Latest Kontakt version freezing Cubase and Nuendo big time

Cubase
1

I made the mistake of keeping all my software current. Some people might say that’s actually not a mistake but what you are supposed to do, but we know that sometimes software engineers screw up like anybody else, especially with tens of thousands of lines of code.

So every few days I launch Native Access and if there’s anything to update, I do. And just like that I updated Kontakt 7, and now it’s messing up Cubase and Nuendo. I tested the same project on both and it’s there’s no difference. But I wanted to check with other users to see if this is happening to everybody or not.

If you create a new track with Kontakt 7 , or assign it to any track, then open its window (the one that holds the instrument’s GUI), there’s a good chance the whole system becomes unresponsive for a few seconds. For starters, today I noticed something that definitely never happened before: shortly after clicking on the Cubase or Nuendo icons on the dock, the system freezes to the extent that you can’t even move the mouse pointer. Then it unfreezes as soon as the welcome screen appears.

This behavior also happens if you opened the Kontakt window and you move it around to make space for something else. You start moving it and within a second of two, the window freezes. In this case, if you do Cmd+Tab to switch to the last app and then again to come back to Cubase, it unfreezes. But if you move it again, then freezes again.

I couldn’t say if this is happened in Windows too, I’m on macOS Sonoma current version, Apple Silicon Mac.

Is this happening to anyone else?

2

Hi,

If the issue didn’t happen with the previous Kontakt version in the same Cubase/Nuendo version, the issue is definitely on the NI side. Please get in contact with the NI support.

3

Hey Martin, that’s the plan, however, I wanted to get an idea of how many others were seeing this to tell NI support that this is happening to everybody, to some people, or just me.

So if anybody reading this is having this issue please post, with your OS included, in case it’s something that happens only in Macs.

4

Masochist!

4 Likes
5

Hahahahahaha

6

First know the difference between Native Access and Native Access 2.
Maybe Google "difference between NA and NA2?

There are loads of threads about NA2 in other forums with lots of issues. I have purposely stayed on NA because of so many issues however just recently I have wondered if my NA has become dormant because it’s not updating my Kontakt7 or Maschine2 versions to the latest version. I have not received any NI update of any NI plug in a couple months.

With Kontakt 7, again do a search. The Kontakt7 load times are horrible, and that includes Battery 4 as well as Maschine 2. Just now I opened Kontakt 6 stand-alone and it took 16 seconds. K7 VST3 in C13 took 19 seconds a couple days ago.

I don’t have any issues moving the Kontakt window around to make space for something else. That to me, sounds like a separate issue.

I’m on Windows 10.

Search out NI forum, Gearslutz, and Vi Control for more information on the load times for Kontakt and Native Access vs. Native Access 2.

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There’s was a new update for K7 in NA when I checked this morning.

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The K7 load times issue has existed for more than a year. And there have been many K7 updates since then. If by chance you experience long load times and they have vanished with this update, please let me know.

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I just tried K7 stand alone: 4 seconds. (v7.8.1). Then loaded a Trumpet from MOJO (1.36 gigabytes) - 12 seconds.

I have no idea if that’s good or bad. But I’m happy with it.

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Sorry, I don’t follow. NA is rather old, I think by now well over a year old, and I’m not going to install a legacy version of the NI downloader app. Why would I anyway? Currently I don’t have problems with any NI product but Kontakt 7, and that’s obviously a specific Kontakt 7 bug on Apple Silicon machines. Has nothing to do with Native Access.

And why would I want to install a downloader that is totally outdated and won’t even give me the current versions of all the programs, instruments and other content that I get via Native Access?

This seems to be a problem with Apple Silicon Macs, not Windows PCs. I gather that from having gone to the NI forum and reading a few of the irate users that can’t use Kontakt 7 for the time being because NI has barely any QC, which is evident given that this seems to affect every user of an Apple Silicon Mac. When you’re one of the biggest players in the industry, there’s no excuse for poor QC practices.

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That to me seems pretty normal.

Nowhere did I suggest anyone installing a legacy version of NA. What I did say is that I have NA and certainly at this time not interested in NA2 based on numerous feedback.

Again, there are 2 NA versions. The original is several years old. NA2 is much more recent. When discussing NA it may help to clarify which version.

How are your load times with Kontakt6 Battery 4, Machine2 or the latest Guitar Rig?

I agree NA has nothing to do with K7 load times. Again, I was simply suggesting users state if they are using NA or NA2. There are lots of threads about NA2 issues.

Regarding Kontakt 7 there are also lots of posts about very slow load times, and it’s not just with K7 and it’s not just Apple Silicon. Lots of Windows users report slow K7 load times. As a matter of fact there are several threads about K7 slow load times if you search VI Control and Gearslutz.

Here is 9 pages starting a year ago at NI and they are not all Apple Silicon.

12

I’ve had Native Instruments software since 2014, when I bought Komplete 9 and it came in a large plastic set of about 10 DVDs, which you patiently had to insert, remove, insert the next one and so on. This was before NA, so I’m familiar with NA and NA2, even though that’s confusing because the current version is 3. something.

But I don’t think I don’t need to clarify which version of NA I’m using, after all, it’s not different from any other downloader from any other company, like the Eastwest Installation Center, the same for Arturia, Orchestral Tools and the list goes on.

It’s assumed that people have the latest or close to it, because these things are like everything else, they keep getting updated, and you download the updates. I’m not going to stay on some much older version of an installer because some people online had problems with the newer version. People will always have problems with updated software. It’s built by human beings, so by definition it’s never going to be flawless. The problem with NI is that their QC before release is rather crappy.

I don’t care about that, and I never said that I had a problem with load times. Are you perhaps getting mixed up with some other thread about load times? Hey, I’ve done that before, replied to things in a thread that were in another one, even across different forums, so I don’t blame you if that’s the case.

But my load times for Kontakt are normal, which are a bit longer, the first time I load it in a session, then it’s just a second or two. That hasn’t changed from when it was working fine, what changed is what I described, that it hangs the DAW, both Cubase and Nuendo (haven’t tested Logic yet), and to slap it out of the trance, you do a Cmd+Tab. But then if you start interacting with the Kontakt instrument, it goes into a trance again.

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indeed the same problems on Windows. It is also similar problems with Battery, not just Kontakt. Somehow Battery is much better now. Since Kontakt 7.5 there is also a huge problem with loading projects in Cubase 13 on Windows. It will take up to 8 tries for me to load a project I just worked on ago depending on how many instances of Kontakt I have used. The problem is most definitely a Native Instruments problem, I am sure there is a reason Native is updating Kontakt every month - because they can’t fix the problems. Actually the latest version is the most stable one (7.5.9) I have had since 7.5.0

14

Well, yesterday I bought Modern Scoring Strings, which is an outstanding library, but unfortunately Kontakt based. So I have been using Kontakt a lot yesterday and today, and no sign of the giant bug. Hopefully it will stay that way.

15

Forget about what I said. Kontakt is still freezing today, but only when the instrument window is open. I can play the instrument as much as I want, and everything is fine as long as the instrument windows are closed. I open one, and within seconds, it freezes until I do Cmd+Tab twice, then it freezes again.

I’m so sick of Native Instruments…

16

Hi,

Please get in touch with the NI support.

17

Oh I did, days ago. I heard nothing yet.

18

Cubase Kontakt Automation Freeze Bug

Not sure how related that is, but I’m having a terrible workflow breaking bug with Cubase 14 and Kontakt. Whenever I try to open an automation lane for one of the parameters in Una Corda it freezes completely, even though it still plays back audio. Anyone having similar issues?

19

Yes, Im having the same problem. Automating Una Corda grinds my entire session to a halt. Spinning wheels. I have a maxed out Mac Studio with 6 tracks in the session… it makes no sense.

20

Hi,

I’m afraid, you are experiencing this issue.