Storage for Komplete instruments

Simon Hall

Hi, I currently use a removable SSD plugged into my M1 MacBook Air to store the many gigabytes of instrument data that Komplete uses but as this is pretty much plugged in all the time, I've rigged up a stand and zip tied the drive to it. I also use a USB hub zip tied to the stand for when I'm hooked up to a 4k monitor and USB hub to connect to hardware synths which ultimately all go into Logic. I'd like to use the laptop freely without the stand and hard drive in tow and wonder what others use to store data. The laptop memory is no way large enough, I tried hooking up my hard drive to my BT Homehub USB port but I was not able to "see" the hard drive, Native Instruments says NAS drive aren't suitable but can't help feeling I'm missing something. I've got fibre broadband and my wifi is pretty fast, so what would be a good solution here anyone??

DunedinDragon

I guess I don't see the problem of carrying a portable SSD with your laptop. It certainly shouldn't be that big and getting it to connect and stay connected shouldn't be an issue. Just because it's a laptop doesn't mean evertyhing needs to be zip tied together. If you somehow become unplugged you just plug it back in and it should reconnect. Worst case you might have to reboot but I can't imagine that would happen that much.

I personally cart around a laptop that I use on stage every performance with two active USB connections (one to a MIDI foot controller and one to an audio interface) and I seldom have any problems with it. If it does cut out I just secure the connection and it's right back up.

Simon Hall

Thanks for replying,

You’re right it’s only a small form ssd drive 4TB is plenty for my NI and Arturia instrument and plugins, but it has a short fixed cable so it flaps about if I want to move around the house and just sit in a different chair. If it comes out I get a stern warning that I disconnected the drive without unmounting the drive and warns of all things corrupt. I wondered if anyone had experience of a NAS drive or one of these ‘private cloud’ WiFi hard drives. Seems like that would be ideal as long as they are as fast as the ssd plugged in.

BIF

I'd stay away from using a NAS. There are too many added complications for running plugins off of a NAS.

Just stick with USB (preferrably USB-3 or better).

On my M1 Mac, I ordered it with an 8 GB SSD. It's worth it. But you can go with a smaller one and an external drive if the budget won't support the big one.