I think there are several Kontakt users here and I have a Kontakt question I'm hoping someone can help me with!
I own Kontakt 6 and, along with the virtual instruments that come with it, I have purchased several others. And almost all of these instruments load and work quickly.
BUT, some of the Session Guitarist instruments take a long time to load and sometimes they even put Kontakt into that Windows "not responding" mode for a minute or longer.
I guess I should further clarify that the actual loading of the instruments is not the main problem. When I try to preview the built-in patterns that is when it comes to a standstill. For example, when I have loaded Picked Acoustic (or Picked Nylon), turned on the Auto Chords feature, and changed the pattern library, it can take 30 seconds or more for the new library to become available for preview. Obviously this is way too long to wait when trying to preview libraries for consideration.
Any thoughts on what might be wrong or how I might tune this up to improve it?
I have a very fast computer and, as I said, it is only with certain virtual instruments that I have this problem. All Kontakt instruments are located on the same fast hard drive.
Good advice thus far. I will add make sure your anti-stuff is not operating during your loading. When I work on my music computer I make sure nothing is working in the background, including my anti-virus; note that I disable my Ethernet card also.
Also you mentioned that you are using a fast hard drive. There was a huge difference in Kontakt patch loading times when I went to an SSD. I mean from minutes to seconds on my large patches. Also with a SSD you can purge the patches and run straight from the SSD. This saves CPU power and I have noticed no difference in RAM or SSD in latency, i.e. no latency.
{edit} - An after thought. If you are running Kontakt and the patches on the same drive you are really taking a hit in load times. Kontakt should be on one drive and the patches on another drive, preferably a SSD.
Last edited by MarioD; 12/29/2212:47 PM.
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Google - Optimize Loading Time with Batch Re-Save in Kontakt. Here are two of my favorites:
First review this:
Then review this:
Re-save is a feature in Kontakt to rebuild the entire library. There are some good videos if you need.
Thanks Dan! That first video seemed interesting but I use Avast so his instructions did not work and I jumped to the second video.
That second video did not help the specific problem I was having but it sure did resolve another having to do with the initial loading of a virtual instrument! So that will be extremely helpful!
After all of this I noticed some strange behavior in the Session Guitarist instruments. My problem is in the auto chord feature where a tiny keyboard is displayed and you can click the keys to play a pattern using that chord (for example click a C to play a C chord with the active pattern). After demoing a pattern being played and then switching to a different pattern that is when the whole thing just bogs down like crazy. BUT, I found that, after I switch patterns, if I click a different key on the mini keyboard, it tends to start much faster and never goes into Not Responding mode! I think this points to some sort of Kontakt bug.
After this I decided to figure out how to exclude Kontakt from Avast and after doing so I found improvements to the specific problem I was having. It ain't perfect but it is a LOT better!
So Thanks a Bunch for these suggestions, both of which improved my Kontakt workflow!
Good advice thus far. I will add make sure your anti-stuff is not operating during your loading. When I work on my music computer I make sure nothing is working in the background, including my anti-virus; note that I disable my Ethernet card also.
Also you mentioned that you are using a fast hard drive. There was a huge difference in Kontakt patch loading times when I went to an SSD. I mean from minutes to seconds on my large patches. Also with a SSD you can purge the patches and run straight from the SSD. This saves CPU power and I have noticed no difference in RAM or SSD in latency, i.e. no latency.
{edit} - An after thought. If you are running Kontakt and the patches on the same drive you are really taking a hit in load times. Kontakt should be on one drive and the patches on another drive, preferably a SSD.
Thanks Mario! I managed to add an exclusion for Kontakt to my Avast and that improved the situation. Although I don't yet have a SSD big enough for all my samples, I do have Kontakt on one SSD drive and the samples on a different drive.
Others advice above is probably better than this, but
Sometimes certain apps load new previews from the internet If that is the case, I've noticed Kontakt servers being mighty slow this holiday season.
I'm not sure if those particular previews do this or not, just a thought
Thanks rharv! Great suggestion but didn't seem to be the issue here. I've had this problem with these specific libraries for over a year and have tried them at all times of the year, day and night, etc.
It's also worth mentioning that fast SSDs can slow down as they become full (easy to do with music samples and plugins). And not all SSDs are the same (DRAM-less, QLC, SATA ones on the slower end and NVME SLC/TLC on the premium end).
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