NKS Development Discussion

Vagus

There's certain functions that should be standard in KK and Maschine, such as preview creation and meta editing. But where life might get interesting is automatic tagging utilising machine learning (it's not really AI, despite what anyone says, and I say that from experience of my company using it).

There's lots possible, but I think it's on the lowest part of the list for NI, because power users are not 95% of their userbase. I can accept that without issue.

I also think there's a difference between an all encompassing tool, like Preset Magician which is perhaps less viable with VST3, and an app with high level editor and creator functions.

The question is, is anyone prepared to put their time or money where their mouth is.

Maybe watch this space 😉

dok.ryconn

I love the convenience of browsing instrument sounds via NKS. I have supported Freelance Soundlabs by purchasing some of their custom made libraries. I’ve learned a lot from the handful of NKS resources online but automating the process of making a custom NKS library for a collection of VST presets is not something I have accomplished. Doing it manually is tedious but rewarding and once you find a flow that works for you it isn’t too bad. I can share my advice and dive into my convoluted process that I consider organized chaos, for what it’s worth.

1. Make a focused plan of the certain presets you want to be able to browse via NKS in Maschine/KK. There is no point in biting off more than you can chew. You shouldn’t let OCD tendencies convince you that you need to make NKS presets for every single VST preset you own. It would take ages to do that and isn’t worth the effort. For example, maybe focus on a specific chunk of VST presets from your favorite preset author, or a specific instrument type, or identify a list of your absolute favorite VST presets that you would like to have NKS navigation for, etc. There is no reason to make NKS presets for sounds that you doubt you would ever want to use yourself in your projects.
2. Prepare your NKS preset creation session by taking a screenshot of your desired VST presets and give it to ChatGPT (or similar language model like Gemini etc.) and ask for the preset names to be provided as a list of text you can copy/paste into a text editor like Notepad, Sublime Text, TextEdit, etc. This will serve useful for naming the NKS files and audio clip exports (for prehear previews) that you will need to save.
3. Use a mouse with macro buttons configured for sending copy, paste, and rename keyboard shortcuts that you will need to use. This will reduce a significant amount of the effort due to the frequent and repetitive nature of this manual process.
4. Create a NKS template file for your preffered VSTs with all of your parameter knob mappings configured how you would like them. Using this will ensure that future libraries you create for each VST have similar parameter knob mappings configured to your preference.
5. Create a DAW template that works for you with everything laid out to manage the “assembly line” of actions needed to make your custom NKS libraries.

These are just some basic guidelines that I think are noteworthy for taking on the task.

Here are some essential tools I use to make the audio previews (the most tedious part which I like to do first):

Reaampler Pro (Max For Live): This device was designed for making multisample instruments by batch recording a series of notes to individual clips for a set range of notes however it also serves as a useful tool for the process of recording NKS audio previews. I just set the note range to C2→C2 so it records only one note. Then I set the Duration to 3s and the Release to 2s so it records a clip that is 5s long and will include some of the decay effect for each VST preset sound. (You will need to manually rename each clip after it is recorded, copy/pasting the preset name text generated by ChatGPT from my text editor)

Clip-Exporter (Max for Live): This device is useful for exporting an entire batch of Ableton clips you created with Resampler Pro to a specific folder with one click of the export button. It will export WAV files that will later be converted to OGG files for compatibility. This device also allows you to export each clip with a short fadeout to avoid any unwanted clicks/pops at the end of your audio previews.

I use foobar on Windows to quickly convert the WAVs to OGG for NKS preview compatibility.

I use PowerRenamer on Windows to add “.nksf” to the end of each filename for compatibility (you could alternatively have ChatGPT add this piece to the end of each preset name text line earlier in the process when telling it to convert your screenshot list to text but I prefer taking this extra step)

I know there are MacOS equivalents for foobar and PowerRenamer but I like to use both Windows and MacOS out of neuroticism :)

Now all of those audio previews can be put into a folder named “.previews” to be stored within the folder containing the .nksf files you will be creating for each preset next.

Finally, I pull up Maschine and first load my “template” .nksf file which is setup with my custom parameter knob pages for the VST I’m working with and I go through and load each desired VST preset and then click Save As… in Maschine for each one to create the corresponding .nksf file. I use the list of preset names from my text editor again as “scrap paper” to copy/paste the preset name for eash .nksf files I’m saving.

i also like to use NKS Preset Banker on MacOS to assign a specific “bank” for each batch of NKS libraries that I create. This allows me to filter by banks in the Maschine browser for better organization.

You can even use the MNotepad plugin in your DAW as your text editor if preferred which is nice thing to have available in the DAW template you create for NKS library construction.

I also like to polish it all off by setting the Character for each NKS preset in Maschine by selecting/applying Synth Lead, Bass Synth, etc. in the Edit menu within the Maschine browser.

I know it is a lot of work and there are screen recording macro tools to automate some of this, but if you’re going through all this trouble anyway, I think it is best to pay attention while doing it manually to make sure there are no hiccups in the process because if there are, you can catch them before causing any adverse downstream impact for your curated NKS library

I have it down to a science and a muscle memory to the extent where I am comfortable using VNC Viewer on my phone/tablet and remotely doing all of this repetitive stuff while relaxing in bed, on the couch, etc.

Hopefully someone can find this helpful or encouraging or perhaps I have only proven that I am a clinically insane person. Either way, have fun and don’t forget to MAKE ART!

Kymeia

‘You shouldn’t let OCD tendencies convince you that you need to make NKS presets for every single VST preset you own.’

Yes this is how I see it, my first priority is hands on control so often I just leave it at that. Having that control allows me to play the plugin as expressively as possible and for me that tends to lead me to create presets of my own, which is my next priority to save as NKS patches so I can easily access them. If I find presets I really love and want to come back to I save those as NKS too but unless a plugin just has a small number of presets but mostly high quality, I find it too tedious to save them all, particularly when I know I won’t use more than a handful.

Making a template is also one of the best ways to really get to know a plugin as you not only have to work out what everything does, but also break it down into logical units