Confused About Volume, CC#, etc in kontakt

mdiemer · 2022-05-17T03:15:01+00:00

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How can I simply control volume for my VSL Factory Library in kontakt? I want to use CC1 or CC7 for base volume, and use CC11 for on-the-fly adjustments.

I have set the volume slider on kontakt to CC1. A value of 80 gives 0db. but what does CC11 do? control expression? Modualte volume on the fly, or cause changes in timbre?

Should I use CC7 for on-the-fly adjusting?

As you can see, a bit confused here.

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Kontakt 6

Accepted answers

EvilDragon

CC1 is not assigned by default, it's just CC7 and CC11. The modulation range of CC7 is set in Instrument Options->Controllers, and is by default set to -inf...-6 dB. This is a per instrument setting which you can change if you want a wider range. You don't need to assign CC1 to instrument volume, at all. It's alredy there.

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mdiemer

Just to add: Using CC1 of 80, and CC11 for expression or on-the fly adjustments, does seem to work.

Is this OK? Is this wrong? Should I do it differently?

EvilDragon

Both CC7 and CC11 are already implemented in those factory library instruments...

mdiemer

Thanks Dragon. CC7 does work, but it sets the slider very low. CC1=80 sets it to 0db. I can of course make that less if desirable to equalize across different instruments.

Good to know that these controllers are set to work by default. To be on the safe side however, I dragged CC1 onto the slider for all inst's. A bit cumbersonme but insures the result.

EvilDragon

mdiemer

Ah, now I think I understand. So I can configure things so CC7=0 db. I knew you could change those settings but I wasn't sure if I should. I'll go back and try that.

Thanks again for the help.

mdiemer

Unfortunately, I'm still having problems. On the VSL strings, Violins patch, CC11 is not having any effect. I can set it to 10, and no change in volume. Do I need to set up CC11 somehow?

mdiemer

Never mind, I decided Garritan Strings are better anyway, and no problems with controllers.

EvilDragon

Hmmm not sure what you're doing, because CC11 works just fine in Violin Ensemble patch over here:

Above you can see MIDI events incoming, but level meters don't show up anything, because CC11 has been brought down to 0.

Or are you loading patches from the Legacy subfolder? Then yes, you would need to add CC11 modulators there.

mdiemer

Yes Dragon, I am using some Legacy patches, so that is part of the problem, I now see. But also, I was unaware of the controls you highlighted in the regular library patches. Although I've been using Kontakt for Cinematic Strings for some time, using any other Kontakt instrument is new to me. I guess I got spoiled by CS, which just worked OOTB. I never had to go that deeply into it, so I didn't.

I actually did try setting up CC11 as a modulator in the Legacy library, but to no avail. Probably did it wrong.

In any case....I suppose I will revisit this at some point, if the Garritan Strings prove insufficient. Last night I got GPO5 working (in Linux Ubuntu Studio). I had already installed GPO4 and was using that, but then I remembered that GPO5 has Garritan Orchestral Strings, in addition to the regular strings GPO4 has. This brings some different, and in some cases better, sounds to the toolbox. Let's face it, the strings in the Kontakt VSL library are not that great. Not much better than GPO, if at all.

I do use Cinematic Strings as my best ones, obviously, but like all composers I need to layer at times to get more power, or a richer tone. Even inferior libraries can do that fairly well if you are careful. Working in Linux, I had to leave behind my East West and Vienna libraries, so I am more limited in my choices. So I will no doubt need VSL strings at some point, and hopefully now I will know how to use them.

Oh, one more question: from your picture, it appears that the volume slider is geared to CC11. I thought it was geared to CC 7. Incredible how this CC stuff can hang you up years after you thought you had sorted it out.

Thanks again for your help.

EvilDragon

Instrument volume slider is still CC7. But I'm sending CC11 since that patch (and all others from Orchestral section of the factory library) has CC11 assigned to volume as well, in order to act as "expression".

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