NI Studio Drummer track input conundrum

[kovacs]

Hey folks, I apologize if this has been discussed elsewhere but I am unable to find a solution.

I am trying to use multiple outputs from NI Studio Drummer running in Kontakt 5 Player. I use Ableton Live 9.1 Studio. My audio interface is the NI Session I|O.

I have created a mixer preset in Kontakt 5 with all the channels I need. For the purposes of this discussion, I have set up 11 stereo channels.

They are mapped thusly:

Stereo Channel 1 (Kick) in Kontakt -> Audio track "Kick" in Ableton Live
Stereo Channel 2 (Snare) -> Audio track "Snare" in Ableton Live

But I have two problems:
1) The Kontakt track labels which Ableton Live shows are mismatched. When I select which Kontakt track to use in Ableton, the list starts with "Snare" (but this is actually the Kick track)
2) I only see 7 tracks in the dropdown list.



Why is this, and is there a way to fix it?

I also need to get the Aux tracks from Kontakt, but I just can't see them anywhere...

[kovacs]

OK this is down to my own incompetence, I think.

I was using the Kontakt 16out version thinking that it would be enough. I wonder if that is max 8 stereo channels - and that the Master channel counts for 1 of these?

Anyway, using the version only labeled "Kontakt" I see all the tracks in an empty project:

[kovacs]

Still learning the ropes here...

After I set things up, and then save and reload things to make sure things update between Kontakt and Live, the channels somehow shift one step so that the Kick track in Live gets audio from the Snare track in Kontakt.

So while live apparently shows the labels from the Kontakt mixer, they are not routed correctly.

Not a big problem since it seems to be consequent, but I really don't understand why this happens.

[kovacs]

Replying to my self is fun.

Trial and error shows that the real problem is that Live does not update the output listing correctly, so when I make changes in Kontakt they are not reflected in Ableton even after a refresh. But then suddenly the changes "take".

So finally I got it all set up correctly.

(To anyone else struggling with this, it might help to save your entire kit as a multi in order to ensure you have all the settings carry over from session to session).

[InLight-Tone]

Yes it's a little maddening using multi-out VST's in Live at first. In theory I believe that Live uses outputs 1&2 as the main stereo pair, and then treats the rest as the auxiliary outs thats why you don't see 1&2 in your list.

For Kontakt, I set it up as 32 individual outs or 16 stereo pairs and then set that as the default in the Kontakt outputs section. That way you have plenty of outs to play with if you want to route the individual drums.

I have also racked up Studio Drummer as a drum rack with all the note names labeled per the mappings in the mapping pdf to make editing in the midi editor easier.

Here's a video I made that's not the best, but explains the above...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOAVgavxaz0

[clydesdale]

You are not alone, I had the same confusion using SampleTank. I kept wondering where the hell are the 1&2 pair?

[kovacs]

Thanks, people.

@clydesdale I know...another problem I faced was that when I added lots of channels, I always got a stereo track which was called "st 2" but which was routed to output channel 1/2 - just like the first track in my mixer. That is probably the reason for the "shift" I mention above, even after cleaning up. Deleting this track and double checking things seem to work fine.

@InLight-Tone, wow - that was a great YouTube video. I hadn't thought of using drum racks with Kontakt in this way. Brilliant.