Problem with Host Automation in Ableton Live 12

John Lundrigan · 2025-03-12T14:33:29+00:00

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I know this isn't probably the best forum for the problem I amm having, but I've tried the Ableton forum with no success.

I am experiencing some real confusion with setting up host automation within Live 12 from Kontakt 7.

When I use my original Kontakt Factory Library I see a fairly straightforward way to automate.
I switch on the Automation button in Live 12 and look to see which of my Kontakt 7 library parameters are available to select for automation. There are none available from the drop-down list. This is odd because when I open Host Automation in the in the String Ensemble I am confronted with a whole list of pre-assigned parameters. However, when I enable the ‘Configure’ control on my Live control I am able to click directly on the knobs that I wish to control and, voila, they appear on my drop-down list and are also added to the list of assigned host parameters in Kontakt (duplicating some that were already there) and it appears on the ‘Configure’ list. All a bit strange, but workable.

OK, now over to some more up-to-date library items. If I drop the String Essentials Library onto the track now. I again enable 'Configure' in the Kontakt control. I try the trick of clicking on the Dynamics control, but nothing, nada, zilch. So, over to the drop-down for automated parameters for the track and, again nothing. When I open Host Automation in Kontakt I see a whole list of pre-assigned parameters, I find an empty slot and drag it to the Dynamics control. This time the parameter gets assigned and is also listed on the drop-down, but not in the ‘Configure’ panel.

Can anybody please explain a consistent way to work with Host Automation in Kontakt with Ableton 12. Why there are carefully populated Host Assignments in Kontakt that are not being picked up in Ableton (other DAWs pick these up, I've tested this with Sonar).

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Comments

DunedinDragon

It's not really clear what you're trying to do exactly because you don't mention what kind of MIDI controller you're using. Most basic MIDI keyboards have mappings for both automating Ableton (Record, Stop, Rewind, etc) as well as automating the plugins on a given track. In my case I use a Native Instruments S88MK3 keyboard which has all the appropriate mappings for Ableton as well as the general mappings for the Kontakt instrument in the selected track, but that can also be accomplished on most other MIDI keyboards for the most part.

stephen24

I know nothing about your DAW but I wonder if you are clear about the difference between Host and MIDI automation.

MIDI automation is part of a system which uses the MIDI protocol to control multiple features (notes, controllers etc) in multiple instruments. It's the principal way of communicating with Kontakt.

Host automation has nothing to do with MIDI, but gives you 512 "wires" through each of which your host programme (DAW) can send a single value to the plugin. You can assign each of these "wires" in the Kontakt Host Automation tab. How the value is sent by your particular DAW I have no idea.

John Lundrigan

That's because I'm not using a midi controller. I am quite happy with how the midi controller can connect with the midi numbers in Kontakt.

First all, thank you very much for responding to this post.

What I'm trying to do here is to use my automation lanes in Ableton to automate some of the parameters in a Kontakt instrument. To do this successfully in Ableton I load up Kontakt with its instrument onto a midi track. If I want to control a parameter I have to:

Click on 'Configure' in the Ableton control for Kontakt
Click on the knob of the instrument I want to automate
The parameter will now appear in the list of Kontakt parameters available for automation.

This works just fine, but here is the thing, when I look at the Host Automation tab in Kontakt, I find that all controllable parameters are already pre-assigned, there should not have been any need for me to go through the above procedure, the parameter should have been listed on the dropdown when selecting automation. By default the only parameter that shows initially is 'Device On'
If I use the same process in either Reaper or Sonar, I don't need to do anything, the pre-assigned parameters are already listed and ready to select.

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