I just thought i'd ask here, before I make the jump..

Using an old iMac 2011 with 2 drives full of K'd Kontakt libraries, and a K'd Kontakt 5.81 (R43) at the moment. These use 15 year old FW800 drives for speed, but they are still spinning drives, and can be slow.

As you can guess this Mac is quite old, so was maybe thinking of something newer and faster (iMac or MBP), with more RAM and SSD, and an 1 x External SSD (Kontakt libraries) into a smaller footprint (i'm carrying 5 drives at moment with storage and libraries!)

Does a newer k'd Kontakt work ok on the latest Mac's? and with the older Libraries?
Is there anything I should look for or be wary of when upgrading the whole system with OS, software, etc?
I am using some Legit VST's AU's and Legit Ableton Live etc.

As these libraries are over 10 years, some are no longer available so quite keen to hang onto these, and if i bought Kontakt, I am not sure if the k'd libraries will all work now? plus its a ton of money to outlay to get back what i already had.

Is there a newer Kontakt crack that works on latest MacOS ok, and will read older libraries all ok, as I know it would be a big change over to new Mac and new drives/back ups which i'd want to go smoothly!

Thanks for any help or contributions or anything i need to think about?

 

Hi Ted,
You should have no problem upgrading and still using old Kontakt libraries. As long as you don’t have a bunch of vst’s that are 32-bit only that, you shouldn’t encounter too many problems with a computer upgrade.
There are newer versions of Kontakt that work perfectly as well so you might want to get a newer version to stay future proof.

 

Thank you Sunkas B, very helpful.

I am trying to make a list of what i need etc before making the big jump!

I do have many 32-bit plug ins already running on Legit Ableton Live 64-bit but I have the 32Lives plug in which wraps them so they show up fine?

I have just found Kontakt 6.2.0 which I have downloaded for Mac (not installed yet) which hopefully should install ok on a newer system and latest OS Catalina?

 

I would be wary about using Catalina. Most new machines will allow you to downgrade to Mojave from what I understand, and that would be the smart play if possible.

Catalina is a bit of a disaster.

 

Thanks sisyphus as I did wonder about this too! not only, VSTs, but hardware drivers for M-Audio, and Audient Soundcard that i use.

So is it easy to downgrade to Mojave? and is there anything missing from Mojave, that Catalina has?

 

To be honest, I don't know what Catalina offers me that I want and I have so little interest in it that I don't even remember tbh... sorry...

I do believe if you call apple they will allow you to downgrade, and I am not sure the process, but I have read on other sites of people doing so and I didn't read of any disasters that I remember....

but yeah, I have a lot of external gear and whatnot like you are mentioning, and the drivers etc... i don't want to go there, same with plugins...

 

There is only k'd Kontakt. No such thing as a k'd library.
All my libraries, bought and 'shared', even from 14 years ago, still work in 6.2.1. But I've stayed on macOS Sierra for now.
But your shared libs will not work in legit Kontakt.

 

yeah, i am a legit NI customer (although I must admit I am an update or so behind the latest Ultimate version... )...

third party stuff will not work with legit Kontakt etc...

my work around with Ableton etc, is to use legit kontakt as an AU (obviously using OSX) and have my k'd version as a VST.. and that has served me...

but now I just updated to the new world of "sierra" lol (from Mavericks)... and will see how it goes...

backup early and often...

 

Huh? 3rd party libs should work with legit Kontakt...they just won't show up in your library tab, if the devs haven't paid for 'Powered by Kontakt' rights.
Btw, how does having a k'd vst help you? I don't get it.

 

Ok thanks guys, so to confirm, the newer K'd Kontakt 6.2.0 should work with my older and newer libraries, like my older K'd Kontakt 5.81 (R43) does at the moment?

If in future I buy legit Kontakt and some libraries, will this work 'alongside' a K'd Kontakt so I could install any combination of libraries in a project, as long as the K'd Kontakt is used to load the cracked libraries, and the Legit Kontakt is used to load the legit libraries?

Is that how it works?

If it needs to be 2 versions of Kontakt, to access everything, will they live alongside each other?

Thank you!

 

Sorry if I was unclear, what I MEANT was that third party "powered by Kontakt rights" libraries will not work with legit Kontakt without obviously having them registered. Those that are not, are fine of course.

I have both Legit and K'd Kontakt, as I use legit for a lot of stuff, or just to have it there etc... and I use a K'd version as a VST in my "VST for Ableton folder, (the legit is in the AU and regular VST folder), so when I go to use say, an Output library I have not purchased, I load it from the k'd VST version of Kontakt rather then my 'legit' AU version... (obviously on OSX for this...)

 

Yes.

No such thing as cracked libraries, only cracked Kontakt.

My brain is squirming! What do you mean by registered? I'm trying to understand, but I don't...

Ah! I understand this now! Thanks.

 

Ok thanks, so you do need two versions of Kontakt, 1 for legit and 1 for cracked is that right?

And it looks like it maybe better to load one from AU and one as a VST to avoid clashes?

 

32Lives won't work in Catalina, so that and all your 32-bit plugs (and other 32-bit apps) will be useless. I recommend sticking with Mojave for the time being, if you still want to use 32-bit software, or just getting rid of all your 32-bit software, if you're dead-set on upgrading to Catalina. I'm still using Sierra, but I recently threw away all my 32-bit apps and plugs, and I either replaced them with more-recent 64-bit versions or found similar 64-bit software that could do the same things.

Also, upgrade to Kontakt v6.2.1, the latest version -- pretty much bug-free. And it'll run all your old libraries. The k'd installer will actually install v6.2.1 (standalone, AU and VST) and v5.6.x (standalone only), which will allow you to add libraries to v6.2.1 (you may also find a version that just has a regular installer and k'd replacement components, just follow the instructions). You'll only need the v5.6.x standalone to add libraries. You'll be running v6.2.1 inside your AU or VST based DAW.

 

Last edited: Feb 7, 2020

Thank you Iggy, as mentioned I think I did find 6.2.0, but would prefer a k'd latest version that there is out there!

Do you know where i can find 6.2.1? and also the v5.6.x which i believe as you mention, you need to add the libraries, since Kontakt has now changed the way you add libraries?

 

I mean Kontakt libraries provided by developers like Output that require registration through either Service Center (old) or NI Access.

When purchased, they are registered or authorized to your account.

When not purchased, they are NOT registered or authorized to your account according to NI.

Those 'protected' libraries that both native NI in house libs can be, or developers that pay I imagine a pretty penny for are obviously added via a K'd Kontakt (5.6x or whatnot going forward for now on OSX), and then hopefully show up in your K'd Kontakt.

If I purchase them, they are shown as authorized by NI and can be opened in Kontakt legit.

I know you know this, I don't know what I typed that is confusing ^ on that after my later explanation.

I think you understood my explanation, just making sure... , as i know you know all this regardless...

 

Thank you for all your replies.

The other thing I was to mention, I am Mac 2011, with High Sierra, but would the 'libraries' still work if I switched completely to a Windows PC based set up and used a K'd PC Kontakt version 6.2.+ ?

As mentioned here, it seems its the libraries that aren't necessarily cracked but the front end Kontakt to access the libraries?

So if I switched completely to a Windows PC based set up and used a K'd PC Kontakt version 6.2.+, i should still be able to use everything I have, so far?

 

I'm on Sierra too friend, actually JUST updated (I was in the middle of some projects and everything was stable, but NI and Ableton and other companies forced my hands out of the loving embrace of Mavericks finally...)... Cool to hear the v6.2.1 is stable for the most part.. I was just going to be getting into updating my Kontakt setup (still running 5.5.2 or whatnot, and been left in the dust with some of these nice new libraries)... Which version of v5.6.x do you recommend (and by which releaser) ... I know I have been "collecting" these on my drives as released for the most part in anticipation of this upgrade eventually ('upgrading to Sierra still seems like a funny thing to type in 2020...lol)...

and thanks again for your valuable help yesterday.

 

Have you checked the sister site?

 

Thanks but don't know what the sister site is exactly?