PT/Kontakt/Session Guitarist (Strummed Acoustic 2) sound woes

ANDIELSA

Greetings!

I've been struggling with this for a few days but haven 't been able to find any answers to this particular question/issue. Forgive me if this topic has been covered and I've missed it!

I'm trying to use Strummed Acoustic 2 to record a 6/8 pattern. I am able to add Kontakt insert and load the library and pattern. When I test the pattern (play chords with my MIDI keyboard) , it renders properly. However, when I initiate recording in Pro Tools, the pattern doesn't render correctly. The pattern is "hiccupy" and just "off" sounding (phased??). Also, during playback I get the error message "Pro Tools Audio Processing Deadline was not met", and it cites Kontakt 6 as the insert that is causing the error.

I do store my sounds on an external drive (G-mobile -- Mac OS Extended (journaled)) and I thought this might be the problem, since NI recommends that an external drive be formatted that same as the drive upon which Kontakt runs (and THAT drive is . But when testing with the library in the "shared" resource recommended by NI, I am still encountering the same problem.

Here are the things I've tried:

• checked for updates (all software is up to date)

• reinstalled Kontakt and Library (Session Guitarist Strummed Acoustic 2) using Native Access

• trashed my audio preferences and restarted

• trashed my PT preferences and restarted

• increasing buffer size and unchecking the "optimize performance at low buffer sizes" option

(there may be more things I've tried but those are what come to mind...)

My environment is:

Pro Tools 2021.12.0

MacBook Pro running MacOS Big Sur 11.6.3

Dual-Core Intel Core i7

3.5 GHz

16GB RAM

Kontakt 6.6.1

It's quite possible this is user error (misconfiguration) as I'm new to Strummed Acoustic 2 (I've been successful with the original). I would appreciate any insight!

Thanks in advance!

Andrea

alex987654

I had similar issues today and found this thread. Fixed it by changing from 6/8 to 3/4

Blindeddie

Have you tried using a different time signature (4/4 for example) to see if that the 6/8 might be causing an issue. I remember someone reporting problems with another DAW (the name escapes me at the moment) and odd time signatures using the VST3 version of Kontakt. So, this might be a bug if this is reproduceable on different DAWS. I will see if I can dig up the posts of the old forum and post it here...

Jeremy_NI

Also what tempo is the project ? What sample frequency have you chosen in Pro Tools for this project ? If I remember correctly some of these libraries have issues when the project is at more than 88.2 KHz

ANDIELSA

Thank you Blindeddie and Jeremy_NI for responding to my quandary!

Blindeddie, it's very strange. I have used the 4/4 patterns before and they have worked fine. However, today they are NOT working fine.

I am wondering if there is an error in my configuration...

I am attaching screenshots of my session setup, playback engine, NI strummed acoustic version, and NI Kontakt version.

Here is a link to a voice memo of what the pattern sample sounds like when I simply trigger it (NOT recording): https://soundcloud.com/andrea-brodeur/pattern-sample-in-kontakt/s-a8Dj8m8mT81?si=c96ba2c713664d319f005297e0fe4dea&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

And here is a link to a voice memo of what the patterns sounds like during playback after recording (and it sounds this way WHILE recording, as well):

https://soundcloud.com/andrea-brodeur/what-playback-sounds-like/s-8gtTa4PJ61N?si=b4e9bd54071e4429a61fea51d38a4e41&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Thank you BOTH, again, for taking the time to respond! I only have a few hairs left and it's because there's someone out there! :-)

Blindeddie

Well that definitely does not sound good 🤔. Are you using an external Audio Interface or Built-in? (I assume built in from screenshot above.) On that Playback Settings Page, Try Increasing the Hardware Buffer size to see if that corrects the issue, and also, play with the Optimizations (except for the "ignore errors" one as you want to see if you get any errors.) Try one at a time and then combinations...unfortunately its going to take some "Sleuthing" to get to the bottom of it... Oh the joys of technology!! Also, here is a link to an article that talks about the error you are getting... look for the section on AAE-6101 (obviously)

Pro Tools Error Codes - What They Mean And How To Fix Them | Pro Tools - The leading website for Pro Tools users (pro-tools-expert.com)

let us know how it goes!!

Disclaimer: I am Not a MAC or Pro tools user just offering some friendly advice..cause that's how I roll!

Jeremy_NI

Hey @ANDIELSA That's strange, I know this sound and this is exactly how it sounds when the audio is set to higher sample frequencies. I see the project is set to 48 Khz, then it should be fine. Can you check the sample frequency chosen for your Mac's system output ? You can check that with the Audio Midi setup found in your applications utilities. Make sure it is also set at 48 KHz. Was that the issue ?

If not, do you have another soundcard to try or you only have the built in from your Macbook pro ?

ANDIELSA

Hello again @Blindeddie and @Jeremy_NI and thank you for staying with me up through this point. And thank you for that article, @Blindeddie. I did read that but I may have missed something so I will re-read just in case! And @Jeremy_NI , I'm attaching a screenshot of my AUDIO MIDI set-up. @Blindeddie, I am experiencing this issue both via my Scarlet Focusrite as well as when I use built-in output.

I'm not sure if this is related, but a few weeks back (when I was able to record patterns that were NOT 6/8 and have them sound ok), I realized I had purchased NI products under two different email address. Native Access merged those accounts, but as a result I had to do some reinstalling. Since then, I am not seeing ALL of my library choices showing up in Kontakt. I need to add them each time, and something about it just seems "off". So I still wonder if I have something set up incorrectly, and I welcome all suggestions/checks on configuration. Note that I did read something that external disks (for sound libraries) should be formatted identically to the drive upon which Kontakt resides; That is not the case for me, HOWEVER, I still encounter the issue when I move the sound library (just one) locally -- for the purposes of testing. Still, I point it out in case this intel gives either of you an "aha!" moment. Hey, a girl can dream. ;-) THANK YOU AGAIN!

Jeremy_NI

@ANDIELSA We need more information on your system, I contacted you by email.

EvilDragon

Your Mac's audio output is set to 44.1k and your PT project is set to 48k. So either start the project at 44.1k or set your Mac audio output to 48k, hope that helps.

EDIT: Actually you're showing us your microphone input tab there, but what is the audio output set to?

ANDIELSA

Thank you @EvilDragon for your reply and apologies for not posting the right screenshot! Here are two more -- showing output for both built in (MacOS) and Scarlett212. I changed the settings to match (see attached screenshots) but am still experiencing identical sound result.

I had a thought: One of the things N.I recommends is disabling anti-virus software. Two questions on that:

1) Would native MacOS security fall into that category (of anti-virus software)?

2) Would PACE or iLok appliances interfere in anyway? I am using an iLok so I figured I'll eliminate that as a cause if possible!

Thank you again for you reply! I appreciate your taking the time away from your own projects to do so!!

EvilDragon

iLok definitely has nothing to do with audio output. Anti-virus recommendation doesn't apply to Mac.

alex987654

I had similar issues today and found this thread. Fixed it by changing from 6/8 to 3/4