Building a custom instrument with Kontakt and other players

Queb, yes, I think many of us could be interested to know how you did!

Paolo

Hi Paolo,
The trick is quite simple. Just layer the instruments on the same midi channel and point to empty slots in the instruments you donā€™t want to hear. So basically, every entry in your xmap points to the desire sound and to x number of empty slots.

I think our setups are similar, so if I take up my strings (VSL VI and Dimension, Xsample contemporary and UVI Ircam 2)ā€¦

VSL
My main strings. Theyā€™re organized in 6 matrices, triggered by program changes. Xs are trigger by KS from C-1 to B-1 and Ys by KS from G#8 to G9. Iā€™ve then add a seventh and empty matrix (PC 6)

X Samples
I trigger the sounds by CC0 and Iā€™ve cut the volume of the last preset (CC0 #87). Itā€™s probably possible, but I didnā€™t find a way to use and empty number on CC0, When I tried, Kontakt triggers a default sound instead of silence. Anyway, muting a sound you donā€™t use works just fine.

IRCAM
Shitty UVI is a bit more complicated. Iā€™ve set the sounds I need on KS not used by VSL and, of course, out of instrument range, so from C0 to F0. You do have to set empty slots for every KS used by VSL that are lower than the ones used by IRCAM. So in my case, I needed to set empty slots from C-1 to B-1.

Here are a few examples from my xmap :
To trigger my VSL normal arco legato the basic entry would be :

  1. PC 1 / KS C#-1 (x) / KS Bb8 (y) (where my sound sits in VSL. The KS correspond to empty slots in UVI Ircam)
  2. CC0 at 87 (silenced sound of Xsample)

To trigger pizz ponticello from Xsample

  1. PC 6 (empty matrix in VSL)
  2. CC0 atā€¦ (I donā€™t remember the #, but you get itā€¦)

To trigger Play on the keys in IRCAM

  1. PC 6 (empty matrix in VSL)
  2. CC0 at 87 (silenced sound of Xsample)
  3. KS D0 (where the sound sits in UVI)

Finally, all my entries concerning IRCAM have a note off KS to C#-1, empty in IRCAM but triggering my Natural in VSL. This way, I never have to worry with IRCAM getting stuck on his KS, which could happen if a Xsample sound followed an IRCAM sound.

Hope this helps,
QuƩb