Loading and Creating Instruments - Features of Kontakt - Part 4

Welcome back to this special introductory video tutorial series for Kontakt. We’re continuing our series by looking at how to load and create instruments, how to load and create instruments banks, using the onscreen keyboard, and using the master editor.

There are multiple ways to load an instrument in Kontakt. One of the simplest is dragging and dropping. You can easily add a instrument to the Multi Rack by simply dragging and dropping the file from the desktop or browser and placing it on to the rack. You can also replace a previously loaded instrument by dragging or dropping an instrument on top of it.

The load menu works too! If you would rather browse for the instrument, you can use the load command from the files menu. If the option is enabled, you can even load instruments by double-clicking them in Kontakt’s built-in browser.

To create a new instrument, you can use a new instrument command in the Files menu. This will load a new default instrument. You can also create an instrument by dragging and dropping samples into an empty space in the rack.

Missing files are a pain, but Kontakt makes it easy to find those pesky samples that have been misplaced. When a sample is missing, Kontakt notifies you with it’s Samples Missing alert box. This alert box provides a list of samples that cannot be found and where they are assumed to be, a few functions to automatically find the misplaced samples, a couple functions to browse for the missing files manually, and a few search options. Likewise, the Samples Missing alert box gives you the chance to either skip the missing files or abort loading them all together.

Loading and Creating Instrument Banks. An Instrument Bank allows you to combine 128 Kontakt instruments into one slot every rack. Only one instrument in the bank can be active at a time. You can switch between the instruments by sending MIDI program change messages. All instruments in a bank share the same MIDI Channel, Output Channel, Maximum Note Count, Output Settings, Pan Settings, and Aux Send Levels. These setting are adjusted in the bank header which appears in the Multi Rack.

To Create a new Instrument Bank, choose New Instrument Bank from the Files menu. Inserting instruments into the bank slots is as easy as enabling the wrench icon and dragging and dropping the instrument into the preferred slot.

The Master Editor. Contains Global Control that effect the behavior of the instruments in your multi, as well as common utility functions. You can show or the panel by clicking or unblocking the Master icon in the Master control section. The Master Volume controls the volume of all output and aux channels. The default setting of 0.00 leaves the output signal unaffected. The Mater Tempo displays the current Global tempo in Beats Per Minute (BPM). It also displays sync options and song position controls. The Tap button allows you to manually enter the BPM by clicking the Tap button.