- Tools: MIDI effects that work with all Kontakt instruments. The Chords section includes an extensive collection of chord progressions, allowing you to play them with the press of a single key. Likewise, the Phrases section allows you to play melodies with the press of a single key.
- Leap: Allows you to play loops and one-shots, comes with new effects and a streamlined interface for quickly customizing samples.
- Default View: The new default view of the sidebar allows you to connect MIDI effects to instruments, mix different rack instruments, and quickly load and change presets for both effects and instruments.
- Piano Uno: Kontakt 8 comes with an easy-to-use piano library.
- Improved Wavetable module: Allows phase and frequency modulation and greatly expands Kontakt’s synthesis capabilities.
- Komplete UI: A developer assistant for quickly creating the look of high-resolution instruments that not only sound beautiful, but look beautiful too.
8.2.0 – 2025-02-12
OVERALL CHANGES
ADDED Patterns Tool – A new polyphonic step arpeggiator
ADDED Command+Click sets a parameter to its default value
FIXED Excessively long wait times when saving/loading DAW projects containing Kontakt
FIXED Corrupted user interface when loading certain older instruments
FIXED If hosted, Kontakt 8 would cause a crash when closing Komplete Kontrol 3
FIXED Blank user interface for Electric Keys Diamond, Phoenix, and Alicia Keys
FIXED Crash when Drag+Drop onto the Rack
FIXED User-saved Multis have incorrect Browser Bank Values
FIXED Erroneous warning message when importing Kontakt content with .ncw files
FIXED File type banner text could spill into the user interface if Kontakt is set to minimum size
FIXED Tempo sync issues between Kontrol S MK3 and Kontakt
IMPROVED Use the modern (Vista and above) file open dialog on Windows when locating folders
LEAP CHANGES
FIXED Changing sample rate breaks waveform visuals in Leap
FIXED Quickly bypassing the amp and releasing a key could cause hanging notes in Leap
FIXED Samples no longer lose sync when set to Legato Playback in Leap
FIXED Time and pre-delay values in Send FX do not report automation correctly in sync mode
FIXED Changing global tonality in Leap was momentarily delayed, causing notes to briefly play in the incorrect key
FIXED Speeding Leap playback Up/Down will throw currently playing loops out of time
FIXED Speed can no longer be set to 0% as this would cause no sounds to trigger
FIXED Playing one-shots in Legato Mode when quantized and in the same choke group can prevent voices from playing in Leap
FIXED Leap samples do not respond to MIDI pitch bend
FIXED Empty slots in Leap are inconsistently grayed out
FIXED Leap sample start/end points are not reset when replacing a sample
FIXED In classic engine mode, switching to non-ping-pong mode can cause a loop to play in reverse with the reverse button not active
FIXED Notes randomly not playing when triggered from the on-screen keyboard in Leap’s Single Mode
FIXED Muzak Macro preset in Leap was saved with incorrect Delay and Reverb Macros
FIXED Toggling sync on/off in delay and reverb FX causes values to jump unexpectedly in Leap
FIXED Position indicator ring displays incorrectly when duplicating a sample in Leap
FIXED Grid is sometimes incorrect after duplicating grids in Leap
FIXED Replacing a file with modified start/end points can sometimes cause start/end points to not display in Leap
FIXED Start marker in Leap can sometimes disappear
FIXED Duplicating a REX file shows, but does not respect or use the start and end points of the copied sample
FIXED “Edit All Samples” in Leap doesn’t work for Perform and Macro FX Toggles
FIXED Anonymous usage data tracking of Leap for opted-in users
ADDED Support for BPM and ID3v2 when importing samples to Leap
ADDED Replaced group/single text switches with buttons for better usability
ADDED Time sync parameter for Global FX
TOOLS CHANGES
FIXED MIDI Note Off events not sent for the Chords Tool for notes not in scale
BUILDER CHANGES
ADDED Komplete UI first public release
ADDED Noise options for the Wavetable Modulation Oscillator
ADDED Blend mode for Wavetable source module’s Modulation Oscillator
FIXED Some MIDI CCs interpreted erroneously as CC 0, breaking KSP multi scripts
FIXED Stop writing library.json in binary format
FIXED Changes made when in mono instances of any stereo FX will not be reflected in the second instance when switching mono off via KSP
FIXED Crash in Wavetable Oscillator
FIXED KSP: dont_use_machine_mode() does not bypass TMPro polyphony limitations
FIXED API: get_instrument_options() doesn’t work with encoded instruments
8.1.0 – 2024-10-21
KONTAKT ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS
ADDED AAX Plugin migration is now available from Kontakt 5, 6 and 7 to Kontakt 8
ADDED New amp and stomp effects: Super Fast 100, Chainsaw, Kolor, Skreamer Deluxe
FIXED Space bar did not get picked up by the DAW after a Tool has been loaded
FIXED Crash when showing the Batch Resave dialog in default view
FIXED Crash when restoring a ProTools project with a large number (>10) of Kontakt instances
FIXED Previews continued to play after Tool or Leap presets were loaded from the Default View side pane
FIXED Drag and drop to create an instance of Kontakt in ProTools brought up the Missing Content dialog
FIXED Tool “Retrigger” and “Dyn Mode” macro knobs did not show values in Maschine/Komplete Kontrol or when automated
IMPROVED Bass Invader amp can now process stereo signals
LEAP IMPROVEMENTS
ADDED More Send FX Delay and Reverb types
FIXED Playback stopped if pointer is moved while playing
FIXED Macro knobs on play page were missing hover states
FIXED Issues after duplicating samples
FIXED Snap functionality took points after the sample end and start into account when snapping in Auto or REX mode using Beat Machine
FIXED Stuck latched notes in scaled mode
FIXED Parameter labels were not drawing on Control MK3
FIXED Changing audio device in Bitwig brought up the Missing Content dialog
FIXED Changing the engine of any sample killed all current voices
FIXED Replacing a playing latched loop led to a stuck note on virtual keyboard
IMPROVED Perform FX and Macro FX toggles are now pinned to both Sound and Engine tabs
CHANGED Snap mode now defaults to Grid
INSTRUMENT BUILDING AND SCRIPTING IMPROVEMENTS
ADDED KSP: $NI_EPP_EQ_MODE_E_GRAND built-in constant
FIXED KSP: Regression with $EVENT_NOTE and $EVENT_VELOCITY built-in variables having random values in multiscript
FIXED KSP: (N)RPN messages sent from multiscript did not reach instrument scripts
IMPROVED KSP: NKS2 parameter groups can now have up to 48 parameters
ADDED API: set_zone_group() command
KNOWN ISSUE Arrow Keys not working in Sidepane of Default View in some VST3 DAWs on Windows (Live, Cubase, Studio One)
KNOWN ISSUE New Kontakt-related files types (NKL, NKT) not opening when Kontakt is launched via loading these files by double clicking in OSs Finder/Explorer
8.0.1 – 2024-09-26
FIXED Unable to create new instrument from loading audio file in Classic View (whilst other Instruments or Tools are in view)
FIXED Leap: Quantizing will stop all other notes in group mode
FIXED Tools: Missing “Off” state for Dynamics mode on the UI
FIXED Chords: Hanging notes when using this Tool
FIXED Chords: Recorded chords not being strummed as intended
FIXED Phrases: Retrigger modes “Off” and “Legato” not working correctly
FIXED Phrases: Missing NKS1 labels for Retrigger and Dynamics mode
KNOWN ISSUE Leap: While adjusting tuning, all vocies playing in single mode will be set to the same pitch
KNOWN ISSUE Spacebar not reaching DAW when content is loaded from the side pane Browser
KNOWN ISSUE Crash on loading Pro Tools project with many instances, while using Kontrol MK3 keyboards
KNOWN ISSUE Leap: Duplicating Kontakt instances containing Leap presets may trigger a missing content dialog (which can safely be ignored)
KNOWN ISSUE Loading a sample via drag and drop on a rack that is not empty can cause an incorrect error dialog to appear. Please create a new Leap from the menu and drag samples onto it instead
8.0.0 – 2024-08-23
WORKFLOW IMPROVEMENTS
ADDED New side pane Navigator and Browser in the new Default View
ADDED Browsing can now filter by Preset types (Instruments, Combined, Tools, Leap, Loops, One-shots)
ADDED Full-screen Browser now shows onboarding information about different Preset types
IMPROVED Full-screen Browser now shows Presets in a single column
IMPROVED Bank chain can now be edited when tagging Presets
IMPROVED Overlay and side panel browsers can now display high-resolution assets
KONTAKT ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS
ADDED New default sample instrument type for loop and oneshot based workflows – Leap
ADDED New MIDI processing instrument type – Tools (Chords and Phrases)
ADDED 5 new effects from Traktor: Beat Masher, Beat Slicer, Gater, Reverse Grain, Transpose Stretch
ADDED Wavetable source module now has a second Shaper and a Modulation Oscillator, allowing various audio rate processes: frequency, phase or ring modulation, mixing in with the wavetable
IMPROVED Instantiation time with a lot of content products and 3rd party plugins installed
IMPROVED Kontakt now has 28 stereo outputs specified by default, allowing easier multi-out workflows out of the box
IMPROVED Beat Machine supports now reverse sample playback
IMPROVED Increased the maximum amount of external modulators to 64 per group
IMPROVED Replika delay has greatly reduced memory usage and feature parity with the standalone plugin (except Dual mode)
FIXED Polyphonic Aftertouch modulator was not applied per voice correctly
FIXED Beat Machine playback did not take sample start and end markers into account
FIXED LFO Fade In now behaves as expected (previously it clamped to maximum value earlier than it was supposed to)
FIXED MIDI Transpose setting in Instrument Options now also transposes MIDI Polyphonic Aftertouch events
INSTRUMENT BUILDING AND SCRIPTING IMPROVEMENTS
ADDED Support for Komplete UI language
ADDED KSP New MIR functions for key and tempo detection
ADDED KSP Engine parameters for newly added effects, Replika parameters and Wavetable source module parameters
ADDED KSP $ENGINE_PAR_VOICE_GROUP, allows setting a group to a specific voice group
ADDED KSP Support for MIDI 2.0 Per-Note controllers (on note_controller callback, set_note_controller() command)
ADDED KSP New command to send polyphonic aftertouch events, set_poly_at()
ADDED KSP New command to get display value of an engine parameter based on externally provided value, get_engine_par_disp_ext()
IMPROVED Warnings are not shown as errors anymore in Creator Tools Debugger and Kontakt Lua API terminal
IMPROVED KSP get_folder() can now get the path of the Resource Container linked to the instrument
IMPROVED KSP note_off() now has an optional argument for specifying the time offset after which note off will be applied
IMPROVED KSP make_instr_persistent() now works with string array variables
FIXED KSP Beat Machine did not respond to change_tune() commands
FIXED KSP Regression in load_array() behavior when loading string arrays (since Kontakt 6.7)
FIXED KSP Regression where $ENGINE_PAR_LR_SWAP and $ENGINE_PAR_PHASE_INVERT did not point to Inverter effect in instrument busses (since Kontakt 7.2)
FIXED KSP Setting $ZONE_PAR_VOLUME was incorrectly clamped to 31.02 semitones
FIXED KSP mf_set_event_par() created duplicate events when using $EVENT_PAR_POS
ADDED API factory_snapshot_path and user_snapshot_path entries in the Instrument Options table
FIXED API set_group_start_options() now properly obeys the given group index
KNOWN ISSUE Leap: While adjusting tuning, all voices playing in single mode will be set to the same pitch
KNOWN ISSUE Spacebar not reaching DAW when content is loaded from the side pane Browser
KNOWN ISSUE Crash on loading Pro Tools project with many instances, while KSMK3 is connected
KNOWN ISSUE Quantized notes in Leap instrument can kill other currently playing notes when triggering playback (This can be avoided by holding notes past the chosen quantization interval)
How to install Kontakt 8 PORTABLE.
- Create an empty folder. The name of the folder itself and the path to it MUST NOT CONTAIN CYRILLIC. The folder MUST BE WRITTEN (you cannot install it in the Program Files folder).
- Run the installer (KontaktPortable_v820.exe).
- Click the Browse… button and select the created empty folder.
- Click the Extract button.
- The first time you launch the Library Manager, it will automatically scan the factory content, as well as the already installed libraries (registry scanning).
After scanning is complete, you must save the changes and (re)launch Kontakt.
If the changes were not saved the first time you launched it, you can launch the automatic scanning at any time by pressing Alt + Insert or from the Manager context menu:
ADD > quick search
By default, libraries are added only to the classic browser (except for the factory content, which is not added to the classic browser).
This behavior can be changed in the Library Manager settings: Libraries > Manage libraries in NKS browser
How to update a previous version of Kontakt 8 PORTABLE.
- Run the KontaktPortable_v820.exe installer
. 2. Click the Browse… button and select the folder containing the files from the previous Kontakt 8 PORTABLE installation. - Click the Extract button .
- When the Confirm file replace window appears, confirm the file replacement (Click Yes to All).
Note: in version 8.2.0, a new type of midi effects was added: “patterns”. To add them to the database and, accordingly, to the Kontakt browsers, you need to run the Library Manager, click the SAVE button and restart Kontakt.
How to add Kontakt 8 PORTABLE VST3 to a DAW.
Method 1 (not suitable for all DAWs):
Add the Kontakt8Portable\Kontakt 8\x64\VST3\ folder as an additional plugin scanning folder. For details, please refer to your DAW’s manual.
Method 2.
Run Kontakt8Portable\Install.exe
On the component selection page, check the box “Add VST3 plugin to DAW”.