Just personal observations here of both good and not so good.

Kontakt 7
PROS:

• Seems to load much faster as well as libraries seeming to do the same.
• Can preview many sounds prior to loading. Unfortunately, not all libraries (older) come with preview files.
• Is organized a little better and also retains the older interface option (for multiple library loading).
• Seems more stable for loading large amounts of large libraries into one instance (16) but ask me in a few months, that may change.
• Can run side-by-side with Kontakt 6 without overwriting it.
• Can manually add libraries (permanently) via folders into the thumbnail interface.

CONS:

• Does not automatically load many libraries that are third party that Kontakt 6 previously did.
• Minor issues with some older libraries.
• Is more CPU hungry but seems to use RAM more efficiently - a trade-off.

 

I offered a possible solution here:

https://audiosex.pro/threads/kontakt-7-audio-previews.66837/#post-666715

 

I prefer 7, from my experience, Kontakt 7 use less CPU compared to 6 (Same instrument & midi file)

Spoiler: Preview

 

So how much space would a user save by uninstalling K6? If they can cohabitate on the same drive, and it's less than 2gb space difference...

 

I guess it comes down to how big your drive is. I agree, I do not think it would be substantial as the greatest size is generally the libraries. Personally, I have chosen to keep both to be sure before I delete 6.

 

Only Independence sampler
But seriously, why do I need Kontakt 7, when I have 8 TB samples for Kontakt 5/6, and it works flawless for me on Windows 7

 

I'm keeping 5, 6 and 7.

- 5.1.0 because it can import Gigasampler and probably a bunch more formats (sf, sfz?) that were removed in later versions.
- 6.7.1 because saving patches/samples with 7 probably makes them unusable on 6 - and most people and their projects will be on 6 for a looong time.

In my brief testing of Kontakt 7 with 4 piano libraries loaded that use very few effects, 7 was quite a bit more CPU efficient - almost 55% - but used 20% more RAM.

 

Any chance that there will be a 50% discount on the € 99 upgrade price during Black Friday?
Might be interested in upgrading from 6 to 7 (will keep 6 for older projects obviously).

 

Put another way: is there any reason to go K6 if you've never used Kontakt before? Are performance improvements that big a deal?

Do old Kontakt instruments work in K7?

 

so, what is the smart thing to do then, saving CPU power or RAM ?

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2022

Was thinking the same thing.
But it was also mentioned that it now utilizes your system specs better so im curious about that.
Spent some decent money for some high end rig so it would be nice to instantly load some things but that's just first world problems

 

Improved CPU performance is more important. You can always download more RAM.

 

If there is one final stable copy of last 6 build it would be nice. You would know anything 6 or earlier should work in it, correctly. 7 will most likely, have a bunch of "Fix" versions in fast succession after it is first released. Because something from 6 "works" doesn't mean it will be a parameter to parameter exact copy as the program changes. Library specific differences could be possible and not work as intended.

 

@洋鬼子 I built a high end music production PC too, but I don't see the reason to constantly chase the latest software and hardware
Never in my life time, I will be able to check all the sample libraries that have been released so far for the Kontakt sampler
I haven't mentioned anything about the other releases yet, like East West, Engine 2, UVI Falcon, Sample Tank......
For me, all these instruments serve as a source of new sounds for the Independence sampler now you know my secret

 

I agree (on keeping both v6 and v7) because I think it's common sense for a v7.0 to wait and see. Bugs, limitations/fixes for vaccinated versions and so on. As said before, how well re-saving works is important for many of us. And this versions has some changes on that too.

On that matter I've got to agree with NI decision on the different folder for re-saved instruments. even if it's inconvenient for me.
Many people has problems because doesn't understand well how resaving works, especially if they write them with the complete path.

PS. I'm glad I spent a lot on RAM two years ago (last PC upgrade)

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2022

Just a few weeks ago, finnaly updated to k6 from k5
Staying with k6.

 

Most corporate music software manufacturers tend to do discounts then. Their apparent generosity in discount varies every Black Friday. I would take a punt and say yes that it possibly would be discounted.

I'd go to version 7 unless your computer is ten years old. As for Kontakt with using it, if you never try something you never know if you will like it.
You may not. I am pretty sure you can do a trial? Try it and if you hate it, uninstall it.

 

Sorry I missed this before Stevie. It seems the CPU usage varies. That does not surprise me considering how many various CPU's there are now. I have a pile of RAM like Xupito and spent the money which I am glad of. It seems to cache way better than 6.

As a choice, both is the best choice but if I had to pick only one, CPU.

 

i do love NI for thier products but ,i never liked kontakt 6 (not even 5 and 4 ) ,so after i saw screenshots of the K7 gui im welcome 7 to my arsenal and right now im testing the sounds and the libraries i have already

 

EDITED: I WAS WRONG. TOO MUCH SELF-INDULGENT MENTAL MASTURBATION. OR TOO MANY PSYCHOTROPICALS IN ONE DAY...

I think I may have discovered the reason to that performance boost. What a funny thing.

This evening I was trying to modify the images that make a great deal of Kontakt's GUI. It's relatively easy with the right program (Resource Hacker-like) but didn't find it. So I tried with an advanced binary decompiler/disassembler, the tools the pro crackers use.

Way in over my head and didn't find shit but I found this by accident:

I think is likely "IPP CODE" and "IPP DATA" refer to the Intel IPP library, which is hands down the faster doing a lot of DSP stuff. Including the FFT and convolution. Could be wrong, only a three letter acronym, but considering this improved performance makes sense.

Previously Kontakt versions use the open source FFTW library. Not free for commercial uses but way cheaper. And clearly slower. Since I make no-install versions of Kontakt I must check what goes into the registry and this is one of those things:

Code:

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Native Instruments\Kontakt Application\fftw:
REG_SZ /d "(fftw-3.3 fftwf_wisdom #x08ac4c16 #x457005cc #xea102cf7 ... [more weird numbers])"

This "fftwf wisdom" is kind of the "best settings profile" for your CPU the FFTW library chooses on the first Kontakt launch.

So knowing that, a good benchmark would be to use a very heavy (long) IR reverb in some Kontakt instrument. That sucks the shit out of CPU power using convolution, thus FFT. IPP does more things than FFT and convolution, like resampling, so other improvements could be expected.

PS. Yes, I am as geek/nerd/techie as it gets. Too much. Don't be like me if you wanna get laid

 

Last edited: Oct 13, 2022