Kirk Hunter Studios

Buel · Post by **Buel** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 11:31 am

Good morning,
I am new to Kontakt5 and Spotlight Strings. Download and installation was easy. I have contacted Kirk on two problems. Responsetime was exellent. Thank you Kirk.
But I am still working on 2 problems, I can not solve. Searched the KH part of the Forum to find an answer, no luck.

Problem 1
Like other libraries, I was not able to the see "the spotlight strings"
at the left side of Kontakt. Until now, I retrive the spotlight files with the help of "files" and then "load" Is there a better way?

Problem 2
I have not discovered why are there 2 violin_samples:
violines and violines2

Thank you for taking your time,

Buel

Buel · Post by **Buel** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 11:30 am

No doubt, the libraries of Kirk Hunter are among the finest. But the reponse times to customers, having a question, are bad.
Although promised at another place, customer support is virtually non existent. I had in mind to buy the next library, but investing money and then having the risk to stay in the dark is not what I like.
Seems to be, that other people are having the same problem.
Well, I guess I forget about it and looking for help at another place.

Burkhard (Germany)

KirkHunter · Post by **KirkHunter** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:31 pm

Buel wrote:No doubt, the libraries of Kirk Hunter are among the finest. But the reponse times to customers, having a question, are bad.
Although promised at another place, customer support is virtually non existent. I had in mind to buy the next library, but investing money and then having the risk to stay in the dark is not what I like.
Seems to be, that other people are having the same problem.
Well, I guess I forget about it and looking for help at another place.

Burkhard (Germany)

Hello.
Spotlight solo strings requires the full version of Kontakt, so therefore, you won't need to use the "add library" feature. Files are always loaded either via the browser, the loader or from your system.

Also, the add-on "Instruments2" is an additional newer solo violin that simply adds to the library itself.

palm38 · Post by **palm38** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:01 pm

While I have already purchased CS3, I have gone back to using Spotlight Strings for some projects and need some help.

My copy, which I think is the latest (it has L Hand Pos and Jamboree) does not have a keyswitch option for Staccato.

In the online Spot Strings intro video, the staccato keyswitch is shown as E2 but this does not work.

Is my version faulty or is there another method of choosing the playing style via controllers?

Thank you

KirkHunter · Post by **KirkHunter** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am

Keyswitches for "toggle" features were taken out. Notice how "Connect Bowing" does not have a keyswitch either.

palm38 · Post by **palm38** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:58 pm

It's good to know that I am up-to-date but I'm afraid I don't understand your reference to "toggle features".
How do I toggle between staccato and connect bowing?
Or do I have to use a separate track for each?

KirkHunter · Post by **KirkHunter** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 6:04 pm

palm38 wrote:It's good to know that I am up-to-date but I'm afraid I don't understand your reference to "toggle features".
How do I toggle between staccato and connect bowing?
Or do I have to use a separate track for each?

The best way is to use automation. Using features to toggle by keyswitching is always troublesome since most sequencers don't "Chase" the key forward or backward.

palm38 · Post by **palm38** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:17 pm

Sorry. Still somewhat in the dark.

By using automation, do you mean I have to physically click the desired style on the interface which will then become embedded in the performance? Or is there a CC controller that can be assigned to the task?

I wouldn't bother persisting with Spotlight except that the sound of some of the instruments appeal to me more and the interface is so much less space-consuming.

chibear · Post by **chibear** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:07 pm

palm38 wrote:Sorry. Still somewhat in the dark.

By using automation, do you mean I have to physically click the desired style on the interface which will then become embedded in the performance? Or is there a CC controller that can be assigned to the task?

In the Kontakt UI in the left pane, there is a switch for 'Auto', which will bring up your choice of 'host' or 'CC' automations.

palm38 · Post by **palm38** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:15 am

Thanks chibear, but I've tried that.
Presumably a high value would trigger staccato and a low value would trigger connect bowing (or vice versa) but what would I assign this controller to? It doesn't seem to work when I drag it to the style names.
Or is it a case of assigning one controller to the connect bowing slider and another to the staccato slider?
That doesn't seem to work either. It changes their individual values but doesn't toggle anything.
If i'm missing something blindingly obvious, please, what is it?

chibear · Post by **chibear** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:47 am

palm38 wrote:Or is it a case of assigning one controller to the connect bowing slider and another to the staccato slider?

That's the way I do it. For a slider the value should be transferred. For on & off toggles, I usually set the value to 127 for on and close to 0 for off.

As far as Host vs CC automations, I'm having a tendency to use CC#s for my on/off toggles and Host automation for sliders so I can more easily draw the changes under the track (especially good for vibrato intensity and speed).

palm38 · Post by **palm38** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:57 pm

Working my way through the DaVinci Code of Spotlight Strings management, I have been able to assign controllers to the Staccato Length and Connect Bowing slider parameters. The actual Staccato and Connect Bowing selectors refuse to accept any controllers whether applied by MIDI input or from within Kontakt’s auto assign function. (They show an assignment but don’t function.)

I thought I could control the bowing styles by leaving Staccato and Connect Bowing lit up and manipulating the sliders which works. Sort of. But if you then select Slur on Overlap (D2), Staccato toggles off and can only be reengaged by clicking on the GUI.

Can this possibly be the way this is supposed to work?

chibear · Post by **chibear** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 2:18 am

I haven't worked in Spotlight Strings since CS3 came out, so I loaded up an instance of Spotlight violin and tried stacatto and you are correct that it did not accept programming if you tried to program the word stacatto, BUT if I programmed the beacon (light, whatever) next to the word, then the programming was accepted (CC#102 High value turns on, low value turns off) and it worked. See if it works for you and also for connect bowing. Probably an omission.

palm38 · Post by **palm38** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:51 pm

Brilliant chibear! It seems you have to make the assignment while the light is lit. I thought I had tried that but the oppressive heat down in TO must have fogged my brain.

Unfortunately, Connect Bowing doesn’t seem to accept an assignment either way*. But this is a huge advance. Thank you.

*That was with cc103. Only a hundred or so others to try before I rule it out.

scunacc · Post by **scunacc** » Wed Jun 21, 2017 12:59 am

Hi,

I've been trying to figure out how to get Connect Bowing to respond to a mapped MIDI CC to turn it on and off. I can send other MIDI CCs to other controls - like the Staccato Length - just fine. But, Connect Bowing doesn't seem to respond to anything. I've tried 0 and 127 but it doesn't toggle. I've tried mapping it in Kontakt (and then sending from the host) on a couple of different CC #s but no dice.

Am I missing something? It's a feature I really would like to map and control non-interactively. I have an ugly workaround which is to load two copies of the instrument in question on different MIDI channels and choose between them based on the host's choice of articulation/technique with one set to have Connect Bowing on and the other off, but that's wasteful of resources and I'd rather not do it.

Suggestions?

Kind regards

Derek.