Play series Duets: does it work with Kontakt 6?

LostInFoundation

For once, it is me who have a question 😂

The NI site states as System requirements for Duets “Free KONTAKT PLAYER or KONTAKT (version 7.1.5 or higher)”.

But I’m sure (am I?) that they can’t have cut out people with Kontakt 6

So…my question is: someone with Kontakt 6 (full) or someone from NI can confirm me that it would work with it before I use my so-kindly-gifted-from-Metapop voucher to buy it?

I know Kontakt 7 Player it’s free, but I disinstalled it cause the newer NI products seems to cause only troubles (specially having installed Kontakt 6 and Kontakt 7 player together…NI softwares get confused too often) and so I would like to use it with my tested and working full Kontakt 6.

It is also true that in less that 2 months when Summer of sound will come I will have Kontakt 7 anyway, but this question could be useful also for other users without the Komplete Ultimate bundle and the “I-own-them-all” approach

Thank you in advance, LostInFoundation

Paul B

I got Duets with the voucher. This is what Kontakt 6 says when I load the instrument: 'Your version of Kontakt is too old to load this file. Please update to the latest version'.

This is inevitable with new software. People are often building for the latest, wanting to use new features. This means it cannot be made compatible with the old version. Ableton Live even has a warning on some versions that you're saving a set made with an older version and if you do that it will no longer be compatible with that old version, because you may have used new features that don't exist there. I don't like it, but it's preferable to developers never moving forward because they are forced to be compatible with old versions.

I've not had any problems running Kontakt 6 and Kontakt Player 7 side by side. I got Kontakt Player 7 because I needed it for (the now seemingly disappeared) Hypha. I'll also be upgrading to Kontakt 7 soon enough, and at that point I plan to replace all instances of Kontakt 6 in existing sets with 7. Really hoping NI make this easy – preferably it should be automatic: if you load 7 in a track containing 6 it checks the current settings in 6, loads the same instrument and preset in 7, and applies any changes you made. It can do this in some more complex manner, or simply save a snapshot and reload it if it does that automatically, saving me the effort. But while it will probably be years still, at some point 6 will no longer work, so best to replace sooner rather than later once I own 7.

LostInFoundation

Hoping you’re right. But I’m seeing this from NI from almost 20 years.

I understand the reality of using softwares. It doesn’t mean I have to agree with it 😉

But, as I said, it is what it is. Let’s move on 👍🏼

Paul B

I got Duets with the voucher. This is what Kontakt 6 says when I load the instrument: 'Your version of Kontakt is too old to load this file. Please update to the latest version'.

This is inevitable with new software. People are often building for the latest, wanting to use new features. This means it cannot be made compatible with the old version. Ableton Live even has a warning on some versions that you're saving a set made with an older version and if you do that it will no longer be compatible with that old version, because you may have used new features that don't exist there. I don't like it, but it's preferable to developers never moving forward because they are forced to be compatible with old versions.

I've not had any problems running Kontakt 6 and Kontakt Player 7 side by side. I got Kontakt Player 7 because I needed it for (the now seemingly disappeared) Hypha. I'll also be upgrading to Kontakt 7 soon enough, and at that point I plan to replace all instances of Kontakt 6 in existing sets with 7. Really hoping NI make this easy – preferably it should be automatic: if you load 7 in a track containing 6 it checks the current settings in 6, loads the same instrument and preset in 7, and applies any changes you made. It can do this in some more complex manner, or simply save a snapshot and reload it if it does that automatically, saving me the effort. But while it will probably be years still, at some point 6 will no longer work, so best to replace sooner rather than later once I own 7.

LostInFoundation

Thank you very much for the infos.

Quite sad they are in some way already “discontinuing” Kontakt 6 with the new libraries they make. Even because Kontakt 7 doesn’t have such new features to make new instruments unplayable on previous version.

What should this “essential” new feature that would block a Play Series to work on 6 like all its brothers from the same Series be? The new browser with bigger icons???

They are just trying to force people to buy the new version…which is understandable from a profit company, but sad anyway.

And it would be more accepted if they really put some efforts and made Kontakt 7 really a newer, full of improvements product.

Anyway…it is what it is…my biggest concern is that now all the people with K7 will start to build instruments in it, and therefore probably they will not be available for people who wants to stick with the program they already have (people without the full Komplete suite, people who can’t afford to update or even only people who want to use 6 cause latest NI programs are not…let’s say built as tanks)

Thank you anyway. With your confirmation I can now take my decision 👍🏼

DunedinDragon

There's no dark corporate conspiracy here. Just an effort to move Kontakt into the current world of VST3 rather than VST2. That's like someone complaining their "new fangled" telephone won't let them send morse code like their old telegraph could.

LostInFoundation

Never said there is a conspiracy. Only that it is sad.

And if “new flanged” telephone would only do morse like before with just a new browser but block me to call new numbers, yes, I would be sad about this too 😂

LostInFoundation

And…after your edit…not even said there is a dark corporate…

“which is understandable from a profit company, but sad anyway”

Paul B

Higher resolution UI components may require Kontakt 7. There could be under the hood changes we don't know about to support upcoming features, and newer libraries are being designed to take advantage of these as soon as they arrive. There might be something unadvertised that has changed and is not backward compatible. Whether Duets could have been built without whatever it has that requires Kontakt 7, we can't know unless the developers say something.

I don't see this as an attempt to force anyone to buy anything. You're free to not buy new libraries that require Kontakt 7, just as I am free to not buy anything which requires the latest version of Ableton Live, or any other host platform.

At some point, this was always going to happen. I am sure it has happened with at least some previous versions. Kontakt 6 is the first I've owned, but I have third party libraries that have both Kontakt 5 and 6 editions, having been originally developed for 5, then updated for 6. That both exist means there's some kind of incompatibility.

I understand your position, but this is, and has long been, the reality of using software. Everything has tradeoffs. Analog synths don't get incremental upgrades, digital hardware synths in theory can but often don't after a point. I have a digital Sony Walkman that has some not so well implemented and missing features. Last updated 2019, now discontinued so never being updated again.

I'll take software getting updated and creating incompatibilities over never getting better. The old version still exists and is usable. It's unfortunate people will miss out on new instruments if they can't or don't want to (for often good reasons, in the context of their systems) but that's just the way it is.

Regarding 'just a new browser' – I see no evidence that this is all that is, or will be, different in Kontakt 7. It's under active development, and we don't know exactly what's coming, or even exactly what's already changed inside.

LostInFoundation

Hoping you’re right. But I’m seeing this from NI from almost 20 years.

I understand the reality of using softwares. It doesn’t mean I have to agree with it 😉

But, as I said, it is what it is. Let’s move on 👍🏼