Lately I have ben using RB a bit more for Midi and the other VSTi I have tried, works fine, but not Kontakt. I had that issue before with BiaB, until I learned from the forum that Kontakt must have Chanel 1 in order to work. RB is different here, as it does not have the same as BiaB, in the top, to select a forced channel. I tried right click on the track and chose channel 1 from there, to no avail. What am I doing wrong?

Trygve,

We need more information.

How do you load Kontackt? Do you load it on each individual track?

Noel

Ok.. I right click the track, then go up to "Specific VSTi for midi track, and select Kontakt from there. When Kontakt loads, I select the VST I like to use and drag it over.. Another problem here both in BiaB and RB is that it takes a terrible long time before the VST loads... Any way to make it load faster?

Trygve,

It sounds like you need to do some homework on how to use midi with multiple channels. There's a great deal of information out there on the internet. While working with midi can be confusing to start with, once you can see how it works, it all makes sense.

Let's see if I can get you started...

Firstly, if you are setting all the different RB tracks to midi channel to 1 (which it sounds like you might be), you'll confuse Kontakt. Each midi track MUST have it's own, unique midi channel.

Then, when you load an instrument in the instance of Kontakt that's specific to the track you are working on, you need to make sure that you use THE SAME MIDI CHANNEL in Kontakt that your track is set to.

Here's an example using Philharmonik Miroslav (because I don't have Kontakt). The principle is exactly the same with any softsynth that is not general midi.

I'm going to put Philharmonik strings on RB Track 5.




1. Right-click on track 5.

2. From the menu that appears: (a) select a unique midi channel for this track (#1 on the image below, I'm using midi channel 6); (b) follow #2, #3 to load Philharmonik Miroslav.



3. Open the softsynth Philharmonik (#4) and make sure that the required String sound is added to midi channel 6 (#5).



Hope that helps get you going,
Noel

P.S. Loading time is a function of the synth. As I understand it, because Kontakt is one of the superior synths, the audio files used for the samples are large. This is why it takes time to load. (The higher the quality of the audio, the longer the loading time.)

Kontakt does not require everything to be on channel 1. when the Kontakt screen pops up, you click on the port (usually Input A) and select the channel you want to use as your input.

In BIAB, you can go to Options, Preferences, Channels to see which channel a particular track uses, and then you should be able to match the channel to the input setting in Kontakt.

Thank u guys for trying to help me out. I have messed more around with it today and figure out something, but not all. There is some different Kontakt library that works just fine, others does not work at all and one, and the Chris Hein Harmonica works only on channel 1. It does not have a channel choice at all in it. The one that works well in BiaB but not at al in RB is the Rhapsody Orchestral Color. And I have tried all of the above advice. The strange thing is that I can see it getting midi signal, because the is blinking movement in the little midi channel circle to the left, and the voice numbers fluctuate up and down...

Maybe I just have to contact the Rhapsody company and address the problem? Or is it anybody else that have Rhapsody? And have made it work in RB?

Thank's again guys !

Another thing to consider is that Kontakt Libraries are not like general MIDI libraries and so the notes sent to it don't do the same thing as they would going to a GM library. For example, a Kontakt library may only respond to one octave of notes and other octaves may be used for key switches, for example.

So, you have to be very careful to send the library what it expects. If your Chris Hein library only works on channel 1, then just make sure that the track is set to channel 1. Sometimes you have to actually completely rechannel the track to accomplish that (just setting the track to channel 1 doesn't change existing data on the track, which may be, say, channel 3). You can rechannel the track to get everything on channel 1.

Also, if you have multiples that want to go to channel 1, make sure all of those tracks are defined to send to separate instances of the VSTi (Kontakt, for example) on different ports so they don't step on each other.

I'm sure you probably know all this, but it may also help others.

Yes, jford, aware of most of it, but that part;

"Also, if you have multiples that want to go to channel 1, make sure all of those tracks are defined to send to separate instances of the VSTi (Kontakt, for example) on different ports so they don't step on each other."

I have never had to mind before. But since I now work with remixing bigger midi files from Classical Music, I certainly have to learn how to do that... Thank's a lot for ur always helpful advises...

I just started to scratch the surface of RB, so I guess I will soon be back here with other questions...

HI Leo

You may find this post I made last year helpful .
Although this is my way of working the settings hold true and may well help with you big midi arrangements

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=421946

There is also a printable version on my website below on my technical articles page

Mike

Trygve, Chris Hein's harmonica can be set to any MIDI channel, not just channel 1, as previously indicated.

Are you working with a 64 bit Kontakt via j-bridge? If so, FWIW, I have found the j-bridge does not work correctly for every program. Note that this is using 32 bit VSTis in a 64 bit environment.

If you are working with large MIDI arrangements you will be much happier, IMHO, using a 64 bit system and DAW. YMMV.

Thank's Mike, will have a look at it...
Mario, yes, I have tried Reason, but don't have all the time to learn a new interface. Struggling enough with learning RB...;)