Kontakt 8 Player: Opening the GUI once nearly doubles the Logic project size

patbe60

Hello,

I have found a reproducible behaviour in Kontakt 8 Player that I would like to understand. I do not know whether this is expected behaviour or a bug.

Steps to reproduce

• Create a new empty project
• Select Software Instrument – Kontakt 8 Multi timbral 5 Parts
• Load my previously saved Channel Strip Setting containing five Andy Narell Steelpans (one instrument on each MIDI channel).
• Save the project without ever opening the Kontakt GUI. Close the project and check its size in Finder.

At this point the Logic project is approximately 19.5 MB.

1. Reopen the project.
2. Open the Kontakt GUI.
3. Do not change any parameter, preset, snapshot or control.
4. Simply close the Kontakt window.
5. Save the project again.

The Logic project is now approximately 38.5 MB, although absolutely nothing was changed except opening and closing the Kontakt GUI.

Additional observations

• The increase occurs only once. Subsequent saves do not increase the project size any further.
• The same behaviour can be reproduced with older Channel Strip Settings created with previous Kontakt Player versions.
• Loading an old Channel Strip Setting results in a small Logic project, but opening the Kontakt GUI once immediately causes the project size to almost double after saving.
• During my investigation I found that the increase is almost entirely caused by the ProjectData file inside the Logic project package, which nearly doubles in size after the Kontakt GUI has been opened once.
• This behaviour did not occur with older Kontakt Player versions. Older Logic projects and Channel Strip Settings remained approximately half the size they become after opening the Kontakt GUI with the current Kontakt 8 Player. Unfortunately, I cannot determine in which Kontakt Player version this behaviour changed.

Independent reproduction

ILIO Support was able to reproduce the same behaviour independently on a different computer (2018 Intel MacBook Pro) and suggested that I contact Native Instruments directly, as the issue appears to be related to Kontakt rather than Logic Pro.

My question

Is this expected behaviour?

Does Kontakt 8 Player rewrite or migrate its serialized plug-in state when the GUI is opened for the first time? If so, could you explain what additional information is stored and why it causes the Logic project size to nearly double?

Thank you very much for any information.

Matthew_NI

Using any plug-in would expectedly increase the size of a saved Logic project.

Kontakt is no different in that sense; I can replicate the exact behavior above with many plug-ins.

It is likely one or both of two things:

• You didn't notice this until now

• You're comparing against a version sufficiently older that it had less of a footprint (e.g. fewer features, older user interface frameworks, etc).