Explain like I'm five how to get the sound of the instrument to play when i push the key

AstroCyclone71 · 2025-06-21T03:30:04+00:00

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Hello all, i'm not a musician. I am a 3D modeller who loves to create audio tracks to accompany my cinematics. I'm working on a project for which a loop of some instruments mashed into a beat would go so well, and i purchased a Native instrument pack for the sole reason of hitting keys and hearing that sound.

I quickly realized it would be far from that simple.

I open up Kontakt, and i can't get anything but a piano to play when i hit the key (I want the Koto to play from the East Asian pack) but i can't figure out how to get that to play.

Google searching only lead me down the rabbit hole of complex DAWs that i have a hard time justifying learning for the sake of a few short notes of Koto played.

So please, dear community, explain to me like i'm an ADHD five year old, what is the EASIEST and MOST BASIC way for me to play a few notes of my chosen instrument i bought on here without the need for big, intimidating DAWs that take a lifetime to learn to use. Remember, i'm not a musician, so half the terminology is pure gibberish to me. All i want is a few short loops of instrument.

Thank you in advance, and have a wonderful day!

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Accepted answers

stephen24

Turn OFF "Microsoft wave something" - that's output! (…to the Windows General MIDI, which is what you're hearing).

Make sure you've set up Audio to go where you want, in the same settings. (to avoid possible complications, might be best to temporarily switch off all other programmes using Audio)

Now you should be able to play sounds on the Kontakt master keyboard or the instrument's own keyboard in the Mapping Editor. Playing with a mouse won't be very satisfactory and if you want to play actual music you would probably be better to buy a MIDI keyboard.

All comments

stephen24

Not sure what your "key" is, but any neurodiverse 5-year-old will tell you that if you want a keyboard to control an instrument you must connect them together (File>Options>MIDI). Sounds as though your keyboard is driving your Windows internal General MIDI.

AstroCyclone71

Thanks for the reply. How do I change that? Every time I go there in the settings I have only one option, Microsoft wave something, gotta check properly what it is. But are you saying that I need an actual keyboard to make this work? (Keyboard as in musical one, not what I use to type?) when I open the program I can see a small little keyboard that I can click the keys on but it only sounds like piano not anything else despite selecting what I want to hear.

I hope my question makes sense

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/46078/explain-like-im-five-how-to-get-the-sound-of-the-instrument-to-play-when-i-push-the-key

please, dear community, explain to me like i'm an ADHD five year old,

You are kind of both asking the impossible but also skipping quite a lot here.

One of the most basic problems often is the drivers settings and how to get sound. Therefore I personally prefer the Steinberg built-in ASIO Driver for non demanding use but also I usually suggests some tweak to Windows sound settings. But at least then you need to get a handle on the setting up of Midi and Audio in the standalone version of Kontakt / Komplete Kontrol :

Setting Up the Stand-alone Kontakt Application

Setting Up the Stand-alone Komplete Kontrol Application

Else then what is your exact OS version ? and what is your keyboard make and version ? and what is your Kontakt version ?

what is the EASIEST and MOST BASIC way for me to play a few notes of my chosen instrument i bought on here without the need for big, intimidating DAWs that take a lifetime to learn to use.

Not all DAWs are equally poor when it come to being approachable.

The learning curve when you want to learn to use a DAW is steep but Mixcraft got videos with introduction to most things which makes it rather easy to jump into, you can check it out here :

Mixcraft 10 University 101 , Mixcraft 10 University 202 , Mixcraft 10 Videos

Mixcraft have a free trial and where the intro entry offer at the moment is as low as $25 : Mixcraft 10.6 Home Studio

AstroCyclone71

Thank you for the reply. So basically what i'm hearing here is that there is no way for one to load up Kontakt, hit a key on my typing keyboard and hear the instrument i want to hear.

I need to either purchase an expensive MIDI keyboard that comes with a MIDI input i can set up in Kontakt, or get some sort of a DAW and sift through manuals, forums, and tutorial videos until i find the part that tells me how i can load my Kontakt as a plug in that lets me hit a key and hear the instrument i want.

Is that right?

stephen24

Turn OFF "Microsoft wave something" - that's output! (…to the Windows General MIDI, which is what you're hearing).

Make sure you've set up Audio to go where you want, in the same settings. (to avoid possible complications, might be best to temporarily switch off all other programmes using Audio)

AstroCyclone71

@stephen24 OK i got it to work! I turned off Microsoft gs wavetable synth (that's what it was, my bad for not specifying) and when i selected my headphones as the audio output i was able to hear the instrument i wanted! however, i am still unable to hear anything over my actual speakers. But i at least hear what i want through my headphones. Thank you so much for the reply!

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/231497#Comment_231497

Is that right?

No.

I need to either purchase an expensive MIDI keyboard that comes with a MIDI input i can set up in Kontakt,

No there is in-expensive keyboards too 😉

Thank you for the reply. So basically what i'm hearing here is that there is no way for one to load up Kontakt, hit a key on my typing keyboard and hear the instrument i want to hear.

I can help you get setup with using your typing keyboard , and my apologies for skipping that part and not be clear about that.

For using your 'typing keyboard' then provided that you are using Windows then please check my FreePiano with loopMidi below here :

1 : Download and unzip FreePiano

2 : Download and install loopMidi

3 : Restart computer

4 : Start loopMidi if not started and make sure that you have a Midi port added

5 : Start FreePiano

6 : In FreePiano choose loopMidi port as instrument , and if you want then turn on background input for the PC keyboard to work also when FreePiano is not in foreground (FreePiano : click small spanner top right then tab Options).

7 : Start Kontakt

8 : In Kontakt Midi options turn on loopMidi port

9 : Enjoy

or get some sort of a DAW and sift through manuals, forums, and tutorial videos until i find the part that tells me how i can load my Kontakt as a plug in that lets me hit a key and hear the instrument i want.

As I explained in the above then not all DAW are equally difficult. But if you do not want to try to use a DAW or trial of same and do not like the DAW advice then nobody is forcing you to anything.

PoorFellow

P.S. Both the cheap DAW Mixcraft and DAW Ableton Live Lite support using your typing keyboard for midi input. I wrote about using Ableton Live Lite here. And info about using it with Mixcraft who refers to it as Musical typing can be found here.

AstroCyclone71

@PoorFellow i really appreciate the detail of your reply, thanks! I'm starting to agree with your suggestion for a DAW because of the versatility, and one day down the line i will invest the time to properly learn one, for now though i was able to get what i originally wanted to work to a degree and for now i think it suffices my basic needs. In any case, thanks for all the support!

PK The DJ

You can get a small basic music MIDI keyboard for 35 pounds/dollars. If you buy used, even less.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/231506#Comment_231506

i really appreciate the detail of your reply, thanks! I'm starting to agree with your suggestion for a DAW because of the versatility, and one day down the line i will invest the time to properly learn one

Thank you for the kind words of appreciation. I myself am a DAW novice and to me there is so much to learn and understand about DAWs that I don't think that I will ever get any proper understanding of DAWs in the sense that expert users here consider 'proper'. However my own own point is , apart from the same as yours with respect to versatility, that you can learn the most basic of use relatively easy if you choose the right DAW. Personally then for me the Ableton Live is relatively easy when it comes to basic use at least once you get the basics that I described here. As is Mixcraft relatively easy to use for the most basic at least.

Basic use of Mixcraft with Massive I have described below here but should do just fine for Kontakt also :

Some simple instructions here: After having setup Mixcraft or Mixcraft Trial then open it, then if you close the welcome interface then it ought to generate a standard project where (see screenshot) you click the little keyboard , then select the VSTi and then Massive VST3 :

Then if you want to use the Musical Typing Keyboard built-in into Mixcraft then you move the plugin window so much that you can click the "Musical Typing" in the lower part of Mixcraft plugin Window (or use keyboard shortcut [CTRL]+[ALT]+K) :

That should give you a setup like this where you can setup the Massive plugin (to use the MTK you might have to switch window focus by clicking on it) :

And when that is done then simply close the Massive plugin and the Mixcraft Plugin selector but leave the MTK open if you are using that. Then you ought to be ready for playing , to record then simply click the record button.

After recording then export by clicking File : Mix down to : (select format)

Otherwise then it is always a good idea to save projects progressively so that you can revert to a previous save if you want to. Like My Recording 01 A : MR01-A / B / C / D / E / ………

I did a test with FreePiano + loopMidi+Mixcraft and I think that that works better than using the Mixcraft MTK. But apart from that then the instructions above still ought to be good.

Also to re-open Massive then click the little arrow and then the blue Massive text that shows :

Also , then for some reason then the Sustain in FreePiano can set itself to 127 , so if that happens then either right click the sustain field or set it to zero or whatever

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/231513#Comment_231513

I agree , except that , depending on where one lives or where one buys, then one have to be very careful buying second hand Midi keyboards , where I live then cheap secondhand Midi keyboards are either defect or not that much cheaper than what's new or so poor compared to a new keyboard that they are not worth buying considering the price asked, so at this point in time then I'd rather suggest a cheap new one from Thomann.de over a secondhand one. You can get a brand new 25 keys Nectar for only € 46 albeit that is with mini keys. And in the end then what people want also not only depend on if they want mini or full size keys but also on how many keys they want (and how much desk space they are willing to allocate for the keyboard 😉)

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