Is there a difference in terms of CPU saving between playing an instrument via Kontakt or KKontrol?

Glowing Palace

Hello everyone! I tried to find some evidence-based info about my question on the internet, but I had no success in it. So, the question is: is there any trustworthy knowledge about the difference in CPU usage between Kontakt/Reaktor plugins and Komplete Kontrol plugin? I think, it starts to matter pretty much when it comes to live performance. I suppose that playing instruments via Komplete Kontrol is more CPU-provident, obviously because it was designed for playing and performing. However, I have no verification for that assumption. So if anyone researched this subject, please share your info :)

defyosef

Komplete Kontrol can host either Kontakt or Reaktor plugin and has to be 'on top' of other instrument, therefore by extension it will use a bit more resources. It is unlikely that KK will ever outperform their non-KK counterparts unless you compare apples to oranges.

D-One

It doesn't work like that, KK can't simply be more efficient magically.

You have to keep in mind that when you just use Kontakt you're using one thing, when using KK you're using Kontakt inside another thing, so it's two things for the CPU to think about. KK it's a wrapper, so It adds to the overall resource usage.

In a practical test at a buffer of 64 Samples, using The Giant with the same preset and MIDI playing I'll get a CPU overload warning at:

• 16 instances with Kontakt.
• 13 Instances with Komplete Kontrol.

+- 20% difference in my particular test, results may vary depending on lots of things so take it with a grain of salt but it does confirm there's an overhead associated with using KK. (or any other plugin wrapper)

defyosef

Komplete Kontrol can host either Kontakt or Reaktor plugin and has to be 'on top' of other instrument, therefore by extension it will use a bit more resources. It is unlikely that KK will ever outperform their non-KK counterparts unless you compare apples to oranges.

D-One

It doesn't work like that, KK can't simply be more efficient magically.

You have to keep in mind that when you just use Kontakt you're using one thing, when using KK you're using Kontakt inside another thing, so it's two things for the CPU to think about. KK it's a wrapper, so It adds to the overall resource usage.

In a practical test at a buffer of 64 Samples, using The Giant with the same preset and MIDI playing I'll get a CPU overload warning at:

• 16 instances with Kontakt.
• 13 Instances with Komplete Kontrol.

+- 20% difference in my particular test, results may vary depending on lots of things so take it with a grain of salt but it does confirm there's an overhead associated with using KK. (or any other plugin wrapper)

Kubrak

Oh, interesting. That is much, much more, I would have expected....

Glowing Palace

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/3494#Comment_3494

Thank you very much, that clarified it for me quite a bit!