Well I am not quit right in the head is my problem.
1. I'm very old...
2. I had a stroke and a couple heart things.
I am just trying to make some nice sounds for myself to enjoy not to publish.
I live on a very fixed budget or I'd pay for this stuff.
When I was young I played some music, it's just memories.
Sorry if I'm a fucking bother.

 

It'd be good if you can mention what OS you are using. Since you have Kontakt 6 portable, I'm assuming you're on Windows. Which version of Kontakt 6 Portable do you have?

I have both v6.1.1 and v6.3.2, and both of them have a button in the Library tab named "Manage Libraries". Once you click that, it will open another window named Library Manager.
In the Library Manager window, you'll have a button labelled ADD. Once you click that, click on Browse, and navigate to where your libraries are stored. Once this is done, click on the SAVE button on the bottom of the Library Manager window and restart Kontakt. The libraries should now appear on the Library tab in Kontakt.

 

Yes, I am on Win System 10. I have Kontakt 6.5.2 portable and Kontakt 5.6.6 portable.
What my question is, not how to load libraries into Kontakt, but Thank You for the info on that, and for taking the time.
But my question is, when I drag a .nki file from a non-installed instrument library, into the blank right side of Kontakt, and it plays.
Then how do I get that instrument from Kontakt into my DAW, which is Cakewalk?
That is what I am having a problem with.

That was my simple question, Talula seemed to think that if I can load the .nki file into Kontakt I should know how to get it into my DAW, and he did not know what my problem is. I have taught classes in Photoshop on a professional level, have taught classes in 3D modeling, rendering and animation, have taught people how to throw clay on a pottery wheel, taught classes in fly fishing. I have always said, "There is no stupid question." But apparently I was wrong, because it seems like I asked a stupid question.

But thanks again rollerball for taking the time!

 

So you have chosen older versions, just as we ONLY need on macOS, instead of an up to date version of Kontakt.
If you are on Windows you don't need to add library with 5.6.0 or 5.6.6
You have mixed the info from Mac with Windows.
Why don't you just get a version of Kontakt 6?

 

It seems I didn't get your question earlier. My apologies.

I have Cakewalk, but haven't really messed with it. I opened it to see how it'd be done. To play the instrument in Cakewalk, first you'd need to make a track for Kontakt. Simply right-clicked on the Tracks Pane and clicked on "Insert Instrument". A new pop-up appears. You'll then see a drop-down menu under "Instrument:". Find Kontakt from the list and then click on the "Create" button. You'll now have an instrument track with Kontakt loaded on it. Then you can just drag the .NKI into Kontakt and play it.

This video might help if my explanation wasn't clear enough:

 

Smooth Grooves, As I stated, I have Kontakt 6.5.2.

rollerball, Thank you very much for the explanation and video, that makes sense, I really appreciate your help!

 

But:

You also stated that you had 5.6.6
Which you don't need, as I explained.
Just saying.
And I'm sorry too; I didn't realise that you had never loaded any vst into a daw before.
I'm glad you're on your way now!
Btw, Talula is one of the main sharers of Kontakt libraries.
He has the knowledge.

 

Smooth Grooves, Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time.
For me Kontakt 5.6.6 can load libraries but I cannot with 6.5.2.
Or I just don't know how. I can and do load VST's into Cakewalk.
For myself I question even using Kontakt if I can find what I need with VST's.
But I'll let it go at that.

 

Hiya.
Oh, I see now.
I think 5.6.6 was the last one with an Add Library button on it. Or maybe 5.8.1. I can't remember.
I'm not on 6.5.2, I'd have to move up another macOS!
One thing, might not be relevant, but we should always add libraries to the standalone without the daw version open.
Yes, sorry. It read as if you may have thought you needed 5.6.6 or 5.6.0 just to add libraries. As per Mac.
Hmmm. But having said that, if they are adding fine in 5.6.6, then they should also show up in 6.5.2. In theory.
Also, bear in mind that an older version of Kontakt can add a library meant for a newer Kontakt, and it won't show up in 5.6.6, just 6.5.2.

The common problem we have on macOS is that the lib is added but it creates an .xml file with an SNPID # of 000 which we have to manually change in a text editer to the SNPID number that's in the .nicnt file.
So, the library is half added until then!

Can anybody tell us if this is relevant on Windows at all, for Brad please?

edit:

Ah. Right. Just caught this rescanning the thread for clues!
You know that not all libraries need a .nicnt to be able to be used?
You just load them from the Files tab or Quickload.
And in fact, creating homemade .nicnt files is very much frowned upon by a lot of people, especially by Tim Crystal, the mod at the russian tracker! But that's due to when people share them and the SNPID causes conflicts.
If you do if for a library that initially had an official .nicnt, not good apparently.

 

Last edited: May 11, 2021

Things are a bit different here on the Windows side of things!

I haven't kept up with the latest versions of Kontakt, so the latest version of Kontakt I have is v6.3.2 Portable. Firstly, up until at least v6.3.2, the Add Library button is present in Kontakt on Windows. I've browsed through comments of later releases and haven't seen anyone mentioning its absence, so AFAIK it's still there in v6.5.2. But I'm not absolutely sure about it.

And secondly, in Portable versions of Kontakt, libraries added in one version of Kontakt don't show up in another. So I can add a library in v5.8.0 but it won't show up in my v6.3.2. This is due to the fact that Portable versions of Kontakt don't touch the Windows Registry at all and they store all the required data in the folder where the Portable version resides itself. This also allows for another benefit: You can place all your libraries in a sub-folder and make those Portable too. So you can have an external HDD which has all your libraries and switch it from one PC to another.
However, this also creates a little annoyance: If you try to install official updates to a library, the executable won't run saying the library is not installed. You'd need to make entries to the Registry to make the updater run.

So if you have Kontakt Portable on Windows, there's no need to keep different versions. Unless there is a very specific reason to do so, it's better to save space and not have multiple versions lying around. But again, it is possible to do so, and even to have completely different list of added libraries.

 

I knew all except that!
You have completed my basic knowledge of Portable! Thank you.

Wait, what?
I thought you lot got an AddLibrary.exe with your cracked Kontakt?
Or is that non-Portable then?

So can you also confirm if @BradCutter doesn't have the 000 thing we get?
What is his problem he has?

Just as with non-Portable on Mac.

Not much of a hardship.
I often just extract and manually merge.

 

Last edited: May 11, 2021

That's great!

It should be the same for non-Portable too, but yes, in Portable there is an executable named Library Manager.exe in the location [Kontakt Plugin Directory]/Helper/Library Manager, which performs the task of adding the library to Kontakt. Pressing the "Manage libraries" button inside Kontakt simply launches this executable.

I have no idea why @BradCutter isn't able to add libraries with v6.5.2, but I can confirm the fact that adding a library doesn't create an .XML file with SNPID 000 which has to be manually edited. Once properly added, the library shows up in the Libraries tab the next time Kontakt is loaded.

Yes, you can have libraries on an external HDD for non-Portable versions too. But here, the advantage is that the libraries are already added along with having the required version of Kontakt. So say you have to work at a friend's PC which doesn't have Kontakt installed. Then you can simply carry your HDD with the required libraries along with Kontakt Portable itself, as Portable doesn't require any kind of installation at all to run. You simply have to point their DAW's plugin directory to include your HDD as well. Of course, this won't work in a "legit" setting, but it's an example that popped up in my mind when thinking of how this feature might be useful.

Yes, nowadays I do that too.

This might actually be an issue. In my case, I just maintain a text file listing all the SNPIDs I used to create my custom .nicnt files. Also, if the SNPID of an official library is changed, the .NKIs of that library don't load and show the message, "This instrument belongs to a library that is currently not installed."

 

Last edited: May 19, 2021

Yeah, man. We need to ask of the libs involved! And help our brother old boy muso!
Okay, that thing about being able to take libs drive AND Portable on a usb stick (or even the same drive?) to a mate's studio, with no add library time needed, is blooming marvelous!
I wondered what was so great about it until you said this!
I've heard tell of a macOS Portable to come.
Do you know anything of this, or if it's even possible?
The only reason I doubted it was because I couldn't imagine what OS tier they would choose.
Would only make sense if it was the most recent I guess. And probably not for Apple Sili-Con.
And btw, how on Earth did you get to be able to do your, uh, 'repacks', if that's what we call them, at the sister site?
I mean, at RU they call slimmed down Kontakt libs 'repacks'.
I always thought that wasn't allowed at the sister site.
It's cool, I just would have been doing it myself IF I knew it was allowed!

I think the guy that wrote that must have meant "I knew fnck all about that! You have started my basic knowledge etc..."!

 

You don't need to have Portable on a USB stick. The libraries would actually be stored in a subdirectory of the directory where Portable is stored. That path for libraries would be: [Kontakt Plugin Directory]/Libraries.

I honestly have no idea. I saw a few comments too saying that Portable would be on Mac soon. It would be great if it were so.

The only thing I can find similar to what you said in the rules is this:

From what I understand, this rule prohibits creating custom "bundles" of releases, but doesn't say anything about "repacks" being prohibited. Similar things were present before I started posting (by EtherealVoice for example), and they were what made start posting in the first place. Maybe @Olymoon can make things clearer for us.
You should post your Lite Versions too. It's always good to have more of them around!

 

Last edited: May 19, 2021

Wow, you guys are amazing, but I know fnuck all about most of what you say!
I did have one piano lib load into Kontakt 5.6.6 portable that did show up in 6.5.2 portable, but since neither of them are supposed to get into the registry I've no idea how that happened. I've been trying to find out how and why it did by looking at the lib in a text editor. It has not given me much to go on compared to other libs I've loaded into 5.6.6 but there has to be something there so I'll keep looking.
But I appreciate all of what you guys have said, Thank You!

 

Hey Brad!
Do you want to tell us the names of the problematic libraries?
There may be library related reasons. Like old East West stuff, or whether or not the library was supposed to have an official .nicnt instead of homemade which sometimes people add to libs on the tracker.
All sorts of reasons.

edit:
OOH! Hang on.
Check the permissions on the NI folder and especially the Service Centre folder...
I know you're Windows, but just maybe...

 

Hi Smoove Grooves,

Aah, check permissions on the Native Instruments folder and especially the Service Centre folder...
Would be happy to, but where per chance might they be found?
I apologize but I am actually not sure what folders you are referring to.

 

Go into Library/Application Support/Native Instruments.
Just click on/highlight, not open, the Service Center folder.
Hit cmd and i.
A window will open and will show you the Read/Write properties of that folder.
And do the same for the Native Instruments folder, prior in that folder structure.
You want to make sure that you are able to read and write to it.
This may be your problem, but I'm now only clutching at straws...
Unless you tell me the library names !!!

 

I am sorry but I do not have any of those folders.
I only have Kontakts as portables and I have no Native Instruments folder at all.
Well there is in my Program Files but it is empty.

Smoove Grooves, I don't want you to waste anymore time on my problems.
I've decided to get rid of the Kontakts on my machine and simply go with VST's and VSTi's.
I can load them into Cakewalk easy enough.
I get what I need that way without the hassle of Kontakt.

But I want to Thank You for the help you've given and offered.
I do appreciate you taking the time.

Cheers! Brad

 

Yes you do. But in the equivalent on Windows; I help a lot of people and forgot.
VSTi are the instruments. As per Kontakt being a VSTi too
Whatever. I wish you had been sure of what you wanted before asking for the help of others.
Makes me not want to help here anymore.