on three consecutive occasions, while trying to load 3 different factory patches from the Elektrik Piano 1.5 library, the latest version of Kontakt (8.13.1) crashed. the same patches open just fine in Kontakt 7.
@drexxcannon We've seen similar cases with old libraries but on Windows 11. Maybe this can help then: can you try to batch and resave this library with Kontakt 7? https://support.native-instruments.com/support/solutions/articles/69000879759-kontakt-batch-re-saving-a-library
Once the library has been re-saved, do you still get crashes in Kontakt 8?
I've resolved the two issues i was having with K8 on my MBPro M1Max…
To resolve the crashes with the latest version of K8 and legacy library EP1.5, I performed the batch re-save with K7, utilizing a dummy K2_EP.tga file. FIXED.
To resolve the known issue of digital noise that would occur with EP1.5 and other old libraries, something that is not occurring with K7, I loaded up a legacy patch, selected the wrench icon to edit the patch, in the source section deselected the DFD option and selected the Sampler option instead. This forces Kontakt to change how it handles and plays back the audio files for that instrument. FIXED.
Here's what i discovered… In K8, certain vintage and legacy libraries suffer from severe distortion, dropouts, or critical crashes (a known issue specifically affecting Elektrik Piano 1.5 patches in recent builds). It happens because the legacy scripting and older audio container structures inside those instruments conflict with the modern architecture of Kontakt 8's DFD streaming engine. Switching to Sampler mode acts as a workaround because it severs the tie to the disk streaming engine and the files no longer need to be constantly read from your drive in real time - the DFD subroutines that cause the audio engine to glitch or crash are bypassed entirely. Once the entire library is cached in RAM, K8 doesn't have to scramble to find file paths or stream data on the fly. The only downside to Sampler mode is a higher RAM footprint. However, because EP1.5 is an older library with a relatively small overall file size compared to modern multi-gigabyte libraries, my system's RAM can easily handle loading the entire sample pool.
Did not try to complete the batch resave command because the task couldnt find the K2_EP.tga file. i'm assuming based on other *.tga files that this is just a wallpaper. if you have a copy of the file that it's looking for, please send and i'll try to complete the batch save.
Did you search the full library folder for the K2_EP.tga file ? (often then what can not be found automatically can be located manually)
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yeah i performed a full internal HD search of my McBkPro for the file, including the system and shared folders. i have numerous old backup drives that date back to the late 90s. i'll check those when i get home.
i'm assuming based on other *.tga files that this is just a wallpaper.
i'll check those when i get home.
Well , in theory then one could just drop any tga file and give same name to force a substitute , real problem is that if it is something that is actually needed for the interface (or something else) of the thing to work then substituting with some 'dummy' file might not be such a good idea…
Then you might need to get in touch with support so they can look into the issue: https://support.native-instruments.com/support/home
Did you try (re)downloading the whole library from here again, so it might include the missing TGA file?
https://support.native-instruments.com/support/solutions/articles/69000879317-native-access-how-to-set-up-the-akoustik-piano-elektrik-piano-library If it is even missing in there, then contacting support probably makes sense, but you could also give it a try with ignoring missing files in batch resave (or if ignore does not work, give it a dummy tga file as suggested). Did you try the batch resave in the oldest Kontakt version that is available to you, assuming K7 or even K6? cheers
Follow up. I checked and found that I still own a license for this library. Downloaded it from the link I posted in my comment earlier. I was able to load these instruments without crashes in Kontakt 8.13.1 (used D&D from explorer, did not import these into Kontakts DB via the Overlay Browser yet though). Also found that the tga file seems only be missing and searched when I load the NKB files (instrument banks from the performance folder in the library) and if I ignore this, it would still load these banks fine and I can play them, no need or possibility to show Instrument UIs in the bank use case anyway. Can you specify which exact patches did crash for you? I am on Windows by the way. If you are on Mac, did you find any crashlogs in the console app there?
