Native Instruments is pushing 64bit even on older products...

[jbuonacc]

This is a boring a story, so i'll do the "too long, didn't read" version right away: NI suddenly made kontakt 5 for mac (not windows) 64 bit only since version 5.6.0. They didn't even announced it and if you updated, your projects are now unusable.

Now the long version: why is this dangerous? because it means that NI is following a very dangerous approach by forcing users of an old product to update to new technologies even if they don't want to or simply can't, because many users need a 32bit host because of reasons. What if they do the same for other products? Massive? FM8? Suddenly unusable for many users?

I mean, NI can push 64bit and new technologies on their new product, like they did with Reaktor 6 which is 64bit only. And that's fine, because Reaktor 6 has never been 32 bit and I accept that is a new product i can't use. But kontakt 5? ...

all this is talk is only for Mac users, correct? Reaktor 6 currently works just fine on Windows 32-bit.

just want to make sure this "scare" isn't pertaining to Windows users (though i'm guessing that day is coming).

[waltercruz]

Native Instruments is pushing 64bit even on older products...

and it's a good thing.

[waltercruz]

all this is talk is only for Mac users, correct? Reaktor 6 currently works just fine on Windows 32-bit.

The trouble is not really with a 32/64 bit OS, but with a 32-bit DAW.

(although doesn't really make much sense use a 64-bit DAW on a 32-bit OS, I guess)

[whyterabbyt]

although doesn't really make much sense use a 64-bit DAW on a 32-bit OS, I guess

Well, given that it wont actually work, no.

[sprnva]

I'm not sure why Mac users get the short end of the stick here, but I'll hazard a guess it's something Apple changed in Xcode and NI haven't made the effort to work around it. I'm not seeing any other devs dropping 32-bit support just for Mac users. Hopefully it was an oversight and will be fixed, but I have my doubts.

In the meantime, it IS possible to have both 5.5.2 and 5.6.x co-exist on the same system. Copy your 5.5.2 plugins from the System Library to your User Library and then run the 5.6.x updater. It will update the System plugins but will leave the older ones in your User folder alone. 32-bit hosts will load 5.5.2 and 64-bit hosts will load 5.6.x.

I've tested this with Logic 9, Garageband '11 and Live 9. For the latter you will need to initiate a full plugin rescan in 32-bit Live so it will remove the System copy of Kontakt 5.6.x from its database and load 5.5.2 from your User folder instead.

[Teksonik]

I'd like to see a 64 bit version of FM7 to install alongside FM8 just for nostalgia. Probably won't happen.

[Guenon]

i would wait for 128bit so i could have that terabyte piano library with the 500 pianos that sound slightly duller than each other.

No need for 128 bit memory addressing for that. With 64 bit addressing, you can specify sixteen million times the memory one of those terabyte libraries would take loaded 100% into RAM ...

On a serious note: the jump from 32 bit addressing to 64 bit is a huge deal and broadens the possibilities dramatically. I would hazard a guess we aren't seeing hardware, software or practical applications for something reserving more memory than the sixteen million terabytes possible with 64 bit, in a long time. For many purposes, now in 2016, no matter whether you're dealing with audio/music, video / 2D graphics / 3D graphics, scientific computing, even games; 32 bit addressing is a real burden, and it's good to see it phasing out.

[aMUSEd]

I know it's a workaround but it is just as possible to use wrappers like J-Bridge to wrap a 64 bit plugin to work in a 32 bit host as the other way round.

[DarkStar]

While the move to 64-bit plug-ins only is generally good, the one thing you don't do is do it without warning the users and giving them a path forward. That's where NI fell down. (Perhaps NI will bring them back with v5.6.1.)

The affected users will need to reinstall a previous and remember not to do any future library updates before checking the version they were built with.

------------------------
Just thinking out loud: would this be possible?
-- reinstall v.5.5.whatever,
-- copy the 32-bit plug-ins somewhere safe,
-- install v.5.6.0,
-- copy the 32-bit plug-ins back to their locations.
Or is there more to it than that?

[Numanoid]

I read this thread title as Pro 53 was finally going 64 bit

[whyterabbyt]

I know it's a workaround but it is just as possible to use wrappers like J-Bridge to wrap a 64 bit plugin to work in a 32 bit host as the other way round.

Only if you run your 32-bit host on a 64-bit OS; you cannot run anything 64-bit on a 32-bit OS.

[elxsound]

I read this thread title as Pro 53 was finally going 64 bit

I thought the same thing at first glance (making old products 64 bit).

For Kontakt it makes sense, the move to 64 bit.

[UltimateOutsider]

My point is: NI can't just decide to make a product obsolete with an update because they want to push a new technology. We bought one thing and want to see that thing work as intended until the end, even if they drop support and updates; it has to still work in my old machines. Because that's what i paid for.

Did Native Instruments retroactively break all 32-bit Kontakt versions prior to 5.6.0? If not, I don't understand your argument... you STILL have a working 32-bit version of Kontakt and can still use it with all Kontakt libraries made with any major or minor Kontakt release before 5.6.0.

And it's less about "pushing new technologies" than it is simplifying their dev/test/build/install process and reducing their overall support burden. It takes time and money to support multiple platforms and there just aren't enough 32-bit hold-outs for it to be worth NI's while.

[Numanoid]

For Kontakt it makes sense, the move to 64 bit.

I don't always understand the power of RAM, but I think that sample libs are some of the things that can benefit from having access to more than 4GB of RAM

[Numanoid]

you STILL have a working 32-bit version of Kontakt

Do Native Instruments offer access to their earlier release versions of Kontakt ?