Kontakt 6.7 cannot find samples

cmm
cmm Member Posts: 12 Member
edited October 2024 in Kontakt

I have used Kontakt since v.2 but I rarely seen this problem until now. I have kept Kontakt up to date with Native Access; I keep all Kontakt instruments on an external drive.

I use Kontakt in practically every tune I write (using Pro Tools Studio). Over the last week or so I was working on video, but when I came back to my latest Pro Tools project which uses 2 instances of Kontakt, PT displayed a warning that Kontakt couldn't its instruments. Apparently, it had lost the paths to samples for a large number of instruments, throwing up a "Content Missing" dialog. The same thing happens in Kontakt standalone.

Usually, this problem is solved with the use Spotlight option, but after much experimentation I find I have to find each individual sample using Browse For Files. Once the instrument loads in, I do a Batch Resave but the next time I access it the same problem comes up.

Kontakt Error Message.png

Any help would be appreciated.

  • Colin

Best Answers

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Customer Care Posts: 13,398 mod
    Answer ✓

    Hey @cmm I created a ticket for you and contacted you by email, our Kontakt specialists will look into it.

  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member
    Answer ✓

    After a long time of back and forth with a knowledgeable and very patient NI tech we finally worked out what happened. I had not been looking at the names of the files Kontakt was looking for, but when eventually I did I saw that the file names had been subtly been changed. Characters like the hyphen ( - ) and underscore ( _ ) had been changed to spaces. Kontakt was looking for names with those characters (and others, I guess) and once I changed them back Kontakt was finally happy.

    I almost certainly caused the damage myself wanting to "clean up" my drive by changing folder names to plain English. The app I used has a button to change folders and subfolders which I must have had on.

    Luckily, I had backups of the affected files and with most of them I could re-download the originals if needed. The moral here: don't mess with file names, but if you do and Kontakt loses its way, make note of the files it is looking for and make sure those names match what's in the Samples folder.

    I hope this helps,

    • Colin

Answers

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert

    Try just “Save” instead of Batch re-save… and you should try “Browse for folder” and select the Samples folder for the instrument, should resolve all missing instead of doing one file at a time…

  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member

    Thanks for the reply!

    I have tried those solutions. I tried "Browse for Folder" first but it seems that Kontakt cannot "see" the samples folders and returns me to the dialog. Also, even finding each sample in the Browse for files mode does load the samples for that time but they don't necessarily "stick."

    I'm also seeing some instruments are not displaying their GUI properly even when they do load. For instance, the Klang instruments have a simple GUI using one large knob, a couple of sliders and switches, all on a dark grey or green background. Now, the controls aren't displayed and occasionally the GUI is spit into vertical stripes. (If I see these effects again I will try to grab a screen shot)

    • Colin
  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member
    Screen Shot 2022-05-31 at 10.34.58 AM.png

    🤞🏻 Ignore for now

    Screen Shot 2022-05-31 at 10.35.27 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2022-05-31 at 10.35.49 AM.png


  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member

    Anyone?


    Irgendjemand?

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Customer Care Posts: 13,398 mod

    @cmm Please try to reset Kontakt's database, as explained in this article: KONTAKT Crashes

    If that doesn't help, make sure to give Full Disk Access to Kontakt and your DAW: How to Enable Full Disk Access on macOS

    What format is this Drivezilla hard drive ?

  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member

    Thanks Jeremy. I have performed those steps (delete prefs, delete database, ensure Kontakt has full access), restarting between each step and rebuilding Kontakt's database (which of course, takes a while). It still cannot find instruments' samples. It is rebuilding its database (again) and I will check if it's working properly once it's finished.

    In the meantime, Drivezilla* is a 2-TB partition on an 8-TB Western Digital MyBook drive. it is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

    * Drivezilla got its name from the first 2-TB drive I bought for my first Mac Pro. At the time it seemed huge, large enough to hold samples (.wav, .aiff, .rx2, and so on), Kontakt instruments and even my iTunes library. The 3.5" drive stayed with me until I bought my M1 Mac mini, when I bought the WD 8-TB drive which I partitioned to 4 x 2-TB sections and transferred my Samples and NI Content from the original drive. Kontakt worked perfectly until some time in May. I opened a file that I had last worked on 4/27 on 5/29, when Pro Tools displayed a message from Kontakt to the effect that it had lost its way...

  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member

    Sadly, after going through deleting prefs, deleting the database and rebuilding it I am faced with the same result. Kontakt cannot find the samples associated with an instrument -- even instruments that were working at least at the end of April when I turned from composing music to editing video for a few weeks.

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Customer Care Posts: 13,398 mod
    Answer ✓

    Hey @cmm I created a ticket for you and contacted you by email, our Kontakt specialists will look into it.

  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member

    Thanks Jeremy.

    Colin

  • Radubar
    Radubar Member Posts: 1 Newcomer

    Hi Colin @cmm - did you ever solve this? I have exactly the same problem...

    Thanks.

  • Explosivo11
    Explosivo11 Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    Have either of you solved this? Also saving the same issue and it blows. Shame on Native Instruments for creating a barely more capable Kontakt 7 (not at all worth the upgrade price) when SO MANY BUGS on Kontakt 6 were never fixed.

  • cmm
    cmm Member Posts: 12 Member
    Answer ✓

    After a long time of back and forth with a knowledgeable and very patient NI tech we finally worked out what happened. I had not been looking at the names of the files Kontakt was looking for, but when eventually I did I saw that the file names had been subtly been changed. Characters like the hyphen ( - ) and underscore ( _ ) had been changed to spaces. Kontakt was looking for names with those characters (and others, I guess) and once I changed them back Kontakt was finally happy.

    I almost certainly caused the damage myself wanting to "clean up" my drive by changing folder names to plain English. The app I used has a button to change folders and subfolders which I must have had on.

    Luckily, I had backups of the affected files and with most of them I could re-download the originals if needed. The moral here: don't mess with file names, but if you do and Kontakt loses its way, make note of the files it is looking for and make sure those names match what's in the Samples folder.

    I hope this helps,

    • Colin
  • Explosivo11
    Explosivo11 Member Posts: 8 Newcomer
    edited January 2024
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/123765#Comment_123765

    Thanks for the update! Sadly for me, I did not do anything to modify these files and their names (Sonic Forest from Impact Soundworks) as they still have the hyphens and underscore. I just downloaded them straight to my external hard drive and installed the software. Exact same problem and I've done all of your aforementioned methods multiple times in attempts to fix the problem, but nothing worked. Any advice or extra insight?

  • Explosivo11
    Explosivo11 Member Posts: 8 Newcomer

    @Jeremy_NI Can you create a ticket for me and/or help me out as well? Please look at my previous comments on this page/thread for conext.

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Customer Care Posts: 13,398 mod

    @Explosivo11 If you are having issues with Kontakt, please get in touch with my colleagues here: https://bit.ly/NI_support_kontakt

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