Kontakt snappier and easier-to-view & use: possible?

Scaler 2 General Discussion
1

Hi there

I don’t like its GUI for a number of reasons, and I always end comparing it with the sleek, tidy, and intuitive Soundpaint interface:

  1. the KK engine is slow, so there is a way to make it snappier? I set CPU usage to max, but nothing changed; there are other options?
  2. the KK GUI is clumsy, careless, but I think there is nothing to do here
  3. the KK fonts are Lilliputian, and resizing the window is useless :poop:
  4. many KK tabs and toggle buttons seems placed just to fill a space :thinking:
  5. many tabs, buttons etc are counterintuitive and there are no tooltips (apart the nested “Info” button that is not a real tooltip, but just the string name, lazy devs!)
  6. what’s the logic behind putting “settings” outside the Settings menu is a mystery to me
  7. the manual is the usual rigmarole of almost useless information, with the few possibly useful ones hidden and scattered here and there
  8. Most videos about KK are useless fast-paced rigmaroles, so not an option
2

For example, here is the first window

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There are no clues about the step following selecting one instrument…
Sure, I found I can audit the patterns on the right, but after?

If I double-click on each instrument, nothing happens :poop: :poop:

I have to click on a pattern, then waiting a couple of minutes before something happens and there is no progression icon like in Soundpaint, at the point I was initially persuaded my copy was buggy YUK

The 5th button on top does nothing, and yet it’s not greyed :poop:

3

The rest of my feedback after lunch… now

Here is the “operative” window

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What’s bad here?

  1. The window is not resizeable, and the same for the fonts :poop:
  2. auditing patterns requires a lot of time, and I must stop my DAW otherwise the time needed is way longer

if I click on the 5th button on top, a further area on the left appears

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What’s bad here?

Look at West Africa: if I click on the down arrow I don’t have the list of instruments as one could expect, but a strange menu close to a Help menu

To (hope to) have a list of instruments, I have to click on a dissimulated button that is actually the bottom bar name “Instruments”… but what I have is NOT the list of instruments, but the list of “Percussion ensembles”!

And the other instruments???

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To have the other instruments, for example the Kora, I must come back to the other view, then finding the instrument on the right and double-clicking on it

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And so here is the Kora

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What’s bad here?
That Percussion Ensembles and the other instruments are in different parts of the labyrinth, so I have to run back in the maze if I do a back move

Moreover, with a tab-based SW it is illogical doing that each time I want to change/audit one instrument; just look Soundpaint, and you’ll get my point!
The KK GUI is clumsy and obsolete, and I cannot believe it is on the 7 version!

Maybe one of the older versions is better than this one?
I ask the KK user… :thinking:

Now, again about the Kora: the keyboard says that riffs are on the left and single notes on the rest: one may believe that the left area can be used with one hand and single embellishment notes can be added with the other hand, but it’s not the case: if I try to do that the riff stops, so I must stop hitting the riff one nanosecond before hitting a solo note: totally uncomfortable

BTW, if I click on the down-arrow on the right of the instrument name Kora (but this applies to guitars as well) nothing happens…

And, because on the left I have Ensemble percussions ONLY, if I want to add the Balafon in the group on the right I cannot D&D it here

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Rather, I have to come back to the other view and double-click on the Balafon

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Any suggestion to make it snappier and easier is welcome

4

I don’t have your instruments but in the view as in Kontakt 6 there are categoris so it is important tu go up one level and you should se the hem. Than select another category and find the instrument inside. No need to switch from one view to anotherr.

5

I’m going to just say this. This is the Scaler forum. Complaining about another software here is not productive unless you are just asking for user guidance. I would suggest posting this on the Native Instruments Kontakt Forum.
I’ve been with Kontakt since version 3. It is the instrument with the largest user base in the world because it works. And works really well. It’s not perfect but it is great. Some of the biggest names is music production and film production use this everyday in productions costing millions of dollars.
I am running on a much older computer then you are and I have not issues with snappiness or GUI problems. You’ve entered the world of sampling and it does require RAM and CPU.
In any event, check the NI Kontakt Forum. Some issues are well known. Others are just that you don’t know Kontakt and need to study a bit more.
Cheers,
Jamie

2 Likes
6

I’ll try the version before then
I read the 7 is only useful to have VST3

7

yes, I am asking guidance to make it easy to use, if possible
if impossible doesn’t matter: I’ll try to use it as I can

another forum is not an option: too much time needed

8

You don’t need Kontakt 6. Just stay in the “other” view. It is completely llike K6.

9

Sounpaint is all sampling, and it works way better

Maybe that KK was/is so used by professionals because the several unique good sounds inside, nevertheless the issues?

Anyway, it is a good thing that stuff like Soundpaint jump out: the competition helps idlers to improve, as happened e.g. in the MT field where Deepl rocked at the beginning, but now is reached & overtaken by GT :wink:

10

Sorry, but I am stuck in my opinion: good pieces of software must work out-of-the-box, for basic things at least, and the manual should be used only for difficult workflow

It is valid for all the several tools I use at work, and most tools I use for hobbies, so I cannot accept that KK is different; the only reason why I don’t kill it just now, is the guitars and the African instruments

11

The library pane on the left is the navigation window. It’s been that way since at least version 3 when I started. It’s always been the same. The larger one is the newest. I don’t use that one at all although it has the advantage of some of the newer libraries allow you to hear the instrument before you load. Use the one on the left it’s the easiest. I don’t have time to go through this all right now.

12

Sorry but Kontakt has been exactly the same since version 3. Millions of Kontakt users use it everyday. I don’t think they are going to change anytime soon. I don’t have time right now to go over point by point. Maybe later.
I will say this. There are no other samplers out there that have as much going for it as Kontakt.
Sound Paint is brand new. Less than a year old built on modern code that is very efficient. I like it a lot. BUT it does not do what Kontakt does YET. Maybe someday but not quite yet. The main tool I use every single day? Kontakt.

2 Likes
13

Well, I’ll survive to it, for now

Hoping that suitable guitar and African plugins come out
and then I’ll Kill KK with no reKrets :grin: :rofl:

14

Just found this very old 3D… Appalling!

I only hope their customer-base become decrepit very soon: maybe that will force lazy devs to improve the GUI :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

15

You do this every single time you start some new software. Every single time. 3 days happy and then - UNINSTALL! Every single time.

3 Likes
16

I don’t uninstall it, because the sounds are fine
It’s the GUI that is appalling

So I’ll keep it forever, even if I’ll curse it every time I kill my eyes into
my sight requires bigger fonts!
And, possibly not grey on a black background

and not only mine, if you read the 6 pages or rants :rage:

17

This is ongoing. It does not affect me or my music. If you visit the Kontakt forums people complain and will always complain if it doesn’t work for themselves. I use Kontakt. it works for me. The good far out weighs any simple issues. How many time do people come here and scream about Scaler being useless because this doesn’t work for them or that doesn’t work for them. And yet here we are using Scaler and making music. Unless a tool crashes on me over and over, if it sounds wonderful and lets me make the music I want to make I will use it. Do I love everything about Kontakt? No. Does it do something wonderful and make me happy 90% of the time? Yes. I can’t ask for more than that. I am a far older than you so I want to make music in the little time I have left. Kontakt is one of the main things that lets me do that.
My advise? Just have fun.

3 Likes
18

Native is the library I have used the most. I would like to buy an even bigger package in the future, but the most expensive Ultimate is still too expensive for me. Native has great piano sounds. Actually, I always open a piano first from Native and of course I open Scaler. Vintage Organs has a really good sound. I have almost all the piano libraries. For example, Noire, Piano Colors, The Maverick, etc. are my absolute favorites. Great with Sessions Horns. There would also be a Pro version of it which is even better. Session Strings 2 is the pinnacle. There would also be a Pro version of that, which I don’t own. Scarbee Mark I is one definitely popular library that I use often and many others. It would be great to own the libraries used in the film production, but maybe someday I will buy.

2 Likes
19

Jamie, you would be surprised if you knew Claudio’s age. :joy:
I think he is a bit older than I and i am almost Senior Citizen. Hehe.
So the calculation says you are close to 100. :rofl:

20

So you’re saying he is over 70?