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How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

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How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

Postby Surfwhammy » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:38 am

I was browsing through the NOTION "How To . . . " video request topic and noticed that there was a request for a video that shows how to use a Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments) Multi in NOTION 4, which looked to be an interesting way to have a bit of FUN for a while, so I created a YouTube video . . .

[NOTE: I did this quickly, and in the part where I assign Kontakt 5 instrument channels to NOTION 4 Basic Staves I zoned-out on the instrument names and thought that the cello was a violin and that the baritone saxophone was a tenor saxophone, but so what . . . ]

Using a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4 ~ YouTube video

Lots of FUN! :)
The Surf Whammys

Sinkhorn's Dilemma: Every paradox has at least one non-trivial solution!
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Re: How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

Postby frabato56 » Wed Mar 19, 2014 8:41 pm

Well that's nifty. I did notice that in the mixer, the sounds all go to the first track. Meaning that you can't adjust the volumes individually. Does anyone know of a way to do this or do we have to use a new kontakt instance for each instrument?
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Re: How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

Postby Johnny » Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:19 pm

frabato56,
yes it is possible to have separate output buses for a Muti-channel vst. The vst for my example is the Garritan Aria (Multi). For a Jazz and Big Band I have the Aria Player settings as --

Alto Sax,Tenor Sax,Bari Sax output the (Aria player) of 1-2
then,
Trombones 1&2 out of the player on 3-4
then,
Trumpets 1,2 and 3 out of 5-6
--
Electric Keyboard and Bass Guitar outputs 7-8
and
Drums going out 9-10

----------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Next, In the Notion 4 Mixer I clicked on the "vsti+" button to add the relative output busses.
The Notion 4's mixer 1R-1L will receive the Aria outputs 1-2.
Adding the other busses is the same.

Also!! understand that the vsti multi plugin used must allow for manual selection of it's outs i.e. 1-2 or 5-6 etc..
I tried this with the XLN Addictive Drums vsti and that does not allow you to select a particular output from it's interface.
Presonus Studio One software on the other hand can see the Addictive Drum outputs as Kick,Snare,Hi-hat etc. Notion 4 does not support that at this time.
So, some do and some don't. Hope this works for you and I explained it satisfactorily. It's sometimes hard to describe these types of routing situations.
- ,Johnny
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Re: How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

Postby frabato56 » Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:59 am

Thanks to both of you. I got it working although in the mixer it shows, in order, kontakt5, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, fr. horn, kntkt 1-2, kntkt 3-4, kntkt 4-5 etc. and the level meters only register on the kntk tracks making it a bit difficult to know which instruments are playing. But, with only 5 instruments I think I can deal with it.

Thanks again
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Re: How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

Postby Surfwhammy » Thu Mar 20, 2014 11:27 am

frabato56 wrote:Well that's nifty. I did notice that in the mixer, the sounds all go to the first track. Meaning that you can't adjust the volumes individually. Does anyone know of a way to do this or do we have to use a new kontakt instance for each instrument?


Johnny wrote:frabato56,
Yes it is possible to have separate output buses for a Muti-channel vst.

In the Notion 4 Mixer I clicked on the "vsti+" button to add the relative output busses.


frabato56 wrote:Thanks to both of you. I got it working although in the mixer it shows, in order, kontakt5, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, fr. horn, kntkt 1-2, kntkt 3-4, kntkt 4-5 etc. and the level meters only register on the kntk tracks making it a bit difficult to know which instruments are playing. But, with only 5 instruments I think I can deal with it.


I created a new video that shows a subset of the Kontact 5 Multi with each instrument having its own ReWire 2 channel pair; and while I do not understand exactly what I did, it works . . .
:ugeek:

N4 K5 Multi Separate ReWire2 Channels ~ YouTube video

Regarding keeping the names of instruments clear, you can do this in the DAW application by renaming the incoming ReWire 2 channel pairs for their respective stereo tracks . . .

At present, I have not discovered a way to rename the automagically created tracks in the NOTION 4 Mixer, but since you are doing this in a ReWire 2 session, you can keep everything nicely labeled and organized in the DAW application, where the technique I use is to set the volume levels in the NOTION 4 Mixer at 0 dB and then to do any volume level adjusting in the DAW application, which also is the case with VST effects plug-ins . . .

In the video example, there are a few VST effects plug-ins in the NOTION 4 Mixer, but I did it this way primarily to save time, where the VST effect plug-ins are the T-RackS White 2A Leveling Amplifier, which I use to increase the signal strength of instruments that are a bit too soft, which for example is the case with the Kontakt 5 Harp; and I use the T-RackS White 2A Leveling Amplifier rather than dynamic marks like "forte" and so forth, because for the musical genres I prefer, (a) this works better; (b) the overall goal is to be able to hear each instrument; and (c) it avoids having to add dynamics and other articulations to the music notation, all of which is based on the general rule here in the sound isolation studio that if you cannot hear it, then it is background noise, hence needs to be eliminated . . .

[NOTE: The T-RackS White 2A Leveling Amplifier is a highly accurate emulation of what many people consider to be the best and most melodic compressor, which is the Teletronix/Urei/Universal Audio LA-2A . . . ]

Image

[SOURCE: Top 20 Best Compressors Of All Time (Attack Magazine) ]

Image

[NOTE: IK Multimedia currently has T-RackS CS Grand discounted by 60 percent until the end of March 2014, and all the T-RackS signal processors and effects are 64-bit, as well as being available in different technology formats, including Audio Units (AU) for the Mac, VST, and so forth, where NOTION 4 requires VST, but Digital Performer, Logic Pro X, and other DAW applications that run on the Mac can use both AU and VST effects plug-ins; and there are 32-bit versions included if you are doing your digital music production in the 32-bit universe . . . ]

T-RackS CS Grand (IK Multimedia)

In other words, if it is necessary, then you need to be able to hear it, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous! :)
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Re: How to Use a Kontakt 5 Multi in NOTION 4

Postby Surfwhammy » Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:31 pm

I did a few more experiments, and the key to getting independent ReWire 2 output channels for the various instruments in the Kontakt 5 Multi is to start by selecting "Create separate Master Output Channel" for each instrument . . .

Image

Then, you need to assign the output for the newly created Master Output Channel to a ReWire 2 channel pair, which is done by clicking on the channel-pair button at the bottom of the Kontakt 5 Mixer . . .

[NOTE: If you count them, you will see that there are 16 items, and they correspond to the 16 available outputs, where the pair not shown at the top is the pair of output channels for the default Stereo (st. 1, channels 1 and 2) . . . ]

Image

THOUGHTS

It appears that there are only eight possible channel pairs, where by default there is a Stereo channel pair and four Auxiliary channel pairs, plus additional tracks for each instrument, where each instrument is assigned its own track via the "Create separate Master Output Channel", where in the context "Channel" maps to what I am calling a "track" in the Kontakt 4 Mixer . . .

You can assign the first instrument to use the Stereo output channel pair; and you can assign the next four instruments to use one of the four Auxiliary output channel pairs; and then there are three more "unassigned" channel pairs that you can use for a total of eight output channel pairs running from 1-2 to 15-16 . . .

Hence, I think the applicable rule is that you want to limit each Kontakt 4 Multi to eight instruments, since this appears to be the maximum number of separate and independent output channel pairs that are available, based on what I have discovered and verified so far . . .

This appears to be a limitation imposed by NOTION 4, which only provides MIDI Port A and 16 channels, at least insofar as the Kontakt 5 Multi sees it, although it might be a limitation imposed by Kontakt 5 . . .

Image

To make sense of this I created a second Kontakt 5 Multi, and it also sees MIDI Port A with 16 channels, but in the NOTION 4 Mixer you can assign as many as 32 ReWire 2 channel pairs, so while Kontakt 5 outputs to 8 channel pairs, which apparently are MIDI Port A and Channels 1-16, each Kontakt 4 Multi is unique insofar as NOTION 4 is concerned, so the key is to use a different set of ReWire 2 channel pairs for the second Kontakt 5 Multi; and I verified that this works correctly with Digital Performer 8 (MOTU) . . .

It is a bit confusing visually, since doing it this way maps to having two identically named tracks, but it makes sense when you understand the logic, where the first Kontakt 4 Multi is first and the second Kontakt 4 Multi is second, even though they have the same names, as shown in the following screen capture . . .

[NOTE: These two tracks have the same display name ("Kntkt 5-6"), but in the NOTION 4 Mixer I have them routed to two separate and independent ReWire 2 channel pairs ("Ch 5-6" and "Ch 21-22", respective); and each of the NOTION 4 channel pairs has the correct output, where the "Ch 5-6" pair is the output from the respective instrument in the first Kontakt 5 Multi, while the "Ch 21-22" pair is the output from the second Kontakt 5 Multi, which is fine with me . . . ]

Image

Consequently, I think these are the general rules:

(1) Each Kontakt 5 Multi can have eight instruments, each of which has its own output channel pair for ReWire 2, because there are 16 channels available per Kontakt 5 instance . . .

(2) NOTION 4 supports 32 ReWire 2 channel pairs (64 individual channels) . . .

(3) You can have a maximum of four Kontakt 5 Multis, each of which has 8 instruments each with its own output channel pair for ReWire 2, for a total of 32 output pairs, but the display names will be identical in groups of four at the maximum, even though they are kept separate and distinct insofar as NOTION 4 ReWire 2 channel pair assignment is concerned . . .

(4) This tends to provide the clue that having more than 64 instruments in a single NOTION 4 score is a bit much . . .

The strategy for digital music production I use here in the sound isolation studio is based in part on limiting the number of instruments in a single NOTION 4 score, and I usually limit it to approximately 20 instruments per NOTION 4 score, although with some of the heavier VSTi virtual instruments I reduce the total to perhaps 10 or fewer, which depends primarily on how "heavy" each VSTi virtual instrument and its associated sound samples happens to be, which MachFive 3 (MOTU) being one of what in the days of mainframe computers were called "core hogs", where the upside is that the MachFive 3 instruments are so highly sampled that they sound marvelous, which is fine with me . . .

Hence, instead of having one NOTION 4 score for a DISCO or Pop song, I will have as many as 10 or more of synchronized NOTION 4 scores, each with a few common instruments for "where are we in the song?" purposes but otherwise a different set of instruments; and this keeps everything synchronized, where the general strategy is to record the NOTION 4 generated audio as soundbites in Digital Performer 8 for each NOTION 4 score, which is an iterative process that begins with the basic rhythm section for the song, where the following is an example of a prototype basic rhythm section for song I am developing based on an earlier version that was on The Surf Whammys first album but at a time before I switched to music notation and virtual instruments and had not discovered the secret to producing, mixing, and mastering, hence sounded really bad, even though it is a great song, where for reference the secret is to use a calibrated full-range studio monitor system so that you can hear accurately the raw audio material, which is the only practical way to produce, mix, and master . . .

[NOTE: The short drops in audio level are caused by the screen and audio capture program (Screenflow [Telestream]) overwhelming the Mac Pro, since everything is happening in real-time during the screen and audio capture. This doe not happen when the NOTION 4 audio is recorded as soundbites in Digital Performer 8 in a ReWire 2 session, hence it is a relic of running the Mac Pro at the upper limit of what it can handle in real-time. And since I am planning to record real lead guitar next, I have the snare drum rimshots louder to use as aural cues which also is the way I use cowbells, because I need to hear the beat distinctly when I am playing lead guitar. Overall, there might be 5 to 10 more NOTION 4 scores for this song; and once everything is recorded, I switch focus to producing, mixing, and mastering and adjust levels for everything to fit the complete song, where the electric bass trills at the end of the song are another set of aural cues, which is necessary because when I play lead guitar I focus so intently on playing lead guitar that at times I actually start drooling and forget where I am . . . ]

"Dance Baby Dance" (The Surf Whammys) ~ Basic Rhythm Section 2014 ~ YouTube music video

This is the original version of the song, which was done when I was doing everything with real instruments and played or sang each part exactly one time in real-time on the fly, which was an interesting experiment that was based on misunderstanding something an audio engineer to me about Paul McCartney when he was doing the "R.A.M." album, which was that McCartney did everything either on the first take or occasionally on the second take, which I thought was vastly cool, so I did this for several years and continue to do it for lead guitar, where at first it literally is frightening but after a while it becomes natural and you discover that you can do it, which among other things might be the best way to discover how to rewire your brain to create more neural pathways from your auditory cortex to the frontal eye fields region of your brain, which for reference is the only way one can play lead guitar or any other instrument extremely rapidly while composing in real-time on the fly, since the auditory response in the frontal eye fields region of the brain is as fast as 24 milliseconds with response to auditory characteristics in the range of 30 to 60 milliseconds, where in contrast the auditory response in the auditory cortex is in the range of 60 milliseconds, which is a roundabout way of explaining that the only way to compose and play rapidly in real-time is to do it without any immediately conscious thought, since immediately conscious thinking is too slow . . .

"Dance Baby Dance" (The Surf Whammys) ~ 2007 ~ MP3

Another way to explain it is that it is like being beamed with a lead guitar and amplifier onstage at an Elvis Presley concert, and Elvis looks over at you and says, "Take it!", followed by a spotlight appearing, and then there you are, which in some respects is "Come to Jesus!" time, because you either play a stellar lead guitar solo or runaway, and here in the sound isolation studio running away is not an option, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous! :)
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