The Mapping Editor - Features of Kontakt - Part 9

Welcome back to the ninth part of our tutorial series on the basics of Native Instrument’s Kontakt. We continue our in-depth look at this powerhouse sampler by looking at the Mapping Editor.

In this video tutorial, we continue looking at the basics of Kontakt with an in-depth look at the Mapping Editor. Samples are the building blocks of Kontakt instruments, and are referenced by zones. Zones respond to specific notes and velocities values. Additionally, zones control volume, pan and tune. To manage all of this we use the Mapping Editor.

To open the Mapping Editor, click the button called Mapping Editor. This can be found in the top part of the instrument panel. The mapping editor consists of three parts. A control strip, a status line, and the zone grid. The zone grid provides a reference to velocity, and indicates the note being played by your MIDI controller.

Samples located in the browser can be dragged and dropped on to the zone grid for manual insertion. The sort order will correspond to the order the samples are in the browser. Likewise, you can use the auto-mapping feature which will automatically map your samples to the zone grid. Look for this tutorial in coming weeks.

The Mapping Editor is a highly technical aspect of Kontakt. It is most definitely an area in which you should become familiar with if you plan to make the most out of this sophisticated software. There are many great features packed into it, and there are even more ways to use them!