Audio export problems when using NI Kontakt VST plug-in

[malte]

Hello!

I have a problem with the NI Kontakt 6 (full licence) VST Plugin in a Reason 10 project. I'm using five instances of it, each with the cello library "pocketBlakus". Inside Reason everything works as expected, i.e. my score is replayed without any errors. But when I want to export the piece to audio (File>Export Loop as Audio File), single voices in the resulting audio file are muted totally randomly for short moments during the piece. I carefully evaluated if anything special happens in the score at these instances, but I can not find anything at all. Sometimes these short "mutings" happen apparently directly at note-on, but also just in the middle of a played note (after note-on, before note-off). Typically, the voice continues to play as intended with the next note-on event. This problem never happened to me with Reason’s in-built instruments, but it is acutally the second time I have this problem with NI Kontakt.

I'm not very experienced with Kontakt (and VSTs in Reason in general), that’s why I wanted to ask here if this sounds familiar to anybody and if I might make some mistakes or if there might be a workaround (apart from bouncing every single voice in place). On the other hand, I’m honestly not very optimistic since this appears to me as a typical implementation bug. Whatever, all hints are very welcome!

Thanks a lot!

Best,
Malte

[Despondo]

A couple of things to check:

• Did you make sure the patches have completely loaded in Kontakt?

• Did you batch re-save all of your Kontakt instruments?

• Do you have any devices attached that might cause delays in the signal? If so, Is delay compensation turned on?

• If you have MIDI controllers attached, did you try unplugging them before export? Just a guess, but perhaps they are sending false data.

I use Kontakt all of the time without issues, so it must be something with your setup. Can you elaborate on specs?

[malte]

Thank you very much for you reply!

Did you make sure the patches have completely loaded in Kontakt?

How can I check for this? When I play the score just before the audio export everything is played fine without any issues. I guess that means that all samples are available, doesn’t it?

Did you batch re-save all of your Kontakt instruments?

I just now heard of that batch resave possibility in Kontakt. I will try this out now (haven’t done it yet) and see if it has any impact.

Do you have any devices attached that might cause delays in the signal? If so, Is delay compensation turned on?

I guess you mean software plug-ins here since hardware should not affect the audio export. As master effects I only used the MClass Stereo Imager and the MClass Maximizer. Reason reports that the latency adds up to 192 samples. The delay compensation button is set to "on". And again: there are never any problems during normal replay inside Reason.

If you have MIDI controllers attached, did you try unplugging them before export? Just a guess, but perhaps they are sending false data

Yes, I have, I think I detached all of them for the export already since I had the same thought. But just to be sure I will try that again. But on the other hand: why should that be a problem during export (where no changes to the score should occur) and never during normal playback inside reason? Furthermore, the problems occur deterministic in the sense that they are always at the same point in time in the audio file if I repeat the export.

Can you elaborate on specs?

Sure. My computer is an i5 7600 with 16GB RAM running Win10. I currently use Reason 10. Though I think audio hardware has nothing to do with this problem: I have a Behringer UMC1820 and a Behringer ADA8200 interface attached to the UMC via ADAT. Please let me know what setup information could additionally be helpful.

Thanks again for your support!

[WongoTheSane]

I don't know pocketBlakus, are there keyswitches in there? And are you using them? (the reason why I ask is that the sample buffer size may impact those, and depending on how they are coded, it may translate to silences at seemingly random parts).

[Despondo]

Hi,

I just downloaded the Kontakt library to try it for myself.

I created 5 instances of Kontakt and loaded up the library in each one. I created a short loop with all five instances playing different notes and did an export. It works as expected.

Not sure where you go from here. Perhaps try exporting to a different file type (AIF instead of WAV, etc.)

Also, what sample rates are you using in Reason, and for export? Might have something to do with it. Try setting everything to 44.1khz and 16 bit as a test.

[selig]

Long time Kontakt user, never seen this in Reason or other DAWs, and I frequently use a lot of Kontakt instruments in each song (but not familiar with the library you're using).

One thing to try, if you're needing to get a reliable export of these songs. Bounce each instrument to audio (bounce in place) and see if it plays correctly. If so, you should be able to export the mix once all Kontakt instruments are bounced to audio. Hopefully that will solve the issue for now.

[Steedus]

Could have nothing to do with it, but I've heard the EastWest libraries/player have an issue with "offline bouncing" like how Reason does it which causes errors in triggering samples. It seems to prefer a Real time bounce. Could this be happening with Kontakt too?

[Despondo]

Could have nothing to do with it, but I've heard the EastWest libraries/player have an issue with "offline bouncing" like how Reason does it which causes errors in triggering samples. It seems to prefer a Real time bounce. Could this be happening with Kontakt too?

I've been using Kontakt in Reason for a couple of years now and have never experienced this, so doubtful it is the same problem, but good idea nonetheless.

[Sergei1]

Hey guys!
Experienced the same problem for a while and, what was strange, it always seemed, based on my search for a solution, like there were so little encounters with this problem that all I could find was complains that this problem existst and not the solution to it. I’ve also noticed that these glitches occur not only when mixing down to a file that you will play outside of your DAW in a regular media player, but also when you try to mixdown/bounce a midi track to a *.wav file within your peoject in DAW. So here’s what I’ve found for myself:

1. You can try changing the “Source Module” of the instrument itself in Kontakt. To access these options - you press that little “wrench looking button” in the top left corner of the Kontakt instrument window. There - in the “Source” tab you will find a drop-down menu in which you can pick, basically, from “DFD” and “Sampler”. There are other options as well in the drop-down, but you’re interested in these two… (If you’re interested to read more you can search for “the-source-module” in the Native-Instruments manual on their website)

The “Sampler” option may be the solution, as it stores sample data in system memory, reads it out from memory. But if you choose to stick with “DFD” which stands for Direct From Disk… As the name suggests, what happens here is only the beginnings of all Samples are loaded into RAM (where they can be accessed instantly) and, as soon as a Sample is being played, streaming its remainder from your hard disk then you might solve your glitch problem by:

2. Fiddling with the “DFD preload buffer size”. This option is found by pressing that same “wrench looking button” in the top left corner of the Kontakt Instrument window. Then pressing the “Instrument Options” button and then pressing the “DFD” tab. There you will find a slider. Try changing it to a higher level.

I must say it still gives the same problems from time to time, but at least gives you a higher chance for a good mixdown. As I understand it has to do with the capacity of your RAM so another recommendation would be to close all other apps that consume RAM when you are mixing down/rendering/bouncing/exporting.

Hope this helps)

[ljekio]

I recently had an issue with incorrect rendering of an vsti with a lot of automation in a heavy project. Maybe if you disable this setting, the result will be better.

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