Kontakt Factory Library in Dorico4 Pro

I want to use Kontakt 6 in dorico with the Kontakt Factory Library.
I have two questions to ask.
Firstly as Kontakt 6 does not appear in the list of plugins under the play tab in Dorico Should I put an instance of Kontakt into the Steinberg VST3 folder which as I understand it is the default folder for vST3 plugins showing in Dorico’s list?
Secondly should I use CC 11 for the dynamics settinings in the expression maps for Kontakt Factory Library?

Kontakt 6 is a vst3 since… last week?
I haven’t checked yet, but VST3 are all installed in a specific folder in a computer (unlike vst2s that could be all over the place)
I think vst3s should not need any white listing (in Preferences >VST plug-ins) but I might be wrong for this one, given it’s brand new. The vst2 version of Kontakt might need you to whitelist it though, if it’s the one you intend to use.

I am using Dorico 4 Pro but Kontakt 6 does not appear in the list on the left hand side in Play mode (VST Rack) Should I whitelist Kontakt (which is actually a VST3 plugin and should not need whitelisting) or do I perhaps need to reinstall Kontakt so that it installs in the correct vST3 folder

Using the new Kontakt 6.7 in Dorico 4.0.10 works just fine for me with no special arrangement other than Kontakt being installed on the system (Windows 10).

I don’t know if this helps, but knowing it works right out of the box at least in one case is useful debugging information.

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Hi @Julian_C , Mark is right with what he says. VST3 plug-ins do automatically get detected by Dorico, they don’t need special whitelisting or search paths.
If the VST3 version of Kontakt does not turn up with you, then indeed it might be an installation issue with you.
But before reinstalling, let me check. Please select from the menu ‘Help > Create Diagnostics Report’ and post the corresponding zip file here. From the contained data I might be able to tell what is wrong there.

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In my default install of Kontakt 6.7, the VST DLL is here:

C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\VSTPlugins 64 bit

the correct location for vst3 files in Windows is normally: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3. What is showing up there?

I have just updated Kontakt 6 to the latest version and I now see Kontakt in the list of available VST instruments
I am having trouble though now in getting Kontakt to obey crescendo and dimiinuendo markings so I am posting the diagnostic report anyway
Dorico Diagnostics.zip (1.6 MB)
I think I am getting the velocity part of the dynamics correct but I cannot detect any continuous changes of loudness

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Ah, good that Kontakt is turning up now. Unfortunately, the diagnostics report does not provide for logging the crescendo/diminuendo, therefore I can’t tell anything about that.

Maybe some other Kontakt user like Andro can say something about that or help setting things up correctly.

For me with Kontakt 6.6.1 and Zimmer Piano it works just fine.

I think you have an expression map problem. Some instruments respond to velocity, others to Expression… You have to make sure you use correct expression maps (or learn the fun of creating them :sweat_smile:)

Yes it is an expression map problem Marc. After a bit of trial and error(The error was in not saving endpoint configs) I have got a response to dim and other dynamic markings from a kontakt instance with just violins added. So I am on my way to a solution for the whole Kontakt factory Library. For the benefit of others the sustained patches seem to respond to velocity as a primary and CC11 as a secondary dynamic.

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the Kontakt factory library also has Modwheel Xfades patches which respond to CC1 instead of velocity according to the documentation (though it may depend on the version). Changes of dynamic within single notes are not usually possible with velocity so if CC1 is not used, I would expect hairpins would need to be duplicated to CC11 secondary which is probably what you’ve done.

Andro I am having trouble with the percussion instruments in Kontakt.

In particular I would be interested to know wether you have had any success in getting the VSL Percussion instruments ‘Tam Tam’ and the Kontakt Orchestral instrument ‘Asian Percussion’ to play in Dorico,.
The trouble is that Kontakt seems to need a drum set type of stave whereas Dorico only assigns a single line set up to Halion’s Tam Tam sound and I can’t see any way at all of loading 'Asian Percussion

Do we always need to load an instance of Halion before switching to Kontakt in loading instruments in Dorico.

I have just given myself the idea of setting noteperformer as my default instrument which might at least allow me use of the Tam Tam.
As Ulf said you are a Kontakt user I would be interested to know how you would handle these sorts of problems

You should find that you can simply create a tam-tam instrument in your score, then in Play mode, set the Routing section to point at the appropriate channel in Kontakt, where you’ve loaded the patch containing the tam-tam sound. Then the only remaining thing is to tell Dorico which MIDI pitch it needs to play to trigger the tam-tam sound in Kontakt. To do that, you’ll need to create a simple percussion map (via Library > Percussion Maps) that specifies the tam-tam instrument, the Natural playing technique, and the MIDI pitch that corresponds to the tam-tam sound in your Kontakt instance. Finally, using the Endpoint Setup dialog, assign your new percussion map to the Kontakt channel with the tam-tam sound loaded. It sounds more complicated than it is.

If you want a more detailed tutorial for how percussion mapping works, read this:

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