Previous versions of recently updated Kontakt libraries / compatibility with K6 older libraries

Tyler h

I tried to download couple of these and when I try to open the installer it says can't be opened because apple cannot check it for malicious software. is there a way around this? I too cannot use most of my instruments now being I'm on Mac OS Catalina

MrFresh

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/117280#Comment_117280

Go to your security Privacy and Security Settings and check the radio button for App Store and identified developers, then try again.

gainstructure

I hope people at NI understand one fundamental thing here, it seems that for most of us, it's not that we're unwilling to upgrade to V7. With a new Mac OS arriving every year and Windows every few years, updates are inevitably going to be needed. The host for the instruments will also need to be updated every few years. We get that.

Time is the enemy here. I think I can say that professionals are always short on it and anything that goes wrong technically, especially with a computer, grinds sessions to a halt and it usually destroys all creative flow unless the solution is predictable and easy. Sometimes, a simple restart of the computer provides a nice, short break we didn't know we needed.

In this case, if we can't open a V6 version of an instrument, then we feel we are being forced to upgrade and again, that happens from time to time with most software. I get it. It seems our collective opinion is that we shouldn't have to close the session and go on journey that could include a boot off of a drive that has both the instruments and a previous version of Kontakt on it, save the preset(s) in that session and then reboot from the actual system drive again. We need a fast way to solve the problem in the moment, not one that completely take us out of the moment.

That above idea is the only solution I can think of right now and what a drag it would be.

You are forcing us to make tough decisions here that effect our day to day lives and for some, our livelihoods. I'm not being overly dramatic here. The people I work for and with need me to move fast and deliver both a great result, but they also want a good experience. Having to sit there and wait for us to go on that little adventure I described above doesn't help. It only hurts. I simply can't imagine opening a cue with a director on a audio movers call and having to say, "I didn't know we were going to open that particular session today, so I'm going to end the Zoom call so I handle a tech problem and I'll restart the meeting in about 10 mins or so". There's zero chance I would ever want do that to them. It makes me look like an amateur who doesn't know how to use his computer.

So in that moment, I'm the one who's trust is being tested, not NI's. The director couldn't care less what software I'm using to create and why it's a problem. They only care that there's another call coming up and their composer seems lost. Not a good look.

So that all said, NI, you need to find a way to make this move easier. I need to be able to open V6 and V7 on the same computer without issues. I can think of at least two different ways to address this, but the goal is to have the ability to work in an unencumbered way. Most of us simply don't have time to solve what would be constant problems if we upgrade to V7. I would even keep two versions of libraries if I can open V6 and V7. Keep the instruments I own now in a "V6 Instruments" drive and install latest versions and any new instruments in a separate folder for V7 - whatever it takes to not lose time and to not look like a fool.

I'm not saying that you're doing this intensionally or not. All I'm saying is that this can't continue. You need to give us some way of making this happen fairly easily. Incentivize us to buy V7 because it has new features, maybe it loads faster or it works with the latest OS and hardware. Don't put "losing time" and "maintaining bootable drives or old computers" part of the plan. That just doesn't work for us. Again, time is the killer.

Look, trust is being lost with your long time customers and that can be extremely difficult to overcome. You really need to do something about it and soon.

MrFresh

I think I’m missing something regarding your comment. If you have v6 loaded, why can’t you open a K6 library? The only issue I have run into with this scenario is if you download that instrument and it now requires K7 but your don’t have it installed. Secondly, why do you need to run both K6 and K7 on the same computer? Is it to be able to use libraries only developed for K7/or to use original K6 libraries now updated with for K7 only? I have K6 Full and have if I’ve purchased any updated K6 libraries that ONLY work in K7, I’ve been able to use the K6 versions that NI had been providing in the list on page 1 of this thread. Other than that, I read the release notes of every update NI pushes to Native Access and of its for K7 only, I don’t install it. Just curious, are you receiving K7 libraries from collaborators or similar that you have to use on your job as a composer?

gainstructure

First of all, thank you for asking the right questions. You're helping me sort this out and it's much appreciated.

Yes, the issue is being able to run V6 and V7 and the caveat you've described sounds right to me - I can keep the old libraries and follow the requirements, but as new instruments arrive that require V7, I wouldn't update those.

So just to be clear, if I buy V7 full, that does not replace V6? I swear it vanished when I installed the V7 player. I could be mistaken, but I do remember panicking a bit when I couldn't find V6 and it wasn't the name - it was gone from my shortcut menu and everywhere else in PT and I think I reinstalled it.

The scenario you've presented sounds like it will work, but this complicates things and that's new for Kontakt. I opened a session yesterday that had V5 instantiated on an instrument track and it worked fine for the instrument that was loaded. This however was a 3rd party instrument from a company that's not utilizing everything you guys offer developers, but it does require the full version of Kontakt. I do occasionally find V5's with Output and other instruments loaded and those play without any issue. I can load all of those in V6 too. I just wish this part wouldn't change so I don't have to think about it so much. Is what it is I guess.

In the end, I can now see what you're saying and will carefully proceed.

And no, I don't share libraries. I wouldn't know how that would even work. Is that possible? Legal? In PT, commit, import/export session data/tracks/AAF's is easy enough and works fine for what I do.

Thank you for your help. Please reply back with anything else that comes to mind.

MrFresh

1. "if I buy V7 full, that does not replace V6? " It should not. I am currently running K6 Full (and have purchased K7 Full at my discounted price of $49.50 USD but haven't installed it). Once both are installed, you should be able to run both. K6 libraries should be able to run in K7, so I don't know why you feel the need to run both.
2. ". I opened a session yesterday that had V5 instantiated on an instrument track and it worked fine for the instrument that was loaded. This however was a 3rd party instrument from a company that's not utilizing everything you guys offer developers, but it does require the full version of Kontakt." Again, as long as the K5 library requires a full version of Kontakt, it should be able to run in Kontakt 7 Full, as far as I know.
3. "And no, I don't share libraries." No, I'm not referring to you sharing libraries, my question is, could there be a possibility that you are collaborating with someone who sends you a project that requires use of a Kontakt 7 Full library? If so, you would need Kontakt 7 full to open that library once the collaboator sends you the project, follow?

gainstructure

Point 1: I'll see what happens next time, but thank you.

Point 3: That hasn't happened yet. I hadn't considered that. I don't expect it to, but it's of course possible.

This brings me to a follow up question...

If I were to keep my V6 libraries in a separate folder and if I ran into an issue where I opened a V6 version of say, "Noire" in an older session, but I haven't saved the preset, couldn't I close the current PT session, launch the standalone version of K7, point to the V6 directory of instruments, reopen the PT session, save the preset in V6 and then reverse all of that, etc?

It's a long way around, but it would be better than having to restart the computer 2x, PT, etc.

Thanks again for your help.

MrFresh

Follow up - I don’t use PT, but I don’t see why not.

jw1

This whole situation is ridiculous. I feel that all versions of Kontakt 7 should work with the OS it was installed on. Release Kontakt 8 if you're going to suddenly drop support for older OS's mid life-cycle. As it is right now my OS can only use K7.4 and a lot of new instruments now require 7.6. It's crazy.

MarkinLA

This is pathetic hack of a solution. The download files do NOT allow installations to any location other than the main system drive, which is most certainly not a requirement of Native access.

Native Instruments' rollout of this new product line has been abysmal. The notion that they would recklessly break existing installations in an effort to try and get people to pay for an upgrade they may gain no benefit from OTHER than to fix NI's brutal installation paradigm is something that is arguably class action worthy.

They have a responsibility to issue upgrades in a responsible manner and have shown zero willingness to do so. NI are fully aware of what products are licensed by any given user, as well as what version of Kontakt is available.

Enough with these ridiculous one-off installers that can't install anywhere but the system drive. Allow us to downgrade WITHIN Native Access or give us free Kontakt 7 upgrades so we can stop wasting precious hours resolving your own bullheaded greed and arrogance.

Feedback is getting worse and worse in the user community. TAKE NOTE.

MrFresh

“The notion that they would recklessly break existing installations in an effort to try and get people to pay for an upgrade they may gain no benefit from OTHER than to fix NI's brutal installation paradigm is something that is arguably class action worthy.”

I dunno, I still don’t understand all this “breaking existing” installations mess. I use Kontakt 6 along with Kontakt 6 compatible libraries. NI pushes all its libraries as K7.x.x only. When these upgrades appear in NA, I simply read the release notes and if it doesn’t work with K6, I don’t install them - simple. Help me see what I’m missing here , bc I can’t see it.

Jeremy_NI

@MarkinLA I've already answered your other post. Once you have installed the libraries and activated the libraries you can move those as follows: How to Move a Kontakt Library

Jeremy_NI

Hey all, we hear you, we know this is not the best solution. It is a very complex issue and several teams are brainstorming on solutions to improve the situation. There will be more communication soon about it.

You can now check the release notes in Native Access before installing them.

If you wish to move the libraries after installation, once they are activated in Native Access, you can move the libraries to your external hard drive, where your other libraries are installed here: How to Move a Kontakt Library

MrFresh

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/118974#Comment_118974

Checking release notes is what I've been doing for months - I think that is one definite way to forgo issues with stuff "breaking". Just know what version of Kontakt the update is for before installing it!

Reste

Hey folks,

I’ve found myself in the same troubles as everyone else here is, learned from the postings above and just thought it might me useful to share my experience and how I got everything back running. I only run windows, so I cannot provide any info about Mac.

I can confirm that the workarounds described here are indeed working, and I also want to underline, that it might be my fault not checking on the release notes of my Kontakt instruments. On the other side, I would like to entrust NI to check the compatibility of my instruments with the underlying technology which is necessary to use my products bought withing NI Access Client upfront to an installation or upgrade. At least – this would be my Christmas wish for myself and everyone involved here. 😊

What I did:

1. First - do not uninstall any library nor delete any folders within your NI library main folder.
2. Download the files of the listing from the first post of this thread. Only download those, you are licensed for.
3. Notice after downloading, that you will end up with zip and iso files.
4. Within the zip and iso files are installers. Main difference between is - iso files can be installed without having the library itself installed in the first place. Installers within the zip files need to have the library - even in the wrong version - installed first, to be backported to a working version for Kontakt 6. Meaning – if you already have uninstalled libraries for which only zip-files are provided to backport, you will need to reinstall the library first with you NI Access client.
5. Installing a library with an iso file will in any way allow you, to define your libraries target directory.

That’s all from my side. Hope that helps someone. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

All the best,

Stefan