible. The Batch Re-save function
automates this process; when you select it, a selection dialog will appear, asking you to choose
a folder. After clicking Choose, all Instrument, Multi, and Bank files in this folder and its sub-
folders will automatically be scanned for unresolved Sample references; if any are found, the
Samples Missing dialog will appear once, allowing you to specify which places should be
searched to resolve the references.

As the Batch Re-save process will overwrite the Instrument, Multi, and Bank files
within your selected folder, it’s recommended to make a backup of this folder
before you execute the command.

Once KONTAKT has successfully located the Samples, the affected Instrument, Multi or Bank
files will be re-saved with corrected references, so afterwards, you’ll have a consistent library
again.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 26

• Collect samples/Batch compress: If you are working with a library of NKIs that are referencing
samples in multiple locations, or you wish to compress (or even de-compress) the samples of
a library, this function allows you to compile samples, instruments, banks and multis into a
single location.

The Batch Compress dialog

When you select this option, a dialog box will appear. Here you must select a source folder
(where your nki, nkb and nkm files are currently located) and a destination to which you wish to
have these files compiled and copied to.
There are two different folder creation strategies:
• Mirror source folder structure in the destination location: This mode keeps the folder
structure of the source folder when generating the destination folder structure, so there are
no explicit "Instruments" and "Collected Samples" subfolders in the destination folder when
using this mode.

One exception: When batch-compressing a source/library folder, if there is an

Instrument in the library folder that references a sample outside the source/
library folder (and its subfolders), a "Collected Samples" subfolder will be
generated in the destination folder and this sample will be saved there.

• Collect Samples and create new destination folder structure: In this mode the folder
substructure of the target folder will be different from the source folder’s structure:
Instrument files will be saved in an "Instruments" subfolder, while all samples are saved in
"Collected Samples". This prevents having to resave the same sample more than once (if it
was referenced by more than one Instrument in the source folder for instance).

Whichever strategy you choose, samples and Instruments in the source folder
will neither be deleted nor updated. Impulse Response samples and wallpapers
of the source Instruments will be re-saved as well, but without compression.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 27

• For converting uncompressed samples to lossless compressed .ncw-files select Lossless

compressed NCW.
• For converting compressed .ncw-files back to an uncompressed format select
Uncompressed WAV / AIF.

Note that Batch Compress does not work for copy-protected libraries.

• Global purge: The purge mechanism in KONTAKT keeps track of which samples in an instance
have been actually triggered in a session, and gives you the option of removing all other
samples from the Instrument. This way, you can reduce the number of samples that are being
kept in memory to the subset that you have actually used in your arrangement. Place your
mouse over this entry in the Files menu to open a submenu with options for sample purging
and loading. The Global purge sub-menu contains four entries:

The Global purge submenu

• Reset markers: Whenever KONTAKT plays a sample in any of your Instruments, it will flag
the respective sample as being used. Using this function, you can delete all of these flags,
thereby resetting all data that KONTAKT has gathered about sample usage so far. After you
have finished your work on a part, you should select this function once and then play your
part; this way, only the notes that have actually made it into the final part will be flagged as
used. Afterwards, you can proceed by choosing the Update sample pool function described
below.
• Update sample pool: This function removes all samples that are not currently flagged as
being used from memory, and reloads any currently purged samples that have been
triggered since the last purge operation. In other words, it brings the sample pool in sync
with the sample usage flags it has gathered since the last purge operation.
• Purge all samples: Unloads all samples from RAM. This allows you to reverse the usual
purge process: you can play your arrangement in a “silent run”, and then load only the
Samples that are actually being used via the Update sample pool command afterwards.
• Reload all samples: Reloads all Samples, reverting any previous purge actions.

You can also purge samples per Instrument using the Purge menu in the
Instrument Header. See Purge Menu for more information.

8.1.2. Workspace Menu

The Workspace menu allows you to choose which key elements of the KONTAKT interface will be
displayed.
The Workspace Menu contains the following options:
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 28

The Workspace Menu

• Browser: Displays the Browser on the left side of the KONTAKT window. See The Browser.
• Master: Displays the Master Editor panel, which contains a number of global parameters and
common utility functions. See The Master Editor.
• Info: Displays the Info Pane, which contains information about the currently selected control.
See Info Pane.
• Outputs: Displays the Outputs section at the bottom of the Rack area. See The Outputs
Section.
• Keyboard: Displays the virtual On-Screen Keyboard, which allows you to generate note and
controller events. See The On-Screen Keyboard.
• Quickload: Displays the Quick-Load Catalog, which is a user-defined browser for quick access
to your favorite KONTAKT files. See The Quick-Load Catalog.

8.1.3. Minimize View

Clicking on the rightmost button in the Main Control Panel will reduce your KONTAKT window to
the header of the currently selected Instrument and, if available, its Performance View. This is a
convenient way to save screen space when the full window is not needed.
To collapse the KONTAKT window:
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 29

▶ Click the Minimized View button in the Main Control Panel.

→ The KONTAKT window is minimized and displays only the selected Instrument.

8.1.4. System Performance Meters

In the upper right section of the Main Control Panel, a number of system meters are being
continually updated during operation.

Voice count, memory, CPU, and disk meters

• The value next to the notes icon indicates the total number of voices that are currently being
played (this is also known as the Voice Count).

• Below, the total amount of allocated Sample memory is displayed; this figure will be much
smaller when you’re using DFD Instruments.

• The values to the right show the current CPU and disk load as percentage values. These
provide immediate visual feedback on whether you’re close to maxing out your computer’s
capabilities.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 30

• The exclamation point (!) is the Restart button and can be used if KONTAKT is suffering from
hanging voices (i.e. stuck notes) or persistent CPU overloads. Clicking this button will re-
initialize KONTAKT ’s audio engine, including all the instruments that are currently loaded.
Essentially this button is a soft reset, returning all values to their starting positions, but without
closing and reloading everything.

8.2. Options Dialog

The Options dialog is where you can configure KONTAKT’s global program preferences, such as
interface behavior, audio engine parameters, and MIDI options. Preferences are divided into
several categories, which you can access via the tabs on the left side.

The Options dialog

▶ To open the Options dialog, click on the gear icon in the Main Control Panel.

8.2.1. Interface Tab

The Interface tab contains options that change the look and behavior of KONTAKT’s user
interface.

The Interface tab of the Options dialog

 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 31

• Reset Size: If KONTAKT’s interface becomes too large and you can no longer access the
resizing handle to the bottom right of the window, you can use this button to reset KONTAKT’s
window size.
• Show mapping and keyswitches on keyboard: If enabled, KONTAKT’s virtual On-Screen
Keyboard will highlight keys that trigger zones or keyswitches in your currently selected
Instrument with different colors. By default, keys that trigger zones are colored blue and those
that trigger keyswitches are colored red, however some libraries may deviate from this
convention.
• Auto-refresh browser: When enabled, the Browser will periodically check your file system for
changes and pick them up by itself, without requiring you to refresh it manually.
• Info Pane Language: Select a language from the drop-down list. If you select Automatic,
KONTAKT will use your operating system’s language settings, unless it is unsupported, in
which case KONTAKT will use English.
• Suppress drawing of unselected groups in mapping editor: When active, KONTAKT will not
display the zones of unselected groups in the Mapping Editor.

8.2.2. Engine Tab

The Engine tab contains options relating to the behavior of KONTAKT's engine.

The Engine tab of the Options dialog

• Default Volume for new instrument and volume reset: This value will be used as a default
output volume for new and imported Instruments. Also, it’s the value to which the output
volume slider will snap when you [Ctrl]/[Cmd] + click it.
• CPU overload protection: High voice counts can make the audio engine overload your CPU
during operation; in such cases, the engine can choke and be rendered unusable until you
restart it manually via the Restart Engine button in the Engine sub-tab of the Expert tab in the
Browser. This scenario can be avoided with the overload protection mechanism, which allows
KONTAKT to kill voices when the CPU load gets critical. The Relaxed, Medium, and Strict
settings affect how cautious KONTAKT will be about this. Relaxed will not start killing voices
until the CPU is very close to overloading, and thus will give you the highest voice count while
still providing some protection against overloading; if the CPU load is still too high, try one of
the stricter settings.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 32

• Multiprocessor support: KONTAKT can make use of multiple CPUs or multi-core processors.
To switch multi-processor support on and off and to set the number of processors / cores you
want to use for KONTAKT, select the corresponding entry from the Multiprocessor support
menu. Multi-processor settings are saved independently for a) the stand-alone and b) all plug-
in versions. On multi-processor or multi-core systems, many factors influence the system’s
behavior. When running KONTAKT as a plug-in, multi-processor mode can sometimes cause
crackles and drop-outs. Whether or not these noises occur during playback strongly depends
on your individual software and hardware setup. Therefore, the only option is to test which
multi-processor setting works best for you when using the KONTAKT plug-in. Note that multi-
processor support is disabled for the KONTAKT plug-in per default (off entry in the
Multiprocessor Support menu).
For stand-alone usage, we generally recommend turning multi-processor support on. Use the
above setting in the Engine tab of the Options dialog to enable multi-processor support
according to the number of processors or cores installed.
• Send MIDI to outside world: This drop-down menu allows you to choose which classes of MIDI
events will be sent to KONTAKT’s MIDI output port. Click a menu entry to toggle between on
(indicated with a small diamond next to the entry) and off state. The available event classes
are:
• GUI keyboard: MIDI events that are generated when you click on KONTAKT’s virtual On-
Screen Keyboard.
• script generated CC’s: MIDI controller events that originate from running Scripts.
• script generated notes: Note-on and note-off events that originate from running Scripts.
• incoming CC’s: This will mirror incoming MIDI controller events at the MIDI output.
• incoming notes: Mirrors incoming MIDI note events at the MIDI output.
• Offline Interpolation Quality: This option allows you to specify an interpolation quality setting
for offline bouncing and freezing that’s different from the one specified in the Source Modules
of your Instruments. For instance, you might want to keep your Source Modules set to
standard in order to save CPU resources during arrangement, but switch to perfect for
bounces to get the best possible quality during mixdown. The default setting is like realtime,
which will use each Source Module’s HQI setting during offline operation.

8.2.3. Handling Tab

The Handling tab contains options that relate to the way KONTAKT handles external keyboards,
MIDI, and Undo commands.

The Handling tab of the Options dialog

 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 33

• Use computer keyboard for MIDI playback: Allows you to use your computer keyboard to
trigger MIDI notes for the currently selected Instrument. When enabled, the QWERTZ/QWERTY
row of letters will play the middle octave.
• Keyboard Velocity: Adjusts the velocity of notes that are triggered via your computer keyboard.
• Solo Mode: Determines what KONTAKT will do when you attempt to activate the Solo button
on more than one Instrument. In Place will only allow one solo Instrument at any time, so any
other one will be muted; Latch will let you switch more than one Instrument into solo mode.
• Browser: Double-click loads instrument: Enables Instruments to be added into the Rack by
double-clicking on their names in the Browse.
• Browser: Show files before folders: Determines the order in which files and folders will be
listed in the lower pane of the Browser.
• Default root-key for new zones: Specifies the root key for new Zones, if they are created from
Samples with no embedded pitch information. The Zones will be generated with the root key
specified here.
• MIDI channel assignment for loaded patches: Opens a drop-down menu that allows you to
switch between two different modes that determine the way in which KONTAKT will assign
MIDI channels to newly added Instruments:
• Assign 1st Free is the default setting and will assign the first available MIDI channel.
• Assign to Omni is the standard behavior of KONTAKT 1 and will always assign loaded
Instruments to Omni, thus making them respond to all input ports.
• Keep Channels from K1.x Patches is an additional toggle option that allows you to specify
whether KONTAKT should use the MIDI channel embedded in KONTAKT 1 patches. Later
versions do not save MIDI assignments in Instrument files, only in Multi files.
• Enable undo: Enables the ability to undo actions, when the checkbox is selected. However, this
can be quite resource intensive, especially with larger instruments, so by default this setting is
unselected.
• External wave editor: Allows you to specify your own preferred sample editor. When you click
the Ext. Editor button in the Wave Editor, KONTAKT will start the specified editor with the
current sample, and automatically pick up the changes when you save the Sample within that
editor.

8.2.4. Usage Data

KONTAKT collects data regarding your usage of the software in order to better inform future
updates. Sending this data to Native Instruments will help make future versions of KONTAKT
better, but the choice of whether or not you want to share this information with Native Instruments
is yours.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 34

The Usage Data tab of the Options dialog

• Yes, enable usage data tracking: Selects the option to track and send usage data.
• No, I don’t want to contribute: Selects the option to turn off data tracking.

Refer to our Privacy Policy for more information on Usage Data Tracking.

8.2.5. Loading Tab

The Loading tab contains options relating to loading samples and KONTAKT files.

Loading tab of the Options dialog

• Show "Replace Multi" dialog: Enables KONTAKT to display a warning dialog window to check
if, when loading a multi, you are sure you want to discard the current multi. When unselected,
KONTAKT will not make this check and replace the current multi instantly.
• Load samples in background: Enables KONTAKT to load post 4.1 instruments with
background loading. This feature is useful for instruments that use a large amount of samples
and take a long time to load fully. With background loading active, KONTAKT will display the
instrument’s interface and become playable as soon as possible, though certain keys may not
sound immediately if the samples have yet to be loaded into memory.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 35

• Convert 3rd party samples to WAV when saving: Enables KONTAKT to always save REX
Samples used by third-party Instruments, in WAV format. When unselected, they will be saved
in their native format.
• Unwind automation IDs for additionally loaded patches: Enables KONTAKT to re-assign
automation IDs of newly loaded Instruments if there’s already an Instrument in your Multi that
uses the same IDs. As an example, suppose you would like to add an Instrument twice to your
Multi, which uses automation IDs 0 through 9; if this option is enabled, KONTAKT will change
the assigned IDs of the second Instrument to 10-19 on load, provided that these IDs have not
been used by other Instruments in your Multi yet.
• Non-Player content base path: Allows you to specify a base path for your Non-Player content.
The option to store referenced paths relative to the base path is provided in the checkbox
below. An option to use the path on Save is available and deactivated by default.
• Store paths referenced in host projects relative to Non-Player content base path: Determines
if referenced paths are stored relative to the base path, or as subpaths. When selected, this
option minimizes the occurrence of missing content when using KONTAKT as a plug-in in a
host DAW. When a host project is saved, Non-Player content will be able to resolve without the
Missing Content dialog, if the libraries are located on the computer’s path as defined in the
base path field.

8.2.6. Database Tab

The Database tab contains settings that affect the operation of KONTAKT’s Database.

Database tab of the Options dialog

• Automatically add loaded / saved files to database: When enabled, KONTAKT will
automatically add any files that you access to the Database if they’re not already included. This
helps keeping your Database up to date without the need for manual rebuilds.
• Include samples in database scan: If enabled, KONTAKT will include information about
individual Samples (i.e. audio files) in the Database when scanning your file system for objects.
This can be useful when you’re frequently creating and editing your own Instruments;
otherwise, it’s not advisable to enable this option, as it can massively increase the size your
Database.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 36

• Database Location List: Here you can specify locations that should be covered by the
Database, such as the directory or partition that contains your sample libraries.
• You can add locations to this list by clicking on the Add button and selecting a new location
in the selection dialog that appears
• Selecting a list entry and clicking on Remove will delete it from the list.
• Clicking on the Update button will pick up any changes while preserving all user settings
that you’ve made in the Database (such as ratings or color assignments) at the cost of
increased disk space consumption.
• The Reset and Scan button will erase the entire Database and rebuild it from scratch; all
user settings will be lost in this case.

8.2.7. Libraries Tab

The Libraries dialog allows you to define which of your libraries appear in the Libraries tab of the
Browser. For more information, see The Browser.

The Libraries tab of the Options dialog

• Hide Library: Uncheck the entry in the list to hide a library from the Libraries tab of the Browser
without uninstalling it from your computer,
• Show Library: Check an entry in the list to show a library in the Libraries tab of the Browser.

You can also open NATIVE ACCESS from the Libraries tab by clicking on the Launch
Native Access button. For more information, visit Native Access.

8.2.8. Memory Tab

On the Memory tab, you can optimize KONTAKT’s memory usage settings for your specific
computer configuration.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 37

The Memory tab of the Options Dialog

• Override Instrument’s preload size: If enabled, KONTAKT will ignore the preload buffer size
that’s embedded in Instrument files since KONTAKT 2, and use the specified buffer size
instead. We recommend leaving the preload buffer size on default value. Memory
improvements might be possible by moving the slider to the lowest setting possible without
experiencing playback errors.

KONTAKT Memory Server Options (Mac OS X only)

Mac OS X cannot address more than 4 GB of RAM (up to 3.5 GB supported) per application.

Using KMS is only recommended when working with very large numbers of samples
which require more physical memory than one KONTAKT instance can access. Do not
enable KONTAKT Memory Server if it is not absolutely necessary.

In order to use KMS on your computer, Mac OS X needs to be installed, and at least 4 GB of
physical RAM must be available. Using KMS also requires administrator privileges, so make sure
you are logged in as an administrator. KONTAKT will detect the Mac OS X version and the amount
of RAM present on your computer automatically. Subsequently, it will display an option to enable
advanced memory access.

The Memory tab on OS X

After activating KMS you need to restart KONTAKT for the changes to take effect.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 38

KONTAKT will automatically set the size of accessible RAM to a value suitable for most cases. You
can find the amount of determined accessible RAM in the KMS Options dialog.
KONTAKT Memory Server is a separate application running in background. KONTAKT no longer
loads samples itself as long as the KMS option is enabled. All running KONTAKT instances share
the KONTAKT Memory Server and can access the samples loaded. The KONTAKT Memory Server
will boot automatically as soon as you start a KONTAKT instance.
The KMS utility appears in the Mac OS X system bar, so you can monitor the amount of RAM used
by the server process. CPU and RAM requirements of KMS utility itself are negligible. Note that
there is no option to shut down the KMS utility in Manual mode.

Memory Server Modes

The Memory tab with Memory Server mode options

• Automatic: In Automatic mode the KMS will keep all samples currently used by KONTAKT
instances stored. If an Instrument is removed from KONTAKT’s rack, samples that are no
longer needed will be also removed from the Memory Server’s sample pool. The KMS will
automatically shut down when all KONTAKT instances are closed.
• Manual: In Manual mode the KONTAKT Memory Server does not remove samples from the
server when an instrument is removed from KONTAKT’s rack or when all KONTAKT instances
are closed. All samples stay in the memory as long as it is running. This can be helpful, e.g.
when re-opening a project in your host sequencer which is using KONTAKT as plug-in and
when working with extensive templates of numerous instruments. Loading times are
significantly shorter, since the samples are already stored in RAM and do not need to be loaded
again.

Managing the KONTAKT Memory Server

The KONTAKT Memory Server is managed via the KMS utility, which allows you to manually purge
unused samples if you want to free memory. If you are running out of memory when loading
additional Instruments, the server will automatically start to purge samples that are not referenced
by any loaded Instrument.
 THE KONTAKT WINDOW 39

The KMS Utility in the Mac OS X system menu bar

8.3. Stand-alone Menu

In addition to the contents of the main window, the stand-alone version of KONTAKT provides a
system drop-down menu labeled Help. It’s located at the top of the desktop on Mac OS X, or at the
top of the KONTAKT window on Windows. Use the Help menu to launch Native Instruments’
Native Access application, and access online documentation resources and knowledge base
support.

The Stand-alone Help menu

 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 40

9. The Rack Multi Instrument Mode

The Rack is where you will spend most of the time when working with KONTAKT. It operates in one
of two modes: the Multi Instrument mode allows you view and edit your Multi and the
Performance views of the Instruments in it, while the Instrument Edit mode lets you edit the inner
workings of a single Instrument.
In Multi Instrument mode, any Instrument in the Multi will be shown as a horizontal Instrument
Header, which contains the Instrument name and related settings. Your Multi can contain up to 64
Instruments, which will be spread across 4 pages of up to 16 Instruments each.

The empty Rack in Multi Instrument mode

9.1. Multi Instrument Header

At the top of the Rack section is the Multi Instrument Header, which is always visible as long as
the Rack is in Multi Instrument mode. Use the header to switch between the four Multi pages,
show or hide Aux send controls, and resize all Instrument Headers.
The Multi Instrument Header contains the following features and controls:

The Multi Instrument Header

 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 41

1. Multi Name: A text field contains the name of your currently loaded Multi; if you have just
started KONTAKT, this will read New (default), as this is the default Multi file that will be
loaded on startup. To change the name, click the text field and enter a new one.
2. Multi Browse (<> icons): The left and right arrow buttons will replace your Multi with the
previous or next one from the same directory, if there are any.
3. Pages: Four page buttons allow you to switch between the four Instrument pages. Each Multi
can contain up to 64 Instruments, arranged across four pages of 16 Instruments each. You
can use these pages to keep your Instruments in separate categories when your Multi is very
large, or you can just switch to the next page when the 16 available Instrument slots of your
current one are occupied.
4. Multi Workspace Buttons: These three buttons alter the workspace in some way, displaying or
hiding certain controls, or minimizing all Instruments at once.
• KSP: Toggles the visibility of a global Script Editor pane, where you can create, edit and
manage Multi Scripts that operate on a higher level than normal Instrument Scripts.
• Aux: Toggles the display of Aux send controls that enable you to adjust the signal level at
which each Instrument is routed to the Aux Channels. For more information, see Working
with Aux Channels.
• Minimize/Maximize all Instrument Headers: Toggles all Instrument Headers in your multi
between their minimized and maximized size. At their normal size, Instrument Headers
contain more information, but also occupy more screen space. Use this feature to see an
overview of all Instruments on a page or to save screen space when you're not planning to
adjust any Instrument parameters. For more information, see Minimize View

Another option is to assign all Instruments on a page to channels of the same MIDI
port; if you have four ports at your disposal, this method lets you easily keep track of
your MIDI assignments in large Multis. However, assigning several Instruments to the
same MIDI channel is a quick way of creating layered sounds.

9.2. Instrument Header

Whenever you open a new Instrument, it will appear in the Rack as an Instrument Header. Each
Instrument Header can be optionally reduced in size. At regular size, as shown below, the header
displays parameters that describe how the Instrument will work in the context of the current Multi.
It also provides some controls to adjust parameters like the Instrument’s output volume, panning
position, and solo/mute status.
The Instrument Header contains the following settings and controls:

An Instrument Header at its normal display size

1. Instrument Options (cog icon): Opens the Instrument Options dialog, where you can access
features that affect the whole instrument such as voice stealing, MIDI transposition, and key/
velocity range.
 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 42

2. Quick-Load Menu: Opens a dropdown menu that gives access to your Quick-Load Browser.
3. Instrument Name: Displays the Instrument's name. Edit the name by clicking on it and
entering a new one. The name displayed here will be identical to the file name (without the .nki
extension) when you load and save the Instrument.
4. Instrument Icon: KONTAKT Instrument creators can choose from a range of icons that
indicate the general category of their creation. Some libraries will also use custom icons.
Clicking this icon will toggle the Instrument’s Performance View on or off, if available.
5. MIDI Channel: Indicates the currently assigned MIDI input channel that the Instrument will
respond to. Clicking it will open a drop-down menu that allows you to select a new MIDI
channel for this Instrument. The Omni setting will make it respond to MIDI data on any
channel; below it, the available ports of your MIDI interface will appear as sub-menus, each
one containing the 16 channels of the respective ports. Note that the maximum number of
distinct MIDI channels that you can use is 64 in the stand-alone version of KONTAKT, and 16
when using KONTAKT as a plug-in.
6. Output Channel: Displays the currently selected Output Channel that will receive the output
signal from this Instrument. Clicking on the channel name will open a drop-down menu with all
currently defined Output Channels, where you can assign the Instrument to a different
channel.
7. Memory: Indicates how much system memory is currently being used by the Sample data of
this Instrument.
8. Max Voices: Defines the maximum number of voices that the Instrument may use at any time.
Change this value by clicking on it, then dragging the mouse up or down. If you notice that the
number of currently used voices rises to the Max Voices value during play and you hear that
voices are being cut off, try increasing this value.
9. Purge: This button opens a drop-down menu that lets you execute the functions related to
KONTAKT’s purge mechanism on a per-instrument basis. The purge facility is explained in
section Purge Menu.
10. Voices: This number indicates how many voices are currently being used by the Instrument.
11. Previous / Next buttons: The left/right arrow buttons exchange the Instrument with the
previous or next one from the same directory, respectively.
12. Snapshot View: Provides access to Snapshot features including loading, saving and deleting
Snapshots. For more information, see Snapshots.
13. Info View: Provides access to the Instrument's Audio and MIDI configuration, as well as Voices
and Memory consumption.
14. Solo button: When activated, all other Instruments in the Multi are muted, and the output
signal can be heard in isolation. How KONTAKT will handle multiple Solo selections is
determined by the Solo Mode setting, see Handling Tab.
15. Mute button: When activated, the current Instrument is muted, thus temporarily removing its
output signal from the Output Channel.
16. Pan: Adjusts the panorama position of the Instrument’s output signal.
17. Volume: Adjusts the output volume of this Instrument. Select whether the default value of
Volume sliders will be -6 dB or 0 dB in the Options dialog.
18. PV: Toggles the Performance View panel on and off, if PV is available in the instrument. For
more information, see Performance View.
19. Aux: Shows and hides the row of Aux send sliders below this Instrument Header.
20. Minimize View: Minimizes the Instrument Header. This allows you to adjust the display sizes
of headers individually.
 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 43

21. Remove Instrument: Removes the respective Instrument from the Multi.
22. Level Meters: LED-style bar graph meters indicate the current output levels across all
channels of this Instrument.
23. Tune: Adjusts the pitch of the Instrument. Turning the knob left or right will increase or
decrease the pitch, respectively. The control covers a range of +/- 3 octaves and moves in
semitone increments. Hold [Shift] while adjusting the control for fine tuning.

9.3. Purge Menu

The purge mechanism in KONTAKT keeps track of which Samples in an Instrument have been
actually triggered since the Instrument was loaded, and gives you the option of removing all other
Samples from the Instrument. This way, you can reduce the number of Samples that are being
kept in memory to the subset that you have actually used in your arrangement.
Using the purge facility, you can play your part once — this will allow KONTAKT to gather which
Samples are actually being used — and then eliminate all unused Samples from the memory. The
Instrument will work as it did before, but notes or velocity ranges that didn’t occur during the
analyzing phase won’t play anymore. If you change your mind later, you can reload all Samples
with one mouse click.

Using purge functions like this can cause problems with instruments that randomly
trigger samples, or use round robin options. Check the library specification before you
use these options.

A purge menu is available for each Instrument; this allows you to use the purge feature on
Instruments whose parts are already finished, while keeping others that are still in active use
loaded in their entirety.

The Purge Menu

You can access the local purge menu of an Instrument at the right side of the Instrument Header.
It contains the following functions:

• reset markers: Deletes all flags, thereby resetting all data that KONTAKT has gathered about
Sample usage so far. Whenever KONTAKT plays a Zone in your Instrument, it will flag the
respective Sample as being used. After you have finished working on a part, you should select
this function once and then play your part; this way, only the notes that have actually made it
into the final part will be flagged as used. Afterwards, you can proceed by choosing the update
sample pool function described below.
• update sample pool: Removes all Samples that are not currently flagged as being used from
memory, and reloads any currently purged Samples that have been triggered since the last
purge operation. In other words, it brings the sample pool in sync with the Sample usage flags
it has gathered since the last purge operation.
 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 44

• purge all samples: Unloads all Samples from RAM. This allows you to reverse the usual purge
process: you can play your arrangement in a “silent run”, and then load only the Samples that
are actually being used via the Update Sample Pool command afterwards.
• reload all samples: Reloads all Samples, reverting any previous purge actions.

9.4. Instrument Header (Minimized)

If you want to save screen space, you can switch all (or a selection of individual) Instrument
Headers to a minimized view, which contains only the most important parameters and controls.
In this mode, the Instrument Header includes only the Instrument Options button, the Instrument
Name field, Solo and Mute buttons, Output Volume, Pan sliders, Level Meters, and buttons for
removing this Instrument from your Multi and switching the header back to its normal size. For
more information on the related controls, see Instrument Header.
To minimize all Instrument Headers:
▶ Click the Minimize All Instrument Headers button, on the right side of Multi Instrument Header.

→ All Instrument Headers in the Multi Rack are minimized.

To minimize individual Instrument Headers:

 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 45

▶ Click the Minimize Instrument Header button, on the right side of the Instrument Header.

→ The selected Instrument Header in the Multi Rack is minimized.

9.5. Performance View

Using KONTAKT’s internal scripting language, an Instrument can provide a custom control panel
called a Performance View. This feature provides Instrument-specific settings in a user-friendly
way that doesn’t require access to Instrument Edit mode.
All Instruments included in the KONTAKT library provide Performance Views, with various styles,
controls, and features. Some Instruments include performance controls, sound editing
parameters, marcos, and settings relating to KONTAKT's operation and playback.
 THE RACK MULTI INSTRUMENT MODE 46

In Performance View, an Instrument's custom panel will appear below the Instrument Header in the Rack.

Note that Performance Views appear only below Instrument Headers at normal size,
not below minimized headers. Also, you can turn control panels of Scripts in your
Instrument into Performance Views yourself. For more information, see Editing and
Saving a Script.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 47

10. The Rack Instrument Edit Mode

Whenever you edit an Instrument, the Rack will switch into Instrument Edit mode. In this mode, all
other Instrument Headers will no longer be visible. You can still access them via the Instrument
Navigator pane of the Browser, which is explained in more detail in section Instrument Navigator
Pane. Instead, the whole Rack space will be dedicated to the editors, control panels, and
modulation tables of your selected Instrument.
When in Instrument Edit mode, the Rack header allows you to manage your Groups, Undo or Redo
your most recent actions, save the Instrument, or switch the edit view to the previous or next
Instrument in your Multi.
▶ To edit an Instrument, click the wrench icon of its Instrument Header when the Rack is in Multi
Instrument mode.
At the top of the Rack pane, you will notice that switching to Instrument Edit mode has also
changed the header. In Instrument Edit mode, the Rack header contains the following controls:

The Rack header in Instrument Edit mode

• Exit button: Clicking on this button will “fold in” the Instrument and return to the Multi
Instrument view.
• Displayed Group: This field indicates the name of the Group whose parameters are currently
being displayed by the Group level modules. When you click it, a drop-down menu that contains
all Groups in your Instrument will appear. Choosing one of these Groups will select it for display
and editing.
• Edited Groups: This field indicates whether parameter adjustments on the Group level will
affect just one or multiple Groups. If it reads Group, any parameter changes will only affect the
current Group; Multi indicates that multiple Groups are currently selected for editing, and All
warns you that all Groups of your Instrument are currently selected for editing.
• Edit All Groups button: This button toggles the selection of all Groups for editing. It does the
same as the Edit All Groups button in the upper left corner of the Group Editor.
• Undo button: When you click the circled arrow of this button, your last action will be undone.
As KONTAKT keeps a log of your actions, you can revert more than one action to return to a
specific point in your editing history. Clicking on the small down arrow icon at the right of this
button will open your edit history in a dialog window; selecting an action will take you back to
this point in your edit history. Note that the Undo and Redo facilities are only available when
you’re working in Instrument Edit mode. To enable the Undo function, open the Handling tab in
Global Options and select the Enableundo option.
• Redo button: If you reverted one or more actions via the Undo button and change your mind,
you can restore parts of your changes by clicking on the circled arrow of the Redo button. Note
that you have to do this right after using the Undo function; if you perform any other actions
after using Undo, your edit history cannot be restored. Just like the Undo button, the Redo
button will open a history list dialog when you click the small down arrow at its right side.
• Quick-Save: This button saves your Instrument in its current state; if you haven’t saved it
before, a “Save” dialog will appear, otherwise KONTAKT will overwrite the last version right
away. Use this button generously when you’re in the middle of complex editing tasks; this way,
you can always revert to the last saved version if something goes wrong.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 48

• Previous / Next Instrument buttons: Clicking on these buttons will switch the Instrument Edit
view to the previous or next Instrument in your Multi.
Below its own header, the Rack displays the Instrument Header of your edited Instrument (this is
identical to the one that’s being displayed in Multi Instrument mode), a row of buttons that will
show and hide editors for various aspects of your Instrument, and a flexible vertical view in which
you can access all editors, modulation and routing tables, control panels, and signal processing
chains of your Instrument. The four sections at the bottom of the Rack — labeled Buses, Insert
Effects, Send Effects, and Modulation — can be optionally hidden from view by clicking the button
next to their titles. When you choose to show all details, the Instrument Edit view of a full-sized,
complex Instrument might look similar to this:
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 49

Instrument Edit rack, with all editors and panels open

If you find this a little intimidating, don’t worry; you don’t have to know every panel inside out
before you can create useful Instruments or edit existing ones. Just conquer the interface one
step at a time and refer to this manual and the Info Pane whenever you’re not sure what a specific
knob, button or menu does; this way, you’ll get the hang of how to get the most out of KONTAKT
sooner than you might think.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 50

Let’s take a look at what each panel does. All interface elements will be explained in detail within
the respective chapters of this manual.

• Instrument Header: This is the same header that is displayed when the Rack is in Multi
Instrument mode. You can switch back to the Multi Instrument mode by clicking on the wrench
icon.

• Editor Buttons: These buttons toggle the display of various editor panels in the Instrument Edit
view. The Mapping Editor and Wave Editor buttons have an arrow icon on their right sides;
clicking on this when you’re running KONTAKT in stand-alone mode will open the respective
editor in a separate window. The leftmost button, labeled Instrument Options, is special and
will be explained below.

• Script Editor (visible if the Script Editor button is enabled): In this editor, you can load Scripts,
access their user interfaces, and edit their source code.

• Group Editor (visible if the Group Editor button is enabled): This is where you select, edit, and
manage the Groups in your Instrument.

• Mapping Editor (visible if the MappingEditor button is enabled): This editor lets you add
Samples to your Instrument, map them to the keyboard, assign them to velocity ranges, and
manage the Zones in your Instrument.

• Wave Editor (visible if the WaveEditor button is enabled): This is where you work on the
Sample level to create loops, define Slice markers for rhythmic Samples, create Zone
Envelopes, and perform destructive audio editing operations.

• Source Module: This core module takes care of the Sample playback mode for the Group.

• Source Modulation Router: In this table, you can define modulation assignments, which
change parameters of the source module over time in a variety of different ways.

• Group InsertEffects: This chain consists of 8 slots, each of which can take up a signal
processing module. Each Group has its own Insert Effects chain, which will operate
polyphonically (i.e. on the signal of each voice that originates in this Group separately).

• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the chain module above is enabled):
This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in the Group Insert Effects
chain.

• Amplifier Module: This module will shape the volume, pan, and phase of the source signals in
each Group.

• Modulation Router (visible if the ChannelRouting button on the Amplifier panel is enabled):
This matrix allows you to configure the signal handover between the Group and Instrument
signal flow level.

• Instrument Bus Effects Chain: In this area you can apply different effect chains to up to 16
different buses. Buses can be used to apply effect chains to different collections of Groups. In
the same way a Group processes a collection of Zones, a Bus will process a collection of
Groups (however Bus level effects are not polyphonic and cannot have modulation
assignments like Group level effects).

• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the chain module above is enabled):
This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in the Instrument Bus Effects
chain.

• Instrument Insert Effects chain: This chain could be considered the master effects of the
instrument, affecting all signals that pass through the instrument’s main output.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 51

• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the chain module above is enabled):
This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in the Instrument Insert Effects
chain.
• Send Effects Slots: These slots take up signal processing modules which act as send effects;
they can be fed individually with signals from various points of the signal flow. They are routed
in parallel to each other and to the Insert Effects chain.
• Signal Processor Controls (visible if the Edit button on the Send Effects slots module above is
enabled): This panel contains the controls of a signal processing module in one of the Send
Effects slots.
• Modulation Sources: This section contains a panel for each modulation source that you have
defined in the displayed Group.

10.1. Instrument Options Dialog

When you click on the leftmost button below the Instrument Header while editing an Instrument,
the Instrument Options dialog will appear. It allows you to adjust parameters that affect this
Instrument’s playback behavior, MIDI response, and appearance in the Rack. The Instrument
Options are divided into four categories; you can access these by clicking on the respective tabs
on the left side of the dialog window.

10.1.1. Instrument Tab

The Instrument tab of the Instrument Options dialog contains general options that affect the
playing behavior of the respective Instrument.

The Instrument tab of the Instrument Options

• Key Switch default Key: If you have defined any keyswitches for your Instrument, this value
specifies the default switch that will be active right after the Instrument has been loaded.
• MIDI Transpose: This parameter allows you to apply a transposition offset to all incoming MIDI
notes. In contrast to the Tune knob in the Instrument Header, which alters the pitch of the
sample playback, this value will change the MIDI notes only; for instance, a setting of 12 will
have the same effect as playing an octave higher.
• Key Range: The keyboard range to which this Instrument will respond. Setting this parameter
to different ranges across multiple Instruments is a quick way to create keyboard splits.
• Velocity Range: Limits the velocity range to which this Instrument will respond.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 52

• Instrument Wallpaper: To give your Instruments a distinctive appearance in the Rack, you can
create your own skins. This parameter lets you choose an image file in TGA or PNG format that
will be used instead of the default panel background of the Instrument Header at its normal
size. The image needs to have a color depth of 16, 24, or 32 bits and should be 633 pixels wide
— larger widths will be cut off, smaller widths will be filled with black. We have included some
sample skins in the KONTAKT installation.
After you have added a skin to your Instrument, we recommend that you save it once with
samples; this will put the skin image file into a “wallpaper” sub-folder inside the Instrument’s
sample folder.
• Resource Container: Now that KONTAKT libraries can link to many different types of files, the
Resource Container was designed as a tool for library developers to help them keep all of these
files in a convenient location. In this area you can Create a Resource Container, or attach an nki
to an existing one via the browse button.

10.1.2. Voices Handling Tab

The Voices tab of the Instrument Options

Voice Stealing
This section contains options for setting how the instrument should react when it starts to exceed
its voice limit.
• Mode: This sets the default way in which KONTAKT will free up voices when the Instrument’s
maximum voice count has been reached. These options are explained in section Voice Groups.
• Fadeout Time: When KONTAKT has to recycle a voice, it won’t just cut it off abruptly, but apply
a short fade-out; this eliminates clicking noises. This parameter adjusts the length of the
fadeout in milliseconds.

Time Machine Pro

In order to produce high quality time and pitch manipulation, the Time Machine Pro machine mode
uses more resources than the other machine modes. As such, the number of voices it can process
at any one time have their own limits, separate from the main Instrument voice limit. These limits
are set in this section.
• Standard Mode Voice Limit: Sets the voice limit for groups using the standard quality Time
Machine Pro mode.
• HQ Mode Voice Limit: Sets the voice limit for groups using the HQ Mode option in Time
Machine Pro.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 53

10.1.3. DFD Tab

In the DFD Tab you can access the options for Direct From Disk streaming. This allows KONTAKT
to read samples directly from the Hard Drive, and only load a small section of the sample in RAM,
reducing the overall RAM usage of the Instrument.

The DFD tab of the Instrument Options dialog

• DFD Preload Buffer Size: With this slider, you can adjust the size of each Sample portion that
will be buffered in memory for instant playback. This value applies only to Samples that belong
to Groups whose Source Module is operating in DFD mode. If any Group in DFD mode causes
drop-outs which disappear when you put the respective Source Module into Sampler mode,
you might want to try increasing this parameter.

• Background loading: The Background loading option Allow instant playback for samples
which are not loaded yet is available here. Enable this option to have KONTAKT play every
triggered note during Background Loading. Under certain special circumstances, playing notes
while loading samples in the background may cause ’flam’-like glitches or other unexpected
audio artifacts as KONTAKT attempts to play a sample it has not yet loaded. Disable this
option to avoid such artifacts.

10.1.4. Controller Tab

This tab contains the options for how the instrument should react to certain standardized MIDI
controller messages.

The Controller tab of the Instrument Options dialog

 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 54

• MIDI Controller #64 (Sustain Pedal) acts as: You can choose how KONTAKT should interpret
and handle incoming MIDI controller #64 messages, which are usually being sent by sustain
pedals:
• Pedal + CC will keep the Instrument in its sustain phase as long as the sustain pedal is
depressed, and also treats the message like a normal MIDI controller (which allows you to
use it as a modulation source).
• Sustain Pedal without Controller will keep the Instrument in its sustain phase as long as
the sustain pedal is depressed, but the message will not be available as a normal MIDI
controller.
• Controller Only: KONTAKT won’t use sustain pedal messages for sustaining notes, but you
will be able to access them as MIDI controllers for your own purposes.
• Accept all notes off / all sounds off: When activated, KONTAKT will interpret and adhere to
incoming “all notes off” MIDI messages.
• Accept standard controllers for Volume and Pan: When activated, you can change the output
volume and pan settings of an Instrument by sending MIDI CCs #7 and #10, respectively.
These are the standard controller numbers for volume and pan.
• MIDI Controller #7 (Volume) range: This drop-down menu lets you choose how the value
range of MIDI CC #7 controller messages will be mapped to the output volume slider if the
previous option is enabled. The selected range endpoints correspond to the volume levels at
MIDI values 0 (minimum) and 127 (maximum), respectively. The default setting is negative
infinity .. 0dB, which mutes the Instrument at controller value 0 and puts it at unity gain at
controller value 127.

10.1.5. Snapshot Tab

Snapshots are a way of saving any processing related information associated with an Instrument,
without the need to save the whole instrument. For example, if you want to create an Instrument
with some synthesizer samples, and then save a version of that same Instrument with a low pass
filter applied, you can save that filtered version as a Snapshot.

The Snapshot tab of the Instrument Options

In the Snapshot Tab you can view the locations of the Snapshot files associated with the
Instrument.

• Snapshot Saving Location: This area will display the location on your computer where the user
Snapshots for this Instrument will be saved to and loaded from. Clicking on the Show button
will open this folder in your operating systems file browser.
 THE RACK INSTRUMENT EDIT MODE 55

• Factory Snapshots: Some 3rd Party libraries will come with their own Snapshots, which
cannot be overwritten. These Snapshots are stored in a separate location, which you will be
able to see here. You can toggle the availability of factory Snapshots by clicking the button to
the right of this section.

10.1.6. Infos Tab

The Infos tab of the Instrument Options

• Instrument Icon: KONTAKT allows you to assign icons to your Instruments; these will be
displayed within normal-sized Instrument Headers in the Rack and provide visual hints about
the Instrument category. The rightmost icon in the list, labeled new, is the default icon for
newly created Instruments. Note that KONTAKT will assign special icons to Instruments that
were imported from third-party formats; these don’t appear in this list.
• Instrument Info: Use this text field to enter any information, credits, or production notes you’d
like to be attached to your Instrument.
• Author: When you have created an Instrument and want to distribute it, you can enter your own
or your company’s name here.
• Weblink: This field lets you provide a web location where people can find more information
about you and your KONTAKT creations.
If the Instrument is part of a 3rd Party Library, then it will display information about the library and
will not be editable.
 LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENTS 56

11. Loading and Creating Instruments

In order to add a previously created Instrument to your Multi, either in KONTAKT format (.nki) or in
one of the supported third party formats, locate your Instrument file within the Browser first. You
can either

• Drag it into a blank space of the Rack to add it to the Multi.

• Drag it onto an Instrument that is already in the Rack to replace that Instrument with the new
one.
Alternatively, you can choose the Load command from the Files menu; a file selection dialog will
appear that lets you locate and select any Instrument, Multi, or Instrument Bank file on your
system.

If you have enabled the Browser: Double click loads instrument option in the Options
dialog, you can also load Instruments by double-clicking them in the Browser.

After the Instrument has been loaded successfully, it will appear in the Rack. If required, you can
now change its Output and MIDI channel assignments from the controls in the Instrument’s
Header. Once these are correctly set, you should be able to play the Instrument via your MIDI
keyboard or the virtual On-Screen Keyboard.
If you would like to create an Instrument from scratch, you have several options:

• The New Instrument command in the Files menu will add an empty Instrument that’s based on
the default Instrument template (you can change this template by creating a default
Instrument of your choice and saving it via the Save as Default Instrument command in the
Files menu).
• Alternatively, you can start out with a Sample or a set of Samples and let KONTAKT do the
work of combining them into an Instrument. Locate and select the Sample files that you want
to use in the Browser, then drag them into an empty space in the Rack; KONTAKT will create a
new Instrument (once again, based on the default Instrument template) and spread the
Samples across the keyboard. If you do this with a WAV file that contains Slice markers or with
a REX file, KONTAKT will switch the new Instrument to Beat Machine mode, so that you can
play your Sample in sync to your song tempo right away.

Samples Missing Dialog

As explained in the Files menu section of the Main Control Panel chapter, KONTAKT uses different
ways to reference the Samples that are being used by an Instrument. When Instruments are being
saved in a monolith, the Sample data gets embedded in the file itself, and thus can’t be
accidentally separated. In a lot of cases, though, you will encounter Instruments that reference
external Sample files on your system via their respective paths and file names. It’s obvious that
while this method creates small Instrument files and avoids unnecessary duplication of Sample
data, it’s not as bullet-proof as combining Instrument and Sample data into a monolith; whenever
you move referenced Sample files to a different location, KONTAKT won’t be able to find them
anymore in the location that’s being specified within the respective Instrument files. Depending on
whether KONTAKT used a relative path for referencing Samples, this can even happen when you
move Instrument files while keeping their referenced Samples in their original locations.
 LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENTS 57

Whenever you attempt to load an Instrument whose Samples cannot be found in their expected
location, KONTAKT will open a Content Missing dialog. This window offers various options that
help KONTAKT locate the missing files on your system. Once it has found them, you can then re-
save the Instrument with the corrected references in order to make the changes permanent.

The Content Missing dialog

In its upper half, the Content Missing dialog displays a list of all Sample files that were referenced
within the Instrument file, but couldn’t be found in the expected locations; these locations are
shown in the right column. Whenever you’re not sure which action might have caused the Content
Missing dialog to appear, study the locations displayed in the assumed at column carefully; you
might recognize a folder that you’ve moved to a different location at some point in the past.
In the lower half of the dialog, KONTAKT provides a number of commands that will either search
for the missing files automatically (left side), or allow you to specify the new location manually
(right side). If you’re not sure where the missing Samples could be located, choose one of the
automatic options on the left side:

• Search Filesystem: This will search for the missing Samples on all file systems of your hard
disks. Depending on the size and speed of your hard disks, the scanning process might take a
considerable amount of time, but if the Sample files have not been renamed or deleted, they
will eventually be found.
• Search Database: This will search the Samples within KONTAKT’s own Database, then use any
found records to locate them on your hard disk. The idea behind this is that the Samples might
have been picked up by a Database re-build process after they have been moved; if this is the
case, their actual locations in your file system can be retrieved from the Database. This option
requires a correctly built Database that has been configured to include Sample data.
 LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENTS 58

Note that by default, all these options search for the missing Samples by their file names only; in
some cases, two or more different Samples on your hard disk might share a common name. This
can cause KONTAKT to load the wrong Sample; if you notice this in your Instrument, don’t save it.
Instead, remove it from your Multi, load it again, and repeat the search process after you’ve
enabled the Check for Duplicates option at the bottom of the “Samples Missing” dialog. This will
make KONTAKT examine any files with matching names more thoroughly, which will sort out
duplicates, but take more time than searching without this option.
If you already know where the missing Samples are located on your system, there’s no need for an
automatic search. Instead, choose one of the options on the right side, which allow you to locate
files manually:

• Browse for Folder: When you click this button, a folder selection dialog will appear. After you’ve
located and chosen a folder, KONTAKT will look for the missing Samples inside this folder and
all of its sub-folders.
• Browse for Files: This option will ask you to locate each missing file manually, one at a time,
via a file selection dialog. During this process, the name of the currently searched file will be
displayed in the title bar of the selection dialog window.
If the resolve all possible option is enabled, KONTAKT will look for all missing Samples in each
location that you specify via the Browse for Folder or Browse for Files option. If it’s disabled, you
will be asked to provide a location for each missing file separately.
Once you have selected the appropriate search action, KONTAKT will start the file scanning
process. During this scan, the missing Sample list will shrink whenever a Sample has been
successfully located. Once all Samples have been found, the dialog will disappear and the
Instrument will be loaded into your Rack. You should now make sure that it works correctly and
then re-save it to its original location with the Save as… command in the Files menu.

If you have moved a whole library, and the Samples Missing dialog appears each time
you attempt to load an Instrument from this library, you don’t need to click through
the Samples Missing dialog and re-save the Instrument each time; the Batch Re-Save
command in the Files menu allows you to locate the referenced Samples of all
Instruments below a folder at once and re-save all of them automatically. This
command is explained in section Handling Tab of this manual.

If there are still missing Samples after the scanning process, the Content Missing dialog will
reappear, which allows you to try another search option. If each attempt to locate the missing
Samples fails, they either don’t exist on your system anymore, or have been renamed. In such
cases, you can choose to either abort loading the Instrument by clicking the right button at the
bottom of the dialog, or load the Instrument without the missing Samples with the left button.

• Allow alternate file types: This option allows you to ignore the audio file extension and resolve
missing samples with alternative file types with the same name. For example, if you had an
instrument which referenced uncompressed WAV files, but at some point you compressed the
files to NCW format, you can reference the NCW files in place of the WAV files.
• Keep search mode and selected folders for the current session: If you are opening multiple
Instruments that could require searching for Samples in the same location, checking this
option will tell KONTAKT to repeat the search mode for any newly opened Instrument while you
are still running the same session. Closing and reopening KONTAKT will reset this option.
 USING SNAPSHOTS 59

12. Using Snapshots

Snapshots offer a way of saving variations of any KONTAKT Instrument for easy recall. Take, for
example, the NI Abbey Road Drummer products; each comes with a fully-featured mixer including
separate channels for each drum component, as well as built-in effects. With Snapshots, you can
create any number of mixes for the same Instrument, save them in the .nksn file format and re-use
them in your next project or share these Snapshots across your computers. You can even share
them with other users who own the same KONTAKT Library or have access to the same collection
of Instruments.

The KONTAKT Factory Library doesn’t come with Snapshots, so in order to

demonstrate the full feature set, we’ll save a Snapshot first.

Access the Snapshot View via the camera icon in the Instrument Header, switch back to the
familiar Info View with its Input / Output configuration options by clicking the i icon.

Access to the Snapshot View

12.1. Saving a User Snapshot

Let's start exploring Snapshots with saving your own. By loading a Factory Library Instrument and
adjusting some of its parameters, you will end up with a sound which is distinct enough for you to
want to keep it.
1. In the Libraries Tab, browse to the KONTAKT Factory Library / Vintage / Digital Machines and
load the 'Electric Grand.nki' Instrument. Play a few notes on your MIDI keyboard to get familiar
with the Electric Grand’s sound.
2. In the Instrument Tab in Master FX, activate the Rotator by clicking the switch to the left of the
corresponding label. Leave all parameters in the Rotator section in their default position.
3. In the Inst Controls section, turn the Bits knob to the 12 o'clock position. Play a few notes
again and notice the change in sound.
4. Now let’s save this new sound as a Snapshot for convenience.
5. Click the camera icon in the Instrument Header. This will switch the Header to the Snapshot
View.

6. Here, click the floppy disk icon to open the Snapshot Saving dialog.
 USING SNAPSHOTS 60

7. Enter a Snapshot name (e.g. Triple Peaks) and click Save.

8. The Snapshot is saved and added to the Snapshot Menu

All User Snapshots are automatically stored in the default User Content folder. This is where the
KONTAKT Factory Library Snapshot you just created will be stored:

• On Mac OS X: Macintosh HD/Users/<User Name>/Documents/Native Instruments/User Content/

Kontakt Factory Library/Electric Grand/Triple Peaks.nksn
• On Windows: C:\Users\<User Name>\My Documents\Native Instruments\User Content
\Kontakt Factory Library\Electric Grand\Triple Peaks.nksn

You can transfer any of your Snapshots to another computer by copying the
respective Snapshot files.

Please make sure you include your Documents / My Documents folder in your regular
data backups.

12.2. Loading a Snapshot from the Snapshot Menu

Let's get to know this feature by loading a Snapshot from the Instrument Header's new Snapshot
Menu. We assume here that you saved the Triple Peaks Snapshot as described in the Saving a
User Snapshot section.

Load a User Snapshot

1. In the Libraries Tab, browse to the KONTAKT Factory Library / Vintage / Digital Machines and
load the 'Electric Grand.nki' Instrument.
2. Click the camera icon to switch the Instrument Header to the Snapshot View. By default, no
Snapshot is loaded.
3. Open the drop-down menu and select the Triple Peaks Snapshot.

4. The Triple Peaks Snapshot is loaded.

Alternatively, when no Snapshot is loaded, click the Next Button after loading the
Electric Grand Instrument to achieve the same result.
 USING SNAPSHOTS 61

Load a Factory Snapshot

Factory Snapshots are only available for KONTAKT PLAYER Libraries. So this section only applies
if you own at least KOMPLETE 9 or a KONTAKT PLAYER library released after KOMPLETE 9.

Please make sure to install all KOMPLETE Library updates offered in NATIVE ACCESS
to gain access to Factory Snapshots

Some of the KOMPLETE Libraries seem minimalistic at first glance - THE GIANT, for example,
ships with only two Instruments ('The Giant .nki' and 'The Giant - Cinematic.nki'). The true sound
design potential can be tapped by tweaking the parameters available on the Instrument's user
interface, though. Our sound designers created a number of Snapshots to showcase the variety of
sounds available from just this instrument.
Let's load a few Factory Snapshots and listen to the differences.
1. Load The Giant.nki from the Libraries Tab. The Giant will load with its default settings.
2. Click the camera icon in the Instrument Header to switch to the Snapshot View.

3. Click the drop-down menu at the bottom of the Instrument Header to expand the Snapshot
Menu.

4. Select 'Intimate.'
5. Play a few notes on your keyboard and listen to the characteristics of the sound. The ‘Intimate’
Snapshot has an overall round tone, which appears to be standing close by, combined with a
very large Hall reverb.
6. Now click the left arrow next to the Snapshot name to quickly load the previous Snapshot in
the list, named 'Hard And Tough'. Notice that this Snapshot loads instantly, because all
Samples related to the Instrument are already loaded.
7. Again, play a few notes on your keyboard. The ‘Hard And Tough’ Snapshot has a very bright
and hard sound, with very pronounced resonances.
 USING SNAPSHOTS 62

8. Open the drop-down menu, select the ‘Lots Of Noise’ Snapshot and play a few notes. You will
notice noise from the piano's hammers after each note you play.

→ You’ve now listened to three very distinct variations of just one Instrument.
If you need to recall a specific sound for recurring use in the studio or for live playing, Snapshots
give you an easy way of doing just that.

12.3. Loading Snapshots from the File System

KONTAKT supports two ways of loading Snapshot files (.nksn):

• Dragging and dropping a Snapshot file from the Finder / Explorer onto the Rack
• Loading via double-click in Finder (Mac OS X) or Explorer (Windows)
This allows you to take your favorite Snapshots to the studio on a flash drive or send them
attached to an e-mail and load them from your Desktop without altering the installation on the
studio computer.

Drag and Drop

In order to load a Snapshot from any disk, drag an .nksn file from its current location onto an
empty area of the Rack. KONTAKT will load a new instance of the corresponding Instrument with
that Snapshot.
If you drag a Snapshot onto an active Instrument in the Rack instead, that Instrument will be
replaced by the Instrument loaded from the Snapshot.
Snapshots you open are not automatically saved to the default location.

Please note, the Next/Previous buttons can only skip through Snapshots located in
the Factory Snapshots and the User Content folder.

Double-click
Double-clicking a Snapshot file in Finder (Mac OS X) or Windows Explorer inserts a new
Instrument instance in KONTAKT.

12.4. Deleting a User Snapshot

In order to keep things tidy in the Snapshot Menu, you can delete any Snapshots you saved when
you feel you don't need them anymore. Keep in mind that Snapshots are saved on a per-
Instrument basis. So in order to delete a Snapshot in KONTAKT, you have to load it first.

Please note that you can only delete User Snapshots. All KOMPLETE Factory
Snapshots are read-only. In order to follow the steps described here, you have to have
saved a Snapshot first as detailed in the Saving a User Snapshot section.

To demonstrate how deletion of Snapshots works, we’ll delete the Triple Peaks Snapshot saved in
that section.
1. Load the Electric Grand.nki.
 USING SNAPSHOTS 63

2. Click the Camera icon to access the Snapshot View.

3. Open the Triple Peaks Snapshot.
4. Click the trash bin icon in the Instrument Header.

5. Confirm deletion of the Snapshot in the dialog which pops up.

→ The Snapshot file is now erased from the folder on your hard disk as well as removed from the
Snapshot Menu.
 LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENT BANKS 64

13. Loading and Creating Instrument

Banks
An Instrument Bank allows you to combine up to 128 KONTAKT Instruments into one slot of your
Rack. Only one of the Instruments in a Bank can be active at any time, and you can switch
between them by sending MIDI program change messages. All Instruments in a Bank will share
the same MIDI channel, Output Channel, maximum note count value, output and pan settings, and
Aux send levels. You can adjust these settings in the Bank Header, which appears in the Rack and
resembles an Instrument Header in structure.

An Instrument Bank Header

Consider this example: An orchestral sampling library provides numerous articulations and playing
techniques for each instrument; these are split up into a number of KONTAKT Instrument files. For
instance, the “Solo Flute” folder might contain the four files “Flute sustain.nki”, “Flute staccato.nki”,
“Flute halftone trill.nki” and “Flute flutter tongue.nki”. Of course, you could just add these
Instruments to your Rack and assign them to different MIDI channels; this is not efficient, though,
at least not if you’re planning to use only one Solo Flute in your arrangement (and thus won’t need
multiple articulations at the same time), since you’re wasting three MIDI channels and three of
your 64 available Instrument slots.
Instead, you could create a “Flute” bank and insert all articulations you’ll need into its slots; this
allows you to switch between these articulations by sending MIDI program change messages.
This work-flow is closer to the way you’d interact with a real flutist; in order to get him to adapt his
playing style to your music, you need to add expression, dynamic and articulation marks, as well
as playing directions, to your sheet music.

Some notation programs allow you to specify how different articulation, expression,
dynamic, and playing direction marks in your score will be translated when you’re
playing it back via MIDI. Assigning these items to MIDI program changes that
correspond to the respective Instruments in your bank allows you to create very
sophisticated setups, which allow you to create realistic mock-ups from your scores
instantly without any further MIDI optimization. Refer to the manual of your notation
program to find out whether it supports this method.

Similarly, you can create MIDI program changes at specific places of your sequences in any MIDI
sequencer program.
▶ To add a new, empty Instrument Bank to your current Multi, choose New instrument bank
from the Files menu.

→ A new Bank Header will appear in the Rack.

The Bank Header controls are similar to that of an Instrument Header, but apply to all contained
Instruments. In its name field, the Bank Header will display the name of the currently active
Instrument. In order to add Instruments to this Bank, click the wrench icon at the left side of its
header; this will open a list of 128 Instrument slots.
 LOADING AND CREATING INSTRUMENT BANKS 65

To access and assign the Instruments of your Bank, open the slot list by clicking on the wrench
icon in the upper left corner of the Bank header.

The Instrument List View

Dragging an Instrument (.nki) file from the Browser into a slot of the Instrument Bank will load the
Instrument into this slot. The number in the slot field indicates the program change number that
will switch to this Instrument; in the example shown above, incoming notes on the Bank’s MIDI
channel will trigger the Dirty Saw Lead Instrument in slot 001 (this is being indicated in the name
field of the Bank Header); sending a MIDI program change with a value of 2 will switch over to the
Innocent Lead Instrument, which will then stay active until the Bank receives a new program
change message.
Alternatively, you can click on the Instrument names in the Bank to change the selected
Instrument.
You can edit an Instrument inside a Bank by double-clicking on the respective slot; this will put
your Rack into Instrument Edit mode. Once you’re done with your modifications, be sure to return
to Multi Instrument mode by clicking the wrench icon in the upper left corner of the Rack, as
clicking the “X” button in the upper right corner will remove the whole Bank from your Multi. Also,
note that the modified Instrument can only be saved within the Bank file; there’s no way to save it
to a separate Instrument file.
Instrument Banks and their contents will be loaded and saved along with your Multi, but you can
load and save them separately as well. KONTAKT Instrument Bank files are indicated with the
extension .nkb. You can load these in the same way as you load Instruments; double-click them or
drag them from the Browser into an empty space of your Rack, or use the Load command in the
Files menu.
 THE ON-SCREEN KEYBOARD 66

14. The On-Screen Keyboard

KONTAKT provides a virtual On-Screen Keyboard that can be used to play instruments with your
mouse when a MIDI keyboard is not available.
To display the keyboard:
1. Open the Workspace menu.
2. Select the Keyboard option.

→ The On-Screen Keyboard is displayed at the bottom of the Rack.

The On-Screen Keyboard contains the following features and controls:

The On-Screen Keyboard

• Keys: When a key is clicked, the keyboard generates a corresponding note event that will be
received by the currently selected Instrument. The note’s velocity is relative to where on the key
you click: clicking towards the top of the key will produce notes with a low velocity, and clicking
towards the bottom of the key will produce notes with a high velocity.
• Pitch and Mod: Click + drag the Pitch and Modwheel to generate pitch bend and MIDI CC #1
data respectively.
• Transposition: Shift the displayed key range up and down in octaves.
• Key Range: The keyboard uses colors to indicate the key ranges of the current Instrument.
• Playable Keys: Keys that produce sound are colored blue.
• Key Switches: Keys that somehow change the instrument’s behavior are colored red.
In some libraries, these colors change in order to indicate different things, for example,
keyboard splits or different instrument types. This feature provides a quick overview of the
Instrument's range, and which keys will switch between different articulations.
 THE MASTER EDITOR 67

15. The Master Editor

The Master Editor panel contains a number of global controls that affect the behavior of all
Instruments in your Multi, as well as some common utility functions. To display the Master Editor
panel, select the Master option in the Workspace menu.
The Master Editor panel contains the following features:

1. Master Vol: Adjusts the volume of all Output and Aux Channels. The default setting is 0.0 dB,
which leaves the output levels unaffected.
2. Master Tune: Adjusts the master reference tuning from its default value of A4 = 440 Hz. This is
especially useful in situations where KONTAKT will be combined with the sound of orchestras,
historical ensembles, or folk music, which frequently use different reference tunings.
3. Master Tempo: Displays the current global tempo in beats per minute, as well as sync options
and song position controls.
• Ext: In stand-alone mode, the Ext button allows you to sync KONTAKT to an external MIDI
clock.If running as a plug-in in your host program, KONTAKT will use and follow your song
tempo by default. Deactivate the Ext to specify the tempo manually.

• Tap: The Tap button offers a more intuitive way to adjust the Master Editor tempo. Tap the
button rhythmically in quarter note values and KONTAKT will measure the time between
taps, adjusting the tempo value accordingly. As a plug-in, the Tap button is active only
when the Extern Sync. parameter is turned off.

• Play/Re-wind: The play and re-wind buttons adjust KONTAKT’s internal song position. This
is necessary for instruments that require song position information, like a drum machine.

• Tempo: Located below the BPM label, this value affects the playback speed of sliced loops
and all time-related controls that can be synchronized to the tempo. In stand-alone mode,
adjust the Master Tempo by clicking the value and entering a new one, or by tapping a new
tempo using the Tap button.
4. Metronome: Provides a simple metronome that can be switched on and off at any time by
clicking the metronome icon. The value readout allows you to adjust the volume of the
metronome click.
5. Reference Tone: Provides a reference tone that allows you to tune other instruments in
accordance to KONTAKT’s current reference tuning.
• On/Off: Activate the reference tone by clicking the tuning fork icon.

• Pitch: Change the pitch of the reference tone by clicking and dragging on the note readout
to the right of the tuning fork.
 THE MASTER EDITOR 68

• Volume: Adjust the volume of the reference tone by clicking and dragging the Vol readout,
or double-clicking the field and entering a value.
 THE BROWSER 69

16. The Browser

The Browser allows you to quickly organize and navigate through any number of files that can be
used in KONTAKT. Among other things, you can use the Browser to:

• Navigate through your file system to locate and load KONTAKT Instruments
• Manage and browse the contents of your Libraries.
• Display a convenient overview of various aspects of the currently selected Instrument.
• Assign host and MIDI automation sources to Instrument parameters.
• Drag and drop items from the Browser into the Rack.

To display The Browser:

▶ Select the Browser option from the Workspace menu.

→ The Browser panel will appear on the left side of the Rack.

The Browser
 THE BROWSER 70

16.1. Libraries Tab

The Libraries Tab provides direct access to all KONTAKT libraries installed on your computer.

1. Refresh: Reloads the list of libraries.

2. Manage Libraries: Opens the Library tab in the Options dialog. There you can hide or show
libraries, open Native Access to install new libraries, and manage existing installations. For
more information, see Libraries Tab.
3. A-Z: Sorts the libraries alphabetically. When deactivated, the Library tab reverts to the previous
custom sorting.
4. Search field: Allows you to enter a search string in order to find particular libraries within the
Library tab.
5. Instr Nav (Instrument Navigation): Shows or hides the Instrument Navigator pane at the
bottom of the Browser.
6. Instruments: Displays all Instruments included in the library.
7. Function Menu: Opens a drop-down menu with additional library options. For more
information, see Function Menu.

16.1.1. Loading and Saving Instruments and Multis

• To load an Instrument or a Multi, click the Instruments or Multis button and navigate through
the library structure like in the lower pane of the Files tab.
• When using KONTAKT PLAYER libraries, you can save your own Instruments and Multis to the
original library or to any custom location. When saving your own variations to the original
location of your library, these Instruments and Multis will also appear in the Libraries tab.

16.1.2. Function Menu

The Function menu provides access to important resources like the library readme file and
manuals, and maintenance tasks such as locating a library and hiding a library box. The Function
menu is located at the bottom right of the Library box. Click the arrow to open the drop-down
menu.
 THE BROWSER 71

The Function menu contains the following options:

The Function menu

• Open containing folder: Opens the location of the library on your hard disk, in your operating
system's file browser.

• Hide library: Removes the library from the Library tab. Note that this does not delete or
uninstall the library. If you want the library to appear in the Libraries tab again, you can do this
via the Libraries tab in the Options dialog. For more information, see Libraries Tab.

• Readme.txt: If the library folder contains a readme text file, it will be displayed here. Clicking
this option will open the file.

• License Agreement: Contains a list of the licenses for the selected library.

• Online Documentation: Clicking this option will open the user manual.

16.1.3. Library Activation

Libraries are activated through Native Access, but it is possible to quickly open Native Access to
activate a specific library from the KONTAKT Library Browser.
1. After installing a library, open KONTAKT.
2. Locate the library in the Libraries tab of the Browser.
3. Click on the Activate button on the respective library and a log-in screen will open.
4. Native Access will open and prompt you to enter a serial number for the library.
5. Enter a serial number and click Activate.

→ Your library will now be activated and ready to play.

16.2. Files Tab

This section of the Browser allows you to navigate your file system in a tree-based way, which will
be immediately familiar if you’re accustomed to your operating system’s file browsers and
selectors. It consists of two main panes and an audition toolbar at the bottom of the section.
There is an optional third pane, the Instrument Navigator, which you can toggle via the InstrNav
button just below the tabs. This pane is also available on the Libraries tab, see Libraries Tab.
Click the horizontal splitter bars that separate the panes and drag them up or down in order to
change the height of the respective panes.
 THE BROWSER 72

The Files tab of the Browser pane provides a file system navigator

16.2.1. Upper (Container) Pane

The upper pane shows all container objects on your computer in a tree structure. The term
"container" encompasses all items that contain other objects, such as volumes (like hard disks,
CD-ROMs or network places), folders and monolithic sampler files that serve as "virtual folders"
(more on this later). A + icon next to an object indicates that there are further objects contained
within, which are not currently being shown. Display those by clicking the + icon. Conversely,
clicking the - icon next to an object hides all its contents from the tree view.
 THE BROWSER 73

The upper pane of the File Browser displays a navigable tree structure of your file system.

16.2.2. Middle (Objects) Pane

Whenever a container object that you have selected in the upper pane contains items which can
be used in KONTAKT, these will show up in the middle pane. In contrast to the multi-dimensional
tree structure of the upper pane, this list is always flat and does not span multiple folders. In
addition to relevant files, folders (if any) will also show up in this list and can be navigated to via
double-clicking. The first item of the list will usually be the parent directory, indicated with an arrow
icon. This means you don’t need to use the upper pane to navigate through folders, although it’s
usually faster and more convenient.

The middle pane of the File Browser, displaying a number of Samples, their file sizes, native tempos, and modification dates.

Information on the displayed items is spread across four columns; in addition to the file name, size
and modification date, there’s also a tempo column that indicates the native tempo of sliced
loops. You can change the width of these columns by clicking and dragging the separator bars
between their labels. Clicking on a column label will change the sort order of the list according to
the respective value and clicking on the same label again will reverse the ordering direction.
Once you have found one or more items that you want to use in KONTAKT, there are several ways
to load them:

• Double-click a Multi file (.nkm) or drag it from the Browser into the Rack to load it; KONTAKT
will ask you whether you want to replace your current Multi or merge the one you’ve selected
with the existing Multi.
 THE BROWSER 74

• Double-click an Instrument file (.nki) or drag it from the Browser onto a free space in the Rack
to add it to your current Multi. KONTAKT will assign a MIDI channel according to the MIDI
channel assignment for loaded patches setting in the Options dialog. This also works with
multiple Instruments.
• Drag an Instrument onto an existing Instrument Header in your Rack to make it replace the
respective Instrument. KONTAKT will keep the MIDI channel setting of the previous Instrument.
• Double-click a Sample (i.e. an audio file) or drag it onto a free space in the Rack to create a new
Instrument (based on your default Instrument) that contains a Zone with this Sample spread
across the whole keyboard range. If you do this with multiple Samples, KONTAKT will still only
create one instrument, but with a corresponding number of adjacent Zones. Note that this
does not work with 8-bit Samples, as Groups created in this way will be set to DFD mode by
default, which does not support 8-bit data.
• Click and drag a Sample into the Mapping Editor of an existing Instrument to create a Zone and
place it on the key or key range you’re pointing at. While dragging, move the mouse pointer up
and down in the Mapping Editor to enlarge or shrink the target key range. This also works with
multiple Samples, in which case KONTAKT will create a number of adjacent Zones. If you want
to create multiple Zones above each other (thus combining a number of Samples into a
velocity switch that’s placed on a single key), move the mouse pointer all the way down to the
keyboard.
• There are two ways to select multiple items in the object pane: contiguous ranges of items in
the list can be selected by clicking the first item and then, while holding your [Shift] key, the last
one in the range. Non-adjacent items can be selected with [Ctrl]-click, or [Cmd]-click on Mac OS.

The sort order of the Browser’s object pane determines in which order multiple
Samples will be used in KONTAKT. For instance, if you’re planning to create a velocity
switch from a number of Samples, but realize after placement that the velocity
assignment ended up being upside down, just reverse the list order in the Browser
and try it again.

16.2.3. Instrument Navigator Pane

The Instrument Navigator shows a list of all Instruments in the Rack, which is updated at all times.
It is divided into 4 pages of up to 16 Instruments each, and displays the Instrument names along
with M (mute) and S (solo) indicators. It provides a good way to keep the bigger overview when
you’re editing an Instrument, when the Rack does not convey any information about Instruments
other than the currently edited one.
The Instrument Navigator list will keep in sync with the page and Instrument selection in the Rack
and vice versa. To switch to one of the four Instrument pages, you can either use the page buttons
in the Rack header (if it’s in Multi Instrument mode), or click the page numbers at the top of the
Instrument Navigator list. Similarly, you can select an Instrument by clicking on either its header in
the Rack, or its entry in the Instrument Navigator pane. If an Instrument that you select is not
currently visible in the Instrument Navigator list, it will automatically scroll to its list position.
Double-clicking an Instrument in the Instrument Navigator list will open it for editing in the Rack.
▶ To display the Instrument Navigator pane, click on the InstrNav button at the top of the
Browser.
 THE BROWSER 75

The Instrument Navigator pane, displaying a number of loaded Instruments in the Multi.

The Instrument Navigator is not strictly specific to the Files tab, but rather a utility
window that’s available in various tabs in the Browser. It’s explained here for sake of
consistency, and referenced briefly in sections about other places where it’s available.

16.2.4. Audition Strip

The Audition Strip allows you to listen to audio files prior to loading them. This feature works with
audio files and sliced loops that you select in the lower pane of the Browser. Note that when
auditioning sliced loops, they will not be played in their native tempo (which is being displayed in
the Browser list), but in the current tempo of your host or, if you’re running KONTAKT in stand-
alone mode, the tempo that’s set in the Master Editor.
The Audition Strip contains the following controls:

The Audition Strip allows you to play any Sample that you select in the Browser.

• Volume slider: This slider adjusts the sample playback level.

• Play button: This button plays the selected sample once or, if a sample is currently being
auditioned, stops the playback.
• Auto button: When enabled, KONTAKT will automatically play a sample once when you click it.

16.2.5. Refresh and Eject Buttons

Just below the Browser tabs, you’ll see a series of function buttons and drop-down menus that are
specific to the currently visible tab. On the Files tab, this row starts on the left side with a Refresh
button, depicted by a circled arrow.

Browser refresh and eject button.

Whenever the File Browser has not yet picked up changes that recently occurred in your file
system, such as newly installed or removed sample libraries, you can force an update of the file
display by clicking this button.
The button next to the Refresh symbol allows you to eject your computer’s CD/DVD drive(s) from
within KONTAKT. Just select the drive in the upper pane and click this button to eject it.
 THE BROWSER 76

16.2.6. The View Menu

This is a drop-down menu which contains options and functions that alter the way in which
information will be shown in the File Browser panes.

The view menu of the File Browser contains options that determine which items will be shown.

The first two items in this menu, labeled Show Network Drives, and Show Removable Drives, are
toggle options; selecting them will switch them on, indicated with a small diamond next to their
label. With these, you can adjust whether the File Browser should include mounted network
volumes, and removable drives.
Below the options, you’ll find multiple slots labeled Quick-jump and numbered 1 to 10. Quick-
jumps are location memories that you can use to conveniently access a number of frequently-
visited places in your file system without the need to navigate there using the container pane each
time. The handling is simple: any location you navigate to in the File Browser gets immediately
saved to the currently selected Quick-jump entry. Once you switch to another Quick-jump location,
the previously selected one will keep its value. Switching back to it will bring you to the saved
location, but watch out — if you navigate any further now, the Quick-jump memory will be changed
accordingly. If you don’t want this, activate the Lock Current Quick-jump option at the bottom of
the View menu to freeze the saved location. Instead of using the pull-down menu each time, you
can also use [Ctrl] + [F1] through [Ctrl] + [F10] (Windows) or [Alt]-[F1] through [Alt]-[F10] (Mac) to
access the respective Quick-jump locations via your keyboard.

16.3. Database Tab

What good is a sampler if you can’t find the files you want, and find them quickly? That’s what
KONTAKT’s Database is all about. The Database stores and manages information about all
KONTAKT-relevant items that exist on your system, no matter whether these files are stored on
hard disks or on network volumes.
As such, the Database’s purpose is similar to the File Browser described earlier in this chapter. It
has a fundamentally different approach, though: While the File Browser is primarily concerned with
the “hard facts” of your data — their directory paths, file names, and types, the Database employs a
more user-friendly metadata system to keep track of your files. “Metadata” is a catch-all term for
information that’s not strictly required for using a file, but facilitates its management within a large
set of other files. When a brick-and-mortar library puts tags inside its books that inform you about
the general topic of the book, where it can be found in the catalogue, and when it has to be
returned, it’s adding metadata to their assets; in reference to this, the process of adding metadata
to files or other records is generally being referred to as “tagging” in the computing world.
 THE BROWSER 77

A well-tagged sample library relieves you of the burden of having to deal with directory paths,
internal library structures and file naming conventions all the time: Instead, you can simply
express queries like “show me all marimbas” or “show me sounds suitable for a drum & bass
production” and immediately access the matching objects. Of course, this requires that the
majority of the content in your collection has been tagged in some way or other in the first place. It
goes without saying that the KONTAKT sound library comes with extensive predefined metadata,
and we expect developers of commercial libraries to adopt this practice for their future products.
Content from existing sample libraries, whether they were made with a previous version of
KONTAKT or have been converted from other formats, has to be tagged manually before you can
manage it with the Database; obviously, this is also true for your own material.
You can find all functions that pertain to the Database on the Database tab of the Browser. In the
remainder of this section, we’ll describe all of its functions in detail.

16.3.1. Database Overview

In its default state, the Database tab of the Browser appears as a two-section view. We’ll refer to
the upper section as the Attribute List; the lower one is called the Results List. Both sections
always operate in unison: The Results List contains a continuously updated list of all objects in the
Database that match the search conditions you define in the Attribute List.

The Database Tab

 THE BROWSER 78

From top to bottom, you can see the control buttons, the type switches, the Attribute List, the text
search bar, the Results List, and the Edit button.
At the top of the Database tab, you’ll find a row of control buttons that serve various purposes:
The DB Options button opens the Database tab of the Options dialog, where you can set various
options that define how the Database will be populated with data.
The Instr Nav button toggles the visibility of the Instrument Navigator, which will appear at the
bottom of the tab and is explained in section 12.1.3.
On top of the Attribute List, you’ll find a number of type buttons; these narrow any search query
down to certain kinds of KONTAKT objects (such as Multis, Banks or Instruments), so that you
won’t get distracted with results that have no relevance to your task at hand.

Object Type Filter buttons

The Results List will only show objects of the types that are highlighted in this bar. You can toggle
the Multi, Bank and Instrument buttons independently; searching for Groups, Samples or Script
and effects presets excludes the other options, as these change what’s being displayed the
Attribute List.
Between the Attribute List and the Results List, you’ll find a text input bar that allows you to search
for keywords inside the current Results List. Note that this will only refine the search query that’s
defined by the selected values in the Attribute List; thus, if you want to search for a keyword within
the entire Database, you should first make sure that nothing is selected in the Attribute List.
Finally, the Edit button at the bottom of the Database tab lights up whenever you select one or
more entries from the Results List; clicking on it will switch the Database tab into edit mode,
where you can assign attributes to the selected objects or define your own attributes and attribute
sets. We’ll explain these functions later in this section.

16.3.2. Building the Database

Before you can start working with the Database, you’ll have to “populate” it with the contents that
you’d like to manage. You do this by pointing KONTAKT to the volumes or directories in your file
system that contain relevant files; it will then perform a scan of these locations, during which all
retrieved information will be added to the Database. After that, KONTAKT can keep the contents of
the Database updated automatically whenever you save or load a file; this requires that you enable
the Automatically add loaded / saved files to database switch on the Database tab of the Options
dialog. In this case, a manual re-scan is only required when there have been fundamental changes
to your collection.

The Database tab of the Options Dialog

There are two different methods of adding files to the Database:

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• The most common way to permanently include the contents of a volume or folder in the
Database is to add it to the list of scanned locations. To access this list, click the button labeled
DB Options at the top of the Database tab, or open the Options dialog and switch to its
Database tab. KONTAKT will perform a complete scan of any location that’s in the list; in the
simplest case, just add the folder where your sampling libraries reside. To add a location, click
the Add… button on the right side of the list and locate the respective folder within your file
system. After you’ve added a new location, you should manually initiate an update scan by
clicking on the Update button. Depending on the number of objects that exist inside the folder
or on the volume, this process may take a while. If you want to remove an entry from the list,
thus excluding its contents from the database, select it and click the Remove button.

By default, KONTAKT won’t add individual Sample files (like WAVs or AIFFs) to the
Database, as their number can easily get so large that it would negatively affect
KONTAKT’s performance and memory footprint to keep them available at all times.
Still, you have the option to include them anyway by enabling the “Include samples in
database scan” option on the Database tab of the Options dialog. This can be useful
when you’re frequently creating your own Instruments and want to be able to access
your Sample collection via the Database; in all other cases, we recommend to leave
this option disabled.

• You can also hint the Database at folders, or even add individual files to it, by selecting them in
your operating system’s file browser and dragging them into the Results List. Please note that
any records that you’ve added in this way will disappear from the Database the next time you
initiate a re-scan by clicking on the Update or Reset and Scan button in the Options dialog.

Adding files to the Database via drag and drop

16.3.3. Searching by Attributes

Once your collection has been mapped by the Database, you can go ahead and search for
Instruments, Multis, Banks, Groups, Presets, and — provided you have enabled the appropriate
option on the Database tab of the Options dialog — even for individual Samples.
As mentioned in the introduction of this chapter, the Database uses metadata attributes that
describe various meaningful aspects of your files, instead of just referencing them by their
filenames. Among the list of predefined attribute types you’ll find the following:

• The author of an object, which refers to the actual person who created it, and its vendor, which
identifies the distributor of the library it originates from.
• The general timbre of the sound. This is useful for abstract sounds of synthetic or organic
origin and allows the description of them with intuitive properties like “fat”, “dissonant”, “cold” or
“exotic”.
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• The instrumenttype, which provides a two-level classification for a more accurate description
of the instrument family.
The Attribute List, which is the upper section of the Database tab, allows you to search for all
these attributes within your collection. It consists of a number of freely configurable attribute
columns, each of which lists those attributes in the respective attribute set that have been
assigned to objects in your collection.

The Attribute List

Before we explore these things in detail, let’s take a step back and explain what’s the principal idea
behind the Attribute List. As mentioned before, it acts as a filter for the objects displayed in the
Results List below it; whenever you click a value in one of its attribute columns, you’re toggling the
inclusion of objects that are tagged with this specific attribute within the search results. When no
attributes are selected, the filter is inactive; in this case, the Results List will display all objects in
the Database that match the type selected above the Attribute List. This is useful when you want
to use the text search bar to search for keywords in your entire collection. To quickly clear all
active attribute selections, along with the contents of the search bar, click the button marked with
an X on the right side of the bar.
The order of the columns in the Attribute List is significant: KONTAKT processes the attribute
filters you define from left to right, starting with the leftmost column, and each column only
displays attributes that actually occur within the filter results at that point. In other words, you
work with the Attribute List by expressing search queries, progressively refining and limiting the
scope of your search as you go through the list from left to right, until the length of the Results List
has shrunken to one or a few entries — at this point, you can simply double-click one of them or
drag it into the Rack in order to load it into KONTAKT.
In the Attribute List, you can have as many attribute columns visible as you like — in practice, you
might want to stick to the ones that you use most commonly.

Selecting Attributes to display

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At the top of each column, a header displays the name of the attribute set that’s currently being
displayed in it. Right-clicking on this name will open a context menu that allows you to switch the
column to a different attribute set, or adjust some options that affect the selection behavior of that
column. If you choose the attribute set that’s currently being assigned to the column itself
(indicated with a filled-out rectangle next to its name), the column will disappear from the list;
obviously, any selections that you made in it will then no longer apply to your search.
To add a new column to your list, click the “+” sign on the header of the rightmost column and
select an attribute set from the drop-down menu. Keep in mind that the new column may not
contain any selectable values; this means that after all filter rules from the columns to the left of it
have been applied, there are no objects left that use attributes from this specific set.
Let’s have a look at an example: Suppose you’re looking for a dirty synth lead sound that is also
bright.
1. The Type attribute set is special in that its attributes are spread across two columns instead of
one, with the right column showing more specific subcategories of the general instrument
family that you select in the left one. Following this, select SynthLead in the first column and
DirtyLead in the second one (if the DirtyLeadattribute doesn’t appear, your collection doesn’t
contain any Instruments tagged with this type).
2. Now, assuming that the number of search results is still too large to browse comfortably, add
another column with the Timbre attribute by clicking on the “+” sign on the header of the
existing column, or re-assign the Timbre attribute to the column next to it.
3. Click on the Bright entry in the Timbre column to narrow the search results even further.

Searching for dirty lead synths

The context menu that appears when you right-click the header of an attribute column contains a
sub-menu labeled Options.

The Options submenu

Here you can adjust two properties that define how KONTAKT will handle selections of more than
one attribute within this column.
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• If you enable Multi Select, you can select multiple attributes from the column just by clicking
on each one.

• Alternatively, in Single Select mode, clicking on an attribute will deselect any others in the
same column. In this case, you can still add attributes to your selection by holding the [Ctrl]
(Control) on Windows or [Cmd] (Command) key on Mac OS X while clicking.
With the other option, you can define how multiple selections will influence the search result.

• If OR Mode is enabled, the result will include files that match any of the attributes that you
select in this column.

• Switching to AND Mode will only return files that match all of the selected attributes
(remember that you can assign more than one attribute from a set to an object).

16.3.4. Searching by Keywords

Depending on the size of your collection, not all attribute searches will return an easy-to-grasp list
of just a few matches right away. Also, there are cases where you already have one or more
specific items in mind, and defining a set of filter attributes “around them” would be
counterintuitive. This is where the text search bar between the Attribute List and the Results List
comes into play. Whatever you enter here will be used as an additional text filter for the Results
List; in other words, KONTAKT will search for the entered text string within the attributes of all
listed items, and omit all non-matching entries from the list. This process happens
instantaneously on each keystroke, so you don’t need to write out whole words or press Return to
confirm them — just type away until the item that you’re looking for appears within the first few
entries of the list.

Using text search in the Database

If you want to search the whole database, just make sure there’s currently nothing selected in the
Attribute List. Of course, it often makes sense to use both the attribute and the text search in
unison by first limiting the listed items with a coarse attribute filter, then refining the search results
by entering a text string.
By entering several words separated with spaces, you can search for multiple keywords at once. In
this case, the Results List will only contain items whose attributes match all of them. The order in
which you enter the keywords doesn’t matter; “violin stacc ens” will yield exactly the same search
results as “ens violin stacc”. KONTAKT performs the search inside all attributes, even those that
are not currently visible in the Results List, so you don’t need to limit yourself to searching for
names — you can just as well use partial file system paths or library titles.
On the right side of the text search bar, you’ll notice a search result counter and a button marked
with an X.

Results counter and the reset button

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When you click it, KONTAKT will reset the active filter — that is, all selected values in the Attribute
List will be unchecked, the search bar will be cleared, and the Results List will switch back to
displaying the entire content of the Database.

16.3.5. Configuring and Sorting the Results List

You can freely configure the Results List to display any information you’re interested in. When you
right-click the header of a column, a drop-down menu will appear that contains all available
attribute sets; those that are already included in the list are marked with a filled rectangle next to
their name. To toggle the inclusion of an attribute type, just click the respective menu entry.

Adding a new column

When you add a new column, it will appear to the left of the one on which you opened the drop-
down menu. You can change this order by clicking on a column header and dragging it to the left
or right — a vertical right line will show you were the column would get placed when you release
the mouse button.
All columns are variable in width. To resize one of them, click and drag the vertical line that
separates it from the one to its right.

Adjusting the column width

Values that don’t fit their current width will be abbreviated with an ellipsis (…). In case the whole list
gets too wide to be displayed in its entirety, you can move it by dragging the horizontal scrollbar at
the bottom of the list.
By default, search results are being sorted by the attribute that appears in the leftmost column
(usually the name). By clicking on the header of any column, you can switch the sort criteria to its
respective attribute; click the same header again to toggle between ascending order (which is
indicated with a small arrow pointing upwards on the right side of the header) and descending
order (downward arrow).
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16.3.6. Assigning Attributes

As explained at the beginning of this section, the whole concept of the Database rests on the
assumption that the contents of your collection (or at least, a large part of them) are “tagged” (i.e.
described) with metadata. While KONTAKT’s own sound library already comes pre-tagged, and
thus can be managed via the Database right away, this isn’t necessarily true for third-party sample
libraries that are already installed on your system, or data that you created yourself. Any item from
these sources will be initially represented with only the information that KONTAKT can deduce
from the file itself, such as its name or the Sample size. Luckily, it’s not hard to add more useful
metadata yourself. Of course, you don’t have to fill in all of the provided information aspects — you
can just specify those that you think will actually help you retrieve the objects from your collection
later on.
There are several different methods of assigning attributes to objects in your collection. All of
them require that the entries that you’d like to tag appear in the Results List, so you can either
browse the entire list for untagged items, or narrow it down to a specific group of objects first by
entering keywords into the search bar.
Once you’ve found one or more objects that you’d like to edit, click them to select them. Selecting
multiple items works just like in the File Browser: You can add individual objects to your selection
by [Ctrl]-clicking (Windows) or [Cmd]-clicking (Mac OS X) on them, or select a range of entries by
clicking on the first, then [Shift]-clicking on the last entry in the range.

Preparing to edit all sounds that match the "Hi Hat" search term.

Once you have selected the objects in question, click the Edit button below the Results List, or
right-click a list entry and choose Edit from the drop-down menu; this will switch the Database tab
into edit mode. The actual appearance of the edit page depends on whether you had only one or
multiple files selected.
In both cases, the top half of the tab will consist of an attribute selection table, which roughly
resembles the Attribute List of the standard search view. Here you can assign attributes to the
objects you selected.

Assigning attributes
 THE BROWSER 85

If you had selected multiple objects when you clicked Edit, there’ll be an Info entry in the first
column; it allows you to define the vendor, author or bank name of all items at once. The
respective list of attribute sets appears in the second column; select one and its attributes will
show up in the third column. As usual, the predefined Type attribute set will open in a two-column
view. If required, drag the horizontal scrollbar to move its subcategory column into view.
Those attributes that are currently assigned to the edited item(s) are indicated with a dot next to
their name.

Shades of grey dots next to attributes

Click a value to toggle the assignment; remember that you can assign more than one attribute
from a single attribute set at a time. If needed, repeat this process with the other predefined
attributes sets. The more information you specify, the easier it will be to retrieve the respective
item later on. If you’ve selected multiple items when you entered the edit mode, you may notice
that some dots appear in a darker shade; this means that the respective attribute is currently only
assigned to some, but not all, of the selected items. Clicking on it will assign the value to all items.
If you had only one object selected when you clicked Edit, the bottom half of the tab will consist of
an input mask with several text fields. Here you can enter free-text data such as the vendor or
sound bank or adjust, in the case of sampled phrases, the tempo value.

Editing a single object

Once you’re satisfied with the assignments and the data you entered, click the Save button at the
bottom of the tab to make the changes permanent. If you change your mind and prefer to discard
your changes, click Cancel. In both cases, you’ll be returned to the default search view of the
Database tab.
Let’s have a look at a typical example. Say you have a marimba Instrument on your hard disk that
you’d like to add some metadata to.
1. Make sure the Database tab of the Browser is set to its standard search view, and that only the
Instr button at its top is highlighted. This will narrow all searches down to Instruments.
2. Now, enter a part of the Instrument’s name, or possibly a part of the directory path it rests in,
into the input bar below the Attribute List. The Instrument should now show up in the Results
List, possibly among others. If you can’t find it, check whether the Instrument’s folder is
covered by the scan paths of the Database; this is explained in section 12.4.2.
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3. Select the Instrument in the Results List and click Edit. The tab will switch to edit mode.
4. In the upper pane, select Standard from the first column and Type from the second. Then
check Mallet Instruments in the third column and Marimba in the fourth to specify the
instrument type.
5. If you want, enter the vendor (the company or distributor of the Instrument) and the author
(the person who created it) into the respective text fields in the bottom pane.
6. Finally, click Save to make the changes permanent. From now on, the marimba will turn up
whenever you search for mallet instruments, products of that particular developer, and so on.
KONTAKT also provides an alternate way of assigning attributes to one or more items, which
doesn’t require you to enter edit mode. After you’ve selected the items in the Results List, just click
and drag them to the Attribute List above; it will temporarily switch to an unfiltered view where all
attributes show up, no matter whether they’ve been used in your collection or not. By dragging the
items on top of an attribute and releasing the mouse button, KONTAKT will tag all selected items
with this value. This method also works with user-defined attributes, as long as the attribute set in
which they appear is assigned to a column of the Attribute List.

16.4. Expert Tab

When you’re editing a complex Instrument with lots of Groups and Zones, it’s sometimes hard not
to get lost in the intricacies of KONTAKT’s editing facilities. The Browser’s Expert tab counteracts
this by providing a handy overview of various aspects of your currently edited Instrument. Similar
in nature to the Instrument Navigator pane, it shows a continually updated and searchable list of
all Groups and Zones in your Instrument. It allows you to quickly include and exclude Groups for
editing, and provides a context sensitive parameter view that shows the values of the parameter
you touched last across all Groups.

Expert tab, displaying all Groups of the Gongs Instrument.

At the top, you’ll notice a tool bar with five buttons, the first four of which will switch the Expert
view into the respective display mode:

Groups
This view provides a list of all Groups in your Instrument. It will only work in Instrument Edit mode.
The leftmost column indicates whether a Group is marked for editing — it corresponds to the
checkboxes next to the Group names in the Group Editor — and can be clicked on to toggle the
edit status of the respective Group.

The Group selection only affects commands that can be found in the "Edit" menu of
the Group Editor, and is thus different from the editing checkbox, which is being used
for changing parameters across multiple Groups.
 THE BROWSER 87

At the right side of the list, the Group IDs are displayed as a quick reference for KSP script editing.
Groups can be selected by clicking on their names; multiple selections work in the same way as
they do in the File Browser, i.e. [Shift]-clicking below or above a selected Group will select a range,
a [Ctrl]+click ([Cmd]+click on Mac OS X) will add Groups to the active selection; [Alt]+click will
select all currently visible Groups for editing.
You can rename Groups by double-clicking on their name and entering a new one.
Right-clicking on a Group will open a context menu with various Group-related actions; this is
identical to the Edit menu of the Group Editor.

The Group context menu

You can toggle a Quick-Search function by clicking on the button with the magnifying glass
symbol to the right side of the list header. This will show a text input box above the list; while it is
visible, the list will only show Groups whose names contain whatever you enter into this box.
You can hide (and, in consequence, deactivate) the Quick-Search feature by clicking the "X" button
on the right side of the search bar.

Zones
This view displays a list of all Zones that are contained in your Instrument across all Groups.
Otherwise, it works exactly like the Groups view, and includes the Quick-Search feature as well.
Double-clicking a Zone will open it in the Wave Editor.

Parameter
When you switch to this view and touch any knob, the Expert pane will show the values of the
respective parameter across all Groups in your currently edited Instrument, or, if you’re not in
Instrument Edit mode, across all Instruments in your Multi. This makes for a convenient way to
compare settings across Groups. You can also change parameter values directly within the list by
clicking on their value and moving the mouse vertically, just like you would do on the respective
knob.

Expert tab, displaying the values of EQ frequency parameters across multiple Groups.

Of course, parameters will only appear next to Groups that actually contain the edited parameter
as well. For instance, if you’re adjusting the Grain parameter of the Source Module — which is
unique to the Time Machine mode — all Groups that are not currently in Time Machine mode, and
therefore don’t know this parameter, will be indicated with NA in the Value column.
 THE BROWSER 88

Engine
This sub-tab displays an overview of various system resources, such as detailed memory and CPU
usage statistics. The information provided on this page is mainly intended for power users; when
you have a problem and get in contact with the Native Instruments support, they might ask you for
specific values from this page.

The Engine page provides an overview of the current status of KONTAKT’s audio engine.

The Restart Engine button allows you to force a reinitialization of KONTAKT’s audio engine in case
of CPU overruns.
If you’re using KONTAKT as a plug-in, there will be another button below labeled Offline (Bounce)
Mode. This is intended for hosts that don’t correctly advertise this mode to their plug-ins when
bouncing or freezing tracks. You can check if your host behaves correctly in this regard by
observing the state of the button when bouncing or freezing; if it turns orange, KONTAKT receives
the bounce signal from the sequencer. If it doesn’t and you experience crackles or drop-outs, you
can activate this button manually before bouncing or freezing.
CPU Profiling Mode: Switch to CPU Profiling mode in order to identify which parts of your
Instruments are currently consuming the largest share of processing power. Percentages are
shown in the instrument name as well as in the Source module in Edit mode and in the top parts
of all effects in the effect chains.

Use the bottom part of the effect icons to switch to different effect slots for editing
while in CPU Profiling mode.

• Instrument name: observe the Rack to identify most consuming Instruments first, then switch
to Edit mode.

• Source module: switch to a different HQI setting if CPU usage is too high. If you are using Time
Machine Pro, consider downgrading to the lighter Time Machine engines.
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• Group Inserts: Move memory-intensive effects without attached modulators to the Instrument
or Bus Inserts instead. Remember group effects are calculated per voice!

• Instrument Inserts / Bus Inserts / Sends: Move memory-intensive effects to the Outputs
section, inserts into the regular output channel, sends into the Aux channels.
Just like the File Browser, the Expert pane optionally provides an Instrument Navigator list. This
can be shown and hidden with the rightmost button of the Expert toolbar. For an in-depth
explanation of what this pane does, refer to Instrument Navigator Pane.

16.5. Automation Tab

When you need to control a parameter of an Instrument from outside KONTAKT, for example,
using a sequencer’s automation system or MIDI controller data generated by an external fader
box, you can easily pick and assign the appropriate automation source from the Automation tab of
the Browser.

The MIDI Automation page displays a list of assignable MIDI controllers at the top, and details of the selected assignment at its
bottom.
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At the top of the Automation tab, two buttons allow you to switch between the list of automation
sources that are provided by your host and MIDI controllers. Assigning a source to a parameter
works the same way in both lists, so the described concepts and process for working with MIDI
automation can be applied to the host automation workflow.
Assign automation by selecting a source from the list and dragging it onto a knob whose
parameter you want to automate. If you want to assign a fader of a keyboard or a MIDI controller,
but you are unsure which controller number is correct, just move the fader when the MIDI
automation list is visible and KONTAKT will flash a red dot next to the respective list entry when it
receives any MIDI controller data. This allows you to quickly spot and assign the appropriate
controller.

Multiple parameters can be assigned to the same automation source. This allows you
to control multiple aspects of your Instrument with a single controller, such as
increasing the brightness of an Instrument in combination with the loudness. Also
note that modulation wheels usually send MIDI Controller #1, while volume controls
send #7.

You can edit assignments and their parameters by selecting them in the list. If the selected item is
assigned to one or more parameters, these will show up in the list below. At the bottom of the
pane, you can adjust some parameters of the assignment that is selected in the lower list:

• From % / To %: Adjusts the range of the assigned parameter. By default, automation controllers
are mapped in a way that makes them cover the whole available range of the parameter. By
changing these values, you can alter the scaling of the assignment so that the automation
values are mapped to a limited range of the assigned parameter. This allows you to automate
the section of the parameter’s range with finer resolution.
• Soft Takeover: Avoids sudden parameter jumps that can happen if received automation data is
different from the current value of the assigned parameter. If you activate this button, the
assigned parameter will not be changed until an automation value is received that matches the
parameter’s current value. A typical example would be the assignment of an external fader to a
filter’s cutoff parameter; if the filter cutoff is currently set to 50% and you slowly move the fader
upwards, KONTAKT will softly pick it up as soon as it reaches its mid-point.
• Remove: Deletes the automation assignment selected in the lower list.

16.5.1. Assigning MIDI Controllers in the Browser

If you are unable to assign MIDI controllers as described in MIDI Learn, there is an alternative way:
1. Make sure at least one instrument is loaded and set to the MIDI port and channel of your
hardware controller.
2. Click the Automation tab in the Browser.
3. Select the MIDI Automation sub-tab.
4. Turn a knob or move a slider on your hardware controller.
5. In the Browser pane, you should see a flash next to the CC# that is used by your external
controller; in addition, the MIDI symbol in the Instrument header should flash.
6. If this does not work, open the Options dialog.
7. Select the MIDI tab.
8. Select Inputs. Check if your MIDI hardware is selected as input for the same port you have
assigned the instrument in question to.
 THE BROWSER 91

9. If the MIDI input is setup correctly, drag and drop the MIDI CC# you wish to use onto the
parameter you wish to control.

→ The MIDI Controller is assigned to the parameter.

MIDI controller reception in KONTAKT

16.5.2. Removing MIDI Controller Assignments

To remove an assignment made to a specific controller:
1. Click the Automation tab in the Browser.
2. Select the MIDI Automation sub-tab.
3. Find the MIDI control whose assignment you wish to remove, either by searching, or by
moving the control and seeing which number in the list is highlighted with the lightning bolt
symbol.
4. Select the control in the list and click the Remove button.

→ The MIDI controller assignment is removed.

 THE QUICK-LOAD CATALOG 92

17. The Quick-Load Catalog

The Quick-Load catalog is an organizational tool that helps you manage your Instruments, Banks,
and Multis. It is similar to the File Browser in that it provides access to a hierarchical directory
structure. However, the Quick-Load catalog allows you to freely define it's structure without
consideration for file paths, library relationships, or formats. This acts as a type of "virtual file
system", that exists in parallel to the actual file system on your hard disks. Use the Quick-Load
catalog to freely organize and index your files, without copying or moving them to different
locations.
The Quick-Load Browser appears below the Rack when you right-click inside the empty Rack
space below the Instrument Headers. Resize this pane by clicking and dragging the bar that
separates it from the Rack. When the Quick-Load Browser is visible, it will hide the On-Screen
Keyboard.

The Quick-Load Browser, displaying an exemplary directory structure.

1. Lock: Protects the Quick-Load file structure from being altered when dragging files and folders.
2. Catalog Type: Switches between the catalogs of Multis, Banks, and Instruments, respectively.
The contents of these catalogs are in no way related to each other, so independent directory
structures can be created for each of the three catalog types.
3. Close (x icon): Closes the Quick-Load Browser. Right-click inside the empty region of the Rack
to hide the Browser again. When the Quick-Load Browser is visible, the On-Screen Keyboard is
hidden.
4. Directory Area: Displays multiple layers of a directory tree in a horizontal arrangement of
columns. When a subdirectory in one column is selected, it's contents are displayed in the
column to the right, with each additional column opening another sub-layer of the directory
tree.

17.1. Building a Catalog

In order to organize any larger number of objects, you should begin by devising a directory
structure that’s consistent with your approach to locating Instruments, Banks and Multis. The
criteria you choose for this is entirely up to you; for instance, you could categorize your objects by
their instrument types, music genres or libraries. You could also combine these and sort your
collection by a coarse type category on the root level, then by the respective libraries on the levels
below that. Of course, it’s also possible to mix categories on the same level — since no actual files
will be touched when managing your collection via the Quick-Load Browser, you can easily put the
same object into more than one directory.
 THE QUICK-LOAD CATALOG 93

In case you’d like to keep your favorite Instruments in direct access at all times, you
can put these — in parallel to your normal categorization in the Quick-Load Browser —
into a “favorites” directory. As contents are always sorted alphabetically, though, this
directory will most likely appear amidst all others. To circumvent this, just prepend its
name with a special character, such as an asterisk (*); that way, it will always appear
at the top of the list.

Begin by right-clicking into the empty list inside the leftmost column and choose the command
Add New Folder from the context menu. A new directory entry will appear. Give it a meaningful
name and repeat these steps for every directory that you’d like to create on the root level. In order
to extend the directory structure with deeper levels, select one of the new entries and create more
subdirectories within the column next to it as described. That way, you can build a hierarchical
directory structure step by step. Of course, you can also extend a Quick-Load catalog that has
already been populated with content at any time. To rename a directory entry, double-click it or,
alternatively, right-click and choose Rename Folder from the context menu. If you want to delete a
directory and all of its sub-contents from your catalog, right-click its entry and select the Delete
from Quick Load command from the menu. Of course, no actual files will be deleted in this
process.
In order to fill your directories with content, just drag one or more files from the Browser into the
column of the directory in which you’d like to put them. It doesn’t matter if these originate from the
Files or Libraries tabs; you can even drag KONTAKT-relevant files directly from your operating
system’s file navigator into the Quick-Load Browser.

Dragging an object into the Quick-Load Browser

While you’re dragging your objects (with mouse button held down), you can still navigate through
the Quick-Load catalog in order to locate a specific directory. Just move your mouse pointer
across the directory entries that you’d like to switch to; the columns to the right of the current one
will adapt their contents accordingly.
In order to remove an object from a directory of the catalog, right-click its entry and choose Delete
from Quick Load from the context menu.

17.2. Loading Objects from the Catalog

During your work with KONTAKT, the Quick-Load catalog is just a mouse click away at all times,
and you can use it at any time to quickly locate and load Instruments, Banks or entire Multis. For
this, you can use the Quick-Load Browser itself or, alternatively, one of the Quick-Load menus that
replicate the structure of your catalogs as hierarchical drop-down menus. We’ll describe both
methods in this section.
 THE QUICK-LOAD CATALOG 94

To open the Quick-Load Browser, right-click the empty space inside the Rack. First, use the type
switches at the top to select the kind of objects that you’d like to access. Following the
instructions in the previous section, you can now navigate the respective catalog, going from left
to right, until you’ve found an entry that you’d like to load. If the object is an Instrument or a Bank,
you can add it to your Multi either by double-clicking on it, by dragging it into the empty space
inside the Rack, or by right-clicking on its entry and choosing Load from the context menu.
Alternatively, you can replace an existing object in your Multi by dragging its replacement onto the
respective header in the Rack or choosing its position from the submenu Load Into Slot, which
you can find in the context menu. Loading a Multi works in the same way, but in that case, you can
only choose between replacing or combining your current Multi with the new one.
An alternate method of accessing your catalogs is offered by way of the Quick-Load menus, which
you can find in different spots of the user interface, depending on whether you’d like to add a new
object to your Multi or replace an existing one. In the former case, click the button labeled Files in
the Main Control Panel and open the submenu New Instrument from List or New Instrument
Bank from List. It contains the entire structure of the respective catalog as a list of menu entries
and submenus, which you can traverse in the usual way.

Replacing an Instrument using the Quick-Load menu

The same menus appear when you click the small down arrows inside the name fields of the
Instrument, Bank, and Rack headers. In that case, the respective Instrument, Bank, or the entire
Multi will be replaced with the object that you select from the menu.
 THE OUTPUTS SECTION 95

18. The Outputs Section

KONTAKT's Outputs section provides a routing and mixing environment in the style of a traditional
mixing console. The output signals from all Instruments in the Rack are sent to this section, then
routed to the physical outputs of an audio interface or host software.
Use the Outputs section to create, delete, rename, and configure Output Channels, which act as
mono, stereo, or multichannel signal routing destinations for your Instruments. Rename and
configure Aux Channels, adjust the Output and Aux volumes, and monitor your output levels.
To display the Outputs section:
▶ Select the Outputs option in the Workspace menu.

→ The Outputs panel will appear in the lower half of the Rack space.
The Outputs section contains the following controls:

The Outputs section, displaying a stereo Output Channel strip and the four Aux Channel strips, left to right.

1. Add Channels (+ icon): Opens a dialog to create and configure new output channels. For more
information, see Working with Output Channels.
2. Delete Channel (- icon): Removes the currently selected channel from the Outputs section. To
select a channel, click its border.
3. Presets/Batch Configuration: Opens a dropdown menu containing options for saving,
resetting, or reconfiguring the Outputs section.
4. Show Inserts: Toggles the Insert slots display. If deactivated, the Insert slots are hidden and
the height of the panel is reduced in order to save screen space.
5. Channel Insert Slots: Contains slots for signal processing modules, which can be inserted
onto a channel to process its signal. The Insert slots are only visible if the Outputs panel is at
full size. For more information, see Working with Signal Processors.
6. Channel Strips: Displays the controls for the Output Channel strips, followed by four Aux
Channel strips. For more information, see Channel Strips.

18.1. Channel Strips

Output Channels and Aux Channels contain the following identical controls:
 THE OUTPUTS SECTION 96

• Channel Name: This name will be used throughout KONTAKT whenever it refers to this
channel. Change the name by clicking the text field and entering a new name.

• Channel Insert Slots: These slots host signal processing modules, which can be inserted onto
a channel to process its signal. The Insert slots are only visible if the Outputs panel is at full
size. For more information, see Working with Signal Processors.

• Channel Fader and Level Meter: The vertical fader adjusts the output gain of its respective
channel. The corresponding bar meter provides visual feedback on the signal level.

• Channel Configuration: This button opens a dialog window with options to configure the
channel's name, the number of audio channels it carries, and its physical output assignment.

18.2. Working with Output Channels

In KONTAKT, the output signal of each Instrument in the Multi can be routed to any Output
Channel that is defined in the Outputs section. Each of these Output Channels can be configured
to carry between 1 and 16 audio channels. When a note is played, the respective Instrument’s
output signal arrives at the assigned Output Channel, then passes through any channel Inserts,
the volume fader, and is finally sent to the the physical output defined in the channel’s
Configuration dialog. The bar-graph display next to the channel fader indicates the signal level at
the output.

The Master Volume control, located in the Master Editor, will affect the levels of all
Output and Aux Channels in the Outputs section. For more information, see The
Master Editor.

Output Configuration
The Output configuration must contain at least one channel. New Output Channels are configured
for stereo signals by default, and can be changed in the channel’s configuration dialog. New
Instruments will always be assigned to the leftmost channel in the Outputs section by default.
The Channel Configuration dialog contains the following elements:
 THE OUTPUTS SECTION 97

The Channel Configuration dialog

• Channel name: Displays the name of the channel. Rename a channel by clicking on the text
field and entering a name.
• Audiochannels: Adjusts the number of audio channels this channel will carry, up to a
maximum of 16. To change the number, click the field and drag your mouse up or down, or
double-click the value field and enter a number (1-16).
• Output Map: Displays all audio channels of this Output Channel along with their assigned
physical destinations, both output jacks on your audio interface or virtual connections to your
host. To change a physical output assignment, click its name and choose a new output from
the drop-down menu.
• Previous/Next (arrow icons): Moves to the settings of the previous or next channel of the
Outputs section, allowing you to quickly adjust the output configuration for all channels at
once.

18.3. Working with Aux Channels

The four Aux Channels in KONTAKT offer identical controls to the Output Channels, but receive
their signal from other places. While each Instrument routes its output signal to only one Output
Channel, you can additionally send this signal to one or multiple Aux Channels, at adjustable levels.
This allows you to easily create sub-mixes.
You can also use the Aux Channels as routing destinations for all Send Effects that appear in your
Instruments. This allows you to “tap” wet effect signals in order to process them independently
from the dry signals. How this kind of routing works is explained in Signal Processors in
KONTAKT.
Aside from this difference, Aux Channels work in exactly the same way as Output Channels; each
has its own channel strip in the Outputs section, can contain up to four insert signal processors,
and can be routed to specific physical outputs. In addition, the levels of all Aux Channels can be
adjusted globally with the Master Volume control located in the Master Editor.

18.4. Outputs in Host Mode

When using KONTAKT in stand-alone mode, physical outputs are also assigned within the Channel
Configuration dialog. The drop-down menu contains all outputs that are provided by the audio
interface selected in the Audio tab of the Options dialog. When using KONTAKT as a plug-in in
audio hosts, there are more details to consider as each host handles plug-ins with multiple
outputs differently.
 THE OUTPUTS SECTION 98

The maximum number of (mono) audio channels that can be assigned in host mode is limited to
64 for the VST/VST3 version of KONTAKT, and 16 for the AU and AAX versions.
Changes to output configuration cannot be made during operation. In consequence, when making
changes in the Outputs section, a dialog will appear asking to save and reload the song. First, go to
the Presets/Batch Configuration menu and select the appropriate option from the Save current
output section state as default for sub-menu.
Another caveat relates to the fact that the output configuration of each KONTAKT instance will be
saved along with your song; this can result in the rather unfortunate case of several loaded
KONTAKT instances with different output configurations. This can confuse your host and lead to
unexpected behavior, so when you’re working with KONTAKT as a plug-in, it is recommended that
you make all output configuration changes as default for that specific plug-in type.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 99

19. The Group Editor

Groups are perhaps the most prominent entity of a KONTAKT Instrument. In addition to providing
a way to combine and use a common signal path for any number of Zones in your Instrument,
Groups allow you to define conditions on which Zones will be played, adjust how the voice
allocation for the contained Zones will be handled, and provide a selection mechanism that lets
you change parameters in unison across groups. What’s more, you can export and import Groups
to and from your hard disk, which is the most convenient way to copy parts of one Instrument to
another.
Generally, when you create your own Instruments, you should find a consistent way to distribute
your Zones into Groups. This can be a common aspect of the Zones that serves as an attribute for
dividing them into categories; for instance, if you create a chromatically sampled Instrument with
four velocity layers, you could distribute the Zones on each layer across four Groups named “vel
0-31”, “vel 32-63”, “vel 64-95” and “vel 96-127”. This way, should you decide later that the highest
velocity layer needs some additional “sparkle” to cut through your mix, you can simply select the
respective Group for editing and add a EQ with a treble boost to its Group Insert Effects chain.
As another example, if you want to add release samples, you’ll need to move them into a separate
Group, as the required Release Trigger parameter always acts upon a whole Group.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of how the Group concept works, you’ll need a convenient way to
create, delete, access, name, and manage the Groups in your Instrument; this functionality is
provided by the Group Editor.
▶ When you’re in Instrument Edit mode, click the button labeled GroupEditor at the top of the
Instrument Edit view

→ The Group Editor will appear in the Rack.

The Group Editor, opened on an Instrument which contains 3 Groups. Only the “Bass” Group is currently selected both for display
and for editing.

The Group Editor is divided into four sections:

• At its top, a control header provides several buttons and drop-down menus.

• The largest amount of space is taken up by the Groups list below, which will display all Groups
in your Instruments as a scrollable list.
• At the bottom of the editor, you’ll find a row of several parameters that pertain to the
assignment of Voice Groups
• The Group Start Options button in the lower left corner will show or hide an additional set of
rows which contain the Group start conditions.
Let’s take a look at what each of these elements does.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 100

19.1. Control Header

This row of buttons and drop-down menus at the top of the Group Editor provides common utility
functions for easy Group management. The following sections will explain each of these elements,
from left to right, in detail.

The header of the Group Editor contains a number of options and utility functions.

19.1.1. Edit All Groups

If this button is activated, all parameters that you adjust on the Group level from that point on will
affect all Groups in the currently edited Instrument. This button is just a convenient shortcut for
checking all edit boxes in the Group list; the same function is also available via a button located in
the Rack header when you’re in Instrument Edit mode.
As an example, suppose you have three Groups with a modulation assignment for each, which
assigns an LFO to their pitch in order to create a vibrato effect. If you decide now that the vibrato
effect is a little too strong across all Groups, you don’t need to change the respective modulation
intensity in each Group. Just activate the Edit All Groups button and decrease the respective
Intensity parameter in one of the Groups; the respective parameters in all other Groups will change
with it.
We recommend that you always switch this feature off right after you’ve used it. If you leave it on
and make any adjustments to Group parameters later without keeping it in mind, you’ll potentially
destroy carefully tweaked parameter settings in other Groups.
You can find more information on how to change parameters across Groups in section Group List.

19.1.2. Group Selector

Next to the Edit All Groups button, you’ll notice a label that indicates the currently selected Group,
as well as the total number of Groups in your Instrument. Clicking on it opens a drop-down menu
that allows you to select another Group; clicking on the Group name that’s displayed in the Rack
header when you’re in Instrument Edit mode will do the same. In contrast to clicking on a name in
the Group list, however, this action won’t enable the selected Group for editing at the same time,
which makes it the preferred way of selecting Groups if you just want to check out their contents
without editing them.

19.1.3. Edit
This drop-down menu contains a number of utility functions, most of which act on all Groups that
are currently selected in the Group list. Note that this selection is different from enabling Groups
for editing; selected Groups will be indicated with a filled or hollow rectangle around their name in
the Group list, while Groups that are enabled for editing will be indicated with a checked box in
front of their name.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 101

The Edit menu contains editing commands that operate on the currently selected Group(s).

The Edit menu is also available as a right-click context menu both inside the Group Editor and the
Groups tab of the Monitor.
Let’s take a look at each function in this menu:

• Set Edit flag for selected groups(s): This option checks the Edit Flag for all Groups that are
currently selected in the Groups List. This allows you to check multiple Groups for editing
quickly, without using the EditAllGroups option, which only allows an all or one mode of editing
Groups.
• Delete selected group(s): Deletes any selected Groups. If any of the Groups still contain Zones,
they will be deleted as well; in such cases, you’ll be asked if you’re sure about this.
• Purge empty groups: Deletes all Groups that don’t contain any Zones.
• Copy selected group(s): Copies the selected Groups to the clipboard.
• Cut selected groups(s): Moves the selected Group and its Zones to the clipboard for later use,
removing the Group from the Group list in the process.

Using the cut, copy, and paste commands in the Group Editor, you can move and copy
Groups between Instruments. This even works across multiple KONTAKT instances
and sessions.

• Duplicate groups(s): Creates identical copies of the selected Groups.

• Paste group(s) with samples: Inserts the contents of the Group clipboard into the Group list,
leaving their Zones and referenced Sample information intact. Note that if you copied the
respective Group(s) beforehand, therefore creating duplicates by pasting them, the Zones will
be duplicated along with the Groups, so later changes to the Zone parameters in one Group
won’t affect the Zones of its copy.
• Paste group(s) w/o samples: Inserts the contents of the Group clipboard into the Group list,
omitting any Zones in the process. This way, you’ll get empty Groups that replicate the settings
of a previously copied or cut Group.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 102

• Export edited group: This function allows you to save the currently selected Group to an .nkg
file on your hard disk, which you can re-use in other Instruments. In contrast to other
commands that act on all selected Groups, this one doesn’t handle multiple selections; only the
currently displayed Group, which will be indicated in the Group list with a filled rectangle around
its name, will be saved. When you click this function, a pop-up dialog will ask you to specify a
location and name for the file. In addition, you can also choose between different ways of how
the referenced Samples in this Group should be handled:
• PatchOnly won’t save the Samples, but reference them at their original positions in the
Group file.

• Patch + Samples will save the Samples along with the Group file in a definable location

• Monolith will combine both Group data and its referenced Samples into one large file.

• Import Group: Load a Group in .nkg format and add it to your Instrument, along with all of its
contained Zones. This command also allows you to import BATTERY 3 Cells.

19.1.4. Group Solo

If this button is activated, all Groups except the currently selected one will be muted. This lets you
conveniently check out the contents of a Group when working with multiple Groups, whose Zones
may overlap.

19.1.5. Select by MIDI

If this button is enabled, you can select Groups by playing notes on your keyboard. When
KONTAKT receives a MIDI note, it checks all Groups for Zones that match its note number and
velocity, and selects any Groups that contain such Zones in the Group list. This makes for a very
intuitive way to quickly switch between Groups; suppose you’re working on a drum set with every
instrument being assigned to a separate Group. Instead of locating the bass drum Group within
the Group list and clicking on its name, you just play a bass drum note on your keyboard, and the
corresponding Group will be automatically selected.

19.2. Group List

This pane displays a list of all Groups in your currently edited Instrument. If the number of Groups
won’t fit into the window, a scroll bar will appear on its right side. Here you can select Groups and
enable them for editing.
In order to select a Group for viewing, just click its name; it will be highlighted with a filled
rectangle, and all currently visible controls on the Group level will now show the parameters of this
Group. Any command you select from the Edit menu of the Group Editor will now operate on this
Group only. Double-clicking an entry allows you to change its name.
While only one Group can be displayed at any time (which will always be indicated with a filled
rectangle in the Group list), you can select multiple Groups by holding the [Ctrl] key ([Cmd] on OS X)
while clicking on separate Groups to add them to your selection, or holding the [Shift] key while
clicking on a second entry to include all Groups between the first and the last one in your
selection. This selection affects only upon which Groups the commands in the Edit menus will act;
to find out how to change parameters across multiple Groups, read on.
You will notice a small check box next to each Group name in the Group list, which will always be
enabled on the list entry on which you clicked last.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 103

The check box next to a Group name indicates whether this Group is selected for editing.

It indicates whether the parameters of the respective Group will be changed along when you do
any adjustments. In other words, when you enable the check boxes next to multiple Groups and
then move any controls of the currently displayed Group (such as the Volume or Pan knob of the
Amplifier Module), the parameters of the other Groups will be affected as well.
This transfer happens in an absolute fashion; settings in the other Groups will simply be replaced
with the new ones. This can easily result in unintentional changes to parameters in other Groups
than the currently visible one, so be sure to check whether other Groups are currently enabled for
editing before you do any adjustments on Group level modules. This is made easier by a text
indicator in the Rack header: as long as you’re in Instrument Edit mode, it will indicate how many
and which Groups are currently enabled for editing.
Note that the Expert tab in the Browser offers you alternate views for the functions described in
this section. These can greatly simplify managing Groups and changing parameters across
Groups; depending on your preference, you might want to use them instead of the Group list for
some operations. The Expert tab is described in detail in section Expert Tab.

19.3. Voice Groups

The concept of Voice Groups allows you to fine-tune the way in which KONTAKT allocates audio
voices to Groups. Please don’t confuse Voice Groups with Groups; in spite of the similar names,
they’re entirely different concepts. To understand Voice Groups, let’s begin with an example.
A typical sampler program of a drum set contains at least one sample of a closed hi-hat and one
of an opened hi-hat. As the ringing sound of an opened hi-hat will be immediately cut off when the
drummer closes it, we can conclude that these sounds never occur at the same time; therefore,
we could simulate this behavior by limiting the maximum voice count of the hi-hat to one. As each
played Sample will take one voice, and the last played Sample will have priority over any Samples
that were triggered before by default, playing the closed hi-hat Sample will cut a still ringing open
hi-hat Sample off.
How can we accomplish this? You can adjust the maximum number of voices to be used for an
Instrument in the Instrument Header, but this would restrict all other parts of the drum kit to one
voice as well. A more practical way would be to make use of the Voice Group concept: it allows
you to create a voice allocation setting and apply it to any number of Groups in your Instrument.
In contrast to Groups, you don’t have to create or manage Voice Groups; instead, 128 of them are
pre-defined in every Instrument. By default, Groups are not assigned to any Voice Group, which
means they will share the pool of voices as defined in the Instrument Header with all other Groups.
By assigning some of your Groups to one of the 128 Voice Groups and adjusting this Voice
Group’s parameters, you can define a new set of voice allocation rules for these Groups. For
instance, you could solve the hi-hat problem by assigning the closed and open hi-hat Groups to
Voice Group 1, then set the voice count of this Voice Group to one. There are more parameters to a
Voice Group than its maximum voice count; these will be explained later.
The 128 Voice Groups can be assigned and edited in the strip below the Group list of the Group
Editor. Selecting a Voice Group from the drop-down menu at its left will assign all currently
selected Groups to this Voice Group, and display its parameters in the fields to the right.

The row of parameters below the Group list allows you to assign and adjust Voice Groups.

Here’s a run-down of these parameters, from left to right:

 THE GROUP EDITOR 104

• Voices: Adjusts the maximum number of voices that can be used by the Groups in this Voice
Group. If a Sample is triggered and the maximum voice count has already been reached, voices
of Samples that would otherwise still sound will be “sacrificed” and recycled.
• Mode: This setting decides which of the currently allocated voices will be sacrificed and
recycled if a newly triggered Sample would otherwise exceed the maximum voice count for this
Voice Group:
• Kill Any: Let KONTAKT decide what to do.

• Kill Oldest: The oldest, still playing Sample will be cut off.

• Kill Newest: The most recently triggered Sample will be cut off.

• Kill Highest: The note with the highest pitch will be cut off.

• Kill Lowest: The note with the lowest pitch will be cut off.

• Pref.Rel: If this button is activated and the Voice Group runs out of voices, KONTAKT will give
already released notes a higher priority when it decides which voices to keep.
• FadeTime: Adjusts how long a sacrificed voice will fade out before it disappears. The fadeout
length is specified in milliseconds. This may cause the overall number of voices to temporarily
exceed the maximum value.
• Excl.Grp: This drop-down menu allows you to assign the current Voice Group to one of 16
Exclusive Groups. Assigning two or more Voice Groups to the same Exclusive Group will cause
Samples from one Voice Group to cut off all still-sounding Samples from the other Voice
Groups assigned to the Exclusive Group. When you re-consider our hi-hat example, you’ll notice
that an alternative solution would be keeping the samples in separate Groups and assigning
them to the same Exclusive Group. This has the added benefit that you can edit the Group-level
signal processing of both samples separately.

19.4. Group Start Options

By default, each Zone in a Group will always play its assigned Sample when a note is received that
matches its keyboard and velocity range. However, there are applications that demand for more
control about when the Zones in a Group will come active. Some examples include:

• When you sample an acoustic Instrument, you might want to provide multiple, slightly different
Samples for each note and velocity range, then have KONTAKT cycle between them in a round-
robin fashion when note repetitions are played; this eliminates the dreaded “machine gun
effect”, which is a giveaway of sampled instruments. For this, you need a way to make each
Group wait for its turn before it sounds.
• With the advent of large, modern sample libraries, it has become customary to let the user
switch between different articulations with keys on his master keyboard that are unused by the
Instrument’s Zones; these so-called keyswitches require a way to make Groups only come
active when their respective keyswitch was the last received one.
• You might want to switch between Groups depending on the value of a MIDI controller; for
instance, lots of modern piano libraries use separate sample sets for notes which are played
with the sustain pedal depressed and released.
The Group Start Options allow you to define a range of conditions that have to be met before the
respective Group will become active and can output any sound. The list of these conditions is
hidden from the Group Editor view by default; you can show it by clicking on the Group Start
Options button in the lower left corner of the Group Editor.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 105

Multiple Group start conditions, combined with “and” operators. This means that all specified conditions must be met before the
Group becomes active.

Each row of this list has a drop-down menu at its left side.
▶ To add a condition to the list, select its general type from this menu.
To the right of the menu, KONTAKT will then show the respective parameters that belong to the
respective condition along with explanatory labels, as well as an operator drop-down menu that
logically combines this entry with the next one.
The Group Start Options list includes the following types of conditions:

• Always: This is a no-operation value. If it’s is the only value in the list, the selected Group will
always be active. In lists with more than one row, this value serves as a marker for the last row
in the list, as well as an entry that deletes rows from the list when you choose it.
• Start on Key: This condition lets you define keyswitches. A Group with this condition will be
disabled until a trigger note within the defined range is received; it will be disabled again when
another Group in your Instrument with a Start on Key condition will come active, so that you
can switch between Groups with single key strokes.
• Start on Controller: The Group will come active when KONTAKT receives a MIDI controller
within a specific range. It will be deactivated again when a controller value outside the range is
received.
• Cycle Round Robin: All Groups that have this condition in their Group Start Options will be
cycled in a round-robin fashion on each note. Among other things, you can use this feature to
add realistic variations to note repetitions, or automatically alternate between left and right
strokes on percussion instruments.
• Cycle Random: Like Cycle Round Robin, but notes will be cycled randomly instead of
sequentially.
• Slice Trigger: This option was used by slice Groups in KONTAKT 2. It is provided for backwards
compatibility and should not be used explicitly.
By adding multiple conditions to the list and connecting them with the logical operators you’ll find
in the drop-down menu at the right side, you can create very complex combinations of conditions.
Note that the last entry of the list (which will be an always condition) won’t be taken into account
when your list contains at least another condition entry.

19.5. The Mapping Editor

Samples, which are essentially audio files by another name, are made playable in KONTAKT by
creating Zones that reference these files. A Zone is a kind of container that holds information in
order to tell KONTAKT which Sample to play when a specific note is received. A Zone needs to
specify a range of note and velocity values that it should respond to. In addition, a Zone can
contain other values, like volume, pan, and tune adjustments.
All of the facilities required to specify the parameters of a Zone (and a few more) are provided in
the Mapping Editor.
▶ Click on the Mapping Editor button just below the Instrument Header to toggle the Mapping
Editor view on and off.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 106

The Mapping Editor, displaying the Zones of an Instrument which contains 3-layer velocity switches throughout its playable range.

The Mapping Editor consists of three parts:

• At the top, a control strip with two rows of buttons and menus provides access to a number of
utility functions that operate on your selected Zones.
• A status line displays the parameters of the currently selected Zone and allows you to change
it.
• The largest space is taken up by the Zone grid, a two-dimensional panel with a keyboard at its
bottom. It displays and lets you change the key range (horizontal axis) and velocity range
(vertical axis) of each Zone in an intuitive, graphical way. Scroll bars at the right and lower
border allow you to move the view around, as well as zoom vertically and horizontally by
clicking the “-” and “+” buttons; the “-” and “+” keys on the number pad of your keyboard will do
the same. Alternatively, you can quickly zoom into a specific region by holding the Alt key while
clicking and dragging the mouse on the grid; this will open a “rubber band” selection frame,
which will fill up the whole view with its selected area when you release the mouse button. To
zoom out again, just click somewhere on the grid while holding the Alt key. When you play a
note on your MIDI keyboard, a small red marker should appear above the corresponding key of
the on-screen keyboard, with higher velocities being indicated with a higher position in the grid.

19.5.1. Mapping Samples Manually

You can manually create Zones by dragging one or multiple Samples from the Browser or your
desktop into the Zone grid of the Mapping Editor. While dragging, a highlighted region will tell you
where KONTAKT would place the Zone(s) on the keyboard. When you release the mouse button,
the Zones will be created; if you change your mind and don’t want to add new Zones, just move
your mouse outside the Mapping Editor and release the button.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 107

While you keep your mouse button depressed, KONTAKT will highlight the pattern in which it would map new Zones to the
keyboard.

The way KONTAKT will distribute the new Zone(s) depends on your mouse position and whether
you’re dragging one or multiple Samples:

• Dragging a single Sample into the Zone grid will create a Zone that spans the entire velocity
range, and will be placed on one or several adjacent keys. When you move the mouse all the
way to the bottom of the grid, the Zone will be assigned to a single key; moving the mouse
upwards will gradually enlarge the keyboard range of the Zone, until it spans the entire
keyboard when you’re at the top of the grid.

• Dragging multiple Samples into the Zone grid will create a corresponding number of adjacent,
non-overlapping Zones, starting with the key at your horizontal mouse position. Just like when
you drag single Samples, the vertical mouse position will adjust the size of each Zone’s key
range. When you move your mouse all the way to the top of the grid, all Samples will be layered
in overlapping Zones that span the whole key range.

• Dragging multiple Samples onto a key of the keyboard below the grid will create a
corresponding number of Zones that evenly divide the velocity range on that key. This makes
for a convenient way to quickly create velocity switches.
Note that when you drag multiple samples from the Browser into the Mapping Editor, the sort
order in which they appeared in the Browser will also determine the order in which the
corresponding Zones will be placed. For instance, if you’d like to create an eight-way velocity
switch out of samples named “Piano-C3-1.wav” through “Piano-C3-8.wav”, you should make sure
that the Samples list in the Browser is sorted by name in ascending order before you select and
drag the Samples into the Mapping Editor.
In addition to Samples, you can also drag one or multiple sliced loops into the Mapping Editor to
place them on the keyboard. In this case, the newly created Zones won’t belong to the currently
selected Group; instead, a new Group will be created for each Loop with its Source Module set to
Beat Machine mode.

19.5.2. Mapping Samples Automatically

Placing Zones manually by dragging Samples from the Browser into the Zone grid works well if
your Instrument won’t contain a lot of Zones, or if your Samples are conveniently named in a way
that makes it possible to pre-sort them in the Browser before you create Zones out of them. But
what if the samples of your violin set are not named “Violin-1.wav” through “Violin-14.wav”, but
instead “Violin-G2-A2” through “Violin-A#5-C6”? There’s no way to get the Browser to sort them in
any meaningful way.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 108

For scenarios like this, the Mapping Editor includes an Auto-Mapping feature. It consists of a
customizable filename scanner that first attempts to determine which parts of your Sample’s
filenames could contain valuable information, then lets you assign to which Zone parameters
these parts should be mapped.
To use the Auto-Mapping feature, you’ll have to create Zones out of your Samples first by dragging
them into the Mapping Editor as described above. While doing this, you won’t have to care about
aspects that can be derived from the Sample filenames later. For instance, if your filenames
contain the key range, you don’t need to place the Zones anywhere particular; they will be moved
to their correct destinations by the Auto-Mapping feature anyway.
In the next step, mark all Zones in the Mapping Editor upon which you want the Auto-Mapping
feature to act. You can select multiple Zones either by holding the [Shift] key while clicking on
them, or by clicking on the grid background and dragging the mouse to open a “rubber band”
selection frame. When all Zones you want to process are selected, open the Edit drop-down menu
at the top of the Mapping Editor and choose Auto Map — Setup. A dialog window will appear that
displays the result of the filename scanning process.

The Auto Mapping dialog, displaying a filename that has been split up into four tokens.

At the top of this dialog, you can see which filename has been used to determine where the
interesting parts of the filename could be. These so-called “tokens” are any strings that appear in
the filename and are separated from each other with non-alphanumeric characters like spaces,
dashes, or underscores. Below, the filename is displayed again, this time split up into its
determined tokens, with a drop-down menu below each of them. These menus allow you to
specify for each token whether it shall be ignored or used to derive any Zone information. For
example, if your Samples are named similar to “Trumpet-f-C1-D#1.wav”, with the “f” indicating the
dynamic layer and the notes representing the low and high endpoints of the key range, you can
leave the drop-down menu of the first token (“Trumpet”) at its Ignore Me entry, while setting the
menus of the second, third and fourth tokens (“f”, “C1” and “D#1”) to Make Group Name, Make Low
Key, Make High Key and Set to Single Key respectively.

Tokens marked “Ignore me” won’t be used for any automatic Zone adjustment.

Of course, this applies only if you want to separate multiple dynamic layers into Groups, otherwise
you can leave the second menu set to Ignore Me as well.
When you enable the Read root key from sample metadata if possible option at the bottom of the
dialog, KONTAKT will read and use the root key information that’s embedded in some WAV and
AIFF files, if available, instead of trying to get it from the filename. Once the settings accurately
reflect the information contained in your filenames, click the Close button at the bottom of the
dialog.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 109

Now, with the Zones still selected, choose the Auto map selected command from the Edit menu
at the top of the Mapping Editor, or use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + T ([Cmd] + T on Mac OS X). If
you correctly identified all filename tokens in the previous step, KONTAKT will now automatically
arrange and place the Zones according to the information it gets from the filenames of their
referenced Samples.

19.5.3. Managing Zones

Once you’ve created Zones for your Samples, you can take care of adjusting their parameters to
your needs. Each Zone carries the following parameters with it:

• K.Range: This is the range of notes on your keyboard to which the Zone will respond. For
instance, a keyboard range of “C3–D#3” tells KONTAKT that the respective Zone shall be
played when a C3, C#3, D3, or D#3 note is received. If a Zone is being assigned to a single key
(as it’s the case with chromatically sampled Instruments), the keyboard range will look similar
to “C3–C3”.
• Velocity: The values here specify the lowest and highest velocity values the Zone will respond.
A Zone that will be triggered regardless of the velocity will have a velocity range of “0–127”.
• Root: This is the pitch at which the sample was originally recorded. When the Zone is being
played at this key, no transposition will take place. Note that an incorrect root key value will
result in a transposition offset of the whole Zone, as KONTAKT will transpose Zones based on
the distance between their root key and the actual received note. Also, for any transposition to
occur at all, the Tracking parameter of the respective Group’s Source Module needs to be
enabled.
• Volume: This parameter lets you specify a volume offset for each Zone. The default volume
setting of all Zones is 0 dB.
• Pan: This parameter allows you to place each Zone independently within the stereo panorama.
• Tune: This parameter lets you change the tuning of a Zone within a range of +/- 36 semitones.
Note that the last three parameters are mainly intended for a non-destructive correction of
Samples which deviate in volume, panorama position, or tuning. They work in combination with
the identically named parameters of the Source and Amplifier modules. If you want to modulate
these parameters on a per-Zone basis, read about Zone Envelopes in section Zone Envelopes.

Editing Parameters in the Status Bar

In order to view and change the parameters of a Zone, first select it in the Zone grid of the
Mapping Editor by clicking on it. All parameters of the currently selected Zone will now be
displayed in the status bar above the Zone grid. You can change a parameter by clicking on its
value and dragging your mouse upwards or downwards. While this is the only way to change the
volume, pan and tune parameters of a Zone, there are several alternate ways to adjust its
keyboard range, velocity range, or root key.

Editing Parameters Graphically

You can change the keyboard and velocity range of a Zone, as well as its root key, graphically
within the Zone grid of the Mapping Editor:

• Clicking into a Zone and moving the mouse horizontally will move the whole Zone across the
keyboard. Using the left and right cursor keys while holding [Ctrl] ([Cmd] on Mac OS X) will
move the currently selected Zone(s) across the keyboard.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 110

• Clicking on the left or right border of a Zone (the mouse cursor will change when it’s right on
the border) and dragging it horizontally, thereby changing the horizontal size of the Zone, will
change that Zone’s keyboard range. Using the left and right cursor keys while holding [Shift]
and [Ctrl] ([Cmd] on Mac OS X) will adjust the high key limit of the selected Zone’s key range.

• Clicking on the upper or lower border of a Zone and dragging it vertically will change this
Zone’s velocity range. Using the up and down cursor keys while holding [Ctrl] ([Cmd] on Mac
OS X) will move the velocity range of the currently selected Zone(s) by two velocity steps;
holding [Shift] and [Ctrl] will change their upper velocity limits.

• Clicking on the yellow key on the keyboard below the Zone grid and dragging it horizontally will
change the Zone’s root key.

• [Ctrl]-clicking and dragging while your mouse is on the left or right border of a Zone will create a
Zone crossfade. This function will be explained below.

• Alt-clicking and dragging will open a “rubber band” zoom frame; when you release the mouse
button, the contents inside the selection frame will zoom in to fill the whole pane. To zoom out
again, just Alt-click somewhere on the grid.
You can select multiple Zones by clicking on them while holding the [Shift] key, or clicking on an
empty space of the grid and dragging the mouse to open a “rubber band” selection (when you hold
[Shift], you can open the selection frame at any point, also on Zones).

If multiple Zones overlap and you can’t reach one that’s hidden behind another, try
holding the [Ctrl] key ([Cmd] on Mac OS X) while clicking inside them repeatedly; this
will cycle through all Zones you’re pointing at.

By using the cursor keys while holding [Shift], you can add adjacent Zones to your current
selection. This way, you can use the described methods to move or modify the Zones in unison;
the status bar, however, will only show values that are identical across all selected Zones when
multiple Zones are selected.

Editing Parameters via MIDI

A third alternative that lets you change the keyboard and velocity ranges of a Zone in an intuitive
way is using your MIDI keyboard. After you’ve selected a Zone in the Zone grid of the Mapping
Editor, enable one of the buttons depicted with a small MIDI jack and a double arrow in the control
strip, or both.

Enabling MIDI Mapping

The button with a horizontal arrow lets you change the keyboard range, the one with a vertical
arrow lets you change the velocity range.
When these are active, play two keys on your keyboard; it doesn’t matter whether you play them at
the same time or in succession. Depending which of the two buttons you have enabled, KONTAKT
will use the note numbers and the velocity of both notes as endpoints for the Zone’s new keyboard
and/or velocity range.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 111

19.5.4. Control Strip

The control strip is located at the top of the Mapping Editor and consists of two rows of controls.
This is where you can find most utility functions for managing and editing your Zones.

The Control Strip of the Mapping Editor provides a number of options and utility functions.

Let’s take a look at the elements of the control strip:

Edit menu: This button opens a drop-down menu with utility functions that operate on all currently
selected Zones, such as clipboard operations, functions for assigning Zones to Groups, and batch
processes. You can find a thorough explanation of all entries in this menu in the next section of
this chapter.
List View: This button switches the Zone grid to an alternate view mode that displays all Groups
and their contained Zones in a hierarchical list structure at the left side.

When you’re in list view, you can expand or collapse all Groups at once by holding
[Shift] when you click an expand/collapse button.

This mode is especially handy when you’re working with lots of Zones that overlap in large areas,
as Zones that are hidden behind others can be difficult to select and edit in the normal, flat view.
The downside of the list view is that it doesn’t convey any information about the velocity ranges;
the only way to modify these is by editing them numerically in the status bar after you have
selected a Zone. Just like the default view, the list view can be moved around with the scrollbars
and zoomed with either the zoom buttons or by clicking and dragging a “rubber band” zoom frame
while holding the Alt key.
Select Zone via Midi: If this button is enabled, any incoming MIDI note will automatically select
any Zone(s) that match its note number and velocity. The function works similarly to the Select by
MIDI feature of the Group Editor.
Auto-Spread Zone Key Ranges: This function automatically fills “holes” in your key mapping by
successively extending the key range of each selected Zone to both sides until it “touches” its
neighbors. The algorithm ignores the root keys of the selected Zones; it simply uses the current
key range as a starting point for extension. If you want the root keys to be accounted for, use the
Auto-Spread Key Ranges via Root Key function instead. The Auto-Spread Zone Key Ranges
function is also available in the Edit menu.
Auto-SpreadVelocity Ranges: This function works similarly to Auto-Spread Zone Key Ranges, but
operates on the velocity range of each selected Zone instead of the key range. This function is
also available in the Edit menu.
Auto-Map Selected: When you click the Auto button, the Auto-Mapping feature will change the
parameters and placement of each selected Zone according to information it has derived from its
Sample’s filename. This function is also available in the Edit menu. The Auto-Mapping feature is
explained in detail in the previous section of this chapter.
Auto-Spread Key Ranges via Root Key (Root): This function works similarly to the Auto-Spread
Zone Key Ranges command; however, it aims for the smallest possible maximum transposition
that can occur in each Zone by accounting for the root keys and trying to keep them in the center
of their respective Zone. This function is also available in the Edit menu.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 112

Resolve Overlapping Key Ranges: This function eliminates key range overlaps between the
selected Zones by successively shrinking the key range of each Zone until it doesn’t overlap its
neighbor anymore. It aims for optimal utilization of root keys (and consequently, the smallest
possible amount of transposition). This function is also available in the Edit menu and via the
keyboard shortcut [Ctrl]-R ([Cmd]-R on Mac OS X).
Resolve Overlapping Velocity Ranges: This function works similarly to the Resolve Overlapping
Key Ranges command, but operates on the velocity ranges of the selected Zones. It’s also
available in the Edit menu and via the keyboard shortcut [Shift] + [Ctrl] + [R] ([Shift] + [Cmd] + [R] on
Mac OS X).
Set Key Range via MIDI: If this button is enabled and a Zone is selected, KONTAKT will use the
next two incoming MIDI notes as the endpoints of a new key range for the selected Zone. This
function is described in the previous section.
Set Velocity Range via MIDI: If this button is enabled and a Zone is selected, KONTAKT will use
the velocities of the next two incoming MIDI notes as the endpoints of a new velocity range for the
selected Zone. This function is described in the previous section.
Lock Zones: When this button is enabled, the key and velocity ranges of all Zones will be protected
from being changed graphically inside the Zone grid. This can be handy when you’re doing editing
tasks that require you to switch between Zones a lot, and want to avoid accidentally moving one of
them or changing its key or velocity ranges.
Solo Zone: This button will mute all Zones in your Instrument except of the currently selected
one(s). Once activated, the solo function will follow your selection, so you can quickly check out
the contents of specific Zones acoustically.
Select. Groups Only: When this button is activated, the Mapping Editor will only show Zones that
belong to the currently selected Group. To help you keep the overview, other Zones will be
displayed dimly in the background, but won’t be able for selection or editing.
AutoSel. Grp: When this button is enabled, the Group selection will follow your Zone selection. In
other words, selecting a Zone will automatically select the respective Group to which it belongs in
the Group Editor.
Sample Field: This text field displays the filename of the Sample that’s assigned to the currently
selected Zone. When you hover the mouse pointer over this field, KONTAKT will additionally
display the full path to the Sample file. Using the arrow buttons on the right side of the field, you
can assign a new Sample to the selected Zone; the buttons will switch to the previous or next
Sample within the folder of the current one.

19.5.5. Edit Menu

This drop-down menu contains utility functions that operate on your currently selected Zones. In
addition to clipboard commands and functions that allow you to re-assign Zones to different
Groups, it also contains a range of batch functions that are designed to operate on multiple Zones,
commands for controlling the Authentic Expression Technology (as described in section AET
Filter), and some options that affect the display and editing behavior of the Mapping Editor. Let’s
have a look at what you can find in the Edit menu, from top to bottom:

• Cut zone(s): Moves the selected Zones to the clipboard for later use, removing them from the
Zone grid in the process. Using the clipboard, you can move Zones from one Instrument to
another, even across different KONTAKT instances.
• Copy zone(s): Copies the selected Zones to the clipboard.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 113

• Duplicate zone(s): Creates identical copies of the selected Zones. These copies will be placed
on top of the originals and will be selected after the process, so you can move them to a
different place right away if you wish. The keyboard shortcut for this function is [Ctrl]-D ([Cmd]-
D on Mac OS X).

• Paste zone(s): Inserts the contents of the Zone clipboard into the Mapping Editor. The Zones
will appear in the same place they were cut or copied from.

• Delete zone(s): Removes the selected Zones from the Mapping Editor.

• ExchangeSample: Opens a file chooser dialog that lets you assign a new Sample to the
selected Zone. This operation will keep the other Zone parameters, such as key and velocity
ranges, intact.

• Select all zones: Selects all Zones in your Instrument, including those in other Groups than the
currently selected one, even if the Select. Groups Only button is enabled.

• Deselect all zones: Clears all active Zone selections, if any.

• Move zone(s) to new empty group: Creates a new Group with default settings and re-assigns
all currently selected Zones to it. Use this function if you want to separate a number of Zones
from your current Group and use them to build a new Group from scratch.

• Move zone(s) to new clone group: Creates a new Group that replicates the settings of the
Group to which the first selected Zone is assigned, then re-assigns all currently selected Zones
to it. This process won’t change the functionality of your Instrument, as the new Group will
behave exactly as the old one did; however, it allows you to change parameters of the new
Group separately from the original Group.

• Move to Existing Group: This entry opens a sub-menu that contains a list of all Groups in your
current Instrument; by selecting one of them, all currently selected Zones will be moved to this
Group.

• Move each zone to its own group (empty): This function works similarly to the Move zone(s)
to new empty group command, but instead of creating a single Group and moving all selected
Zones into it, it will create a separate, empty Group for each Zone.

• Move each zone to its own group (clone): This function works similarly to the Move zone(s) to
new clone group command, but will create a separate Group for each Zone, which replicates
the settings of the original Group.

• Batch tools: This entry opens a sub-menu with utility functions designed to operate on multiple
Zones. Its contents will be described in the next section of this chapter.

• Create AET morph layer: Opens a dialog that lets you analyze the Samples of the selected
Zones and save them to a new Morph Layer. These layers constitute the basic building blocks
of the Authentic Expression Technology introduced in KONTAKT 4. Please refer to section AET
Filter for a thorough description of AET.

• Open AET morph map editor: Opens a dialog that lets you combine one or more Morph Layers
into a Morph Map.

• Auto add AET velocity morph: This is a convenient function that carries out all necessary
steps of building a standard velocity morph across the selected Zones for you. Please refer to
section Creating a Velocity Morph to find out how to use this feature.
The following seven entries are options that affect the operation of the Mapping Editor. You can
toggle them by choosing them from the menu; if an option is currently active, this is indicated with
a small diamond icon next to it.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 114

• Auto move root key: When enabled, moving a Zone will move its root key along with it. This
way, the pitch of the Zone will stay the same when it’s being moved.
• Show sample names: If enabled, the filenames of the assigned Samples will be displayed
within the rectangles that represent each Zone in the Zone grid. Note that the name will be
hidden when a Zone rectangle is too small; if you’d still like to see it, try zooming in until the
name appears.
• Map mode: These five settings affect how the Mapping Editor will behave when you drag
multiple Samples from the Browser into the Zone grid:
• Chromatic: This is the default setting. The Mapping Editor will create adjacent Zones
across both black and white keys, with the vertical mouse position adjusting the size of
each Zone.
• White Keys Only: New Zones will be assigned to single, adjacent white keys.
• Black Keys Only: New Zones will be assigned to single, adjacent black keys.
• Snap to White Keys: This mode works similarly to Chromatic, but the Mapping Editor will
place the low key of each Zone on a white key.
• Snap to Black Keys: The low key of each Zone will be placed on a black key.
Auto map – Setup: Opens the setup dialog that lets you identify the tokens of Sample filenames
for later Auto-Mapping. The Auto-Mapping feature is described in detail in section Mapping
Samples Automatically.
Auto map functions: Contains a number of entries that replicate the functions of the
corresponding buttons which you can find in the control strip; they are explained in detail in the
previous section of this chapter.

19.5.6. Batch Tools

You can find these tools in the Batch Tools submenu of the Edit menu. In addition to functions
that place root keys in relation to the respective Zone borders, the menu includes several utility
operations that let you create crossfades between Zones, which needs a brief introduction.
When you create Sample sets of tonal instruments that don’t include a Sample for each note, the
notes that haven’t been sampled need to derive their signal from the Samples of nearby notes.
This is usually done by transposing these “native” Samples upwards or downwards. This method
has a downside — the necessary re-sampling process can “skew” the sound character of your
instrument, especially when transposition over a wider note range is required. Consequentially, this
means that two consecutive notes on a scale which happen to cross the “border” between two
Zones, and thus are both transposed versions of different Samples, can sound dissimilar.
The same problem can arise with velocity switched Sample sets; suppose you’re using four
Samples per note, each assigned to one of four equally large velocity ranges. Especially when
you’re sampling an acoustic instrument, it can easily happen that two consecutive notes with only
marginally different velocity values still happen to fall into two different velocity ranges, thus
resulting in noticeably different timbres.
Crossfades provide a way to counteract these effects. The basic idea is that overlapping your
Zones and creating a crossfade between them, thus making them blend into each other within the
overlapping parts, will mask the difference in sound for notes that fall “between” them.
 THE GROUP EDITOR 115

Crossfades are being depicted with colored gradients.

Consider this example: You’re sampling an instrument in minor thirds and have just sampled D
and F. You create two Zones out of the Samples and extend them a major second to both sides.
Now, Zone 1 covers the key range between C and E, with its root key being D. Zone 2 has its root
key on F and covers the key range between D# and G. Notice that the Zones overlap on D# and E,
where both will be transposed. Now you create a key crossfade on both Zones; as a result, D# and
E notes will play a blend of both Zones, with the D Zone’s Sample being predominant on D# notes,
and the F Zone’s Sample being predominant on E notes. Of course, this method works just as well
with larger sampling intervals. Just make sure that your Zones overlap in ranges you’d like to be
crossfaded, whether in key (horizontal) or velocity (vertical) direction.
With this knowledge, let’s get back to the contents of the Batch Tools sub-menu:

• Auto-Apply X-Fades (Key): Creates crossfades between all selected Zones whose key ranges
overlap to some extent. Active crossfades will be indicated with a shaded area between Zones;
if this makes your Zone grid look too cluttered, try zooming in or switching into List View.

You can manually create crossfades by [Ctrl]-clicking and dragging the left or right
border of a Zone.

• Auto-Apply X-Fades (Velocity): Creates crossfades between all selected Zones whose velocity
ranges overlap to some extent.
• Remove X-Fades (Key): Removes all key range crossfades from the selected Zones, if any,
which reverts them to normal overlapped Zones.
• Remove X-Fades (Velocity): Removes all velocity range crossfades from the selected Zones, if
any.
• Move Root Key(s) to Lower Border: Moves the root key of each selected Zone to the lowest
note in the key range.
• Move Root Key(s) to Center: Moves the root key of each selected Zone to the center of the
Zone’s key range.
• Move Root Key(s) to Upper Border: Moves the root key of each selected Zone to the highest
note in the key range.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 116

20. The Wave Editor

In the previous chapters of this manual, we explained how you can use KONTAKT to turn Sample
files on your hard disk into playable Instruments. Building Zones, Groups and Instruments out of
ready-made Samples is fine by itself, but if you want to really get into creative sound design, you’ll
sooner or later want a tool that lets you work directly on the waveform of your audio material. As
you might have guessed already, the Wave Editor is this tool. Let’s have a look at what you can do
with it:

• View and audition Samples This sounds trivial, but it’s sometimes helpful to listen to a Sample
in its “raw” form instead of playing it via the keyboard right away. Also, there are some
problems that that can be hard to spot by listening alone, such as DC bias, inaccurate Sample
starts, or excessively long silence at the end of your Samples; such issues are easy to notice
when you’re looking at a graphic representation of your waveform.
• Create and edit loops . Ever since digital sampling became feasible, sound creators have used
looping as a means to render the maximum playable note length independent from the actual
sample length. In the days of sampling libraries that routinely exceed the 10 GB mark, this
might not be the predominant reason for looping Samples anymore; KONTAKT’s looping
facilities go far beyond the traditional concepts, though, and open up a whole range of creative
sound design applications.
• Slice Zones: Slicing is a method that lets you deconstruct drum and percussion loops or
musical phrases into their rhythmic “atoms” and trigger these either from the outside or using
an internal sequencer. This makes it possible to change the tempo of a drum loop or phrase
without the sonic artifacts associated with conventional time-stretching algorithms. It also
allows you to reconstruct your loops into entirely new patterns and process their elements
separately. As slicing your Zones provides KONTAKT with information about their rhythmic
structure, you can also align most selection and processing operations to the rhythm pattern
by making them snap to Slice markers.
• Create and edit Zone Envelopes: Just like you can use envelope generators as a source for
parameter modulation on the Group level, KONTAKT also provides envelopes that operate on
separate Zones. The most striking aspect of Zone Envelopes, apart from the added flexibility, is
that you can edit them right on top of the Sample waveform; this makes it possible to create
precise automation curves in perfect sync to your audio material.
• Perform destructive Sample editing: KONTAKT offers a range of operations that modify your
Samples permanently on the hard disk; this is useful for editing tasks that prepare your
Samples for smooth operation within KONTAKT, such as clean editing of start and end
positions, normalizing, fades, or removal of DC bias.
▶ To open the Wave Editor, click the Wave Editor button at the top, just below the Instrument
Header.
Usually you’ll want to open the Mapping Editor along with it, as the Wave Editor always displays
the content of the currently selected Zone; this way, you can easily switch between the Samples in
your Instrument by selecting Zones in the Mapping Editor.
Double-clicking a Zone in the Mapping Editor will open the Wave Editor with this Zone right away.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 117

The Wave Editor panel. In its lower half, the Sample Loop tab has been selected, which lets you create and edit loop regions.

The Wave Editor’s interface panel is divided into five sections:

• At its top, a horizontal tool bar provides common utility functions and playback controls.

• Below that, a status bar displays various aspects of your current Zone, such as its start and
end positions, in numeric form. These readouts make it possible to edit with sample accuracy.

• The largest space is taken up by the waveform view, which contains the Sample waveform and
allows graphical editing of various position-related parameters. At the top of the waveform
view, you’ll notice a time line that informs you about the currently displayed time region and
scale of the display. If you don’t see a waveform in this section, select a Zone in the Mapping
Editor first.

• At the bottom of the editor, four tabs provide access to function sets, which relate to the
various tasks you can perform in the Wave Editor: creating and editing loops, synchronizing
sliced Zones to your song tempo, creating and editing Zone Envelopes, and editing your
Sample destructively.

• Next to the tab section, a Grid panel allows you to define a number of markers at rhythmically
relevant points across your Zone; we’ll refer to this process as “slicing”. Slicing your drum loops
or phrases opens up a range of possibilities for changing their speed and patterns, and can be
used to align most editing operations to rhythmical values of your material.
Before we get to the more sophisticated facilities that the Wave Editor has to offer, let’s stick to the
basics and take a closer look at the utility sections, starting at the top.

20.1. Tool Bar

The topmost row of buttons in the Wave Editor pane provides various navigation functions that
affect which part of the Sample is currently being displayed, a set of playback controls, and menus
that contain selection options and utility commands.

The Wave Editor Toolbar

 THE WAVE EDITOR 118

From left to right, here’s what the elements do:

• Size (only visible in external window): If you have opened the Wave Editor within an external
window by clicking the arrow next to the Wave Editor button at the top of the Rack, this drop-
down menu lets you choose between three predefined window sizes.

• Magnify Tool: This is a toggle button. When it’s enabled, clicking and dragging your mouse in
the waveform view will open a zoom frame; when you release the button, the area within the
selection frame will be horizontally zoomed in so that it fills the entire view. Just clicking
somewhere within the waveform view will zoom out again. You can obtain the exact same
behavior by holding the Alt key while performing the same mouse actions inside the waveform
view.

• Jump to Zone Start: When you click this button, the waveform view will jump to the start
marker of your Zone (which may or may not coincide with the actual beginning of the Sample
data).

• Jump to Loop Start: Clicking on this button will center the waveform view on the start point of
the currently selected loop region.

• Zoom on Loop: Zooms the waveform view so that the currently selected loop region fills the
entire view.

• Jump to Loop End: This button will center the end point of the currently selected loop region in
the waveform view.

• Jump to Zone End: When you click this button, the waveform view will jump to the end marker
of your Zone.

• Snap: This drop-down menu contains two toggle options, which affect whether KONTAKT will
automatically adjust (“snap”) the start and end positions of your loop regions to match certain
features of your waveform, which can be helpful in finding inaudible loops and avoid clicking.
Snap Loop to Zero Crossing will snap the start and end points of your loops to positions at
which your waveform crosses the zero line and matches the direction of the respective other
point; Snap Loop to Value Crossing will snap start and end points to the nearest position where
the waveform value and direction matches the value at the respective other point. You can only
choose one of these options, or none; the currently active one is indicated with a small
diamond icon next to it. Note that when you choose a snap option, KONTAKT won’t change
your loop right away; you’ll have to move both the start and end point of your loop manually in
order to make them snap to the selected features. How to do this will be explained in section
Sample Loop Tab.

• Command Menu (the cog icon): This drop-down menu contains utility functions that adjust
your loops automatically in various ways; the available operations will be explained below.

• Stop: This button stops Sample playback.

• Loop: When this toggle button is enabled, the Play button next to it will play your currently
selected loop in repetition. Note that only the section between the start and end points of your
loop is played, not the initial portion of the Zone before the loop; therefore, the playback result
will be different from what you will hear when you trigger the Zone with a note.

• Play: Clicking on this button will either play your Zone once (if the Loop button next to it is
inactive), or the currently selected loop region (if the Loop button is enabled).

• Auto Pre-Listen: When this button is enabled, KONTAKT will play any region as soon as you
select or change it; depending on which tab is selected, this works with loop regions, Slices, or
edit selections.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 119

• Ext. Editor: When you click this button, the current Sample will be opened within your favorite
external Sample editor. This requires that you have set the External Wave Editor option on the
Handling tab of the Options dialog beforehand. Note that while your external editor is running,
KONTAKT will freeze and not respond to any input; as soon as you quit your external editor,
KONTAKT will examine the Sample on your hard disk for changes and reload it if required.

Command Menu
This drop-down menu appears when you click the menu with the cog icon in the tool bar. It
contains various functions that operate on the loops of either your current Zone, or all loops of the
currently selected Zones. Note that some options are only visible when you have selected an
active loop on the Sample Loop tab.

The Command Menu

The following commands are available:

• find loop end (short) (only visible when a loop region is selected): Attempts to find a well-
working end point for the selected loop region automatically, but will only look for it in the
vicinity of your current end point, thereby keeping your loop at roughly the same length.
• find loop end (long) (only visible when a loop is selected): Attempts to determine an optimal
end point for the selected loop region. In contrast to the previous entry, this function can
increase the length of your loop by a significant amount if the detection algorithm deems a
more distant position an optimal candidate for a new end point.
• restore loops from sample: Some audio file formats, such as WAV and AIFF, can optionally
carry metadata that specifies one or more loop regions. When you choose this function,
KONTAKT will look for this data in the Sample file and, if it finds any, use it for creating loops.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 120

• The following functions can be found below the To All Selected Zones sub-menu. As the name
suggests, these functions operate on all Zones that you have currently selected in the Mapping
Editor, not just the currently displayed one.
• restore loops from samples: Attempts to retrieve and use loop data from the Samples of all
selected Zones. This function works like the similarly named function explained above, but
acts upon multiple Zones.
• copy current zone’s loop settings: Copies the loop settings of the currently visible Sample
to all selected Zones.
• copy current sample-start settings: Copies the sample start offset of the currently visible
sample to all selected Zones.
• copy current start-mod settings: Copies the sample start modulation amount of the
currently visible sample to all selected Zones.
• Adjust Loop Starts +/- 1: This nudges the start points of any loop regions in all selected
Zones forward or backward by one sample value. This function is meant for correcting
loops that were incorrectly imported; some editors and samplers use different offsets than
KONTAKT for saving their loop points, which results in loops being off by one or more
sample values when you import them.
• Adjust Loop Ends +/- 1: This function works like the previous one, but acts upon the loop
end points.
• DC Removal: This function will detect and remove any DC bias from the Samples of all
selected Zones. DC bias appears as a constant offset between the sample values and the
zero line. While it’s inaudible, it can reduce your headroom and cause problems at mixdown.
It’s also a possible side effect of a few signal processing and re-sampling functions found in
sample editors, so it’s generally a good idea to execute this function on your Samples once
before you proceed with further editing. Note though that it’s a destructive function, which
will alter the Sample data on your hard disk.

20.2. Status Bar

The status bar is located below the tool bar and contains the filename of the Sample that’s
assigned to your current Zone, as well as a number of numeric values.

The status bar of the Wave Editor displays various details of your Sample and your currently selected loop region, if any.

It serves as a precise position monitor for various editing operations that take place in the
waveform view. You can adjust editable values either by clicking on them and moving your mouse
up or down, or by double-clicking on them and entering a new value. The status bar consists of the
following elements:

• Sample: This is the filename (without extension) of the Sample that’s assigned to the currently
selected Zone. Hovering your mouse over the name will display the full path to this file. Using
the left and right arrow buttons at the right side of the field, you can switch to the previous or
next Sample file in the same folder as the current one. This will assign a new Sample to the
currently selected Zone, so this field works in the same way as the identically named one in the
Mapping Editor.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 121

• S. Start (Sample Start): The position of your Zone’s start marker, indicated in sample values.
Moving the start marker will change the position from which the Sample will be played when
the respective Zone is being triggered; you can change it either by dragging the vertical green
line in the waveform view, or by adjusting this value as described above.
• S. Mod (Sample Start Modulation Range): This value indicates the maximum amount by which
the Zone start position can be modulated forth and back. For instance, if this range covers two
seconds to both sides of the Start position, modulation assignments can change the Start
position by two seconds at most. The modulation range is indicated graphically in the
waveform view with a green line at the top, which extends horizontally to both sides of the
Zone start marker to the earliest and latest start position attainable through modulation. You
can change this value by clicking on it and dragging your mouse up or down.
• S. End (Sample End): The position of your Zone’s end marker. All playback will stop at this
position, and any material beyond the marker will be ignored. You can change this position
either by dragging the vertical red line in the waveform view, or by adjusting this value as
described above.
• Format: This readout indicates the sampling rate and bit depth at which your Sample was
recorded. It’s not adjustable.
• Len (Length): The total length of your Sample. This value is not adjustable.

20.3. Waveform View

The central element of the Wave Editor is the waveform view in the middle of the panel. It displays
a navigable, visual representation of your Sample and allows you to perform a number of editing
functions in a direct and intuitive graphical way.

The Waveform View

If you don’t see a waveform when you open the Wave Editor, remember that you first need to
select a Zone in the Mapping Editor. It’s a good idea to keep the Mapping Editor open as well when
you’re using the Wave Editor, as this arrangement allows you to quickly switch between the Zones
in your Instrument. When a Zone is selected, the waveform view will display the waveform of the
assigned Sample, with each audio channel being drawn on a separate zero line. The time line at
the top of the view indicates which portion of the Sample is currently being shown, and allows you
to estimate the length of loops, Slices, and selections visually. In addition to the waveforms, the
waveform view contains a variable number of additional items. Note that some of these, such as
the loop regions, envelopes, or Slice markers, pertain to features which will be explained in detail
later in this chapter.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 122

• The start position of your Zone is indicated with a green vertical line that ends in a flag at the
bottom. Unless the Zone start position is being modulated, any playback of the current Zone
will always start at this marker, and the Sample portion to the left of the marker is discarded.
To change the position of the Zone marker, click its green flag at the bottom and drag it
horizontally, or adjust the S. Start value in the status bar as explained in the previous section.
• The end position of your Zone is indicated with a red vertical line. It marks the position in your
Sample where all playback will stop. Apart from that, you can handle it in the same way as the
start marker.
• The range in which your Zone start position can be modulated back and forth is indicated with
a horizontal green line above the Zone start marker. You can adjust this range by clicking on its
numeric value in the status bar and dragging your mouse vertically.
• When the Sample Loop tab at the bottom of the editor is selected, loop regions will be
highlighted, with the currently selected region being indicated with a brighter color and a small
status bar at its bottom. Loop crossfades will show up as diagonal lines at the beginning of a
loop section. When one of the other tabs is selected, the borders of your loop regions will be
shown as vertical lines, with a horizontal, dashed line in between.
• When the Grid is activated, Slice markers will appear as vertical lines across your waveform.
The first marker, which allows you to adjust the Grid offset, is marked with a small “1” at its top.
• If your Grid is in Auto mode, thereby aligning the Slice markers to peaks in your Sample, the
threshold above which a peak will create a Slice marker is shown graphically with horizontal
lines across the view.
• When the Zone Envelope tab is selected, the currently selected Zone Envelope will be displayed
as a curve on top of the waveform. If your Zone Envelope contains a loop region, it will be
highlighted. A vertical line indicates where clipboard contents will be inserted when you use the
Paste function.
• When you switch to the Sample Editor tab, a vertical line indicates where clipboard contents
will be inserted when you use the Paste function.
• The Sync / Slice, Zone Envelopes, and Sample Editor tabs allow you to select contiguous
regions of your Sample for editing; these selected regions will be highlighted.
Just like in other editors, you can move the portion of the content that’s currently being displayed
by clicking and dragging the horizontal and vertical scroll bars. The horizontal scroll bar allows you
to move to a different time position of the Sample. The vertical scroll bar shifts the waveform of
each channel up or down within its view region; when you have zoomed in vertically, this scroll bar
allows you to view the signal at different parts of the level range.
There are different ways to zoom in and out of your waveform. Firstly, there’s a noteworthy
difference between zooming horizontally and vertically. Horizontal zooming works in the same
way as in other editors: zooming in magnifies a region of the content (in this case, a specific time
range) so that it fills up the view, thereby displaying a greater level of detail, zooming out fits more
content into the view. Vertical zooms in the waveform view, on the other hand, will always keep the
zero line of each channel at its respective position, thus magnifying only the amplitude of each
waveform. This makes it possible to see level changes that are too small to be noticed at a normal
zoom level; by zooming in vertically, you can make out small sonic details, such as release trails, in
regions that look like plain silence on a lower zoom level.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 123

You can zoom in and out horizontally or vertically one level at a time by clicking the “+” and “-”
buttons next to the scroll bars. Whenever you use this method to zoom vertically, the zero lines of
each channel will be re-centered in their respective regions of the view. An alternative that’s often
more convenient is to hold the Alt key while clicking and dragging your mouse in the view; this
opens a “rubber band” selection frame. Once you release the mouse, the selected region will be
zoomed in so it fills the whole view. To zoom out again, just click somewhere in the view. This
method allows you to quickly and intuitively get a detail view of a specific region of your Sample.
Enabling the button marked with a magnifying glass in the tool bar has the same effect as holding
Alt.

20.4. Grid Panel

The Grid settings affect most other operations in the Wave Editor, so we’ll describe this feature
before we get to the function tabs. You can find all settings that pertain to the Grid on the panel in
the lower right corner of the Wave Editor. When the Grid is inactive, this panel will be shaded.

The Grid Panel

In a nutshell, whenever you’re working with Samples that contain rhythmic material or musical
phrases, the Grid allows you to put a marker on every single hit or note that occurs within your
Sample, thus splitting it up into a number of musically significant regions — we will refer to these
regions as “Slices” from now on. Preparing your material in this way (“slicing”) has lots of
advantages:
• By aligning loop regions with Slice markers, you can instantly create clean Sample loops that
stay in perfect tempo.
• Using the functions on the Sync / Slice tab, you can adapt your drum loop or phrase to your
song tempo in various ways.
• The mapping features of the Sync / Slice tab allow you to turn Slices into separate Zones,
which makes it possible to trigger them separately; this way, you can instantly create a
playable “drum kit” from any drum loop, and construct entirely new patterns out of its
elements.
• When you’re working with Zone Envelopes, you can make their breakpoints snap to Slice
markers. This way, it’s easy to create rhythmical modulation curves.
• When you’ve selected the Sample Editor tab, the region selection for destructive operations will
snap to Slice markers as well, which lets you perform operations like removing, exchanging, or
reversing Slices in isolation very quickly.
It’s almost always a good idea to activate and adjust the Grid panel first before doing any further
editing on rhythmic material. To activate the Grid, click the “power” button in the upper left corner
of the Grid panel. The panel will light up, and a number of vertical markers will appear across your
waveform view — if you can’t see them, try zooming out horizontally. Each of these markers
indicates the start of a Slice (and the end of the preceding one). You can always move these
markers around by clicking on the small arrows at their top and dragging them horizontally, but in
a lot of cases, you won’t have to. That’s because the Grid offers two modes that take care of the
correct marker placement for you, namely Fix and Auto. You can switch between these modes by
selecting one of the tabs in the Grid panel.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 124

20.4.1. Fix Mode

The Fix mode is intended for slicing material that has a very precise timing; it’s less ideally suited
for sloppily played acoustic drums. Also, it helps to have your drum loop or phrase edited cleanly
when you’re planning to use the Fix mode, with the first beat being exactly at the beginning of the
Sample, and no silence after the last beat; this is not a requirement, though. When you activate the
Grid on a Zone for the first time, it’s in Fix mode by default; if you’re currently in Auto mode, you
can switch to the Fix mode by clicking on the Fix tab of the Grid panel.

The Grid Panel in Fix mode

The idea behind the Fix mode is that your Sample will be split up into Slices of equal length, which
is determined by the tempo of the loop, it’s time signature, and a selectable note value.
To achieve a proper slicing, KONTAKT first needs to know the native tempo of your Sample. It tries
to guess this by looking at its total length and assuming that it’s a whole number of measures,
played in a 4/4 meter. The resulting tempo is displayed in BPM at the bottom of the Grid panel.
Note that this guess will only have a chance of success if your Zone has been cleanly edited, with
the first hit or note being exactly at the beginning, and no excess space behind the last one. If
you’ve made sure that this is the case, but the displayed tempo value is still incorrect, there can be
two reasons for this:
First, your drum loop or phrase could be in a different meter than 4/4. This is easy to correct: next
to the tempo readout, you’ll notice a Time Signature value. By clicking on either its numerator or its
denominator and dragging your mouse up or down, you can specify a different meter.
If the Time Signature value matches the meter of your loop, but the tempo is still incorrect,
KONTAKT has estimated the number of bars in your Sample incorrectly. You can validate this by
switching to the Sync / Slice tab and checking the value of the Zone Length field. For instance, if
your Zone consists of one bar at a tempo of 50 BPM, KONTAKT might misinterpret it as two bars
at 100 BPM. In such cases, the detected tempo will always be a multiple of the actual tempo, or
vice versa. You can correct this by halving or doubling the tempo value with the “-” and “+” buttons
next to it, respectively, until the correct tempo is indicated. Note that this will change the length as
indicated in the Zone Length field on the Sync / Slice tab as well; the tempo and (musical) length
values are invariably tied to each other.
Of course, if you already know the tempo of your Sample, you can skip all this and just enter the
correct tempo value after double-clicking on the tempo value. Alternatively, click the time line and
drag your mouse horizontally; this will stretch or compress your Grid until it matches the tempo of
your Sample. Provided that your Sample start is cleanly edited, adjusting the tempo directly will
give you a perfectly set up Grid right away. If there’s any silence at the beginning, the Slice makers
will all land slightly before the actual hits; you can compensate this by moving the first Slice
marker, labeled “1” at its top, which will move all following Slice markers along, thereby adding a
time offset to your Grid.
Once the tempo of your Sample is set to the correct value and you have compensated any
possible time offset, you’ll notice that the Slice markers in the waveform view split your Sample
into 16th notes. That’s because the Grid uses the length of one 1/16th note as the default width
for Slices. You can change this value by adjusting the control labeled Width in the middle of the Fix
tab. You can change both the numerator and the denominator of the displayed note value by
clicking on it and dragging your mouse vertically; also, clicking on the -/+ buttons next to the note
value will halve or double the denominator, thereby increasing or decreasing the size of your Slices.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 125

The Slice width directly affects the usefulness and quality of later tempo adaptations,
either via the Beat Machine or by triggering the Zones from the outside. For instance,
if your loop contains a constant 16th hi-hat groove and is sliced up into 8th notes, two
hi-hat hits will end up in each Slice, with the duration between them remaining
constant. This would create a shuffle effect with increasing tempo. While this trick
can be useful in some cases, it’s usually a better idea to use the smallest rhythmical
division that occurs in your drum loop as the Slice width: 1/8 for a straight heavy rock
beat, 1/16 for a more delicate funk groove, 1/12 for a ternary shuffle, and so on.

Once you’re done with all required adjustments and made sure that the Slice markers are well-
aligned with your beat, you might want to remove or add Slice markers to accommodate pauses
or additional ghost notes outside of the Grid, or manually correct the position of some Slice
markers. These actions will be described after the next section.

20.4.2. Auto Mode

The Fix mode of the Grid works well for exact and predictable beats or phrases, possibly of an
electronic origin, that follow a fixed pattern in tempo and articulation. It’s less practical with
irregular beats or loops that were recorded live and played by a drummer with less than perfect
timing: in such cases, most Slice markers that were placed in Fix mode will land slightly before or
after the hits they were meant for, and would need careful manual tweaking to be corrected. This
makes the Auto mode the better choice for such material. You can switch over to this mode by
clicking on the Auto tab at the top of the Grid panel.

The Grid Panel in Auto Mode

In Auto mode, KONTAKT detects transients in the waveform of your Sample and creates Slice
markers at these positions. For instance, each bass drum and snare hit in a typical rock groove will
be clearly visible as a level peak in its waveform; intermediate hi-hat hits will be visible as smaller
peaks. By using the attack phases of these peaks as Slice positions, KONTAKT can split these
elements into Slices automatically. All you have to do is telling KONTAKT the level above which a
transient shall be considered for slicing; this level threshold is the most important parameter of
the Auto mode.
When you switch the Grid into Auto mode, you’ll notice two purple, horizontal lines that appear at
the top and bottom of your waveform view. By moving the horizontal slider on the Auto tab, these
lines will change their position; they indicate the peak detection threshold graphically. Any peaks in
your waveform that cross these lines will result in a Slice marker being placed at their respective
position. As an example, reconsider the straight rock groove mentioned above: adjusting the
threshold so that only the strong bass drum and snare hits cross the threshold will create large
Slices, possibly at the length of 1/4 and 1/8 notes. Slowly lowering the threshold will gradually add
more Slices, until all hi-hat hits and ghost notes will be marked separately.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 126

When you’re using this function frequently, you’ll sooner or later encounter a drum loop where no
threshold setting seems to work just right: on higher settings, hits that you’d like to be included will
be ignored, while lower settings will add too many unwanted bits to the Grid. There are two ways
to deal with this problem: if a low threshold tends to add lots of very small slices (for instance, on
snare flams), try increasing the parameter labeled Min Slice Duration below the threshold fader.
This will ignore all slices that would be shorter than the specified length. If this does not work, try
to find a compromise threshold that covers most of the hits you’d like to be included, and then add
or remove Slices manually as needed. This process will be explained in the next section.
Note that even if you’re using the Grid in Auto mode, KONTAKT still needs to know the tempo of
your Sample if you want to use one of the features for automatic synchronization. Therefore, the
tempo control is still visible at the bottom of the Grid panel in Auto mode and might need manual
adjustment as described in the previous section. In contrast to the Fix mode, though, it won’t
affect the position of your Slice markers; it’s only important if you use the Beat Machine or Time
Machine to adapt your Sample to a new tempo.

20.4.3. Editing Slices Manually

You can manually modify or delete any Slice, including those that were generated by KONTAKT,
and add new Slice markers to your Sample. This allows you to fine-tune automatically generated
Slices, or manually slice material that’s not suitable for being processed automatically.
Note that whenever you move an existing Slice or add a new one, it will be automatically locked.
While Slice markers that were created via the Fix or Auto mode will change their positions or
disappear when you adjust the tempo or switch the Grid mode, locked markers will always remain
at their absolute position within the Sample until you change their position or remove them
manually. Locked markers will appear as gray vertical lines in the waveform view.
There are several ways in which you can engage in the slicing process:

• To move an existing Slice, click the small triangle at the top of its marker in the waveform view,
and drag it horizontally. If you need to change it with more precision, try zooming in on the
waveform. The first Slice marker in your Sample, indicated with a small “1” flag at its top, is
special; when you move it, all following markers will move along by the same amount. This
allows you to compensate silence at the beginning of your Sample.
• To remove a Slice from your Sample, enable the “-” button on the right side of the Grid panel,
then click the small triangle icons on top of the Slice markers that you’d like to remove from
your Sample. Remember to disable the “-” button when you’re finished to avoid accidental
deletions. Alternatively, you can remove a Slice marker by right-clicking on the triangle at its
top.
• To add a new marker to your Sample, activate the “+” button on the right side of the Grid panel,
then click in the waveform view wherever you’d like the new marker to be located. When you’re
done, remember to deactivate the “+” button again. Alternatively, you can right-click anywhere
in the narrow strip below the time line in order to create a marker at that position.
• Finally, if you want to toggle the “locked” status of a Slice marker manually, activate the lock
icon on the right side of the Grid panel, then click the small triangle on top of the marker(s) that
you’d like to lock or unlock. To lock all slices at once, Alt-click the lock icon. Remember that any
unlocked Slice markers will be changed when you adjust the tempo or switch the Grid mode.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 127

20.5. Sample Loop Tab

The functionality of the Wave Editor is split across four tabs at the bottom of its panel. Any tab
that you select changes the behavior of the wave editor and the details that are being shown in the
waveform view to a certain amount; for instance, when you switch to the Sample Loop tab,
KONTAKT will highlight all loop regions in your Sample; when you change to the Zone Envelopes
tab, loop regions will merely be hinted at with vertical amber lines, but any selected Zone Envelope
will appear as an orange curve on top of the waveform. In this section, we’ll take a look at the
Sample Loop tab.
First of all, a little semantics. In the context of sampling, the term “loop” is used for two different
concepts, which are related, but should be distinguished anyway for sake of clarity:

• Technically, a loop is a contiguous region of a Sample that will be played back repeatedly; in a
traditional forward loop, the playback position will jump to the start of this region whenever it
reaches its end. In KONTAKT, loops can be played forward and backward alternately, or played
only a specific number of times before playback will proceed as usual. When we refer to loops
in the context of this section, we’re talking about this technical concept.

• A more colloquial use of the term is to describe Samples that contain musical phrases (as
opposed to single notes). Often, these Samples are pre-produced drum or percussion phrases
(“drum loops”), which makes them useful as building blocks for rhythm parts. As the name
implies, these Samples are usually meant for being played in repetition in order to fill the
required number of measures. This can be done by looping them in the sampler as described
above; however, this is not a prerequisite. Many people prefer to trigger them inside their
sequencer on each downbeat instead; this method has the added benefit of avoiding tempo
drifts that can occur over time when a loop region doesn’t match the length of a measure
exactly.
Sample loops were common in the heyday of hardware samplers, when both disk space and
sample RAM were sparse. This limitation made it all but impractical to capture notes of an
instrument like a piano, which can have a natural decay time in the order of a minute, in their
entirety. Instead, it was reasoned that the most critical part of an instrument sound is its attack
phase; after that, most sustained instruments quickly settle to a predominantly periodic waveform
of some sort. By using sample loops to keep these periodic parts sounding during the sustain
phase, thereby artificially “stretching” the sound beyond the length of the actual sample data,
sample creators overcame the space limitations.
With the advent of software sampling and hard disk streaming, this application of loops became a
little less important. They’re still being used in this way, but their predominant appeal nowadays is
creative sound design. As you might guess, loops in KONTAKT are equally well-suited for both
approaches; let’s see how they work. To create and edit loops, first click the Sample Loop tab in
the Wave Editor.

The Sample Loop tab of the Wave Editor is split into a number of loop selection buttons, and a parameter view for the currently
selected loop region.

You’ll notice a small “power button” icon to the left of the tab title. Clicking on this icon will globally
activate or deactivate all loops of your Sample. When your Zone contains any active loop region,
this button will be lit up.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 128

KONTAKT allows you to define up to eight different loop regions per Zone. These “slots” are
accessible via eight buttons, which are arranged in a 2x4 grid below the tab. When you start with
an unlooped Zone, none of these buttons will be highlighted, which indicates that there are
currently no active loop regions. Each selection button can take up one of 3 colors:

• Non-highlighted (dark blue): The respective loop region has either not been defined yet, or has
been temporarily disabled.
• Yellow: The respective loop region is active and currently selected for editing. The region will
also be highlighted with a bright amber color in the waveform view. Only one loop region can be
selected for editing at any time.
• Light blue: The respective loop region is active, but not currently selected.
Clicking on one of these buttons will select the respective loop region for editing; if it’s not active or
has not been defined yet, it will be activated in the process. When you select a loop region,
KONTAKT will display its parameters within the edit panel next to the selection buttons, and
highlight the region in the waveform view. You can instantly create a loop region by right-clicking
into the waveform view and dragging your mouse horizontally. This will replace your currently
selected loop region, or, if none is selected, define the first one. You can change the start and end
positions of a loop region graphically by clicking on its left or right border, respectively, and
dragging it horizontally. Clicking inside a region and dragging it allows you to move loop regions
without changing their size. You can view and change these and all other parameters of a loop
region numerically within the edit panel.

The detail view allows you to adjust the start and end positions of your loop regions numerically with sample value accuracy.

To change any value, either click it and move your mouse vertically, or double-click it and enter a
new value. Let’s have a look at each parameter of the edit panel:
Power Button: Indicates whether the current loop region is active. When you select a loop region
for editing, it will automatically be enabled. To disable (and de-select) a region, click this button.
Note that this applies to the power button in the edit panel of the selected loop region; the power
button next to the tab title will globally activate or deactivate all loop regions.
Loop Start: The start position of the loop region within your Sample, displayed in sample values.
Loop End: The end position of the loop region within your Sample, displayed in sample values.
X-Fade: To mask imperfect loop points, KONTAKT can fade the end of the loop region into its
beginning. This value adjusts the length of this crossfade in milliseconds. KONTAKT will indicate a
loop crossfade in the waveform view with a diagonal line on the left side of a loop region.
Loop Edit: When activated, KONTAKT will switch the waveform view to an alternate display mode
that allows you to adjust your loop points in a very intuitive way.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 129

The Loop Edit View

The Loop Edit view is split vertically; the left side will show the waveform just before the loop end
point, the right side will show the waveform just after the loop start point. In other words, the
boundary in the center depicts the transition that will occur at the loop point. In addition, the
original progression of the waveform after the end point is shown in a dim gray in the right part of
the view, which allows you to assess how close the transition matches the unlooped waveform.
You can move your loop start and end by clicking in the right or left part of the view, respectively,
and dragging the mouse horizontally. Alternatively, you can adjust the numerical values within the
edit panel in the usual way. While you change the positions, observe the transition in the center of
the view; the more it looks like a continuous waveform, the cleaner your loop will turn out to be. To
return to the normal waveform view, just click the Loop Edit button again.
Tune: This control allows you to change the pitch of Sample loops independently from the rest of
your Zone. Note that the detuning will affect all playback passes after the first loop jump; in other
words, KONTAKT will play the region at its normal pitch once until the playback position reaches
the end marker of the loop, then the specified pitch will come into effect for the duration of the
loop.
Count: This value specifies how many times the loop region will be repeated before KONTAKT
proceeds to play the rest of the Sample. A value of zero will loop the region indefinitely, which
means that playback will never reach any following Sample material and loop regions.
Loop Mode: This drop-down menu lets you choose between several different loop characteristics.
In addition to the displayed entry, the selected behavior is depicted with an illustration above the
menu. KONTAKT provides the following loop behaviors:

• Until End: KONTAKT will play the loop in a forward direction. The loop will keep playing during
your amplitude envelope’s release phase, if any.
• Until End <->: KONTAKT will play the loop in alternating forward and backward directions
(“ping-pong loop”). The loop will keep playing during the release phase of your sound.
• Until Release: KONTAKT will play the loop in a forward direction as long as the key is being
held. When it’s released, it will resume normal playback of the Sample, starting from the
current playback position.
• Until Release <->: Like Until Release, but with an alternating forward and backward playback
direction during the loop.
• One Shot: If the first loop region of your Sample is set to this mode, KONTAKT will ignore all
other active loop regions and play the Sample in its entirety when it’s triggered, without
stopping at note-off events. This is useful for drum samples that should always play to their
end, regardless of the actual trigger note length. Note that this works only if you’re not using a
volume envelope on your Group; otherwise, the release phase will still fade the Zone out as
soon as the key is released.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 130

If the Grid is active, all changes to the start and end points, whether they take place graphically
within the waveform view or numerically within the edit panel, will snap to the nearest Slice
marker; this makes creating exact loop regions within rhythmic material very easy. For a thorough
description of the Grid feature, refer to the previous section of this chapter.

20.6. Sync / Slice Tab

In the section about the Grid panel, we mentioned that slicing your drum or percussion loop with
the Grid allows you to synchronize its playback speed to your song tempo in a number of different
ways, or map the resulting Slices to your keyboard, which lets you trigger the elements of a drum
loop or a phrase at your own tempo and in your own pattern. The launch pad for all these features
is the Sync / Slice tab in the lower part of the Wave Editor. Note that an active Grid that’s adjusted
to match your Sample is a prerequisite for most of these functions to work; if you want to
synchronize or rearrange any rhythmic material, you should therefore always set up the Grid first,
then proceed to use the functions on the Sync / Slice tab. Section Section 20.4, “Grid Panel” [123]
of this chapter explains how to activate and adjust the Grid.

The Sync / Slice tab

The Sync / Slice tab provides four different approaches to make your Sample independent from
its original tempo or pattern: you can feed your slices to the Beat Machine, time-stretch your
Sample with the Time Machine, or map your Slices to the keyboard in a manual or automated
fashion. Let’s have a look at the advantages and peculiarities of each approach.

20.6.1. Using the Beat Machine

The Beat Machine, which is one of the playback modes provided by KONTAKT’s Source Module,
plays all Slices of your Zone in succession via an internal sequencer. This retains the original
pattern of your drum loop or phrase, but allows you to adapt it to your song’s tempo, or freely
change the playback pitch of the Slices. To use this feature, make sure your Grid is correctly set
up, and enable the Use Beatmachine button on the Sync / Slice tab. Depending on the contents of
the Group to which your current Zone belongs, one of two things will happen:

• If the current Zone is the only one in your Group, KONTAKT will switch the Source Module of
this Group into Beat Machine mode.
• If there are any other Zones in your Group, KONTAKT will move the current Zone into its own
Group first and then switch that Group’s Source Module into Beat Machine mode. This
reassignment is necessary to avoid disrupting the playback of other Zones which cannot be
triggered correctly by the Beat Machine.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 131

Once the Source Module that plays your Zone is in Beat Machine mode, any key to which the Zone
is assigned will trigger the tempo-synchronized playback of all Slices in succession. When you
look at the Speed knob of your Group’s Source Module, you will notice that it displays the keyword
Zone instead of the usual numeric value. This indicates that it uses the Zone Length value (as
displayed on the left side of the Sync / Slice tab) to determine at which speed it has to play the
Slices so that the phrase will span the same length at your song tempo. This is the same
mechanism that allows you to select a note value from the drop-down menu of any time-related
control in order to synchronize it, and in fact, the special Zone keyword appears among the usual
note values in the drop-down menu of the Speed control if you use the Beat Machine via the
Sync / Slice tab. Of course, nothing prevents you from selecting a different note value from the
drop-down menu, or selecting the Default entry in order to adjust the playback speed
independently from your tempo. You can always return to synchronized mode by selecting Zone
again.
Note that all changes to the slicing of your Sample will be immediately picked up by the Beat
Machine, which lets you hear any modifications instantly. For example, you might notice during
playback that some ghost notes are not properly marked in your Sample and are thus being played
back with incorrect timing. Just add the respective Slice markers, as explained within the Grid
section of this chapter — the Beat Machine will adopt your changes right away, even during
playback.

20.6.2. Using the Time Machine

As an alternative to the Beat Machine, KONTAKT can also use the more conventional time-
stretching algorithms of the Time Machine mode to sync your Sample to the tempo of your song.
While using the Beat Machine or one of the Slice mapping features explained below is usually the
better choice for percussive material, the Time Machine can be very useful for tonal phrases.
As the Time Machine treats your Sample as one contiguous region with no regard to Slices, you
don’t necessarily need to have the Grid activated in order to use this feature. However, KONTAKT
still needs to know the length (and therefore, the tempo) of your Sample in order to determine how
far it has to be stretched or compressed in time to match your current tempo. Therefore, you need
to specify the correct (rhythmical) length of your Zone in the Zone Length field of the Sync / Slice
tab. If you don’t know the length, you can alternatively activate the Grid and specify the tempo of
your Sample instead. KONTAKT needs to know only one of these values, as the respective other
one can be derived. Note that specifying the Zone Length value explicitly will only change the
tempo correctly if the end marker of your Zone coincides with the actual Sample end; otherwise, it
will change the end marker position to match the length that you entered. In such cases, you
should therefore adjust the tempo in the Grid panel instead.
Once the Zone Length field displays the correct length, enable the Use Timemachine Pro button
on the left side of the Sync / Slice tab. If your Zone is not the only one in its Group, KONTAKT will
move it into a new Group first to avoid disrupting the playback of other Zones. The Source Module
of the Group that contains your Zone will then be put into Time Machine mode.
Just like the Beat Machine, the Time Machine will have its Speed control set to the special Zone
value by default when you’re using it via the Sync / Slice tab. This means that your Sample will be
played back at your host or Master Editor tempo right away when you trigger it. The meaning of
the Zone keyword and how you can override it to freely adjust the playback speed is explained in
the previous section of this chapter.

20.6.3. Mapping Slices Manually

Once you have placed Slice markers across your Sample via the Grid, you might want to trigger
these Slices directly with your keyboard or from within your sequencer. The manual mapping
feature of the Sync / Slice tab lets you do just that.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 132

Provided that you have correctly set up the Grid for your Sample and selected the Sync / Slice tab,
you can select Slices that you want to map to your keyboard simply by clicking between two Slice
markers in the waveform view. KONTAKT will highlight any selected Slice in blue. To add more
Slices to your selection, either hold the [Ctrl] key ([Cmd] on Mac OS X) and click further Slices one
at a time, or hold the [Shift] key and click a second Slice to select all Slices in between. For
instance, if you want to map all Slices of your Sample to keys, click the first one, then hold [Shift]
and click the last one; this will select all Slices and highlight the entire Sample.

Selecting Slices

Once you’re happy with your Slice selection, make sure the Mapping Editor is visible above the
Wave Editor. Now, click one of the selected Slices, and drag it over into the Zone grid of the
Mapping Editor; all other selected Slices will move along. You’ll notice that while keeping your
mouse button pressed, KONTAKT will highlight a range of keys in the Zone grid, starting from the
key below your mouse pointer. This allows you to position the Slices you’ve selected on the
keyboard. The process works exactly as if you’re dragging a number of Samples from the Browser
into the Mapping Editor — the horizontal mouse position determines the key at which KONTAKT
will begin to map the Slices, while the vertical mouse position within the Zone grid determines the
number of adjacent keys each Slice will be assigned to.

While you keep your mouse button depressed, KONTAKT will indicate where it would place the new Zones on the keyboard.

If you agree with the displayed assignment pattern, release your mouse button. KONTAKT will now
create a new Zone for each Slice in your selection, and place all Zones in succession in the order in
which they appear in your Sample. Each of the new Zones will reference the original Sample from
which it was created, with its Sample start and end markers set to the boundaries of the original
Slice. You can now trigger these Zones from your keyboard or within your sequencer, create new
patterns with them, or adjust the playback or effect parameters of each Zone separately via Zone
Envelopes.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 133

20.6.4. Mapping Slices Automatically

While mapping your Slices manually in the way described above works well if you want to place
only specific Slices or a range of Slices onto keys, the more frequent case will probably be that
you’d like to put all Slices on adjacent keys and then trigger them from within your sequencer. Of
course, you can do this manually as well; there’s a better way, though. The auto mapping feature
of the Sync / Slice tab allows you to automatically map all Slices of your Sample to adjacent keys.
What’s more important, it can generate a MIDI sequence for you that, when placed in your
sequencer, will trigger all Slices in exactly the same pattern as they occur in your Sample. As your
sequencer will obviously play MIDI sequences at the song tempo, the pattern will always be in
sync, thereby replicating the functionality of the Beat Machine. The feature leaves more room for
creativity, though: once you have imported the MIDI sequence into your arrangement, you can go
ahead and make modifications to this pattern. Of course, you can also discard it altogether and
build your own patterns from scratch, thereby reassembling your drum loop or phrase in an infinite
number of ways.
Before the auto mapping can take place, you may need to adjust some parameters first that affect
where the new Zones will be placed and how KONTAKT will handle the Zone creation process. You
can find these parameters in the middle and on the right side of the Sync / Slice tab.

The Auto Mapping parameters

• Auto-Fade Time: KONTAKT can optionally create volume fade envelopes for each Zone that it
creates from your Slices. When you set this parameter to a value other than zero, each new
Zone will contain a volume Zone Envelope which fades the respective Slice in and out; the
specified value determines the fade-out time, the fade-in time will be shorter than that. Creating
auto-fades for your Slices can give smoother results when you change the playback speed of
the pattern. The specifics of how Zone Envelopes work will be explained in the next section of
this chapter.
• Mapping Base Key: This is the first key at which KONTAKT will start mapping the Slices.
• Auto Find Empty Keys: If enabled, KONTAKT will leave out any keys that trigger existing Zones
when it maps Slices to the keyboard. This avoids mapping Slices to the same keys as other
Zones.
After adjusting these parameters, you can go ahead and start the auto mapping process. You’ll
notice a rectangular field labeled Drag’n’Drop MIDI at the right side of the Sync / Slice tab. From
here, you can “pick up” the MIDI sequence that corresponds to your Slice pattern; just click inside
the field and drag its content onto either your desktop (which will create a standard MIDI file) or
into the arrangement window of your MIDI sequencer (which will insert the MIDI sequence right
into your arrangement). If you’re sure you won’t need the MIDI file, you can also just click the field
instead; this will only create the mapped Zones.

Using Drag Midi to Host

 THE WAVE EDITOR 134

At the same time, KONTAKT will create the required Zones, map them to the keyboard, and put
them into a new Group. If you’ve placed the MIDI sequence on the correct track of your
arrangement — it has to be sent to the MIDI channel of your current KONTAKT Instrument — and
play it back, you should hear your drum loop or phrase played back at your song tempo. If you
want, you can now proceed with modifying this MIDI sequence. Of course, should you decide to
delete the sequence, the generated Slice mapping will stay in place, so you can build your own
patterns from scratch as well. To get rid of the mapping, just delete the Group that was created in
the process.

20.7. Zone Envelopes

Envelopes are a common source for modulating parameters in synthesizers and samplers; they
provide a flexible way to create finely adjustable and repeatable modulation patterns. In KONTAKT,
envelopes are usually being generated by envelope generators, which act as signal sources for
modulation assignments. These can be added to Group-level modules, which means that any
conventional envelope affects all Zones in a Group in the same way. There are cases, however,
when modulating parameters on a per-Zone basis would be really helpful; Zone Envelopes make
this possible. What’s more, since they are directly tied to the Sample of the Zone in which they
appear, you can edit them on top of the waveform view; this allows you to intuitively create all
kinds of modulations in perfect sync with the Sample content.
To create and edit Zone Envelopes, click the Zone Envelopes tab at the bottom of the Wave Editor.

From left to right, the Zone Envelopes tab provides selection and delete functions, assignment buttons, edit tools, and utility
functions.

20.7.1. Assigning and Selecting Envelopes

Similarly to normal Group-level modulation assignments, the first step to create a Zone Envelope
is to tell KONTAKT which parameter you’d like to modulate. For this purpose, the Zone Envelopes
tab provides three assignment buttons, labeled Volume, Pan, and Add. These are located in the
middle of the panel. Each of these buttons creates a new Zone Envelope for a specific parameter
and selects it for display; if an envelope for the selected parameter already exists, an info message
will appear instead.

The upper two assignment buttons create a Zone Envelope for volume and panorama position, respectively; using the lower
button, you can create a Zone Envelope for any Group-level parameter.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 135

The upper two buttons create envelopes for the playback volume and the panorama position,
respectively; as these are parameters that you will probably want to modulate frequently, they are
provided here for quick access. The third button, labeled Add:, allows you to create Zone
Envelopes for any parameter that appears on a panel of a Group-level module. Whenever you click
the control of such a parameter, the Add: button will pick it up and display its name. By clicking on
the Add: button then, you can create a new Zone Envelope which modulates the chosen
parameter. For instance, you might want to modulate the cutoff frequency of a filter that resides in
the Group Insert Effects chain of your current Group; just locate the Cutoff knob on the filter panel
(you may have to double-click the filter module in the chain if you don’t see it) and click it — you
don’t need to move it. The lowest assignment button on the Zone Envelopes tab of the Wave
Editor should now read Add: Cutoff. When you click this button, a new cutoff envelope will appear
as a straight horizontal line within the waveform view.
In theory, you can create a Zone Envelope for every Group-level parameter, all within one Zone.
However, KONTAKT will only display one of your envelopes in the waveform view at any time. In
order to select a Zone Envelope for viewing and editing, click the drop-down menu button on the
left side of the Zone Envelopes tab, and choose an existing envelope from the menu.

The selection drop-down menu contains all Zone Envelopes of your current Zone. Selecting one will display it in the waveform view.

If you want to get rid of an envelope, first select it for editing via the drop-down menu, then click
the Delete button below. This will remove the envelope from the list and return the respective
parameter to its unmodulated state.

20.7.2. Adjusting Assignment Parameters

There are a few adjustable parameters that change the way in which the Zone Envelope’s shape
will affect the modulated parameter. For this purpose, each Zone Envelope that you create will add
an entry to the Modulation Router of the module that contains its target parameter. You can jump
to the corresponding assignment parameters of a currently selected Zone Envelope by clicking on
the Modulation Quick-Jump button that’s located next to the assignment buttons on the Zone
Envelopes tab.

The Modulation Router of a Zone Envelope

A Modulation Router entry of a Zone Envelope looks and works exactly like one that belongs to a
normal modulation assignment — it provides a modulation intensity slider, an Invert button, a Lag
control, and an optional Modulation Shaper. To find out what these controls do, refer to
section Assignment Controls of this manual. In contrast to normal Modulation Router entries,
though, entries that pertain to Zone Envelope assignments can’t be created in the usual way of
assigning other modulation sources; the only way to add them is implicitly by creating a Zone
Envelope within the Wave Editor.

Adjustments made to parameters for individual Zones stand in proportion to

adjustments made on Group level: The value of a parameter for a single Zone can
only be edited in relation to the value of the corresponding parameter on Group level.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 136

Editing parameters for factory content is only possible on Group level.

20.7.3. Editing Envelopes

After you have created a new Zone Envelope, it will be selected right away and displayed within the
waveform view of the Wave Editor as an orange, horizontal line. Zone Envelopes work similarly to
flexible envelopes (see section Flexible Envelopes) in that they consist of a series of breakpoints,
which are connected by either straight lines or curves. The minimum length of a Zone Envelope is
predetermined by the length of your Sample, though. At the beginning of the envelope, you’ll notice
a small rectangle; this is the first breakpoint of your envelope. Click this breakpoint and drag it up
or down to change the envelope’s initial level.
To add a new breakpoint, right-click ([Ctrl]-click on Mac OS X) somewhere within the waveform
view. KONTAKT will connect the new breakpoint to its neighbors with straight lines. You can
change each breakpoint’s level and position in time by clicking on it and dragging it around; the
waveform display in the background provides visual feedback if you want to align it to features of
your Sample. The envelope display will always keep in sync with the waveform; thus, zooming in
and out of the waveform or scrolling the view, as described at the beginning of this chapter, will
change the envelope view accordingly.

Zone Envelopes allow you to create arbitrarily complex modulation shapes.

In the middle of a segment between two breakpoints, you’ll notice a small, filled circle. Clicking on
this circle and dragging it up or down will change the curve shape of this segment. To remove a
breakpoint from your envelope, right-click ([Ctrl]-click on Mac OS X) on it.
If the Grid is active, all breakpoints will snap their position in time to the nearest Slice marker when
you move them. This allows you to create rhythmically useful modulation patterns very quickly.
Also, the Pencil Tool explained below allows you to create straight envelope lines for each Slice.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 137

When you use this function in combination with the Beat Machine, as explained in section Using
the Beat Machine, it opens up a whole range of possibilities that were only possible in previous
KONTAKT versions if you separated each Slice into its own Group: since straight lines, as created
with the Pencil Tool, set the target parameter to a value that will remain constant over the duration
of the Slice, you can easily adjust parameters for each Slice separately. As an example, suppose
you’re playing a sliced dub drum loop via the Beat Machine and want to add reverb to a single
snare hit. To accomplish this, add a reverb module to a free Instrument Send Effects slot first, then
insert a Send Levels module into the Group Insert Effects chain of the Group that contains your
drum loop. Now, with the Sample being displayed in the Wave Editor and the Zone Envelopes tab
selected, click the send level button in the panel of the Send Levels module which corresponds to
the reverb. The name of this send parameter should now appear in the Add: button on the Zone
Envelopes tab. Click this button; a new envelope will appear in the waveform view. Now select the
Pencil Tool and click inside the Slice of the snare hit that you’d like to process; a new “plateau” will
be added to your envelope at this spot. Clicking and dragging it allows you to adjust the reverb
level of this slice in isolation. With a little creative thinking, the possibilities of this approach are
virtually boundless.

Using the Pencil Tool and/or the Randomize Env function, you can quickly change Group-level parameters for each Slice in
isolation.

You can cut, copy, and paste regions of your Zone Envelope. For this purpose, the waveform view
provides a selection feature and a paste cursor. When you click anywhere in the waveform view
and drag your mouse horizontally, KONTAKT will highlight the selected region; you can change an
existing selection by clicking and dragging one of its borders, or move it across the envelope by
clicking inside it and dragging your mouse horizontally. To put the contents of a selected region
into the clipboard, click either Cut or Copy in the middle of the Zone Envelopes tab — Cut will
remove the selected region in the process, while Copy won’t change your envelope. To insert the
clipboard contents into your envelope, click the Paste button below; KONTAKT will insert the
clipboard region at the position of your edit cursor, which is indicated with a vertical red line that
you can position by clicking anywhere within the waveform view. This method also works across
different envelopes.

20.7.4. Utility Functions

The right side of the Zone Envelopes tab contains a number of utility functions that change the
behavior of your currently selected Zone Envelope in various ways:
 THE WAVE EDITOR 138

• Loop Env: When this button is enabled, you can define a loop region within your Zone Envelope.
This feature works similarly to the loop sections of flexible envelopes, though in contrast, it
does not need to be anchored to breakpoints. This aspect is rather important, as KONTAKT
allows you to reproduce a loop region of your Zone within the envelope, which makes it
possible to keep the Zone and its Zone Envelope in perfect sync during loops. Of course, you
can just as well adjust your loop region freely and independently from any Zone loops; clicking
and dragging one of its borders will resize it, and you can move it as a whole by clicking inside
the region and dragging your mouse horizontally. Note that when you’re using an envelope loop
that doesn’t match an identical loop region in your Sample, your envelope and the Sample will
eventually drift out of synchronization.
• Randomize Env: If you’re working on a sliced Sample, this button will create a random step
pattern which changes its value at each Slice marker; using this feature, you can quickly create
rhythmic modulation patterns that resemble classic “sample and hold” modulations of
synthesizers. Using the Pencil Tool described below, you can easily change the level of each
step. Note that this function will overwrite your currently selected Zone Envelope.
• Get Param From Cur. S. Loop: When you click this button, KONTAKT will copy the start and
end positions of the loop region that’s currently selected on the Sample Loop tab and use them
for your envelope’s loop region. This is useful for getting your envelope in sync with a looped
Sample.
• Env Follows Playback Speed: When this button is active, the selected Zone Envelope will
always speed up or slow down in unison with your Sample. For instance, when you’re playing
your Sample an octave above its original pitch in Sampler or DFD mode, its playback speed will
be doubled; enabling the Env Follows Playback Speed button ensures that the Zone Envelope
will speed up accordingly, so that your Sample and its envelope always stay in sync. When this
button is inactive, the envelope will always be processed at the original speed of the Sample.
• Pencil Tool: This button is located above the Cut, Copy, and Paste buttons in the middle of the
Zone Envelopes tab. It provides a tool that lets you create and edit straight lines between Slice
markers. This way, the target parameter of your envelope will be set to a constant value during
the length of the respective Slice. For example, you might want to adjust the volume of each
Slice of a Beat Machine-triggered drum loop separately. When the Pencil Tool button is
enabled, clicking between any two Slice markers will create a straight horizontal line between
them; you can change the level of these lines later by dragging them up or down with the Pencil
Tool.

20.8. Sample Editor

Most of the available operations in the Wave Editor work in a non-destructive way, which means
that they affect only the playback of your Sample and don’t change the actual Sample data on
your hard disk. Therefore, they can be easily reversed if needed. This is not always what you’ll
want, though: for example, if your Sample starts with a region of excess silence, you might want to
get rid of it permanently (instead of working around it by changing your Zone start markers).
Similarly, if there’s a DC bias in your Sample, there’s no practical reason to keep it in there. For
these cases, KONTAKT provides a built-in collection of destructive editing tools that allow you to
cut, copy, and paste your material, create fades and regions of silence, reverse portions of your
Sample, normalize its peak levels, or remove any DC bias. To access KONTAKT’s palette of
destructive editing tools, click the Sample Editor tab in the lower part of the Wave Editor. If any
other currently loaded Instruments use the Sample which you’re just trying to edit, KONTAKT will
ask you first which of these Instruments should adopt your changes, and which should keep the
original version.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 139

The Sample Editor tab

As you can see, the elements on this tab are split into three functional blocks, namely Edit,
Transform, and Selection. The Edit tools let you remove and reorder regions of your sample, but
leave the Sample data within these regions unaffected; the Transform tools process the actual
Sample data, for instance by changing the level.
When the Sample Editor tab is selected, the behavior of the waveform view will depend on
whether the Grid is active or not.

If the Auto Pre-Listen button in the tool bar of the Wave Editor is enabled, KONTAKT
will automatically play your selected region whenever you change it.

If it’s inactive, clicking into the waveform view will position a vertical marker at this location; this is
the edit cursor, which indicates where the contents of the clipboard will be inserted when you
select Paste. Clicking on the waveform and dragging your mouse horizontally will highlight a
contiguous region of your Sample; all Edit and Transform commands will operate on this region.
To change an existing selection, click its left or right border and drag it horizontally; holding the
[Shift] key while doing this allows you to make finer adjustments. The boundaries of the currently
selected region will also be displayed numerically in the Selection panel of the Sample Editor tab;
you can adjust any of these values directly by clicking on it and moving your mouse vertically, or
by double-clicking on it and entering a new value.
If the Grid is active, the position of the edit cursor, as well as all selection boundaries, will snap to
the nearest Slice markers. You can select a contiguous series of Slices by clicking into a Slice and
moving your mouse horizontally. Changing the left or right border of the selection or moving it as a
whole works as described above, but the selection will remain tied to the Slice markers.

Selecting slices for editing

 THE WAVE EDITOR 140

While you’re working on your Sample, KONTAKT will actually write out any changes to a backup
copy, so your original file will be left untouched. KONTAKT will create the backup copy inside a
folder named “__edited__”, which is located in your original Sample’s location. Once you’re finished
with editing, your Instrument (and any other loaded Instruments that use this Sample and have
been selected by you when you switched to the Sample Editor tab) will reference this backup copy
instead, and you will hear your changes instantly. By saving your Instrument, you’ll make the
reference to the modified backup copy permanent; your original Sample will remain unaffected
during the whole process, so other Instruments on your hard disk that use it will still work as
expected.
Before we explain what each operation on the Sample Editor tab does, we should mention an
important feature that will turn out to be rather helpful if things go wrong, namely the Undo and
Redo buttons on the right of the tab.

Undo and Redo button

These work like the identical buttons in the Instrument Edit Rack header. Clicking on the curved
arrow on the Undo button (left) will reverse the effects of the last operation, thus reverting the
waveform to its former state; clicking on the small down arrow on the same button will open a
drop-down menu with a list of the most recent operations that lets you select to which point in the
operation history you want to return. Note that the last entry of this list will always be Restore
Orig., which will undo all changes that took place since you switched to the Sample Editor tab,
thus restoring the Sample reference in your Instrument to the original Sample again. If you don’t
do any further editing on the Sample Editor tab after this, the “__edited__” folder will be deleted
when you quit KONTAKT. The Redo button to the right works similarly, but the other way around: it
will restore any effects that you have just reversed with the Undo button.

20.8.1. Edit Operations

Cut: Puts the currently selected region of your Sample into the Sample clipboard, removing it from
the Sample in the process.
Copy: Leaves your Sample intact, but copies the selected region to the Sample clipboard for later
use.
Crop: Removes all audio data outside the selection; in other words, the selected region will
become your new Sample.
Delete: Removes the selected region from the Sample, without putting it into the clipboard.
Paste: Inserts the contents of the clipboard into your Sample. The insert location depends on
whether a region is currently selected: if so, it will be replaced with the clipboard contents, which
erases the previous contents of the region and will change the overall length of your Sample in
most cases. If no region is selected, the contents of the clipboard will be inserted at the location of
the edit cursor; this location is indicated with a vertical blue line, which you can position by clicking
into the waveform view.
Duplicate: Inserts a copy of the selected region right after the region.

20.8.2. Transform Operations

Fade In: Creates a smooth fade in from silence that spans the selected region.
Fade Out: Creates a smooth fade out into silence that spans the selected region.
 THE WAVE EDITOR 141

Silence: Replaces the selected region with digital silence, i.e. a series of zero values.
Reverse: Reverses the selected region, so that it plays backwards.
Normalize: Amplifies the selected region to the greatest possible level without clipping. The
Normalize function analyzes your Sample region and applies a gain factor that makes it utilize the
entire available dynamics range; in other words, after you’ve used this operation, the highest peak
in the region will just hit the 0 dB mark.
DC Removal: Detects and removes any DC bias from the selected Region. DC bias appears as a
constant offset between the sample values and the zero line. While it’s inaudible, it can reduce
your headroom and cause problems at mixdown. Usually, you’ll want to use this operation on your
whole Sample.
 THE SCRIPT EDITOR 142

21. The Script Editor

KONTAKT includes a powerful and flexible scripting language processor, which is designed to let
third-party developers come up with custom and complex ways in which users can interact with
their Instruments and Multis. Although KONTAKT’s scripting language is easy enough to learn for
anyone who has used a programming language before, a thorough reference would still go beyond
the scope of this manual, so we’ve made it available as a separate PDF document that you’ll find in
the Documentation folder of your KONTAKT installation. In this section, we’ll keep to the basics of
loading and using Scripts within the Script Editor.
There are some basic aspects of Scripts that you should be aware of, even if you’ll only use pre-
made Scripts. Scripts in KONTAKT work like small programs that hook into KONTAKT’s way of
processing notes, controller data, and user actions, enabling them to change Instrument
parameters and MIDI data in a programmatic way. A very simple example would be a Script that
alters incoming MIDI notes by transposing them up an octave, or creating a second voice that
follows in octaves; more complex Scripts, though, can provide anything from powerful sequencer
environments to realistic simulations of human instrument articulation.
Scripts are not only available on the Instrument level, but on the Multi level as well. This opens up
a wide range of new possibilities in Script design; for instance, you can write Scripts that split and
distribute MIDI data among multiple Instruments. For the most part, the scripting features that
you can use on a global level are very similar to those on the Instrument level; there are some
inherent differences, though, which are explained in the KSP Reference Manual.
Loading, editing and managing Scripts takes place in one of KONTAKT’s Script Editors. You can
access the global editor, which contains Scripts that affect the Multi, by clicking on the button
labeled KSP on the right side of the Instrument Rack Header.

The KSP button

In order to open the local editor of an Instrument, click the Script Editor button below its header
when the Rack is in Edit mode. The Script Editors on the Multi and Instrument levels are mostly
identical, and the explanations in the remainder of this chapter apply to both.

An empty Script Editor

At the top of the panel, you’ll notice five tabs, each of them with an empty label. These are slots
that can take up a Script each; if a Script changes any events, another script in a slot to its right
will “see” the modified events. In other words, the five slots act as a chain of event filters. Below
the slot tabs, there’s an empty space; each script can provide its own user interface, which will
appear here.

21.1. Loading a Script

To load a Script, click the Preset button. A drop-down menu will appear, allowing you to select an
item from the preset scripts folder of your KONTAKT installation.
 THE SCRIPT EDITOR 143

Loading a preset Script

After you’ve selected a Script, its user interface controls will appear in the space below the tabs.
Most Scripts will work right away after loading; others might need you to do any meaningful
adjustments first. You can always bypass a Script, thus temporarily deactivating it, by clicking on
the Bypass button in the upper left corner of the Script Editor.
Whenever you’re using a Script that provides its own controls, you can automate these like any
other control of the KONTAKT user interface; select the Auto tab in the Browser and drag either a
MIDI controller or a host controller ID onto the knob whose parameter you’d like to automate. For
more information on how this works, refer to section Automation Tab.

21.2. Saving Script Settings

Whenever you have made a setting that you particularly like, you can save the Script in its current
state for later re-use. Just click the Script button, then select the Save Preset command from the
drop-down menu. A dialog will appear, asking you to enter a new filename for the Script. We don’t
recommend that you overwrite the original Script with your new settings, except if you want to
change its default state for any later use.
Note that you don’t need to explicitly save your Script if its settings are unique to your current
project; its state will be saved along with your session or Multi. Also, some more sophisticated
Scripts provide a built-in facility for preset management within the Script’s user interface.

21.3. Editing and Saving a Script

If you’re into programming, you can browse and edit the source code of a Script via a built-in code
editor. Click the Edit button in the lower left corner of the Script Editor; a text editor pane will open
below the Script’s user interface. Within this editor, you can make changes to the current Script, or
write your own Script from scratch. Whenever you’ve made any changes, they won’t affect the
running Script right away; instead, the Apply button in the upper right corner of the source code
editor will light up to remind you that you’ll have to commit the changes first. You do this by
clicking the Apply button; if the Script interpreter does not find any errors in your Script, your
changes will be made active. Keep in mind, though, that you still need to save your Script in order
to make the changes permanent.

Locking a Script
If you want to protect the source code of your Script to keep others from browsing and editing it,
you can lock it with a password while the source code editor is visible. To do this, click the Lock
with Password button in the upper left corner of the source editor, enter a password twice, and
click OK. Others can still use the script as it is, but the source code editor won’t show up if they
don’t have the password.
Before you lock a Script, though, remember that there’s a helpful and friendly community of fellow
Script authors out there; locking your Scripts will keep them from finding and fixing bugs you
might have missed or enhancing them with new features.
 THE SCRIPT EDITOR 144

Even if a thorough explanation of the scripting language is beyond the scope of this
manual, here’s a neat trick we don’t want to keep back: you can turn any panel of an
Instrument Script into a Performance View, thereby making it visible and accessible
within the Rack, simply by adding the statement “make_perfview” in a new line
somewhere between the lines “on init” and the following “end on”, which can usually
be found at the top of Scripts. After you click the Apply button and return to the Multi
Instrument view, the Script controls will appear below the Instrument Header in the
Rack. You can read more about the Performance View feature in
section Performance View of this manual.
 THE SOURCE MODULE 145

22. The Source Module

As its name suggests, the Source Module is located at the very beginning of KONTAKT’s signal
flow and acts as the source of all audio signals. It provides access to the underlying sample
playback engine, and as such can’t be removed from an Instrument. It operates in one of six
playback modes, all of which are optimized for handling different audio material:

• Sampler: This is a traditional sample playback engine that keeps all sample data in your
computer’s RAM.

• DFD (Direct from Disk): This is a high-performance solution for streaming samples from disk in
real-time.

• Tone Machine: In this mode, you can change the pitch and formants of your sounds
independently from the playback speed.

• Time Machine, Time Machine II, and Time Machine Pro: These playback modes allow you to
compress and stretch your Samples in real-time, while leaving their pitch unaffected.

• Beat Machine: This mode handles rhythmic samples (such as drum loops) that have been
“sliced”, making them fit your song tempo.
The mode of operation can be switched via the drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the
Source Module’s control panel. Note that the Source Module is located on the Group level, which
means that each Group in your Instrument has its own Source Module, and changes to the
playback mode only affect Zones within the Group to which the respective module belongs.
Let’s have a look at how each of the playback modes works and what controls it does provide.

22.1. Sampler
This is a “traditional” digital sampler that stores sample data in system memory, reads it out from
memory, and applies any required transposition by re-sampling the audio data in real-time. The
Sampler module is very efficient and draws little power from the host CPU.
Most of the available parameters in this mode can be modulated. Remember that all adjustments
you make will affect all Groups that are currently selected for editing in the Group Editor.
The Sampler contains the following controls:

The Sampler mode provides traditional, interpolated playback of Samples from memory.

• 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.
 THE SOURCE MODULE 146

• Tracking: When enabled, 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 (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.
• Note Mono (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.

22.2. DFD
The DFD mode uses an advanced streaming engine, which allows you to play very large Sample
sets in real-time without having to load all sample data into RAM. This is accomplished by loading
only the beginnings of all Samples into RAM (where they can be accessed instantly) and, as soon
as a Sample is being played, streaming its remainder from your hard disk. This method has a few
caveats that you’ll need to keep in mind when creating your own Instruments, but they’re usually
far outweighed by the possibility of playing Instruments whose Sample data is anything from
“inconveniently large” to “several times bigger than the size of your computer’s RAM”.
The controls for the source module’s DFD mode are identical to those of the standard Sampler
mode; all internal differences are transparently handled by KONTAKT.
 THE SOURCE MODULE 147

The DFD mode streams Samples from your hard disk in real-time as they are triggered.

When using DFD mode, consider the following:

• 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.

22.3. Wavetable
Wavetable synthesis is a sound synthesis technique that uses digitally sampled, single-cycle
waveforms to produce musical tones. In KONTAKT, you can use this technique by selecting
wavetable mode in the Source Module. When this mode is selected, every zone in the given group
is turned into a wavetable oscillator. All samples are interpreted as wavetables consisting of 2048
sample long wave cycles. This means that the root note settings are ignored, while all other Zone
or Group settings work as expected.
The internal structure of a wavetable oscillator comprises of two main elements: a sawtooth
oscillator, called the phase, and a set of values representing a number of waveforms, called the
wavetable. The phase is used to read out a waveform from the wavetable once every cycle, thus
reconstructing the waveform as the wavetable oscillator's output signal. By manipulating the wave
shape of the phase, the resulting waveform can be bent and warped in interesting ways. In the
Source module's wavetable mode, this can be achieved by using the Form controls.
Due to the low size of the single-cycle samples, wavetables can store multiple waveforms to use
as the basis of your sound creation. By morphing through the disparate waveforms in the
wavetable, you can create new and evolving wave shapes. This allows for diverse combinations of
waveforms and complex timbral effects. You can achieve this in KONTAKT by routing an LFO,
envelope or MIDI control to modulate the Wavetable Position control.
Digital interpolation increases the accuracy of the wavetable read-out and reduces aliasing noise.
The type of interpolation contributes significantly to the character of the sound. KONTAKT's
Quality setting allows you to choose from four different types of interpolation.
Wavetable synthesis offers a wide range of sounds that can be explored in a dynamic and flexible
way. From recreations of acoustic instruments to various synthesis techniques, the wavetable
module allows you to expand the tones and timbres of your sound.
Wavetable mode contains the following controls:
 THE SOURCE MODULE 148

The Wavetable mode.

• 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 enabled, the pitch follows the MIDI key position. When disabled, the pitch won’t
follow the keyboard.
• Release Trigger: When enabled, the wavetable will be triggered when a MIDI note-off command
is received.
• Wavetable 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 Amount: 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.
• 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.

22.4. Tone Machine

The Tone Machine mode offers you unprecedented control of your Samples’ pitches and formant
frequencies, which can both be changed independently from the playback speed. It accomplishes
this by processing your audio signals with granular synthesis algorithms, and has tremendous
potential for creative sound design, as well as lots of utilitarian applications.
When you switch your Source Module from Sampler or DFD mode into this mode, it needs to
analyze your sample material first, which can take some time if you have lots of samples in this
Group. A progress bar will indicate the current status of this analysis.
Note that since the Tone Machine handles your audio data in small chunks of sample values
called “grains”, all boundaries of Sample loop regions will be aligned to these chunks. In
consequence, this can result in slightly inaccurate playback of loops.
The Tone Machine mode contains the following controls:
 THE SOURCE MODULE 149

The Tone Machine mode lets you adjust the speed and pitch of your Samples independently.

• 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 enabled.
• 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 disabled, 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.

22.5. Time Machine

The Time Machine works similarly to the Tone Machine in that it uses granular synthesis to render
pitch and playback speed of your samples independent of each other. It is optimized to alter the
playback speed while leaving the pitch unaffected, thus providing a facility for real time time-
stretching.
The Time Machine's controls are mostly identical to those of the Tone Machine. In addition, it
offers the following controls:
 THE SOURCE MODULE 150

The Time Machine performs time-stretching of your Samples in real time.

• Hi Quality: This button replaces the DC Filter button of the Tone Machine. When enabled, 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 enabled the button described above.

22.6. Time Machine II

This module works in a similar way as the Time Machine, but uses enhanced algorithms that
provide better quality time stretching and pitch shifting.
The Time Machine II's controls are mostly identical to those of the Time Machine, with the
following exceptions:

The Time Machine II mode is optimized for high-quality time stretching, especially of percussive material.

• Transient Copy: When this button is enabled, 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.

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

• Grain Size: 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’ve found
the one that sounds best.

22.7. Time Machine Pro

This module should be used for the highest quality, independent pitch-shifting and time-stretching.
It is best used for realistic changes, not extreme effects. Due to the higher quality, the CPU and
RAM consumption of this mode is rather high.
The Time Machine Pro's controls are mostly identical to those of the Time Machine, with the
following exceptions:
 THE SOURCE MODULE 151

The Time Machine Pro is the highest quality time-stretching mode.

• Reverse: Time Machine Pro is the only time machine module that offers a real-time audio
reverse function.
• Voices menu: Restricts the number of voices in order to control CPU consumption.
• Pro Mode: Switches between "efficient" and "pro" mode and displays advanced controls, which
are described below.
• Envelope Order (Env.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.
• Envelope Factor (Env.Fact.): 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.

Time Machine Pro can only process stereo files. In case of more channels (surround),
only the first two channels are processed, the others are muted.

22.8. Beat Machine

The Beat Machine is a mode for tempo-synchronized playback of “sliced” Samples. In short, the
slicing mechanism provides a way to change the playback speed of percussive audio material,
such as drum loops, without the tendency to “slur” transients or introduce other artifacts that are
common to other time-stretching methods. In contrast to these, though, slicing needs some prior
human intervention, the idea being that you add markers to your Samples, which tell KONTAKT
where their distinctive parts — such as the drums in a drum loop — are located. After you’ve
created those markers, KONTAKT will be able to trigger these elements in time to your song with
an internal sequencer. This sequencer is the Beat Machine.
If the task of placing markers in your Samples, which is referred to as “slicing”, sounds daunting to
you, don’t worry. The intelligent slicing functions that you’ll find in the Grid panel of the Wave Editor
will make this task as simple as possible, and of course, once you’ve sliced a Sample, the slicing
information will be saved along with the Instrument. What’s more, there’s lots of pre-sliced
material available in the form of commercial loop libraries.
The process of slicing a Sample manually is described in detail in section Grid Panel. Also, note
that the Sync / Slice tab of the Wave Editor includes a Use Beat Machine button, which allows you
to synchronize the Sample to your song tempo right away. In fact, you should always use the Use
Beat Machine function instead of switching your Source Module into Beat Machine mode
explicitly. Please refer to sections Grid Panel and Sync / Slice Tab of the Wave Editor chapter to
learn how to slice your own Samples and use the Beat Machine to play them back.
The Beat Machine contains the following controls:
 THE SOURCE MODULE 152

The Beat Machine mode shouldn’t be activated manually; it’s better to Slice your Samples first in the Wave Editor and then activate
it via the Use Beat Machine button on the Sync / Slice tab.

• 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 disabled, the pitch won’t follow the keyboard.
• Sl. 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.
• Sl. Rls. (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.
• 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.

22.9. S1200 Machine

The S1200 Machine is the first of the "vintage machine modes". It emulates the behavior of a
classic drum sampler from the late 80s. It not only degrades the playback quality of the samples
(to about 12-bit, 26kHz), but also changes the way KONTAKT changes the pitch and basic
handling of the sample playback engine.
The controls are similar to those of the Sampler or DFD modes, but with the omission of the
Quality menu and the inclusion of a Static Filter menu.
 THE SOURCE MODULE 153

The S1200 Machine

22.10. MP60 Machine

The MP60 Machine is the second of the "vintage machine modes" and emulates the behavior of a
different 80s classic sampler. As with the S1200, it not only degrades the playback quality of the
samples, but also changes the way KONTAKT changes the pitch and basic handling of the sample
playback engine. It is generally of a higher sample quality than the S1200 mode.
The controls are similar to those of the Sampler or DFD modes, but with the omission of the
Quality menu.

The MP60 Machine

 THE AMPLIFIER MODULE 154

23. The Amplifier Module

The Amplifier Module follows the Source Module and the Group Insert Effects chain in the Group
level of KONTAKT’s signal flow. Its purpose is to adjust the volume and stereo panorama of the
signal before it enters the Instrument level, and optionally change the default output channel
assignment and the channel routing that occurs between the Group and the Instrument level. A
particularly vital task of the Amplifier Module is brought about by combining it with modulation:
this way, you can use volume envelopes, which are elementary in the creation of playable
Instruments.

The Amplifier Module

As it’s a fundamental part of KONTAKT’s signal flow, the Amplifier Module can’t be removed from a
Group, nor can you have more than one Amplifier Module within a Group. All signals generated by
the Source Module in the Group will pass through your Amplifier Module.

Controls
• Volume: Adjusts the overall level of all signals that originate from this Group.
• Pan: If the Group is being routed to a stereo Output Channel, this control allows you to place
the signal in the stereo panorama. Note that the Volume and Pan controls affect the playback
of all Zones in your Group; if you want to adjust these parameters on a per-Zone basis, change
them in the Mapping Editor instead, or use Zone Envelopes, which are described in section
Zone Envelopes.
• Phase Invert: Switching this button on inverts the phase of the audio signal, so that negative
signals become positive, and vice versa. It acts in the same manner as a phase invert button
on a mixing console and has the same uses, namely to make sure that signals mix together
without phase cancellation.
• L/R Swap: Activating this button will swap the left and right channels of a stereo signal.
• Channel Routing: Clicking this button will open a routing matrix below the panel, which allows
you to change the channel assignment aspects of the connection between the Group and the
Instrument level, as well as create special routing configurations for up-mixing or down-mixing
your Group signal to a different channel configuration. More details regarding this panel will be
described later in this chapter.
• Output: This drop-down menu allows you to specify an alternate Output Channel, or Bus
routing for this Group. When set to Default (Instrument), the Group’s output is routed to the
Instrument Insert Effects Chain, then to the output of the instrument, the Channel Output of
which is selected from the Instrument Header. If you select a Bus from this dropdown, the
group’s audio will be routed to that Bus Effect Chain, then to the respective Bus’s output
(which, by default, is the Instrument Effect Chain). You can also send the Group’s audio directly
to a Channel Output, which will bypass any Bus and/or Instrument effects.
 THE AMPLIFIER MODULE 155

Channel Routing Panel

A routing configuration which keeps the channel order and assignment intact, but lowers the second channel by -12 dB in volume.

Each horizontal row of this table corresponds to a channel of the Group signal that’s present at the
input of the Amplifier Module, as specified in the leftmost column. Each vertical column
corresponds to an audio channel of the output that you’ve selected for this Instrument in the
Instrument Header. You can create a connection between an input and an output channel by
clicking into the field that is crossed by the respective row and column. An existing connection will
be indicated with a colored rectangle; click it again to remove the connection.
For more complex routings that convert between different channel configurations, it’s possible to
send an input signal to multiple output channels, or to mix multiple input signals down to one
output channel. You do this simply by creating more than one connection within a row (mix-up) or
a column (mix-down). In such cases, it’s often desirable to create connections with an intrinsic
amplification or attenuation; for example, a common practice for mixing surround signals down to
stereo is to fold the rear signal to the stereo channels at a lower volume. This can be
accomplished in the Channel Routing matrix by right-clicking into the fields of existing
connections, which will change the level of this connection as indicated by the color of the
rectangle. Repeated clicking will cycle through a number of preset levels, which are displayed with
their respective colors at the bottom of the routing matrix.
 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 156

24. Signal Processors in KONTAKT

KONTAKT has a sophisticated signal flow structure that allows you to create flexible signal
routings and process your audio signals with a range of effects and filters. This chapter will
provide an overview on how to work with KONTAKT’s signal processing modules; it will explain
what kinds of modules are available and how they can be be used in an optimal way. The term
'signal processor' refers to both effects (audio processors you would expect in a typical multi-
effects device) and filters (modules that change the frequency content of your signals).
The following chapters will provide in-depth descriptions of the effects and filters available in
KONTAKT’s extensive collection of signal processors, but for the moment let’s stick to the general
basics. The following diagram depicts KONTAKT’s signal flow structure:

Audio Signal Path

 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 157

Take a look at the five rows of eight slots each that reside within the Instrument and Group
structures: these are the slots that can take up signal processor modules of your choice. Four
rows — titled Group Insert Effects, Bus Insert Effects, Instrument Insert Effects, and Main Effects
— form chains of insert modules. This means that the audio signal is processed in its entirety by
each of the signal processors in the order in which they are placed in the chain, with the output of
the rightmost module in the chain being used as the output signal of the Group, Bus or Instrument.
In contrast, the slots of the Instrument Send Effects section take up modules that work
independently from each other in a parallel fashion. The idea behind send effects is that you can
“tap” your signals at various points of the signal flow, and send them to a send effect at an
adjustable level.
If you’re familiar with how signal processors are used in a studio environment, with devices like
compressors and equalizers usually being inserted into the signal flow, and effects like reverbs
being fed through the aux sends of a mixing console and added back to the main mix, you’ll
discover that KONTAKT’s signal flow replicates these concepts and uses the same terminology in
a lot of cases. Let’s take a closer look at each row of slots.

24.1. Group Insert Effects

The Group Insert Effects Chain

This chain takes up to eight modules which will process the output signal of a specific Group in
the order of their placement in the chain. Here’s a typical application example: Suppose you’re
creating a drum kit Instrument, which has the typical array of drums (e.g. bass drum, snare, toms,
and cymbals) separated into a Group for each drum. The snare is a bit lacking in “punch”, so you
want to use a compressor with a long attack time to bring out its initial “slam, but you don’t want
your cymbals to be treated in the same way. You can enable the “snare” Group in the Group Editor
for editing (take care that you deactivate all other Groups, or else their chains will be changed in
unison), and add the compressor to this Group’s Group Insert Effects chain. Only the snare sounds
will pass the compressor; all other Groups are unaffected.
The Group Insert Effects chain has an additional feature that separates it from the Instrument
Insert Effects chain: while the slots to the left of the chain always receive the signal before it
enters the Amplifier module, the slots on the right can optionally be placed after the Amplifier
module in the signal flow. This is very useful in cases where you want to use the Send Levels
module, which allows you to send signals to modules in the Instrument Send Effects slots. While
you usually wouldn’t want the operation of a distortion effect to be affected by your volume
envelope, and therefore would place it before the Amplifier, sending a pre-Amplifier signal to a
reverb or delay can give unexpected results. In most cases, you’ll want send effects to receive the
output of the Amplifier as you’re hearing it, so placing the Send Levels module in one of the two
rightmost slots by default is a good idea.
To specify the number of post-amplifier effects:
▶ Click and drag on the numeric value in the PostAmpFX section.
There are a few other details to keep in mind when you’re working with Group Insert Effects:
 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 158

• Group insert modules work in a polyphonic fashion, which means that their effect will be
computed separately for each voice that you play. In some cases, this can result in different
sounds than you might expect, for instance when you use compressors or distortion effects.
This behavior allows you to create modulations that work on a per-Voice basis, such as
velocity-controlled distortion, or key-tracking filters. Keep in mind, though, that in consequence,
this multiplies each module’s CPU resources by the number of voices; if you don’t need Group-
specific or polyphonic processing, it’s more efficient to move a module into the Bus or
Instrument Insert Effects chain instead, where it will operate on the summed signal.
• Most parameters of Group insert effects can be modulated internally via a modulation matrix.
This matrix can be accessed via the Modulation button in the lower left corner of an effect
panel. KONTAKT’s modulation system is explained in detail in section Modulation in
KONTAKT .
• Many of KONTAKT’s signal processors are capable of processing multichannel signals. If a
compatible effect follows a multichannel zone or a Surround Panner, it will operate on all
surround channels.

24.2. Bus Insert Effects

You can route Groups through the Instrument Buses for more flexible effect routing.

You can select one of KONTAKT’s 16 Instrument Buses as an additional effect chain for several
Groups. You can have up to 16 buses, each with an independent effect setup. You can select the
Bus you wish to edit by clicking on the output level meter to the top of this section or by selecting
it from the drop down menu below the Edit All Buses button. If you want to edit all Buses at once,
activate the Edit All Buses button. While this button is active, any changes you make on the Bus
level will affect all Buses at once.
The Bus level also has an amplifier section, with Volume and Pan controls, as well as an output
selector drop down. The Output menu functions much in the same way as the Group level, but
with one extra option to route the output through the instrument output, but bypassing the
Instrument Insert Effects Chain. To do this, select program out (bypass insertFX) from the Output
menu.
The outputs of the Groups you have routed to any Bus are summed and processed together; all
processors operate in a monophonic fashion, without any means to discern between voices. The
effect chain section can be edited in a similar fashion to the Group Insert Effects Chain, but
without the pre or post amp optional routing.
A typical application of the Instrument Buses would be if you had several different Groups, but
these could be grouped into audio chains for similar processing, for example: drums. Here you
may have different Groups for each articulation, but for the effects processing you want each
instrument type (kick, snare, toms, etc) grouped together to be processed through different effect
chains.
 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 159

24.3. Instrument Insert Effects

The summed signals from your Groups will pass the Instrument Insert Effects chain just before they’re sent to the Master Effects
chain.

This chain operates on the summed output signal of all Groups and Buses (unless they are routed
directly to an Output Channel). It works exactly as the Bus Insert Effects chain, with the exception
that it doesn’t offer an Amplifier section; any volume, pan and output control at this point is placed
in the instrument header. Like the Bus Insert Effects Chain, all processors operate in a
monophonic fashion, without any means to discern between voices. A typical application of
modules in this chain would be a compressor or EQ that should operate on an Instrument signal in
its entirety.

24.4. Instrument Send Effects

In contrast to the Insert chains, the Instrument Send Effects work in parallel, and only receive signals that you explicitly send to
them via the Send Levels module.

To use a module as a send effect, add it to one of your Instrument’s Send Effects slots, and tap a
source signal to be sent there by adding the Send Levels module to a Group, Bus or Instrument
Insert Effects chain. A typical effect to be used in this way is a reverb: you might want to send
different levels from the different parts of your instrument to the reverb, but then control the reverb
as a single effect unit, Send Effects let you accomplish this.
The amount of signal that’s being sent to the effect is called the send level, while the effect’s
output level is called the return level.
After you have added an effect to a slot in the Send Effects row, you’ll notice on its panel that it has
a control labeled Return on its right side. This knob allows you to adjust the return level for this
effect, as well as choose a routing target for its output signal by clicking on the small “I” icon next
to the numerical readout.

Changing the output assignment of your send effects modules allows you to isolate wet effect signals from your Instrument’s
Output Channel.
 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 160

Note that you can send a signal to a send effect from more than one place within your
Instrument. In such cases, the signals will be summed before they enter the effect; in
other words, all send effects operate in a monophonic fashion.

24.5. Main Effects

The Main Effects Chain

The Main Effects chain operates on the summed output signal of all Insert Effects and Send
Effects (unless they are routed directly to an Aux Channel). The chain is comprised of eight
module slots which act as the final processor chain of your signal before the Instrument Output.
The eight modules will process the signal of the selected Instrument in the order of their
placement in the chain.
A typical use for the Main Effects section is to apply a limiter to the final output of your Instrument,
in order to avoid digital clipping. Using a compressor in this chain enables you to control the final
dynamic content of the signal, and also glue sounds together for a more well balanced sound.
Modules in this chain should be applied with the intention of operating on an Instrument signal in
its entirety.

24.6. Common Parameters

All signal processing modules have a few functions in common; you can find these on the left side
of their parameter panels.

Each control panel provides buttons for bypassing the module, opening a list of presets, and showing or hiding the Modulation
Router for this module if it resides on the Group level.

• Byp. (Bypass): Clicking on this button will toggle a bypass mode, which causes the module to
pass its input signal on to its output, without any processing taking place. In the process of
tweaking parameters, it’s sometimes easy to lose objectivity and unintentionally go “over the
top” with your processing, so it’s good practice to re-check your signal against the unprocessed
sound every so often when you’re tweaking parameters.
• Pre (Preset): This button opens a drop-down menu which allows you to pick a set of parameter
values for this module from KONTAKT’s preset library, as well as save your current settings as
a new preset. Note that the insert and send slot rows (and, for that matter, most other modules
in KONTAKT) have their own preset menus; these allow you to load and save entire signal
processing chains.
• Mod (Modulation): Only modules that have been added as Group inserts have this button. It
opens a Modulation Router, which allows you to create modulation assignments for most
effect parameters via KONTAKT’s internal modulation system. The modulation system is
explained in section Modulation in KONTAKT.
 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 161

24.7. Adding Modules

There are two ways of adding a signal processing module to a slot:
▶ To add an Effect Module to a slot, click the + icon in the lower right corner of an empty slot and
select a module from the drop-down menu.
To change a module’s position in a chain, you can drag it onto the separator line between two
slots; a vertical line will appear if it can be moved to this position. All modules to the right of this
position (if any) will move one slot further to the right in order to make place for the module.

24.8. Deleting Modules

To delete a module from a slot, either click on the X icon in the upper right corner of the module
field, or select this module’s parameter panel and press the delete key on your keyboard.

24.9. Editing Module Parameters

Whenever you add a signal processing module to a slot, this module’s control panel will appear
below the slot row. The panel can be shown and hidden by either clicking the button labeled Edit in
the lower left corner of the row, or by double-clicking on an effect module in that row. While the
control panel is visible, it will show the controls of the currently selected module; clicking on
another module will switch over to that one, so there will be only one module’s panel displayed
below the row at any time.

Each signal processing module provides a panel with controls that let you adjust its parameters.

24.10. Signal Processors in the Outputs Section

The facilities described so far in this chapter allow you to use signal processors in various places
and configurations throughout your Instrument. But what if you want an effect to operate on more
than one Instrument in your Multi?
For this reason, KONTAKT also provides effect slots that can be used to perform signal processing
in both flavors — as inserts or sends — within the Outputs section, which is described in detail in
section Modulation in KONTAKT of this manual. Inserts are provided within the Output Channel
strips, while separate channels, called Aux Channels, provide the necessary means to use send
effects across Instruments. Let’s look at both of these in detail.

24.10.1. Output Channel Inserts

Display the Outputs section from the Workspace menu. To the left, you’ll see one or more output
channel strips. Just below the channel name at the top, there are four slots; this is the insert chain
for the respective channel. If you can’t see these slots, check that the Outputs panel is maximized
by clicking on the button to the top right of the Outputs section.
 SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN KONTAKT 162

The Output Channels with Effects inserted

The Output Insert chain works exactly the same as the Bus Insert Effects or Instrument Insert
Effects chains, though laid out in a vertical fashion, with the topmost slot being the first of the
chain. Clicking on the small arrow icon next to a slot will open a drop-down menu with the names
of all available signal processors. Once you’ve selected and inserted a module from this list, you
can show and hide its parameters for editing either by clicking on its name. Opening the drop-
down menu and selecting the Empty label at its top will remove a module from the chain.

24.10.2. Aux Channels

Remember that the Instrument Send Effects slots provide a means to use effect modules as send
effects, which can be used across multiple Groups and Buses; in a similar fashion, Aux Channels
allow you to use send effects across multiple Instruments. You’ll find the Aux Channel strips on
the right side of the Outputs section mixer; technically, they’re just additional output strips that get
their signals from different places throughout the signal flow. Consequently, this also means that
effects can be added in the same way as with the normal output channel strips; just open the
drop-down menu at one of the insert slots and select a signal processor for the respective slot.
The Aux Channels can be fed from two places in KONTAKT. By clicking on the aux button in the
Rack header in Multi Instrument mode, a row of level controls will appear below each Instrument
Header. With these controls, you can send the respective Instrument’s output signal to one or
multiple Aux channels at adjustable levels.

Instrument Aux Sends

Alternatively, you can re-route the output signal of any effects module that you added to a Send
Effects slot to one of the Aux Channels. While this might seem counter-intuitive at first, it makes
sense when you consider that you might want to access the wet signal of a send effect separately
from the main output; routing it to an Aux Channel not only allows you to further process the wet
signal in isolation, but also makes it possible to route the signal to different physical KONTAKT
outputs. You can also use the Gainer module within a Send Effects slot to build a “bridge” to the
Aux channels and feed them with Group-specific signals; this process is explained in
section Gainer of this manual.
 EFFECTS 163

25. Effects
This section provides descriptions of all effects modules that are available in KONTAKT, as well as
explanations of their parameters. Effects include dynamics tools, such as compressors, as well as
audio processors that change the signal in a usually non-linear way, such as reverbs, flangers or
distortion effects.
You can access these modules by clicking on the + icon in the lower right corner of each effects
slot, which opens a drop-down menu of available effects.

25.1. AET Filter

This module constitutes the core of the powerful Authentic Expression Technology (AET) in
KONTAKT, which allows you to “morph” continuously between the timbral characteristics of
multiple samples. The module is designed to work on the Group level, so it can only be placed in
the Group Insert FX chain.
As the process of creating and using a morph extends to other elements of the user interface than
this module itself, we’ll start with a high-level explanation of the idea and technology behind AET; if
you’re just interested in a reference of the involved dialogs and the module’s controls, you can find
those at the end of this section.

25.1.1. About Authentic Expression Technology

When sampling acoustic instruments, one of the common difficulties to overcome stems from the
fact that most of them change their tonal characteristics radically throughout their range of
dynamic and expression — a french horn played mf can sound very different from one played p.
This makes it more difficult to capture the whole range of their sonic character in a convincing
way with static samples alone. The traditional approach has been to tackle this problem with
sheer size: Sample libraries that contain several dozen velocity layers per note have now become a
common occurrence, and indeed, this is a good way to increase the sampled instrument’s level of
detail. In a lot of cases, though, the shortcomings of turning highly dynamic instrumental sounds
into static samples, such as noticeable timbre changes when moving from one velocity layer to
the next, still persist.
With the Authentic Expression Technology (AET) in KONTAKT, we’d like to introduce a radically
different approach. The core of this technology is an FFT filter with a very high resolution, which is
able to “imprint” frequency responses of almost any complexity on your signal. These frequency
responses are derived from other samples in your patch via spectral analysis. For instance, the
currently playing velocity layer could be filtered with the spectral information of the layer just
above it to sonically shift it closer to the latter. By dynamically varying the amount of processing
with the help of a modulation source (such as the velocity), you can thereby pass through any
number of intermediate stages between two samples, thus “morphing” between them in real-time.
The process is not limited to dynamic layers, either: You can morph between different playing
techniques of an instrument (such as a trumpet playing with and without mute) or even between
different signals. This opens up a whole range of sound design possibilities — fancy a morph
between a piano and a celesta!
 EFFECTS 164

The functionality of AET is split up into two logically separate parts. In the analysis phase, you tell
KONTAKT which Samples should be taken into consideration; it will then generate spectral
“fingerprints” of these and save them for later use. This selection and setup process takes place in
the Mapping Editor. Once the fingerprints have been created, they become available for selection
within the AET Filter module, which you can insert into a Group Insert FX slot just like any other
effect module. Here’s where the actual filtering takes place: With just a single parameter, you can
control which of the stored frequency responses will be imparted to which amount on the
currently playing sample.
Before we dive head-first into an actual use case of AET, we should explain two of the logical
building blocks you’ll encounter in the setup process:

• A Morph Layer is a group of non-overlapping Zones whose samples are directly related in
some way; these are often stacks of velocity layers or multi-sampled Zones that cover a
certain key range, or in other words, blocks of adjacent Zones in the Mapping Editor.
• A Morph Map is a collection of one or more Morph Layers. This is what’s ultimately loaded into
the AET Filter module, and its contents decide what the Morph knob on the module’s control
panel will do. A Morph Map that contains only one Morph Layer is called a velocity map; in this
case, the target frequency response will be derived from the Zone whose keyboard range
matches the currently pressed key, and whose velocity range corresponds to the setting of the
Morph knob. A Morph Map with multiple Morph Layers is the basis of an articulation morph;
this is the more complex case, which allows you to set up morphs between two or more sets of
Samples which are not necessarily related, such as different playing techniques or even
entirely different instruments. Usually, the Morph Layers in such a map originate from different
Groups in your Instrument.
• In short: If you want to use the expression filter for dynamic velocity morphing, a Morph Map
with only one Morph Layer will do fine (the Auto add AET velocity morph function described
below will even set this up for you); if you want to do more complex things, you’ll have to create
a Morph Map that consists of multiple, manually defined Morph Layers.
Now that you know what Authentic Expression Technology is and what it can do for you, let’s take
a look at how to use it in real-world situations.

25.1.2. Creating a Velocity Morph

This is the basic use case, and since it is so common, KONTAKT offers you a function that
automates it for you. Just load or create an Instrument with multiple velocity layers, select all of
your Zones in the Mapping Editor (take care that you don’t accidentally select multiple overlapping
Zones; you might want to use the Selected Groups Only switch), then select the Auto add AET
velocity morph command from the Edit menu.
 EFFECTS 165

You can find the “Auto add AET velocity morph” function both in the Edit menu and in the right-click context menu of the Mapping
Editor.

When you open the Group Insert FX chain now, you’ll notice that KONTAKT has added an AET
Filter module for you. Take a look at its control panel and Modulation Router — it has already been
set up with an auto-generated Morph Map, and the Morph knob is being modulated by the velocity.

The “Auto add AET velocity morph” function will add a ready-to-use AET Filter module to your Group Insert FX chain.

When you play some notes, KONTAKT will still only play the Sample that’s assigned to the
incoming velocity; the further the actual velocity is away from the middle velocity value of the
played Zone, though, the more of the spectral characteristics of the Zone directly below or above
will now be imparted on the sound. Once the velocity crosses the border to another Zone, the
process will be reversed; now the next Zone will play, with the frequency response of the preceding
one being used for filtering. This way, the timbral differences of your velocity layers are elegantly
masked, resulting in a smooth dynamic response over the whole velocity range.

Of course, nothing stops you from assigning other modulation sources than the
velocity to the Morph knob; you can just as well use a continuous MIDI controller or
aftertouch for this purpose. Using a different modulation source for morphing makes
it possible to sweep through the morph gradient while the sound is playing, which
opens up very interesting performance possibilities. Keep in mind, though, that the
filter will only act upon the Sample that was triggered when you pressed the key.
 EFFECTS 166

25.1.3. Creating an Articulation Morph

Setting up a simple velocity morph as described above is easy enough. There are times, though,
when you need a more flexible way of configuring the morph filter. For example, you might want to
set up a dynamically playable morph between two different, but musically related articulations of
the same sound source, such as a choir singing “ahh” and “ooh”. This requires some more manual
intervention. The procedure can be broken down into the following steps:
1. Create one Morph Layer for each of the Groups that the articulations are assigned to,
2. Combine two or more of these layers into a Morph Map, and
3. Load this map into an AET Filter module that you place in the Group Insert FX chain of the
Group that should be processed.
In our example, we assume that the “ahh” and the “ooh” Zones are neatly split up into two different
Groups, as would be the natural structure of a KONTAKT patch. In a first step, select all Zones
from the “ahh” Group (using the Selected Groups only function if needed), then choose Create
AET morph layer from the Edit menu. A dialog window with a few options will appear.

Before creating a new Morph Layer from the selected Zones, KONTAKT asks you to specify some details about the process.

Enter a descriptive name for your layer (such as “ahh”) and make sure that both the Tonal option is
enabled and the Smoothing parameter is set to its default value of 0.5, then click OK. KONTAKT
will now generate spectral fingerprints of all Zones and save them in a new Morph Layer. Once it
has finished, repeat the process with the Zones in the other group. You have now created two new
Morph Layers that contain spectral information which will be used in the resulting morph.
In order to tell KONTAKT which morph layers you’d like to use in your morph, you’ll have to create a
new Morph Map and add those layers to it.
To add a new Morph Map:
1. Open the AET Morph Map Editor from the Edit menu; a dialog window with an input line on top
will appear.
2. Combine your Morph Layers into Morph Maps with the AET Morph Map Editor.
3. Enter a descriptive name here (such as “ahh -> ooh morph”) and click the Add: button. The
Morph Layers you just prepared will now turn up in the right one of two lists at the bottom of
the dialog, meaning that they’re available for inclusion in your new Morph Map. Select them
one-by-one in the right list and move them into your map by clicking the left arrow button. Note
that the order in which you include them is important; in our example, we want the filter to
morph the original “ahh” samples into the frequency response of the “ooh” samples, so the
“ahh” layer has to be on top of the list.
4. Before you finish, make sure you switch the Morph Map type to articulation morph instead of
velocity morph; otherwise, KONTAKT will display an error message, as velocity maps may only
consist of a single Morph Layer. Click OK; your Morph Map is now ready for use.
 EFFECTS 167

Now would be a good time to stress the fact that in this scenario, the “ooh” samples will take no
part whatsoever in the resulting sound; they just served as templates for setting up the morph
filter. Even at the highest Morph setting, what you hear will actually be the “ahh” samples with the
frequency response of the “ooh” samples superimposed. This also means that you should make
sure that the “ooh” samples won’t be played when you press a key; the result would be a messy
combination of filtered and unfiltered samples. The easiest way to do this is to turn the Volume
knob of the “ooh” Group’s Amplifier Module all the way down.
To complete the process, switch over to the “ahh” Group, locate its Group Insert FX chain, and add
an AET Filter module to an empty slot. Open the pull-down menu on the left side of its panel and
select the Morph Map you just created. Now open the Modulation Router of the module and
assign a controller, such as the modulation wheel, to the Morph parameter.

Setting the AET Filter module up in this way allows you to morph between your articulations in real-time using the modulation
wheel.

That’s it — when you play some notes now, you can seamlessly morph between “ahh” and “ooh”
using the modulation wheel. Of course, you can also create morphs across more than two Morph
Layers; by repeating the steps above, you could easily add another layer of the choir singing
“mmh” to your patch.
Now that you know how to use AET in your own Instruments, we’ll conclude this section with a
description of the involved dialogs and their options.

25.1.4. Create AET Morph Layer Dialog

This dialog appears when you select the Create AET morph layer command from the Edit or
context menu of the Mapping Editor.
Name: The name of this Morph Layer, which will be used to identify it in the Morph Map Editor.
Smoothing: This value affects how much the analyzed frequency response will be smoothed out
before it’s being used as a template for the filter. Sensible values range from 0.1 (no smoothing) to
around 2.0 (strong smoothing).
Tonal: When this option is active, KONTAKT will analyze each sample harmonically in relation to
the fundamental frequency of its respective root key value. You should only turn it off for material
that’s entirely non-tonal, such as noise or percussion, or in case the root key value is wrong; in that
case, KONTAKT will perform a plain frequency analysis with no respect to harmonic structures.
 EFFECTS 168

Root Key Shift: As described above, KONTAKT will use the root key value of a Zone to determine
its Sample’s fundamental frequency when the Tonal option is enabled. There are cases, though,
where the root key value deliberately differs from the true fundamental frequency of the Sample.
For instance, you could be working on a patch that places multiple playing techniques of the same
instrument in different octaves, so that C2 and C4 play the same note, but with different
articulations. In that case, using the root key value without correction would mislead the analyzer
into considering the wrong frequencies; with the Root Key Shift parameter, you can specify an
offset between the actual note of the Sample and its root key value in semitones. The default
value of 0 assumes a correct root key setting; a value of -12 corresponds to the actual
fundamental tone being one octave below the root key.
Analysis Range: Click and drag the borders of the selection range here to limit the analysis
process to a certain time frame of each sample. When analyzing samples that change their timbre
over time, this allows you to tell KONTAKT at which point in a note the instrument will exhibit its
most characteristic frequency spectrum, and exclude the rest from influencing the analysis result.
For a piano or guitar, this would be the first seconds of each note; if you’d include the whole decay
phase in the analysis, the average spectrum would turn out much darker.
Number of Zones: The number of Zones that are currently selected in the Mapping Editor and will
be included in this Morph Layer when you click OK.

25.1.5. Morph Map Editor

This dialog appears when you select the Open AET morph map editor command from the Edit or
context menu of the Mapping Editor.

The AET morph map editor dialog

Add: Enter a name in the input field next to this button and click it to create a new, empty Morph
Map.
Map: This pull-down menu contains all available Morph Maps of your Instrument. Select one to
edit it.
Remove: Deletes the currently selected Morph Map from the Instrument, thereby bypassing any
AET Filter modules that reference this map.
Velocity/Articulation: Specify the principal type of the Morph Map here. Velocity maps morph
between the Zones of a single Morph Layer, while Articulation Maps morph between multiple
Morph Layers. Refer to the previous subsection for a thorough discussion of the differences.
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Morph Layers in Current Map: Contains the names of all Morph Layers that make up the current
map. Selecting a layer and clicking the right arrow button removes it from the map.
Available Morph Layers: Contains the names of the Morph Layers available for inclusion in the
current map. Selecting a layer from this list and clicking the left arrow button will add this layer to
the Morph Map.
Delete: Selecting a Morph Layer from one of the lists and clicking this button will remove it from
your Instrument.
Rebuild: This will re-open the Create Morph Layer dialog for the currently selected Layer, which
allows you to readjust its analysis parameters.

25.1.6. AET Filter Module Controls

This is the processing module that performs the actual filtering of the source material. When using
AET via the Auto add AET velocity morph command, KONTAKT will set this module up for you; in
all other cases, you’ll have to insert it into a Group Insert FX chain yourself.

The control panel of the AET Filter module. Shown here is an auto-generated velocity morph across six layers.

Morph Map: Use this drop-down menu to load a Morph Map into the module.
Edit Morph Map: Click this button to open the Morph Map editor dialog explained in the previous
section with the active Morph Map selected.
Morph: This is the most important parameter of the module; it should usually be modulated with
an external source, such as the note velocity or a MIDI controller. Based on the contents of the
selected Morph Map, KONTAKT will build a continuous “morph gradient” that combines and
connects the filter responses required to achieve the various timbres of the included Morph Layers
with smooth transitions. Using the Morph parameter, you can set the filter to any point in this
gradient. At its lowest value, the signal is changed towards the respective sample in the first
Morph Layer of the map (if this happens to be identical with the playing sample, the filter will be
flat); at its highest value, the sample is changed towards the respective sample in the last Morph
Layer of the map. You can follow this behavior graphically in the morph curve view described
below.
Amount: The amount to which the filter influences the resulting signal. At the lowest setting, the
filter has no effect.
Filter Curve: This graph represents the actual, currently active filter response, which is the
difference between the analyzed frequency response of the source (i.e. the currently playing
Sample) and the target (i.e. the Morph Layer that appears in the Morph Map at the point that’s set
with the Morph knob).
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Morph Curve View: This is a graphical representation of the selected Morph Map and the resulting
filter gradient. It’s divided into multiple color-coded sections and curves, with the sections
depicting the Morph Layers that make up the map, and the curves representing the amount to
which the frequency response of the respective layer will influence the final filter response at any
point. On top of each section, the name of the respective Morph Layer is being shown for
reference. At the peak of each curve, the currently played sample will be morphed into the
frequency response of the respective layer to the maximum amount. The section and curve of the
active sample (i.e. the source) are marked yellow; these correspond to a flat filter response. The
sections and curves of the other layers are alternatingly colored white and blue. When playing a
note and changing the Morph parameter, a horizontal, angled bracket below the graph marks the
source and target points of the gradient that KONTAKT uses to determine the final filter response.
Output: The output level of the module in dB.

25.2. Transient Master

The Transient Master is an easy to use compressor designed to control the attack and sustain of a
sound. Instead of following the amplitude of the sound like a traditional compressor, it follows the
general envelope and is thus not as susceptible to changes of input gain. It is best used on sounds
with fast attacks, like percussion, pianos or guitars. The Transient Master can also be quite
extreme in some cases, so use it with caution.
The Transient Master contains the following controls:

The Transient Master

• Smooth: Transient Master is designed mainly to work on drums or percussive material, so

certain input signals (for example: an acoustic guitar) may not work ideally in the default mode,
so try switching this button on if you are encountering problems.

• Input: Controls the input gain to the effect.

• Attack: Controls the scaling of the attack portion of the input signal’s volume envelope.
Increasing this parameter will add more punch and decreasing it will reduce sharp attacks.

• Sustain: Controls the scaling of the sustain portion of the input signal’s volume envelope.
Increasing this parameter will add more body to the sound and decreasing it will reduce the
sound’s tail.

• Ouput: Controls the output gain after the effect. For dynamic effects like compressors, this is
very important.

25.3. Feedback Compressor

Compressors are dynamic tools that automatically reduce the level of loud passages in a signal,
thereby affecting the signal's dynamic range. A feedback compressor is a type of compressor that
compares the amplifier's output signal, rather than the input signal, to a threshold level. When the
threshold level is reached, the compressor reduces the signal's gain level. The Feedback
Compressor is modeled after a classic feedback compressor known for its bright and punchy
sound.
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Feedback Compressor contains the following controls:

The Feedback Compressor

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• St. Link (Stereo link): When enabled, this causes the compressor to always act on the left and
right channel in unison; this preserves the stereo image. When disabled, the Feedback
Compressor becomes a dual mono processor, which means that both channels will be
processed independently.
• Input: Adjusts both the input level and the threshold simultaneously. Turning this knob
clockwise will result in more compression.
• Ratio: Determines the amount of compression. 1.0 means no compression at all, while 2.0
means that a 2 dB increase at the input will raise the output by only 1 dB.
• Attack: Controls the scaling of the attack phase of the input signal's volume envelope.
Increasing this parameter will add more punch and decreasing it will reduce sharp attacks.
• Release: Determines how long it takes for the compression action to stop after the input signal
falls below the threshold level. Typical values range from 50 to 250 ms.
• Makeup: Controls the output gain of the compressed signal. Used to compensate for the gain
reduction of the effect.
• Mix: Controls the dry/wet mix of the compressor. This can be used to create a parallel
compression style routing, which increases the quieter signals rather than reducing the louder
ones. At a setting of 100% you will only hear the compressed signal; at a setting of 0% you will
only hear the unprocessed input signal.
• Output: Controls the module’s output level.

• Gain Reduction Meter: The meter to the bottom right shows the amount of gain reduction in
dB.

25.4. Solid Bus Comp

Compressors are dynamic tools which automatically reduce the level of loud passages in a signal,
thereby affecting the signal’s dynamic range. The Solid Bus Comp is modeled after a classic
analog bus compressor. It offers a more characteristic dynamic control than KONTAKT’s standard
compressor.
Solid Bus Comp contains the following controls:

The SolidBusComp.
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• Link (Stereo link): When enabled, this causes the compressor to always act on the left and right
channel in unison; this preserves the stereo image. When disabled, the Compressor becomes a
dual mono processor, which means that both channels will be processed independently.

• Threshold: Sets a level threshold above which the Compressor starts working. Only levels that
rise above this threshold will be reduced by the compression; signals that stay below it will be
left unprocessed.

• Ratio: Controls the amount of compression, expressed as a ratio of “input level change” against
“output level change”. A Ratio of 1:1 means that no compression will be happening. For
example, a Setting of 4 represents the ration 4:1, which means for every 4 decibel increase of
amplitude above the threshold, the output will increase by only 1 decibel.

• Attack: Adjusts the time the Compressor will take to reach the full Ratio value after an input
signal exceeds the Threshold level.

• Release: Adjusts the time the compressor will take to fall back to non-compression after the
input signal falls below the threshold.

• Makeup: Controls the output gain of the compressed signal. Used to compensate for the gain
reduction of the effect.

• Mix: Controls the dry/wet mix of the compressor. This can be used to create a parallel
compression style routing, which increases the quieter signals rather than reducing the louder
ones. At a setting of 100% you will only hear the compressed signal, at a setting of 0% you will
only hear the unprocessed input signal.

• Output: Controls the module’s output level.

25.5. Compressor
Compressors are dynamic tools which reduce the level of loud passages in a signal, thereby
affecting the signal’s dynamic range. They are invaluable for a lot of common tasks — for instance,
they can be used for reducing level peaks, thereby allowing the overall signal volume to be turned
up without making it clip, or in other words, increasing the average volume of a signal. By careful
adjustment of the attack and release times, they can also modify signal transients, allowing you to
add punch to weak-sounding drums or taming exaggerated “clicking” in percussion sounds.
However, there is a point of diminishing returns; too much compression can result in a rather
strained and weak sound.
Compressor contains the following controls:

The Compressor

• Mode: Choose between Classic, Enhanced, and Pro mode. Each of these settings provides a
different flavor of compression; if you feel you can’t make a setting work with your sound, you
should experiment with the other modes in this menu.

• St.Link (Stereo link): When enabled, this causes the compressor to always act on the left and
right channel in unison; this preserves the stereo image. When disabled, the Compressor
becomes a dual mono processor, which means that both channels will be processed
independently.
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• Thresh: Sets a level threshold above which the Compressor starts working. Only levels that rise
above this threshold will be reduced by the compression; signals that stay below it will be left
unprocessed.
• Ratio: Controls the amount of compression, expressed as a ratio of “input level change” against
“output level change”. A Ratio of 1:1 means that no compression will be happening. A Ratio of
2:1 means that a level increase of 2 dB at the input will raise the output level by only 1 dB (keep
in mind, though, that this applies only for input levels above the threshold). A 4:1 Ratio results
in more aggressive compression, with a 4 dB level increase at the input causing a 1 dB
increase at the output. Typical ratios for natural compression of instruments are between 2:1
and 4:1.
• Attack: Adjusts the time the Compressor will take to reach the full Ratio value after an input
signal exceeds the Threshold level. If you’re using compression mainly for transparent dynamic
reduction, values between 5 and 10 ms are a good starting point. Longer attack times can be
useful for emphasizing transients and adding “punch” to a signal.
• Release: Adjusts the time the compressor will take to fall back to non-compression after the
input signal falls below the threshold. Typical values range from 50 to 250 ms.
• Output: Controls the module’s output level. This knob acts as a make-up gain control, which
allows you to bring the output signal up to the same peak level as the input signal after
compression. After you’ve found a compression setting, it’s good practice to adjust the input
and output signals so they have comparable levels, and then compare them via the Bypass
button. This way, you can make sure your adjustment really made the signal sound better (and
not just louder).

25.6. Supercharger GT
The Supercharger GT offers high-end tube compression emulation, inspired by boutique hardware.
It is a particularly musical compressor, with different flavors of saturation and spectral shaping
that allow you to apply subtle harmonic and spatial enhancement as well as heavy and aggressive
tube drive.
Compressor tools affect both the dynamic range and color of a signal. They can be used for
reducing level peaks, thereby allowing the overall signal volume to be turned up without clipping.
They can also add coloration, character and warmth to a signal, which is especially inherent with
tube-style compressors. Using Supercharger GT, you can stretch the decay phase of instruments,
particularly drums, and add sustain to the tone of the electric guitars. Subtle compression applied
to vocals helps to smoothen and balance their level within the mix. You can also try adding
Supercharger GT to a Main Effects slot, and apply a slight amount of compression to your overall
mix. Adding compression to the final signal path can add cohesion between various instruments,
working like a glue that balances and binds sounds together.
Supercharger GT contains the following controls:

Supercharger GT

• Input: Adjusts the input gain to the compressor in dB. The ideal setting of the Input is indicated
by the Input Level Meter.
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• Input Level Meter: Displays the input level and indicates if the Input is set correctly. When the
center LED lights up green, the Input level is at an ideal setting. If the Input level is too low, the
left LED will light up red, and when it is too high, the right LED will light up red.
• HP Detector: Selects one of three options (off, 100Hz, 300Hz) that determine if a high-pass
filter is applied to the input signal. When set to 100Hz or 300Hz, the high-pass filter will cut the
input signal below the selected frequency. Use this to prevent the compressor from reacting to
low frequency signal peaks as induced by kick drums or bass instruments. This is especially
useful when you using the Supercharger GT on the Main Effects chain.
• Saturation: Applies saturation to the signal. Turning the control right applies more saturation to
the signal. The type of saturation is determined by the selected Saturation Mode.
• Saturation Mode: Selects from three modes (Mild, Moderate, Hot) that determine the type of
Saturation applied to the signal. Mild mode adds coloration to the signal whilst retaining a
clean sound. Moderate mode adds more noticeable harmonics, and Hot mode applies
maximum saturation and produces audible distortion.
• Compress: Determines the amount of compression applied to the input signal. The higher the
value, the more compression is applied to the input signal.
• Gain Reduction Meter: Displays the amount of gain reduction in dB.
• Attack: Determines how fast the compressor reacts to incoming signals. Increasing this
parameter will add more punch and decreasing it will reduce sharp attacks.
• Release: Adjusts the length of compressor's Release phase, which determines how long it
takes for the compression to stop after the input signal falls below the Threshold level. Typical
values range from 50 to 250 ms.
• Character: Changes the sound characteristic of the compression effect by applying
equalization to the signal. The type of equalization is determined by the selected Character
Mode.
• Character Mode: Selects from three modes (Fat, Warm, Bright) that determine the type of
equalization applied. Fat mode emphasizes low and high frequencies. Warm mode rolls off
high frequencies, while enhancing the lower frequencies. Bright mode enhances high
frequencies and attenuates the lower frequencies of the signal.
• Channel Link: Selects from three stereo modes (Stereo Link, Dual Mono, MS) that determine
how the compressor is applied to the stereo channels. Stereo Link applies equal gain reduction
to both the left and right channels. It is the most common mode as it eliminates the risk of
shifting the stereo image. Dual Mono mode compresses each channel individually and can be
used to widen the mix. In MS mode, the input signal will not be split into a left and right
channel, but instead processed as mid and side signals. MS mode enhances the side signal to
a certain extent, so signals processed using this mode may sound wider.
• Mix: Controls the dry/wet mix of the compressor. This can be used to create a parallel
compression style routing, which increases the quieter signals rather than reducing the louder
ones. When the Mix control is set to 0%, only the uncompressed (dry) signal will be heard, and
at 100%, only the compressed signal will be heard. Settings between the 0% and 100% are a
mix of both signals.
• Output: Sets the output level of the compressor in dB. You can use it as a make-up gain control
that allows you to bring the output signal up to the same peak level as the input signal after
compression. Once you have found a compression setting, it’s good practice to adjust the
input and output signals so they have comparable levels, and then compare them via the
Bypass button. This way, you can ensure that the compressed signal sounds better, not just
louder.
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25.7. Limiter
Limiters are actually a special form of compressors with a ratio of one to infinity, a threshold just
below the maximum level, and a very short attack time. They act as a “safety net” to keep short
signal peaks from overloading the system, which would result in audio clipping. While
compressors have a range of artistic applications, limiters are usually used for technical reasons
— they can tame signals with peaks which would otherwise overload the output, without requiring
you to turn the signal’s overall volume down.
The Limiter contains the following controls:

The Limiter

• In Gain: Sets the gain of the input signal. The Limiter is different from the Compressor in that it
has a fixed threshold; to achieve a sensible peak reduction, use this control to adjust the input
gain until you see the Attenuation meter responding only to occasional level peaks.
• Release: Just like the Compressor’s control of the same name, this knob adjusts the time it
takes the Limiter to return to an unprocessed signal after the input level falls below the
threshold.
• Attenuation: This LED-style meter shows the amount of gain reduction that the Limiter
imposes on the signal. Limiting works best if this meter responds only to occasional level
peaks; if it indicates permanent action, it’s a sure sign that your In Gain is set too high. This can
considerably degrade the quality of your signal.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.8. Transparent Limiter

The Transparent Limiter has two key functions; to ensure that the signal level stays below 0 dB,
thus avoiding digital clipping, and to increase the overall perceived volume of the signal.
Preventing digital distortion is a safety measure that is fulfilled best by a limiter, as you are able to
set a maximum output level via the ceiling control. The Transparent Limiter is perfect for this task,
acting as a final means of protecting your signal from clipping without imposing too much
coloration to your sound.
Reducing the Threshold will reduce the dynamic range of the signal, allowing you to boost the
overall volume using the Output control. However, setting the Threshold too low can result in a
squashed and dull sound. For best results, experiment with the Threshold and Release controls to
see what works best for your signal. It is recommended to use the Transparent Limiter in the Main
Effects section, as a final processor on your signal chain.
The Transparent Limiter contains the following controls:

The Transparent Limiter

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• Threshold: Determines the threshold at which the limiter begins to affect the input signal. If
you are using the limiter to prevent the signal from clipping, leave the Threshold at 0dB. To
make the signal louder, reduce the Threshold value by turning the control to the left. Available
values range from -40.0dB to 0.0dB.

• Release: Adjusts the length of limiter's Release phase, which determines how long it takes for
the limiter to stop after the input signal falls below the Threshold level. A longer Release value
will take the limiter more time to return to a normal state. Available values range from 1.0ms to
500.0ms.

• Ceiling: Sets the maximum output level of the limiter in dB. A value of -0.3dB is recommended
to avoid any potential distortion on playback. Available values range from -40.0dB to -0.3dB.

• Gain Reduction Meter: An LED style meter that displays the amount of gain reduction in dB.
Limiting works best if this meter responds only to occasional level peaks; permanent gain
reduction indicates that the Threshold is set too low.

• Output: Adjusts the limiter's output level in dB.

25.9. Tape Saturator

The Tape Saturator emulates the soft compression and distortion of recording to tape. It can be
used lightly to add warmth and coloring to the sound, or heavily to add aggressive distortion.
TheTape Saturator contains the following controls:

The Tape Saturator

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.

• Gain: Controls the input gain of the effect. This will increase the amount of tape distortion and
compression.

• Warmth: Controls the low frequency boost/cut of the effect.

• HF Rolloff: Controls the high frequency rolloff starting frequency. Frequencies above this point
will be attenuated.

• Output: Controls the output gain of the effect.

25.10. Distortion
This module causes distortion by clipping or rounding off high sample values. It thereby simulates
the behavior of overloaded transistor or tube circuits, adding artificial harmonics to a sound.
Distortion contains the following controls:

The Distortion module

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• Mode menu: Selects between either Tube or Transistor characteristics. Tube distortion creates
a smooth saturation, which emphasizes even harmonics, while the Transistor setting
generates odd harmonics that create a harsher-sounding clipping effect.
• Drive: Adjusts the amount of distortion.

• Damping: Turning this knob clockwise attenuates high frequencies in the output signal, thereby
counteracting the brightness caused by the artificial harmonics.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level. Since distortion boosts the gain considerably, it’s
often necessary to attenuate the signal at the output stage.

25.11. Lo-Fi
This module adds various digital artifacts, like quantization noise or aliasing, to a clean signal. It’s
great for roughing up sounds that would otherwise be too plain and featureless.

LoFi contains the following controls:

The Lo-Fi module

• Bits: Re-quantizes the signal to an adjustable bit depth. Fractional bit levels (such as 12.4 bits)
are possible and can add considerable “grit”. Audio CDs have a quantization depth of 16 bits,
old samplers frequently used 8 or 12 bits, and 4 bits evoke memories of countless irritating
children’s toys.
• S.Rate (Sample Rate): Re-samples the signal to an adjustable sample rate. The re-sampling is
done without any kind of (usually mandatory) low-pass filtering, which causes all kinds of
wonderful aliasing artifacts. The sample rate goes all the way down to 50 Hz, which will not
leave much of the original signal.
• Noise: Adds hiss to the audio signal.

• N.Color: Adjusts the frequency characteristic of the noise and acts as a low-pass filter.

• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.12. Saturator
This module is basically an amplifier with a non-linear characteristic. It allows you to recreate the
effect of tape saturation, which causes an increase of high-level energy in your signal.
The Saturator contains the following controls:

The Saturator module

• Mode menu: Select the saturation type: Classic, Enhanced or Drums. Classic is the original
KONTAKT algorithm, Enhanced is a higher quality saturation mode and Drums is the saturation
model used by MASCHINE.
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• Saturation: Adjusts the transfer curve. A negative setting results in a characteristic that will
expand the signal — lower sample values will be attenuated, higher values will be amplified.
Positive settings do the opposite and thusly simulate the compression-like saturation of an
analogue circuit. At a value of 0.0, the signal will pass the module unprocessed.
• Output: Adjusts the Saturator’s output level.

25.13. Cabinet
This module simulates the sound of a guitar cabinet recorded through a microphone. By following
a distortion effect (like the Skreamer) with this module in your insert chain, you can simulate a
complete guitar amp.
Cabinet contains the following controls:

The Cabinet module

• Cabinet Type: Allows you to choose the simulated cabinet model via the up and down buttons.
• Size: Adjusts the size of the simulated cabinet. Larger cabinets tend to have a more
pronounced bass response, while smaller cabinets can sound thin and tinny.
• Air: Controls the level of early reflections in the room response, adding a sense of space to the
sound.
• TREB: Boosts or cuts the level of the higher frequencies.
• BASS: Boosts or cuts the level of the lower frequencies.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.14. Skreamer
This module offers an alternate overdrive algorithm that sounds warmer and smoother than the
Distortion effect.
Skreamer contains the following controls:

The Skreamer

• Tone: Controls the brightness of the sound. Turning this knob clockwise will result in a more
pronounced top-end, which works great on bright, screaming leads and biting rhythms. Turning
it counter-clockwise results in a mellower, darker sound.
• Drive: Adjusts the amount of distortion.
• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency gain.
• Bright: Adjusts the high frequency gain.
• Clean: Blends clean signal into the distorted tone. At 0.0 %, only the distorted signal is audible,
while at 100.0 %, equal amounts of distorted and clean signal are mixed.
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• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.15. Twang
The Twang effect simulates the rich tube sound of classic guitar amps from decades ago. It’s
ideal for screaming leads and crunchy rhythm guitar sounds, as well as clean sounds with
personality.
Twang contains the following controls:

The Twang Effect

• Bright: A tonal option which increases the high frequency content of the signal.
• Polyphonic: If this button is inactive, the Twang module will work as a mono effect, which
causes stereo signals to be summed to mono at its input; when active, the effect operates on
each input channel separately.
• Volume: Controls the input level. In contrast to the Output knob, which merely adjusts the
overall level of the module, this knob works like the gain control of a guitar amp and affects the
amount of distortion.
• Treble, Mid and Bass: These controls adjust the respective levels of the signal’s high, midrange,
and low frequency components.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.16. Jump
The Jump effect simulates the classic tone of British guitar amplifiers. It is ideal for creating
smooth, singing lead sounds. The Jump effect is available on both the Group and Instrument level.
Jump contains the following controls:

The Jump Effect

• HiGain: Increases the preamp's gain potential. Switch to HiGain mode if you want to create
distinctly distorted or saturated sounds.
• Mono: When this button is engaged, all channels of the input signal will be summed to a mono
signal before being processed. This happens regardless of the number of channels the input
signal consists of, i.e. no matter whether it is a mono, stereo, or 5.1 signal.When this button is
not engaged, each channel is processed individually. Please note that this can increase the
CPU load considerably.
• PreAmp: Sets the amount of gain added by the preamp. Turning it clockwise adds drive,
distortion and edge to the sound.
 EFFECTS 180

• Master: Adjusts the amp’s master volume.

• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency response.
• Mid: Adjusts the midrange frequency response.
• Treble: Adjusts the high frequency response.
• Presence: Boosts the frequency response in the upper midrange.
• Output: Adjusts the module's output level.

25.17. Van51
One of the benchmarks in high gain amplifiers. Van51 delivers a wide range of raw and edgy in
your face guitar tones. The Van51 effect is available on both the Group and Instrument level.
V51 contains the following controls:

The Van51 effect

• LeadChannel: Switches between Rhythm (when inactive) and Lead (when active) channels.
• HiGain: Toggles between normal and high gain amplification.
• Bright: When active, this adds high frequency boost in the Rhythm channel.
• Crunch: Adds a large amount of distortion in the Rhythm channel.
• Mono: When this button is engaged, all channels of the input signal will be summed to a mono
signal before being processed.When this button is not engaged, each channel is processed
individually. Please note that this can increase the CPU load considerably.
• Rhythm: Controls the amount of preamp overdrive of the Rhythm channel.
• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency response.
• Middle: Adjusts the mid frequency response.
• Treble: Adjusts the high frequency response.
• Lead: Controls the amount of preamp overdrive of the Lead channel.
• Post Gain: Controls the master volume of both channels and the poweramp saturation.
• Presence: Boosts the frequency response in the upper midrange.
• Reso: Controls the low range frequency response in the poweramp.
• Output: Adjusts the module's output level.

25.18. ACBox
The ACBox models the guitar amplifier sound that powered the British Invasion of pop music.
There were many versions of this highly original amp made, each having a different character. We
chose a model that stands out with a unique flavor and includes the famous Top Boost channel!
 EFFECTS 181

The Normal channel has a treble ToneCut control while the Brilliant channel offers Treble and
Bass controls.
ACBox contains the following controls:

The ACBox effect

• Mono: When this button is engaged, all channels of the input signal will be summed to a mono
signal before being processed.When this button is not engaged, each channel is processed
individually. Please note that this can increase the CPU load considerably.
• NormVol: Sets the level for the Normal channel. The Treble and Bass controls have no effect in
this channel.
• BrillVol: Sets the level for the Brilliant channel.
• TremSp: Sets the rate of the tremolo.
• TremDpt: Controls the amount of tremolo applied. The effect is off when fully turned down.
• Treble: Adjusts the high frequency response for the Brilliant channel.
• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency response for the Brilliant channel.
• ToneCut: Controls a low-pass filter. By turning the knob clockwise treble in the output of the
Normal channel is reduced.
• Output: Adjusts the module's output level.

25.19. HotSolo
A model of a guitar amplifier that is considered to be a modern classic. HotSolo employs two
separate preamplifier channels and heaps of gain for a distinctly contemporary rock sound.
HotSolo contains the following controls:

The HotSolo module

• Overdrive: Switches between the Normal (when off) and Overdrive (when on) channels.
• Mono: When this button is engaged, all channels of the input signal will be summed to a mono
signal before being processed.When this button is not engaged, each channel is processed
individually. Please note that this can increase the CPU load considerably.
• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency response.
• Mid: Adjusts the midrange frequency response.
• Treble: Adjusts the high frequency response.
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• Presence: Boosts the frequency response in the upper midrange.

• NormPre: Sets the preamp gain for the low gain channel.
• OvrdPre: Sets the preamp gain for the high gain channel.
• Master: Controls the overall output level.
• Depth: Controls the low range frequency response in the power amp.
• Output: Adjusts the module's output level.

25.20. Cat
Cat simulates a guitar distortion pedal, ideal for blues and rock tones.
Cat contains the following controls:

The Cat effect

• Mono: When this button is engaged, all channels of the input signal will be summed to a mono
signal before being processed. This happens regardless of the number of channels the input
signal consists of, i.e. no matter whether it is a mono, stereo, or 5.1 signal.When this button is
not engaged, each channel is processed individually. Please note that this can increase the
CPU load considerably.
• Volume: The master volume control for the effect.
• Filter: For a darker sound, turn clockwise to enhance the low frequency range; turn counter-
clockwise for a brighter, sharper sound.
• Distortion: Controls the amount of distortion applied.
• Balls: Adds low-end punch. Turning it counter-clockwise creates a flatter, more biting sound.
• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency response.
• Treble: Adjusts the high frequency response.
• Tone: Adjusts the frequency range influenced by the built-in pre-distortion midrange booster.
• Output: Adjusts the module's output level.

25.21. DStortion
An emulation of a classic guitar distortion effect pedal. DStortion contains the following controls:

The DStortion Effect

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• Mono: When this button is engaged, all channels of the input signal will be summed to a mono
signal before being processed.When this button is not engaged, each channel is processed
individually. Please note that this can increase the CPU load considerably.
• Volume: The master volume control for this effect.
• Tone: turning this control clockwise accents the midrange while dropping the bass.
Counterclockwise takes off the highs and boosts the bass for a warmer sound.
• Drive: adds dirt to the sound.
• Bass: Adjusts the low frequency response.
• Mid: Adjusts the midrange frequency response.
• Treble: Adjusts the high frequency response.
• Output: Adjusts the module's output level.

25.22. Cry Wah

The Cry Wah has been imported from Guitar Rig 5 and is based on the most popular wah-wah of
all time. This module creates a unique resonant peak that can be swept across the frequency
spectrum using the Pedal control.
Cry Wah contains the following controls:

The Cry Wah effect

• Pedal: The pedal control is used to control the wah-wah frequency. Decreasing the value will
lower the frequency and increasing the value will raise the frequency.
• Mono: If active, the module will work like a mono effect, which causes stereo signals to be
summed to mono at its input. If inactive, it processes each channel separately.
• Output: Use this control the make up gain from the clipping caused by the wah-wah effect.

25.23. Rotator
The Rotator effect realistically simulates the sound of rotating speaker cabinets, which are
commonly associated with drawbar organs that became popular in rock music of the 60s and
70s. Although the effect is almost intrinsically tied to "the" prototypical drawbar organ sound, it
works equally well on guitars, synth pads, and a wide range of other sounds.
Rotator contains the following controls:

The Rotator

• Speed: Although this parameter appears as a knob in order to facilitate automating, it really
only has 2 positions — Slow and Fast. A change of this setting realistically simulates the
acceleration or braking of the rotor.
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• Acceleration and Brake Speed (horizontal faders next to the Speed control): These adjust how
quickly the rotors of the treble (upper fader) and bass (lower fader) parts of the cabinet will
react to speed changes. At the rightmost position, the respective speaker will change its speed
instantly, while it will take a long time to reach its designated speed with the fader at the
leftmost position.
• Balance: Controls the relative levels of the cabinet’s treble and bass parts.
• Distance: Controls the simulated distance between the cabinet and the pickup microphones. A
closer distance results in a wider stereo panorama.

25.24. Surround Panner

This module provides extensive and powerful surround mixing and automation capabilities to
Group signals. It works with a multitude of input and output channel configurations, ranging from
mono up to 16-channel surround sound, and allows you to place input signals as sound sources
on a spatial plane, move them either manually or via automation, and simulate a range of natural
dampening and doppler effects which occur when sound sources are being moved around the
listener.
Surround Panner contains the following features and controls:
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The Surround Panner

• Output: Adjust the module’s output level.

• Divergence: Adjusts the amount of distance-dependent level changes and, consequently, the
directional focus of sound sources on the surround plane. Setting the knob to 0% will result in
constant levels regardless of positioning.
• Size: Adjusts the size of the surround plane. When set to 100%, the area surrounded by the
speakers will fill out the plane window, so it won’t be possible to move a sound source beyond
the limits of the speakers. Turning the knob counter-clockwise will “zoom out” and allow you to
place sources outside the area of the speaker arrangement.
• LFE: If the currently selected output configuration includes a low frequency effects (LFE)
channel, this control adjusts its output level. Note that the LFE channel signal is derived from a
sum of all input signals via a frequency crossover; the frequency at which the split occurs can
be set in the options dialog.
• X Shift: Imparts a constant offset on the X positions of all sound sources.
• Y Shift: Imparts a constant offset on the Y positions of all sound sources.
• Angle: Rotates all sound sources around the center point.
• Distance: Adds a constant offset to the distances of all sound sources from the center point.
• Meter: The output levels of all channels in the currently selected Surround Format are
displayed here.

25.24.1. Menus and Buttons

The following menus are available:
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• Surround Format: This drop-down menu selects the output format of the module. Options
range from simple speaker-subwoofer splits (1.1) up to 16-channel surround formats, and also
include a wide range of common cinema and music surround formats like 5.1, 7.1 and 10.2.
Changing this setting does not affect the positions of your sound sources on the plane. The
following table lists all available surround formats along with their channel assignments. Refer
to these channel maps if you’re unsure which channel will carry which speaker signal at the
module’s output.

Table of available surround formats, along with their channel assignments.

Channel Abbreviations

Channel Abbreviation
Left L
Right R
Left 2 L2
Right 2 R2
Left 3 L3
Right 3 R3
Center C
Left Center Lc
Right Center Rc
Center Surround Cs
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Channel Abbreviation
Center Center CC
Center 2 C2
Center 3 C3
Surround S
Left Surround Ls
Right Surround Rs
Low Frequency Effects Lf
Left High Lh
Right High Rh

If you need to re-assign channels to different outputs, you can do this on the Channel Routing
page of the Amplifier Module. Refer to Section 23: The Amplifier Module for an in-depth
explanation.
• Mouse Mode: This drop-down menu allows you to choose from a list of algorithms which
affect how your input sources will be positioned on the plane and respond to mouse
movements.
• Mono Mix: All sound sources will be set to the same position.

• Sync: When you drag a sound source, all other sound sources will move along in the same
direction.
• Center Mirror: Sound source positions will be mirrored at the center point of the plane.

• X Mirror: Sound source positions will be mirrored along the X axis.

• Y Mirror: Sound source positions will be mirrored along the Y axis.

• XY Mirror: Sound source positions will be mirrored along the X and Y axis.

• Individual: Each source can be positioned individually with the mouse.

• Algorithm: Determines how the level of a sound source will be affected by its distance from the
center. The drop-down menu offers three algorithms:
• Constant Power: This panning algorithm will adjust the relative speaker levels of a sound
source in a way that preserves the source’s apparent volume, regardless of its panning
position. Placing a source icon right above a channel icon will isolate the source signal on
the respective channel. Moving it around the plane will distribute its signal among the
respective speakers in relation to their distance from the source, keeping the overall
apparent volume (or, more precisely, the power) constant. This behavior will be affected by
the Divergence setting.
• Sinusoid: This algorithm uses a sine function to adjust the volume of a source in relation to
its distance from each speaker. Setting the Divergence parameter to lower values will result
in a more directional image. If you move a source far away from speakers and use a high
Divergence setting, its level can drop to silence.
• Logarithmic: This panning algorithm uses a logarithmic function to change the level of a
source in relation to its distance from each speaker.
None of the above algorithms or modes is tied to a specific channel format. We recommend
that you experiment with the algorithms and parameters in order to find the most suitable
setting for your surround production.
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• Air Absorption: If a sound source moves away from a listener in the real world, the sound that
reaches the listener will gradually lose its high frequencies. When this button is activated, the
Surround Panner will simulate this absorption effect. If you’d like to increase the impression of
distance further, even after you’ve dragged a sound source all the way to the plane border,
increasing the size of the sound field with the Size control will gain you some more space.
• Delay: As sound waves take some time to propagate through the air, sounds from sources
which are further away from a listener will be delayed in relation to sounds in the vicinity. When
this button is activated, the Surround Panner will replicate this effect with a delay line. Enabling
this feature can dramatically improve localization, but it also uses a lot of CPU power. If you
want to simulate positioning entirely with delays (and keep levels always constant), set the
divergence control to 0%.
• Doppler Effect: In the real world, this effect — usually associated with ambulances or racing
cars going past — is a direct consequence of the delay and intrinsically tied to it; in the
microcosm of KONTAKT, though, both effects can be separately controlled. When this button is
activated, the Surround Panner simulates the pitch change when a sound source moves
quickly toward or away from a listener. To hear this effect in action, move the sound source
rapidly from one corner into the opposite one. It’s more pronounced when the travel distance is
longer, so you might have to zoom out with the Size control in order to hear it.

The Surround Panner Options dialog lets you adjust various parameters of the Doppler, Air Absorption, and Delay effects.

• Options: This button will open a pop-up dialog which allows you to change the underlying
parameters of the Doppler, Air Absorption, and Delay effects; furthermore, you can adjust the
crossover frequency for the LFE channel. The dialog will also display the number of input and
output channels that are currently in use. The button labeled Out Routing… will take you directly
to the Channel Routing section of the Amplifier Module, where you can change channel
routings and create mix-up or mix-down configurations to convert between channel layouts.

25.24.2. Surround Panner Automation

Automating the surround panner is particularly interesting for creating sounds that move around
the room. There are several ways to accomplish this. If you need complete control over your
motion patterns, you can use your host automation or external MIDI controllers to control the
positioning parameters from outside KONTAKT. If you want to create automatic motion, using
KONTAKT’s Modulation Router opens up a range of very interesting and creative possibilities.
 EFFECTS 189

25.24.3. Host/MIDI Automation

If you want to modulate the Surround Panner via your host or external MIDI controllers, you can
assign external host automation data or MIDI controllers to the X Shift, Y Shift, Angle, and Distance
parameters by dragging the respective automation sources from the Auto tab of the Browser onto
the knobs you’d like to automate. For more information about external automation, refer to section
Automation Tab.

25.24.4. Internal Modulation

Using internal modulators on the Surround Panner offers a multitude of interesting possibilities,
ranging from sounds that move around the room in a circular fashion to unpredictable and organic
patterns of random motion. To create a modulation assignment, right-click a knob and choose a
modulation source from the drop-down menu, then adjust the assignment parameters and the
source’s controls (if any). Note that only the knobs to the right of the XY pad can be assigned for
internal modulation. The knobs on the left can be automated via MIDI CC.

The buttons to the right of the XY pad can be assigned to a selected modulation source.

After you have created an assignment, observe the Surround Panner’s plane window when playing
a note; you’ll notice that for every static source icon, there’s a darker icon moving along the plane.
The bright icons display the sources’ original positions (which can still be changed by dragging the
icons around), while the darker icons depict the actual positions after all modulations have been
applied.
It’s hardly possible to describe the whole range of applications of modulating the Surround
Panner’s parameters, so we’ll look at a few common scenarios instead. Re-creating these should
get you a feel for what will be possible with some further experimentation.
• Circular motion. In order to rotate your sources around a pivot point, thereby creating a circular
motion path, modulate the Angle parameter of the Surround Panner via a Sawtooth LFO. The
distance of each source from the pivot point can be changed either by dragging the original
positions, or via adjusting the surround panner’s Distance parameter. To change the direction
of the movement, enable the Invert button of the assignment in the Modulation Router. You
can also synchronize the motion to the host or Master Editor tempo by switching the unit of
the LFO’s Freq. parameter to a note value.
• Random motion. This is a basic method to make your sources move around in an
unpredictable way. Just assign two random modulators to the X Shift and Y Shift parameters.
You can adjust how far the sources will stray from their original positions by adjusting the
modulation intensities of these assignments.
• Fly-by paths. Assigning envelope modulators to various parameters, most notably X Shift and
Y Shift, allows you to define accurate and reproducible motion paths. It can get a while to
understand how various envelope shapes relate to the resulting motion patterns, but once
you’ve gotten the grip on it, you’ll be able to create virtually all kinds of pre-defined motion
paths — especially when you’re using flexible envelopes.
 EFFECTS 190

25.25. Stereo Modeller

This module allows you to control the width of your signal’s stereo base, change the panning, and
create a pseudo-stereo signal from mono sources.
Stereo Modeller contains the following controls:

The Stereo Modeller

• PseudoStereo: When activated, the module uses a pseudo-stereo algorithm to create a stereo
signal from a mono source. This feature should only be used with mono signals and tends to
create mono-incompatible sounds, which can disappear from a mix when it’s being played
back in mono.
• Spread: Collapses (counter-clockwise) or expands (clockwise) your signal’s stereo base. At the
far left position, stereo signals will be summed to mono. Positive values will result in an
artificial widening of stereo sources that has a tendency to apparently expand beyond the
speakers, but watch out — just like the Pseudo Stereo feature, this tends to cause mono
incompatibilities in your mix.
• Pan: This control allows you to place your signal within the stereo field. It works exactly like the
Pan control of the Amplifier module.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.26. Inverter
With this module, you can invert the phase of your audio signal, or swap the left and right
channels. Since the Inverter only makes sense as an insert effect, you can use this module only in
the Group Insert Effects and Instrument Insert Effects chains.
Inverter contains the following controls:

The Inverter module

• PhaseInvert: Inverts the signal phase polarity.

• Pan L <> R: Swaps the stereo channels.

25.27. Send Levels

This utility module can be added to the Group Insert Effects and Instrument Insert Effects chains
and allows you to send a signal from within the insert chain to any existing send effect at
adjustable levels.
This module contains the following controls:
 EFFECTS 191

The Send Levels module

• Levels: On the left side of the Send Levels module, you’ll see a level control for each send effect
that’s currently in one of your Instrument Send Effects slots — if you didn’t add any send
effects yet, the panel will be empty. The knobs allow you to adjust the level at which the signal
will be sent to the respective effect.
• Level meters: These LED-style peak meters provide visual feedback on the send levels.

25.28. Legacy Delay

This module offers a delay line that can optionally be synced to the tempo and provides an
adjustable feedback level, a low-pass filter, and a pan control for ping-pong echo effects. If you
don’t use the tempo syncing feature, the available delay range is 5 to 2900 ms. Delay times lower
than 20 ms are not discernible as delays, but can produce interesting comb filtering effects.
Legacy Delay contains the following controls:

The Legacy Delay module

• Time: The delay time in milliseconds. To synchronize the time to your host or Master Editor
tempo, click the Speed parameter’s unit display and choose a note length value from the drop-
down list.
• Damping: Attenuates high frequencies in the delayed signal. Turning this control clockwise will
increase the damping effect. If you have set a feedback level, the signal will gradually lose more
high frequency content with each repetition.
• Pan: Setting a value higher than 0 creates a panning effect, which alternates echos between
the left and the right side of the stereo panorama — this is affectionally called a ping-pong
delay. Higher values will result in wider panning; at 100, signals alternate between the far left
and far right channel.
• Feedb. (feedback): Controls the amount of the output signal that’s being fed back into the input
of the delay line, thereby creating a series of echos that gradually fade into silence.
• Return (visible when used as a send effect): Adjusts the module’s return level.
• Dry and Wet sliders (visible when used as an Instrument insert effect): Adjusts the respective
levels of the original and processed signals. In common scenarios, the delayed signal is mixed
in at a lower level than the direct signal.

25.29. Replika Delay

This delay module is based on Native Instruments’ dedicated Replika XT delay plug-in. It features
five different modes - Modern, Analog, Tape, Vintage and Diffusion - that add distinct colour to your
sound. All modes offer controls for time, feedback level, a low cut filter, a high cut filter, and ping
pong effect. Each mode also provides a unique range of parameter controls that allows you to
tailor the effect to your specific needs.
 EFFECTS 192

Modern mode is a clean delay, with saturation and filter controls that allow you to add warmth and
colour to your sound. It is a pristine and transparent delay, well-suited to acoustic instruments like
guitar and piano. When changing the delay time, pitch stays constant. Analog mode offers four
Bucket Brigade delay models that replicate the character sound of BBD chips. From subtle
distortion and warmth, to clean, smooth sounds, each model emulates desired characteristics of
classic analog delay units. Tape mode reproduces the sound of tape delay, modelled on the
physical mechanisms that make up early tape machines. Controls for Tape Age, Flutter and
Saturation allow you manipulate the noise, hiss and colour of the effect. Vintage mode emulates
the sound of early digital delay units. Select between four quality levels that model the behaviour
of vintage delays with a limited sample memory size. Increasing the delay time causes the
sampling rate to decrease, introducing audio artefacts. The sample quality and interpolation vary
for each of the four quality levels. Diffusion mode can produce a standard delay effect, but it is
best used for its huge, diffusion-based reverb sound. Thicken the density of delay repeats with the
Dense, Modulation and Size controls to create a full sounding reverb effect. This mode is ideal for
ambient music and sound design.
Replika Delay contains the following controls:

The Replika Delay module.

• Mode: Selects one of five delay modes (Modern, Analogue, Tape, Vintage, Diffusion).

• Time: Adjusts the delay time in milliseconds. To synchronize the time to your host or Master
Editor tempo, click the Time control’s unit display [ms] and choose a note length value from the
drop-down menu.
• Feedback: Adjusts the level of the signal that is fed back to the delay's input. Increasing
Feedback adds delay repeats. Levels above 100% create swelling echo repeats up to self-
oscillation.
• Low Cut: Cuts low-frequency content in the feedback path of the delay with a non-resonant
filter. Turned fully counter-clockwise, the filter is off.
• High Cut: Cuts high-frequency content in the feedback path of the delay with a non-resonant
filter. Turned fully clockwise, the filter is off.
• Ping Pong: When enabled, the delay repeats are panned hard left and right in an alternating
pattern.
• Stereo: When enabled, the modulation between the left and the right channel is offset in time,
resulting in a wide stereo effect. When disabled, the modulation affects both channels in the
same way.
• Saturation: Adds tube-like saturation at the delay input. Turning it clockwise pushes the sound
from subtle warmth to overdrive. Turned fully counter-clockwise, the saturation is bypassed.
• Depth: Adjusts the amount of modulation applied to the delay time.

• Rate: Adjusts the speed of the delay time modulation.

• Quality: Selects one of four quality settings for the delay: Crunch (0-24%), Low (25-49%),
Medium (50-74%), High (75-100%).
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• Noise: When enabled, tape hiss is added to the delay signal. When disabled, no tape hiss is
added. The amount of tape hiss depends on the setting of the Tape Age control.
• Tape Age: Enhances the characteristics of an aging tape, including limited high-frequency
response. When the Noise button is enabled, Tape Age also adjusts the amount of tape hiss
added to the signal.
• Flutter: Increases the effects introduced by mechanical imperfections of the tape delay’s
motor and tape transport, resulting in pitch variations over time.
• BBD type: Selects one of four BBD delay models (from left to right, Grunge, Dark, Warm, Clean).
The character ranges from subtle filtering and distortion to a highly degraded sound.
• Amount: Adjusts the amount of diffusion applied to the delay signal, resulting in a reverb effect.
High settings can make the delay appear out of sync.
• Dense: Switches between two density settings for the reflection pattern of the effect.
• Modulation: Sets the depth and speed of modulation applied to the diffusion, shifting the
timing and pitch of the reflections for a wide reverb effect.
• Size: Adjusts the swell, reflection pattern and decay of the reverb effect, giving the impression
of different sized spaces.

25.30. Reverb
This algorithmic reverb offers Room and Hall modes. Room mode generates a natural reverb with
strong initial reflections and a quick decay. You can use this to simulate the natural sound of a
small acoustic space. With a faster reverberation time, it is particularly suited to drums and
guitars.
Hall mode emulates the immensity of a large hall space, with a warm and rich sounding reverb.
This can be used to replicate a vast, natural space. The large reverberation and long decay time
make it a great tool to experiment with on a variety of sounds. In either mode, you can modulate
the Room Size and Pre Delay parameters to create dynamic special effects.
Reverb contains the following controls:

The Reverb module.

• Mode: Selects one of two reverb modes (Room and Hall). Room is suited to drum and
percussive sounds. Hall has a spacious and natural character and is particularly suited to tonal
sounds.
• Pre Delay: Introduces a short amount of delay before the reverb takes effect.
• Size: Adjusts the size of the room simulated by the reverb effect. Higher values replicate larger
rooms.
• Time: Adjusts the duration of the reverb effect.
 EFFECTS 194

• Damping: Adjusts the amount of absorption in the room simulated by the reverb effect. Higher
values result in more absorption.

• Diffusion: Adjusts the density of the reflections in the room simulated by the reverb effect.

• Modulation: Adjusts the amount of modulation applied to the reverb effect. Turned fully
counter-clockwise, no modulation is applied.

• Low Shelf: Attenuates or amplifies the low-frequency content of the reverb signal.

• High Cut:: Cuts the high-frequency content of the reverb signal.

• Stereo: Controls the stereo image of the reverb effect. Higher values result in a wider stereo
image.

25.31. Plate Reverb

This new effect module emulates a plate reverb. Plate reverb was developed as an early method of
generating an artificial reverb effect. A vibrating sheet of metal is employed to simulate reflection
patterns in acoustical spaces. Since the sheet of metal vibrates across a two-dimensional plane,
the echo density is higher and more evenly distributed than in a three-dimensional space. It is a
good choice if you want to brighten a sound source. Plate reverb has a smooth reverb tail, allowing
you to lengthen a sound without pushing it back in the mix. For this reason plate reverbs are most
commonly used on vocals and snare drums. The Damping control affects the overall tone, so
applying it to a bright source warms the sound.
Plate Reverb contains the following controls:

The Plate Reverb module.

• Pre Delay: Introduces a short amount of delay before the reverb takes effect.

• Decay: Adjusts the duration of the reverb effect.

• Low Shelf: Attenuates or amplifies the low-frequency content of the reverb signal.

• High Damp: Adjusts the damping of high-frequency content of the reverb signal.

• Stereo: Controls the stereo image of the reverb effect. Higher values result in a wider stereo
image.

25.32. Legacy Reverb

This module simulates the natural reverberation that occurs when a sound source is placed in an
acoustic environment, thus adding a feeling of spaciousness to the sound.
Legacy Reverb contains the following controls:

The Reverb module

 EFFECTS 195

• Pre Dly.: Introduces a short delay between the direct signal and the reverb trail build-up. This
corresponds to the natural reverberation behavior of large rooms, where a short time elapses
before the first reflection of a sound wave returns from a wall.
• Size: Adjusts the size of the simulated room. This affects the duration of the reverb trail.
• Colour: This control allows you to adjust the construction material of the simulated room and,
consequently, the color of the reverb trail. Low values simulate softer surfaces like wood, while
high values simulate the reflection behavior of hard surfaces like concrete.
• Damping: Sets the amount of simulated absorption that takes place in rooms due to
furnishings, people, or acoustic treatments affecting the reflection behavior.
• Stereo: Higher values increase the stereo base width of the output signal. Lower values
simulate a closer distance to the sound source.
• Return (visible when used as a send effect): Adjusts the module’s return level.
• Dry and Wet sliders (visible when used as an Instrument insert effect): Adjusts the respective
levels of the original and processed signals. In common scenarios, the reverb signal is mixed in
at a lower level than the direct signal.

25.33. Chorus
The Chorus module “thickens” the audio signal by splitting it up and detuning one version in
relation to the original. Separate LFOs with an adjustable phase relationship detune each stereo
channel independently for creating wide-panorama effects.
Chorus contains the following controls:

The Chorus effect

• Depth: Adjusts the range of modulated detuning. Higher values give a more pronounced
chorusing effect.
• Speed: Adjusts the LFO speed. To synchronize the speed to your host or Master Editor tempo,
click the Speed parameter’s unit display and choose a note length value from the drop-down
list.
• Phase (0 to 90 degrees): Imparts an LFO phase difference between the left and the right stereo
channel. This can considerably increase the width of the output signal’s stereo base.
• Return (visible when used as a send effect): Adjusts the module’s return level.
• Dry and Wet sliders (visible when used as an Instrument insert effect): Adjusts the respective
levels of the original and processed signals. Note that the typical chorus effect is created by
the combination of both signals, so setting these to the same levels results in the most
pronounced effect.
 EFFECTS 196

25.34. Flanger
This module splits the audio signal up and delays one version in relation to the original signal. By
modulating the delay time, as well as feeding an adjustable amount of the output signal back into
the input, the Flanger creates a characteristic “whooshing” sound. Just like the Phaser module, the
Flanger uses a separate LFO for each stereo channel, with the phase relationship between both
LFOs being adjustable.
Flanger contains the following controls:

The Flanger effect

• Depth: The amount of LFO modulation. Higher values cause the flanging effect to sweep over a
wider range.
• Speed: Adjusts the LFO speed. To synchronize the speed to your host or Master Editor tempo,
click the Speed parameter’s unit display and choose a note length value from the drop-down
list.
• Phase (0 to 90 degrees): Imparts an LFO phase difference between the left and the right stereo
channel. This can considerably increase the width of the output signal’s stereo base.
• Colour: Adjusts the delay line’s range of operation and, consequently, the color of the flanging
effect. Small values result in short modulated delay times, making the Flanger sound more like
a phaser.
• Feedback: Feeds a certain amount of the delayed signal back into the module’s input, thereby
creating a more pronounced effect.
• Return (visible when used as a send effect): Adjusts the module’s return level.
• Dry and Wet sliders (visible when used as an Instrument insert effect): Adjusts the respective
levels of the original and processed signals. Note that the typical flanging effect is created by
the combination of both signals, so setting these to the same levels results in the most
pronounced effect.

25.35. Phaser
This effect continually changes the phase relationships in your signal with an all-pass filter. This
results in a comb filtering effect, which attenuates some frequencies while boosting others. The
sound is similar to that of a Flanger but in a more subtle manner.
Phaser contains the following controls:

The Phaser effect

• Depth: The amount of LFO modulation. Higher values cause the Phaser effect to sweep over a
wider frequency range.
• Speed: The LFO modulation speed. To synchronize the speed to your host or Master Editor
tempo, click the Speed control’s unit display and choose a note length value from the drop-
down list.
 EFFECTS 197

• Phase (0 to 90 degrees): Imparts an LFO phase difference between the left and the right stereo
channel. This can considerably increase the width of the output signal’s stereo base.
• Feedb.: This control adjusts the emphasis of the peaks and notches that the comb filter effect
imparts on the signal.
• Return (visible when used as Send Effect): Adjusts the return level of the module’s output
signal.
• Dry and Wet sliders (visible when used as an Instrument Insert Effect): Adjusts the respective
levels of the original and processed signals. Note that the typical phasing effect is created by
the combination of both signals, so setting these to the same levels results in the most
pronounced effect.

25.36. Convolution
Convolution is a sophisticated mathematical process that, technically speaking, allows you to
replicate the acoustical behavior of a linear system — such as a room, a speaker or a hardware
reverb unit — for use with your own signals. To accomplish this, a short audio recording of a wide-
band signal played through the system is fed into the convolution processor. This recording is
usually a normal audio file, called an impulse response.
Convolution is best known among users as a method for achieving highly realistic reverbs; it
works just as well for simulating the characteristic resonances of speaker cabinets and other
loudspeakers, though.
KONTAKT’s Convolution processor is somewhat unique in that it fully supports a multi-channel
signal flow, allowing you to use surround impulse responses. It can be used within the Instrument
Insert Effects and the Instrument Send Effects chains, or as an Output effect. KONTAKT includes
an extensive library of impulse responses, which range from recordings of real rooms and speaker
cabinets to synthetic impulse responses that are well-suited for special effects, but you can just as
easily use third-party impulses in WAV format.
Convolution contains the following controls:

The Convolution processor

• Impulse Window: This window provides a display of the currently loaded impulse response
and, if active, the Volume Envelope. You can drag impulse responses from the library into this
window to load them — this will keep your other settings intact. The row at the top displays the
filename of the loaded impulse response, as well as its bit depth, sample rate, and number of
channels. Just like in the Mapping Editor and Wave Editor, hovering your mouse pointer over
the filename will show the full path to the file.
• Pre Dly.: Just like the Reverb module’s parameter of the same name, this control introduces a
short amount of delay between the direct signal and the convolution output. This is useful
when used with reverb responses to simulate the reverberation of big rooms, where a short
delay occurs between the direct sound and the first reflections from distant walls.
 EFFECTS 198

• Return (visible when used as a send effect): Adjusts the module’s return level.
• Dry and Wet sliders (visible when used as an Instrument insert effect): Adjusts the respective
levels of the original and processed signals. In common scenarios, the reverb signal is mixed in
at a lower level than the direct signal.
• Latency: Adjusts the module’s latency setting in five steps (1.5, 2.9, 5.8, 11.6, and 23.2 ms). If
you hear crackles or other artifacts, you can try to increase this value, which will result in
KONTAKT’s overall latency being increased (and thus all signals being delayed). If you don’t
want this, you can disable the latency compensation by activating the last entry in this menu.
This way, the overall latency won’t be increased, but the wet signal of the Convolution
processor will be delayed in relation to the dry signal (which actually can work just fine with
reverbs).
• S.Rate: Allows you to divide the sample rate in nine steps (1/1, 1/1.5, 1/2, 1/2.5, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6,
1/8, and Auto). If the Preserve Length button is not enabled, changing the sample merely
changes the playback speed of the impulse response, resulting in longer reverb trails and
changed frequency characteristics. Activating Preserve Length will keep the reverb trail intact,
but lower the sampling rate at which the convolution process takes place, thereby reducing the
CPU usage along with the quality.
• Reverse Button: Reverses the impulse response for special effects.
• Auto Gain: If this button is active, the processor will keep the overall level constant when
parameters are adjusted that would otherwise affect the level. If you turn this off, be sure to
monitor at low levels as you make adjustments, as volume changes can be drastic — take care
of your ears!
• VolumeEnvelope: This feature allows you to change the volume characteristic of the impulse
response to your needs. When activated, a graphically editable 8-segment envelope will be
drawn on top of the waveform display in the impulse response window.
• Early / Late: These mode buttons switch the 3 knobs below between affecting the early
reflections and the trail part of the impulse response.
• IR Size: Artificially compresses or stretches the impulse response in time.
• HighPass: Adjusts the cutoff frequency below which the signal’s frequency content will be
attenuated.
• LowPass: Adjusts the cutoff frequency above which the signal’s frequency content will be
attenuated.

25.37. Gainer
This module can be used both within the Instrument Insert Effects chain and as a send effect.
Depending on where you choose to place it, it serves two different purposes. As an Instrument
insert effect, you can boost or attenuate the signal level between the previous stage’s output and
the next stage’s input. In other words, it works like an additional amplifier stage.
 EFFECTS 199

The idea behind using the Gainer as a send effect needs some more explanation. As every send
effect can optionally route its own output signal to one of the Aux Channels in the Outputs section
(instead of feeding it back into the Instrument), the Gainer can act as a transparent bridge
between the send slots and the Aux Channels. Therefore, it allows you to send signals at
adjustable levels to the Aux Channels on a per-Group basis, which greatly increases routing
flexibility and can even save a lot of CPU resources — just move effects that you would otherwise
have created as send effects in multiple Instruments to an Aux Channel instead, and use the
Gainer within the Instruments’ send effects slots in order to forward signals to this Aux channel.
By changing the Aux channel’s physical output assignment, you can even use external effects,
whether they are plug-ins in your host program or outboard devices, from within Groups.
After you have inserted the Gainer module into a send slot, you’ll notice that in addition to the Gain
control, it also provides the Return control which is common to all send effects on the right side of
its panel. Next to the numerical readout of this control, you’ll notice a small „I“ icon. Clicking on it
opens a drop-down menu that allows you to select one of the Aux Channels as the routing target
for the module’s output. This way, whatever you’ll send to this slot via the Send Levels module will
end up on the specified Aux Channel.
Gainer contains the following control:

The Gainer

• Gain: The amplification or attenuation factor that will be applied to the signal in dB.

25.38. Choral
Choruses are used to enrich sounds by adding spatial movement and giving them an ensemble-
like quality. They are based on short delays, with built-in modulation of the delay time. The delays
produce copies of the original sound that vary in timing and, as a side-effect of the delay time
modulation, pitch. This way a chorus adds space and body to the sound as if it was played from
multiple sources at the same time. The results range from subtle shifts in timbre to extremely
lively textures with a wide stereo image.
As one of the most commonly used guitar and studio effects, various implementations of the
chorus have found their way into studio rack processors, guitar pedals, and synthesizers. Choral is
inspired by synthesizers and studio rack processors from the seventies and early eighties. On
these devices, the chorus parameters are hidden. Choral gives you enhanced control with
parameters that allow you to customize the effect with minimal effort.
Choral features four distinct chorus modes, ranging from the subtle sound of classic studio rack
processors to the large ensemble sound of early string synthesizers. The effect is produced by up
to three pairs of delays, called Voices. All chorus voices preserve the input signal’s stereo image,
but can also be panned to further widen the sound (Width parameter). The internal modulation
system affects each voice differently, thus preventing obvious modulation repeats. Further
expanding on the original concept of a chorus, the Scatter mode allows you create reverb-like
sounds, avoiding the metallic quality that many choruses exhibit with high Feedback settings.
Choral contains the following controls:
 EFFECTS 200

The Choral effect

• Rate: Adjusts the speed of modulation, from slow pitch changes to fast vibratos. This becomes
more pronounced as Amount is increased.

• Mode: Switches between four chorus modes (Synth, Ensemble, Dimension, Universal), that
determine the sound characteristic and modulation behavior.
• Synth: This mode is inspired by the choruses of polyphonic synthesizers from the late
seventies and early eighties. Its sound characteristic is dark and vintage. The modulation
behavior is tuned for rich and dispersed sounds.

• Ensemble: This mode is inspired by the choruses of string synthesizers from the seventies.
Its sound characteristic is warm and lush. The modulation behavior is tuned for animated
and lively sounds.

• Dimension: This mode is inspired by the choruses of studio rack processors from the early
eighties. Its sound characteristic is bright and transparent. The modulation behavior is
tuned for wide and consistent sounds.

• Universal: This mode is a more generic chorus implementation. Its sound characteristic is
clean and modern. The modulation behavior is tuned for a range of sounds from consistent
to lively, depending on the number of Voices.

• Amount: Adjusts the amount of modulation applied to Delay, altering the delay times of the
chorus voices. Due to the configuration of the delays, this also changes the pitch of the chorus
voices, creating the typical chorusing effect.

• Voices: Fades from one to three chorus voices. Increasing the number of chorus voices adds a
dense and ensemble-like quality to the sound. The modulation affects the second and third
chorus voice differently from the first, resulting in a wider and livelier sound.

• Delay: Adjusts the delay times of the chorus voices, allowing you to change the spatial depth of
the sound. This parameter strongly interacts with Feedback.

• Width: Pans the chorus voices opposite directions, widening the stereo image. When Width is
set to 0, the input’s stereo image is preserved.

• Feedback: Adjusts the level of the feedback signals from the outputs of the chorus voices to
their inputs, creating a more sustained and spacious sound.

• Scatter: Enables a special feedback routing for the chorus voices that introduces reverb-like
behavior.

• Mix: Blends between the input signal and the effect signal by means of an equal-power
crossfade.

• Invert: Changes the sound characteristic of the chorusing effect by inverting the effect signal.

• Mix: Blends between the input signal and the effect signal. When the knob is turned fully left,
only the dry input signal is heard.

• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

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25.39. Flair
Flangers are used to enrich sounds by adding distinct harmonic effects that can completely
transform a sound. They are based on comb filters, with built-in modulation of the comb filter
frequency. A comb filter consists of an extremely short delay with feedback that produces
harmonically related peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum. This way a flanger adds
dramatic filtering effects and resonances to the sound. The results range from metallic textures to
the warped sound of a starting jet engine.
As one of the most commonly used guitar and studio effects, various implementations of the
flanger have found their way into studio rack processors and guitar pedals. Flair is a new take on
the concept with additional features that have been carefully chosen to allow for more
sophisticated and extreme sounds than possible with common flangers, while staying true to the
ease of use and clarity associated with these devices.
Flair features three flanger modes that offer different approaches to a range of effects from
flanging to harmonization. The effect is produced by up to four comb filters, called Voices. Further
expanding on the original concept of a flanger, the flanger voices have a harmonic relationship
based on a wide selection of preset chords (Chord parameter). In both Standard and Thru Zero
mode, the flanger voices are added to form a chord, while in Scan mode, one flanger voice is
blended into the next, generating a sequence similar to an arpeggiator on a keyboard. Especially
with high feedback settings, this can lead to unusual results that are more akin to the sounds of a
tuned resonator than a flanger.

Controls
• Mode: Switches between three flanger modes (Standard, Thru Zero, Scan):
• Standard: In this mode, each flanger voice behaves like a basic flanger effect, creating
harmonically related peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum.

• Thru Zero: In this mode, each flanger voice is duplicated. The duplicated instances of the
flanger voices are excluded from the modulation and thus rest at their respective base
pitch. When modulation is introduced by increasing Amount, the flanger voices shift
against the duplicated instances in time. This creates the strong thru zero flanging effect
with its characteristic signal cancellation, similar to the flanging effect originally created
with two tape machines. The Offset slider below the Mode menu allows you to shift the
duplicated instances of the flanger voices in the frequency spectrum. This changes their
position relative to the center of modulation, which results in rhythmical variations of the
thru zero flanging effect. Offset also allows you to reduce the amount of signal cancellation
when there is no modulation (Amount set to 0%).

• Scan: In this mode, instead of adding the flanger voices to form a chord, Voices scans
through them one after the other. This is similar to how an arpeggiator on a keyboard plays
the notes contained in a chord as a sequence. The Scan Mode selector below the Mode
menu allows you to choose from three different waveforms for the modulation: Triangle,
Sawtooth Up, and Sawtooth Down.

• Chord: Sets a chord that defines the harmonic relationship between the four Voices.
 EFFECTS 202

• Invert Phase: Swaps the position of the peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum by
inverting the effect signal. When enabled, the perceived pitch of the flanger voices is one
octave lower. In Thru Zero mode, enabling Invert creates strong signal cancellations at the
center of modulation, which can lead to interesting rhythmical effects.
• Rate: Adjusts the frequency of the modulation applied to Pitch. The modulation effect
becomes more pronounced as Amount is increased. When LFO Sync is enabled, modulation is
synchronized to the host and the Rate knob is replaced by the LFO Sync controls: The
Numerator (a) and Denominator (b) set the speed of modulation in musical notes relative to
the host tempo. The Numerator sets the number of notes, while the Denominator sets the note
value. The Sync Mode (c) sets the time value, or subdivision, for the chosen note value. For
example, 1|4 in Sync Mode Straight means that the modulation repeats its cycle after one
quarter note, and 3|2 in Sync Mode Triplet means that the modulation repeats its cycle after
three half note triplets.
• Feedback: Adjusts the level of the feedback signals from the outputs of the flanger voices to
their inputs, creating a more resonant and metallic sound.
• Amount: Adjusts the amount of modulation applied to Pitch, adding movement to the flanging
effect.
• Width: Duplicates the flanger voices internally and pans them in opposite directions. A wide
and lively stereo image is created by adding a phase offset to the modulation applied to Pitch
between the left and right stereo channels. Additionally, a special type of cross-feedback is
introduced, further animating the stereo image as Feedback is increased.
• Pitch: Adjusts the fundamental frequency of the first flanger voice in semitones, effectively
shifting the peaks and notches of all flanger voices in the frequency spectrum.
• Damping: Attenuates the high frequency content of the feedback signals from the outputs of
the flanger voices to their inputs, allowing for soft sounds even at high Feedback settings.
• Voices: When Mode is set to Standard or Thru Zero, Voices fades from one to four flanger
voices. The additional flanger voices are added in harmonic intervals, forming a chord as set
with Chord. When Mode is set to Scan, Voices scans through the four flanger voices one after
the other by blending between the first and the second flanger voice, then the second and the
third flanger voice, and so on.
• Detune: Alters the pitch of each individual flanger voice in a range of approximately +/- 60 cent.
This creates a rich and lively sound similar to the effect of detuning oscillators on a
synthesizer. Detune is especially useful when Chord is set to Unison.
• Mix: Blends between the input signal and the effect signal. When the knob is turned fully left,
only the dry input signal is heard.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.

25.40. Phasis
Phasers are used to enrich sounds by adding spectral animation and complex filtering. They are
based on a series of all-pass filters, with built-in modulation of the all-pass filter’s frequencies. The
all-pass filters produce peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum that can be altered over
time. This way a phaser transforms and animates the harmonic structure of the sound. The
results range from classic Krautrock guitars to psychedelic FX sounds.
 EFFECTS 203

As one of the most commonly used guitar and studio effects, various implementations of the
phaser have found their way into studio rack processors and guitar pedals. Phasis is a new take
on the concept with additional features that have been carefully chosen to allow for more
sophisticated and extreme sounds than possible with common phasers, while staying true to the
ease of use and clarity associated with these devices.
Phasis features a scalable amount of all-pass filters, producing up to twelve pairs of peaks and
notches in the frequency spectrum. The input signal’s stereo image is preserved, however
additional processing can be applied to widen the sound (Stereo parameter). The internal
modulation system can not only alter the relative center frequency of all peaks and notches at the
same time (Center parameter), but also their spacing to each other (Spread parameter), allowing
for vowel filtering effects. Further expanding on the original concept of a phaser, ULTRA mode
extends the frequency ranges of the all-pass filters as well as the modulation to audio rates,
further expanding on the filtering capabilities of Phasis create sounds reminiscent of FM
synthesis.
Phasis contains the following controls:

The Phasis module

• Rate: Adjusts the frequency of the modulation applied to Center and Spread. The modulation
effect becomes more pronounced as the Amount is increased. When LFO Sync is enabled,
modulation is synchronized to the host and the Rate knob is replaced by the LFO Sync
controls. The Numerator (a) and Denominator (b) set the speed of modulation in musical notes
relative to the host tempo. The Numerator sets the number of notes, while the Denominator
sets the note value. The Sync Mode (c) sets the time value, or subdivision, for the chosen note
value. For example, 1|4 in Sync Mode Straight means that the modulation repeats its cycle
after one-quarter note, and 3|2 in Sync Mode Triplet means that the modulation repeats its
cycle after three half-note triplets.
• ULTRA mode: Extends the parameter ranges for Rate and Center, allowing for more extreme
modulation frequencies across a wider frequency range. By increasing Rate to audio
frequencies, you can add new harmonic content to the input signal, similar to the sounds
possible with FM synthesis.
• Amount: Adjusts the amount of modulation applied to Center and Spread, adding movement
to the phasing effect. The modulation can be distributed between the two parameters with the
Mod Mix slider.
• Center: Shifts the peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum by changing the frequencies
of the all-pass filters that create the phasing effect (relative to the Center frequency).
• Stereo: Creates a wide and lively stereo image by adding a phase offset to the modulation
applied to Center and Spread between the left and right stereo channels. In center position, the
phasing effect does not alter the stereo image. When turning the knob to the left, the phasing
effect appears to move from right to left. When turning the knob to the right, the phasing effect
appears to move from the left to right. Stereo does not have an effect if Amount is set to 0.
• Spread: Adjusts the density of the peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum. Turning the
knob to the left moves the peaks and notches closer to each other. Turning the knob to the
right moves the peaks and notches further apart from each other.
 EFFECTS 204

• Feedback: Adjusts the amount of feedback, or resonance, applied to the all-pass filters that
create the phasing effect. Turning up Feedback makes the peaks and notches in the frequency
spectrum more pronounced.
• Mod Mix: Distributes the modulation between Center and Spread. Moving the slider to the left
increases the amount of modulation applied to Center, moving the slider to the right increases
the amount of modulation applied to Spread. In the middle position, the amounts of
modulation applied to both Center and Spread are the same.
• Notches: Sets the number of peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum.
• Invert Phase: Inverts the polarity of the modulation applied to Spread, hence reversing its
effect in relation to the modulation applied to Center.
• Invert Mod Mix: Swaps the position of the peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum by
inverting the effect signal.
• Mix: Blends between the input signal and the effect signal. When the knob is turned fully left,
only the dry input signal is heard.
• Output: Adjusts the module’s output level.
 FILTERS 205

26. Filters
A filter is a signal processor which changes the frequency content of a signal that passes through
it. This means that in contrast to effects like distortion, reverb, or chorus, it only changes the
amplitude and phase of frequency components which are already present in your signal, without
creating new frequency content.
Filters are generally distinguished by the part of the spectrum that is to be attenuated, and
steepness of their attenuation curve, which is usually expressed in dB per octave. As the cutoff
frequency is defined as the frequency where an attenuation of 3 dB occurs, a lowpass filter slope
of 12 dB/octave with a cutoff frequency of 440 Hz attenuates frequency content at 880 Hz (an
octave above the cutoff frequency) by 15 dB, frequencies at 1760 Hz by 27 dB, and so on. In digital
filter design, specifying a filter slope as a number of “poles” has become the norm, with each pole
corresponding to 6 dB of attenuation per octave, such that a 1-pole filter will exhibit a gentle slope
of -6 dB/octave, while a 6-pole filter with its slope of -36 dB/octave is more akin to a sonic razor
blade. The pole notation is being used for KONTAKT’s collection of sampler filters. If you find the
concept of filter slopes confusing, don’t worry — just remember that lower-order filters (like 1-pole
and 2-pole forms) are generally better suited for gentle, unnoticeable tonal corrections, while
higher-order filters (like 4-pole and 6-pole forms) tend to change your signal characteristics by a
significant amount, and are thus better suited for broad treatments or effects.
KONTAKT’s collection of filter modules is divided into 7 categories:

• Lowpass Filters attenuate harmonics and signals above the cutoff frequency.
• Highpass Filters attenuate signals below the cutoff frequency.
• Bandpass Filters attenuate signals above and below the cutoff frequency.
• Peak/Notch Filters A notch filter is like the inverse of a Bandpass filter, as it only removes
signals around the cutoff frequency, but allows the signals above and below it to pass through.
A peak filter is like a very narrow Bandpass.
• Multi Filters in this section you will find optimized combinations of filter types in different
routings.
• Effect Filters are special filter modules that don’t fit any of the traditional filter characteristics
of either lowpass, highpass, bandpass or band rejection. An example of these would be vowel
filters, which emulate the resonances of the human vocal tract.
• EQs are the kind of frequency tools that you can find on mixing consoles. They offer some
ways of tonal alteration which aren’t available with traditional filters, such as attenuating or
boosting a specific frequency range by an adjustable amount and with adjustable precision.
These categories contain a few different variations based on the steepness of the slope (or
number of poles) and the character of the algorithm. There are five main filter variations:

• State Variable (SV): These are the new standard KONTAKT filters. They have a clean character
which is suitable for any material.
• Legacy: In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5
are included with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If
you are planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters.
• Adaptive Resonance (AR): The AR filters scale the resonance of the filter by the inverse of the
amplitude of the input signal. At higher input levels, the resonance of the filter will be reduced,
which helps reduce nasty peaks in the output audio. Accordingly, these filters are best used on
drums, loops or full mix material.
 FILTERS 206

• Ladder: Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a
first choice for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. There is also a Legacy
Ladder available, based on an older algorithm.
• Daft: Taken from the MASSIVE filter collection, the Daft filter is a more aggressive synthesizer
filter design.
• Pro 53: Taken from Native Instruments classic Pro-53 synthesizer, this filter emulates the
analogue synthesizer filter from the early 80s.
The most convenient way to access KONTAKT’s filter collection is by browsing the Filters page on
the Modules tab of the Browser. Here you’ll find a list of all available filters in each of the seven
categories, with icons depicting their frequency response, and descriptions of what they do and
how you can use them. If you have found a filter that you’d like to try, just drag it into one of your
Instrument’s signal processor slots.
In the following subsections, we’ll briefly introduce the available filter modules in each category
and describe their parameters.

26.1. Lowpass Filters

This category contains filters which attenuate signals above the cutoff frequency, allowing low
frequency signals to pass through - hence the name Lowpass. All filters in this category have the
following controls, unless otherwise specified:

• Cutoff: Adjusts the frequency above which signals will be attenuated.

• Reso. (Resonance): With a value greater than 0, this control will boost a small frequency range
around the cutoff frequency.

26.1.1. SV LP1
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The LP1 is a 1-pole lowpass, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -6
dB/octave. The 1-pole filter does not have a Resonance control.

The SV LP1 module

26.1.2. SV LP2
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The LP2 is a 2-pole low-pass, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of
-12 dB/octave.

The SV LP2 module

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26.1.3. SV LP4
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The LP4 is a 4-pole low-pass, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of
-24 dB/octave.

The SV LP4 module

26.1.4. Ladder LP1

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The LP1 is a 1-pole lowpass, which
attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -6 dB/octave.
The Ladder LP1 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder LP1 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.1.5. Ladder LP2

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The LP2 is a 2-pole low-pass, which
attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave.
The Ladder LP2 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder LP2 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.1.6. Ladder LP3

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The LP3 is a 3-pole lowpass, which
attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -18 dB/octave.
The Ladder LP3 filter also includes the following controls:
 FILTERS 208

The Ladder LP3 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.1.7. Ladder LP4

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The LP4 is a 4-pole low-pass, which
attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave. The Ladder LP4 filter also
includes the following controls:
The Ladder LP4 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder LP4 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.1.8. AR LP2
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The LP2 is a
2-pole low-pass, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave.

The AR LP2 module

26.1.9. AR LP4
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The LP4 is a
4-pole low-pass, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The AR LP4 module

 FILTERS 209

26.1.10. AR LP2/4

The AR LP 2/4 module

The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The LP2/4
processes the audio through a combination of 2-pole and 4-pole lowpass filters to create a more
interesting frequency response.

26.1.11. Daft
The Daft filter has been adapted from MASSIVE and is a more aggressive synthesizer filter design.
The response of the filter is a 2-pole low-pass, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a
rate of -12 dB/octave. The daft filter also includes a Gain knob that controls the amplitude
increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate for amplitude reduction due to the
filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

The Draft module

26.1.12. PRO-53
This is the same filter section that is provided by Native Instruments’ PRO-53 software
synthesizer. It’s similar in nature to the 4-pole lowpass filter, but has a different and more
distinctive signature sound.

The PRO-53 module

26.1.13. Legacy LP1

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The LP1 is a 1-pole lowpass,
which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -6 dB/octave. The 1-pole filter does not
have a Resonance control.

The Legacy LP1 module

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26.1.14. Legacy LP2

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The LP2 is a 2-pole lowpass,
which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave.

The Legacy LP2 module

26.1.15. Legacy LP4

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The LP4 is a 4-pole lowpass,
which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The Legacy LP4 module

26.1.16. Legacy LP6

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The LP6 is a 6-pole lowpass,
which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -36 dB/octave.

The Legacy LP6 module

26.1.17. Legacy Ladder

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. The Legacy Ladder is like the previously mentioned Ladder filters but uses a
much older algorithm. Accordingly we advise you use the non-Legacy Ladder filters. The Legacy
Ladder is a 4-pole filter, which attenuates frequencies above the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The Legacy Ladder module

26.2. Highpass Filters

This category contains filters which attenuate signals below the cutoff frequency, allowing high
frequency signals to pass through - hence the name Highpass. All filters in this category have the
following controls, unless otherwise specified:
 FILTERS 211

• Cutoff: Adjusts the frequency below which signals will be attenuated.

• Reso. (Resonance): With a value greater than 0, this control will boost a small frequency range
around the cutoff frequency.

26.2.1. SV HP1
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The HP1 is a 1-pole Highpass, which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of
-6 dB/octave. The 1-pole filter does not have a Resonance control.

The SV HP1 module

26.2.2. SV HP2
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The HP2 is a 2-pole high-pass, which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of
-12 dB/octave.

The SV HP2 module

26.2.3. SV HP4
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The HP4 is a 4-pole high-pass, which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of
-24 dB/octave.

The SV HP4 module

26.2.4. Ladder HP1

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The HP1 is a 1-pole highpass, which
attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -6 dB/octave.
The Ladder HP1 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder HP1 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
 FILTERS 212

• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.2.5. Ladder HP2

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The HP2 is a 2-pole high-pass, which
attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave. The Ladder HP2 filter also
includes the following controls:
The Ladder HP2 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder HP2 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.2.6. Ladder HP3

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The HP3 is a 3-pole high-pass, which
attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -18 dB/octave.
The Ladder HP3 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder HP3 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.2.7. Ladder HP4

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The HP4 is a 4-pole high-pass, which
attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave. The Ladder HP4 filter also
includes the following controls:
The Ladder HP4 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder HP4 module

 FILTERS 213

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.2.8. AR HP2
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The HP2 is
a 2-pole high-pass, which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave.

The AR HP2 module

26.2.9. AR HP4
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The HP4 is
a 4-pole highpass, which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The AR HP4 module

26.2.10. AR HP2/4
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The HP2/4
processes the audio through a combination of 2-pole and 4-pole highpass filters to create a more
interesting frequency response.

The AR HP 2/4 module

26.2.11. Daft HP
The Daft filter has been adapted from MASSIVE and is a more aggressive synthesizer filter design.
The response of the filter is a 2-pole high-pass, which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a
rate of -12 dB/octave. The Daft filters also include the following controls:
The Daft filters also include the following controls:

The Daft HP module

 FILTERS 214

• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.2.12. Legacy HP1

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The HP1 is a 1-pole highpass,
which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -6 dB/octave. The 1-pole filter does not
have a Resonance control.

The Legacy HP1 module

26.2.13. Legacy HP2

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The HP2 is a 2-pole highpass,
which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave.

The Legacy HP2 module

26.2.14. Legacy HP4

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The HP4 is a 4-pole highpass,
which attenuates frequencies below the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The Legacy HP4 module

26.3. Bandpass
This category contains filters which attenuate signals below and above the cutoff frequency. All
filters in this category have the following controls, unless otherwise specified:

• Cutoff: Adjusts the frequency below which signals will be attenuated.

• Reso. (Resonance): With a value greater than 0, this control will boost a small frequency range
around the cutoff frequency.
 FILTERS 215

26.3.1. SV BP2
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The BP2 is a 2-pole band-pass, which attenuates frequencies above and below the cutoff
at a rate of -12 dB/octave.

The SV BP2 module

26.3.2. SV BP4
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The BP4 is a 4-pole band-pass, which attenuates frequencies above and below the cutoff
at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The SV BP4 module

26.3.3. Ladder BP2

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The BP2 is a 2-pole band-pass, which
attenuates frequencies above and below the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave. The Ladder BP2
filter also includes the following controls:
The Ladder BP2 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder BP2 module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.3.4. Ladder BP4

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The BP4 is a 4-pole band-pass, which
attenuates frequencies above and below the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave. The Ladder BP4
filter also includes the following controls:
The Ladder BP4 filter also includes the following controls:

The Ladder BP4 module

 FILTERS 216

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.3.5. AR BP2
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The BP2 is a
2-pole band-pass, which attenuates frequencies below and above the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/
octave.

The AR BP2 module

26.3.6. AR BP4
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The BP4 is a
4-pole bandpass, which attenuates frequencies below and above the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/
octave.

The AR BP4 module

26.3.7. AR BP2/4
The Adaptive Resonance (AR) filters follow the amplitude of the input signal and adjust the
resonance accordingly. At higher input levels, the resonance will reduce, and for lower levels it will
increase, this avoids unpleasant peaks. These filters work best on full loops or drums. The BP2/4
processes the audio through a combination of 2-pole and 4-pole bandpass filters to create a more
interesting frequency response.

The AR BP 2/4 module

26.3.8. Legacy BP2

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The BP2 is a 2-pole bandpass,
which attenuates frequencies below and above the cutoff at a rate of -12 dB/octave. The Legacy
BP2 does not have a Resonance control.
 FILTERS 217

The Legacy BP2 module

26.3.9. Legacy BP4

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The BP4 is a 4-pole bandpass,
which attenuates frequencies below and above the cutoff at a rate of -24 dB/octave.

The Legacy BP4 module

26.4. Peak/Notch
A notch filter removes a specific frequency band from the signal. It can be thought of as the
inverse of a bandpass filter - in fact, it is sometimes referred to as a "band reject" filter. A peak filter,
on the other hand, is quite different - it simply adds a resonant peak to the signal, without doing
much attenuation to the signal. All filters in this category have the following controls, unless
otherwise specified:
• Cutoff: Adjusts the frequency below which signals will be attenuated.
• Reso. (Resonance): With a value greater than 0, this control will boost a small frequency range
around the cutoff frequency.

26.4.1. SV Notch
The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The Notch 4 is a 4-pole notch filter, which attenuates frequencies at the cutoff.

The SV Notch module

26.4.2. Ladder Peak

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The Peak is a unique filter that accents
frequencies at the cutoff.
The Ladder Peak filter includes the following additional controls:

The Ladder Peak module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
 FILTERS 218

• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.4.3. Ladder Notch

Based on the classic ladder circuit used in early synthesizers, these filters would be a first choice
for synthetic sounds, but can work well on any signal. The Notch cuts two narrow bands of
frequencies at either side of the cutoff.
Ladder Notch includes the following additional controls:

The Ladder Notch module

• High Quality: Toggles oversampling within the effect, which can increase audio quality, but will
also increase CPU load.
• Gain: Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to compensate
for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the effect.

26.4.4. Legacy BR4

In order to remain backwards compatible, the filter designs from before KONTAKT 5 are included
with the tag Legacy. These are like the SV filters but use a much older algorithm. If you are
planning to use clean filters, we advise you use the newer SV filters. The BR4 is a 4-pole band
reject filter, which attenuates frequencies at the cutoff.

The Legacy BR4 module

26.5. Multi

26.5.1. SV Par. LP/HP

The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The Par. LP/HP is the combination of a highpass filter and a lowpass filter routed in
parallel (ie. the signal is split and routed through each separately). The result is similar to a notch
filter.
The SV Par. LP/HP filter contains the following controls:

The SV Par. LP/HP module

• Cutoff: Adjusts the central cutoff frequency of the two filters.

• Reso. (Resonance): Adjusts the amount of boost around the cutoff frequency of each filter.
 FILTERS 219

• B.Width (Bandwidth): Controls the gap between the cutoff frequencies of the two filters, with
the highpass filter’s cutoff always above that of the lowpass. The gap is generated around a
central point controlled by the Cutoff control.

26.5.2. SV Par. BP/BP

The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The Par. BP/BP is a combination of two parallel bandpass filters.
The SV Par. BP/BP filter contains the following controls:

The SV Par. BP/BP module

• Cutoff: Adjusts the central cutoff frequency of the two filters.

• Reso. (Resonance): Adjusts the amount of boost around the cutoff frequency of each filter.

• B.Width (Bandwidth): Controls the gap between the cutoff frequencies of the two filters. The
gap is generated around a central point controlled by the Cutoff control.

26.5.3. SV Ser. LP/HP

The State Variable (SV) filters have a clean characteristic that can be used for all kinds of audio
signals. The Ser. LP/HP is the combination of a high-pass filter routed serially after a low-pass
filter. The result is similar to a band-pass filter.
The SV Ser. LP/HP filter contains the following controls:

The SV Ser. LP/HP module

• Cutoff: Controls the central cutoff frequency of the two filters.

• Reso. (Resonance): Controls the amount of boost around the cutoff frequency of each filter.

• B.Width (Bandwidth): Controls the gap between the cutoff frequencies of the two filters, with
the lowpass filter’s cutoff always above that of the highpass. The gap is generated around a
central point controlled by the Cutoff control.

26.5.4. 3x2 Versatile

The 3x2 Versatile Filter provides three separate filter bands, each of which can be continuously
“morphed” between 3 characteristics (lowpass, bandpass, or highpass). Each filter band has a
slope of 12 dB/octave. By combining these bands at various amounts, you can create almost
every imaginable filter configuration. What’s more, the resonance controls of each filter band
exhibit a behavior known from very high-quality analog filters: at high settings, the filter will begin
to oscillate and produce sound, even if there’s no signal present at the input. This effect is known
as self-oscillation. The 3x2 Versatile Filter requires more CPU power than other KONTAKT filters,
so use it only when you need this level of sophistication.
 FILTERS 220

The basic internal signal flow structure of the 3x2 Pole Multi-Mode Filter

The 3x2 Versatile Filter contains the following controls:

The 3x2 Versatile module

• Cutoff: Adjusts the cutoff frequencies of the 3 filter bands in unison. The displayed value is
only absolute for the first (topmost) filter band, the other two bands have cutoff frequencies
relative to this one (see below).
• Shift 2: Adjusts the second filter band’s cutoff frequency as an offset in relation to the first
filter. With a value of 0, both filters will have identical cutoff frequencies, while increasing the
value will set the second cutoff frequency higher than the first.
• Shift 3: Adjusts the third filter band’s cutoff frequency as an offset in relation to the second
filter.
• Reso. 1 to Reso. 3(Resonance): Adjusts the resonance (boost at the cutoff frequency) for each
filter band. Values of 98% or higher will result in self-oscillation.
• Type 1 to Type 3: Adjusts the characteristic of each filter band, allowing you to morph
continuously between a lowpass (0.0), bandpass (0.5), or highpass (1.0) characteristic.
• Amt. 1 to Amt. 3 (Amount): Adjusts the amount to which each filter band will affect the overall
result. At a value of 0, the respective filter will be inactive.
• Gain: As high resonance settings can significantly increase the signal level, KONTAKT will
automatically reduce the level the output level in such cases. You can compensate this with
the Gain control, but be careful — it’s easy to get excessive volume levels from this filter.
 FILTERS 221

26.5.5. Simple LP/HP

This very clean sounding filter lacks any pronounced resonance and is ideally suited for removal of
low frequency rumble and high frequency issues like harshness and excessive noise without
coloring the filtered signal.
The HP filter is a 2-pole (12 dB/octave), whereas the 1-pole LP has a more gentle slope of 6 dB/
octave.

The Simple LP/HP Filter

• Cutoff LP: Controls the cutoff frequency of the Low Pass filter.

• Cutoff HP: Controls the cutoff frequency of the High Pass filter.

26.6. Effect Filters

Filters in this category don’t match any of the traditional filter characteristics, and are thus better
suited for special effects.

26.6.1. Formant I
Formants are acoustic resonances. The term often applies to the phonetics of human speech, as
such, the formant filters are designed to mimic the frequency response of the human vocal tract.
These filters can be used to emulate the “talk box” effect.
The Formant I filter contains the following controls:

The Formant I module

• Talk: Controls the frequency response of the filter. Can be used to morph between vowel-
sounds.

• Sharp: Increases and decreases the peaks and notches in the response respectively,
analogous to the resonance control of the other filters.

• Size: Controls the center of the frequency response, analogous to the cutoff control of the
other filters.

26.6.2. Formant II
Formants are acoustic resonances. The term often applies to the phonetics of human speech, as
such, the formant filters are designed to mimic the frequency response of the human vocal tract.
These filters can be used to emulate the “talk box” effect.
The Formant II filter contains the following controls:
 FILTERS 222

The Formant II module

• Talk: Controls the frequency response of the filter. Can be used to morph between vowel-
sounds.
• Sharp: Increases and decreases the peaks and notches in the response respectively,
analogous to the resonance control of the other filters.
• Size: Controls the center of the frequency response, analogous to the cutoff control of the
other filters.

26.6.3. Phaser
The Phaser creates a distinct comb filter effect by using an all-pass filter design that radically
alters the phase relations in your signal. Note that there’s also a Phaser module in the standard
effects section, which has a built-in modulation mechanism. While that module and the phaser
filter share the underlying principle, the filter is better suited for timbral changes, while the Phaser
effect module is recommended for creating the classic effect of the same name that can be found
in countless effects processors and guitar stomp boxes.
Phaser contains the following controls:

The Phaser module

• Cutoff: Adjusts the center working frequency of the phaser’s comb filter effect. Changing this
parameter will alter the tonality of your sound in a distinct and not always easily predictable
way.
• Reso. (Resonance): Adjusts depth and narrowness of the notches that the phaser imposes on
the frequency spectrum, and thereby the intensity of the effect.

26.6.4. Vowel A
This filter simulates the resonant frequencies of the human vocal tract; when forming a vowel, the
throat and mouth cavities will change their shape in order to create a complex, natural filter which
emphasizes certain frequencies in the sound created by the vocal chords. These characteristic
frequencies, called formants, allow the human hearing to discern between different vowels, and
are being replicated by this filter.
Vowel A contains the following controls:

The Vowel A module

• Cutoff: Adjusts the center frequency of the filter. Various distinct frequencies across the
spectrum will produce different vowels.
 FILTERS 223

• Reso. (Resonance): With values greater than 0, this control will emphasize the frequencies
around the center frequency in order to create a sharper sound and enhance the effect.

26.6.5. Vowel B
This filter works similarly to the Vowel A module, but has a slightly different sonic character.
Vowel B contains the following controls:

The Vowel B module

• Cutoff: Adjusts the center frequency of the filter. Various distinct frequencies across the
spectrum will produce different vowels.

• Reso. (Resonance): With values greater than 0, this control will emphasize the frequencies
around the center frequency in order to create a sharper sound and enhance the effect.

26.7. EQs
KONTAKT’s fully parametric peak equalizers allow for a wide range of tonal alterations and
corrections. Using up to three EQ bands per module, you can boost or cut any frequency range
throughout the entire spectrum by up to 18 dB, with an adjustable Bandwidth parameter allowing
you to choose between gentle corrections or very steep “surgical” edits.
The EQ module is available in 1-band, 2-band, and 3-band flavors. You can switch freely between
these configurations without losing your settings.
All EQ bands contain the following controls:

The EQ module

• Freq. (Frequency): Adjusts the center frequency at which the boost or cut will occur.

• Bandw. (Bandwidth): Adjusts the width of the frequency range that will be affected in octaves.

• Gain: Adjusts the amount of boost (positive values) or cut (negative values) at the center
frequency.

26.7.1. Solid G-EQ

The Solid G-EQ differs from other KONTAKT EQs as it is modelled on high quality analogue
circuitry. It is a 4-band parametric EQ and offers the choice of bell or shelf style control of the low
and high frequency bands.
The Solid G-EQ contains the following controls:
 FILTERS 224

The Solid G-EQ module

• LF Gain: Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the LF Frequency.

• LF Freq: Adjusts the center frequency of the low frequency band at which the boost or cut will
occur.
• LF Bell: Toggles the bell shape of the low frequency band. If turned off the band becomes a
shelf.
• LMF Gain: Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the LMF Frequency.
• LMF Freq: Adjusts the center frequency of the low-mid frequency band at which the boost or
cut will occur.
• LMF Q: Controls the Quality (or Q) of the low-mid frequency band. For most EQs, the higher the
quality, the narrower the frequency band, but with this EQ the control is reversed to match the
hardware it emulates and becomes a bandwidth control.
• HMF Gain: Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the HMF Frequency.
• HMF Freq: Adjusts the center frequency of the high-mid frequency band at which the boost or
cut will occur.
• HMF Q: Controls the Quality (or Q) of the high-mid frequency band. For most EQs, the higher
the quality, the narrower the frequency band, but with this EQ the control is reversed to match
the hardware it emulates and becomes a bandwidth control.
• HF Gain: Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the HF Frequency.
• HF Freq: Adjusts the center frequency of the high frequency band at which the boost or cut will
occur.
• HF Bell: Toggles the bell shape of the high frequency band. If turned off the band becomes a
shelf.
 MODULATION IN KONTAKT 225

27. Modulation in KONTAKT

KONTAKT’s internal modulation system offers a powerful way to “animate” parameters, making
them change over time in a variety of different and finely adjustable ways. For this purpose, most
of KONTAKT’s modules provide a table, called the Modulation Router, which allows you to assign
various sources of modulation signals to that respective module’s parameters.
If you’re new to synthesizers and samplers, you might be unfamiliar with the concept of
modulation, so we’ll explain it briefly. If you already have worked with modulation, just skip the next
paragraph.
Suppose you have a very simple tone generator with only one control, which changes the pitch of
the generated tone. As players of acoustic instruments often use vibrato — a subtle “trembling” of
the pitch — as a means to make their sound more expressive and dynamic, you’d like to simulate
this effect with your generator. Of course, rapidly moving the pitch knob left and right is an option,
but this is awkward and inconvenient. Instead, you can use another generator that outputs a
periodic waveform as well — though at a much lower frequency than your tone generator, let’s say
5 Hz — and connect it to the pitch control of your tone generator. Now, the tone generator’s pitch
will begin to periodically sweep up and down “around” the pitch you’ve adjusted with the knob, in
other words: vibrato. This is a very simple example of modulation: you’re using a generated control
signal (which can be periodic, but doesn’t have to) to change some parameter over time. Of
course, the example can be just as easily replicated in KONTAKT: the Source Module will become
your tone generator, its Tune parameter your pitch knob, an LFO your source of a low-frequency
control signal, and an entry in the Modulation Router the wire that connects both generators.

27.1. Modulation Sources

KONTAKT’s library of sources that can be used for modulation is divided into four general
categories:

While control data obtained from external MIDI messages is constrained to the 128
numerical steps of the MIDI standard by its very nature, KONTAKT’s internal
modulation sources offer a much finer resolution.

• Envelopes are finely adjustable curves of varying shapes, which have a beginning and an end;
these are usually being used for creating parameter changes, often non-repetitive, that can’t be
easily obtained from a traditional periodic waveform, such as a filter that opens and then
gradually closes again after a key has been pressed. Envelopes generally react to MIDI note
messages.

• LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators) are sources that generate a periodic waveform within a
frequency range of 0.01 Hz up to about 210 Hz. In addition to the traditional set of waveforms
found on synthesizers — namely Sine, Triangle, Rectangle, Sawtooth, and Random —
KONTAKT also provides a complex LFO, which generates a mixture of these waveforms.

• External Sources provide access to control signals that are generated outside of KONTAKT’s
modulation source modules, such as incoming MIDI data, or constant and random values.

• Others include sources that don’t fit into one of the other categories, such as step sequencers
or envelope followers.
 MODULATION IN KONTAKT 226

27.2. Modulation Destinations

Modulation Routers can be found on most modules that work on a per-Group basis; this includes
the Source and Amplifier modules, as well as signal processing modules in the Group Insert
Effects chain. Furthermore, modulation source generators used in existing assignments can have
their own parameters modulated as well, which makes for a multitude of complex possibilities.
Modules outside the Group level, such as Instrument Insert Effects, Send Effects and Main Effects,
do not support parameter modulation.
In the same way as you can use one modulation source to modulate multiple parameters, you can
also combine multiple sources to modulate one parameter. If you create multiple assignments
with the same destination parameter, the modulation signals will be mixed together — keep in
mind, though, that a lot of modulation signals are bipolar, and thus can cancel each other out as
well as accumulate their values.

27.3. Creating Modulation Assignments

Each modulation assignment that actively affects a specific parameter at any given time will be
displayed with a single row in the Modulation Router of the parameter’s parent module. The
Modulation Router can be shown and hidden by clicking on the button labeled Mod or Modulation
in the lower left corner of a module. If this button does not exist, the respective module’s
parameters can’t be modulated.

The Modulation Router of an Amplifier Module

If a Modulation Router entry uses an internal modulation source for the assignment, you’ll always
find a corresponding modulation source panel at the bottom of the Rack in Instrument Edit mode;
here you can adjust the parameters of the signal source, such as an LFO’s frequency or envelope
timings.
 MODULATION IN KONTAKT 227

The Modulation section contains all internal modulation sources used in your Instrument.

You don’t need to scroll up and down to make adjustments to a modulation source and its
Modulation Router entry, though; clicking one of the Quick-Jump buttons on both panels or simply
pressing the “^” key (“~” on US keyboards) will instantly bring you to the respective other panel.

The Quick-Jump button on Modulation Router entries and modulation source panels brings you to the respective other panel.

Adding a new entry to a Modulation Router table, thereby creating a new modulation assignment,
can be done in one of two different ways. Which one you choose largely depends on your personal
preference.
1. Right-click the knob of a parameter that you want to modulate, then choose a modulation
source from the drop-down menu which appears. The submenu at the bottom of this menu
contains modulation sources which already exist in your Instrument (if any), and allows you to
assign an existing source to more than one parameter. If the module’s Modulation Router is
not currently visible, adding a new assignment will show it. This allows you to make immediate
adjustments to the assignment parameters.
2. Open the Modulation Router of a module and click the Add Modulator button on the left side of
its last row. This will open the same drop-down menu of modulation sources that you’ll get
when you right-click a knob. Since you can’t specify a destination parameter this way, you’ll
usually have to change the modulated parameter via the drop-down menu on the right side of
the new assignment entry.

27.4. Deleting Modulation Assignments

To get rid of a modulation assignment entirely, select its entry in the Modulation Router by clicking
on its panel, then press the Delete key on your keyboard. If the assignment was using an internal
signal source, and no other assignments in your Instrument are using the same source, the
corresponding source panel will disappear from the Modulation section of the Rack as well.
You can also right-click on the modulation assignment and select Delete from the context menu.
 MODULATION IN KONTAKT 228

27.5. Assignment Controls

As mentioned, all controls which affect the behavior of a modulation source can be found on the
respective source panel at the bottom of the Rack. There are additional parameters, though, that
affect in which way this source module’s output signal will be mapped to the parameter to which it
has been assigned. Since a source can be used to modulate multiple parameters in different ways,
it wouldn’t make much sense to include these controls on the panel of the source; instead, they’re
a part of each assignment entry in the Modulation Router table.

The Modulation Router

From top to bottom, this Modulation Router contains entries for a volume envelope, a velocity-to-
volume mapping, and a mapping which uses MIDI CC #69 data for the panorama position, with
using the far left as default.

Controls
Modulation Source: If the entry belongs to an internal source assignment, this value can’t be
modified, but external source assignments will offer a drop-down menu here that allows you to
switch to a different source.
Quick-Jump button (only visible on internal source assignments, like LFOs): Clicking on this
button will immediately scroll down to the respective source’s control panel at the bottom of the
Rack. Once you’re finished with your adjustments down there, the identical button on the panel will
bring you back to where you came from.
MIDI CC Number (only visible if source is MIDI CC): The modulation will acquire its values from
incoming MIDI controller data with the number specified here. The modulation wheel usually
sends MIDI CC #1 data, volume and expression pedals CC #7 and #11, respectively.
MIDI CC Default Value (only visible if source is MIDI CC): As a MIDI controller’s current position
can’t be queried remotely and is thus unknown until actual data is received, this value will be used
as a substitute until the first MIDI CC data is seen. A value of -1 in this field tells KONTAKT not to
modulate the parameter at all until actual data is received.
Modulation Shaper: If you need more control over the relationship between modulation signals
and parameter changes than what’s provided by the Intensity fader, clicking on this button will
open a shaper table, which allows you to create all sorts of custom shapes — from non-linear
transfer curves all the way to complex tables that assign each possible input value to a different
output value.

A modulation shape which changes low velocity values to higher ones.

 MODULATION IN KONTAKT 229

The Active button in the upper left corner of this view activates the shaping of the modulation
signal. When switched on, the window next to it will show a graphical representation of the table
that’s made up of 128 vertical bars, with each bar’s height representing the actual value that will
be used for modulation if the value that corresponds to this bar is received from the source
module. In other words, what you see is a transfer curve, whose X axis represents the input value,
and whose Y axis represents the output value.
By clicking and dragging a single bar, drawing shapes across bars, or drawing lines by right-
clicking and dragging the mouse, you can quickly create your own shapes. Note that holding the
[Shift] key while changing the height of a bar allows for finer editing, while [Ctrl]-clicking on bars
([Cmd]-click on Mac OS X) will reset them to zero.

When using this Table mode of editing the modulation shape, you have the option to
import and export the table data as a text file. To open the export dialog, [Shift]-click
the Active button; and to open the import dialog, use [Shift] + [Ctrl] on Windows or
[Shift] + [Cmd] on Mac OS X.

As non-linear curves and other deterministic shapes can’t be easily drawn with any accuracy in
this fashion, the Modulation Shaper provides an alternate editing mode, which can be accessed by
clicking the Table button in the lower left corner.

The curve editor allows you to create continuous, smooth modulation shapes.

When the Table button is deactivated, you can define your mapping using curve segments. This
editor mode works similarly to the flexible envelope editor described in section Flexible Envelopes
— you can drag the endpoints of curve segments to move them, drag the circles in the middle of a
segment to change the curve shape, right-click ([Ctrl]-click on Mac OS X) on an endpoint to delete
it, and right-click ([Ctrl]-click) somewhere else to create a new segment.
Invert button: If this button is activated, all modulation will be reversed in direction; so a rise in the
modulation signal will result in a proportional drop in parameter value.
Modulation Intensity: This fader controls how large the parameter changes caused by the
modulation signal changes will be, or in other words, how far this assignment will cause the
parameter to stray from its original value. As different modulation intensities can produce
considerably different effects, this is probably the most important parameter of the assignment.
As an example, reconsider the LFO-to-pitch assignment described in the previous section: a
natural and subtle instrument vibrato will call for a rather low intensity value, while a higher
intensity will produce a sound reminiscent of a police siren.
 MODULATION IN KONTAKT 230

Lag (Smoothing): If this value is higher than 0, any signal received from the modulation source will
be smoothed. The displayed value is a time constant in milliseconds and indicates how long the
smoothed signal would take to reach the new value after an instantaneous change in the
modulation signal occurred. The most obvious application of this feature is a gentle smoothing of
external MIDI data; as the MIDI standard imposes a resolution of only 128 steps on controller data,
using it without smoothing is prone to causing audible parameter jumps. A fairly low smoothing
value will get rid of these, while still preserving a sufficiently fast response to controller changes.
As pitch modulation is particularly prone to audible steps, all pitch assignments will have their
Smoothing parameter set to a value of 250 by default. Higher values can give useful results with
LFOs, such as a “slurred” rectangle or sawtooth modulation.
Modulation Target: Finally, the rightmost element displays the parameter that will be modulated. If
you click the field, a drop-down list of all parameters that can be modulated in this module will
appear, and you can choose a new target.
 MODULATION SOURCES 231

28. Modulation Sources

Now that you know how to create assignments that connect a modulation source to a parameter,
let’s have a closer look at the various modulation sources that KONTAKT has to offer. As explained
in the previous chapter, all modulation sources fall in one of four general categories: Envelopes for
(usually) non-periodic, finely adjustable curve shapes, LFOs for periodic waveforms, Other for
special modulators like step sequencers, and External for modulation signals that don’t originate
from one of KONTAKT’s modulation modules.

28.1. Envelopes
KONTAKT offers three kinds of envelope shapes, each one with a different set of controls:

• AHDSR: This is KONTAKT’s take on the most common envelope type out there, the ADSR
envelope, which is named after its parameters (attack time, decay time, sustain level, and
release time). With these four parameters, ADSR envelopes can create a surprisingly large
number of different modulation shapes, which are well-suited to simulate the natural dynamic
behaviors of acoustic instruments. KONTAKT’s flavor of this envelope provides an additional
Hold Time control, which will be described below.
• DBD: This is a rather simple one-shot envelope that rises or falls from zero to an adjustable
breakpoint above or below, then returns to zero. It works well for simulating things that happen
during the initial attack phase of sounds.
• Flexible Envelope: As the name suggests, this envelope doesn’t force any limitations
whatsoever on your modulation shape. It allows you to create almost arbitrarily complex
controller curves, which span anything from milliseconds to several minutes.

28.1.1. AHDSR Envelope Controls

AHDSR Envelope controls

Controls
• AHD Only: If this button is activated, the envelope will be reduced to its attack, hold, and decay
phases (see below for a description of what these do). As this eliminates the sustain
parameter, what you’ll get is a simple one-shot envelope, which will always be completed no
matter how long the key is being held. It is thus best suited for drum and percussion sounds.
• Retrigger: If this button is activated, the envelope will be restarted every time KONTAKT
receives a note, even if another note is still being held at the same time. If it’s inactive, the
envelope will keep its current position until the last note has been released, then be restarted
on the next note.
• Curve: Adjusts the curve shape of the attack phase. A value of zero results in a linear attack
curve, negative values make the shape more concave, and positive values make it more
convex.
 MODULATION SOURCES 232

• Attack: The initial time it will take the envelope to reach its maximum level after it has been
triggered.

• Hold: The (fixed) time the envelope will stay at its maximum level after it has completed the
attack phase and before it enters the decay phase.

• Decay: The time it will take the envelope to fall from its maximum level to the level set by the
Sustain control.

• Sustain: After it has completed its attack, hold, and decay phases, the envelope will stay at this
level as long as the key is being held.

• Release: The time it will take the envelope to fall from its sustain level back to zero after the key
has been released.

28.1.2. DBD Envelope Controls

The DBD Envelope controls

Controls
• Retrigger: If this button is activated, the envelope will be restarted every time KONTAKT
receives a note, even if another note is still being held at the same time.

• Decay 1 (D1): The time it will take the envelope to rise or fall from zero to the breakpoint after it
has been triggered.

• Break (B): The level of the breakpoint. If this value is negative, the envelope will fall, then rise,
and behave the other way around if it’s positive.

• Decay 2 (D2): The time it will take the envelope to rise or fall back to zero after it has reached
the breakpoint.

• Easy Mode: In Easy Mode, the DBD Envelope's Break and Decay 2 parameters are de-activated,
leaving just one parameter: Decay 1. The breakpoint will be set to zero. The Easy Mode is
generally easier to work with than the full mode for basic percussive instruments.

28.1.3. Flexible Envelopes

This powerful envelope type allows you to create arbitrary modulation shapes by defining up to 32
breakpoints, each at a defined level and point in time. Similar envelopes appear in a few other
places of KONTAKT, for instance as Zone Envelopes in the Wave Editor.

Flexible envelopes
 MODULATION SOURCES 233

When you create a new flexible envelope, you’ll initially see a shape which roughly resembles a
traditional ADSR envelope in its panel. Any changes to the shape of the envelope will take place
within this graphical representation. Just like within the other envelope editors, the X axis
represents the time, while the Y axis represents the modulation level.
You can define an envelope shape by creating or deleting breakpoints, moving them around
(thereby changing their position in time and their level), and changing the shape of the curves that
connect them. The initial preset is an envelope with four breakpoints; this is also the minimum
number of breakpoints that have to be present in an envelope.
In order to add a breakpoint to your envelope, right-click (on Mac OS X, [Ctrl]-click) on the position
where you want it to be created. Deleting breakpoints works in the same way: right-clicking (or
[Ctrl]-clicking) an existing breakpoint will delete it, causing its neighbors (if the breakpoint wasn’t
the last one of the envelope) to be connected with a straight line. You can change these
connections between breakpoints from straight lines to convex or concave curves by dragging the
small circles in their middle up or down.
If your envelope is becoming longer than the time window that’s currently being displayed in the
editor, you can left-click and drag the time line horizontally to scroll, or right-click ([Ctrl]-click on
Mac OS X) and drag it to zoom in and out.
You can move breakpoints around by dragging them with the mouse. The currently selected
breakpoint will be indicated with a filled square icon. In addition to its graphical position in the
editor, you can view its parameters as numerical values in the breakpoint status line above the
editor.

The status bar of the flexible envelope panel displays data of your currently selected breakpoint in numerical form.

From left to right, these values tell you about the current positioning mode (explained below), the
number of the currently selected breakpoint, its absolute position in time (displayed in
milliseconds), its relative distance in time to the preceding breakpoint, its level, and the shape of
the curve to the left of the breakpoint (with a value of 0.5 indicating a linear shape, higher numbers
indicating a convex shape, and lower numbers a concave shape).
You’ll notice that when you move any point (except the last one) horizontally, all points that follow
it will move along by the same amount, thereby changing the overall duration of the envelope. If
you don’t want this, just click the Mode entry of the breakpoint status line above the envelope
editor; this will toggle the breakpoint positioning mode between SLD (slide, which is the default
and shows the described behavior) and FIX (fixed, which allows independent positioning without
affecting other breakpoints).
In addition to the envelope shape, the editor displays three orange lines — two vertical, one
horizontal — drawn in a “H” shape. The section between the vertical lines, which can be dragged to
other breakpoints (except the first and last point of the envelope), marks the envelope’s sustain
phase. This phase affects how the envelope will behave while a note is being held. What exactly
will happen during this time depends on whether there are any additional breakpoints between the
two orange lines. If the sustain part spans only the curve between two breakpoints, with no other
breakpoints in between, the envelope will “freeze” when it reaches the second point’s level —
indicated across the sustain part with the horizontal orange line — while the note is being held. In
contrast, if there are any additional breakpoints between the start and end markers of the sustain
phase, the whole section will be looped until the note is released, in which case the envelope
immediately jumps to the section that follows the sustain phase.
The first 8 breakpoints of a flexible envelope are special in that their positions in time and their
levels can be modulated via external modulation sources; to do this, open the envelope editor’s
Modulation Router and create modulation assignments in the usual way.
 MODULATION SOURCES 234

Now that you know how the envelope editor works, let’s have a look at the two remaining buttons
of the panel:
Retrigger: If this button is activated, the envelope will be restarted every time KONTAKT receives a
note, even if another note is still being held at the same time.
Tempo Sync: When activated, a vertical grid of note values will be drawn on top of the editor, the
step size of which will depend on your current zoom factor (remember you can zoom in and out
horizontally by right-clicking or [Ctrl]-clicking and dragging your mouse on the time line). All
breakpoints you move around in this mode will snap their position in time to these grid lines,
allowing you to create modulation curves in sync to your host or Master Editor tempo. Since this
will make the actual length of your envelope change with the host tempo, the breakpoint timing
values that were previously displayed in milliseconds will now be displayed in note divisions.

28.2. LFOs
Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs) generate periodic (or in some cases, random) signals, which are
typically used for modulation across all kinds of synthesizers and samplers. Their name stems
from the modular analogue synthesizer behemoths of the past, where they first originated: it was
meant to reflect that their typical operating frequency was the only thing that set them apart from
the audio oscillators (which were mostly just being referred to as “oscillators”), since otherwise,
they worked pretty much the same, and had similar controls. While audio oscillators generate
signals in the audible range of 20 Hz up to 20.000 Hz, LFOs provide a much lower range. This
aspect makes sense when you consider that most practical parameter modulations call for
speeds that are actually humanly perceivable as changes, not as continuous sounds. Take the
canonical vibrato example from the last chapter — even 20 Hz would be much too fast for a
vibrato, so the actual frequency is actually far outside the useful audio range.

An LFO, outputting a sine waveform at 1 Hz.

All of KONTAKT’s LFOs can generate frequencies within the range of 0.01 Hz to around 210 Hz.
You’ll notice that the upper part of this range actually overlaps the audio range, which opens up
some rather interesting and creative modulation possibilities, but the better part of your traditional
LFO assignments will likely call for frequencies between 0.01 Hz and 40 Hz.

A Multi LFO, which lets you mix all other waveforms into a complex waveform.

While we’re referring to “KONTAKT’s LFOs” in plural form in order to reflect the fact that depending
on their output waveform, they all look a little different, there’s actually no need to treat them like
separate modules from a user’s point of view. Once you have created an assignment that uses an
LFO as its source, you can conveniently switch the waveform on this LFO’s control panel in the
Modulation section of the Rack; the displayed set of controls will follow your selection. The
following section explains every control only once, with an appropriate remark if a control is
specific to a waveform.
 MODULATION SOURCES 235

28.2.1. LFO Controls

Waveform button: Displays the waveform of this LFO’s output signal and allows you to select a
different one via a drop-down menu. The available waveforms are Sine, Triangle, Rectangle,
Sawtooth (falling), Random, and Multi, which is a mixture of all other waveforms.
Retrigger: If this button is activated, the LFO waveform will be restarted at the same position each
time a note is received. If it’s inactive, the LFO will run in a “freewheel” fashion, without reacting to
notes.
Freq: Adjusts the frequency of this LFO’s output signal in Hz (cycles per second). Values range
from 0.01 Hz (one cycle in 100 seconds) to around 210 Hz.
The LFO speed can be synchronized to your host tempo, an external MIDI clock, or your Master
Editor tempo. To accomplish this, click the displayed unit of the frequency readout. A drop-down
menu will appear, allowing you to choose from a list of note values. After you’ve selected a value,
the LFO is in sync mode, and the frequency control will adjust and display how many notes of this
value will make up the duration of one cycle. For instance, if you select Whole and dial in a value of
1.0, an entire LFO cycle will span exactly one bar of a 4/4 measure. To return to unsynchronized
mode, just select Default from this drop-down menu.
Fade in: If this value is greater than zero, the LFO will not start the waveform right away when a
note is received, but rather smoothly ramp it up over a time of up to 5 seconds. This works great
on human-like vibratos. Like the frequency control, this parameter can be synchronized to a song
tempo in the way described above.
Start Phase: Adjusts the position within a cycle at which the LFO will start its waveform when it’s
triggered. The value is displayed in degrees, with 0° being the start of the waveform, 180° the mid-
point of the cycle, and 360° the start of the next cycle. Setting this parameter only makes sense
when the Retrigger button is activated.
Pulsew. (Pulse width, Rectangle waveform only): The pulse width adjusts the duty cycle of the
waveform, which determines the ratio between the high and low parts of the cycle. A pulse width
of 50% results in a perfect square wave.
Waveform Mixer (Multi waveform only): The Multi waveform is special in that it’s the result of an
addition of other waveforms. Which waveforms will appear in this mixture, and at which respective
amounts, can be adjusted with an additional set of controls which appears below the main row of
knobs when you switch to the Multi waveform. Note that these mix controls are bipolar and thus
allow you to reverse the polarity of source waveforms. At a value of 0.0, the respective waveform
will be absent from the mixture.
Normalize Levels (Multi waveform only): If this button is activated, and the sum of all component
waveforms in the current mixture would exceed the level of a simple waveform at its peaks, the
LFO will reduce its level accordingly.

28.2.2. Multi Digital LFO

The Multi Digital LFO is a new LFO type with identical controls to the standard Multi LFO. The
difference is in the signals themselves; the standard Multi LFO approximates analog signals,
including ripples in signals with sudden value changes (like Rect and Saw), while the new Multi
Digital LFO is more mathematically accurate. This is particularly useful for creating precise,
rhythmically complex modulation sources.
 MODULATION SOURCES 236

A Multi Digital LFO.

28.3. Other Modulators

This category includes all internal modulation sources that won’t fit into one of the other
categories.

28.3.1. 32-Step Modulator

The 32-Step Modulator

The Step Modulator works similarly to a classic step sequencer in that it allows you to freely define
a row of up to 32 values, which will then be “played back” at a constant speed. You can define
these bipolar values by drawing bars that originate from the middle line with your mouse; the
higher a bar, the further the modulated parameter will stray from its original value at this point in
the row. To draw a linear change across multiple bars, right-click ([Ctrl]-click on Mac OS X) and
drag the mouse in your editor; this will draw a line which will be reproduced with bars when you
release the mouse button. The speed at which the Step Modulator will move from bar to bar can
be synchronized to your host or Master Editor tempo. Here’s a run-down of the controls:
Freq: Adjusts the “playback speed” of the Step Modulator. Values range from 0.01 Hz (an entire
cycle through all bars will take 100 seconds) to around 210 Hz. You can synchronize the speed to
your host or Master Editor tempo by clicking on the displayed unit, then choosing a note value
from the drop-down menu and adjusting the speed knob to a number of these note values that will
be spanned by one cycle.
# (number of steps): Click this field, then drag your mouse up or down to change the number of
steps in your row. As the modulator will immediately wrap to the first row after it has reached the
end, a power of two in this field (like 8, 16 or 32) will ensure that the Step Modulator keeps aligned
with a binary song meter during playback.
Retrigger: If this button is activated, the Step Modulator will restart its sequence at the first bar
each time a note is received. If it’s inactive, the step modulator will run in a “freewheel” mode
without reacting to notes.
One Shot: If this button is activated, the Step Modulator will play the row once, then stop.
Otherwise, it will loop the row indefinitely.
Tools: Opens a drop-down menu with two utility functions: Reset will set all step amplitudes to 0,
Snap 1/12 will restrict all edits to a grid of 24 steps (12 in each direction), which, in combination
with a pitch assignment with full modulation intensity, allows you to create note sequences within
a chromatic scale.
 MODULATION SOURCES 237

28.3.2. Envelope Follower

The Envelope Follower

The Envelope Follower continually analyzes the amplitude of the currently played sample and
generates a modulation signal from it, thereby replicating the dynamic envelope of the audio
signal for your own use. In other words, whenever your audio signal gets louder, the modulation
signal will rise accordingly; when it gets quieter, the modulation signal will fall.

Controls
• Attack: Adjusts the Envelope Follower’s response time to rising levels. Larger values will
“smooth out” the attack phases that correspond to increasing audio levels. Very short values
can cause distortions, as the Envelope Follower will begin to track each cycle of the audio
waveform.
• Decay: Adjusts the Envelope Follower’s response time to falling levels. Larger values will
“smooth out” the decay phases that correspond to decreasing audio levels. Very short values
can cause distortions, as the Envelope Follower will begin to track each cycle of the audio
waveform.
• Gain: Adjusts the Envelope Follower’s sensitivity to the audio signal. Larger values result in a
higher envelope amplitude.
• Adapt: Sets a baseline transient response time for the Envelope Follower.

28.3.3. Glide

The Glide module

The Glide module acts as a source for a special modulation signal that’s needed to create a
portamento effect. This effect is known from monophonic synthesizers and adds a sliding
transition between the pitches of two consecutive notes when they are played in a legato fashion.
To create a portamento, assign the Glide module to the pitch of your source module, and set the
corresponding modulation intensity to the maximum value. Using this module in other ways rarely
makes sense. Also note that while using this facility with polyphonic Instruments certainly works,
the effect is usually associated with monophonic Instruments.

Controls
• Time/Speed: Selects one of two different glide modes. If Time is selected, all transitions
happen in the same time, regardless of the interval between the notes; in Speed mode, wide-
spaced intervals will result in longer transitions than close-spaced intervals, as the glide speed
will be kept constant.
• Speed: Adjusts the speed of the portamento. You can synchronize this parameter to your host
or Master Editor tempo by clicking on the displayed unit, then selecting a note value from the
drop-down menu and adjusting a numerator for this value with the speed knob.
 MODULATION SOURCES 238

28.4. External Sources

An external modulation assignment which maps MIDI Velocity to the volume parameter of an Amplifier Module.

This category encompasses modulation sources whose signals don’t originate from one of
KONTAKT’s source modules; most of the sources found in this category reference incoming MIDI
data of any sort, allowing you to use data like pitch bend, aftertouch, or MIDI controllers for
parameter modulation. Let’s start with these:

• Pitch Bend: This kind of MIDI data is usually sent by pitch bend wheels or levers on master
keyboards. Unlike normal MIDI controllers, pitch bend data is transmitted in a rather fine
resolution of 14 bit, which provides 16,384 value steps. If both your controller and the
parameter that you’d like to modulate can work with this resolution, KONTAKT will use it to its
full extent.
• Poly Aftertouch: This controller, also referred to as key pressure, is sent by a rather small
number of MIDI keyboards and allows you to receive aftertouch pressure data for individual
keys. Note that in order to create an Instrument that responds to polyphonic aftertouch, you’ll
need to spread your voices across multiple Groups that are cycled in a round-robin fashion, so
that the pressure of each key can be processed within its own group.
• Mono Aftertouch: This controller, which is also being referred to as channel pressure, provides
a single value for the aftertouch pressure that’s applied to held keys. It’s sent by a wide range
of master keyboards.
• MIDI CC: The MIDI specification provides 128 continuous controllers (0-127) for general use.
These are supported by almost all MIDI controller devices and used for transmitting the status
of controllers like modulation wheels, sustain and volume pedals, or general purpose fader
banks. Some controller numbers are assigned to standard devices (#1 = modulation wheel, #7
= volume, #11 = expression, #64 = sustain pedal, to name a few), but KONTAKT doesn’t take
that into account — you can use all controller numbers between 0 and 121 as modulation
sources.
• Key Position: This source provides access to the MIDI note number of a pressed key. It can be
used to change parameters, like a filter cutoff, in response to the pitch of the played note in
order to make keyboard tracking possible.
• Velocity: This is a value between 0-127 that indicates how hard (technically, fast) a key has
been hit. It’s transmitted by nearly all master keyboards and is frequently being assigned to
parameters like volume, brightness, or (inversely) the length of the attack phase.
• Release Velocity: This value is sent by a very small number of master keyboards. It indicates
how slow or fast a key is being released and is useful for changing the length of a sound’s
release phase accordingly.
• RLS Trig. Count: This value is generated for Groups that are being triggered on release and
indicates the time between the trigger and the release signal. Read the description of release
triggers in The Source Module for an in-depth explanation of this facility.
In addition to external MIDI data, the External category also includes 3 special sources of scalar
values that won’t change over time:

• Constant will simply add or subtract the value of the modulation intensity fader to the
modulated parameter. It can be used to easily “bend” parameter values beyond the range limits
of their controls.
 MODULATION SOURCES 239

• Random Unipolar will generate a random value between 0 and 1 for each received note.
• Random Bipolar will generate a random value between -1 and 1 for each received note.
 FILE FORMATS 240

29. File Formats

The following file formats are available in KONTAKT:

29.1. Audio File Formats

Software Formats File Extension
ACID
Acidized Wave .wav

AIFF
mono / stereo .aiff / .aif
multichannel .aiff / .aif

APPLE LOOPS
Apple Loop .aiff / .aif

BATTERY
Battery 1 .kit
Battery 2 .kt2
Battery 3 Kits .kt3
Battery 3 Cells .cl3

KONTAKT
lossless compressed .ncw

RECYCLE
REX 1 .rex
REX 2 .rx2

WAV
mono / stereo .wav
multichannel .wav

29.2. KONTAKT File Formats

NKI KONTAKT Instrument
NKM KONTAKT Multi
NKB KONTAKT Instrument Bank
NKP KONTAKT Preset
NKR KONTAKT Resource File
 FILE FORMATS 241

NCW KONTAKT Lossless Compression Audio File

NKX KONTAKT Monolith
NKC KONTAKT Cache File
 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 242

30. Keyboard Shortcuts

On OS X computers, use the [Cmd] (Command) key instead of the [Ctrl] (Control) key.

30.1. Global Keys

Shortcut Function
[Ctrl] + [O] Open Instrument
[Ctrl] + [S] Save
[Shift] + [Ctrl] + [S] Save As
[Ctrl] + [C] Copy
[Ctrl] + [V] Paste
[Ctrl] + [X] Cut
[Ctrl] + [A] Select All
[Alt] + [F4] (Windows) /
Quit
[Cmd] + [Q] (Mac)
Delete / Backspace Delete
[F9] (Windows) / [Ctrl] + [I]
Info Pane
(Mac)

30.2. Browser
Shortcut Function
Alphanumeric Keys Jump to file by name

30.3. Instrument Edit Mode

Shortcut Function
Alphanumeric Keys Play Instrument
[Ctrl] + [Z] Undo
[Ctrl] + [Y] Redo
[^] or [~] Modulation Quick-Jump
[Esc] Exit Instrument Edit mode

30.4. Group Editor

Shortcut Function
[Ctrl] + [D] Duplicate Group
 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 243

30.5. Mapping Editor

Shortcut Function
Cycle through overlapping Zones (inside Zones); Set Zone crossfades
[Ctrl] + LMB
(on Zone edges)
[Shift] + LMB Multiple selection; expand or collapse all Groups (in list view)
[Shift] + Cursor Keys Add adjacent Zones to selection
[Ctrl] + Cursor Left / Right Move key range of selected Zone(s) by one note
[Shift] + [Ctrl] + Cursor Adjust upper key limit of selected Zone(s) by one note
Left / Right
[Ctrl] + Cursor Up / Down Move velocity range of selected Zone(s) by two steps
[Shift] + [Ctrl] + Cursor Up / Adjust upper velocity limit of selected Zone(s) by two steps
Down
[Shift] + LMB (Click + Drag) Rubber band selection without moving Zones
[Alt] + LMB (Click + Drag) Rubber band zooming
[+] (Number Pad) Zoom in
[-] (Number Pad) Zoom out
[Ctrl] + [T] Auto-map selected Zone(s)
[Ctrl] + [E] Auto-spread Zone ranges
[Ctrl] + [R] Resolve key range overlaps
[Shift] + [Ctrl] + [R] Resolve velocity range overlaps
[Ctrl] + [D] Duplicate Zone
[Shift] + [Ctrl] + [E] Auto-spread velocity ranges

30.6. Wave Editor

Shortcut Function
[Alt] + LMB (Click and Drag) Rubber band zooming