Wrench icon and Edit Mode functionality missing in Kontakt 7 rack?

Mike Shafto
Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member
edited October 2022 in Kontakt

Just getting started with Kontakt 7. Problems with rack display and functionality illustrated in attached screen shot: 1) can't get consistent displays of individual instruments in the rack (see Vibraphone, NOIRE, and Jazz Upright; 2) sometimes can't get wrench icon and associated Edit Mode (see Vibraphone and Jazz Upright, where Settings icon and functionality has replaced wrench icon and Edit Mode functionality).

Note: according to Kontakt documentation "The Infos tab of the Instrument Options dialog contains information about the selected instrument and provides editable parameters to document additional information. If the Instrument is from a third-party library, then it will display information about the library and will not be editable."

In the present case, both instruments (Vibraphone and Jazz Upright) are recognized as being from Kontakt Factory Library 2.

Further research indicates that this problem seems present in all Kontakt Factory Library 2 instruments (though obviously I haven't tried ALL of them). Next I'll try reinstalling that library.

Reinstalling did not fix. Attached is a second screenshot, post-reinstallation. The instruments are from miscellaneous libraries, including Kontakt Factory Library, Cuba, NOIRE, Una Corda. The last few are from Kontakt Factory Library 2. All and only these have the problem of presenting the Settings icon and functionality where there should be a wrench icon and Edit Mode functionality.



Best Answers

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert
    Answer ✓

    OK, I found the "Review Vid" By DDS825 and he is checking out the New K7 Browser, and the patches he is loading are K7 Factory Library patches...note, that none of them have the 'Wrench" Icon, all have the "Gears" so what you are currently seeing in regards to the K7 Factory Library 2 appears to be proper functionality...No Deep Editing of those instruments...


    https://youtu.be/qb8wJ4cIESQ

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod
    Answer ✓

    It's correct, the new factory library is indeed locked for editing.

«13

Answers

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert

    There is a good possibility the "Deep Editing" of K7 Factory Library Instruments has been removed. There are several Kontakt Libraries (by NI ) that do not allow editing (Analog Dreams, Ethereal Earth, Hybrid Keys, Prime Bass and the Session Guitar Series to name a few) and this is due to the complexity of the scripting that could cause the instrument to break if edited by the user.

    The question then would be, Has NI Removed Deep Editing capability for the K7 Factory Library 2 instruments.

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert
    Answer ✓

    OK, I found the "Review Vid" By DDS825 and he is checking out the New K7 Browser, and the patches he is loading are K7 Factory Library patches...note, that none of them have the 'Wrench" Icon, all have the "Gears" so what you are currently seeing in regards to the K7 Factory Library 2 appears to be proper functionality...No Deep Editing of those instruments...


    https://youtu.be/qb8wJ4cIESQ

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member

    Gee, it's going yo take a while for me to accept that change. But thanks for the answer.

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member
    edited October 2022

    OK, I am no longer sad. I'll just get by with what I was getting by with, plus NOIRE & any other new ones that do seem to be old-school editable.

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod
    Answer ✓

    It's correct, the new factory library is indeed locked for editing.

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member

    Thanks for the information. After due reflection, it's not a big deal for me, just surprising.

  • Frens
    Frens Member Posts: 1 Newcomer

    I was just figuring out how to get rid of the "+groups" thing, and that requires editing through the wrench icon....

    Now I am stuck, no way to solve this now?

  • Wahed
    Wahed Member Posts: 5 Member

    Same thing for me... I updated to Kontakt 7 and I regret it. Native Intruments is becoming contemptuous of its historical users, following Apple's foolish path.

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member

    I will happily confess that my approach is very idiosyncratic, so there's no reason NI needs to cater to me. But I have to be able to integrate very diverse instruments into a multi, and I don't know how to do that without some rudimentary editing. Bottom line: I can't see how to use the Kontakt 7 Factory Library. I've tried the "force fit" approach, I mean just ignoring the difficulties and hoping for the best. Not surprising, that doesn't work.

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member

    I forgot to mention in my previous comment that the crucial documentation seems to be "forthcoming", so whenever it arrives, my troubles may all vanish.

  • Claudio Porcellana
    Claudio Porcellana Member Posts: 7 Member

    Actually, the Wrench button still allows for some "editing", at least in my 2 NI guitars (Sunburst both versions and the Martin)

    If you change (by ear) the Shift and Fret Pos values, the "rhythm" will change accordingly


    I use this trick to have e.g. West Africa Kora patterns matching better Sunburst ones

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member

    Thanks -- interesting and helpful

    Mike

  • onebaldbloke
    onebaldbloke Member Posts: 3 Member

    This has completely ruined my needs with Konatkt, and there appears to be no workarounds. I need, not "want", the wrench icon, as my 3rd party drum libraries can not be edited properly without it.

    Does not seem like a very rational decision by NI, to say the least.

  • Mike Shafto
    Mike Shafto Member Posts: 13 Member

    I do agree with you that I have not seen a good explanation of this decision, and it does make the new Factory Library 2 essentially useless to me. I like to use diverse instruments, and they seldom play well together without a little editing. So I avoid using the new Factory Library 2 and a few other libraries.

    However, I use a number of libraries other than Factory 2, and I have not had any trouble editing them in Kontakt 7. These range from Una Corda and Noire to Chris Hein Horns to imported early xSample instruments (originally .gig format) to Abbey Road 60s Drummer and AR Vintage. I have not needed to worry about workarounds of fancy tricks -- I don't know any.

  • stephen24
    stephen24 Member Posts: 276 Pro

    +1.

    Even the very best libraries may benefit from the odd tweak to suit the needs of the individual user, even when the programming has been impeccable (and the programming is not always impeccable!).

    Upgrading to K7 has very little to offer for me, but a new full orchestra, over which I have some reasonable control, would be quite an attraction.

    If enough people felt this way, could this be communicated to the programmers?

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