Kontakt 7 crashes (Latest as of 12/5/2022)

Kontakt 7 version 7.15 crashing when trying to load or preview an instrument. Just started happening suddenly on the previous version three days ago, I closed it and there was an update (to 7.15) which I would think would have fixed it. It did not. I cannot do anything with it.

Thanks for bringing this up. I'm definitely having these crashes. I've deleted my database and the usual steps, and it still crashes disruptively.

The repro is the same as @maki — very simple to do. It will almost always crash when I do the following:

1. Add Kontakt to a new track.
2. Use the browser and load an instrument.
3. Duplicate the track.
4. If it doesn't crash the first time, trying to duplicate the track again and again will eventually crash it.

I have crash logs that repeatedly seem to note the Kontakt file browser is the culprit. I wonder if it has something to do with the "Incompatible Files" error that appears upon scanning content. I'm unclear on how to solve this, and if in fact it's references or something that has to do with the incompatible files that's causing these crashes, I wish Kontakt could just ignore them entirely.

Is anyone else having these Kontakt crashes in Live?

@Jeremy_NI

• macOS Ventura 13.3
• Kontakt 7.3.2 (just updated, still crashes)
• Ableton Live 11.3 (also newest Beta)

Here's the error, weird because they're just various Kontakt library folders with instrument files inside, and sometimes PDF manuals. I already did a batch re-save on a lot of them. Wish it could identify WHICH files are incompatible, would reduce the guesswork.

@maki If you're still around, can you please get in touch with NI Support about this? Or @Jeremy_NI can you reach out to them too?

That goes for anyone else having the "duplicate Kontakt crashes" issue. I believe we're having the same problem but they need more info because Jeremy and Manuel haven't been able to repro it yet. I've continued to send in crash logs.

Hi there! thanks for the message, I returned to see if there are any new solutions since I am still experiencing the issue.

What I was able to arrive at is that above certain number of Kontakt instances, almost any action that includes Kontakt causes crash. this means:

• I have around 20 loaded Kontakt instruments. The following causes crash in 99% cases:
• duplicating Kontakt instance, adding new kontakt instance, deleting kontakt instance, clicking on kontakt instance to open the instance window.
• I usually have around 200-300 lines with different instruments or audio. No other vst or audio causes this issue, I have no problem with other vst whatsoever, only with the kontakt.
• the only one workaround is if I just freeze tracks with kontakt / delete groups with Kontakt (alas, I cannot - usually - delete one track with Kontakt as it also causes crash)
• I might actually be able to isolate the problem if it would be in some log files, because if the decribed situation happens, and I recover the ableton instance, it happens again, again.. again.. whith the ONLY thing I do in the recovered instance is I click on the track with Kontakt and then try to open Kontakt (until I am lucky enough that deletion of some tracks with Kontakt does not cause anotehr crash:) )

• If I am below that certain threshhold - say 20 instances -, everything works smoothly without issue. EDIT - I now counted the number of instances to be probably 12 in a project file that predictably crashes.
• I have quite an high end PC but will now upgrade to a "current high end" so I am interested whether the issue will persist even with 5k$ PC

@maki Thank you for the details! @Jeremy_NI Please note above ^ while I'm on a Mac, I've been able to crash using the same repros.

After a lot of tussle with this, I'm not currently crashing 🤞 but this is what I had to do:

• Remove all custom/3rd-party library folders from the database.
• Then, REMOVE these folders and rebuild contents, presumably you can look for PC equivalents:
• 1. Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Native Instruments > Kontakt 7
• 2. Macintosh HD > Users >*Your User Name*> Library > Application Support > Native Instruments > Kontakt
• Restarted Kontakt and rescanned anew. Re-added 3rd-party library folders in groups, still no crashes.

I haven't crashed in a couple weeks now. Which furthers my suspicion it has something to do with the database?

I snt in heaps of info to Manuel in Support including Ableton logs (i'm on similar Kontakt and Ableton versions to you), who asked me to try all sorts of things, but devs haven't been able to find a deeper issue yet. I ran the NI diagnostic tool and more.

There is apparently NO way to show which files are "incompatible" upon scanning for new folders too, and that seems like a big limitation, if some incompatible files are in fact crashing things. Like, if there's a problem with files, TELL us why and which ones they are.

I've kept the support thread alive ("[Native Instruments - #3948982] Re: Kontakt 7 crashes (Latest as of 12/5/2022)") and pointed Manuel here in hopes your info will give him and the team more insight.