I have a number of libraries in my Kontakt, added using the 'add library' button within Kontakt. My structure is currently:

S:\[Company name]\[Library name]\

However, I have now got a number of folders and want to use the S: drive for other stuff. Therefore,mi want to move the folders into a Kontakt sub folder, so:

S:\Kontakt\[Company name]\[Library name]

Whereas it may be laborious with a number of folders, is this the safest method:

https://support.native-instruments....e-KONTAKT-Factory-Library-after-Installation-

That is, move all the folders, open Kontakt and then 'locate' all the libraries in the new locations.

Grateful for my pointers.

 

Totally. Do it all the time.
Don't forget to batch re-save your libraries for faster load times.

 

I do it all the time as well, all good!

 

How/why do you batch resave? Used Kontakt for years but never used it :/

 

It's under the File drop-down in the main Kontakt GUI. Without loading any instruments or Multis select Batch Re-save then navigate to the root directory of a specific library.

It drastically improves load times (your instruments and multis load in 1-3 secs) and you can even compresses the library .wav files to .ncw which is not only lossless but often around half the size with the save-as function in the same menu then Batch Collect / Compress.

Batch-re saving/compressing my Retcon library brings the files down from 4GB to around 2GB and it loads in about 2 seconds.
I do it for every single library I have.

More info: https://impactsoundworks.com/optimizing-kontakt-workflow-part-3/

You can always decompress the .ncw back to the original .wav with the same method just select Uncompressed WAV instead of Lossless NCW in the Save-As menu.

 

Last edited: Oct 14, 2016

cool! did NOT know that!

 

That's a really good tricks Thank you!
is it possible (and useful) to do that when the samples are into some nkc/nkr/nkx file?
Like official library...
If yes must I replace the "samples" directory by the "collected samples" one?

 

Last edited: Oct 15, 2016

There is also a very useful free utility for Windows only, it's called Ultimate Plugin Tool.

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

With it you can move any folder safely and it has also many other functions. I use it regularly to move vsts and other files or folders.
The manual is very good.

 

Batch Collect/Compressing first party or official NI libraries doesn't affect the size as the files contained withing the .nkx are already compressed. What it is useful for is extracting the individual samples from the .nkx and converting them to .wav
I performed a Batch Collect/Compress on the India Library from NI and was left with a categorized directory of the individual velocity layers for each instrument in the library all converted to WAV files. VLC media player had no problem playing them back.

And yes, Batch Collect/Compress WILL create a NEW folder with converted files leaving the original unconverted files in their place. It is safe to replace the unconverted WAV with the newly converted NCW and delete or backup the original. Just perform a Batch re-save after to link the samples to their respective instruments.

For some reason Batch Re-saving even an official NI library speeds up the load time for me even though AFAIK all it's doing is re-linking the instruments to their respective samples in Kontakt's database.

 

Last edited: Oct 15, 2016

Ok thanks for the explanation!

 

Is it possible to batch resave and compress to ncw and automate some tasks like deleting the wav files once done etc? Or doing multiple libraries at same time?

 

It's possible to batch re-save a directory containing multiple libraries but I don't recommend doing that.
I don't know of any way to automate replacing the WAVs with NCWs after compressing.

 

i would wrap them in bubble plastic and then put them in boxes with those foam plastic thingies, 1 box per item and not stuffed together, this should leave them undamaged

 

Shiiiiit! Seems like it's a weekend's worth of compressing and laboriously transferring files for me then!

Some libraries (espesh older ones) have weird file structures. Is it safe to convert these to the more usual Documentation, Instruments, Multis and Samples folders in the root? This is before creating my own NICNT files for each.

 

No.

I mean, theoretically, if you perform a Batch Re-save after changing the file structure you should be alright. Not sure what you'll gain from rearranging the directory hierarchy like that. If it's not broke, bud...

Don't you have enough work to do already?

Make sure you use the same SNPID as the original for your libraries whenever possible

 

I've not created anything yet. Just converting stuff at the moment and noticed it doesn't carry/copy everything over to new file, only seems to be the .nki instruments and the .ncw samples. The file arrangements is more for OCD to be organised

In terms of SNPID numbers, I am also obsessively organised with this. I started a thread with a spreadsheet of known numbers so I'm hopefully on top of preventing duplicates here!

https://audiosex.pro/threads/snpid-complete-list.20592/

 

Small world. I've been using your list. Thanks for that.

I guess you could use the Collect samples and create new destination folder structure option. I've never used that for pre-exisitng libraries only the ones that I made personally and had used sample files that were scattered all over the place.

 

Took all day just to do my 8Dio libraries! It is worth the effort though. My 8Dio folder was originally 319GB and after compression it is now 296GB. Not as much compression as I'd hoped, but it's still saving over 20GB.

Expand that across all library makers and it could be a hefty saving of drive space, especially for the makers with lots of good libraries like 8Dio, Soundiron, Spitfire, Cinesamples etc. With some, I'd expect nearer a 40% compression ratio too!

I think this is going to be more of a long term project than I originally anticipated though!

 

All day for just 20gbs of freed drive space! wow... I can see the use and purpose, but I would hope my time is worth more then that... (if it was 1993 and HD's cost what they did I would definitely do it.. but......)

 

You are doing them one library at a time right? Compressing more than one at once takes waaay longer.