Previous versions of recently updated Kontakt libraries / compatibility with K6 older libraries

I tried to download couple of these and when I try to open the installer it says can't be opened because apple cannot check it for malicious software. is there a way around this? I too cannot use most of my instruments now being I'm on Mac OS Catalina

I hope people at NI understand one fundamental thing here, it seems that for most of us, it's not that we're unwilling to upgrade to V7. With a new Mac OS arriving every year and Windows every few years, updates are inevitably going to be needed. The host for the instruments will also need to be updated every few years. We get that.

Time is the enemy here. I think I can say that professionals are always short on it and anything that goes wrong technically, especially with a computer, grinds sessions to a halt and it usually destroys all creative flow unless the solution is predictable and easy. Sometimes, a simple restart of the computer provides a nice, short break we didn't know we needed.

In this case, if we can't open a V6 version of an instrument, then we feel we are being forced to upgrade and again, that happens from time to time with most software. I get it. It seems our collective opinion is that we shouldn't have to close the session and go on journey that could include a boot off of a drive that has both the instruments and a previous version of Kontakt on it, save the preset(s) in that session and then reboot from the actual system drive again. We need a fast way to solve the problem in the moment, not one that completely take us out of the moment.

That above idea is the only solution I can think of right now and what a drag it would be.

You are forcing us to make tough decisions here that effect our day to day lives and for some, our livelihoods. I'm not being overly dramatic here. The people I work for and with need me to move fast and deliver both a great result, but they also want a good experience. Having to sit there and wait for us to go on that little adventure I described above doesn't help. It only hurts. I simply can't imagine opening a cue with a director on a audio movers call and having to say, "I didn't know we were going to open that particular session today, so I'm going to end the Zoom call so I handle a tech problem and I'll restart the meeting in about 10 mins or so". There's zero chance I would ever want do that to them. It makes me look like an amateur who doesn't know how to use his computer.

So in that moment, I'm the one who's trust is being tested, not NI's. The director couldn't care less what software I'm using to create and why it's a problem. They only care that there's another call coming up and their composer seems lost. Not a good look.

So that all said, NI, you need to find a way to make this move easier. I need to be able to open V6 and V7 on the same computer without issues. I can think of at least two different ways to address this, but the goal is to have the ability to work in an unencumbered way. Most of us simply don't have time to solve what would be constant problems if we upgrade to V7. I would even keep two versions of libraries if I can open V6 and V7. Keep the instruments I own now in a "V6 Instruments" drive and install latest versions and any new instruments in a separate folder for V7 - whatever it takes to not lose time and to not look like a fool.

I'm not saying that you're doing this intensionally or not. All I'm saying is that this can't continue. You need to give us some way of making this happen fairly easily. Incentivize us to buy V7 because it has new features, maybe it loads faster or it works with the latest OS and hardware. Don't put "losing time" and "maintaining bootable drives or old computers" part of the plan. That just doesn't work for us. Again, time is the killer.

Look, trust is being lost with your long time customers and that can be extremely difficult to overcome. You really need to do something about it and soon.

First of all, thank you for asking the right questions. You're helping me sort this out and it's much appreciated.

Yes, the issue is being able to run V6 and V7 and the caveat you've described sounds right to me - I can keep the old libraries and follow the requirements, but as new instruments arrive that require V7, I wouldn't update those.

So just to be clear, if I buy V7 full, that does not replace V6? I swear it vanished when I installed the V7 player. I could be mistaken, but I do remember panicking a bit when I couldn't find V6 and it wasn't the name - it was gone from my shortcut menu and everywhere else in PT and I think I reinstalled it.

The scenario you've presented sounds like it will work, but this complicates things and that's new for Kontakt. I opened a session yesterday that had V5 instantiated on an instrument track and it worked fine for the instrument that was loaded. This however was a 3rd party instrument from a company that's not utilizing everything you guys offer developers, but it does require the full version of Kontakt. I do occasionally find V5's with Output and other instruments loaded and those play without any issue. I can load all of those in V6 too. I just wish this part wouldn't change so I don't have to think about it so much. Is what it is I guess.

In the end, I can now see what you're saying and will carefully proceed.

And no, I don't share libraries. I wouldn't know how that would even work. Is that possible? Legal? In PT, commit, import/export session data/tracks/AAF's is easy enough and works fine for what I do.

Thank you for your help. Please reply back with anything else that comes to mind.

Point 1: I'll see what happens next time, but thank you.

Point 3: That hasn't happened yet. I hadn't considered that. I don't expect it to, but it's of course possible.

This brings me to a follow up question...

If I were to keep my V6 libraries in a separate folder and if I ran into an issue where I opened a V6 version of say, "Noire" in an older session, but I haven't saved the preset, couldn't I close the current PT session, launch the standalone version of K7, point to the V6 directory of instruments, reopen the PT session, save the preset in V6 and then reverse all of that, etc?

It's a long way around, but it would be better than having to restart the computer 2x, PT, etc.

Thanks again for your help.

This whole situation is ridiculous. I feel that all versions of Kontakt 7 should work with the OS it was installed on. Release Kontakt 8 if you're going to suddenly drop support for older OS's mid life-cycle. As it is right now my OS can only use K7.4 and a lot of new instruments now require 7.6. It's crazy.

“The notion that they would recklessly break existing installations in an effort to try and get people to pay for an upgrade they may gain no benefit from OTHER than to fix NI's brutal installation paradigm is something that is arguably class action worthy.”

I dunno, I still don’t understand all this “breaking existing” installations mess. I use Kontakt 6 along with Kontakt 6 compatible libraries. NI pushes all its libraries as K7.x.x only. When these upgrades appear in NA, I simply read the release notes and if it doesn’t work with K6, I don’t install them - simple. Help me see what I’m missing here , bc I can’t see it.

Hey folks,

I’ve found myself in the same troubles as everyone else here is, learned from the postings above and just thought it might me useful to share my experience and how I got everything back running. I only run windows, so I cannot provide any info about Mac.

I can confirm that the workarounds described here are indeed working, and I also want to underline, that it might be my fault not checking on the release notes of my Kontakt instruments. On the other side, I would like to entrust NI to check the compatibility of my instruments with the underlying technology which is necessary to use my products bought withing NI Access Client upfront to an installation or upgrade. At least – this would be my Christmas wish for myself and everyone involved here. 😊

What I did:

1. First - do not uninstall any library nor delete any folders within your NI library main folder.
2. Download the files of the listing from the first post of this thread. Only download those, you are licensed for.
3. Notice after downloading, that you will end up with zip and iso files.
4. Within the zip and iso files are installers. Main difference between is - iso files can be installed without having the library itself installed in the first place. Installers within the zip files need to have the library - even in the wrong version - installed first, to be backported to a working version for Kontakt 6. Meaning – if you already have uninstalled libraries for which only zip-files are provided to backport, you will need to reinstall the library first with you NI Access client.
5. Installing a library with an iso file will in any way allow you, to define your libraries target directory.

That’s all from my side. Hope that helps someone. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

All the best,

Stefan