How to use Kontakt in Cakewalk by Bandlab (2020)

[@PeterDaltrey]

100% excellent Kontakt instruction tutorial. For the beginner this is like walking blindfold through a minefield with one leg tied behind your back. But your clear, concise instructions are a light in that darkness. Many of us would simply give up if we couldn`t find our way. Thank you.

[@claudeboisvert9875]

Mate, you are an astonishing teacher. And believe me, I am a history and geography french high school teacher in Québec (that's why my ortograph in english is bad). So, I know about teaching. I've been using Sonar 8.5 producer edition for 15 years and Cakewalk by BandLab for 2 months and I feel like a beginner. You are making me a better user of this incredible free DAW. Thanks, thank you, thanks a lot. You are a great teacher. I feel like I'm having a 10 000$ formation for free. You are amazing.

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you so much for that wonderful compliment Claude! Very much appreciated.

[@timsfun6653]

Great content as always Mike, thanks! Something to be aware of for folks trying this with newer Cakewalk/Kontakt. I did this in January 2024 with Cakewalk 2023.09 (Build 75) and Kontakt 7 and found that I needed to perform one additional step. When adjusting the outputs on the various Kontakt instruments being loaded for the song, I found it necessary to also adjust the midi input channel. Started with midi chan 1 and just incremented by one for each instrument, same as with the outputs. If I didn't do this all instruments were set to midi chan 1 and they all played at once during performance or playback. Love Mikes content and the way he explains this stuff has allowed me to learn to use a DAW in 2024!

[@abc456f]

Really appreciate you posting this. I've had versions of Cakewalk for years but just recently got Kontakt 7. The only way I knew how to use it was to create multiple instances of Kontakt for each instrument. This video helped me with correcting that and your comment was the finishing touch. Now to get to my computer and see how I get along. Thanks man.

[@striverfor7628]

Brilliant, thanks Mike! 1:00 The Goal 2:46 The Basics 3:12, 3:24 Don't copy this method. MIDI doesn't make any sound. 4:18 Add Kontakt plugin with the Synth Rack (Alt-9) 5:20 There's no sound so we need to connect it to audio in Cakewalk. 6:25 The MIDI track still has no sound so we have to connect the MIDI track to Kontakt 7:24 Common Methods. Add Kontakt with a MIDI Source and First Synth Audio Output 8:16 Getting them all in one block. Add Kontakt with Simple Instrument Track 9:45 Simple Instrument Tracks - lots of instances of them. But it uses up a lot of system resources - For every 3 instances of Kontakt we use about 1GB of memory. 11:15 2019 Method - Don't copy this He had a load of MIDI tracks relating to the MIDI element of the tracks. But it creates a lot of spaghetti with connections. 12:26 Preparation Have your Cakewalk up to date. Add an instance of Kontakt. Open Kontakt and double click to add empty instruments. Name each instrument. 13:58 Outputs view. Select Batch Functions > Clear output section... Save current output section state... > VST plugin. 15:15 2020 Method 15:35 Add Kontakt with Instrument Track Per Output, with Stereo Audio Outputs. Delete any of the many new tracks created which you don't need. 17:32 Change 2nd instrument's output to number 2. Do the same for further instruments and give them their own outputs. 18:30 Preferred 2020 Method For if you've got enough memory to spare. Using 3 instances of Kontakt, one instance for each category of instrument. Helps you keep organised, not totally necessary and it uses a little more resources but not as much as multiple simple instrument tracks.

[@mattlumbmusic]

I just wanted to let you know that this video is still helping people in 2022 - I've just used it to properly set up Kontakt player in Cakewalk and you made everything so easy. Thank you for all your videos!

[@Thinkingshop]

Thank you for clearing this up as it makes Kontakt so much more useful in a Cakewalk Project. In 2021 you can control how many outputs Cakewalk creates in the dialog box on the bottom right. Uncheck max outputs and name your number. That alleviates the deletions. Brilliant work! Very Grateful.🙏🙂

[@mrmoa]

This may be my favorite KZbin channel. You are a natural teacher.

[@robbrowning1937]

I've saved your entire Record, Mix, Release series into my Home Recording playlist, as well as many more of your videos. This is exactly what I need to be able to start gaining an understanding of all this... stuff. Very well done, thank you so much, from the greater Pittsburgh area.

[@timothyreynolds6255]

Once again, Mike, you made something complex understandable by showing not just "how to do it", but "why" and "options". Thanks!

[@jimkahn5107]

I've seen a couple of your videos now, and you do a great job of simplifying complicated subjects. Well done!

[@StephSancia]

I mean ALL KUDOS to you Mike as you are thee VERY 1st person I've ever come across on the tube who has taken the time to explain the critical foundations of the whole DAW/MIDI production process and that's priceless IMHO with things further down the track. I'm COMPLETELY new to Music Production but am proficient with electronics and fashion design and with the latter if you DON'T understand just WHY you have to draft a dart or curve in a certain way with a clothing pattern then you'll rarely be able to be diverse with your own designs down the track. The same here with music, I need to reverse engineer ANYTHING to understand it in order to move forward and excel. I highly suspect that some producers do not have the foundations knowledge that you so graciously explain here but I stand to be corrected. Far too many "tutorials" are rushed, jumbled, confusing and frustrating. What you've presented here is TOP NOTCH and like I say thee very first channel I've come across to teach skills and understanding that are quite unique on these forums ✌️ I'll step down off my praise soap box ✌️ Thursday Greets Mike from Middle Earth 🙃

[@frankjkelly6987]

SO much chaff online, but you're the wheat, Mike! Not only clear and concise, but inspirational, too. I've used Cakewalk since it was a 'midi sequencer' (back in the Stone Age), but I've avoided Kontakt like a pandemic. No more!

[@sabothawk]

Awesome video -- loving how you so calmly stroll through connection problems that drive us content creators crazy: keep up the great work and thanks!

[@m.gentili]

Wow! Been scratching my head how to use pads of my controller with kontakt. You just solved my problem immediately. You are so good at this! Keep up the great work! Much appreciated!

[@ProjectAlci]

Bless you for explaining MIDI as "sheet music" for the computer to read (and make sound with)! I am autistic and possess (I think) perfect pitch. But I'm musically illiterate. I can't read or write sheets. I composed my first song at the age of about 7 with my mom writing down the notes I played on the piano. It was a smashing success, won school awards, and I was told I should be a composer. Fast-forward to now. I'm older, I have attempted to learn music theory, but... due to some life circumstances, my efforts came to a halt. I have recently gotten into Cakewalk and decided that, rather than strengthening my weaknesses to read traditional music, I'm going to utilize the strengths I was born with, my perfect pitch, and attempt and make music, digitally. I was VERY confused by the terms "MIDI" and "MIDI controller", so your explanation was beyond valuable.

[@mannytoo9630]

Thanks Mike for this very good tutorial. I was struggling with Kontakt into Cakewalk for several years and now I feel you gave me the right medecine to be in better shape. Your videos are very useful. Thanks again.

[@Dromeusik]

Until today I avoided to work with Kontakt, but NI's Noire has changed that. This video is the perfect primer to use Kontakt in CbB, just what I needed. Thanks a lot, Mike.

[@Tanoti]

Thanks again Mike for an awesome video, clear concise and with background as to why not to do something as well as what to do. You've saved me a ton of RAM when working on projects which is great as I'm about to start some orchestral pieces and those are probably going to have a LOT of tracks.

[@guitarjonn7103]

First time viewer, loved it. Really answered my questions very well. Well done sir, look fwd to seeing more.

[@ZincShed]

Many thanks Mike - I finally got Kontakt to work with Cakewalk after watching your video

[@WilliamGrout]

Thank you so much for your content. I know it takes a lot of work to put these together and you do a great job of just the nuts and bolts of creating a KZbin video. I am 61 and new to all of this digital music production. After exploring many different DAWs and not interested in spending much money just yet, Cakewalk is where I am going to focus for a while. Your videos are a huge help! Showing various ways to setup Kontakt was helpful to get a bigger picture of how things can be "wired up" in the program.

[@CreativeSauce]

Hi William, thanks for watching. Yes, I think Cakewalk is an awesome way to find out if this is something you will really get into. Many decide to stick with it as their main DAW, as its very powerful, others may decide on something else. I also use Studio ONE, and I'll be doing some videos on that soon.

[@richardlalan7]

Holy smoke, this is actually so convoluted way to get sound out! Thanks for the instructions, but brutal!

[@danfahland6633]

Thanks Mike...for your crystal-clear explanations! Because of your videos, I'm using Cakewalk with a lot more confidence than I would have had otherwise. You've taken it from frustrating to fun!

[@megorra]

This has helped me enormously as I use Kontakt quite a bit. Thank you for this video and all the Cakewalk ones. As an amateur/tinkering musician, your help has been invaluable :)

[@michaeldavid7802]

Thorough and clearly explained, thank you!

[@ericgiova1663]

Other awesome video, 20 minutes, and, puuuf! doubts away. Impressive. I did have a ressources problem, thanks so much for this great content.

[@craigshaw141]

Mike, thanks again for another incredible video. The info is spot on and equally important, the pace is not too quick, allowing the viewer time to actually absorb all this good stuff. Keep it up.

[@MrOnemoreknight0]

I'm a bit late finding this video, but what a great video. I have thought for ages there must be a way of loading instruments in to Kontakc and playing them separately but never been able to figure out how to do it. Once more Creative Sauce to the rescue! Cheers. Mike.

[@geryscole7429]

God bless you! I am a newbie and learning a lot from you. Thanks a million!

[@happyron]

Finally the mysteries of Kontakt are revealed to me! thanks

[@memorablemusicformedia1337]

This is the best video I've seen on the subject of Kontakt inside Cakewalk. Thank you!

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you David!

[@julcemalji]

This video allowed me to start my Kontakt relationship. Thanks a lot Mike! Greetings from Lima.

[@michailluuko3909]

Yes, the method you've chosen is the most logical. Now there is the correspondence between Cakewalk tracks and Kontakt tracks that is a great boon to sound processing.) Well done Mike!

[@SonicVisualGR]

Great presentation ! The most logical way ! My eyes are now wide open ! Thank you !

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed!

[@GeorgFreese]

I cannot thank you enough for all the work you do, Mike. These videos are life-savers!!! 😃😃😃

[@valdon116]

You just solved a boat load of problems for me, thank you 😊

[@CreativeSauce]

Awesome!

[@EvgenyIbragimov]

Thanks a lot!!!! can i use the same LABS plugins?

[@URANOSFRIAS]

Dear Sr. you are absolutely great, your tutorials are the best. Thanks a lot for your time and gifted mind for making this really useful. Regards from Portugal.

[@manuellinares7612]

Si me quedo con Cakewalk es por estos tutoriales... y la comunidad que has creado entorno al daw. saludos desde Canarias Gracias

[@ceezbgacom]

Once again, great timely delivery of info. Thanks.

[@CreativeSauce]

Good to hear Chris! Thanks for watching :)

[@Git-M247]

Bro!! Soooo helpful, please keep the Cakewalk content coming. Love these vids 🔥

[@fredscaife6887]

Hi Mike, I thought I would have a go at Kontakt, so I downloaded the free version. I followed your instructions for the 2020 version but with the new version of CbB (Version: 2020.04 (Build 179)) in the "Insert Soft Synths Options" there is now the option to add the number of tracks you need for an instance of Kontakt (say 3 for strings, 3 for brass and so on). So you may not need to do the "Preparation" any more and have 32 tracks come up when you load an instance of Kontakt. I also tried this on a few other VSTi's but that didn't work except for a couple of drums synths, EZ Drummer and Session Drummer by Cakewalk. It may work on other drums, I don't know. Funny what you can find out when you've got time on your hands. Keep up the good work.

[@pianomanny1397]

Hello from NY! Thank you so much for covering this topic. I have the free version of Kontakt 6 with Cakewalk 2021-Build144. You made this so very understandable. I appreciate you taking the time for this. Bless you in your endeavours.

[@patoneill7276]

Great video from you as always - very helpful and explained very well.

[@philmountain2995]

Thanks Mike. Brilliant explanation.

[@trombitamuvesz]

Mike I love your tutorials. Keep doing' like this. Many help and inspiration is coming to me by your videos. I appreciate your effort to do kind of this work. Thank you for this!

[@derrylgabel]

Love to see a video like this using Sample Tank 4 Max.

[@EverBardo]

Would be really interested to see a video on pitch-bends and dynamic changes to pre-existing MIDI track with Kontakt in cakewalk.

[@MafiaSniper]

One of the most productive 20 minutes!

[@BillCaninos]

Perfect ! Exactly what I was desparatly looking for

[@ernestdaniels1671]

Mike, this helped a great deal. I was using Kontakt and having to route my outputs every time I added an instrument based on what sound I thought I needed. This method, allows me to add from 1 up to 16 instruments on a separate channel in Cakewalk. I did notice, however, that after adding each instrument to Kontakt, that I have to change the Midi out on each instrument, but I don't mind at all This is great and it will always be ready for use. Maybe I will save Track Templates with different instruments for various genres of music like, Orchestral, Jazz, Pop, R&B and so on....

[@CreativeSauce]

Good idea Ernest!

[@williamcastle9719]

Man, you are a genius!! Thank you so much, mate :)

[@salhiview6885]

loud and crystal clear . thank you so much.

[@jemmahooper7415]

Great walkthrough Mike. Love yer work! :)

[@billykellum]

Excellent video regarding Kontakt!!

[@stevenjcasey]

Very helpful video. I just subscribed to see more. Thank you!

[@RaymondSandoval]

Bravo Mike. Just started watching your videos on youtube. They're great! Thank you... been needing this sort of approach to learning about what the heck i'm doing out here in the MIDI zone. LOL... Thanks to you, I'm finding out. Gracias Muchos !

[@recklesflam1ngo968]

Same here lol, I thought it'd be quick and relatively easy to setup cakewalk and konkakt instruments but NOPE.

[@ssm5372]

I tried this technique in Kontakt7 (K7) and it randomly would crash Cakewalk! So, in Kontakt7, I tried clicking on 'Presets/Batch Configuration' then on 'Factory' ( a new choice in K7) and used 'Mono 16x' and my 16 instrument tracks in one Kontakt7 instance were created. I then populated some of the 16 tracks with instruments. This configuration has been working ever since with no problems!

[@ssm5372]

It would be helpful if you could look into this and make another video using Kontakt7. You have a lot of spare time , right? 🤪 You are a great teacher! Your videos have helped me SO MUCH! Thank You!

[@timothygilman4848]

Mike another great video. Thanks for sharing this with all of us and its great to see how other people setup their work flow.

[@bjf131313]

What a fantastic video. I watch every one that you do and they are all so informative. Thank you.

[@CreativeSauce]

Oh cheers Barry - people like you are the best, very much appreciated!

[@moosey62]

This is GOLD. Thanks Mike.

[@EdCorpse555M]

Thank you, you have helped me through out so much with these videos!

[@filipesemmaisnada]

Great job as usual. Thanks, Mike!

[@spookbones]

Excellent Mr CS.

[@derrylgabel]

Perfect timing Mike! Love your videos

[@CreativeSauce]

Cheers Derryl!

[@arneandersen9800]

Mike, this is great stuff. If only there were screenshots that I could print it would be simpler to set things up. Just the simpler preferred version would be great. Thanks for your help. Arne

[@royvdboorn]

Another great one Mike. Thank you

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you Roy - my pleasure :)

[@marekrajewski7848]

More,more,more tutorials like that.Thanks a lot. 😊 👏

[@CreativeSauce]

I will try Marek - thanks for watching!

[@outdoorsinontario3037]

hey! Well done !!!!! This was super helpful!!11 Much Appreciated dude!!!

[@kruiser8989]

Excellent and very informative

[@marcusc.nordin5624]

Great video! The only problem I find doing it this way is that if you want to freeze one of your tracks, all instruments in that Kontakt instance will freeze.

[@AlOne-xg6dv]

Thank you for these clear explainations. I first downloaded the free pocketBlakus VST, then understood that it what written for KONTAKT. I have then downloaded Kontakt 6 free, installed it inside Cakewalk, and it worked after some additional effforts. But after 2 or 3 trials with this Cello instrument, KONTAKT informed me that this free edition was not able to run the Cello instrument unless i would buy the commercial version KONTAKT Cmplete version, 200 $. For the time beeing i am a beginner and will try some other libraries and VSTs. A bit disappointed ...

[@abc456f]

Very helpful. There's one thing I struggled with in kontakt 7. I loaded 3 or 4 Instruments, but couldn't figure out how to select specific ones. It kept playing the last one I loaded and when I clicked on a previously loaded one, it still played the last one I loaded. Well, there's a small orange tab on the left side in the instrument pane that's used for selecting that instrument. I don't know if this applies to earlier versions of kontakt but this was not very intuitive. I would think if you clicked anywhere on the instrument pane it would select that one. It was a eureka moment when I discovered that little orange tab. Hope this helps anyone having a similar problem.

[@sjwilli1972]

Thanks Again Mike that made a lot of sense this time round, been struggling with it. Maybe I will go buy an upgraded version of Kontakt now they should pay you for this stuff.

[@RonSM2112]

So much great instruction crammed into 20 minutes....brilliant! Subscribe button hit!

[@911truthfarmer]

This change is Yuuuge! Thanks for showing us Mike! Sub'd.

[@CreativeSauce]

Cheers Victor - glad it helped :)

[@SouthCreake1]

Excellent video! Thank you. I've just bought Kontact and other Native Instruments Plug ins and this has helped me tremendously. Do the other NI instruments work in a similar way?

[@Steelpedal97]

Great tutorial, can you show us how to add back the track after the unused tracks are deleted ? Say that I thought that I wouldn't need that much of instruments and I have to add them back.

[@CreativeSauce]

Yes, will cover in another video. But you also may get some glues in my 2019 version linked in the description.

[@wilcokleingunnewiek44]

Good video, make's things understandeble, thanxs

[@magneticanimalism7419]

Thank you so much, this is the tutorial I have been looking for the past week. Every other tutorials gloss over this and have it already set up and I was just about to give up hope until you popped up. You're awesome. I'm looking forward to creating my masterpieces now which have only ever lived inside my head.

[@CreativeSauce]

So glad it was helpful :) Thanks for watching!

[@reevant2215]

Hi Mike, I had another look at this and basically come up with a slightly different method. Sometime back I created a template in Kontakt that is blank but has the separate output channels set. No blank instruments, no nothing. Then in Cakewalk loaded up Kontakt with instrument track using the method shown here. (A great way to go. Thanks for that.). I then saved it as a Track Template in Cakewalk. The result is I simply load the track template up comes Kontakt with the tracks all set to go. Sorry to put it here but I have no other way to contact (with a C) you. Thanks again Tony

[@CreativeSauce]

Yes Tony, its a really good approach, and I've done similar in the past. Its particularly fast if you know at the outset which instruments you are likely to be using. Template are great like that. I think that the method I have shown is more powerful when we hadn't exactly planned for Kontakt at the start, and then want to add it. Then again, I know that with many people who compose scores and use traditional orchestral setups, they use templates a lot :)

[@reevant2215]

The track template loads a blank Kontakt basically just fill it with what you want then delete any extra tracks. What I’ve been doing is replacing some of the midi tracks I was using Dimension Pro or TTS1 with Kontakt which in a lot of cases are improved. With Scomos $750 for us old guys I spent some on full Kontakt (got a cross grade that saved more than I spent on the other library). Keep well all. Tony.

[@nickellis9251]

Thanks for the videos Mike, I use them all the time. I only have Kontakt Player, so these methods are very limited for me. Is there any way that I can achieve the same or similar results without spending £££s?

[@luiszapiola355]

Perfect... just what i needed... love your channel :)

[@CreativeSauce]

Aw3some man, glad it's of use :)

[@ernestoz.s.1581]

Thank you very much. It's a great trick for everyone!!!

[@Darro2017]

Hi, till now I have been using your method from 2019 and It was a problem that I was unable to properly route the instruments output when the number of them loaded into one kontakt instance exceeded 6. However I still see advantages of this old method over the newest because it was possible to record the midi track output onto the audio track so at the end I was able to have a copy of project containing only the audio tracks (after deleting all midi and synth tracks) and that was in my opinion super resource saving method. Furthermore you can also organize tracks into folders for instance you can make one folder for midi tracks and another for audio tracks etc. Cheers

[@CreativeSauce]

Some good points there Darren. Cheers!

[@Darro2017]

@@CreativeSauce Yes definitely because we have lots of tracks but from the other hand we have better control over the project. Thus many thanks for those videos in my opinion all these methods you have spoken about deserve to be considered :) each one is best for different case. Regards

[@richardgordon9939]

nice one mike

[@FredsGratisScores]

Hi Mike. I think I solved the 32 generated tracks issue. Not sure, but it seems to be a bug with Cakewalk or some stars that don't align between Cakewalk and Kontact. I'm using Cakewalk version 2020.04. When you load Kontact and after selecting "Instrument Track Per Output", uncheck "Max. Available" and enter 16 in the "Limit To" text box in the "Number of Tracks / Track Pairs to Create" section. Be careful here, I actually have to enter "6" then "1" to get the text box to read "16" (that definitely seems to be a bug). Now when you click "OK", only 16 tracks are created. You might try this and see if it works for you. Cheers!

[@CreativeSauce]

Awesome Fred! Thank you, I'll give that a try when I get home.

[@darrenpatrick2609]

@@CreativeSauce I rarely use that many instruments so I just created 4 in Kontakt and that is all that was populated 4

[@marcuscurtismusic]

Mike your videos are awesome!

[@STOLGUITARS]

Fantastic Mike TY did not know !

[@gbtbassist9444]

Saved so much time, absolute top tip. Can I ask if, having created the outputs using this method, you see kontakt ignore the outputs defined? I set up 12 outputs and assigned 8 instruments using midi 1 to output 1, midi 2 to output 2 etc. All worked brilliantly for a few minutes then various instruments ignored the routing and started sending to output 1. In kontakt I used the spanner drop-down to look at midi and output and they were exactly as set up. Cakewalk output and midi matched kontakt settings yet instruments were only routing to st 1/2. Help!!!!

[@gazangelus]

Great tutorial; keep up the good work 😎🔥

[@mavriv]

Thank you so much. This is a lot of help.

[@CreativeSauce]

Awesome cheers Eric!

[@johndc7446]

Hey man. Thanks for the tutorial. New to mixing. If I am not mistaken, you created separate buses for each group of instruments right?

[@MusicalSocietyofKingston]

Great vid Mike. I can’t get cakewalk to recognize kontakt or any other vet plugin. What am I doing wrong?

[@sjwilli1972]

awesome mine is set up slightly differently but it works some how? Thanks thanks Thanks.

[@davidlum2001]

Thank you. It helped a lot.

[@angusmcbean752]

thanks for another great video. Can you also do this with the standalone spitfire vst?

[@maartenmateusen8057]

Really good explenation

[@bennie_p]

Thanks Man! Another useful video 😊

[@bobbyabbott1510]

Great vid. Thank you. I just purchased the NI S-49 keyboard. Do you have a vid that explains how to track real time into Cakewalk? So far, I can play the keyboard via Komplete Kontrol stand-alone, but unsuccessful via a Cakewalk Kontakt instance.