NI Kontakt 2 optimization (with SFP 4)

bgarlow · Post by **bgarlow** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:43 am

Hello everyone,

I finally took the plunge and bought NI Kontakt 2, but I'm having problems eliminating pops and clicks from some of the preset instruments (mainly the Steinway D and others that use the Convolution reverb...coincidence?). I have installed the latest version of Kontakt and have updated the midi scripts for the reverb and sympathetic resonance that supposedly help with the pedal-up CPU spike, but I still get the clicks occassionally.

Is anyone here successfully using Kontak (1 or 2) that could share any tips with me?

Here's the setup I'm currently using: p4 2.6, 1MB, I mean GB ram, XP, SFP4, 48KHz, ULLI 6ms, Kontakt in standalone mode with MidiOX acting as the sequencer MIDI source in scope.

Thanks and have a great weekend, everyone.

..and for my next amazing trick, I'll teach you how to run XP, SFP and Kontakt with a mere 1MB RAM

...

[ This Message was edited by: bgarlow on 2005-06-10 06:43 ]

[ This Message was edited by: bgarlow on 2005-06-10 11:00 ]

next to nothing · Post by **next to nothing** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:31 am

are you using ASIO drivers?

oh and a little more then 1MB RAM would probably help

[ This Message was edited by: piddi on 2005-06-10 08:32 ]

Kymeia · Post by **Kymeia** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 9:27 am

I'm using Kontakt 1 and 2 to but to be honest I'm not having these problems with K2 even though I'm running at the lowest latency possible on ULLI and @ 11ms with convolution. The only thing I've noticed is some sticking keys in the gui when I use one of the bigger piano's and play lots of keys at once with the sustain pedal down. I get a CPU spike sometimes then. I think there's a bug with imports though - I get a crash everytime I try and import a Reaktor MAP format sample - I've reported both these to NI.

system is: P4 3.6, 2GIG DDR2 RAM, Pulsar II/Luna II, 3 X 180GIG SATA HD's, ASUS Extreme AX800 XT PCI-E Graphics - Windows XP Home

bgarlow · Post by **bgarlow** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:49 am

I'm still getting lots of pops and clicks from Kontakt 2 (standalone and VST). I've tried bumping the latency in Scope almost to max at 48Khz, and I've tried using ASIO and ASIO2 24 src/dest in Scope. The 'engine' tab in Kontakt shows CPU utilization around 35%, but barely shows any memory usage. XP reports very little CPU utilization, but does show PF Usage pretty much maxed.

Can someone who has Kontakt 2 working well please share some details of their config, in case I'm missing something...or do I just need more than 1GB RAM? Could this be an XP configuration problem?

Many thanks,
Brent

ChrisWerner · Post by **ChrisWerner** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:09 am

At the moment I play the sustain flute in surround mode plus the convolution with the large church surround reverb.
I have no problems with clicks and I have 512MB only.

Do you use the grand in sampler mode or DFD, try to use it in DFD mode to free up some memory.

Convolution latency is set to 5.8ms,
Convolution sample rate is set to auto and preserve length is clicked.

No further settings were made.

Do you have the Kontakt 2.01 update installed, it has some improvements to the convolution reverb.

P4 2.8, 512mb RAM, Pulsar 1, 44100 Hz,though.

Hope it helps.

bgarlow · Post by **bgarlow** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:36 am

Thanks, Chris. I'll try playing with some of the convulution settings tonight. I am running the latest update, and I've tried using the piano both from DFD and Sampler.

Glad to know I don't need to fork out more $ on memory.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:23 am

just to rule this out you should change your samplerate to 44.1 - possibly the program is optimized for that rate and does some internal resampling which is quite some load (if done properly).
I don't have that program, but I remember way more (Asio) trouble when I was 'locked' to 48k due to my mixer. Since I have the A16 at 44.1k it's much better

cheers, tom

kaju · Post by **kaju** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:47 pm

I have these problems with Kontakt, latest version, and at 44.1k. My system is P4 2.8 Intel D865PERL and 2GB DDR2, SATA audio drive.

I'll try Chris' advice and see what happens.

kaju

bgarlow · Post by **bgarlow** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:41 pm

I think I may have found the problem. I just rebuilt my DAW about a week ago, and guess what? I forgot to select Standard PC configuration when I installed XP. I just disabled ACPI in BIOS, and then did an 'update driver' on the computer entry in device manager (set it to Standard PC). 2 reboots and a whole lot of 'found new hardware' later, and the computer seems fine. Best of all, I just abused two of the grand piano samples in Kontakt with Convolution on, and I had no problems. Funny thing is, the PF Usage never got over 700MB (compared to the GB+ I was getting before) and other than the occassional CPU spike up to around 65%, I had no major CPU drain (stayed steady around 35%).

It may be a little early to declare victory, so I'll post back if the problem recurs. One thing I did notice is that perfmon now only shows 1 CPU even though hyperthreading is still enabled in BIOS.

Thanks for all the help!

Brent