Kontakt 7 & Ableton 12

louruiz · 2024-08-23T16:16:17+00:00

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I finally got Kontakt 7 to work with Ableton but have noticed that the sound is not as clear as when in standalone mode. There are a lot of confusing youtube videos on how to use Kontakt with Ableton but I finally got it to work using the external instrument method; even though the sound that comes out is not as crisp as when playing directly from Kontakt.

Does this have anything to do with sample settings in Ableton? I’ve tried toying with that but the sound is still bad.

Please advise, thx.
-lou

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Vocalpoint

Should be no difference whatsoever with Plugin Mode vs Standalone - as long as both Ableton and Kontakt (standalone) are both properly configured with your audio interface.

Would help if you tell us what you are using - which OS? Which version of Kontakt? Which audio interface etc.

DunedinDragon

I'm still on Ableton 11 so I don't know if there are any considerations on 12, but normally Ableton organizes the browser so that external plugins are separated from native Ableton instruments in it's own Plug-Ins category and they're typically organized by vendor with Native instruments being it's own category so I just want to make sure you Ableton is setup correctly.

Bear in mind the Native Instrument plugins all defer to the audio interface defined under preferences in Ableton and there can be some differences within the Ableton environment and standalone environment defined within Kontakt or Komplete Kontrol which defers to what your audio interface defines as available. So make sure that's the same or very close because it makes a difference. It also defers to your sample rate so if you have a sample rate in standalone of 48000 and Ableton is set at 44100 there will be an audible difference.

Getting those two things lined up will be critical in getting everything to sound the same.

Paul B

I was curious about why you would use Kontakt as an external instrument when this is not necessary. So I see people saying they do this so that they can load multiple instruments into a single instance of Kontakt and treat them as though they were individual instances of Kontakt – separate midi track controls each, and presumably you can route the audio out to different tracks.

My advice: don't do this unless you really need to. It seems unnecessarily complicated. I've read it can save some CPU, but I am skeptical how much – most CPU is surely used by the instrument, not the Kontakt host – and other claims for why it is better don't sound convincing to me.

I use Kontakt as I would any other plugin. This is as easy as can be: drop Kontakt 7 into a track. Use the library browser to load an instrument.

I don't hear any difference in quality between Live 12 and standalone. Same audio interface, same sample rate setting.

While it may not be the external instrument approach causing your sound quality problem, it's worth trying a single instrument in a normal plugin setup, no special routing or anything, and see if that is better.

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