Cantabile & NI Komplete Kontrol for live performance

Cantabile
1

Hello,
I am trying to use NI Komplete Kontrol keyboard to control Cantabile. This seems to be a nightmare!!!
Anybody using it? Any help is appreciated.

I am trying to switch among to SONGS in the “SET LIST” or switch among 2 STATES but I cannot get the BINDINGS to work properly.

Thanks in advance.
Montxo

2

Are you using the “learn” function to set up your bindings? Check here : Binding Guide. If the bindings are working there should be a green indicator on the left that lights when you press the button on your controller that relates to your binding. If you could post a picture of your bindings screen it might help to figure it out. :relaxed:

3

THanks Dave,
please find attached a screenshot for my Bindings test config. It works… but the problems is that the NI KOMPLETE KONTROL S88 keyboard has not buttons to be used as MIDI switches apart form the 8 rotary encoders. Incredible!!!. or am I missing something!!!
I am trying to use teh NI Controller Editor together with Cantabile but I cannot find the way to use both together properly.

image.png2160×592 56.3 KB

GOing to investigate at the NI forums!!!
Any help is appreciatted.
Anybody using KOMPLETE KONTROL keyboards with CANTABILE??

THANKS.
Montxo

4

Sorry. I forgot to say that the NI keyboard has 6 buttons labeled as TRANSPORT commands (PLAY, STOP. etc) that send a MIDI note. As you can see in the screenshot, I am using these buttons for test but these are not usable because they use the key C6 to F6.
Maybe BRAD knows something about this??

Thanks & Regards
Montxo

5

No help to you, but these are some of the reasons I went for the Keylab88 instead of the NI model…just not enough hardware realtime controls.

Hope you can get it sorted. You COULD also get yourself a Korg NanoKontrol at about $30 which gives you buttons and sliders galore haha! as well as a PC set up app.

6

Hi @Montxo

Thanks for reporting this. I’ve not had a lot of experience with this keyboard, but I seem to remember it has a special “MIDI” mode - that makes it act more like a normal MIDI keyboard. (I could be wrong - it’s a vague memory).

Anyway, one thing you could do to help sort this out is in Cantabile Options -> Diagnostics, turn on Console Logger and Log MIDI In Events. Restart Cantabile and you’ll see a second window and as you use the keyboard you should see any incoming MIDI events being logged. This will give you an idea of what the keyboard is sending for each button/knob and from there we can probably help you map it to Cantabile.

Brad

7

Thanks for you message PAX. I felt in love with the NI S88¨s look but it has many limitations in terms of functionality in you plan to use it apart from their software. I have one NANOKontrol but I was trying to simplify my setup.
Cheers,
Montxo

8

Hi Brad,
thanks for responding.
Yes, the MIDI mode seem to be very limited and still I have not found the way to use the key zones with the leds colors with the key zones in Cantabile. I want to link the colored leds key zones in the S88 with the zones in Cantabile and be able to change the SONGS or STATES from the NI keyboard.

Regarding the MIDI incoming events" window it vvry usefull, but most of the S88 buttons simply DO NOT SEND MIDI!!! Incredible but true!!!

BTW, a great advance it the new “HUI Switch Decoder MIDI Filter” witha llow me to use the STOP and PLAY buttons in the NI S88 to control the transport of the MEDIA PLAYERS in Cantabile!!!.

I am sure that you can improve the Cantabile integration with the NI keyboards.
Regards,
Montxo

9

Hi @Montxo

Yeah I don’t think you’re going to have much luck with those specialized features like key leds. Firstly last time I looked I couldn’t find any publicly available documentation on how to control them. Also, it would probably require Cantabile to have MIDI Reflection - which it currently doesn’t.

(If you know of any documentation on controlling these features of the keyboard please let me know).

Brad

10

Hi @Montxo

I realize this thread is somewhat old but in case others want to know how to set the Komplete Kontrol LED colors when loading a song in Cantabile: First use the Native Instruments Controller Editor to set up the desired key zones and colors for the song, and save this configuration in a file. Then go to Cantabile, open your song and set up a trigger to Execute External Program. In the command line parameter, enter the path to the configuration file or use the arrow button to browse and select it. Repeat for each song. It only takes a couple of minutes per song. In performance, leave the Controller Editor running. It is very lightweight. As each song loads in Cantabile the trigger will load the config file and set the colors.

Tips:

  • In the command line parameter, put “” double quotes around the whole thing including the file extension
  • According to a thread on the NI forum, the Controller Editor must be run as Administrator in Windows or it won’t set the keyboard colors
  • Move the Controller Editor window off to one side so it doesn’t block the Cantabile interface every time it loads a new config
  • Create and save a one-zone, one-color config file, such as the factory turquoise, to load on songs with no zones or splits

Hope that helps!

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