You can add a non NKS Kontakt library to Komplete Kontrol.
The default user content path can be used, however as this is on the operating system drive on both Windows and MAC it’s worth bearing in mind that sample libraries can be quite large, so this is going to eat into the available space.
The better option is to use an alternate user path on a secondary internal or external drive.
This is a case of creating and adding this new path within Komplete Kontrol standalone, so that KK knows to scan it in future. Both Windows and MAC have methods for achieving this using either the KK.exe auto hotkey macro, or Keyboard Maestro script for MAc.
The procedure is to first create your new location, and then go to the user library tab within Komplete Kontrol, select the add user path button, at which point you will be prompted to browse for your new location, let’s say E:\Non NKS Libraries
Once confirmed, Komplete Kontrol will include this location in future scans.
The second part to the process is to perform a batch resave on the library you are adding, and this should be done prior to the final rescan.
For this, you will be using Kontakt full version on it’s own as a plug-in on Windows, the MAC process may be on the standalone application. Again both Windows and MAC have macro scripts available, which allow you to hit the usually inaccessible batch resave button.
You will get a prompt warning you that you are about to alter files in a library, and only to proceed if you know what you are doing.
This sounds a little scary, but fortunately you do know what you are doing 🙂
After hitting yes, you will again get a standard browser which lets you locate the library folder, once selected hit ok and Kontakt will do the rest.
This essentially updates all of the files pertaining to your library, and resaves them to match the current version of full Kontakt on your machine.
Afterwards, you can do the rescan in Komplete Kontrol, and you should then see your library on the user side of your KK browser under Native Instruments/Kontakt and then the presets in alphabetical order in a long list.
This can be problematic if the preset name does not reflect the libraries identity, for example ‘dreamy summer day’ sounds great as a preset name, but you have no idea unless you have a good memory which product it actually relates to.
There are a couple of solutions here, you could rename the NKI files and prefix them with something indicative of the product. If you do this you will then need to perform the batch resave step again, so plan ahead and do so beforehand if possible.
There is also the NimBank option, I have not explored this myself, but it’s a utility that gives you the option to categorise your library with a product name, bank etc.
Finally if the library uses NKSN snapshots, although they happily scan into Komplete Kontrol, in most cases they throw up a missing content dialog, due possibly to them being saved on another machine with an absolute path which does not match their new home.
NKI files are generally the safest and most successful way of getting a non NKS library into Komplete Kontrol, and unless the developer has enabled the parameters to show up within KK, it’s unlikely that any of the KK knobs will work, but it’s certainly a convenient way to gain access to your content under one roof.
Disclaimer…
the author is not responsible for any problems, damage or subsequent loss of data resulting from the instructional content found within this article. Any procedures followed are undertaken solely at your own discretion.
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