Looking for help on how to rout Kontakt in Logic Pro X

Hey Guys,
I’m trying to create multi-timbral Kontakt instruments in LPX. I’m able to get several instruments loaded in Kontakt, the problem I’m having though is routing them within a Track Stack…Usually you can select the track stack, play notes on your keyboard & all of the tracks in the Track Stack will play…Right now I have 2 instruments loaded in one Kontakt instance, I can select & play each aux track in Logic & both instruments play through the Track Stack output, but if I select & play from the Track Stack only the first instrument will play from the multi-timbral instance of Kontakt. Is there a way to select the Track Stack in Logic & have all of the instances of my multi-timbral Kontakt instrument play?

Michael, do you have any advice on this? I’m trying to play a multi timbral instrument from the track stack in Logic. Do you stack your Kontakt instruments into multis?

Hi @Sean,

as far as I know, you don’t need Multi-Outs at all, as Logic is better in speading each loaded K-instance between the cores, so overall better performance. If you still want to do it, you need to create a multi-tembral instrument track, with the many inputs you need and then just route the Kontakt outs in there. Stacks are folders, so you shouldn’t have troubles doing it. In Kontakt you need to configure the outputs yourself, as K doesn’t do it itself, and save it as default.

Did I understand you right?

Best regards,
Alexey (JLX)
@jlx_music

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Thank you Alexey. I think you understood me right. I was under the impression that each Kontakt instance takes up more CPU…I’ve got the Multi-Timbral aux’s to work individually, but if I try to play them all by selecting the Track-Stack & playing notes on my keyboard only the first aux in Kontakt plays…Is it possible to play multiple instruments at once from a multi-timbral instance in Kontakt by selecting & playing from a track stack in Logic Pro X? Thank you so much for taking the time to read & answer my question.

Honestly I never use multi-timbral anymore. I always use 1 instrument - 1 track approach. I do use track stacks though. :slight_smile:

The main problem with multis is I can’t freeze the track. And also, it is a mess with automation imho.

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Yeah, this is what I was talking about, @Sean!

I sounds silly now, but just forget this at all! This problem exists many years, that when you start to play around, you actually can play like this, but the main problem what Michael said is, that you don’t have control over loudness, automation and so forth, because Logic sees all the MIDI-Tracks as one instance. When you start to automate one channel, all others have the same automation, which you don’t want to have at all! 7 years ago I figured it out somehow, how to separate them apart, but it’s “pain in the ass”, just believe me. It was something like “Re-assigning” the tracks.

You need to understand that you don’t have to bother much about this multi-thing at all, as Logic is better in performing with many instances, as it spread the CPU from each of them to all your cores. What I mean is, that when you insert 100 Kontakts it will run better than inserting 20 multi-timbral Kontakts!

And Logic has the “freeze” and the “de-activate” options, where you can save a lot of CPU, if you don’t need some instruments, when you make your template.

The only reason I would use a multi-timbral instance, when I want to put let’s say 5 sounds together and just print all of them at once, so make my pre-mix in the Kontakt itself. Besides that, there is really no reason to use it at all.

Have a great day!
Alexey

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Thank you guys so much!
I’ve asked this question in multiple forums & nobody has been able to give me a clear answer like you guys. I’ve been using Logic for years & I’ve always just made single articulation instances of Kontakt with only minimal issues. I’m currently enrolled in an orchestral composition course & the instructors swear by the multi-timbral instances of Kontakt. I got it to work once back in the day but I hated the work flow & seem to remember there were some limitations I didn’t like as well, I thought I’d try it again to appease the instructors of the course I’m taking. I’m glad there’s a group of people who feel the same about it as I do. Thank you again so much for your time Alexey & Michael!

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Thank you for your kind words @Sean!

Taking these kind of courses is great, however you always need to find a way which works best for you – your workflow. If a pro is working “like this”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the only way to go.

Stay tuned and enjoy this site, because I really believe it’s the best source on the net. The community is really nice and you will almost always find an answer, where on Facebook I find people are more joking of you, at least my experience.

Kind regards,
Alexey

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