Windows standalone installation: no sound, errors. Runs fine inside the DAW

alan9990 · 2024-09-22T12:19:17+00:00

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title says it all really. Just upgraded to Windows 11 so went about reinstalling my plugins etc. Had a few odd issues (with Windows) so was proceeding carefully. As such I went through a very thorough fresh install of Native Access 2 and Kontakt.

First thing to note is that Kontakt and the instrument libraries run as expected when hosted inside my DAW. Everything works as before. However, since I did install standalone version also, I note that it doesn't actually work as as standalone VST in Windows 11.

What I have done: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!! I uninstalled and reinstalled a couple of times, taking care to remove the .json file also, as explained.

All of the instrument libraries show as correctly installed in Native Access. I ran "repair" on Kontakt but it reported no issues.

The only thing I have changed was the install path of the VST3. I updated the path settings in Native Access. The .vst3 was installed to my chosen location.

I do note however, that Native Access likes to keep recreating its "default" directories at

C:/Program Files/Native Instruments/VSTPlugins 32bit

C:/Program Files/Native Instruments/VSTPlugins 64bit

even though both of these folders are empty, and the .vst3 file is installed at the path set in Native Access.

This isn't therefore a "huge" issue insofar as I don't tend to run it as standalone, but I don't like the fact that it doesn't work. And by "not work" I mean e.g. to load up something like 'Ethereal Earth' says "AUDIO DRIVER NOT CONNECTED" - bearing in mind it is, and must be since none of this occurs if I use Kontakt inside my DAW. As a standalone it doesn't respond to my midi keyboard, and no sound is emitted even when using the GUI virtual keyboard.

Anyone else had this issue or know anything about it?

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Kontakt 7

Accepted answers

stephen24

Completely different setup. In a DAW, audio output goes to the host programme - there can be a large number of audio output channels which can be distributed within the DAW to other plugins if necessary - which then sorts it out and sends it to Windows. In exe version audio output (channels limited by your sound card) must go direct to Windows. It looks as though that's where your problem lies. ?Not connected up properly ?Fault in Kontakt.exe audio output.

alan9990

well… (drum roll)…

It works! Finally. Jeez.

Thanks so much for all the helpful pointers. Two things I did (obviously cannot therefore precisely determine the fix):

Uninstall everything NI related, and then do a thorough registry scan to remove all traces (where appropriate)
Use my DAW software installer in "repair" mode, which I did. It found something to repair without directly specifying what

So… after several days and a bit of swearing, I'm FINALLY back to where I was before I upgraded my OS 😏

Just remind me - do I edit the post title to mark as solved?

All comments

alan9990

well, true but then why is there sound coming out of the channel if I insert the vst3 instrument? There seem to be separate but related issues no? That it works in some circumstances but not others, yet it responds differently depending on whether it's the hosted vst, or the standalone app? As above, am going to do a more thorough "clean" once uninstalled, and see what happens

stephen24

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/179556#Comment_179556

First is that this Windows 11 was an "upgrade" provided by Microsoft. I do not have a complete system image to install.

If you have full drive image based drive backup of system drive then if done correctly you ought to be able to get installation working again if loading from backup provided that you backed up whole disk using reliable software. Be sure to have made a Backup software Recovery media and that it has been tested including being able to find 'Backup from/on source disk. Then in Windows 11 then if you log.in to Windows 11 using your Microsoft account and double check and makes sure that the PC is tied in with account then you might be able to re-install Windows from scratch and get it activated by using Microsoft account log-in. If it doesn't work then you ought to be able to recover from situation by loading the backup. Windows install files can be downloaded from Microsoft from the computer that you want to re-install.

It would be/is a massive pain to think about a complete reinstall

You are absolutely right , I think so too , so much more reason to always take backup of any working installation when it is working, and do it every time that you have altered so much that you don't want to have to do it all all over again. That includes prior to upgrading OS and other situations.

But, what I think I'm going to do first is a complete uninstall of everything NI and then start again.

Great idea. I am not sure how well Revo Pro works in this particular situation but you could try the Forced Uninstall function of the Revo Uninstaller Pro TRIAL. I think that the forced uninstall function usually also attempts to delete disk files though I don't know how well it will do here. Please notice though that you should make Windows Restore points manually , Revo Pro requests Windows to do so but does not check that it has been done.

alan9990

well… (drum roll)…

It works! Finally. Jeez.

Thanks so much for all the helpful pointers. Two things I did (obviously cannot therefore precisely determine the fix):

Uninstall everything NI related, and then do a thorough registry scan to remove all traces (where appropriate)
Use my DAW software installer in "repair" mode, which I did. It found something to repair without directly specifying what

So… after several days and a bit of swearing, I'm FINALLY back to where I was before I upgraded my OS 😏

Just remind me - do I edit the post title to mark as solved?

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/179635#Comment_179635

well… (drum roll)… It works! Finally. Jeez.

That's really great congratulations , great that it works ! And thank you for reporting back and sharing what helped fix the problem.

Just remind me - do I edit the post title to mark as solved?

The way you do that is that you select the Yes, if applicable below a post that you think were the post that gave the answer . (it says : Did this answer the question? Yes No)(only available if you posed as a question rather than a discussion or if a Moderator turns it into a question). I selected your own latest post as the answer but feel free to add any post you think gave the answer or were very helpful to get there.

forsure

i went through the same exact problem. spent (to not say wasted) my time reading those posts.

solution is indeed simple but easy to miss, especially for people who have not encountered the issue and who are more focused on correcting poster's words than on helping.

SOLUTION:

go to the audio/midi options, click on the routing tab, and change

headphone L to Speaker L

and

headphone R to Speaker R

Click OK and you got sound. Enjoy!

Surely there will be trolls interested in responding negatively to my solution to show their so called "intelligence" or "superiority", however I won't be back to read any of their pointless posts.

Remember one thing: when you can't help, don't write. It's best to keep it to yourself, so you don't overcrowd the posts with your hate.

JeffK

I had the same problem where Kontakt Player 8 worked fine within my DAW (Mixcraft 10), but would not produce any sound when used as a standalone player. In the standalone I could see the graphical keyboard reacting to my MIDI Controller (Arturia Keylab Essential MK3) but no sound was produced. On the Options >Audio>Output Device, there were two options: Realtek ( R ) Audio and HD Audio Driver for Display (my monitor's speakers). I selected the Realtek option because my PC is hooked up to some nice speakers. The thing is, Realtek Audio provides two types of audio output, one for speakers and one for digital output, but Kontakt player doesn't let you choose between these two. I figured Kontakt must be sending its output to the digital output since I wasn't hearing anything from the speakers, but I could see the volume meters in Kontakt reacting to the key presses on my MIDI controller. So I opened up Audacity and set the output device to Realtek Audio Speakers, the input device to Realtek Digital Audio, and the Transport option to Software Playthrough. I also set the Record Meter to 'Start Monitoring". Lo and behold, when I pressed a key in Kontakt player, I could now hear the actual preset sound. I imagine most people are not using the default Realtek Audio driver that comes with most Windows motherboards so they're not having this problem. Anyways, this is a workaround that I found and though it involves using another program (Audacity), the program is free. Hope this helps other users with Realtek Audio devices.

JeffK

Re: my previous post on January 19: I just updated my Audacity to the latest version 3.7.1 and they've made a few changes in terminology. The Transport option that was previously "Software Playthrough" is now "Enable Audible Input Monitoring". The Record meter option is now "Enable Silent Monitoring", not "Start Monitoring".

I also should have mentioned that my motherboard is an MSI B660M Mortar which has an SPDIF (optical) output. That's why I have the digital output option for my Realtek Audio driver.

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