Is there a quick and easy way to switch between instruments in Kontakt?

ndbroadbent

I'm relatively new to Kontakt, and I have a question about the UI. Is there a way I can switch off the "multi rack" and just have a "single rack", so that I can try out a bunch of instruments that I've just installed?

The UI seems to make this a bit more difficult than it should be. I want to be able to go into my Library of instruments and just click on a piano or a synth and then immediately start playing it with my MIDI controller or the on-screen keyboard. But I have to scroll through the Libraries list, click the little arrow to expand the instruments, then double click the .nki file to load it. Then I double click another .nki file and it loads the second instrument. I figured out that I can drag a .nki file over onto the existing instrument to replace it.

I've just found the Database view, which makes it much easier to find instruments based on types/categories. (I also can right click on the header in the results and show "Bank" so I can see where they're coming from. That should be on by default.) Then I can drag them over to the instruments section to replace instruments.

It's just a bit fiddly! I want to be able to single-click on an instrument to immediately load it and start playing. Or navigate through the search results with the up and down arrows on my keyboard so I can quickly try out some different sounds.

I found the "Quick Load" option, but that doesn't help much, it looks like you can drag a selection of instruments in there to access them quickly as a shortcut. But if you double click them they still get added as a second instrument in the rack.

Am I missing a UI option to make this easier? I imagine this is much easier using the Komplete Kontrol hardware, where you can quickly scroll through different instruments. I don't have one of those unfortunately, so I'm trying to figure something out using the VST in my DAW (REAPER.) It would also be nice if there was a way to wire up the prev/next patch buttons on my MIDI controller (Nektar Impact LX61+) to go to the next instrument. (I can do it using REAPER's own presets but it would be a ton of work to set them up for every single instrument.)

Would appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!

JesterMgee

You can use the KK software to do this via any generic MIDI controller, well you can step through presets and easily browse them using mouse. It's a bit more "streamlined" than using Kontakt itself if all you want is a single layer "rompler" styled browser.

Look into how to setup midi mapping for Komplete Kontrol for any MIDI keyboard (it's in the manual)

Jeremy_NI

Hey @ndbroadbent you could use the Komplete Kontrol plug-in, it includes access to your Kontakt libraries, you can even pre-hear samples of the libraries before loading them. You can also save favorites and user presets.

JesterMgee

You can use the KK software to do this via any generic MIDI controller, well you can step through presets and easily browse them using mouse. It's a bit more "streamlined" than using Kontakt itself if all you want is a single layer "rompler" styled browser.

Look into how to setup midi mapping for Komplete Kontrol for any MIDI keyboard (it's in the manual)

Jeremy_NI

Hey @ndbroadbent you could use the Komplete Kontrol plug-in, it includes access to your Kontakt libraries, you can even pre-hear samples of the libraries before loading them. You can also save favorites and user presets.