No direct access to older version of Kontakt

Prokat99

You may have seen my comments on other posts but I'm livid that I opened up Native Access and let NI update my Kontakt to 7.8.1

At the time, I figured "oh, a new update, maybe it will help with some of the strange random things that happen with my brand new SL MK3" but instead I have a completely dead version of Kontakt.

What's more? No option to downgrade. I submitted a ticket immediately on Saturday in hopes that I would get access to 7.8.0 installer by Monday. Well it's Tuesday and total silence from NI.

@Matthew_NI please explain to me how a "professional" suite of tools (like y'all claim) prevents users from downgrading to a working version by gate checking all of the previous version installers? The "reach out to support" advise I get is useless apparently as I have yet to hear from anyone since I put the ticket in on Saturday.

I'll never trust an update from NI again going forward and will timemachine my system before I do any updates again but the fact that you don't allow users to downgrade without reaching out to support first is unbelievable and infuriating!

Matthew_NI

Let's take it down a notch.

I recognize you're frustrated, and I apologize for whatever experience you're trying to outline, but please understand I have no idea yet what you're referring to, and must first ask questions in order to help, if help is indeed what you seek. I also recognize it's frustrating to have to wait for support - note that our response times are typically a week or so, and the team does the best that they can with the time that they have.

• Do you have a ticket number?
• What do you mean when you say "completely dead version"? Please describe.
• What OS are you on?
• What computer are you on?
• Are you using a Novation SL MK3 or a Kontrol S MK3?
• What "strange random things" were you seeing?
• Have you posted anything in the Native Access or Kontakt forums? If so, can you link the posts? I should like to keep things clean within a single post, rather than many posts.

There will be follow up questions - but let me know. Thanks!

Jeremy_NI

@Prokat99 My colleague got back to you this morning. Please keep in mind that our offices are closed on the weekends.

Regarding the crashes with Kontakt, do they happen with the keyboard connected? Disconnected as well?

There's a known issue but since you're on Ventura there's a workaround: https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/26460/logic-10-8-crashes-when-using-kontakt-7-and-a-kontrol-mk3-keyboard

Prokat99

@Matthew_NI

All you guys had to do was make the previous version available in case stuff like this happens instead of keeping locked behind support. The frustration stems from a tremendous amount of stress and lost time due to this. I just recently bought Ultimate 14 and NI S61 MK3 (my mistake adding the "L" earlier) to help me transition into making music for hire and on my 2nd paid gig I had to spend the weekend cleaning my system to be able to get Logic to properly open the project and replace the strings with Logic stock sounds and all together remove the imo very nice Vocal Color sounds I spent a lot of time making.

Again, all that I needed was the ability to quickly downgrade.

I don't generally upgrade in the middle of a project but I've been having occasional hiccups with my S MK3 and had hoped it would help (sometimes it won't switch back from DAW to Plugin, it acts like the plugin isn't there. Doesn't happen often but from time to time)

Dumb choice on my part but I figured if there was a problem, I would just grab the previous version to downgrade... Now I know that isn't an option.

@Jeremy_NI Yes, they did. I'm not necessarily angry about the delay but rather the fact that I had to engage support to get a downgrade. It should be available for users in case something like this happens.

Issue was happening with or without s63 mk3 attached. I did not see that workaround prior. Wish I had though. Might've saved me hours.

I really really like the capabilities of this setup but I'm hesitant to trust it now. Not a good intro to this ecosystem.

You should really make it easier to downgrade

Matthew_NI

Not having visibility into the ticket or conversation: I would still ask what you meant by dead, and what OS and computer you're on?

Prokat99

• Do you have a ticket number? 4241161
• What do you mean when you say "completely dead version"? Please describe. Standalone crashes within 1-2 seconds, no UI shows up. I don't have a screenshot now but I may have sent one in with the ticket. It says something about "unexpected..." The plugin in Logic simply won't open and prompts me to "recover" or "close". "recover" worked the first time after I deleted the prefs and plists as directed in one of your support docs. It never worked again (even after re-deleting files). Strangely enough, Vocal Colors still worked and I could edit (partially, as not all parameters are available) from the S MK3. I worked for a bit, saved, shutdown. Came back later and the project wouldn't open at all. I don't recall the error message. After deleting the Standalone, AU, VST (I don't install AAX) and then the Application Support/Preferences/Plists, I got it to open again.
• What OS are you on? macOS 13.6.5
• What computer are you on? M2 Macbook Pro
• Are you using a Novation SL MK3 or a Kontrol S MK3? Kontrol S MK3
• What "strange random things" were you seeing? It's fairly rare but occasionally it's the issue where the S MK3 will stop letting me switch which "view" it's in. I will switch to "DAW" and then try to go back to "plugin" but it won't switch and the backlight to "plugin" is off. Sometimes a simple reboot of the keyboard fixes it. Occasionally I've had to reboot Logic.

Jeremy_NI

@Prokat99 Have you checked this bug I've mentioned several times. Have you tried to delete the CS file as mentioned? Downgrading in this case will not make things better. We are waiting for Apple for a fix on this one.

Deleting the cs file should do the trick, if not, we would recommend to use the Komplete Kontrol plug-in instead of the Kontakt plug-in.

Prokat99

I've already downgraded to 7.8.0. as of yesterday all of the issues seem to be resolved. I did not see your mention of the bug prior to that.

I don't recall what version I had prior to the update but as of yet, the issue with the S MK3 not letting me switch between "views" (i.e. DAW, Plugin, Browser) hasn't showed up...yet. It happens rarely so not sure if it's fixed or if it's going to happen later