I'll start this thread with a quote from another thread that came up because NI Intakt rests in peace and some older Intakt libraries can only be used half-heartedly in current Kontakt versions:

I have never been an Intakt user, but apparently, Intakt had to offer some goodies that haven't found their way into Kontakt. At least, some older Intakt libraries still wait for an appropriate host to get back into their old glory.

Now, considering that such a project will eat some time, my question to all the Intakt fans here:

Which were, in your opinion, the most useful functions of Intakt that haven't made their way into Kontakt?
Also, anything that can't be done in Ableton Live?

 

Since I started that other thread, I'll go ahead and chime in here. Intakt was primarily a loop player, and unlike Kontakt, it was an engine designed to use one specific library, instead of being able to load multiple Intakt libraries into one host shell. It seems to me that the main problem with Intakt VIs being ported into Kontakt is that, for some reason, whatever looping methods it used aren't the same ones that Kontakt uses, or aren't compatible with the ones that Kontakt uses. Even the library-specific GUIs aren't compatible with Kontakt. Therefore, the flexibility of the Intakt engine doesn't translate. Also, I can run the standalone version of "Sounds of the 70's" in Snow Leopard, but not the AU version, which means the Intakt engine can probably run on current OS's, it's just the plug-in shell that doesn't work (in addition to its ReWire capabilities, which means you can load up the standalone, play it with a controller and hear it through CoerAudio, but you can't control it with virtual rack software or somehow virtually wire it into your DAW).

Your two main stumbling blocks with importing Intakt libraries (or "instruments", as they would be on their own) into Kontakt: 1) inaccurate loading of sliced samples and 2) the inability to load the Intakt instrument's GUI at all into Kontakt, thus losing many of the features and functionality you can easily access in the Intakt instrument's original GUI. Ironically, the second one would probably be easier to overcome with Kontakt 5's advanced scripting abilities.

My question is: would it be easier to somehow update the Intakt engine (like NI should have done), instead of figuring out how to properly port Intakt libraries into Kontakt? My other question is, would it simply be possible to properly load an Intakt library into Kontakt 2 or 3, since that's when Intakt was actually being utilized? The lowest version of Kontakt I have on my machine is 4, and it doesn't load properly into that. Assuming it DID load properly into Kontakt 2 or 3, wouldn't it then be possible to batch re-save the Intakt library as a Kontakt library, then load the re-saved library into Kontakt 4 or 5 and batch re-save it one more time to make it current?

 

I'd bet the Intakt libs won't load properly in K2/K3, *because* Intakt and Kontakt were separate products, and NI wanted you to buy both
Although based on Kontakt, the Intakt GUI was a completely different application and most likely not just another Kontakt script.

Still, I would like to know what was so special about Intakt, because sliced loop support is quite common in today's DAWs.

If there was a way to extract slice position information from the Intakt Libs (and the slices DO appear in K4/K5) by scripting or whatever, it should not be too difficult to use that for a slicing script, export to Stylus RMX XML or whatever other slice or mapped sample format and MIDI file - or even use the information from within Kontakt.

Just a side note: Have you tried opening the wave editor in Kontakt and from the [Sync/Slice] tab, drag the MIDI file to your DAW?
Kontakt will then (and only then) map slices to keys, starting from the "Map. Base Key" value.
Don't change anything else on the grid setting or Kontakt will destroy the original slice positions.

 

I only mention the possibility of loading an Intakt instrument into Kontakt 2 or 3 because most Intakt VI producers keep mentioning "You can load your Intakt library into Kontakt" without also mentioning that it won't load properly. It's possible that Kontakt's scripting may have changed between 2 and 3, or between 3 and 4, thus causing the problems of loading Intakt instruments into current versions of Kontakt.

The Intakt slices DO load into Kontakt. The problem is, they're loaded as individual slices, with no real way of playing the sliced-up parts as one continuous loop. So, there's something that somehow gets lost between Intakt and (at least the current versions of) Kontakt.

Going back to "Sounds of the 70's" as an example: the GUI is set up to handle both time-stretching and slices, just like you see in Kontakt, but it appears to be a bit more comprehensive than just drilling through Kontakt's sample-editing menus. It's all right there in the GUI. It seems to me that the GUI (or, actually, the .nki/.nkx) contains the specific scripting that, for whatever reason, only Intakt ever used. If there was a way to properly import the .nki properly, especially since the actual sample pool is easily loaded into Kontakt, you'd be able to play any Intakt instrument just like the standalone.

Has anyone ever come across the alleged Intakt "patch files" from NI's Service Center?

 

Sorry but I really don't get what's the problem. Under both Kontakt 4.1.1 and 5.3.0, I can load ZG Sounds of the 70s and A) play the loop in tempo sync inside kontakt with the settings I posted, and B) play the slices either individually or as a perfect sequence if I drag and drop the according MIDI file from Kontakt to a MIDI track in a DAW. Voilà, now you have exported the exact timing and note information for all slices of the loop to a standard MIDI file. When increasing / decreasing the DAW tempo, the loop plays faster / slower and I can rearrange slices by moving the individual slice notes vertically in the piano roll editor. Please try that.

 

The actual loops, I can play (though, if memory serves, the last time I used "Sounds of the 70's" in a project, I actually had to bounce the audio to disk at 44.1 kHz/16-bit in order to get the loops to sync properly to my project's tempo, then upconvert the resulting audio tracks to my project's sample rate/bit depth). The slices seem to be a different story, although, when I load the sliced patches in Kontakt 4 or 5, there's a lone key towards the bottom that plays a looped version. There really was never a question of "Can I use this library at all?" so much as "Is it possible to get it to function correctly inside of Kontakt, including the GUI?" As I've stated in previous posts, there's some kind of patch file available from the NI Service Center, though I've never seen anyone else who actually has it. More curiosity than necessity. I've come across a few Intakt instruments that were pretty slick, but, regrettably, were either completely useless in any OS after Tiger or loaded up as a complete mess inside Kontakt.

 

Ah OK.

Would you mind listing them here? Thanks!

If you take the time and actually try what I've suggested, you'll see that current Kontakt versions can do everything you asked for with old Intakt libs, and I can understand NI not sticking to an old Intakt GUI in a sampler that has progressed quite a bit.

 

@ fiction,

I think most intakt lovers just want the gui layout they grew to love, and don't want to settle with any less. lol

I can guarantee that someone who scripts intakt to kontakt would make it a big hit, even N.I may take notice imo

 

Well, indeed, visuals can sometimes make a difference. They can even spark - or kill - creativity.

 

You pretty much nailed it!

Like I said, I've been able to use "Sounds of the 70's", if not quite as well in Kontakt as I used it in its Intakt version; the questions I've been asking have been more along the lines of getting it to work and look like the Intakt version. You were the one asking "why" Intakt owners would want that.